NonTrivial Sean McClure

Reputations are things people tend to protect. But protecting our reputation means blocking our values from being known, which I argue invites the wrong opportunities into our lives. Having a life filled with wrong opportunities means never having the chance  to deliver your real potential to the world, which really is a tragedy.


Support the show

Many people proclaim to understand something because they study it. But you cannot know a thing by studying the thing, you have to create the thing. Playing Beethoven is replicating what you see in front of you, it is not creating the thing you see in front of you. Those who don’t create don’t understand.  It doesn’t matter what you create, but if you want to understand something you must attempt to build it. 


Support the show

Placing bets means wagering something of value on the outcome of an uncertain event with the hopes of achieving a payoff.  The decisions we make in life are akin to placing bets, and as with all bets, access to good information is what increases the chances of a bet achieving a payoff. Most people approach accessing good information by conducting research, analysis, understanding odds and placing all these into a clear strategy. But what really makes systems tick is something deeper than anything research, analysis, odds or strategy can access. This deeper “good” information that really makes systems tick aligns with what we call intuition.  In this episode I discuss the importance of betting what we (truly) know. 
Support the show

Getting triggered means someone experiences a strong emotional reaction to a particular stimulus or event. But there is a good side to being triggered. Getting triggered can compel us towards positive action. We can deliberately trigger ourselves to produce good work by putting in place things that compel us to write/speak/draw etc. in the best way possible.  In this episode I argue that we should set up our projects, and life, so as to be positively triggered.


Support the show

A lot of people try to be their hero. But not only can we not do what our heroes do, our heroes cannot do what we do. It is our unique abilities that make us bring value to the world. The same thing can be achieved in countless ways, and those different ways are what the world needs. We need to stop trying to be our heroes. We should use heroes nothing more than peripheral inspiration, and instead flex the muscles we have.
Support the show

Math education consists primarily of learning rules to arrive at results. But these tricks bypass what is really happening. They can lead to a superficial grasp of mathematical concepts and hinder deeper learning and problem-solving abilities. Many of the skills we learn in schooling, and after, are akin to the mindless rules we learn in math. We have to learn something far deeper than rules to truly understand our work and our world. We can achieve true understanding by asking questions, engaging with the material, teaching others and above all applying our knowledge to real-world situations.


Support the show