The Scott Adams School - 05/11/26 HOME TEAM Monday! The Meaning Of Life w/ Scott

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: Real Coffee with Scott Adams

Episode: The Scott Adams School - 05/11/26 HOME TEAM Monday! The Meaning Of Life w/ Scott
Date: May 11, 2026
Host: Scott Adams + Panelists (Owen, Marcela, Host)

---

Episode Overview

This episode centers on Scott Adams’ masterclass segment about the meaning of life, viewed through his persuasion and “simulation” filters. The hosts also discuss current events, especially the Los Angeles mayoral race and issues around city governance, briefly touching on viral moments and light-hearted news. The episode’s highlight is Scott Adams’ framework for understanding personal purpose and fulfillment.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Weekend Catch-Up, Banter & Audience Engagement

• Warm, laid-back atmosphere as the hosts recount their weekends, emphasizing family milestones (Owen’s son’s graduation: [01:46]) and community (Marcela hosting an after-party, [02:10]–[02:48]).
• Light-hearted "simultaneous sip" ritual leads into the show, setting a communal, friendly tone ([00:45]–[01:23]).

---

2. Virality & Political Commentary

a. Viral Moments & Oddities

• The hosts comment on a widely-shared graduation speech by Justin Pearson (Democrat Rep, TN), noting its performative and divisive style.
  • Quote: "It just seemed like he was having a seizure for a few minutes..." – Owen ([08:34])

b. Los Angeles Mayoral Race & Spencer Pratt

• Panel expresses enthusiasm for Spencer Pratt’s unconventional campaign ([10:32]–[16:42]), praising his grassroots appeal and candor.
• Issues discussed:
  • LA’s homelessness crisis ("Skid Row is entire Los Angeles now." – Marcela, [11:47])
  • Voter behavior, secret support, and impact of negative experiences with federal policies in CA.
  • Media manipulation: Spencer forced ABC to air a full interview to counter selective editing ([16:42])
• Market dynamics: Polymarket betting odds and predictions on upcoming primaries ([15:08])

---

3. Scott Adams’ “Meaning of Life” Micro Lesson

[Main segment: 23:07–35:18]

a. The Arc of Selfishness to Unselfishness

• Scott outlines a life path that starts "100% selfish" as an infant and ideally trends toward "complete unselfishness" at death.
  • “A perfect death is you’ve given everything. There’s nothing left to give.” – Scott Adams ([23:07])
• Fulfillment comes from moving along this spectrum in line with age and capability:
  • As a child: learning and growing is inherently meaningful.
  • As an adult: giving back to family, community, or the next generation.
  • In old age: mentoring and dispensing accumulated wisdom/materials.

b. Authoring Your Simulation/Reality

• Scott’s simulation framework:
  • Reality is shaped by individual “filters”—worldviews, beliefs, experiences.
  • By consciously constructing your “filter,” you can author your own experience and happiness, independent of “base reality”.
    • “If you believe that it’s you who manufactures this filter on reality and then can live in it, you could turn yourself into, let’s say, a Buddhist...a Democrat, a Republican...You can author your own reality.” – Scott Adams ([24:58])

c. Three Pillars for a Meaningful Life

• 1. People Skills:

  • Essential for long-term success and contributing to others.
  • Includes networking, communication, public speaking, criticism, and leadership.
    • “If you have not developed people skills, the odds that you will be successful enough to eventually give back...are low.” – Scott Adams ([26:30])

• 2. The Talent Stack:

  • Combination of complementary skills that make you unique and valuable.
  • Not the same for everyone—creates your personal leverage.

• 3. The Math/Odds of Life:

  • Understanding probabilities improves decision-making.
  • Examples:
    • Trying multiple paths for success (e.g., “try 10 things and one succeeds”).
    • Selling your time caps your income (“sell your time, there's a cap”).
    • Diversification and going where “the most luck is available.”

d. Practical Application & the Biological Self

• Emphasizes that living in sync with one’s developmental stage brings inherent satisfaction.
• The feeling of “meaning” is a sign of biological and social alignment.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Life’s Arc:

  • “You start 100% selfish, and you try to stay on the line to get to the point where you can be so unselfish that you die perfectly.”
    – Scott Adams ([23:34])

• Individual Reality:

  • “We’re all walking around in these manufactured realities...it frees you to author your own reality.”
    – Scott Adams ([24:55])

• Skills:

  • “If you’re not actually working on that list...then you’re not quite getting ready to be an author [of your life].”
    – Scott Adams ([27:05])

• LA Politics:

  • “You can be a Democrat and love me. You can be a Republican, love me. The only people that don’t love me are communists and socialists. And I don’t want them to love me.”
    – Spencer Pratt ([11:07])

---

Important Timestamps

• 00:45–01:23: Introduction, simultaneous sip
• 01:46–02:10: Owen’s son’s college graduation, weekend highlights
• 04:37–06:18: Coffee science segment; benefits for brain & gut
• 08:34: Discussion of viral Justin Pearson graduation speech
• 10:32–16:42: Spencer Pratt LA mayoral campaign, voter/demographic shifts, media manipulation
• 23:07–35:18: Scott Adams’ “meaning of life” micro lesson
• 35:18–36:23: Immediate reactions and applications from Host & Owen
• 36:23–end: Owen’s elaboration on meaning, family, career fulfillment

---

Listener Takeaways

• Personal meaning emerges from a lifelong evolution from self-care to other-care; aim to become less selfish as you grow, and meaning will follow.
• Your reality is shaped by your mindset and worldview—choose your “filter” wisely and don’t feel stuck in someone else’s narrative.
• To build meaning and impact, focus on developing people skills, stacking relevant talents, and understanding how probabilities shape outcomes.
• Community, family, and mentoring roles are central to lasting fulfillment at any age or stage.
• The episode’s conversational, sometimes tongue-in-cheek tone makes Scott’s deep-dive on meaning both accessible and engaging.

---

For anyone who hasn’t listened, this episode delivers not only philosophical insight but also lively discussion on current events, practical career and life advice, and a dose of optimism for personal and community improvement.

Transcript

[Marcela]

There yet?

[Owen]

Good morning.

[Host]

Are we there yet? Good morning, everybody. Happy May 11th. I think everybody's going in the chat. Sorry I couldn't start it as early today, just a little bit later, but I think it gave us time for everybody to come on in. So come on in. And we have. Oh, we have a special show for you today. We have a. A nice lesson from Scott on the meaning of life. And be a good time for that. I have some ideas about the meaning of life myself, and I want to see if they're aligning with Scott. So let's get this Monday going with a simultaneous sip. Ready, everybody?

[Scott Adams]

Well, you know, if you want to enjoy coffee with Scott Adams, you need to also enjoy the simultaneous sip. And you don't need much to enjoy it. No, you don't. All you need is a cup or a mug or a glass, a tank or chalice or stein, a canteen, jug or flask, a vessel of any kind. Fill it with your favorite liquid. I like coffee. And join me now for the unparalleled pleasure, the dopamine hit of the day, the thing that makes everything better, this simultaneous sip.

[Marcela]

Go.

[Host]

Ah.

[Scott Adams]

Breathtaking. I know you feel the same.

[Host]

I did a little shimmy shake with his. Excellent, Excellent. Owen and Marcella, how are you guys doing? How were your weekends?

[Marcela]

Good.

[Owen]

It was wonderful.

[Marcela]

Yeah. Tell us, Owen, how was your project during the weekend?

[Owen]

Oh, my son was graduating from college, so it was a big milestone for the family.

[Host]

Congratulations.

[Owen]

Time with him. And, you know, we. My. His older brother and his grandma came up with us, so it was good.

[Host]

Oh, I love that. And, Marcella, you crushed it on the after party. You filled in for Owen. Is that a good time or what?

[Marcela]

That was a good time. Everybody was great. Everybody had good opinions, you know, about all sorts of things. And I'm happy they all showed up because I was like, the after party is nothing if I'm alone by myself. So I'm always glad when they always come up 7 in the morning for me, so. And lots of people have things to do on a Saturday, so I'm very thankful for everybody that was there. Erica was there for a bit, and it didn't last as long as usual, but it lasted 3 hours and 30 minutes or something.

[Host]

Oh, that's. That's plenty. I would say it's a busy weekend, and, you know, I think a lot of people were prepping for Mother's Day. I hope anyone who had Mother's Day festivities had a good time and happy Mother's Day. Okay, so you guys. Some people Will say this is AI, But I'm gonna say this is a dream. You decide.

[Owen]

Oh, my God.

[Host]

There's so many.

[Owen]

Where do they keep coming from?

[Host]

We're a nightmare.

[Owen]

What is this city?

[Host]

I'm telling you, I was like, I'd put, like, 20 bucks in that thing. Oh, my God. Can you imag.

[Marcela]

They're so cute.

[Host]

I know. They're so cute. I love it. So that was just my. That was my little animal story of the day. But then I thought, like. So my friend and I had a whole discussion about this. I was like, well, then this, like, big puppy vacuum comes at the end of the day because they're not real. And they vacuum up all the puppies, and then you can do it again the next day. Oh, my gosh, Owen, you want a puppy vending machine?

[Owen]

I don't know that that would be a good, good idea, I think, you know, puppies are a careful investment. You know, you gotta be. It's a lot of responsibility. Unless you are gonna vacuum all. Vacuum them all up and just get rid of them. But that sounds kind of grotesque to me.

[Host]

But they're not real. They're not real. Freebird said that's how Somalians are made in Minnesota. Oh, my gosh. Okay. So I had to get that out of the way. You guys know I like a little animal something. Oh, and you had some story. What was that about this morning you were talking about?

[Owen]

Well, amazingly, there's a study that shows that coffee is good for your brain and your gut. I know this is shocking.

[Marcela]

What?

[Owen]

And something we probably never talked about before. But there's some new research that says that coffee reshapes your gut microbiome and boosts your mood, your cognition, stress reduction, and focus. And they're claiming even decaf versions work. I wouldn't know because I don't drink decaf, and I would not recommend it to anyone. But apparently there are some things outside of caffeine that are also helpful. So it's not just the caffeine. It's also all the polyphenols and other things that are in there. They've have some specific findings about certain types of bacteria in your gut that are higher in coffee drinkers, and they help with digestion and fight bad bacteria. So drink your coffee.

[Host]

Are you gonna tell me next that it has to be black coffee?

[Owen]

I won't tell you that. I do think there are some studies that say that, but there are other ones that say it's okay so, you know, to put some things in it. But I Do think there are some of the health benefits that they say are either counteracted by sugar and milk or, you know, things like that. But I think I'm guessing you still get a lot of the benefits.

[Host]

Okay.

[Owen]

Even with those things.

[Host]

So some are getting in there. I just. Please. I just. That's the only fun thing about coffee for me. And I don't want to put vitamins and minerals in my coffee. And I need my little flavor. Okay.

[Owen]

So it's an acquired taste. I will say that I used to drink milk and sugar in my coffee and. And then I think it might have been in the army where, you know, they didn't have that option, basically. Or it was so gross because they only had. Were like the fake stuff that powdered milk that I. Yeah.

[Scott Adams]

That I just.

[Owen]

I just switched to black and I never went back. It was, you know, as they say.

[Host]

That's what they say.

[Marcela]

They do say that. Good point.

[Host]

Oh, my gosh. So it's true. All right. So. All right, you guys, this is going to fall under the category of if I had to see this, you had to see this. Many of you did see this already. Marcela hasn't, shockingly so. This is going to be. Keep in mind a high school graduation. Okay. High school graduation. You know, a little family event. You're now going to see Justin Pearson. He's a Democrat candidate in Tennessee Representative District TN09. He is at the Mace M A S E Charter school. And this is a high school graduation. He was there, I guess, keynote speaker. We're not all the same. Here we go. Not at all like my high school graduation 85 years ago, but. Interesting, interesting. So he's getting a lot of backlash for, you know, trying to, you know, I guess, act like this. They were saying the spirit of God came into him and how inappropriate it is. And it's like Tennessee. I mean, you're having enough problems now with, like, people wanting to, like, redraw, redistrict, re. Whatever. It's like, everybody calm down. Like, it's like these types of, you know, theatrical moments are not helping anything. The comments on locals of the WTFs are just so funny. What the hell is happening? Everyone's asking. I don't know what he was saying. I see your question, Freebird. I don't know what he was saying. So, Owen, did you happen to catch this at all?

[Owen]

No, I don't know what he was saying either. It just seemed like he was having a seizure for a few minutes and eventually got control of himself. So I Guess I'll just leave it at that.

[Host]

He's like a Democrat being told no. Marcella, was that fun? Did you're you sad you missed that graduation?

[Marcela]

You know, it must be that I live in California, that I didn't think of it as shocking. I guess. Lots of black church. Seriously. Because in Hispanic culture. In Hispanic culture, like, they would dance, they would do that. I. I mean, it looks like it's a. It's a Christian high school. Just a huge cross. So.

[Host]

Just happens to be in a church, I think the graduation. Yeah.

[Marcela]

Yeah. So it wouldn't surprise me.

[Host]

Lots of people concerned he was having a seizure. Yeah. So anyway, very odd. I. That just. I just felt like I needed to bond with you guys over something that just like burned my brain for a minute and I wanted to share it. So. So I hope you enjoyed that. So, you guys, like I said, we have a great clip of Scott coming up. And before we get to that, I just want to do one more clip because Spencer Pratt is just knocking it out of the park. So if you don't know he's running for the mayor of Los Angeles, he is like a breath of fresh air. He's just common sense, you know, it's just like. And I, like, don't freak out, love him or hate him, blah, blah, blah. But, you know, Trump in 2015, Breath of Fresh air washed over me. I'm just like, yes. Like, you're just talking, you're just saying the things that people are thinking. And I just so appreciated that. And Spencer, it's the same thing. So he was on the all in podcast, one of Scott's favorite podcasts. One of our favorite podcasts. I think we all watch it. So he sat down with one of the hosts of the all in podcast, and here's just a little clip. And I just find this refreshing. Okay, let's listen in.

[Spencer Pratt]

So the ad that blew up crazy is when I showed Bass's house, Nithya Raman's million dollar mansion, multi million dollar. And then my Airstream, that one broke every ad record in history. That is, if it has my name on it, is legally mine. Anything like these incredible grassroots ads? Yeah, I don't put my name on it. It's really not mine.

[Scott Adams]

So there are people out there doing these ads. Not in your campaign.

[Spencer Pratt]

Correct.

[Scott Adams]

That are creating this movement.

[Spencer Pratt]

Correct. Because people feel the common sense.

[Scott Adams]

They feel the emotion. Totally. It's connecting.

[Spencer Pratt]

I keep trying to tell everyone that, you know, they try to put me in a box. I didn't run for to be a political party. I didn't run to be a politician. I ran because I experienced what city leadership failure at the ultimate level is. That's why I stepped up. That's what cuts through. So the media and everyone wants to jump on and be like, oh, Spencer's our guy. No, I'm the citizen. I am the angry taxpayer. You can be a Democrat and love me. You can be a Republican, love me. The only people that don't love me are communists and socialists. And I don't want them to love me.

[Host]

Love that. Marcela, what do you think about that clip

[Marcela]

that he had good, he has good ideas. I mean, he went to their house and, and one of the things that was asked in that interview is, you know, how are you going to improve Skid Row and all that. And one of the things he, he, he shockingly told David Friedberg is that it's Skid Row, is, is entire Los Angeles now. It's not just in downtown la, it's Santa Monica, Venice, somebody yesterday or two days ago with us. Some, some. I, I don't know who it was. They ran away, they had a samurai sword and they almost chopped up someone's arm while they were walking in Venice beach, you know, so Venice beach is like really expensive areas. It's shocking how it's come to this, but I'm hoping that there will be secret Spencer Pratt voters, because there's this pressure by a lot of Democrats to vote Democrat and to keep it going. Because what they argue is, and I think Joel talked about this is, oh, all of this is, is President Trump's like, this is why. And one of the things that people forget is that there's been a lot of ICE raids in California and Los Angeles and, and it's caused people to be anti federal government, anti ice, because it wasn't people that were criminals. It was just like your everyday hotel waiter, whatever, it was taken away. And one thing that President Trump and most Republicans don't understand is that the people that are legally here have family that are legally here. And so there's a, you know, because they had kids or, you know, or family that was residents, alien, whatever it is. So a lot of people that can vote have family that was deported. So that's, that's what would, I would think would affect him. But maybe they'll be secret Spencer Pratt voters.

[Host]

I don't think people who want law and order, I think, I think people, I should say people that want law and order, they're going to vote for Pratt. Like the people that are looking around like, okay, like this. Like we've run amok. Like we've destroyed the place, you know, that we're supposed to love where we live. So I feel like anybody who wants law and order and wants to be safe and clean up and whatever, you have no choice, literally. And I think that he's doing a pretty good job talking to the unions. Also to the union, the people that vote with the unions and the unions. I don't have that clip. I just wanted to do one clip. But he's. He, like, he's just continuing to make a lot of sense. Oh, and did you catch any of his interview by any chance?

[Owen]

I didn't watch the interview, but I've seen the ads and. And I think they're great. And I'm. I'm rooting for him. I did notice on Polymarket, right now he's up to 30%, so that's a big jump up. I don't know. Do you know, Marcelo, when the primary is where they narrow it down to two,

[Marcela]

I think in June.

[Owen]

Okay. So it's coming up relatively soon. And, you know, the other woman, Ramen, is down to 18, so he's way above her at this point. And that's a recent change. So it looks like he's getting some traction. I mean, unless someone's manipulating the market. But, you know, he.

[Marcela]

He talked about Ramen, right. In that interview. He thinks that Ramen is only there to make. To dilute the vote so that most people won't vote for him. And I think it's sort of working. Hopefully not.

[Owen]

That's weird to me, though, because, like, Ramen, from what I've heard from her, seems like the opposite. Like, just, you know, total socialist, like, not. Not a moderate. Right. And so I don't know how that would. Like, anybody who wants to vote for Pratt wouldn't be voting for her. And I, you know, I'm amazed that Karen Bass is still at 49%. I don't know if that's just the, you know, the rigged part of the vote that just stays there all the time. But, you know, it does seem pretty amazing, given the Palisades fire and all the other scandals that she's been embroiled in, that she'd still be getting almost half the vote. But I shouldn't be surprised because I, you know, I'm from the Chicago area, and I've seen the same things happen here where it's like, even people who you would think, okay, there's no way they're getting reelected and they do, and they get a very wide margin. So I don't know what's going to happen there, but I really hope he does get elected. And I think we should start out the secret Pratt voters and, you know, encourage people to pretend like they're voting for Bass and actually vote for Pratt and just don't tell anybody.

[Host]

I think that. Well, what I love is that the three of us represent three notoriously corrupt states, and we have the west, this, the center, and the East Coast. And I do think that. Well. Well, one thing I loved is that people asking, who was it that did that? ABC did an interview with him, and then they, like, edited it down to five minutes to make him look bad. And he forced abc, Spencer Pratt forced ABC to release the whole interview. He said, you know, that's totally interference in an election to just cherry pick and edit. So to their credit, they did. And I love that. He's just like, listen, I wish. I wish the debate, you know, he said several times, I wish it was five hours long because I needed more time to point out all the lies and corruption of these two. And then he was cute. He said, you know, I promised all of the Democrat women that love me that, you know, want to vote for me. They all said, spirit, Spencer, you've got to keep your cool. You got to stay calm. Like, don't freak out during the debate. And he's like, you know, there was a lot of times where I wanted to just, like, you know, shout something or say something, but I had them all in my head, and I made a commitment to them that I wouldn't freak out. So I love. He's so casual and conversational. He's not, like, talking with stupid talking points and slogans. And I. I feel like that's resonating. And then I've also seen people that understand Hollywood like he does. You know, some of them are like, you know what? Yeah, go, Spencer. So those are a lot of people that would typically vote Democrat just because. But now they're like, go, Spencer. Or if he becomes mayor, I'd move back there because he gets it, and, you know, like, I would support that and whatever. So I feel like he's getting, like, this unusual wave of traction. And I. I'm sorry, you guys. I didn't look about Steve Hilton to see how he's doing, but I feel like California is, like, at hit their bottom, so I can't imagine it bottom bottoming out any further. So I. I'm feeling optimistic about Hilton and Pratt, which would be amazing. So we have to keep our eye on that. Let's get some stats for tomorrow and see what's going on. But I think Hilton's ahead for him, so that's good. That's good. We want. We want California to be amazing again and to be able to go there and vacation and spend money and want to live there. And we want Marcella to have beauty all around her and clean everything. Right, Marcella, we want you to.

[Marcela]

Yeah, I don't. I don't want a samurai sword attack.

[Host]

Exactly.

[Owen]

Yeah, some kind of option on your Tesla to protect you from those.

[Host]

Yeah, like something that shoots like.

[Marcela]

Come on, Elon, give me some. Some bomb throwing car.

[Host]

Some like. Like a cloud of mace comes out.

[Owen]

No, it's just an optimus robot in the trunk that jumps out with its own samurai sword.

[Marcela]

I just wish. I just wish locally Spencer would be on more because the things that he talked about in regards to the fire and how he, you know, disclose the issues of how it ended up happening and all of that, and showing that Mayor Karen Bass was part of, you know, the issue. And I think that has not been done locally as much. So it's kind of like, not that people watch local news too much, but it needs to be out there more than just him.

[Host]

You think people don't know that, that she was off on her trip? And he also pointed out how she just talks about this one reservoir. He's like, there's a reservoir next to my house that's empty. You know, or maybe it had. No, it was empty. And they were just like. And he said he always felt like, oh, you know, like, if there's ever a fire, we're set. Because they would do drills and training up there all the time where like a helicopter would come with a basket to scoop water and whatever. And he said he calling the fire department. He's like, I know the guys at the fire department. And I was like, hey, listen, there's a tiny brush fire right near me. If you guys can get some water on it, none of these houses up here will have a problem. And they're like, we have no resources. We have. We can't. We have nothing that can come up to you to get that. So that's why his house burned down.

[Marcela]

And one of the things he brought up in there is that Karen Bass, Mayor Karen Bass, he alleges that she didn't call Air Air Supply, like the helicopters and all that, that do that they're supposed to call them. Allegedly. She argues that there was too much wind for the helicopters to fly. And she said that the rest where he was talking about was for drinking water. Yeah, so.

[Host]

So she's able to hoax.

[Marcela]

How are people able to hoax? Because there's not enough information. So she's able to pass it off.

[Host]

Yeah, she's a horrible human being. Okay, so if you guys want a brain cleanser, do you. Ugh, I need a Monday morning like palette cleanser. And we can only do that with Scott. Let's face it. So I want you guys to snuggle in, get cozy, hold your coffee, and let's listen to Scott. We're going to talk about the meaning of life. Oh, which video is that? Nobody knows. Why does it come up like this, you guys? All right, bear with Owen. Entertain them for a second. Let me just look at these.

[Marcela]

Entertain them. Dance, Owen, dance.

[Scott Adams]

Yeah,

[Host]

Owen, talk.

[Owen]

Okay, I can see if I can find another story to talk about for a minute.

[Marcela]

Another fun story.

[Host]

I think it's this one.

[Marcela]

Try it.

[Host]

Okay, let's see, you guys. Let's. Let's test small. Wait. 1, 2, 3, 4. I think it's this one. Okay, ready, guys? If it's the one, we'll see you in 12 minutes.

[Scott Adams]

This is your micro lesson on the meaning of life. Now, this is going to be an individual meaning, not a meaning that applies to every. Because you can take care of yourself in terms of the meaning that you find out in life, there's not much you can do for other people. They have to figure it out themselves. So this is your personal journey and how to find meaning in your life. So here's the basic idea, the starting point, and then we'll get to some more detail on the other side. If you were to live an ideal life that was compatible with your biological self, what would it look like? And here is my contention that you will have the sensation of. And for all practical meanings, for all practical purposes, you'll have meaning in your life if you stay on this line, which is the line of selfishness. And the idea here is that you're born a baby. There's nothing you can do about it. You didn't ask to be born. And if somebody asked you to help out, you couldn't do it if you wanted to. You are 100% selfish, baby. Now, as you get older, if you're doing things right, maybe when you're a teen, you can start to help out a little bit. You're a little less selfish. Maybe by the time you're a parent, you don't have to actually biologically up children but you're an adult, and you find yourself giving back as much as you're getting. You know, you've given back a lot. Could be to your family, could be to anybody, your company, whatever. Eventually, once you've got everything that you need and you've taken care of the people who are around you, you enter some kind of a. I'll call it a mentor mode, where you're sort of a senior member of the tribe. You know, you're a tribal elder, essentially, and you're just trying to be helpful. And then the last thing you do, at least in our culture, the last thing you do the moment your life is extinguished is you give away everything you have. So all of your material possessions just go away at the moment of death. So this is a purely unselfish moment, because you're literally dead. So you start 100% selfish, and you try to stay on the line to get to the point where you can be so unselfish that you die perfectly. A perfect death is you've given everything. There's nothing left to give if you do that, or even if you feel you're on the line to do that. So, for example, you're just in school. Are you doing the right thing? If you're a teenager and you're just doing well in school and paying attention, yes. Very rarely do young kids ask about the meaning of life because they're actually biologically doing exactly what they need to be doing. So if you find yourself compatible with your biological nature for that point of life, you will feel meaning. If you're learning and then giving as much as you're getting, and then eventually becoming more purely unselfish, you will feel meaning in your life. Now, how do you do this, though? That's the hard part, right? How can you be sure that you can take care of yourself well enough? Which is really the key. If you don't take care of yourself first, you're not going to be in any kind of position to be helpful. So. So you have to be selfish in the beginning until you've acquired enough safety, knowledge, financial assets, network, family, whatever, to be safe yourself. And then you can start branching out. This is the basic belief behind this, is that we evolved to take care of ourselves first because that's what survival would require. But secondarily, as soon as we take care of ourselves, we brought that to the family, the people close to you, your tribe, and then, of course, civilization. So how can you be helpful and make sure you're staying on that line? Well, let's say you wanted to be an author of this simulation. If you're new to this. I like to call our reality a simulation because it feels like it. You don't have to believe it's a simulation for any of these purposes. It's just fun. So when I talk about authoring the simulation, what I'm talking about is not necessarily changing base reality because we don't have any access to base reality. Even if it changed, we might not know the difference because we did not evolve to be able to know reality. We evolved to live in these little worlds that we manufacture ourselves. So to the extent that you can manufacture your own world, you become the author of the simulation you're working in. You're living in and working. Now the process for doing that. I'm going to give you the general outline. But then each of these items you'd have to work on individually. So this would be how to understand your world the best in a way that helps you get to the that great line where you're becoming more useful all the time. Alright, so I broke it into three categories. But before you can even get serious on this, you need to understand the beginning point, that these are filters, not necessarily reality. And what I mean by that is imagine if you would you go to the grocery store. And I like to, to use this example, you're standing in a grocery store and next to you is somebody with a different religion. And on top of that they also believe everything that the opposite political party from you, whichever that is, they believe the opposite. Are they living the same reality that you are? Probably not. They might be worried that the leader is going to do something horrible and you're not. So you live in a world where there's no risk for all practical purposes. That's what you experience as your reality. Again, independent from any base reality. It's just what you experience as your reality. Once you understand that we're all walking around in these manufactured realities, it frees you to author your own reality. If you feel you're a victim of reality, you. And it's just, well, I'm just the output, I'm not the input, I'm not the variables. I'm just what got squirted down the end. If that's your view of life, that's exactly how your life will go. If you believe that it's you who manufactures this filter on reality and then can live in it, you could turn yourself into, let's say a Buddhist, if that was compatible with your thinking. And you could live in that world sort of A Buddhist reality. You could become a Democrat, a Republican, an Independent. You can author your own reality. Now, does that alone help you be more successful, live better, be healthier, have better relationships? Well, not by itself. You need some technique. Here are the things which I recommend that you understand are your priorities. If you have not developed people skills, the odds that you will be successful enough to eventually give back and therefore have meaning in your life because you're learning and getting more powerful all the time in order to do anything useful in life that gets to the mentor stage anyway, that really, really is a well lived life, you're going to have to master people skills. I just think listed some example ones here. So everything from working on your shyness, which you can work on, it's a technique. I've talked about that before. Your networking, your conversation, your public speaking, learning how to criticize people without hurting their feelings, how to manage them, etc. So it's a long list. But you know what it is. If you're not actually working on that list, meaning you're not reading a book on something on this list, you're not taking a class, you're not practicing something, then you're not quite getting ready to be an author, you're still in sort of taking it as it comes mode. I've talked too much about the talent stack, but it's so powerful that if you're not developing your skills that layer well together, in your case, it's not the same skills for everybody, it's just whatever is the combination that makes you powerful and unique and valuable in the market. If you don't have a skill stack and some people skills, you're just not going to be successful. I mean, you could. It's possible that people without people skills can be successful, but it's less likely. Which gets us to the last thing you should understand. The math of life. I'll call it the odds, but it's really sort of the math of life. If you understand the math of life, you have basically a strategy. I don't like to use the word strategy, so I prefer to say do you know the odds? Do you know that if you do this thing, you'll have better odds than this thing? Here are just some examples of it. I talk about how it's very typical in the business world to try 10 different things before one of them works. If you didn't know that, you'd give up after three, but if you knew it was almost sort of built into the texture of civilization. I don't know why. But It's a good rule of thumb that you probably try 10 things and one of them is likely to catch on. You try three things, well, your odds are less. So understanding that about the world is important. You should understand that if you sell your time, there's a cap on how much you can make. Even if you're a lawyer, there's a cap. So maybe you should start your own business if you want an uncapped potential. The math of talent stacking is that just because you have, let's say, 10 talents and you add one, you don't go up just 10% in power, you might double in power. So once you understand the multiplication, applicative, geometric benefit of adding skills, you have a strategy just built into your normal thinking. Understand about diversification, especially if you're investing. Don't put all your eggs in one basket, as they say, and follow the energy to go where there's the most luck, most stuff happening. If you go wherever there's the most stuff happening, the most people, you have more chances for luck. That is the outline for finding meaning in your life. Now, of course, the details of how you fill out your various categories and stacks here will be personal. And maybe you're all on your own path. But the idea is that if you're following that path from completely selfish to completely unselfish, you will have an internal feeling of meaning. And that feeling will be just you being compatible with your. Your most basic biological self because you were born to take care of your yourself first. So if you're doing that, especially when you're young, you'll feel like you're doing exactly what you ought to be. And kids do. Kids generally feel like they're doing exactly what they should be doing. Learning, playing, growing. So just keep on that path and you'll feel that feeling of completion and a feeling of meaning.

[Host]

Well, I needed that today. It's a reminder to all of us. You know, I love how he laid that out. I'm gonna come to you first, Owen, But I just, you know, so a couple of, you know, I've been. I had a little bit of a rough morning, but I feel like in that rough morning I had that I have all that in my head somewhere because I am fulfilling what I believe, like, the meaning of life is and what my purpose is and who I am and like, what skills I have. And it's obviously not perfect, but. But I think it's important. I think it's really important. And put your, you know, put yourself first. And I like how he lets you know, like, you got to hone in, you know, in these three different categories. You know, maybe if you're like, well, I'm not, like, at this yet. You know, maybe you've got to hone in your personal skills, like your communication skills or your shyness, like you said. So. Oh, and, you know, how did you find that to be?

[Owen]

Yeah, no, I mean, I. I agree with all of that. I think, you know, there's lots of science behind what he said. I know he didn't focus on, like, there's this study or that study, but I've seen countless studies like this where when you're focused on helping other people and if you're focused on yourself, like, ruminating over your problems or all that, that's when you get depressed. And when people are isolated, they get depressed. And so I think we're kind of wired as, you know, social creatures that are supposed to help each other. And so I think it all makes sense and it's backed by a ton of science. I think it, you know, he sort of skips to the end of that and says, okay, here's the recommendations, which I think is perfect. I mean, I don't think he needs to walk through all the science, but I do think that there is plenty of psychological and other evidence that he's on the right track with all that. That when you start out as a kid, of course, you don't have the capability of helping people very much, and you go through the normal development stages, but as you get more capable, the more you can help other people, the more you can give to other people, the better you're going to feel. And I think, to me, having a family is a big part of that, personally, at least. I mean, having kids, I think, totally changes your perspective on life. And I don't think you can really understand it until you become a parent. I mean, you can imagine it, but I think it's totally different when you meet your child and you just see that you have this life in your hands and you just. Your priorities change, you care about different things. And so I think that's an important element for a lot of people. Not everybody, but, you know, for a lot of people to have kids. And it just makes a big difference in terms of the meaning of your life. I think a lot of parents would say the best thing they did in life was having kids or that that's the most meaningful thing. And I think, you know, it also pays off in the end when you have a family in your older years and you have People to hang out with and spend time with and to give to. Because a lot of what he', described, you know, the most time you spend is usually with your family. And so when you get into mentoring and other things, like you said at the end, you need people to mentor. And you know, for Scott, with his big platform, he could mentor all of us. But not everybody has that kind of platform. And I think they may be looking for how can I contribute? How can I do that? And I think it's sad when people end up in like an old folks home and then no one's asking them for their advice and no one's seeing them and they don't necessarily have people to contribute to. Maybe they're contributing to each other, and I hope they are. But you know, I, I would like to see more of the older generation having opportunities to give back to the younger generation and to do that mentoring. And I think it would help the younger people and the older people for everyone to feel like they're more connected and they have better relationships and that they have more meaning in their lives. So I think it's a great lesson and I think it's a good way to think about life. And I, you know, not for that reason, but certainly as I was going through my early career, I was certainly thinking that along those lines of saying, how can I get more capabilities? But when I, when I would try and develop my skills, it was always, how do I develop my skills to help other people, to help my clients, to help my colleagues, to how, you know, how can I learn how to be a better team leader or a better project manager, or better at, you know, managing the client or all those different things. And it's always been focused around how do I solve this problem for this client or how do I help, you know, help get people to a better place. And I think that's given me a lot of meaning in my career to be able to say that I help people and I've solved a bunch of problems. And I think if you have the opposite, that might feel kind of depressing, like if you don't feel like you're contributing. And I have times like that where I feel like, okay, I didn't really contribute much this week, but other times I feel like, wow, I really knocked out of the park. I did really well. And so, you know, I understand there's a rhythm to it. You can't necessarily get it every day, but, but it does really help when you feel like you've really done something for people.