Brooks: Founders should treat their entire life as a startup
Arthur Brooks · You Need To Be Bored. Here's Why. | Dr. Arthur Brooks · Mar 26, 2026 · at 9:06
Harvard professor Dr. Arthur Brooks speaks with Codie Sanchez about reframing life choices as adventurous startups.
0:00 / 0:37exact quote · 37.2s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“You need to apply that same entrepreneurial mindset that goes from uncertainty to risk to adventure in every part of your life. That's not just your business. That's not just opening laundromats or, you know, running vending machines, the kinds of businesses that people actually wind up loving and that you help people do, which is super important. It's also who you marry and where you live. And whether you get an education and how you raise your kids, all of those things go from uncertainty to risk to adventure, and if you're living the adventurous lifestyle, then you're treating your life as a startup. You're not treating your business as a startup, you're treating your life as a startup, and that's the right way to live.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Arthur Brooks
Brooks: Polyamory is nonsense because humans are built for pair-bonding
“All of the nonsense about, I don't know, polyamory that are coming around. That's all Nonsense. And again, I mean, look, no judgment, different strokes, but look, I'm a behavioral scientist, and the truth of the matter is that we are built for pair-bond mating”
Brooks: Dark Triad personalities are disproportionately social activists
“There's a really interesting papers that we've seen recently, the dark triads, they're disproportionately social activists.”
Brooks: Anonymous internet posters are overwhelmingly likely Dark Triad personalities
“Do you like to post anonymously on the internet? Because the answer is yes, you're overwhelmingly likely to be talking to a dark triad. You're overwhelmingly likely to be talking to a pathological personality, somebody who really likes to stir up trouble and h…”
Brooks: The therapy industrial complex mistakenly wants you to relive trauma
“And again, that's been largely overlooked by the therapy industrial complex that wants you to relive your trauma. No, no, no, no, no, no. You need to reframe and understand your trauma, understanding that you probably weren't the person who was suffering the m…”
Brooks: Using AI as a therapist, lover, or friend causes depression and emptiness
“If you use AI as your therapist or your lover or your friend, It will leave you feeling empty, depressed, and anxious. That's the bottom line.”
Brooks: Happiness and unhappiness are processed in different brain hemispheres
“Happiness and unhappiness are not opposites. They're largely governed in different hemispheres of the brain, as a matter of fact. So to say, if I got rid of the screens and had fewer aggravations and mood disorders, I would be happier. That's wrong. You'd be l…”