Man's Search for Meaning

Now Covey links it to Viktor Frankl's freedom of choice.

Viktor Frankl, a psychiatrist and a Holocaust survivor, wrote Man's Search for Meaning in 1946, and he argued that humans have the freedom to choose our attitude in a given situation.

And for Covey, that meant we have the choice to focus on what can be influenced rather than what can't be, or we can make things happen rather than waiting for them to happen.

Be proactive.

You know, when you're, when you're going through something really challenging, how do you show up within it? Do you choose to become a victim of complaining and misery and shitty, or do you find meaning in how you show up in the suffering, you know? And this isn't really my line of thinking.

This is like Man's Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl kind of talked about this, and I read that book last year probably when I said this.

And I, I reflected a lot about this honestly, when Courtney was going through labor and she had had the child, and I was like, "Holy fuck." Like you were going through this absolutely like, like I've ne- I've never experienced that much pain in my entire life.

And she just remained calm, controlled her breathing, did what she needed to do, changed positions when they told her she needed to do, was in the tub, was on the bed, was doing all these things and was just- ... dialed.

And it sets things up brilliantly because it puts things in perspective, which is under your control.

If you want to be inspired by anything, Man's Search for Meaning is a great book written by, what's his name? I'm going to forget now.

He wrote it when he came out of a concentration camp, Second World War.

Viktor Frankl.

And, you know, I'm thinking, first of all, I've got Say Yes to Life sitting right over here.

on my bookshelf, as well as Man's Search for Meaning, which by the way, for all of you that are watching and listening right now, if you have not read Man's Search for Meaning, go out and buy it immediately and read it.

It is an incredible book with so much insight in there.

But, I will say that famous saying of his between stimulus and response, that space, that gap that you mentioned, meditation has helped me more than anything else that I have done in my life in acknowledging and trying to expand that space just enough to where I can, so I'm not pulled into a situation, right? So I'm not reacting to it.

Like we have to have purpose because we have a will to meaning.

And the book was called Man's Search for Meaning.

And what they're searching for is purpose.

You know, so it's just like a big old jumble.

read.

Man's Search for Meaning.

Viktor Frankl's Man's Search for Meaning.

Order that.

Most underrated life skill?

It's funny.

Somebody asked me today, they're like, you've probably read Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl.

And I was like, I have read that book.

Yeah.

But it's that and all the pleasure that is meant to take the place of this sense of meaning.

So, you know, Viktor Frankl says in his book, Man's Search for Meaning, he says, you know, we have the means, but no meaning.

So we have the means in that we're very powerful.

We can do a lot of things.