From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
To me, the very definition of success is living up to your potential – and the very definition of failure is not living up to your potential, simple.
The perspective of seeing the Earth from space has rewired our brain. We used to have a 2-dimensional view for hundreds of thousands of years. Now with space telescopes we have a 4-dimensional view of our universe.
I don't think it's money that corrupts people, I really don't. I think it's the idea that when you make money without having a tangible creation attached to that money, it has no value.
I'm a firm believer that creativity comes from restrictions, so I'm really grateful that I grew-up with so many restrictions around me. When you give someone complete freedom and a blank canvas, it could take forever to figure out what you want to do, but when you give people limitations and say, 'here's a canvas, but you can only paint with yellow..' – the wheels start turning, and you plan to get out of the box you're put in.
Our brain was designed for survival and was developed in the 99.9% of human history that occurred before culture and civilisation. As a result, there are situations in our lives today where the brain doesn't work so-well. We call this an emotional hijack.
If you love yourself – and feel good about yourself, it will help you enhance your future, life, and relationships. Loving yourself makes you feel worthy and if you love yourself, you're far more likely to love others.
Firms like McKinsey are self-reporting that their people are 5x more productive in-flow than out of flow… 500% more productive. That means you can work Monday in-flow and take the rest of the week off – and you'd still get as much done as your peers.
I was a semi-chubby white kid from Montana who couldn't swim. I became a Navy SEAL who ended-up in Osama bin Laden's bedroom on a Tier 1 Mission to take down the #1 terrorist in the world. My life is proof that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything you want.
To overcome extreme obstacles, to do the impossible, you have to create another human being inside yourself. I had to create an image of how I wanted to look, how I wanted to act, how I wanted to believe, how hard I wanted to push. I trained that image in my mind, and then I had to become an artist to create it.
Thanks to the incredible concept of neuroplasticity, we can reshape our thought patterns. Techniques like affirmations, altering our language, or refining our thought processes are invaluable.
In war, you're forced to survive. It's kill or be killed, it's the most basic human instinct. You have to unleash that aggressive shadow side of yourself. It gives you a profound sense of being alive, it becomes a dopamine slot machine.
Mixed martial arts aren't like boxing. In boxing, if you lose on your way up? It's pretty much career over. In mixed martial arts, there are so many ways to win and lose... When that happens, you say, 'OK, what did I do wrong?' – you have to be honest with yourself.