1-2-3 Inner Game

Welcome to 1-2-3 Inner Game, your weekly hit of actionable strategies to achieve a high-performing, healthy, and thriving life.

Today's Highlights

• When the Student Beats the Teacher

• 1-2-3 Inner-Game

• Building an Unstoppable Entrepreneur Mindset

• Growth, Profit, Freedom: You Can't Have All Three (Until You Do)

• Brain Candy

• Rundown of Cool Stuff This Week

Listen to the audio format of this issue

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Recently, my son beat me in chess. ♟️

It was bittersweet. Bitter because, well, I like to win. It felt like the end of an era. For years, I’ve been the teacher, the one showing him the ropes, helping him see two or three moves ahead.

But it was sweet because it was a rite of passage. The student finally beats the teacher. That’s a monumental moment — it means the teacher did their job.

Here’s the thing: in leadership, this is what you’re aiming for. If you’re the smartest person in the room, if nobody on your team can outthink you, outplay you, or surprise you — you’re not leading, you’re holding people back.

Your real job is to build people who will beat you. 🚀

People who will carry the torch further than you can. That’s the mark of a strong leader.

So yes, losing stung a little. But it also made me proud. Because it meant my son had grown. And in business, when your team beats you, it means you’ve built something that lasts.

Question for you: Who on your team is ready to beat you — and are you letting them?

If you’re an entrepreneur, or know one who would benefit from creating clarity, aligning their team, building momentum, and growing their business with the Bloom Growth system, I’d love to connect.

Here's some Inner Game wisdom to chew on this week

1 question to punch your brain this week

Are you building a business that sets you free — or one that chains you tighter? (​Click to Tweet​)

2 questions (and answers) from me

1. What kills momentum faster than failure? Success without purpose. Winning the wrong game feels worse than losing. (​Click to Tweet​)

   
   

2. What’s the biggest flex of leadership? Not being the loudest voice in the room — but creating a room where everyone else gets louder. (​Click to Tweet​)​

3 insights for the Inner Game Junkies

1. Urgency is Overrated Most breakthroughs happen because someone stayed patient longer than everyone else. (​Click to Tweet​)

   
   

2. Ego Hates Delegation But if you can’t let go, you’ll never level up. (​Click to Tweet​)

   
   

3. Hard Problems = Moats The very thing you’re avoiding is probably your competitive advantage. (​Click to Tweet​)

What does it take to win the inner game of entrepreneurship?

In this episode, I sit with Rayhan Aleem and share my journey from growing up around family entrepreneurship in the Philippines, to starting my career during the dot-com bubble in the U.S., to building businesses in Dubai, New York, and San Francisco.

We talk about the link between endurance sports and entrepreneurship, spotting burnout before it hits, and why your inner game is the ultimate competitive advantage.

Enjoy the episode below 👇🏼

Growth, Profit, Freedom: You Can't Have All Three (Until You Do)

Available now on Apple Podcasts and everywhere you get your podcasts

Brain Candy Tweets That Made Me Think, Laugh, or Go ‘Huh, Interesting!

That’s it. Marriage isn’t about never fighting… it’s about never quitting on the same day. 🔑

Wild how life flips. In college: skipping class to play Halo. 🎮

As an adult: I’d pay good money to sit in a lecture hall with zero emails, zero Slack, just books + smart people.

College isn’t wasted on the young… it’s wasted on people who don’t realize how rare uninterrupted learning time is.

Here’s a rundown of some cool stuff I’ve been diving into this week.

📖 ​The Maniac​ - A fictionalized biography centered on the life and work of mathematician and physicist John von Neumann, tracing his intellectual journey from his role in the creation of the atomic bomb to his later theoretical work on artificial intelligence and self-replicating machines.

I'm rooting for you to continue crushing it! 💪🏼

Dhiren