Motivation

Motivation

A man in a suit stands facing a large human eye, positioned at the center of the pupil as if about to step inside.
1hr 12mins
Members
“Consciousness is fundamental. It's a fundamental property of the world that we inhabit, a fundamental property of the universe.”
A stylized image of a red brain half with a curved red arrow pointing downward, set against a blue background with circular patterns.
Metacognition — the ability to think about your thinking — can help you learn faster and make better decisions.
A rat stands on a concrete floor, casting a shadow on the wall that resembles the shape of a sheep.
9mins
“There would be something very, very empty and meaningless about [a] sort of life with no problems.”
On the left, text reads "an excerpt from" on a pale blue background; on the right is Goldie Chan’s book cover for "Personal Branding for Introverts.
Introverts have social batteries that will drain over time, but they can be recharged with good energy hygiene. Here’s how.
Two people face each other closely, each sipping from their own straw. The blue-tinted image, echoing the 37% rule of making choices, reveals only part of their faces, hinting at a moment of decision or connection.
When making any tough decision, the key is not to be overly exploratory or exploitative.
Black and white cutout of a smiling man's face with red heart shapes drawn over his eyes on a black background.
16mins
“No matter what their gods were, what they did for a living, what they wore, the songs they sang, everything varies except love, and everybody loves.”
Artistic illustration depicting one of the biggest mysteries of the origin of the universe, showing entangled particles connected by curved paths in space, inspired by concepts from quantum physics and wormholes.
Inflation's two main criticisms, that it can predict anything and that the "measure problem" remains unsolved, can't erase its successes.
A man in a dark polo shirt sits and smiles in front of a background with graph lines and stock charts, evoking the analytical style of Buffett and Munger.
A conversation with investor and author Alex Morris on what Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger can teach us about focus, discipline, and building a life that lasts.
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Members
Led by experts like Peter Diamandis and Jane McGonigal, this class teaches participants to harness innovation and creativity through clear goal-setting, a challenge mindset, and the effective use of deadlines, fostering a culture of productivity and empowerment.
Two hands place a green striped circle and a patterned square on opposite sides of a green seesaw, set against a pink and orange background.
Members
This class explores the complexities of ego and leadership through lessons from figures like Daedalus and Icarus, emphasizing self-awareness, humility, and the cultivation of charisma, while offering practical strategies for effective leadership transitions and fostering genuine connections within teams.
A silhouette of a human head with swirling arrows inside the brain, illustrating a concept of circular thought or mental processes.
8mins
"If you're interested in human performance, what you want is something that's reliable and repeatable, and thus you want neurobiology because neurobiology gives you mechanism."
A white candle with smoke rising from its wick is shown on the left; on the right, two men wearing aprons stand talking in front of a café menu.
Workplace community is too often dismissed as an HR initiative, when in reality it’s the key to driving business results through frontline employee performance.
Two men in suits face each other against a yellow background, one yelling with a clenched fist, the other pointing and appearing angry.
23mins
“We can have that fight for a 1,000 years, but we could have a shot at figuring out what we both need and noticing when there's opportunities to make that happen.”
A painted woman's face is seen upside down on the left, looking at a large gray rock on the right, with a blue sky and clouds in the background.
2mins
What separates a disciplined life from a virtuous one? Psychologist Sarah Schnitker says the answer lies in your purpose.
Two diagrams: the left shows a complex, circular, multicolored network; the right displays a theoretical physics diagram with labeled axes and colored particle symbols, capturing the intricate nature of physics hard concepts.
When you don't have enough clues to bring your detective story to a close, you should expect that your educated guesses will all be wrong.
A split image showing the left half of a frog and the right half of a chemical structure on a green and white textured background.
5-MeO-DMT may offer a practical way to access and study consciousness in its most basic form.
A grayscale portrait of David Senra is centered on a collage background featuring a marble statue, abstract black-and-white swirls, and purple book spines.
The host of the Founders podcast joins Big Think for a chat about success, obsession, business genius, human nature, and more.
A woman sits on a chair in a studio with a neutral backdrop, overlaid with yellow flowers and barbed wire against a black background.
1hr 24mins
“There's a very pervasive belief that human nature is fundamentally selfish, but I know for a fact that that can't be true in part because my life was saved by a stranger a long time ago when I was 19.”
A man with a bald head and beard sits on a chair with arms resting on his lap, in front of a yellow rectangle with black lines and dots extending outward.
Why talent alone isn’t enough to achieve your goals.
A graphic with the text "an excerpt from" beside the book cover of "The Cybernetic Society" by Amir Husain, featuring a cityscape, robotic arms, and a nod to the rise of the modern cybernetic corporation.
Are you ready for the “cybernetic corporation”? Amir Husain “profiles” the hottest company of 2035 — and makes a telling comparison with Nvidia.
Book cover of "Blindspotting: How to See What's Holding You Back as a Leader" by Martin Dubin, featuring the word "blindspotting" and “an excerpt from” on a purple background.
You might love your leadership role and inspire fierce loyalty — but what if that comes at the expense of a disastrous balance sheet? Here’s a way forward.
A slot machine displays various icons, including brains, cherries, a clover, and the number seven—an homage to Anne-Laure Le Cunff’s work—with two brains and a seven visible in the central row.
Stuck on a hamster wheel of mindless social media scrolling? Neuroscientist Anne-Laure Le Cunff explains how to consciously redirect your reward system.
A man with long curly hair sits on a chair in a white hallway, surrounded by illustrated documents, maps, and notes taped to a gray wall.
1hr 3mins
“The public really doesn't realize that they are much closer to CIA spies than they think they are.”
A painting depicts compassionate leaders, as a person in a blue robe carries an injured figure on a brown horse, set against swirling blue and yellow brushstrokes in the background.
The benefits of compassion in the workplace are manifold — but leaders should retain an intentional focus on mental, emotional, and physical balance.
A visual simulation of two objects orbiting and merging, distorting a red-orange grid representing spacetime—illustrating gravitational waves once thought to be the worst prediction in science.
The measured value of the cosmological constant is 120 orders of magnitude smaller than what's predicted. How can this paradox be resolved?
Silhouettes of two people face each other closely, with warm light casting their shadows on a wall.
1hr 25mins
"Virtually everything we're taught about sexuality for the first two decades of our lives is wrong."
The CMB has long been considered the Big Bang's "smoking gun" evidence. But after what JWST saw, might it come from early galaxies instead?
A young armored man consults an elderly bearded man holding a key and a staff, both seated and looking at an open book, as if exploring how stories teach philosophy.
Want to study philosophy but skip some of its heavier tomes? These five novels are a great place to start. (Existential despair guaranteed.)
A book cover titled "Brand Global, Adapt Local: How to Build Brand Value Across Cultures" by Katherine Melchior Ray with Nataly Kelly, alongside the text "an excerpt from," highlighting insights on cultural intelligence.
To be culturally intelligent, you must be curious and open-minded — and the benefits can be transformative.