This is the 10% happier podcast. I'm Dan Harris. Hello my fellow suffering beings how we doing my guest today is a high performance psychologist

who has worked with some of the world's greatest athletes and he argues that

worrying about other people's opinions is a hidden epidemic and maybe in his words the single

greatest constrictor of human potential. He's come up with a new acronym

FOPO fear of people's opinions and the stakes are high he argues in

the grip of FOPO you play it safe instead of taking risks you resist standing up

for yourself you value approval over authenticity,

and you pursue other people's dreams instead of your own.

This is the third appearance on this show by Dr Michael Jervay.

As I mentioned a few moments ago,

Michael is a high performance psychologist.

His clients have included the Seattle Seahawks,

many Olympic athletes,

MVPs from every major sport,

internationally acclaimed musicians and Fortune 100 leaders.

He's the host of his own podcast called Finding Mastery

and he's got a new book which is called the first rule of mastery in which he

coins the new acronym Fopo. In this conversation we talked about how the

evolutionary roots of our desire for social acceptance work against us frequently. the what other people think. The difference between a purpose-based identity and a

performance-based identity, the anti-fopo powers of things like imagination,

journaling, meditation, social support, and contemplating your own death,

and why focusing less on yourself

...