Psychedelic Success

Read time: 5 minutes

Hey internet friends,

Last week, we explored hyper self-awareness and how catching your own counterproductive thoughts creates a competitive advantage.

​You can read that (and all past issues, here).

By the way, if you're finding these insights helpful, I've started collecting all these tools, resources, and one-sheets in the ever-growing 'Science of Success' vault. Check it out here for additional materials on today's topic and more.

Today, something a little different. Last Thursday, (probably whilst you were reading this newsletter), I was in a friends castle (story for another time), 7 friends, a shaman, and some mushrooms doing a spiritually guided mushroom ceremony.

Now of course, your reaction is one of three things here:

1. ugh, groan, how self indulgent does this garbage get, unsubscribe in disgust, etc. Or:
2. Interesting, I'm open minded, tell me more. Or:
3. Yeah, been there done that, get over yourself.

Either way - I want to share what I learned, and why this could be a great unlock for your success.

Why Explore Psychedelics?

Let's start with the truth - because according to science, they can unlock our potential. I don't have time to hard sell you on them and that's not my intention, but fun fact - Imperial College in London is one of, if not THE most prolific, impressive science leaders in the world right now when it comes to researching psychedelics to cure mental health conditions from PTSD to severe depression.

Are they dangerous? Yes, of course, I am not saying they are for everyone - the key to success in life is not just being open minded to experimenting but also doing what's right for you at the right time.

The reason I actually went was one of my best friends has desperately wanted to for 7 years but always backed out. It drives her mad, she genuinely wants to break out of this cycle so I said - "look, if I find a shaman, a venue and arrange the whole thing and go with you, will you go" - she said yes.

Presumably she thought that me having a 2nd child, a business etc was going to stop me, but when there's a will there's a way, so with a castle secured, a shaman booked to fly from San Francisco, and the only time we could do - a Thursday, we booked time off work and off we went 🙃
Even though I went for her, I ended up having an insanely powerful time, casually finding my life's purpose. No biggie. OK, enough about me for now, time to learn.

🚴‍♂️ The Accidental Ride That Changed Everything

Now, 'magic' mushrooms find their ancestry in Mexico in Mesoamerican Ceremonies: Indigenous cultures, particularly the Aztecs, revered psilocybin mushrooms, referring to them as teonanácatl or "divine mushroom." These fungi played a central role in religious rituals, divination, and healing practices.

And then, fast forward....In 1938, Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann synthesized a compound called LSD while working at Sandoz Laboratories. It sat on a shelf until 1943, when Hofmann accidentally absorbed some through his skin and felt... funky.

Days later, he intentionally ingested 250 micrograms and embarked on a now-famous bicycle ride home, experiencing vivid hallucinations. This event, celebrated annually as "Bicycle Day," marked the dawn of the psychedelic era. He was quite possibly the last person ever in history to experience a psychedelic trip with no pre conceived fear or concerns...

🧠 Unlocking the Brain: How Psychedelics Work

Modern research reveals that psychedelics like psilocybin (found in magic mushrooms) and LSD can:

• Enhance Neuroplasticity: They promote the growth of new neural connections, aiding in mental flexibility and resilience.
• Increase Brain Entropy: This leads to a more interconnected brain state, allowing for novel thoughts and perspectives.
• Alleviate Mental Health Issues: Studies show significant reductions in depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms after controlled psychedelic use.

An absolutely brilliant book I recommend; How To Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan. He explores the ancient and recent history of psychedelics as written by someone terrified to take psychedelics.

Ok, so back to my ceremony....

Setting An Intention

There's a saying in psychedelics - "you dont get what you want, you get what you need". If that sounds odd, let me share this experience:

I really wanted to do a psychedelic journey to explore life as a father. That was my main intention. However, really early on, as they started to kick in, the shaman was playing music, and suddenly memories came flooding back to me about growing up in my house....

My whole journey for the next hour was about my mum - and being a son. The insight I wrote down on my notepad was:

"I can never do enough to say thanks to my mum for all she's done for me, but I can always do a bit more".

There's a lot of truth in that for all of us to think about (would be true about my dad too but he passed away a long time ago, so this was more focused on how to make sure I'm there for my mum.

Reaching My Heights

The other intention I had was dealing with a loss of identity. I had just made the final payments to officially close down my podcast company, Secret Leaders - so I felt like there was a lot to explore in identity loss.

Instead, I was shown something very different....

In this particular vision - I saw how the reason I had fallen out of love with it - is it felt quite ego serving. All obsessed with clicks and views and hooks and attention grabbing nonsense - it felt further and further away from my most authentic self, and who I want to be.

I was then shown all the times in my life I am the happiest. It's when I am serving others, helping people, supporting my friends, caring for them, hyping people up...

In that moment - the metaphorical weight of my podcast company dropped from me - and I suddenly felt incredibly aligned with the work I do at Heights. Our purpose is "To help people reach their Heights" - and in that moment I realised how I had given my company a purpose that was so true to me (as a founder should), but not reflected on it truly being my own either.

My purpose is to help other people reach their Heights.

This statement just kept hitting me again and again like a wave and the more it did, the more I absorbed and appreciated it... it just felt so right. I got up, walked outside in the beautiful sunny British countryside, cried with some joy, and havent stopped thinking since about how I can help other people reach their Heights.

Its an incredibly powerful question in small moments, in bigger moments, in moments where I make mistakes and do something that feels wrong (which sadly I still do, as I'm not perfect yet), and can see that where I made the mistake was not being true to that purpose.

So, to wrap this in a bow and not bore you to death with too much self indulgent (now that's clearly off brand) - I am pleased to say this newsletter is staying - the science of success is all about helping you reach your Heights. The research I do, the stories I share - they are geared to your success... your Heights - and I hope you feel that intention too.

I'll be doing my best to live this purpose from now on, you can feel free to call me out if you think I'm betraying it. And certainly please do feel free to borrow/steal it for yourself too!

With love, gratitude and reaching my Heights by hoping you reach yours,

Dan

PS: Yes my friend had an incredible time too!

PSS: I asked the question in the journey - "whats getting in the way of me reaching my Heights?" Answer: pointless distractions... like Twitter. So, I've deleted it off my phone, suddenly got a lot of time back! 🤣

SOS (Science of Success) Curated:

LinkedIn of the week: 90% of jobs can be taught​

Podcast of the week: ACQUIRED: The Story of IKEA​

My Tweet of the week: I took a break and deleted it off my phone!

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1-1 Coaching with Dan

In my goal to help more entrepreneurs/people who are looking to level up their careers, I've just started taking 1-1 consulting calls (only 1 a week)

Why book a call? Some of my expertise/success:

I've built 5 startups. 1 win, 1 fail, and 3 still going.

E-Commerce: Heights — with revenue over $15M a year.

Community: Foundrs, one of the UK's top founder communities

Podcasting: Leaders Media - bootstrapped media company that makes the UK's top business podcasts, Secret Leaders, with over 50M downloads.

Health/Mental Health: Managed to overcome burnout, insomnia, depression & anxiety in pursuit of success as I talk about in my interview with Steven Bartlett on Diary of a CEO​

Angel Investing: I've invested in over 90 startups

Coached & Mentored: Certified coach & done lots of mentoring

Personal Brand: Have grown to 178k on LinkedIn and X (Twitter) in the past 12 months

So if you're interested in booking a session with me to talk all things business or building a personal brand, book for 30-minutes or 45-minutes. (limited spots).

Science of Success Vault

I'm building a vault of valuable tools, resources, and one sheets that I hope help you succeed.

These will be stored in the ever-growing 'Science of Success' vault — you can always access that here

Want to take your success (even more) seriously? 👇​
🧠 Fuel your brain and feed your gut, try Heights here (use code 'SOSDMS' for 15% off your first month of any subscription

🎧 Check out my podcast Secret Leaders here​

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