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Welcome to this after life.
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Everybody really excited to have you joining us today, as
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always in your host Edam Gainwell, I'm thrilled to be
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joined today with doctor and Laura Lecon. She's the founder
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of nest Labs and the author of a really really
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cool fourth coming book I'm excited to dive into today
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with y'all. It's called Tiny Experiments how to live freely
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in a goal obsessed world, and this is something that
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definitely resonated with me as someone who is both goal
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obsessed and trying to get out of that circuit.
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So and Lork, thank you so much for joining me
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on the podcast today.
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Thanks so much for having me. I'm so excited to
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chat out.
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So one thing that I'm really particularly excited to talk
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with you about is the way that your work intersects
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with some of the most pressing questions that a lot
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of us are facing today, and things like how do
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I find fulfillment in a world that I think it's
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pushing me in one direction, you know, go get this degree,
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get this job, do this thing, x y Z. You know,
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it's always this very linear kind of path, and we're
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finding ourselves in these worlds of different kind of limits now,
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whether it's thinking about the mental health that I have,
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the kind of work that I want to do, the
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environmental constraints that like I feel like the linear path
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doesn't quite doesn't quite work, you know, as as it
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seemed like it used to. And then there's just the
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other side of the equation that's like, how do we
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both best draw from kind of modern science and contemporary
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thinking as well as like the wisdom of past and
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present cultures of of you know, how people lived well
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in the past. Right, how do I like think about
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all these pieces together? And so I think it's exciting
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because your work brings us right into the center of
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this this area and again something that's super relevant because
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we're seeing more and more younger generations talking about mental
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health and what pathways need.
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To be for life.
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So I think to kind of kick us off, you know,
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one of the areas that I think encapsulates this is
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that you that you kind of talk about, is that
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our kind of pathway of setting goals is broken. And
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I love this idea because I agree, you know, but
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I think it's it's something that we find ourselves hitting
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walls so many times. So like, let's kind of open
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that up and start us here in terms of like
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what what what is it like?
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How do we great goals make?
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It seems like something you can't really break, but we
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somehow manage to do it.
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Yeah, So if you kind of go back to the
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most common definition of goals, the one that most people
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are using, it really means getting to a specific destination.
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Right.
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We define where we want to get what success means
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to us, and then we work really really hard to
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get there. And then two things might happen. Either you
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don't get there and you're deeply and happy about that
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and dissatisfied because you feel like you feel or interestingly,
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you get there and you're also disappointed because you thought
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that by getting there, all of a sudden everything would
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be perfect, you'd be happy, you'd get everything you desire,
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and you realize that actually this goal doesn't unlock infinite happiness.
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And then there's maybe another goal now that you can chase.
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So it's this infinite treadmill. We're all on chasing the
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next goal one after the other without ever feeling fulfilled.
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That's really how we manage our goals today. If you
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I loved how you mentioned connecting scientific with them, but
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also antioned philosophical wid because if you go back to
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how scientists approach progress and success, for scientists, success is
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not getting to a specific
Load full transcript
destination, is just learning something new.
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As long as you've learned something new, this is success.
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And that may not look like what you have predicted
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when we started, right, and this looks like for a scientists,
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like a cycle of experimentation. They ask a question, They're like, Okay,
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what is going on here, Let's formulate the research question,
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let's test it, and then let's see what happens. Right, Well,
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those cycles of growth is really how a lot of
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ancient civilizations and ancient philosophies recommend the way you approach
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human growth as well. Right, It's all fields and cycles
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and circles and seasons. It's never that very linear path
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that is predetermined and that you have to follow with
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specific milestones and goals that are that mean failure if
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you don't reach them. Right, It's about transformation and reinventing yourself.
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So to me, that's the main thing about reinventing our
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relationship to goals is really letting go of this linear
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approach to them and having a more psychical.
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I love that idea too, and it is it is
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something interesting too that you know, I was always when
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I was studying anthropology as a you know, in school
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back in the day, it was like I guess I
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still study it today too, but like, you know, when
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I was formally studying it, you know, I would always
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be intrigued when we would find a group or culture
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or you know, when folks were talking about the syxical
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notion of time versus a linear notion, and like, even
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thinking about that is really interesting when one we kind
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of talk about, you know, time moves forward, right.
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We even used like the idea of progress right when
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you write about in the book too, of this idea of.
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Like progress is a directional or like a kind of
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orientation that we're moving in a certain you know, pathway,
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and like that, like, I think we often don't always
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connect the idea of like time as being linear and
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then also our goals as a thing that like we
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move forward and do x y z blah blah, even
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though like that's one hundred percent how we make it
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to do right and how we think about the.
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Pathway that we're going down.
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But then the right's idea of like seasons is a
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great example there of like we all know what a
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season like, there's four of them, you know, and they
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move and they move our year in a way. And
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like recognizing that idea is super fun. Then that of
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course I'm going to put my nerd hat and be like,
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oh yeah, we can talk about chakras and wheels too,
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and like everything is kind of turning and moving in
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and on itself in cyclical and spiral time, and so
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that is I think a very cool way to help
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us ref rethink that.
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And so I'm curious about this too, because the other.
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Thing that you said here that was was I want
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to think with is like they did when we were
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talking about what scientific you know, thinking is doing, and
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like we talk about what you predict something that will
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happen and make a hypothesis that I'm going to do X,
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and then we're going to see why I result, and
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if we do or don't see it, that's still helpful.
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And this is something that that I've seen too in.
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Terms of you know, publication around kind of pure reviewed
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journal articles that there's like a positivity bias, like I
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want to publish that something happened, meaning there's there's an
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anti negativity bias not that like we don't want to
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say negative result, but we don't want to say something
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nothing happened. But that's totally useful for science too, to
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say we did not find and the change when we
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did X, you know, and like why didn't happen? And
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so even this interesting idea that that like I'm curious
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how we think about this, Like when we say we
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predict the thing, we want to see a kind of
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positive change results, and like we look away from one
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that that feels negative, and so that kind of pushes
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I feel like it builds a bit of that linearity
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right where it's like if I don't see a specific
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type of change that I that I predict I'm going
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to see, then it somehow it doesn't doesn't count.
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Does that Does that work?
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M I love? I love that you're mentioning this because
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you know there's a big movement at the moment in
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science for open science and pre registering studies during your
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study is basically posting your protocol online for everybody to see,
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and then you run the study, and then you can't
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go back and change the pole or what you were
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you were you said you were going to do based
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on the results, which sounds crazy that this is not
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the norm, right, It's not so, so you're forced to
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accept and to publish whatever results you get, whether positive
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or negative, or whatever results you get, you have to
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publish them. And I feel like in the way that
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you manage your goals and the way you design personal experiments,
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which I took about in the book, this is why
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it's so important to define what is the experiment you're
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going to run, and what are the parameters, and to
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stick to it until the end of the experiment, and
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to really withhold judgment until you're done. So, for example,
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if you say that you're going to run an experiment
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of publishing a new podcast episode every week for a
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six months, you can't stop in the middle and say, like, ef,
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I don't know like this and I'm not sure this
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is working and then decide that nothing happened and not
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learn anything from it. I mean, you can, but that
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wouldn't be a very good way or useful way of
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running an experiment. The useful way of doing this is
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you decide what you're going to do, you run the experiment,
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you collect all of that data without any judgment yet,
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and at the end of the experiment, You look and
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you reflect and you ask yourself, Okay, did I like this?
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Did I enjoy it? Was that good? What benefits did
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it bring? Or was that horrible? Maybe I hated every
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secle of it. And that's data too. That's also useful
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for you to learn and to grow and to decide
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what your next experiment is going to be. So you
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can also take some of that new approach to science
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that we have now that is more open and more honest,
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I want to say, and apply that to the way
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you run experiments and your day.
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I love that.
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Actually, yeah, it's because it's we do see like an
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ongoing conversations too, in terms of like a desire for
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more transparency and openness across the board, right, whether it
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is like how we're doing science, whether it's politics, you know,
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whether it's how I'm getting my degree, because it's like
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people love also these kind of more authentic conversations where
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it's like two people talking about their challenges working, getting
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a job, trying to find something out, versus like here's
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the five things you got to do to get your
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resume to have it ready for the you know whatever
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the interview and it's interesting to kind of kind of
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note that like there is this that desire to see
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and like that can be a place also to the
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notions of like kind of personal experimentation of of what
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I can do with my life, which I think, I
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think is really nice, especially because we're kind of seeing again,
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like we're running up to these these sort of different
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walls now or different kind of limitations of like this
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kind of linear path doesn't quite do it for me, right,
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And like especially you know, we're seeing you know obviously
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AI and things are changing in technology, you know, how
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we are learning, how we're playing and spending time together
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on social media this before,
right, and kind of changing
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how we communicate with one another, so that this interesting
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idea of like we can't just keep doing what we've
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always done, right, we have to kind of rethink these pieces,
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and like I mean, I guess to help comcrotize this too. Also,
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like you know, you have a really interesting story also
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that you you know, you you did the tech you
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did the tech pathway right, you kind of found your
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way into the heart of the Google mecha, you know,
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and then realize that things weren't quite working out the
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way you had thought. And so I mean, tell folks,
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if you're not familiar with your story, like a little
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bit about how that happened and how that like kind
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of cracked open the idea of like, wait, let me
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rethink literally how I'm going to be doing my career
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pathway and my life could be.
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So I used to have I used to follow a
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very very linear care pathway. Actually I went to a
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pretty good school. I tried to get good grades, and
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then I got a job at Google. And once I
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found myself there, I discovered that they had an also
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fairly linear way of managing success, really defining it, codifying it,
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and then in a very kind of almost yeah, I
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guess Google is a company made of engineers, right, So
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they had really engineered what success looked like and how
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it worked inside of the company. So you had this
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red brick that was telling you exactly what to do,
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when to do it, what kind of projects to work on,
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what skills to be able to demonstrate, and if you
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did that, and if you followed that re brick, you
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would end up climbing the ladder again in a very
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linear way. But you had high visibility and clarity in
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terms of what success looked like. And I felt like
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which was a deep realization for me, but it really
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felt like to me after a while, as if someone
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had spoiled the movie. I knew exactly what
was going
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to happen, and I somehow lost interest in the game
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because I knew exactly what would happen to the main character.
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When I left Google, I decided to start a startup,
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and that was also interesting because I really thought I
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was leaving that linear path, but I ended up repeating
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a lot of the same things that I was doing
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at Google. I tried to follow a playbook, I downloaded
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all of the case studies from other startups, and I
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tried to figure out how to climb that ladder just
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a different letter. And it's only when my startup failed
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and I found myself completely lost with no clear next
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run on the ladder that I could climb, that I
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had to finally stop and take a moment to reflect
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and ask myself, what is it that I truly want
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to explore? What am I actually curious about? If external
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validation and money was not part of the equation. What
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is something I would want to be doing every day
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when I wake up, even if nobody was watching. And
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for me, it's always been the brain. I've always been
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fascinated with the way we think, the way we feel,
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and so I went back to school to study neuroscience
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and ended up on the path that I am on today,
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which is very wiggly. I generally have no idea where
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I'm going. You know, I just wrote a book, i
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finished my PhD. I'm also running a small business, I'm
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running online, I'm doing a bit of speaking here and there.
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And the reason why I love this path today is
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that I have no idea what's going to happen in
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the movie. I don't know what's going to happen next,
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and I'm a little bit surprised almost every day with
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what's on my calendar. And I think that's the.
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Way that resonates.
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And I think that that's great too, that like you
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kind of recognize when things aren't working, like how do
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you then sort of reconjigure things? But then it's like
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it does require this moment. And something important that you're
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write about too is that we have to be okay
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with that discomfort of not really knowing what what is
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the next thing, But at the same time as as
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you know it too, like there's the when you have
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a curiosity mindset to it sentence says, Oh, this is exciting.
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I don't know what's going to happen. And this is
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one of these things. I mean, there's two things that.
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Actually stuck out there that I think are really important
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for us to think about. And I recognized when I was, like,
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you know, reading your story, that one can be in
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the kind of career treadmill and then both be burnt
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out by the work and like doing too much and
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then also bored at the same time, and like we
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also don't realize like those seem like they're antithetical, like
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how could I else both be like doing too much
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and be like I don't want to do any of this,
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you know, And like I've I've seen that in myself too,
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in terms of like you know, putting work in kind
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of the wrong pathway and then you realize that like
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you're doing both these and it's like the board parts,
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I think your point is really important. It's like I
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know where the movie goes. I know exactly how to
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what this ladder climbing would look like. I know where
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I would go, and I can see it like and
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like assessed to I want to be in that that
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spot you know, and at the same time, I'm so busy,
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I don't really have the energy to do that. And
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how do I put those two signals together and say, wait,
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maybe this is not the right piece. And the other
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side is is this notion of for some for many
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of us. I mean, it's scary to be like I
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don't know what the next thing would be, right, and
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so it's like this kind of curiosity versus kind of
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reactive mindset, and and so I'm curious, like to kind
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of help help folks
think about how do we get
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out of this box? And I feel like I'm kind
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of stuck and I'm either burnt out and board or
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or one or the other. But I'm kind of afraid
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of like I don't know what to do next, right
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either if I don't have the resources or I don't
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know what the pathway, Like, how do I kind of
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help put that mindset together in terms of being more
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more curious versus reactive.
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I guess yeah, I think you'll you'll like that term,
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considering that you're an anthro apologized. But in the book
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I use the term self anthropology. And what I encourage
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people to do is, again, if you think about the
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scientific method and that cycle of experimentation. Scientists don't just
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start testing stuff right there's a phase of observation. You
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just observe how things are right now, and then you
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ask yourself, how could they be different or why they're
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working this way. Now, let's test this by designing an
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experiment and collect data. But it all starts always with observation.
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And what I call self anthropology in a bit of
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a cheeky way, is basically the idea that you're going
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to pretend that you're an anthropologist studying your own life
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and the same way an anthropologist goes and studies a
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different culture and look at it with fresh eyes, asking
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why are they doing things this way? Why are they're
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communicating this way? And why are you doing approaching this
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in disorder and not that one? Why is this more
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important to them than that other thing? And taking no
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and really again without any judgment, just looking at how
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things are working in that environment, you can learn a
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lot about your life and you can discover patterns that
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you may not have noticed in the past because of
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exactly what you just described earlier. You're so easy trying
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to climb that ladder that you never take the time
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to take a little step back and really ask yourself,
wait,
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why am I even doing this thing? And why am
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I doing it this way? So I encourage people who
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are in this situation feeling a little bit stuck, not
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quite sure what to do next, to just go back
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to starting with observation. You don't need to have the
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solution yet, you don't need to have a plan yet.
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You just need to observe what is currently working, what
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is currently not working for you, just taking little notes
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and in a very practical way. An exercise that I
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do with members of my community is I tell them,
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for twenty four hours, you're becoming the anthrologist untroplgious of
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your own life. You can do that in your Apple
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notes and your Google keep, whatever notes you're taking on
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your phone, and anytime you notice something interesting as you
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go about your day, you take a notes. That could
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be after a conversation with someone where you're like, oh,
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I feel weirdly energized after talking for twenty minutes about
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this obscure topic with the colleague, or that could be
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things like, oh, I feel really drained after giving this presentation,
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or I was feeling anxious all morning before this meeting
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little observations like this, just do that for twenty four hours.
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Those are going to be the seeds for you to
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then decide what you want to try to tweak and
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play with and the experiment with.
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Yeah, that's great.
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I think it's it is interesting because oftentimes we want
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to add that value judgment right away is like am
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I either seeing a thing or I'm not seeing a
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thing right or that, Yeah, the presentation was hard, but
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I don't then say it. Let me observe and actually,
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how is I emotionally feeling? How is I physically feeling?
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How was I saying other people reacting in the scenario
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or did I feel energized? And like that is a
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really important thing that yes, obviously cool plug for anthropology,
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you know, but like this bonus too because even this
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idea of kind of withholding judgment, I think is really important,
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right and probeague of mine Jay Hasburg, you know athopologists,
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He's been at metaphor a long time. You know, it's
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also in the tech sector, Like wrote a book called
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ethnographic Thinking, and one of the kind of features that
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like goes with design thinking is this idea of withholding
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judgment as we're observing as we're getting a sense of
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like what it is that we're seeing, because we do
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want to be like that's either unimportant data or that
396
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one's the most important data, even that like interrogating why
397
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why is this more or less important?
398
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Right is? I think it's a really.
399
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Important part to be able to kind of learn to
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pay attention to right and have that kind of curiosity
401
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and willingness to do so, because it is tricky and
402
00:18:48.319 --> 00:18:50.720
uncomfortable to be like, let me just watch how I
403
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feel and watch how this is happening, and like as
404
00:18:53.200 --> 00:18:54.839
if I was an alien coming down to earth and
405
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like saying, okay, what what's you know?
406
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How is this this this space working? You know?
407
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And to your point, I just want to add because
408
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I think you're making a really important point here. We
409
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talked about how we're too busy to take the time
410
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and give ourselves the space to reflect on how we
411
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feel and how things are going. But to your point here,
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I feel like sometimes also we keep ourselves busy because
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we're maybe too scared of deeply looking at how we're
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actually feeling. Because we know deep down that if we
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start doing this, if we start honestly observing the way
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we feel, inside and the way we behave on a
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day to day basis. This might lead to very big changes,
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and big changes can be very scary, So sometimes it
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just feels a little bit more reassuring and comfortable to
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just keep busy and not look too closely as to
421
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00:19:53.440
how we feel.
422
00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:57.160
That's a great point, and it is one of those
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you know, I'm sure you hear the two words someone's
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how you doing, I'm just busy, you know, and that's
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like the everybody's response, and truthfully, yes we are all busy.
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But like it's this funny point of like it's either
427
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become a badge of honor and or I think you're
428
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right that for many of us in oftentimes it's like
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that's why I don't have to think about the other
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actual questions, because the questions are hard, right.
431
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It's like, you know, it's like it's one of those
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things that you.
433
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Know, if you've done it before, you know what will
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feel better when you do it, But it's hard to excavate,
435
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you know, the old bones that you that you don't
436
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want to do because I think it's something else that's
437
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important that you help me think about too through your book,
438
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is that this this idea that like we all have
439
00:20:30.519 --> 00:20:32.279
a course of inner curiosity, right, and like we were
440
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born with that's that's how kids and babies play. I
441
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have I have a you know, almost six month old
442
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son now, and it's like watching him just begin to
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discover and he has zero preconceptions of how things are
444
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supposed to go, and you know, to often to hilarity, right,
445
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you know, it's it's important to recognize like that's the
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kind of the you know, the childlike wonder.
447
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You know, it's like it's very different when you're.
448
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Watching your own kid do it, you know, but it's
449
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like this this funny thing of like learning that that's
450
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that's going to be there, and like, you know, I
451
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always want to make sure that, you know, I keep
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that or like we like how do we keep that
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in our lives? And so you note that that we
454
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often see that kind of inner curiosity kind of quailed
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over time, right. I think part of it is is,
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you know, too, like through the linear thinking model, it's like, oh,
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there's not a ton of space for curiosity. If it's
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like go down this put this is you know, you
459
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can be curious in this little box and that's it,
460
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you know.
461
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So so some like, let's think about this.
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You know, oftentimes that kind of inner curiosity gets quelled,
463
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like how do we either kind of excavator on earth
464
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that you know, like we have observations? Was one bucket,
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Like what else can we do in that area to
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kind of say, let me, let me poke at that
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that little that little voice, you know, maybe be less busy.
468
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And so so there's observation. And then once you're you
469
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start absorbing those different patterns, you can get back into
470
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a bit more like an active mode and start playing
471
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with ideas, and we be testing some of them. And
472
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this is where I really like the container of the
473
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experiment for this, because again, as you mentioned, where we're like, okay,
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how do I even practice curiosity if as been in
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a you know, just purely execution climbing the latter mode?
476
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How do I reinject this into my life? That's why
477
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my book is called Tiny Experiments and that Big Experiments,
478
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because I really feel like keeping them small means that
479
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you can integrate them in your life without making big
480
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changes yet, and I think they will result in big
481
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changes and transformation. But you don't have to do that
482
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from the get go. You can start with something quite small,
483
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and so those seats of inspiration that those observations that
484
00:22:33.960 --> 00:22:36.640
you made, you can look at them and then ask yourself, Okay,
485
00:22:37.559 --> 00:22:41.200
what something that could be different? What could I play with?
486
00:22:41.319 --> 00:22:44.839
What could I change? What could I test? So, for example,
487
00:22:45.680 --> 00:22:48.799
if you've noticed that a specific topic gives you a
488
00:22:48.839 --> 00:22:53.880
lot of energy, what if you blocked an hour or
489
00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:58.079
two hours every week to explore that topic, no emails,
490
00:22:58.160 --> 00:23:00.519
your phone in another room, you tell the kids that
491
00:23:00.559 --> 00:23:02.480
they have to go and
play and do something else,
492
00:23:02.559 --> 00:23:05.519
because for one or two hours, you're just going to
493
00:23:05.559 --> 00:23:08.640
be a nerd and explore everything you want to learn
494
00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:10.559
about this topic. And do that a little bit every
495
00:23:10.559 --> 00:23:13.759
week and maybe take notes, etc. Just for the purpose
496
00:23:13.799 --> 00:23:17.720
of exploring an idea that you're curious about. If you've
497
00:23:17.759 --> 00:23:21.519
noticed that you're extremely tired in the morning and you
498
00:23:21.559 --> 00:23:25.200
can't really get good job done, good work done, maybe
499
00:23:25.240 --> 00:23:29.079
try shifting some of your low effort admin tasks to
500
00:23:29.160 --> 00:23:32.200
the morning. Test that for a few weeks, and again
501
00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:35.000
take little note, see how that feels. Is that working
502
00:23:35.039 --> 00:23:38.680
for you or not? And you can really design those
503
00:23:38.839 --> 00:23:41.640
small personal experiments in any area of your life. It
504
00:23:41.640 --> 00:23:45.039
can be in your relationships with your partner, saying, let's
505
00:23:45.079 --> 00:23:49.160
experiment with a weekly date night where we both come
506
00:23:49.319 --> 00:23:52.160
with prepared questions for the other one and we just
507
00:23:52.279 --> 00:23:55.920
ask each other about our lives. You can experiment with
508
00:23:56.000 --> 00:23:59.960
your health, with your creativity, with your work processes, knowledge management,
509
00:24:00.160 --> 00:24:04.440
any of those different kind of things, and by doing so,
510
00:24:05.480 --> 00:24:09.599
it will also make you even more observant of the
511
00:24:09.680 --> 00:24:12.920
way these things are changing your life. You'll be more preasent.
512
00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:17.759
And so even if there's no big milestone or outcome
513
00:24:17.920 --> 00:24:21.599
that you can pin and say this is success, you
514
00:24:21.680 --> 00:24:24.599
will actually progress, you will actually change, you will actually
515
00:24:24.680 --> 00:24:27.559
evolve as a human being. And to me, that is
516
00:24:27.559 --> 00:24:29.039
a better definition of senes No.
517
00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:30.720
I love that too, and I think and it puts
518
00:24:30.759 --> 00:24:33.640
us pushes us also to this like the more circular
519
00:24:33.720 --> 00:24:36.319
kind of framing versusly like I hit milestone X y Z,
520
00:24:36.440 --> 00:24:37.160
and now I've done things.
521
00:24:37.759 --> 00:24:39.240
You know, now I'm now I'm.
522
00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:42.240
Ten percent better, you know, not to hit on ten
523
00:24:42.240 --> 00:24:44.559
percent happier but interesting idea, right inter the meditation, you know,
524
00:24:44.599 --> 00:24:46.759
But like, but I think that I think that's a great,
525
00:24:46.839 --> 00:24:49.920
a great point to kind of recognize that it can
526
00:24:49.960 --> 00:24:51.960
both be anything, right, And I love the idea of like, yeah,
527
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:53.839
let's either come with you know, set date night for
528
00:24:54.039 --> 00:24:55.720
you know, for six weeks, we're going to have here's
529
00:24:55.759 --> 00:24:57.279
ten questions that we want to know about each other,
530
00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:00.200
and like they're gonna get progressively harder to answers, but
531
00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:02.839
you know, or whatever it is, or even this is
532
00:25:02.880 --> 00:25:04.359
like yeah, like are you're not a morning person? Like
533
00:25:04.359 --> 00:25:06.240
that's actually fine, Like don't let visit tell you that
534
00:25:06.240 --> 00:25:08.759
you're you're crappy. It's like just then change your task
535
00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:09.960
that you don't have to eat what was it Mark
536
00:25:10.000 --> 00:25:11.759
Twain to eat the eat the frog first or whatever,
537
00:25:11.759 --> 00:25:13.119
eat the biggest frog first. It's like, no, eat the
538
00:25:13.160 --> 00:25:14.680
biggest frog later, if you want to eat the smallest
539
00:25:14.680 --> 00:25:17.920
one first, if that's easier for you, right, and kind
540
00:25:17.920 --> 00:25:20.680
of recognizing that like it you know with that too,
541
00:25:20.680 --> 00:25:21.359
like this the kind.
542
00:25:21.200 --> 00:25:21.960
Of time boxing it, right.
543
00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:23.640
I think it's really really an important piece that you
544
00:25:24.079 --> 00:25:26.599
point out too, because it's like, hey, how do I
545
00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:28.359
know if it's working and be like, well, part of it,
546
00:25:28.440 --> 00:25:29.720
like say, if I'm gonna do it for six weeks
547
00:25:29.799 --> 00:25:31.200
or one week or a month or whatever it is,
548
00:25:31.200 --> 00:25:33.240
and like commit to doing that and then you can
549
00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:35.359
actually see, Okay, what how do I feel after doing
550
00:25:35.440 --> 00:25:37.799
that for this amount of time. And it's funny because
551
00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:41.799
you know, as someone that is a uh is a
552
00:25:41.880 --> 00:25:44.880
continuously bad planner, that like it's you know, Philly's fist
553
00:25:44.920 --> 00:25:46.160
hard to put these things. But when I put a
554
00:25:46.160 --> 00:25:48.279
small time box of something, like it's much easier to
555
00:25:48.319 --> 00:25:50.440
then both get something done but then feel like it's
556
00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:52.480
it's more I can accomplish it, right, It's like it
557
00:25:52.559 --> 00:25:54.359
kind of gets sort of the paralysis of.
558
00:25:54.359 --> 00:25:56.279
Like how do I how do I do this? You know?
559
00:25:57.440 --> 00:25:59.319
And that that ties into this other piece of that
560
00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:01.079
was really interesting that you talk about, is that like
561
00:26:01.640 --> 00:26:04.799
it's like chronos versus chiros, right, it's like the quality
562
00:26:04.839 -->
00:26:07.000
and quantity of time. So like thinking about this idea
563
00:26:07.000 --> 00:26:08.799
of like both how much time am I putting into something?
564
00:26:08.839 --> 00:26:11.480
But like as I'm working on something, it's not about
565
00:26:11.480 --> 00:26:13.440
did I put in again We're.
566
00:26:13.279 --> 00:26:15.000
Gonna hit on numbers here, ten thousand hours, like do
567
00:26:15.039 --> 00:26:15.279
this thing.
568
00:26:15.319 --> 00:26:17.680
It's like that's not necessarily the point that we're talking
569
00:26:17.680 --> 00:26:19.519
about here, right, but that that's like a big experimise
570
00:26:19.519 --> 00:26:20.640
is like a hell of a lot of work, right,
571
00:26:21.400 --> 00:26:22.680
But I could do something smaller.
572
00:26:22.720 --> 00:26:24.160
So, so how do we think about this idea?
573
00:26:24.160 --> 00:26:26.880
Of like this, the Chronos and chiros in terms of
574
00:26:26.920 --> 00:26:28.240
the time we're putting into something.
575
00:26:30.440 --> 00:26:34.640
Yes, so yeah, you perfectly defined that Chronos quantity of time,
576
00:26:34.839 --> 00:26:38.000
Cairos quantity of time, and the ancient Greeks has those
577
00:26:38.160 --> 00:26:42.039
two different works to describe time. And so Chronos is
578
00:26:42.119 --> 00:26:44.880
really the time of clocks, of meetings, of saying let's
579
00:26:44.880 --> 00:26:47.160
be here at ten am and we're going to work
580
00:26:47.200 --> 00:26:50.880
on this for one hour, whereas when you focus on Cairos,
581
00:26:50.960 --> 00:26:55.079
what you're reading trying to optimize for is that of
582
00:26:55.240 --> 00:26:58.559
time rather than as much time as possible. And so
583
00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:03.680
if you have twenty minutes of really deep work where
584
00:27:03.720 --> 00:27:07.680
you're highly connected with and inflow with whatever you're working on,
585
00:27:08.519 --> 00:27:12.559
that's going to have more value than spending ten thousand
586
00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:18.240
hours practicing whatever skill. It's also knowing sometimes that some
587
00:27:18.759 --> 00:27:24.200
moments have more weight and more quality than others, and
588
00:27:24.279 --> 00:27:27.480
that also can help you navigate decisions in your life. So,
589
00:27:27.559 --> 00:27:32.880
for example, that's knowing that in this moment, maybe bad
590
00:27:33.000 --> 00:27:37.680
time with your kid is more important than answering this
591
00:27:37.839 --> 00:27:41.480
email that is in your inbox. That's really having this
592
00:27:41.759 --> 00:27:45.000
approach of Cairos and knowing that each minute has a
593
00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:49.279
specific and special unique quality to it that you can
594
00:27:49.440 --> 00:27:54.599
attune yourself to and really decide what you want to experience,
595
00:27:54.640 --> 00:27:57.240
what do you want your really your your life and
596
00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:01.279
your experience to be in this moment, rather
than having
597
00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:06.160
the chronos approach where each minute is equal and the
598
00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:08.920
goal is to you as much as possible using all
599
00:28:08.960 --> 00:28:12.079
of those tiny boxes that all add up to your life.
600
00:28:12.240 --> 00:28:17.400
And the best way I think to show to really
601
00:28:17.400 --> 00:28:20.599
for anyone listening to this to know that they have
602
00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:25.400
experienced chiros, they know what it is intrinsically is that
603
00:28:25.799 --> 00:28:29.119
you know how sometimes you have a conversation with someone
604
00:28:29.559 --> 00:28:32.480
and then you look at the time and it was
605
00:28:32.640 --> 00:28:36.160
four hours talking with them, and you really didn't see
606
00:28:36.200 --> 00:28:40.640
the time going. That's chiros. That shows you that time
607
00:28:40.720 --> 00:28:44.960
is elastic depending on its quality, and that other times,
608
00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:49.359
you know, things go very slowly if you don't want
609
00:28:49.359 --> 00:28:52.240
to be here, if you're worried, you don't feel connected
610
00:28:52.279 --> 00:28:56.440
with whoever you're with. So that's chiros. We've all experienced it,
611
00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:58.480
but we can be a little bit more intentional with it.
612
00:28:58.599 --> 00:29:01.519
No, I love that idea too, and it's it's it's
613
00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:05.440
counter to of course the other like I think frustrating
614
00:29:05.480 --> 00:29:07.519
prevailing wisdom, right that time is money, right, Because then
615
00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:09.640
it's like because a dollar is an individual thing, right,
616
00:29:09.640 --> 00:29:11.400
that it's like worth this much. And like if we
617
00:29:11.440 --> 00:29:13.240
say time is that, then it has a different value too.
618
00:29:13.240 --> 00:29:15.720
And it's like, but it doesn't, right, Like we have
619
00:29:15.880 --> 00:29:18.960
a subjective experience that matters of what we're doing and
620
00:29:18.960 --> 00:29:21.279
what we're doing it, and like getting in like as
621
00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:23.000
you said too, like that flow right where that time
622
00:29:23.079 --> 00:29:24.960
just flies by and something it's been a couple hours
623
00:29:25.000 --> 00:29:27.359
and you're like, wow, I didn't realize what I was
624
00:29:27.759 --> 00:29:29.920
reading books, talking to a friend, you know, watching a movie,
625
00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:31.640
playing with your kid, you know, going on a walk,
626
00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:33.519
or I mean, or if you're I don't know, if
627
00:29:33.519 --> 00:29:35.240
you're coding, it's fine too, right, It's like doesn't matter
628
00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:37.000
what it is. But we all know, we all have
629
00:29:37.119 --> 00:29:39.440
we've had that, right. I mean, I think it is
630
00:29:39.480 --> 00:29:42.799
really powerful to recognize that that we It's helpful to
631
00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:46.039
like again like look back and reflect on those moments
632
00:29:46.039 --> 00:29:48.480
and know that when we had them and giving different
633
00:29:48.519 --> 00:29:51.559
weight to time is such an important piece. And I
634
00:29:51.559 --> 00:29:54.319
think that that speaks to this the like the importance
635
00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:56.880
of a mindfulness approach that you also talked about right that.
636
00:29:57.799 --> 00:29:59.279
You know what is mindfulness?
637
00:29:59.319 --> 00:30:01.319
Meaning as you think abo this parayly, oftentimes we're like, oh,
638
00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:03.519
some people say, oh, it's like meditating. It's like maybe
639
00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:05.000
like part of it, but like I think it's really this.
640
00:30:05.039 --> 00:30:08.000
It's like, am I aware of the experience that I'm having?
641
00:30:08.400 --> 00:30:08.599
Right?
642
00:30:09.200 --> 00:30:12.039
And am I kind of being more attuned to that
643
00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:15.400
itself versus you know, I meditated for ten minutes?
644
00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:15.640
Right?
645
00:30:17.160 --> 00:30:19.279
And it's funny because oftentimes, like if people say I
646
00:30:19.480 --> 00:30:21.240
don't know either how to be mindful or what the
647
00:30:21.279 --> 00:30:22.880
earth has like some foof food stuff, I don't know,
648
00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:24.400
it's like, well, then just sit and meditate for ten
649
00:30:24.440 --> 00:30:26.319
minutes and we'll give you a time to start with.
650
00:30:26.799 --> 00:30:29.519
But then, you know, think about how you felt during
651
00:30:29.559 --> 00:30:31.440
that ten minutes and if it was anxious, that's actually fine.
652
00:30:31.599 --> 00:30:33.480
And if it was like bored, that's okay too. If
653
00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:35.680
it's sleepy, that's fine. If it was excited, that's also great.
654
00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:37.720
And it's like recognizing that we don't need to judge
655
00:30:37.720 --> 00:30:40.519
the chronos there, right, It's like the chronos gave us
656
00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:43.759
just a bounded moment to try something, but really, then
657
00:30:43.799 --> 00:30:45.400
we're going after the cairos after the.
658
00:30:45.440 --> 00:30:46.000
End of it right.
659
00:30:48.279 --> 00:30:52.240
Yeah, absolutely, And that non judgmental aspect is so important.
660
00:30:53.559 --> 00:30:58.559
There are a lot of experiences that we simply cannot control,
661
00:30:59.240 --> 00:31:03.920
whether you're you to external factors or internal chemistry or
662
00:31:04.359 --> 00:31:08.759
just you know, events relationships that we have. There are
663
00:31:08.960 --> 00:31:11.279
simply a lot of things that we feel and that
664
00:31:11.359 --> 00:31:15.240
we think that are out of our control. But then
665
00:31:15.880 --> 00:31:18.799
we have somehow somewhat a little bit more control over
666
00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:23.240
how we respond to our own thoughts and
emotions. And
667
00:31:23.240 --> 00:31:26.200
this is exactly what you're describing here, being aware of
668
00:31:26.240 --> 00:31:30.359
them but also not judging them, not judging necessary whether
669
00:31:30.400 --> 00:31:34.759
they're good or they're bad. They just happened, and you
670
00:31:34.799 --> 00:31:38.559
can learn from any of these experiences, whether good or bad.
671
00:31:38.880 --> 00:31:40.400
That kind of like goes back to what we were
672
00:31:40.440 --> 00:31:43.599
talking about earlier. Also, is that if you start disconnecting
673
00:31:44.319 --> 00:31:49.480
your actions from this artificial idea of success, you can
674
00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:54.480
just again be aware and observe of, you know, how
675
00:31:54.519 --> 00:31:57.440
you feel, your emotions, your thoughts, et cetera. As you
676
00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:00.640
explore an idea or a path or something that you're
677
00:32:00.680 --> 00:32:04.680
curious about, and if you don't get to the place
678
00:32:04.799 --> 00:32:08.839
you expected to get to, that's fine. That can actually
679
00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:12.839
be good. Something unexpected, something surprising something that you can
680
00:32:12.920 --> 00:32:15.279
learn from. And I think that connects to my.
681
00:32:15.880 --> 00:32:16.640
It's a great point too.
682
00:32:16.759 --> 00:32:21.559
And yeah, if we're able to not judge a prejudge scenario.
683
00:32:22.160 --> 00:32:23.799
What's interesting about that too? You know?
684
00:32:23.839 --> 00:32:28.160
That has me me thinking that I like.
685
00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:29.440
The idea that.
686
00:32:30.839 --> 00:32:33.720
The quality of our experiences in time as we can
687
00:32:33.759 --> 00:32:35.680
it matters. I don't want to prejudge that. But then
688
00:32:35.720 --> 00:32:39.119
also we have things like procrastination that I don't want
689
00:32:39.160 --> 00:32:41.599
to do something around, like you know, I just can't
690
00:32:41.599 --> 00:32:43.480
get started, right, And what I love is that you
691
00:32:43.519 --> 00:32:45.920
also tackle this idea that it's like, well, actually that's
692
00:32:45.960 --> 00:32:48.920
not a bad thing, right, you know, we we have
693
00:32:48.960 --> 00:32:51.359
such a negative idea because like productivity also again in
694
00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:53.000
modern business parlance, right, it's.
695
00:32:52.920 --> 00:32:54.640
Like go Google do this. You know, here's your here's
696
00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:55.920
your five points of to do list.
697
00:32:56.319 --> 00:32:59.279
Procrastination we're always fighting as somehow, how are we always
698
00:32:59.279 --> 00:33:00.720
fighting against this thing we don't want to know, we
699
00:33:00.720 --> 00:33:02.039
don't want to do or don't want to start. Like
700
00:33:02.279 --> 00:33:03.799
that's curious, But I think I like the way you
701
00:33:03.799 --> 00:33:06.440
flip this for us and say, actually, let's rethink what
702
00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:09.440
procrastination is doing here. It's not just this bad guy
703
00:33:09.480 --> 00:33:11.920
that we have to overcome what am I be telling
704
00:33:12.000 --> 00:33:14.400
us something important? So I'll tell me a bit about
705
00:33:14.400 --> 00:33:15.519
what that is. And then also like, how'd you How
706
00:33:15.519 --> 00:33:17.599
did you come to that idea that procrastination is not
707
00:33:17.680 --> 00:33:18.240
such a bad guy?
708
00:33:18.279 --> 00:33:23.039
If you all, yeah, it's a you know, this is
709
00:33:23.079 --> 00:33:27.039
a kind of a thread that runs through the entire book, right,
710
00:33:27.240 --> 00:33:31.519
is that any challenge can become an opportunity for growth
711
00:33:31.559 --> 00:33:34.200
if you choose to approach it from a place of curiosity.
712
00:33:35.039 --> 00:33:40.519
And I choose procrastination as an illustration of this because
713
00:33:40.599 --> 00:33:44.480
I know this is something that most people think is bad.
714
00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:47.799
Most people agree procrastination is bad. I don't want to
715
00:33:47.799 --> 00:33:53.039
be procrastinating. If you look up online articles to try
716
00:33:53.079 --> 00:33:57.559
and help you deal with procrastination or manage procrastination, most
717
00:33:57.599 --> 00:34:01.640
of them are titled how to beat fascination. There's something
718
00:34:01.720 --> 00:34:07.359
really violent going on yet, And so yeah, we really
719
00:34:07.440 --> 00:34:11.079
want to get rid of it. And so I picked
720
00:34:11.119 --> 00:34:14.400
that example as something that really most people just want
721
00:34:14.400 --> 00:34:18.239
to get rid of, and showing how you can actually
722
00:34:18.280 --> 00:34:21.199
grow and learn if you choose to approach it from
723
00:34:21.239 --> 00:34:26.400
a place of curacity. Because what is procrastination really it's
724
00:34:26.440 --> 00:34:29.559
a signal from your brain and your body, that something
725
00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:32.320
is not quite right and that you're not in the
726
00:34:32.360 --> 00:34:36.039
best conditions possible to do whether a task you feel
727
00:34:36.039 --> 00:34:39.679
like you should be doing, and that problem can come
728
00:34:39.719 --> 00:34:44.199
from different places. It can be a problem coming from
729
00:34:44.400 --> 00:34:48.280
the task itself. So maybe actually you should not even
730
00:34:48.280 --> 00:34:51.000
be doing that task in the first place. Maybe someone
731
00:34:51.039 --> 00:34:53.559
else should be doing it, or maybe we should not
732
00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:55.559
even be doing that task in the first place. It
733
00:34:55.639 --> 00:34:58.599
ended up on your task list, it's been there, and
734
00:34:58.679 --> 00:35:01.559
you've been feeling horrible about it for not doing it
735
00:35:01.599 --> 00:35:05.079
for two weeks, but actually, nothing bad's going to happen
736
00:35:05.079 --> 00:35:07.360
if nobody
does that thing, so you can just move
737
00:35:07.400 --> 00:35:08.360
it from your task list.
738
00:35:08.760 --> 00:35:09.320
So that.
739
00:35:10.840 --> 00:35:14.159
Could be the reason why you're procrastinating, is that subconsciously
740
00:35:14.239 --> 00:35:18.079
you know there's no point doing this thing. Another reason
741
00:35:18.119 --> 00:35:21.719
why you may be procrastinating is because the task is
742
00:35:21.800 --> 00:35:24.920
just not fun, not enjoyable, not exciting. That's also a
743
00:35:25.039 --> 00:35:27.239
very valid reason why you don't want to work on it.
744
00:35:27.719 --> 00:35:31.360
And in that case, once you've identified this by approaching
745
00:35:31.400 --> 00:35:34.840
it from a place of curiosity, you can say, okay, so, okay,
746
00:35:34.880 --> 00:35:36.719
I do want to do the task. I think it
747
00:35:36.760 --> 00:35:38.639
makes sense to do it, but how can I make
748
00:35:38.679 --> 00:35:41.440
it fun, maybe work with someone, go to your favorite
749
00:35:41.440 --> 00:35:46.679
coffee shop, et cetera. And other times. Another signal that
750
00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:50.280
procrastination can be sending you is that, let's say, yes,
751
00:35:50.280 --> 00:35:52.800
you're convinced you want to do it, it looks like fun,
752
00:35:53.320 --> 00:35:56.320
and you're still not doing it. Why Probably because you
753
00:35:56.360 --> 00:35:59.119
feel like you don't have the necessary skills or expertise
754
00:35:59.239 --> 00:36:01.920
or tools not able to do it yourself. So in
755
00:36:01.960 --> 00:36:04.280
that case, you can get those tools, you can get support,
756
00:36:04.320 --> 00:36:06.960
you can get coaching, mentoring, but you're not stuck anymore.
757
00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:10.280
And you notice when I go through all of those
758
00:36:10.320 --> 00:36:14.679
different potential sources of procrastination that again there's no judgment there.
759
00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:19.760
I'm really just looking at the signal and I'm asking, hey, procrastination,
760
00:36:20.599 --> 00:36:23.840
what are you trying to tell me? Here? Almost talk
761
00:36:23.960 --> 00:36:26.199
to it as if it was a friend and say, hey,
762
00:36:26.239 --> 00:36:28.760
I know you're trying to tell me something. What are
763
00:36:28.800 --> 00:36:29.760
you saying? I'm listening.
764
00:36:29.800 --> 00:36:32.039
I think that that's super important. It's and it's it's
765
00:36:32.079 --> 00:36:34.360
like that power of reframing too, right. It's something that
766
00:36:35.079 --> 00:36:39.800
I it's like I recognized years ago in my life too,
767
00:36:39.840 --> 00:36:42.239
that that you know, one when I was feeling anxious
768
00:36:42.239 --> 00:36:43.599
for something like you know kind of like this is
769
00:36:43.719 --> 00:36:45.320
this doesn't feel great. You know, it's like you want
770
00:36:45.360 --> 00:36:46.400
to kind of get rid of the feeling that you
771
00:36:46.440 --> 00:36:48.440
feel like this isn't good. But then I kind of
772
00:36:48.519 --> 00:36:50.679
learned to reframe and say, well, no, what is this.
773
00:36:50.840 --> 00:36:53.159
What is this friend in my neighborhood here like trying
774
00:36:53.199 --> 00:36:54.639
to tell me like it's trying to protect me for
775
00:36:54.639 --> 00:36:55.039
some reason.
776
00:36:55.119 --> 00:36:56.400
It's like wants to make sure I'm okay.
777
00:36:56.840 --> 00:36:59.199
And it's like this interesting idea of like, oh, like anxiety,
778
00:36:59.400 --> 00:37:01.000
you know, stop up to kind of say hello, let
779
00:37:01.039 --> 00:37:02.920
me let me see what it has to say. In procrastination,
780
00:37:03.239 --> 00:37:05.760
you know that resonates in that similar kind of way
781
00:37:05.800 --> 00:37:09.239
that you know, in one box, this is a negative thing, right,
782
00:37:09.280 --> 00:37:10.719
and the other side it's like what is this trying
783
00:37:10.719 --> 00:37:12.119
to tell me? And like oh wait, maybe I need
784
00:37:12.119 --> 00:37:13.519
to get some different kind of skills, or maybe we
785
00:37:13.519 --> 00:37:16.960
can actually improve the process entirely. And you know that
786
00:37:16.760 --> 00:37:19.079
the whatever the forty emails is supposed to stay, like
787
00:37:19.119 --> 00:37:21.320
we can actually automate that process or whatever it is, right,
788
00:37:21.360 --> 00:37:23.800
like recognizing we don't have to do it that specific way,
789
00:37:23.840 --> 00:37:25.800
and so it's not procrastination that's the problem. It's like
790
00:37:25.880 --> 00:37:28.119
us kind of seeing, you know, how can I move
791
00:37:28.199 --> 00:37:30.400
through what needs to get done right? And like that
792
00:37:30.519 --> 00:37:32.199
might be going around it, it might be you know, getting
793
00:37:32.199 --> 00:37:33.800
skills for it. And I think that that's actually really
794
00:37:34.840 --> 00:37:38.280
really helpful and like to generate something out of it, right,
795
00:37:38.599 --> 00:37:41.400
And I think even this concept of kind of the
796
00:37:41.440 --> 00:37:43.880
generative form of thinking is is something that I took
797
00:37:43.880 --> 00:37:45.159
away from from the work too that I think is
798
00:37:45.199 --> 00:37:48.280
really helpful because it kind of says when we have
799
00:37:48.280 --> 00:37:50.519
a roadblock, that's asking ourselves is it a roadblock? And
800
00:37:50.559 --> 00:37:52.960
then or what is the block trying to tell us?
801
00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:54.320
Like and maybe again it is like I need to
802
00:37:54.320 --> 00:37:56.840
get a different kind of pathway to get through it
803
00:37:56.920 --> 00:37:57.360
or around it.
804
00:37:57.360 --> 00:37:57.519
You know.
805
00:37:58.679 --> 00:38:01.320
It's something that really stuck with me too. Like so
806
00:38:01.679 --> 00:38:04.119
one I've I've got my short term procrastination thinking. The
807
00:38:04.159 -->
00:38:06.400
other side is like this like much longer legacy thinking,
808
00:38:06.400 --> 00:38:07.679
which I thought was really interesting in a way to
809
00:38:07.679 --> 00:38:10.960
approach this too, because it's like, you know, against linear pathway.
810
00:38:11.000 --> 00:38:12.920
It's like I'm thinking about, Okay, what am I going
811
00:38:12.960 --> 00:38:15.760
to accomplish across my boxes and my calendar and then
812
00:38:16.159 --> 00:38:19.039
both either leave behind, But like legacy is an interesting
813
00:38:19.159 --> 00:38:20.639
like challenge point because it's like, either what do I
814
00:38:20.719 --> 00:38:23.360
leave behind when I when I die or or just
815
00:38:23.400 --> 00:38:24.519
when I leave a company or something.
816
00:38:24.599 --> 00:38:26.239
Right, it's like how do people know what I did?
817
00:38:26.840 --> 00:38:29.519
And we're with a slight obsession with that also in
818
00:38:29.760 --> 00:38:31.760
kind of today's contemporary culture, you know, and like you
819
00:38:31.800 --> 00:38:34.079
also help us like smack that around a little bit
820
00:38:34.079 --> 00:38:36.159
as well too. I guess that's finally metaphor we're asking
821
00:38:36.199 --> 00:38:38.400
for gently massage it to can help but think play
822
00:38:38.440 --> 00:38:41.400
differently about what it could be. So like let's go
823
00:38:41.400 --> 00:38:42.719
to that set end of the spectrum too, Like so
824
00:38:42.760 --> 00:38:44.960
we have legacy thinking now of like let's actually rethink
825
00:38:45.440 --> 00:38:47.239
what we're trying to do there too, Like how does
826
00:38:47.280 --> 00:38:49.800
that how does that reshape our thinking in your pathway?
827
00:38:51.239 --> 00:38:54.920
Yes, I absolutely had. I felt like I had to
828
00:38:55.320 --> 00:38:58.400
have a chapter about this question in the book because
829
00:38:58.519 --> 00:39:01.400
I know that a lot of the kind of people
830
00:39:01.800 --> 00:39:05.000
like you, like me, who actually do care about having
831
00:39:05.079 --> 00:39:07.599
an impact a positive impact on the world and the
832
00:39:07.639 --> 00:39:11.360
people around us. As you said, this concept of legacy
833
00:39:11.840 --> 00:39:18.920
making sure that we leave something behind were remembered and
834
00:39:19.199 --> 00:39:24.719
we're really just having this reinsurance that it mattered that
835
00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:28.519
we were here at some point it is something that
836
00:39:28.599 --> 00:39:33.440
we all cling onto as if it would give meaning
837
00:39:33.519 --> 00:39:37.400
to our lives. And what I want to do in
838
00:39:37.840 --> 00:39:40.519
what I do in the book in the last chapter
839
00:39:40.639 --> 00:39:44.599
actually is that I challenged that thinking. And what I
840
00:39:44.639 --> 00:39:47.800
say is that you can create meaning in your life
841
00:39:48.159 --> 00:39:52.960
in the here and now in present by shifting your
842
00:39:53.000 --> 00:39:56.119
mindset from how am I going to be remembered when
843
00:39:56.159 --> 00:39:58.960
I'm gone, which when you think about it makes absolutely
844
00:39:59.000 --> 00:40:02.119
no sense. You're not. You're going to buy yourself to
845
00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:07.519
enjoy all of that, you know, So shifting your mindset
846
00:40:07.559 --> 00:40:12.480
to how can I be as generative as possible in
847
00:40:12.639 --> 00:40:16.320
the present and the here and now positively contributing to
848
00:40:16.400 --> 00:40:21.320
the lives of my fellow living human beings for sharing
849
00:40:21.360 --> 00:40:26.159
this earth with me at the moment. And if everybody
850
00:40:26.199 --> 00:40:30.440
did that, actually we would end up, in a indirect
851
00:40:30.480 --> 00:40:34.840
way leaving a better legacy. But I don't think focusing
852
00:40:34.840 --> 00:40:37.679
on leaving a better legacy is the way to go
853
00:40:37.719 --> 00:40:41.119
about achieving that. So that's really what I advocate for,
854
00:40:41.920 --> 00:40:45.239
is really trying to have the most positive impact possible
855
00:40:45.280 --> 00:40:49.079
again today, and it doesn't have to be on in
856
00:40:49.079 --> 00:40:52.920
the entire world. It can be on your local community, family, friends,
857
00:40:52.920 --> 00:40:56.199
et cetera. The great thing about this approach as well,
858
00:40:56.639 --> 00:41:00.840
which ties back to the idea again of experimentating, is
859
00:41:00.880 --> 00:41:03.719
that you can see straight away if what you're doing
860
00:41:03.800 --> 00:41:07.480
is working, and you can adapt your approach and you
861
00:41:07.480 --> 00:41:11.000
can keep on tweaking until you get to the kind
862
00:41:11.000 --> 00:41:13.840
of impact that you want to have. If you wait
863
00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:18.079
until you're dead to for the results to be available,
864
00:41:18.280 --> 00:41:20.480
you're not going to be able to do anything to
865
00:41:20.679 --> 00:41:23.079
change the trajectory if that's not really where you want
866
00:41:23.119 --> 00:41:23.239
it to.
867
00:41:23.599 --> 00:41:24.719
And I think that's a great point.
868
00:41:24.760 --> 00:41:28.079
And like, you know, while we're seeing also kind of
869
00:41:28.079 --> 00:41:31.519
this I want to say rebellion, but it's also more
870
00:41:31.599 --> 00:41:34.320
just like you know, this push against retirement is like
871
00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:36.280
wait till you're like, I can't wait till I'm retired.
872
00:41:36.320 --> 00:41:38.559
It's like why, you know, you know, do the things
873
00:41:38.800 --> 00:41:40.079
like that the kind of push back we see if
874
00:41:40.079 --> 00:41:41.360
people say, well, do what you want to do now,
875
00:41:41.480 --> 00:41:43.800
like what are you waiting until you're potentially sixty five
876
00:41:43.880 --> 00:41:46.079
or seventy or eighty, which you know, will we even
877
00:41:46.079 --> 00:41:46.519
be able to
retire?
878
00:41:46.559 --> 00:41:48.039
I don't know, so, I mean that's probably part of
879
00:41:48.079 --> 00:41:49.119
the question there, you know.
880
00:41:49.679 --> 00:41:52.960
But but this idea that like yeah, why why are
881
00:41:53.000 --> 00:41:54.880
we putting off basically what we want to see in
882
00:41:54.880 --> 00:41:56.320
the world? Like that seems it, See when you think
883
00:41:56.360 --> 00:41:57.679
about it, it's kind of crazy, right, You're like you
884
00:41:58.039 --> 00:42:00.199
won't even be there, So it's like you might have
885
00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:02.800
done some good, but like you know, the story might change.
886
00:42:02.800 --> 00:42:05.519
And again, one of these things is like, you know,
887
00:42:05.599 --> 00:42:07.719
depending who you ask, like say, Rockefeller did great things,
888
00:42:07.760 --> 00:42:09.039
you know for the United States, is like, yeah, welly
889
00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:11.480
also like screwed a bunch of people and like you know,
890
00:42:11.719 --> 00:42:14.000
did a ton of like environmental damage and ruined a
891
00:42:14.000 --> 00:42:16.440
bunch of you know, culture. So it's like there's all
892
00:42:16.480 --> 00:42:19.079
these like bigger questions of like okay, like where and
893
00:42:19.119 --> 00:42:21.480
when does even a good legacy stick around for and
894
00:42:21.480 --> 00:42:23.639
like how long does it change as cultural trans change?
895
00:42:23.639 --> 00:42:26.559
And so it seems like, you know, I think it's
896
00:42:26.559 --> 00:42:28.000
a very important point, I guess, to kind of have
897
00:42:28.119 --> 00:42:32.159
us recognize that like there's more work to do now
898
00:42:32.239 --> 00:42:34.039
than there is like in the potential future.
899
00:42:34.320 --> 00:42:34.519
You know.
900
00:42:36.239 --> 00:42:40.280
Yeah, And I'm glad you mentioned retirement as well, because
901
00:42:40.880 --> 00:42:44.440
another side of the coin of being too focused and
902
00:42:44.639 --> 00:42:47.199
obsessed with legacy is that you have a lot of
903
00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:52.840
people in their sixties seventies eighties who are perfectly healthy
904
00:42:53.000 --> 00:42:57.119
and capable of having an amazing impact on their local communities,
905
00:42:57.719 --> 00:42:59.920
that don't feel like they can do anything because it's
906
00:43:00.079 --> 00:43:03.199
too late to build a legacy at this stage. They
907
00:43:03.239 --> 00:43:05.559
feel like, oh, like, you know, now, I only have
908
00:43:05.639 --> 00:43:08.199
a few decades left, Like there's no point. Most people
909
00:43:08.199 --> 00:43:11.199
who build a really big legacy they got started earlier,
910
00:43:11.360 --> 00:43:13.639
they did that over the course of their enterier career.
911
00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:18.199
It's too late, right if you stop focusing on legacy
912
00:43:18.320 --> 00:43:22.119
and on generativt right now in the present moment. It's
913
00:43:22.239 --> 00:43:24.920
never too late to get started with any kind of
914
00:43:25.639 --> 00:43:27.800
you know, meaningful, impactful project.
915
00:43:27.559 --> 00:43:27.920
That you want.
916
00:43:28.880 --> 00:43:31.599
I love that point, yes, because it is it is like,
917
00:43:31.639 --> 00:43:33.440
oh yeah, it's it's like no, it's it's too late
918
00:43:33.440 --> 00:43:35.719
when you're dead, you know. But it's like when you're
919
00:43:35.719 --> 00:43:37.719
if you're living then yeah, exactly right. And and that's
920
00:43:37.760 --> 00:43:40.039
the thing, it's like people are living now here, right,
921
00:43:40.079 --> 00:43:42.119
so it's like set of a legacy, we need like
922
00:43:42.199 --> 00:43:43.360
a generacy.
923
00:43:44.599 --> 00:43:47.199
You know. But that that's a really powerful point too.
924
00:43:47.599 --> 00:43:49.199
And I think also with that too, and something I
925
00:43:49.239 --> 00:43:51.639
take from you know again thematically through the book too,
926
00:43:51.719 --> 00:43:53.960
is like it's not like having the biggest impact.
927
00:43:53.960 --> 00:43:55.480
It's not doing the most things, right.
928
00:43:55.480 --> 00:43:58.599
It's not again, it's not the quantity thing necessarily, right,
929
00:43:58.599 --> 00:44:00.000
It's like not do ten more things.
930
00:44:00.159 --> 00:44:01.559
It's more like look for.
931
00:44:01.519 --> 00:44:03.559
That that quality at that that those kind of chirosk
932
00:44:03.559 --> 00:44:05.679
experiences that you can have with folks, whether it's cooking
933
00:44:05.679 --> 00:44:07.760
a meal with somebody or like your neighbors are taking
934
00:44:07.760 --> 00:44:10.400
their trash out. You know, it's like those things are
935
00:44:10.440 --> 00:44:12.199
actually what people remember, you know at the end of
936
00:44:12.199 --> 00:44:14.800
the day, versus Oh, I wrote three thousand you know
937
00:44:14.840 --> 00:44:16.880
pages in this dissertation that no one read. You know,
938
00:44:16.920 --> 00:44:18.920
it's like it's big and important, as we all know,
939
00:44:19.039 --> 00:44:21.800
but like at the same time, you know, it's it's
940
00:44:21.880 --> 00:44:24.320
it's not necessarily it might be the think it changes
941
00:44:24.320 --> 00:44:26.440
somebody's life, but it probably won't change as many people's lives.
942
00:44:26.440 --> 00:44:28.079
I mean, you know, but again that's the future thing, right,
943
00:44:28.119 --> 00:44:29.639
what what what could my thesis do?
944
00:44:31.119 --> 00:44:31.320
You know?
945
00:44:31.320 --> 00:44:32.840
But I love this idea to have kind of reminding
946
00:44:32.880 --> 00:44:34.360
us to come back to the here now. And also
947
00:44:34.400 --> 00:44:36.320
that speaks to the mindfulness angle too, right that like
948
00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:39.519
if we're being present in kind of noting what am
949
00:44:39.559 --> 00:44:42.599
I experiencing in this moment with self
with others, you know.
950
00:44:42.639 --> 00:44:44.679
Then that also says this is this is that moment
951
00:44:44.760 --> 00:44:47.559
of generation, you know. And one piece of that too,
952
00:44:47.599 --> 00:44:50.239
that another kind of bow to tie there, which I
953
00:44:50.519 --> 00:44:53.079
really appreciated that you explored too, is like they did
954
00:44:53.199 --> 00:44:55.400
playing and dancing right, like these have to be important
955
00:44:55.400 --> 00:44:57.480
parts of our work and how we do and like
956
00:44:58.639 --> 00:45:00.440
and like this resonated with me too, because it was
957
00:45:00.480 --> 00:45:04.280
like when I I left a corporate job a few
958
00:45:04.320 --> 00:45:06.719
years ago and I was I was in the kind
959
00:45:06.760 --> 00:45:07.760
of path of like I don't know what I'm like,
960
00:45:07.760 --> 00:45:09.000
I was doubt, you know, I'm not sure I was
961
00:45:09.000 --> 00:45:09.239
going to do.
962
00:45:09.239 --> 00:45:10.239
I wanted to figure out the next thing.
963
00:45:10.239 --> 00:45:12.840
And it's like, you know, I ended up taking a
964
00:45:12.880 --> 00:45:15.360
month long road trip and like did some speaking engagements
965
00:45:15.400 --> 00:45:17.559
and like visited family and it was like this very nice,
966
00:45:17.800 --> 00:45:18.960
like first time I've done the thing.
967
00:45:19.000 --> 00:45:20.159
I was like, I was gonna take the great American
968
00:45:20.239 --> 00:45:20.559
road job.
969
00:45:20.559 --> 00:45:21.960
I've never done that, you know, and it was like
970
00:45:22.199 --> 00:45:25.400
this very like it was perfect timing and this right moment.
971
00:45:25.440 --> 00:45:27.760
But it's this it was like I had zero schedule,
972
00:45:28.159 --> 00:45:29.760
like I should I did be at this place in
973
00:45:29.800 --> 00:45:32.079
this date, but how I got there and like what
974
00:45:32.159 --> 00:45:34.840
I did in between, and that was actually one of
975
00:45:34.840 --> 00:45:36.719
the most important things I could have done at the time,
976
00:45:36.760 --> 00:45:38.480
because it was like, let me put that space into
977
00:45:38.519 --> 00:45:40.360
experience this moment now where I don't have to be
978
00:45:40.400 --> 00:45:42.119
anywhere else, I don't have to be thinking about what
979
00:45:42.159 --> 00:45:47.159
I should be doing, and it like changes your your perception,
980
00:45:47.280 --> 00:45:50.039
right because you're like, I'm watching trees and I'm sitting
981
00:45:50.079 --> 00:45:52.000
at this rest stop, and I'm looking at these dogs
982
00:45:52.079 --> 00:45:53.480
running around in this yard, you know, and it's like
983
00:45:54.079 --> 00:45:56.559
it's very you know, spacious, I guess in one way,
984
00:45:56.559 --> 00:45:58.159
and you kind of realize there is that space in
985
00:45:58.199 --> 00:46:00.599
the center. Once you finally kind of stop moving for
986
00:46:00.599 --> 00:46:02.800
a second, you realize how much space is actually around you.
987
00:46:04.079 --> 00:46:06.119
And it was I guess from all that.
988
00:46:06.039 --> 00:46:07.719
Came this idea of playfulness, right, like let me I
989
00:46:07.719 --> 00:46:10.159
can play with what I could do, what this could be.
990
00:46:10.199 --> 00:46:12.400
And so I'm kind of curious to thoughts about this too, like,
991
00:46:12.440 --> 00:46:13.960
you know, how did you come to play as one
992
00:46:13.960 --> 00:46:16.840
of these key key pieces of like finding joy and work,
993
00:46:16.920 --> 00:46:20.000
finding joy and experimentation because it is fun, I think,
994
00:46:20.079 --> 00:46:20.360
you know.
995
00:46:22.719 --> 00:46:24.840
Yeah, I mean you did mention at the being of
996
00:46:24.840 --> 00:46:31.199
our conversation, how children are naturally curious, and another another
997
00:46:31.599 --> 00:46:34.559
behavior that they have that is very natural to them
998
00:46:34.639 --> 00:46:41.000
is learning through play, exploring through play, being naturally playful
999
00:46:41.039 --> 00:46:43.559
about anything that they do and their approach, and also
1000
00:46:43.679 --> 00:46:48.039
connecting and relating to others through play and playfulness. I
1001
00:46:48.079 --> 00:46:50.559
know it may sound a little bit antithetic with the
1002
00:46:50.679 --> 00:46:54.039
scientific mindset, but it's actually really important because a lot
1003
00:46:54.079 --> 00:46:58.239
of scientific discoveries happen through being playful, open minded, looking
1004
00:46:58.280 --> 00:47:02.239
at things in a different way, asking questions are non obvious,
1005
00:47:02.760 --> 00:47:06.199
so you can really also approach problems and challenges in
1006
00:47:06.239 --> 00:47:10.639
your life from this angle of playfulness and just asking yourself,
1007
00:47:10.760 --> 00:47:12.400
what if I approached this a little bit more like
1008
00:47:12.440 --> 00:47:17.000
a game. What if I stop caring so much about
1009
00:47:17.000 --> 00:47:21.159
the outcome? What if this was fun? And very often
1010
00:47:21.199 --> 00:47:24.039
when you ask yourself these questions and you just start
1011
00:47:24.119 --> 00:47:27.480
playing a little bit more with ideas, with projects, with challenges,
1012
00:47:27.760 --> 00:47:32.199
you'll not only discover new ways of approaching these things
1013
00:47:32.239 --> 00:47:35.039
you're working on, but it will just be more fun
1014
00:47:35.079 --> 00:47:36.679
and enjoyable to you while you're working there.
1015
00:47:36.880 --> 00:47:38.880
I love it, so I think I encourage us all
1016
00:47:39.360 --> 00:47:41.000
just get out there and play, right. It's like remembering
1017
00:47:41.039 --> 00:47:43.480
that that it turns out we get all serious, but
1018
00:47:43.480 --> 00:47:45.079
it's like life can be fun, you know, as creepy
1019
00:47:45.119 --> 00:47:46.559
as the Joker was in the dark night, like when
1020
00:47:46.559 -->
00:47:48.679
he's asking why so serious that there's something to it? Right,
1021
00:47:48.719 --> 00:47:51.760
It's like we can we can have fun with this, right,
1022
00:47:53.280 --> 00:47:55.840
I think so Again, thank you so much for chatting
1023
00:47:55.880 --> 00:47:57.760
with me too, Like this has been super fun to
1024
00:47:57.840 --> 00:47:59.719
kind of think through playful right, to kind of think
1025
00:47:59.719 --> 00:48:01.679
through these ideas, And I appreciate the work that you're
1026
00:48:01.679 --> 00:48:04.159
putting out. It is important for us as so many
1027
00:48:04.159 --> 00:48:06.079
folks are rethinking what they can do for their career
1028
00:48:06.079 --> 00:48:09.760
paths and again like retirement, like why wait, these questions
1029
00:48:09.760 --> 00:48:12.239
think are really important for us to kind of learn
1030
00:48:12.320 --> 00:48:15.960
to let go of legacy and negative perceptions of procrastination
1031
00:48:16.079 --> 00:48:18.599
and kind of stop talking about time as this one
1032
00:48:18.679 --> 00:48:21.519
linear pathway, but we can actually experiment, you know, around
1033
00:48:21.519 --> 00:48:25.000
ideas and around ideas, and so if folks both want
1034
00:48:25.000 --> 00:48:26.159
to learn more, I'm excited for them to check out
1035
00:48:26.159 --> 00:48:27.599
you book. You know you've got nest Labs. Also to
1036
00:48:27.840 --> 00:48:29.519
tell me a bit about nest Labs. So folks want
1037
00:48:29.519 --> 00:48:30.920
to get it. Even course, you got community, you get
1038
00:48:30.960 --> 00:48:32.679
a whole, you get a whole like great world there too.
1039
00:48:32.719 --> 00:48:34.239
So what's what's happening over in the in the lab
1040
00:48:34.280 --> 00:48:36.239
space that folks can that folks need to know about.
1041
00:48:38.320 --> 00:48:42.360
Yes, So nest Labs. I write a weekly newsletter that
1042
00:48:42.480 --> 00:48:45.000
I send you about one hundred thousand people every week
1043
00:48:45.079 --> 00:48:48.079
on Thursday, so that's completely free. You can sign up
1044
00:48:48.119 --> 00:48:49.639
and I discuss a lot of the topics that we
1045
00:48:49.679 --> 00:48:52.920
talked about today. There's also a private community where we
1046
00:48:53.000 --> 00:48:56.960
have online courses and coaching, little workshops, and we also
1047
00:48:57.079 --> 00:49:00.880
conduct experiments all together, so you can your little luck
1048
00:49:00.880 --> 00:49:04.599
book there and announce your experiment, and then everybody's kind
1049
00:49:04.639 --> 00:49:09.280
of like joining in supporting you, providing feedback and supporting accountability.
1050
00:49:10.199 --> 00:49:13.519
So yeah, so that's next Labs. And then there's the
1051
00:49:13.559 --> 00:49:17.480
book obviously that's coming out very soon, and that's separate.
1052
00:49:17.559 --> 00:49:20.400
You can go on tiny experiments dot org and you
1053
00:49:20.440 --> 00:49:21.320
can learn more about it.
1054
00:49:21.400 --> 00:49:22.800
We'll definitely a link to it in the show notes. Now,
1055
00:49:22.840 --> 00:49:24.639
all that good stuff, so folks can find out your work.
1056
00:49:24.639 --> 00:49:26.159
But thank you again so much for putting all this
1057
00:49:26.199 --> 00:49:28.119
out there in the world. I think it's it's such
1058
00:49:28.119 --> 00:49:31.159
important topics and conversations and timely for where we're at.
1059
00:49:31.239 --> 00:49:33.599
So thank you for generating so many good things and
1060
00:49:33.719 --> 00:49:36.000
great to talk with you today.
1061
00:49:36.559 --> 00:49:37.880
Thanks so much, Adam, thank you,