After selling his third company, Ruben Salinas took a year off and wrote down everything he'd wanted to be as a kid. Then he started checking them off.
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Seeing this episode publish brought me to tears. Literally.
During the time that the show would normally go live, I was in the middle of a 154-hour digital detox. This was a gift to myself to celebrate 54 years on planet Earth.
Authbition is a team effort. It’s Stefanie doing way, way more than design. It’s the AGN Group doing way, way more than production. It’s Jeff’s intro music. It’s editors, family, friends, guests, and fans. It’s a community. Authbition is a movement.
To see it go live when I was literally off the grid… I don’t have the words. But I did have the tears.
And what a better show for it to happen to. Fasting from my computer and phone for a week reminded me what true play feels like when not distracted by the constant ping of our constantly connected digital world.
Exploring that childlike state is what this episode is all about.
Health, happiness, kindness, respectfor every being and all things.
— Andrew
Andrew and Ruben met in 2020. Both were team leaders in the NIH's RADx program, helping companies get COVID tests out the door. What Andrew didn't know was how Ruben got there.
Ruben had just come off a company sale that nearly didn't close. He was worn out, so he took a sabbatical and made a list: firefighter, pilot, astronaut, big mountains. Everything he wanted to be when he was little. He was about to wrap it up when the phone rang. Eleven years of work he thought was behind him turned out to be exactly what the country needed. His refrain for the rest of the conversation: you just don't know what you're training for.
From there, the conversation goes everywhere. Why letting go on a yoga mat gets you further than forcing it. Why Ruben tells a friend who can't sleep to take off his Oura Ring. And what his PhD research on astronauts looking back at Earth taught him about awe, and how much closer it is than it seems.
Then back to childhood. At 20, Andrew asked himself what he'd do if money weren't an issue. Decades later he found a better question, and the answer surprised him. Ruben has owned the cool cars and the plane. He'll tell you what they were really worth, and what turned out to be the gold.
They ran out of time to play, so Ruben's coming back for that. But one tension pair kept showing up on its own.
Wisdom & Wonder.
The best of Wisdom: a river guide who's already run the rapids.
The worst of Wisdom: "that's not for you."
The best of Wonder: a kid riding a bike for no reason but joy.
The worst of Wonder: buying whatever looks shiny.
Together at their best: the questions only age can ask, asked with the openness of a child.
Together at their worst: the cynic who's seen it all, or the seeker who'll believe anything.
Ways to live the synergy and recognize the trap: ask better questions. Find an elder to write to. Go find something that makes you feel small, in the best way.
If you've ever wondered whether everything you've done so far adds up to anything, this one's for you. It's also for anyone whose definition of success stopped fitting, and who suspects the kid they used to be had a better one.
Ruben F. Salinas, PhD, is a serial medtech entrepreneur and the President and CEO of EyeCool Therapeutics, which is developing a treatment for chronic ocular surface pain. He's also an EMT, an executive coach, and a pilot, he holds a PhD in transpersonal psychology, and he has trained for Everest and for spaceflight. He grew up in Mexico and was a competitive kickboxer before he found aikido. He keeps four NPR stations within reach of home, because they're not the same.
Read Ruben's essays at Mastery Lessons.
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Thanks to Ruben Salinas for the conversation and the reading list.
Come back soon, Ruben. There's a game to play!
And thanks to everyone following along with Authbition as this show continues to grow into what it’s becoming.
This show was produced by The AGN Group. Design by Stefanie Morejon. Intro music by Jeff Tollefson.
The Backstage Pass was written by Andrew, with no AI input. The rest of these show notes were compiled by Claude and lightly edited by the Authbition Team.