Founder & CEO @ Close
One of the questions that reading Kafka has brought up in my mind is: How much pain are we causing others by trying to carry their burden? How much of the help I’m providing to others is really in the long run taking away their potential blessings? One thing since reading the transformation from Kafka …
Here’s another episode that can be tagged with “aftereffects of reading Kafka”. Little Voice In My Head A: “Steli, it’s 11am and you’ve not done anything yet”. To which Little Voice In My Head B responded: “Well, fuck you, I don’t have to do anything if I don’t have to!” And both of them got …
Another beautiful insight that came out of some time I spent with my two sons recently was this: Remember to have fun when you do fun stuff. Here’s the full story: Transcript: I had a, really beautiful moment with my kids this weekend. So on Thursday when I went to their house, one of my …
I recently started reading The Trial by Franz Kafka, and there’s one thing I really love about this book: It has already raised so many questions in my mind and made me think thoughts I wouldn’t have pondered if it weren’t for this book. This episode is just me sharing my reading experience while I’m …
I’ve never had a great relationship with my Germany, even though I was born here, I grew up here, I have family and friends I love here. I never liked living here. And whenever I came back to spend time in Germany, I always like coming back to a place I didn’t belong, nor wanted …
Some books have literally been life-changing, epic adventures in my life. I wouldn’t be who I am if it weren’t for these books. But if I’ve read books the way most people read books, I’d probably never have experienced any of that. Today I discuss my deep love for books, my appreciation for everything they’ve …
In this episode we geek out about the art of storytelling, and it’s magical ability to touch and move us, to think new thoughts, to live life in new ways. Books discussed: Story by Robert McKee Dune by Frank Herbert so the book story, the book story by Robert, what’s his name? Mickey Mickey. So …
One of the emotions I still haven’t found a good way to relate to is my anger. For most of my adult life, my way of handling anger was simply to suppress it and pretend it didn’t exist at all. Getting angry meant that someone else had power over me, someone else was able to …
I don’t know how to explain this to people who’ve never felt it, but I’ve been suffering from jaw tension for quite a while now. It comes and goes, and I never really know what triggered it until I did some deep introspection. I believe it’s forcing me to confront truths I’d rather not face. …
I was out on the balcony on a sunny day in Austin. It was a nice day. Everything was fine. Beautiful music playing. My day’s work was done. And that’s when it hit me: I’m good at many things—but relaxing isn’t one of them. Even when you see me chilling, inside of me, there’s so …
Today I’m talking with my good friend Ryan Robinson, one of the most disciplined people I know, and also one of the most prolific content creators. But that’s not what this conversation is about. 2020 has been an intense year for Ryan, a lot of personal transformation, and I saw many parallels to changes and …
In this episode, I talk about our podcast, and why it’s so different from the content we’ve created in the past. Most of these episodes are unstructured conversations and explorations of random themes of my life—there are no actionable takeaways, no bitesized nuggets of wisdom, and oftentimes no answers to the questions we pose. And …
Most of the episodes of this podcast are me talking about a topic that’s currently on my mind—oftentimes meanderings that don’t lead to a clear conclusion, or challenges I’m facing that yet lack a satisfying solution. It’s inner work in progress. Today is a little bit different: I’m sharing an heuristic of my inner work …
I’m the CEO of a very successful software startup. 8-figure revenue, thousands of customers all around the world, employees spread out all across the globe. I know what email stress feels like. There’s a lot of professional advice out there on how to overcome and manage email stress. The University of Michigan recommends to adherence …
I’m excited to release our first ever interview on the Inner Work podcast. I spoke with Kevin von Duuglas-Ittu. He’s the husband of Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu, and together they run one of my favorite podcasts of all time, the Muay Thai Bones podcast, and the 8 LIMBS US blog. We talk about Muay Thai, Sylvie’s …
There’s a reason why I grew a multi-million dollar company through content marketing. I’m good at content because I’ve consumed a ton of content in my life—starting out as a child where I spent all day every day in front of a TV. I was basically raised by a TV. From the moment I came …
I’ve been very out of touch with my own emotions, wants and needs for a long time. And much of the past year has been about getting to know myself better: What do I want? What do I really like? For myself, not for my company, my family, for my team, for my career, but …
A while back I was driving my sons back home with the car, and they got excited about a dope looking sports car they saw. And it led to something I almost never do: I shared advice on how to be successful in life with them. In this episode, I’ll share it with you too, …
It took me a long time to get rich. It still feels weird to say this about myself. But financially, I’m definitely rich. What’s funny is, I’ve been rich long before I even realized that I was rich. It was actually through conversations with friends that I eventually realized: Fuck yes, I AM rich. I …
I was surprised to see McGregor get knocked out by Poirier this fast. But one thing that’s been bothering me about McGregor is that I don’t think he’s been picking the right sparring partners to prepare for this fight. None of his sparring partners really had the chops to seriously challenge him as much as …
In this episode, I talk about a breakthrough I’ve had in my martial arts after a training session on LSD. In my training of martial arts, there are periods where I’m on a very intense schedule, practicing five, six, or even seven days a week. And then there are periods where I train only once …
Here’s a conversation where I talk about the importance of pacing myself and managing my energy throughout the course of a day. I have a tendency to go full speed whenever I feel energized—until my tank runs out of fuel and I crash hard. Today, I practiced breaking that pattern. When I felt excited or …
A few weeks ago, I ordered a guitar. I spent most of my teenage years chasing the dream of becoming the world’s best guitarist, practicing all day, every day… until one day when I realized I’d never become the greatest. And from that day on, I’ve—with a few rare exceptions—never touched a guitar again. Until …
Here’s another very personal episode. If you’re looking for sales, startup, and business advice, skip this episode, it’s not going to be a good use of your time. If you want to get to know me better as a human being, particularly some of my private struggles and the inner work I do, then maybe …