May 11, 2026 | Essays, Self-Mastery
The capabilities you exiled to win — such as creativity, curiosity, play, intuition — are not gone. They have been waiting for the climb to be over. After a decade or more of hard work, most successful people start to notice that something has gone quiet in them. It...
May 6, 2026 | Essays, Self-Mastery
On the question that arrives sometime after the win — and what you do with it. You won. But it didn’t feel the way you thought it would. This is the strangest thing about success at the level you have reached, and almost nobody talks about it honestly. The...
May 5, 2026 | Essays, Emotional Mastery
Emotional mastery is not control over your emotions, but the end of the war between the self who governs and the self who has been governed. It begins when you stop treating your difficult feelings as malfunctions and start listening to the parts of you that has been...
May 5, 2026 | Essays, The Good Life
By David Tian, Ph.D.Ph.D., University of Michigan, specializing in moral psychology. Former tenure-track faculty in philosophy, National University of Singapore. Certified IFS Therapy Practitioner (Level 3). Brown University Certified Leadership Coach. Private adviser...
Apr 30, 2026 | Essays, Asian Philosophy
By David Tian, Ph.D. Ph.D., University of Michigan, specializing in Asian philosophy and moral psychology. Former tenure-track faculty, National University of Singapore. Certified IFS Therapy Practitioner (Level 3). Brown University Certified Leadership Coach. Private...
Apr 29, 2026 | Essays, Life After Success
By David Tian, Ph.D. Certified IFS Therapy Practitioner (Level 3). Ph.D., University of Michigan, specializing in moral psychology and Asian philosophy. Former tenure-track faculty, National University of Singapore. Brown University Certified Leadership Coach. Private...
