🤓 Mighty Knowledge - The Magic of Disney, Self-Worth Theory, and More
For those who love to learn
Mighty Knowledge
⭐️ Quotes
“Even the worst haircut eventually grows out.” — Lisa Kogan
Time heals all pains, fixes all problems, and forgets all sorrows.
"Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Facing your fears becomes a lot easier when you look at them in the right way.
It’s fair to admit that they’re scary, uncomfortable, perhaps even painful.
To be courageous is to acknowledge that you’re scared, but in spite of that stay strong and push past your fears because there’s something more important to you at stake.
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It's tempting to treat philosophy as a purely theoretical subject. Fundamental philosophy concepts such as virtue, courage, discipline, reason, knowledge and values all sound quite theoretical. But what is the point of it all if you never apply it?
In modern schooling, philosophy is taught by telling students to read books and write essays about them. But in the old days, philosophy was more of a skill to be mastered, just like an athlete masters their sport. The stoic philosopher Epictetus once had this edifying exchange with a student:
Student: "Is it possible, then, to derive advantage from [hardships]?"
Epictetus: "Yes, from all of them."
Student:"Even from someone who insults you?"
Epictetus:"And what advantage does a wrestler gain from his training partner? The greatest. And that man, too, who insults me becomes my training partner; he trains me in patience, in abstaining from anger, in remaining gentle … And yet you say that if someone trains me in abstaining from anger, he brings me no benefit? It is simply that you don’t know how to draw advantage from other people."
The way to get value out of all your reading and studying of subjects, including philosophy, is to apply them like an athlete:
Learn the initial theory of the subject
Apply it in the real world
Reflect on your results to see what went well and what didn't
Correct your mistakes to improve
Repeat steps 2 to 5 forever, occasionally coming back to step 1 if you are really missing a fundamental understanding
Notice how much of the emphasis is on action. That's because knowledge only becomes valuable when it is applied.
This isn't only limited to philosophy either; you should get used to practicing all kinds of subjects: psychology, productivity, self-help, strategy, communications, leadership, or any other subject that you read or learn about. Life has plenty of opportunities for such practice and the experience you gain from it is the most powerful form of knowledge.
A lever is a primitive tool used to lift and move heavy objects — it’s the stick in the image below. The beauty of levers is that they are force multipliers — with the proper lever, you can accomplish more than you would normally be able to on your own. For example, do you think you can lift a 900 pound rock? Maybe not on your own, but with a 50-foot lever you probably could. The famous Greek mathematician and physicist Archimedes once said:
“Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.”
A lever doesn't necessarily have to be a physical tool; it can be anything that allows you to accomplish more with less. For example:
People Leverage: Working with a team, delegating to employees, asking a friend for help with things that you're not an expert in
Capital Leverage: Buying assets that make you passive income, buying ticket to a premium networking event, buying advertising for your business
Technology Leverage: Creating software that can be built once and sold millions of times (e.g. video games, SaaS products, etc.). Using an app like Pocket where you can save articles, videos, and other content for later use. Using an app like Grammarly to make writing easier
In this article, 50 modern levers are presented that will help you become more productive. They're real-world examples shared by real people who took Eric Jorgenson's course on leverage.
The Ride of a Lifetime is the career story of Bob Iger who was the CEO of Disney for over 15 years. Throughout his career, Iger ascended from the lowest ranks of ABC News to the top of one of the best and most beloved media companies of all time. The book is filled with powerful life lessons and entertaining stories about the wonderful company that is Disney.
In particular, you'll hear about the following great stories:
How Iger joined Disney and his relationship with the former CEO, Michael Eisner
Conversations with Steve Jobs and how Disney acquired Pixar
The acquisition of Marvel Entertainment
The acquisition of Lucasfilm (StarWars)
As far as life lessons go, these four stood out to me the most:
“Don’t be in the business of playing it safe. Be in the business of creating possibilities for greatness.”
To become successful as an individual or as an organization, you have to separate yourself from the average crowd by striving for greatness. Take bolder bets than anyone, trust your instincts for judging what is right, and constantly push the boundaries of your abilities and accomplishments. Success ultimately comes from never accepting "good enough."
“Optimism. One of the most important qualities of a good leader is optimism, a pragmatic enthusiasm for what can be achieved. Even in the face of difficult choices and less than ideal outcomes, an optimistic leader does not yield to pessimism. Simply put, people are not motivated or energized by pessimists.”
People are constantly divided on whether it's best to be optimistic, realistic, or pessimistic. Iger makes an excellent case for why optimism is the best way: no one is energised by realists or pessimists. On the other hand, optimism is always energizing. It gets people excited and opens up possibilities. Optimism establishes that you have a chance to succeed; realism downplays your chances; pessimism removes your chances entirely.
“And I tend to approach bad news as a problem that can be worked through and solved, something I have control over rather than something happening to me.”
When it comes to solving problems, having the right mindset is half the battle. If you act like problems are completely outside your control, then you'll be lost in a tornado of discouragement. But if you have the mindset that problems are just basic things that need to be solved, then all you have to do is work through it. New challenges are just another day at the office for you.
“If you approach and engage people with respect and empathy, the seemingly impossible can become real.”
Iger puts a lot of emphasis on treating people right. Even as a successful businessman, he took counsel from his employees. If there was bad news to deliver, he did so with respect. If there was success at work, he praised all those involved. Treating people right will drive your career and life forward more than anything else.
This is a fantastic TED Talk about how procrastination is linked to our sense of self-worth and how to overcome it.
As humans, we tie a lot of our self-worth to the judgement of our performance, both from ourselves and from others. The TED presenter Nic Voge says that your brain drives you to procrastinate to avoid that judgement. When you delay the completion of a work project then you delay it being seen and critiqued by your boss. When you delay starting your business then you delay the possibility of failure and judgement from others that know you started it. It feels very comfortable to procrastinate.
The problem is that when you don't take the chances to fail or be judged, then you miss out on chances for success. Having a chance to succeed always requires that there is a chance to fail. Voge then offers three pieces of advice for overcoming procrastination:
Be aware of what you’re doing and why. First, understand that the reason you're procrastinating is because your brain is trying to protect you. It's not because you're dumb or unworthy; you're doing something that's quite natural. Now you can recognize the times when you procrastinate and make a mental note of any regular occurrences. Not with judgement, just neutral
Tip the balance. You now know that it's fear of judgement that's subconsciously pushing you to procrastinate. What you need to do to overcome that is push yourself in the other direction. Take a piece of paper and on the left hand side write down all the reasons you need to do the work. On the right hand side, write down all the reasons you shouldn't do it, including avoiding judgement. Now it's your job to make the left side stronger than the right to convince yourself to get the work done
Challenge your beliefs. The final step is to change your mindset about your self worth. Your self worth is not tied to your ability or accomplishments, it's tied to your character. To develop great character, there is no requirement to perform at a specific level; all you have to do is do your best at all times
This video is with Ed Catmull, the co-founder of Pixar who worked very closely with Steve Jobs. Pixar is one of the most creative companies on the planet. In fact, Bob Iger described in his book The Ride of a Lifetime that Disney acquired Pixar because Pixar was beating them in the animated movies market!
Catmull explains how Pixar was able to consistently make creative films like Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles. One core idea from his speech shines through: safety. When you're working on an ambitious project, there's going to be a lot of risk involved. Your first few attempts are often terrible, there's a high probability of failure, and you don't know for sure if you'll ultimately succeed.
The key to great creativity is to make it safe to fail. Avoid ridicule, blaming, or any kind of judgement in the team. Do not tie the worth of yourself or your team to the outcome of the project. When you make it safe to fail, you motivate everyone to be bold and try harder. Everyone can work totally freely; that freedom is the source of great creativity
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