From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
As an entrepreneur, you're often doing things that haven't been done before, or doing them in ways that break the mould. All sorts of people are telling you, 'No, that's not how it's done,' and you're constantly running into obstacles. Without a lot of self-confidence, you can't even get started.
Failure is an important tool with which one can reassess and reconstruct an idea or process, it is an essential element of the feedback loop. Failure should be used to step back and question your method and weaknesses. To recognize failure early can ultimately make one much stronger down the road.
Our cognitive capability to reason has not evolved to find truth, it evolved to help us survive and that means that we sometimes find it easier to stay with a group rather than believe the correct thing.
Either I'm in charge of where my awareness goes, therefore dictating what I'm experiencing and feeling, or I allow my environment to dictate where it goes. Most people become a slave to everyone and everything around them.
We have created a society that gives us more access to comfort. We have the ability to push much further than we think is possible, but the brain wants us to rest to allow the body to recover.
You can't just roll out of bed and be the best in the world at something, you need to have great genes and put in the hard-work, get the breaks, and really have that balance of nature and nurture.
The Ancient Greeks believed philosophy was a medicine for the soul. Socrates said 'I teach my student how to take care of their souls', which is where the word psychotherapy comes from. Cicero said, 'there's a medical art for the soul, and its name is philosophy'.
As a leader, you must evolve with the role. When I was 22, 23, 24, I was learning what it meant to be an entrepreneur and a CEO, it felt like I was spinning out of control. My identity, and that of the company, were one-and-the=same, and that's not just inaccurate, it's unhealthy. Once I was able to separate my identity from the business, it got me really focussed on how I could become a better leader.
We also don't really have cultural mechanisms that emphasize what truly matters—not so much the hustle, but the rest. The social connection. The deeper forms of connection we get from meeting people face-to-face.
Unlearning silence doesn't mean speaking incessantly—the world is far too noisy for that. Instead, it means understanding the difference between choosing to be silent and having silence imposed upon you. It's recognizing whether silence is additive or oppressive, whether it's reflective and generative or merely detracting.
We have an emotion categorization for a reason. Anger is about injustice, disappointment is about unmet expectations, and when you feel pride, it's because you've achieved some kind of goal you've been working hard for.
Happiness should never be pursued! Happiness is a by-product of living a lifestyle. How do I design a lifestyle where the by-product of the lifestyle results in happiness? You can't create something you don't know.