Arthur Brooks

You're touching on one of the greatest fears of people who are in your space, which is the fear of irrelevance. And the fear of irrelevance, part of the reason is because you're in an industry that has to feed a beast. And that meant the monster's hungry. Feed me more podcasts. Yeah. You know, more... More sub-stock articles. More content, but also more demand and more supply.

That's how the beast gets fed. I mean, it's when you got your millionth subscriber. Hit that subscribe and like button, folks. I mean, it's like feed the beast, feed the beast. And so that leads to this pathological fear of irrelevance. And irrelevance is a death fear for a lot of people. Now, the old version of the irrelevance was...

That's how the beast gets fed. I mean, it's when you got your millionth subscriber. Hit that subscribe and like button, folks. I mean, it's like feed the beast, feed the beast. And so that leads to this pathological fear of irrelevance. And irrelevance is a death fear for a lot of people. Now, the old version of the irrelevance was...

That's how the beast gets fed. I mean, it's when you got your millionth subscriber. Hit that subscribe and like button, folks. I mean, it's like feed the beast, feed the beast. And so that leads to this pathological fear of irrelevance. And irrelevance is a death fear for a lot of people. Now, the old version of the irrelevance was...

the CEO who was in Who's Who in, you know, 1928 or something like that, and then was kind of forgotten. The old joke is from Who's Who to Who's He in six months. You know, that famous Jack Nicholson film about Schmidt, where he's like Mr. Big at an insurance company. He's an actuary at an insurance company, and he has his

the CEO who was in Who's Who in, you know, 1928 or something like that, and then was kind of forgotten. The old joke is from Who's Who to Who's He in six months. You know, that famous Jack Nicholson film about Schmidt, where he's like Mr. Big at an insurance company. He's an actuary at an insurance company, and he has his

the CEO who was in Who's Who in, you know, 1928 or something like that, and then was kind of forgotten. The old joke is from Who's Who to Who's He in six months. You know, that famous Jack Nicholson film about Schmidt, where he's like Mr. Big at an insurance company. He's an actuary at an insurance company, and he has his

You know, he's going away party and he retires and he goes back to help out the young guys just to give him a hand. And he sees some guy throwing away all his files in the dumpster out back like a week after he retires. It's incredibly disheartening. And he's trying to find himself as the whole thing because his death fear really is his own irrelevance. And that's what a lot of people have, too.

You know, he's going away party and he retires and he goes back to help out the young guys just to give him a hand. And he sees some guy throwing away all his files in the dumpster out back like a week after he retires. It's incredibly disheartening. And he's trying to find himself as the whole thing because his death fear really is his own irrelevance. And that's what a lot of people have, too.

You know, he's going away party and he retires and he goes back to help out the young guys just to give him a hand. And he sees some guy throwing away all his files in the dumpster out back like a week after he retires. It's incredibly disheartening. And he's trying to find himself as the whole thing because his death fear really is his own irrelevance. And that's what a lot of people have, too.

But the whole point is we need to actually figure out what our death fear is. Hmm. And then the way that you confront that, I have a whole meditation I take my students through. My students are mostly afraid of failure because they've never failed. They're superstrivers. They're Harvard Business School MBA students. I mean, they're like... kings and queens of the Mambo, right?

But the whole point is we need to actually figure out what our death fear is. Hmm. And then the way that you confront that, I have a whole meditation I take my students through. My students are mostly afraid of failure because they've never failed. They're superstrivers. They're Harvard Business School MBA students. I mean, they're like... kings and queens of the Mambo, right?

But the whole point is we need to actually figure out what our death fear is. Hmm. And then the way that you confront that, I have a whole meditation I take my students through. My students are mostly afraid of failure because they've never failed. They're superstrivers. They're Harvard Business School MBA students. I mean, they're like... kings and queens of the Mambo, right?

And they've never gotten a B. And so their death fear is somehow failing. So I take them through, there's a Theravada Buddhist meditation that I take them through called the Maranasati. Are you aware of this? You know how this works?

And they've never gotten a B. And so their death fear is somehow failing. So I take them through, there's a Theravada Buddhist meditation that I take them through called the Maranasati. Are you aware of this? You know how this works?

And they've never gotten a B. And so their death fear is somehow failing. So I take them through, there's a Theravada Buddhist meditation that I take them through called the Maranasati. Are you aware of this? You know how this works?

The Maranasati is an actual death meditation that Theravada Buddhist monks in the southern tier of Buddhism, that's what Robert Wright practices, is that Theravada Buddhism. And if you go into a Buddhist temple in Thailand or Vietnam or Sri Lanka, that you'll, they'll often see pictures of bodies in states of decay, dead bodies. I have seen this. And imagine what it, it keeps going.

The Maranasati is an actual death meditation that Theravada Buddhist monks in the southern tier of Buddhism, that's what Robert Wright practices, is that Theravada Buddhism. And if you go into a Buddhist temple in Thailand or Vietnam or Sri Lanka, that you'll, they'll often see pictures of bodies in states of decay, dead bodies. I have seen this. And imagine what it, it keeps going.

The Maranasati is an actual death meditation that Theravada Buddhist monks in the southern tier of Buddhism, that's what Robert Wright practices, is that Theravada Buddhism. And if you go into a Buddhist temple in Thailand or Vietnam or Sri Lanka, that you'll, they'll often see pictures of bodies in states of decay, dead bodies. I have seen this. And imagine what it, it keeps going.

The Maranasati meditation is for a couple of minutes in front of each one, you say, that is me. And that is me. Why? Because you are going to die. It is completely inevitable. And only when you make it the most familiar thing, your death, will you actually be alive. So the Maranasati meditation requires that you look straight into your death fear to make it completely ordinary.