1-2-3 Inner Game

Welcome to 1-2-3 Inner Game, your weekly hit of actionable strategies to achieve a high-performing, healthy, and thriving life.

Today's Highlights

• Showing Up for What Matters

• 1-2-3 Inner-Game

• America's Golden Age or Slow-Motion Collapse

• 5 Brutal Lessons I Learned from Pablo Escobar's Son

• Brain Candy

• Rundown of Cool Stuff This Week

Listen to the audio format of this issue

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Hi,

Time’s been weird lately.

Not fast. Not slow. Just, sneaky.

One day you’re pushing things to “next week” like you’ve got time to spare.

Then suddenly, it’s next year, and you're wondering where it all went.

Last year, I caught myself saying, “I’ll visit my parents soon.” And then I thought — how many times have I said that?

How many soons do I actually have left?

That hit hard.

So I made a decision. A real one. Not a fluffy, good-intention kind of decision. A put it on the calendar, book the flight, block the week kind of decision. ✈️

I’m visiting them more often. Not for a holiday. Not for a reason. Just because they’re my people. And I want more memories, not more excuses.

Moments don’t wait. ⏳

Memories don’t auto-generate. You have to choose them, we have to make them.

The dinner table conversations. 🍽️

The walks. 🚶🏻‍♂️‍➡️🚶🏻‍♀️‍➡️

The jokes. The silence. The just-being-there.

These are the things I’ll miss one day — not the emails I replied to on time.

I’ve realized that life isn’t about squeezing more in. It’s about showing up for the stuff that actually matters.

And right now, that’s mom and dad. ❤️

Here's some Inner Game wisdom to chew on this week

1 question

70% of leadership teams are visual learners 🖼️. If your big ideas aren’t landing, maybe it’s time to ask: are you showing them clearly enough?

(​Click to Tweet​)

2 questions (and answers from me)

1. How do I stop comparing myself to others and focus on my own journey? Comparison is a trap. It’s like trying to race Usain Bolt when you’re on your morning jog. Your journey is yours alone. Focus on progress over perfection. Instead of competing with others, compete with the version of you from yesterday. Celebrate your wins, no matter how small, and remember: true success is about building a life that feels good on the inside, not one that just looks good from the outside. (​Click to Tweet​)

   
   

2. How do I get out of a rut and find momentum again? Start with micro-actions. Feel like you can’t run a mile? Walk around the block. Too overwhelmed to plan a project? Sketch out one idea. The trick is to build momentum in the tiniest of steps. Action breeds clarity, and clarity breeds momentum. Once you’re moving, your motivation will kick in. Remember: progress is more about consistency than intensity. (​Click to Tweet​)​

3 insights from me

1. 1 in 3 entrepreneurs build businesses that look successful but feel misaligned. (​Click to Tweet​)

   
   

2. Regret will always sting more than failure. You can recover from a failed attempt, but you can’t get back time lost to inaction. Take the leap. You’ll either land on solid ground or learn to fly. Either way, you win. (​Click to Tweet​)

   
   

3. Your brain is wired for efficiency, not fulfillment. Most of your daily actions are on autopilot, shaped by past habits. Want better results? Change your routines—intentionally and consistently. (​Click to Tweet​)

What's new with the Pod - Emergence Now

America's Golden Age or Slow-Motion Collapse

Listen Now

5 Brutal Truths I Learned from Pablo Escobar's Son

Last year, I sat down with Juan Pablo Escobar—yeah, that Pablo Escobar’s son.

I went in expecting wild stories about the world’s most infamous drug lord (and trust me, I got them). But what I didn’t see coming were the deep, raw lessons about life, power, and forgiveness. Here’s what I walked away with:

1. Love Warps Your Moral Compass

He was asked straight up, “Do you hate your dad for all the violence?”

His answer? “No, he was my father, and I loved him.”

Boom—there it is. Love twists how you see things. You know the bad stuff is real, but love makes it tough to hold them accountable. Can you love someone and still call out their BS? According to him, yeah—love doesn’t erase the wrong, but it makes it hard as hell to judge.

2. Money Buys Power, Not Peace Escobar’s family had billions, but at one point, they couldn’t even afford a hotel. The emotional toll? Way worse than the financial crash. Money can get you power, but it doesn’t buy peace, happiness, or security. When it’s gone, you’re left with regret and harsh reality.

3. Violence Isn’t Cool, Even if Netflix Says So We all binge Narcos, but for him? “This wasn’t a Netflix show for me.” The glamorization of his dad might make great TV, but it totally downplays the real trauma. For us, it’s entertainment—for his family, it’s years of pain.

4. Forgiveness is the Real Power Move When Escobar died, revenge seemed like the easy option. But instead, he chose forgiveness—and that’s what freed him. Forgiveness isn’t weakness, it’s strength. It’s choosing to break the cycle instead of staying stuck in the same destructive loop.

5. Real Loyalty Can’t Be Bought Escobar had bodyguards, friends, an entire entourage. But when things fell apart? They all bailed. In the end, it was just his family by his side. Real loyalty isn’t built on power, fear, or money. It’s built on real connections. When everything crumbles, only those who want to stay are left standing.

Talking with Juan Pablo was a reminder: no matter how much power or money you have, what really matters at the end of the day are the relationships and the choices you make. Even love can’t excuse the wreckage, but it can coexist with the knowledge of it. That’s the hard truth.

Brain Candy Tweets That Made Me Think, Laugh, or Go ‘Huh, Interesting!

Great analogy - decisions are like hats, haircuts, and tattoos

The quicker the feedback, the greater the impact—and the lower the chances of lingering resentment.

Here’s a rundown of some cool stuff I’ve been diving into this week.

📖 ​AI 2041: Ten Visions for our Future​

📖 ​Driven from Within by Michael Jordan​

I'm rooting for you to continue crushing it! 💪🏼

Dhiren