April 3, 2024

Your Ticket to Unleashing Your Own Genius: Learn the Secret Powers of Notable Achievers

Your Ticket to Unleashing Your Own Genius: Learn the Secret Powers of Notable Achievers

What if we could tap into the unique genius of people who have done extraordinary things? What if we could gain access to their mental frameworks or a timeless piece of wisdom that could unlock our own greater hidden genius? In this fireside chat with...

What if we could tap into the unique genius of people who have done extraordinary things? What if we could gain access to their mental frameworks or a timeless piece of wisdom that could unlock our own greater hidden genius? In this fireside chat with a great story-catcher and journalist, Polina Marinova Pompliano shares the unique genius she’s found by studying notable achievers to help us find our own special talents to boost creativity, improve decision making, and strengthen relationships.

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FOURCY Radio. What's working on Purpose? Anyway? Each week we ponder the

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answer to this question. People ache
for meaning and purpose at work, to

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contribute their talents passionately and know their
lives really matter. They crave being part

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of an organization that inspires them and
helps them grow into realizing their highest potential.

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Business can be such a force for
good in the world, elevating humanity.

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In our program, we provide guidance
and inspiration to help usher in this

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world we all want working on Purpose. Now here's your host, doctor Elise

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Cortes. Welcome back to the Working
and Purpose Program. Thanks for arting again

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this week. Great to have you. This program has been on air since

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February of twenty fifteen. It is
a pride and joy for me, happy

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to have you. I'm your host, Doctor Lee's Cortes. If we have

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not met before and you don't know
me, I am an organizational logo therapist

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and an organizational psychologist. I'm a
speaker and an author, and my team

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and I at Gusto Now help companies
to enliven and fortify their operations by articulating

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their purpose and building inspirational leaders and
cultures activated by meeting and purpose. There

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you can find people who are intrinsically
motivated to perform at their best, grow

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into their fuller potential, and are
committed to stay in dynamic deliver on the

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company's mission. You can learn more
about us and now we can work together

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at Gusto, dashnow dot com or
Alascortes dot com. Now. Getting into

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today's program with us today is Paulina
Marinova Pompliano. She's the founder of The

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Profile, a new media company that
features long form profiles of successful people and

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companies each week. Previously, she
spent five years at Fortune, where she

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wrote more than thirteen hundred articles and
earned the trust of prominent investors and entrepreneurs.

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She's the author of Hidden Genius,
The secret ways of thinking that power

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the world's most successful people. To
be talking about today. She does today

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from New York City. Paulina,
Welcome to Working on Purpose. Thank you

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so much for having me. I'm
honored to be here. It's wonderful.

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And as we spoke what we got
on air, I absolutely loved your book

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and I read it cover it to
cover, as I'm prone to do,

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and I was just delighted by all
the things that you taught me. So

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we're going to teach just a few
of these things to our listeners and viewers

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today. Shall we do it?
Let's do it? Okay? Well,

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so first I want to just dig
in. I mean your background, you

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know, working with Fortune where you
wrote all those articles. Amazing. I

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can't even imagine what went into all
that, But I'm interested in, of

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course, why did you pursue a
career in media as a journalist, Why

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not you know, accounting, architecture. Yeah, and it's a good question

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because both of my parents I grew
up in Bulgaria. Both my parents were

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chemical engineers, So I just thought
that I would be some sort of engineer

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or chemist or chemical engineer. So
as you can imagine, all my birthday

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gifts as a kid were like a
chemistry set. So I was really kind

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of moved towards that, and I
thought that's what I would do because I

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didn't know anything different. So I
went to a high school with a science

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program, and I took like organic
chemistry and biochemistry as a freshman in high

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school. But I quickly learned that
I was not good at doing the experiment.

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I wasn't good at any of that
stuff. What I was good at

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was the research aspect of it,
in the writing, so the lab reports,

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Like, I love that stuff,
So you know, everybody else would

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do the experiment and I would be
in charge of writing the fifteen page lab

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report, which everybody in my group
loved. But those two ingredients I knew

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I enjoyed, but science was not
the thing. And then I was lucky

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in that in high school there was
a newspaper's class and I joined that,

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and I quickly realized that journalism was
research writing and talking to interesting people.

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And I was incredibly introverted, but
knowing that that was my job as a

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reporter to interview strangers, that really
helped me come out of my shell.

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But it also helped me learn from
the world's most interesting people. So once

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I started in high school, I
became like a news editor of my high

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school paper. Then I went to
the University of Georgia became editor in chief

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of that college paper, and then
I went on to work at CNNA and

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USA Today and then fortune sounds good
to me, Sign me up. Okay,

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Well, here's where it gets really
interesting. This is where your world

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and my world beautifully collides. So
one of the things that you say in

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your book that I just think is
just yummy. You write, prior to

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founding the profile, that you realize
something really important. You say, stories

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trigger emotion, and emotion triggers memory. And then you said, without I

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had stumbled upon something I like to
call people focused learning, the notion that

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people and their stories are at the
center of any learning pursuit. Yes,

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ma'am, I love that. Yeah, and that's That's. Another thing that

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I learned in school was that I
was being taught like a very standard way

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of here are the facts, here's
the historical event, here's what happened,

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memorize it, come back, take
the test, and move on. The

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problem was that when the test came, I just could not remember the dates,

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the names, the places. So
I was like, I need to

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teach myself another way to study this
stuff, otherwise I'll fail. So it

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was I still remember it was the
French Revolution, and that was something that

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I was like, Wow, this
is an incredible time and history full of

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drama. It read like a soap
opera. So I was like, if

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I can take these characters and if
I can turn the people into characters and

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create a story, maybe I can
remember it better because there's emotion now when

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I'm invested. So I started thinking
about Marie Antoinette. Okay, she was

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nineteen years old, this young queen
that people, the regular people hated because

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she became a symbol of excess.
But like the newspapers wrote things that maybe

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weren't true about her. How did
she feel? And it was always like

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how did that person feel? That
allowed me to empathize with them. That

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then triggered my emotion, and that
triggered my memory. When people ask someone,

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hey, do you remember where you
were on September eleventh, people normally

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say yes because there's so much raw
emotion around that event that it sticks in

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your memory. So another thing that
gets interesting too about us then, Polena

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is you talk about, of course, you know, triggering emotion and then

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triggering memory. Actually the Olympic brain
is where that happens, and you probably

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know and that is the same place
that that meaning is registered. Interest connected.

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Yeah, it's connected. So it's
just it's that's what makes it sticky

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as well. So I think all
the more reason that I absolutely love this

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whole approach of you learning, going
to go find somebody that really embodies what

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it is that you want to learn
and their story and looking for their hidden

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genius. I just think that is
just so compelling. So you know,

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your whole bit about that you've taught
us that we can actually learn things to

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strengthen our relationships and prove our decision
making by watching what these people do in

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their own genius way, And which
is what we're going to We're going to

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share some of the some of the
stories and some of the genius you have

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in your book. But that is
such a fresh perspective, right I.

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So the reason that I approach it
like this is because most people when they

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want to learn about something, they
look up that thing and then read the

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Wikipedia page. Right course, that's
right. Yeah, but but there's no

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there's a real story, and it
doesn't really stick into you in your memory.

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What I like to do is I
like to say, Okay, well

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what I like to learn about this
week. Let's say it's making good decisions

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in times of uncertainty. If that's
the thing that I want to learn about,

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who is the best person who can
teach me? And I don't necessarily

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have to know that person personally.
Maybe I can just research them and find

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out how they navigated their life to
get to this to make decisions in times

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of uncertainty. So the person that
I found for that specific thing was Anny

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Duke. She's a poker player.
She has to make decisions in times of

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uncertainty and how does she do that? And the reason that it's so much

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better to learn through a people focused
lens is that facts and historical events don't

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exist in a vacuum of there's only
one way to look at it. If

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you look at how the pandemic of
twenty twenty affected you, me and a

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single mom with five kids, it's
completely different. So it's like, yes,

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the facts are the same, but
the context and the story and the

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emotion is totally different. Yeah,
It was only when I got into college

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and started looking at history from a
different perspective, and I had a fantastic

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professor who told stories about history that
I actually learned it. I never learned

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the events and the dates either,
because they didn't they didn't contextualize. So

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I totally get that. Okay,
So now I want to share some of

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the genius that you have in the
book. And there's just a few.

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There's so many. Of course we
can't talk about them all, but let's

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just talk about there's a chapter on
unleashing creativity, and of course you talk

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about I'm not sure how to say
his name, of Shots, it's actually

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pronounced Akts. But Aktz founded a
restaurant called Alina, which is named the

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best restaurant in the world by a
luxury travel magazine, Elite Traveler in twenty

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eighteen, almost twenty years ago.
And you say it's one part laboratory on,

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one part censorium, and one part
theater, and that a guest to

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serve anywhere from seventeen to nineteen courses, a meal that structures the echoes and

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effective chapters in a book. I
love that. And then you go on

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and this just so got me so
delicious this idea that Alinya's most iconic dishes

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over the years include ready for this
Listeners of yours, a pillow of nutmeg

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air, a black truffle explosion,
and an edible helium filled floating balloon.

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That is so amazing that the human
mind can come up with this right.

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And I really love Grant actcess story
because, as you know if you've read

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the book, he was this genius
chef, his restaurant became number one in

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the world, and then, just
as fate would have it, he got

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he was diagnosed with stage four tongue
cancer and people are like, oh,

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my goodness, you know, how
will the best chef in the world continue

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to be creative if you lost a
sense of taste? And what Grant learned

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in that process was that actually,
a very small portion of your taste comes

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from your taste buds on your tongue, a very large portion comes from your

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eyes so visually, and your nos
and the sense of smell. So he

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would experiment with things like, okay, what if I made a dish where

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the tomatoes or strawberries look like tomatoes, but then you taste them and you

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think you're eating a tomato, but
it's actually a strawberry. What does that

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do to your senses? Your vision's
failing you, things like that. So

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he in the process where he quote
unquote lost his sense of taste, he

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actually became even more creative. And
I found that fascinating. All the little

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things that you mentioned. He sees
it as chapters in a book, because

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he sees the dining experience as a
story to be told and not just you

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know, dishes to be served.
I hope listeners of viewers that you listen

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to this and it opens something in
your mind and your hearts in terms of

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how you might go about creating.
The other thing that you have in your

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book that I think is really interesting
too, relative to creativity, as you

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talk about how if you can just
look at two different things and try to

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see what connects them, that creativity
can be sparked. I think that's really

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really like, Yeah, of course
I can see how that pine cone is

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related to that thing of putting over
there. Of course I can see that,

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right, And I think that is
so enriching and so exciting. Yeah,

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there have been studies that have been
done that a lot of creative people

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actually take two totally disparate and different
items and draw links between them. But

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it's natural for the brain when you
have two different things, for the brain

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to naturally draw connections between them,
even if they're not related at all.

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And maybe this goes back to creating
meaning. Sometimes when something happens to you

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and then you go on to do
something else, maybe there are two totally

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different things, but you're like,
oh, you create the meaning and then

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there's a relationship between those things now. But a lot of like da Vinci

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would take a sponge of paint and
throw it at the wall, and as

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the paint dripped down the wall,
he would look and see different shapes and

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you know, creativity with spark from
that, and it's like, why did

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he do that. It's because it's
totally completely different things that he wouldn't normally

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put together that allowed him to exercise
his creativity muscle. Oh, I'm so

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working on this. I'm so folding
that into my into my practice. Thank

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you. Okay. So, then
one of the other things that you said

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that I thought was pretty fascinating is
you said original creators typically have three characters

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in common. You say, they
have a unique point of view on the

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world. They are confident they can
achieve an ambitious goal, and they are

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willing to fail spectacularly in the name
of creating something revolutionary. M Yeah,

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in that chapter, I really learned
that a lot of people think they're original

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creators, but they're they're really not. And I thought about this as I

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looked at truly original thinkers, people
like Grant Akeets or Elon Musk, or

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people who are trying to revolutionize entire
industries. It's really really hard to be

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original because there's incumbents who will come
for you and say this is nonsense.

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You know, very few people believe, if any, and then you have

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to be crazy enough and courageous enough
to continue to see your vision through even

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in the face of all this.
And so I remember reading Tim urban Is,

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a blogger. He wrote he has
this blog called Wait but Why,

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and he wrote this four part series
on Elon Musk and he said that in

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our society. Here's how he talked
about originality. He said that there's the

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true original creators, who are the
chefs. They create the recipes, they

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invent the methods of putting these ingredients
together. It's completely new, and that's

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the blueprint. Everybody else is a
cook in that kitchen. Who that then

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takes that recipe and maybe they won't
a little bit, but it's still a

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derivative of that original recipe, So
it's not that original, it's just maybe

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modified. So it's like it's worth
asking yourself, you know, if I

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have this crazy idea, is it
really truly original or is it just derivative

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of something that's already existed. I
think that's an incredible distinction to make,

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and I certainly the other thing that
I was getting present to as you were

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sharing that is, if you're going
to persevere in that level, in my

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mind from the work that I do, you have got to be passionate.

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You have got to fuel this energy
in yourself to keep going. And I

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really admire that absolutely, And that's
I think that passion is so so hard

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to do. When in the intro
when I was listening, it said that

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you've been doing the show for nine
years almost ten, And that's true consistency,

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and I actually think that discipline and
consistency are the two hardest things to

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continue, even though consistency plus discipline
over a long period of time is what

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equals trust. Oh, I remember
you were reading writing about that in the

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book as well. Thank you for
that. I really appreciate that. Yes,

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it is a labor of love,
and it truly is a passion.

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So all right, let's let our
listeners and viewers chew on a few things

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we were just talking about there pun
intended. I'm your host, doctor at

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Least Cortez, who went on there
with Paulina Marinova Pompano. She's the founder

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of The Profile, the new media
company that features long form profiles of successful

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people and companies each week. She's
the author of The Hidden Genius, The

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secret ways of thinking that power the
world's most successful people. We've been talking

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a bit about some of the genius
in her in her book. After the

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Break, we're going to cover mastering
mental toughness and also unlocking healthy relationships.

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Stay with us, we'll be right
back. Doctor Elise Cortes is a management

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consultant specializing in meaning and purpose.
An inspirational speaker and author. She helps

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companies visioneer for greater purpose among stakeholders
and develop purpose inspired leadership and meaning infused

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cultures that elevate fulfillment, performance,
and commitment within the workforce. To learn

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more or to invite alease to speak
to your organization. Please visit her at

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00:17:21.880 --> 00:17:26.880
Elisecortes dot com. Let's talk about
how to get your employees working on purpose.

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00:17:32.480 --> 00:17:36.559
This is working on Purpose with doctor
Elise Cortes. To reach our program

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00:17:36.599 --> 00:17:40.799
today or to open a conversation with
Elise, send an email to Alise A

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00:17:41.200 --> 00:17:52.640
Lisee at Eliscortes dot com. Now
back to working on Purpose. Thanks for

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00:17:52.640 --> 00:17:55.200
staying with us and welcome back to
working on Purpose. I'm your host,

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00:17:55.279 --> 00:17:57.720
doctor Elise Cortes, as I too, am dedicated to creating a world where

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people realize their potential work. They
are led by inspirational leaders that help them

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find and contribute their greatness, and
we do business of betters the world.

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My last book came out in March
of twenty twenty three. It's called The

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Great Revitalization. How activating meeting and
purpose can radically in life in your business.

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And I wrote it to help leaders
understand the changed workforce that they find

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themselves in today and give them twenty
two best practices to be able to address

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and create a destination workplace to attract
them. You can find more at at

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least coquretest dot com or grab it
on Amazon if you are just joining us

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00:18:30.559 --> 00:18:33.839
today. My guest is Paulina Marinova
Pampliano. She's the author of Hidden Genius,

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The Secret Ways of Thinking that power
the world's most successful people, which

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is delightful in every way. Okay, so this next one, we're going

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to talk about pain, and pain
is something I'm just going to say right

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out loud and directly. I'm not
good at it. I've been good at

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pain, none of us are.
I am not good at it. But

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I love your chapter on focusing on
mastering mental toughness, and you you feature

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a person named Goggins who's an expert
in self talk, and he's convinced himself

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that pain is a gatekeeper that holds
the key to the greatest things in life.

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Pain, he says, unlocks a
secret doorway in the mind, one

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that leads to both peak performance and
beautiful silence. Masters of suffering don't see

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pain as discomfort or torture that happens
to them. They see it as a

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living being that lets their mind in
on the secret that takes him to the

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next level. That's astounding. He's
an astounding guy, I think so.

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For those of you who don't know
David Goggins, he used to be severely

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overweight. He was working kind of
at a dead end job. He didn't

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see any purpose or meaning in his
life. One day, he came home,

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he sat on the couch and was
drinking his like shape from sake and

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shake, watching TV. When he
saw a program on the Navy Seals Hell

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Week, which is this one week. It's like a grueling mental and physical

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challenges that they have to undergo.
Most of them don't pass. And he

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saw this program and he said,
I'm going to become a Navy Seal.

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And it's just like, at that
point in his life, that was an

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insane statement. He went on to
completely rewire his mind and his body,

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and he became an ultra runner.
He runs distances of over one hundred miles.

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But he also became a Navy seal. And when you hear him talk

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or you read his book, you
hear about all the different mental techniques that

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he's used, and they're so helpful. For example, he used something called

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the accountability mirror. So he's like, if you're just starting out, you

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have to look at yourself in the
mirror and see your honest reflection. When

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he saw himself, he said to
himself in the mirror. You're fat,

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you're lazy, and you lie all
the time. And it may sound really

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harsh, but he's like, you
have to say those things in order to

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change them, because the next question
is, now, what are you going

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to do about it? And he
posted all these sticky notes around the mirror

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saying, you know, I'm going
to go one day without lying for external

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validation, or I'm going to go
on a two mile run, or i

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will clean my house even when I
don't want to. Things like that that

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forced him to create small new habits
until he became the person that he wanted

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to be. There's just so much
we can learn from that. And that's

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one of the other things that I
really applaud about your book, Pauline,

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is that you really situated this.
You situated the beginning of your book that

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this is not a book to idolize
the people that you talk about, it's

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to learn from them. And I
really appreciate that. It's just a there's

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something for us all to learn that. I also really appreciate this notion that

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and you do it also with criticism
in the book, where you make pain

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its own being that's well, not
you, but the people that you're studying,

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and I think that's really really fascinating, and there's a lot of access

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to that too. I think for
us to think about pain as this other

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being here like Goggins does, fascinating. Yeah, it's if You'll notice a

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lot of ultra athletes personify pain.
So in the book, I highlight David

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Goggins for him, he personifies pain
in a way where it's like, oh,

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I enter this dark room and it's
me versus me, and then I

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come out on the other side and
I'm a much stronger version of myself.

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He sees pain as this place.
Courtney Dalwalter, she's one of the most

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successful endurance athletes in the world.
She personifies pain and that she sees it

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again as a place. She sees
this pain cave. And the reason she

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sees a pain cave. She's like, I am equally is in control of

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like when I enter and when I
leave. So she's in control that whole

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time. So as she's running over
one hundred two hundred miles, she's like,

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I know I'm approaching it. I
know I'm going to be in it.

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She's had bleeding head injuries, vomiting
hallucinations and she's run through all of

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that, and she's like, I
don't see pain as a sign that I

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should stop. I see it as
something that it's going to happen. I

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expect it to happen. And then
she comes out on the other side again,

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you know, having been through this
pain cave. But sometimes it's not

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just athletes. It's people who all
of us will at some point be shoved

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in the pain cave against our will
involuntarily. And one person that I highlight

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his name is Anthony Ray Hinton,
and he was wrongfully in prison for thirty

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years. He spent time on death
row. He was you know, in

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solitary confinement for a period of time, but he remained his sanity and when

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people ask him how, he said
that same thing. It's kind of like

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I knew that that cell, you
know that that was my pain cave.

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But he started thinking about day dreaming
about you know, winning Wimbledon or having

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tea with the queen and things like
that. He was able to personify this

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thing as a place that's temporary and
have his mind to wander. So it's

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like these these places, these pain
caves, solitary confinement cell or you know,

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your dark bathroom that Goggins refers to
are almost places of metamorphosis. You

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go in as one type of person
and then you come out the other side

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as somebody totally different. That is
so powerful, and really what I want

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to celebrate in that is two things. One the power of the human mind

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the power of the human spirit.
I think that is. If that doesn't

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just excite you, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know what's going to do

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it for you. All right,
well, now let's talk about this notion

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of being able to unlock some healthy
relationships. I really really was riveted by

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your story of talking about Chris Voss, who is the FBI's lead national kidnapping

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negotiator, the twenty four year career
mastering the art of listening, and he

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used several strategies when talking with bank
robbers and kidnappers that I thought were really

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interesting, And there were three of
them in particular, if maybe you can

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just touch on they were listening,
mirroring, and labeling. Even just the

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way he used his voice and lowered
his voice was really fascinating. Yes,

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I really love this because when I
was telling my friends, I was writing

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a book and one of the chapters
was on relationships, and I was like,

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and then I'm talking about this guy
who's a hostage negotiator, and they're

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like, what kind of book is
this? So, but it's truly amazing

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that you can learn so much about
healthy relationships from hostage negotiation because it's those

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are extreme situations where you have to
develop rapport quickly and you have to get

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the other party to trust you,
and you have to build a relationship in

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a very short amount of time.
So he Chris Voss, there was in

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the book I talk about this bank
robbery excit sample. But he has three

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techniques like you mentioned. In one
of them you'll like because he calls it

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the late night FM DJ voice.
I love that he says, you basically

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have to sound like you're on a
radio show and make your voice very even

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and downward inflecting and calm, calming
to the listener, not how I'm talking

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right now, which is up and
down, up and down. So and

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that kind of voice is applicable in
every situation because basically, the calmer you

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sound, when it hits the other
person's mirror neurons in their head, they

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tend to get calmer as well,
and they tend to match your energy.

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So that's that's that voice. Then
he talks about listening. You have to

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actually listen to what the person is
telling you, not plan on what you're

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gonna say before they finish talking.
And then mirroring. Mirroring is a rapport

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building technique to basically get more information
from the other person without giving any yourself.

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So, for example, if you're
in a relationship and your partner says

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I'm really stressed out, instead of
being like, well, you're always stressed

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out and blah blah, well what
you can say instead is, oh,

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you're really stressed out. You're basically
taking the end of their what they just

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said and turning it into a question. And that shows a that you're listening

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and b that you're curious enough to
gather more information. So he used this

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in the bank robbery negotiation. He
kept just whatever the person said, he

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kept turning it into a question.
They would offer more information. It's just

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human nature to do that. Then
there's labeling in the example Chris Voss tells

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the second bank robber, He's like, Oh, it seems like you got

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roped into this, or it feels
like you're you're being wronged. This labeling

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is a technique used to give uh
basically voice to the other person's feelings,

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and again it's a rapport building technique. It usually starts with something like it

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seems like it looks like it feels
like you're making a statement, and letting

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the other person either correct you or
agree with you, and again, that

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helps strengthen relationship so much because again, you're trying to understand it, you're

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not inserting yourself and your own opinions
into it. I think it's incredibly powerful

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and certainly what I know from the
work that I do Paulina is helping leaders

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to really learn how to really listen
and go looking for what's special and unique

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about someone. It's amazing to me
how people literally melt when you really listen

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to them, because it's so unusual. It's so unusual. Yeah, it

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just a really quick note when I
included this in the book, But it's

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a very small aside that's changed the
way I look at things. When I

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was in college, in my journalism
one on one class, we were supposed

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to write a profile on another student, and I chose somebody, and I

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wasn't really listening to what they were
saying and I was just asking my questions

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and he wasn't really offering anything up. So when I went back to my

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professor and I said, hey,
I need to switch my partner because I

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have chosen the most boring person alive. My professor said, Okay, I

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see what's going on here. Nobody's
inherently boring. They're only boring because it

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means you haven't asked the right questions
yet. So what he was telling me

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is, like you, it's not
the other person's job to entertain you.

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It's your job to come up with
questions that are more probing, follow up

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and actually listen to what they're saying
instead of have your list of questions.

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They don't. They didn't give me
anything good, so I'm just gonna move

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on. I definitely I love talking
with people and asking questions. I everywhere

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I go, I love doing that, So I really relate to that.

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So speaking of talk any people and
asking good questions. Now I want to

398
00:30:00.920 --> 00:30:04.440
get to your notion of your chapter
on telling better stories, and of course

399
00:30:04.480 --> 00:30:08.240
you feature al Pacino, who is
a wonderful favorite actor of mine. I

400
00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:14.480
loved him in sent of a Woman. Oh about underrated movie. I think

401
00:30:14.519 --> 00:30:18.240
it's it is. It's genius in
every way. Everything about that movie,

402
00:30:18.559 --> 00:30:22.759
the story, the actors who created
it are genius. It's one of my

403
00:30:22.839 --> 00:30:26.640
favorite movies. And nobody has ever
seen that al Pacino movie. So I

404
00:30:26.839 --> 00:30:30.160
have times, Well what I loved
about what you shared in your book about

405
00:30:30.200 --> 00:30:33.519
him. I think I have trem
midsusrespect for him. But you talk about

406
00:30:33.559 --> 00:30:37.799
you say his performances are believable because
he seems so natural playing the role.

407
00:30:38.200 --> 00:30:42.920
You say, that's because he doesn't
pretend. He becomes the actor, finds

408
00:30:42.920 --> 00:30:47.720
a sliver of himself in the character
he's about to embody, and steps into

409
00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:51.559
their inner world. When inhabiting a
character, Pacino says, he looks for

410
00:30:51.599 --> 00:30:55.160
the thing that moves him on an
emotional level. Like you've been talking about,

411
00:30:55.799 --> 00:30:59.279
it's not just that he knows what
his character's saying, nor even why

412
00:30:59.319 --> 00:31:03.960
his character is saying it, but
how he feels when saying it. Wow,

413
00:31:03.160 --> 00:31:07.279
that's intense. Yeah, al Patino
is just I got chills when you

414
00:31:07.279 --> 00:31:12.079
were reading that because he's he's a
master at his craft, because he's one

415
00:31:12.119 --> 00:31:21.200
of I think few actors that understands
that, you know, acting, you

416
00:31:21.319 --> 00:31:23.960
have to become, you have to
create this alter ego of this person,

417
00:31:25.480 --> 00:31:30.680
and al Patino understands very well that
every character is kind of complicated. In

418
00:31:30.759 --> 00:31:34.440
every role, he brings kind of
a part of himself that maybe wasn't in

419
00:31:34.519 --> 00:31:37.839
the script, but he made it
up because he was like, nobody is

420
00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:42.480
inherently just good, and nobody's inherently
just bad. So all his characters are

421
00:31:42.519 --> 00:31:47.920
kind of complicated and sentible. Woman. I mean, he's he's a he's

422
00:31:47.920 --> 00:31:52.160
a protagonist, but he's also very
kind of complicated, and he's let this

423
00:31:52.359 --> 00:32:00.000
life of regrets. So so when
he when he acts, he actually became.

424
00:32:00.599 --> 00:32:05.440
And I took this technique into my
own world when I was studying these

425
00:32:05.440 --> 00:32:08.519
people for my newsletter, The Profile, I would choose one person a week

426
00:32:08.880 --> 00:32:14.279
and I would just study everything.
I would watch videos of them being interviewed.

427
00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:17.319
I would listen to podcasts. I
would make notes of things that they

428
00:32:17.359 --> 00:32:22.160
repeated on multiple podcasts. I'm like, huh, that must be important to

429
00:32:22.200 --> 00:32:24.799
them, or I would. You
would be amazed at how much you can

430
00:32:24.880 --> 00:32:30.160
learn just by watching someone. And
the more interviews that I saw, I'd

431
00:32:30.200 --> 00:32:32.440
be like, Okay, look do
they use their hands to communicate a lot?

432
00:32:32.519 --> 00:32:37.880
Do they lean in? Do they
lean out very what are they trying

433
00:32:37.880 --> 00:32:43.480
to omit and what are they trying
to emphasize? And I would make it

434
00:32:43.559 --> 00:32:46.559
a challenge for myself. For example, when I was studying David Goggins,

435
00:32:46.839 --> 00:32:50.559
I was like, what would it
be like if I saw the world this

436
00:32:50.680 --> 00:32:54.119
week through his eyes? So I
would quote unquote become by being like,

437
00:32:54.359 --> 00:32:59.240
all right, well it's raining outside. But I told myself I'd run three

438
00:32:59.240 --> 00:33:02.200
miles. David Goggins would go run
three miles in the rain, So I

439
00:33:02.200 --> 00:33:06.880
would do that. And it's just
like when you become you try on different

440
00:33:06.960 --> 00:33:08.960
identities and you're like, ooh,
I like this. I do not like

441
00:33:09.000 --> 00:33:13.759
that. And like you mentioned,
I said that this book is not about

442
00:33:13.799 --> 00:33:19.720
idolizing imperfect people. It's more about
learning from them. Because al Pacino master,

443
00:33:19.960 --> 00:33:24.279
absolute master of his craft. He
has pretty awful personal relationships. So

444
00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:29.480
it's like you can't there's trade offs
to every level of success, and success

445
00:33:29.559 --> 00:33:32.400
doesn't exist in a vacuum, so
you have to be very mindful that you

446
00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:37.039
are selecting and choosing certain things to
learn from these people, not idolizing them.

447
00:33:37.079 --> 00:33:40.799
One For one, I really like
the idea of stepping into somebody's world

448
00:33:40.799 --> 00:33:44.160
like that. I'm gonna I'm gonna
do that. Thank you, Paulina.

449
00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:46.200
Yeah, all right, let's love. Let's grab our last break. I'm

450
00:33:46.200 --> 00:33:51.200
your host, doctor release Cortez.
We've been on the air with Paulina Marinova

451
00:33:51.240 --> 00:33:54.119
Pomplano. She's the founder of The
Profile, a new media company that features

452
00:33:54.160 --> 00:33:59.119
long form profiles of successful people and
companies each week. She's the author of

453
00:33:59.200 --> 00:34:02.279
Hidden Genius, The secret ways of
thinking that power the world's most successful people.

454
00:34:02.519 --> 00:34:22.840
We'll be right back. Doctor Elise
Cortes is a management consultant specializing in

455
00:34:22.920 --> 00:34:27.760
meaning and purpose. An inspirational speaker
and author, she helps companies visioneer for

456
00:34:27.840 --> 00:34:32.519
greater purpose among stakeholders and develop purpose
inspired leadership and meaning infused cultures that elevate

457
00:34:32.559 --> 00:34:37.960
fulfillment, performance, and commitment within
the workforce. To learn more or to

458
00:34:37.000 --> 00:34:42.480
invite a lease to speak to your
organization, please visit her at Elisecortes dot

459
00:34:42.519 --> 00:34:51.960
com. Let's talk about how to
get your employees working on purpose. This

460
00:34:52.119 --> 00:34:55.559
is working on purpose with doctor Elise
Cortes. To reach our program today or

461
00:34:55.599 --> 00:35:00.679
to open a conversation with Elise,
send an email to a lease Ali se

462
00:35:01.000 --> 00:35:10.840
at at least Coortes dot com now
back to working on Purpose. Thanks for

463
00:35:10.880 --> 00:35:14.320
stating with us, and welcome back
to working on Purpose. I'm your host,

464
00:35:14.400 --> 00:35:16.480
doctor eur Lee's Cortes. As I
mentioned in the last break, that

465
00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:20.320
latest book that I brought out in
March of twenty twenty three, called The

466
00:35:20.360 --> 00:35:23.079
Great Vitalization. What I did for
you to help you along in that journey

467
00:35:23.400 --> 00:35:28.400
is I gave you a three page
assessment, organizational best practices assessment to see

468
00:35:28.719 --> 00:35:31.599
to what extent is your organization actually
meeting the needs of today's workforce. So

469
00:35:31.639 --> 00:35:37.480
you can find it at Gustodashnow dot
com or at least Coortes dot com if

470
00:35:37.480 --> 00:35:40.079
you are just joining me today.
My guest is Paulina Marinova Pompliano. She's

471
00:35:40.119 --> 00:35:44.599
the author of Hidden Genius, The
Secret Ways of Thinking that power the world's

472
00:35:44.599 --> 00:35:49.480
most successful people. So this next
one I thought was really really fascinating.

473
00:35:49.480 --> 00:35:52.440
There were so many things in here
that just really tickled me and thought,

474
00:35:52.480 --> 00:35:54.199
there's so much you could do with
this if you even just if I just

475
00:35:54.360 --> 00:35:58.599
were to employ three or four the
things that you have in your book,

476
00:35:58.760 --> 00:36:02.320
I believe my life would be change. That's how valuable I think your book

477
00:36:02.440 --> 00:36:08.599
is. So what I loved.
Was this notion of you talk about the

478
00:36:09.000 --> 00:36:15.159
legendary investor Charlie Munger, and he
has iron prescription, as you say,

479
00:36:15.400 --> 00:36:17.480
to make sure he doesn't become a
slave to his beliefs, he says.

480
00:36:17.840 --> 00:36:21.400
You quote him is saying, I'm
not entitled to have an opinion on this

481
00:36:21.480 --> 00:36:25.440
subject unless I can state the arguments
against my position better than the people who

482
00:36:25.480 --> 00:36:29.920
are supporting it, he says,
And then he goes on to say,

483
00:36:29.960 --> 00:36:34.360
I think only when I reach that
stage am I qualified to speak. Wow,

484
00:36:34.719 --> 00:36:40.320
that is incredibly talk about discipline and
thorough if I can actually state my

485
00:36:40.400 --> 00:36:45.880
opposer's views better than they can before
I speak. What I said in my

486
00:36:45.920 --> 00:36:51.000
notes is how that would radically change
politics in our country, oh Man,

487
00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:54.719
among other things. Yeah, well, Charlie. Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett

488
00:36:54.719 --> 00:37:00.639
are known to say when somebody asked
them a question about something they don't know

489
00:37:00.840 --> 00:37:04.960
that well, they're known to say, you know, this is outside of

490
00:37:04.960 --> 00:37:08.440
my circle of competence. I cannot
argue the other side better than the other

491
00:37:08.480 --> 00:37:12.719
person yet, so I don't have
an opinion. I think. I think

492
00:37:12.760 --> 00:37:17.679
that's so rare in our society now, mainly because I as you'll know if

493
00:37:17.719 --> 00:37:22.480
you read the book. I'm like
really obsessed with cults. And the reason

494
00:37:22.519 --> 00:37:24.480
I'm obsessed with colts, I'm like
people always say, oh, never,

495
00:37:24.639 --> 00:37:28.360
I would never join a cult,
and then you read these stories and you're

496
00:37:28.400 --> 00:37:30.960
like, this is a successful person
who leads, you know, a huge

497
00:37:31.000 --> 00:37:35.599
company. How do they get roped
into this? And it's very much because

498
00:37:36.039 --> 00:37:38.760
it's you know, the world starts
being presented to them as black and white,

499
00:37:39.039 --> 00:37:44.199
zero context, zero nuance, and
then you start seeing things as oh,

500
00:37:44.239 --> 00:37:47.840
of course, this is the only
way. But if you employ this

501
00:37:49.280 --> 00:37:54.039
iron prescription of there's always another side, there's always another layer. What can

502
00:37:54.079 --> 00:38:00.960
I learn and how can I argue
that better than my own position? Maybe

503
00:38:00.000 --> 00:38:04.920
I'll learn something, Maybe I'll change
my mind. I think the biggest travesty

504
00:38:05.000 --> 00:38:08.239
of our society today is that people
just are unwilling to change their mind as

505
00:38:08.280 --> 00:38:14.559
new information comes in. That clinging
to surety is one of the things that

506
00:38:14.599 --> 00:38:17.039
I also work on my programs with
people is to help them just remove the

507
00:38:17.119 --> 00:38:21.440
surety. How do you know right? How do you what? What?

508
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:24.079
What's the evidence that shows you that
to be so? And so it's part

509
00:38:24.079 --> 00:38:28.639
of it is just slowly you know, decoupling from that surety which is so

510
00:38:28.719 --> 00:38:31.320
comforting. Yes, that's and it's
so hard. That's a really good example

511
00:38:31.360 --> 00:38:36.519
of how to invite uncertainty in your
life because most people are so sure because

512
00:38:36.519 --> 00:38:40.719
they're scared of uncertainty. But what
if uncertainty can actually help you become more

513
00:38:40.800 --> 00:38:45.559
well rounded? So true, And
again I just thought there was so much

514
00:38:45.599 --> 00:38:49.159
to that. Okay, so this
is interesting. This next thing I want

515
00:38:49.159 --> 00:38:52.199
to talk about here, I'm going
to be on a panel talking about the

516
00:38:52.239 --> 00:38:55.559
severity of loneliness here on Valentine's Day. So what I wanted to get to,

517
00:38:55.760 --> 00:39:00.840
Yeah, on Valentine's Day, perfect
right, it's but you know that

518
00:39:00.880 --> 00:39:05.199
whole the loneliness thing, as you
know, is is an epidemic and it's

519
00:39:05.239 --> 00:39:08.360
it's deadly. So I really liked
what you wrote about in your book around

520
00:39:08.360 --> 00:39:13.320
building an engaged community and you talk
about how and this is where this really

521
00:39:13.360 --> 00:39:16.559
starts to get into my world beautifully
is you talk about how our culture sense

522
00:39:16.559 --> 00:39:22.599
contradictory messages because it doesn't know the
difference between solitude and loneliness. You say,

523
00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:27.880
solitude helps us regulate emotions, while
loneliness dulls them. That's really interesting.

524
00:39:28.199 --> 00:39:29.960
So I want if you could speak
a little bit to that, and

525
00:39:30.000 --> 00:39:34.079
then I want to have you well
speak about what Steve Cole from UCLA is

526
00:39:34.159 --> 00:39:37.400
putting forth as well in your book. Yeah, so solitude. The difference

527
00:39:37.440 --> 00:39:45.840
between solitude and loneliness is almost about
the perception you have between about the closeness

528
00:39:45.840 --> 00:39:51.679
of your ties. So you know
how you've heard the phrase lonely in a

529
00:39:51.719 --> 00:39:54.840
room full of people. The reason
that can happen is because we have so

530
00:39:54.920 --> 00:40:00.280
many, so many ties. But
if our perception of those relationships are that

531
00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:05.639
they're weak and those people aren't really
our friends, you can find yourself really,

532
00:40:05.679 --> 00:40:12.480
really lonely. Whereas if solitude is
where you enjoy spending time alone,

533
00:40:12.880 --> 00:40:16.119
even if you only have two relationships, but they're really really strong and you

534
00:40:16.280 --> 00:40:21.800
perceive them to be that way,
you don't feel lonely. And I thought

535
00:40:21.800 --> 00:40:24.719
it was really interesting. I read
this profile of Elon Musk, and you

536
00:40:24.760 --> 00:40:30.920
know, he's the richest man on
earth, he's very successful, and then

537
00:40:30.719 --> 00:40:35.000
the reporter is like, okay,
well what about your relationships, And as

538
00:40:35.039 --> 00:40:37.679
you know, his relationships are all
over the place, and he's like,

539
00:40:37.719 --> 00:40:40.440
I always I always have to have
somebody next to me sleeping next to me.

540
00:40:40.519 --> 00:40:44.280
I cannot be alone. It kills
me. And he's like, what

541
00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:49.360
do you mean. You're surrounded by
people all the time. And the reporter

542
00:40:49.440 --> 00:40:54.199
makes a note that if you're going
to be lonely at the top, if

543
00:40:54.239 --> 00:41:00.559
you were lonely at the bottom,
success and money and wealth and material possessions

544
00:41:00.599 --> 00:41:07.000
don't change your perception of your relationships
with people. I think this is really

545
00:41:07.039 --> 00:41:08.840
really important, hugely important to talk
about. I know, for me,

546
00:41:09.000 --> 00:41:13.920
I savor my solitude. I love
my piece, I love my that's where

547
00:41:13.960 --> 00:41:17.039
I write and create and consider and
ponder, et cetera. So and I

548
00:41:17.079 --> 00:41:21.360
really like I like my own company, especially when I talk back, when

549
00:41:21.360 --> 00:41:25.880
I ask questions. Right, yeah, exactly now, it's it's it's you

550
00:41:27.280 --> 00:41:30.719
know, the difference, you know
if you're lonely and you know if you're

551
00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:34.800
in solitude, absolutely and I've certainly
felt both over the years. Absolutely.

552
00:41:35.840 --> 00:41:38.320
Well. There then this wonderful sort
of antidote that you have here that I

553
00:41:38.360 --> 00:41:43.920
of course completely align with you talk
about Steve Cole, the UCLA professor whose

554
00:41:43.960 --> 00:41:46.480
research suggests that one of the most
effective ways to break the cycle of chronic

555
00:41:46.559 --> 00:41:51.679
loneliness is to pursue a goal or
a sense of purpose larger than yourself,

556
00:41:51.719 --> 00:41:55.280
ideally one that requires you to interact
and cooperate with other people. Yeah,

557
00:41:55.559 --> 00:41:59.199
it's all about I mean, it's
all about purpose and meaning. Right.

558
00:42:00.239 --> 00:42:05.320
There's a story I tell in the
book of this guy who was a successful

559
00:42:05.320 --> 00:42:08.599
baseball player and then and then he
went to jail for a number of reasons.

560
00:42:08.840 --> 00:42:15.079
But it was actually when he was
imprisoned that he found his purpose.

561
00:42:15.599 --> 00:42:20.000
And he was like, oh my
gosh, you know I can work with

562
00:42:20.079 --> 00:42:24.079
these other people. I can help
them read and learn and and all this

563
00:42:24.119 --> 00:42:28.079
stuff. And it's like, how
can you find your purpose in prison?

564
00:42:28.199 --> 00:42:34.239
That's how, because suddenly he has
meaning, and that meaning can absolutely transform

565
00:42:34.239 --> 00:42:37.880
your life because you feel like you're
working towards a greater good and it's not

566
00:42:38.159 --> 00:42:43.760
just about yourself, right, which
is exactly of course, the definition of

567
00:42:43.760 --> 00:42:46.119
purpose. Purpose is always about serving
other people. And then if we layer

568
00:42:46.199 --> 00:42:52.440
in like a logo therapeutic term,
self transcendence, which is always about serving

569
00:42:52.440 --> 00:42:55.000
other people too, and that the
second that you're serving other people, you're

570
00:42:55.000 --> 00:42:59.159
not focused on yourself anymore, and
you start to feel like you matter.

571
00:43:00.599 --> 00:43:05.920
That's why it works that you feel
like you're making a difference your person,

572
00:43:06.039 --> 00:43:09.199
your contribution makes makes a difference.
Yes, And that's why you know,

573
00:43:09.360 --> 00:43:13.920
during this pandemic when a lot of
people spent time alone and they're like,

574
00:43:14.000 --> 00:43:19.039
I have what am I working on? And it's that like, you have

575
00:43:19.079 --> 00:43:23.239
to be very intentional about finding things
like this to do, because it's not

576
00:43:23.320 --> 00:43:27.159
just going to fall into your lap. You have to go out there and

577
00:43:27.199 --> 00:43:32.920
seek something out where you can make
the world somewhat better in some unique way.

578
00:43:35.159 --> 00:43:38.159
You're reminding me. I had occasion
to pick up and meet meet and

579
00:43:38.199 --> 00:43:43.800
pick up a new friend named doctor
Neha Sanguan and she and I'm I at

580
00:43:43.840 --> 00:43:45.960
the early part of the pandemic,
and we decided to do something to try

581
00:43:45.960 --> 00:43:50.559
to help people. So we created
this online community cafe. We had people

582
00:43:50.559 --> 00:43:53.199
from all over the globe literally signing
in. It was free, and we

583
00:43:53.199 --> 00:43:58.280
were helping people to deal with that
all the unknowns of the pandemic. And

584
00:43:58.320 --> 00:44:00.880
it was our way of trying to
do something to be of service because frankly,

585
00:44:00.920 --> 00:44:05.480
we needed it for ourselves to be
of service. And we met amazing

586
00:44:05.480 --> 00:44:07.599
people around the world that are still
connected to us. That's amazing. That's

587
00:44:07.639 --> 00:44:10.599
exactly what it is. Yeah,
it was great. So I highly recommend

588
00:44:10.639 --> 00:44:14.000
this. Who do you want to
help and what do you want to help

589
00:44:14.039 --> 00:44:17.559
them with? Go find them and
your life becomes instantaneously better. Okay,

590
00:44:17.559 --> 00:44:20.400
we're getting close to on it,
and I got a couple more things I

591
00:44:20.400 --> 00:44:23.480
still want to get out of you. I love this whole idea of optimizing

592
00:44:23.519 --> 00:44:29.440
your content diet. I tried to
be very, very mindful and intentional about

593
00:44:29.480 --> 00:44:31.840
everything. Where what am I reading, who am I hanging out with,

594
00:44:32.480 --> 00:44:36.039
what do I listen to when I'm
getting ready in the morning, all those

595
00:44:36.079 --> 00:44:38.079
kind of things. So if you
could speak a little bit to this content

596
00:44:38.159 --> 00:44:44.280
diet optimization, yes, So I
first became aware that we have a content

597
00:44:44.360 --> 00:44:49.760
diet when I was had recently just
moved to New York. I was working,

598
00:44:49.880 --> 00:44:54.199
but I was more in the stage
of I love reality television and watch

599
00:44:54.280 --> 00:44:59.400
The Bachelor or The Bachelorette, like
all the trashy TV shows I was consuming.

600
00:45:00.079 --> 00:45:04.559
And then I started to notice how
my thought patterns started changing, and

601
00:45:04.639 --> 00:45:07.039
I started seeing the world through this
lens of relationships, and I was like,

602
00:45:07.079 --> 00:45:10.039
why is this happening? I would
you know? I would my friend

603
00:45:10.079 --> 00:45:13.360
would say something and I'd be like, ooh, is she mad at me?

604
00:45:13.480 --> 00:45:16.760
Is this? And I would double
guess everything because I was seeing the

605
00:45:16.800 --> 00:45:22.679
world through this like warped carnival mirror
thing of relationships, and it was because

606
00:45:22.679 --> 00:45:27.679
I was consuming all this junk content. So I was like, what if

607
00:45:27.719 --> 00:45:31.800
I just improve the types of content
that I'm putting into my brain. It's

608
00:45:31.880 --> 00:45:37.360
almost like I heard this once where
they said that you're born with your hardware,

609
00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:40.159
which is your brain, but then
all the software is all the content

610
00:45:40.199 --> 00:45:45.079
that you're putting into it constantly,
which is why some people, if they

611
00:45:45.079 --> 00:45:50.719
have outdated software, seem like they're
operating on iOS seven while everybody else is

612
00:45:50.760 --> 00:45:54.480
on iOS fourteen or whatever it is. It's because they stopped putting quality information

613
00:45:54.559 --> 00:45:58.639
into their brain. They're just like
stuck in their old ways with their old

614
00:45:58.679 --> 00:46:02.719
way of thinking. And and it's
again this like growth mindset type thing.

615
00:46:04.119 --> 00:46:07.599
But the content diet, I'm like, Okay, if you're seeing the world

616
00:46:07.639 --> 00:46:10.960
through a lens of like negativity,
or you feel like it's just gloomy all

617
00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:15.119
the time, make it a point
to go through your day and just audit

618
00:46:16.000 --> 00:46:21.239
what you're listening to, what you're
watching. You know, what you're browsing

619
00:46:21.239 --> 00:46:23.960
on the internet, how you're spending
your time, and who you're spending your

620
00:46:23.960 --> 00:46:31.039
time with, because all of those
information sources help shape and inform your outlook

621
00:46:31.039 --> 00:46:37.199
on the world, and you can
dramatically improve that by starting to read difficult

622
00:46:37.199 --> 00:46:40.519
things, starting to read things that
you don't necessarily agree with, and that

623
00:46:40.519 --> 00:46:45.119
that challenge is something that a lot
of us are missing. Mm hmm.

624
00:46:45.320 --> 00:46:46.960
Well that's why you know, after
nine years, I still hosts in the

625
00:46:47.000 --> 00:46:51.719
show because I read the book cover
to cover each week. It challenges my

626
00:46:51.760 --> 00:46:55.199
thinking, it stretches my mind,
and I think it keeps me on going

627
00:46:55.199 --> 00:47:00.880
to go with that. Okay,
we're almost to the closer, and I

628
00:47:00.920 --> 00:47:05.360
definitely want to I want you to
speak to this that really really touches my

629
00:47:05.440 --> 00:47:09.000
heart about describing our own hidden genius. You say, all successful people bet

630
00:47:09.039 --> 00:47:13.519
on themselves, and there is no
better time to start doing that. Create

631
00:47:13.559 --> 00:47:17.039
something that lets you tie your identity
to something that actually matters your own name.

632
00:47:17.400 --> 00:47:21.719
Nothing is more liberating or more powerful. I can completely relate to that.

633
00:47:21.719 --> 00:47:24.360
That's what I have tried to do
in my practice. Yeah, And

634
00:47:24.960 --> 00:47:31.079
isn't that It's so hard because once
you work somewhere you start tying your identity

635
00:47:31.159 --> 00:47:35.960
to external things that you could lose, and you do this without thinking about

636
00:47:35.960 --> 00:47:38.360
it. You tie your identity to
a job, to a job title,

637
00:47:39.320 --> 00:47:44.239
you know, to a relationship,
status, to material wealth. Those are

638
00:47:44.280 --> 00:47:46.440
all things that you could lose.
Well, you cannot lose is your own

639
00:47:46.519 --> 00:47:51.079
name, and that name carries a
reputation, so you're very careful with it.

640
00:47:52.119 --> 00:47:55.159
So when I left my full time
job at Fortune to start the Profile,

641
00:47:55.239 --> 00:47:59.320
which is a newsletter that I was
doing on the side, I decided

642
00:47:59.320 --> 00:48:02.159
to bet on myself because I knew
that I had the skills to make it

643
00:48:02.199 --> 00:48:07.039
successful. And it's like, ask
yourself, you know, what can I

644
00:48:07.119 --> 00:48:10.599
do today? In what area of
my life can I truly take a risk

645
00:48:10.599 --> 00:48:15.360
and bet on myself? Mm hmm
here here, Oh Paulina. I'm so

646
00:48:15.519 --> 00:48:17.960
very happy to know you, to
have read your book, to be to

647
00:48:19.039 --> 00:48:22.719
be elevated by your thinking your research. I thank you so much for coming

648
00:48:22.760 --> 00:48:24.559
on to working a purpose and sharing
your views with the rest of the world.

649
00:48:24.840 --> 00:48:29.599
Anything you want to leave our listeners
with, that's it. I think

650
00:48:30.800 --> 00:48:34.480
I'll say. I'll say one thing. Uh, Beyonce once said, you

651
00:48:34.519 --> 00:48:37.280
know, I don't like to gamble, but if there's one thing I'm willing

652
00:48:37.320 --> 00:48:43.119
to bet on, it's myself.
That's That's a fantastic way to close Polina.

653
00:48:43.559 --> 00:48:45.559
Listeners and viewers. If you want
to learn more about Paulina Maronova,

654
00:48:45.599 --> 00:48:49.719
Pampliano, the work that she is
doing at the Profile, or her new

655
00:48:49.719 --> 00:48:52.199
book, Hidden Genius, there's a
couple of places you can go. You

656
00:48:52.239 --> 00:48:59.559
can go to read Theprofile dot com
or Hidden geniusbook dot com. We will

657
00:48:59.559 --> 00:49:02.119
see you next next week when we
curl up over the mic with yet another

658
00:49:02.320 --> 00:49:07.880
author talking about their book to enrich
and enliven our lives. See you there,

659
00:49:07.880 --> 00:49:09.679
and remember that work is one of
the best adventures and means of realizing

660
00:49:09.679 --> 00:49:14.159
our potential and making the impact we
crave. So let's work on Purpose.

661
00:49:16.000 --> 00:49:20.559
We hope you've enjoyed this week's program. Be sure to tune into Working on

662
00:49:20.639 --> 00:49:23.800
Purpose featuring your host, doctor Elise
Cortes, each week on W four C.

663
00:49:24.000 --> 00:49:30.320
Why Together, We'll create a world
where business operates conscientiously, Leadership inspires

664
00:49:30.360 --> 00:49:34.800
and passion performance and employees are fulfilled
in work that provides the meaning and purpose

665
00:49:34.840 --> 00:49:37.119
they crave. See you there,
Let's work on Purpose.