Forget Master Plans, Follow Stepping Stones

The Uncertainty Gets Extra Exciting

My most significant progress from the first half of 2025 wasn’t even on my radar until January. That’s a good sign.

I validated my new ARC program’s ability to map an individual’s “Inner Species,” a clear understanding of how their innate strengths, motivations, and values come together.

Exciting! And daunting. Because this progress unveiled a new problem to navigate:

How do I help people make the most of their Inner Species?

Guiding a sheep or elephant is one thing, but what about an octo-falco-badgophant?

Last October, I wrote about being a descendant of the “Fugawi” from Tony Soprano’s goon-ish joke:

Tony Soprano fills his plate at the buffet of a Native American-owned casino and says, “Whenever I’m in one of these places, I remember my grandmother was part Fugawi… Maybe I should do something about it.”

“Bullshi*t,” responds his slick sidekick, Silvio.

“Oh no, it’s true,” retorts Tony. “They were a nomadic tribe. They wander around, get lost, and go ‘We’re the Fugawi’ [pronounced ‘where the fug are we’].”

“We’re the Fugawi” captures how deep self-discovery feels: wandering uncertainly without a clear destination. And now I’ve dragged a handful of ARC beta testers into this Fugawi wilderness. I feel responsible for ensuring they don’t wander into quicksand or crocodiles’ mouths. So I’ve plunged myself deeper into uncertainty than ever. Extra exciting!

The Stepping Stone Success Strategy

Last week, a fellow Fugawi ARC-er was passing through Vancouver, so we literally wandered around together. Our “we’re the Fugawi” brainstorming highlighted a core concept from Kenneth Stanley’s book, Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned:

Extraordinary outcomes rarely come from linear plans. They arise by chasing interestingness through the mist of uncertainty, hopping from stone to stone, trusting the process without seeing the destination.

Examples:

• The microwave emerged from WWII radar technology
• KFC came from Colonel Sanders’ purchase of a gas station
• YouTube arose from the failure of a dating site

How does this help our Fugawi-style “aimless” pursuit of extraordinary lives?

Deep self-understanding doesn’t clear the mist. It leads you deeper into it. But it grounds you, illuminates stepping stones that point to interesting directions rather than distractions, and provides intrinsic motivation to jump.

No! No! No! …Yes!

My latest stepping-stone hop: running the first-ever ARC group call.

Like any leap into the mist, my evolutionary crappy inner co-pilot bombarded me with excuses:

• “This isn’t the right time!”
• “You don’t know how to structure this call!”
• “It’s too much work!”
• “You’re a one-on-one guy, not a group person!”
• “Oh no! Two people can’t come. Postpone!”

But the stepping stone may as well have been glowing with my future self beckoning through the mist, “Just jump over here, you moron.”

It wasn’t graceful. I accidentally muted myself at the start, wish I structured it better, and should’ve talked less.

Still, the mini-leap earned certified anti-regret status. Introducing ARC-ers felt like connecting friends who naturally click. Everyone found comfort in seeing their uncertainty as a sign of progress. Our shared grasp of ARC frameworks made brainstorming richer and deeper than typical chats with friends or spouses.

Best of all, this stepping stone de-mist-ified future leaps. Clearly, group discussions deserve to be a regular thing. While each of us explores our own misty universe, we can support, motivate, celebrate, and learn from each other’s jumps.

The 4 Cs of a Solid Stepping Stone

This experience crystallized the criteria for a worthy stepping stone. It has 4 Cs, like a diamond, but is the opposite of a sparkly, superficial status-symbol:

1. Charged – Feels daunting yet exciting. Both sensations release energy post-hop.
   Example: This post is not a stepping stone. It’s polishing the one I’m on. But the 3-Part Low-Filler Friendship Recipe I sent you a few weeks ago qualifies. it was my first time collaborating with someone else (ARC beta tester Evan) and letting them write it. That experience opened more possibilities than this post will.
2. Coherent – Clearly aligns with your Inner Species and Focus Line.
   A Focus Line is your life’s one-sentence What, How, and Why. Mine is about “dismantling conformity down to first principles, then assembling creative frameworks to unlock hidden potential.” A group call naturally fits as “assembling.”
3. Considered – Steps must be intentional, recorded, and reviewed.
   Helter-skelter step stone-ing beats sitting still, but you’ll go farther if you put some thought into each hop—before and after. Treat it like a series of experiments to decode your Inner Species and how it thrives within the world’s ecosystem.
4. Contact-Seeking – Must collect real-world feedback.
   This is the most important and easy-to-wimp-out-on of the 4 Cs. Research alone isn’t a stepping stone. It’s standing on your safe, secure platform trying to look through the mist with binoculars. Real leaps gather real-world data.

Hooray for Inch Pebbles!

Chip and Dan Heath’s The Power of Moments recommends celebrating not just  milestones but also “inch pebbles.” My first ARC group call was one. It wasn’t massive, but it inched me into the unknown. And if you persist with little leaps in interesting directions, you guarantee yourself an anti-regretful adventure and your best shot at landing somewhere extraordinary.

PS – A Stepping Stone to Better Stone Stepping

If you’re ready to steer your life toward extraordinary clarity and adventure, consider my ARC program. I’m recruiting a second round of 1-on-1 beta testers for an new-and-improved iteration.

While ARC is still evolving, early participants are already making clearer decisions and bolder moves. Some quotes from our group call:

• “…the [Inner Species] interview and what came out of that has been incredibly powerful just in itself… It’s given me a lot to focus on as I think about the next steps over the next decades, and really think about that underlying direction my life can take that feels cohesive.”
• “It’s been really positive because it’s allowed me to focus my time and my energy on things that I know I’m actually really good at… It’s been really clear and quite profound for me.”
• “Seeing the use of AI—that’s been really cool and beneficial… It’s doing things in a different way. I’ve always been into self‑help ideas, but they stopped at the ‘idea’ phase; now I’m actually doing something… It’s been a good step.”
• “I don’t think I’ve ever had less direction in my life, but I also feel a lot more sure in having no direction right now… Leaving the template I thought I loved was the best decision I’ve made… I’m really glad I did that.”

Three spots available. Only $500 for subscribers in exchange for actively helping ARC make extraordinary hops, too.

Email me “HOP” and I’ll be in touch to see if it’s a fit.

Keep Hopping: Reads for Your Next Leap

• End Conformity Waste – Stop society from squeezing your uniqueness into boring molds.
• Find Your Inner Species – Forget infinite options—thrive as the “species” you’re naturally wired to be.
• Brainwash Yourself Into a Great Story – Turn your life into a compelling narrative you’re excited to live.
• Optimize Your Personal Energy – Design days that fuel you with energy rather than drain you.
• Watch Yourself, Win – Improve anything by treating your life like game film—log, review, refine.