Be Your Future Self Now (Dr. Benjamin Hardy) The idea of future selves has been a massive focus in my Socratic Warrior journey ever since I read about 'the theory of possible selves' by Markus and Nurius about 20 years ago! Be Your Future Self Now is a direct challenge to the most common human trap: living from your past—your habits, wounds, identity labels, and old narratives—while claiming you want a different future. Dr. Ben Hardy’s thesis is that your future self isn’t a fantasy or motivational poster; it’s a precision tool. When you define a compelling future identity and start acting from it now, your present decisions change—and your trajectory follows. This lands squarely in the dissertation arena: why people don’t do what they know they should do. Hardy frames the gap as an identity conflict. People often have knowledge, skills, and ability—but they keep acting in alignment with an outdated self-concept. In Socratic Warrior terms, “performance paralysis” isn’t always a lack of discipline; it’s often a failure of identity governance. When your future self becomes vivid and non-negotiable, procrastination starts to look like self-betrayal, and action becomes congruence. Hardy’s practical strength is making future-self work operational: clarify the future, cut competing commitments, design the environment, and make today’s behaviors proof of identity. It’s not hype; it’s a framework for agency. If you’re building a high-performance life—or helping others do it—this book is a strong blueprint for turning intentions into decisions and decisions into outcomes.

Unreasonable Hospitality (Will Guidara) I don't think I'll ever look at eating out the same old way after reading this book! Not only that, but I have taken a hard look at 'how I, and others, do business.' Will Guidara’s core argument is disarmingly simple: excellence isn’t a mystery—it’s a decision, repeated daily, expressed through details that most people consider “optional.” Unreasonable Hospitality is a case study in how high performance is built: through standards, discipline, systems, and a relentless commitment to making people feel seen. While the setting is fine dining, the application is universal: leadership, coaching, teams, families, classrooms, and any mission where outcomes depend on humans. For Socratic Warrior work, this book is a direct antidote to “performance paralysis.” Guidara shows that momentum comes from action, not mood—small, intentional moves that create identity (“this is who we are”) and culture (“this is how we do things here”). The hospitality mindset becomes a practical framework: anticipate needs, remove friction, and create environments where people can execute. His stories illustrate how a clear standard plus thoughtful structure turns potential into performance—without waiting for perfect circumstances. If you coach, lead, teach, or build community, Unreasonable Hospitality challenges you to upgrade your operating system: raise your standards, obsess over the experience, and practice generosity as a strategic advantage. The message is Stoic at its core: control what you can—your preparation, your attention, your behavior—and let results follow.

Well, it's time for the annual hunting trip. I'll be gone (potentially off-grid) for the next couple of weeks. I'll try to post when I can, but I can't promise anything. During this time, I challenge you to look back at 2025 and thoroughly assess how it's gone so far. If you had any goals, did you achieve them? If not, why not (yet)? As you probably have noticed, I'm a firm believer in not just setting goals, but in developing a plan to attain them. When I return, I'll address this issue more in depth as we finish up 2025 and get ready for 2026. Thank you all for your engagement and don't be afraid to post in the community! Let me leave you with a quote to ponder... One day you will wake up and there won't be any more time to do the things you've always wanted to do. Do it now! -- Paulo Coelho

Hey everybody, I have been trying for two days to upload the new Socratic Warrior Action Checklist to the classroom, but Skool is being very finicky. So, I'm going to attach it to this post. Let me know if it works for you and if you have questions or comments...I'm here for you! Have a GREAT weekend 😎

Years ago, I got my wife the little sign below. During my treadmill walk today (I always watch or listen to informational content), I heard one of the absolute gurus in the personal training niche say something similar... 'you may have many clients, but they have only one coach!' Both of these phrases point to the same focus--you need to personalize your service. If you're paying a lot of good money to be coached, you expect to be coached, right? It's nice to say you care about the dozens, if not hundreds, of clients your coach works with (especially since most successful coaches are using AI to assist them). But are you getting the 'personal' training and transformation you signed up for? If you're a coach or other service provider, are you personalizing the experience for each client? What's the #1 reason people fail in coaching programs? Accountability! AI has gotten so good that anybody with a few fundamentals in prompting can develop an exercise program tailored to them, a personalized nutrition plan, an accurate family budget and spending/savings plan, and even relationship advice. But AI's downfall is accountability! In Skool's 'tier' program, as the levels and pricing increase, so should the access to the owners or their teams. In a 'free' tier, everyone gets similar access; in a 'premium' tier, maybe some group interaction; but in a VIP level, the access should be pretty personalized. Look at the mastermind programs going for 5, 6, even 7 figures. Do you think the leaders are just sending them some AI-generated notes on making money, with a couple of testimonials thrown in at the end? Probably not! Suppose you have the credentials, education, and experience in your niche (like all your competitors). In that case, your most significant competitive advantage is making the transformation experience as unique and personal as possible for every client. If you do that, you'll get plenty of referrals, and you can charge high-ticket prices WITHOUT chasing low-ticket clients who will take up your time and patience.