From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
When I've asked them about what drew them into a particular investment, the answer is unanimous – the people. When I reflect back on business I've invested in, and the hundreds of investor pitches I've seen?… the answer is the same – and often I've invested in the 'weaker' idea because of the people, and dismissed the 'better' idea for the same reason.
Your body was built to handle stress, making it one of your most high-performing functions. However, it's not always productive to view stress as something that needs to be mitigated.
As a psychotherapist, you have diagnostic categories for problems. There are specific techniques and therapies to apply. So the book really comes out of that frustration. If you think about science, it progresses from description, to categorisation, then to explanation, prediction, and control — and I wanted to feel like there was some science behind what I was doing.
When social distrust mounts- when people feel like the game is rigged against them- they are especially vulnerable to demagogues who come along and want them to channel their rage, anxiety and distrust toward scapegoats.
We tend to remember the things in life that deliver the biggest emotional wallop. The death of a family member, the birth of a child, a wedding, an accident, an injury, or a major global event.
We all bear wounds and traumas that convince us we're undeserving or incapable of achieving our dreams. Confronting these is essential. We can't outrun our past; we need to heal, be it through therapy, counselling, or other methods that help process past traumas.
Uncertainty and fear are enemies of economic growth. To change motivation, it is important to give hope and make people believe. But also to give concrete results. It is important to value the positive instead of only highlighting the worst.
We found that individuals who habitually pushed away problems and difficulties, or those who opted to ignore their issues or avoid confronting them, tended to suffer more and fared less well overall. On the other hand, those who confronted their troubles directly, often seeking the support of others to navigate through these challenges, were the ones who exhibited the highest levels of resilience.
For those feeling threatened or inclined to see the world's workings as a conspiracy, it's conveniently easy to blame these perceived machinations on a Jewish elite, given the long and deep-seated history of such allegations.
The real 'a-ha!' moment of my experience was realising that resilience is not a muscle we're born with, it's something we have to build and believe in over time. We should never ask ourselves how much resilience we have, but rather how much we can build.
In our culture, particularly in the last 300-500 years in Western culture, people have become much more ambivalent to ecstatic experiences. The idea of losing control is seen as dangerous and shameful... We're a culture that's very much about individual autonomy, and ecstasy is the opposite of that – it's about surrendering control.
I looked at her and said, 'that's impossible! If I had stolen these pears from you… you would never have seen me!'