One of my favourite podcasts is the imaginatively named Conversations with Tyler.

(I wonder how long the brainstorming session took to come up with that title)

In one episode, Tyler was chatting with Brian Koppelman.

Koppelman is the brains behind the TV smash-hit Billions and has written movies like Ocean’s 13 and Rounders (a cult classic I watched on loop while dodging maths lectures at uni).

Here’s an interesting part from the episode:

Tyler:  I’m sure you know many smart people who don’t understand movies very well.  If you had to explain in as few dimensions as possible what differentiates the really smart people who get movies from the really smart people who do not get movies, what’s going on there?

Brian:  Perhaps openness.  Perhaps the ability to not have to analyse in real time and to just experience.

I'll go out on a limb and say this comment goes well beyond movies.  

It spreads into all corners of life.

It’s not that being rational doesn’t have its advantages.

But reason and logic can only take us so far.  And being a smarty-pants comes with one heck of a disadvantage if we think that a certain IQ or a few letters after our name is what will lead to a richer experience of life.

It won’t.

As Brian says, it’s our ability not to analyse which is the key to "getting it".

This doesn’t mean staging a rebellion against our analytical minds or sticking two fingers up to logic. 

But it does mean that some parts of life are only available when we stop analysing, move past what our brain is telling us and stay open to something more.

So it’s not going against our brain which can help us savour life.

It’s by giving ourselves permission to experience life without always needing to understand it.

Perhaps you agree with this.  But perhaps you're also thinking "easier said than done Tom".  

If so, I hear you.

The good news is I'm holding a free training to pull back the curtain on this very idea.

During the training I'll be sharing The Subtraction Method and talking through how this method can help you turn the dial down on your overthinking to find a more satisfying experience of life.

The training is for readers of John "Bejako" Bejakovic's newsletter - and for you as a reader of this newsletter.  

It will take place on Zoom tomorrow, Wednesday 6th November, at 11am PST / 2pm EST / 7pm GMT.  

The training will last about an hour and there will be a recording if you can't make it on the day.  

If you'd like to sign up:

https://subtractionmethod.com