Subtitles section Play video
-
By setting a single goal, Socrates changed the
-
quality of his entire life and altered the course of history.
-
His goal had been to “do no evil”, but before I can explain why it was so powerful,
-
I need to build a framework for understanding goals.
-
We can categorize every goal according to two qualities: internal-external and avoidant-pursuant.
-
Avoidant-pursuant determines whether we are avoiding or pursuing something, and internal-external
-
determines whether that something is inside or outside of us.
-
By plotting internal-external along an x-axis and avoidant-pursuant on a y-axis, I create
-
a useful chart.
-
The external-pursuant section is quadrant I, internal-pursuant is quadrant II, external-avoidant
-
is quadrant III, and internal-avoidant is quadrant IV.
-
“Be rich” is an example of a quadrant I goal, “be good” a quadrant II goal,
-
“don't be poor” a quadrant III goal, and “don't be evil” a quadrant IV goal.
-
Quadrant I and II goals are bronze-tier—the worst class of goals we can set.
-
Quadrant III goals are silver-tier, and quadrant IV are gold-tier.
-
Now let me demonstrate how I arrived at this tier system.
-
Imagine a pair of scales in a state of perfect balance.
-
Place the goal from quadrant I, be rich, on the left-side of the scale.
-
Now place John, an accountant, on the right-side.
-
Because John isn't already rich, there's a gap between the two pans.
-
The gap represents the stress John currently feels, and he must alter his character, through
-
knowledge and action, to overcome the stress, close the gap between the two pans, and achieve
-
his goal.
-
So how does this goal affect John's character?
-
John decides to start investing.
-
He picks companies that he thinks will perform well and invests twenty-thousand dollars across
-
them.
-
In the first week, his portfolio rises two-hundred percent.
-
Because he's moving closer to his goal of being rich, the gap between the two pans shrink.
-
He feels unstoppable, like he's on top of the world, and his friends and family notice
-
a change in his energy.
-
“He seems bubblier than usual,” they say.
-
In the second week, his portfolio drops back down, and the gap between the two pans increases
-
again.
-
John scolds himself.
-
How could I be so dumb?
-
I should have pulled my money out while I was up.
-
He feels depressed and upset, and the people around him notice a lack of energy that was
-
once there.
-
John locks himself in his room and spends weeks building a model in Excel.
-
Every mistake John makes increases the stress he feels and leaves him depressed.
-
Mistakes are a huge liability.
-
I need to predict better, he thinks.
-
I can't afford to be wrong again.
-
His friends invite him out for drinks, but he declines.
-
Until he starts moving towards the goal again, everything else is an obstacle, an annoyance.
-
Eventually John picks some new companies based on his model and invests his money back into
-
the market.
-
The next week his portfolio rises, and he feels on top of the world again.
-
I'm a genius, he thinks.
-
But the next week the markets crash, and John ends up depressed again.
-
I'm so dumb, he says.
-
Because John's goal is pursuant, he narrowly focuses on a single destination.
-
Being at the destination is the only way to remove his stress, and moving towards the
-
destination is the greatest pleasure.
-
Moving away from the destination is the greatest pain, and anything that stands in the way
-
of the destination is an annoying obstacle—including friends and family.
-
Because John's not at his destination, he's under chronic stress and emotionally volatile.
-
He fears making mistakes, because they're huge setbacks that increase stress and misery.
-
Now let's compare this to the external-avoidant goal from quadrant III.
-
This time we'll place the goal don't be poor on the left-side of the scale and Sandy
-
on the right.
-
Like John, Sandy is an accountant, and because she's already not poor, there's no gap
-
between the two pans.
-
She feels a sense of calm and balance.
-
So how does this goal affect Sandy's character?
-
Sandy decides to start investing, and she splits twenty-thousand dollars across a few
-
companies.
-
After the first week, she takes a seat at her computer and prepares to check her portfolio.
-
Her stress increases, and a gap forms between the two pans.
-
When the webpage opens up, she sees that her portfolio rose two-hundred percent.
-
She feels a burst of happiness but quickly humbles herself.
-
Things could change in a moment, she thinks.
-
The gap between the two pans closes again as Sandy calms herself.
-
She exits the browser and continues on with the rest of her day.
-
In the second week, her portfolio drops down again.
-
She feels a bit deflated but remembers to be grateful.
-
I knew things could change, she thinks, and at least I'm not poor.
-
She jots down some notes to refine her decision-making process and selects some new companies to
-
invest in.
-
Sandy's okay with making mistakes—as long as she uses those mistakes to refine her process.
-
She doesn't try to be right all the time, but she tries to make incremental improvements
-
in her decision-making.
-
She goes out for drinks with her friends later that night.
-
Over the next two weeks, her portfolio rises.
-
She feels a burst of joy but remembers to humble herself.
-
The next week the market crashes, and Sandy feels sad, but she remains grateful.
-
At least I'm not poor, she thinks, and I can use this as another lesson.
-
She refines her model, reinvests her money, and moves on.
-
Because Sandy's goal is avoidant, she focuses on the journey more than the destination.
-
As long as she's not in poverty, any destination will do.
-
Moving towards poverty brings her some sadness and moving away some happiness, but she balances
-
her emotions with humility and gratitude.
-
Her disposition is normally content, as opposed to inflated or deflated.
-
She's emotionally stable, and the stresses she encounters are acute.
-
She's open to other aspects of her life such as friends, family, and hobbies.
-
Sandy loves making mistakes too, because they allow her to refine her process.
-
Now let's compare John's pursuant goal with Sandy's avoidant one.
-
Imagine two blank maps.
-
Place John on the left map and Sandy on the right.
-
Now mark the places John and Sandy either want to go to or avoid with an X.
-
The distance between John and the X represents the stress he feels.
-
Sandy, on the other hand, feels content being in any place but the X.
-
When John moves towards the X he feels happy, but when he moves away, he feels sad.
-
Every movement changes his mood until the next movement.
-
For example, when his portfolio rises at the beginning of the first week, he feels inflated
-
that whole week.
-
But when his portfolio falls at the beginning of the second week, he feels deflated that
-
whole week.
-
His emotions linger depending on his movement towards or away from his destination.
-
Sandy, on the other hand, feels sad when she moves towards the X and happy when she moves
-
away, but her emotions quickly stabilize.
-
Any destination but the X is okay, and she keeps herself in check with humility and gratitude.
-
She's normally very content.
-
Because mistakes are such a setback for John—leaving him sad until he moves forward again—he
-
hates making them.
-
He tries to be right all the time.
-
Sandy on the other hand loves mistakes.
-
She doesn't focus on being right all the time, but being more right over time.
-
She uses the mistakes to refine her process, so that she can slowly move further and further
-
from the X.
-
Both Sandy and John could end up in the same place, but their experience of getting there
-
would be quite different.
-
Returning to the four different kinds of goals, I can now explain the tier system.
-
Quadrant I and II goals are bronze because they're pursuant.
-
Pursuant goals cause chronic stress, emotional volatility, a fear of making mistakes, and
-
a narrow focus on arriving at a destination.
-
Quadrant III goals are silver because they're avoidant and external.
-
Avoidant goals come with acute stresses, emotional stability, a love of mistakes, and a broad
-
focus on enjoying the journey.
-
But because quadrant III goals are external, they're always partly out of our control.
-
So quadrant IV goals are gold-tier because they lack the weaknesses of the others.
-
And now that I've built a framework for understanding goals, we can return to Socrates.
-
So what was Socrates' goal in life?
-
It was the goal from quadrant IV: do no evil.
-
Let's place that goal on the left-side of the scale and Socrates on the right-side.
-
Because Socrates already isn't evil, there's no gap between the two pans.
-
He feels a sense of calm, contentment, and balance.
-
But how did this goal affect Socrates' character?
-
Socrates believed evil came from ignorance, so he spent his life searching for wisdom.
-
He travelled around Athens, conversing with people, asking them questions about piety,
-
justice, and other virtues.
-
When he received an answer, he often probed deeper into it.
-
He tried to see if the answers could stand up to scrutiny, and he often found that they
-
didn't.
-
Upon closer inspection, most answers fell apart, and Socrates showed people they were
-
not as wise as they thought they were.
-
But by engaging in this philosophical process, he tried to make himself and others less ignorant,
-
less evil, and more wise.
-
But many Athenians had pursued quadrant I goals—such as money, fame, and status—and
-
saw him as an obstacle in their way.
-
They didn't like being shown their own ignorance, and they wanted to get rid of him.
-
So they put him on trial and threatened to put him to death.
-
Socrates said he didn't know whether death was a good or an evil thing, because he didn't
-
know what came after it.
-
He thought it could be an eternal sleep or another life, but because he didn't know
-
for sure, he didn't pretend to know whether it was an evil.
-
And because he didn't know if it was an evil, it didn't create stress for him.
-
It didn't conflict with his internal-avoidant goal.
-
In court, he faced his accusers with courage and integrity.
-
They couldn't break him.
-
And after they had sentenced him to death, they threw him into prison.
-
One of Socrates' friends, Crito, visited him in prison and said the following,
-
I should not have liked myself, Socrates, to be in such great trouble and unrest as
-
you are—indeed I should not: I have been watching with amazement your peaceful slumbers;
-
and for that reason I did not awake you, because I wished to minimize the pain.
-
I have always thought you to be of a happy disposition; but never did I see anything
-
like the easy, tranquil manner in which you bear this calamity.
-
Even in the face of death, he maintained his inner serenity.
-
Crito offered to break Socrates out of prison and help him escape from Athens, but Socrates
-
refused.
-
He believed it would have been evil to run away.
-
And when the time came for him to drink the poisonous hemlock, it was said he drank it
-
without hesitation, with cheer even.
-
And as the toxins ran through his body and took effect, it was said that he stayed calm
-
while his friends wept around him.
-
Because Socrates' goal was avoidant, he focused on the journey more than the destination.
-
He had not tried to predict the correct definitions of virtues, but tried to understand them a
-
little better through trial and error, and constant refinement.
-
By talking to other Athenians, he often learned what the virtues were not, and by doing so,
-
he became less ignorant, more wise, and moved further from the X.
-
As Crito said, he was normally of a happy disposition.
-
And because his goal was internal, no one could get in the way.
-
He continued his journey with courage and serenity, even under the threat of death.
-
I believe his goal, and his dedication to it, allowed him to live a meaningful, good,
-
and impactful life.
-
So looking at the four goals again, we are left to decide.
-
Which
-
one
-
will we choose?