Psychology

By our nature, we are all self-absorbed, irrational, short-sighted. You have to have some humility in life before you can begin to understand yourself, and before you can begin to change yourself, the world, or other people.

Author of "The 48 Laws of Power" & Strategist

We have these myths about genius. We think those people have extra powers that we don't... that they were born differently... that they went to the right schools. I wanted to demystify this process. If you don't understand the process, you will never, ever, get there.

Author of "The 48 Laws of Power" & Strategist

When you love what you do, when you're excited about your field, when you've chosen a path that connects with you personally- you will learn fast, you will accomplish in 5 years what it would take others 15 years to do.

Author of "The 48 Laws of Power" & Strategist

Power is not the sense we think of in politics, or great leaders doing dastardly things for political advantage. I think of power at an individual level- people want a degree of control over their lives. You want to shake-off the deeply unsettling feeling that you cannot influence your children, spouse, colleagues, and boss.

Author of "The 48 Laws of Power" & Strategist

Winning is satisfaction. When you are working hard with your team, when you are working day and night, fighting hard, doing the best you can… when you make sacrifices and see things start to grow. That feeling of satisfaction is more important sometimes than money.

Founder and Chairman of Diesel fashion brand and Only The Brave Group

Making mistakes is necessary- if you don't make mistakes, you can never grow. Every failure is a little lesson in how to be a winner. Failure is an opportunity to learn, to start again, to see problems, and find solutions. Failing may be the reason you win next time!

Founder and Chairman of Diesel fashion brand and Only The Brave Group

There's some psychological evidence which shows that people who have experienced very little suffering in their lives often have very low tolerance for difficulty and strangely enough, lower kindness.

Psychologist specializing in moral development and human nature research

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.

Psychologist specializing in moral development and human nature research

We're the mammal that likes Tabasco sauce! We're the only creature (as far as we know) that seeks out suffering and pain willingly. We do so not just through liberal splashes of Tabasco on our food, but also through seeking meaning through activities.

Psychologist specializing in moral development and human nature research

Chosen suffering is part and parcel of a meaningful life. If you don't have any chosen suffering in your life, you're probably not living the best life you could.

Psychologist specializing in moral development and human nature research

If you tell me a pursuit that you view as meaningful and important, I can guarantee it won't be easy. If it was easy, it wouldn't be meaningful or important. We reserve the notion of meaning for things that have difficulty.

Psychologist specializing in moral development and human nature research

Mixed martial arts aren't like boxing. In boxing, if you lose on your way up? It's pretty much career over. In mixed martial arts, there are so many ways to win and lose... When that happens, you say, 'OK, what did I do wrong?' – you have to be honest with yourself.

Former UFC Middleweight Champion & MMA fighter turned commentator

When you're training in the martial arts, you always want to be getting beaten in the practice room. That signifies you're fighting good people. When you're getting beaten, you're getting better, you're learning.

Former UFC Middleweight Champion & MMA fighter turned commentator

You're not going to be a warrior in battle unless you are a warrior in preparation. You have to be single-minded, you can't just show-up on the night.

Former UFC Middleweight Champion & MMA fighter turned commentator

When you're angry, you're in a frantic state of mind, you are not the best version of yourself. When you're fighting the very best martial artists on the planet, you cannot react out of emotion. You have to be cool, calm, collected and in the moment.

Former UFC Middleweight Champion & MMA fighter turned commentator

Martial arts gave me my identity, my purpose, a passion for a pursuit in life. I wasn't particularly good at sports, I didn't have many friends, and was a bit of a loner. Martial arts changed everything. I finally found something I was good at... it became my identity... it helped my confidence... it gave me a social circle!

Former UFC Middleweight Champion & MMA fighter turned commentator