Life Strategy Consultant

Jamie Bennett
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Practical thinking for better decisions. Drawing on decades of experience in business, investing, philosophy and thousands of real conversations to explore timeless principles that stand up to everyday life. www.lifestrategyconsultant.com

  1. 6d ago

    Motivation vs Friction

    We often assume that when we’re not making progress, the problem is motivation. I’m not sure that’s always true. Motivation is unreliable. Some days it’s there, some days it isn’t. So in this episode, I’m exploring a different idea: What if the better move is to reduce friction? Make the thing easier to start. Remove unnecessary steps. Reduce distractions. Stop waiting to feel ready. And sometimes, when you’re trying to stop a behaviour, deliberately add friction instead. That doesn’t mean removing all difficulty. Some things are supposed to be hard. The interesting part is separating the difficulty that comes with doing something worthwhile from the unnecessary friction that gets in the way before you even begin. This is an idea I’m testing in my own life, not a rule I think everyone should follow. The question I keep coming back to is: What is the biggest point of friction here, and what happens if I remove it? Need help thinking something through? Book a 60-minute Life Strategy Consultation: https://cal.com/lifestrategyconsultant/ https://www.lifestrategyconsultant.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lifestrategyconsultant.com

    Motivation vs Friction

  2. Oct 4

    Enough Is Enough

    We tend to assume that more is better. More money. More progress. More optimisation. More work. More improvement. But at some point, the extra effort can start giving less back. And sometimes the last 10% costs far more than the first 90%. This episode is about the idea of “enough” — not as giving up, but as recognising when something has already done its job. That line is different depending on what you’re looking at. With health, maybe more effort is worth it. With money, maybe more gives you security. With work, perfectionism, or tweaking something that’s already good enough, maybe the extra push is just eating time and energy you could be spending somewhere else. That’s the bit I find interesting. Because “enough” isn’t really about stopping. It’s about noticing the trade. What am I gaining by pushing further? And what am I giving up to get it? The question I’m left with is: What does “enough for now” look like — and what are you trading to go beyond it? Need help thinking something through?Book a 60-minute Life Strategy Consultation: https://cal.com/lifestrategyconsultant/ https://www.lifestrategyconsultant.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lifestrategyconsultant.com

    Enough Is Enough

  3. Oct 1

    AI VC Round 3 — 3 AIs Pick 3 More Stocks

    I’m letting three different AIs build a real-money investment portfolio — using money I make selling things from my attic. This is AI VC Round 3. The three new picks are: TransMedics — TMDX Cellebrite — CLBT Intuitive Machines — LUNR That takes the portfolio to 9 companies and £90 invested. The existing portfolio is: Rocket Lab — RKLB Astera Labs — ALAB AST SpaceMobile — ASTS Monday.com — MNDY Recursion Pharmaceuticals — RXRX CRISPR Therapeutics — CRSP For the first six rounds, every funded company has to be a new company that hasn’t previously received money from any AI in the experiment. If an AI’s true highest-conviction choice is something already in the portfolio, I still record that choice as a signal — but it then has to give me its strongest eligible new pick. If two AIs independently choose the same new company in the same round, that overlap is also recorded as a signal, while keeping the funded portfolio diversified with new picks. The Round 3 prompt You are participating in the AI VC experiment. Your job is to choose one publicly traded company for a real-money, long-term investment portfolio. The investment amount for your selection is £10. The intended holding period is approximately 10 years, to around 2036. This is not a short-term trading exercise. I am looking for companies with the potential to produce exceptional long-term returns, while accepting that some picks may fail completely. The company must be publicly traded and realistically investable through Trading 212 Europe. The following companies have already received funding and are therefore not eligible for another funded position during the first six rounds: Rocket Lab — RKLB Astera Labs — ALAB AST SpaceMobile — ASTS Monday.com — MNDY Recursion Pharmaceuticals — RXRX CRISPR Therapeutics — CRSP If your true highest-conviction choice is one of those previously funded companies, state that first. I will record it as a duplicate conviction signal. You must then choose your strongest eligible new company for this round. If another AI independently chooses the same eligible company during this round, that overlap will also be recorded as a consensus signal. The portfolio should still end the round with new funded companies rather than funding the same position twice. Research using current information available at the time of the decision. Please provide: Research dateHighest-conviction duplicate, if applicableCompany name, ticker and exchangeApproximate market capitalisationInvestment thesisWhy now?10-year / outlier scenarioEstimated probability of that scenarioStrongest bear caseWhat would kill the thesis?Financial resilienceCompetitive positionTrading 212 Europe availabilityPrevious-position eligibility check Finish with: INVEST £10: [COMPANY] ([TICKER]) And give the single most important reason for the decision. The point of this experiment isn’t to prove that AI can beat professional investors. I’m interested in what happens when different AIs are given the same rules, the same horizon, real money and enough time for the decisions to play out. And because every pound invested is coming from things I’ve sold from my attic, the experiment effectively has its own little funding engine. Nine companies down. Plenty of time to see whether any of them turn into something interesting. Need help thinking something through? Book a 60-minute Life Strategy Consultation:https://cal.com/lifestrategyconsultant/ 🌐 Life Strategy Consultant Disclaimer:This is a personal real-money experiment for educational and entertainment purposes. It is not financial or investment advice, and nothing here is a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of capital. Always do your own research and make decisions appropriate to your own circumstances. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lifestrategyconsultant.com

  4. Sep 27

    True Interests Are Revealed Early

    I’ve been thinking about how often our genuine interests show up early. Before career choices. Before status. Before we start trying to become the kind of person we think we should be. There are usually clues. The things you were obsessed with as a kid. The subjects you kept coming back to. The hobbies that disappeared for years and then somehow returned. The kinds of people, work, stories or ideas that have repeatedly caught your attention. I don’t think that means every childhood interest should become a career. And I don’t think it means people can’t change. I’m more interested in the patterns. Because sometimes we spend a lot of time trying to invent a new identity when there’s already a trail behind us showing what genuinely holds our attention. The useful question for me is: What have I kept coming back to, even when nobody was telling me to? That might be a better clue than asking who you think you should become next. Need help thinking something through? Book a 60-minute Life Strategy Consultation: https://cal.com/lifestrategyconsultant/ https://www.lifestrategyconsultant.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lifestrategyconsultant.com

    True Interests Are Revealed Early

  5. Sep 20

    The Reverse Pyramid Method

    Big goals can feel inspiring right up until you try to start them. Then they become vague, heavy, and easy to postpone. This episode is about a simple way I’ve used for years: start with the big outcome, then work backwards until you get to something small enough to act on. Not “How do I become a tattoo artist?” More like: Who do I admire? What do they actually do? What skills do I need? What equipment do I need? What can I learn first? What can I do today? The big goal stays at the top. But the work happens lower down. That’s why I think of it as a reverse pyramid. You don’t need to solve the whole thing at once. You just need to keep breaking it down until the next step becomes obvious enough to move. Need help thinking something through?Book a 60-minute Life Strategy Consultation: https://cal.com/lifestrategyconsultant/ https://www.lifestrategyconsultant.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lifestrategyconsultant.com

    The Reverse Pyramid Method

  6. Sep 13

    What Words Are You Using?

    There are certain phrases we use so often that we stop noticing them. “I can’t.” “I’m not that kind of person.” “That’s just how I am.” “It’s impossible.” Sometimes they’re accurate. Sometimes they’re just shorthand. And sometimes we repeat them so often that they start becoming instructions. This episode is about paying a little more attention to the words we use — especially the ones we use about ourselves. Not because changing a sentence magically changes your life. But because language can influence what we notice, what we attempt, what we dismiss, and what we decide isn’t available to us before we’ve even tested it. I’m not suggesting replacing every negative thought with something artificially positive. I’m more interested in whether the words we choose are describing reality — or quietly narrowing it. A small question to try: What phrase do you repeat about yourself that might deserve another look? Need help thinking something through? Book a 60-minute Life Strategy Consultation:https://cal.com/lifestrategyconsultant/ https://www.lifestrategyconsultant.com/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lifestrategyconsultant.com

    What Words Are You Using?

  7. Sep 11

    Why I’m Doing This Podcast

    I originally started this for a fairly personal reason. I wanted to leave something behind for my kids — and maybe one day their kids — so they could hear some of the ideas I was thinking about, the things I was working through, and what I’d learned along the way. But another part came from conversations I was having through my tattoo work. Over the years, people would come back and tell me that something we’d talked about had stuck with them or helped them make a change. A few people even asked whether they could speak to me outside the tattoo studio specifically to work through things in their lives. That got me wondering whether some of these ideas might be useful to other people too. I’m not interested in telling people how to live. This is much more like field notes, not instructions. Ideas I’m testing. Things I’ve learned. Other people’s ideas that interest me. Things that have worked, things that haven’t, and occasionally taking an idea apart to see whether it actually holds up. If an episode plants one useful seed, that’s enough. Need help thinking something through? Book a 60-minute Life Strategy Consultation:https://cal.com/lifestrategyconsultant/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lifestrategyconsultant.com

    Why I’m Doing This Podcast

  8. Sep 4

    Have You Given Up Yet?

    “Never give up” sounds great on a motivational poster. In real life, sometimes giving up is exactly the right thing to do. The harder question is whether you’re deliberately walking away from something that no longer makes sense, or whether you’ve just quietly stopped because it became difficult. In this episode I talk about both sides — building my own house and sticking with something enormous one small job at a time, but also jobs, projects and approaches I’ve happily abandoned when the direction was wrong. The goal isn’t to become somebody who never quits. That sounds exhausting. Maybe it’s to become somebody who quits deliberately — and knows the difference between changing tactics, avoiding discomfort, and genuinely moving on. Jamie Need help thinking something through? Book a 60-minute Life Strategy Consultation:https://cal.com/lifestrategyconsultant/ 🌐 https://www.lifestrategyconsultant.com/ ▶️ https://youtube.com/@lifestrategyconsultant This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lifestrategyconsultant.com

    Have You Given Up Yet?
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About

Practical thinking for better decisions. Drawing on decades of experience in business, investing, philosophy and thousands of real conversations to explore timeless principles that stand up to everyday life. www.lifestrategyconsultant.com

Information

  • Creator
    Jamie Bennett
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    15
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Jamie Bennett
  • Show Website
    Life Strategy Consultant