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SPEAKER_05
 then you switch to the opposite perspective.
2
SPEAKER_05
So you go, but they went back to being Merck executives and figured out ways to defend against those threats.
2
SPEAKER_05
And so, and you can, you don't have to be a big corporation to apply that in your own life.
2
SPEAKER_05
You can ask yourself, you know, you can play the kill the company game with your job, right?
2
SPEAKER_05
You can say, well, why might my boss
2
SPEAKER_05
 pass me up for a promotion?
2
SPEAKER_05
Why may I not get this job that I'm interviewing for?
2
SPEAKER_05
Or why are people buying our competitors' products?
2
SPEAKER_05
It's not because you're right and they're wrong.
2
SPEAKER_05
It's not because they're stupid.
2
SPEAKER_05
It's because they're seeing something that you're not seeing.
2
SPEAKER_05
 It's because they believe something that you don't believe.
2
SPEAKER_05
It's because they're telling themselves a different story.
2
SPEAKER_05
And you're not gonna be able to see that story if you're looking at the world from your own limited perspective.
2
SPEAKER_05
And Kill the Company is a great way of forcing yourself out of that perspective and adopting the perspective of somebody else.
2
SPEAKER_03
 Yeah, I think it's a great activity to do with yourself, to do with your teams, to do with anyone, because it actually allows you to think so big and broad and crazy, which being told to think outside of the box definitely doesn't do.
2
SPEAKER_03
 or to have a creative brainstorm definitely doesn't do.
2
SPEAKER_03
So no, I love that.
2
SPEAKER_03
And thank you so much for sharing that.
2
SPEAKER_03
Okay, Azan, so what I want to ask you now is these final two segments of the podcast, which are called fill in the blanks and the final five.
2
SPEAKER_03
So fill in the blanks is I read a sentence and you have to fill in the final word.
2
SPEAKER_03
And the final five, I'll introduce straight after that.
2
SPEAKER_03
So are you ready?
2
SPEAKER_03
 Yep, ready.
2
SPEAKER_03
Okay, let me think which ones I want to pick.
2
SPEAKER_03
I've got a choice for you here.
2
SPEAKER_03
Challenging conventional wisdom starts with... Getting out of your jail cell.
2
SPEAKER_03
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_03
Absorbing complex issues... Begins with simplifying them.
2
SPEAKER_03
Nice.
2
SPEAKER_03
Reframing a problem welcomes... Better answers.
2
SPEAKER_03
 What impresses me most about humans is their ability to...
2
SPEAKER_05
 adapt to the uncertain.
2
SPEAKER_03
Nice.
2
SPEAKER_03
Good.
2
SPEAKER_03
Okay.
2
SPEAKER_03
These are your final five.
2
SPEAKER_03
So the final five, these are questions that are answered in one word to one sentence maximum.
2
SPEAKER_03
You're very good.
2
SPEAKER_03
You've followed the rules, which is always wonderful.
2
SPEAKER_03
Not everyone always does, so I really appreciate those answers.
2
SPEAKER_03
Here we go.
2
SPEAKER_03
Some of these are a bit more personal, so if you feel the need to talk a bit more, you can.
2
SPEAKER_03
The first two especially.
2
SPEAKER_03
 How often do you walk Einstein and do you find yourself to be more creative during those times with him?
2
SPEAKER_05
 Yeah, we walk him, my wife Kathy and I walk him once or twice a day at least.
2
SPEAKER_05
And absolutely, some of the best ideas I've had in recent memory have come during those walks because one, I'm stepping away from what I'm doing and actually letting my subconscious make connections.
2
SPEAKER_05
But also I've got an amazing partner with me, a sounding board who's asking me
2
SPEAKER_05
 the right questions that because, you know, she doesn't know what I'm working on.
2
SPEAKER_05
So she has that outsider perspective that we talked about and she'll often help me see things that I'm missing.
2
SPEAKER_03
 I love that, that's beautiful.
2
SPEAKER_03
The second question is actually about, because you started the book dedicated to Cathy, and you say my cosmic constant.
2
SPEAKER_03
What was the thinking behind the use of that terminology?
2
SPEAKER_03
What does that mean to you?
2
SPEAKER_05
Well, I think it's, you know, it was a connection to the universe, of course, and thinking like a rocket scientist.
2
SPEAKER_05
And I've had so many changes in my life coming from Turkey to the United States as an immigrant, and then,
2
SPEAKER_05
 from astrophysics to law, practicing lawyer to law professor, and then from law professor to popular author and speaker.
2
SPEAKER_05
So the ground underneath my feet has never been stable really.
2
SPEAKER_05
And my whole life is just, the change is the only, or it seems like change is the only constant, but there's another constant in my life, which is Cathy.
2
SPEAKER_03
Weirdly enough, I also dedicate my book to my wife.
2
SPEAKER_03
 I love that.
2
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, a few more similar.
2
SPEAKER_03
Mine says, to my wife, who's more monk than I'll ever be.
2
SPEAKER_03
I love that so much.
2
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, and it's very true.
2
SPEAKER_03
Okay, cool.
2
SPEAKER_03
All right.
2
SPEAKER_03
Last three questions of the interview.
2
SPEAKER_03
What's something that you were once certain of that you recently changed your mind on?
2
SPEAKER_05
 I was certain once that science and spirituality could not be reconciled.
2
SPEAKER_05
And I've changed my opinion about that in the past, probably a year or two, actually.
2
SPEAKER_05
I was always, I had this very materialistic view of the world, not in the monetary sense, but in the sense that like anything that's not subject to proof or disproof by the scientific method was not worth thinking about.
2
SPEAKER_05
And I don't think that anymore.
2
SPEAKER_05
I think science and spirituality
2
SPEAKER_05
 Thinking like a monk and thinking like a rocket scientist can coexist in ways that are beneficial to both fields.
2
SPEAKER_03
Okay, last two questions.
2
SPEAKER_03
If you could create a law that everyone in the world would have to follow, what would it be?
2
SPEAKER_05
If I could create a law that everyone in the world had to follow.
2
SPEAKER_05
 You know, be kinder to one another.
2
SPEAKER_05
I know it sounds cliche, but it's so important to just be a little bit more kinder to one another and to see each other in a way that we don't see each other.
2
SPEAKER_05
You know, not looking at people like a commercial transaction, a business card.
2
SPEAKER_05
 or the person standing in between you and your Starbucks macchiato, but actually seeing them as a human being who's experienced joy and sorrow, who's experienced triumph and grief in all of their imperfect, beautiful glory,
2
SPEAKER_05
 We don't do that.
2
SPEAKER_05
You know, we just walk past people.
2
SPEAKER_05
We just see through each other as opposed to really see each other.
2
SPEAKER_05
And I think that would be the law I would create is requires to actually see each other.
2
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, I love that.
2
SPEAKER_03
Thank you.
2
SPEAKER_03
And the fifth and final question is what was your biggest lesson that you learned from the last 12 months?
2
SPEAKER_05
Success doesn't make you happy.
2
SPEAKER_05
 if you're not happy before success.
2
SPEAKER_05
And it's not that I wasn't happy.
2
SPEAKER_05
It's just, I think I've had this, and this isn't just 12 months, by the way, it's probably my whole life.
2
SPEAKER_05
I've tied myself worth around my accomplishments.
2
SPEAKER_05
And so I would sort of get a,
2
SPEAKER_05
 a big dopamine hit whenever I succeeded at something.
2
SPEAKER_05
And I always thought that happiness was over the next mountain.
2
SPEAKER_05
And as long as I conquer this next thing, achieve this next milestone, that's going to bring me happiness.
2
SPEAKER_05
But if you're not happy before success, you're not gonna be happy after success.
2
SPEAKER_05
And to me, it's happiness comes from
2
SPEAKER_05
 not those big moments that you anticipate, going back to what we talked about before, but actually reorienting your focus toward the process, toward the little joys of life, like the joy of our morning walk with Einstein, the joy of
2
SPEAKER_05
 you know, my morning cup of coffee, the joy of an uninterrupted hour of writing.
2
SPEAKER_05
That's where happiness comes from.
2
SPEAKER_05
Happiness to me, it doesn't come from the big accomplishments, regardless of what it might look like from the outside.
2
SPEAKER_03
It's always hard to, whenever we first admit that, it's hard to kind of
2
SPEAKER_03
 stomach it sometimes.
2
SPEAKER_03
I've also for a long time realized that, and at least in my opinion, happiness and success are two different things.
2
SPEAKER_03
And success is based on what I achieve and happiness is based on how I feel about myself and how I feel about what I'm doing and contributing.
2
SPEAKER_03
 And I don't think happiness, if you're happy, it makes you more successful.
2
SPEAKER_03
And I don't think if you're successful, it makes you happy.
2
SPEAKER_03
I think they are just what they are.
2
SPEAKER_03
And it's okay.
2
SPEAKER_03
I think I have dreams to be happy and I also have dreams to be successful.
2
SPEAKER_03
And I have plans to be happy and I have plans to be successful.
2
SPEAKER_03
And I see them as separate.
2
SPEAKER_03
They give me a different sense of meaning and fulfillment in different ways.
2
SPEAKER_03
 And when you try and interconnect them, which is what I think you're saying, there's so many of us for so long believe that if we're successful, we'd be happy.
2
SPEAKER_03
Or the opposite too, which is, oh, if you're happy, then you'll be successful.
2
SPEAKER_03
And that's not true either.
2
SPEAKER_03
It doesn't really matter.
2
SPEAKER_03
And you can define what each of them are for you.
2
SPEAKER_03
So no, thank you, Ozan.
2
SPEAKER_03
Thank you for sharing that.
2
SPEAKER_03
 Really appreciate everyone.
2
SPEAKER_03
This is Ozan Varol.
2
SPEAKER_03
And the book, Think Like a Rocket Scientist, Simple Strategies You Can Use to Make Giant Leaps in Work and Life.
2
SPEAKER_03
You can go and grab a copy now.
2
SPEAKER_03
I obviously highly recommend this book.
2
SPEAKER_03
I think it's fascinating the way Ozan tells stories.
2
SPEAKER_03
He's a phenomenal writer.
2
SPEAKER_03
Of course, you can check out his blog as well.
2
SPEAKER_03
But the book definitely goes to that point of just crystallizing a lot of these really, really important and fascinating tips.
2
SPEAKER_03
And that's what I love about the book.
2
SPEAKER_03
It's like,
2
SPEAKER_03
 It's stuff that will make sense, but it will be so much more practical and deeper for you as you dive in through the stories and the studies that Ozan makes really, really clear for us like he's done today.
2
SPEAKER_03
Ozan, thank you so much for joining the On Purpose family.
2
SPEAKER_03
Really, really grateful to meet you.
2
SPEAKER_03
And I hope we actually get to meet in person one day too.
2
SPEAKER_05
Yeah, I love that as well.
2
SPEAKER_05
You just live right down the coast here.
2
SPEAKER_05
And if I can say one more thing, Jay.
2
SPEAKER_05
 I'd love to offer a special bonus to your audience for getting a copy of the book.
2
SPEAKER_05
If you head over to rocketsciencebook.com forward slash purpose, you'll find 12 short videos that I recorded.
2
SPEAKER_05
These are like three minute by size videos with practical actionable insights from the book that you can implement right away.
2
SPEAKER_05
I'm also going to share with you.
2
SPEAKER_05
 30-minute productivity video that I have that takes you behind the scenes on sort of how I structure my days and how I get more done in less time.
2
SPEAKER_05
And you can find all of that at rocketsciencebook.com forward slash purpose.
2
SPEAKER_03
I love that.
2
SPEAKER_03
Thank you so much for offering that.
2
SPEAKER_03
I really, really appreciate it.
2
SPEAKER_03
And make sure you make a note of that rocketsciencebook.com forward slash purpose to get all of that information and it's all free.
2
SPEAKER_03
So yeah, please, please, please go and grab it.
2
SPEAKER_03
 miss out on the opportunity, of course, go and grab a copy of the book at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and I'm sure all other good bookshops.
2
SPEAKER_03
Thank you so much.
2
SPEAKER_03
Thank you so much.
2
SPEAKER_03
My pleasure, Jay.
2
SPEAKER_00
A new season of Bridgerton is here.
2
SPEAKER_00
And with it, a new season of Bridgerton, the official podcast.
2
SPEAKER_00
I'm your host, Gabby Collins.
2
SPEAKER_00
 And this season, we are bringing fans even deeper into the ton.
2
SPEAKER_00
Watch season three of the Shondaland series on Netflix.
2
SPEAKER_00
Then fall in love all over again by listening to Bridgerton, the official podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
2
SPEAKER_00
Subscribe to catch a new episode every Thursday.
2
SPEAKER_04
 Discover a new educational and interactive podcast, Stories for Kids by Lingokids.
2
SPEAKER_04
Our episodes are packed with fun activities.
2
SPEAKER_04
Right, Elliot?
2
SPEAKER_04
Oh, yes.
2
SPEAKER_04
We went shape hunting around the block, and we found spheres and cubes on the street.
2
SPEAKER_04
That was great fun.
2
SPEAKER_04
Join Stories for Kids, the Lingokids podcast, inspiring you to learn while having fun.
2
SPEAKER_04
Listen to Stories for Kids on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
2
SPEAKER_01
 This is the story of how a group of people brought music back to Afghanistan by creating their own version of American Idol.
2
SPEAKER_01
The joy they brought to the nation.
2
SPEAKER_00
You're free completely.
2
SPEAKER_00
No one is there to destroy you.
2
SPEAKER_01
The danger they endured.
2
SPEAKER_00
They said my head should be cut off.
2
SPEAKER_01
I'm John Legend.
2
SPEAKER_01
Listen to Afghan Star on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.