The idols of success: why money, fame and power leave us empty
Arthur Brooks's four idols, Khabib's warning about the trap of success, Peterson's lure of power and Oprah's sense that there's got to be more all point to the same danger. Recognizing these idols helps readers aim for meaning and humility instead of chasing the next win.
What are Arthur Brooks's four idols? Show answer
Money, power, pleasure and honor. Pleasure includes comfort and security, and honor includes prestige, fame and adoration.
When do the idols become harmful, according to Brooks? Show answer
When one becomes your primary goal. Each can do good, but as an end in itself it promises happiness it can't deliver and costs you love.
How does Brooks's elimination game work? Show answer
You eliminate the four idols one by one until the one most likely to beguile you is left. That is your idol.
Why can achieving a goal leave people empty, according to Brooks? Show answer
Satisfaction is the joy that follows struggle. Reaching the goal ends the progress we are wired for, which is why even Olympic winners can become depressed.
What does Brooks say about people driven by honor? Show answer
They often learned as children that love is earned, so they keep trying to earn it. His answer is that love is a free gift.
What does Khabib Nurmagomedov say happens to champions after success? Show answer
Attention, contracts and travel distract them, they start missing workouts, and those who were driven to be the best don't know what to do next.
What is Khabib's rule about money? Show answer
In your hands it can do good for others. Once it gets into your heart it corrupts, and it becomes very hard to share.
How does Khabib stay grounded? Show answer
By remembering that everyone, famous or not, is buried in the same kind of grave, and by treating success as a test, not proof of greatness.
What idea does Jordan Peterson call perhaps the worst unifying idea? Show answer
That power is the only true unifying force in human life, because it also justifies your own use of power.
How does Peterson suggest handling envy? Show answer
See it as a sign of what you want, practice gratitude, and compare yourself with who you were yesterday, not with others.
What does Oprah Winfrey say she is most proud of at 72? Show answer
Not what she has acquired but who she has become. She measures legacy by the mark left on other people.
What caveat about money do the sources give? Show answer
It matters when you don't have it. For someone working just to pay bills, Oprah's advice is to do it for the love of your family.