Alain de Botton: Finding Answers to Life’s Tricky Questions

Have you ever wondered what the meaning of life is? Of course you have, you’re only human after all.  Well, today’s guest, Alain de Botton, philosopher and founder of The School of Life, has not only wondered the same thing too, philosophising this age old dilemma, he’s also written a book on the subject.  Actually, he’s written well over 15 books as a solo author and collaborated on countless others.  “I was a young man who really wanted to know the meaning of life. I wanted guidance in the big questions. I wanted to know why I was anxious. Why I might be sad. What love was. How to secure love. What a good relationship was. What friendship was. What a satisfying career might be. I wanted to know all of these things. And really, there were very few clues in my education.” And so as well as writing on meaningful topics to help elucidate these deep subjects, Alain also founded The School of Life. He set it up in 2008 with colleagues, friends, supporters and his family, with the aim to offer an emotional education, focusing in particular on the issues of work and relationships.  From a vague plan his business has fast grown into an organisation that now not only provides a home for developing the tools for people to lead a more fulfilled life, it supports countless businesses, enabling them to get the most out of their employees, and vice versa.  So if you want a more fulfilled life, start by listening to this podcast with a modern day thinker. It’s truly insightful.   We chat about: How his upbringing shaped his early existence The School of Life and its inspiration How to cope with crippling anxiety in your work The connection between food and your state of mind How the School of Life can help your business Why his deepest fear is catastrophe Links: Religion for Atheists How To Think More About Sex The Pleasures and Sorrows of Work -- Sponsors Vorboss - get better internet: https://vorboss.com/secretleaders Vanta - get 20% off security certifications like ISO27001 and SOC2: https://vanta.com/secretleaders Vertice - save on your SaaS or cloud spend ($5k off or a free benchmark) using the code secretleaders: https://www.vertice.one/l/secretleaders -- Newsletter Sign up here: https://secretleaders.email/ You can find our historic newsletters here: https://www.secretleaders.com/episodes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices