Engineering a Remarkable Life: The Stanford Class That Changed My Life Plan | Lessons from Joel Peterson
38m 32s
This episode features Sheree and Jean, the Tiger Sisters, sharing a masterclass on “Engineering a Remarkable Life” from Stanford Business School professor Joel Peterson. The core focus is self-discovery through three key pillars: first, understanding one’s personal history and family background to ground identity; second, mapping personal assets and liabilities across life domains like education, relationships, and career; and third, identifying core values through daily reflection on time, money, and mindshare. A central exercise involves a values audit, where individuals confront contradictions—like spending time on certain activities despite claiming to value others—revealing true priorities. The class also introduces mantras as tools to reframe emotional reactions and foster personal growth, rooted in neuroplasticity and self-awareness. These practices are designed to help listeners build a more intentional, balanced life, not through rigid plans, but through honest, ongoing reflection. The episode concludes with a promise of a follow-up on “someone to love” and “work to do,” emphasizing that personal evolution requires deep self-knowledge and consistent effort. The insights are both practical and transformative, offering a rare blend of business strategy and emotional intelligence. Additionally, the episode includes promotional mentions of Google Chrome, Indeed Sponsored Jobs, and Kroger/BJ’s, but these are secondary to the main theme of self-engineering a meaningful life.
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The things that you value are the things you spend your time, money and mindshare on.
So you can say you don't value luxury items,
but after a decade of accumulating fancy bags, fancy watches, fancy jewelry,
those are the things you actually value and you need to take stock of.
Is this movie about me?
So a lot of us spend so much time figuring out how to construct or build a career,
but we don't spend enough time figuring out how to build our life.
You have to be really honest with yourself, right?
So you're not trying to pretend that you're a perfect person.
You're really deeply understanding yourself
to help you progress towards becoming that person that you want to be.
I'm Sheree.
I'm Jean.
And we're the Tiger Sisters.
We are your Wall Street and Silicon Valley big sisters.
And we're a top 10 business podcast bringing late night sister talk meets boardroom strategy.
What up, what up, what up, Tiger fam?
Welcome to Tiger Sisters.
But today we're doing Sheree's Masterclass series.
This is a series of episodes where I bring you the best of the best things that I've learned
either at business school, in my time working at LinkedIn, and throughout my life.
And Jean is our student and you guys are too.
So bring your pencil and your tablets and buckle up because it's going to be great.
Today I'm sharing Engineering a Remarkable Life,
which was one of my favorite classes at Stanford's Business School.
It was taught by the incredible, iconic, and also late professor Joel Peterson.
And it was taught by a professor named Joel Peterson.
And it's one of the classes that stuck with me because when you're at business school,
you think you're learning about accounting and finance and marketing, which you are.
But this class is completely different.
It's not what you think about learning at a traditional business school.
It's really how do you plan out your life and how do you live a successful, complete life
in all these different facets.
That's not just career.
It includes family, relationships, raising children.
So just really light things that we're going to talk about.
That's what we're going to cover today.
Yeah, I can attest that this is definitely one of the most unique classes that I've ever heard of
at a business school or grad school or any sort of school at all.
And it's almost more like a class on how to live life and like guidelines and learnings
from this incredible man's, you know, 70 plus years.
And I've heard Cherie reference this class so many times.
So I'm really, really excited for us to finally bring all of these lessons to you.
I honestly reference Joel and Engineering Remarkable Life like on a daily basis.
Yeah.
I like bring up all the quotes and some of the takeaways and the lessons like kind of
randomly day to day because it really relates.
Yeah.
I mean, it's not hyperbolic to say that this class changed her life and it will now change
yours, too.
In part one, we talk about all the ways that you can engineer your own life.
And then part two is all about how to construct a life with very rich relationships.
And a meaningful career.
OK, Cherie, before we dive into the lessons, can you just tell us a little bit more about
this incredible professor who changed your life?
Yeah.
So I met Joel Peterson my first year because he taught a class in my first semester at
Stanford, which was all about management.
It was a pretty short class, so it was a brief introduction.
But by that time, I was already pretty enamored because he obviously is an incredible has
an incredible career that I kind of want to list out.
But in addition to his career, he is a professor at Stanford.
He was a such a warm professor.
And because he had such an incredible storied, you know, 50 year career, it was all the more
impactful.
Yeah.
Like generous he was with his time, how thoughtful he was with his student and how much
compassion he had.
So Joel teaches this class that's called Engineering a Remarkable Life, and it's because
he's led a really remarkable life.
He was the former chairman of JetBlue.
Led one of the first.
One of the largest commercial real estate investment firms in the U.S.
And taught at Stanford for decades.
He served on countless public and private company boards, and he's mentored so many
GSB entrepreneurs and alums.
So whenever I meet an alum who knows Joel, it's also like a connecting point that we've
both taken his class.
That's so beautiful.
Yeah, I think I've seen that happen in person multiple times, actually.
It's very beautiful.
I love that we're doing this episode as like a tribute to Professor Peterson.
He passed away a few months ago.
I mean, he was such a beloved professor.
So I am so grateful and honored to have taken his class in person and also so honored to
continue sharing his teachings and his messages to you guys.
Right.
And Professor Peterson, he was the progenitor of this class, right?
Yeah.
He created this curriculum.
He wrote it up, presented to the dean, and they're like, we want to keep you at the school
because you've been a professor here for decades.
So yeah, you can teach this curriculum.
You can teach this curriculum about your life and about your family and your kids.
But I mean, it's so meaningful.
And since Joel has passed, I believe they are continuing this class at Stanford.
And I saw on the course registration website that there are other professors who are taking
this class and making it their own.
Yeah.
So I bet it's going to be one of those classes that going forward, Stanford is famous for.
Yeah, I think you're right.
It is also just like so. Stanford.
Yeah.
To have a class that is called engineering, which is like so Stanford, you know, engineering.
It's so Silicon Valley, but it's engineering a remarkable life.
And it is also so Stanford that like you can apply these frameworks to your own personal life.
Yeah.
It's going to be basically the second touchy feely.
Probably.
Probably.
Mm-hmm.
And so according to Joel, there are three main pillars to engineering a remarkable life.
The first pillar, which we're going to dive into in part one, is a person to be.
So before you think about your job, your income, or your accomplishments on your LinkedIn,
who are you?
What are your values?
Where do you come from?
What is important to you?
And what do you refuse to compromise on?
So we're going to go through a bunch of frameworks and many exercises so we can really firm up
a person to be.
Mm-hmm.
In part two, which is. In an episode to come, but please stay tuned, we're going to be talking about someone to
love, which Joel is super adamant in class that the person that you choose to marry is
one of the most important decisions of your life, which is so interesting to bring that
up in a business school classroom, because that's obviously not the standard curriculum.
But this is something that Joel talked about very passionately, and he even brought his
wife, Diana, into our class at one point so we could meet her and ask her questions from
her point of view.
That's so interesting.
Right?
Yeah.
It was very, very beautiful.
And so for someone to love, in part two, we'll be talking about how to think about family,
building family, and also how to consider someone to bring into your life forever.
And the third pillar is the work to do.
So once you actually know who you are and who you're building a life with, if that's
what you want to do, how do you actually create a meaningful life together?
Joel describes this as a three-legged stool.
If you miss one leg. Eventually, the whole thing crumbles.
So these are really important parts, and I'm really excited to dive into part one.
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Summarize, there are three pillars, and in part one, we're going to talk about pillar
number one.
Mm-hmm.
All right, let's do it.
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so before joel even talked about career and work the big question he wanted us to focus on is who
are you because if you don't know who you are it's really hard to intentionally build your life on
your own and also with someone else so the first exercise he had us do in class was to map out our
personal history. Joel firmly believed that, I mean, you are where you come from, whether or not
you agree with or like your family history or whatever relationship you have with your family
history. Like it is where you've come from. And so he encouraged. It's pretty intense. It's really
intense. It can be intense. So he really encouraged us to talk to our family members and figure out
where your family came from. And he told his story about his grandparents, his father growing up in
Iowa on a corn farm, all the jobs that he had as a kid, his family members who were in the World
Wars, World War I or World War II, but like how that had an impact on his life. And what's the
reasoning behind doing that? It's that you are where you are in your life for a reason. And that's
because of all the life and history that happened up until this point. And if you don't at least
know that or try to know that, you're kind of like floating in the world. Like it's a way to anchor
yourself in your family history. Again, whether or not you agree with your family history or like it
or, you know, however you feel about it, it is part of who you are and part of your story. Okay, so what
Joel had you guys do in class is to basically write a two-page summary of your family history. So you
had to interview your parents, your aunts, your uncles, your siblings, and just fully understand your history as much as
you could so that you can then build your own life on top of that sort of historical lineage, I guess.
Yeah, it was a lot of it was like information collection. Yeah. To figure out like where your
family has come from and how you got to where you are today. And this is something that everyone can
easily do on their own. So we have put together a bunch of questions that you can use as a guideline
to write this two-page summary. Reflection questions. Reflection questions, right. So where did your family members grow up? What
hardships did they face? Why did they make the choices that they made? And I think interestingly, some of those
choices are very, very like, I think, defining for the whole like ancestry and legacy, right? It can be, yeah. What values kept
getting passed down? And then finally, what patterns kept repeating? Yeah, I mean, these questions are heavy. They can be, right? I
think it depends on
your family and who you're asking. But like when I think about it, like what values kept getting
passed down, I think for Jean and me and our family history, something that was like definitely
triple underlined was the importance of education. And, you know, above all, Jean and I like learned
that education was so important. It was the number one thing we had to prioritize in our lives and
also for socioeconomic mobility and all of that. So like just hard work, hard work, education,
all of that. And so I think, yeah, for the past few generations, I'm like, that's something
that they've focused on and have also passed down to us, which we live and breathe today.
And then is this something that he had you guys share with each other in class?
No, this was something that it was just a personal reflection for us that we sent to the TAs. So I
guess one of my classmates knows everything about me and everyone else and also just he could
read it. Our professor could read it. But it was very personal and it was treated as such.
Did you and your classmates ever discuss it?
Yeah, we had a discussion like after every class or I guess in between different parts of the
lecture, he would have us get into groups and kind of discuss some of the lessons. And so we
could talk about it in generalities, but I think a lot of like the deep sitting down, interviewing
and thinking reflection happened on our own. Did people, did any of your classmates share
any sort of like revelations that they had from this experience or like what was the
main takeaway that people had from it? I think it's something that we take for granted,
right? It's like sometimes we talk to our families about our family history. Other times it's left
completely forgotten until you go to Thanksgiving and then you talk to your cousin's cousin's aunt
and something and you're like, oh, now I kind of, you know, can relate to the family history or learn
more about it. But it often goes to the wayside because life is so busy that we're like not
digging into our family history.
Yeah, ever. Well, we're not really thinking about it. Sometimes I do feel like I'm like kind of
floating in the world and like I don't think about where I am anchored and like kind of where I came
from. And also I will recognize that like this is a hard thing to do. And some people might come
from more troubled family histories, too, that they don't want to get into ancestrally because
it's really tough and not fun. Yeah, I could imagine it being very uncomfortable. Oh, for sure.
And so I think that's something that
this class understands. Yeah. So I think for anyone who is taking on this exercise,
I think it's OK if you feel uncomfortable about it. Just do the parts of it that you can.
And just doing anything as a start is already like very impressive because you're doing something
that I think like ninety nine point nine percent of people never take the time to reflect on.
Yeah. Right. So good for you for already considering it. And also we have many more mini exercises to do.
This is just the first of many. Your family history does not define you, but it is something
that you shouldn't, in my opinion, you know, close your eyes to like just be aware that it's there.
And if you're not comfortable with it or you disagree with it or you don't like it, like
that's OK, too. But just know that it exists.
I think it's also a valuable exercise because then you can start to see patterns and like all
of your beliefs and your values, you can start to trace them back to be like, oh, this is because this thing
happened in my family. Right. Like maybe a hundred years ago, we were displaced from X, Y, Z country.
And so that's why, you know, we have this tradition in our family or that's why there's this history
of feeling X, Y, Z. So I think it's definitely a intense exercise, but I think it could be super,
super valuable. Totally. OK, guys. So moving on from generational trauma,
we're going to exercise two, which is mapping out your personal assets,
assets and liabilities. I've never heard of a more business school sounding thing.
So what the heck does this mean? Yeah. Also, I'm not laughing at generational trauma,
but it is so heavy that all you can do is like laugh.
So literally she laughs at generational trauma. To like get through it.
She's so rude. Laughing at it and also a lot of therapy.
But on to our next exercise. Right. So assets and liabilities. It is so business school sounding.
Yeah. Obviously, in Engineering Remarkable Life with Joel, he turned this framework,
to a more personal way. So the thing that we did in class was we figured out how to map
our personal assets and liabilities in our own lives. Yeah. So most people know what an asset
and a liability are in finance. Right. An asset is something that creates value and a liability
is something that costs you or holds you back. But Joel said, let's apply this framework to
your entire life. OK, I love this. And of course, we have a mini exercise to go through it together.
So the way that this works is take out a pen and paper or just do this mentally. But you're going
to have three columns. So the first element is a factor. So the factor could be your education.
It could be one of your family members. It could be your finances, your romantic life. So it's like
a factor. And then the second column is the asset element of it. And then the third column
is the liability element of that factor. So I think that sounds kind of like conceptual.
So why don't we go through, Cherise, some examples that you put together?
Yeah. So some easy examples right now that you can write out in your column,
like, for example, education. Like that is something that Jean and I talk about all the
time. The factor is education. I think the asset, for example, going to Stanford's business school,
I've developed an incredible network. I've learned things that I never thought I would learn. It's
amazing. I've met amazing alums. That's an asset. The liability part of that is there's an opportunity
to going to business school. I spent two years not in the workforce, not making money. Another
liability is that student loans, right? People who are going to college or grad school, like you do
rack up student loans. So there's both the asset and liability factor for this factor.
Okay. I like that. But that one's like pretty straightforward. So what about a more
conceptual one?
Another factor I would encourage you guys to explore are the relationships that you have in your life. So whether it's
family or friends or a romantic partner that is in your life, I think you can think about those
in both assets and liabilities in those terms. And so I think one that's very concrete is that
if you have a family member, obviously there's a lot of assets that come with having that family
member in your life. Maybe you're learning a lot from them. You're enjoying the time that you spend
together. You go on vacation together, but also liability. Like I know that a lot of people have
to take care of their parents. That's something that, take care of their parents financially.
That's a lot of work on them to do. And so I would say that becomes a liability in the finances of it all.
Yeah. So I would say like you guys don't need to belabor over the word liability because I think that can sound a little bit
But it could just be like it's more so the idea of the assets versus liabilities is like this, you know, financial sort of concept.
So I guess instead of the word liability, you could think of it as like responsibility.
Responsibility, for sure.
So another factor that I considered was my network that I built up.
So an asset of the network and the people that I that I know that I've met over the last, you know, five, six years of my career.
I felt like that was a great asset in my life.
It's the people that I've met that I can reach out to and also rely on for advice and mentorship.
So that's a real asset for me.
I think the liability side that I thought of was that because I worked in the tech sector, most of my network and my friends, my mentors are in one vertical.
And so the liability there or I guess responsibility is that it's not very diversified.
And so if I'm looking for advice or mentorship in a different sector, I feel quite limited.
Okay, these are really helpful examples because I can imagine, well, since I'm your student, I can imagine like me and the listeners, we can just kind of like think through each of these categories that you've discussed.
So education, network, and then each of your primary relationships.
Yeah, the relationships that you spend the most time on in your life that's taking up most of your mind share.
Are there any other elements or what do we call them?
Factors that were brought up?
By other people in your class that maybe didn't even apply to you?
Not that I can think of.
It's just so personal, right?
You're like thinking about all these different categories in your life.
I mean, one that I think is personal to each person is their career as well.
And so because my career is in the content world, it has been for the last few years.
Something that I wrote down as an asset is that it's professional reputation that I've been developing, which is great.
And it's opened up a lot of opportunities.
And it's super fulfilling.
That's like the asset in my life.
The liability that I wrote down was that there's a real mental toll that it often takes in terms of being a creator and having a very public presence.
And that's something that I want to be aware of moving forward.
So the whole point of this exercise is just being aware of what is all in this soup, right?
It's all these different factors of things that affect your life.
And you have to think about it like what are the pros and what are the cons.
And we haven't quite discussed how to address it yet because like for this content creator example, there's a lot of pros that come with my work.
But like for the cons, the liabilities, I do need to do something different because I know it does take a mental toll on me.
And so I can change my habits.
I can change, you know, my lifestyle so that I can account for the potential liabilities that come with this.
Okay.
So I guess the point of this whole exercise is to…
To literally take an accounting of your life and like see what all the primary factors and elements are.
And then you can do something about it.
Come to terms with like, okay, what are the actual positives of each and what are the negatives of each?
And like what, if anything, do I want to do to address the liability elements?
Or maybe it's not addressing or changing them, but it's more so at least acknowledging it and deciding,
how I'm going to like actively live with each of these, right?
Totally.
I think it's all part of the information collection, right?
Mini exercise one, mini exercise two, we're information collecting about ourselves and doing a lot of the reflecting that doesn't happen.
Very intense.
So this exercise and honestly all these exercises, Joel's point wasn't to judge yourself.
It's to take a very fair and honest look at your life and what you're working with in order to know yourself better.
And?
To figure out how you can optimize your life.
Okay, guys, now moving into the final part of the episode, which is the values audit.
Okay, Sheree, you said this is your favorite part.
So tell us a little bit about what the values audit is and how it's useful.
Yes.
So this is actually something that I think about daily.
Daily?
Yes, because it is a quote by Joel Peterson.
And he says, what do you spend your time, money, and mindshare on?
And that will reflect.
That will reflect your values.
Okay.
So let that sink in.
Your time, money, and mindshare.
Time, money, and mindshare.
Yeah.
So something that I, you know, I do is that I reflect on these.
Like, what are you spending your time on?
You can take out your calendar.
Figuring out, like, what are the meetings that you're having?
What are you doing after work?
What are you doing on the weekends?
That is what you value.
Even if you say you value A, but your time or your calendar reflects that you value B, that's B is.
You know, the circle that you need to draw.
So time is the first thing.
Money, that one's a bit more straightforward.
What do you spend your money on?
Because, you know, your money reflects things that you value.
And the third one, which I find very interesting, is mindshare.
This one is a little bit less straightforward.
But, like, when you are in, you know, the Uber or when you're driving or commuting, where does your brain wander to?
You know, it could be about work.
It could be about a relationship.
Or a family member.
But, like, what do you spend your mindshare on?
Because that is also something that you value.
And that one is, like, a little bit harder to control because, like, your mind wanders and you think about it.
But I really like this framework to talk about our values, at least to tee it up.
So, you guys, you got to take a hard look at everything and be honest about yourself.
So the example that Joel had in class is that he says that he doesn't value fancy things.
But then he shared with us, he's like, then why do I have?
Why am I accumulating a garage full of these, like, fancy old cars?
He's just like, I guess I do value those things.
He's like, I don't value luxury things.
And he's just like, year after year, why do I have so many fancy cars?
It's just funny.
I was just like, OK, that's true.
But, like, take that down to my example.
I have zero fancy cars.
But, like, what do you spend your money and your time on?
I mean, I've been wondering why I have so many fancy cars.
So that hits deep.
Hey, guys.
So it's come to my attention.
That many of you don't know.
Jean and I have a matcha brand called Sisters Matcha that we created and founded ourselves.
What?
No way.
A matcha brand?
Yeah.
We started it in October 2024.
Jean and I have worked and lived on this matcha farm in Japan.
It's sourced from Wazuka, Japan, which is an hour and a half outside of Kyoto.
And the brand means the world to us.
It is a small family owned farm.
And we actually travel back to the farm and handpick the matcha ourselves.
So you can find out more.
You can find out more about Sisters Matcha to try it, check it out, buy it, at SistersMatcha.com.
That's SistersMatcha.com.
And all righty, back to the show.
Okay, guys.
So the way that you can do this values breakdown in your own mini exercise is that if we follow
the logic of you value what you consistently spend your time, money, and mind share on,
let's take a moment to pause here and then write down a list of what you consistently
spend your money, time, and time on.
Okay.
What you consistently spend your time and mind share on.
And it can just be like three items each.
It's just to get your juices flowing and just to start, like take literally one to two minutes.
It doesn't have to be right now, but just to even give it some consideration is already
more than like we were saying, 99% of people have the time to do.
Yeah.
And I would say just like be kind to yourself because this exercise isn't meant to shame
anyone, but it's really meant to take a very open, wide-eyed look.
And I said like, look at your calendar, like what are you doing day-to-day because what
you do day-to-day shapes your habits, your habits shape your life, and that's kind of
how things compound.
And so take a look at your calendar.
What are your habits?
How are you spending your time?
And you can also not have any judgment on it yet, but you can take an audit and later
if you are not happy with it, hopefully you can tweak some things and figure out a way
to live a life that feels more aligned.
Yeah.
Or even you could take a step back.
And let's say you don't have a very mapped out calendar.
You can for one week.
Oh, wait.
That's just me.
You can for a week keep better track of where you're spending all your time.
And then you can use that as a representative week to be like, hmm, wow, I've really surprised
myself.
I actually spend a lot of time going to the gym.
Yeah.
Or like I thought that I was someone who is very focused on fitness, but turns out
I only went to the gym like once this week or, you know, that's just an example.
Yeah.
I kind of jumped into that.
So I have everything planned out on my calendar and my friends make fun of me so much that
whenever I have like a dinner invite with my friends, like this is not even work friends,
this is like friends, friends.
I'll send them a calendar invite and they'll be like, what?
You're the most type A person.
Yeah.
So that's why I was like taking a step back.
Not everyone is like that.
So to make this more accessible to everyone, like even just like writing down at the end
of the day, oh, these are the things that I spent my time on.
Totally.
Okay.
So once you have a good idea of where you're going.
Yeah.
Where you're spending your mind share, your time and your money.
What did professor Peterson recommend that you do with this information?
Yeah.
I think we've done a lot of the information collection and when you've taken stock of
that, you can figure out things that are working for your life and things that you want to
change or improve.
And so something that professor Peterson, Joel talked about was having mantras.
These are things that can anchor you.
But a lot of it is also taking stock of your life.
Yeah.
So something that he shared in class was that
Basically, he called himself a very reactive, emotional person in business and in life and his relationships.
And he felt like that was something that he wanted to change in his life.
He was a big believer that what you think shapes what you say and what you say shapes your life.
And so he also loved this idea of neuroplasticity.
You can change the operating system or hard wiring of your brain.
And so with these mantras, he was basically like, what is a way I want to change who I am right now?
And because he said this was just one example, he had many.
But one example is that he's like, oh, I'm a pretty reactive and emotional person.
That's where I am right now.
Steady state.
He created a mantra that he says to himself and his new mantra, a way to reframe that, is that I am not my emotions.
And so I think it is really powerful to take stock of like, where am I today?
And what is the new reality?
Reframe of where I want to be.
So let's say you come up with a mantra.
How do you use it or what do you do with it?
He recommended that it's something that you say to yourself in times where you feel the urge to keep your steady state.
Let's say you're in a work meeting and it's getting really heated and you're usually a very reactive person.
If you can say to yourself in that moment, I am not my emotions, you're able to change or reframe where you're at and also reset.
Something that I've shared with Joel was that I actually took all of his mantras that he shared with us.
Basically, so he had these mantras that he shared with us is that I have everything I need.
It's not about me.
I'm not my emotions and I am grateful.
I basically stole these four from him.
And at a time when I was going through a breakup in business school, I literally every single day I wrote down in my journal these four mantras to keep me more centered.
I basically stole his.
And it looks like a crazy person is writing in this.
Because I've gone back to it and I maybe have like a month's worth of journals of me just writing these things over and over again, writing it down.
So it's sticking my brain and it honestly made me feel better.
It made me feel less attached to the breakup or the outcome of this relationship and more in myself.
So how long would you spend each day writing it?
Oh, just like in the morning.
I'd write it at the top of my journal and then get into the rest of my journaling.
But if it's something that you can practice in the morning.
Or daily.
Or in the moments that you need it.
Like if you're in a heated work fight or something.
It's something that you can go back to.
Yeah.
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Yeah, I think it's actually very interesting that this is, to me, it seems like a very progressive exercise.
Or a very progressive recommendation by Professor Peterson.
Where I think like the earlier parts of the understanding your history and your family background, your ancestry and like mapping all that out is very traditional.
But then the after doing all of those.
To me, what I think are like traditional and somewhat like backwards looking exercises, the outcome or the actual action item is very progressive.
And it's something that's almost like rooted in more like new age understanding of how to and like sort of psychological studies on how to modulate and moderate your emotional state.
Yeah, I mean the whole class focused on rewiring your operating system.
That's something that he says.
Is that like you can literally engineer a remarkable life by doing these many exercises and incorporating them into your life.
So what I love about these exercises that Professor Peterson came up with is that you have to be really honest with yourself, right?
You're really deeply understanding yourself.
And in doing so, you can understand where you are today.
And then.
You obviously have an idea of where you want to go or who you want to become.
And then you can use this concept of the mantras to help you close that gap and almost like engineer your internal dialogue to help you progress towards becoming that person that you want to be.
Absolutely.
And I think a lot of the planning that you do or the mantras that you write, like that's great that you can get started there.
But understand that everything is written in pencil, right?
Like, yeah, the plan that you create.
For your life, the thing that you're engineering, like it's good to have a plan.
Is that quote from Joel Peterson?
Yeah, he says you say that all the time.
He says always have a plan and it's OK that it's written in pencil.
And I love that quote because you always need a plan for your life.
I mean, I feel like I always need a plan for my life, whether it's in six months or a year and five months or five years.
But things change so much, things that you can't even control, that it's OK if it's written in pencil because then you can change it.
OK, you guys, that concludes part one of Engineering a Remarkable Life with Cherie's Masterclass and the Tiger Sisters.
So stay tuned for part two, where we talk about the following two pillars, which are someone to love and the work to do.
Ooh, intriguing.
Guys, I know that this topic can feel kind of intense, but I promise you, please stick through it.
It is a lot of the reflection that.
It encourages you to do.
It's not something that you do day to day.
And even if you're just listening to this episode while you're driving to work or in your commute or folding laundry, I think it's amazing because it really gets some of the gears turning in your head of how to think through some of these frameworks, whether it's family history, assets and liabilities, writing your mantras down, figuring out your time, money, mind share.
Like all of these are just things to encourage you to consider how it applies to your life.
Yeah.
And don't be intimidated by the meaning exercise.
Just know that even by just considering all these elements and by listening to this episode, you're already like ahead of ninety nine point nine percent of people who are not taking the time and don't have the time and space to consider these questions.
Yeah.
And I know this is also just like so the reason why this is like Cherie's Masterclass is because it's so Cherie coded.
Like this is stuff that I love to do is to like kind of do the inner work and like diving into myself.
I am someone and I'm sure if you're watching or listening to this, you are someone who.
Really enjoys growing and learning more about yourself to improve and become the best version of yourself.
So we really applaud you.
Thank you for listening to this episode.
There's so much more to come.
We're proud of you.
We're proud of you, Tiger fam.
And we'll see you in the next one.
All right.
Bye.
Bye.
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Podcast Summary
Key Points:
Professor Joel Peterson’s “Engineering a Remarkable Life” class teaches how to design a fulfilling life through self-reflection, encompassing personal history, assets/liabilities, and core values.
The first pillar, “a person to be,” involves mapping family history and personal assets and liabilities to understand roots, patterns, and life influences.
A values audit reveals what one truly values by examining time, money, and mindshare spent, challenging surface-level beliefs and uncovering hidden priorities.
Mantras serve as powerful tools to reframe emotional reactions and shift mindset, helping individuals build psychological resilience and align with desired self-development.
The class emphasizes honesty and ongoing self-inquiry, with practical exercises that are accessible and transformative for personal growth.
The three-pillar framework—person to be, someone to love, work to do—creates a balanced foundation for a meaningful, intentional life.
These exercises encourage deep self-awareness, moving beyond traditional business school content to address emotional, relational, and personal dimensions of life.
The teachings continue at Stanford post-Peterson’s passing, ensuring lasting impact and accessibility for future generations.
Summary:
This episode features Sheree and Jean, the Tiger Sisters, sharing a masterclass on “Engineering a Remarkable Life” from Stanford Business School professor Joel Peterson. The core focus is self-discovery through three key pillars: first, understanding one’s personal history and family background to ground identity; second, mapping personal assets and liabilities across life domains like education, relationships, and career; and third, identifying core values through daily reflection on time, money, and mindshare. A central exercise involves a values audit, where individuals confront contradictions—like spending time on certain activities despite claiming to value others—revealing true priorities.
The class also introduces mantras as tools to reframe emotional reactions and foster personal growth, rooted in neuroplasticity and self-awareness. These practices are designed to help listeners build a more intentional, balanced life, not through rigid plans, but through honest, ongoing reflection. The episode concludes with a promise of a follow-up on “someone to love” and “work to do,” emphasizing that personal evolution requires deep self-knowledge and consistent effort.
The insights are both practical and transformative, offering a rare blend of business strategy and emotional intelligence. Additionally, the episode includes promotional mentions of Google Chrome, Indeed Sponsored Jobs, and Kroger/BJ’s, but these are secondary to the main theme of self-engineering a meaningful life.
FAQs
It's a Stanford Business School class taught by Joel Peterson that focuses on how to plan and live a successful, balanced life by examining personal values, family history, relationships, and career goals.
The three pillars are: 1) a person to be (understanding your values and identity), 2) someone to love (building meaningful relationships and family), and 3) work to do (creating a meaningful career and life together).
He recommends interviewing family members to map out your personal history, including hardships, values, and patterns, to understand how your background shapes your identity and values today.
It involves identifying the assets (what brings value) and liabilities (what holds you back) in key areas of life like education, relationships, and career. This helps you gain clarity and make intentional life choices.
By reflecting on what you consistently spend your time, money, and mindshare on—these three areas reveal your true values, even if they differ from what you believe you value.
Mantras are short, repeating affirmations used to reframe negative thought patterns. Joel Peterson used them to shift from being reactive to more grounded and centered, helping people align with their desired self.
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