Quality of Life Project

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  • Jacqueline Novogratz on Perspective

    Be interested instead of trying to be interesting. My mentor years ago told me three things. First, he told me to spend less time trying to be interesting and more time being interested in people and the world. Think about that. He also told me do not worry about what other people think of you because the truth is most people are too busy focused on themselves to think about you. Lastly, realize that there’s a whole series of great opportunities out there brilliantly disguised as insoluble problems.
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    Slide 1 – Jacqueline Novogratz

  • Richard Branson on Perspective & Pursuing Your Interests

    “I have never believed in the word ‘can’t.’  I believe there is a way. I don’t think the word ‘can’t’ should stop anyone from pursuing their interests whether work or hobby related. If you don’t have the right experience to reach your goal, look for another way in. If you want to fly, get down to the airfield and make the coffee, you’re going to get on board eventually. If you would love to work for a football club, offer to be the team’s equipment manager for free for six months.”

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    Slide 2 – Richard Branson

  • Gary Player on Family and Communication

    In Africa, we have this thing called the indaba. It’s a custom where members of a tribe or community will gather around a sitting area and discuss what needs to be discussed. We incorporated the indaba concept in my family. A time to air out our issues. Anything on your mind, talk about it, don’t keep it inside. It can get fiery but it is so essential for a family to communicate openly like this.
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    Slide 3 – Gary Player

  • Solly Amon on Dealing With People

    People tell me that I am good at the psychological aspect of dealing with people. I do think that to accomplish things in life, you have to know how to deal with people. And that means dealing with unique people in different ways. Understanding what statement or delivery might motivate a certain person to go down a certain path. Sometimes I say, Now what would you do if you were sitting in this chair? Let their mind work.
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    Slide 5 – Solly Amon

  • Maria Otero On Family

    One of the things that has really helped our family has been getting the kids connect with their extended family. In raising the kids, we’ve always been able to say, you’re not just responding to your immediate family. There are all these other people that are supporting you and that believe in you, that are looking after you. So you are also accountable to them. And the uncles, aunts, grandparents are present enough so that their opinions are important.
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    Slide 4 – Maria Otero
Quality of Life Project is a 501c3 based in Santa Barbara, California that was started in 2008. Our mission has remained the same since our founding in 2008. There is so much untapped quality of life perspectives and practices that others can learn from to enjoy life even more. We seek out those people out that seem to have a knack for life, and then we share what was unearthed during these conversations. We’ve found that the most useful life experience comes from the more understated, self-possessed people. So part of what we do is persuading these accomplished but low key types to meet with us and allow us to dig into what's contributed to their quality of life. If life is a gift, then perhaps there’s some virtue in getting the most out of it.