Big Think

• Fix your destructive mindset in 15 mins | Anne-Laure Le Cunff

  "Being aware of your mindsets is the difference between living a conscious life, where you're making choices in accord with what you actually want and going where you actually wanna go, versus being on autopilot and having those mindsets subconsciously drive all of your decisions." Chapters: 0:00 Our mindsets’ influences 0:50 Linear vs. experimental 2:50 3 subconscious mindsets 4:58 The experimental mindset 6:30 Designing experiments 8:35 Habit vs. experiment 🔥 Are Your Mindsets Secretly Controlling Your Life? We all have default ways of seeing the world—our *mindsets*. And these mindsets silently shape everything: our decisions, relationships, feelings, and even the path we take in life. But here’s the catch: most of us aren’t even aware of them. 💭 The Turning Point The speaker shares their journey—initially chasing traditional success: good grades, a job at Google, and startup life. But despite achieving all of it, they felt empty. It wasn’t until their startup failed that they paused to ask: *What do I really want?* This question led them to neuroscience, curiosity, and ultimately, fulfillment. ⚠️ The 3 Mindsets Holding Us Back 1. Cynical Mindset – Low ambition, low curiosity. You’re checked out and stuck in survival mode. 2. Escapist Mindset – High curiosity, low ambition. You binge-watch, dream-plan, and avoid responsibility. 3. Perfectionist Mindset – High ambition, low curiosity. You’re overworking, chasing success, but losing joy. These mindsets are fluid—not fixed traits. You can shift them. 🔬 Enter: The Experimental Mindset This mindset thrives on *both* high curiosity and ambition. It embraces uncertainty, treats failure as data, and turns life into a series of small experiments—each one helping you grow. 🧪 How to Build It: The Pact Method A “pact” is a mini-experiment: - Purposeful: You care about it. - Actionable: You can start it *now*. - Continuous: You repeat it regularly. - Trackable: You only track if you did it—yes or no. It’s not a habit, KPI, or resolution. It’s a test to see what *actually* works for you. **📊 Internal vs External Data** After an experiment, analyze both: - **External**: Did it bring recognition, money, results? - **Internal**: Did it *feel* good? Was it energizing or draining? The speaker tried becoming a YouTuber. It “succeeded” externally—but internally, it felt awful. So they quit. That’s the power of self-awareness. **🧠 Neuroscience Backs It Up** When we’re curious, our brain lights up the same way it does when we’re thirsty. Curiosity isn’t fluff—it’s fuel. **✨ Final Message:** Your mindset determines whether you live consciously or on autopilot. Choose curiosity. Run tiny experiments. Design a life that’s yours. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Anne-Laure Le Cunff: Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and writer. A former Google executive, she went back to university to earn a Ph.D. in Psychology & Neuroscience from King’s College London. As the founder of Ness Labs and author of its widely read newsletter, she writes about evidence-based ways for people to make the most of their minds, navigate uncertainty, and practice lifelong learning. Her work has been featured in peer-reviewed academic journals and mainstream publications such as WIRED, Forbes, Rolling Stone, Fortune, Entrepreneur, and more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• How I found belonging in the most unfamiliar territory | Atsuko Okatsuka

  Asian-American comedian Atsuko Okatsuka shares her experience as an immigrant, navigating personal insecurities, and ultimately finding belonging in comedy. **In this episode,** comedian **Atsuko Okatsuka** reflects on identity, perfectionism, and feeling *not good enough*. She shares her experience growing up as an immigrant with a schizophrenic mother and how her grandmother secretly brought her to the U.S., separating her from her father. Atsuko explores people-pleasing, fear of disappointment, and how pain has shaped her. Through comedy and self-reflection, she confronts the past and finds connection. The weight of cultural dislocation, family turmoil, and the constant quest for perfection can trap us in roles we don’t truly belong in. Asian-American comedian Atsuko Okatsuka—armed with a raw immigrant perspective—shares how early missteps with English and personal familial hardships left her feeling less than enough. About Atsuko Okatsuka:Atsuko Okatsuka is an Asian-American comedian, writer, and actor born in Taiwan and raised in the U.S. She is known for her stand-up special The Intruder and her viral “drop challenge.” Her comedy explores identity, belonging, and personal insecurities. She has performed on HBO, written for TV, and appeared on various comedy platforms, establishing herself as a distinct voice in the stand-up scene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• The Hard Problem of Consciousness | Annaka Harris

  "Everything that we care about, everything we experience, everything we know, we know it through our conscious awareness of it." Consciousness is everything we know, everything we experience. The mystery at the heart of consciousness lies in why our universe – despite teeming with non-conscious matter – is configured in a way where it's having a felt experience from the inside. Modern neuroscience suggests that our intuitions about consciousness are incorrect. And so, it's possible that we've been thinking about consciousness the wrong way entirely, says bestselling author Annaka Harris. Consciousness is everything we know, everything we experience. The mystery at the heart of consciousness lies in why our universe – despite teeming with non-conscious matter – is configured in a way where it's having a felt experience from the inside. Modern neuroscience suggests that our intuitions about consciousness are incorrect. And so, it's possible that we've been thinking about consciousness the wrong way entirely, says bestselling author Annaka Harris. 0:00- The Hard Problem of Consciousness 0:39- Defining consciousness 2:20- Is consciousness more basic in nature? 4:29- Thomas Nagel’s perspective. 6:02- Consciousness vs. thought 7:06- Decision making processes **Summary of the Episode on Consciousness** **1. The Hard Problem of Consciousness** - The central mystery: How does non-conscious matter (atoms, electrons) configure in a way that creates conscious experience? - Why does some matter "feel" something while the rest of the universe does not? **2. Defining Consciousness** - Consciousness is central to everything we know and experience. - It is our direct connection to reality—without it, nothing would matter. - Despite its importance, consciousness remains a scientific and philosophical mystery. **3. Consciousness as a Fundamental Property** - Some theories suggest that consciousness isn’t just a result of complex brain activity. - It may be a fundamental aspect of nature, similar to gravity. - If true, it could mean consciousness exists in more forms than previously thought. **4. The Concept of "Umwelt"** - Different organisms experience reality differently. - Example: Bats use sonar instead of vision, leading to a completely different sensory world. - This challenges our ability to define consciousness in a human-centric way. **5. Decision-Making Without Thought** - Even simple organisms and plants show behaviors that resemble decision-making. - Example: Pea seedlings grow toward water, even responding to the sound of running water. - The parasitic dodder vine chooses its host plant based on light frequencies. - Suggests that basic forms of "awareness" might exist outside of brains. **6. Rethinking Consciousness** - If consciousness is not just a product of complexity, it might be everywhere in some form. - This could mean that even simple processes in nature have a "felt experience." - The idea challenges traditional science but opens new possibilities for understanding life. **Conclusion** - The nature of consciousness remains an open question. - If it’s a fundamental property of the universe, it might extend far beyond human and animal minds. . About Annaka Harris:Annaka Harris is the New York Times bestselling author of CONSCIOUS: A Brief Guide to the Fundamental Mystery of the Mind and writer and producer of the forthcoming audio documentary series, LIGHTS ON. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Nautilus Magazine, the Journal of Consciousness Studies, and IAI Magazine. She is also an editor and consultant for science writers, specializing in neuroscience and physics. Annaka is the author of the children’s book I Wonder, coauthor of the Mindful Games Activity Cards, and a volunteer mindfulness teacher for the organization Inner Kids. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Ben Horowitz: Quit being a coward and do the hard thing | Big Think+

  "You need to run towards the pain and darkness and not away from it. I think the best leaders always run towards the darkness. They always run towards a problem." Much of the management advice we find in books emphasizes using leadership tactics that may seem reasonably obvious. This advice is often easy to follow — but that’s not where leaders run into issues with their strategy, argues Ben Horowitz, founding partner at the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and author of the best-selling book, "The Hard Thing About Hard Things.”Horowitz says that leaders make blunders when they find themselves in highly emotionally charged situations where the emotion prevents them from doing the thing that they intellectually know they need to do. For example, firing a friend or doing a reorganization that causes a very talented employee to lose power. These things are much more difficult, and people often avoid them. But as a leader, you're much better off running at your fear than running away from your fear because it's going to chase you down, emphasizes Horowitz. ‘Management debt’ is what happens when you don't do what you're supposed to. And accruing a lot of management debt has a cascading effect that can create a total degradation of your organization. Here’s how to lead instead. Chapters For Easier Navigation: 0:00: Complicated emotional challenges 1:19: Management debt 2:42: Wartime conditions 4:43: Choosing courage Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Surprise: There was a universe before the Big Bang | Ethan Siegel

  **Where Did the Universe Come From?** For millennia, questions about the origins of the universe were left to poets, philosophers, and theologians. But in the 20th century, science took over the conversation—offering answers that surpassed even our wildest imaginations. Astrophysicist Ethan Siegel breaks down the groundbreaking discoveries that led to our modern understanding of the universe’s origins. From Edwin Hubble’s discovery of distant galaxies to the Big Bang theory and the revolutionary idea of cosmic inflation, this video explores the fundamental forces that shaped everything we see today. How did space and time evolve? What came before the Big Bang? And what mysteries are still left to solve? Find out in this deep dive into the science of our cosmic origins. "Asking the question of, where did the entire universe come from, is no longer a question for poets and theologians and philosophers. This is a question for scientists, and we have some amazing scientific answers to this question that have defied even the wildest of our expectations." Ethan Siegel, theoretical astrophysicist and science communicator, author of the James Webb Space Telescope book, "Infinite Cosmos," and writer of the science blog, "Starts With A Bang" joins us to explore the cosmic origins of our universe. 0:00 - Where did the entire universe come from? 0:57 - A question for scientists 1:43 - The quest for the beginning of the universe 2:21 - Hubble’s telescope 4:09 - Extragalactic objects 5:11 - Blueshifted vs redshifted 6:53 - General theory of relativity 7:50 - The cosmic egg 8:26 - The origin of The Big Bang 9:55 - A cosmological constant 14:24 - Scale invariant spectrum 15:13 - Testing for Cosmic Inflation 19:34 - Our cosmic origins 21:03 - Ethan Siegel, kilt influencer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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