Brandon Stover On Life

A narrated essay reflecting on minimalism: owning only what adds value and meaning to your life and removing the rest.

Find more essays at brandonstover.com
Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com

Timestamps:

• (00:00) - Beginning of Essay
• (02:08) - Minimalism
• (03:53) - Value of Small Spaces
• (07:05) - Using Things to Fulfill Feelings
• (09:01) - Deciding What Has Value

A narrated essay reflecting on the dark side of consistently creating content, what a content creators intention should be, and how to create content that is both sensational and valuable.

Find more essays at brandonstover.com
Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com

Timestamps:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (01:25) - Beginning of Essay
• (05:19) - The Two Sides of Content Creation
• (08:26) - Consistent Content Creation
• (10:03) - Content Marketing
• (11:58) - Creator's Intention
• (12:40) - Value of Long-Form Content

A narrated essay reflecting on the five stages of relationships for both monogamists and non-monogamists, delineating when a romantic interest should move to the next stage.

Find more essays at brandonstover.com
Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com

Timestamps:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (01:21) - Beginning of Essay
• (03:03) - Stage 1: Need Fulfillment
• (04:18) - Stage 2: Mutual Benefit
• (05:37) - Stage 3: Romantic Trial Period
• (06:37) - Stage 4: Resource Trial Period
• (07:47) - Stage 5: Life Partners
• (09:32) - Pursuing Purpose Together
• (12:09) - Monogamy vs Non-Monogamy
• (14:43) - Polarity in Relationships

A narrated essay on how to strive towards perfection, an ideal state of being, without feeling shame or guilt when we fall short as flawed human beings.

Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com

Timestamps:

• (00:00) - Intro
• (02:29) - Essay Narration
• (05:10) - Commentary on Essay

A narrated An essay reflecting on how the Metaverse can either supplement or replace reality, simulation theory, evolution of humans, and the decisions each of us will have to make as the Metaverse unfolds. Brandon shares how he believes the Metaverse can help, his fears for those turning away from reality, and how he would proceed given the choice between the Metaverse and reality.

Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com

TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (01:17) - Beginning of essay On the Metaverse: Metaverse vs Reality
• (03:59) - Will the Metaverse be an escape from reality?
• (05:20) - How does the design of the Metaverse keep you inside the Metaverse?
• (06:14) - How will the Metaverse help us avoid reality?
• (07:43) - What is the role of suffering in human existence?
• (08:43) - What is the goal of the Metaverse?
• (09:19) - Could the Metaverse be a supplement to real life?
• (10:49) - How could the Metaverse help us solve problems through simulation?
• (13:20) - How does the Metaverse fall short?
• (15:14) - Are we already living in a simulation?
• (16:29) - How can the Metaverse accelerate human evolution?
• (18:26) - Will you choose the Metaverse or Reality?

A narrated essay reflecting on how to access the mind using the body, your responsibility for your body, and who has the power to make decisions about our bodies. Brandon shares how he began a better connection with his body and his views about decisions made concerning other's bodies including abortion and COVID.

Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com

TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (01:04) - Beginning of essay On the Body: Using the Body to Access the Mind
• (04:15) - Inspiration of essay, my journey with first connecting with the body
• (05:49) - How do we access the mind through the body?
• (09:49) - What is the connection of the mind with reality?
• (10:49) - How did the Stoics perceive the body?
• (11:13) - How is the body a tool for your will?
• (12:30) - Why you must become the expert and take responsibility for your body
• (15:11) - What happens when you outsource responsibility of your body to others?
• (15:58) - Who should have ultimate decisions over our bodies?
• (18:30) - What can you do if your body is enslaved or controlled by someone else?
• (20:52) - Final comments on the body

A narrated essay reflecting on what the true joy of a goal is, what to do when you are not reaching goals fast enough, goals in finite vs infinite games, and how to share your ambition with others. Brandon shares his struggles with not reaching goals fast enough and sharing his ambition with others.

Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com

TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (01:16) - Beginning of essay On Goals: Joy of Goals
• (04:50) - Inspiration of essay, not reaching goals fast enough
• (05:38) - How does dopamine and our brain influence goals?
• (06:20) - What choices do we have in life?
• (07:03) - What are finite vs infinite games?
• (08:12) - How does legacy effect our goals?
• (10:13) - What is the true benefit of having a goal?
• (13:27) - How many goals should we have?
• (14:22) - Why should you cherish your goals?
• (15:25) - What is the best possible goal to set for yourself?
• (16:40) - Why do some fear ambition?
• (20:22) - Why do you fear sharing your ambition?
• (24:51) - What is the goal of the infinite game of life?
• (26:48) - How to deal with uncertainty in life

Full show notes, transcripts, and resources for every episode can be found at: brandonstover.com

The On Life podcast is produced by Plato University.

A narrated essay reflecting on marriage as a contract, whether love should be a part of this contract, what other types of marriage exist, and if monogamy is the best form of partnership for marriages. Brandon elaborates on his 4 year marriage ending in divorce, relationship check-ins, and what forms of love and relationships he may look for in the future.

Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com

TIMESTAMPS

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (01:20) - Beginning of essay On Marriage: Marriage as a Social Contract
• (05:43) - Current context, recent divorce, and childhood background
• (06:58) - Is marriage a contract requiring negotiations?
• (08:41) - Is marriage as a positive environment for children?
• (09:42) - What of the chemical influence of love on the brain?
• (10:32) - What role does love play in marriage?
• (14:16) - What is the desire to want the best for your partner?
• (15:29) - Relationship check-ins and the beginning of my divorce
• (19:09) - Should marriage be more flexible?
• (20:58) - What other types of marriages exist?
• (28:30) - Questioning the standard template of marriage to fit your circumstances
• (30:08) - Should love and marriage be separate?
• (31:40) - Questions I have for those in long lasting marriages

Full show notes, transcripts, and resources for every episode can be found at: brandonstover.com

The On Life podcast is produced by Plato University.

Introducing the On Life podcast. Through narrated essays and intellectual interviews, this podcast will equip you with practical philosophies, new perspectives, and modern understandings of global issues so that change can start with you. It will help you to become a more critical thinker, find purpose in your life, and discover why you would want to take action in changing the world.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

• Why I'm rebranding the podcast
• What On Life is about and how it will help you
• How philosophy is one part of a trifecta for human action
• The biggest problem with content creation
• My promise to you, the listener

Want the essays and podcasts delivered directly to you? Subscribe: brandonstover.substack.com

Full show notes, transcripts, and resources for every episode can be found at: brandonstover.com

The On Life podcast is produced by Plato University.

Ben Jeffreys is the CEO of ATEC International, which supports households across Asia & Africa to transition to modern, decarbonized cooking through its patented IoT stove products - delivering cost efficiency to households, data-validated carbon credits to net-zero partners and addressing the 4 billion people who lack access to clean, modern cooking. After moving his family to Cambodia in 2015 to commercialize ATEC’s biodigester prototype, the winning product of the Google Impact Challenge, into a social enterprise, he has helped ATEC become a global leader in clean cooking it's two flagship on-grid and off-grid products delivering data-driven scalable impact not only for cooking, but data validation of carbon reduction as well. ATEC is aiming to help 800 million households to offset more emissions than the global airline industry whilst saving the lives of millions of women each year who traditionally cook with wood.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN IN THIS EPISODE

• How clean cooking products increases life quality, health, and household incomes
• How ATEC is using data collection and technology to offset carbon emissions
• The economics of carbon credits and why they are attractive to companies
• How to choose a high impact problem you can have a significant role in solving
• How to develop an Impact Flywheel to scale a solution
• and much more...

Full show notes, transcripts, and resources can be found here: evolvethe.world/episodes/79

The Evolve podcast is produced by Plato University.

TIMESTAMPS

(00:00) - Introduction

(01:40) - How big is the clean cooking problem globally?

(02:46) - How to choose a high impact problem you can have a significant role in solving

(06:29) - What macro trends in energy made ATEC's solutions possible

(07:23) - ATEC's clean cooking biodigester and induction stove solutions

(11:41) - How to develop an Impact Flywheel to scale a solution

(16:50) - Why Ben moved his family to Cambodia

(21:04) - How ATEC gained early adopters with its PAYGO model

(23:01) - How ATEC developed it's prototypes

(27:01) - How clean cooking products increases life quality, health, and household incomes

(30:12) - Why ATEC decided to pivot to induction stoves

(33:04) - How ATEC is using data collection and technology to offset carbon emissions

(36:34) - The economics of carbon credits and why they are attractive to companies

(40:55) - How to face overwhelming problems

(42:37) - Why its important to choose purposeful work

(46:18) - How to identify a problem you are equipped to solve

(48:34) - What our energy solutions look like for the next decade

(53:17) - How we can push the world to Evolve