Latest news with #HarvardUniversity-trained
CNBC
16-07-2025
- Health
- CNBC
Harvard-trained expert: This mindset shift can make you 'a lot happier' and more fulfilled—most people don't know about it
Happiness expert Laurie Santos gets nauseous when she thinks about dying, she says — but she regularly does it, anyway. People who habitually considering their own mortality and the brevity of life — like how any meal or conversation could be your last — are generally happier than those who don't, Santos said during a live taping of the "Last Meal with Tom Nash podcast" on March 12. The reason: Remembering that life is short can gently force you to be more present, gracious and experience life to the fullest, said Santos, a Yale University professor and Harvard University-trained psychologist. You shouldn't overly dwell on the state of your health or how you're going to die, she added. "The research shows if you think about death just enough ... [that mindset] can actually make you psychologically a lot happier," Santos said during the event. "Every once and while, remembering [that life] is finite — I could go at any moment — reminds you to make the best of [your life]."Santos isn't the only researcher who recommends considering your own mortality as a way to be happier. If you live like you're dying, you'll prioritize more of life's small pleasures that you might otherwise take for granted, according to professional "death doula" Alua Arthur. For Arthur — a bestselling author and the founder of Going With Grace, a Los Angeles-based end-of-life planning and support organization — that means anything from eating more "delicious food" to speaking "a little bit more clearly about how I feel," she said on a February episode of the "A Bit of Optimism" podcast. Similarly, reflecting on how you'd live your life differently if you only had months to live is a good practice, author and hospice nurse Julie McFadden told CNBC Make It on November 12. It can help clarify your priorities and what you want most out of life, she said. "Talking about death, thinking about your own mortality, to me, really helps you live better, live more meaningful[ly], and I think that helps you die more peacefully," said McFadden, who wrote the 2024 book "Nothing to Fear: Demystifying Death to Live More Fully." Thinking about death is just one way to readjust your mindset around happiness, Santos said. She offered another method: Focus more on your physical, emotional and social wellbeing than on money, work or fame. When you can, prioritize activities like sleeping in, chatting with a friend or journaling, she said. "We're often pursuing that stuff at opportunity cost of the stuff that really does matter," said Santos. "Social connection, rest, taking care of our bodies, some physical exercise, eating healthier ... These are the things that really do move the needle behaviorally."
CNBC
30-05-2025
- Business
- CNBC
Harvard-trained investor: I've repeated this 6-word mantra daily since I was 20—it helped me become more successful than most
Alexa von Tobel starts every day on a positive note — a function of the "daily mantra" the Harvard University-trained investor has repeated every day for the past two decades, she says. "I've had it, probably, since I was 20: 'Get up, dress up, show up,'" says von Tobel, 41. "[It means] get up early, get dressed and show up with a very positive attitude." A founder and managing partner of venture fund Inspired Capital, von Tobel says she typically wakes up by 6 a.m. to "get ahead" of her three children and exercise so she can be "ready to take on the day in a powerful way." That positive outlook helped give her the confidence to drop out of Harvard Business School and move to New York to launch a startup at age 24, she says. The startup was online financial advisory LearnVest, which she founded as startups struggled to access venture capital amid the start of the Great Recession. Von Tobel credits a detailed, 75-page business plan and her own unshakeable conviction for her ability to raise more than $1 million from investors within a year of launching. "There was just an absolute desert of capital and my mindset was, like, 'There's only one plan. It's plan A and we'll figure it out," she a successful business — LearnVest reached 1.5 million users before selling to Northwestern Mutual for a reported $375 million in 2015 — required "extreme trust in my ability to figure things out, [which] stems from this very positive outlook," adds von Tobel. Every entrepreneur should develop their own version of a relentlessly optimistic mindset about their business, so they can build the confidence and resilience they'll need to forge ahead while weathering inevitable setbacks, she says. "It's natural to me, [but] the mindset of, literally, 'the impossible is possible' is very important for an entrepreneur: to only look for the path to make something successful, and the sheer commitment to extremely detailed positive thinking to make [that] happen," von Tobel says. Positive thinking can provide real benefits ranging from reduced stress and better overall health to increased productivity and improved problem-solving skills, research shows. It can be especially powerful when combined with diligent preparation and a commitment to hard work — particularly important traits in the business world, according to serial entrepreneur and Stanford University adjunct professor Steve Blank. Skipping out on research and preparation is the "biggest mistake" people make that often leads to failure in business, Blank told CNBC Make It in March. Billionaire Mark Cuban touts a similar message, phrased more bluntly: "You [need to] know your s--- better than anyone else in the room," he told GQ in 2022. Some other successful entrepreneurs agree. "Positive thinking is [an] incredibly powerful tool," billionaire Richard Branson wrote in a 2018 blog post. "Simply put: positive, proactive behavior spurs positive, proactive behavior." You can boost your own positivity by avoiding constantly comparing yourself to others and working on how you judge yourself, psychologists say. Replacing self-criticism with self-compassion — everyone makes mistakes, and you can learn something from every setback — can help shift your mindset from negative to positive, according to leadership and mental strength expert Scott Mautz. "Stop all that negative inner chatter — the destructive thoughts, beliefs, and attitudes that take over..." Mautz wrote in August. "Instead, talk to yourself as you would to a friend in need, with compassion and empathy." Von Tobel is also right, according to author and financial therapist Aja Evans: Regular uplifting affirmations genuinely help, too. They can help "fortify you, so when the crisis does come, you truly believe that you can handle it," Evans said in December. ,
CNBC
30-05-2025
- Health
- CNBC
Bestselling author shares her No. 1 tip for raising mentally resilient kids: It's 'the single best thing you could do'
Your child is throwing a tantrum, and it's stressing you out. Perhaps they're afraid of the dark, so you avoid an outburst by offering them a spot in your bed — but now it's a bad habit they can't seem to break. Or your child feels uncomfortable in social settings, so you let them stay home, and now they can't make friends at school. Giving into your kids to avoid your own feelings of stress and anxiety does more harm than good in the long run, says bestselling author and personal growth expert Mel Robbins. It's a big mistake she made when raising her daughter, the 56-year-old said on a May 6 episode of "The Oprah Podcast." "I really screwed this up as a mother," said Robbins. "As a mother, I take full responsibility for making my child's anxiety a hundred times worse. The single best thing you could do for your daughter is to get control of and heal your anxiety."Robbins herself was an anxious child, and her now-adult daughter expressed similar tendencies as a young kid, she said — sleeping on her mother's bedroom floor for almost a year due to separation anxiety, for example. Telling her "no" resulted in a fuss, triggering Robbins' own anxiety, so she allowed it to happen for longer than she should've, she added. "You want to know what I taught my daughter by doing that? I taught her that you're not capable of facing something that's difficult," Robbins said. "She got to the point that she didn't want to go to school ... I couldn't leave and go anywhere." Learning how to overcome your own anxiety is the first step to helping your kids do the same, said Robbins. And teaching them how to be mentally resilient gives them a better chance of becoming successful as adults, some psychologists say. People may use several common-sense strategies to ward off stress: talking to a therapist or loved one, eating healthier and sleeping more, working out, writing in a journal. Other tactics may be less obvious, like sleeping with your phone in another room, Robbins noted. "You're checking emails and messages [as soon as you wake up] and you wonder why you're stressed out and exhausted," said Robbins. "You're not even out of bed, and you have put all this other stuff in your brain." Martha Beck, a Harvard University-trained sociologist, uses a process called KIST, or "kind internal self talk," she wrote for CNBC Make It in January. Imagine your anxiety as a small, furry animal and tell it, "You're OK," or "Everything's fine." Then, when you feel even the smallest shift in your anxiety, "offer yourself kind wishes" — say something like, "May you feel peaceful," Beck wrote. Finally, imagine tucking your anxiety into a cozy box and carrying it gently in a small bag slung over your shoulder, wrote Beck. Once your emotions are in check, you can more effectively talk to your child. Robbins suggested some potential language to use: "I know this is scary, I know this feels uncomfortable and I'm going to be by your side. But you are capable of facing this, honey." The calmer you are in your delivery, the more they'll believe it, Robbins said. ,
