Yesterday, I went to a live filming session for a new project by Anne-Laure Le Cunff — a professor at King’s College London and the founder of Ness Labs.
I was selected as one of only 20 people from across London — with all kinds of backgrounds: coaches, Google employees, professors, business owners, freelancers — you name it.
We had lunch, there was a small book signing, and so on.
Why am I sharing this? You’re probably wondering.
Because the person, the book, and the business model all inspired my personal project which I proudly call a Personal Equity Business.
I started it by following my curiosity. Alongside another thing I’m really fond of, which happens to be my full-time job as a Precious Metals Trader at BullionVault.
Personal Equity Business is my side project — which is also my hedge against the volatile world we’re living in and the AI era we’re entering.
Here’s what it’s all about.
The ADHD Brain, The Internet, And Me
I’ve always considered myself a super-extravagantly curious person.
And a person like me has shitloads of interests, reads books, and has thousands of ideas running through their head all the time.
It’s a rollercoaster of ideas, on autopilot. I think I’m 100% ADHD — but that’s another story.
Now, when you have shitloads of interests, hundreds of ideas, you read books, you learn things on the side like coding, web design, copywriting, conversion optimisation, and you love writing — and that little thing called the Internet — what do you do with all that?
It would be a shame to let all that go to waste.
And why would I learn and follow my curiosity and interests only for the sake of learning or theorising?
True learning is through knowledge being applied in the real world, right?
So what do I do with that?
What do I start?
And how?
I’ve got kids. Responsibilities. My son has autism. He goes to a special school and requires a lot of my attention.
How the hell am I going to do something?
Start something?
With a limited amount of time like that?
Read. Learn. Think big. Big ideas. And then stop. Then read. Learn. And stop.
That was me for years.
On and off.
Without being able to apply this knowledge to any live “project” of mine — because I was thinking BIG.
Too BIG.
And learning TOO much (ridiculous as that may sound).
And that was until I read Tiny Experiments by Anne-Laure Le Cunff.
This was the last book in my stack I needed to ignite the spark to start my own personal project — which I now call a Personal Equity Business.
The Book That Lit The Fire
I’ve always been a fan of how the brain works.
And I’ve been a long-time subscriber of Ness Labs — the newsletter and business Anne-Laure runs.
From Anne-Laure, I first learned about that thing called “cognitive scripts.” And the book explained how I could take action on my curiosity right now — without overthinking.
I connected that with the word business, and that’s how the idea of a Personal Equity Business came to me.
Let me explain.
What Are Cognitive Scripts?
Cognitive scripts — not only according to Anne-Laure, but according to neuroscience in general — are mental models or internalised stories we use to guide our behaviour in familiar situations.
They help us navigate life on autopilot.
They’re like pre-programmed routines that tell us what to expect and how to act — especially in situations we’ve encountered before.
A cognitive script is, for example, a scenario our brain recognises that requires a “standard” pattern of behaviour.
When we go to a restaurant, we wait for someone to take us to the table. Then the waiter brings the menu. Then we order. And so on.
Same with a visit to the doctor. We arrive, go to the waiting room, get called in, and enter the room for the appointment.
But what would you do if the doctor came out into the waiting room and asked you to undress butt naked in front of everyone?
That’s the moment where you go: “Fu*k off, that wouldn’t happen!”
Exactly.
Because that’s not in your cognitive script.
That would be something unexpected.
And now — here’s the kicker.
These scripts don’t apply only to doctor’s appointments or restaurants. They also apply to: education, to how we live, and — yes — to business.
Our beliefs about what we can, how we can, and if we can achieve new things are closely related to cognitive scripts.
Cognitive Scripts in Education
Pretty much everyone follows the same pattern.
You go to nursery, then preschool, primary school, secondary school. Some of us go to university. Some go further — to doctoral degrees or PhDs.
And that’s all fine.
But here’s what most people don’t realise.
That entire system of education was largely devised in Prussia in the late 18th and early 19th century.
The Prussian education system was the first to introduce state-supervised, compulsory schooling for all children — paid for by taxes.
It was designed to produce obedient, disciplined workers and citizens who could serve the needs of a growing industrial state.
It introduced:
- A standardised curriculum
- Professional teacher training
- National exams
- And a heavy emphasis on duty, discipline, and loyalty to the state
This model spread across Europe and into the US during the Industrial Revolution.
Horace Mann brought it to Massachusetts in 1852.
Britain adopted compulsory schooling in the 1880s.
By the 20th century, it became the default model of education in most of the Western world.
So when people say “this is how it’s always been”…
It actually hasn’t.
It’s how it was designed — for a specific era, and a specific purpose.
To create a workforce for factories and the state.
That worked — for a while.
And It Fed Directly into Another Script: Retirement
The education system and retirement system were two sides of the same industrial coin.
The idea was simple:
Go to school → Get a job → Work 40 years → Retire with a pension.
But retirement, as we know it today, is also a modern invention.
It was introduced by Otto von Bismarck in Germany in 1889, at a time when life expectancy was only around 40.
In the UK, the first state pension came in 1908 for people over 70.
But hardly anyone reached that age.
The original retirement system was never designed to support people living 25–30 years beyond work.
It was meant to support a very small percentage of people who made it to old age after a lifetime of labour.
That model made sense when:
- Houses cost 3.5x the average salary
- A single income could support a family
- Jobs were stable, and the economy was predictable
But now?
In the UK, the average house costs over 9x the average salary.
The pension age keeps rising.
And even if you do qualify, you’ll only get around £10,600 per year from the state.
A comfortable retirement, according to PLSA data, now requires £43,100 per year in post-tax income — per person.
That’s £718,333 if you stop working at 65 and live to 85.
So if you’re 40 now, the real question is:
Where the hell is that money going to come from for everyone?
And how many people will afford to have a comfortable retirement?
No wonder Karen Ward, Chief Market Strategist at J.P. Morgan, called the UK pension system a slow-motion train crash.
At the 2025 PLSA Investment Conference, she warned Uk is heading straight into a retirement crisis — and no one’s hitting the brakes.
Back to the Cognitive Scripts
This pattern — go to school, get a job, climb the ladder — became the social norm.
It became the script that our parents — and we — were expected to follow.
Follow the script → get a good education → get a better job → climb the ladder → live a good, honest life → get married → buy a house → raise kids → retire peacefully.
But the script has remained the same while the world has changed.
You know it.
I know it.
Everybody knows it.
The Middle Class is disappearing but we’re still running the old script designed for people to climb the ladder soo they can afford a good Middleclass lifestyle.
That’s a bit crazy, don't you think?
And That Leads to This: Cognitive Scripts in Business
If I asked you how to start a business, you’d probably say:
- I need a product or a service (physical or digital).
- I need to sell it.
- The more I sell, the more I make.
If it’s physical — it has to be designed, produced, marketed, distributed.
Sold through shops or online.
At the end — someone gets the product or service. I get paid.
And if I own the business — if I’m at the top of the chain — I get paid a lot.
I own shares. I have equity.
And if the business blows up?
I make a fortune.
Like Henry Ford. Or Elon Musk.
I get what people call fu*k-you money.
The Problem?
To build something like that, you need:
- A big idea
- Big money
- Connections
- Investors
It’s risky.
It’s hard.
And most people fail.
But the reward is huge.
So people keep dreaming about the “rich” life — while swiping through Instagram.
And with the middle class disappearing, more and more people start asking: How do I get rich?
Because it feels like we’re heading towards two groups:
Rich.
Or poor.
Nothing in the middle.
Most people nearing their 40s start realising that the system isn’t working like it should.
You’ve worked hard.
You’ve saved.
You followed the script.
But it still doesn’t buy you the good life it used to.
It doesn’t send your kids to the best schools.
Doesn’t afford you decent holidays.
Doesn’t give you much freedom or options.
And if you lose your job — or your health — what then?
What can you fall back on?
And with inflation, with the debt, with rising prices — how will you retire?
Will the retirement system even exist in 25 years?
And what about AI?
Jobs at risk?
Skills outdated in months?
Many 40-year-somethings feel they're headed towards destination fu*ked while the overall happiness levels amongst people between looks terrible.
The Truth About Midlife Happiness
And it’s not just a feeling.
It’s backed by data.
Official UK statistics confirm that people in their 40s and 50s are the least happy age group in the country.
Happiness dips hard between 45 and 59 and only starts to climb again after 60.
That’s the official “midlife dip” in well-being.
And it’s real.
We’re the most anxious.
The least satisfied.
And most likely to feel like we’re being crushed from both sides.
Why?
Because this stage of life often means juggling everything.
Work.
Kids.
Parents.
Debt.
Expectations.
No wonder it breaks people down.
And if you live in London?
It’s even worse.
Londoners aged 35 to 44 are the most likely to say they’re unhappy or very unhappy living in the capital.
And London has one of the highest anxiety scores in the country.
It’s the cost of living.
The housing crisis.
The grind.
The lack of headspace to even ask yourself what you really want anymore.
And still… most people just keep going.
Exhausted.
Overstimulated.
Feeling like it’s too late to change.
But what if it’s not?
Here’s How I Suggest You Flip the Script
The script we’ve followed — the one people my age were taught — doesn’t fit the next 25 years.
It doesn’t even fit now.
So my answer is: start your own thing.
Something small. Gradual. Quiet.
Built alongside your real life.
Bet on yourself.
If we placed a bet in our 20s — on a degree — then why not bet on ourselves now?
Use the next 10 years to build something on the side using your existing experience and widely available tools including AI.
Build something truly yours over the next 3, 5 or even 10 years.
That’s what I call a Personal Equity Business.
And it’s built through tiny experiments — using tools Anne-Laure Le Cunff outlines in Tiny Experiments plus some other tools which you can borrow from other successful people out there.
Later on I'll also show you all of the tools I am using myself.
What Is a Personal Equity Business?
Personal Equity Business is a model I created for myself — so I could start something of my own that also builds true wealth.
It’s my thesis.
It’s my bet.
And it’s my hedge against the world.
It’s an audience-first model, led by curiosity.
And in its nature, it resembles a scientific trial — a series of tests.
The first full trial lasts 12 months.
It will consist of tiny experiments — each based on something I’m genuinely curious about.
Each experiment aims only to learn something new.
That learning process — and the experiments — will be made public.
Which means it uses learning in public and documenting as part of the model.
The idea of documenting as learning in public was first introduced to me by Gary Vaynerchuk who I have been following for years and read his books too.
The idea of a one-person business and having no niche and productising yourself I’ve taken from Dan Koe and Naval Ravikant.
The whole idea of building equity — and equity leading to true wealth — is inspired by Naval Ravikant and his Twitter posts which at some point went viral.
The main tool I use for publishing has been inspired by Ali Abdaal.
And Anne-Laure Le Cunff brought the matches, the wood, and the final spark I needed to go fire 🔥
Here’s How My Thesis Works in Practice
I believe that every single one of us is curious about something.
Curiosity and the willingness to learn is innate for every single human being.
As kids we ask more than 100 questions per hour, we are super curious about life and we explore it with excitement.
But at some point, we subscribe to that old script — and over time, it slowly kills our curiosity.
It locks us into a hamster wheel.
A linear path from zero to retirement.
Chasing happiness we’re told will come… right near the end.
At the beginning we are very idealistic, we lack experience, and we follow what we are taught to follow.
We get brainwashed in a way — by the school, by our parents — who believe the safest bet (and they mean well) is to subscribe to the old schooling model.
In their eyes, that will take us to the good life utopia.
When we reach 40, and realise this system isn’t a great system — and it’s in a way rigged against us — we are so far into life, we have so many responsibilities, that we start believing it’s impossible to unsubscribe.
I’m fortunate.
Because I have a solid job.
I do something I really like, with people I’ve known for years and truly respect at BullionVault.
But what if you ended up in a job you hate?
With kids, bills, rent — and on top of that, a salary that barely gets you through the month?
You get stuck.
Sad.
Frustrated.
You start hating your life.
And you become very, very unhappy.
This is why London, according to many studies, has the unhappiest people in the UK aged between 35–55.
And also why that period of life is when people feel least happy.
Personal Equity Business is a solution to that problem.
Do what you’re curious about.
Build an audience through that.
Little by little.
One experiment after another.
Keep learning.
Keep your curiosity because it gives you that internal fire and pushes you in the right direction.
Focus on learning and sharing what you learn with people.
And at some point, you’ll find a way to monetise that.
Now — if I spent years at school and university and that was my bet for the future (made when I was much younger)…
What’s wrong with a bet to follow curiosity right now?
And believe that in 10 years it might pay back?
It Starts With Audience
To build an audience, you need tools.
And most of them? Are already out there — free.
The old business model?
Start with a product or service.
Then try to build an audience to sell it to.
It’s linear.
It’s expensive.
And it’s risky.
A Personal Equity Business is the opposite:
- No startup costs
- No product at the start
- You begin with an audience
- You build through curiosity
- You follow your interests
- You learn in public
- No fixed goal
- Just show up consistently and share
- Start with simple tiny products
- Sell them over time
It’s an audience-first model.
Built on the Internet.
Powered by social media, AI, and documenting the journey.
It’s not linear.
And it doesn’t have a fixed end goal — which makes it a better fit for real life.
Because nothing in life is.
I’m betting it’ll pay off.
And if it doesn’t?
Who cares — if building it makes me happy, keeps me learning, and makes me smile?
My First Experiment?
14 days of posting on LinkedIn.
Why?
Because every business needs an audience.
Most businesses try to reach that audience through ads — then push a product.
The problem?
They usually do it with zero real engagement.
No connection.
No trust.
Just a faceless brand, hidden behind a logo and a marketing strategy.
Why?
Because it’s a linear approach.
They want fast results.
And fast results usually mean: throw money at the problem.
If you want to start with the audience first, it’s a healthier approach.
It can build a real relationship.
But the problem for most businesses?
It takes too long.
So they skip it.
And go straight to ads and funnels instead.
Our approach?
Different.
No ads. No funnels.
Just showing up as myself — not a brand.
The LinkedIn experiment lasts 14 days.
Let’s see what happens.
Next week, I’ll show you the results and what I have found out.
Until then — live happy,
Live curious,
And keep moving.
—Jacek