Build the Life You Want || Arthur Brooks

69 snips

Sep 14, 2023

Arthur Brooks, co-founder and CEO of DeepMind, dives into the art of happiness and resilience. He discusses how embracing life's ups and downs can lead to personal growth and fulfillment. Relationships, meaningful work, and faith are highlighted as keys to well-being. Brooks shares actionable strategies for managing emotions and habits. The conversation touches on neuroscience and how understanding our emotions, both happiness and unhappiness, can pave the way for a richer life. His insights encourage listeners to view challenges not as obstacles, but as integral parts of their happiness journey.

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ADVICE

Real Friends vs. Deal Friends

Cultivate real, "useless" friends, not just transactional "deal" friends.
Real friends offer non-transactional support and shared love for something beyond the friendship itself.

ADVICE

Work as Love

Approach work as "love made visible," expressing care and excellence.
This approach enhances work satisfaction and positively impacts others.

INSIGHT

Love Your Enemies

Loving your enemies, an act of will, not feeling, promotes inner peace and personal growth.
Choosing love over hate, even when challenging, leads to a more fulfilling life.

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Today we welcome back Arthur Brooks to the podcast. Arthur is the Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Public and Nonprofit Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School. He is also a columnist at The Atlantic, where he writes the popular weekly “How to Build a Life” column. A world-renowned speaker, he talks about human happiness, and works to raise well-being within private companies, universities, public agencies, and community organizations. His latest book, which he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, is called Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier.

In this episode, I talk to Arthur Brooks about building the life you want. People often think that happiness is a static end goal. But in reality, life will always have its ups and downs. According to Arthur, we can make choices that can improve our well-being despite the presence of challenges. He talks about how to find satisfaction through family, friends, meaningful work, and faith. Arthur also shares actionable steps around managing emotions and habits that can help us create a better life. We also touch on the topics of neuroscience, transcendence, evolutionary psychology, and love.

Website: arthurbrooks.com

Twitter: @arthurbrooks

Topics

02:50 Build the Life You Want

03:55 Writing the book with Oprah

10:14 Extremes are unhealthy

15:35 Unhappiness is not your enemy

17:38 Faith and transcendental experiences

21:22 Look for real friends, not deal friends

25:09 Work is love made visible

27:27 Love your enemies

37:28 Conflict is not hatred