From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
Success is really a portal into the next stage that we're possibly capable of doing, and we have to decide how we're going to face that tsunami of emotions that then comes flying at us when we thought all we were going to have was happiness.
They took a relative view of risk... They had an understanding of the risks of something going wrong, but balanced that against missing an opportunity. When that opportunity exceeded the risk of going wrong? That's when they jumped.
A lot of that feeling of alienation that you see in The Office, Dilbert, and so-forth is driven by people feeling that they don't understand context, and ultimately decisions don't make sense.
We don't always see change and activism from the perspective of what we're giving, it's too often about taking things away… Don't eat that… don't do that… don't drive that car… we have to reframe and rethink. Imagine if we told people we could give them the universe back, it's a beautiful gift- but also allows us to save energy, birds, insects and more.
There's a direct link between mental health and immunity. If you go through a divorce, if you are in a car accident, or if you suffer some major trauma to your body… your cortisone rises, adrenaline goes-up. You could have enough of an immune response to get pneumonia.
Yes today sucked, but come back tomorrow, I'll meet you there. That means the world to somebody who doesn't feel like getting out of bed that day.
What's going to happen is that you just get busier and busier and move faster and faster! We treat productivity tools as if they're going to lead to our salvation, they're absolutely not going to.
My job is to help people recognise the origins and intentions behind these responses. Unlike the common societal and professional desire to dismiss these responses as merely negative, I believe we should examine them more closely. How is drinking serving you?
I believe happiness is a consequence, not a goal. If you engage in the right activities that bring contentment, happiness will naturally follow. Viewing happiness as a goal makes it elusive; it's like chasing an illusory concept. Once you grasp it, it tends to dissipate—such is the nature of emotions.
This might sound strange, but I've never been 'afraid.' I've certainly been nervous- very nervous- but I've never been afraid. That's what has allowed me to come back from injuries- I'm not afraid of the consequences. I know the risks, I accept the risks, but I'm not afraid of the risks.
From a young age, I was acutely aware of the exhilaration that came with play. It was an early insight, recognising that through play, I was learning by doing. Play is inherently interactive, granting agency whether indoors or outdoors. When competition was added into the mix, playing with friends introduced me to complex concepts like game theory, including strategies involving threats, promises, and bluffs.
The first one is to believe in the 'otherisation'. The otherisation states that anybody who is looking at the world through their lens is on one group, and everybody outside of this world view is another. And they are different and separate.