DeepSummary
David Duchovny interviews Stephen Dubner, host of the Freakonomics Radio podcast, about failure and quitting. Dubner discusses how his religious upbringing shaped his view of failure, feeling marked by the Catholic concept of original sin. He shares various experiences of public failure from his youth, which taught him the value of preparation. Dubner quit a successful band despite meeting Bruce Springsteen, realizing fame wasn't for him.
Duchovny relates quitting the highly successful X-Files TV show after feeling he had done all he could with the role. They discuss the pain of quitting something successful and leaving behind the associated people. Dubner advocates processing failure as an experiment and persevering through nuance rather than constantly seeking novelty. They explore positive versus negative thinking and whether others' success contributes to one's sense of failure.
The conversation touches on religion, spirituality, learning new skills later in life, and societal fixations on winning at all costs. Duchovny aims to investigate shame around failure and whether deeply painful experiences like divorce feel "contagious" through this podcast.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Failure is an inevitable part of pursuing meaningful goals and personal growth, but one's perspective in processing and learning from failure is crucial.
- Quitting successful endeavors can be a difficult but necessary choice to avoid stagnation and continue evolving.
- Finding nuance within ongoing pursuits rather than constantly seeking novelty can lead to greater fulfillment over time.
- Both public and private failures shape one's character and worldview, but public failures tend to have more profound impacts.
- Religious or philosophical traditions deeply influence how individuals contextualize and cope with failure.
- Major life decisions like career changes often involve a grieving process for what is left behind.
- Learning new skills and embracing lifelong education can reinvigorate one's sense of accomplishment.
- Society often celebrates a myopic, uncompromising view of winning that can be unhealthy.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Failure is the work that you do to get to the thing you want, knowing that you might not even get to the thing you want, but you're still gonna be better off having tried.“ by Stephen Dubner
- “But there is a point at which you say quit.“ by David Duchovny
- “I do call you a spiritual teacher because I really see the way you work through these problems as being part of a spiritual tradition.“ by David Duchovny
- “I never really left. It's possible that they're still expecting my dissertation at this point.“ by David Duchovny
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Episode Information
Fail Better with David Duchovny
Lemonada Media
6/4/24
Stephen Dubner, host of Freakonomics Radio, has done more than change the way we think about economics — I consider him a spiritual guide of our time. But for all his success, he’s got a laundry list of careers he’s left behind, from rising-star musician to New York Times writer. We debate the merits of expecting the worst versus hoping for the best and discuss how to trade nuance for novelty as we get older. It’s never too late to keep learning — or, according to him, to start a podcast.
Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Stay up to date with Lemonada on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia.
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