excellence, actually

"You can just do things" — but should you? The word "agency" has exploded in recent months, but what does it actually mean to be a high-agency person, and when does agency cross the line into recklessness? Today, we're tracing the concept from Aristotle to Nietzsche to Silicon Valley, exploring why agency is core to our humanity in an age of increasing automation. We unpack the tension between people who overthink and never act versus those who act without thinking, share stories of taking big swings (including 25 book rejections), and offer practical tools for building agency as a muscle — whether you need to take more action or learn to pause and reflect before just doing things.
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Today, we're fielding a listener question that every high performer eventually faces: where's the line between passion and obsession? The thing that makes you great can also be the thing that destroys you, and making sure that it doesn't is no simple matter. We'll talk about the research on dopamine, temperament, and addiction and chart the path from healthy drive to destructive spiral — useful for any athlete, entrepreneur, or high achiever trying to tame their demons.
- Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay
- Donate at farmkind.giving/excellence and your monthly donation will get a 50% boost to help factory farmed animals
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- If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks!
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Consistency is one of the fundamental skills of any discipline. But what does it actually look like in practice? Today, we're answering five of the most common questions we get about the challenges of trying to be consistent in everyday life. You'll get a breakdown of how to stack good days both in the short- and long-term (and understand why those require different approaches), Steve's "build vs. maintain" framework, Brad's Sock'em Boppers analogy for beating internal resistance, ways to determine when consistency is actually holding you back, how to know when to take a zero, and learnings from Stephen King and Roger Bannister.
- Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay
- Donate at farmkind.giving/excellence and your monthly donation will get a 50% boost to help factory farmed animals
- Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter
- Join The Growth Equation Academy
- If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks!
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Change happens — sometimes when we expect, often when we don't. So how do we hold onto what matters amidst big shifts (injury, a lay off, moving cities, changing schedules)? That's what we're tackling today. We'll walk you through the process of (to use Steve's words) "finding the smallest dose that keeps you sane," knowing the important difference between adopting a "having" and a "being" mindset, and understanding when to stop fighting change and let it change you. Plus: one all-time story about an injured Steve getting rescued from the ocean by a lifeguard while doing water aerobics in jeans that will almost certainly leave you changed.
- Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay
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- If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks!
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Youth sports are simultaneously a disaster and more important than ever. They remain one of the best places for kids to develop and, as we always say, do real things in the real world with real people. But they're also being hijacked by profit-driven leagues that exploit parental fears that their kid is getting left behind. We're exploring this conundrum today, unpacking how youth sports came to be a reportedly $40 billion (!) dollar industry, debunking the myth of the 10-year-old scholarship prospect, explaining what really matters (hint: it's not the 10-U championship), how to keep things fun in an age of hyper-competition and comparison, and how to think through these trade-offs for your own family.
- Get a free LMNT drink mix pack with any purchase: drinkLMNT.com/Clay
- Subscribe to The Growth Equation newsletter
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- If you are enjoying "excellence, actually," do us a huge favor: text your favorite episode to three people so they can enjoy it, too. Thanks!
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See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.