From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Be a curious explorer of other people's emotions. Don't approach people as if you know how they're feeling. We often make mistakes when reading other people's emotions because we bring in our own cultural values and belief systems.
We all have inertia in life, the more comfortable we are, the harder it is to change. One of the best pieces of advice I got was from Dr. Paul Hersey, I was working for him, and he said, '…you're making too much money, your clients are happy, that's your problem… you're not going to be who you could be…' I was comfortable – inertia had set-in, I was re-living the same day repeatedly. It was a nice day, but I wasn't going anyplace.
I realised that what people do is, instead of figuring out the right thing to do and then doing it whether they want to or not, doing the ethical thing, what they do is they figure out what they want to do and then come up with the rationalisation for doing it, whether it's right or wrong. And we fool ourselves.
I firmly believe that a certain level of strength and mental discipline is a prerequisite to excel in this sport. It's a challenging path, requiring years to adapt to the physical impacts, injuries, stringent diets, and discipline. You either love it or you hate it, and those who love it, do it.
Building mental fitness is akin to being an elite athlete. It's not enough for the athletes just to have great technical skills, they need to be equally mentally prepared also.
I do agree though, that in recent years receiving abuse online has been normalised to the extent that I expect it and know there's very little I can do to stop people from saying these things.
It was not wealth or fame that these people wanted… These individuals had, in their own minds, observed a particular customer need that wasn't being met. They were wired in such a way, that this need seemed obvious to them. Whether it led to a million or a billion? That was secondary.
Don't base your identity on your opinions. This can be a perilous path because it makes it challenging to change your mind. Instead, it's preferable to root your identity in your values and character.
By the time you've spoken to the 30th person, you'll have a good idea if your problem is substantial or not. Validation can be pretty straightforward. All it takes is communicating with people.
Music allows us to express our soul and feelings in a way that's very difficult to replicate with words. I've spent more of my life playing music than I have speaking, and I find it a much more effective way of communicating my feelings and thoughts than words have ever been.
Those who have the most meaningful, purpose filled lives tend to dream so big – that those dreams will rarely be completed in a lifetime. What keeps you going is the beauty you encounter at every juncture of the path.
Sometimes it doesn't matter if the other side doesn't care about fairness; provided you do, you explain what's going on. Now it's arbitrary versus arbitrary versus principle versus arbitrary.