In the fourth installment in a series of episodes, The Knowledge Project curates essential segments from six guests revolving around one theme: philosophy. This episode will help you control your anger in heated circumstances, explain how what you focus on makes achieving goals easier, gives you a recipe to increase happiness through gratitude, walk you through the three layers of emotion according to the stoics, teach you the importance of focusing on directives, and will explain how happiness isn’t a rate, but a rate of change.
Avaialble now: YouTube | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Transcript
The guests on this episode are author Ryan Holiday (Episode 128), Associate Professor of Psychology at New York University Emily Bacletis (Episode 154), author and happiness-expert Neil Pasricha (Episode 72), a Distinguished University Professor and Professor of Philosophy at Georgetown University Nancy Sherman, (Episode 126), “philosopher-king” and author Derek Sivers (Episode 88), and professional heavy-weight boxer, philosopher, and poet Ed Latimore (Episode 22).
Here are a few highlights from our conversation:
So I think the question about anger is …, Does it actually make you better at what you do? It may in the short term, and to go to our point earlier about sustainability, is it fuel that can get you where you want to go over the long term or is it really corrosive?
Today, obviously, we talk about passion being a good thing, but I would say that the root of most mistakes, both personally and sort of historically, [is] one of the passions, right?
Very rarely is that immediate solution the right one.
When we taught people that narrowed style of attention, what we found is that they moved 23% faster in this course that we had set up.
Five gratitude practices a week make you not only happier but physically healthier after 10 weeks.
All happiness is, in my opinion, is a person pushing towards something.
If you can take advantage of inertia and just do things when you’re already moving so you don’t have to stop, restart, stop, restart, your life will be a lot easier.
Timestamps:
00:00 – Intro
02:10 – Ryan Holiday
10:27 – Emily Balcetis
20:45 – Neil Pasricha
31:56 – Nancy Sherman
44:56 – Derek Sivers
55:55 – Ed Latimore
