Artwork for podcast The Daily Podcast with Jonathan Doyle
Fighting Back Against Fear And Why It Matters
Episode 976th September 2022 • The Daily Podcast with Jonathan Doyle • Jonathan Doyle
00:00:00 00:12:23

Share Episode

Shownotes

In today's episode I continue with the theme that so much of the modern technocratic system is designed to keep you in fear so that your attention and energy can be monetized.

I suggest how we can all learn to focus more on decisions that increase hope and optimism.

Grab a free copy of my book Bridging the Gap here:

https://go.jonathandoyle.co/btg-pdf

Enquire about booking Jonathan to speak:

https://go.jonathandoyle.co/jd-speak-opt-in

Youtube version here:

https://youtu.be/KZZu5tLdUQ8

Find out about coaching with Jonathan here:

https://go.jonathandoyle.co/coaching

Transcripts

Speaker:

Well, Hey everybody, Jonathan Doyle with you.

Speaker:

Once again, welcome friends to the daily podcast.

Speaker:

Hope you like the last episode it's uh, it's done really well.

Speaker:

We were talking about, uh, the attention economy.

Speaker:

And how we need to be diligent on where we place our attention today.

Speaker:

I'm gonna go on fraction, deeper on that.

Speaker:

And tomorrow we're gonna move.

Speaker:

Onto one of the first of our recent listener.

Speaker:

Questions user generated content.

Speaker:

So, uh, you know, one of the best things I get to do on this show is just, uh,

Speaker:

take your questions, challenges, problems, cuz we are all on this journey together.

Speaker:

There is not a single person listening and me here behind the

Speaker:

microphone have not figured out.

Speaker:

How to do life perfectly.

Speaker:

We're all still traveling together.

Speaker:

So I get to.

Speaker:

I guess the privilege of working through some of your questions.

Speaker:

So we're gonna start that tomorrow, tomorrow, gonna be talking about how

Speaker:

we deal with things like self judgment.

Speaker:

Today, I just wanna take your fraction deeper on, um,

Speaker:

this attention economy idea.

Speaker:

I think it's really.

Speaker:

Important that we be across this concept and its implications for our life.

Speaker:

Would you please make sure you've subscribed, hit that subscribe button?

Speaker:

And the greatest thing you can do is if you like what

Speaker:

you're hearing today, grab it.

Speaker:

Stick it on your social media feeds and send it out to a few friends

Speaker:

cuz that, uh, it helps it to grow, helps it to reach more people.

Speaker:

And the feedback and emails that I've been getting are just, uh,

Speaker:

really beautiful from people that, uh, I've had the pleasure of meeting

Speaker:

and a live event or somewhere else.

Speaker:

So, uh, yeah.

Speaker:

Look, if you're like what you're hearing, uh, let me know,

Speaker:

jonathan@jonathandoyle.co dot COO let's jump in to today is the second part.

Speaker:

Of the quote that I was sharing the other day, and it's going deeper

Speaker:

on this idea of attention economy.

Speaker:

So let me share it with you and then let's unpack a little bit and see

Speaker:

how it could be relevant for your.

Speaker:

Life.

Speaker:

Here's the quote, the perpetual negative focus.

Speaker:

On problems and melodies and outrages.

Speaker:

Prevents the emergence of positive.

Speaker:

Plans and projects.

Speaker:

One more time.

Speaker:

The perpetual negative focus on problems.

Speaker:

And maladies and outrages.

Speaker:

Prevents the emergence of positive.

Speaker:

Plans and projects.

Speaker:

Okay.

Speaker:

So in the YouTube version, there'll be a link here.

Speaker:

I go pretty deep on this.

Speaker:

I talk about.

Speaker:

In terms of evolutionary biology, how we developed as a species,

Speaker:

we are hardwired towards fear.

Speaker:

Because of the need for self-preservation fear played an incredibly important

Speaker:

role in the development of the human species, the survival.

Speaker:

And, uh, flourishing of the human species had a great deal to do.

Speaker:

With the evolutionary adaptive capacity of fear, there were many

Speaker:

things worth being afraid of you put your head outside that cave 300,000

Speaker:

years ago, and anything was possible.

Speaker:

Pestilence would be stalking the land.

Speaker:

Sabba tooth tigers were not really because they were gone before then,

Speaker:

but you know, some sort of nasty thing would be there to eat you.

Speaker:

And if it wasn't that it was gonna be, you know, Neighboring

Speaker:

tribes that decided that, uh, your hunting grounds were better.

Speaker:

So they were gonna.

Speaker:

Basically start a tribal conflict.

Speaker:

So there was a real evolutionary benefit to fear.

Speaker:

Of course you fast forward to today.

Speaker:

And I've said this many times, The fears that inhabit our world are very different.

Speaker:

Um, they're very abstract, you know, in terms of, if you, if you could

Speaker:

choose a time to be born in human history, this is pretty much it.

Speaker:

You know, many of you have heard me talk about the, the flushing

Speaker:

toilet, you know, principle.

Speaker:

Um, if you're living at a time with a flashing toilet for you're doing pretty.

Speaker:

Well, compared to almost every human that ever lived, you know?

Speaker:

And, um, so the fears that we face are not immediate fears of death.

Speaker:

We understand that there's wars and conflicts in different parts of the world.

Speaker:

But the, the fears that we face abstract, can I pay my bills?

Speaker:

Will my kids be okay?

Speaker:

Will I find someone.

Speaker:

Uh, who loved me forever, all these abstract kind of fears and

Speaker:

what I wanna talk about today.

Speaker:

Is just to help you continually understand the role.

Speaker:

Of legacy and mainstream media and the kind of in penetration.

Speaker:

Of how we are governed with media and large corporations.

Speaker:

Because they're all kind of singing off the same song sheet, if you will.

Speaker:

And one of the things that.

Speaker:

They use is fear.

Speaker:

Government uses fear because the, the more fear that government can

Speaker:

inject into the system, the more.

Speaker:

The great mass of people will need to believe that we must be protected from

Speaker:

X fear, fill in the blank, whatever the fear happens to be economic.

Speaker:

Medical, you know, uh, military, whatever it is, fill in the blank.

Speaker:

I do not discount that there are genuine things going on in the world,

Speaker:

but I would like you to hopefully agree with me that the preponderance of

Speaker:

fear probably doesn't match up to the lived bear experience of most of us.

Speaker:

So what mainstream media understands of course, is that fear sells fear,

Speaker:

gains our attention because of that evolutionary biological basis.

Speaker:

We are.

Speaker:

If something is presented to us in a fearful sense,

Speaker:

something could happen to us.

Speaker:

They were more likely to pay attention.

Speaker:

The longer we pay attention, the more we are a set of eyeballs into

Speaker:

which advertising can be sold.

Speaker:

So you can see this kind of confluence of factors that increase

Speaker:

the level of fear in our culture.

Speaker:

And so what this does, according to today's quote.

Speaker:

Is it, I guess it's sort of soaks us in a mill year, a, a stew, if you will.

Speaker:

It's like a, we are baed in fear.

Speaker:

And when that happens, I think our energy and attention.

Speaker:

Well, attention's fragmented, but our energy levels can be slowly restricted.

Speaker:

You know, what's the point?

Speaker:

Why do we bother why we should we even try to think, you know, tomorrow's

Speaker:

gonna look worse than today and on and on it goes, we have this.

Speaker:

Deep sense that things are getting worse.

Speaker:

And no matter what happens, there's nothing we can do.

Speaker:

And then it restricts that optimism.

Speaker:

That leads to kind of growth and flourishing in our private lives,

Speaker:

but also in our culture in general.

Speaker:

Um, I read Ross do that's book.

Speaker:

Uh, the decadent society, which I, think's a really important book.

Speaker:

Uh, it's one of those books that, uh, you know, it's, it's a, it's a really

Speaker:

good read and you come away with a, with a, with an idea that stays with you.

Speaker:

And one of the points he makes in that book is that, that.

Speaker:

Exploration is central to human experience.

Speaker:

That a lot of the great unleashing of growth.

Speaker:

And potential in human societies happened.

Speaker:

As a result of exploration, you look at people like Ferd

Speaker:

and Magellan, you know, leaving Portugal, sailing across the ocean.

Speaker:

Naming the Pacific ocean.

Speaker:

He did, you know, Pacific Pacifica means peaceful the peaceful ocean.

Speaker:

And, um, you know, it was this exploratory journeys there, sort of the merchant.

Speaker:

Exploring class that left Venice in the, in the modern era, you know,

Speaker:

and began to open up different parts of the world in this ex, this

Speaker:

desire for exploration and growth.

Speaker:

You look at the migration west in the United States, the frontier spirit

Speaker:

that opened up this kind of growth.

Speaker:

So the was a, as much as there were risks and threats and dangers, there was also.

Speaker:

An optimism.

Speaker:

There was a hope, there was a sense that things could get better, that things.

Speaker:

Would be more interesting to be more potential and possibility as

Speaker:

we uncovered the world around us.

Speaker:

I've been talking about an article I read recently from the sociologist

Speaker:

Frank Ferrate who talked about it, the difference from our culture at the

Speaker:

moment, as opposed to previous cultures.

Speaker:

Is that previously when cultures were presented with threats and

Speaker:

fear, fearful things, They, they definitely experienced fear, but

Speaker:

they also experienced a sense of.

Speaker:

Opportunity.

Speaker:

What is the possible opportunity in what's happening here?

Speaker:

And his research suggests that we've lost.

Speaker:

The sense of opportunity.

Speaker:

We still have the sense of fear when things happen, but we've lost the sense

Speaker:

of, well, what might this bring about what potential things here could happen?

Speaker:

That could be positive.

Speaker:

So, what I'm getting at in this episode, my friend is to remind us all that.

Speaker:

This stuff is not neutral.

Speaker:

There are highly intelligent people, packaging, fear, and

Speaker:

selling it to you on a daily basis.

Speaker:

Now, what I've done is opt out.

Speaker:

So I just opt out.

Speaker:

I, I don't, I know I haven't watched mainstream television

Speaker:

in probably 15, 20 years.

Speaker:

Uh,

Speaker:

I deleted all my social media accounts.

Speaker:

I used sub stack because you can.

Speaker:

Really access some extraordinarily brilliant independent journalism there.

Speaker:

Um, I use a few other sources.

Speaker:

I think there is a lot of great stuff on podcasts and there's people that you can.

Speaker:

Follow who are really interesting.

Speaker:

So I've opted outta the system.

Speaker:

I just switch off.

Speaker:

Even when I go to the gym, they've got about 15 television screens.

Speaker:

I just pull my hat down, get my workout done.

Speaker:

Don't even look at it.

Speaker:

You can see the headline.

Speaker:

Sometimes I glimpse and it's like,

Speaker:

Uh, doctors fear new death thing happening next Tuesday at four.

Speaker:

Be afraid.

Speaker:

And I love how, you know, often with, you know, you, you see , they go

Speaker:

to the ad breaks and they're like, and when we come back, More fear when we

Speaker:

come back something else to worry about.

Speaker:

So I'm not being flippant.

Speaker:

I know some of you're listening here going Jonathan.

Speaker:

Seriously.

Speaker:

He telling us to be uninformed.

Speaker:

He's telling us to be unplugged.

Speaker:

What I'm saying is this, there is a huge global governance, media marketing nexus

Speaker:

that is trying to make you afraid, because if you are afraid, you are controllable

Speaker:

and you will do what you are told.

Speaker:

And I also think that it is stopping the creativity and optimism and

Speaker:

hope that needs to spring up in our hearts on a regular basis.

Speaker:

I know the other critique something you'll have was

Speaker:

Jonathan, you need to be informed.

Speaker:

Yeah.

Speaker:

I kind of get that.

Speaker:

I agree with that to a point.

Speaker:

But I actually think you, we all need to go and reread Steven Covey's

Speaker:

circle of influence and circle of interest and circle of control.

Speaker:

Right.

Speaker:

Because there's in many ways there's bug rule that we can control, like, unless

Speaker:

you're running the United nations world health organization, or you're leading

Speaker:

a nation there's, there's not a lot that many of us get to do to change the

Speaker:

issues that are being presented to us.

Speaker:

What I believe is that we get to, we get to change what's right in front

Speaker:

of us, the quality of our marriages, the quality of our parenting,

Speaker:

the quality of our friendships.

Speaker:

How we apply ourselves to worthwhile valuable things each day of our lives.

Speaker:

I think that what the fear does is it sucks us up into this great big narrative

Speaker:

arc that sort of roams around the planet.

Speaker:

And we forget the incredible.

Speaker:

Influence that we can have in what's right in front of us.

Speaker:

We can choose optimism in our daily.

Speaker:

Lives now I wanna say, choose.

Speaker:

I really want to get this point across.

Speaker:

Optimism hope are decisions.

Speaker:

They're not magical feelings that some of us have more than others.

Speaker:

I have had to work very hard.

Speaker:

I still have to work very hard on a daily basis to, you know, to not

Speaker:

give into some of the despair, to not give into some of the hopelessness.

Speaker:

You know, we, we were massively impacted.

Speaker:

By some of the decisions over the last few years in terms of travel

Speaker:

and speaking, and business, and, uh, I've had to work very hard not

Speaker:

to descend into a bitter cynicism.

Speaker:

It's a work, it's a project.

Speaker:

So this isn't just a nice idea.

Speaker:

Like, oh yeah, let's be more hopeful.

Speaker:

Now this is a decision.

Speaker:

This is a choice.

Speaker:

Something we do every day.

Speaker:

All some.

Speaker:

Summary.

Speaker:

I believe that not only is our attention being fragmented, I believe that fear is

Speaker:

being used is fear is being weaponized.

Speaker:

If you use that word in a way that it probably hasn't been before, simply

Speaker:

because of technology is a different, it can be mainstreamed and it's

Speaker:

more pervasive and endemic to the.

Speaker:

System than it ever has been in human history.

Speaker:

So friends, let us choose to fight back.

Speaker:

Let us choose.

Speaker:

To disengage from the system as much as it's practical for you.

Speaker:

What can you say no to what can you watch?

Speaker:

Less of?

Speaker:

What can you listen to less?

Speaker:

You know, how can you become more astute?

Speaker:

How can you choose more hope and optimism on a daily basis?

Speaker:

Okay, so just do the audit.

Speaker:

That's what I say in so many episodes.

Speaker:

Do the audit as you go through today, look around.

Speaker:

What are you listening to?

Speaker:

What are you?

Speaker:

I mean, you here, right?

Speaker:

You're listening to this.

Speaker:

This is hopefully an optic Optim, uh, optimistic message today.

Speaker:

I want you to be encouraged.

Speaker:

I want you to be.

Speaker:

Encouraged.

Speaker:

I want you to believe that you are not a victim.

Speaker:

I want you to believe that you can.

Speaker:

Find the goodness in life.

Speaker:

I wanna believe that you can improve your circumstance and the circumstance

Speaker:

of the people that you love.

Speaker:

So press on my friends, press on.

Speaker:

Disconnect get more mindful about what the inputs are and choose to

Speaker:

be a light in wherever you are today in your marriage, in your parenting,

Speaker:

in your workplace, in your school.

Speaker:

Go there today and just do the best you can to bring light and hop optimism

Speaker:

and joy and hope into that space.

Speaker:

All right.

Speaker:

God, bless you.

Speaker:

Go and check out the YouTube version.

Speaker:

Links you here, would you please subscribe?

Speaker:

Um check out the links you can book me to speak conferences events staff training

Speaker:

all that sort of stuff so go check it out god bless you guys love your heaps

Speaker:

i'm praying for you all i hope that we uh we can all make the most of this

Speaker:

moment in history my name's jonathan doyle this has been the daily podcast in

Speaker:

you and i gonna talk again tim tomorrow.

Chapters

Video

More from YouTube