How To Get Out Of A Rut & Design Your Dream Life In 2024 | Cal Newport & Arthur Brooks

Added: Dec 25, 2023

Music

Arthur Brooks shares that his first act as an adult was as a serious musician. He started playing the violin at the age of four and pursued a career in music, aiming to become the world's greatest French horn player. However, he realized that while he was good at it, he didn't love it. This realization led him to make a major change in his life.

Academia

After leaving his career as a musician, Brooks went back to school and pursued a degree in economics and later a PhD in public policy analysis. He entered academia and spent 10 years as a social scientist, publishing numerous peer-reviewed articles and conducting research in public policy. He strategically navigated the academic system, understanding the importance of research and publications in securing tenure.

Leadership at a Think Tank

Brooks then transitioned to a leadership role at the American Enterprise Institute, a prominent think tank in Washington, D.C. He took on the challenge of running the institute, which involved managing a large team, raising funds, and making significant organizational decisions. This phase of his career required him to adapt to a new environment and take on leadership responsibilities.

The Spiral Career Trajectory

Brooks reflects on the concept of the spiral career trajectory, where individuals may have multiple career phases that make sense to them. He emphasizes the importance of being open to new opportunities and making intentional choices that align with one's values and interests. This approach allowed him to explore different career paths and continue learning and growing.

Writing and Teaching

Brooks explains that he decided to leave the think tank world and focus on positive psychology writing and teaching because he wanted to work on the demand side of good ideas. He realized that it is more powerful to work on the demand side and create a hunger for a better life, rather than just generating a supply of good ideas. He also wanted to use science and ideas to lift people up and bring them together, which he sees as his moral mission.

He emphasizes the importance of teaching leaders and making them hungry for a better life, as well as making his research public-facing. Brooks also wanted to be out on the road doing workshops and speeches, and he found a position at Harvard that allowed him to split his time between the Kennedy School and the Business School.

Success of "From Strength to Strength"

Brooks attributes the success of his book "From Strength to Strength" to the fact that it addressed a market niche that was not being filled. He focused on designing the second half of life using principles from big data sets, behavioral science, and neuroscience. The book resonated with people in the second half of their lives who were looking for guidance on how to live a fulfilling and meaningful life.

He also mentions the importance of having the right platform and brand names to support his work. His regular columns in major publications, such as The Atlantic, allowed him to stress test his ideas and receive feedback before turning them into books. This process of thinking, testing, and writing helped him develop successful ideas for his books.

Collaboration with Oprah Winfrey

Brooks shares the story of how he collaborated with Oprah Winfrey on their new book "Build the Life You Want." Oprah had been reading his columns in The Atlantic and reached out to him after reading his book "From Strength to Strength." They found that they shared a similar mission of lifting people up and bringing them together with ideas of happiness and love.

Oprah suggested hosting a book together, where they would write a book on the science of happiness as a conversation between them. Brooks was excited about the opportunity to work with Oprah and create a book that would reach a wide audience. They decided to write the book together, with Brooks providing the connective tissue and both of them reading it for the audio version.

How Emotions Work

Brooks talks about the concept of metacognition, which involves thinking about thinking and being aware of one's own emotional processes. He emphasizes the importance of understanding the basic neuroscience and social science of how emotions work in order to develop a repertoire of techniques for managing emotions.

Brooks emphasizes the importance of feeling in control of one's own life and emotions, especially in the current post-pandemic environment where people feel managed by external forces and out of control. He discusses the impact of generalized anxiety and clinical depression, and the need for individuals to develop awareness of their own emotional processes in order to gain power over their lives.