Andre Agassi is a tennis champion. He broke records. Is one of the rare few tennis players to achieve a Career Grand Slam. Won gold at the Olympics. Fought long battles out on court. Faced injuries and setbacks. From rebel to saviour. Rejected to rejuvenated to adored. His story has it all. But his unbelievably successful life in tennis came from a place you wouldn’t expect. And the ideas and practices that made him the champion he is, will surprise you.

Ambition. That driving force that propels us to greatness. In our world today we strive to create more ambition in our lives, but I question whether that is real, genuine ambition or simply a misguided force, that will tear you off your true and best path in life. Ambition is like fire from a dragons mouth; unbelievably powerful but potentially very dangerous. It can be an out-of-control fuel yet if focused can produce unbeatable results. So which is it for you?

There is a constant pressure to be positive all the time. To just miraculously transform a bad day into being good. We strive for a perfectly positive outlook and we have foolishly believed it is possible. It is not. It is the stuff of fictional fairytales. Our lives will indefinitely be full of struggles, bad days and mistakes. But, true positivity is to act despite this, to experience hardship but to move forwards, to experience pain and to accept it.

A large part and often difficult part of life is weighing up exploration vs commitment. We love to keep our options open and have space to evolve and change. But there is real power in committing. Committing to the things that matter to us. Yet, it seems impossibly challenging to decide when and how long to explore for, and when to commit. And whether that means commitment forever. But in commitment, you will find true freedom. The freedom you are really seeking.

We are envious of people who seem to be so productive, who can just get 12 hours of work done without raising an eyelid. We strive to make the best use of our time possible. And not waste any. We desire the pursuit, the hustle, for getting things done and prioritise this above all else. I want to argue for the case against productivity…

The Universe is an elaborate ecosystem. A staggeringly vast quantity of complex forces intersect, interdepend and balance for us to be alive. We need to appreciate that our life is an ecosystem too and use multi-dimensional thinking to better understand our decisions, ideas, feelings, emotions and thoughts. We should not view these in isolation of the whole ecosystem of life. Balance is always needed. Balance is an invisible constant in our lives.

Today’s culture has a strong narrative about hustling. If you aren’t happy in life; want financial freedom or want to ‘succeed’ - start hustling for it. We seem to respond to everything with this one, mystical word and are unforgiving if this idea isn’t followed. But what’s it all about? Why do we need to start hustling and what does it even mean? Where did this word come from? And, is it working?

We are all going through life searching for something. We want to ‘make it’ in life, to live our perfect, most idyllic dream life. The truth is, we are likely to never find ourselves in this unrealistic picture we painted in our minds. Not because it isn’t possible, but because what happens after that. This imagined dream life is essentially just a snapshot in time. Our dream life should surely be our entire life. However, it is possible to live our dream life now…