Taylor Made Thoughts
Taylor-Made Thoughts is a personal podcast where the host shares reflections on books, mental models, and frameworks that shape his thinking and life. Each episode aims to offer practical insights and spark listeners' own contemplation. The content is crafted with care for those interested in self-improvement and intellectual exploration.
Episodes
Business Failure - Why My Residential Cleaning Business Failed
I started a residential cleaning business hoping to build a scalable company with recurring revenue. A few months later, I shut it down.In this episode, I give an honest postmortem of why the business failed—and why the reasons were more complicated than simply not working hard enough or executing well enough.The biggest problem was a lack of meaningful differentiation. To most customers, one resi
Dan Sullivan: The 4 C’s Formula: Your building blocks of growth: commitment, courage, capability, and confidence.
The 4 C’s Formula: Commitment → Courage → Capability → ConfidenceIn this episode, I explore Dan Sullivan’s 4 C’s Formula and why confidence doesn’t come before taking action—it comes after.When you commit to a goal that’s bigger than anything you’ve done before, you’re almost guaranteed to face uncertainty. Moving forward anyway requires courage. That courage forces you to develop new capabilities
Introducing Opaque: A Snail Mail Subscription for Better Decisions
I’m trying something new.It’s called Opaque — a snail mail subscription built around one idea: How do you make good decisions when you don’t know how things will turn out?Each issue puts you inside a real decision faced by an entrepreneur, leader, investor, or historical figure. You’ll get the information they had at the time — but not what happened next.Then you have to decide.What would you do?
“Geometry” for Staying Cool & Calm: 3 Rules for Navigating Life (by Dan Sullivan)
What if staying calm in an uncertain world came down to three simple rules?In this episode, I explore Dan Sullivan’s “Geometry” for staying cool and calm—a simple framework built around three ideas:Everything is made up.Nobody’s in charge.Life isn’t fair.At first, these might sound funny. But taken together, they can actually be incredibly freeing.If everything around us was ultimately invented by
The Millionaire Master Plan: Your Personalized Path to Financial Success by Roger James Hamilton
What if the path to becoming a millionaire isn’t the same for everyone?In this episode of Taylor Made Thoughts, I explore Roger James Hamilton’s The Millionaire Master Plan and its central idea: building wealth isn’t just about working harder or following someone else’s formula—it’s about understanding where you are now and choosing the right strategy for your particular stage.I break down Hamilto
How Will You Measure Your Life?: Finding fulfilment using lessons from some of the world's greatest businesses (by Clayton Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon)
In this episode, I discuss How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen, James Allworth, and Karen Dillon—a book that takes the management theories Christensen taught at Harvard Business School and applies them to one of the most important questions we can ask ourselves: What makes for a fulfilling life?Rather than relying on inspirational advice, Christensen argues that the same princip
Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better (David Epstein)
We tend to think that more freedom, more options, and more resources naturally lead to better outcomes. In Inside the Box, bestselling author David Epstein (author of Range) argues the opposite: the right constraints don't limit us—they unlock our best thinking.In this episode, we explore why boundaries, deadlines, limited resources, and self-imposed rules can produce greater creativity, bette
Working Backwards: Insight, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon (by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr)
In this episode, I dive into Working Backwards: Inside Stories and Secrets from Amazon by Colin Bryar and Bill Carr, focusing on two of Amazon's most influential management ideas.First, I explore the Working Backwards process—Amazon's practice of starting with a future press release and FAQ before building a product. Instead of asking, "What can we build?" the process forces team
How to Combat the Ego: 2 Ways to Convince Yourself or Someone Else to Change Their Life
We all know how hard it is to change our own behavior—and even harder to convince someone else to change theirs. In this episode, I explore two surprisingly effective ways to work around the ego, reduce resistance, and create real behavioral change.Along the way, I compare two competing models of personal development: the popular "be, do, have" philosophy that focuses on identity and bre
Reflections on 100 Cold Calls: Why Every Business Should Start this Way
Episode DescriptionI recently challenged myself to make 100 cold calls in 3 days—targeting dental offices, gyms, physical therapy clinics, and veterinary practices. In this episode, I share what actually happened, what surprised me, and what I learned.If you're starting a business, I make the case that every founder should do 100 cold calls before worrying about websites, logos, or marketing s
Tao: The Watercourse Way (Allen Watts, Al Chung-liang Huang)
For this episode, I discuss The Watercourse Way by Alan Watts, a book that explores Daoism through ideas like the Dao, yin-yang polarity, and wu wei—or effortless action.The biggest theme that stood out to me is that the things we want most often seem to elude us, while the things we care less about arrive naturally. Looking back on my own life, I've repeatedly gone after one outcome—money, bu
What the CEO Wants You To Know: How Your Company Really Works (Ram Charan)
One of the biggest lessons I took from What the CEO Wants You To Know by Ram Charan is that business is much simpler than most people make it. Great CEOs focus on a handful of fundamentals: customers, cash flow, return on invested capital, and growth. Instead of getting lost in departments, metrics, and complexity, Charan argues that everyone should understand how the business actually makes money
Tim Ferris’s - Fear Setting
In this episode, we explore Tim Ferriss's powerful concept of Fear Setting—a practical exercise designed to help you overcome indecision, anxiety, and procrastination. Instead of focusing only on goals, Fear Setting encourages you to define your fears, examine the worst-case scenarios, and create plans to prevent or repair potential setbacks. Learn how this simple framework can help you make b
The Psychology of Hope — How to Actually Achieve Your Goals
Welcome to *Taylor-Made Thoughts* — a series exploring mental models, psychological frameworks, and practical tools for improving thinking and increasing your chances of achieving meaningful goals. Each episode breaks down actionable ideas and mental tools you can apply immediately in your own life.In this episode, I reflect on *The Psychology of Hope* by C. R. Snyder and explore six mental tools
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