AI transcript
Support for this show comes from Klaviyo.
You’re building a business.
Klaviyo helps you grow it.
Klaviyo’s AI-powered marketing platform
puts all your customer data plus email,
SMS, and analytics in one place.
With Klaviyo, Tind Fish Phenom Fish Wife
delivers real-time personalized experiences
that keeps their customers hooked.
They’ve grown 70 times revenue
in just four years with Klaviyo.
Now that’s scale.
Visit klaviyo.com to learn how brands like Fish Wife
build smarter digital relationships with Klaviyo.
This episode is brought to you by Secret.
Secret deodorant gives you 72 hours
of clinically proven odor protection,
free of aluminum, parabens, dyes, talc, and baking soda.
It’s made with pH-balancing minerals
and crafted with skin-conditioning oils.
So whether you’re going for a run or just running late,
do what life throws your way and smell like you didn’t.
Find Secret at your nearest Walmart
or Shoppers Drug Mart today.
Your team requested a ride, but this time, not from you.
It’s through their Uberteam account.
It’s an Uber account that allows your team
to request a ride under your supervision
with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers.
Add your team to your Uber account today.
(upbeat music)
Welcome to the final Prop G episode of 2024.
Can you believe that?
2025, really?
In today’s episode, we’re taking a look back
at some of our favorite conversations
throughout the past year.
We’ve been fortunate enough to have some
of the world’s leading experts
on all sorts of interesting topics,
including geopolitics, psychology, wellness,
and tech.
Let’s bust right into it.
So, an immediate Buster Rundo.
First up, we have a clip from Admiral James Stavridis,
a retired four-star US naval officer.
I’m a big fan of the admirals.
And 2024 certainly won’t be the last time
you’ll hear from him on this show.
Back in February, we discussed the state of global affairs
and what we can do about the fragmentation of the US.
Let’s have a listen.
We need to do more to incentivize and celebrate
the idea of service.
And by the way, this is not confined to the armed forces.
There are a lot of ways to serve this country.
And we need high-quality people who are diplomats,
CIA officers, peace corps volunteers,
Teach for America, Volunteer for America,
our police, firefighters, EMT.
There are a lot of ways to serve the country.
I think we are underweight in incentivizing that
with taxes, educational benefits.
But above all, we are underweight these days
in celebrating it, particularly the non-military.
We do a reasonably good job these days
with thank you for your service.
We ought to broaden that whole concept
and create more of an idea of what it means to be a citizen
and what are the positive incentives
that can come out of this.
Business can help at this.
Again, that was Admiral James DeVaritas,
a frequent guest on the pod
and one of the leading experts in geopolitics.
Next up, we have a clip from Bradley Tusk,
a venture capitalist, political strategist,
philanthropist and writer.
We discussed a number of topics,
including the state of politics
and why the public is fundamentally unhappy.
– Look, I think that we may be entering a world
of one term, presidents, governors, mayors,
because the public is fundamentally unhappy, right?
So a few things.
One is social media, I would argue,
is basically the unhappiness machine.
It does two things.
It forces you to compare your life
to someone’s a fictional life.
So you feel inadequate immediately
and then it shows you everything bad happening
everywhere in the world all at once,
compounded by the views of a million idiots.
So you feel bad about your own life,
you feel bad about yourself.
Then the next step is existential risk.
So when you and I were kids,
there was one major existential risk,
which was nuclear war.
That risk still remains.
It’s probably worse right now
because the proliferation of nukes is getting there
and eventually Iran’s gonna have it.
North Korea has it.
But that you lay on top of that climate change,
the risk of a real serious pandemic.
I mean, COVID had a major impact,
but while it’s highly transmissible,
it wasn’t that lethal.
But I am sure that a version of COVID
that is much more lethal exists in a lab in China
or the US or Russia or Israel or the UK or somewhere,
or more likely all of them.
And so the risk of any of those getting out.
And then with AI, I’m a believer in AI,
but none of us too early for any of us
to really know yet what it’s gonna be.
So the amount of existential risk
has increased significantly.
– That was Bradley Tusk,
a former deputy governor of Illinois
and campaign manager for Michael Bloomberg,
among many other things.
Next up, we have a clip from our good friend,
Jonathan Haidt, colleague at NYU,
who has taken the world by storm this year
with his book, “The Anxious Generation,”
how the great rewiring of childhood
is causing an epidemic of mental illness.
If you listen to this podcast,
you know, I’m an enormous fan of Professor Haidt’s
and his work surrounding the effects of social media
on young people’s mental health.
Here’s the clip.
– The solutions that I propose
are all things we can do together
to liberate our kids from the social action problems.
Very briefly, four steps, four norms.
No smartphone before high school.
Just give them a flip phone.
The millennials were fine with flip phones.
Two is no social media till 16.
Social media is just not suitable for minors, frankly.
It certainly isn’t suitable in early puberty.
Let them get most of the way through puberty
before you invite them to stick their head in a toilet bowl
and flush every day forever and ever.
Third norm is phone-free schools.
The phone is the greatest distraction device ever invented.
Kids text during class.
They watch videos during class.
They watch porn during class.
It’s completely insane that there are schools in this country,
namely most of them, almost all of them,
that allow kids to keep their phones in their pockets
during the day.
And they just say, “Don’t take it out during class,”
but they do take it out during class.
And the fourth norm is far more free play,
independence, and responsibility in the real world.
This is the harder word
because we have to overcome our own anxieties.
But if we’re gonna take away the phones
from, especially in middle school,
if we’re gonna reduce their time on screens,
we have to give them something to do.
And the healthiest thing they can do
is hang out, play with each other, unsupervised.
Let them learn how to work out conflicts
and choose activities.
If we do those, I am confident that we would see
these lines, these incredibly surging lines
of anxiety and depression, they just go up, up, up.
They never go down since 2012.
If we do these four things, I’m pretty confident
we’re gonna see those lines come down.
We’re gonna actually reverse the mental health epidemic.
– That was Total Gangster, Jonathan Haidt,
a professor of ethical leadership and bestselling author.
Moving along, we have a clip from another gangster.
This one in geopolitics, one of our favorites,
Fried Zakaria.
We discussed with Farid his latest book,
“Age of Revolutions, Progress and Backlash”
from 1600 to the present,
the effects of the industrial evolution
and modern geopolitics as a whole.
– The nature of the digital revolution,
if we can just call it that for a moment,
is that it has created a whole new economy
and a whole new mental world for us.
Mark Andreessen’s famous blog post where he talks
about software eating the world.
Gets it exactly right.
The world used to be run, it was a world of atoms.
And what happened is the digital revolution came
and it created a world of bits and bytes
that now control those atoms.
So actually the internal combustion engine
is kind of irrelevant now.
What a car is becoming is software on wheels.
And it’s the software that controls that.
And now what’s going to happen is,
you’re going to have AI that controls the software.
And those things become paramount.
And the point I’m trying to make in the book
is not so much about the economic effect.
It’s the sort of social and psychological consequences
of these changes, which you know and care a lot about.
It is mind-blowing in every way to think about that.
You know, human beings have never had the power
to multiply their minds
the way that AI is going to be able to allow them to do.
What does that do to our conceptions
of who we are as human beings?
– That was Fareed Zakaria, a close friend of the pod
and host of CNN’s flagship international fair show,
Fareed Zakaria GPS.
Now let’s listen to a clip of our episode
with Matthew Hussie, a leading dating expert
and author of the book, Love Life.
How to raise your standards, find your person
and live happily no matter what.
– For so many people I would argue universally
whatever form it comes in, we are looking for love.
We want that feeling of having a mate.
We want that feeling of being attractive
to the people we’re trying to attract.
We want to feel fulfilled in our love lives.
So that desire to find that becomes so,
in some cases, anxiously driven,
especially when time is running out
or it feels like time is running out.
That’s true from on a very literal level
for everyone who’s looking for a family
of their own biologically and for women more than men,
although for men too, more than a lot of them realize.
That fear of time running out amplifies this feeling of,
God, I have this really important position
that I want to fill in my life.
I’m trying to fill the position of my life partner.
And we get so obsessed with how important it is
to fill that position that the moment we go on a date
and we see even the faintest hope that this person
could represent a candidate for that position.
Which, by the way, Scott,
normally is not based on any deeper character traits
’cause how many of people’s deeper character traits
can we really ascertain on a one-hour first date?
– Next up, we have Jesse Itzler,
a serial entrepreneur, best-selling author,
and part owner of The Atlantic Hawks,
and ultra marathon runner.
We had a great conversation about success,
fitness, and maintaining balance.
– I’ve been super lucky
and probably way more lucky than good,
but I’ve put myself in situations
where I can attract that luck.
I used to come home, Scott, from like,
you know, when I walk into Marquis Gen,
I’d be like, I got a sale last night.
We had a bell, I would ring the bell.
They’d be like, “What do you mean?
“You had the bar, same bar I was at.”
I’m like, “Yeah, but you left it 11 o’clock.”
I stayed till two and I got the sale.
Oh, you’re so lucky, the guy came, I was,
I’m not lucky, I put myself in that situation.
You know, luck doesn’t happen Sunday night
watching the Kardashians on your couch.
It happens when you put yourself in an environment
where the universe can reward you for deep near,
and then you have to be good at what you do
and take advantage of it.
So my 20s and 30s were built around
putting myself in environments where I could get lucky.
Next up is our conversation with Simon Sinek,
a world-renowned author, motivational speaker and friend.
He shares his wisdom surrounding leadership and mentorship.
Here’s a clip.
– I mean, first of all, I don’t believe leaders are the one.
I think that some people have an education
when they’re younger, they have a coach,
they have a parent, they have a guardian,
somebody in their life, a teacher who does something right.
They model themselves after that person
and they seem to learn it younger,
or they have some trials and tribulations
and they learn to overcome and rely on other people,
whatever it is.
But even some of the great leaders that we admire
if you look back, whether it’s Steve Jobs or Mahatma Gandhi,
like, you see that they were learning
and they didn’t get it right a lot of the time,
especially when they were younger, they learned those skills.
Young people, for me fundamentally,
the single best thing a young person can do
is really learn to be a friend.
– That was Simon Sinek, author of the books “Start With Why,”
“The Infinite Game,” and “Find Your Why.”
Up next, our conversation with Andrew Huberman.
Andrew is the host of the Huberman Lab Podcast
and a professor in the Department of Neurobiology
at Stanford University.
He shared his insights on all things physiological health.
– Optimization is something that we have to think about
on a day-to-day basis.
So it is true, I did rounds of sauna and cold this morning.
You know, I did, I got up really early,
a friend came over, I haven’t seen a while ago,
earlier than I would have liked and did sauna and cold.
And I did train yesterday.
But there are days, you know, I miss days, you know,
and it happens and, you know, life.
So I don’t want to give the impression
that my entire life is geared around protocols
to the point where I don’t do other things.
I went out to dinner with friends last night,
you know, I experienced stress in life,
we could talk about that, like anyone else.
So I would say this, figure out the minimum amount
of alcohol that you’re happy to drink
that makes you feel, you know, like you’re living life.
So maybe that’s a drink a night, maybe that’s two weeks,
maybe that’s stacking a few more toward the weekend,
whatever’s gonna work there.
And provided that your sleep is good,
meaning that we know it’s gonna disrupt
your sleep architecture somewhat,
but provided that you don’t have
excessive daytime sleepiness,
provided that you are not getting an increased frequency
of colds and flus, you’re accomplishing your work,
I would say you’re doing great.
Especially as you know, you’re visibly fit.
If you can do the three cardio vascular training sessions
and the two earth, this is the training sessions
that I just described without, you know, dissolving
into a pile of cells on the floor afterwards,
you know, even when you’re doing a 85% intensity
or let’s say 85% intensity of what you could do,
you’re doing great, you’re doing great.
– Fun fact, that was our most listened to episode
of the year, obviously, at Huberman Lab
is one of the 10 biggest podcasts in the world
and Andrew is having a huge impact.
Anyways, next up is a clip from our episode
with Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson,
a marine biologist, policy expert, writer,
and co-founder of the non-profit Think Tank Urban Ocean Lab.
– I personally don’t think any of this has to be political.
Like, we all actually want a good future for our children
and there’s polling that shows that the biggest motivator
for people to act on climate is love for future generations.
It’s actually not profit, which I found to be surprising.
It’s not any number of other things.
It really is like, I want to leave a better world
for my children and the biggest thing
that can convince conservative men
to care more about climate change is their daughters
saying, you’re setting our future on fire and I’m scared.
And that sort of instinct to protect our daughters,
our children kicks in in this way
that’s actually beneficial for the planet.
So there’s a lot of certainly like psychology
and economics and politics and policy, et cetera,
and culture all at play here.
– That was Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson,
author of the new book, What If We Get It Right?
Visions of Climate Futures.
Moving along, we have a clip from our interview
with Rory Stewart, the former UK Secretary of State
for International Development
and co-host of The Rest Is Politics.
Liberal democracies haven’t been delivering
well enough for people.
I mean, that for about 200 years from the early 1800s,
it, we could tell a story where we convinced ourselves
that democracies were naturally more prosperous
and as people became more prosperous,
they became more democratic.
And partly because of the rise of China,
but partly because the success
of other authoritarian regimes.
We’ve broken the link in which democracies
are not necessarily delivering for people.
And in certain years, it feels as though
non-democratic states are delivering quite effectively.
So that’s one problem.
I think second, and that is a big problem
because I think the reason why people buy into democracy
is not only because they believe in human rights
and liberal values, it’s also because
it was making them wealthier.
I think the second threat is, I’m afraid, social media.
I think it’s not a coincidence that the rise
of social media from 2003, four onwards
and its explosion with the Arab Spring in 2010, 2011
is part of the story of the rise of populism
and the rise of authoritarianism
because I think it, those are algorithms
that drive people into polarized states.
And I think they are, have been extremely bad
for the key bits of democratic discourse
in particular, compromise, meeting in the middle,
explaining, having a shared frame of reference.
– That was Rory Stewart and his thoughts on modern democracy.
And last but not least, let’s have a listen
to our episode with Angela Duckworth,
a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania
and the author of The New York Times bestseller, GRIT,
The Power of Passion and Perseverance.
Angela shared the attributes of gritty people
and tips for raising resilient children.
– I think GRIT is forged in a crucible,
half of which is challenge.
I mean, what is challenge?
Challenge is being asked to do something
you cannot yet do, right?
You know, 2,000 meters instead of 800,
like whatever it is, right?
I can’t do it.
The challenges exceed my resources or my abilities.
So I think that is half of it.
But, you know, when Nietzsche said
“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,”
I mean, it does make you wonder, like, when you look around
and it does actually kill or seriously wound a lot of people.
And I think that’s because the other half of the crucible
and you can agree or disagree with me
is some kind of support.
Like, where does that inner self-talk come from
that says, you know, I’ll show you, right?
Because I think if there was one phrase
that I have heard over and over again
in interviews of the grittiest people,
it’s that when they describe confronting a major challenge,
especially when they’re doubted, right?
And someone else tells them, like, well, you can’t do this.
You know, there is this rage, this, like, voice that says,
I’ll show you.
And my theory is that being in one challenging situation
after another is not enough to give you the voice that says,
I’ll show you.
Somewhere, there has to be support.
Somewhere, there has to be a–
you know, like, I can’t remember Rocky’s coach,
like the guy with the, you know, the–
Burgess Meredith.
Exactly.
Right?
Sailor, you know, like the beanie on.
Like, I think I’ve seen it too often, you know,
that people who are in challenging situations
without support, you know, are not the ones to get up again,
dust themselves off, like, learn something, you know,
come back stronger than they were before.
All right, that’s a wrap on 2024.
Adios, Bente, Bente, Cuatro, 2024.
Jesus Christ, really?
It’s gone.
A big thank you to–
wait for it– you, our listeners,
for a great year.
This has been our best year ever on a number of dimensions.
But also, it’s been a rewarding year on a lot of levels.
A lot of nice people.
We’re paying our people well.
They’re doing well.
We’re growing.
Our people seem to appreciate our work.
I feel as if we’re having an impact.
I see people on the street, and they come up.
They’re super nice, made a bunch of new friends
because of the pod.
Anyways, emotional, psychological, economic reward,
having an impact, having purpose.
And it’s because people give us a shot.
People listen to us.
People provide us with thoughtful, civil feedback.
We get it wrong all the time.
I get it wrong more often than all the time.
And people are always generous with us.
And it’s very much appreciate not only your listenership
but your engagement and for the people who come up and say hi.
A special shout out is just wonderful for me.
It’s one of the nicest things that happens to me
on a regular basis.
Best to you and yours.
Thank you so much.
And here’s to a great 2024 and hoping for an even more
prosperous and healthy 2025.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(gentle music)
[BLANK_AUDIO]
You’re building a business.
Klaviyo helps you grow it.
Klaviyo’s AI-powered marketing platform
puts all your customer data plus email,
SMS, and analytics in one place.
With Klaviyo, Tind Fish Phenom Fish Wife
delivers real-time personalized experiences
that keeps their customers hooked.
They’ve grown 70 times revenue
in just four years with Klaviyo.
Now that’s scale.
Visit klaviyo.com to learn how brands like Fish Wife
build smarter digital relationships with Klaviyo.
This episode is brought to you by Secret.
Secret deodorant gives you 72 hours
of clinically proven odor protection,
free of aluminum, parabens, dyes, talc, and baking soda.
It’s made with pH-balancing minerals
and crafted with skin-conditioning oils.
So whether you’re going for a run or just running late,
do what life throws your way and smell like you didn’t.
Find Secret at your nearest Walmart
or Shoppers Drug Mart today.
Your team requested a ride, but this time, not from you.
It’s through their Uberteam account.
It’s an Uber account that allows your team
to request a ride under your supervision
with live trip tracking and highly rated drivers.
Add your team to your Uber account today.
(upbeat music)
Welcome to the final Prop G episode of 2024.
Can you believe that?
2025, really?
In today’s episode, we’re taking a look back
at some of our favorite conversations
throughout the past year.
We’ve been fortunate enough to have some
of the world’s leading experts
on all sorts of interesting topics,
including geopolitics, psychology, wellness,
and tech.
Let’s bust right into it.
So, an immediate Buster Rundo.
First up, we have a clip from Admiral James Stavridis,
a retired four-star US naval officer.
I’m a big fan of the admirals.
And 2024 certainly won’t be the last time
you’ll hear from him on this show.
Back in February, we discussed the state of global affairs
and what we can do about the fragmentation of the US.
Let’s have a listen.
We need to do more to incentivize and celebrate
the idea of service.
And by the way, this is not confined to the armed forces.
There are a lot of ways to serve this country.
And we need high-quality people who are diplomats,
CIA officers, peace corps volunteers,
Teach for America, Volunteer for America,
our police, firefighters, EMT.
There are a lot of ways to serve the country.
I think we are underweight in incentivizing that
with taxes, educational benefits.
But above all, we are underweight these days
in celebrating it, particularly the non-military.
We do a reasonably good job these days
with thank you for your service.
We ought to broaden that whole concept
and create more of an idea of what it means to be a citizen
and what are the positive incentives
that can come out of this.
Business can help at this.
Again, that was Admiral James DeVaritas,
a frequent guest on the pod
and one of the leading experts in geopolitics.
Next up, we have a clip from Bradley Tusk,
a venture capitalist, political strategist,
philanthropist and writer.
We discussed a number of topics,
including the state of politics
and why the public is fundamentally unhappy.
– Look, I think that we may be entering a world
of one term, presidents, governors, mayors,
because the public is fundamentally unhappy, right?
So a few things.
One is social media, I would argue,
is basically the unhappiness machine.
It does two things.
It forces you to compare your life
to someone’s a fictional life.
So you feel inadequate immediately
and then it shows you everything bad happening
everywhere in the world all at once,
compounded by the views of a million idiots.
So you feel bad about your own life,
you feel bad about yourself.
Then the next step is existential risk.
So when you and I were kids,
there was one major existential risk,
which was nuclear war.
That risk still remains.
It’s probably worse right now
because the proliferation of nukes is getting there
and eventually Iran’s gonna have it.
North Korea has it.
But that you lay on top of that climate change,
the risk of a real serious pandemic.
I mean, COVID had a major impact,
but while it’s highly transmissible,
it wasn’t that lethal.
But I am sure that a version of COVID
that is much more lethal exists in a lab in China
or the US or Russia or Israel or the UK or somewhere,
or more likely all of them.
And so the risk of any of those getting out.
And then with AI, I’m a believer in AI,
but none of us too early for any of us
to really know yet what it’s gonna be.
So the amount of existential risk
has increased significantly.
– That was Bradley Tusk,
a former deputy governor of Illinois
and campaign manager for Michael Bloomberg,
among many other things.
Next up, we have a clip from our good friend,
Jonathan Haidt, colleague at NYU,
who has taken the world by storm this year
with his book, “The Anxious Generation,”
how the great rewiring of childhood
is causing an epidemic of mental illness.
If you listen to this podcast,
you know, I’m an enormous fan of Professor Haidt’s
and his work surrounding the effects of social media
on young people’s mental health.
Here’s the clip.
– The solutions that I propose
are all things we can do together
to liberate our kids from the social action problems.
Very briefly, four steps, four norms.
No smartphone before high school.
Just give them a flip phone.
The millennials were fine with flip phones.
Two is no social media till 16.
Social media is just not suitable for minors, frankly.
It certainly isn’t suitable in early puberty.
Let them get most of the way through puberty
before you invite them to stick their head in a toilet bowl
and flush every day forever and ever.
Third norm is phone-free schools.
The phone is the greatest distraction device ever invented.
Kids text during class.
They watch videos during class.
They watch porn during class.
It’s completely insane that there are schools in this country,
namely most of them, almost all of them,
that allow kids to keep their phones in their pockets
during the day.
And they just say, “Don’t take it out during class,”
but they do take it out during class.
And the fourth norm is far more free play,
independence, and responsibility in the real world.
This is the harder word
because we have to overcome our own anxieties.
But if we’re gonna take away the phones
from, especially in middle school,
if we’re gonna reduce their time on screens,
we have to give them something to do.
And the healthiest thing they can do
is hang out, play with each other, unsupervised.
Let them learn how to work out conflicts
and choose activities.
If we do those, I am confident that we would see
these lines, these incredibly surging lines
of anxiety and depression, they just go up, up, up.
They never go down since 2012.
If we do these four things, I’m pretty confident
we’re gonna see those lines come down.
We’re gonna actually reverse the mental health epidemic.
– That was Total Gangster, Jonathan Haidt,
a professor of ethical leadership and bestselling author.
Moving along, we have a clip from another gangster.
This one in geopolitics, one of our favorites,
Fried Zakaria.
We discussed with Farid his latest book,
“Age of Revolutions, Progress and Backlash”
from 1600 to the present,
the effects of the industrial evolution
and modern geopolitics as a whole.
– The nature of the digital revolution,
if we can just call it that for a moment,
is that it has created a whole new economy
and a whole new mental world for us.
Mark Andreessen’s famous blog post where he talks
about software eating the world.
Gets it exactly right.
The world used to be run, it was a world of atoms.
And what happened is the digital revolution came
and it created a world of bits and bytes
that now control those atoms.
So actually the internal combustion engine
is kind of irrelevant now.
What a car is becoming is software on wheels.
And it’s the software that controls that.
And now what’s going to happen is,
you’re going to have AI that controls the software.
And those things become paramount.
And the point I’m trying to make in the book
is not so much about the economic effect.
It’s the sort of social and psychological consequences
of these changes, which you know and care a lot about.
It is mind-blowing in every way to think about that.
You know, human beings have never had the power
to multiply their minds
the way that AI is going to be able to allow them to do.
What does that do to our conceptions
of who we are as human beings?
– That was Fareed Zakaria, a close friend of the pod
and host of CNN’s flagship international fair show,
Fareed Zakaria GPS.
Now let’s listen to a clip of our episode
with Matthew Hussie, a leading dating expert
and author of the book, Love Life.
How to raise your standards, find your person
and live happily no matter what.
– For so many people I would argue universally
whatever form it comes in, we are looking for love.
We want that feeling of having a mate.
We want that feeling of being attractive
to the people we’re trying to attract.
We want to feel fulfilled in our love lives.
So that desire to find that becomes so,
in some cases, anxiously driven,
especially when time is running out
or it feels like time is running out.
That’s true from on a very literal level
for everyone who’s looking for a family
of their own biologically and for women more than men,
although for men too, more than a lot of them realize.
That fear of time running out amplifies this feeling of,
God, I have this really important position
that I want to fill in my life.
I’m trying to fill the position of my life partner.
And we get so obsessed with how important it is
to fill that position that the moment we go on a date
and we see even the faintest hope that this person
could represent a candidate for that position.
Which, by the way, Scott,
normally is not based on any deeper character traits
’cause how many of people’s deeper character traits
can we really ascertain on a one-hour first date?
– Next up, we have Jesse Itzler,
a serial entrepreneur, best-selling author,
and part owner of The Atlantic Hawks,
and ultra marathon runner.
We had a great conversation about success,
fitness, and maintaining balance.
– I’ve been super lucky
and probably way more lucky than good,
but I’ve put myself in situations
where I can attract that luck.
I used to come home, Scott, from like,
you know, when I walk into Marquis Gen,
I’d be like, I got a sale last night.
We had a bell, I would ring the bell.
They’d be like, “What do you mean?
“You had the bar, same bar I was at.”
I’m like, “Yeah, but you left it 11 o’clock.”
I stayed till two and I got the sale.
Oh, you’re so lucky, the guy came, I was,
I’m not lucky, I put myself in that situation.
You know, luck doesn’t happen Sunday night
watching the Kardashians on your couch.
It happens when you put yourself in an environment
where the universe can reward you for deep near,
and then you have to be good at what you do
and take advantage of it.
So my 20s and 30s were built around
putting myself in environments where I could get lucky.
Next up is our conversation with Simon Sinek,
a world-renowned author, motivational speaker and friend.
He shares his wisdom surrounding leadership and mentorship.
Here’s a clip.
– I mean, first of all, I don’t believe leaders are the one.
I think that some people have an education
when they’re younger, they have a coach,
they have a parent, they have a guardian,
somebody in their life, a teacher who does something right.
They model themselves after that person
and they seem to learn it younger,
or they have some trials and tribulations
and they learn to overcome and rely on other people,
whatever it is.
But even some of the great leaders that we admire
if you look back, whether it’s Steve Jobs or Mahatma Gandhi,
like, you see that they were learning
and they didn’t get it right a lot of the time,
especially when they were younger, they learned those skills.
Young people, for me fundamentally,
the single best thing a young person can do
is really learn to be a friend.
– That was Simon Sinek, author of the books “Start With Why,”
“The Infinite Game,” and “Find Your Why.”
Up next, our conversation with Andrew Huberman.
Andrew is the host of the Huberman Lab Podcast
and a professor in the Department of Neurobiology
at Stanford University.
He shared his insights on all things physiological health.
– Optimization is something that we have to think about
on a day-to-day basis.
So it is true, I did rounds of sauna and cold this morning.
You know, I did, I got up really early,
a friend came over, I haven’t seen a while ago,
earlier than I would have liked and did sauna and cold.
And I did train yesterday.
But there are days, you know, I miss days, you know,
and it happens and, you know, life.
So I don’t want to give the impression
that my entire life is geared around protocols
to the point where I don’t do other things.
I went out to dinner with friends last night,
you know, I experienced stress in life,
we could talk about that, like anyone else.
So I would say this, figure out the minimum amount
of alcohol that you’re happy to drink
that makes you feel, you know, like you’re living life.
So maybe that’s a drink a night, maybe that’s two weeks,
maybe that’s stacking a few more toward the weekend,
whatever’s gonna work there.
And provided that your sleep is good,
meaning that we know it’s gonna disrupt
your sleep architecture somewhat,
but provided that you don’t have
excessive daytime sleepiness,
provided that you are not getting an increased frequency
of colds and flus, you’re accomplishing your work,
I would say you’re doing great.
Especially as you know, you’re visibly fit.
If you can do the three cardio vascular training sessions
and the two earth, this is the training sessions
that I just described without, you know, dissolving
into a pile of cells on the floor afterwards,
you know, even when you’re doing a 85% intensity
or let’s say 85% intensity of what you could do,
you’re doing great, you’re doing great.
– Fun fact, that was our most listened to episode
of the year, obviously, at Huberman Lab
is one of the 10 biggest podcasts in the world
and Andrew is having a huge impact.
Anyways, next up is a clip from our episode
with Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson,
a marine biologist, policy expert, writer,
and co-founder of the non-profit Think Tank Urban Ocean Lab.
– I personally don’t think any of this has to be political.
Like, we all actually want a good future for our children
and there’s polling that shows that the biggest motivator
for people to act on climate is love for future generations.
It’s actually not profit, which I found to be surprising.
It’s not any number of other things.
It really is like, I want to leave a better world
for my children and the biggest thing
that can convince conservative men
to care more about climate change is their daughters
saying, you’re setting our future on fire and I’m scared.
And that sort of instinct to protect our daughters,
our children kicks in in this way
that’s actually beneficial for the planet.
So there’s a lot of certainly like psychology
and economics and politics and policy, et cetera,
and culture all at play here.
– That was Dr. Ayanna Elizabeth Johnson,
author of the new book, What If We Get It Right?
Visions of Climate Futures.
Moving along, we have a clip from our interview
with Rory Stewart, the former UK Secretary of State
for International Development
and co-host of The Rest Is Politics.
Liberal democracies haven’t been delivering
well enough for people.
I mean, that for about 200 years from the early 1800s,
it, we could tell a story where we convinced ourselves
that democracies were naturally more prosperous
and as people became more prosperous,
they became more democratic.
And partly because of the rise of China,
but partly because the success
of other authoritarian regimes.
We’ve broken the link in which democracies
are not necessarily delivering for people.
And in certain years, it feels as though
non-democratic states are delivering quite effectively.
So that’s one problem.
I think second, and that is a big problem
because I think the reason why people buy into democracy
is not only because they believe in human rights
and liberal values, it’s also because
it was making them wealthier.
I think the second threat is, I’m afraid, social media.
I think it’s not a coincidence that the rise
of social media from 2003, four onwards
and its explosion with the Arab Spring in 2010, 2011
is part of the story of the rise of populism
and the rise of authoritarianism
because I think it, those are algorithms
that drive people into polarized states.
And I think they are, have been extremely bad
for the key bits of democratic discourse
in particular, compromise, meeting in the middle,
explaining, having a shared frame of reference.
– That was Rory Stewart and his thoughts on modern democracy.
And last but not least, let’s have a listen
to our episode with Angela Duckworth,
a professor of psychology at the University of Pennsylvania
and the author of The New York Times bestseller, GRIT,
The Power of Passion and Perseverance.
Angela shared the attributes of gritty people
and tips for raising resilient children.
– I think GRIT is forged in a crucible,
half of which is challenge.
I mean, what is challenge?
Challenge is being asked to do something
you cannot yet do, right?
You know, 2,000 meters instead of 800,
like whatever it is, right?
I can’t do it.
The challenges exceed my resources or my abilities.
So I think that is half of it.
But, you know, when Nietzsche said
“What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger,”
I mean, it does make you wonder, like, when you look around
and it does actually kill or seriously wound a lot of people.
And I think that’s because the other half of the crucible
and you can agree or disagree with me
is some kind of support.
Like, where does that inner self-talk come from
that says, you know, I’ll show you, right?
Because I think if there was one phrase
that I have heard over and over again
in interviews of the grittiest people,
it’s that when they describe confronting a major challenge,
especially when they’re doubted, right?
And someone else tells them, like, well, you can’t do this.
You know, there is this rage, this, like, voice that says,
I’ll show you.
And my theory is that being in one challenging situation
after another is not enough to give you the voice that says,
I’ll show you.
Somewhere, there has to be support.
Somewhere, there has to be a–
you know, like, I can’t remember Rocky’s coach,
like the guy with the, you know, the–
Burgess Meredith.
Exactly.
Right?
Sailor, you know, like the beanie on.
Like, I think I’ve seen it too often, you know,
that people who are in challenging situations
without support, you know, are not the ones to get up again,
dust themselves off, like, learn something, you know,
come back stronger than they were before.
All right, that’s a wrap on 2024.
Adios, Bente, Bente, Cuatro, 2024.
Jesus Christ, really?
It’s gone.
A big thank you to–
wait for it– you, our listeners,
for a great year.
This has been our best year ever on a number of dimensions.
But also, it’s been a rewarding year on a lot of levels.
A lot of nice people.
We’re paying our people well.
They’re doing well.
We’re growing.
Our people seem to appreciate our work.
I feel as if we’re having an impact.
I see people on the street, and they come up.
They’re super nice, made a bunch of new friends
because of the pod.
Anyways, emotional, psychological, economic reward,
having an impact, having purpose.
And it’s because people give us a shot.
People listen to us.
People provide us with thoughtful, civil feedback.
We get it wrong all the time.
I get it wrong more often than all the time.
And people are always generous with us.
And it’s very much appreciate not only your listenership
but your engagement and for the people who come up and say hi.
A special shout out is just wonderful for me.
It’s one of the nicest things that happens to me
on a regular basis.
Best to you and yours.
Thank you so much.
And here’s to a great 2024 and hoping for an even more
prosperous and healthy 2025.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
(gentle music)
[BLANK_AUDIO]
We’re listening back to some of our favorite conversations from the past year.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
