Hear it Here - http://bit.ly/GeniusHollins 00:09:20 1. Clarification Questions 00:09:28 2. Probing Assumptions 00:09:35 3. Probing Rationale, reasons, evidence 00:09:44 4. Questioning Viewpoints and perspectives 00:09:51 5. Probing Implications and consequences 00:10:02 6. Questions About the question 00:15:09 The Socratic method as a thinking technique 00:17:46 Turning the questions on ourselves  • Socrates’ genius traits included curiosity, intellectual honesty, and non-conventionality. • T...
Feb 16, 2023•24 min
Hear it Here - http://bit.ly/DecisionMakingHollins Welcome to the science of self 00:00:24 Don't know what your personal values are? 00:12:59 STEP ONE: CLEAR YOUR MIND 00:14:15 STEP TWO: START A LIST 00:16:45 STEP THREE: PULL IT ALL TOGETHER 00:18:25 STEP FOUR: RANK YOUR VALUES 00:19:39 STEP FIVE: LET YOUR VALUES COME ALIVE 00:20:56 STEP SIX: TRY THEM ON FOR SIZE • Understanding your needs helps you discover your values and principles, ensuring the decisions you make fulfill you on a deeper leve...
Feb 09, 2023•27 min
Hear it Here - bit.ly/3FooG0d • Toxic positivity is a kind of cognitive distortion and is an overgeneralization of a positive and optimistic attitude. It consists of denial, minimization, and invalidation of your own experience. Toxic positivity grows with shame, silence, and judgment. Positivity itself isn’t toxic, but denying our reality is. Human beings are wholes that contain both good and bad. • We can embrace the whole instead of the good by watching the phrases we use, making friends with...
Feb 02, 2023•23 min
Hear it Here - http://bit.ly/GeniusHollins • Einstein’s genius traits included curiosity, having broad areas of interest (i.e. being a polymath), and a refusal to bow to convention. • Einstein is known today as one of the 20th century’s most influential scientific thinkers, and was considered by many to be a genius in both mathematics and physics. He won the Nobel Prize for his work on the photoelectric effect, but he is best known today for his groundbreaking theory on relativity and his famous...
Jan 26, 2023•19 min
Often, decisions can be consciously articulated. If you want Chinese food for dinner, that’s easy to justify. But for both quicker and bigger decisions, you are likely more influenced by your subconscious than you realize. The importance of knowing potential subconscious influencing factors is thus extremely high to deciphering your actions. There are three models of subconscious needs and desires, the first of which is Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. He articulates the following needs: physiologic...
Jan 19, 2023•27 min
• The ancient Stoics were masters of living in the present. • One way of rethinking your relationship to the past is to adopt the Stoic attitude of amor fati. This translates roughly to “love of one’s fate.” Whatever happens is embraced, wanting “nothing to be different.” To practice it, look at events as neutrally as possible and then respond to them with a simple mantra like “good.” By focusing on action and solutions, we are able to transform adversity. • Negative visualization is where we oc...
Jan 12, 2023•21 min
• Spartacus was able to do what he did because he was exquisitely focused on his goal – justice. Freedom is being outside of the control and dominion of any other being except yourself. Even if you are enslaved, you can emancipate yourself first by refusing to submit to injustice. • It may feel like you have nothing but use what you do have, reach out to others, and do whatever it takes to get where you want to be. • Finally, there is no virtue in tolerating something you cannot bear, instead of...
Jan 05, 2023•19 min
• Intellectual honesty is also important, and this includes humility and the ability to admit that you don’t know something, or that you have made a mistake. Geniuses know that stubbornness, bias, expectation and ego can undermine genuine learning. • Most genius types are usually polymaths (skilled in many areas) and have broad rather than narrow interests. They are well-read and make connections between all disciplines, see relationships and analogies, and find inspiration in all fields, never ...
Dec 29, 2022•20 min
• The ancient Stoics were masters of living in the present. • One way of rethinking your relationship to the past is to adopt the Stoic attitude of amor fati. This translates roughly to “love of one’s fate.” Whatever happens is embraced, wanting “nothing to be different.” To practice it, look at events as neutrally as possible and then respond to them with a simple mantra like “good.” By focusing on action and solutions, we are able to transform adversity. • Negative visualization is where we oc...
Dec 22, 2022•24 min
• The Spartans lived by a set of principles and core beliefs that guided everything they did, and this is ultimately what allowed them to act with strength, conviction, and discipline. When you commit to a cause and belief greater than yourself, you become unstoppable, and even death itself is no longer something you fear. • We don’t have to believe the Spartans were perfect in every way to appreciate the courage it took to live life the way they lived it. We can be inspired in our own lives and...
Dec 15, 2022•21 min
• Geniuses come in all shapes and sizes, from all walks of life and all historical periods, but they can all be seen to possess certain predictable characteristics and mindsets. • If we can model our own lives on the traits we find in great and successful thinkers, we too can learn to fulfill more of our intellectual and creative potential. • The first trait is a lust for learning and an insatiable curiosity about how the world works, and why. This is knowledge and understanding pursued for its ...
Dec 08, 2022•15 min
• We need distress tolerance skills to help us cope with extremely trying or painful moments, or emergency situations. When we’re distressed, it’s easy to default to clumsy, destructive, or unconscious ways of coping—these are false coping mechanisms. • Self-soothing is a way to acknowledge and accept pain that is inevitable—without making it any bigger than it should be. It is not distraction or avoidance, but about anchoring in the present using your five senses—a technique called grounding. •...
Dec 01, 2022•46 min
• No matter how bleak things look, stay calm and take heart.: you always have the power to choose your response, and you can often turn a disadvantage into an advantage simply by changing your perspective. • When faced with a challenge or obstacle, try to think outside of the box and imagine a solution beyond your current way of thinking. Understand the rules, like Caesar, and then be brave and audacious enough to rewrite them completely to your advantage. • There is never any reason for despair...
Nov 17, 2022•20 min
• According to author Max Gunther, there are 13 attitudes, traits and habits that set lucky people apart from unlucky ones. Lucky people clearly understand the difference between luck and planning, and never confuse them. They repeat hard work that gets results, and are grateful for luck when it happens, knowing they weren’t responsible. • Lucky people find the “fast flow” of people and information and position themselves within it, being extroverted and sociable and building connections with ot...
Nov 10, 2022•33 min
• Stay present. It’s something we hear frequently, but what does it mean? Simply put, we are more often caught in the past or looking forward to the future. When we are caught in the past, we are affected by things and events that we have no control over. When we are looking forward to the future (excessively, of course), we are also affected by that which we have no control over. • Author Eckhart Tolle has great insight into the problem of fixating on the past or future; he once said, “All nega...
Nov 03, 2022•30 min
• No matter how bleak things look, stay calm and take heart: you always have the power to choose your response, and you can often turn a disadvantage into an advantage simply by changing your perspective. • When faced with a challenge or obstacle, try to think outside of the box and imagine a solution beyond your current way of thinking. Understand the rules, like Caesar, and then be brave and audacious enough to rewrite them completely to your advantage. • There is never any reason for despair ...
Oct 27, 2022•18 min
• Study findings shared in Wiseman’s book The Luck Factor point to four factors that are responsible for a mindset most prone to luck. While these attitudes and traits don’t literally cause luck in themselves, they do lay the groundwork and make us more able to capitalize on luck when it comes our way. • The first factor is openness to new experiences, which means being aware and perceptive of lucky turns and emerging events in your environment, rather than shut out to novel possibilities. We ca...
Oct 20, 2022•38 min
• The fourth noble truth encourages us to follow the eight-fold path, i.e. we need to understand suffering but also take concrete action towards our intended life every day. We can use proven and effective tools to help us suffer better, and suffer less. • Firstly, we can learn the power of reframing so that we investigate the “rules” we have for deciding what counts as pain or suffering in the first place. Much suffering disappears when we take our own assumptions and interpretations out of the...
Oct 13, 2022•28 min
• Don’t give up. Failure, loss, and disappointment are not the end of the line. Learn, try again, and do better the next time around. Have the courage to accept what can be improved and, instead of dwelling on the pain of your defeat, get proactive and start doing. • It’s cowardly to blame others for your shortcomings or to get angry at life in general for not being fair. If you’ve been justly beaten, accept it graciously. Don’t be a bad loser. In fact, if you can, try to welcome even painful ch...
Oct 06, 2022•19 min
• Coincidence and serendipity are related to good luck. We all would like something beneficial and fortuitous to happen to us for seemingly no good reason. We can’t create positive random chances, but We can foster a “serendipity mindset” that helps us take advantage of the chances that come our way. • Serendipity means different things to different people, but generally, it is the combination of seemingly improbable occurrences plus positive personal feelings about them. We can cultivate a sere...
Sep 29, 2022•37 min
• Be true to yourself. Have faith in your own judgment and stick to your firmly held convictions, even if you have to do so alone. This will imbue you with enormous courage and resilience in the face of challenges, because you will believe in yourself. • Be humble. Use your intellect and your reason to the best of your ability, but always be willing to learn more. Don’t boast about your conclusions but allow them to guide your convictions quietly from within. If you’re lost, stay curious and ret...
Sep 22, 2022•19 min
• Our luck comes in part from our behaviors and choices, and those in turn come from our mindset and the way we think. • If luck = preparation + opportunity, and we cannot control what opportunities come our way, then it means the only way to improve our luck is to focus on being prepared to strike when a lucky chance does come our way. • An obvious way to bring more luck to your life is to work hard, even if the results are far off or not guaranteed. • Hard work isn’t all that matters, though. ...
Sep 15, 2022•39 min
• Viktor Frankl experienced extreme hardship and suffering and, from this, developed his own theory about how many searches for and creates his own meaning. Frankl’s experiences taught him that suffering pushes human beings to find meaning and purpose in their lives. To survive, in other words, is to find meaning in one’s suffering. • Frankl believed that struggle with suffering is an opportunity to seek and create something deeper and more meaningful, identify values and principles, and even de...
Sep 08, 2022•22 min
• It’s never too late to start over, no matter how old you are. Colonel Sanders started over in his sixties and still managed to create a business empire that would overtake those he might have considered younger and more talented than him. The past doesn’t define who you are now, and it doesn’t define who you can be in the future. • Success takes time, and it takes consistent, diligent effort – there are no shortcuts for anyone. You don’t have to be superhuman to be resilient and disciplined. A...
Sep 01, 2022•19 min
Hear it Here - adbl.co/3To6NDu Expressing what you want isn’t selfish, it’s prioritizing yourself. Do you have that habit? You don’t have to be “nice” to everyone if it means being mean to yourself. Learn to prioritize yourself and finally do only what you want to do. The need to please is powerful, but it causes anxiety, stress, and resentment. Time to change your patterns. Stand Up For Yourself is direct and no-nonsense. That’s because the way you prioritize others and let them stomp all over ...
Aug 27, 2022•5 min
• Seneca famously said, “luck is where preparation meets opportunity.” There is plenty we can do to prepare ourselves so that we are ready to notice and seize new opportunities that emerge, and make ourselves more “lucky.” • There are three main traits associated with being a lucky person. The first is extroversion, which leads us to engage with others socially, speak out, make connections and win others over. This will naturally create more opportunities for help, random connections, or new inf...
Aug 25, 2022•33 min
• The Stoics, like the Buddhists, understood that pain is just a part of life, and taught that we need to retain quiet, dignified serenity in the face of adversity, focusing on what we can control, while accepting what we can’t. One way to practice the Stoic philosophy is to carefully consider your zone of control or, as Byron Katie suggests, identify what is your business, the other person’s business, and God’s business. • Another technique is to use negative visualization to develop gratitude ...
Aug 18, 2022•32 min
• Change the way you think about failure. Challenge and adversity are the best teachers you will ever have in life. Instead of getting upset when things don’t go your way, become curious about what happened and why, then try again, but this time do it better! • Forget about things like genius or innate talent. They’re nice to have, but the people who get ahead are simply those who are willing to work hard and do it consistently. • Adopt a growth mindset and constantly turn your attention, not to...
Aug 11, 2022•18 min
• There are two popular ideas worth exploring when it comes to the concept of luck: the law of attraction, and the idea of a self-fulfilling prophesy. Research into the effectiveness of the law of attraction (or wishful thinking) yields no support, and indicates that fantasy can actually undermine success by making us less likely to take useful action. • A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that directly or indirectly causes itself to become true due to positive feedback between belief and...
Aug 04, 2022•28 min
• Once we can properly identify suffering for what it is and become aware of it in ourselves, we can begin to manage it better. • Suffering takes all different forms for each of us, but according to the four noble truths, there is a way to ease and reduce our suffering, by letting go of attachment. • One way to do this is to practice distinguishing between pain and suffering, first and second darts, and facts or opinions. When you feel upset, slow down and tease apart the situation until you see...
Jul 28, 2022•30 min
