I also think it can be really dangerous to treat the social esteem itself like the indigo.

Because ultimately, not everyone in your community or your friend group or whoever it is,

it's going to have the same values as you,

who is going to reward the same types of behaviors that you most admire.

And so if you allow that to essentially rule your life and your behavior,

you might find yourself becoming a person that you

yourself don't even approve of. And that's ultimately that the one person who is most important

to get the approval of is yourself.

That's essentially what I'm arguing in this book is the highest peak of well-being

or what the ancient Greeks called Eudaimonia is really a state of being highly approving of yourself

and justifiably so, right? Feeling like your behaviors that you're taking on a regular

basis are exactly what you would admire in someone else.

So I think status can be both a good kind of source of feedback for whether you're living

according to your values or not, but it can also be a big distraction.

I'm Sreeney Rao and this is the unmistakable creative podcast where you get a window into the stories and insights of the most innovative and creative minds who started movements, built driving businesses, written best-selling books, and created insanely interesting art.

For more, check out our 500 episode archive at unmistakable Creative.com.

Ryan, welcome to the unmistakable critic.

Thanks so much for taking the time to join us.

Thanks for having me, Sreeney.

I'm happy to be here.

Yeah, it is my pleasure to have you here.

So you have a new book out called Become Who You Are, which is really, really deep and rich in terms of really

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