Join 60,000+ seasoned professionals who are done with the corporate world. Epic Encore is an almost daily newsletter with inspirational stories from leading experts. Your Epic Encore is about turning your lifetime experiences into the cornerstone of the rest of your life. It represents your audacious leap into entrepreneurship, fueled by the wisdom and tenacity you've garnered in your successful career. This isn't about playing catch-up in business and building a 7-figure business. It's about forging a unique path, using your distinct perspective, seasoned judgment, and invaluable insights that can only come from years of life experience.
Imagine a world without social media
|
One of the things we noticed in Greece was people were not addicted to their phones. When you met someone, they were genuinely interested in getting to know you. They were friendly. They were excited to meet you. They were curious. They engaged in real conversation with us even though English is not their native language. Their head wasn't buried in their phone while they were talking with you. 100% of their attention was focused on you. Sure, everyone had a cell phone. People used their phones to make calls or to send messages via WhatsApp. They weren't constantly checking Instagram, Facebook and TikTok. They gave their undivided attention when they were conversing with you. I forgot what it's like to have someone give you 100% of their attention. Another thing we discovered was people in Greece are not addicted to Fox News or CNN. Only once did someone hint about our political unrest but he tiptoed around the topic not knowing which side were were on (isn't is sad we're 100% on one side or the other with no middle ground.) Most people were unaware of the BREAKING NEWS triggers we experience all day long on television and our phone alerts. They weren't interested in what was happening outside of their bubble. When we were on the super quiet islands of Paros and Naxos we asked locals what they did for fun in their spare time. From our perspective, there isn't a lot to do on these islands. No movie theaters or shopping centers. No local restaurants or bars that we saw. Not a lot of satellite dishes on homes. It's a very slow paced life. Locals work about six months of the year then businesses shut down for the winter when the tourists leave. The locals have a lot of free time and not a lot of activities to fill their free time. A few locals said they like to swim or go fishing. We asked what else do they do for fun. They looked at us with a puzzled look and shrugged their shoulders. After spending a week on the islands we started to slow down mentally and physically. We noticed we stopped picking up our phones every time we had a few seconds of down time. We didn't miss the constant triggering of BREAKING NEWS. I think I could get used to the Greek island lifestyle. What about you? When was the last time you were able to unplug from social media and BREAKING NEWS? Ted |
Ted Prodromou
Join 60,000+ seasoned professionals who are done with the corporate world. Epic Encore is an almost daily newsletter with inspirational stories from leading experts. Your Epic Encore is about turning your lifetime experiences into the cornerstone of the rest of your life. It represents your audacious leap into entrepreneurship, fueled by the wisdom and tenacity you've garnered in your successful career. This isn't about playing catch-up in business and building a 7-figure business. It's about forging a unique path, using your distinct perspective, seasoned judgment, and invaluable insights that can only come from years of life experience.
Last week, I caught myself snapping at my wife over something trivial, a misplaced glass. I felt embarrassed and said to myself, “This isn’t me!” But Chapter 24 of Modern Wisdom, Ancient Roots explained exactly what was going on and offered a path out of it. Dr. Rao reveals that anger and fear aren’t triggered by what’s happening around us. They come from resistance to our present moment. When life doesn’t match our expectations, we tense up, tighten our identity, and react, rather than...
I’ve lived through three career arcs so far and each one followed the same pattern: Master a skill. Become the expert. Then watch the world move on. In the 1980s, I was an award-winning field engineer in Silicon Valley. Back then, fixing computers meant using voltmeters and oscilloscopes. Real diagnostic work. You had to know what you were doing. But by the end of the decade? It was all board swapping. Technical mastery wasn’t needed anymore. So I pivoted. In the ’90s, I became a network...
What if everything you believe about yourself… isn’t actually you? That’s the bold premise Dr. Srikumar Rao opens with in Modern Wisdom, Ancient Roots, our July Mastermind Book Club pick. This book is different. It’s not just another mindset or productivity manual. Rao challenges us to zoom out from the daily noise in our heads, the self-talk, the labels, the roles we play and see through to something deeper. If you’ve ever felt a quiet sense of “something’s off” If you’ve hit success...