The Inner Circle

Things tend to work out. Usually better than you imagined.

In this episode of The Inner Circle, Mike and Kevin unpack a line from climbing legend Lynn Hill at Kevin's Boulder event: "I've managed to live my whole life without having a regular job, and things tend to work out." Mike shares how losing $1.6 million on a distressed e-commerce company became one of the greatest gifts of his life, and they dig into why fear makes us overestimate risk, underestimate the cost of staying put, and why the wealthier people get, the harder change becomes.

They discuss:
- Lynn Hill's "things tend to work out," and why people who make bold moves wish they'd done it sooner
- Mike's $1.6M business loss and the idea that the universe is conspiring in your favor
- Correcting for fear: why a decision that feels 50/50 is probably 70/30
- The hidden cost of the status quo, and reclaiming your agency by choosing consciously (from chapter 7 of Mike's book, Be Rich Now)
- Why success and money often make people more afraid of personal change
- The CEO who said he was miserable but wouldn't show up for a 6 a.m. walk
- Doing it for someone else, and running toward something irresistible instead of away from something
- Letting go of the illusion of control

Chapters:
00:00 Welcome to The Inner Circle
00:27 Lynn Hill: "Things tend to work out"
03:00 Mike's $1.6M loss and the universe conspiring in your favor
06:30 Looking back: the hard times that were exactly what we needed
07:55 Fear, regret, and the cost of staying the same
10:18 Internal dissonance and choosing consciously
11:23 Why wealth makes change scarier
13:15 The CEO who wouldn't change
15:32 Do it for someone else, and run toward something
18:56 Go for it: letting go of the illusion of control

Connect with Kevin and Mike on X for more from The Inner Circle:
Kevin Dahlstrom: https://x.com/Camp4
Mike Brown: https://x.com/mbrown_co

Love something absurd or obscure way too much.In this episode of The Inner Circle, Mike and Kevin start with a post Mike put up on X: a cheat code for being happier is loving something uncool, like his outsized love for The Cranberries. Kevin explains why he asks every job candidate what they do outside of work, and why a weird, passionate answer tells him more than a résumé. They talk about why personal stories and odd interests matter more as AI makes everything sound the same, and then answer a question a nine-figure CEO once asked Kevin: how do I find a hobby?They discuss:- Dropping the mask of what you're "supposed" to love, from The Cranberries to brown supercars- The interview question Kevin has asked for 25 years, and the best answer he ever got (the 501st Stormtrooper Division)- Why originality and personal experience get more valuable in the age of AI- The problem with "be obsessed" hustle advice and the "I love my work" fallacy- Why being willing to be bad at something keeps the joy in it, and how Mike's push to go pro in triathlon killed it- How to find your thing: try things, give it time, and notice what you think about in your quiet momentsChapters:00:00 Welcome to The Inner Circle01:08 Mike's post: love something absurd or obscure way too much05:03 What do you do outside of work?08:24 Originality in the age of AI, and the problem with "be obsessed"14:43 How do you find a hobby?Connect with Kevin and Mike on X for more from The Inner Circle:Kevin Dahlstrom: https://x.com/Camp4Mike Brown: https://x.com/mbrown_co

???? Inner Circle ⭕️ is back!

Kevin and I took a little break.

When we started this podcast with a single rule:

This stays fun.

The minute it feels like work, we are missing the mark.

So when I was heads down launching the book, the pod dropped out.

The other promise was that this show would be the conversations Kevin and I have anyway. This episode is us legitimately catching up - and we have some big life updates.

Thanks to everyone who messaged to say you missed the show.

We did too!

mb

The closer you get to your potential, the further it moves.

In this episode of The Inner Circle, Mike and Kevin take apart one of the most well-meaning ideas we inherit: that you owe it to yourself to live up to your potential. Kevin admits he has spent years haunted by the feeling that his was massive and unspent. Mike makes the case that the measure was rigged from the start, and that the goalposts were never going to hold still.

They discuss:

- Why potential is an unwinnable game by definition, and what happens the moment you measure yourself against it
- The shift from dirty fuel to clean fuel, and the uncomfortable question of whether clean fuel burns as hot
- How to spot someone running on dirty fuel across a room, and why it is easy to recognize once you have lived it
- Why quitting the chase for conventional success often just becomes a chase for enlightenment wearing better clothes
- The idea of making a goal both inevitable and irrelevant, and how two things that sound like opposites become the same practice
- What non-attachment actually means, and why it has nothing to do with killing desire

Most high achievers spend their lives measuring against a standard that recedes every time they reach for it. This episode is about setting the standard down, and what becomes possible once you stop chasing a number that was never going to hold still.

Connect with Kevin and Mike on X for more from The Inner Circle:
Kevin Dahlstrom: https://x.com/Camp4
Mike Brown: https://x.com/mbrown_co

Some money is better than none. But why do people keep chasing long after they have enough?

In this episode of The Inner Circle, Mike calls in from day seven of a ten-day writing retreat in Winter Park, and Kevin shares a number he did not plan to share. The conversation finds its way to the question underneath both: at what point does another dollar cost more than it is worth, and how do you actually know when you have crossed that line?

They discuss:

- Why financial independence has nothing to do with buying whatever you want, and everything to do with making decisions that have nothing to do with money
- The marginal utility curve — where it bends, what it feels like when you pass it, and why most people blow right past it without noticing
- Why "I love what I do" is often the most sophisticated version of not knowing any different
- The climbing guide who lives on $4,000 a month and the question he forced Kevin to sit with at the height of a seven-figure career
- Why everything you own owns a piece of you back, and what ruthless simplification actually looks like in practice
- How to calculate how much fuel your ideal life actually requires — and why the number is almost always smaller than you think

Most people running hard past the threshold are not chasing freedom. They are avoiding the question of what they would do with it.

Connect with Kevin and Mike on X for more from The Inner Circle:

Kevin Dahlstrom: https://x.com/Camp4

Mike Brown: https://x.com/mbrown_co