NonTrivial
NonTrivial is a podcast about the patterns that exist at the intersection of science, philosophy and complexity, and how these speak to universal principles related to skills, growth and life.
The longer you listen, the more you’ll internalize these universal principles and see how they inform your work, your ideas, and the way you shape the world around you.
Become a Member at nontrivialpodcast.com or patreon.com/8431143/join
Premium members get access to Techniques and Mindsets videos, where you'll learn to implement the universal patterns I discuss as a set of skills, and shape your thinking into a formidable tool for recognizing and executing the patterns that work.
Premium members also get access to the member app, with Visual Concept Summaries of Each Episode, Community Forum, Summary Notes, Transcripts, and more.
Episodes
115 episodes
Protect Your Growth: How Not to Betray Your Own Evolution
In this episode I discuss how building your own constraints can turn fleeting insights into structure, protect your growth, and help you stay aligned with who you’re becoming.
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Season 7
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Episode 13
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28:34
Learn by Exposure: Immersing Yourself into Real Environments
In this episode I discuss the difference between learning rules and recognizing patterns, arguing that genuine understanding comes from immersing yourself in real environments rather than relying on isolated fundamentals. Through examples like ...
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Season 7
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Episode 12
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26:51
Spend Before You’re Rich
In this episode I discuss the idea that attitude must come before action and results, and that true growth requires courage. I explore how mindset shapes behavior, why resilience emerges from maintaining the right outlook, and how stepping into...
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Season 7
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Episode 11
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34:15
Finding Peace in the How, Not the What
The episode is about how true peace of mind comes from discovering and practicing a personal process—the “how”—that aligns with who you are, rather than chasing external categories or “what” you do.
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Season 7
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Episode 10
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26:07
Essence Generates Abundance
In this episode I discuss the importance of capturing the essence of things—the single core idea or statement that strips away noise and redundancy while anchoring creativity, learning, and performance. I explain how identifying this essence ma...
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Season 7
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Episode 9
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24:17
Relentlessness is the Mother of all Skills
In this episode, I discuss why relentlessness is the mother of all skills, enabling us to push forward despite frustration and setbacks. I explore how techniques and mindsets serve as anchors but ultimately subsume into the higher-level purpose...
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Season 7
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Episode 8
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20:01
Chase Patterns, Not Your Reasons for Them
The extremely effective skill of recognizing and following the patterns that move us. And the detrimental, interfering behavior of attempting to explain those patterns.
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Season 7
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Episode 7
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26:07
Stop Prioritizing
In this episode I argue that we should choose to work on the first thing that comes to mind, rather than prioritize. While such behavior will cut into the time you would have spent on some other more prioritized task, it will be absolutely wort...
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Season 7
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Episode 6
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29:58
Doing It All in a Day: Nature’s Way
In this episode I discuss how doing everything in a day is almost always an impossibility, but is in fact possible if you learn to categorize your work in a fashion akin to how nature operates.
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Season 7
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Episode 5
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26:11
Balance is the Decision
In this episode I discuss how making decisions in an uncertain world is best handled, not through explicit weighing of choices, but by focusing on high level targets (like balance) that cut through the noise.
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Season 7
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Episode 4
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36:08
Reading as Mental Training, and More
In this episode I discuss how reading should be done for more than just entertainment and knowledge. Reading should be done every day to train the mind in extended concentration, maintaining a single thread of thought, and holding your attentio...
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Season 7
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Episode 3
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44:10
Build Your Life, Literally
In this episode I discuss the importance of creating a physical snapshot of your life, to add meaning and direction to your efforts.
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Season 7
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Episode 2
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17:46
Let the Environment Build You
In this episode I discuss the idea that our environment should make the "decisions" for us, when it comes to crafting our lives and the things in it.
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Season 7
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Episode 1
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31:19
Throw it In and See what Sticks: The New Engineering
In this episode I discuss the new direction engineering is headed, and why it sounds to many as unsophisticated. It's a "throw everything in a pot to see what happens" outlook on how to build things, which I argue is in fact a far more sophisti...
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Season 6
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Episode 24
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33:12
When the Ink Fades; Why (and How) We are Now the Media
In this episode I argue that platforms like X are in fact a better source of truth than mainstream news outlets, despite their errors and lack of expertise. I lay out the underlying mechanism behind how truth persists in large collectives, and ...
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Season 6
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Episode 23
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42:11
AI, Creativity, and the Benefit of Being Chased by the Machine
In this episode I talk about a recent comment made by Ben Affleck, suggesting that AI does not currently create. I challenge this, outlining how AI follows the same overall approach to creativity as humans. Further, I argue that our creativity ...
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Season 6
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Episode 22
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40:47
Dynamics are Truer than Facts: How to "Win" Debates
In this episode I discuss what I believe is missing from almost all debates today; an understanding of the dynamics at play in the systems being discussed. I argue that knowledge of natural systems and their dynamics can land debates on somethi...
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Season 6
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Episode 21
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56:54
Life Goes Better with Guarantees
In this episode I discuss the importance of placing guarantees in your life, to ensure you biggest realizations get folded into your processes going forward.
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Season 6
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Episode 20
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27:35
Stop Offloading Your Memory to the Machine
Externalizing your memory to machines ultimately makes you less productive.It feels like the opposite when you first do it. That’s what today’s products depend on. But what feels like an advantage is really just seeing the ...
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Season 6
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Episode 19
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50:07
Infinite Palaces: The True Potential of the Mind
In this episode I discuss the potential of the human mind in terms of assumed versus actual boundaries. People frame their mental potential in terms of space and time complexity (although most don't call it that); in other words, they assume th...
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Season 6
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Episode 18
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27:37
Hover and Wait: It Eventually Works
You can read more effectively by hovering above words and waiting until the text you thought would be too much to comprehend materializes in the mind. But if you try, sometimes it seems to work and sometimes it doesn't. But if you learn to hove...
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Season 6
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Episode 17
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21:46
Be Niche, and Grow
In this episode I discuss how to be more niche in your life and with your projects, and why that's the only way to truly grow.
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Season 6
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Episode 16
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21:13
You Should Be Reading at the Speed of Thought
In this episode I discuss how standing too close to the techniques we use can end up ruining their ability to help us.
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Season 6
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Episode 15
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23:55
You Only Need the Title to Make the Rest Work
In this episode I argue that all that is required to produce your best work is the title of that work. The title captures the essence of what you're hoping to communicate, while everything else can be achieved automatically. The "everything els...
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Season 6
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Episode 14
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24:46
Work, Play, One Life
Most of us want some kind of work-life balance. We tend to assume this means creating a distinct separation between when we work and when we play. In this episode I argue that balance is more naturally achieved when we bring work and life toget...
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Season 6
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Episode 13
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23:50
