Brad Stulberg

So before I get into any of the science, I like to say it like that.

Like, it's just more fun.

And on our deathbed, no one remembers that they had 100 million podcast downloads or that they won a gold medal.

What they remember are the guests that they had on the show, the training partners, the coaches.

It's all about the relationships.

And this gets back to this broader theme of heroic individualism.

Like, on what time horizon are you looking?

Because the most optimal, efficient thing to do in the moment is very rarely community.

I gotta call someone, I gotta meet them, it's COVID times, I gotta think about where we're gonna meet, who's gonna wear a mask, this, that, and the other, it's terribly inefficient.

But if you don't make time for that, then come one year or two years, three years, you might find yourself lonely.

So if like our culture of efficiency and productivity so often crowds out deep community,

Whereas when you're playing the long game, not only does it make it more fun, but it also supports grounded striving.

And I think it's important.

There are two ways to build deep community.

So one is actual physical in-person connection.

The other is a sense of belonging.

And that can be to a spiritual tradition, to a religion, to a lineage of intellectual thinkers, to a group of other podcast hosts that you kind of like have a mastermind group and you're all helping trying to share a similar message.

And deep community is the combination of both those things.

So according to the literature, it's not enough just to have people that you see in person, and it's not enough just to feel like you're a part of something larger.

Both of those things put together, that's what supports mental health and sustainable excellence.