From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
You can't control what happens to you, you can only control how you react to it. So, focusing on what's in your control and accepting for the time being what's beyond your control is a really useful therapeutic idea.
All leadership really is, is empowering people to find their purpose, because the only way people are fully engaged and productive and happy, which I think is one of the most important things people forget, is when they are working towards a higher purpose.
Bystander effect isn't necessarily due to a lack of willingness or ability to make a difference. Rather, the real challenge stems from feeling overwhelmed by the sheer magnitude of the issues we're passionate about. They're vast, and against them, we often feel insignificant.
Fear just finds a new thing to be scared of. People are worried about having mean things said about them on twitter… they're worried about losing their jobs… and yes, all those things suck, and could happen, but it's not the same as being tied-up and roasted at the stake!
A lot of people think we're pleasure motivated hedonists, but it turns out we have many other goals. We want happiness, but that comes in many different forms. We want pleasure, we want to be good people, we want to make a difference in the world.
By the time you've spoken to the 30th person, you'll have a good idea if your problem is substantial or not. Validation can be pretty straightforward. All it takes is communicating with people.
From her, I learned that grief is the cost of deep love. By keeping this awareness ever-present in our daily lives, it prompts us to reflect on the importance of life. 'What do I want to do today, knowing tomorrow is not promised to me?'
Social media was kind-of created to destroy humanity, in a literal sense. The first notion of the implications of such networks was provided by B. F. Skinner who spoke of the dangers of people who- on networks- were too free, too creative and too uncontrolled.
To be a great fighter you obviously have to have talent, but what really matters is dedication and discipline. I've seen so many guys with talent where I've thought, 'this guy's going to be a world champion…' but they've not had the dedication. They've not given what you had to give, which is everything. To succeed as a boxer, you have to dedicate your life to it… it's a very short career for a professional fighter.
The human species is different now to thirty years ago, we have an electronic extension to our DNA that gives so many distractions, so much multi-tasking, and so little time to focus on a single thought for any extended period of time.
We all inhabit distinctive inner universes. We all see and experience the world in a slightly different way. Understanding perception has a lot of consequences for understanding who we are.
Choices are like train tracks – the train go where the tracks take them – we go where our choices take-us. Our lives are a reflection of the poor, and the positive, life choices we've made (and make!).