R3ciprocity.com - Prof David Maslach: Innovation; Research Life; Striving Towards Happiness

Are you helping too much in your organization? Does it feel like you’re getting penalized for doing what you believe is right?

I think it is important to talk about the absurdity of that, and think about how you can stay true to yourself, despite the system that may not recognize it.

I help you think about how it’s absurd to get penalized for being helpful.

I talk about the financial returns of podcasting or anything else in life. It’s often that you don’t get a one-to-one conversion in terms of the effort that you put in and the outcomes you actually get.

I think and talk about how you just do it because it’s your thing to do.

Learning how to say, it’s not my problem or good luck to you isn’t important, skill set.

Learning how to say good luck to you is a recognition of the boundaries that you have with your influence. It’s recognition that sometimes you don’t have as much control as you think you do.

Understanding that sometimes people need to have lessons that they learn themselves is an important part of growing up.

Do we really have a choice, I think out loud about whether we actually have choices in life and then give you some ways to think about the fact that we may not have a lot of choice with what happens.

Much of our life has now being distilled down to numbers and metrics. #Academics are measured by often a single number.

You often can’t change the numbers.

That number is often just reflection of the social subsystem that you’re part of. It’s very hard to change your life once you’ve lived it. Much of who we are is already been predetermined.

Besides, do you want to be a different you? Aren’t you good enough?

But, what you can do is focus on repetition, and enjoying the process while you repeat.

This is far simpler and in your control. It’s also a reflection of what you actually do.

Despite encountering actions from individuals with less than honorable intentions and those who spread #negativity, it's important to recognize that the world has improved significantly over the decades.

While there have been some worrisome trends in recent years, we should focus on the long-term trajectory.

Two centuries ago, most of us would not have survived, facing famine, pain, and suffering beyond our modern understanding.

In other words, jerks existed 200 years ago and they exist today, they just don’t have the same effect.

Looking ahead to 2024, my outlook remains positive, despite concerns about climate change, human rights, and political unrest. There have been instances where oppressors have been stopped and underdogs continue to prosper, and advancements in technology contribute to prosperity and peace.

I empathize with those who have borne the weight of recent world events. However, the key to changing these patterns lies in maintaining an open heart and a positive attitude.

This positivity isn't for the oppressors, but for ourselves, to remind us why we put in the hard work.

Smile and laugh — it is the only thing we have.

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Should investors care about who they actually give their monies to? The answer is that if you’re worried about your individual portfolio firms, you’re likely not diversified enough. You likely need to diversify more broadly so that you don’t care about individual firms or assets.

My faith in the scientific review process of generating results that are meaningful is actually very low. I talk about what this actually means and what we can do about this.

Being able to detach is an important skillset.

This includes being independent of most things that we can grow dependencies on, such as money, relationships, and even social media.

Allowing yourself to decouple from anything so that you don’t have a want or you’re not dependent on anything allows you to grow as a person.

It allows you to know that you can start from the beginning again, and everything that you have from that beginning is an absolute blessing.

Repeating in your head, every day, that you are good, regardless of what you became helps you be humble, and allows you to enjoy all aspects of life.

The longer I’ve been in the profession as a researcher, the more I realize that how I conduct myself in terms of being a passivist or submissive, the more likely you’re going to get taken advantage of.

Style that I’m learning is to simply state the facts and let the fact speak for themselves.

I’m trying to remove my tendency to be submissive as much communication as possible. I realize this part of the reason why I run into trouble in research.