RESOURCES
Learning is endless.
ON LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS
Witty philosopher takes a stoic look at the equal magnificence and futility of shackling yourself to another human being.
Alain de Botton – On Love – Ideas at the House
And the short and equally brilliant version.
Alain de Botton – Why You Will Marry the Wrong Person
The ways we go about looking for love in all the wrong places (and for the wrong reasons).
Tim Urban – How to Pick Your Life Partner – Wait but Why
The impossible procrastination about making the biggest decision of your life – who to marry - and why everything’s OK. Really.
Tim Urban – The Marriage Decision: Everything Forever or Nothing Ever Again – Wait But Why
How attraction and desire truly work in reality, and how to frame your relationship and maintain your individuality to make that sustainable.
Esther Perel – The Secret to Desire in a Long-Term Relationship – TED Talks
Symbols of seduction capital abound in the modern free-market of love. A philosopher speaks to why we are consuming to connect, and argues that authenticity and humour is the true route to love. (In French with English subtitles).
Yann Dall’Aglio – Love – You’re Doing it Wrong – TED Talks
ON HUMAN STORIES AND ARCHETYPES
Why our fascination with plane crashes is really about confronting our own mortality, and we’d rather look at Taylor Swift’s legs than contemplate the melting glaciers. We don’t really care when we know we ought to, and how we can do ‘news’ better.
Alain de Botton – On the News (A User’s Guide) – Sydney Opera House
Outstanding playlist of all lectures from the Maps of Meaning series, placing psychology within the context of human stories and the meta ideals expressed through historical archetypal interpretations of human life. The closing lecture is deeply affecting – but it’s worth digging in to the whole series.
Jordan B Peterson – Maps of Meaning – The Divinity of the Individual [lesson 12 - final] – Jordan B Peterson YouTube Channel
Put your scepticism of the title aside and journey through this incredible existential lecture series – lectured to a sold out public audience in 2017, and outside of a University forum – as Peterson ambles through the deep wisdom of humanity (and so much supporting psychological context) which has been gathered and passed down in stories and mythology, in an effort by humans to work out how to live, how to be, and how to establish the values to guide you.
Jordan B Peterson – The Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories, III God and the Hierarchy of Authority – Jordan B Peterson YouTube Channel
Jordan B Peterson – The Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories, VI The Psychology of the Flood
– Jordan B Peterson YouTube Channel
Jordan B Peterson – The Psychological Significance of the Biblical Stories, IX The Call to Abraham.
– Jordan B Peterson YouTube Channel
An independent overview of the lessons to be gleaned from the same lecture series.
Spencer Wightman – Five Rules from the Viral Lecture Series - The Post Millennial
ON WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR LIFE (AND CAREER)
Absolutely essential reading. A brilliantly insightful and humorous essay offering a dive into how your needs and values should deeply inform the other biggest decision of your life – what career to pick. (Long read. Worth it.)
Tim Urban – How to Pick a Career (That Actually Fits You) – Wait But Why
“Work-life balance is a sham. It’s all work all the time and all life all the time, but the point is, you have to make room for life”.
Margarita Bertsos – The Common Pitfall of Conflating Self-Worth with Career Success: Fulfillment Failure - Well and Good
Having good boundaries around your values is about having integrity in your boundaries before they ‘matter’, and before bigger problems becomes pathological and hard to escape.
Jordan B Peterson excerpt - “If you can’t tell someone to go to hell, then you can’t negotiate with them” – The Archangel911 channel
Time is a limited resource, while energy levels are a lot more plastic and manageable. You really can slow down to speed up.
Tony Schwartz, Catherine McCarthy - Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time – Harvard Business Review
The famous viral interview on ‘The Millennial Question’: When the slow, meandering, messy process of learning successful social interaction, and the satisfaction of steady incremental improvement, meets the instant gratification culture – nobody wins. And we have some serious existential problems stored up when that strategy ultimately fails to deliver.
Tom Bilyeu with Simon Sinek – The Millennial Question – Inside Quest/Simon Sinek Channel
ON HOW TO BE
My single favourite Ted talk ever. Life-changing stuff. 49m views and counting, not all by me.
Brene Brown – On Vulnerability – TED Talks
Accepting realness.
Brene Brown – Striving vs. Self-acceptance, on Saving Marriages and More - The Tim Ferriss Show
Jordan B Peterson is a clinical psychologist and former professor of Harvard and Toronto who has changed the popular contemporary intellectual landscape in a few short years. I highly recommend becoming a ‘student’ of Jordan B Peterson via his 200+ university lectures and public lecture series (and his books, along with his psychological self-authoring tools). The resources are available for all on his YouTube channel. The philosophy of personal responsibility and having your eyes open.
Jordan’s talk on his essential book of the same name, given at London’s How To Academy. A standing ovation entrance so loud they had to mute the sound.
Jordan B Peterson – 12 Rules for Life – How To Academy
The concluding lecture in JBP’s ‘Personality and its Transformations’ course (Toronto University). Several years of the whole course are available to watch on his channel. I selected this specific video first because the message at the end is so deeply touching. Worth watching the whole course ten times over.
Jordan B Peterson – Psychology and Belief [lesson 22] – Jordan B Peterson YouTube Channel
Understanding how you navigate the world with an intrinsic morality and value structure at play (whether you’re conscious of it or not).
Jordan B Peterson – Historical and Mythological Context [lesson 2/3] – Jordan B Peterson YouTube Channel
How the brain makes sense of its environment in order to operate – understanding the operating system.
Jordan B Peterson – Biology/Traits The Limbic System [lesson 15] – Jordan B Peterson YouTube Channel
Published during the time of Corona Virus but nevertheless a valuable reflection for all of life. The importance of building a strong foundation of presence to weather the storms of life’s unexpected circumstances and for releasing fearfulness.
Eckhart Tolle - Staying Conscious/Awakening in The Face of Adversity – Eckhart Tolle Channel
An incredibly rare and still active 75 year plus study on two disparate groups of men, looking for life lessons and insights from this in-depth whole life data tracking. It turns out that high quality human connection and relationships are the best predictor of happiness and longevity.
Robert Waldinger – What Makes a Good Life? – Lessons From the Longest Study on Happiness - TED Talks
A beautiful metaphorical reflection on the soul-spark of divinity within each one of us, and a call to live that self-ownership out in relationships, through our own authenticity.
Elizabeth Lesser – - Say Your Truths and Seek Them In Others - TED Talks
The single most important written work I’ve come across in my life. I discovered The Prophet when it was frequently read in school assemblies and I was so moved I eventually asked the headteacher about these readings. And many of the excerpts may well be familiar to you too – being often read to the assembled at our rituals of birth, marriage and death. I have held a copy as a touchstone, a comfort and a wise teacher throughout my whole life. It’s that one thing I’d save from the fire.
Khalil Gibran – The Prophet – Full text, and by topic
ON MINDFULNESS
A five-minute reflection on the importance of being here now, and a nice segue into a practice of meditation or mindfulness.
Eckhart Tolle - Living in the Present Moment – Mindfulness 360
Difficulties in life can be useful, in that they alert us to the need to live more consciously.
Eckhart Tolle - The Grip of Ego – and Living More Consciously – Eckhart Tolle Channel
Organising your mind to support the manifestation of your goals.
Sadhguru – Law of Attraction Simplified – Smarter by the Day
ON PRACTICAL PHILOSOPHY
The brilliant everyman’s philosopher and founder of The School of Life on why philosophers were the original therapists, and what today’s philosophy can learn from pop music.
Alain de Botton – Interview - Daily Stoic
Setting self-development in its right and proper place, it makes sense for self-awareness and improvement to be a big life priority. A thoroughly alive metaphor about Maslow’s hierarchy of needs - and the power of perspective.
Tim Urban – Religion for the Non-Religious – Wait But Why
Interview with Jordan B Peterson on the overarching themes which inform clinical psychotherapy and psychology and the deeply practical use of these philosophies in navigating the world.
Russell Brand with Jordan B Peterson – Kindness vs. Power (ep 46) – Under the Skin
Includes the insight that comedians are required to operate outside of any ideology since they must speak the truth, or highlight ‘a’ truth. Comedians navigate an edgy line of public commentary in order to draw out real insight and genuinely engage an audience – you can’t fake it.
Russell Brand with Jordan B Peterson – On Freedom and Tyranny – Under the Skin
Two essays which get to the heart of what we do at Alchemy Life Coaching - how to wrestle back control of your stated aims, and put yourself firmly back in the driving seat of your life.
Robert Taibbi – Are You Running Your Life, or Is Your Life Running You? – Psychology Today
ON COMMUNITY, CULTURE AND SOCIETY
Picking the best bits from humanity’s greatest ideas and hacking our most profound insights about life.
Alain de Botton – Religion for Atheists – Ideas at the House
A new collective of renegade and distinguished-in-their-field free-thinkers has sprung up; and podcasting has provided them with an important platform for vital discussion and public debate. Also a great who’s who list for far more of this stuff.
Bari Weiss – Meet the Renegades of the Intellectual Dark Web - New York Times
Joe Rogan’s podcast has 190 million downloads a month. That’s not a typo. A regular Joe having entertaining and fascinating long form talks on really important stuff with some of the greatest minds alive.
Joe Rogan discusses what’s broken in US society, academia and science (and Corona Virus) with leading evolutionary biologist Bret Weinstein.
Joe Rogan with Bret Weinstein – Episode 1494 – Joe Rogan Experience
One of Joe’s favourite podcasts ever and a full introduction to JBP’s philosophy of ‘sort yourself out’.
Joe Rogan with Jordan B Peterson – Episode 877 – Powerful JRE (The Joe Rogan Experience)
See also Ep 958, 1006, 1070, 1139 for more powerful and fascinating long form conversations between these two in particular.
ON PRODUCTIVITY
A very approachable treatise on procrastination, how and why it happens and what to do to defeat it.
Tim Urban – Why Procrastinators Procrastinate – Wait But Why
Tim Urban – How to Beat Procrastination – Wait But Why
Tim Urban – The Procrastination Matrix – Wait But Why
When life is coming at you at an alarming pace, it leaves little room for considered, non-reactive decision making. We have to build that space – and agency - back in.
Anthony Rao, Paul Napper – Seven Ways to Feel More In Control of Your Life – Greater Good Science Centre UC Berkeley
Use science to preserve your energy and create more time. How space for rest and creativity in your life leads to higher productivity – from ‘The Happiness Track’ (book).
Kira M Newman – Manage Your Energy Not Your Time - Greater Good Science Centre UC Berkeley
ON THE ECONOMY
A superb podcast interview channel from the guerrilla comedian turned spiritual philosopher. The interplay of government with the engines of wealth creation.
Russell Brand with Jacques Peretti - Beyond Conspiracy – The Terrifying Truth of Corporate Power – Under The Skin
Artificial intelligence and persuasion architecture is not doing what we think it is.
Zeynep Tufekci - We Are Building a Dystopia Just to Make People Click on Ads – TED Talks
Title speaks for itself.
Scott Galloway – How Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google Manipulate our Emotions – TED Talks
READING LIST (NON-FICTION)
‘Dollars and Sense’
Dan Ariely and Jeff Kreisler
‘Predictably Irrational’
Dan Ariely
‘What Colour is Your Parachute?’
Richard N Bolles
‘The Consolations of Philosophy’
Alain De Botton
‘Status Anxiety’
Alain De Botton
‘Idiot Brain’
Dean Burnett
‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’
Dale Carnegie
‘The Art of War for Women’
Chin-Ning Chu
‘Why Does E=mc2’
Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw
‘Principles’
Ray Dalio
‘The Art of Thinking Clearly’
Rolf Dobelli
‘The Art of The Good Life’
Rolf Dobelli
‘The 4-Hour Work-Week’
Timothy Ferriss
‘The Prophet’
Kahlil Gibran
‘The Tipping Point’
Malcolm Gladwell
‘Blink’
Malcolm Gladwell
‘Outliers’
Malcolm Gladwell
‘David and Goliath’
Malcolm Gladwell
‘What The Dog Saw’
Malcolm Gladwell
‘Emotional Intelligence’
Daniel Goleman
‘The Self-Aware Universe’
Amit Goswami
‘The Elegant Universe’
Brian Greene
‘The Laws of Human Nature’
Robert Greene
‘The Concise 48 Laws of Power’
Robert Greene and Joost Elffers
‘The Motivation Myth’
Jeff Haden
‘Sapiens’
Yuval Noah Harari
‘Homo Deus’
Yuval Noah Harari
‘The Undercover Economist’
Tim Harford
‘The Undercover Economist Strikes Back’
Tim Harford
‘Dear Undercover Economist’
Tim Harford
‘A Brief History of Time’
Stephen Hawking
‘Ego is the Enemy’
Ryan Holiday
‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’
Daniel Kahneman
‘Skin In The Game’
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
‘Nudge’
Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein
‘A New Earth’
Eckhart Tolle
‘The Power of Now’
Eckhart Tolle
‘The Art of Happiness’
Dalai Lama and Howard C Cutler
‘The Big Questions’
Steven E Landsburg
‘Freakonomics’
Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner
‘Think Like A Freak’
Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner
‘When to Rob a Bank’
Steven D Levitt and Stephen J Dubner
‘The Big Short’
Michael Lewis
‘It’s Not Rocket Science’
Ben Miller
‘The Answer’
David Niven
‘Confessions of an Economic Hitman’
John Perkins
’12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos’
Jordan B Peterson
‘Maps of Meaning’
Jordan B Peterson
‘When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing’
Daniel H Pink
‘The Psychopath Test’
Jon Ronson
‘The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat’
Oliver Sacks
‘An Anthropologist on Mars’
Oliver Sacks
‘A Leg to Stand On’
Oliver Sacks
‘The Infinite Game’
Simon Sinek
‘Fooled By Randomness’
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
‘The Black Swan’
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
‘Antifragile’
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
‘Skin In The Game’
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
‘Nudge’
Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein
‘A New Earth’
Eckhart Tolle
‘The Power of Now’
Eckhart Tolle
READING LIST (FICTION)
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Margaret Atwood
‘The Sense of an Ending’
Julian Barnes
‘Crime and Punishment’
Fyodor Dostoevsky
‘Gone Girl’
Gillian Flynn
‘The Machine Stops’
E M Forster
‘Brave New World’
Aldous Huxley
‘Wolf Hall’
Hilary Mantel
‘Bring Up The Bodies’
Hilary Mantel
‘The Mirror and the Light’
Hilary Mantel
‘Keep The Aspidistra Flying’
George Orwell
‘Coming Up For Air’
George Orwell
‘Animal Farm’
George Orwell
‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’
George Orwell
‘We Need to Talk About Kevin’
Lionel Shriver
‘The Time Machine’
H.G. Wells
‘The History of Mr Polly’
H.G. Wells
‘The Works of Oscar Wilde’
Oscar Wilde
FILM AND TV
Wild Wild Country
The Good Place
The Giant Beast That Is The Global Economy
The Big Short
The China Hustle
The Connected Universe
How the Universe Works
Wolf Hall
Taskmaster
Black Mirror
The Great Hack
Icarus
Recommend SOMETHING
do get in touch below, if you have some recommended material for me…
