Hey friend,

Hope you’ve had a good week.

This week, I came across some powerful ideas, reflections, and stories that really made me pause—and grow. As always, I love sharing what’s been shaping my thinking, and I hope it offers you something meaningful too.

Let’s dive in.

At a Glance

Quote of the Week:

“If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.”
— Lao Tzu

Framework: Gap Theory by George Loewenstein
Trending Post: Sahil Bloom on Courage
Spotlight Article: Esther Mkanyika on fitting in vs being yourself
This Week’s Insight: The price of fitting in is the cost of your potential

Quote of the Week – Mind First, Everything Follows

Lao Tzu’s wisdom isn’t just poetic—it’s strategic.

As entrepreneurs, creators, and thinkers, we often obsess over tactics. But everything flows from mindset. Correcting your mind means examining your assumptions, your patterns, and your default scripts. That’s where true leverage lies. Because when the mind shifts, everything else adjusts—your actions, your energy, your relationships, and your results.

Framework – The Gap Theory

George Loewenstein’s Gap Theory teaches us something vital:
Curiosity is triggered when there’s a gap between what we know and what we want to know.

That gap? It’s what fuels action. In business and life, your job is to create and close those gaps. For your audience, customers, team—and yourself.

• Want engagement? Spark a curiosity gap.
• Want growth? Identify the knowledge gap.
• Want action? Expose the discomfort of the “not knowing.”

And here’s the inner version of the gap:

Your future self lives on the other side of what you don’t yet understand.

Trending Post – Sahil Bloom on Courage

One post that truly shook me this week was from Sahil Bloom. Here’s the line that anchored everything:

“There’s someone out there living the life you want simply because they had the courage to act.”

That one sentence? Conviction disguised as a tweet.

Sahil talks about courage as the defining trait—not intelligence, not skill, not talent.
Just boldness at the testing point.

The testing point is where fear and opportunity shake hands. Where comfort and growth wage war.
Where you decide if your values are real or just aesthetic.

He reminds us that:

• Courage is who you are when the rewards are unclear.
• Fear is just inexperience.
• The regret of not acting lasts longer than the pain of trying.

Courage is not born—it’s chosen. Daily.
And your growth is just a string of courageous decisions, repeated.

Community Feature – Esther Mkanyika’s Truth on Fitting In

Esther’s latest edition of “I’m Human, After All” wasn’t just beautiful—it was a mirror.

She writes about the subtle, soul-sapping need to fit in. The way we tone ourselves down to be accepted. The way we mask our realness just to blend into curated spaces. She writes:

“The reward for conformity is that everyone likes you but yourself.” — Rita Mae Brown

What hit me hardest was her reflection on how this begins early—childhood. When being assertive was called rude. When being bright made you annoying. When being yourself meant too much.

We carry those messages into adulthood, and into our businesses. We overthink. We shrink. We mask our voice to sound like others.

But what if the very thing we’re trying to hide is our goldmine?

Esther’s piece reminded me that your uniqueness is your positioning. Your truth is your brand. And your authenticity? That’s the business moat nobody can replicate.

MJ’s Insight of the Week – “Blend Out, Don’t Blend In”

This week, everything I read pointed to the same thing:
The world doesn’t need more clones—it needs more courageously expressed originality.

In business, courage shows up in:

• Launching the product no one clapped for yet
• Saying the thing everyone’s scared to say
• Creating before you feel “ready”

In personal growth, it’s:

• Owning the gap between who you are and who you want to be
• Choosing to stop blending in just to feel safe
• Correcting your internal script before correcting your external plan

My challenge to you this week:
Don’t just read content. Apply it. Internalize it. Let it stretch you.
That’s how knowledge becomes power—when it’s embodied.

Final Thought

You are at the testing point.

The uncomfortable email. The delayed product. The quiet shame of not acting. The urge to dilute yourself. It’s all a test.

So this week, choose boldness. Blend out.
Show up raw.
Correct the mind.
Teach the gap.
And above all: Act with courage.

Keep Shining.
— MJ Nyota