The last two weeks I dismantled the “surface area of luck” advice. But surface area was just the symptom. The real problem is bigger. The rate of change around us is exponential. But the leadership playbooks we were handed are linear. Do more. Move faster. Optimize. Repeat. And when that […]

Why does the directive to “increase your surface area of luck” feel so right? Last week I called it out: the popular idea of surface area of luck is grind culture with a rebrand. But why does this advice resonate so deeply? Why do smart founders keep repeating it? Because

The popular idea of “surface area of luck” is grind culture with a rebrand. You’ve heard the directive: Go to more events. Meet more people. Put yourself out there. Increase your surface area and luck will find you. It sounds smart. It feels actionable. And it’s become gospel in entrepreneurship

Last week I unpacked Owen Schaffer’s research on flow—the 7 conditions cited in Ikigai. The recap: every condition assumes the path is already known. Know the task. Know the method. Know the metrics. Match skill to challenge. Execute. That’s flow for optimization. The research doesn’t measure originality, divergent thinking, or creative

I was reading about flow when I realized the research contradicts everything we believe about it. Beach cabana. Malta. Sunshine. I’m in Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life when I hit Owen Schaffer’s research on flow—and the 7 conditions required to achieve it. And I stop.

Here on the solstice, there’s a sense of renewal, a quiet hope, a pause in time. It takes me back to summers in New Jersey, to my parents’ legendary dinner parties: The theme was luau and guests arrived in festive tropical attire and sipped flower-adorned mai tais. My parents converted