Arthur Brooks

I was a classical musician.

Everybody was drinking all the time around me.

And I lost good years as a result of that.

And I have the data now that shows that the number one predictor of relationship breakdown, which is the number one predictor of declines in happiness, is actually misuse of addictive substances and behaviors.

You know, getting addicted to this, by the way, getting addicted to work is really bad too, but getting addicted to gambling, getting addicted to pornography, getting addicted to drugs and alcohol, this stuff is going to wreck your relationship.

So be very careful and it will degrade the quality of your brain, especially artificial intoxicants.

So this is a key thing too.

On top of that, you need to actually watch your weight.

That's very important for both your gut health and your cognitive capacity.

People it's like, yeah, I can think just as, just as well.

If I'm overweight, you actually can't.

It's very important that we take care of ourselves in this way.

It's very important to exercise.

Exercise is really a big part of unhappiness management.

It doesn't make you happier, but it does mitigate the stress hormones and the sources of unhappiness in our lives.

And so the basic rule is if you want to get started on something like this, make sure that you're paying very close attention to your addictions.

that you're walking for an hour a day, and that you have your diet under control.

These are the three things to actually start doing to give yourself maximum longevity that will lead you to the kind of the best long-term happiness plan.

Yeah, that's a good question because different people have different trajectories for finding their professional passion.

There's basically four different trajectories and they all relate to fluid and crystallized intelligence in different ways.