The Knowledge with David Elikwu

David speaks with Simone Stolzoff, a journalist and author whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, and on the TED stage. His debut book, The Good Enough Job, traces how work came to dominate our lives and makes the case for reclaiming life from its clutches. His latest, How to Not Know: The Value of Uncertainty in a World that Demands Answers, blends storytelling and research to show how to develop comfort with ambiguity and navigate the unknown with clarity.

🧭 Why uncertainty is the birthplace of possibility

💼 How work and identity became one and the same

🚪 One-way versus two-way door decisions

🎲 Why the quality of your decisions and the quality of your outcomes are not the same thing

🧠 How to use a decision flowchart for acute uncertainty

🌾 The Parable of the Chinese Farmer and what "maybe yes, maybe no" actually means

theknowledge.io/simonestolzoff

https://youtu.be/

The Good Enough Job | https://www.goodenoughjob.com/

How to Not Know | https://www.howtonotknow.com/

IDEO | https://www.ideo.com/

Jeff Bezos — one-way and two-way doors | https://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/amazon-founder-jeff-bezos-this-is-how-successful-people-make-such-smart-decisions.html

Annie Duke | https://www.annieduke.com/

Thinking in Bets | https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-Bets-Making-Smarter-Decisions/dp/0735216371

Ruth Chang | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Chang

Philip Tetlock | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_E._Tetlock

Superforecasting | https://www.amazon.co.uk/Superforecasting-Science-Prediction-Philip-Tetlock/dp/1847947158

Mickael Dugas | https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=Mickael+Dugas+uncertainty+intolerance

The Parable of the Chinese Farmer | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Farmer_and_the_Horse

New York Federal Reserve | https://www.newyorkfed.org/

Twitter/X: https://x.com/simone_stolzoff

Website: https://www.simonestolzoff.com/

How to Not Know: https://www.howtonotknow.com/

David Elikwu FRSA is a serial entrepreneur, strategist, and writer. David is the founder of The Knowledge, a platform helping people think deeper and work smarter.

🐣 Twitter: @Delikwu / @itstheknowledge

🌐 Website: https://www.davidelikwu.com

📽️ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/davidelikwu

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/delikwu/

🕺 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@delikwu

🎙️ Podcast: http://plnk.to/theknowledge

📖 Free Book: https://pro.theknowledge.io/frames

My Online Course

🖥️ Decision Hacker: http://www.decisionhacker.io/

Decision Hacker will help you hack your default patterns and become an intentional architect of your life. You’ll learn everything you need to transform your decisions, your habits, and your outcomes.

The Knowledge

📩 Newsletter: https://theknowledge.io

The Knowledge is a weekly newsletter for people who want to get more out of life. It's full of insights from psychology, philosophy, productivity, and business, all designed to make you more productive, creative, and decisive.

My Favorite Tools

🎞️ Descript: https://bit.ly/descript-de

📨 Convertkit: https://bit.ly/convertkit-de

🔰 NordVPN: https://bit.ly/nordvpn-de

💹 Nutmeg: http://bit.ly/nutmegde

🎧 Audible: https://bit.ly/audiblede

Is Modern ADHD a Crisis of Environment? An Exploration of Attention in the Digital Age

I confess to having been sceptical about the rising ADHD diagnoses, suspecting it to be a fad. However, after watching people describe their everyday distractions, my view shifted. The explosion of ADHD-like behaviours seems more about the environment we've created rather than individual faults. This episode explores whether our digital society is an attentional pathogen, meticulously designed to fragment our focus for profit. We debate two paths: whether this crisis is a tragic accident or a deliberate byproduct of the attention economy. We also contemplate two possible responses—personal monasticism and public reform. I challenge you to rethink how we manage our attention and the future direction we want to take.

00:00 Confession and Initial Scepticism

00:44 Do we all have ADHD now?

02:05 The Digital Society as an Attentional Pathogen

02:41 Exploring the Nature of the Pathogen

03:19 Path A: The Accidental Crisis

05:36 Cognitive Artefacts: Complementary vs. Competitive

09:46 Path B: The Deliberate Machine

12:16 Consequences of Fragmented Attention

18:23 Solutions: Personal Monasticism vs. Public Reform

24:21 Conclusion: Balancing Personal and Public Responses

26:04 Final Thoughts and Call to Action

In this episode, David explores why modern life feels so complicated, how our quest for optimisation can make us fragile, and what it means to rediscover simplicity and practical wisdom. Through personal anecdotes, historical stories, and philosophical insights, David unpacks the hidden costs of complexity and offers a path back to clarity.

Key Topics & Timestamps:

• [0:00] Introduction: The Complexity of Modern Life
• Why life feels more complicated than ever, and how simple acts become complex puzzles.
• [1:30] The Running Metaphor
• How tracking and optimising a simple run can lead to frustration and dissatisfaction.
• [2:40] The Age of Hyper-Optimisation
• From fitness trackers to gene-editing startups—how technology fuels our obsession with control.
• [4:00] The Challenger Disaster & Normal Accident Theory
• The story of the 1986 Challenger explosion as a lesson in how complexity creates fragility.
• [6:50] Why We Choose Complexity
• The illusion of control and the quest for a sophisticated identity.
• [8:10] Gnosticism, Biohacking, and Status
• How secret knowledge and complex routines become modern status symbols.
• [10:00] Losing Sight of the Telos
• When metrics and routines overshadow our true goals and desires.
• [12:00] The Art of Effortless Mastery (Spezzatura)
• Lessons from the Renaissance and modern culture’s obsession with visible effort.
• [14:00] Escaping the Trap: Practical Wisdom & Heuristics
• The OODA loop, the limits of data, and why simple rules often outperform complex systems.
• [19:00] Final Thoughts & Call to Action
• Reconnecting with your ultimate aims, favouring heuristics over algorithms, and living with practical wisdom.

Notable Quotes:

• “Complexity creates fragility.”
• “We are drowning in data and routines and starving for practical wisdom.”
• “The map becomes more important than the destination.”
• “Simple heuristics often outperform complex algorithms.”

Resources & Mentions:

• Richard Feynman & the Challenger disaster
• Charles Perrow’s Normal Accident Theory
• Epictetus and Stoic philosophy
• Gnosticism and the pursuit of secret knowledge
• Bryan Johnson and the biohacking movement
• The OODA loop (John Boyd)
• Gerd Gigerenzer on heuristics
• Book: Food Rules by Michael Pollan

David Elikwu FRSA is a serial entrepreneur, strategist, and writer. David is the founder of The Knowledge, a platform helping people think deeper and work smarter.

📖 My Book: Sovereign by David Elikwu https://becomesovereign.com

🐣 Twitter: @Delikwu / @itstheknowledge

🌐 Website: https://www.davidelikwu.com

📽️ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/davidelikwu

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/delikwu/

🕺 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@delikwu

🎙️ Podcast: http://plnk.to/theknowledge

My Online Course

🖥️ Decision Hacker: http://www.decisionhacker.io/

Decision Hacker will help you hack your default patterns and become an intentional architect of your life. You’ll learn everything you need to transform your decisions, your habits, and your outcomes.

The Knowledge

📩 Newsletter: https://theknowledge.io

The Knowledge is a weekly newsletter for people who want to get more out of life. It's full of insights from psychology, philosophy, productivity, and business, all designed to make you more productive, creative, and decisive.

My Favourite Tools

🎞️ Descript: https://bit.ly/descript-de

📨 Convertkit: https://bit.ly/convertkit-de

🔰 NordVPN: https://bit.ly/nordvpn-de

💹 Nutmeg: http://bit.ly/nutmegde

🎧 Audible: https://bit.ly/audiblede

Enjoyed the episode?

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(Embracing Total Engagement: Overcoming Life's Hesitations) –

In this episode, David Elikwu explains the pervasive state of hesitation many people experience in life. Drawing upon philosophers Henry David Thoreau and Soren Kierkegaard, David explores the concept of living in a foggy state of quiet desperation, paralysed by the fear of finality and the countless possibilities life offers. He discusses the modern parallel of FOMO (fear of missing out), and how this keeps people from fully committing to their choices. David suggests a vow of total engagement as the cure, advocating for complete dedication and passion in every action, much like a focused bonfire. He shares wisdom from Zen master Shunryu Suzuki and Michelangelo's approach to sculpting as metaphors for living a fully committed life. David challenges listeners to engage fully in one task today, emphasising the importance of closing the gap between potential and action to achieve inner integrity. David also promotes his book, 'Sovereign', and invites listeners to pre-order and attend upcoming events in London.

00:00 The Foggy State Between Sleep and Wakefulness

00:27 Living in Quiet Desperation

01:49 The Fear of Finality and Hesitation

03:03 The Modern Dilemma: FOMO and Optionality

04:25 The Paradox of Choice and Its Impact

05:19 The Art of Total Engagement

06:43 The Power of Passion and Commitment

10:13 The Challenge of Being Present

14:46 A Simple Challenge for Today

15:46 Conclusion and Upcoming Events

Going deep: The Battle Between Horizontal and Vertical Work

In this episode of 'The Knowledge,' host David Elikwu dives into the dichotomy between horizontal and vertical models of engaging with the world. Using Donald Knuth's drastic life decision to quit email in 1990 as a starting point, David explores the philosophical implications of being either on top of things or at the bottom. The episode draws on historical and contemporary examples, from ancient philosophies to modern neuroscience, and includes insights from notable figures like Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci. David emphasises the value of deep, focused work versus the appeal of staying broadly informed and connected, ultimately challenging listeners to identify the one thing so compelling to them that it is worth digging deep for.

00:00 Introduction and Overview

00:19 Donald Knuth's Decision to Quit Email

01:53 Horizontal vs. Vertical Thinking

02:17 The Horizontal Model: Staying on Top of Things

04:07 The Vertical Model: Going Deep

05:49 Historical Perspectives on Depth vs. Breadth

20:21 The Balance Between Horizontal and Vertical

24:10 Conclusion: Finding Your Focus

In this episode, David Elikwu speaks with Ed Latimore, exploring his remarkable journey from growing up in the projects of Pittsburgh to becoming a professional heavyweight boxer. Latimore discusses overcoming challenges such as a tough upbringing, alcohol dependency, and setbacks in his boxing career. Key highlights include his recent decision to come out of retirement at 40, his experiences with training and fighting, and his reflections on persistence and grit. Ed also delves into his new book, 'Hard Lessons from the Hurt Business,' and how boxing has shaped his life and mindset. The episode also touches on his academic pursuits in physics and his successful transition into writing and online business. Latimore's story is one of resilience and continual self-improvement, making for a compelling and inspiring discussion.

00:00 Introduction to Ed Latimore's Journey

00:59 Ed's Multifaceted Career and Sovereign Mindset

02:01 The Pursuit of a Singular Goal

02:51 Life Lessons from Poker and Persistence

07:54 Challenges and Triumphs in Ed's Life

11:02 The Comeback Fight and Sponsorship Insights

19:47 The Science and Mechanics of Boxing

25:59 Future Goals and Reflections on Boxing

37:08 The Unique Appeal of Boxing

38:48 The Decline of Boxing's Popularity

41:07 Personal Journey into Boxing

44:09 The Impact of Childhood on Ambition

45:22 Struggles and Turning Points

47:51 Boxing as a Lifeline

49:24 Facing Adversity and Finding Direction

52:25 The Reality of Pursuing Boxing

55:49 Maintaining Focus Amidst Challenges

57:59 The Highs and Lows of a Boxing Career

01:18:24 Struggles and Determination in Boxing

01:19:56 The Motivation Behind the Comebacks

01:20:58 The Role of Teaching and Tutoring

01:22:38 Injuries and the Decision to Continue

01:23:51 The Social Aspect of Boxing

01:27:55 Alcoholism and Social Connections

01:34:29 Pursuing a Physics Degree

01:37:43 The Rise of a Writing Career

01:39:56 Family Life and Personal Growth

01:46:18 Reflections and Future Plans

Hey, welcome back. I have missed you all. We took a bit of a break from the podcast for a month and a bit for a number of reasons. One of them is that I have been working on announcing a book that I've been writing for the past year called 'Sovereign'. It's out for pre-orders now at becomesovereign.com.

I've had tons of great feedback from advanced readers, and I’m excited to share it with you. I'm also thrilled to be back with the podcast. We have a great guest for this episode, Ed Latimore, and more exciting episodes to come.

Additionally, I plan to share more of the ideas from my newsletter, The Knowledge (https://theknowledge.io), directly with this podcast audience through one-on-one episodes. I've been writing my newsletter for half a decade, and it's time to share some of that content here. You can find me on Twitter at @Delikwu and other platforms under the same name. Looking forward to spending more time with you all.

00:00 Welcome Back!

00:13 Exciting Book Announcement

00:42 Podcast Updates and Future Plans

01:25 Engage with the Community

01:30 Conclusion and Farewell

David speaks with Christine Carrillo, an executive coach for early-stage CEOs and founder of The 20-Hour CEO. Christine has built three companies generating over $200M in revenue and now helps founders build lean, profitable businesses without burnout.

They talked about:

🏚 Growing up in poverty and becoming head of household at 14

🛠 Navigating trauma, burnout, and building resilience

💡 Why freedom, not money, was her ultimate definition of success

🚀 Starting and scaling VC-backed and bootstrapped companies

🧘🏽‍♀️ Rewriting productivity rules with the 20-Hour CEO

🧠 The mindset shift from survival mode to CEO mode

https://theknowledge.io/christinecarrillo-2/

The 20-Hour CEO | https://www.20hourceo.com

Butler Health | https://www.butlerhealth.co

Techstars | https://www.techstars.com

Kaiser Permanente | https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org

McKinsey & Company | https://www.mckinsey.com

Deloitte | https://www2.deloitte.com

Website: https://www.christinecarrillo.com/

Twitter: https://x.com/ChristineCarril

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinecarrillo

👨🏾‍💻 About David Elikwu:

David Elikwu FRSA is a serial entrepreneur, strategist, and writer. David is the founder of The Knowledge, a platform helping people think deeper and work smarter.

🐣 Twitter: @Delikwu / @itstheknowledge

🌐 Website: https://www.davidelikwu.com

📽️ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/davidelikwu

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/delikwu/

🕺 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@delikwu

🎙️ Podcast: http://plnk.to/theknowledge

📖 Free Book: https://pro.theknowledge.io/frames

My Online Course

🖥️ Decision Hacker: http://www.decisionhacker.io/

Decision Hacker will help you hack your default patterns and become an intentional architect of your life. You’ll learn everything you need to transform your decisions, your habits, and your outcomes.

The Knowledge

📩 Newsletter: https://theknowledge.io

The Knowledge is a weekly newsletter for people who want to get more out of life. It's full of insights from psychology, philosophy, productivity, and business, all designed to make you more productive, creative, and decisive.

My Favourite Tools

🎞️ Descript: https://bit.ly/descript-de

📨 Convertkit: https://bit.ly/convertkit-de

🔰 NordVPN: https://bit.ly/nordvpn-de

💹 Nutmeg: http://bit.ly/nutmegde

🎧 Audible: https://bit.ly/audiblede

David speaks with with Alex Fefegha, a creative technologist who currently works as a creative coder at Google's Arts & Culture Lab. Previously, Alex founded COMUZI, a design studio he started at 19. He also runs The Office of Art & Technology, creating games and interactive experiences.

They talked about:

💻 How Alex got into tech after growing up in South London

⚽ Getting kicked out of a football academy put him on a new path

🎵 Losing thousands trying to break into the music industry

🧠 Teaching himself to code and making it his edge

🤖 AI and why he says “computers are stupid”

🚀 How he built COMUZI - a creative studio working on cutting-edge AI projects

https://theknowledge.io/alexfefegha-2/

https://youtu.be/o6GVqRAp-qE

COMUZI | https://www.comuzi.xyz/

Richie Brave | https://theknowledge.io/richiebrave-1/

Tooting & Mitcham | https://www.tmunited.org/

Pecan | https://www.pecan.ai/

Audacity | https://www.audacityteam.org/

Bonnet Football Club | https://www.bonnetbayfc.com/

Wired PR | https://wired-pr.co.uk/

Music X-Ray | https://www.musicxray.com/

Mike McCready | https://twitter.com/mikemccreadypj

A&R's | https://www.careersinmusic.com/what-is-a-r/

SoundCloud | https://soundcloud.com/

Feminist Internet | https://www.feministinternet.com/

Digital One Dead Bot | https://www.wionews.com/world/deadbots-the-digital-soul-that-can-speak-for-you-after-your-death-478639

New Inc Museum | https://www.newmuseum.org/

Ross Goodwin | https://rossgoodwin.com/

Es Devlin | https://esdevlin.com/

Rakim the hip hop | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rakim

The Thames Path 2040 | https://www.newreal.cc/artworks/the-thames-path-2040

MKBHD | https://mkbhd.com/

ChatGPT | https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt/

Website: https://lexfefegha.com/

Twitter: https://x.com/lexfefegha

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfefegha/

👨🏾‍💻 About David Elikwu:

David Elikwu FRSA is a serial entrepreneur, strategist, and writer. David is the founder of The Knowledge, a platform helping people think deeper and work smarter.

🐣 Twitter: @Delikwu / @itstheknowledge

🌐 Website: https://www.davidelikwu.com

📽️ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/davidelikwu

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/delikwu/

🕺 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@delikwu

🎙️ Podcast: http://plnk.to/theknowledge

📖 Free Book: https://pro.theknowledge.io/frames

My Online Course

🖥️ Decision Hacker: http://www.decisionhacker.io/

Decision Hacker will help you hack your default patterns and become an intentional architect of your life. You’ll learn everything you need to transform your decisions, your habits, and your outcomes.

The Knowledge

📩 Newsletter: https://theknowledge.io

The Knowledge is a weekly newsletter for people who want to get more out of life. It's full of insights from psychology, philosophy, productivity, and business, all designed to make you more productive, creative, and decisive.

My Favourite Tools

🎞️ Descript: https://bit.ly/descript-de

📨 Convertkit: https://bit.ly/convertkit-de

🔰 NordVPN: https://bit.ly/nordvpn-de

💹 Nutmeg: http://bit.ly/nutmegde

🎧 Audible: https://bit.ly/audiblede

David speaks with Taylor Pearson, an author, investor, and principal at Mutiny Fund. Taylor wrote The End of Jobs, a book about how work is changing and what that means for people building their careers today. These days, he focuses on decision-making, risk, and helping investors think about uncertainty through his work at Mutiny Fund.

They talked about:

📚 How ditching plans to become a lawyer changed Taylor's life

⚠️ How "safe" career paths often hide the biggest risks

💼 Why some jobs will feel secure until they aren't

🔒 Why job security and career stability are not the same thing

🧾 How to track your life balance sheet beyond money

🧠 How thinking like an investor can help with making smarter life choices

https://theknowledge.io/taylorpearson-3/

https://youtu.be/ntz5LnTzez8

Paul Graham | http://www.paulgraham.com/

Paul Millerd | https://theknowledge.io/paulmillerd/

Nassim Taleb | https://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/

Naval Ravikant | https://theknowledge.io/conquering-comfort-two-razors-from-naval-to-sharpen-your-choices/

Luca Dellanna | https://theknowledge.io/lucadellana-1/

Charlie Munger | https://theknowledge.io/can-you-beat-your-opponent-in-their-own-game-mungers-law-and-the-art-of-the-steelman/

Elon Musk | https://theknowledge.io/elons-law-beating-hofstadters-law-with-ridiculous-deadlines/

Brian Eno | https://www.enoshop.co.uk/

Kevin Kelly | https://kk.org/

Venkatesh Rao | https://www.ribbonfarm.com/about/

Douglas Adams | http://www.douglasadams.com/

Mutiny Fund | https://mutinyfund.com/

IBM | https://www.ibm.com/

Amazon | https://www.amazon.com/

Amazon Web Services (AWS) | https://aws.amazon.com/

Wells Fargo | https://www.wellsfargo.com/

Y Combinator | https://www.ycombinator.com/

Netflix | https://www.netflix.com/

Hallmark | https://www.hallmark.com/

OpenAI | https://openai.com/

Google | https://www.google.com/

Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/

Apple | https://www.apple.com/

Scribe Media (formerly Book in a Box) | https://scribemedia.com/

Toyota | https://www.toyota.com/

Minnesota Vikings (NFL) | https://www.vikings.com/

Dallas Cowboys (NFL) | https://www.dallascowboys.com/

The End of Jobs | https://theknowledge.io/taylorpearson-2/

Fooled by Randomness | https://www.amazon.com/Fooled-Randomness-Hidden-Chance-Markets/dp/0812975219

The Black Swan | https://www.amazon.com/Black-Swan-Impact-Highly-Improbable/dp/081297381X

Antifragile | https://theknowledge.io/reimaging-work-life-balance/

The Pathless Path | https://theknowledge.io/paulmillerd/

Flatland | https://www.amazon.com/Flatland-Romance-Many-Dimensions-Dover/dp/048627263X

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy | https://www.amazon.com/Hitchhikers-Guide-Galaxy-Douglas-Adams/dp/0345391802

Snow Crash | https://www.amazon.com/Snow-Crash-Novel-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0553380958

The Almanack of Naval Ravikant | https://www.amazon.com/Almanack-Naval-Ravikant-Wealth-Happiness/dp/1544514212

Wealth – essay by Paul Graham | http://www.paulgraham.com/wealth.html

Twitter: https://x.com/TaylorPearsonMe

Website: taylorpearson.me

👨🏾‍💻 About David Elikwu:

David Elikwu FRSA is a serial entrepreneur, strategist, and writer. David is the founder of The Knowledge, a platform helping people think deeper and work smarter.

🐣 Twitter: @Delikwu / @itstheknowledge

🌐 Website: https://www.davidelikwu.com

📽️ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/davidelikwu

📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/delikwu/

🕺 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@delikwu

🎙️ Podcast: http://plnk.to/theknowledge

📖 Free Book: https://pro.theknowledge.io/frames

My Online Course

🖥️ Decision Hacker: http://www.decisionhacker.io/

Decision Hacker will help you hack your default patterns and become an intentional architect of your life. You’ll learn everything you need to transform your decisions, your habits, and your outcomes.

The Knowledge

📩 Newsletter: https://theknowledge.io

The Knowledge is a weekly newsletter for people who want to get more out of life. It's full of insights from psychology, philosophy, productivity, and business, all designed to make you more productive, creative, and decisive.

My Favourite Tools

🎞️ Descript: https://bit.ly/descript-de

📨 Convertkit: https://bit.ly/convertkit-de

🔰 NordVPN: https://bit.ly/nordvpn-de

💹 Nutmeg: http://bit.ly/nutmegde

🎧 Audible: https://bit.ly/audiblede

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