Wisdom in fragments

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.

Unfortunately, by my definition, many leaders are mentally unfit, because they spend most of their day in negative emotional states and they're usually not consciously aware of it, because they're externally focused.

Most of the pain you feel, you create. Most of the pain stems from the conversations we are having with ourselves. It is not the actual event outside of us that affects us. That's the case 99% of the time.

My actual definition to describe mental fitness is your ability to remain in a neutral to positive state for most of your day, regardless of what the day is throwing at you and that is not the state people are in nowadays.

One of the simplest but hardest things to do is to be honest with ourselves. We are works-in-progress from the day we're born, till the day we die. You should never, ever, stop working on yourself.

Special Forces: World's Toughest Test Host & Former SAS Soldier

What people fail to recognise is that fear is different for everyone. Your emotions are unique to you and you've really, really got to take time to concentrate on yourself.

Special Forces: World's Toughest Test Host & Former SAS Soldier

If you feel scared; the starting point is to understand why. You need to then understand how to make the fear work for you – if an emotion doesn't work for you, it works against you.

Special Forces: World's Toughest Test Host & Former SAS Soldier

I look at life as a game rather than as success and failure. For most people, failure is a dirty word... they avoid anything to do with failure, they won't go anywhere near it. It stops them trying – stops them committing – stops them experimenting.

Special Forces: World's Toughest Test Host & Former SAS Soldier

For all of us, greatness is there from the off, it's right there in your headspace and mindset. It's sabotaged either by yourself or by what's going on around you. Society restricts us in a way that doesn't allow us to operate at our full potential.

Special Forces: World's Toughest Test Host & Former SAS Soldier

By encouraging them to pay attention as they overeat, we can reduce the reward value of that habit to zero in just 10-15 sessions of eating. These are people who could have been overeating for decades, but their behaviour can change quickly.

Neuroscientist & Expert on Habit Change and Mindfulness-Based Treatments

I've never had a patient come in after I told them to pay attention to smoking who was full of joy at how delicious cigarettes taste and smell, they often come in and balk at how they didn't notice it sooner.

Neuroscientist & Expert on Habit Change and Mindfulness-Based Treatments

Neuroscience shows us that habit formation is based on how rewarding something is, not willpower. Willpower isn't even in the equation. We like to think of willpower is something, but it's more myth than muscle.

Neuroscientist & Expert on Habit Change and Mindfulness-Based Treatments

You can think of habits as a 'set and forget,' we set the habit, we set the behaviour, and we forget about the details. That frees up our brain to learn new things throughout the day.

Neuroscientist & Expert on Habit Change and Mindfulness-Based Treatments

Taoism speaks to the interconnectedness of the universe, and how everything and everyone has an impact on everything and everyone. Governance must widen its' perspectives to think about the implications, and ramifications, of business in society.

Alibaba's vision statement includes a mention of how long it wants to last, and that is specifically 102 years. Jack Ma wanted Alibaba to be the only internet company that spanned three centuries.

Jack said, 'Well, what do you know about PayPal?' – his response, 'I don't know anything about PayPal'. Jack then said, 'Okay, you're hired, we want you to be the CEO of Ali Pay!'