The Rebel Onion

A collection of 20 posts

Follow The Lean Featured

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 Featured

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 Featured

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 Featured

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 Featured

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.

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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. 🧅

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 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.

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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.

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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 Seasonal Layer — You're Not Behind. You're Just Not Letting Spring Do Its Thing (Maybe) #46

Unpeeling the invisible work of the seasonal layer. Honoring the wait through the lens of the Chinese Farmer and Pressfield’s War of Art. Understanding that maximal evolution occurs at the border of support and challenge. Proper preparation prevents poor performance. Still here. Still planting.

The Rebel Onion

The Blueprint Layer — I Drew This in 2011. I Finally Know What It Means. #45

The Blueprint Layer: A deep dive into the 14-year journey from a Post-it note to a 30-page system. This week introduces The Becoming Blueprint—44 transformation layers and the AI prompts to unpeel them. Design Rebel features a 90s-style infomercial on the power of documented transformation.

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. 🧅

The Rebel Onion

The Scar Layer - The Scars You're Ashamed Of Are Your Survival Stories #41

Stop hiding your survival stories and start honoring them. Featuring Dr. Goodman on the "70-year-old" trap, Pressfield on shame as Resistance, and a high-impact boxing visual on the grit of the "Big Swing." Your scars aren't failures; they are your credentials.