Designing a Life that Matters
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What challenges do we face when pursuing a meaningful life?
This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedanta. In 2012, Michael Phelps was at the peak of his career. At the London Games, he became the most decorated Olympian of all time.
He's coming hard, Phelps. He's still a chance. He's a real big chance. Can he do it again? He hits it, and he does. Remarkable. Stunning.
He had 22 Olympic medals to his name, including 18 gold medals. The swimmer's entire life had centered around his sport, at being the best. Early mornings, endless training. He pursued victory tirelessly, and it paid off.
Olympic record. Michael Phelps and his team have maintained this extraordinary record.
But then, it was over. No more early morning practices. No more races. No more gold medals to chase. He described the feeling as a post-Olympic depression. I saw myself as strictly a swimmer, not as a human being, he said. At times, he felt like he did not want to be alive. Eventually, the great athlete turned to advocacy, using his experience to raise awareness about mental health. He realized that retirement was scary because he had to find, quote, whatever it was I was looking for. Michael Phelps' experience illustrates a challenge many of us face. When the rules we've relied on to live a good life stop working, where do we find new rules? How do we discover what we are looking for? Over the next couple of weeks on Hidden Brain and in a companion episode on Hidden Brain Plus, we look at the misguided beliefs that get in the way of living a rich and meaningful life and an unlikely source that may have the answers we need.
What is the meaning of life?
Many of us have asked a question like this at some point. It's a big question, perhaps too big. But as creatures who are wired to make meaning of the world around us, we cannot help ourselves. At Stanford University, Dave Evans studies how questions like this often lead us astray. Dave Evans, welcome to Hidden Brain. Shankar, good to be with you. Dave, you graduated from college in the 1970s with a degree in thermoscience. What is thermoscience and what were your hopes and dreams at the time?
Well, it's in the mechanical engineering department. I got my bachelor's of science in mechanical engineering, and there are two divisions of that department, the thermoscience division. Some mechanical engineers burn things. They're kind of the power and engine guys. And some mechanical engineers make mechanisms that kind of, you know, bend and forge things, mostly out of metal. So I ended up on the thermos side of the house, the guys that make engines, because I cared about the energy problem. And my master's degree was in thermosciences. So I graduated actually... with a degree paid for by Chevron Research, the oil company paid for my master's degree, and I became a certified advanced energy technologist in 1976.
What did you want to do with this? How did you want to make a difference to the world? It was very simple. I wanted to solve the energy crisis. I had an absolute epiphany. I was waiting in line at a store one day and there was a television playing up in the corner of the store and the news was on and gasoline had suddenly hit a dollar a gallon, a dollar a gallon, 1973. And I said, that's got to stop. We've got to get off this oil thing. That's what I need to do. I have to solve the energy crisis. So that's all I was trying to do.
So you graduated in 1976. What was the world like at that time? And was the world ready for your miraculous discoveries?
Well, the world was doing all kinds of things, you know. We were still reeling from trying to end the Vietnam War. Civil rights was going full blast. I'm a full-on boomer, so we were trying to change the world. I gave myself a trip all the way around the country in a beat-up old van as my graduation present, and it was a great summer because that was the bicentennial. So I went to about 15 different apple pie contests across the country. So there was a lot of Americana, there was a lot of stress, it was a really confusing time, but it was certainly, we have to fix the world. And I was quite convinced I was ready to do that because we had the technology, we had the right ideas, but what we were missing was the social will.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What challenges do we face when pursuing a meaningful life?
0:00–6:59
2
How does Michael Phelps' experience illustrate post-achievement struggles?
6:59–10:05
3
What misguided beliefs hinder our pursuit of fulfillment?
10:05–12:11
4
How can design thinking help us redefine our life goals?
12:11–50:54