00:03:14 In fact, it took Milton Hershey years of experimentation before he finally perfected his chocolate-making process.

00:04:45 Elizabeth Day’s book How to Fail: Everything I’ve Learned from Things Going Wrong is a funny, relatable, and ultimately uplifting look at the value of failure.

00:06:47 Steps to Conquer Your Failure

00:07:18 Redefine Failure as a Discrepancy

00:09:39 Distinguish between Real and Imagined Threats

00:12:18 Create Promotion Rather than Prevention Goals

00:14:56 Expect a Good Outcome but Do Not Become Attached to It

00:17:35 You Are Strong and You Can Prevail

00:20:40 Chapter Takeaways • Leaving your comfort zone and facing new challenges will sometimes guarantee failure. However, it is important to remember that every failure is an opportunity for us to learn and grow. Therefore, define failure as a discrepancy to help reframe your mindset. Start by looking at it as a discrepancy between your expectations and reality. Determine if the threat is real or imagined by evaluating your body's physical response.

• Additionally, create promotion goals rather than prevention goals to stay focused on what's important. This development of a goal-oriented growth mindset toward learning not only prepares you for success in your chosen profession, but it also promotes healthy personal development. Expect a good outcome but do not become attached to it, so you can enjoy the journey. Have faith in the outcome, but don't put your entire happiness on the line.

#CamachoHiggins #DrTheoTsaousides #ElizabethDays #Failure #LattacherWdowiak #MiltonHershey #NegativeConsequences #NegativeInfluence #PreventionGoals #PromotionGoals #ACompletelyRationalFearOfFailure #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #PeterHollins #TheScienceofSelf

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00:05:13 Your Negativity May Be “Hardwired”

00:07:38 But that Doesn’t Mean It’s Written in Stone

00:10:53 Authors, researchers, and neuroscientists Kahneman and Tversky

00:13:15 Countering the Bias for the Negative

• We can understand the problem of negativity on different levels, from the physical to the psychological to the spiritual, evolutionary, or cultural. The psychological and emotional level is the easiest for us to change.

• The negativity bias is an evolved human tendency that conferred a survival advantage on our ancestors. It’s the tendency to register and focus more readily on negative stimuli while ignoring or downplaying positive ones. If we are aware of it, we can take steps to mitigate its influence in personal relationships and decision-making.

• If you cannot rely on your brain to automatically and unconsciously look for the positive, then you will have to deliberately draw your attention to it instead. Use a gratitude journal and deliberately choose to focus on the positive.

#CognitiveBias #CognitiveDistortion #CounteractNegativity #GratitudeJournal #Kahneman #Negativity #NegativityBias #StopNegativeThinking #ToxicRelationships #Tversky #WhereDoesNegativeThinkingReallyComeFrom? #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #StopNegativeThinking

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00:01:06 Charlie Munger once said he thought that if Darwin attended Harvard in 1986, he probably would have graduated around the middle of the pack.

00:04:28 “Strong opinions but held lightly."

00:06:59 Internet activist Eli Pariser

00:11:03 Though Darwin was not considered particularly brilliant intellectually, it didn’t matter.

00:11:52 Like Socrates, he was unwilling to let bias and assumption derail or contaminate his efforts, and so made a concerted effort to weed out errors of thinking.

• Darwin’s genius traits included hard work and discipline, intellectual honesty, and non-conventionality.

• Darwin was a prolific naturalist whose works on natural selection, the descent of species and evolution profoundly changed the scientific landscape, and set the stage for our current biological paradigm.

• Darwin was said to be a methodical, slow and exceedingly patient person who worked diligently on his efforts throughout his life. We can see the traits of hard work, self-discipline, consistency and resilience in his contributions to science. Though he was considered not to be a genius by many, he still managed to achieve enormous success that changed the world permanently.

• Darwin demonstrated a commitment to intellectual honesty, curiosity and humility by practicing what he called the golden rule. He would deliberately pay attention to material that countered his cherished beliefs, assumptions and expectations, knowing that his natural bias would be to ignore this information.

• Like Darwin, by courting alternative opinions and genuinely engaging with those that disagree with us, we weaken the hold of bias over our learning and gain deeper insight.

• Darwin’s incredible life achievements would not have been possible were it not for his willingness to think outside the box, and to entertain ideas that were unconventional at the time.

• Darwin teaches us to be intellectually honest, and to follow the evidence, logic and facts wherever they take us, even if we have to abandon previously held beliefs, admit that we were mistaken, or come to conclusions that make us unpopular.

• To follow Darwin, we can work hard to get out of our own “filter bubbles” and deliberately seek out information that contradicts with our pet beliefs. Switch your search engine or actively engage with people you ordinarily would avoid. Get into the habit of asking yourself, “What am I not seeing here?”

#BiologistEOWilson #ConfirmationBias #Darwin #EliPariser #IntellectualHonesty #NaturalBias #NaturalIntelligence #Pariser #PersonalBias #PetBeliefs #Darwin’SGoldenRule #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #PeterHollins #TheScienceofSelf #ThinkLikeaGenius

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00:02:08 Ego Depletion

00:08:48 Combat Decision Fatigue

00:14:40 Impulsive and knee-jerk reactions usually turn out to be very bad or wrong.

00:15:19 Lower Transaction Costs

• The concept of ego depletion is important because it leads directly to decision fatigue. With overuse, certain cognitive processes can flag and wane, in exactly the same way that muscles tire with extended exercise.

• When you reach decision fatigue, your decisions become incredibly suboptimal because you will either become paralyzed or make a rash, unresearched decision. Your willpower can perform weakly, in the same way that a tired muscle is just not as strong.

• How can you preemptively deal with the effects of ego depletion and willpower fatigue? You can time your decisions wisely such that they made only when rested such as in the morning or after a rest or a meal

• You can categorize the trivial daily decisions you have and make sure to only allot a trivial amount of time to them, drawing limits on how much attention you’ll spend on inconsequential decisions. Ask what risks are attached to a decision, the impact it will have, and whether you’ll care about it in a month’s time.

• You can treat yourself like an athlete and make sure you are mentally tapering off in preparation of big decisions, you can give yourself more time than is necessary to reduce the role of stress and anxiety. Anxiety and low mood can color our decisions. Don’t rush!

• You can also work on manipulating your transaction costs to make good decisions more of a default option, while bad decisions are more difficult.

• By automating as many decisions as possible, you take certain decisions out of your hands and get them done without you needing to spend any extra effort. Use tools, habits and routines to make good decisions automatic, saving your mental resources for those truly demanding decisions.

#AnalysisParalysis #Baumeister #EgoDepletion #MentalBandwidth #MentalFatigue #MentalResources #TrivialDecisions #PrimedForGoodDecisions #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #PeterHollins #TheScienceofSelf #TheArtofStrategicDecisionMaking

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00:00:17 today we pull from Peter Holland's new book The lifelong learner it contends that Humans have a startling tendency to gravitate toward the mundane, the monotonous, and the known.

00:00:52 Judith Bardwick, a management theorist, used the term "comfort zone" in her 1991 work, Danger in the Comfort Zone.

00:03:37 Abraham Maslow's (1943) theory of self-actualization posits that humans have an innate need to reach their full potential.

00:04:06 Perhaps someone like Thomas Edison, the American inventor whose advancements to the light bulb made it a symbol of brilliance?

00:04:31 According to renowned Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck in her book Mindset, it is not IQ, ability, or education that distinguishes successful people.

00:06:05 Psychologist Andy Molinsky has dedicated his career to understanding why people resist leaving their comfort zones, and how they can overcome that resistance.

00:06:59 Use the 3 Cs to Achieve Escape Velocity In his research, Molinsky discovered three techniques that people utilize to successfully venture outside of their comfort zones.

00:09:27 Using the Three Cs: Conviction A sense of conviction is important in many aspects of life.

00:10:17 Meet Barbara.

00:15:00 Using the Three Cs: Customization In the world of fashion, customization is a process that allows you to take an existing piece of clothing and make it your own.

00:18:20 What I do in those situations is go earlier than everyone else.

00:22:45 Using the Three Cs: Clarity Clarity is gaining an objective, logical viewpoint of the difficulties you are facing.

00:23:33 Psychotherapist Tori Rodriguez says that acknowledging and challenging negative thoughts can lead to greater clarity and understanding of life.

00:28:25 Distorted thinking that results from a lack of clarity can also lead to frequent Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs).

• Embracing the uncharted terrain of leaving your comfort zones aids in the development of confidence and resilience, allowing you to continue developing and learning for the rest of your life. This acquired understanding eventually means that your comfort zone has increased even further and you are now in the growth zone.

• Psychologist Andy Molinsky has dedicated his career to understanding why people resist leaving their comfort zones, and how they can overcome that resistance using three Cs: conviction, customization, and clarity. You must develop strong convictions, which are your core beliefs, such as altruism, generosity, gratitude, integrity, accountability, and perseverance.

• Customization relates to your ability to successfully adjust your behavior to your surroundings without losing yourself in the process. Consider it "fitting in" without fully "giving in." You're still you, just slightly altered (e.g., wearing your power suit, carrying your lucky charm, etc.) to trick yourself into feeling at ease and easily blending into your surroundings. Lastly, you must have clarity, which is obtaining an objective, rational perspective on the problems you are facing. By challenging your negative thoughts, you can gain a clearer picture of your challenges.

#AbrahamMaslows #AutomaticNegativeThoughtsANTs #Carney #CarolDweck #CognitiveDistortions #ComfortZone #JudithBardwick #LebermanMartin #LifelongLearners #Molinsky #Molinskys #PositiveEnergy #ToriRodriguez #ThreeCs #From“ComfortZone”To“GrowthZone” #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #PeterHollins #TheScienceofSelf #LifelongLearner

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00:02:42 Emotional Regulation

00:10:02 The Life Cycle of an Emotion

• Keeping a gratitude journal is a great way to create genuine feelings of positivity.

• Rather than creating good emotions and getting rid of negative ones, we can practice emotional self-regulation and become conscious masters of our own ever-unfolding emotional experience.

• What makes an emotion good or bad is the context and our own goals and values. We regulate when we decide which emotions to attend to, when, how, and for how long.

• Emotions have a life cycle, and we can manage those emotions at any point in the cycle—before the situation, during the situation, with our attention, with our cognitive appraisal, and finally, with our emotional response. Generally, the sooner you intervene, the easier it is to modify the situation.

• Ask, “Is the way I’m thinking about this problem working for me right now?”

#CognitiveEvaluation #EmotionalOutcomes #EmotionalReality #EmotionalRegulation #EmotionalResponse #GratitudeJournal #NegativeEmotionalRegulation #NegativeThinking #ToxicPositivity #VulnerableEmotions #OneUnderappreciatedWayToGenuinelyFeelBetter #NickTrenton #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #StopNegativeThinking

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00:09:20 1. Clarification Questions

00:09:28 2. Probing Assumptions

00:09:35 3. Probing Rationale, reasons, evidence

00:09:44 4. Questioning Viewpoints and perspectives

00:09:51 5. Probing Implications and consequences

00:10:02 6. Questions About the question

00:15:09 The Socratic method as a thinking technique

00:17:46 Turning the questions on ourselves 

• Socrates’ genius traits included curiosity, intellectual honesty, and non-conventionality.

• Though not much is known about Socrates’ personal life, his students and followers wrote down dialogues and plays containing some of his main ideas, where he demonstrated a heightened ability for rational argument and insight.

• Like other people considered great philosophical thinkers, Socrates took total ignorance as a starting point and cleared his mind so that he could inquire genuinely into the nature of things. His Socratic method is a classic question-driven approach to seeking out knowledge and understanding.

• To practice this in our own lives, we can use six main types of questions to get to the heart of a matter.

• We can ask clarification questions, questions that probe assumptions, explore rationale, reasons, and evidence, challenge viewpoints and perspectives, consider implications and consequences, and ask questions about the nature of the question itself.

• Our goal is to find out why certain ideas matter, to see what hidden or unconscious assumptions we hold, to look more rationally and closely at evidence, to consider and weigh up potential perspectives we haven’t considered, to think about the meaning of the answer we are looking for and how it relates to other pieces of information we have, and to examine the way we are framing our question and why.

• The Socratic method can be used to inquire more deeply into our own beliefs, but it can also help us debate more effectively with others. We can use the fundamentals of Socratic dialogue to structure more logical arguments or design experiments that follow the scientific method, i.e. making a hypothesis (a question) and testing it against evidence and observation to reach an insightful conclusion.

• To be more like Socrates, we can get into the habit of routinely asking questions of our own deeply held beliefs and assumptions, taking nothing for granted. Be like the child who always asks, “But why?”

#Clarification #DirectQuestions #FalseAssumptions #Genius #GenuineUnderstanding #GoodQuestions #GreatPhilosophicalThinkers #IncorrectAssumptions #LogicalArguments #MentalHabits #Plato #RWPaul #ScientificMethod #Socrates #TriangulateUnderstanding #Socrates’EndlessQuestions #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #PeterHollins #TheScienceofSelf #ThinkLikeaGenius

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Welcome to the science of self

00:00:24 Don't know what your personal values are?

00:12:59 STEP ONE: CLEAR YOUR MIND

00:14:15 STEP TWO: START A LIST

00:16:45 STEP THREE: PULL IT ALL TOGETHER

00:18:25 STEP FOUR: RANK YOUR VALUES

00:19:39 STEP FIVE: LET YOUR VALUES COME ALIVE

00:20:56 STEP SIX: TRY THEM ON FOR SIZE

• Understanding your needs helps you discover your values and principles, ensuring the decisions you make fulfill you on a deeper level.

• A value is a rule, principle, or belief that gives meaning to your life. It is usually something you consider very important in life and base many of your decisions around. This is why when you’re confused about what to do in a certain situation or circumstances that you find yourself in, the cause is usually a lack of clarity on what your real values are.

• The first step to discovering what your values are is to simply abandon all preconceived notions you have of who you are. Often, the values we have been living by are actually derived externally. This can be through our family, culture, historical era, etc. By starting from a clean slate, we avoid such influences from clouding our judgment regarding our true values.

• Next, think about the things that you feel most strongly about. This could be a personal success, close family bonds, serving others in the form of social work, etc. Finding one will often lead you to other values you hold because they point to a “higher” value you possess. Thus, valuing family over career means that your interpersonal relationships in general are valuable to you.

#CoreValues #CreativeExpression #DeepestValues #EssentialValues #FinancialIndependence #FOMO #PainfulMemories #PeoplesOpinions #PersonalManifesto #PersonalSuccess #PhysicalFitness #PoliticalEnvironment #ReligiousPursuits #RoleModels #SocialCohesion #UnderstandingYourNeeds #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #PeterHollins #TheScienceofSelf #TheArtofStrategicDecisionMaking

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• Toxic positivity is a kind of cognitive distortion and is an overgeneralization of a positive and optimistic attitude. It consists of denial, minimization, and invalidation of your own experience. Toxic positivity grows with shame, silence, and judgment. Positivity itself isn’t toxic, but denying our reality is. Human beings are wholes that contain both good and bad.

• We can embrace the whole instead of the good by watching the phrases we use, making friends with discomfort, being patient while we are in process, distinguishing between productive and unproductive negativity, and reconnecting to what we value and want to achieve in life. Ask yourself, “How does a person who values what I value behave when they experience what I’m experiencing?”

#BreneBrown #CarlJung #Negativity #Positivity #StopNegativeThinking #AvoidTheTrapOfToxicPositivity #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #StopNegativeThinking

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• Einstein’s genius traits included curiosity, having broad areas of interest (i.e. being a polymath), and a refusal to bow to convention.

• Einstein is known today as one of the 20th century’s most influential scientific thinkers, and was considered by many to be a genius in both mathematics and physics. He won the Nobel Prize for his work on the photoelectric effect, but he is best known today for his groundbreaking theory on relativity and his famous E=mc2 equation.

• Einstein coined his own term for the kind of playful, freeform connections he’d make between different topics and ideas: combinatorial play. By putting two unrelated ideas together to create something new, Einstein often solved problems, came up with creative new ideas or opened new avenues of thoughts to pursue.

• The game of “what if?” is another way to flex the curiosity muscle and bring freshness and novelty to conventional thinking. By running hypothetical situations and thought experiments in his mind, Einstein satisfied his thirst for learning and understanding, and accessed new insights that were beyond conventions at the time.

• Einstein was a polymath and had a broad range of interests, rather than one narrow focus. He played violin and piano, and had some of his best new ideas during play. This kind of broadmindedness and diversity of interest promotes intellectual agility and wide-ranging, flexible perspectives.

• Einstein was also non-conventional and worked independently, regardless of the established rules that surrounded him in early life. This allowed him to engage in truly independent ideas and contribute something entirely different to the field.

• We can see in Einstein’s case that non-linearity of thought, insatiable curiosity and a wide range of interests were not just helpful to his success, but essential. We can follow suit by freely engaging in interdisciplinary play and “what if?” games in the areas that grab our intense interest.

• Though conventions may occasionally be useful, the best territory to explore is that which is uncharted!

• To be more like Einstein, we can think of ways to break down artificial limits and categories in our own thinking, and blend concepts and ideas together freely—can you think of a way to combine two of your interests to produce a third, completely new idea?

#Bewusstseins #Einstein #Gedankenexperiments #Genius #Hadamard #Medici #NobelPrize #Pangaea #EinsteinAndCombinatorialPlay #RussellNewton #NewtonMG #PeterHollins #TheScienceofSelf #ThinkLikeaGenius