Upgrade Your Brain. Master AI. Become an Attention Capitalist.

I had the great pleasure of taping a podcast episode this month with IoNTELLIGENCE Community Member Frank Gullo.

As Chief Technology Officer at Aleron, Frank is a keen thinker on strategic technology leadership. He’s passionate about exploring AI and emerging technologies that will shape our future, which led him to create and host the TechXY Turbo podcast.

This episode addresses the impact of AI on leadership and personal productivity, explores how our smartphone slot machines and dopamine dampen creativity, and discusses how our Stone Age brains need nature, sociality, and movement to think optimally. We conclude with some essential strategies for thriving in a world dominated by exponential technology and infinite distractions.

Some of the hot takes you’ll get from this show:

* Neuro-Optimization is all about leveraging the extraordinary neuroscience breakthroughs of the last two decades to learn how to use our biology like a technology and treat the brain like a performance-optimized asset.

* As AI commoditizes intelligence, “taste”—a combination of judgment and craft—will become a critical professional currency, requiring individuals to curate their information diet and intentionally develop their personal style.

* "In an era where you can produce a business plan with a button, and you can come up with a hundred different product ideas, where does taste come in? Well, taste decides what you choose to pursue."

* On the chilling effect distraction has on creativity: Whenever a micro moment of boredom occurs, people fill it with something. They pick up their phones to text, open an app, check stock portfolios, or surf TikTok and Instagram Reels. This constant stimulation trains the brain to be intolerant of boredom. Enter “stoplight scrolling,” where people look at their phones even during a short, 30-second red light because they cannot tolerate mere seconds without a dopamine fix.

* On creating mental space in the age of unlimited content: “We need to start putting our brains in airplane mode more often. Just as when you get on a flight, we need to start turning off the receive button in our brains so that we can digest the terabytes of information that we consume every day.”

Listen to the entire “Rewiring Leadership in the AI Age” episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and Amazon, or directly in the player above.

IoNTELLIGENCE blends neuroscience, attention economics, and strategic AI skills to help high performers thrive in our rapidly changing world.

Upgrade Your Brain. Master AI. Become an Attention Capitalist.

Photo by MART PRODUCTION

In this audio episode, I break down why attention has quietly become the most valuable form of capital in 2025—more important than money, power, or even real estate.

From creators placing YouTube channels in family trusts to VCs launching more podcasts than funds, the evidence is everywhere: the ability to attract, hold, and direct attention now functions like an investable asset.

I unpack what “Attention Capital” really is, how it compounds, why it decays, and what leaders must do to build, deploy, and measure it in an age where AI has made attention the ultimate scarce resource.

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

IoNTELLIGENCE helps high performers thrive in a fast-changing world by building smarter brain habits and strategic AI skills.

Upgrade Your Brain. Master AI. Be Future-Ready.

I had the great pleasure of taping this podcast episode on July 7 with my good friend - and IoNTELLIGENCE Community Member - Robert Richman.

Robert is a sought-after keynote speaker and one of the world’s leading authorities on employee culture. He is also the author of The Culture Blueprint, a comprehensive guide to creating a high-performance workplace. He hosts the Culture Hackers podcast, a show about culture hacking at companies, in business, and around the world.

This episode explores the transformative power of AI, which will fundamentally reshape work, industries, and even humanity's status as the "apex predator." We also discuss whether AI’s seductive convenience could drive us toward isolation rather than genuine human connection. We grapple with how AI challenges our very understanding of attention, memory, and consensus reality. Finally, we dive into my thesis that "taste" and "agency" have become paramount in an AI-driven world, where the ability to make discerning choices and act on ideas becomes more valuable than mere intelligence.

Some of the hot takes you’ll get from this episode:

* "We're now learning, like I like to say, to use our biology like a technology."

* "In an era where you can produce a business plan with a button, and you can come up with a hundred different product ideas, where does taste come in? Well, taste decides what you decide to pursue."

* "If we are what we remember... that intentionality, that intentional application of memory and attention, that's what becomes... the pillars of what we call our life."

* "I think that the most dangerous competitors that any business leader who's listening to this podcast has are not the companies that you know. It's an AI native version of whatever your product is."

Click here to listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts or here to tune in from your browser.

IoNTELLIGENCE delivers neuroscience-backed insights to help high-performers optimize their minds, harness AI, and thrive in a fast-changing world—in five minutes a week.

Upgrade Your Brain. Master AI. Be Future-Ready.

Photo by KATRIN BOLOVTSOVA

How many phone numbers can you remember?

I can recall around five—at least two of which are my own and the one that rang at the home I grew up in. This is what happens when we outsource our memories to our mobile phones. No one planned to forget those numbers; it just happened because we relied on the machine to dial them for us.

It’s an instructive analogy for the risks we run when using other mind-extending technologies. It’s especially relevant with the arrival of ubiquitous, omniscient AI.

It’s no longer a question of whether AI will impact our work and lives but how deeply and quickly. We need to learn how to use these tools strategically now, which is why I like to say that AI requires IA (Intelligent Augmentation). Those initials could also stand for “Intentional Application.”

I tracked my use of these cognitive instruments for a week and then reflected on how to collaborate with them intelligently and intentionally. When employed correctly, AI can give you new abilities, sharpen your thinking, and free you from drudge work. However, you must guard against de-skilling, dumbing yourself down, and developing AI dependency.

How can we strike the right balance between being force-multiplied by AI and not becoming reliant on it?

Taking inspiration from that canonical self-help manual from Stephen Covey, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” (“Begin with the end in mind”), here are my “6 Rules for Mastering AI.”

🏆 The 60-Second Shift: The 6 Rules for Mastering AI in 2025

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

IoNTELLIGENCE draws on science and strategy to help busy people achieve professional success, personal transformation, and lasting happiness in a few minutes a week.

Photo by Tara Winstead

Last week, I outlined the effects of the AI Revolution on work and life. In this issue, I explore the philosophical and societal implications of the onset of what Sam Altman calls the “Intelligence Age.”

🏆 The 60-Second Shift: 10 Reflections on AI in 2025

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

IoNTELLIGENCE draws on science and strategy to help busy people achieve professional success, personal transformation, and lasting happiness in ten minutes a week.

Photo by Piseth Mao

Can I let you in on a secret? I like planning projects more than working on them.

Sure, I get a thrill when I finish one. But that delight is nothing compared to the regular dopamine squirts I receive from thinking about how to tackle it, building To-Do lists, and basking in the glorious state of getting ready to work. It’s not that I get more rewards from designing than from doing; rather, I get some while putting in nowhere near the effort required to complete the task.

Dreaming is a sneaky form of cheap satisfaction.

This is not the dopamine bogeyman that I usually rail against. Longtime readers know I call the current 21st-century economy “Dopamine Capitalism” because the biggest industries hijack our limbic system to get clicks, downloads, and dollars from us. However, this isn’t another screed against TikTok, Taco Bell and Temu.

While those companies are definitely not your friends, here’s a different cold truth: we’re often our worst enemies. Those products and services are engaging because they tap into our natural preference for immediate, effortless rewards. But we often deceive ourselves in the same neurological manner without their prompting.

Like in cliched horror flicks, the call is coming from inside the house.

Here’s how to overcome our mind’s lazy shortcuts.

🚨 If You Only Do One Thing From This List

Don’t fall for dopamine’s tricks. Seek harder but ultimately more meaningful transformations.

Note: I will launch a dopamine-themed challenge next month for phone-free February. Stay tuned!

🏆 The 60-Second Shift

The IoNTELLIGENCE Top 5®️ Dopamine Traps: Planning vs Doing. Starting vs Finishing. Ideas vs Execution. Learning vs Applying. New vs Great.

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

IoNTELLIGENCE draws on science and strategy to help busy people achieve professional success, personal transformation, and lasting happiness in ten minutes a week.

Time Investment: 10 Minutes.

Goal: Provide a 5-step framework to help you avoid the pitfalls of plans but succeed in high-performance planning.

Photo by Ann H

As the famous business thinker Mike Tyson once noted, "Everyone has a plan until you get punched in the face.”

That sentence says as much about the value of a plan as it does about the disruptive power of a punch. But does your strategy really go out the window as soon as reality intercedes? The truth is more complicated.

A plan is a sequence of actions describing how to accomplish a goal. While the actual step-by-step list might end up having limited value, the act of planning is always valuable. In an era of volatility and uncertainty, thinking through contingencies is particularly critical before disruption—or disaster—strikes. After all, the best time to figure out what you’d save in a fire is not while the house is burning down around you.

Here’s why plans are useless, planning is priceless, and why we formulate strategies in the first place.

🚨 If You Only Do One Thing From This List

Have a Plan A, a Plan B, and a Plan Z.

🏆 The 60-Second Shift

The IoNTELLIGENCE Top 5®️ Rules of High-Performance Planning: Beware of Planning as “Productivity Theater.” Have a Plan A, a Plan B, and a Plan Z. Sticking to the program is the hard part. Prioritize preparation over prediction. Plan across multiple time horizons.

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

IoNTELLIGENCE draws on science and strategy to help busy people achieve professional success, personal transformation, and lasting happiness in ten minutes a week.

Time Investment: 10 Minutes.

Goal: Provide a quick but effective 5-step framework to help you make better decisions.

I don’t read much fiction, but when I do, it’s almost always spy novels.

I love the propulsive plots and globe-spanning set pieces. But the best reads also feature super-smart analysts and operatives playing three-dimensional chess against the bad guys.

Intelligence agencies like the CIA must be world-class information processors and problem solvers. Their “product” is insight, and their client is the most powerful person on Earth. Interestingly, the CIA defines “Intelligence” as providing principals like the President a “decision advantage,” and that’s what I strive to do for my IoNTELLIGENCE readers (and podcast listeners).

We may not face choices with the same stakes as POTUS, but they still matter greatly to us. That’s why we must become more strategic in our approach to problems.

If you’re still considering alternatives with “pros” and “cons” columns, it’s time to raise your game. These days, when information is plentiful but understanding is elusive, I recommend that my executive coaching clients develop a methodology to use each time they examine options.

Here’s how one of the agency’s best analysts approaches complex decisions.

Note: Hat tip to IoNTELLIGENCE Community Member Dr. Talat Chughtai for suggesting this addition to my Professional Development Brief format - for particularly busy professionals:

🚨 If You Only Do One Thing From This List

Always ask and answer this crucial question:

What is the ultimate goal that I’m trying to accomplish?

🏆 Key Takeaways

The IoNTELLIGENCE Top 5®️ Ways to Analyze Problems Like the CIA: Find the real question. Identify the drivers. Decide on your metrics. Collect the information and assess your confidence level. Ask yourself: what are you missing?

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

IoNTELLIGENCE draws on science and strategy to help busy people achieve professional success, personal transformation, and lasting happiness in ten minutes a week.

Time Investment: 10 Minutes.

Goal: Provide science-backed tips on strategically using exercise to upgrade your brain.

Do you realize that just 20 minutes of moderate exercise can improve your information processing and memory by up to 20%?

Even a single intense training session can improve cognitive performance, particularly in attention and executive function—as much as 30% post-workout.

I’ve written extensively about how fantastic exercise is for your mental and physical health. But did you know it’s also nature’s “smart pill,” too? 

Here’s how to strategically use exercise to improve your brain power.

Photo by Nadezhda Moryak

🏆 Key Takeaways

The IoNTELLIGENCE Top 5®️ Ways to Upgrade Your Brain with Exercise: Combine cardio and weights. Go hard, not long. Exercise early for the biggest brain boost. Walk for creative thinking. Being fitter is better - for your body and brain.

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

IoNTELLIGENCE draws on science and philosophy to help busy people achieve professional success, personal transformation, and lasting happiness in five minutes a week.

I’m introducing a new format for IoNTELLIGENCE readers today. In addition to the regular Issues and the Friday Brush Pass, the Professional Development Brief will deliver one vital idea to help you perform, transform, and flourish that you can metabolize in one minute.

It’s inspired by The President’s Daily Brief, a summary of high-level intelligence and analysis on national security issues produced by the Central Intelligence Agency for the president every day since 1946.

💡The Idea:

Reading Atul Gawande’s masterful “The Checklist Manifesto” changed my life. Not only did I discover how airline pilots and surgeons use them to save lives, but I also realized the power of solving a problem once. Since then, I’ve advised my executive clients to develop this discipline (as I have).

The checklist is probably the most powerful tool you’re not using.

Photo by Pixabay

🏆 The 60-Second Shift:

Turn anything you do more than once into a checklist. 

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

IoNTELLIGENCE draws on science and philosophy to help busy people achieve professional success, personal transformation, and lasting happiness in five minutes a week.

* 🧠 The Big Idea: By understanding what it takes for quarterbacks to succeed on Sundays, we can learn a lot about the elements of modern leadership.

* 📈 Topics: Leadership | Performance | Professional Success.

* 🔧 What To Do Next: Consider the 5 Rules®️ for Leading like a QB.

* 🔬 Go Deeper: Read “The QB” by Bruce Feldman.

2.78 seconds.

That’s the average amount of time a professional quarterback has before he throws the football today.

Picture the scene: you’re facing 80,000 screaming, hostile fans, as well as howling winds and snow (if you’re playing in Green Bay in November), and you have less than three seconds after the ball is snapped to drop back, avoid getting crushed by the other team’s 300 lb. mastodons, and throw a football 25 yards downfield to a point where you believe the receiver will be — all the while threading the needle between multiple layers of defensive coverage.

Then imagine doing this for three hours while trying to avoid everything from interceptions to injury.

That’s what NFL QBs do every Sunday. Now, they get paid enormous sums of money to do it, but only 32 people in the world have this job - and, if we’re honest - only about ten are considered elite. Let’s put it this way: there are fewer top-tier quarterbacks than business people worth 100 billion (15).

There is no position in all sports that is quite like the QB. It’s not only the most demanding role but also the most important, not to mention the most glamorous. As football commentator Bruce Feldman writes, “Quarterback is an identity. Guys play first base [in baseball] and power forward [in basketball]. You don’t play Quarterback. You are a quarterback.”

Why are they so singular? Because to succeed on the football field today, QBs must be one part Achilles and one part algorithm. You need the bravado of an alpha male, as well as the brains of Albert Einstein.

This extraordinary combination is why I believe quarterbacks, more than CEOs, embody what it takes to be a great executive today.

🏆 Key Takeaways

The IoNTELLIGENCE 5 Rules®️ for Leading Like a Quarterback. QBs and Leaders sacrifice, show courage, and lead by example. They process data like a computer. Finally, they reflect on the lessons but forget the mistakes.

🔬 Go Deeper

* If you have a few hours, 📖 “The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks” by Bruce Feldman.

* If you have under 1 hour, 🎧 to this podcast episode on the leadership lessons from the Netflix series “Quarterback.”

* If you have 10 minutes, 👓 this article on Peyton Manning’s legendary preparation and mental prowess.

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

IoNTELLIGENCE draws on science and philosophy to help busy people achieve professional success, personal transformation, and lasting happiness in five minutes a week.

* 🧠 The Big Idea: Exercise is more important than diet or sleep in keeping you happy and healthy. It’s also a performance enhancer for your career prospects.

* 🔧 What To Do Next: Learn the 4 Reasons to Make Exercise a Top Priority in Your Life and Work.

* 🔬 Go Deeper: Read this article on how exercise improves work performance and check out “Exercised” by Daniel E. Lieberman.

One minute of exercise buys you five minutes of extra life.

Read that line again.

This is the mic-drop conclusion of a recent Stanford study on the remarkable benefits of regular exercise. And this isn’t dependent on you killing yourself at CrossFit, either: this result was from something as simple as a brisk walk. Working out more intensely could buy you seven or eight extra minutes of life.

Remember these stats the next time you struggle to hit the gym. Catching that spin class will give you a 5x return on investment in your lifespan, not to mention help you feel better, look more attractive, and perform more effectively at work.

Here are more numbers to persuade you to jump on the Pickleball craze. People who exercise frequently are:

* 25% less likely to get breast cancer

* 50% less likely to have colon cancer

* 60% less likely to have heart disease

* 70% less likely to fracture your hip

Stanford Professor Euan Ashley goes further: “Exercise may be the most potent medical intervention ever known.”

I will now channel those late-night infomercials by saying: “But wait! There’s more.”

Those are the benefits for your health and body; there are just as many for your mind, mood, and brain. As you’ll see, exercise even gives us an edge in a knowledge economy where we are increasingly rewarded for the quality of our judgment and the creativity of our work.

That’s why you - and your boss - should make exercise a part of your job.

🏆 Key Takeaways

The IoNTELLIGENCE 5 Rules®️ of Becoming Bold: Become aware of your brain bugs. Reframe your view of risk. Replace Status Quo with Venture Go! Start small. Turn the lights on.

🔬 Go Deeper

* If you have a few hours, 📖 Cass Sunstein’s new book Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There, co-written with neuroscientist and professor Tali Sharot. 

* If you have one hour, 🎧 to the podcast episode that changed it all for me - a lively discussion between Ezra Klein and maverick thinker Tyler Cowen.

* If you have 10 minutes 👓 this article on the power of inertia in our lives.

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

IoNTELLIGENCE draws on science and philosophy to help busy people achieve professional success, personal transformation, and lasting happiness in five minutes a week.

* 🧠 The Big Idea: Our instincts cause us to avoid risk and miss opportunities. We need to change our view of change.

* 🔧 What To Do Next: Apply the 5 Rules®️ of Becoming Bold.

* 🔬 Go Deeper: Read “Look Again” by Cass Sunstein and listen to Tyler Cowen.

“If you are considering a change, you are past the point where you should have made it.”

I heard these words from economist Tyler Cowen eight years ago, and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that they transformed my life. I had been thinking of moving from Canada to California for years at that point, and that one sentence tipped me into action. I made a silent commitment to relocate from Montreal to LA—and kept that promise three years later.

I share this anecdote as someone who loves his routine more than most, so this is advice that I struggle to act on personally in almost every way. This is hard, I know. But that also means that if I can learn to do this more often, anyone can.

When was the last time you did something for the first time? When did you last take a risk?

Don’t feel bad if the answer to both those questions is “forever.” Humans are hardwired to fear change and get stuck in a rut. Psychologists point out that this tendency to prefer things as they already are - the status quo bias - can significantly impact our choices and decision-making.

This thinking trap causes us to favor inaction even if our current situations are no longer the best ones for us and aren’t the best options available to us. In other words, change is often optimal, and standing pat is not. Yet, because we dread uncertainty so strongly, we are willing to miss out on the possibility of something better to avoid it.

There’s a good reason why we evolved to think this way. Though, like many relics of our time out on the savannah, these evolutionary behaviors have outlived their usefulness.

We must fight complacency to succeed in a world defined by volatility.

Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich

🏆 Key Takeaways

The IoNTELLIGENCE 5 Rules®️ of Becoming Bold: Become aware of your brain bugs. Reframe your view of risk. Replace Status Quo with Venture Go! Start small. Turn the lights on.

🔬 Go Deeper

* If you have a few hours, 📖 Cass Sunstein’s new book Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There, co-written with neuroscientist and professor Tali Sharot. 

* If you have under one hour, 🎧 to the podcast episode that changed it all for me - a lively discussion between Ezra Klein and maverick thinker Tyler Cowen.

* If you have under 10 minutes 👓 this article on the power of inertia in our lives.

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

IoNTELLIGENCE is the Playbook for Professional Success, Personal Transformation, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

I had the great pleasure of taping this podcast episode the other day with a good friend - and IoNTELLIGENCE Community Member - Robbe Richman.

As one of the world’s leading authorities on employee culture, Robbe served as Zappos's Culture Strategist. He is also the author of The Culture Blueprint, a systematic guide to the high-performance workplace.

He hosts the Culture Hackers podcast, a show about culture hacking at companies, in business, and in life at large. In this episode, we discuss the tension between content consumption and creation, debate my notion of “Dopamine Capitalism” taking over the world, and discuss tips and tricks to preserve and protect our shortening attention spans.

Click here to listen to this podcast on Apple Podcasts or here to tune in from your browser.

IoNTELLIGENCE is the Playbook for Professional Success, Personal Transformation, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

* 🚨 The Big Idea: Sleep is the most important measure you can undertake to improve every aspect of your work and life.

* 🔧 What To Do Next: Get. More. Sleep. Tonight!

* 🔬 Go Deeper: Read and listen to Dr. Matthew Walker.

Photo by Lisa Fotios

Thank you very much for being a Member of the IoNTELLIGENCE Community and supporting my writing and podcasting.

“If you sleep less, you eat more. You remember less. You get sick more often. You look bad. And poor sleep also leads to high blood pressure, missed workouts, irritability, poor decision-making, and greatly impaired well-being.” (Tom Rath in “Eat More Sleep”)

🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast

* If you have a few hours, 👓 “Why We Sleep” by Matthew Walker. It's no overstatement to say that this book changed my life. It’s the best long-form argument for the paramount importance of sleep, and reading it inspired me to make rest a top priority in my day and life.

* If you have under 1 hour 🎧 to this NPR podcast interview with Dr. Walker. It’s not as good as reading the book, but it will persuade you that it’s not cool to be sleep-deprived.

* If you have under 10 minutes, 👓 this article on “Sleep Hygiene.”

If you enjoyed reading this post, share it with friends or click the ❤️ button so more people can discover it on Substack. 

IoNTELLIGENCE is the Playbook for Professional Success, Personal Transformation, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

* 🚨 The Big Idea: There are multiple “types” of dopamine, but unearned bursts should be avoided as much as possible.

* 🏆 What To Do Next: Slower is better | Micro-dosing is doing maximum damage | Seek out awe and wonder instead | Boredom leads to brilliance.

* 🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast: Read "The Hacking of the American Mind.”

Photo by Ola Dapo

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Key Takeaways

* Dopamine is the molecule of motivation, anticipation, and distraction.

* Daily life in the digital age delivers us cheap and copious amounts of dopamine - far from what nature intended.

* Earn your dopamine by pursuing slow, active leisure and leaning into boredom rather than reaching for your phone.

Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast

* If you have a few hours, 📖 The Hacking of the American Mind: The Science Behind the Corporate Takeover of our Bodies and Brains by Robert Lustig.

* If you have under 1 hour, 🎧 Listen to this podcast episode with Dr. Daniel Z. Lieberman, author of “The Molecule of More: How a Single Chemical in Your Brain Drives Love, Sex, and Creativity—and will Determine the Fate of the Human Race.”

* If you have 10 minutes, 👓 this Psychology Today article on the benefits of a dopamine reset.

If you enjoyed reading this post, share it with friends or click the ❤️ button so more people can discover it on Substack. 

IoNTELLIGENCE is the Playbook for Professional Success, Personal Transformation, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

* 🚨 The Big Idea: We thrive in challenge but choose to wrap ourselves in cotton.

* 🏆 What To Do Next: Do your worst thing first | Do one hard workout a week | Reframe Pain as Progress.

* 🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast: Read “The Comfort Crisis” | Learn the 40% Rule.

Photo by Rachel Claire

Key Takeaways

* Be aware of one of the paradoxes of human evolution: we seek comfort, but we thrive without it.

* Forget the 1%. Be part of the 2%.

* Become more comfortable being uncomfortable.🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast

Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast

* If you have a few hours, 📖 The Comfort Crisis: Embrace Discomfort to Reclaim Your Wild, Healthy, Happy Self by Michael Easter.

* If you have under 1 hour, 📖 this Atlantic article about how we’re more comfortable but less happy today.

* If you have 10 minutes, 👓 this article on David Goggins on his 40% rule.

If you enjoyed reading this post, share it with friends or click the ❤️ button so more people can discover it on Substack. 

IoNTELLIGENCE is the Playbook for Professional Success, Personal Transformation, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

* 🚨 The Big Idea: AI will affect every job, company, and industry in the coming year. Here’s how to prepare.

* 🔧 What To Do Next: Beware these two risks and adopt a personal AI strategy.

* 🏆 Key Takeaways: 5 quick wins to set yourself up for AI success in 2024.

* 🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast: Read “The Age of AI” and listen to this November conversation between Derek Thompson and Kein Roose.

Photo by ThisIsEngineering

Key Takeaways

* Beware of the AI de-skilling doom loop. Don’t let it do to your thinking skills what the keyboard did to your handwriting.

* AI levels the playing field and shrinks the gap between “star” and “average.”

* Use AI as a team of super-smart interns and a tireless thought partner.

* Commit to an AI “practice” of 30 minutes daily until it becomes an organic part of your toolkit.

* When machines become more like people, people need to become less like machines. Put your humanity on display.

🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast

* If you have a few hours, 📖 “The Age of AI and Our Human Future” by Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher - or this Wall Street Journal excerpt.

* If you have under 1 hour, 🎧 Listen to this podcast episode from November 14 between Derek Thompson and Kevin Roose on “How ChatGPT Can Change the Future of Jobs - Starting With Your Own.”

* If you have 10 minutes, 👓 this post from Section School on the best Chatbots of 2023 and this article by David Brooks on how to “major in being human in the age of AI.”

IoNTELLIGENCE is the Playbook for Professional Success, Personal Transformation, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

* 🚨 The Big Idea: Modern consumer society provides us with products and services that are comfortable, convenient, and immediate. They seduce us with easy but empty replacements for real life.

* 🔧 What To Do Next: Pay Attention. Practice Intention and Moderation. 

* 🏆 Key Takeaways: Have IRL encounters. As often as you can. Ideally, active and outside. 

* 🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast: Read “Digital Minimalism” by Cal Newport.

* 🧠 Parting Thoughts: What the inventor of the modern computer foresaw that “Westworld” and “Mr. Robot” confirmed.

📖 Reading Time: 5 Minutes

Photo by ROMAN ODINTSOV

Key Takeaways

* Much of modern life is now made up of convenient but unsatisfying virtual exchanges that I call ultra-processed experiences.

* Don't let these inferior substitutes replace real life.

* Just as when you choose a banana over a Big Mac, your brain and body will thank you.

🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast

* If you have a few hours, 📖 “Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World” by Cal Newport.

* If you have under 1 hour, 🎧 to this podcast episode between Ezra Klein and obesity neuroscientist Stephan Guyenet: “Our Brains Weren’t Designed For This Kind of Food.”

* If you have 10 minutes, 👓 the Atlantic article “How We Learned To Be Lonely.” 

* 🚨 The Big Idea: Your mindset really does matter. Your brain influences your biology, and biology drives your destiny.

* 🔧 What To Do Next: How to Apply this Knowledge to Work, Exercise, and Life.

* 🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast: Read David Robson’s book.

* 🧠 Intellectual Espresso Shots: What the great Bard (not the Google AI chatbot) and one of the world’s toughest people can teach us about the power of expectations.

🏆 Key Takeaways

* Think of your brain as an extremely stingy energy accountant and risk-averse boss of your body.

* The brain’s main job is to help you survive. That’s why your mind will always try to “quit” before your body needs to.

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* 🔧 What To Do Next: Use the NOPA Framework.

* 🔬 Go Deeper & Get Smart Fast: Read “The Molecule of More,” Listen to Dr. Anna Lembke and yours truly on the perils of “Dopamine Capitalism.”

* 🧠 Intellectual Espresso Shot: Silicon Valley sage Naval Ravikant on the Perils of Desire.