From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Why does this matter? Because when you're mindless—assuming 1+1 is always 2—you don't notice context, and you don't have choices. But when you're mindful, you do. If someone asks you how much 1+1 is, you get to decide: do I answer 1, 2, 10, or something else? You become aware, engaged, and flexible.
The small things are what make the biggest impact sometimes – and that starts with how you treat people. My 90 seconds with Picabo changed my life. You'd be surprised how many kids have parents and peers around there who tell them they can't, I want to tell them they can.
There's an innate tendency in human-beings to sort ourselves by how much we want power. Some of us don't want it at all, some of us are absolutely obsessed with it. The interaction between the individual and the system is therefore critical.
Don't make the mistake of confusing net worth and self-worth.
In the case of Brazil, one of the most important things is the huge ethnic and cultural mixture which makes us a country with dynamism, vibrancy, and the ability to understand the psychology of other nations.
Social media really orients us around our identity and our interests because of the way those connections are formed. It's going to suggest people for you to follow, groups for you to join, and so it slots you according to what you're most likely to be interested in based on your individual and group identity.
I think the people who are larger or those who have more resources like to think they're the ones who have greater power… and they have benefited from that illusion.
The level of preparation before fighters' step into the octagon is huge – at minimum fighters will train for 6-8 week, non-stop at camp, just for this 3 or 5, 5 minute-a-round battle. It is complete dedication. It is the loneliest sport in the world when it comes to it…. once you enter the octagon and that gate closes? It is you alone. To achieve what our fighters achieve? You need true warrior spirit, dedication, and discipline – you must be consistent with all your efforts.
What's unique about Stoic Capitalist is that I aimed to shift those ideas from mere coping to succeeding on a much larger scale. At its core, Stoicism as a coping mechanism involves reining in emotion and distinguishing between what you can and cannot control.
You notice the wrinkles on your face or the extra weight around your midsection and feel motivated to address these concerns. However, since most individuals rarely, if ever, see their own brain, it simply doesn't register on their list of priorities. This attitude needs a complete overhaul.
We have the tendency to follow those who are comparable to us. It reduces uncertainty and provides us with an extremely effective shortcut into deciding how to best behave in a world that has become overloaded with information and stimulus. We need shortcuts!
Your brain has an agenda: to make you feel good about you. So if you're the CEO, and you decided to launch a product two weeks ago, your brain assumes, 'Well, that must have been the right decision.' It starts scanning the environment for proof — cherry-picking anything that confirms you were right.