There are several costs you're forced to pay when you treat moral value as optional.

First, it tricks you into commoditizing yourself. Relationships become shallow and transaction-based. Fulfillment disappears. Low-grade tension replaces it.

Next, your mind tricks you into the denial trap. Deep sleep becomes a long-forgotten memory. Your dreams become lighter (if they're still there at all). And your mind is constantly "on edge," never able to relax.

Then, the hidden costs start emerging. Low-grade guilt and toxic shame. But it's not dramatic. It's a subtle, ongoing strain that suffocates any feelings of deep peace, real rest, and carefree joy.

You might get hits of these feelings, but they never last.

Here's the good news:

There is a way back, but you won't like it. Only through cultivating your moral value can you rediscover the feelings of deep peace, real rest, and carefree joy.

It won't be easy. But the alternative - where you gradually let this low-grade tension overwhelm your nervous system, steal all of your joy, and deprive you of fulfillment - is far worse.

Listen now.

Show Highlights Include:

• The psychological resistance highly intelligent and successful people face when confronted with moral questions (and why you need morality to relax your nervous system) (1:32)
• How smart, successful, and decent people get lost in their own denial and self-sabotage their life (5:09)
• The real reason behind why you can't fall asleep at night, your dreams are lighter, and peace of mind is always out of your grasp (6:41)
• A strange, yet scientifically verified reason why the smarter you are, the more likely you are to fall into the denial trap. (This also explains why intelligent people join cults.) (8:10)
• The #1 most common fear of high achievers. (If you're quick to compare, feel constant pressure, or desire acceptance… you likely have this fear.) (9:30)
• How success morphs into a shield for your own toxic shame that you've buried (9:51)
• What happens subtly and under the surface of your awareness when your mind learns that your market value IS your value (21:43)
• The society-wide conditioning (first uncovered by a German psychologist in the 20th century) that's happening to you right now and explains why you lack self-worth (24:16)
• Are you trading your happiness for busyness and productivity? Most high-achievers make this deal without realizing it… here's how to void this contract (26:28)

For more about David Tian, go here:

https://www.davidtianphd.com/about/

Feeling like success in one area of life has come at the expense of another?

Maybe you've crushed it in your career, but your relationships feel strained. Or you've built the life you thought you wanted, yet there's still something important missing.

I've put together a free 3-minute assessment to help you see what's really holding you back. Answer a few simple questions, and you'll get instant access to a personalized masterclass that speaks directly to where you are right now.

It's fast. It's practical. And it could change the way you approach leadership, love, and fulfillment.

Take the first step here → https://dtphd.com/quiz

Hello Listeners -
I'm taking the podcast back to its roots as an audio-only, more improvisational show after experimenting with tightly scripted video episodes on YouTube. The new (old) format gives me more freedom to think out loud, follow ideas where they go, and focus on depth and voice over visuals.

Warmly,
David Tian, Ph.D.

Most smart people reach for values when they're under a lot of pressure or stress.

It feels responsible. Grounded. Mature.

But under pressure, values often do the opposite of what they're meant to do. Instead of anchoring thinking, they shut it down. Instead of sharpening judgment, they end the inquiry. Certainty replaces contact with reality, and the relief that follows feels like clarity, even when it isn't.

This pattern didn't come from nowhere. You learned early that sounding sure keeps you safe. Speed earns trust. Confidence gets rewarded. That lesson helped you win, but it also trained your mind to prefer certainty over accuracy.

The cost shows up later.

Judgment narrows too early. Tradeoffs disappear. And when the first warning signs appear, most high achievers respond by pushing harder and acting faster, which deepens the problem instead of correcting it.

In this episode, I explain how this pattern forms, why it's especially common among smart, capable people, and how values can silently become a sedative for thinking. You'll learn how to tell whether your values are helping you see more clearly or helping discomfort go away, and what restores contact with reality when pressure is running the show.

Listen now.

Show Highlights Include:

• The strange and destructive way reaching for certainty too soon degrades your decision making (2:19)
• How "Premature Epistemic Closure" (a wicked pattern that affects thoughtful and responsible people) narrows your thinking and cuts off your judgement (3:51)
• Why your mind enters a zombie-like state when it's faced with uncertainty (5:54)
• The psychological reason your mind learns to conflate certainty with safety (and how this keeps you on alert and under pressure at all times) (8:49)
• What to do if you notice a tightening in your body, a sense of being on the hook, or the feeling that time is running out (These are all early warning signs that your values are replacing your thoughts) (11:24)
• How the very tools you've relied on to help you think morph into the very tools that shut down thinking completely (19:32)
• The "Clarity Trap Tragedy" effect that distorts your judgement and severs your ties to reality (and why slowing down, not speeding up, is the antidote) (23:30)
• The danger in choosing value under pressure that nobody ever talks about (25:49)

For more about David Tian, go here:

https://www.davidtianphd.com/about/

Feeling like success in one area of life has come at the expense of another?

Maybe you've crushed it in your career, but your relationships feel strained. Or you've built the life you thought you wanted, yet there's still something important missing.

I've put together a free 3-minute assessment to help you see what's really holding you back. Answer a few simple questions, and you'll get instant access to a personalized masterclass that speaks directly to where you are right now.

It's fast. It's practical. And it could change the way you approach leadership, love, and fulfillment.

Take the first step here → https://dtphd.com/quiz