Critical Chance

Category: Monday Tidbits

  • October Updates – Why Happiness at Google?

    These past few weeks, I’ve been traveling across the country to present my talk, “The Happy Key To Success,” to teams across Google. I was invited to offsites in Atlanta, Boulder, and Los Angeles.

    But wait, why talk about happiness at Google?

    One thing we fail to understand is that our external world does not necessarily correlate to how we feel inside. Only 10% of your happiness is predicted by external things like you drive a nice car, or you work at Google. Whereas 90% of your happiness is predicted by your perception and how you view the world – something I was fortunate to learn from Shawn Achor +8 years ago.

    Important points:

    1. Happiness leads to success, not the other way around
    2. Your perception, quite literally, shapes your reality
    3. Our attitudes and choices impact those around us

    I feel lucky to have the opportunity to bring these ideas to the forefront. Huge thanks to all of the organizers who invited me to speak, and the attendees who were open to these ideas. People who work at Google are already very smart and talented, and I get excited when I think about how much more they can achieve with positive psychology.

    It’s the small things that we choose to focus on, that shape us into who we become.

    If we can just slightly change your perception, we can dramatically influence your happiness, and create a real revolution.

    Now get going!

    If you’re interested in having Alex speak at your company, you can express interest here.

  • Playing your hand

    “We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.”

    –Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

    When your time is limited 

    Randy Pausch learned that he had pancreatic cancer in September 2006, and was given 3 to 6 months to live.

    As a professor of computer science at Carnegie Mellon University, he wanted to do something authentic before passing, something that encapsulated his life; who he was and what he learned. 

    He got to writing and within the next year, he gave a lecture titled “The Last Lecture: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams.” The talk was later turned into a book, The Last Lecture, which became a New York Timesbest-seller.

    Both are phenomenal, and worth checking out.

    Playing Your Hand

    There’s no doubt you’ve experienced some sort of setback in your life. How you choose to interpret the situation is up to you.

    Sure, we need to be realistic; your mentality doesn’t change the fact that you were dealt a 7 / 2 off-suit. 

    Yet at the same time, you only get one hand to play, so you might as well play it as best you can. 

    “You’re born, you have a whole set of sensory experiences… and then you die. How you choose to interpret that is up to you. And you do have that choice.”

    -Naval Ravikant 

    Stop focusing on your cards. 

    Get out, get going, and play the best damn hand you can. 

  • Starting your second life

    “We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.”

    – Confucius

    Maybe tomorrow

    An excuse I like to give myself all the time is – I’ll just do it tomorrow. 

    The problem with this approach is that time is finite. The phrase allows us to feel a sense of progress, but it’s not real. Instead, we’ve stopped momentum in its tracks. 2019 was the year you wanted to join a gym and get in shape, yet here we are six months later and you haven’t even started.

    And this doesn’t just apply to our goals, but it also applies to our values. Our family, health, and friendships – yeah, those can wait for tomorrow too. 

    But what if you only had one day to live?

    Are you prioritizing what’s most important? 

    The power of a single day 

    Have you ever visited a place you haven’t been in a while? You witness a scene that has participated in so much change that it’s indistinguishable. This picture spurs a nostalgia for your memorable past and also reminds us that we exist for a period and then we’re gone. 

    The Stoics believed that everyone should remind themselves of their mortality on a regular basis. 

    “Live each day as a separate life.”

    ― Seneca

    Realize this, and move onto your second life; one which has more meaning and is lived deliberately. 

    When? The choice is yours.

    Every morning I try to remind myself of this idea, that we are all mortal. 

    “It is not death that a man should fear, but he should fear never beginning to live.”

    ― Marcus Aurelius

    The sooner you start, the longer you’ll have. 

    Start living. Start doing. 

    Be the person you want to be tomorrow, today. 

    Inspired by: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

  • The case for being different

    “Average people get average results.
    Extreme people get extreme results.”

    –Sam Altman

    I see this problem everywhere; we want to improve our lives, but at the same time, we want to follow the status quo.

    It’s foolish when you think about it. How could you possibly get different results by following the same plan?

    If you copy what everyone else is doing, you’re sure to be like everyone else.

    Going to Extremes

    To get extreme results, you must be willing to do something extreme.

    • Wake up at 5am to workout, meditate, or reflect
    • Record daily habits or build a decision journal
    • Lock yourself out of social media to remove distractions

    Theres no doubt some people are practicing this, but it’s a small minority. If you copy the crowd, you’re destined to their results. To achieve something more incredible, you must be willing to stand out from the mass and do what others aren’t willing to try.

    Sit down and consider what you’re doing differently, and if the answer is not much, make a change.

    The Digital Era

    I am now convinced that disconnecting from technology (especially social media) is an Extreme Results power move. Taking a walk outside, sitting quietly in solitude, or journaling your thoughts is a unique path that 99% of us aren’t willing to take.

    Yet this type of pursuit makes us more human and allows our brains to process the millions of inputs we jam into our heads everyday.

    Even if it’s just for 20 minutes, that’s 20 minutes more than anyone else.

    Inspired by Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport

    I once met a Billionaire

    Every highly successful person I’ve ever met has had their quirks.

    You’ve probably had your own experience, or even heard similar stories from others. It’s funny how this narrative prevails – we finally get to meet someone we look up to, and we expect them the be everyone else. “They should be normal,” we think. Yet they’ve done something so unusual.

    Once you realize the connection between quirks and success, you can harness your full potential.

    Be yourself. Do something uncommon and go get uncommon results.

  • Which game are you playing?

    “Good things do not return in a one-for-one manner.
    Individual actions are not directly rewarded.
    It is on average that doing good improves the quality of life
    for you and the people around you.”

    -Scott Adams, God Debris

    1 Action = 1 Outcome

    Our brains are wired to understand our choices and their relationship to the world as one-for-one.

    If you tie your shoes, then you won’t trip. That’s a single action, which returns a single outcome. It doesn’t take long for you to recognize the relationship between these two actions, and for you to adopt the new behavior into your life.

    This mental model is helpful, and it has allowed humans to survive.

    When Caveman Carl slept in a cave, he decreased his likelihood of being eaten by Tigers. The benefit of improved safety was immediately realized and he moved into his new home the next day. Carl’s Cave-Estate was passed down to future generations, and his family lived on.

    One single action, led to one positive outcome.

    Many Actions = 1 (Better) Outcome

    However the greatest ROI comes from many-for-one outcomes; areas where it takes a great deal of tries, repeating the same behavior, without experiencing any benefits in the short-term.

    Take exercising. If you go to the gym only twice, that will not cut it. There’s a high probability that your body will ache and you will not notice any difference in your physical appearance.

    However, if you make exercise a daily habit, after 2 months you will lose weight, have more energy, and notice physically differences.

    Many-for-one outcomes take a long time to provide a return, but when the results finally appear, the payoff is exponentially larger.

    The games we play

    Taking longer than expected?

    Facing a small setback?

    Don’t get discouraged, there’s a good chance you’re just playing a many-for-one game. Remember that you’re in the business of maximizing your total potential, which is the greatest game you can play. These wins come over long periods of high volume effort; that’s unavoidable.

    To grow stronger, make exercise a ritual.
    To sell a company, launch as many as you can.
    To build a reputation, serve others first.

    Be patient.

    Good outcomes require great effort.

  • Change your story, change your world

    Hey readers,

    Last week I was invited to speak at Indiana University’s Kelley Business School. The theme for the day was innovation; where does it come from?

    My talk bridges lessons from successful entrepreneurs (what did they do differently?) and my own college experience (which events, in hindsight, made all the difference?).

    Check out the video below, and if you enjoy it, share and subscribe!

    Let’s spread positivity together.
    -Alex

  • How this billionaire predicted the future

    Steve Jobs gave a commencement speech at Berkley in 2005.

    By this time, Apple had become one of the most successful enterprises of the new Millennium. Jobs was famous for having a set of unique experiences – he believed these were critical in forming his opinions and ideas at Apple.

    So how did he know that his past experiences would help create Apple?

    Well, he didn’t.

    Here’s Steve on predicting the future:

    “You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards.

    So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect. You have to trust in something – your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever.

    This approach has never let me down, and it has made all the difference in my life.”

    -Steve Jobs

    From Apple to Chess

    When I was a kid, Chess was one of my favorite games.

    In Chess you spend most of your energy trying to guess your opponents next move. When they play a knight, your brain visualizes the new locations on the board. You work to understand the updated positions, as each move creates an entirely new game.

    “How will this help or hurt me?” you wonder.

    Well, Chess is shockingly similar to another game: the game of life.

    Unpredictable Paths

    Humans are terrible at seeing the future.

    We tend to believe that our ability to predict leads to success, however that’s not quite true.

    Preventing yourself from making a critical mistake allows you to keep playing the game, but it’s usually the unpredicted events which lead to your victory.

    This is the same in businesses as it is in personal development. Odds are that a critical component of you (as you are today) did not exist when you first started. Whether that’s your newfound interest in running 5K races, or the way you pitch to clients.

    With this hunch, The New York Times wanted to better understand which career paths most executives took before becoming CEOs.

    After interviewing across all fields, one pattern emerged: there was no path.

    From musical theater to religion, CEOs were less concerned about their current trajectory in the moment and more focused on learning from each experience.

    “Rather than wondering if they are on the right career path, they make the most of whatever path they’re on, wringing lessons from all their experiences.” 

    New York Times

    What about you?

    This week, pay more attention to novel differences. While hidden in the background, these may lead to your future successes.

    As Steve Jobs points out, you have to trust your gut.

    Plus, we all know it’s your unwavering curiosity that really checkmates the King.

    Now go setup your board.

  • Three lessons on human potential

    Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to speak with student leaders at Vanderbilt University.

    They gave me ten minutes and free range for topic, so naturally I chose Human Potential. Part of this lecture contains material from my happiness talk which I present at Google.

    Check it out below, and if you enjoy, please subscribe for more.

  • Are you making this mistake?

    Once upon a time, there was a young man who loved the outdoors, and aspired to own a farm one day. 

    But he grew up in the city where his still family lived, and he was expected to return. 

    After graduating from school, the man found a job in an office. The pay was reasonable, so he accepted.

    “One day, I will build my farm.” he said.

    With good fortune, the man was successful at work; promotions led to more responsibilities. More people depended on him at work, so he found it harder to leave.

    “One day, I will build my farm.” he said.

    The man fell in love and started a family. Ten years turned into twenty, which quickly became forty.  One day the young man woke up and looked at himself in the mirror, he wasn’t so young anymore. 

    Soon after, he fell sick and passed away. 

    He was cherished and missed by many.

    But nobody knew him as a farmer. 

    From starting a business to beginning a positive habit, we all have these aspirations, but we never start.

    Take working out:

    • We all agree that doing 10 pushups is good for you
    • How long does that realistically take? Two, maybe three minutes?
    • If you did this everyday and added one pushup every few days, you’d be significantly stronger by the end of the year

    Yet we never start, which ultimately robs us of our total potential.

    “The willingness to start is the littlest thing in life that makes the biggest difference. 

    Life isn’t a dress rehearsal. 

    Only one person lives in the spotlight, but everyone benefits from stepping on stage.”   

    -James Clear

    Take the first step today, and embrace your aspirations…

    Go build your farm.

  • When a wave comes

    A wise man was once asked to share one piece of advice to a large group of people.

    “When a wave comes, go deep,” he said.

    The crowd stared back at him puzzled, so he continued. 

    “There are three things you can do when life sends a wave at you.

    You can run from it, but then it’s going to catch up and knock you down. You can fall back on your ego or try to stand your ground, but then it’s going to clobber you. 

    Or you can use it as an opportunity to go deep, and transform yourself to match the circumstances… and that’s how you get through the wave.”

    There will be times in your life where an unexpected event may happen. Your reality is changed, you may feel uncertain about how to move forward. During these times, there’s only one true way to get through:

    Embrace the riptide and go deep.

    Because when we match the depths of our challenges, we come out even stronger.