John R. Miles

Arthur, so great to see you today.

Man, it's surreal.

I love it.

It's just become such a big passion of mine and I can't wait to write many more.

Maybe not as many as James Patterson, who you recently interviewed on your great show.

I love that interview.

Almost impossible.

I just don't know where he comes up with the ideas, but he said on your show that he's got about 500 more that he could write about, which gives me hope.

Yes.

Although someday I would love to write one, but that's going to take some work because it's a completely different frame than what we write through.

That's right.

Well, speaking of authors, you are one of only two who has joined me three times on this podcast.

The other one is Gretchen Rubin.

Absolutely.

Well, in our first conversation, we talked about success addiction and from strength to strength.

And the second, we went into build the life you want, and we focused on emotional self-management.

But what did you start seeing that made you realize those weren't enough, that something deeper around meaning itself was breaking down?

You start out the meaning of your life by describing the return to campus and feeling unheimlich.

And I was hoping you can describe that here in a second, but I've heard similar observations from other professors, notably when I had Laurie Santos on the show, she was talking about how she built her course, which has now become the most popular course at Yale, but it was based on also seeing some of the same things.

She told me students were anxious, depressed, but also quietly unseen.