Today we welcome back Arthur Brooks to the podcast. Arthur is the Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor of the Practice of Public and Nonprofit Leadership at the Harvard Kennedy School, and Professor of Management Practice at the Harvard Business School. He is also a columnist at The Atlantic, where he writes the popular weekly “How to Build a Life” column. A world-renowned speaker, he talks about human happiness, and works to raise well-being within private companies, universities, public agencies, and community organizations. His latest book, which he co-authored with Oprah Winfrey, is called Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier.

In this episode, I talk to Arthur Brooks about building the life you want. People often think that happiness is a static end goal. But in reality, life will always have its ups and downs. According to Arthur, we can make choices that can improve our well-being despite the presence of challenges. He talks about how to find satisfaction through family, friends, meaningful work, and faith. Arthur also shares actionable steps around managing emotions and habits that can help us create a better life. We also touch on the topics of neuroscience, transcendence, evolutionary psychology, and love.

Website: arthurbrooks.com

Twitter: @arthurbrooks

Topics

02:50 Build the Life You Want

03:55 Writing the book with Oprah

10:14 Extremes are unhealthy

15:35 Unhappiness is not your enemy

17:38 Faith and transcendental experiences

21:22 Look for real friends, not deal friends

25:09 Work is love made visible

27:27 Love your enemies

37:28 Conflict is not hatred

39:59 Patterns of happiness vs individual variation

44:04 Family as a source of growth

47:36 The Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS)

49:07 Emotional substitution

51:13 Overcoming the negativity bias

55:40 Keep it simple

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