The other night I was hanging out in the sauna with members of our Sale, UK campus. We were all talking about the path that led us to pursue a deeper understanding of our health, ourselves, and our purpose.
These conversations are the mirror opposite of the hall of illusions known as the Internet…
In the digital world, contrarian statements garner clicks, so playing Devil’s Advocate to the obvious becomes a business strategy.
Influencers telling a generation to stop “chasing their purpose” and start (insert alternative use of a life) results in increased traffic, comment battles, and a transparent sales strategy, rooted deep in the psychology of the attention economy.
Fortunately, we have a literary mountain of records gathered throughout the arc of our evolution to showcase the results of purely material pursuits, juxtaposed with the joy, fulfillment, and sense of meaning that can only come from meaning what you say, and finding joy in what you do.
“It is better to go wrong in one’s own way, than to go right in someone else’s.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky, Crime and Punishment
The writers who inspire me most, mostly died broke. I’ve never read a passionate word that remained in the modern lexicon of the language of the heart written by someone who lived as a slave to social comparison.
They also died in the late 19th and 20th century, when publishing was virtually impossible.
Today, the outlets for income generation related to the fierce and focused pursuit of our internal passions are nearly endless. If you created an Instagram account focused on your love of making salads - and took it seriously - you could make a million dollars. We live in the age of information. When information is informed by deep knowledge, and conveyed with clarity and basic communication skills the market opportunity for our inner flame is endless.
At least, this has been the state of the world for the past decade. The next evolution of the Internet onboards an army of A.I influencers who are already generating wealth for the entrepreneurs who created them. A new generation of A.I informed technology companies powered by personalized, data-based insights into what makes you laugh, what makes you angry, and what the perfect blend of entertainments and outrage suits your style of Internet engagement is dominating the social engineering scene from behind the scenes as well…
The businesses of the future solve new problems, as the cheap entertainment problem solves itself.
What is the Greatest Problem of our Time?
The greatest problem of our time is the declining health of our next generation of problem solvers. The technological revolution required a roadmap that most teens never received. Instead of utilizing the digital world as an opportunity to create community outside of the 4x6 inch screen, fuel the business pursuits that feed their inner flame, and access free education from the world’s foremost thought leaders on demand, many teens found themselves pulled into a web of addictive, algorithmically generated, advertising technologies.
Social media street smarts are just as crucial as being street smart in a major metropolitan city. Without the skills to navigate the digital landscape with agency, kids (and adults) become products in the attention economy.
Our new online course for parents provides a “Social Media Street Smarts Manual” for avoiding the brain drain in the digital age. You can check it out below. Pre-orders save you a few dollars while giving you access to bonus content from our recent live webinar series, The Physiologically Literate Parent.
The entrepreneurs who solve this problem by enhancing the health of youth, families, and community members will have no problem living a life of passion, purpose, and financial success. In a recent article I outlined a one year roadmap to building the businesses of the future. You can check it out below.
The year’s ahead will be societally defining in ways that those who live and work exclusively on the Internet can’t imagine.
The greatest blindspot in public health exists in the echo chambers of the Internet, where the content is curated for mass distribution, and a generational opportunity to create the evolution of health is missed, in favor of arguing with a bot about the content of your last Instagram post…
The HealthTech Revolution:
The hierarchy of healthcare has been disrupted by the evolution of healthtech.
The consumer can now access more health data than most doctors can, or will, provide.
In many cases, it’s both.
The ignorance/arrogance style one-two punch of the traditional healthcare hierarchy has set it up for a knockout blow from the next generation of health entrepreneurs, and a highly intelligent consumer marketplace tired of begging to have their health taken seriously, and ready to learn about the power of their own physiology.
This Spring we are training the next generation of health leaders to build the businesses of the future.
Healthtech powered hubs in communities across the globe that teach youth and families about their physiology, first…
Data-driven insights into exercise, nutrition, and improved sleep quality based on each person’s unique physiology…
Our Spring 2025 Level One Certificate Program begins May 3rd. Join the movement to create the evolution of community-centered health.
What Motivates You?
The answer to the question of what motivates us is simple. The answer is dopamine.
Dopamine is the brain chemical responsible for the feeling of drive. In The Science of Motivation I describe how dopamine works, and how to master our motivation in the digital age. Read the article below.
The greater question is where do you get your dopamine from?
I know many people in the business world who get their dopamine simply from the pursuit of building businesses….the problem is that there is no end, no sense of having achieved a goal that allows us to grow into the next manifestation of our personal potential.
There is no “exit” so to speak.
It’s passionless business pursuit after passionless business pursuit, as if life were not a finite experience flashing by us all like a brief spark in the infinite expanse of time, embedded with many avenues for personal evolution.
What are you doing with your unique spark?
Chasing another zero in the bank account?
Saving for the latest model Porsche to cement your status in a never ending game of incessant, unsatisfying, eternal oneupmanship?
If you’ve ever seen a mega-yacht strategically positioned next to a slightly smaller mega-yacht, dwarfed by the newest mega-yacht to join the social comparison party you’ll know exactly what I mean.
When purpose is the driver for pursuit. you remain behind the wheel of your own motivation.
Owning the day is the greatest acquisition any entrepreneur can achieve.
The ultimate exit is from the rat race itself.
The greatest problems of the future need visionary, purpose-driven leaders to step out of the sandbox of endless social comparison, and into the heavyweight arena of creating the industries on the next frontiers of a health revolution.
Dopamine: You have to get it somewhere.
I’d urge anyone reading this to consider the global problem they consider most important, and what internal skillset they uniquely possess that could be brought to bear.
In the worst case scenario, you’ll have the adventure of a lifetime that earns you more in real-world experience than money can buy.
In the best case, you’ll leave behind your legacy, not by chasing the fleeting illusion of fame that Instagram offers if we just entertain one another to death…
But, instead by living a life that you’re proud of, building a business on the next frontiers of the future, and blazing your path to purpose, one focused, goal-directed, and inspired step at a time.
David Bidler is the founder of Physiology First. As a speaker, educator, and social entrepreneur David is working to shape the future of health and human potential by teaching the next generation about their physiology first.
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