
Modern Life Is Designed to Leave You Empty. Here's the Antidote. | Arthur Brooks
About this episode
Six steps to reclaim your brain, find purpose, and escape the doom loop.
Arthur Brooks is a professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and the Harvard Business School, where he teaches courses on leadership and happiness. Brooks is the author of 15 books, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers, Build the Life You Want, co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, and From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness, and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life. His latest book is The Meaning of Your Life: Finding Purpose in an Age of Emptiness.
In this episode we talk about:
- The three essential components of a meaningful life
- Getting comfortable with boredom
- Why we need to be asking questions that google can't answer
- The neuroscience behind "authentic love"
- Strategies for finding meaning in your work
- What Arthur means when he says "don't waste your suffering"
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