My aim is to inspire people around the world one blog post at a time.
This is the place to nourish your mind, heart, body and soul.
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It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch your own business. Maybe you want to escape the rat race and find peace in simple living. Maybe you want to improve your health. Whatever your dream is, it is valid!
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Dreams without action are just dreams. But taking action doesn’t necessarily mean quitting your job and burning the ocean. Small steps matter. It is the ability to plug away consistently at something over time that is the key. Small steps add up. You’ll get there!
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If you keep building slowly and consistently with passion each day, adding value that matters to you, then the growth will take care of itself. The keys to achieving success are patience and avoiding complacency.
A Slayer of Bullshit
If you have ever picked up Vaclav Smil’s 2021 book, Numbers Don’t Lie, you probably did it for the same reason most of us reach for a data-driven book right now: you are tired of the noise.
Not the ordinary kind of noise, like a busy inbox or a loud street. I mean narrative noise. The kind that convinces you the world is collapsing, or magically improving, depending on who is speaking.
The kind that turns every complex issue into one with a simple villain and a simple solution. The kind that makes people certain what the problem is, angry, and ready to share a post before they have even asked, “Certain about what, exactly?”
Smil’s central promise is refreshingly unromantic: numbers, handled honestly, can pull you back to reality. Not because numbers are holy, but because they are stubborn. They refuse to care about your politics, your personal brand, or your favourite theory.
A Heart Like a Whorehouse
Many of us like to think of ourselves as caring people. We listen, we support, and we do our best to be there when others need us.
Caring is, after all, one of the most beautiful qualities of being human.
But sometimes our capacity to care gets stretched to the point where it feels less like a gift and more like a curse. It can feel as though our heart has become a whorehouse; open all hours, anyone welcome, nobody ever turned away.
The result?
Exhaustion, resentment, and an emotional emptiness that no amount of good intentions can fill.
Surrounded By Idiots
Most of us walk through life assuming that people make choices rationally.
After all, isn’t that what separates humans from other animals? We weigh costs against benefits, plan for the future, and act in our best interest.
At least, that’s the theory.
In practice, humans are anything but perfectly rational. We procrastinate, give in to cravings, act on impulse, and care about things that don’t fit neatly into spreadsheets.
Much of the world (our institutions, workplaces, and even public policies) has been designed as if people are robots. But we are not.
We’re all human, and being human means making mistakes.
The good news is that behavioural economics and behavioural science can help us better understand ourselves and others.
Simple Life Lessons
Sometimes life has a way of teaching us important lessons through various trials and tribulations.
And sometimes, those trials and tribulations can feel like a hard slap in the face, a wake-up call urging us to refocus and recalibrate.
The wisdom shared in this list of 25 life lessons provides just that; a wake-up call to help you navigate life with more purpose and insight.
They are not born from deep research into the psychology of human behaviour. Just simple truths tried and tested over time.
Let’s dive into each of these and explore why they matter.
The Math of Life and Death
When you think of mathematics, what often springs to mind is geometry class, algebra with variables, or maybe the frustration of a long exam.
Rarely do we equate math with matters of life and death. But that’s where Kit Yates takes us in his book “The Math of Life and Death”.
He argues that the hidden mathematics behind everyday decisions, from health care to legal cases to financial planning, can truly determine how we live and how we die.
Yates demonstrates through real-world stories that what may appear as cold numbers often have human consequences.
He says the design of the title is deliberately strong, stating, “Yes, sometimes maths can be a matter of life and death.”
When you see a newspaper headline about a “20 % increase in risk,” or you hear the phrase “your chance of X has doubled,” you shouldn’t just shrug and carry on.
These numbers matter, and misunderstanding them can cost lives.
Selling Sickness
A key question that I often ponder on is “Are pharmaceutical companies really incentivised to make people well”?
As the cost of medicines and other medical treatments seems to be on an accelerated upward trajectory here in South Africa, where I live, it’s a timely question.
The popular narratives seem to paint big drug firms as either heroic lifesavers or rapacious profit-seekers. I suspect that the truth is more complex and that there are elements of both.
This article aims to demonstrate that, in certain instances, the alignment between business incentives and genuine health outcomes is robust. In many other cases, it is weak or even inverted.
When Giants Stumble
Have you ever wondered why even seemingly invincible brands sometimes stumble and fail?
This article will examine key reasons, including ten case studies, to crystallise the lessons.
The thread that runs through all of them is not a single villain like “technology” or “the economy,” but a cluster of reinforcing mistakes: strategic inertia, business-model lock-in, heavy debt, warped incentives, a culture that slows honest learning, and late or timid responses to platform shifts.
When those errors compound, even icons fall.
What Defines Exceptional CEOs?
When you think about an exceptional CEO, what comes to mind first?
Is it charisma? Ruthless efficiency? Maybe a big personality that dominates every room they walk into?
Those might be common traits we associate with CEOs, but they don’t quite capture what sets the great ones apart.
The truth is that exceptional CEOs share a deeper set of qualities—things that don’t always appear on the surface but make all the difference over time. It’s less about showmanship and more about substance.
So, let’s take a closer look at what truly defines an exceptional CEO, using some real-world examples to see these traits in action.
Billionaire to Bust?
Success often breeds ambition, which can lead to overreach when left unchecked.
The idea that pushing too far eventually catches up with individuals and businesses has been repeated throughout history.
Overreach can manifest in different ways: expanding a business too quickly, entering industries without sufficient expertise, or misusing power, which alienates supporters.
Over time, what starts as bold ambition can turn into a self-destructive force.
In modern times, a prime example is Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur who has built some of the most transformative companies of the 21st century.
Yet, despite his achievements, Musk has also become a polarising figure.
His tendency to overextend himself in business and his use of personal influence has created a significant backlash that threatens his empire.
The Sun Doesn’t Rise Because The Rooster Crows
Humans are natural storytellers, and the ability to draw connections is at the heart of storytelling.
When we see two events happen in sequence, we instinctively create a narrative to link them. This capacity has helped us survive, adapt, and innovate.
But as helpful as this instinct is, it can also mislead us.
Not everything is connected, and failing to recognise this has led to erroneous decisions in both personal and business life.
A classic illustration of this flawed reasoning comes from an old tale: the rooster crows and the sun rises. It doesn’t take much to see how the rooster might start believing its crowing causes the sunrise.
Of course, the sun will rise whether or not the rooster crows. Yet humans, despite our supposed superior intelligence, often fall prey to the same kind of misjudgment.
Let’s explore why we do this, how it manifests in the real world, and how we can avoid these pitfalls.
Are You Predictably Irrational?
If you randomly ask several strangers how rational they think they are, what do you think their response would be?
What would your response be?
Most people believe they are reasonably rational human beings.
However, in “Predictably Irrational”, American professor and author Dan Ariely challenges the long-standing belief that humans are fundamentally rational beings who make decisions in their best interest.
Instead, through a series of fascinating experiments and real-world examples, he reveals that we’re anything but rational.
As he shows, our decisions are shaped by invisible forces—cognitive biases and emotions—that consistently lead us astray.
What makes these irrational behaviours even more intriguing is their predictability. We tend to make the same errors repeatedly under similar circumstances.
Rules Worth Breaking
Rules are the bedrock of societal functioning.
They create order, predictability, and a framework within which we can operate harmoniously.
From the laws that govern nations to the rules we set in our homes, these guidelines help us navigate life more smoothly and safely. Rules ensure fairness, protect rights, and maintain a level of decorum that makes communal living possible.
Most rules are designed with good intentions; generally speaking, following them is advisable.
They often stem from collective wisdom and experience, providing a tested path to achieving specific outcomes. Rules like "don't steal" or "pay your taxes" are fundamental to the functioning of a just society.
However, not all rules are sacrosanct.
Here are some rules worth breaking, even if it goes against what we've been taught …
Why You Are Guaranteed To Get Your Ass Kicked
A famous quote by the 26th US president, Theodore (Teddy) Roosevelt, often gets tossed around when discussing courage and perseverance.
It's from a speech he gave in 1910, called "Citizenship in a Republic," but most people remember it as "The Man in the Arena."
He says:
"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error … “
We live in a world of critics—people who love pointing out our mistakes and delight in telling us how we could have done things better.
But the truth is that those critics don't count.
To Live is to Choose
"To live is to choose. But to choose well, you must know who you are and what you stand for, where you want to go and why you want to get there." - Kofi Annan
On this winding, sometimes bumpy road we call life, our ability to navigate through or around some of the obstacles and potholes can be challenging.
If you're anything like me, you've probably found yourself standing at life's crossroads more than once, agonising over which path to take.