Theodoric Chew Profile picture
Co-founder & CEO @intellectHQ | Building Asia's largest mental healthcare company | YC, Tiger Global backed | 4M+ lives served | Forbes30u30
Dec 17 19 tweets 6 min read
A CEO in Tokyo taught me that success isn't about hustling 24/7.

After spending 6 months in Japan, I learned a different approach to life, work, and health.

It's not just about living longer - it's about living better.

Here are 4 transformative habits that changed everything: Image My day used to look like this:

6am: Rush to gym
8am-10pm: Back-to-back meetings
11pm: Still answering emails before crashing at midnight

I thought this was normal. Even felt proud of it.

Then Japan changed everything...
Dec 11 15 tweets 5 min read
Imagine turning a poor fishing village into one of the richest nations on Earth.

With no natural resources.

This is the story of how one man did exactly that: Image It's 1965. Singapore is in crisis.

Raw sewage flows through muddy streets. Clean water is scarce. Electricity, a luxury.

Different ethnic groups are at war. Unemployment is at 14%. The average person earns $500/year.

Most predicted collapse.
Dec 10 14 tweets 5 min read
I'm 28.

At 16, I dropped out of high school while struggling with debilitating anxiety.

Then I discovered Viktor Frankl's work on finding meaning through suffering & built Asia's largest mental health startup.

Here's how Frankl's lessons changed my life: Image At 16 years old, I was having panic attacks in class.

Heart racing. World spinning. I couldn't breathe.

My teachers called it rebellion and my parents thought it was a phase.

But it was the beginning of transformation...
Dec 5 15 tweets 5 min read
This is Matthew Walker.

Berkeley's top sleep scientist discovered something terrifying:

Just one night of bad sleep rewires your brain to take bigger risks.

Here's what sleep deprivation does to your mind (and how to protect yourself): Image Walker spent 20 years studying sleep at Harvard, Berkeley, and Cambridge.

His research revealed a disturbing truth:

Your brain starts malfunctioning after just ONE night of poor sleep.

And you won't even notice it happening...
Dec 2 17 tweets 5 min read
I've studied happiness for over 10 years.

The shocking truth?

Everything we know about being happy is wrong.

Here's what ancient cultures knew that modern psychology forgot: Image Modern psychology has spent billions researching happiness.

We've created countless interventions, therapies & frameworks to make people happier.

Yet studies show these interventions are LESS effective than they were 20 years ago.

You might wonder how that's even possible... Image
Nov 27 17 tweets 5 min read
At Steve Jobs's memorial service, all 500 guests were gifted one book.

Steve read it every year for 38 years.

Here are 5 ideas from the book he used to build his trillion-dollar empire: Image
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The book was "Autobiography of a Yogi" by Paramahansa Yogananda.

It wasn't just another self-help book though, it was Steve's guide to:

• Challenging the status quo
• Trusting his intuition
• Building the future

Let's break it down:
Nov 26 15 tweets 5 min read
Most founders copy Silicon Valley.

I built my startup the Singapore way instead.

Here's how I turned my panic attacks into a 9-figure mental health company: Image At 16, I had my first panic attack.

The same year, I dropped out of Singapore's most prestigious school.

Everyone told me that I needed to follow the traditional path:

Top grades → Top university → Safe career

But I knew I wanted to build things instead.
Oct 29 17 tweets 5 min read
The man who heals what doctors can't:

Gabor Mate.

He made a shocking discovery on curing trauma after working with 1000 patients.

Here are the methods that led this holocaust survivor to become the most sought after mental health expert ever (and how you can heal yourself): Image First, let's talk about Maté's shocking discovery.

When he worked with thousands of patients, he noticed something the medical system missed:

Most illnesses aren't chemical imbalances.

They're your body's response to unresolved trauma: