The final trap isn’t money or status—it’s the rice in the monkey trap: sunk costs, identity, and the illusion of meaning.

In Part III, we explore why people stay in environments they’ve long outgrown, clutching rewards they can’t use and identities they didn’t choose. Freedom requires value elasticity, the courage to reprice what mattered yesterday against what matters now. Letting go feels like loss, but it’s the only way to reclaim your time, purpose, and self.

This chapter shows why leaving is so hard—and why leaving is often the first real act of autonomy you’ll make.

Blog Post: How They Keep You - Part III: Why You’ll Stay

When money stops motivating, companies don’t lose power—they just switch currencies.

Titles, recognition, access, belonging: these are the subtler, more potent levers that keep people striving long after their paychecks stop mattering.

From Cheers to President’s Club to “Emerging Leaders,” Part II shows how status and affiliation infiltrate our identity, how they blur the line between reward and manipulation, and why even smart, ambitious people fall for the trap. Because once you’re seen, once you’re included, the fear of dropping in status—or losing your place—keeps you bound tighter than any bonus ever could.

Blog Post: How They Keep You - Part II: Status and Affiliation

We like to think we choose our jobs, but much of the time our jobs choose us. From billion-dollar pay packages to corporate KPIs, the game isn’t about money—it’s about control. Value rigidity keeps even the richest and most powerful people locked into systems they can’t leave, and we’re no different. We learn to love the rope the longer we’re tied to it. Part I unpacks the hidden strings companies pull, the currencies they use to keep you in place, and why it’s so hard to recognize the pull until you’re already deep inside the machine.

Blog Post: How They Keep You - Part I: Strings Attached