Design Rebel

A collection of 32 posts

Flow State Featured

The Instrument Layer: The Part of You AI Can't Finish #69

Flow isn't a productivity hack; it's medicine. Week 69 explores disappearing into your craft, the unrecycled human signal AI can’t replicate, Dr. Larry Goodman on the remake trap, and why craving the disappearance is how you unearth what only you can create.

The Rebel Onion Featured

The Transmission Layer: You Have a Calling. You Don't Have a Crown. #68

You have a calling, not a crown. Week 68 explores retiring Campbell’s hero trap, stepping into Michael Meade’s Genius Myth, Dr. Larry Goodman’s lessons on the master signal, and why owning your specific role is what actually makes the work move forward.

The Rebel Onion Featured

The Hollow Layer: Why Emptiness Is What Lets Something Through #67

Useful space lives in the hollow. Week 67 explores Lao Tzu’s wisdom, reclaiming your inner kingdom, Dr. Larry Goodman’s critique of the "shoulds," and Dr. Wayne Dyer’s lessons on clearing out the noise so what actually belongs can enter.

The Rebel Onion

The Conduit Layer: You Are the Channel, Not the Signal #66

You are the channel, not the signal. Week 66 breaks down why your best creations feel unexplainable, Elizabeth Gilbert’s lessons from Big Magic, Dr. Larry Goodman’s "Big Kahuna" moment, and how to stay open to what’s coming through.

Follow The Lean

The Tropism Layer: What You Called a Distraction Was the Signal #65

The lean isn't laziness or procrastination—it's data. Week 65 explores following your internal signal, reframing "chance" occurrences through the lens of divine choreography, and realizing the audience you thought was missing was listening the entire time.

Photosynthesis

The Photosynthesis Layer: Stop Storing. Start Converting. #64

Stop storing. Start converting. Week 64 explores moving from underground root-work to active photosynthesis—focusing on present light, clearing out the pantry, trusting the process, and turning raw experience into immediate fuel.

Rising out of Hermit Mode

The Root-Gift Layer: The Deep Ones Feed the Field by Habit #63

Staying underground stops being preparation and starts being a comfortable place to hide. Week 63 breaks down the shift from hermit mode to touching air, taking back your own best root-energy, Robin Wall Kimmerer's law of reciprocity, and stepping into the open.

Surrender

The Surrender Layer: Stop Fighting the Current. #62

When you stop fighting the current, the giants stop looking like obstacles and start revealing your path. Week 62 breaks down surrender, leading with love over lectures, and finding purpose in the flow of life.

The Rebel Onion

The Soil Layer: You Can't Grow in a Hall of Mirrors. #61

Stop chasing glossy reflections. Week 61 breaks down the hall of mirrors trap, Parker Palmer's 'Let Your Life Speak,' Dr. Goodman's take on discernment, and a wild 'God-instance' at a neighborhood park. Plus, the hand-carved AI pipeline behind 'The House of Mirrors.'

The Rebel Onion

The Reaching Layer: The Mirror or the Sun. #60

I cross the same bridge as billionaires, but the drive home isn't about looking rich—it's about who you become. Week 60 breaks down the proximity trap, Dr. Goodman's warning, Parker Palmer's 'Let Your Life Speak,' and the hand-carved AI pipeline behind 'The Drive Home.'

Leveling Up

The Surface Layer: Break Through. No Instructions. Just a Reason. #59

In Week 59, we hit the surface layer. We break down why the next peak comes with no instructions, Dr. Goodman’s blueprint for dropping the doubt with your son in your lap, Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art, and how a blank map forces you to build your own path forward.

Personal Growth

The Infinite Layer: The Peeling Was Never the Point. #58

In Week 58, the deep peeling inverts outward. We break down why the peeling was never the point, Dr. Goodman's blueprint for creating an "unfair advantage" through listening, John Daido Loori’s The Zen of Creativity, and why it's time to stop digging and start launching.

The Rebel Onion

The Depth Layer: The Struggle Was a Story. Not a Law. #57

Reveals why the deepest layer of healing can turn into hiding. We break down the 40-year script that struggle is the price of admission, issue a raw apology to money, look at Bob Dylan’s creative shift via Dr. Goodman, and map out Ayn Rand’s antidote to unearned guilt. 🧅

The Rebel Onion

The Renewal Layer: The Rabbit Was Never the Point #56

Week 56 reveals that the race was never about catching the rabbit—it's about the run. Dr. Goodman explores outcomes vs. process, Coach Bill Walsh reveals his machine blueprint, Peter Sage drops a classic lesson, and we break down how the new video art was hand-carved. 🧅

Personal Growth

The Cultivation Layer: You Have Enough. Now Use It. #55

Week 55 shifts us from growing by accident to cultivating by choice. We stop chasing tools and trust what is already planted. By shifting our inner lens from wounded to conscious, we drop the clutter of avoidance, build on our real experience, and move forward in action. 🧅

The Rebel Onion

The Essence Layer: Less Everything. More You. #54

Week 54 marks a pivot into our concentrated essence. Reduce down to our true nature, choosing a creative path over inherited legacies. Through essentialism, cut clutter, use our defiance as fuel to erase financial anxiety, & build what remains in raw vulnerability.

The Rebel Onion

The Integration Layer - All the Gears. One Mechanism. #53

You are not a collection of broken parts; you are a mechanism. Week 53 explores why integration isn't about perfect harmony, but the honest coexistence of every gear you've forged and inherited. Stop trying to fix what isn't broken. Adjust the alignment and let the watch tell time. 🧅

The Rebel Onion

The Inheritance Layer - The Decision Is the Legacy #52

One full year. What was this really for? Week 52 audits the "Inheritance Layer"—tearing down the myth of the final destination. From Dr. Goodman's blueprint on parenting to Mitch Albom’s accidental legacy, true arrival is an illusion. Finding yourself doesn't end the work; you just keep chopping. 🧅

The Rebel Onion

The Flowering Layer - You Don't Decide to Bloom. You Just Run Out of Reasons Not To. #51

The onion doesn't decide to bloom; it just runs out of reasons not to. The high-pressure threshold between storing energy and releasing it. From conquering inner devils for the next generation to Rick Rubin’s vessel, it’s time to claim the treasure.

The Rebel Onion

The Cooking Layer - The Pressure Wasn't Punishment. It Was Preparation. #50

This milestone Peel audits the heat that dissolves our masks to find the authentic core. From Campbell’s "Abyss" to the sharp reflexes of real-time coaching, we explore the Master Reduction: boiling away the performance to reveal the foundation. Still cooking. 🧅

The Rebel Onion

The Layered Memory - You Were Never Starting Over. You Were Adding Rings. #49

If each layer of you could speak—not the polished version, but the one underneath—what story would it tell? From reckless midnight bike rides in Miami to the 10,

The Rebel Onion

The Tolerance Layer - Not Everything You're Enduring Deserves Your Endurance #48

Are you absorbing the cost of a dissolving system or investing in your own transformation? We’re diving into the "Synthetic Aftertaste" of AI, Dr. Goodman’s grit, and how to stop haunting yourself with optimized noise. It’s time to find your real signal.

The Rebel Onion

The Intensity Layer: Stop Protecting the World From the Full Version of You. #47

Stop protecting the world from your power. Inside: Dr. Goodman on the "Competence Trap," Brené Brown’s "Daring Greatly" and the arena of the undefended, plus a Spartan AI cinematic on why being "agreeable" is just a slow way to disappear. Still peeling.

the rebel onion

The Moisture Layer — Stop Waiting for the Rain. Start Storing What You Have. #43

Deep dive explores the "Sun Dance" ritual and pushing AI tools through the drought. The "Being Coached" Layer with Dr. Goodman breaks down the "Tincture of Time." Bookshelf Peeled features John Ortberg’s Soul Keeping and the necessity of the "dark night."

The Rebel Onion

The Interdependence Layer - You're Dependent. Stop Calling It Independence. #42

he "Self-Made" story is a childhood wound. Real maturity isn't independence—it’s the courage to admit you depend on an ecosystem. Stop solo-acting and start building the "WE" model. No onion grows alone. Neither do you. 🧅