When the ancient East and the ancient West cotton on to the same idea independently, it’s worth paying attention to.

The idea?

I think the tai chi symbol (the “yin and yang” symbol – that black-and-white circle) is one of the most beautiful things humans have created. It shows how two extremes should coexist – as equals, pressed together, with each containing a mote of the other.

Note that it’s not a grey circle. Both black and white remain pure, even as they support each other.

Someone who is purely feminine or always in action can’t exist. If they did, they would be wildly imbalanced. Everyone needs both of any spectrum – just not in equal amounts.

It’s the same with Order and Chaos. The answer isn’t to lean into one or the other. It’s not to find the neutral grey between those two. It’s to use each when the time is right, supported by the other.

That’s how the book of Genesis describes the early universe, too. God created the universe by imposing Order onto the shapeless void. Then he used the flood – the embodiment of Chaos – to purify it after things went awry.

(“Things went awry.” I’m covering a lot with that snippet…)

This shows up everywhere. How many legends talk of a hero slaying an embodiment of chaotic nature – dragons, for example? How many legends talk of a hero overthrowing a corrupt, stagnant king?

Maybe it’s time you stopped reading these stories and started living them.

After all, the point of a story about heroes is to teach you how to be one.

No hero goes it alone, though. That’s why I call my business Antipater, after the man who ruled Alexander the Great’s kingdom while he was off conquering Persia.

Because every hero needs someone to support them behind the scenes.

What’s that? Is it destiny calling you? Or just a more meaningful future for you and yours?

Either way, your next step is at this link:

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It’s a common question on coaching, hypnosis, NLP and self-improvement forums:

“How long will the changes last???”

It’s a stupid question. I know there are a lot of misconceptions about these things – especially hypnosis – but what do you expect the answer to that to be?

Let’s say you visit a hypnotist to help you quit smoking – a classic case. Sometimes nothing happens. Sometimes people come out of one session and never feel even vaguely tempted to smoke ever again.

Those and anything in between are common outcomes.

Which is exactly the same spread of outcomes as when you quit cold turkey.

Maybe you just simply stop smoking and that’s the end of it. It happens.

So there’s a range. The changes might be permanent or you might relapse years down the line.

But my coaching program is different.

Part of it – the Broken Laser protocol – takes your bad habits and scrambles them into oblivion. It’s better than the tools most hypnotists use – I know because I know most of those tools intimately. The Broken Laser is brilliant – pardon the pun – so it’s more likely to create permanent changes.

But that’s for getting rid of old, bad habits.

Most of my coaching program focuses on building new architecture in your mind. In the case of Palaces of Power, I mean that literally. In any case, it’s a much more fundamental change than dealing with a mere habit. It’s a profound shift in how you engage with your own mind.

It’s like swapping out a mine cart for an all-terrain Jeep. “How long will it be before I’m forced to stick to the tracks again???” You can revisit the tracks any time, but you’ll never be confined to them.

Now, none of that is a guarantee. You could experience a traumatic brain injury that wipes out what we create together. You might feel terrified of your new power and retreat to the familiar comfort of your old problems.

(Even then, I doubt things will go fully back to how they were. Stretch beliefs or underpants far enough and they never snap back to the same shape.)

But the typical outcome?

These benefits last the rest of your life. In fact, they’ll likely improve over time, strengthening like a well-used muscle.

When you think about the vast scope of your future and all the ways being better is worth it, my coaching program might seem insignificant.

Maybe it is.

Or maybe the most important step towards your better future is the first one, which you can take here:

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Folks sure do love to rag on Myers-Briggs.

Forget even labelling that particular personality profiling system as pseudoscience. It’s inflexible, too, and intensely reductionist.

It doesn’t recognise balanced personalities, only extremes.

It doesn’t recognise how your personality can change between contexts. Are you the same person at the office than on the sporting field? Of course not, says anyone with common sense. Obviously, says Myers-Briggs.

Then there’s the dubious practice of having folks fill out assessments and questionnaires, bloated with questions where the only true answer is well, it depends. Anyone with a shake of self-awareness can tell you whether they tend to Sense or Intuit more. Who needs a quiz for that?

But there’s a bigger problem than all of that.

One that’s common to a lot of personality profiling systems – even the well-researched ones like the OCEAN model.

And that is… who cares?

So you find out you’re an INTJ or you’re high on Openness. So what? At best, your system can suggest some jobs or hobbies you might excel at – a list that’s either obvious or wrong.

What’s the use in that?

A really useful personality profiling system would show you who you are… and compare that to your goals. It should give you actionable insights. Because if you can’t use it, then what’s the point?

You should learn how your greatest strengths will help you reach your goal, how to offset your weaknesses and what you need to do to become the sort of person who easily achieves those goals.

Good luck getting that from a quiz.

My coaching program – like any great program – measures where you are, where you want to be and what the path between those two is.

It sounds simple, because it is. It’s not so easy, though. I can do this because I know what personality types thrive under different conditions. I also know how to read your profile based on unconscious signals you send me.

No contrived questionnaire needed.

The rest of the coaching program is around bridging the gap between those two profiles.

Interested?

If you’d rather pretend to get insights about who you are, there are plenty of websites you can mindlessly click at until it puts you in a box.

If you’re ready to see how you’re already strong and how you need to improve, though?

Well, that requires talking to someone like me.

You can sign up to my coaching program here:

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If you’re not getting the results you want, you’re probably wrestling with chaos.

We’ve all been there. Discipline, structure and routine fall apart, leaving us to do whatever with our time instead of what matters.

You only succeed through consistent results. You can only have consistency if you tame chaos.

Since you’re the type of person you’ll read something like this, you probably already know that. You probably already have – or at least want – a good routine.

But is it too good…?

Order versus Chaos – that isn’t a decisive battle in a fight to the death. It’s a dance. Too much Chaos is like building a house on shifting sands. The moment you place a brick down, it slides into some unhelpful alignment.

Too much Order is like living under a Zombie King. It’s the ultimate in stagnation, where not even death can shake up the system. Under an undead monarch, nothing new happens. It can’t.

How do you know you’re suffering under your own yoke?

How do you  know you’ve embraced too much order and not enough Chaos?

There’s a lot of nuance here, obviously. What constitutes a good balance can change from person to person, from moment to moment. Still, here are some clues that you’ve bogged yourself down.

You’re working on tasks, not towards a goal.

You follow agendas, not intuition.

There’s no spark, creativity or spontaneity in what you do.

You feel trapped – maybe even smothered – by the things that used to inspire you and bring you joy.

None of that will get you very far. Want to live a more exceptional life? Want to better serve your people and be better rewarded for it? This won’t get you there.

Learning to balance Order and Chaos – among other things – is a nice side effect of my coaching program. There’s a part of you that understands nuance well. It can calculate and intuit consequences, long-term and short-term, of your beliefs.

This part of you adapts, adjusts and finds brilliant balances between unhealthy extremes.

When you know how to listen to it, that is.

You’ll know exactly how, and plenty more besides, by the end of a four-week coaching program with me. If that interests you, you can sign up here:

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You’re probably familiar with a memory palace. In case you’re not, here’s the gist:

People tend to struggle to remember abstract things like names, concepts and sequences. However, people can easily remember places. Bring to mind your home, your old school or your office, and you can probably remember it well.

There’s a bell curve here. You might be able to recall every smudge mark on the wall and the shape of each window. You might remember little more than the floorplan and some furniture. Either way, you can remember more details than, say, some philosophical treatise you haven’t thought about in a year.

So the idea is to play to your strengths.

Instead of trying to force information into your brain through brute repetition, instead bring a place to mind and put the ideas in there. Remembering lists and concepts as locations, not ghostlike wisps that melt through your fingers, helps them to stick.

It works.

In fact, it works well.

Even so, I don’t like memory palaces.

I mean, why settle for a memory palace when you can have a Palace of Power?

I have a Palace of Power – a slick skyscraper in the middle of a forest. It’s right there in my mind and I can visit it at any time. Past the showers, the beautiful lobby and the discreet (but sophisticated) security are a number of rooms.

One is a place of perfect rest, relaxation and even sleep.

Another room is a beautiful library, overflowing with wisdom.

On another floor is a place I can go to experiment, test and be creative.

Yet another place is a training room for accelerated learning.

I should mention the conference room where I can gain insights from (or just chat with) just about anyone I can imagine.

Oh… and if I want to, I can use parts of it as a memory palace too.

This sounds like playing make-believe, in the same way that running a global enterprise sounds like  telling people your opinions. It goes so far beyond that.

A memory palace is just in your head, yet it can have a profound impact on how your mind works.

Your Palace of Power affects every cognitive process, from your mood to your focus to your creativity to your learning.

When everything comes back to your ability to think and reason, there’s no limit to how this can improve your life.

It’s better than using affirmations.

It’s better than visualising.

This taps into your unconscious mind and aligns it towards your goals more profoundly than any of that. It’s all based on the same principles as the memory palace (a mental technique that’s literally thousands of years old) only broadened and supercharged with things like hypnosis.

Whether or not you think you’re susceptible, listening to one of the tailored audio files that come with my coaching program will help train and construct your own Palace of Power.

From there, you can use it, enjoy it – and add to it – for the rest of your life.

The best part?

This is a bonus I offer to my coaching clients.

It could very well be the most meaningful part of us working together. Then again, it might be the fun little extra thing you take away from our time together.

The only way to find out is by signing up for a four-week program:

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Capitalism might be sophisticated, but it sure is simple.

It’s economic freedom. No government and no guild will stop you from offering wares or services on your terms, so long as you aren’t breaking any laws.

Freedom is great – it means you can try a range of solutions and live life on your terms.

Even so, I hear plenty of ingrates complaining about it.

“Why should I have to work just to make someone else rich?”

That’s a grim and narrow take on it. Working for an employer is supposed to be mutually beneficial. Being an employee is safe and stable – at least compared to owning a business. Also, most of the value you generate goes into keeping the business’s lights on – if it went into your boss’s pockets, anyone could outcompete them.

But even ignoring all that, you don’t have to do anything.

Under capitalism, you can choose to work for one of hundreds of large companies. Or one of thousands of small companies. Or you can start your own company. You can go freelance. You can invest or trade intelligently.

The point of freedom is having options. If you don’t like the way you have to make a living, then figure out how to change that.

“That’s a bunch of clever words. That doesn’t change the fact that I, as an employee, slave away and can’t afford rent. Meanwhile, the CEO makes literally hundreds of times my salary!”

I’ll say it again, shall I?

Economic freedom.

If you want, you can start a competing company – one that pays its employees better. Do that and you’ll attract the best employees and have excellent retention, allowing you to deliver a superior service.

Huh. Is that outcome better for you and the employees and your customers? Is that a win-win-win outcome?

Yes.

Which is how free markets trounce centrally controlled ones.

Of course, starting your own business requires drive, planning, intelligence and an appetite for risk. That’s the real advantage the economic slavery of centralised economies offers: you can never get head no matter what, so there’s no shame in not trying.

“Oh, great, another loser simping for billionaires.”

Neither politicians nor billionaires care about you. The difference being that billionaires have to offer you value to advance their selfish, greedy ambitions. Politicians get elected by making big promises and then not delivering. But if Amazon stops delivering on its promises to its customers, Bezos is out on the streets.

I back the system that ties their ambitions to their ability to provide. Once in office, politicians don’t have to serve or provide for anyone. They can phone it in and half-ass it for years before the votes swing against them.

Relying on the altruism of leaders, hoping against evidence they’ll work hard and do what’s right?

Now, that’s simping.

Of course, capitalism’s biggest rat in the stew is economic freedom. Freedom means you’re responsible for yourself. You can serve the market how you want, but you’ll have to figure out what that looks like.

It’s much easier for Daddy Government to coddle you.

You can just relax and do what you’re told.

I’m sure that sounds nice to some of you.

If not?

If surrendering your sovereignty to corrupt – or at least out of touch – officials sounds like a historical reversion to worse times?

Well, freedom is like a muscle. You need to exercise it to keep it.

But what’s holding you back here? What’s stopping you from providing a valued service to your community, on your own terms and getting rewarded for it?

Fear?

Uncertainty?

Procrastination?

Whatever it is, having a coach in your corner can really help. No one gets far alone, especially when it comes to anything relying on your mindset, your attitude and your ability to focus.

Sorting your mind out can pay off for decades to come.

Given that, what four weeks of coaching can delivery makes for a wild return.

Sign up here:

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The new Tom Cruise Runs a Lot movie (aka Mission colon Impossible hyphen Dead Reckoning no-colon-or-hyphen-for-some-reason Part One) is great.

It’s not poetry and it won’t redefine any genres, but it’s an excellently crafted action movie. When was the last time we had one of those? It’s fun, it’s gorgeous and it delivers.

The story and characters touch on modern themes – anxiety over AI, for example – without descending into the preachiness we’ve seen lately.

Every character pulls their weight. No one is getting humbled or deconstructed.

And this following the new Top Gun. How is Tom Cruise the only one who’s figured out do what worked before and give audiences what they want as strategies for making awesome movies?

There’s a part in the movie where the new thief on the team is given a choice.

One option is death.

Another, prison.

The third? Join Ethan Hunt’s merry band of superspies and but her talents to better use.

It sounds like no choice at all. Who would be dumb enough to pick any option than the third one? The first two are bleak, while the third one sounds even better than her old life of grifting and fleeing.

There’s no surprise in the choice she makes.

What about the choice you make?

Your choice isn’t so dramatic. Bounty hunters aren’t gunning for you. No one is about to toss you in gaol. There’s no group of international spies looking for someone with your specific set of skills.

But it’s still the same set of choices.

You can keep doing the things that are slowly (or not so slowly) killing you.

You can keep living in a way that binds and constrains you, forcing you to adhere to norms you know don’t make sense in order to keep your family fed.

Or…

The truth is, we all face the choice between death, prison and embracing a higher purpose. Maybe metaphorically, sometimes literally, but every day.

There’s no escaping it.

What choice are you making today?

Right now?

Maybe you want to follow your calling but you’re hazy on what that is. Or you’re afraid to start. Or you don’t think you have what it takes.

In any such case, the right coach can be a godsend.

As for me? Give me four sessions together – with some extra work around the sides – and you’ll have greater clarity, focus, drive and the right attitude to succeed.

What you do with them from there is up to you.

Read more about my style of coaching here:

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If you’re on YouTube at all, there’s a good chance you’ve seen folks advertising Squarespace.

It’s a disappointing service. Not terrible but, based on how they market themselves versus what they deliver, that’s the only word for it – disappointing.

If you’re after some easy web hosting, maybe setting up an eCommerce store or whatever, you could do worse. It’s fine for simple stuff. I wouldn’t recommend it though.

(Oh no, I just blew up my chances of getting sponsorship from them…! Wait… wait… Ah, look at that, I’m over it.)

Anyway, I received an email from Squarespace the other day, outlining a new feature.

“As an entrepreneur, you know the power of email marketing and the importance of growing your mailing list.”

Squarespace… as a business, you don’t understand email marketing. In less than a year I’ve received dozens of emails from you with the same subject line, “Create a free custom link in bio” – or some simple variation. I don’t know what that means. What bio? My Squarespace profile bio? What’s a custom link and why should I care?

I just opened up one of these emails. “Bio” a link aggregator service, apparently. You know, a single place where you can link your Facebarf, NervousTikTok and LonelyFans accounts.

Squarespace… that’s not how you market something! Clarity matters and you should tell me why I should care first.

If you want, I’ll write your emails for you. My rates are very reasonable and they’ll be better than this – not like that’s hard.

Anyway, I’m well distracted. Back to the email about the new feature:

“Unfortunately, you can lose over 40% of potential subscribers when they need to verify their subscription by email, which means a smaller audience and fewer potential sales.”

Better! You’re telling me why I should care.

That’s good, you’re learning.

“That’s why we’ve simplified the opt-in flow to help you grow your list.”

… you’ve done what?

“You can now automatically verify subscribers with invisible V3 Google reCAPTCHA instead of email verification. Once enabled, your customers won’t need to confirm their email subscription. With fewer steps to sign up, you can capture more subscribers.”

(emphasis mine)

I… uh…

Squarespace… isn’t requiring double opt-in for email lists a legal requirement in some jurisdictions? I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know. I do know that it’s good manners though, whether you have to or not.

Whoever thought this was a good idea has never had someone else sign them up to a list, through malice or accident.

This website – antipater.page – isn’t hosted on Squarespace. Even if it was, I would go out of my way to disable that “feature”. I respect your email address too much to do away with double opt-ins. I respect my own emails too much, too, to risk them going to folks who don’t want them.

I’d go for triple opt-in if that didn’t seem excessive.

And that’s the same mindset behind my coaching services.

You can’t hire me as a coach unless you’re serious about it. I respect your time and mine too much to do anything short of that. That’s why my sales letter has so many terms and conditions spelled out in long, boring sentences. Not in fine print or colourful language. If you can’t get through my Ts and Cs, you’re not ready for me.

Working with me isn’t a huge time commitment, but it’s more than what your typical lazy, “busy” person can handle. It’s also intense at times. Getting drastic results quickly means turning up the pressure and feeding your old limitations into a blender.

You can’t accidentally opt in to my email list or my coaching program.

You can’t sign up casually or on a whim.

Once you’re in, that’s a commitment – a commitment to radical change and shattering through the limitations between you and your goals.

A lot can happen in four sessions – especially given what I’ll have you do between them.

I’ll respect that commitment and help you shape your mind in ways that sound ludicrous, even impossible, until it happens to you.

The downside?

You’ll have fewer excuses to blame for any mediocrity in your future.

If and only if you’re ready to move past all that, sign up here:

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