In today’s show, Dr. Lisle briefly discusses the current events in the USA and then discusses these q’s:
1. I come from a family of low lifes, junkies, and drug addicts. I was able to be the first in my family to get a college degree of any kind and would like to pursue a Phd. I am willing to believe this might be reaching on my part and I might fail, but it seems worthwhile to try. If I were to look at my genetics it makes me think I’m doomed to become a drug addict who accomplishes nothing. Wouldn’t it be more useful to have a growth mindset about your abilities and let the environment tell you where you are reaching out of your league. If I’m being honest the genetics perspective just makes me feel very hopeless, where my lived experience does not. How can I more usefully incorporate this perspective to help fuel achievement, rather than a fixed mindset of my own abilities as determined by genetics?
2. I’m noticing that despite the evidence that is widely available, people who should not be personally overly fearful of the coronavirus are in fact quite fearful. You have discussed many possible reasons for this, including a reason for opting out of competition and the like, but I’m curious if what we’re seeing is nervous systems intentionally generating personal levels of fear in order to obtain/maintain status.
3. I am wondering what advice you have for people that may have inherited a lot of money, or won the lottery. How can this affect the self-esteem mechanism and what’s the best way to handle the money to achieve happiness?