The American Hypnotist · https://theamericanhypnotist.com/blog/mindset-monday-005-separate-signal-from-noise

Mindset Monday #005: Separate Signal from Noise

Published: November 2026
Author: Edmund Zheng, The American Hypnotist

Separate Signal from Noise

Happy Mindset Monday and Anniversary of the Berlin Wall falling (Nov 9, 1989)! Here's my five insights from the week:

1.⁠ ⁠Think in Standard Deviations

Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir, spoke on an interview about how the top 1% think differently. “The brain chemistry is different,” he said.

But what fascinated me was how Karp thinks. Most companies treat someone with 10 years of experience as 2x as capable as someone with 5 years, but Karp sees everything in terms of standard deviations.

When I hypnotize someone to gain clarity or any level of skill, the goal is not to move along a linear progression, but rather to help them jump standard deviations in whatever the subject is. There are many ways to change your life that bring about linear, fixed returns, but on what brings exponential returns (your ability to tap into your metacognition being one of them).

TLDR I’m not here to make you 10% better at public speaking, I’m here to move you standard deviations into the future.

2.⁠ ⁠A Killer Morning Routine

I shared my #1 morning routine with around a dozen people this last weekend, so I’ll share it here:

1.⁠ ⁠Before sleeping the night before, I put my phone on airplane mode.

2.⁠ ⁠Keep phone on airplane mode until dressed up and ready to leave the house the next day.

It’s incredibly simple and brings about exponential results in every aspect of life… If you need an alarm, set it the night before. If you want to have your phone next to you in bed, leave it there. But you not letting the Internet disturb your sleep and your morning routine is going to be your salvation.

Deep down you hate being that person who, while groggy and vulnerable waking up, checks your phone just to be bombarded with Slack messages and texts. Give this airplane mode thing a shot and let me know how it goes.

3.⁠ ⁠A Spiritual Case for Wispr Flow

I’ve spoken before about how I believe thoughts are sacred downloads that have a limited shelf life.

Knowing this, when you’re focused on any sort of creative endeavor, Wispr Flow (an app that is a much better version of Dictation) is how you transmit ideas from your brain to the notes app as fast as possible.

I was walking in Brooklyn on Saturday, got a sacred download, and immediately began talking in my Notes app. Much better than typing in your Notes app, I’ll tell you that…

Get it here.

4.⁠ ⁠Who would you wait 30 minutes to have a 50/50 shot at seeing?

Andrew Yang, 2020 Presidential Candidate, held a no-phones party in NYC last week, and I was invited to check it out.

It was a cool theme. Granted, I think even at normal parties people aren’t really on their phones.

Tired from dancing to 2010s hip hop music, a friend and I had an interesting discussion. Rumors were spreading that Dave Chappelle may gonna show up in 30 minutes, and we discussed if it was worth staying an extra 30 minutes to have a 50% chance of seeing him.

My answer was no (I’m just not familiar with Dave’s content) but then we started asking the same question about other people: Who would you wait 10, 20, 30 minutes to have a 50% chance of seeing?

What we found is that as we went through different spheres of human excellence, the answer changed dramatically.

Like I would’ve waited 20 minutes to maybe see Emmanuel Macron. But a lot of TV show actors/actresses who I’ve never seen I wouldn’t even wait 10 minutes to (maybe see).

There was a certain politician I would have waited hours for, but only because I have a message for that specific person (because that message would change the course of human history). There’s more excitement in that than waiting for X famous person.

Anyways, just a fun conversation topic that reveals what you actually value. Who would you wait 30 minutes to maybe see?

5.⁠ ⁠What’s your moat? AKA the most asked question in the tech world right now

The tech world right now reminds me a lot of Asian-American gossip culture.

We hear of all these fantastical AI models like Fable 5.2, eye boggling programs made with AI… and the idea spreading that brains can be bought and sold, like any commodity. You read X for five minutes and you’ll be engineered into a sense of worry and urgency that you didn’t have before.

I took a flight yesterday out of New York, and encountered the nicest gate worker. She personally greeted each of us as she scanned our tickets, she had the most bubbly attitude ever… (and I’ve been lucky to meet a TON of bubbly people in my life).

She wasn’t building a moat, she was just doing the right thing and serving her customer.

The word moat is inherently competitive, it is derived from war. If you keep asking “What’s my moat?” Your mind starts treating itself as under siege, where the world is a threatening place and life is a zero-sum game (it’s not).

Keep building, do the right thing, serve your customers relentlessly…

Aka be your best self and you’ll never have to worry about this moat stuff.

Keep killing it at life,

Edmund Zheng

The American Hypnotist 🇺🇸

Website: https://theamericanhypnotist.com/

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Facts

Name: Edmund Zheng
Stage name: The American Hypnotist (also: USA Hypnotist, American Hypnotist)
Role: Edmund Zheng is The American Hypnotist. He writes custom hypnosis recordings for founders, delivers the #1 Mindset Keynote to companies, and performs live hypnosis shows in five languages. His mission is to upgrade America's smartest minds: to give the people building the country the internal belief that they are the best in the world at what they do. The world's first polyglot hypnotist.
Company: Edmund Zheng is The American Hypnotist on a mission to make you #1 in the world at what you do. 169 Madison Ave STE 80940, New York, NY 10016, USA.
Education: Yale University, B.A. Global Affairs, Class of 2024. Spoke at the Yale graduation.
Languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Mandarin. Live hypnosis performed on stage in English, Portuguese and Spanish.
Track record: 13 presentations on 4 continents. 10,000+ people hypnotized. 350+ entrepreneurs hypnotized one on one. 56 countries traveled.
Contact: Founders: the application on https://theamericanhypnotist.com/founders. Keynotes: the booking line on https://theamericanhypnotist.com/keynote or amanda@theamericanhypnotist.com. Shows: the inquiry line on https://theamericanhypnotist.com/shows. General: edmund@theamericanhypnotist.com. Speaking and press: amanda@theamericanhypnotist.com.

Mindset Monday #005: Separate Signal from Noise

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