Guest
John Walt
I am a husband, father, author, strategist, and adventurer. I spent two decades on a search for wisdom that led me to spend thousands of hours with mentors and read 100+ books a year. That journey transformed how I think, live, and work.
Appearances on Notes on Wisdom
Audio Restraint vs. Abandon - No. 24
I have never been good at doing what I am supposed to do. Because of that, I have caught a lot of flak over the years from the “keepers of order.” It seems that most people want a clear outline of how they are expected to behave, the more detail the better.
Audio Recycling Self-Obsession - No. 23
The greatest battle each of us must face is the battle to defeat ourselves. The world we have been baked in our entire lives tells us that we deserve to have what we want when we want it. The average person is hit with 5-10K marketing messages a day.
Audio Holding Things in Tension - No. 22
As people who live in the information age, we are used to being able to find answers to almost any questions we have. Finding these answers has gotten infinitely easier over just the last 50 years.
Audio Ego-Threatening vs. Life-Threatening - No. 21
Larry Mills is a mentor of mine and a master at asking challenging questions that lead to deep thinking and changed lives. When people come to him with their frustrations and challenges, he often asks, “Is this situation life-threatening or ego-threatening?”
Audio Every Man's Journey - No. 20
A year and a half ago, I began studying male initiation because I wanted to understand how I could be intentional about raising my boys. Since then, I have read lots of books, talked to lots of people, and begun writing.
Audio Healing the Wounds - No. 19
Part of the myth of the strong man is the belief that a man is not weak, and therefore, he doesn’t need to heal spiritually, mentally, and emotionally. I believe that everyone needs healing because everyone has been hurt.
Audio The Monomyth - No.17
Every society is built on stories that tell people who they are, where they come from, and what to expect from life. Most of the stories our modern culture is built on are lies.
Audio We All Need Mentors - No. 16
For some reason, I have always sought out mentors. I never had a plan, I was just curious and hungry for wisdom. In my experience, the more wisdom you get, the more you want.
Audio The Role of Work in Life - No. 15
We have a dangerously flawed view of what work is and the role it has in our lives. There is no question that most of us have to work to make a living and provide for our families. Unfortunately, what we do for a living has become an integral part of most people's identities.
Audio Moderate Success - No. 14
The book Rules for a Knight is a philosophical fable presented as a letter written by a knight to his children before a potentially fatal battle in 1483. Knowing he may not survive, the knight compiles his life’s wisdom and guidance into a series of reflections on virtues and values.
Audio The Rule Line - No. 13
One of the first things my mentor, Scott Dohner, shared with me was a concept he calls “The Rule Line” that he created while he was CEO of Superfeet. He could see that employees were focused on following the rules and staying out of trouble, but Scott wanted everyone to aim much higher than that.
Audio The Sacred and the Secular - No. 12
I use the phrase “modern world” a lot. I often want to stop using it because it can sound cliche, but I don’t think there is any way around it. Our world is drastically different than the world our ancestors lived in.