From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
You have to go into a very quiet place in your mind, away from the noise of the world, the noise of doubters, insecurities and your own self. You have to quiet your disbelief and create open mindedness to your own ability to succeed and overcome.
I don't think it's a coincidence that globally, we're having the biggest crisis of democracy since the 1930s. At the same time as we're finding it hard to focus and pay attention, we also can't listen to each other.
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 the loneliest sport in the world when it comes to it…. you are training with your team, but once you enter the octagon and that gate closes? It is you alone.
Focus on activities that offer intrinsic joy regardless of the eventual outcome. By revealing in the process, without being fixated on outcomes, you become better equipped to navigate challenging situations.
Entrepreneurs are people who by nature are optimists, who can tolerate risk and who have huge curiosity.
We flee from affliction the way an animal flees from death. There's a sense in which it's perfectly natural that our response to difficulty in life is aversive. We're only going to be able to live well with the difficulties of life if we face up to them, because they're difficult.
Without what Becker called 'cultural world views' we would be overwhelmed by existential terror. Beliefs about reality that we share foster psychological equanimity by giving us a sense of meaning and value.
There is a phrase, tell me what you pay attention to, and I will tell you who you are. That is how I would see the quest for authenticity.
If you tell me a pursuit that you view as meaningful and important, I can guarantee it won't be easy. If it was easy, it wouldn't be meaningful or important. We reserve the notion of meaning for things that have difficulty.
We have these floods of ideas when we allow ourselves to slow down – you get this pent-up energy that flows out of you.
You have to know who you are, be open-minded, and be ready to collaborate. You have to have thick-skin and be prepared to get your idea ripped apart.
Your mission in life is where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet. When we're being useful and doing what we love, there's a sense of bliss. It's that moment where you say, 'This is why I'm alive. This is reason enough to be alive, right here.'