How to Control Emotions ( Advice from CEO Sam Parr )

TL;DR

Controlling emotions is the hardest part of scaling a company; adult behavior patterns, both good and bad, originate in childhood and become magnified 10× as a business grows. Studying one’s childhood, weekly therapy for 10 years, and a CEO coach (via Torch) are the speaker’s primary methods for managing this.

Key insights

• Simple business concepts (e.g., WeWork, Instacart, Uber) are easy to execute; the real challenge is controlling one’s emotions.
• Majority of current good and bad behavior originates from childhood; studying one’s childhood explains why you react to certain situations.
• An offhand parental comment (“Men don’t drink with straws”) can unconsciously shape behavior for decades (e.g., never using a straw at McDonald’s).