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Originally shared in our December 2025 Top of Mind Newsletter. Why do most New Year’s resolutions fail by February? Because they are usually based on wishful thinking rather than data. Tim Ferriss offers a more rigorous, entrepreneurial alternative: The “Past Year Review” (PYR). Instead of vaguely hoping to “be better” next year, Ferriss suggests a tactical audit: review every week of your past year’s calendar to identify the specific people and activities that produced peak positive…

Originally shared in our December 2025 Top of Mind Newsletter. We often wear exhaustion as a badge of honor. In the startup world, “always-on” is treated as the default setting for success. But in her compelling TEDxFargo Talk, leadership consultant Bec Heinrich exposes this as a dangerous lie. She argues that busyness is not a proxy for impact, and that the fear of stopping, of “falling behind,” is actually what keeps us from moving ahead. Through the…

Originally shared in our November 2025 Top of Mind Newsletter. We often define resilience as the ability to “bounce back” to where we were before a crisis. But in a rapidly changing world, is returning to the status quo enough? Emerging research on entrepreneurial resilience suggests a more dynamic goal: “bouncing forward.” This approach treats disruption not as a temporary interruption to be weathered, but as a critical catalyst for adaptation and structural change. This…

Originally shared in our November 2025 Top of Mind Newsletter. How do you react when your plans fall apart? Do you feel defeated, or do you see a new opening? In this exploration of the Stoic concept Amor Fati (“love of fate”), Brendan Hufford challenges us to go beyond merely bearing necessary burdens. Instead, drawing on the works of Friedrich Nietzsche and Viktor Frankl, Hufford argues that we must embrace every event, good or bad,…

Originally shared in our November 2025 Top of Mind Newsletter. Most of us are taught a specific formula for success: “If I work hard, I’ll be successful, and then I’ll be happy.” But what if that formula is scientifically broken? In his rapid-fire TED Talk, positive psychologist Shawn Achor argues that our brains actually work in reverse. When we cultivate a positive mindset—fueled by gratitude—our brains flood with dopamine, making us 31% more productive and…