(2025-08-14) Zeigler Grow Your Network Lawrence Yeo Is A Master Of Internal Compass Navigation

Matt Zeigler: Grow Your Network: Lawrence Yeo Is A Master of Internal Compass Navigation. Do you know Lawrence Yeo? He's the creator behind More To That, a writer who moved from Wall Street to the LA beat scene to become one of today's most thoughtful voices on creativity and fulfillment. His new book "The Inner Compass" explores how to navigate between external validation and internal mastery.

I wanted to pull THREE KEY LESSONS

WORK: Test Your Creative Compass Before Going Full Scale:

"What I intentionally did was - I took the external validation piece down to zero, and then I set out to work on one piece. I put about a hundred hours into writing just one story... My test was, what if I just go full intrinsic motivation? Just to see, for myself, if I were to spend a hundred hours on this thing, which most writers would not do, how does that feel?"

when transitioning from music to writing:

The result? He found deep satisfaction in the process, which later attracted natural validation when he finally published.

One of my “start with why” beefs is sometimes you don’t know “why” and that’s ok. Lawrence realizing you have to check how something feels - music to my ears. (vibe)

I’ve got a funny thing with streaks. (habit streaks)

it’s not in a negative/self-destructive way either, it’s a creative pledge to myself to say, “You can do this,” and “You’re going to make it because look - you’re making it, again!”

Work question for you: What project could you test with "zero external validation" to discover if you're truly drawn to the work itself?

LIFE: Curiosity As Gratitude for the Unknown

It's like a form of gratitude for the unknown. That you actually don't know everything. Like if you, if you knew everything, there's literally no room for curiosity to emerge... But one thing that I think makes creative people somewhat differentiated in that sense is that you're actually thankful that there's more to uncover."

The last step of my creator flywheel is habit. It’s got two parts to it too. The first is the idea that once you’ve put in the work of making something, you have to finish it, and the second is that you have to go looking for what to start on next.

The starting comes with gratitude. I think of it as invoking the muse. It’s where you admit you don’t know what you’re doing next, but you open yourself up to the world and see what pulls on your attention.

Life Question For You: How can you reframe an area of uncertainty in your life as an opportunity for grateful exploration?

LEGACY: Mastery Is Only Comparing Yourself to Past You

True mastery isn't about beating competitors or gaining recognition - it's about consistent self-improvement measured only against your previous self.

My standards have evolved over time. I’ve learned a ton about what makes posts the most useful, as entries in my Personal Archive, to my present tense self.

It means when I meet somebody like Lawrence, even if we do some very similar and very different things, we can share a small bond over the journey we’re on and the knowledge that we aren’t in competition with each other, we’re just striving to be better versions of ourselves, all of the time.
More people saying this in the world makes a difference.