Topic Guide
What Is Self awareness?
Self awareness is a subject covered in depth across 3 podcast episodes in our database. Below you'll find key concepts, expert insights, and the top episodes to listen to — all distilled from hours of conversation by leading experts.
Key Concepts in Self awareness
Emotional set point
This refers to an individual's baseline emotional state, which Mike Posner describes as his 'emotional home base.' He claims he successfully changed his personal set point from depression and negativity to joy, faith, and love, highlighting that this core emotional state is not fixed and can be transformed through intentional internal work.
Significance vs. love
Posner and Ed Mylett discuss how many people, especially those who achieve public recognition, confuse external significance or acknowledgment with genuine love. This misunderstanding, often originating in childhood, leads individuals to 'outsource' or 'crowdsource' a superficial form of love, which ultimately leaves them feeling empty because it's not true connection.
Three stages of artistry (or human interaction)
Mike Posner outlines a progression in an artist's (or anyone's) relationship with their audience/others: (1) 'Puppy Love' – initial recognition brings a hit of significance, perceived as love; (2) 'Disillusionment' – pain occurs when external validation or popularity wanes; (3) 'Service' – genuine contribution to others after addressing internal flaws, fostering real love and joy.
Negativity bias of the mind
The episode explains that the human mind evolved to keep us safe, acting as a 'scanning device for what's wrong' to detect potential dangers. This inherent 'negativity bias' means the mind is not designed to make us happy, and identifying solely with it will prevent fulfillment because 'your soul is way bigger than the mind.'
The power of one more
This concept emphasizes that small, incremental commitments or actions, like "one more day" of sobriety or "one more round of golf," can have a ripple effect, leading to profound life changes. It challenges individuals to find the courage to take that next step, recognizing its transformative potential even in seemingly small acts.
Reticular activating system (ras) / the matrix
The RAS is described as the brain's filter that determines what information gets through to conscious awareness. The episode posits that by intentionally programming this 'matrix' with desired outcomes (like a new car or a new opportunity), individuals can train their minds to notice and attract those things, which were always present but previously unnoticed due to focus on fears or problems.
What Experts Say About Self awareness
- 1.Attracting the right partner begins with getting "really real with yourself" about your true preferences and dislikes.
- 2.Projecting desired traits onto oneself to match an ideal partner's interests will not lead to long-term compatibility.
- 3.Fundamental lifestyle mismatches, such as disliking the outdoors while being attracted to an outdoorsy person, indicate an incompatibility that won't sustain a relationship.
- 4.Ignoring your genuine nature for the sake of attraction can only result in short-term 'flings' rather than lasting partnerships.
- 5.Despite achieving immense external success—including Grammy nominations, millions of dollars, and extreme physical feats like climbing Mount Everest—Mike Posner was profoundly unhappy and empty, indicating that external achievements do not guarantee internal fulfillment.
- 6.Posner's biggest accomplishment is changing his "emotional set point" from a baseline of depression and negativity to one of joy, faith, and love, demonstrating that fundamental emotional states can be transformed.