Ethan Tan

A.I. can provoke fear and separate us ever more from each other and our humanity.

Or... it can lead us within, to our greatest awakening.

I'm working on Option 2

If we live seeking to be great, we spend our lives living as if we are not - and we will create outcomes that reflect lack.

If we live as greatness seeking to express itself, we will create outcomes that embody wholeness - and we will come to know ourselves as that regardless of outcome.

No matter how Thor strained and strived, he could not lift Mjolnir.

Only when he discovered his highest self, did Mjolnir become his.

Likewise, no matter how we strain and strive for joy, peace, and freedom, we will not have them.

Only when we connect with what's within, will joy, peace and freedom be ours.

'You are good enough' is a powerful message.

Yet, I invite you to consider how powerful it is to be willing to be NOT good enough.

The fear of falling short, or being found out, or looking bad, kills most of our dreams.

It is part and parcel of living our highest lives, that we encounter dragons.

This is because the dream isn't even as much about the dream, as it is about becoming the version of you who faces dragons, and learns to fly with them.

Have the courage to be not good enough.

What could you give yourself that could transform your life today?

This: "I give myself permission to explore what my heart truly wants."

If you don't have time - you need to do it.
If it feels uncomfortable - you need to do it.
If it feels irresponsible - you need to do it.
If you find it confusing - you need to do it.
If you dismiss it as trite - you need to do it.
If it scares the crap out of you - you need to do it.
If you think it's for others - you need to do it.

The #1 regret of the dying is "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me."

Stop all the doing and go inside and listen. Now that, you'll never regret.

One beautiful way of viewing the universe is that it is an infinite exploration and creation of possibilities.

Each creation is a new possibility, completely unique, never seen before, and never to be seen again.

You are such a creation. An instrument whose essence is music that has never been heard.

"You're wearing Ukraine colours." I said to my neighbour. He looked down at this yellow and blue top, surprised.

"Yes, I am! I didn't realize."

We laughed about how he had chosen it subconsciously.

Then he said, "So are you!"

I looked down.

Well, so I was, in yellow and blue as well, without knowing 😄

What a cool reminder that:
- There's so much about us happening on autopilot
- It's so easy to be blind to ourselves

That's why it's incredibly powerful to have someone who can help us hold a mirror to ourselves.

When we make what was invisible visible, we gain freedom and the power to choose.

P.S. maybe this is just a dad thing, I don't know 🙃

P.P.S. to support children affected by the war in Ukraine, I will be taking on a new coaching client, with 100% of my fees to be donated to Save the Children. DM me if interested

Want to transform your life AND help Ukraine?

If you're a conscious leader/creator who is a YES to:

🚀 Investing in yourself to transform your own life
AND
❤️‍🩹 Helping children affected by the war in Ukraine

This message is for you.

Here's the invitation: I am setting aside one 1:1 coaching slot for a new client.

Invest $15-30k in a coaching partnership with me and you will elevate to a new plane.

You will expand how you show up in the world, you will live a life of greater expansion, flow and impact.

AND

I will donate 100% of your coaching investment to Save the Children's Ukraine appeal.

So your money gets to work twice.

Your investment will transform you, your life and those around you, AND make a life-changing difference to children who really need it.

This offer is open to both personal and corporate clients.

Requirements are:
🔸 You are genuinely ready for a mind, heart , and life-expanding journey, and will make our partnership a priority
🔸 You are willing to be open and honest, and to show up fully in our conversations

👋 Please comment or DM me if interested.

We will have an initial call to explore what you're looking for and see if we are a good fit.

If that's not you but this resonates, please help me share this so it reaches the right person.

Thank you.

Ethan Tan is now on WhatsApp.

"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody." -Herbert Swope

If you're in Product or a leader of any kind, you'll know the pain of this one.

It’s such a seductive trap to fall into. All these people are depending on me so I should try to keep them happy.

Right? No no no...

It’s like parenting. If we gave our kids everything they asked for, they'd be obese and we’d be arrested.

We’re not trying to please everybody.

We’re working together to create something meaningful.

"I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody." -Herbert Swope

If you're in Product or a leader of any kind, you'll know the pain of this one...

In the midst of 'social isolation' it's wonderful how, in many ways, it's anything but that. It's amazing how people are pulling together, helping others, checking in on them, reaching out to strangers, and lowering barriers with colleagues, friends, and family.

Love is more powerful than fear. But much of the time it seems like we don't have permission to express it. This situation has made something perfectly clear. We're all in this together. We are one. We always have been. Any division is an illusion.

If we're going to retain one lesson when this is over, let's remember this.

🚑Years ago, a friend landed awkwardly while playing basketball and broke his right arm.

He's right-handed, so the recovery period was a struggle. 😬

But out of necessity, he learned how to do everything with his left hand - from daily tasks like writing and brushing his teeth, to dribbling and shooting the basketball.

Months later, when he had healed, he was a much more complete player.

Here's the thing:

It's likely he would never have developed his abilities in the same way without the injury.

Now - we're surrounded by new challenges and restrictions on life.

And it's natural to push back, complain, or resent them. I know many are experiencing really tough times, and I don't want to diminish them in any way.

But as Winston Churchill said:
"If you're going through hell, keep going"

We can sit and worry. We can wait for things to change. Or we can keep going.

If we keep going, we unlock a hidden benefit.

We will adapt:

🔆 Learning how to be alone with ourselves.
🔆 How to lead in uncertainty.
🔆 How to handle stress, anxiety, and overwhelm.
🔆 How to manage our time at home.
🔆 How to cut costs, or generate a new income.
🔆 How to face sickness and loss.
🔆 How to collaborate and support each other.
🔆 Restaurants learning how to become delivery-only.
🔆 Working parents learning to homeschool.
🔆 Companies learning how to work remotely.
🔆 Governments learning how to move quickly.

Nassim Taleb uses the term 'antifragile' to describe something that becomes stronger with shocks and disruption.

That's an innate ability you and I have.

Some adaptation is being forced on all of us. But we get a say in this.

We are being handed the clay, but we get to mold its form.

By doing that individually, we contribute to the collective evolution, and no struggle has to go to waste.

When this storm has passed, we can emerge wiser, stronger, and more conscious.

What's one thing you can do today?

Ask yourself, "How do I want to have evolved when this is over?"

Amid the chaos, a deeper lesson from the 😷...

🤝 Ironclad rules, billion-dollar projects, and mega-events have disappeared like smoke

❗Urgent priorities have been forgotten

🔥 Impossible situations, like working from home while homeschooling the kids, or schools being 100% remote, will be created from nothing

⏰ Time that we didn't have has materialized - to monitor, plan, and adapt for these changes

What has this revealed?

None of it was fixed. The possibilities were always there. We were just closed off to them.

We are pure potential.

Something to remember while you go about your day 🙂

🏆 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 #𝟭 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗜 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗶𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗲𝗹 𝗝𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗻...

MJ seemed to defy reality. He was a winning machine. And he won in eye-popping fashion.

I along with millions of kids, spent hours trying to copy his moves.

But we were fixated on the wrong things.

A while back, Bill Walton interviewed Michael Jordan:

- I asked him, "How much time did you spend on those incredibly spectacular plays that ESPN keeps looping on a constant basis?"

[Michael] looked at me with incredulity and said without hesitation, "I spent all my time on the fundamentals. On my foundation, on physical fitness, on balance, on symmetry, on skill development, on my footwork, on my commitment to the team."

All great achievers share his obsession with the fundamentals.

Why is that? Shouldn't they be spending more time on the latest, exciting stuff?

🏛️ Because intricate structures have to be built on solid foundations.

Without the fundamentals, it all crumbles.

They're simple to understand but hard to master.

It's easier to get lost in the details or new stuff.

Even the best can forget this.

If you want to go exponential, stay focused on the fundamentals, day after day, week after week.

🌀 5 signs you've been fooled by the Blender of Powerlessness:

🔻 You feel under a lot of pressure
🔻 You're blaming others for how you feel
🔻 You're being defensive and reactive
🔻 You keep doing busywork over impactful work
🔻 Your mind is churning 24-7

When you're in this place of overwhelm, doubt, and anxiety, it's like mud in a blender.

Not much good is going to emerge.

You can turn it up but that just makes things worse.

What's the alternative?

Become aware of this and recognize it isn't helpful or healthy.

➡️See how you're the cause - not anyone or anything else.

You're doing it to yourself.

You picked up this blender and used it.

And you can stop using it.

Why not discard it, and reclaim your power. ☀️🚶

🌀Here's a funny thing... we're designed to think linearly.

It makes sense from an evolutionary perspective... that's all we need to survive and reproduce.

So we tend to think:
- if we put in 10-hour days, we'll create more impact than if we put in an 8-hour day.
- if we're overwhelmed, we should think harder.
- if we're overworked, we should power through our to-do list faster.

The problem arises when we apply that linear thinking to thrive and make an impact...

In this context, months of work can have no value, while a decision you make or insight you have in minutes, can lead to millions in revenue, or save months of time.

📈The key is finding the right leverage point.

We mostly understand this at a strategic level.

But we forget to go all the way upstream.

If our decisions and insights are golden eggs, then our ability to see, think, and act with clarity - to perform at our best - is the goose that lays the golden eggs.

What if instead of trying to squeeze more eggs out of the goose, you level up the goose? 💡💆‍♂️💡
.. No, I'm not calling you a goose :)

What is the *real* leverage point for your success?

Here's what I've learned from my business, personal growth, being a product manager, coaching, and 41 years of life...

Forget Goals — This Is What You Really Need To Be Successful It’s right in front of us, but still overlooked 🙈

Do you know someone who is really getting in their own way? 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♀️

Maybe it's your friend, boss, colleague, spouse, brother/sister/mom/dad... you can see how they could be so much more effective, impactful, successful, fulfilled, etc.

They have so much more potential than they think.

It's clear to you, yet that person just can't see it. They've constructed invisible walls. 🙈

Well, in the same way, there's a lot that is invisible to you.
And me.
And all of us.

Here's a secret... when I work with my clients, they think I'm going to make them more awesome. But the truth is, I don't. I show them how awesome they really are.

So go on, walk through those invisible walls and live from your true potential. 🚀

🎭Why do we need to wear masks at work? It's slowly starting to change... people are showing up more authentically... but still, it's far from the norm. There's a lot of roleplay going on 😀

And there are a lot of consequences...

❇️When you have one mask talking to another mask, well... you can see why there might be communication issues.

❇️It takes a lot of energy to maintain this front

❇️You're not at your best when you're playing someone else

❇️Worst of all - people never get to know the real you

What holds you back from showing up authentically❓

🧠 One thing I've noticed while coaching smart people: Intelligence can backfire and lead to overthinking.

Just because you CAN analyze everything doesn't mean you should.

If sitting next to a multitasker can lower your IQ by 17 points, consider the effect of having tons of tabs open in your head...

Looking to become an Exponential Product Manager?

I've just published this article with insights you can start applying right away.

How To Develop Into An Exponential Product Manager Highly effective Product Managers develop themselves in 5 key areas.

Throw people together and let them achieve great things, right? If only it were that easy...

We've all experienced the struggles of miscommunication, siloes, and conflict.

In this article I suggest one simple but powerful approach that has the power to transform how you connect.

What do you find toughest about connecting at work?

One Simple Rule to Connect Better At Work You're not like me. That may be the first thought that crosses your subconscious when you see me.

It’s normal to blame circumstances or other people for not being where we want to be.

That’s how our brains are wired.

But thinking like that keeps you stuck and makes you a victim.

The instant you see this happening, pause, catch yourself, and take full responsibility.

Once you take ownership of your results, you act with 10x the power.

Ethan Tan updated their business hours.