Your Mind is a Receiver—Are You Tuning Into the Right Signal?
What Are You Tuning Into?
As a teenager in the USSR, I would sit in my tiny Moscow apartment, carefully turning the dial on my shortwave radio, trying to catch the signal of Voice of America. It had to be late at night—the only time the jamming stations weren’t completely blocking the broadcast. The volume had to be low because neighbors could still report you for “anti-Soviet activity.”
The reception was scratchy, but then—through the static—I’d hear it.
The latest and greatest hits.
To me, it wasn’t just music. It was possibility.
A world existed beyond the constrained one I lived in. A world where people created wildly, thought freely, and built things that had never been built before. It wasn’t just the songs—it was the energy behind them. The sense that people out there weren’t just surviving; they were making something.
It woke something up in me.
Creativity and entrepreneurship don’t just need talent or resources—they need possibility. And possibility begins with what we allow into our minds.
Flipping the Signal
Decades later, I find myself on the other side of the signal. Every week, I create and send out my own broadcasts—not over shortwave radio, but through this newsletter, my podcast, and my coaching work. The goal is the same: to transmit possibility.
To remind you that growth isn’t reserved for the lucky or the few. That your best work, your greatest impact, and a more expansive, purposeful life are within reach.
But here’s the thing: We are all constantly tuning in to something.
• Some people tune into fear and smallness—consuming content that keeps them cynical, reactive, and stuck.
• Others tune into vision, learning, and voices that stretch their imagination for what’s possible.
What Are You Tuning Into?
This week, I want to challenge you: be intentional about your inputs. Audit what you’re listening to, watching, and reading—because it’s shaping how you see the world and your place in it.
A Few Practicals:
• Stop mindlessly doom-scrolling. I say this as someone who just lost 20 minutes to a pointless wormhole—and I want them back. It’s rarely entertaining and usually leaves you more anxious and empty.
• Severely limit your news intake. Stay informed, but don’t let algorithms hijack your attention. The platforms profit from keeping you outraged, heartbroken, and on edge. Don’t play their game.
• Don’t rush into the day on autopilot. Instead, develop mindfulness practices, tune into possibility, read something that lifts you up before the world starts pulling at you.
• Do something hard every day that moves you 1% closer to where you want to go. Growth compounds. Small shifts today create massive results over time.
Growing up in a place with limited possibilities, the smartest thing I did was obsess over stories and pathways of possibility. When the time came, that accumulated mindset and energy fueled my first success.
Even now, I check myself. I still waste creative energy sometimes. And when I do, I course-correct—because tuning into possibility is a discipline.
If this newsletter has been one of those signals for you, consider becoming a paid subscriber. No pressure—just an open invitation to go deeper.
The world is full of static. Choose your frequency wisely.
Would love to hear from you—what’s one thing you’ve been tuning into lately that’s shifting your mindset? Drop a comment below.
New Episodes you May Have Missed:
Bonus Videos for my Little Book of Big Reasons to Love America.
A great interview with Dean Sweetman, founder of the fintech company Tithely.
One of the more unusual pods Heavy Things Lightly with John Heers.
We do a deep dive into the collapse of the Soviet Empire, the role of religion and the pros and cons of Orthodox vs Protestant Christians and much much more.
A couple more: 1. Marketing x Analytics Podcast. 2 The Constitution Study - about reasons to love America.