How to break out of autopilot and create the life you want | Graham Weaver (Stanford GSB professor)

Graham Weaver teaches a top-rated course at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB), where he often unexpectedly ends up helping students figure out what to do with their lives. He is also the founder and CEO of Alpine Investors, a people-driven private equity firm. In our conversation, we discuss: • Why everything worthwhile requires suffering • Why most people operate on autopilot, and how to break free • The “genie methodology” for discovering your true path • The Nine Lives exercise for exploring different life possibilities • How to overcome limiting beliefs that hold you back • Why “not now” is often just another way of saying “never” • More — Brought to you by: • Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app: http://merge.dev/lenny • Persona—A global leader in digital identity verification: https://withpersona.com/lenny • Liveblocks—Ready-made collaborative features to drop into your product: https://liveblocks.io/lenny Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-break-out-of-autopilot-graham-weaver Where to find Graham Weaver: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-weaver-2b79 • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grahamcweaver • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@grahamcweaver • Website: https://www.grahamweaver.com • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@grahamcweaver Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Graham’s background (05:30) Helping students find their true path (07:40) The genie methodology (12:36) Breaking free from autopilot mode (17:54) Identifying and overcoming limiting beliefs (20:33) Teaching entrepreneurship and personal fulfillment (22:53) The reality of long-term success (35:14) The role of accountability and executive coaching (40:22) Daily goal setting for success (43:11) The Nine Lives framework (48:01) The dangers of the “not no