#36: The Hidden Reason Smart People Make Terrible Life Decisions
Release Date: 05/16/2025
#53: Breaking Free from Sexual Shame: The Hidden Weight You Don't Have to Carry
Beyond Success
Most people, thanks to religious, cultural, or family baggage, carry around the unnecessary burden of toxic sexual shame. Sometimes this isn’t even your own shame, it’s been passed down through generations under the guise of virtue. Here’s the problem: Unchecked sexual shame seeps into your relationships, your leadership, and threatens your very fulfillment of life. Even if it was never yours to carry. That’s why it’s imperative to lift your burden of sexual shame. Not only will it keep your relationships shallow, but it will also shatter your sense of self-trust...
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#52: Why Compassion is the Secret to Trust, Love, & Fulfillment
Beyond Success
There’s one ingredient missing from many high achievers’ lives that drains all the fulfillment from their success, turns small failures into a life-or-death scenario, and slowly poisons your relationships at home and at work. Worst part? Most high achievers have conditioned themselves into believing that this missing ingredient is a weakness to be snuffed out at each step. So, they trap themselves in a toxic cycle that keeps repeating no matter how many of the variables they try to change. The missing ingredient? Compassion. Not only is compassion not a weakness,...
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#51: Why Courage Is Key to the Life You’ve Been Chasing
Beyond Success
Most people treat fear as the enemy. They avoid it, numb it, or try to silence it. But here’s the truth: fear isn’t the problem. Fear is the forge where courage is born. Every meaningful step in life requires it. Asking for the promotion. Saying what you actually want in a relationship. Telling the truth when it risks your reputation. Without courage, integrity collapses. Relationships stay shallow. Careers stall. And fulfillment slips further out of reach. In this new episode, David reveals why courage isn’t about being fearless, but about acting even while fear screams at you to...
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#50: Integrity: Why It's Required for Happiness & How to Cultivate It
Beyond Success
If you constantly feel on edge, like a wave of anxiety is always crashing directly into your nervous system, then I have some tough news for you: The root of anxiety is almost always a lack of integrity in some aspect of your life. When you tell yourself one thing, but then do another thing, your body keeps score. It knows you’re lying to yourself (and to others). And this is where integrity fractures, causing insurmountable anxiety, agitation, and a complete loss of peace and fulfillment. But you know what? Even if your lack of integrity has caused mental distress, it’s possible to...
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#49: The Surprising Power of Moral Character in a Cutthroat World
Beyond Success
There’s a deep irony that happens to people who chase validation and power at all costs: They’re the ones who end up exhausted, paranoid, alone, burnt out, bitter, and resentful in the long-term. If it hasn't happened yet, it’s only a matter of time. The trouble is, many high achievers fall into this insidious trap of self-sabotage. You may have even noticed some of the signs starting to emerge in your life. There is a solution to this. A way where you build trust with your inner system, and get peace as the result. But it won’t be easy. The solution? Developing...
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#48: Why the Sage's Journey Fulfills You When the Hero's Journey Stops Making Sense
Beyond Success
There’s an ancient Western myth that’s been adopted by the masses and often without their consent. It can be found in movies like Star Wars and Finding Nemo. It’s in books like The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. It’s the secret theme included in your favorite TEDx Talk. And it’s something that’s taken for granted in almost every business podcast that exists. Worst part? This myth may be responsible for your success… but, if left unchecked, it’s responsible for the low-grade anxiety, under-the-surface numbness, and quiet sadness you feel but never talk about. ...
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#47: Why Self-Help Isn't Working (& The Mirror Method That Finally Does)
Beyond Success
Most people I’ve coached have a similar story: They inherited the “Silent Blueprint” lie as a child that told them they must perform, impress, and achieve to feel like they’re enough. And yet, at a certain point, their wins feel like losses. No matter how much they achieve, they go to bed with a dull emptiness in their chest that they can’t explain, much less address. Why? Because no amount of winning fills the void in your internal system. Turns out, the “Silent Blueprint” wasn’t just a lie, but an insidious one that poisons your happiness and fulfillment from the...
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#46: Why You Still Feel Stuck Even After Doing 'The Work'
Beyond Success
So many high achievers do the “right things.” They read the books. They practice breath work. They follow the morning routines. They “hack” their productivity. All of these things can make them feel calmer, more in control, and more focused. Until chaos erupts, and you find yourself back in your same-old destructive patterns and emotional loops. Why does this happen? Because most personal development is only surface level. And since it’s only surface level, as soon as your deeper parts get triggered, they act in the only way they know how. In other words,...
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#45: Why Hustling Harder Will Only Get You Worse Results
Beyond Success
Most high achievers are being driven by the absolute worst source of fuel: Fear, guilt, shame, and insecurities. These traps are alluring because they’re actually effective routes to short-term success. And they disguise themselves as grit, discipline, and sheer determination. Problem is… the well eventually runs dry. And that’s the real reason why you feel stuck, uninspired, drained, and like you’re always playing catch up. Worst part? You might feel like you’re being lazy, undisciplined, or just aren’t hungry enough. That’s when most high achievers...
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#44: When 'Self-Defense' Becomes Self-Destruction
Beyond Success
Many leaders are driven by an insidious fear that tells them their sense of self-worth depends on their ability to protect their mask. But your mask is just an outdated story your subconscious created, and protecting this mask can only drive a wedge between you and your spouse, your kids, and your team. This is why it feels like you’re constantly at war. You are. Feedback morphs into betrayal. Correction morphs into humiliation. Making a mistake makes you feel like you’re being erased. This is not a good way to live - and it’s an even worse way to lead. It leaves nothing but...
info_outlinePerhaps the most important skill an intelligent person can learn is the Dao of Decision Making.
Making tough, high-stakes decisions doesn’t come naturally to high achievers because they’ve been fooled into valuing their intelligence more than their emotions. But every decision has its roots in emotions… and relying solely on logic and data for these decisions is a quick way to make a decision that wrecks your marriage, your internal harmony, and even your future fulfillment.
In other words, there is a better way to access the deep kind of wisdom that makes the answer to high-stake decisions obvious.
Problem is, high achievers, by their very nature, have learned to cut off this deep sense of emotional wisdom for their entire lives.
That’s why I recorded this episode. You’ll discover the “Dao of Decision Making" method, figure out how to achieve internal harmony before making any high-stakes decisions, and you’ll also learn techniques to give you clarity for every future decision you make.
Listen now.
Show Highlights Include:
- How to get better at making high-stake decisions (so you don’t accidentally wreck your marriage, your health, or your enjoyment of life) (0:30)
- Why making decisions based on the best arguments and logic can subtly lead you to misery (1:51)
- The deadly “Illusion of Rational Clarity” that pits your emotions against your logic and results in making decisions that sets your internal world ablaze, leaving you miserable and unfulfilled (3:10)
- Here’s the brutal truth behind why smart people make dumb decisions (4:15)
- The psychological reason behind why you get stuck making decisions (and the airy-fairy-sounding solution smart people rarely consider) (10:17)
- Confucius’s secret for achieving “Inner Harmony” so making high-stakes decisions becomes as easy and naturally as walking (12:39)
- Why any decision made from panic or pressure will never be the wisest decision you can make (and how to learn to be still and calm when faced with high-stakes decisions) (16:57)
- Use this quick protocol whenever you feel yourself spinning from a weight and high-stakes decision - it recenters you so that the wise decision become obvious (18:27)
For more about David Tian, go here:
https://www.davidtianphd.com/about/
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