From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
When we crafted that phrase, it was because we saw a similarity with physical fitness. If you work out today, you don't return home and declare, 'Great, I'm finished, I never have to exercise again.' Staying fit requires ongoing commitment. In the same vein, we've discovered that those with the strongest social bonds are the individuals who diligently nurture them.
We are definitely seeing a shift in the skillsets that are needed. On our platform here at Udemy, we are seeing a lot more people taking courses around empathy and emotional intelligence and coaching. How do you ask the right questions? How do you enquire? How do you actively listen?
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.
So many of the things our culture pushes us to pursue for happiness don't actually work the way we think they will. Material possessions, more money—if you're on social media, you get this strong sense that you should go after more of everything and then you'll feel better.
These accumulating errors can foster feelings of the world being against us, a sense of continuous misfortune, and the magnification of everyday stresses and unhappiness.
I've always felt negotiation is pretty-easy. You have to look at any situation from the perspective of all sides, and find a zone of fairness in between.
Space also taught me that when you think you're at 100% of your physical or mental capacity, you're not. We have enormous reserves within us (which we don't tap into for good reason), but we are all capable of pushing ourselves a lot further than we think.
The measurement that we have is not derived from market or economic data. It is derived from the twitterverse- from all these individual users acting as social sensors. When I have a bad day, that has nothing to do with the market! But how I respond to that bad day may be a reflection of a general level of discomfort about how the economy is doing and so forth.
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.
Growing up immersed in multiple languages taught me a profound lesson: achieving fluency in a language is akin to mastering the art of human connection and social interaction. To me, social fluency hinges on two pivotal abilities: first, the capacity to decode the nuances of people and situations accurately and swiftly; and second, the skill to engage with others smoothly, effectively, and confidently.
Most people do not realise what will happen when they cross the divide- they've already accepted a story about who's on the other side, and have already decided that the other is frightening, delusional and dangerous. In truth, we are all confused. This era is nothing if not confusing. We all see some things with clarity, we all see some things upside down, and we all have blind-spots.
Ultimately, when my time comes, my aspiration is to be greeted by God's approval, hearing Him say, 'Well done, my good and faithful servant.' Stripping away all else, that is the essence of success to me.