From 600+ conversations with the world’s leading thinkers.
The number one thing is misread intentions. You assume someone has ill intent toward you—maybe to hurt you, harm you, or make you feel uncomfortable—and you don't check in on those intentions. Then a narrative forms in your head, and that's when you start spiralling. You can apply this to your children, to relationships, and it happens constantly at work.
To me it was an adventure. I'm a hardened explorer and adventurer, and I remember the whole mission as an adventure with some awesome experiences and beautiful sights.
A particular individual trait that has piqued my interest through research is intellectual humility. Embracing the possibility of being wrong enhances the likelihood of being right—a somewhat magical paradox. This notion dovetails with the scientific ethos, where the quest isn't about proving oneself right.
My biggest fear isn't the fight itself. I don't get nervous about the physical aspect of fighting. My nervousness stems from the fear of losing, not living up to my own expectations of victory in front of an audience.
Fundamental sense of well-being crucially depends on our having the ability to exert control over our environment and recognising that we do.
The 'Doomers' often anthropomorphize computers by attributing human characteristics to them. While this is an understandable tendency, it's essential to recognize that humans have evolved their competitive nature and occasional violent impulses from survival in a world marked by resource scarcity and competition.
Technology is systematically undermining human weakness, the costs are huge. This is what degrades our quality of life and how we make sense of the world. This is what destroys our ability to form identity, to form relationships and make choices.
A lot of people assume that I would choose not to have bipolar disorder; but I'm grateful for it. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, because I feel like all the ups and downs have formed who I am, and made be braver, tougher… more creative and more capable.
We want to be influenced because we want to be right. We want to take the more adaptive strategies in any situations in order to have good outcomes. It's an evolutionary psychological adaptation.
Economics depicts humanity as a character called rational, economic man. I'd say he has to be a man- he has no dependants. He's a man standing alone with money in his hand, ego in his heart, a calculator in his head and nature at his feet. When we show-up, we're told that we're competitive and self-interested, the traits of the market.
They talk about Steve Jobs having a reality distortion field…. but all the entrepreneurs I met who achieved great things had that. They all had a wilful denial of reality… against all evidence to the contrary they had to believe they would succeed.. that's ultimately what entrepreneurs do.
Our lives have a first and second curve. The first curve is your me curve. The second curve is your wisdom curve. Your teaching curve. It requires you to serve others. You need to find ways of shifting your life from me to we as you transition in age.