g’day
a lot of younger people i talk to feel stuck right now.
not burnt out. not lazy… just stuck between conflicting advice.
> told to take risks, yet stay patient.
> told to work hard, yet fill your cup.
and so we feel unsure of the next move. snookered, we do nothing.
the problem is -
we’re trying to run modern software on our lizard brain.
feeling stuck is due to an architectural flaw with humans that hasn’t been patched.
our software layer - the intelligent, thoughtful, well-read part of you - is louder than ever. it’s full of plans, goals, dreams.
but underneath that sits your firmware - the lizard brain. what evolution spent hundreds of thousands of years refining. it handles danger, opportunity, curiosity, boredom, energy, parses tiny signals. it was built to keep you alive.
the modern world has put those two layers in open conflict.
so when you’re feeling stuck, you’re feeling something, but overriding it.
the way to wriggle out of this is counter-intuitive.
the answer isn’t to think more, to try harder.
it’s to think less. to loosen up.
to get dumber.
trust your gut (when to move)
your gut doesn’t speak in language. it speaks in friction.
that feeling of boredom you keep pushing through.
that impatience that everyone tells you to grow out of.
that dread before doing something you’re supposed to want.
these aren’t character flaws - they are system alerts.
listen to your gut, it’s trying to tell you one thing:
move.
most of us override that. we call it patience or resilience. but all we’re doing is siding with the software and muting the firmware.
listening to your gut simply means accepting the alert: something needs to change. time to move.
follow your nose (what path to take)
once you’ve admitted it’s time to move, the trap is trying to think your way into the perfect next step. that’s your modern software again.
your nose works differently.
you’re like a truffle hound - you’re looking for tiny whiffs of the good stuff.
a small spike of curiosity.
an idea you keep circling back to for no logical reason.
a topic that makes you lean forward and go deep.
you find them the way you’d see a retired guy sweep a beach with a metal detector. you are patient and trusting that the signal will reveals itself when it’s there.
you don’t pick a path. you notice one.
you become open to possibility.
and slowly, you edge out of being stuck - not by thinking harder, but by holding space for your dumber self.
charlie
ps – no new video this week again, we have been in the sleep deprivation trenches with the new baby. excited to share some incendiary new stuff on property next week
in the meantime, check out the new oversubscribed podcast about the future of defence tech / robotics in australia with brilliant founders joe and michael:
