No. 43: Unlearning to see the change around us
The 20-year old who's sold four businesses, therapy through tabletop games, and making new maps to better see the future
Exploring the impact of technology on work and learning. Join us.
First, some numbers:
3.5 million - is the total population of industrial robots in the world
82% - of the U.S. is facing abnormally dry conditions - the largest drought footprint since 2000.
5.8% - of all new cars registered nationally are electric vehicles, up from 3.4% a year ago.
A 20-year old sells startups for profit: how he does it
Muhammad believes that it is more beneficial to build small businesses and then sell them, rather than pursuing an MBA or trying to create big businesses that have mass appeal. He has already accomplished this by building ten small businesses and selling 4 of them on MicroAcquire.com.
At just 20 years old, Muhammad Taimoor Hassan puts most serial entrepreneurs to shame.
He’s built ten small businesses and sold four of them on MicroAcquire. While comparatively small exits, they’ve helped Muhammad fund larger projects without outside capital, a strategy he believes every bootstrapper should adopt if they want to scale their efforts fast.
Muhammad’s roadmap almost guarantees a life-changing acquisition in as little as two years, he argues. First, he’ll build 10 “low-tier” projects to fund 10 “high-tier” projects. As he graduates to bigger projects, he hopes at least one will result in a six or seven-figure exit.
Untapped and LetsPost were two of Muhammad’s low-tier projects, now MicroAcquire’d. While the proceeds narrowly missed five figures, the funds compounded with recurring revenue from his other businesses to seed larger ventures. He’s his own angel investor, you might say.
Read more of Muhammad’s story of How I got MicroAcquire’d
How Tabletop Games Are Helping People in Therapy
Mental health professionals are using tabletop role-playing games (TTRPGs) to help their clients explore different aspects of themselves in a safe and fun setting.
While pursuing his master’s, Bean realized that he and his friends were already using D&D in their own lives to process what was going on outside of the game. After a bad day, he and his friends would ask what their character would do in that situation.
“We started using this with clients,” Bean said, “and it helped them blossom tremendously, in ways that we didn't expect.” After being asked frequently to present on the role of geekdom in therapy, Bean decided to record and distribute his methodology.
This methodology is what differentiates the work of organizations like Geek Therapeutics and Game to Grow from games one might play at home with friends. Geek Therapeutics has a Code of Ethics, and therapists trained in its method are held to the same standard as they would be for any other form of therapy. Confidentiality and informed consent, for example, are applied to these games as they would be in other group therapy settings.
Therapists participating in the Game to Grow method must run a certain number of games before they can be formally certified. Both organizations give therapists the opportunity to work with other certified game masters, as well as TTRPG experts.
Read further at Wired.com
Unlearning
To explore and discuss the future as we do in this newsletter, much of it depends on leaving our old beliefs behind - a process Derek Sivers calls "deliberate unlearning."
Things I learned in the past are now wrong. Times have changed.
Beliefs that were true are now false. They were based on old limitations that are now gone.
Ways that used to work don’t work anymore. The old road collapsed. There’s a tunnel through the mountain now. When the old map is wrong, we can’t just draw a new line on it — we need to get a new map or we’ll be following closed roads.
Sometimes the world is the same, but my situation has changed. What got me here won’t get me there.
The solution is deliberate unlearning.
Doubt what I know.
Stop the habit of thinking I know it.
Require current proof that it’s still true today. Otherwise, let it go.
Read Derek’s complete post Unlearning on his blog
I’m excited to introduce you to Lex, my AI co-writer
This week’s issue was co-written with Lex - a new AI writing assistant I wanted to try out. I used Lex to expand on ideas, suggest titles, and help test my point of view.
Learn more about how Lex happened or watch the demo.
Bonus: If you’ve read this far, reply to this email for an invite to Lex. I only have 2 left.
Till next time…
Few things are as valuable in the modern world as a good bullshit detector.
— Morgan Housel, @morganhousel