5 Reps: Plato’s cave, a brown banana, and trying to do too much

4 weeks ago

Here are a few short thoughts this week.

Money

Try to do too much and you’ll accomplish nothing. At least, it’ll feel that way. Progress will be unrecognizable. When you’re directionless, momentum is impossible to delineate. The most successful people I know exist in a state of focus.

The people I admire focus on their craft not for weeks, months, or even years. But for decades.

“Be wary of advice that has the shelf life of a brown banana. Instead, categorize information as either permanent or expiring. Ask yourself, “In five years, will this still work?” Expiring advice isn’t necessarily bad. It does, however, tend to distract us.”

-From The Obvious Choice (buy here)

Health

If you want your kids to be fit, strong, and curious…

You have to be fit, strong, and curious.

Lift weights, read books. Do both in front of them.

You can’t outsource your influence as a parent.

Lead by example. Children do what you do, not what you say.

There’s a parable called Plato’s cave.

It’s about prisoners, chained in a cave in a way that they can only look straight ahead at a wall.

There’s a fire between them and people carrying stuff like vases.

The prisoners can’t turn around, so all that they see are shadows on the wall. Shadow puppets, basically. And it’s all that they know.

Then one prisoner gets free. At first, the sun blinds him. Everything hurts. He wants to go back to the comfort of the cave. To the shadows. But he stays. His eyes adjust. And holy shit, he sees actual trees. And stars.

He runs back to tell his friends. They think he’s gone mad. All they know are shadows. All they’ve ever known are shadows.

We’re those prisoners.

Our chains are our narrow bands of knowledge.

The shadows we see are our routines that we accept as normal, if only by our acquiescence to them.

Seasons of Yes are a way to break out of the cave.

Collective restoration are moments when we stop to truly see.

The first for checking out, the second for checking back in.

The world outside your familiar shadows is wider than you can imagine. And in that wideness, you’ll find both the serendipity and wonder that you crave.

-An excerpt from Unhinged Habits (Coming out Jan 27, 2026. Preorder here).

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-Jon

P.S. Jays win! Jays win! On to the World Series. (a story from game 7)

Promo

A few things or people I like and recommend

Amanda Goetz book Toxic Grit got released this past week. It’s a rally cry and roadmap for those who are done surviving success and ready for a new way to live, work and (actually) enjoy our lives. And Amanda? She’s rad! (Buy your copy here.)