Bounce! Conversations with Larry Weeks: Recent Episodes
Larry Weeks
Interviews w/ authors, entrepreneurs, athletes and others on resilience, getting on or getting over life’s set ups and setbacks.
If research exists on how people bounce back, he talks about it. If there are physical practices, proven psychologies or philosophies that can help people build personal foundations before the storms come, he digs into it.
Your brain is not necessarily doomed to significant cognitive decline with age.
But it does need a reason to keep adapting.
That is the premise behind The Stimulated Mind, and it is why this conversation with neuroscientist Dr. Tommy Wood may change how you think about aging, retirement, frustration, and the things you normally avoid because they feel difficult.
Tommy is an associate professor of pediatrics and neuroscience at the University of Washington. He studied biochemistry at Cambridge, earned his medical degree from Oxford and his PhD from Oslo. He also works with Formula 1 drivers as head scientist for motorsport at Hintsa Performance and is the author of The Stimulated Mind: Future-Proof Your Brain from Dementia and Stay Sharp at Any Age.
Your brain needs meaningful challenge.
Adults tend to hate feeling like beginners. We avoid unfamiliar technology, difficult skills, and situations where we might look incompetent. But Tommy explains why that frustration may be evidence that the brain is doing exactly what it needs to do.
Some highlights from the episode:
06:00 The counterclockwise study
08:00 Beliefs about aging
11:00 Age limits and cognitive ability
14:00 Cognitive baseline testing
16:00 Challenge and brain adaptation
19:00 Why frustration can be beneficial
21:00 Reading versus listening
23:00 Hearing and vision loss
26:00 Alzheimer's versus dementia
30:00 The best exercise for the brain
34:00 Overstimulation versus real stimulation
37:00 Retirement and cognitive decline
39:00 Food and brain health
41:00 Dementia biomarker testing
44:00 Improving cognition after decline
46:00 Advice for caregivers
48:00 Do crossword puzzles and brain games work?
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
Something happens. The tire goes flat, the layoff comes, test results come back. And then a sentence starts running in the back of your head. That shouldn't have happened. I should weigh less. They shouldn't have fired me. You barely register it. It plays like a radio in another room, and it produces a feeling, and the feeling produces a behavior, and the behavior produces the day you are having.
The stress paradox is that the thought causing you the most pain is also the one that feels most obviously true.
Of course they shouldn't have fired me. The belief feels like clear sight rather than distortion, and it feels useful, like it is the thing that will finally motivate change. It almost never is.
Treating stress as a condition to be managed rather than a belief or thought to be examined leaves it running.
My guest is Andy Bernstein.
Andy is the creator of Active Insight and the founder of the Resilience Academy. He is the author of Breaking the Stress Cycle, and he has taught at Wharton Executive Education since 2007, where his sessions have been audience favorites for thousands of leaders. His corporate clients include Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley, Johnson & Johnson, Google, Coca-Cola, and Genentech.
Andy built a process for dealing with stress that is seven steps, done on paper. You do not lie on a couch. You do not say a word. In this conversation, he walks through all seven steps live, twice.
Challenging the way other people think is something we all do constantly. Challenging your own thinking is something we rarely do.
Some highlights from the episode:
03:32 Losing his father at 14 and his sister at 16
06:00 Byron Katie, The Work, and a job he never meant to leave
08:26 Active Insight
11:07 Field-testing
14:51 Where our idea of stress came from
19:25 Bears, war zones, and the adaptive exception
24:41 "Should" as the argument with reality
29:33 The seven steps, walked through live
30:43 What is negation?
36:50 Running the process on "they shouldn't have fired me"
39:19 The showdown with yourself
43:37 Time doesn't heal wounds. Insight does.
44:34 The Grant Study and not pushing love away
47:00 Doing it in your head, and when that isn't enough
50:47 Won't I become a doormat?
51:09 Flow, not stress
53:49 The psychology of subtraction
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com/podcasts
You know what you should do. You're just not doing it.
The gym bag is by the door. The draft is open on your screen. The email's been sitting there for three days. And somewhere underneath all of it is the same quiet assumption running the show: that you have to feel like it first. That motivation comes before action.
What if that's backwards?
That's the premise behind Morita therapy, and it's the reason this conversation with Gregg Krech might rearrange how you think about getting things done.
Gregg is the Executive Director of the ToDo Institute, a Naikan education and retreat center in Vermont.. He is also the author of several books, including: "Naikan: Gratitude, Grace, and the Japanese Art of Self-Reflection," "A Natural Approach to Mental Wellness," "The Art of Taking Action," and "Question Your Life."
For nearly thirty years Gregg has been teaching an approach called Morita therapy developed a century ago by a Japanese psychiatrist to treat severe anxiety, and it offers a genuinely different way of dealing with the feelings that stop us.
Here's the core of it. When we have a difficult feeling, like anxiety, depression, anger, or the urge to quit, we think we have two options: express it or suppress it. Morita therapy offers a third. Acceptance.
You coexist with the feeling, and you take action anyway.
In this conversation we get into how you actually build that skill, not as a concept, but as something you train like free throws or piano. We cover why motivation is optional, what the maxim "lead with the body" means, why the smartest people often get the most stuck, and how to use your attention to relieve suffering in real time. We talk about recovering from real setbacks like job loss and divorce, and end on a surprisingly freeing idea about indecision: why what you do after you decide matters far more than the decision itself.
Some highlights from the episode:
02:36 Origins of Morita Therapy
06:39 The third options
10:48 Thoughts vs actions
13:31 Purpose and feelings
17:24 Practice restraint and action
21:37 Directors vs actors
24:20 Willpower
27:27 Motivation and optionality
29:09 Lead with your body
30:38 Setbacks
33:29 Attention
35:37 Meditation
41:00 Breath practice
45:31 Resistance
48:24 Exercises over maxims
55:22 Indecision and commitment
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com/podcasts/
The AI fallacy is thinking the transformation is only in the tool.
AI is already transforming education and work; not just because of what it can do, but because of what people believe it can do. Students, workers, managers, universities, and companies are all changing their behavior around AI, sometimes rationally, sometimes badly, and often before they even fully understand it.
The AI paradox is that it is both a technology and a social event.
It is a technology because it is something we install, manage, govern, and use. But it is also a social event because it functions as a moment in history, one that is already altering how people learn, work, teach, hire, manage, and make decisions.
Treating AI only as technology leads to the fallacy: the mistaken belief that because a challenge is technical, the solution must also be purely technical.
My guest is Professor Gerald C. "Jerry" Kane.
Prof. Kane is the C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry Chair in Business Administration and Professor of Management Information Systems at the University of Georgia's Terry College of Business, he has also served as a Visiting Scholar at Harvard Business School, a Guest Editor at MIT Sloan Management Review, and a Senior Editor at MIS Quarterly.
Jerry's research explores the role of digital technologies in business strategy, organizational culture, and talent development, with a particular focus on how people and organizations respond to digital disruption. He is also the author of two books on that topic: The Technology Fallacy and The Transformation Myth: Leading Your Organization Through Uncertain Times.
I had Jerry on the podcast before. This time, I wanted to talk to him because he sits in both worlds: he studies how companies adapt to digital transformation, and he is also a professor watching AI hit higher education in real time, not as a theory, but in his classroom, with his students, right now.
Treating AI as a software update rather than a cultural shift results in 'bolted-on' systems that people neither trust nor understand.
Some highlights from the episode.
02:13 Meet Professor Jerry Kane 07:12 How fast AI hit campus 13:22 The university policy divide 14:19 Workplace tools and incentives 17:36 Young minds and the outsourcing of thinking 20:20 Teach the basics first, then add AI 24:22 Degrees vs. lifelong upskilling 29:34 Curation as the new core skill 31:50 AI pushback from artists and creators 32:47 Ethical use over refusal 33:18 What's actually happening inside companies 34:13 Building a coalition of the willing 36:13 Shadow AI and the risks of unsanctioned use 38:25 Efficiency vs. transformation 40:44 Layoffs and AI washing 42:12 Middle managers and org structure 43:27 Adoption steps and safety 47:29 Minimal viable governance 55:35 Jobs anxiety vs. reality 58:30 Bullish long-term, uncertain short-term 1:00:49 Chatbots and attention traps
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com/podcasts
Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky is one of the world's leading researchers on happiness, human flourishing, and what actually helps people feel connected. A Professor of Psychology at UC Riverside, she is the bestselling author of The How of Happiness and The Myths of Happiness, published in 39 countries. Her latest book, written with Harry Reis, is How to Feel Loved.
Sonja's work has shaped the modern science of happiness and earned major honors, including recognition as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Basel, and several leading awards in personality and positive psychology. She also writes a popular newsletter on the science of happiness, and her research has been featured widely in media, documentaries, podcasts, and public conversations around the world.
On the show, we cover:
- Self-help culture and happiness
- The happiness trap: doing what we think will make us happy that can backfire
- The counterfactual gratitude practice
- The "masking effect": seeking admiration and its impact on connection
- The vulnerability paradox
- Being loved vs. feeling loved
- Curiosity as a way of making other people feel seen
- Challenging the Five Love Languages
- Why small daily moments of connection matter so much
- On AI: the rise of AI companions and simulated connection
- The multiplicity mindset: why people are more than one trait or action
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
You make hundreds of decisions a day. Most of them invisibly. A few of them under real pressure, with incomplete information and no clear right answer.
So how do the people who do this for a living like firefighters, surgeons, military commanders, and get it right when the stakes are highest?
That's the question Dr. Gary Klein has spent his entire career answering. Not in a lab. In the field. With people whose next call might be life or death.
Gary is a cognitive psychologist, a Senior Scientist at MacroCognition LLC, and the Chief Scientist at ShadowBox LLC. He's one of the founding figures of naturalistic decision making, the study of how people actually decide in the real world, under time pressure and uncertainty. He built the Recognition-Primed Decision model, which has been incorporated into Army and Marine Corps doctrine. He created the PreMortem method of risk assessment, endorsed by Nobel Prize winners Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler.
He's the author of several influential books, including Sources of Power, The Power of Intuition, Streetlights and Shadows, Snapshots of the Mind, and Seeing What Others Don't, a fascinating deep dive into how insight actually works.
Malcolm Gladwell put it simply: "No one has taught me more about the complexities and mysteries of human decision-making than Gary Klein."
In this conversation, we get into everything from how Gary personally works through a tough decision to when you should, and shouldn't, trust your gut. We cover the value of first-person expertise, the difference between knowledge and knowing, how to use a pre-mortem, and why more information doesn't necessarily mean better decisions. Then we spend time on AI: what happens when people start outsourcing their thinking, and what might get lost in the shuffle.
I also ask him to audit my use of his framework for managing uncertainty because there's a lot of that going around right now.
Some highlights from the episode:
- 02:35 The White House Situation Room (and why he can't talk about it)
- 05:17 Writer's block, pen and paper, and how Gary structures his thinking
- 07:37 Walking through a real decision: the medical scenario
- 10:53 Intuition: when to trust it, when to question it
- 13:00 Pattern matching, mental simulation, and the Recognition-Primed Decision model
- 18:00 The AI concern: outsourcing decisions and eroding expertise
- 18:42 The pre-mortem: how it works and why Nobel Prize winners endorsed it
- 22:35 The 80/20 of decision making: build experience and frame the problem
- 27:12 AI and the younger generation: old fogey worry or real risk?
- 31:49 Why curiosity about failure is the thing AI can't replicate
- 33:06 Tacit knowledge: the invisible layer AI can't scrape
- 39:07 Five sources of uncertainty — and tools for managing them
- 42:36 Wrapping up: the cognitive dimension and what makes humans indispensable
We go from the mechanics of expert decision making to a surprisingly urgent question: in an age of AI, what happens to the skills you never knew you were building?
Enjoy!
Prof. Philip Goff is a British philosopher, author, and professor at Durham University whose research focuses on philosophy of mind and consciousness. He was an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Central European University and the Department of Philosophy, University of Birmingham.
Philip is also the author of Galileo's Error: A New Science of Consciousness, Consciousness and Fundamental Reality, and his most recent, Why? The Purpose of the Universe, is the touchstone for this episode.
We're covering some lofty territory today: from the hard science of physics and cosmology to the deep waters of philosophy, religion, and the question of God.
Some highlights from the episode:
- 06:16 Framing the big questions: purpose, consciousness, and the value hypothesis
- 10:00 Fine-tuning theory: dark energy and the "casino" intuition
- 12:54 Meaning: Frankl, suffering, and why questions matter
- 16:52 Agency and teleology
- 24:18 Mystics and mystical experience across traditions
- 28:04 Consciousness and panpsychism
- 28:52 The 'Why' book tension: cosmic purpose, hope, and meaning
- 30:14 Returning to religion: becoming a 'heretical Christian'
- 31:32 Meaning as beauty, gratitude, and 'pronoia'
- 34:06 Scientism and other ways of knowing
- 37:47 Religion as social technology: community over doctrine
- 39:23 Orthodox mysticism + Anglican flexibility
- 41:19 Prayer: orientation vs. supplication
- 45:08 Meditation: creative energy without certainty
- 51:04 Reflections on affordances and enacted meaning
Quick note: at the very end of this episode I tacked on a short addendum. I share how this conversation actually landed for me.
Enjoy!
My guest on this podcast asserts that a huge chunk of our psychological stress isn't caused by what's happening but by the demands one quietly places on reality.
In this episode, Dr. Walter Matweychuk teaches me about Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), which focuses on identifying and disputing irrational, self-defeating beliefs to reduce emotional distress and change negative behaviors. Walter makes the case that REBT is not just a therapeutic modality but a philosophy for living based on emotional responsibility, resilience, and a way to stop rating yourself as "good" or "bad."
Walter is a psychologist with the University of Pennsylvania Health System and an adjunct professor at NYU who specializes in REBT. Formally trained by pioneers Dr. Albert Ellis and Dr. Aaron Beck, he integrates their foundational insights into a private practice serving clients worldwide. He is the author/co-author of multiple books and writes the Intermittent Reinforcement newsletter. Beyond his clinical work, Dr. Matweychuk is widely recognized for hosting the weekly REBT Conversation Hour, a long-running public demonstration of practical cognitive-behavioral strategies available at REBTDoctor.com.
In this conversation:
- What Walter learned training with CBT legends Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck
- Shame vs. healthy concern, and Walter's "shame-attack" experiments
- The two big engines of disturbance: "ego disturbance" vs. "discomfort disturbance"
- The way dogmatic "musts" turn a bad moment into an emotional spiral
- "Philosophical acceptance": how to stop personal scorekeeping
- How to catch the belief that's driving a feeling in real time
- The little "8 ideas" card Walter sends people
- Long-term hedonism: how REBT thinks about pleasure, meaning, and tradeoffs
- Secondary disturbance: the second layer of suffering that keeps people stuck
- Emotional responsibility and why it's closer to freedom than "positive thinking"
If stress is often a "demand in disguise," this episode might help you spot the demand and loosen its grip.
Enjoy!
Show notes and more at larryweeks.com
Society views time as a fixed commodity, yet modern theoretical physics and cognitive neuroscience suggest otherwise. If the linear flow of time is truly an illusion, then time isn't just a resource to be managed; it's a perception to be mastered.
My guest on the podcast today, Prof. Steve Taylor, argues that time isn't experienced evenly. He suggests that where you place your attention and how you live day-to-day can change the way time unfolds, stretching or compressing your sense of it.
Steve is a researcher in psychology and a senior lecturer at Leeds Beckett University. He has served as the chair of the Transpersonal Psychology section of the British Psychological Society. He writes the popular blog Out of the Darkness for Psychology Today and has contributed to Scientific American, The Conversation, and The Psychologist.
In his work on "Time Expansion Experiences," Steve explores why we experience time differently in different states of mind. We discuss everything from slow-motion accident stories (and why calm can show up in chaos) to meditation, flow states, and the mind-bending "eternal now" where mysticism and physics converge.
Highlights from the episode: * Accidents and "slow-motion" perception: Why the mind slows down in crisis. * The age gap: Why children experience long summers while adults feel seasons fly by. * Retrospective time theory: How we judge duration after the fact. * Automatization: How your brain edits reality to remain efficient. * Digital distortion: Social media's impact on your experience of time. * The power of novelty: How small changes can make life feel longer. * The "Block Universe" theory: Exploring Einstein and Minkowski's spacetime. * NDE life reviews: Examining the spatial sequence of memory. * Time cessation phenomena: What happens when time stops altogether.
The discussion moves from metaphysics to real-world advice on subjectively "lengthening" your life. Enjoy!
Show notes and more visit larryweeks.com
We’ve been taught that success comes from setting goals, defining purpose, and executing a plan. But what if those very habits—the linear drive for certainty—are what keep us stuck?
Dr. Anne-Laure Le Cunff, neuroscientist, founder of Ness Labs, and world-leading expert on mindful productivity, has an alternative: treat your life like a series of tiny experiments. In her new book Tiny Experiments, she explores how curiosity, liminal spaces, and small-scale testing can transform how we handle uncertainty and growth.
Anne-Laure argues that traditional goal-setting and the “tyranny of purpose” trap us in rigid definitions of success and failure. Instead, she offers a science-backed framework for progress through curiosity-driven experimentation, an approach that replaces pressure with play and perfectionism with learning.
We discuss how to navigate the in-between spaces of life, the thresholds between who we were and who we’re becoming, and why those moments of uncertainty hold the most potential for transformation.
Listen as we dive into how to build an experimental mindset that turns confusion into data and uncertainty into discovery.
Highlights * What if the most uncertain moments are also the most meaningful? * Invisible “scripts” quietly running your decisions, and how to rewrite them * Why rushing to “figure it out” might be costing you your next breakthrough * How to turn fear of the unknown into curiosity about what’s possible * The surprising neuroscience behind why smaller risks create bigger change * A four-step framework that turns uncertainty into momentum * Why chasing legacy might be keeping you from real impact right now * How to slow time without quitting your schedule * The overlooked social hack that makes personal growth exponential * What happens when you start studying your own life like a scientist * If you’re in between, unsure, or just restless, this conversation is for you.
Anne-Laure shows that uncertainty isn’t a problem to solve; it’s the raw material of discovery.
In a world increasingly dominated by AI and computational thinking, we've been taught that logic is the ultimate form of intelligence. But what if an over-reliance on pure reason is making us more fragile and less equipped to navigate uncertainty?
Angus Fletcher is a professor at Ohio State's Project Narrative and the author of the best-selling book, Primal Intelligence. Angus's has had an extraordinary career path to say the least, from building mutant neurons in neuroscience labs to studying Shakespeare at Yale, and being recruited by US Army Special Operations to train their elite operators.
Angus argues that the human brain is less a computational machine, and more a dynamic, narrative-based engine built for action and foresight. This "biological intelligence," often overlooked and untrained, is what allows us to operate with limited information, adapt in volatile environments, and innovate in ways no machine can. For his groundbreaking work on this very topic, Angus was awarded the Commendation Medal by the US Army in 2023.
Listen as we dive into the science of your innate intelligence and how narrative thinking works, and how understanding what feelings are telling you can transform how you deal with uncertainty.
Some highlights from the episode:
- Angus's journey from neuroscience to Shakespeare to Army Special Operations
- Why hard skill, soft skill distinction misses the point entirely
- How biological intelligence differs from computational intelligence
- The Army's discovery about decision-making in volatile environments
- A novel take on the purpose of emotions
- What fear and anger signals (and what to do about it)
- Special operators' techniques for turning anger on and off
- Why gratitude works best when applied to specific negative experiences
- The brain as a Swiss Army knife rather than calculator
- How to use emotions like a dashboard for better decision-making
- How an integrated past and branching future creates anti-fragility
If you're curious about the kinds of intelligence that AI can't replicate, and how to better utilize yours, this conversation provides the science and practical tools to get started.
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
In this episode, I’m digging into the messy reality of business turnarounds, the kind where survival isn’t guaranteed and leadership is more about doing the hard, boring things than dazzling with big ideas.
My guest is Tony Stubblebine, CEO of Medium, whose recent post “Fell Into a Hole and Got Out” made the rounds for being one of the most honest and actionable stories about company rescue I’ve ever read. Tony’s background runs deep: founder of Coach.me, architect of the Better Humans publication.
This is what it’s really like to take over a company bleeding millions, shrinking fast, and staring down insolvency. But it’s also a story about staying steady, balancing the financial reality with the need to restore quality, purpose, and confidence to a battered team. There’s no sugar-coating here, just real talk about layoffs, difficult investor negotiations, and why the business model has to come before your “next big thing.”
Tony walks us through the psychological and strategic ladder he and his team built, one rung at a time, to claw Medium back from the brink. He shares candid lessons for founders, hard truths about startup mythologies, and the personal practices that kept him sane when the stakes were highest.
Here’s what we cover:
- The “hole” no one talks about: what it’s really like to inherit a company in crisis
- Brutal financial realities, cutting costs, and restoring a culture’s sense of purpose
- Why the business model now comes before the product
- The Goldilocks problem of innovation and finding the “just right” middle ground
- How to negotiate with investors when a prior deal is dead and nobody wants to say it out loud
- Lessons on hiring, layoffs, and having the hard conversations with a team that’s seen too many pivots
- The psychological “ladder” out, how to focus everyone on small wins
- The power of slow, steady self-improvement (meditation, journaling, therapy) for surviving big challenges
- Why Tony thinks each of us, just by living our lives, accumulate wisdom that can help others
- This is more than a highlight reel, it's a toolkit for anyone who’s had to make the tough calls or wondered if they could.
Enjoy the show.
There’s something strangely reassuring about knowing people were wrestling with the similar issues we struggle with over 2,000 years ago — even if they wore togas and wrote with a chisel. Donald Robertson is a cognitive-behavioral psychotherapist, acclaimed author of How to Think Like a Roman Emperor, and one of the world’s leading voices on Stoicism. He’s also the founder of the Plato’s Academy Centre in Athens, and a founding member of the Modern Stoicism nonprofit. On this pod, we talk about the wisdom literature and how it can help with emotional distress; specifically, the idea of Stoics as ancient psychotherapists. Donald explains how Stoicism wasn’t just a philosophy of life, but also a clear system of psychotherapy in ancient Greek and Roman thought. Some episode highlights: * How shifting definitions shape our understanding of mental illness * On the paradox of growth through adversity * Struggle and transformation * Experiential wisdom * Fortune and the bitch goddess of success * Stoicism as an ancient psychotherapy * The philosophical roots of cognitive therapy * On anger, and the art of self-mastery (Seneca, Galen) * On Worry and rumination * Marcus Aurelius * Stoicism’s broader vision * On the “view from above” and the liberation of perspective * How time expansion mitigates worry * The complex relationship of thoughts and emotions * The core proposition of both Stoicism and CBT * How complaining signals resistance to reality * Acceptance and the dichotomy of control * How to reconnect with what’s essential in a noisy world
This isn’t motivational fluff; it’s a toolkit for anyone who’s ever gotten tangled in their own head.
People think happiness comes from getting everything you want. But the science shows, it’s the absence, the novelty, and the change that bring joy back - Tali Sharot
Ever wonder why lasting happiness can feel so elusive? This episode delves into the neuroscience of habituation, and why our brains, despite achieving desires, tend to filter out positive experiences. We'll explore this phenomenon and uncover practical strategies to consciously re-engage with what’s already good in your life.
My guest is Dr. Tali Sharot, a cognitive neuroscientist and professor at University College London, where she directs the Affective Brain Lab. Tali’s research blends neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics to study how emotion and motivation shape decision-making, memory, and belief. Tali’s work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The BBC, and her TED Talks have been viewed over 15 million times.
We talk about her research behind why we adapt so quickly to both the good and the bad—and how this helps us survive, but can also rob us of happiness, creativity, and even the desire to change. This is the crux of her book, Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There, co-authored with Cass Sunstein.
If you’ve ever wondered why joy fades faster than it should—or why we stop seeing the beauty around us—this conversation offers a fresh perspective on how to disrupt that pattern.
Some highlights from the pod:
- Tali’s research background and the Affective Brain Lab
- Research insights into human–AI bias feedback loops
- Habituation: How our brains are built to ignore what doesn’t change
- Why the mechanism that makes us resilient also makes us take good things for granted
- The problem of perfection; and getting everything you want
- Dis-habituation —and how to apply it to relationships and daily life
- Happiness and the evolutionary role of novelty
- How to use imagination and attention to rekindle joy and gratitude
- Why people with depression often struggle to recover—and the role of rumination
- How learning and effort unlock happiness
- Refreshing the familiar: Savoring, small changes, and role-play
This is one of those episodes that can help you feel more alive—not by adding more to your life, but by changing how you see what’s already there.
Enjoy!
Does the richness of your world expand or shrink in direct proportion to how much of your life is digitally mediated?
My guest argues that by defaulting to digital mediation—where technology filters and facilitates our interactions—we are trading away the richness of real, embodied experience. And in doing so, we risk losing—without even noticing—the very moments that make us happy and resilient.
Are we shrinking our capacity for a full, messy, exhilarating experience of being human?
Christine Rosen is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where she explores American history, society, culture, and the impact of technology on human behavior.
She is a columnist for Commentary magazine, a fellow at the University of Virginia’s Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture, and a senior editor at The New Atlantis. Previously a distinguished visiting scholar at the Library of Congress, Christine has authored several books, including The Extinction of Experience, Esquire’s Best Book of 2024, which serves as the foundation for our discussion.
Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, and many other major outlets. She holds a PhD in history from Emory University, a third-degree black belt in Aikido, and teaches martial arts where she lives in Washington, D.C.
On the show, we discuss Christine’s book The Extinction of Experience and a variety of topics, including:
- Our shared interest in Aikido and martial arts
- The thesis of her book
- How technology mediates experiences
- Impacts on basic social interactions
- The concept of “ambiguous loss”
- Serendipity and chance encounters
- How human virtue is created
- Public spaces and the decline of social awareness
- Digital voyeurism
- The physical resonance of IRL events
- Self-isolation and the “loneliness epidemic”
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
In this episode, we explore the human mood system and the origin of depression.
My guest is Dr. Jonathan Rottenberg, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Better Outcomes Laboratory at Cornell University. His work examines long-term functioning and well-being after depression and related conditions, with a particular focus on explaining why some people achieve good outcomes. He received his BA from Harvard University, an MA in History from Johns Hopkins University, and his PhD in Psychology from Stanford University. Dr. Rottenberg's research has been covered in popular outlets such as the New York Times, The Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. He has authored two books: The Depths: The Evolutionary Origins of the Depression Epidemic (Basic Books) and Depression: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford). His most recent digital outreach project is Ever After, a video series about life after depression.
Here are some highlights from our conversation:
- Jonathan's own experience with depression and how it shaped his research and mission
- The evolutionary origins of the mood
- Mood as a system
- The parallels between human and animal depression
- Depression's survival strategy and modern stressors
- Distinctions between ordinary sadness and depression
- Why depression feels permanent—and why it isn't
- Rumination and how it wires the brain for recurring episodes
- The adaptability and resilience of the mood system
- How mindfulness can disrupt depressive thought loops
- Why some achieve 'better outcomes' after struggling with their mental health than others
I think this episode will help many of you see depression and overall negative moods as part of a broader human experience rather than a personal failing. It's a must-listen for anyone interested in a deeper understanding of human emotion and the complex relationship between body, mood, and environment.
Enjoy!
In this episode, we explore the fascinating world of the brain’s hemispheres and their profound impact on how we perceive and engage with reality.
My guest is Dr. Iain McGilchrist.
Iain is a true polymath—a psychiatrist, neuroscientist, philosopher, and literary scholar.
He’s been a Fellow of All Souls College at Oxford and an Associate Fellow at Green Templeton College. He’s also a Fellow of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and previously served as Clinical Director at the Bethlem Royal & Maudsley Hospital in London. He’s been a research fellow in neuroimaging at Johns Hopkins and was a Fellow at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Stellenbosch. He is also the author of a number of groundbreaking books, but is best-known for The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World and his monumental two-volume work, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World.
Iain contends that the way the two hemispheres of the brain operate is fundamentally distinct. It’s not that the hemispheres handle different functions, but that they approach these functions in entirely different ways.
In this episode…
- The Divided Brain
- Attention and Survival
- Hemispheric Differences
- Historical Shifts in Society
- Mental Health and Modern Society
- Black and White Thinking
- Mindfulness and Meditation
- Intuition and Emotion
- The Importance of Open-Mindedness
- Consciousness and the Brain
- The Role of AI and Mechanization
- The Purpose of Life and Evolution
Ian’s ability to weave neuroscience, history, philosophy, and even poetry into a compelling thesis is unparalleled.
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
A.J. Jacobs is a renowned writer and participatory journalist, best known for his immersive, experiment-driven projects that push the boundaries of immersive learning. From living according to the Ten Commandments to exploring radical honesty, A.J. dives headfirst into his experiments, bringing humor and insight into everything he does. His latest endeavor? An exploration of the U.S. Constitution, attempting to live by its original meaning.
A.J. is no stranger to this podcast—this is his second appearance, and if you missed our previous conversation, I highly recommend checking out Life As Experiment: A.J. Jacobs – Lessons From Living On The Edge. It's one of my favorites, offering a deeper dive into A.J.’s life and wild approach to self-experimentation.
In his latest book, The Year of Living Constitutionally: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Constitution's Original Meaning, A.J. documents his year-long quest to embody the Constitution in its original context. From carrying a musket in New York City to using a quill pen, he immerses himself in the mindset of the Founding Fathers, bringing history to life in ways you’d never expect.
In this episode, A.J. and I talk about his experiences, the surprises he encountered, and why curiosity is more vital than ever. Whether you're fired up about politics or just curious about how the past continues to shape our present, you’ll love this conversation.
Our conversation includes:
- The role of curiosity in A.J.'s life and work.
- A.J.’s immersive journalism.
- Past experiments like practicing radical honesty.
- Acting "as if"
- Curiosity as key to personal and professional growth.
- A.J.'s latest book and his experiences living 18th-century standards.
- The balance between rights and responsibilities as understood by the Founding Fathers.
- The original intent of free speech, its historical limits on sedition, and its modern implications in the age of social media.
- How the office of the U.S. president has evolved beyond what the Founding Fathers envisioned.
- Strategies for engaging in productive conversations with opposing views.
- Epistemic humility—recognizing that no one is always right.
- The future of society and existential risks, with insights from A.J.'s participation in the Longview Conference.
I hope this episode inspires you to be more open and curious, and question your assumptions. Life is one big experiment—full of choices, tests, and lessons that help us grow and adapt.
Keep exploring!
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
In this episode, we dig into FOMO and the temptations of quick wins and the importance of psychologically sustainable, long-term work.
My guest is Nat Eliason. Nat is a writer and the author of Crypto Confidential: Winning and Losing Millions in the New Frontier of Finance. Since he started publishing his writing in 2013, his work has been read by millions of people and spun out multiple businesses ranging from a marketing agency to a tea cafe.
It's a wild story. In 2021 Nat set a six-month deadline to make as much money as possible before the birth of his first child, leading him to the world of cryptocurrency. In just a year, he made millions writing code that managed hundreds of millions of other people's money, became an influencer in the space, speaking at de-fi conferences, went through a platform hack, and despite amassing a small fortune, He started to question whether his wealth was truly secure and how long he could keep risking everything on the roller coaster investments his business was actually built on.
- Nat's journey.
- Startup culture and the "white-knuckle" mentality.
- The challenge of productivity optimization.
- Enduring impact of books vs. fleeting content of social media.
- The power law of writing.
- Redefining a relationship with creative work.
- Giving yourself credit for creative output.
- Cryptocurrencies, DeFi, and the real value of blockchain technologies.
- On the money-happiness equation.
- Career shifts, burnout and recovery.
Lots of great life lessons here.
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
Christoph Koch is a pioneering computational neuroscientist and neurophysiologist best known for his groundbreaking work on the neural basis of consciousness. He collaborated with Francis Crick, the co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, to establish a neurobiological framework for understanding consciousness. Christoph served as the President and Chief Scientist of the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle and continues his work there as a Meritorious Investigator. He is also the Chief Scientist of the Tiny Blue Dot Foundation in Santa Monica, CA, which funds research aimed at alleviating suffering, anxiety, and other forms of distress in people worldwide.
Christoph has authored over five books on consciousness, with his latest being "Then I Am Myself the World: What Consciousness Is and How to Expand It." This book delves into the subject of consciousness through the lenses of physics, psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and computer science, as well as Christoph’s personal experiences exploring his consciousness.
In this episode, Christoph dives deep into what might explain the origin of consciousness and existing contradictions. We explore how our minds construct reality, the wonder of experience, and the profound implications of Integrated Information Theory. Christoph also reflects on the importance of mindfulness, the power of belief, and the ongoing debate on free will.
Our conversation includes:
- The origin of consciousness and the “Hard Problem
- Integrated Information Theory (IIT)
- How far down the phylogenetic tree consciousness might go
- The mind-body problem: physical structures and subjective experiences
- Panpsychism and how consciousness might be a fundamental aspect of matter.
- Qualities of experience and the perception box
- Mind-melding and the “uber” consciousness
- Why AI or any compute-based system may never be sentient
- The boundaries of consciousness and the dissolution of self
- The notion of "mind at large"
- Christoph’s experiences with psychedelics
- Free will
My hope is that this episode gives you a sense of awe about your mind so that you look at life and your experiences with a bit more wonder.
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
Guy Kawasaki is a pioneering figure in Silicon Valley, celebrated marketing icon, and successful serial entrepreneur. Guy was one of the original Apple employees responsible for launching their Macintosh computer line in 1984 - and then revitalizing Apple again in the 90s when it faced market share challenges from Microsoft and IBM. His role at Apple popularized the term evangelism in marketing and technology. He is an executive fellow of the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley), and host of the popular Remarkable People podcast.
Guy has written over 16 best-selling books, including Wise Guy, The Art of the Start 2.0, The Art of Social Media, Enchantment, and his latest - Think Remarkable: 9 Paths to Transform Your Life and Make a Difference is part of our conversation.
Guy was an absolute delight and game for a wide-ranging chat.
Our conversation points include:
- Guy’s pathfinder career, from an unwilling law student to reluctant med student to passionate business leader.
- On family expectations and perspectives on “quitting.”
- His stint in the jewelry business.
- On selling as a fundamental life skill beyond just business.
- Guy reflects on his time at Apple.
- Working under Steve Jobs.
- The transformation of tech sales.
- Apple’s struggles and resurgence in the 90s
- Guy's innovation of the email newsletter (via listserver) during his second stint at Apple
- Insights into the power of maintaining a positive narrative during Apple's turnaround
- On Artificial Intelligence.
- His views on social media and what he uses now platforms.
- Writing and Podcasting: Guy shares insights into his writing process.
- The resilience of remarkable individuals inspired by stories from his book and podcast.
Guy Kawasaki's story is one of passion pursuit, intellectual curiosity, and a deep-seated desire to make a meaningful impact. His work continues to inspire a new generation of thinkers, innovators, and creators.
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
Outside of the purely physical and physiological, nothing is more challenging than the world of entrepreneurship and business, especially when facing customer indifference and figuring out market demand—the delicate balance between innovation and market reality.
How do you do that?
Professor Merrick L. Furst runs commercialization and new venture creation and directs undergraduate programs and faculty development in the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. Before GT, he was a professor at UC Berkeley, president of the International Computer Science Institute at Berkeley, and CEO of Essential Surfing Gear, Inc., which was sold in 2000, and anti-botnet startup Damballa. Earlier, he was a professor and associate dean at the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. Mark is also known for seminal research in algorithms, complexity theory, and AI. He co-invented probabilistic circuit analysis and planning graphs, which are considered among the most influential breakthroughs in the field of AI planning.
Merrick is also the author of The Heart of Innovation: A Field Guide for Navigating to Authentic Demand, which is the touchstone for this podcast.
On the show, we discuss the challenges every business faces in creating products that truly meet customer needs.
- A brief chat about AI.
- Why and how products fail.
- Real reasons vs. stated reasons people buy.
- On the "curse of knowledge"
- Validation vs innovation.
- Authentic demand: sussing alternatives to not purchasing or using a product/service
- "Non-indifference" as an indicator of authentic demand.
- Observing vs listening and the problem with surveys.
- How to question assumptions.
- Product development and market match. The need for humility and open-mindedness.
As we explore these diverse topics, Merricks’ unique approach offers invaluable lessons for entrepreneurs, technologists, and anyone intrigued by the intersection of business, technology, and human behavior.
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
My guest is Derek Sivers. Derek proves that an unconventional background can be the perfect foundation for a wonderfully interesting life and groundbreaking success.
Originally a professional musician and circus clown, Derek founded CD Baby in 1998. It became the largest seller of independent music online, with $100 million in sales for over 150,000 musicians. In 2008, Derek sold CD Baby for $22 million, giving the proceeds to a charitable trust for music education.
His TED talks have garnered over 20 million views, and he has published 34 books, including Hell Yeah or No, Your Music and People, Anything You Want) and his most recent book as it pertains to this conversation is How to Live, 27 Conflicting Answers and One Weird Conclusion - but note we do slightly touch on his current yet-to-be-completed book Useful Not True.
Taking points include …
- Derek's transition from a musician to circus performer to entrepreneur and author.
- The power of books and new ideas.
- The concept of "useful, not true" and the practicality of a belief.
- Revisiting "hell yeah or hell no" as a decision heuristic in his book" Anything You Want."
- On oblique strategies for releasing creative potential
- Embracing unpredictability and "random generators."
- The pragmatic rabbi approach to simplifying problems
- Thoughts on song and book writing.
- Seeing emotions as ends bypassing things as means.
- The orchestra-instrument framework.
- The motivation of being temporarily-abled.
- The practice of journaling to understand emotions and situations.
And there is much more here, as we cover a lot of ground.
Tim Ferris called Derek a philosopher-king programmer, master teacher, and merry prankster and quote (one of my favorite humans), and after chatting with Derek, I understand why. You can tell I enjoyed talking with him.
Please enjoy.
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
"To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom." - Socrates This podcast is about understanding ourselves a bit better. We'll be exploring insights into what makes us happy as it relates to self-perception, and the various intricate connections between our minds, bodies, and social interactions. My guest on the show is social psychologist David Myers, known for his extensive work in communicating psychological science to both students and the general public. His academic contributions, supported by National Science Foundation have been published in prestigious journals like Science and American Psychologist. David has made psychological research accessible through articles in magazines such as Scientific American and through seventeen books, including both general interest and textbooks. David is best known for his textbook on psychology which is one of the most widely used psychology textbooks in the world. He is also the author of several popular books, including one of the first on happiness called The Pursuit of Happiness: Discovering the Pathway to Fulfillment, Well-Being, and Enduring Personal Joy published in 1993 David’s newest book, "How Do We Know Ourselves?: Curiosities and Marvels of the Human Mind" is the topic of this show. Our conversation covers a wide array of psychology topics including: * A bit about David’s background. * We revisit happiness and the latest findings in that field. * The relationship between happiness and income. * Goal setting and the material trap * The benefits of religion and religious engagement paradox. * Self-Perception Theory. * Body-mind effects. * Micro-Friendships: The significant mood boost from brief, positive interactions with strangers. * We touch on fear Misplaced Fears: How we skew risk perceptions. * The power of reframing and its effectiveness in Brief Interventions.
Enjoy For show notes and more visit larryweeks.com
On this episode of our podcast, we delve into the fascinating world of hypnosis, with a focus on demystifying this phenomenon and separating myths from scientific reality. We explore its role in modern therapy and personal well-being.
Dr. David Spiegel is one of Stanford University’s leading psychiatrists, with more than 45 years of clinical experience, and has pioneered over 400 research papers on the power of self-hypnosis. Educated at Harvard and Yale, he is the Willson Professor and Associate Chair of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Director of the Center on Stress and Health, and Medical Director of the Center for Integrative Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. Dr Speigel has written thirteen books and is also the Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Reveri Health, which offers a clinically backed hypnosis app of the same name.
In our conversation, we cover a wide array of topics, including:
- The definition and understanding of hypnosis.
- A short history of hypnosis, its mystical origins, and its current scientific standing.
- Distinctions between clinical and theatrical hypnosis.
- Debates over the tools and techniques used in hypnosis.
- The controversial subjects of brainwashing and memory recovery.
- Current research and understanding of the neural mechanisms of hypnosis.
- The various types of hypnosis and their applications.
- The relationship between EMDR and hypnosis.
- The effectiveness, suitability, and therapeutic potential of hypnosis.
- The Reveri app, co-founded by Dr. Spiegel
- I share my own experience with the Reveri app, particularly how it helped me with my fear of airplane turbulence.
Join us for this enlightening discussion as we uncover the mysteries and realities of hypnosis.
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
In this episode, we dive into the shifting dynamics of work, careers, and the quest for fulfillment. My guest discusses the history of "career" and how work is undergoing transformations due to technology, social change, and pivotal global events. He has gathered a lot of data to discern patterns in people's work trajectories to expand the definition of what we call work.
Bruce Fieler is a leading voice in America on modern life. He's written seven bestsellers; his three TED Talks have over four million views, and he teaches a TED Course on life changes. His newest book, "THE SEARCH: Finding Meaningful Work in a Post-Career World,” looks at how people can find purpose in their jobs. It's based on stories from people of all different backgrounds and jobs.
In our talk, Bruce questions common ideas about careers. He uses data to explain big career changes, which he calls 'work-quakes’. If you're thinking about your own job or career or just want to know more about work trends, you'll want to listen.
Topics we cover:
- Bruce's own career changes.
- Current trends in jobs and careers.
- The history of the career and the resume.
- Why just following your passion might not be the best idea.
- Work-quakes
- The idea of having multiple types of jobs at once.
- How different generations see job changes.
- A broader view of what 'work' means.
- How to find out what really matters to you in a job.
- The many kinds of jobs people have.
- The danger of valuing work too much.
- How work can give our lives meaning.
- Questions to help you find a job you'll like.
- And much more.
Enjoy!
For show notes and more information, check out larryweeks.com.
In this episode, renowned social scientist Dan Ariely discusses the irrational pull of misinformation and how to understand "misbelief" — the psychological and social path that guides individuals to doubt established truths, consider alternative facts, and perhaps even welcome outright conspiracy theories.
Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at Duke University. He is dedicated to answering questions to help people live more sensible – if not rational – lives. He is a founding member of the Center for Advanced Hindsight, co-creator of the film documentary (Dis)Honesty: The Truth About Lies, and a three-time New York Times bestselling author. His books include Predictably Irrational, The Honest Truth About Dishonesty, Irrationally Yours, Payoff Dollars, and Sense and now his latest - Misbelief.
Talking points we cover include …
- The origin of Dan's distinctive half-beard.
- Behavioral insights into self-acceptance.
- Covid misinformation and his attacks on social media and in public
- Exploration and reasoning behind irrational behavior and beliefs.
- Identifying false comprehension.
- How to know why we believe what we believe.
- On belief creation and alteration.
- Understanding why people are attracted to heterodoxy and discussing the negative consequences of rejecting and ostracizing people with non-mainstream beliefs.
- Shibboleth in communication: signaling identity rather than the pursuit of truth.
- Behavioral science on task motivation
...and much more.
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
"Often circumstances think for us, we don't really have a choice. And anybody who puts themselves in a bad position has no good options available. So a lot of the work involved in a decision comes before the actual decision is made."
In decision-making, clarity is a critical element, if not the fundamental purpose; it reduces errors and facilitates confident, effective choice-making.
In this episode, my guest sheds light on how to get clarity in decision-making, and I'll add, how to transform knowledge into wisdom.
Shane Parrish is a former cybersecurity expert at Canada's top intelligence agency turned thought leader. He is the mind behind Farnam Street, a site that's very popular among the innovator and investor class that draws on a variety of thinkers from Lao Tsu and Emerson to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger.
Shane is also acclaimed for his bestselling series on mental models titled "The Great Mental Models Volume 1: General Thinking Concepts", Volume 2: Physics, Chemistry, and Biology", and "Volume 3: Systems and Mathematics." And his latest book, "Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments Into Extraordinary Results," is the topic of this podcast.
Listen in as we dive into how to think more clearly and, in doing so, make better decisions.
Discussion highlights include:
- The origin of Farnham Street and the influence of Berkshire Hathaway
- The problem with living life on 'autopilot'
- The importance of deep understanding.
- Recognizing 'ego default' and its role in clouded decision-making.
- Writing as a tool for clear thinking
- Decision lessons from everyday moments
- The importance of pre-decision positioning
- Explanation of the Learning Loop
- How to incorporate intuition in decision-making.
- How to get quality feedback input from experienced individuals.
- Safety nets: using rules and processes to enhance decision-making
- On mental models.
- How to think in reverse
- Separating problem identification from problem-solving
- The morning review: a method for decision validation
I believe you're going to find this episode very insightful and incredibly useful.
Listen carefully, as it's not just about gathering knowledge; it's about applying it in a way that brings clarity to our complex world.
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
The world of hospice nursing has always been a profound intersection of life and death, revealing lessons not only about the journey of mortality but also about the true essence of living in the shadow of it. On this Podcast, my guest is Hadley Vlahos or simply Nurse Hadley. Hadley is not just a seasoned hospice nurse but also an end-of-life educator and now a New York Times bestselling author. Her journey and her experiences became the foundation for her bestselling work, The In-Between: Unforgettable Encounters During Life's Final Moments. The book captures deep, poignant stories from her time with patients, giving insights into what life's final moments can teach us about existence itself. Beyond her written work, Hadley has taken a step further with her nonprofit respite hospice house. This sanctuary is conceptualized to offer families a peaceful environment to remember and celebrate their loved ones. In today's episode, we cover these topic points : * Her journey from young mother to nurse and from hospice nurse to author. * Hadley's experiences where patients stated and acted out as if they were seeing their deceased loved ones - and what they reveal about end-of-life encounters. * The enigma of the "in-between moments" and their interpretations. * Our shared narratives on the afterlife and my skepticism. * Some common and not-so-common regrets of the dying * How Hadley thinks about death and how she tries to live her life in its shadow * And lastly, the practicalities of hospice, from deciding when it's time to seek hospice care to understanding the intricacies of coverage.
Despite the heavy nature of the topic, this episode is remarkably life-affirming. Many thinkers, from philosophers to psychologists, have advocated that understanding our own mortality paves the way to a richer, fuller life. Today's discussion provides not just a touch of emotional depth but also very practical advice that is invaluable to hear in advance of ever needing it. For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
My guest is the renowned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. He is the fifth head since 1935 of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and the first occupant of its Frederick P. Rose Directorship. He is a research associate of the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History. He is also the author of fifteen books—many of them international bestsellers—including the #1 best seller Astrophysics for People in a Hurry, and His most recent is Starry Messenger Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization.
Niel is also the host of the Emmy-nominated podcast StarTalk, as well as two seasons of Cosmos, televised by Fox and National Geographic. He has received 21 honorary doctorates as well as NASA's Distinguished Public Service Medal. The man has an asteroid named after him, for heck's sake.
On the show, we discuss the book Starry Messenger and his scientific perspectives on a variety of topics, including:
- Ballroom dancing (you read that right)
- The book’s purpose and defining a cosmic perspective
- The overview effect
- The history and Impact of space exploration
- Revisiting the moon landing
- The Allegory of the Cave
- His view of Mars missions and the commercialization of space
- Space as supply chain, the solar system as backyard
- His personal vision for the future
- How to think scientifically
- His one conspiracy theory
- On scientific consensus and what to do in its absence
- The social importance of probability
- On God and faith
- UFOs, aliens, and the Fermi Paradox
- Artificial Intelligence and the new generative AI’s
- What’s it like to go to the movie theater with Neil
- His favorite time-travel movie
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
“You can delegate the activity but not the responsibility; you can share the praise but not the blame. the most finite, limited resource in our lives is time.” - Dr. Tim Pychl
Larry speaks with Professor Tim Pychyl about the impact procrastination has on our well-being. This isn't about managing or optimizing a to-do list; procrastination affects the whole of your life.
Tim is a retired psychology professor whose research focused on understanding why we can become our own worst enemy through procrastination. In addition to journal publications and co-edited scholarly books, including Procrastination, Health & Well-Being, and Counseling the Procrastinator in Academic Settings, Tim wrote the brief and accessible Solving the Procrastination Puzzle: A Concise Guide to Strategies for Change. An award-winning teacher, Tim has shared his passion for learning through his iProcrastinate podcast and blog on Psychology Today.
In this episode, we delve into a variety of topics, including:
- On teaching and the importance of presence
- Defining and qualifying procrastination
- How procrastination differs from normal delay
- Rational and irrational delay
- On self-regulation failure
- Future self-theory
- Getting started
- Strategies/tactics
- Priming the pump and the five-minute rule
- Recognizing avoidance when it appears
- Procrastination and depression
- Acceptance and self-compassion
- On ego depletion theory and replication
- On extended will
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
Getting stuck is inevitable. I hope you find yourself getting stuck only rarely, but when you do, know that breakthroughs aren't too far behind - Adam Alter
Today we are going to look at the challenges of creative blocks, inertia, and the accompanying feeling of being stuck, whether it be a project, product, or personal life, and, more importantly, when we find ourselves in these states - how to get unstuck, what is the step by step structure of a breakthrough.
My guest is Professor Adam Alter.
Adam Alter is a Professor of Marketing at New York University's Stern School of Business and the Robert Stansky Teaching Excellence Faculty Fellow, with an affiliated appointment in the New York University Psychology Department.
Adam is the New York Times bestselling author of two books: Irresistible (March 2017) and Drunk Tank Pink (2013), and his latest which is also the topic of the podcast - Anatomy of a Breakthrough: How to Get Unstuck When It Matters Most
Adam has also written for the New York Times, New Yorker, Washington Post, Atlantic, WIRED, Slate, Huffington Post, and Popular Science, among other publications. Adam's academic research focuses on judgment, decision-making, and social psychology, with a particular interest in the surprising effects of subtle environmental cues on human cognition and behavior. His research has been published widely in academic journals and featured in dozens of TV, radio, and print outlets worldwide.
In this episode, we delve into these subjects:
- The commonality of creative blocks why progress isn't always a straight line.
- How Our reactions to being stuck might be the real problem.
- The process of getting unstuck can lead to valuable advancements.
- Why the creative process is often lengthy and messy, contrary to many people's expectations.
- Why breakthroughs often seem accidental and come after hitting a wall.
- Do breakthroughs happen more commonly in a group (remote work)
- Does creativity decline over time?
- Breakthrough tactics, including the "friction audit."
- The role of environment in creativity and progress is significant.
- The use of AI as it relates to creative blocks.
- When should someone quit vs. persist - and much more
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
"Learn to use AI. That's, that's my message. You wanna learn to use AI as a professional and as a citizen in your personal life. The more you know how to use it, the better you'll make of it, the better your life will be. AI gives power; like any technology, it gives power to those who understand it and use it" - Pedro Domingos
Recent developments in AI, specifically consumer-facing generative AIs, are helping people create a lot of cool content while also generating a ton of concern. A big bucket of that concern is AI alignment - what are the possible unintended consequences to humans? The internet transformed our relationship to information, but it took a few years; now, AI is doing it in real time.
My guest on this episode is Professor Pedro Domingos.
Pedro is a leading AI researcher and the author of the worldwide bestseller "The Master Algorithm." He is a professor of computer science at the University of Washington in Seattle. He won the Special Interest Group on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining Innovation Award and the international joint Conference on AI John McCarthy Award, two of the highest honors in data science and AI.
Pedro helped start the fields of statistical relational AI, data stream mining, adversarial learning, machine learning for information integration, and influence maximization in social networks.
On this episode, we run the gamut to include...
- Where are we with generative AIs
- Pedro demystifies LLMs (Large Language Models)
- Progress and problems with generative AIs
- Hallucination in AI - and Illusion in humans
- The homunculus fallacy
- Risks, regulations, known-unknowns
- Comments on existential threats
- The S curve in emerging technologies like AI
- AI's possible impact on employment and the economy
- Artificial General Intellience or AGI
- Goals and end games, is AGI the goal?
- Does he think LLMs AI's like ChatGPT are conscious?
No matter your technical level, you'll enjoy this discussion with Pedro. He is passionate about the subject matter, no surprise - much of what he's predicted has come to pass in the field, And if you feel a tinge of AI anxiety, consider this a bit of exposure therapy.
Listen and learn more about how these systems work and how they might impact your life.
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
“The root of my optimism comes in kind of a basic observation, that if we can create 1% more than we destroy every year, that 1% compounded over time is civilization. So the delta, the difference between a gain and very tiny gain, is hard to see in the present.” - Kevin Kelly
My guest is well-known technologist and futurist Kevin Kelly. Kevin is a renowned American writer, editor, and futurist, best known as the co-founder of Wired magazine. He has made significant contributions to the fields of technology, science, and culture. He has written several books, including "Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems, and the Economic World," "New Rules for the New Economy," "What Technology Wants," and "The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future."
He explores recent developments in technology as well as shares some great life advice from his upcoming book aptly named, "Excellent Advice for Living: Wisdom I'd Known Earlier. In this conversation, we talk about these topics and more.
- Living in a "protopia" and the net 1% compounding principle
- Embracing problems as capacity improvers
- Why Kevin’s optimistic
- Societal implications of AI
- Current state of AI and its role in job market
- AI's resemblance to the early internet
- What's different this time
- A "universal personal intern"
- Extended Mind and its relation to AI and tools
- Opinions on cryptocurrency and blockchain technology
- What Kevin worries about
- Discussing new book and advice for living
- Practical tips on embracing change, prototyping life, and active listening.
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
"When we surface subroutines when we surface belief systems, we unleash a certain kind of potential, a certain kind of energy that enables us to do the one thing that a leader must do every day. Be creative" - Jerry Colonna
Jerry Colonna, often referred to as the 'CEO whisperer,' is the co-founder of Reboot.io, an executive coaching and leadership development firm dedicated to the notion that better humans make better leaders. For nearly 20 years, he has used the knowledge gained as an investor, an executive, and a board member for more than 100 organizations to help entrepreneurs and others lead with humanity, resilience, and equanimity.
Prior to his career as a coach, Jerry was a partner with JPMorgan Partners (JPMP), the private equity arm of JPMorgan Chase. Previously, he led New York City-based Flatiron Partners, which he founded in 1996 with partner Fred Wilson, which became one of the nation's most successful early-stage investment programs. He is also the author of Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up, which is also the touchstone for our conversation.
There is something about Jerry.
In 2017, WIRED published a piece on Jerry wherein this was written titled “This Man Makes Founders Cry.” I don’t know if it’s how he talks or looks at you, but when talking with him, I felt some sort of sympathetic energy field; it was like a psychic hand on the shoulder. When we spoke, I was dealing with a monster of a cold, coupled with Jerry’s superpower, turned this conversation into a coaching session of sorts.
Jerry talks about leadership and crucible moments, moments that can be transformative, leading to a new or altered sense of identity. These moments often put our character to the test.
If you are in any state of upheaval or change or know someone who is, please listen. Not just for the excellent advice, but there is something beneficial about hearing this level of empathy in someone’s voice.
On the show, we discuss these topics and more …
- State of leadership currently
- Why Jerry has a reputation for making people cry
- Jerry's story, leaving JP Morgan
- How to leaders can deal with uncertainty in business
- The importance of soft skills coupled with hard skills
- Separating genius from personality
- Breaking open vs. shutting down
- What "rebooting" means
- What do first when you're laid off
- Mountain equanimity
- Work as an opportunity to become better humans
If you are in any state of upheaval or change or know someone who is, please listen. Not just for the excellent advice, but there is something beneficial about hearing this level of empathy in someone's voice.
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
This podcast is about the problem of overthinking - and how modifying one’s metacognitive beliefs can reduce stress, worry, and problem fixation.
Thinking is an amazing capacity we all have. Humans possess the cognitive abilities to form concepts, imagine possible futures, and solve problems, but this same capacity, when it runs amuck, can keep you up at night, paralyze effect decision making and keep you in a loop of worst-case scenarios.
Yeah, not helpful.
My guest is Dr. Pia Callesen, who explains how to use meta-cognitive strategies to break free from this overthinking.
Dr. Callesen is a therapist and metacognitive specialist managing several clinics in Denmark. She has a Ph.D. from Manchester University, and She is the author of Live More Think Less (2020). Her study into the effectiveness of metacognitive therapy for depression, published in Scientific Reports in 2020, suggests that MCT has considerable benefits which might exceed those of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
On this show, we discuss…
- Metacognition and metacognitive therapy
- Metacognitive beliefs
- The self-regulating mechanism in the brain
- When less is more when dealing with thoughts
- Trigger thoughts
- How MCT differs from traditional cognitive therapies
- Targeting specific psychological processes
- How to postpone worry/rumination
- Attention training
- The benefits and risks of mindfulness
- Detached mindfulness
- How attentional awareness helps with depression
As a person who overthinks, I’m already benefiting from much of Dr. Callesen’s advice here. I think you will find this interesting and very helpful.
Enjoy!
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com
“Feelings, nothing more than feelings” - Morris Albert
In this episode, we discuss how emotions are made - and how insights into how our brains make us feel can help us cope with challenging situations.
My guest is Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett, a psychology professor and neuroscientist at Northeastern University, who is the author of seven books on emotion and the brain, including the best-selling book How Emotions Are Made and, most recently, Seven And A Half Lessons About The Brain. In addition to the books, Dr. Barrett has published over 260 peer-reviewed scientific papers. She received a National Institutes of Health Director’s Pioneer Award for her revolutionary research on emotion in the brain.
Her groundbreaking research overturns many prior assumptions about how the human brain forms emotions. On this show, we cover these topics …
- A discussion about theory in scientific contexts The classical view of emotions
- An overview of her research in constructed emotion
- The problem with the “amygdala hijack” and the reptilian brain
- The brain as a prediction machine
- Rationality
- Mood and metabolic efficiency
- The body-budget
- How emotions can be recategorized
- A new take on depression
- The story of her daughter and the “emotional flu”
- Decision-making, rationality, and the use of emotion
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com/podcasts
This discussion centers on what living with purpose actually means.
My guest is Professor William Damon.
William is a psychologist and professor at Stanford University and a senior fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He has been designated one of the fifty most influential living psychologists in the world today and is one of the world's leading scholars of human development. Bills is a pioneering researcher on the development of purpose in life and wrote the influential book The Path to Purpose. His current work includes a study exploring purpose in higher education and a study of family purpose across generations. He’s been elected to the National Academy of Education and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
On this podcast, we cover these topics and more.
- The multiple definitions of purpose
- Vocations/avocations
- How purpose can change over time
- Is purpose something you find or do
- Purpose as a noun vs purpose as a verb
- On having purpose vs being purposeful
- The benefits of a Life Review
- Bill's story about his early family life and his new book A Round of Golf With my Father
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com/podcasts
My guests are Nathan and Susannah Fur. Nathan earned his Ph.D. from Stanford's Technology Ventures Program and is an Associate Professor of Strategy at INSEE ADD, one of the world's leading graduate business schools located in France. Susannah, a designer and art historian, founded a women's clothing line inspired by her research of the intricate embroidery of Dutch women.
Our discussion centers on the benefits of embracing uncertainty, specifically the tools outlined in their book, The Upside of Uncertainty.
I've been assembling tactics for years now, accumulating a mental toolbox of sorts for dealing with challenges. Uncertainty is challenging for what it lacks - concrete information.
How do we move forward when we don't fully know what we are dealing with?
We usually don't act; we might freeze or delay having a lack of certainty. Dealing with uncertainty has a lot to do with mindset since we may not know what to handle. What frame of mind will help us act or move forward in the face of uncertainty? We all know making decisions in a state of fear is also suboptimal.
So on this show, we discuss ...
- Uncertainty and evolutionary hard-wiring
- The relationship between stress and uncertainty
- Fragile and anti-fragile
- Upsides
- Tools for dealing with uncertainty
- Reframing
- Adjacent Possible.
- Aplomb: Doubting self-doubt.
- Uncertainty balancers
- Creating an Uncertainty manifesto.
And much more.
I think if you listen, you will come to the conclusion that things may be uncertain, but we can have a little more certainty that we can handle it.
For show notes and more, visit larryweeks.com/podcasts
When the going gets tough, the tough get philosophical.
Kieran Setiya is a Professor of Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is known for his work in ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. Setiya is a co-editor of Philosophers' Imprint, and he is also the author of several books, including Practical Knowledge, Reasons without Rationalism, and Knowing Right From Wrong. Kieren's newest book, Life is Hard, combines philosophy with personal essay. In the book Keiran challenges the idea that happiness should be life's primary pursuit. Instead, he argues that we should try to live well, and living well means how one lives in relationship to difficulty - not without difficulty.
Keiren has a great phrase, "the digressive amplitude of being alive." Life IS oscillation; it's up-down, backward-forward, and expecting anything different is a setup to suffering, adding to whatever hard thing you are experiencing. If you were lucky enough to get a ticket to the ride called life, expect the stomach-churning drop on occasion
In this episode, we cover these topics and more…
- On thinking philisopshialy
- On consolation
- Relating to pain
- Failure and your credit report
- The Experience Machine
- Autotelic vs exotelic experience
- The metaverse
- Some fun with the movie Groundhog Day
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com.
On this podcast, we're going to talk about Brain Chemistry, specifically, what happens in our brains when we are traumatized, severely depressed, or anxious. And for those stuck in that state, what are the latest clinical treatments using medication, that can help someone get unstuck.
My guest on this episode is the distinguished Dr. John Krystal MD. Dr. Krystal is the Professor of Psychiatry, Neuroscience, and Psychology; Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Yale University; and Chief of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Yale-New Haven Hospital.
Dr. Krystal is a leading expert in the areas of alcoholism, post-traumatic stress disorder, schizophrenia, and depression. His work links psychopharmacology, neuroimaging, molecular genetics, and computational neuroscience to study the neurobiology and treatment of these disorders. He is best known for leading the discovery of the rapid antidepressant effects of ketamine in depressed patients.
He is the co-founder and Chief Scientific Advisor of Freedom Biosciences, a clinical-stage biotechnology platform developing next-generation ketamine and psychedelic therapeutics that recently emerged from stealth in August 2022.
On this show, we cover topics that include ...
- The neurobiology of a depressed brain
- The relationship between thought and brain chemistry
- Anxiety and its connection to depression
- Pharmacology; getting into the various medications for treating depression.
- How antidepressants were discovered
- The efficacy of current antidepressants
- The neuroscience of psychedelics in the treatment of severe depression and PTSD
- Ketamine therapy; benefits, risks, and treatment protocols (the different delivery mechanisms, dosages, etc.)
Since we do talk about substances like ketamine which has psychedelic-like properties, here is a disclaimer: I'm NOT a doctor, nor do I play one on the interwebs. None of the content in this podcast constitutes medical advice or should be construed as a recommendation to use any medications mentioned. There are psychological, physical, and sometimes legal risks with usage. Please consult your doctor before considering anything we discuss in this episode.
All right, that all said, here is more information for you to consider.
Enjoy!
Much more For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
My guest is clinical psychologist and author Dr. Lindsay Gibson.
Dr. Gibson has two graduate degrees in clinical psychology, including a Doctorate of Psychology from the Virginia Consortium Program in Clinical Psychology – an Adjunct Professor for the College of William and Mary and Old Dominion University.
She has written a few best-sellers, including a series on dealing with emotionally immature people, the first of which is Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from the Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved.
On the podcast, Dr. Gibson sheds light on the high-conflict personality type and gives some great psychological and tactical advice for dealing with the emotionally immature.
On the show, we discuss
- Why she wrote the book and its origins from her practice
- EIP personality characteristics
- The single most essential factor in human relationships
- How can I be sure I am emotionally mature
- The impact an EIP might have on you emotionally
- Why an EIP is like they the way they are
- How to deal with an EIPs
- Where people go wrong in dealing with them
- What your main goal should be in interacting with an EIP (good tips generally when caught in an argument with anyone)
Much more For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
My guest is Mary-Frances O'Connor.
Mary-Francis is a professor of Clinical Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of Arizona and is the Director of the Grief, Loss, and Social Stress Lab, where she and her colleagues are creating new frameworks for understanding grief and the grieving process; and her book The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss is the topic of this episode.
On the show, we discuss...
- Her work at the lab and what she is learning about grief
- What happens to the brain when someone is experiencing grief
- Defining complicated grief
- An update on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s grief model
- How grief is prolonged
- We discuss the mortality rates for those who fail to adapt to loss
- General loss, death isn't the only loss type we grieve; it can be a job, an identity, or anything we are attached to
- How lost loved ones really stay with us, outside of any mystical experience
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
My guest is AJ jacobs
A.J. Jacobs is an author, journalist, lecturer, and human guinea pig. His strategy as a writer is to dive into something he’s curious about and actually live it.
He has written ten books, four of which are New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor, and a dash of self-help. His most recent book is The Puzzler: One Man's Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life.
AJ is also editor-at-large at Esquire magazine, a commentator on NPR, and a columnist for Mental Floss magazine. He has appeared on Oprah, The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, The Dr. Oz Show, Conan, and The Colbert Report. He has given several TED talks, including ones about living biblically, creating a one-world family, and living healthily. The viewership count of the two I saw was over 6M combined.
On the podcast, I probe into his life experiments so we cover…
- How I came across his work in Esquire
- We cover some of his more notable experiments
- What he took away from reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica in his quest to learn everything in the world.
- The hilarious problems with being radically honest
- What he learned from living the rules of the old testament for a year - in Manhattan
- He discusses which of his experiments was the most profound and life-changing
- We talk about why being grateful is hard and what he learned about gratitude from thanking over 1,000 people
- How we have the happiness equation backward,
- We talk about his latest book and the benefits of puzzles
- What mazes have to do with psychological flexibility
I always strive for the meaningful on the show, but sometimes that can lean toward a bit of the somber - which is fine - but it is wonderful when you can get a guest like AJ who is breezy, funny, AND profound; hard to pull that off but he does it.
I instantly liked him - I think you will too. Enjoy!
This podcast is about your relationship to time.
My guest is Oliver Burkeman. Oliver is a journalist and author. He writes and publishes a twice-monthly email newsletter called "The Imperfectionist." You can find The Guardian column he wrote from 2006 to 2020 online. It's titled "This Column Will Change Your Life." He's also the author of The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking, and his most recent book is Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. It is also the topic of the podcast.
Four Thousand Weeks explores concepts of time and time management, arguing that our modern attempts to optimize our time leave us stressed and unhappy. The book's first sentence is: "The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short." (About 4,000 weeks, on average; thus the title.). It is not your classic time-management book and in it, he explores the most profound questions we have in life.
In the book and on this podcast, Oliver prompts us to question the very idea that time is something you use in the first place."
Some of our talking points.
- On what he's learned about happiness
- What we should seek besides happiness
- Defining personal growth
- The importance of frustration tolerance
- How we relate to time
- The problems with time management
- Optimizing the wrong things
- To-do list and apps and the trap of planning
- The challenges of prioritizing
- Practical tips on project management
And Oliver certainly helped me sort through my struggles with allocating my time, so I found the conversation very useful. I think you will, too.
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
“Pain shared, my brother, is pain not doubled but halved.”― Neil Gaiman
My guest on this episode is Professor Robin Dunbar, the well-known anthropologist and evolutionary psychologist famous for his "Dunbar Number."
Robin is an Emeritus Professor of Evolutionary Psychology and head of the Social and Evolutionary Neuroscience Research Group in the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford. He is also the author of 22 books including his most recent Friends — Understanding the Power of Our Most Important Relationships.
For the few of you who have never heard of Dunbar's number, it is the discovery that there exists a cognitive limit on human groups of about 150. Generally, we can only maintain stable social relationships within a limited number in which each individual knows who the other is and how that person relates to each other.
On the show, Robin breaks down that upper number into concentric circles of much smaller groups that make up our close friends and best friends, explaining how they got there - and how we can maintain and grow them.
We discuss these topics…
- The importance of friends and the huge effect they have on our health
- A summary of his famous number - and its implications for friendships
- How friendships change across a lifespan
- How best friends are created
- How and why friendships end
- The pandemics impact on friendships, a bit about proximity
- The effect of the internet, Zoom, and Social Media
- Differences in friendship between the online and real-world
- The impact of individual differences in introversion and extraversion
- Friendships between men and women, the "When Harry Met Sally" question
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
"I would say what would be responsible when asking yourself should I stay or should I go is, am I actively growing a core skillset that I want to harness and carry with me throughout my career?" - Ashley Stahl
The great resignation is all over the media of late; it's an economic trend born of the COVID pandemic in which employees (In the U.S. for our purposes) are voluntarily leaving jobs in huge numbers—starting around the end of 2020, ramping in 2021 and increasing now in 2022. Although many service sectors are hardest hit, it does bleed beyond those impacting many different industries.
My guest is Ashley Stahl. Ashley is a former counter-terrorism professional turned career coach and bestselling author of "You Turn: Get Unstuck, Discover Your Direction, and Design Your Dream Career."
Ashley's helped clients in over 30 countries discover their career path and land more job offers. Her writings appear in a monthly career column in Forbes magazine, and her articles have been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Self, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, and more.
When you listen, I think you can tell that Ashley is on a mission to help people step into a career they're aligned with and even excited about.
I wanted Ashley on because she is an expert in career transitions and disruptive workplace phenomena. I wanted her opinion on what is happening and, more importantly, what opportunities this opens up for people. She did not disappoint.
Topics we covered on the show
- insights into what is happening at the moment across industries.
- Work and the burden of meaning, purpose and passion.
- Values first, roles second.
- Better questions to ask yourself.
- When to stay, when to leave.
- The importance of mindset.
- Assessments and determining work that is right for you.
- Hard skills and how networking works today.
- How to find unadvertised roles.
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
“Acceptance is the full embrace of our personal experience…it’s choosing to feel with openness and curiosity, so that you can live the kind of life you want to live while inviting your feelings to come along for the ride” - Stephen Hayes
This podcast is about the power of dealing with negative thoughts and emotions more obliquely. It's about a central shift from focusing on what you think and feel to how you relate to what you think and feel. Its effectiveness is somewhat paradoxical because struggling to stop or change a thought or emotion can have the opposite effect - and compound the problem.
My guest is Dr. Steven Hayes. Dr. Hayes is a Nevada foundation professor of psychology in the behavior analysis program at the University of Nevada. He's an author of 46 books in nearly 675 scientific articles. His TEDx talks and blogs have been viewed or read by over 3 million people he has ranked among the most cited psychologists in the world. He's especially known for his work on acceptance and commitment therapy or ACT, which is one of the most widely used and researched new methods of psychological intervention over the last 20 years.
Steven has received the lifetime achievement award from the association for behavioral and cognitive therapy and his popular book, Get Out of Your Mind and Into Your Life: was #1 bestseller, and his new book, which is also discussed on the podcast. A Liberated Mind: How to Pivot Toward What Matters has been recently released to white acclaim.
Some of the topics we cover.
- Current depression rates and the impact of the pandemic
- What he thinks is exasperating depression and anxiety in the U.S.
- The differences between sadness and depression
- How our brains and emotions can often work against us
- How automatic and complicated our thinking processes are
- ACT and process-based therapy, and the challenge of a purely cognitive model
- What is relational thinking
- The problem with treating negative thoughts as problems
- How we can relate to our thoughts to create space from being caught up in them
- What is diffusion and techniques to apply it
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
On this episode we cover a bit of the biography of vaccines, dovetailing into the current state of vaccination around the globe.
My guest on this podcast is Dr. Paul Offit, a world renowned expert and medical pioneer in the field of immunology and virology. He is a professor in the division of Infectious Diseases at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a professor of Vaccinology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. He is the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC, credited with saving hundreds of children's lives every day. Dr. Offit is also currently a member of the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee and is a founding advisory board member of the Autism Science Foundation and the Foundation for Vaccine Research. His awards and citations are too numerous to list here (See more of his bio at www.chop.edu/doctors/offit-paul-a)
Paul is not only an expert of great renown, he is also very generous and extremely passionate about public health - and it comes through.
Vaccination is widely considered one of the greatest medical achievements of modern civilization. Please listen as Paul explains why that is so.
We covered a range of topics including:
- The Ming dynasty, ‘variolation’ and smallpox
- Powdered pustules and other Chinese precursors
- 18th Century and the founding of vaccinology in the West
- Jonas Salk and the first successful polio vaccines
- Rotavirus and the RotaTeq vaccine
- Recombinant DNA flu vaccines
- The new mRNA era of vaccines
- Vaccine risks then and now; we do the math
- Vaccine controversy and hesitancy throughout history
- Overview of the current COVID-19 vaccines, Delta and what’s next
- Who should, and should not, get the vaccine
- FDA timelines, approvals, and licensure
For show notes and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
“A person can make himself happy or miserable regardless of what is actually happening outside just by changing the contents of consciousness” -Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
How you feel about life and living, and your happiness in general - ultimately depends on interpreting everyday experience. Your mind shapes every experience you have and there is a minimal return on happiness effort, trying to exert more control over external forces.
Time should be spent on ordering your inner world. This podcast is about doing just that.
My guest is Loch Kelly.
Loch is an author, meditation teacher, psychotherapist, and founder of the Open-Hearted Awareness Institute. Loch has collaborated with neuroscientists at Yale, UPenn, and NYU to study how awareness training can enhance compassion and well-being. As a licensed psychotherapist, Loch has been teaching seminars, supervising clinicians and practicing awareness psychotherapy in NYC for 30 years.
He has authored two books on meditation, Shift into Freedom The Science and Practice of Open-Hearted Awareness and The Way of Effortless Mindfulness A Revolutionary Guide for Living an Awakened Life, which is the touchstone for our discussion
Drawing from neuroscience, psychology, and ancient wisdom traditions, the book is a practical guide to what he calls the next stage in the ongoing mindfulness movement: effortless mindfulness.
On the show we discuss these topics and more
- Defining meditation
- Defining awareness
- Suffering and managing emotions
- Why meditation can be hard
- Who meditation is for
- Terminology
- Explaining Flow states and how it can be elicited in meditation
- Differences between mindfulness meditation and effortless mindfulness
- On effort and effortlessness
- Types / Methods
- Multiple "selves" and the mini-me
- Glimpse practices
- How to start - "here now" meditation
There is a lot more here, so give it a listen.
For show notes, resources, and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
Larry
Nicholas Christakis on the impact of Coronavirus, what went wrong, what's going right, and our possible future. More below.
Nicholas is a physician and social scientist at Yale University who conducts research in network science, biosocial science, and behavior genetics.
Named by Time magazine to their annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world, Nicholas's current work focuses on how human biology and health affect social interactions and social networks. He directs the Human Nature Lab and is the Co-Director of the Yale Institute for Network Science.
He is also the author of several books, including Connected: The Amazing Power of Social Networks and How They Shape Our Lives, Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society, and his latest, Apollo's Arrow, The Profound and Enduring impact of Coronavirus On the Way We Live - which is the topic of our conversation.
Nicholas was a font of information; it was a challenge to fit everything into an hour. He was a conversational tour de force crisscrossing history, medicine, social behavior, and disease math.
On the show we covered...
- How earlier pandemics were similar in how they played out
- The frequency of pandemics
- How COVID-19 compares to other pathogens
- Disease math and mortality curves
- Updates on lethality
- Effective contagion rates
- What went wrong
- Trust in government and scientific institutions
- What's going right
- Development of vaccines
- Vaccination rates (percentage of the populace) we need to open the economy
- The swiss cheese model of personal risk mitigation
- Post pandemic behavior and the future boom
There is a lot more here, so give it a listen.
For show notes, resources, and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
Larry
Chatter refers to this negative cycle of thinking and feeling that leads us to get stuck in ways that can be really toxic for our health, for our relationships, and for our ability to think and perform - Ethan Kross
“Hecaton asks, "Do you ask what progress I have made? I have begun to be a friend to myself." Valuable progress indeed: he will never be alone." —Seneca
On this podcast, I delve into what cognitive science is learning about the conversations we have with ourselves - and even better, how to manage them.
My guest is Ethan Kross, Ph.D. An award-winning professor in the University of Michigan’s top ranked Psychology Department and its Ross School of Business, he studies how the conversations people have with themselves impact their health, performance, decisions and relationships. And his research has been published in academic journals and featured in the New York Times, the Economist and the New Yorker, to name just a few.
He is also the author of the just-published book Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It, the topic of this episode.
Why do you say what you say, when you talk to yourself?
Ethan explained to me that our brains have an affinity for disconnecting from what's happening around us. This then offers an opportunity for the conversations in our minds.
Ethan says that our inner voice is crucial and helps us evaluate what we do, calibrating our gap-to-goal actions. We have a monitoring default state.
But it can turn on us.
Anxious or negative chatter can tank athletic performance and sabotage your career.
Chatter is often triggered when we interpret a situation as a threat—something we can’t manage.
Hello, pandemic.
Ethan tells me uncertain times and uncertainty and a lack of control are agents that fuel (internal) chatter.
if you had asked me when I started this project, for a formula for a mass chatter event, we are living through that right now. And all the ingredients are there; a once in a century uncontrollable and uncertain pandemic - Ethan Kross
These internal conversations also determine our experiences. Your mood is most often defined not by what you did but by what you thought about what you did at the time you were doing it.
On the show, we cover a lot of his research on "chatter" laid out in his new book
- Why do we do it?
- Origins of the voices
- How chatter can backfire on us
- Tips (and tools) on improving or quelling negative chatter
- How to properly coach yourself and the use of pronouns
- Affirmations and how to talk to yourself
- And much more
It's arguable that some of the most important conversations you will have in your life will are the ones you have with yourself.
So tell yourself to give it a listen.
For show notes, resources, and more, visit www.larryweeks.com
Larry
Tommy Chong is a grammy award-winning comedian and is legendary for his invaluable contribution to American counter-culture as part of the iconic comedy duo Cheech & Chong. During their reign, the twosome recorded six gold comedy albums, including the 1973 Grammy winner "Los Cochinos," and starred in eight films, most of which Chong co-wrote and directed. The first, "Up In Smoke," was the highest-grossing comedy of 1978, topping $100 million at the box office. Others were "Cheech and Chong's Next Movie" (1980), "Nice Dreams" (1981), "Things Are Tough All Over" (1982), "Cheech and Chong: Still Smoking" (1983), and "The Corsican Brothers" (1984).
Tommy has acted in several other films, including 1990's "Far Out, Man!" and "National Lampoon's Senior Trip" (1995). He also starred as "Leo" on Fox's "That 70's Show," and guest starred on ABC's "Dharma & Greg" and "The George Lopez Show."
Tommy is also the author of the New York Times Best-Seller The I Chong: Meditations from the Joint and the book, Cheech and Chong: The Unauthorized Autobiography.
In 2003 a fully armed SWAT team raided the comedian's home, culminating with Tommy being sentenced to 9 months in federal prison for conspiracy to manufacture and distribute "Chong Glass," a family business specializing in handmade glass water pipes (bongs).
On this episode, Tommy talks about that experience and pretty much his whole life; growing up in Canada, getting his start in rock and roll, finding improv comedy, his time with Cheech and Chong, and getting into the business of CBD and Cannabis.
I interview people, for the most part - to get their perspective as to relates to challenge whether personal or professional sometimes it's corporate and more often than not, the episodes refer to some documented touchstones like a book or research - a catalog of lessons
This one is a bit of an exception.
This episode is not so didactic; the lessons are in the pure experience - the story - and an entertaining one at that.
Enjoy!
To see show notes, resources, and more, visit larryweeks.com
What can we learn from survival science about recovering from trauma? What can survivors of extreme events teach us about creating a new normal?
My guest on this episode is Laurence Gonzales.
Laurence Gonzales is the author of numerous books and has won many awards, including two National Magazine Awards and the Distinguished Service Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. Laurence also received a Journalism Fellowship from the Santa Fe Institute and where he was also appointed a Miller Scholar.
Laurence wrote the best-selling books Deep Survival: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why, its sequel Surviving Survival: The Art and Science of Resilience, and Everyday Survival: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things.
In these books, Laurence chronicles not only how some endured life-threatening situations and somehow survive them, but also their second acts; the difficulty of moving on from their trauma to the equally challenging return to or re-creation of a "normal" life.
The extreme events that Laurence writes about are helpful to study as it lends perspective; we realize we are one among many who may have it far worse than we. Also helpful are the lessons learned on how the brain and body work during and after traumatic events.
Some of our talking points….
- How evolutionary wiring works for us and against us
- PTSD or PTS
- Why some survive, and others do not
- Problems with narrow domain expertise and ego
- Active coping skills and suggested activities
- Awareness, behavioral scripts, and accidents
- Cognitive dissonance
- The brain's rage pathway
- Goal seeking behavior and the power of hobbies
I've been trying to get Laurence on for over a year - schedules just didn't align, but we finally made it happen happy to say and it was well worth it.
Enjoy!
In this episode, my focus is on how to find peace of mind amidst turmoil and persistent uncertainty. So many things that are directly affecting our lives are also out of our direct control - and it can be maddening.
Serenity now.
The Ancient Greeks used the term ataraxia, which means a state of serene calmness. Steven Gambardella writes in the Sophist, "Ataraxia is not a positively-defined state such as "happy" or "excited" It was believed by the Hellenistic philosophies to be a "resting" state of serenity."
To achieve this state, the Stoics taught the need to discern between "things not up to us" vs. "things up to us."
"Some things are within our power, while others are not. Within our power are opinion, motivation, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever is of our own doing; not within our power are our body, our property, reputation, office, and, in a word, whatever is not of our own doing." - Epictetus in the Enchiridion
Herein lies the key to much of our neurosis, not understanding what's in your control and what's not. Crazy is treating outcomes as objects; to paraphrase psychoanalyst Leslie Farber, where you can directly move an object, you cannot directly will an outcome - and your goals can distort your psyche when confusing the two.
My guest is philosophy professor Massimo Pigliucci.
Massimo has a Ph.D. in Evolutionary Biology and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Tennessee. He is currently the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. His research interests include the philosophy of science, the nature of pseudoscience, and the practical philosophy of Stoicism.
He is also the author or editor of 14 books, including the bestselling How to Be A Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life. Other titles include Nonsense on Stilts: How to Tell Science from Bunk and his just published A Field Guide to a Happy Life.
Some of or talking points on this episode
- How his life changed in 2014
- Re-discovering Stoic philosophy
- Thoughts and suffering
- Stoicism 2.0
- How stress is created
- The dichotomy of control
- Holding things lightly; loans from the bank of the universe
- Unhooking happiness from results
- Ambition, goals and the challenge of process orientation
- Pandemics, mask-wearing and citizenship
- Historical perspectives on crazy political seasons and unorthodox leaders
- On pacifism and civic engagement
Massimo was great as usual so - take a break from the insanity out there, put your earphones on, go for a walk and listen.
Enjoy!
For show notes, resources and more of my content visit larryweeks.com
What do you do when you're faced with a big decision?
If you're like most people, you might make a pro and con list, although many don't even do that - if you're like me, you might over-analyze and spend too much time searching for that extra data point that might make you sure.
There is a better way to make quality decisions and minimize second-guessing.
My guest is Annie Duke.
Annie is an expert on decision fitness and is the author of two books on decision making, the bestseller Thinking In Bets, and her latest How To Decide, Simple Tools For Making Better Choices, is the topic of the show.
Prior to the books, Annie used high stakes poker as her decision lab and became one of the world's top poker players, winning her first World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelet in 2004. That same year, she won the $2 million winner-take-all, invitation-only Tournament of Champions. In 2010, she won NBC National Heads-Up Poker Championship.
Before professional poker, Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study Cognitive Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania.
This is the second time I've had Annie as a guest (See Ep. 22) and the topic of this episode follows from the first except here we shift from highlighting causes of bad decisions to discussing in more detail the process for making better ones. We move to the more practical as she outlines the tools and heuristics we can use to make quality decisions and second-guess yourself less.
Here are just some of our talking points.
- A review of "resulting" and why it's a problem
- What's wrong with pro-con lists - and what's better
- Assigning probability and forecasting
- The tree of possibility
- The decision multiverse
- The three-column decision map
- Why we should embrace educated guesses
- Factors leading up to election cycles and how predictions might be wrong yet correctly made before
- and much more
Note Annie's audio is less than optimal but listen closely, it's a gold mine of decision-making wisdom you can use right away.
Enjoy!
"It's like an aha moment when you suddenly see it, the moment you say, oh, all these negative feelings are awesome and wonderful, this is a positive deal. The moment you see that you suddenly won't want or need them anymore.” - Dr. David burns
“What you resist not only persists but will grow in size” - Carl Jung
This was recorded in late August and throughout much of the world, we are still dealing with the pandemic via restricted living. Our routines have been disrupted and our world of experiences narrowed, going on six months. Add to the mix all the negative news that precedes a national election, and you have a recipe for depression and anxiety.
Enter my guest on this episode is Dr.David Burns, M.D.
David was a previous guest back when I started the podcast (episode 5), and he is one of the pioneers in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) so very happy to have him back on.
Dr. Burns is currently Adjunct Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he is involved in research and teaching. He has received numerous awards, including the A. E. Bennett Award for his research on brain chemistry, the Distinguished Contribution to Psychology through the Media Award, and the Outstanding Contributions Award from the National Association of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapists. He has been named Teacher of the Year three times from the class of graduating residents at Stanford University School of Medicine, and his best-selling book, Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, published over 40 years ago, is still in the #1 Amazon spot for books on depression.
Now he has a new book that innovates on the methods in the first called Feeling Great – The Revolutionary New Treatment for Depression and Anxiety, which is based on more than 40,000 hours treating individuals with severe mood problems.
Dr. Burns says that our negative moods do not result from what’s wrong with us, but rather - what’s right with us. And paradoxically, when you listen and “hear” what your negative thoughts and feelings are trying to say, you won’t need them anymore, and recovery follows. The goal, according to Dr. Burns, is not just complete elimination of negative feelings, but the development of joy and enlightenment.
Some talking points from the show.
- A review of the origins and basics of CBT
- David's new treatment protocol - TEAM CBT
- A list of cognitive distortions
- Discerning healthy and unhealthy sadness
- On dealing with cancer
- Agenda setting
- How and why of honoring negative thoughts
- Case studies and patience response
Read to investigate your feelings and experiment with how to change them?
Enjoy!
For resources and more visit larryweeks.com
"The greater the mistake, the more foolish the belief, the more consequences of that belief...Then, the greater your need to reduce that dissonance in your favor because the gap is greater between yourself and feelings of self worth" - Carol Tavris
On this podcast, we talk about what happens after we make a terrible mistake. What is our response to our mistakes? Do we try to brush it off? Do we say screw it and double down?
Mistakes don't necessarily end with the mistake itself - it can get worse, much worse.
It's akin to the axiom for failure testing software;
Almost all catastrophic errors are the result of incorrect handling of non-fatal errors that are explicitly signaled.
Consider Bill Clinton. It is arguable that had he admitted to his relationship with Monica Lewinsky early and contritely, he would have avoided a 4-month long impeachment process - and embarrassing testimony recorded for posterity.
Or we can get better, we can learn and grow from our mistakes.
But that takes admission along with taking responsibility so that we don't make the same mistake again.
This podcast explains why that's so hard to do.
My guests are Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. They co-authored the book "Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me): Why We Justify Foolish Beliefs, Bad Decisions and Hurtful Acts" The book, and our conversation, is about cognitive dissonance theory applied to a wide variety of topics, including politics, religious belief, memory, criminal justice, and even family quarrels.
Carol is an American social psychologist, public intellectual, well-known writer, and lecturer. She's devoted her career to the psychological sciences; the beliefs and practices that guide people's lives. Carol has a Ph.D. in social psychology from the University of Michigan, has taught psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles and the New School for Social Research. Carol is also a member of the editorial board of Psychological Science in the Public Interest. Her articles, book reviews, and op-eds have appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, The Times Literary Supplement, Scientific American and other publications.
Elliot Aronson is one of the most famous names in the discipline of social psychology due in no small part to his best book, The Social Animal. He is listed among the 100 most eminent psychologists of the 20th century. He has taught at Harvard University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Texas, and is currently professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
This was an easy conversation as Carol and Elliot are both so very likable. I told them that if I had to tell someone about my mistakes, it would be them, as they came across as genuinely caring.
I think you'll agree.
Our conversation covers these topics and more.
- Why people might justify bad decisions.
- Cognitive dissonance
- The pyramid of choice
- Faulty memory
- Keeping beliefs against revealed evidence
- Dealing with our bad memories
- How to learn from mistakes
- Cancel culture
- Partitioning mistakes from persons
- Anatomy of an apology
Enjoy!
For resources and more visit larryweeks.com
Rory Sutherland is a best selling author, ad man being the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy and Mather and co-founder of Ogilvy Change, a behavioral science practice where they believe the greatest gains to be made in business and society are psychological, not technological. Rory is regarded as one of marketing and advertising's most original thinkers and inspirational speakers; a cumulative 7M viewers have seen his Ted Talks.
This is Rory's second appearance on the podcast. The first episode 20, which is still very popular. Because Rory has his finger on the pulse of consumer psychology, I wanted his take on the impact of stay at home orders on our respective western consumers as the Coronavirus (hopefully) wanes.
How will our consuming and workplace behavior change?
So this is a wide-ranging conversation covering these topics and more...
- Speculating on permanent and temporary consumer behavior changes
- Behaviors that are inherently resilient
- Social norms
- The future of the workplace, commuting, public policy, travel, and movies
- Trends vs. vectors
- What does he think about marketing/advertising on the edge of a pandemic?
- What should brands do amidst all this change?
- Habits and social copying
Enjoy!
For resources and notes see larryweeks.com
I'm never sure how to introduce James Altucher to anyone who might not have heard of him. He's a best selling author with a hugely successful podcast, investor, serial entrepreneur, former VC & hedge fund manager, computer programmer, and chess master. I'm sure I've left some out but just Google him, he's everywhere.
Returning for his second appearance on the podcast (see more of his story here), James is one of the most interesting people I know. But his superpower and what I admire about him most is his vulnerability. He's an open book and not afraid to lean into controversy.
To the point of this show, on his podcast, he's been talking with a wide variety of experts about the Coronavirus, everyone from an immunologist, physicians, geneticist, economist to policy experts and super forecasters in the form of regular updates starting in February. He also lives in Manhattan, which is ground zero for the epidemic here in the states, which gives him another perspective I don't have.
Well, I thought I'd short cut my research and just call him for a distillation of what he's finding out; what after all these conversations has he concluded about what is happening now?
So here are just some of the topics we cover
- Political risks for any opinion on what to do next
- The math used for Coronavirus spread / who got what wrong?
- Issues with flattening the curve
- Dividing the certain from the uncertain
- He view on when this will it effectively "end"
- Possible shape of the recovery - L,U,V,W?
- Economic impact and when he thinks the country should open up or could open
- How the future has been pulled forward
- Businesses that may never return to normal
- How to be an idea machine
- Business ideas that are favorable in this environment
- His personal practices for recovering from setback - as he's been through many
Enjoy
Seem more at larryweeks.com
William B. Irvine is a professor of philosophy at Wright State University. The author of seven books, including The Stoic Challenge and A Guide to the Good Life, he has also written for the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post, Salon, Time, and the BBC. He lives in Dayton, Ohio
For the context of the show I refer you to his latest, The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher’s Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer and More Resilient
Philosophy for William is not just an academic career; he actually lives it, having adopted Stoicism many years ago, making him an outlier in the academic community.
In many ways, this ancient school of thought preempted many aspects of modern psychology and how to use some of its tenants to deal with setbacks.
The Stoics’ realized that even though you have limited control over what setbacks you experience, you can develop considerable control over how you respond to them. One of the 1st century Stoics Seneca wrote about the differences between experiencing a setback and suffering from it, by changing the perspective of how one thinks of setbacks.
You’ve probably read or heard of some form of this quote attributed to another Stoic, Epictetus
“We suffer not from the events in our lives but from our judgment about them.” On this show, we explore that precept - with some helpful thought experiments that I encourage you to try
Topics covered
- How he came to Stoicism
- Comparisons with Buddhism
- Psychology of a setback
- Stoic framing (the test frame, hero frame, target frame)
- Negative visualization
- “The last time” exercise and premature nostalgia
- Resetting hedonic standards
- The power of perspective
Enjoy!
For show notes and more see larryweeks.com
This episode is about trying to understand our true capacity to cope with stress and how to arouse the dormant resilience in all of us.
My guest on this show seems to be proof there are benefits from extreme physical challenges. In his case, actually seeking out stressors and using them to hack the nervous system - reprogramming it's response to those stressors.
Scott Carney is an investigative journalist who has worked in some of the most dangerous and unlikely corners of the world. His work has been the subject of a variety of radio and television programs, including NPR and National Geographic TV.
Before writing what eventually became the New York Times bestseller, "What Doesn't Kill Us," Scott set out to prove that the now-famous "iceman" Wim Hoff was a charlatan and his workshop retreats destined to kill people. Instead, Scott winds up climbing Mount Kilimanjaro half-naked, submerging himself in ice water learning radical breathing techniques (see Episode 6 of this podcast). The experience gave Scott almost superhuman levels of endurance, and he says it quieted a persistent autoimmune illness.
At the core of these methods is a technique Scott outlines in detail with his new book "The Wedge." In this episode, we talk about how it works, what he found on his search for other people who understood the language of the body's response to the environment. What other "wedges" did he discover?
This chat with Scott helped me think of stress as something to use. Specific stressors can be opportunities to build a form of strength in the area where the stress is met, whether physical or mental. During the interview, Scott talks about the brain's ability to build "libraries of emotional experiences" tied to stressful events. He thinks you can hack the libraries by various means of exposure and or wedges dealing with the stress to change how you experience it, thus increasing your ability to cope.
This chat will push you to reconsider how far out your limits may be.
Some interesting sections of the conversation...
- What he learned from Wim Hoff
- The two way communication between the mind-body and body-mind
- Relationships between physiological and psychological stress
- Possibilities in reprogramming the nervous system
- Placebos
- How to use environment to increase resilience
- A new game of catch - with iron weights
- Confronting fear in a laboratory
Enjoy!
For show notes and more visit larryweeks.com
At the moment as I publish this, there are 340,000 cases of the Coronavirus and over 9,700 deaths from it in the U.S. Over 70,000 deaths world wide.
The amount and velocity of information on the pandemic is overwhelming and much of it conflicts. Do this - don't do that. I need help parsing all of it.
Enter Dr. Alex Lickerman, M.D.
Alex is a direct primary care physician at ImagineMD, spending the first 20 years of his career as a leader at the University of Chicago, where he ran primary care for seven years and taught generations of today’s leaders in medicine. There he enjoyed a reputation as “a doctor’s doctor,” caring for many physicians who are themselves today considered leaders in their fields.
I wanted to talk with Alex about the Coronavirus because of his unique qualifications as a physician and his work in resilience. Alex is the author of, The Undefeated Mind: On the Science of Constructing an Indestructible Self that formed the basis of the landmark Resilience Project, which he began while at the University of Chicago.
Short show (36 mins) but I get to ask a lot of questions that he kindly answers in detail
- Comparisons New York vs Chicago
- What's unique about the Coronavirus
- Current best treatments
- Separating fact from the news
- Symptoms and timeframes
- What should I do if I get sick?
- How long will this last?
- Tylenol, Advil - which ?
- The problem with hydroxychloroquine
- Percentages - sick or very sick
- Hospital capacity in the US
- On face masks
- How long will this last?
- Why and how we can be calm
As I publish this (April 2020) the current Coronavirus pandemic has been a setback for all of us in various degrees, some worse than others. Hence, I would encourage you to listen to this episode and share with someone who could use it.
My guest is Dr. Steven M. Southwick, who along with Dennis Charney are the co-authors of Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life's Greatest Challenges. The book summarizes research into the psychological, biological, and social impact of trauma, and it combines the latest scientific findings in the area of resilience drawing on two decades of work with trauma survivors
“Resilient individuals resemble a twig with a fresh, green living core. When twisted out of shape, such a twig bends, but it does not break; instead, it springs back and continues growing” - George Vaillant
Steven completed his psychiatry residency at Yale University School of Medicine. He is the Glenn H. Greenberg Professor of Psychiatry, PTSD and Resilience at Yale University Medical School and Yale Child Study Center. He is also the Medical Director of the Clinical Neuroscience of the Veterans Affairs National Center for PTSD.
Steven has worked with a wide range of trauma survivors including combat veterans, civilian children and adults with PTSD, and very high functioning, former prisoners of war.
There is a bit of irony in this episode based on the times we are living through in 2020. One, is my warning to those who were having an easy time of life that challenge would come so prepare now. The other is Steven's admonition for social connection. Harder now as we are all social distancing but even more important due to the stress many are going through. Hello Zoom.
We also cover these topics on this episode
- His research into resilience and PTSD
- What led him to write the book
- How the brain may work against you in traumatic or challenging circumstances.
- Why and how each of us differ in our responses to stress
- The resilience factors
- Passive and active "toughening"
- Trauma and growth
- What survivors do to successfully cope with extreme circumstances.
- Active toughening and the importance of recovery
- Social pain and the importance of social networks.
- The “bleed” effect of exercise on emotion
- The power of “squads”
- What he asks someone who is suffering when they first come to him for help
Much more here so please listen
I write about all my shows, visit www.larryweeks.com
Depending on the research, there are anywhere from 40% - 60% percent of us admitting we make New Year's resolutions, A study from the University of Scranton found that 23% of people quit their resolution after one week. And only 19% of individuals actually stick to the goals longer term.
We put off starting a project we planned, or once started, we never finish. We swear to eat healthily, lose weight, or you name it, only to see ourselves defeated by what seems to be a lack of will.
If we really want to do these things, why don't we do them?
My guest on the show is Dr. Piers Steel.
Piers is a Distinguished Research Chair at the University of Calgary, where he teaches human resources and organizational dynamics at the Haskayne School of Business.
Piers is one of the world's leading researchers on the science of motivation and procrastination.
He's also the inventor of the procrastination equation – an equation that can explain every scientific finding on procrastination ever and is laid out in his oft-cited book The Procrastination Equation: How to Stop Putting Things Off and Start Getting Stuff Done.
You're about to find out not only why you procrastinate, but the science around what works to overcome it, i.e., how to increase motivation.
When you learn the equation, you can use it to diagnose where your lack of motivation might be coming from. And from there, you can increase your motivation on-command.
Piers lays it out for us.
On this show, some of the topics we cover include …
- Long-held myths on why people procrastinate
- The truth about why we procrastinate
- He breaks down each part of the motivation equation and talks through how to work with them
- The power of context
- The real problem with impulsiveness and some tricks to thwart temptation
- Sort ranking the motivation variables by impact
- THE #1 Reason people procrastinate
- What elevates motivation and what depresses it
- The problem with smart goals
Enjoy!
For resources, show notes and more visit larryweeks.com
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Hey, I’m Larry For over a decade I’ve advised some of the largest agencies, brands, consulting firms and tech companies in the world. I’ve built multiple digital agencies and product platforms. My domains include all things digital and multichannel.
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M.I.T. Technology Review dubbed Nir Eyal, “The Prophet of Habit-Forming Technology” as he is the author of the bestselling book on building habit forming products (Hooked). So who better to help us understand the neuroscience of distraction. Nir's new book, "Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life" is the topic of this podcast.
"In the future, there will be two kinds of people in the world: those who let their attention and lives be controlled and coerced by others and those who proudly call themselves 'indistractable." - Nir Eyal
Saying this show is about distraction doesn't do it justice. This is probably just me, but distraction is so universal I think we minimize its impact in our lives. I think we hear about it all the time of late due to the onset of the smartphone. And if we don't have that problem, well, we think we have no problem.
This is about your time and attention, why you lose control of it and how to get it back. It's about valuing your attention and we only have so much time left and we're not guaranteed whatever amount we think we have left.
This episode is very quick listen in a sense that Nir gets right into it, I had to be very fast with my note taking.
Some of the topics we cover include ...
- Technology and addiction
- On habit forming products
- Differences between addiction and distraction
- The psychology of distraction, causes etc.
- The psychology of email
- A 4-step framework for becoming indistractable
- The problem with to-do lists
- Time boxing and values
- On hyperbolic discounting
There is a lot under these topic umbrellas and much of the episode is tactical. I took a ton of notes and have already seen the benefits of applying much of it. Fit this in, you should hear it.
Nir's resources, show notes and more at larryweeks.com
This is a podcast about results, getting things done. How to move past uncertainty and define the future.
In this episode I talk with J.J. Sutherland. He is the CEO of Scrum Inc and is also the co-author of Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time, written with his father, Jeff Sutherland, the co-creator of Scrum. His newest book The Scrum Fieldbook, A Master Class on Accelerating Performance, Getting Results, and Defining the Future, is the topic of this show.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term Scrum, it's a framework originally used as a faster, more effective way to create software in the tech industry. The Scrum process is now being used successfully in general business practice all over the world in companies of all types, outside of pure tech.
This chat is in part a discovery process as to why that is.
J.J. says Scrum is the art of changing the possible or what is possible. And I think after listening to this episode, you might join him in that belief.
Some great advice here on not only what Scrum really is or how it works but J.J offers some great insights on teamwork, why projects fail, how to use failure and fear as catalysts and how Scrum can be applied anywhere.
Be prepared to be motivated to get stuff done after listening.
Enjoy!
I blog about all episodes, for more info visit larryweeks.com
“…What it takes to keep up isn’t as much about coding, AI, algorithms… it’s about being change oriented, it’s about being forward thinking, and it’s about being willing to develop skills in this new world.” --Gerald Kane
What allows some organizations and individuals to thrive in new world of rapid technology innovation and disruption while others fall behind or get stuck in obsolescence?
Exploring these questions and more is an expert on digital disruption and my guest on the podcast, Gerald Kane, professor of Information Systems at Boston College, Carroll School of Management.
After a major six-year study into how digital technologies have disrupted companies of all sizes, Kane talks with me about some of the key findings from his newly released book, “The Technology Fallacy: How People Are The Real Key To Digital Transformation.”
Thousands of interviews with employers and employees went into his research, revealing some interesting findings outlined in the book.
If your an executive running a company or a CDO or just in charge of digital transformation, listen up. And if you're just an employee who wants to keep pace with change and stay relevant in the workplace, I would listen to this show.
On the show we talk about
- Why adapting to technological disruptions isn’t actually all about the technology - and why thinking it is could lead to failure
- What type of mindset makes a difference in the companies that succeed at dramatic change vs those that fail to adapt
- Defining will over skill
- The similar characteristics companies have that thrive in disruption
- The importance of culture and what that means really
- How to stay relevant in the modern workplace
- The age factor, why succeeding in the digital era is not about age - and what attribute IS important
- How to develop employees for long-term success through change and tech disruption with examples of how companies are doing that
- The digital maturity scorecard, what industries lead or lag
Jerry was a great interview and not only generous with his findings but passionate about them. Enjoy!
I write about all my shows at larryweeks.com
"I'm focusing on making decisions through A.I. They're making so many choices for us, mostly in ways that allow us to be productive but the flip side is the extent to which we are fully in control of our decisions. It's not quite what it used to be. The algorithms are nudging us in different ways"
- Kartik Hosanagar
My guest on this episode is Kartik Hosanagar.
Kartik is a professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the world's top 40 business professors under 40. He is a 10 time recipient of the MBA or undergraduate teaching excellence awards at the Wharton and his research has received several best paper awards. Kartik also co-founded and developed the core IP for Yodel and is involved with many other startups as either an investor or board member.
Kartik's new book, A Human's Guide to Machine Intelligence: How Algorithms Are Shaping Our Lives and How We Can Stay in Control, is the topic of our discussion.
This episode is a look into the brains of all of your devices, at least the software that's running them, and how those brains are learning and influencing you.
You need very little technical knowledge to enjoy this episode. In fact the less you know technically the more it would behoove you to listen.
Kartik does a masterful job not only explaining how algorithms work but how advances in A.I. are impacting your life - and what we can do about it personally as well as collectively.
And if you're curious at all as to all the buzz about artificial intelligence, Kartik provides a short history lesson on it's origins and evolution from narrow automation to autonomous learning.
There's also a great retelling of how the AlphaGo computer beat the world's best human Go professional.
Some additional talking points in this episode ...
- Why algos matter and the risks associated with decisions
- Issues with data and data brokers
- Algorithmic bias
- On the evolution of A.I.
- A.I. similarities in human nature
- Black box problems - when we cannot know why a machine takes an action it takes
- The predictability-resilience paradox
- How to take control, the importance of agency
- His view of the future and how we can prepare for it
And much more.
Enjoy!
If you like this episode, I write about all my podcasts at larryweeks.com
The abbreviation A.I. along with its phrase “artificial intelligence” for many invokes fantasies of sentient overlord robots everywhere or benevolent machine assistants or sexy operating systems.
It can be difficult to separate hype from reality. Newsfeed cycles don’t help either. Stories circulate with titillating headlines as to what A.I. has just done without context as to where it's failed.
Regardless we should pay attention, because the ultimate goal of A.I. is to not only make machines intelligent - but as intelligent as humans.
Hence my guest, Rob May. Rob is the CEO and Co-founder of Talla, a Boston-based company offering AI-Powered automation for service and support Teams. He is an angel investor in 50 A.I. companies and the Managing Director at Half Court Ventures.
Rob also writes InsideAI, the world's most popular email newsletter on artificial intelligence.
I wanted to have somebody like Rob on not only because of his deep expertise running his own company but his broad exposure to many different types of A.I. forward companies.
Join us as we discuss these topics and more
- Defining and discerning A.I. and Machine Learning
- Hype and current reality
- Where is A.I. working
- Where and why companies fail with A.I.
- Perspective on the near and long term futures of A.I.
- How companies and people can prepare for broad adoption
- Where does he see most of A.I.'s value creation coming from
- How he evaluates companies to invest in who say they use AI
- and much more ...
I write about my shows, visit www.larryweeks.com for more
It seems like a waste of time to introduce Seth Godin. Just search his name, "Seth" to Google is Seth Godin. He's founded several companies including Yoyodyne and Squidoo. He is the author of 18 best-selling books that have been translated into more than 35 languages. They include perennial classics like Permission Marketing, written in 1999 that elucidated the [then] new idea of delivering relevant, personalized messages that people agreed to receive. Practiced everywhere now but in 1999 it was controversial, and it birthed the dollar permission-based email marketing industry.
The book most of you probably know him by is Purple Cow, his thesis about attention being the game. He’s also the founder of the altMBA and The Marketing Seminar, online workshops that have transformed the work of thousands of people.
In 2018, he was inducted into the Marketing Hall of Fame.
His new book, This Is Marketing, which is more or less the focus of this episode is the first, in his words, "real book from a real publisher about marketing" that he's done in more than seven years.
You don't have to be in business or into marketing to benefit from this episode. It's about how to make change happen or as Seth puts it, to cause a change you'd like to see in the world.
I think work and business dilemmas usually focus on the tactical, what's step #1 step #2 which is also true personally and in relationships. How can I get Jim or Jane to do x? What's the technique?
Seth proposes the answer to many questions we have about work - and I'll add life in general - is really the answer to "who can you help"?
Answer all the who, what, where, why questions that way; who can I help, what can I help with, where can I help - and you win, no matter what happens with the business, the campaign, the interview.
Seth exceeded my high expectations. I could write 50 things I learned from our chat, but I will spare you. So here are just a few highlights of what we talk about.
- How to make a change
- How to deal with resistance and fear
- What marketing has to do with culture
- What a brand really is
- Why he doesn't use Facebook and how to look at Social Media in regards to marketing
- Where optimization lives
- The long tail
- The biggest idea in his book
It's well worth your time at approximately 38 minutes.
Enjoy!
What do you do when you go from being the founder and CEO of your own line of successful hotels to the oldest guy at the tech startup surrounded by some of the brightest millennials in the country?
Well, if you’re Chip Conley, Strategic Advisor for Hospitality and Leadership at Airbnb, you set aside your ego, reinvent yourself and make the situation work for you. It’s that kind of adaptation that makes it possible to find your place in this era of change, and Chip has dedicated much of his time to sharing the secret with others who are looking to find a meaningful identity in a new world.
On this podcast I talk with Chip about his career, his books, philosophies about getting older and his newest project an academy for the Modern Elder.
Chip Conley is a leader at the forefront of the sharing economy. At age 26 he founded Joie de Vivre Hospitality (JdV), transforming one inner-city motel into the second largest boutique hotel brand in America. Chip served as Airbnb’s Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy for four years. His five books include PEAK and EMOTIONAL EQUATIONS and are inspired by the theories of transformation and meaning by famed psychologists Abraham Maslow and Viktor Frankl. In his new book, WISDOM@WORK: The Making of a Modern Elder (September 2018), Chip shares his experiences – as both mentor and unexpected intern – at Airbnb. He is the founder of Fest300 (part of Everfest).
Chip is a recipient of hospitality’s highest honor, the Pioneer Award, and holds a BA and MBA from Stanford University, and an honorary doctorate in psychology from Saybrook University. He serves on the boards of the Burning Man Project and the Esalen Institute, where the Conley Library bears his name.
When reflecting on what it was like to go from being a seasoned CEO to a mentor at a startup tech company where every employee was at least 2 decades younger than him, Chip says that he had a ton of learning to do.
No longer could he rely upon the traditional rules of business in which being “senior” or lets use the term “elder” in this context, meant you could expect reverence.
In this new world of technology, relevance is much more revered than age.
Lesson: If you can't offer much in terms of subject matter experience, instead of giving up on it - you figure out what you can offer.
For those of us who aren’t part of the millennial generation, that might be sharing what we’ve learned about emotional intelligence, business strategy, and all of the other things that go into a successful company beyond just the ability to write code.
The key, he says, is that you’ve got to be ready to learn as much as you’re ready to teach.
That’s where the Modern Elder concept came from. Chip learned that in order to stay relevant in a field where technology had made him feel irrelevant, the best thing he could do was to form mutual mentorships with his younger coworkers.
So, instead of barging into a room and forcing everyone to respect his wisdom, he made a greater impact by asking thoughtful questions and offering advice in more subtle ways.
Eventually, the twenty-somethings started seeking Chip out for advice and guidance. It wasn’t what he envisioned going into the company, but it taught him a lot about what it meant to be an elder in the modern workplace.
And that is the basis for his latest book Wisdom @ Work: The Making of a Modern Elder. It’s also why Chip spends a good chunk of his time in Baja California, Mexico, where he’s founded the very first ever Modern Elders Academy, where anyone from social workers to CEOs can come together to reinvent themselves as mid-lifers in the workplace.
Enjoy!
“What would it be like if you were only known for the worst decision that you've made for the rest of your life?”
I’m excited for you to hear this episode because I think it will challenge you as it did me.
My guest is Catherine Hoke.
“Cat” is a former venture capitalist who is using training in entrepreneurship to solve a very serious social problem, high recidivism rates in the US prison system. And to that end, founded two successful nonprofits; the Prison Entrepreneurship Program (PEP) and Defy Ventures.
In 14 years over five thousand incarcerated people have graduated from these two programs and earning Baylor University MBA certificates and the programs have resulted in industry leading low recidivism rates of less than seven percent.
Fast company named “Cat” one of the hundred most creative people in business. Forbes named her 40 women to watch over 40. She was also one of the first recipients of the MakeTechHuman Agents of Change award given to global influencers who are shaping how technology is expanding human possibility
She has a new best selling book (published by Seth Godin BTW) called A Second Chance: For You, For Me, And For The Rest Of Us, about the struggles and triumphs of her journey and on her graduates journey, telling the stories of America's most unforgivable people redeeming their lives.
This was an emotional interview - for me - in many levels. I was personally challenged by her vulnerability, as you will hear, she is incredibly brave. I was also humbled by her commitment to her mission as she did the interview despite very difficult circumstances. So many times I’ve been waylaid by something or some event and there goes the day. Not Cat.
We all make stupid decision and mistakes that, on a continuum range from the benign bad to the life changing horrible. Cat will challenge you to ‘step to the line,’ forgive yourself and others then move forward in making a difference.
...and I challenge you to listen to what she has to say
Enjoy!
What does the 2007 -2008 financial crisis, the Fukushima nuclear accident, Three Mile Island, and Deepwater Horizon all have in common?
The small things. Or rather, lots of tightly coupled small things that are overlooked, ignored or covered up.
Accidents waiting to happen.
In Deep Survival, Lawrence Gonzalez, writes about the fact that accidents don’t just happen, they are assembled carefully, piece by piece. And if just one single piece is missing, the accident simply doesn’t happen.
Risk is unavoidable but accidents aren't.
Our world is filled with countless near-misses and close calls, and the truth is, most of the time we never even know how close we came to this or that accident or disaster.
This is even truer at the organizational/institutional levels, where risk and complexity combine with organizational culture to increase both the likelihood and the impact of catastrophic failure.
My guest on this podcast is Chris Clearfield. Chris brings a novel approach to the study of the challenges posed by risk and complexity. He’s a science geek and reformed derivatives trader, but more recently he’s the founder of System Logic, an independent research and consulting firm dedicated to understanding risk and its interaction with organizational factors. He’s also the co-author, with András Tilcsik, of Meltdown: Why Our Systems Fail, and What We Can do About it, which is the topic of our show today.
This isn't a conversation just about system failures and why they happen; it's also about what we can do about those failures, about how we can better prepare for, and even prevent many such accidents and failures from happening.
“The same kind of culture and decision making that led to the financial crisis also led to BP" - Chris Clearfield
Complex systems generate risk (and fail) in ways that are fundamentally different from the kinds of risks and failures our species evolved to deal with over millions of years, and that the new risk landscape we face requires a new approach to risk management, and really, an entirely new organizational culture.
Chris was very insightful during the conversation, as he discussed the emergent properties of many system-wide failures. Many of these disasters were emergent in those systems in the same way as the 2009 financial crisis was “of the system and not an anomaly.”
“What would have to be in place for something really bad to happen?"
Checklists and Pre-mortems
After talking with Chris, I find myself thinking much more in terms of checklists and “pre-mortems” and the like. It’s like we spend most of our lives driving along a twisty mountain highway at night, totally clueless about just how close to the edge of the 500-foot cliff we really came around that last turn. I’m reflecting more and more on what would have to be in place for something bad to go wrong, say driving your car or in managing online bank accounts. What would have to be in place for something really bad to happen and then kind of going back and mentally reverse-engineering and mitigating those things, those pieces, one by one.
I hope you find my conversation with Chris as interesting as I did.
Some of the other subjects we discuss include:
- Why systems fail and how some of these companies handled or weathered different crises much better than others;
- Tight coupling—where connections come together in a way that’s very hard to stop
- The most prevalent cognitive biases associated with meltdowns
- Black Swan events—and how to find the feathers that predict such events
- Pre-established criteria in decision making
- The value of dissent
- Power cues—including a fascinating example Chris gives of a study they did with physicians’ around body language with patients;
- The S.P.I.E.S Tool, that goes hand in hand with the Annie Duke episode if you're curious and want to listen to that regarding Thinking in Bets.
In other words, we talked about a ton of really interesting and useful subjects, and hopefully, I've “salted” this intro enough to make you thirsty for the whole episode.
This episode is about where you spend the majority of your life - your work: why you do it, how you do it, changing where you do it and how companies should measure it.
On this podcast I talk with Fred Kaufman. Fred is the former vice president of executive development at Linkedin and current leadership advisor at Google. He is also the author of seven books including conscious business, authentic communication, and for our discussion, his findings in his latest book, the Meaning Revolution. Fred addresses both sides of the issues facing employees and employers and describes how to create not only a productive work environment but a meaningful one.
70% of American workers say they’re stuck in a job in which they are completely disengaged and 30 percent of that group actively hate their jobs.
Fred says there is a better way...
"Autonomy I put fairly low in the hierarchy. For me, the most important one is to have a purpose that you're really behind, that makes you proud, that you feel is a noble thing to pursue."
Talking with Fred felt like a meeting with a spiritual advisor that I climbed a mountaintop to see. But make no mistake, this is a business discussion but it “felt” different. What he said resonated with me.
Fred gave me perspective expanding ideas and challenged my cynicism. I think you'll find that it will change how you look at work and your long-term career goals.
On this show we discuss...
- How to really use LinkedIn
- Building identity capital
- The motivation problem in the workplace
- Why employees are disengaged
- Incentives and unintended consequences
- The economic value of workplace happiness
- How to size up a company's a true culture - very helpful if you're in the job market as we usually we get blinded by the financials or benefits
- What it means to work for a mission
- And more...
If you're interested in creating a more meaningful work experience, listen up.
Does motivation - or the lack of motivation - have to stop us from achieving our goals?
On this podcast, I talk with Jeff Haden. Jeff runs Blackbird Media, is a top a LinkedIn Influencer--making him a part of an exclusive, invitation-only, global collective of 500+ of the world’s foremost thinkers, leaders, and innovators--a contributing editor to Inc., and the author of his latest book, The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up to Win.
When it comes to motivation, we are going to address two broad bucket applications: you have a desirable goal / task you want to achieve OR you have an undesirable goal / task you need (have to) to achieve.
It doesn’t matter which bucket your goal falls into, the truth is, whether we want to do something or not, many of us have a hard time starting, or, once we start, a harder time completing it.
Many of you set new year’s resolutions that you haven't even attempted to reach.
Why?
According to Jeff, the reason has to do with how we prioritize a goal. Most of us keep our eyes firmly fixed on the “prize”: the sixty pounds to lose, the 26 miles of a marathon, the 50,000 word novel we’ll have finished writing. We become fixated on the dream of what we'll earn at the end of the climb, and compare each day’s results to that big payoff.
Annie Duke, in her book "Thinking In Bets" has a name for this: Outcome Junkie.
Redefining Success
Jeff advocates for process orientation and redefining achievement to be more inclusive, so that even if you don't reach the end goal, that process, if you’ve work it, will have still benefited you by providing takeaways you didn’t have when you began. You will meet people you would have never met. You'll make connections that you'd never would have made. You might find some other interests that you never knew you would have.
Jeff has not only met with great people who have achieved their dreams, such as tennis star Venus Williams, but has spent untold hours applying his motivational principles to himself. What did he learn?
A goal isn’t worth a hill of beans if it doesn’t inform one’s process.
“...started me thinking ok, if that's how successful people do it, how do you create a process for basically anyone to follow to achieve anything that they would like to achieve?” - Jeff Haden
While many people ascribe to the “dream it, believe it, do it,” goal achievement philosophy, Jeff opts instead for creating cycles of motivation fulfillment.
Priming the pump
In our conversation Jeff goes into detail on how an emphasis on action brings about a result, which in turn breeds motivation for more action and thus more results. He goes into detail to show how strategic, action-based planning can help someone struggling to achieve results in both areas described above: those who have tasks they want to complete and tasks they don’t want to be doing, but need to get done nonetheless.
Jeff also gives some great tips on how to find a dream or goal if you’re drawing up blank when asked the question, “What would you do if you could do anything?”
Jeff emphasizes that his motivation techniques can help anyone, no matter what their starting place might be. Having spoken to numerous high achievers like Richard Branson, he realizes that they are all merely humans like us, who used planned motivational strategies to push themselves far. Therefore, Jeff asserts, we can do the same.
Oh and by the way, Jeff gives some super good advice on how to reinvent yourself. Want to break into an industry you have no experience in? Listen to Jeff's backstory, he walks me through how he did it.
So, tired of starting and then giving up for lack of motivation?
Ready to get those new year's resolutions back on track?
Click on the podcast above to access Jeff’s tips for beating procrastination and other motivation sappers, so that you can finally cross items off your to-do list.
Enjoy!
"We’ve all had that experience of expressing something with certainty…and someone says “wanna bet?” and immediately it brings to the fore the fact that whenever you declare something you believe to be true, or a prediction, that there’s risk in that *– Annie Duke*
All decisions have tradeoffs, risk vs. reward. We have to make choices that have costs yet, many factors involved in making those choices are often hidden.
So how do you make good decisions in the face of uncertainty?
These are challenges inherent in the game of poker, and in poker, as in life, there is a difference between good decisions and good outcomes.
On this podcast, my guest is Annie Duke. For two decades she was one of the top poker players in the world. She holds a World Series of Poker (WSOP) gold bracelet and the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions and the National Heads-Up Poker Championship in 2010.
Before becoming a professional poker player, Annie was awarded a National Science Foundation Fellowship to study cognitive psychology at the University of Pennsylvania. She now spends her time writing, consulting and speaking on topics such as decision fitness and embracing uncertainty.
In her new book, "Thinking In Bets" Annie reveals lessons cultivated by combining her academic studies in cognitive psychology with real-life decision-making experience at the poker table, which is the topic of this podcast.
This conversation is indeed about better decision-making, but that encompasses a great deal. It's also about equanimity, how to be objective in the face of bad outcomes - while developing skill to influence better outcomes.
This is also how resilience is developed, using outcomes good or bad, as a feedback loop.
You also become more resilient when you are able to unhook your happiness solely from a result.
I think that the outcome anchors us so heavily that we can't see that there's lots of other stuff by which we can determine whether a decision was good - Annie Duke
There's been a lot written about the benefits of shifting to a process orientation but Annie tells you how to actually do that.
I had a great time talking with Annie and you will really enjoy this episode. Don't let the length fool you, there is no lull.
Here's some of what we talk about on this show.
- How she went from academia to poker
- Her introduction to decision strategy
- Some great betting stories (Ira the Whale)
- The worst call in history?
- Cognitive bias / why we make bad decisions
- Defining failure
- Time travel thought experiments
- What being wrong / right really means
- Probabilities and predictions
- How to use betting to make better decisions in life
Whether it's career, business or relationships our lives are the sum total of our decisions to this point. I would listen to this podcast and reflect on whether you've made good decisions or whether you've just been very lucky so far - and then learn how to make better ones.
Enjoy!
For show notes and resources visit larryweeks.com/podcasts
This is a podcast about training how you want to exist in the world.
Your training how to do this everyday. If you're existing in a consistently negative state - angry, fearful, stressful - that's the habit you're unconsciously training.
There is a better way.
My guest is Jeff Warren. Jeff is an author and meditation teacher and referred to as the meditation MacGyver. He's the author of "The Head Trip, Adventures On the Wheel of Consciousness", the founder of the Consciousness Explorers Club and recent collaborator on the book "Meditation for Fidgety Skeptics"
In 2004 ABC News Anchor Dan Harris had a panic attack on live TV and that experience eventually led Dan to meditation. He then wrote a - now best selling - book about it called "10% Happier" and the fidgety skeptics follow-up, subtitled "A 10% Happier, How-To Guide" which explores why most people don't meditate or can't stick with it once they start.
Jeff's research for the book was a cross country tour with Dan - on a bus - with Jeff being the meditation teacher. They visited 18 states in 11 days meeting with a mix of people from line cooks to police officers, members of Congress, neuroscientists, military cadets and celebrities to better understand the obstacles people have to meditation. Jeff offered up best practices and life hacks designed to help people learn meditation.
Hence why I have Jeff him on the podcast.
Personally, meditation has been absolutely helpful to me, WHEN I do it but it's been a struggle. Occasionally I can string together 10 or so days in a row (woowho!) but then I just drop it and it's hard to get back into. So, Jeff agreed to talk with me about it and about the book.
Thank God.
If you've ever said “I’d love to meditate but I can’t because __"
You need to listen to this podcast.
Jeff describes himself as the anti-Buddha. He says he was meditations hardest test case. Ah, the perfect person to talk to about what meditation can and cannot do.
So I did just that. Enjoy!
Episode and show notes - larryweeks.com/podcasts
Rory Sutherland is one of the most admired and influential intellects in advertising. He is also one of the most interesting and witty people I've had the privilege talking to.
Rory is Vice Chairman of Ogilvy and Mather group and co-founder of Ogilvy Change, a behavioral science practice were he co-heads a team of psychology graduates who look for "butterfly effects" in consumer behavior - these are the very small contextual changes which can have enormous effects on the decisions people make.
Rory has spoken at TED Global and has 3 Ted Talks related to behavioral economics; the popularity of one (Lessons From an Ad Man) even influenced UK Conservative Party policy in 2009 related to speed camera funding (see the TedTalk).
If you're not familiar with behavioral economics, it is the study of the effects of psychology on economic decisions.
Rory says advertising can add value to a product, service or "thing" by changing our perception, rather than changing the said product/service/thing itself. He believes marketing and advertising are part and parcel to the actual functioning of markets - and changing perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider “real” value.
This and more is our discussion thread on podcast. I learn his take on psychology in advertising, his view of brands, the work of Ogilvy Change, and how behavioral insights can be also be applied to ourselves.
If you're a student of human behavior or just a marketing nerd like I am, you will enjoy this show.
Topics covered
- How the ad industry changed on the 70's
- How Rory defines advertising / how it really works
- Amazon and brands
- How our choices are influenced
- The value of attention
- The book that influenced a country
- Advertising in nature
- The power of creativity
- Advertising alchemy, creating value out of nowhere
- How we market to ourselves
Enjoy!
"The important thing is never stop questioning" - Albert Einstein
What's possible, medically, mentally and physically, is the topic of this podcast.
And the power of persistence.
What would you do if your child was diagnosed with a debilitating autoimmune disease and every treatment protocol was not working?
The medications prescribed are not only ineffective but come with even worse negative physical side effects.
What do you do?
For many, they accept their fate and live with it. Solution seeking stops and who would blame them? Hope deferred "makes the heart sick" and hope dashed leads to disillusion.
For Susannah Meadows, a combination of desperation and circumstance pushed her to persist until she could find a solution.
"If you have exhausted the answers that traditional medicine has. That's not the end of the world" - Susannah Meadows
Her 3 yr old son Shepherd, was diagnosed with debilitating juvenile idiopathic arthritis which is Sheperd's case caused near crippling joint pain, swelling and stiffness.
Her journey for a cure took her into areas some might consider fringe or certainly outside of conventional medicine.
But Susanna is a former senior writer for Newsweek. She covered stories ranging from the 2004 presidential campaign to 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina and she's a frequent contributor to The New York Times
She is not one to believe anything unsubstantiated.
Her new book is called the Other Side of Impossible. It's about ordinary people who faced daunting medical challenges and yet refused to give up.
They turned desperation into determination.
Suzanne not only chronicled her journey but also the stories of others who've faced severe medical challenges and the steps they took to overcome them.
Her journey took her into areas some might consider fringe or certainly outside of conventional medicine.
And what she learned is the topic of our discussions.
- Medicine, food and illness.
- Learned helplessness and disease.
- The latest research into the mind potential to heal the body.
- Alternative therapies for diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, ADHD, multiple sclerosis and others.
- The impact of anxiety and fear on the body's autoimmune response
Maybe more importantly Susan share what she learned about the power of personal agency. Your capacity, your faith in your ability to handle a situation.
These are stories of courage.
You may be healthy, you may not have challenges of disease. But you have challenges none the less.
You may have run into dead ends and failed attempts of a different sort.
Keep trying. Take heart.
My guest on this episode is Marisa Peer. Marisa is a best selling author, motivational speaker and a pioneering therapist in the UK. Marissa was named best British therapist by Men's Health magazine and is featured in Tatler guide to Britain's 250 best doctors. Over the last 25 years Marissa has spent time with an extensive client list that includes rock stars, actors, royalty, professional and Olympic athletes, CEO's, and a variety of media personalities. Marisa has developed her own unique approach to therapy called RTP (Rapid Transformational Therapy) which is frequently referred to in various publications as life changing.
RTT peaked my interest when some therapist I know not only used her approach with their clients to good success but also went through the process themselves telling me their experience has been phenomenal. That is, they've made change in their lives that they weren't able prior to with other coaching or therapy methods.
I also wanted to talk to Marisa about RTT since anything that connotes rapid or quick is appealing to me because, you know, if I can hack something or find a shortcut, obviously I'm lazy. So anything that can speed up the process of dealing with something or improving something in your life has me curious.
"Were beginning to be taught now in schools to succeed at business and you've got to have these great communication skills. You want to have a long marriage, you better have these great communication skills, but no one teaches you that, you know what - you better communicate with yourself" - Marisa Peer
Our conversation coalesces around self talk or rather unconscious self communication. We talk to ourselves all the time with automatic thoughts were just not aware of them, and I would say depending, on the day, the majority of these thoughts can be negative and cause friction between you and the goals you're trying to achieve.
These can be contrary thoughts like "this is going to be too hard" and your mind presents a challenge to you. It may be ready to do the thing but you have to convince it, so to speak, by either doing the thing and pushing through resistance or by dialoguing with it.
"We do get into this really depressive language without even meaning to and we think sometimes it's funny, but but the mind doesn't understand anything. It believes it's all real." - Marisa Peer
This podcast will not only educate you a bit on RTT but it will make you reflect on what you've been telling yourself and help you change self talk that's not serving you.
Enjoy!
“The problem of disrespectful, demeaning, and downright mean-spirited behavior is worse than ever” - Robert Sutton
I'm sure everybody listening to this podcast has dealt with or is currently dealing with, a jerk, and this is most likely some work situation as you can't always choose who you work with and often due to the power position - it's a boss.
But it could be someone you have to live with or interact with family friend friend of a friend whatever. If you have anyone in your life like that who is driving you crazy I will listen to this podcast and take notes because it's gold.
My guest in this podcast is Robert Sutton, Professor of Management Science and Engineering and Professor of Organizational Behavior at Stanford and a New York Times and Wall St journal best selling author.
Robert studies organizational change, leadership, innovation, and workplace dynamics and As it relates to our conversation today, Robert's new book was just released, The Asshole Survival Guide: How to Deal With People Who Treat You Like Dirt
Since the first book "No Asshole Rule", which probably put assholes on the map, became a bestseller, Robert said he was constantly asked about strategies to deal with assholes. Hence, the book.
On the podcast Robert offers up some interesting research and psychological theory explaining a asshole behavior and it's detrimental impact on people but more importantly he offers some really good tactics to manage them.
Here is some of what you'll learn from the podcast.
1) The difference between sporadic asshole and true asshole
Context vs personality.
2) Why you don't have to be an asshole to succeed
The Steve Jobs fallacy
3) How to make sure you don't contribute to the pool
The "Arse" test and feedback.
4) Creating a survival plan based on goals
if you're deal with somebody who's leaving you feeling demeaned and de-energized and disrespected that you've got to figure out what your survival plan is.
5) Physical and emotional strategies and techniques
When to leave and when to stay.
The "clinician" reframe.
Temporal distancing.
6) Forgiveness as a strategy
First, do no more harm to yourself.
7) Teaching others how to treat you.
This is an important topic and it's life changing stuff in my opinion.
There are people dreading getting up in the morning to head to work some go home from work crying. Some will get a work email tonight that will rob them of sleep.
Life is too short.
Learn the skills needed to manage the assholes in your life.
Dr. Tasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist, researcher, and New York Times best-selling author of “Insight: Why We're Not as Self-Aware as We Think, and How Seeing Ourselves Clearly Helps Us Succeed at Work and in Life
Tasha has thoroughly studied the science of self-awareness and has helped thousands of people improve their personal and professional effectiveness. Tasha believes that heightening self-awareness is essential for success today and self-understanding positively affects work performance, career satisfaction, leadership potential and relationships
I think we all know someone like a co-worker or manager who thinks he’s a brilliant presenter or thinks he is well loved in the office but in reality they are far from it. But how often do we stop to consider whether we might have the similar problems?
Do you understand how others really see you?
According to Tasha’s research, 95 percent of the population believes they’re self-aware, but the reality is that only 10 to 15 percent actually are.
So the majority of you are not self aware. Ok, so what?
A recently published working paper from Paul Green and Francesca Gino of Harvard, and Bradley Staats of the UNC, caught people avoiding criticism - a specific type of criticism where they thought they were doing a good job but then were told they were not, this is called “disconfirmatory” feedback.
They show’ed that when disconfirmatory feedback was given, workers would then avoid contact with the people who had given them the unwelcome comments.
The problem is that “disconfirmatory” is the most useful type of feedback there is. If I’m blind to the mistakes I’m making I really need someone to explain what I’m doing wrong, however uncomfortable or it gets I just get worse.
We have blind spots; things we do, issues we have that we just cannot see from our subjective vantage point.
And if we were more self aware, more open to feedback, they could be revealed to you for positive change, promotion, new position, better relationships, new relationships and on and on.
To the my fellow Googlers out there listening, this will help you with Perf (or anyone working for an organization that has regular performance reviews). Believe me, you can really benefit from what Tasha has to say.
But also, even if you don’t have regular reviews, she says self insight is a meta skill and can be applied to improve many areas of life.
Give it a listen.
Some of what we discuss in this episode.
- Self awareness as a necessary component of happiness
- Why self awareness is a meta skill
- Why insight is more important the higher up the corporate ladder
- On Dunning Kruger and inappropriate confidence
- How much should we care how others see us?
- How to use social media (Facebook)
- What Tasha thinks of personality testing
- How to handle performance reviews
- How do you deal with negative feedback
- How self awareness can help someone bounce back from a setback
- The Miracle Question and how to properly ask it
- On the benefits of journaling
- Mindfulness without meditation
My guest is this episode is Caroline Miller. Author of Getting Grit (2017) For almost three decades has been a pioneer with her ground-breaking work in the areas of goal setting, accomplishment, grit, happiness and success.
She is recognized as one of the world’s leading positive psychology experts on this research and how it can be applied to one’s life for maximum transformation and growth. In 2015 she was named “one of the ten positive psychology coaches to follow.”
Caroline thinks we need a grit revolution. A change in our recognition and cultural reward system where effort is venerated over talent and people do their best every day regardless of how hard it is and we are all part of other people also being their best.
How important is grit?
Caroline has written on the use of the twelve-item Grit Scale and found it to be the leading predictor of who drops out at West Point during the first summer, known as “Beast Barracks.” It had also worked with preteens, determining who would be in the finals of the National Spelling Bee.
Grit is considered a key ingredients of high achievement.
We live in an exciting but challenging times. Disruptive economic conditions, geopolitical strife and now every negative event around the globe is piped into our homes via television and the internet.
Add to this the natural vicissitudes of life itself. As I’m writing this we are rebuilding our fences, screens and cleaning up after a direct hit by hurricane Irma and Houston just went through much worse with Harvey.
Without grit, we can be handicapped by discouragement, fear, inertia and habituated comfort.
At various points, big and small, we get knocked down. If we stay down, grit loses. If we get up, grit prevails
– Angela Duckworth, Grit
If you’ve been knocked down … you’ll need some grit to get up and try again.
The value of hard things
Caroline has done a great deal of research on what really makes people happy. A lot of that data points toward the imperative of doing difficult things in order to live a satisfying, high-quality life filled with achievement.
If you do nothing hard at the end of the day the research shows, you feel mediocre about yourself because you know you went for a low hanging fruit.
– Caroline Miller
Research she has done in Goal Setting Theory, holds that “challenging and specific” goals are required if someone wants to attain the highest levels of performance. Easy goals, don’t just result in mediocrity, she says, but also leave people feeling mediocre.
You aren’t happy doing nothing. You are driven to master environments in order to feel related, autonomous and competent.
Self efficacy theory is the belief you can do hard things and she says there ways to build that belief. One is just by having small mastery experiences, challenge yourself by doing successively hard things; like parking farther away from the store, taking a cold shower or getting up earlier, mowing your own lawn.
Exercise your grit muscle.
Easy choices, hard life. Hard choices, easy life
– Jerzy Gregorik, Olympic weightlifter
Caroline is like a cross between Tony Robbins and Sheryl Sandberg. She’s motivational, incredibly articulate and footnotes her sentences with research and scientific articles incredibly articulate. Her passion for the topic and her zest is contagious.
In this interview, we cover a lot, including:
- Defining grit, the various types and how they differ
- The research on purpose and goal setting
- How to develop grit and the science behind it
- Her story and how she overcame eating disorder
- The importance of hope – what it really is
- How the nation is promoting mediocrity in many arenas
- The research on how we can build strengths
- How to cultivate grit in ourselves
- How we can teach our children to be gritty – she has some strong opinions here
- How mantras and mottos can change your life
Listen up, take notes, if you don’t already follow Caroline, I think you’ll be a fan.
Show Notes and Resources Click Here
NOTE: This is part two of a series on the subject of failure. On this episode, we talk with Ashley Good on how companies can fail intelligently. Part one is with Ryan Babineaux.
How does a company deal with failure?
Can companies “fail well” and use failure as a catalyst for innovation?
Ashley Good is the CEO and Founder of Fail Forward – the world’s first failure consultancy – that supports people and organizations to acknowledge and adapt to
failure in pursuit of innovation. They do this by offering clients a set of tools and best practices to deal with failure intelligently.
Ashley offers a way to build the skills necessary to fail well. She says it's a skill that we can practice but it's one we're often not taught. We're just taught to avoid failure at all costs.
We want to create space to take risks and mess up and help our organizations make their way into the future and adapt as they go... when the inevitable failures happen along the way we're able to maximize what we can learn from those experiences to go forward more wisely
- Ashley Good
This was a very fun interview because there was no pressure.
We took failure off the table as any kind of “issue” as we were going to use any mistake we made as part of the show.
There is lesson #1, reframe your failures as case studies and experiments.
I still I still fail all the time but I have the luxury of being able to use myself as a case study as opposed to as opposed to I think what other people suffer through their failures - Ashley Good
And we made no mistakes, the conversation flowed. Funny how that works.
Perfection pressure is not conducive to good work or clear thinking. Seems obvious on a personal level but not so corporately.
Ashley says IF you as a manager can bypass shame and defensiveness teams are more productive and if someone does fail, you can find a productive way of working amid failure.
A lot of people write and talk about productivity in the workplace. Never heard how defensiveness or shame may impact productivity.
Maybe we should address that.
It’s part of our conversation for this podcast: We do talk about failure on a personal level but focus on companies. How would a large business allow for failure while trying to mitigate it?
Intelligent or incompetent failure
Again, want to be clear here, we are not glorifying failure. Especially within a company. There are things that can sink a company, like losing a big client, a lawsuit, etc.
Lesson #3, not all failures are created equally.
Ashley says intelligent failures is what want to create room for because we know we need to try new things, experiment and adapt. But we need to acknowledge that there are high consequence failures that we should be avoiding at all costs.
There are failures that are blameworthy, where we intentionally deviate from a linear process.
"Failure isn't fatal, but failure to change might be" - John Wooden
Fck-up nights, better days**
Here is something fun I learned talking with Ashley that I wasn't aware of. There are networking events called F**ck-up Nights that have entrepreneurs coming together talking about their start-up mistakes and failures.
It's all about changing the conversation about failure and making it ok to share. People get up and talk about their screw ups that may have unwittingly resulted in eventual success.
Something that we could all learn from and emulate. We expend too much energy in success proving and importance posturing.
Opening up about your failure not only helps you get over it, but also helps others (and you) learn from it.
Failure, rebirth / reinvention
When Ashley tells her personal story about how she started her company, I couldn't help but think of the many people I've talked to who found their calling or passion through some form of failure or pain.
Sometimes the phoenix must burn.
Ashley was at one of the lowest points of her life, everything was hard and nothing made sense and all of a sudden a light went on.
“This intolerance that we have for those dark moments our inability to deal with them really spoke to me in my moment of darkness."
And she was grateful for the experience because she says, up until that moment she hadn't I hadn't really failed at anything.
We don't really practice failing in ways that really matter to us to get good at it, to recognize that we can come through it.
Consider this podcast a form of vicarious practice.
Give it a listen and learn from Ashley.
This is part one of a two part series on the subject of failure. On this episode we talk with Ryan Babineaux the author of “Fail Fast, Fail Often” on the importance of making mistakes and learning from them to discover what works and more importantly - what makes you happy.
What if your biggest mistake is that you're not making enough mistakes?
I don't mean in the sense of purposely screwing things up. We are not advocating recklessness nor do we want to glorify failure directly - we are glorifying effort, risk, courage and for good measure let’s tack on the end of Teddy's famous poem
"...and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat."
Yeah, that.
Ryan has a Ph.D in Educational Psychology from Stanford University and an M.Ed in Psychology and Human Development from Harvard. He is the co-creator of the popular Stanford course “Fail Fast, Fail Often,” and in his best selling book of the same name, discovered after working with thousands of people, that those who were successful seemed to have had less fear of mistakes.
They spent less time planning and more time acting. They got out into the world, tried new things, made mistakes but in doing so, benefited from unexpected experiences and opportunities.
The strategy is to overcome your fear of losing so that you will increase your at bats for winning by sheer volume of effort and what you learn from that effort. You use that to adjust till you find what works and all the while, gain experience and build resilience.
Think of this podcast as a course in a specific kind of courage. Courage to take more risk, courage to try.
Ryan says somewhere on the other side of failure is the success you seek, but it's on the other side so walk through it.
What if your goal was to fail, and fail a lot? For a second just forget about the results, think of how many NEW things you would actually start. How many HARD things you would attempt since we flipped failure from avoidance to be the actual goal. The only way to fail a lot is to start a lot of things, try a lot of things.
On the podcast we talk about all of this and much more.
Give it a listen.
To say James Altucher is an interesting guy may be a gross understatement. He’s a computer programmer, venture capitalist, former hedge fund manager, successful author, financial journalist, serial founder (20 companies), CEO, publisher, popular podcaster, chess master. He doesn’t own anything, lives exclusively in AirBnBs, does stand-up bits on subway trains. He’s been described as the “minimalist multi-millionaire” and the guy who failed his way to millions.
It took me four months to get James on the show. So you know, he agreed to come on immediately (within 2 hrs of my asking) which was very kind as I didn’t even have a show yet – but it took four months to get him on.
It was worth the wait.
On of my favorite comedies (top 5) is Forgetting Sarah Marshall and James, with just a mention of the film, rolls out a case study on failure and success with a story about the producer Judd Apatow. He riffs like Sherlock Holmes chaining all the connections and experiences that Apatow accumulated while struggling to make it in Hollywood and how it all dovetailed into Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
Blew me away.
The interview is chock full of insider “here’s what I learned” nuggets like that.
Coming back from the bottom, over and over.
So here is why I wanted him on the podcast.
Losing it all happened to him multiple times, professionally and personally. He founded 20 companies, failed at 17 of them, yet wound up not only surviving but thriving in a media empire / business conglomerate. He is a comeback king with more sequels than Rocky. He is Mr. re-invention and literally wrote the book on it.
I wanted to know how he did it, how do you come back over and over again?
In this episode, you can learn some of what he learned and shorten your time on the floor.
So consider this just a taste of a few of the many lessons he expounds on.
1. Reinvention is a skill you can learn.
When you talk with James he makes self-reinvention aspirational.
A lot of us have to reinvent out of necessity, but he says it’s something you should always consider. What is happening in the market, in your life and in the world that points to something new? Consider it disrupting yourself before being disrupted by outside forces. What new skills can you learn? What new habits can you develop?
Reinvention is a habit. It’s something you should always be on the lookout for…what stimuli from your environment can you take in and incorporate into your next reinvention – James Altucher
1. Ego is an enemy opposed to your successes
James talks about how making the money gave him “… this ego to think that I could I could do other things that I had no experience in. But at the time I really had very little experience in anything.”
Ego says, you succeeded, and now you know more than you really do.
Ego says your successes were ALL your doing.
Ego blows you up so no other brains can fit into the room. Brains you need.
2. Know your boxes and check them every day.
When James was down and out he put together a checklist of activities that, if he did them daily, helped him recover.
Like Superman and the sun, his superpowers returned.
They included things like getting enough sleep, swapping unhealthy relationships with healthy ones, writing, learning and reversing any behaviors that were not serving him (doing the opposite). During our chat, he goes into some detail on each.
James has the bounce back process down pat. He’s done it so many times that it’s proven itself over and over. Now he seems fearless because he absolutely KNOWS he can get back up again.
He has a go-to plan. He checks the boxes.
He really made me think about formalizing my own this checkboxes. Maybe I should create my own a personal bounce wiki?
I think when I’m down a few of my go-to’s are good books I’ve highlighted over the years, interesting podcasts I listen to and some reflection time to be quite, find my “center” or whatever.
What gets you up when you are down?
2. Creativity is a muscle.
I never thought of it that way. Like any muscle it atrophies if you don’t use it regularly. And if you’ve lost it you can get it back by exercising it.
On the podcast, he goes into detail about this process, and he elaborates on one specific technique that I’ve been trying.
Ten ideas a day.
James recommends no matter what that you write down ten ideas every single day. Business ideas, blog ideas, any kind of idea and they don’t have to be good ideas.
It’s the activity, the work out that’s important. The whole purpose is to do it for its own sake but don’t be surprised if a good ideas come from it.
I’ve read somewhere where James said he used a waiter’s pad back when to in write ideas down. I found out he still uses it; he showed it to me.
Point taken, you won’t do this unless you have something with you. I use the note app on my phone.
James also gave me a little tip on the idea side, and that is if you write an idea down and if you think there is something there, then you can flesh out “execution” ideas under the main idea in the same way. No matter how good or bad, go for volume and see what results.
3. Happiness = learning
James started taking ping-pong lessons after 40 years of playing.
He started doing stand-up comedy, not to be a comedian but to learn a new skill.
Psychologists say that stretching and learning something new not only helps us be more confident but it’s a way of connecting with other people, which also adds to happiness.
People engaged in learning activities trigger changes in the brain chemistry. Our minds light up when we find new things for the it to do.
People say oh I’m 27 and I haven’t found my passion yet. Well there is no one passion, and I’m finding I’m constantly trying to find the things that I’m interested in…so I would never say I found myself. There’s nothing really to find, that notion of finding one’s self is kind of mythology – James Altucher
There is so much more on this podcast.
We talk about whys and wherefores of his business philosophy, how he looks at investments, writing, stand-up comedy and more.
Give it a listen.
For show notes and resource links, go here
What we're trying to do is figure out what leads us to the edge of happiness cliff that point at which we have a maximum productivity, maximum happiness without going over the edge - Amy Blankson
There is no doubt that technology in the 20th century has brought advances unimaginable in previous eras. In the US gross domestic product per capita quintupled from 1950 to 2016. Things that were once luxuries have become affordable commodities.
However, with such advances, computers and all that comes with them, internet, games, email, etc., are now in our pockets, purses or strapped to bodies. They are extensions of ourselves.
Tech companies pay big money to UX designers and engineers to create devices and apps that grab and keep your attention. They high want high engagement metrics. They need you to spend time in an app or a video and to come back, over and over.
So we all know it impacts our productivity but what about our happiness? What is the impact of a world of screens and notifications on our cognitive behavior and development? What about our relationships?
Enter Amy Blankson, my guest on this episode. Amy has become the world’s leading expert on the connection between happiness and technology. Amy is an alum of both Harvard and Yale and has worked with organizations like NASA, Google, the US Army, and the Xprize Foundation to help improve well-being in a Digital Era.
Amy states the problem in terms of discernment. “There’s this pain point about technology and happiness with technology specifically draining happiness because people feel overwhelmed. They don’t know what to do with all the information… and how to evaluate what’s actually good for them.”
There is now a condition called Nomophobia, as in no-mo(bile) phone-phobia. It’s a fear of being without your smartphone. Seriously, a phobia and 40% of Americans “suffer” from it.
One in five young adults admits to using a smartphone during sex. What?
Okay, I'll cop to using the phone in the bathroom, so I need help.
We are in uncharted territory.
Amy says that we absolutely need to look at our relationship with technology very carefully but what she came away with from her research was surprising to me; that time on the screen is not necessarily a bad thing.
Time on the screen is not necessarily bad. What is bad is the unintentional non-thoughtful use of the technology - Amy Blankson
In fact, she goes further stating that technology can actually increase happiness - IF you use it wisely
There’s the rub. Using it wisely
On this episode we discuss what she learned writing her new book, The Future of Happiness. Amy talks about how we can mitigate the dispiriting effects tech can have and rather leverage it to increase our happiness. She's done the research and has the data on what you can do in the midst of work / life to harness it to serve your real needs in relation to happiness: social connection, meaning, and well-being.
Amy answers LOT of questions I had like...
- Is there an inverse relationship between personal happiness and tech innovation
- How should we use Facebook, or should we abandon it?
- Would we be happier without tech?
- What is the impact of distraction on our well-being?
- How do I manage all my apps to minimize distraction?
- What about wearables?
- What do we teach our kids regarding appropriate tech boundaries - what exactly IS appropriate?
- Are there specific apps that can helps us become happier and healthier?
Oh, and you have got to hear her answer my Timescape question.
Give it a listen.
For resources discussed in this episode go here.
At the age of 36 and as a mother of three with a busy solo practice in internal medicine Wendy Harpham M.D. was diagnosed with stage three non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and just like that, the Doctor became the patient.
Now, from both sides of the stethoscope, Wendy uses her unique perspective to help patients become healthy survivors, survivors who get good care and live as fully as possible.
Dr. Wendy Harpham is a fellow of American College of Physicians, a best selling author of six books on cancer (Happiness in A Storm is the one I read), a patient advocate and a nationally recognized speaker. Now a 26-year cancer survivor with seven recurrences since, Dr. Harpham has a lot to say about dealing with such a diagnosis and how to live a full, happy life.
Wendy has something I really cannot explain; you have to listen to understand. Her passion touched and inspired me.
I think a big part of fear are the unknowns related to what you fear and Dr. Harpham shines a bright light on a very dark thing; she gives hope.
To those of you who do not have cancer. There are many reasons I think you should listen to this podcast but here are just three.
- Statistically, one out of two of you reading this will likely hear “you have cancer” in your lifetime.
- You probably know someone who has cancer or was recently diagnosed.
- Cancer doesn't own the bad medical news category. This is a lesson in dealing with any severe life challenge.
I felt unqualified to write a post about this show so I'll keep it short. To see a long form post visit www.larryweeks.com/ep-10-cancer-dr-wendy-harpham-happy-storm/ and read another cancer survivors perspective from my good friend, Ron Sparks where he shares his thoughts about the episode.
If you haven't noticed, Stoicism is getting popular these days. Google it and a raft of influencer and popular thought leader articles appear touting the philosophy's benefits. As Nassim Taleb ascribes to the stoic sage in his book The Black Swan:
“Someone who transforms fear into prudence, pain into information, mistakes into initiation, and desire into undertaking.”
I want that. I talked with scientist/philosopher Massimo Pigliucci to get it.
Massimo is the author of How to Be A Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life. He is also the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. Prof. Pigliucci has published in national and international outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Philosophy Now and The Philosopher’s Magazine, among others. At last count, he has published 152 technical papers in science and philosophy as well as the popular article on Stoicism that appeared in the New York Times.
This is no boring philosophy discussion. The majority of our conversation is on Stoic practice and it's practical use in dealing with life's ups and downs including an interesting discussion about overcoming the fear of death.
Here is just some of the discussion.
- Misunderstandings that people have about stoicism.
- Stoicism origin, its influence on religions, modern psychology and it's resurgence in culture of late
- On prison testing the philosophy, Nelson Mandela, and James Stockdale
- A comparison of Stoicism and Buddhism
- On Stoic meditation
- On dealing with setbacks
- Internalizing the dichotomy of control
- Dealing with the fear of death.
- On indifference
If you're new to Stoicism and want to know what all the fuss is about, here is your lesson.
Is everything you know about “success” wrong?
Well, maybe not everything but a hell of a lot of what we’ve been taught about achievement is, at best, simplistic and at worst, just wrong.
ERIC BARKER is the creator of the blog Barking Up the Wrong Tree. Almost 300,000 subscribers. His work has been mentioned in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic Monthly, Time Magazine, The Week, Business Insider. His recent WSJ best seller of the same name, subtitled, The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong is the topic of this podcast.
The good news is there is much you can do to to up your odds at succeeding in life, whatever that means to you. That’s a hint BTW.
There are things that separates the extremely successful from the rest of us and Eric talks about it.
Here are just some of the show notes on things I learned by talking with Eric. Give it a listen.
[00:05:18] Some myths about success that we all heard growing up
[00:10:04] The Faustian bargain
[00:14:07] The importance and power of context
[00:16:33] He talks about his most surprising findings (regarding success)
[00:17:07] On extroversion and introversion
[00:19:54] What we get wrong about the topic of success
[00:23:53] “Quitting” and success.
[00:25:22] The value of pretending
[00:31:16] Why confidence is problematic.
[00:37:59] Is college necessary to be successful?
[00:43:11] On “intensifiers” and personal success
[00:50:26] What to look into if you're failing or unhappy at your job.
[00:51:16] The real power in positive thinking
[01:01:01] The story of Martin Pistorius
On the 31st of May in 2014, on a public holiday in New Zealand, Lucy Hone’s 12 yr old daughter, Abi, was killed in a tragic car accident along with her best friend Ella and Lucy’s best friend Sally. Lucy said her life was smashed, as she put it ...
“ I mean your entire life scheme - your life story your identity - has been smashed to smithereens…It's like someone had taken a mallet like a croquet mallet to life and smashed the entirety so it just no longer exists.
How do you pick up the pieces and put your what’s left of your life back together?
In the months following the loss, Lucy turned to writing to help order her thoughts. You see, Lucy is a practicing academic in the field of resilience and wellbeing psychology at AUT University's Human Potential Center in Auckland, New Zealand and at the time of Abi's death working on a PhD in public health and wellbeing sciences.
Combining research and personal insights she first wrote a blog which attracted a large international audience and led to her book “Resilient Grieving.” It quickly became a bestseller. While she says learning to live without Abi is still very much a work in progress she acknowledges the work she does to support others to inform them that they do have choices in how they grieve has gone some way to make sense out of the senseless.
Let's be clear, grief should be felt rather than immediately treated as a problem to be solved and done away with. That said, what, exactly, is the grieving process and how do we manage it before it manages our lives ever orienting all else around loss?
On the podcast Lucy discusses the research that tell us there are some grieving models that can help one through it, grieving experiences that are common to everyone and common myths about the grieving and grieving phases.
If you have suffered a loss, listen to this podcast. If you have not suffered such a loss others in your life probably have, listen to the podcast and learn how to help them.
For show notes and more visit www.larryweeks.com/resilient_grieving_lucy_hone/m/podcast
Discussed on this episode
- On preparing for loss
- Whether certain grieving processes can weaken us
- Lucy tells her story, the loss of Abi
- On sudden loss vs. prolonged loss
- Defining resilient grieving
- The truth about the five stages of grieving
- On ambush grief
- On secondary losses
- How can you help others who are grieving - and what not to do
Dr. David Burns, MD is the author of the best-selling, "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy," which has sold more than five million copies worldwide. Feeling Good is the book most frequently “prescribed” for depressed patients by psychiatrists and psychologists in the United States and Canada. Surveys indicate that American mental health professionals rate Feeling Good as the #1 book on depression, out of a list of 1,000 self-help books.
People are not disturbed by things, but by the views, they take of them - Epictetus
This is the basic premise of CBT (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) Dr. Burns popularized in Feeling Good. The way we think about things create all of our emotions, positive or negative. A simple idea some 2,500 years old tracing even before the Stoics to the time of Buddha.
Yet, it’s so obvious that very few people grasp it or understand how to use it and many frankly just do not believe it. The concept that horrible things do not cause negative feelings seems untethered from real experience. “A” happens, and I feel “C.” They miss the “B,” a belief or interpretation of “A” that then leads to “C.”
On our podcast, Dr. Burns tells the story of a woman diagnosed with terminal cancer, and she became extremely depressed but she didn't want to spend the last two years of her life feeling worthless so enter Dr. Burns. Dr. Burns ascertained that she had two chained thoughts, “I'm letting my family down, they won't survive without me” and “it's my fault that I got cancer and It was those specific thoughts rather than the diagnosis that was causing her extreme emotional distress. Yes, sadness is normal in this case “but you can you make it worse when piling on irrational negative thoughts.”
Most of us do this to ourselves that we're not are not aware of it.
Dr. Burns says that depression is the world's oldest con and that when you are upset most of the time the thoughts that upset you will be distorted. They're a fraud.
Depression is the world's oldest con.
“We can put up with almost anything if we think it's it's going to end. There's something weird about depression that it cons you into thinking it will be like this forever, you're no good, and you'll always be no good and your problems will never be solved, and it just seems overwhelmingly valid.”
Listen is as we discuss CBT and how you can apply it to help you manage your thoughts.
This is life-changing stuff, you need to hear it.
Show Notes
[00:14:15] His discovery of CBT when doing brain research on chemical imbalances
[00:16:30] How difficult it was to publish Feeling Good
[00:19:34] How much significance should one put on one's either past or childhood
[00:23:40] The cause of negative feelings
[00:24:02] The physiology of depression vs pathology of depression.
[00:25:41] Genetics of depression and happiness.
[00:26:17] Why Dr. Burns loves to treat anxiety disorders
[00:27:12] As a Doctor how Dr. Burns cured himself of blood phobia.
[00:32:45] The four models of anxiety.
[00:39:26] His view on medication / psychopharmacology
[00:42:33] The key cognitive distortions warping your thinking
[00:47:37] What really leads to suicidal urges
[00:50:24] The issues with “self-esteem”
When you open Scott’s book you get this: “WARNING! No one should attempt any of these methods or practices without appropriate experience, training, fitness level, doctor approval and supervision…” You quickly learn why. The book contains examples of people practicing techniques in extreme conditions that push physical limits and Scott, an investigative journalist, is out to prove that the man (Wim Hoff) teaching this stuff is a charlatan and his techniques destined to kill people.
Instead, Scott winds up climbing a freezing Mount Kilimanjaro practically naked (where between 5 and 10 people a year die trekking up WITH clothes) among other things and helps put Wim Hoff on the US map as the guru he is today.
On this podcast Scott talks about his experiences meeting Wim and what he discovered about his own physiology.
Scott Carney has worked in some of the most dangerous and unlikely corners of the world. His work has been the subject of a variety of radio and television programs, including NPR and National Geographic TV. In 2010, he won the Payne Award for Ethics in Journalism for his story “Meet the Parents,” which tracked an international kidnapping-to-adoption ring. Carney has spent extensive time in South Asia and speaks Hindi.
His new book, and the topic of our conversation, “What Doesn’t Kill Us” is a New York Times bestseller.
Here are just a few things I learned from talking with Scott:
1. It’s more than cold exposure, it’s about exploring what you’re capable of.
Although he set out as a skeptical journalist, he wound up not only proving the methods work but also that he could do more than he thought he could. Limits are, for the most part, self-imposed and should be doubted within reason
2. Mind over matter works and rehearsing is the key.
One of the more interesting phenomena that we talk about is what Scott calls “the wedge.”
“So let’s say the cold, this could also be heat, this could also be altitude, this could be a number of different factors, and knowing in advance what sort of reaction that your body is going to have to that response, and then what you do…you resist having that response….you’re putting this sort of wedge between the environment and your autonomic functions by using your conscious thoughts”
3. We can get to our minds through our bodies.
The mind-body connection runs both ways. Because you’re not used to doing things that push you out of your comfort zone your mind resists and starts ringing alarm bells very very early.
We can use the environment on our bodies to send signals to train our brains that we can handle stressors, we can take it. As soon as you start voluntarily doing difficult things, everything else in life can get easier.
It’s a fascinating book and Scott’s an interesting guy, give it a listen.
You’ll really enjoy this one.
Show Notes
[00:05:01] His background in hardcore investigative journalism. what led to the book
[00:06:34] He talks about Wim Hoff’s superhuman feats
[00:08:57] The first thing he saw that blew his mind.
[00:11:15] Meeting Wim Hoff, what he’s really like
[00:13:01] Hiking up a mountain, in his bathing suit, in 2 degrees Fahrenheit
[00:15:52] How modernity is lowering our physical resilience
[00:16:49] Key aspects of the Wim Hoff training method
[00:17:11] How to “hack” your body for greater breath control
[00:26:26] The story of Wim consciously fighting off the effects of an endotoxin
[00:31:04] Fighting off rheumatoid arthritis
[00:45:01] The third pillar of human health
[00:54:11] Scott talks about The Wedge, the heart of the method
Isaac Lidsky’s TED talk was viewed more than a million times in its first 20 days. It has a mid preso reveal I’ll spoil for you here - he is blind, and when revealed, it’s a surprise, if you didn't know Isaac. He looks and presents like he’s seeing you, but make no mistake, he is not.
Isaac was diagnosed with a blinding eye disease when he was 12 years old and he slowly lost his sight over the next 12 years. In spite of that, Isaac graduated from Harvard College at 19 with a degree in mathematics and computer science, he founded an Internet startup that later sold for $230 million. He returned to Harvard, graduated Harvard Law with high honors, litigated appeals on behalf of the United States as a Department of Justice lawyer and he became the only blind person to clerk at the U.S. Supreme Court when he worked for Justices, Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
“Going blind really was at the end of the day one of the best things that ever happened to me. WE are the creators of the realities, WE experience the circumstances. WE confront the things that are beyond our control.”
Isaac is the New York Times bestselling author of Eyes Wide Open. Overcoming obstacles and recognizing opportunities in a world that can't see clearly.
On the podcast, we talk about his story told in his new book “Eyes Wide Open. Overcoming obstacles and recognizing opportunities in a world that can't see clearly.”
We talk about when he was first diagnosed and the resulting panic and depression he felt, the gripping fear that he had to deal with. We talk about what blindness taught him.
Isaac talks about how true reality isn't something you perceive, it's something you create in your mind.
"We have a very useful and very rich and immersive experience of sight that has nothing to do with the world around us and yet and here's the fundamental contradiction. We experience what is truth. So we literally create our own truth and believe it."
There is the McGurk effect, The Ponso illusion, sight even affects how you taste food. Add to it all your cognitive biases and you create your own subjective reality. Sight starts becoming a disadvantage. Isaac helps me "see" that, I think he can help you too.
Show Notes
[00:07:22] Why his Ted talk reveal was such a surprise
[00:09:59] Why he says going blind was one of the best things that ever happened
[00:15:50] His story, the diagnosis and learning to live with blindness
[00:16:04] His description of the disease's progression
[00:17:26] Hi emotional reactions and future predictions when first diagnosed
[00:29:02] The bounce, the moment he knew he could thrive
In times of extreme upheaval, why do some people, communities, companies and systems thrive, while others fall apart?
Andrew Stolli answers that question and more.
Andrew is the author of the best-selling book “Resilience, Why Things Bounce Back” published by Simon and Schuster in the U.S., and in many other languages and territories around the world. The books is his research on the dynamics of resilience in many contexts, people, systems, communities, and companies.
Resilience forces us to take the possibility even necessity of failure seriously - Andrew Zolli
On this podcast we talk about
- Why he wrote a book about resilience
- How organizations and people bounce back
- Social media and resilience, does it help or hurt
- Society and whether social safety nets make us more fragile
- The impact of faith on resilience - it’s not what you think
- What he learned about organizational resilience in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
- and much more
I would love to follow Andrew around for a few days and as he is involved in a lot of very interesting projects. For 11 years, he was the creative force behind PopTech, a renowned innovation and social change network. He served on the board of the Garrison Institute and Blurb. He also serves as an advisor to PlanetLabs (a revolutionary Earth-imaging company), DataKind, which is bringing data science to the social sector, and The Workshop School, an experiment in what a public high school can be. He served as a Fellow of the National Geographic Society. He advises governmental organization, startups, cultural and civil society groups including leadership teams at companies like GE, Nike and Facebook.
Show Notes and Resources
[00:07:57] Where we discuss the forces that likely put Trump in office
[00:13:53] Resilience and the inverted ∩
[00:22:05] Resilience as a skill
[00:23:33] An example of organizational resilience in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina
[00:32:59] What makes organizations resilient
[00:32:59] Middle management and organizational resilience
[00:34:20] Social programs and resilience
[00:43:40] The 10 factors that encourage personal resilience
[00:44:35] I ask if Facebook making us stronger or weaker
[00:50:52] Intentionality and emotional control
An undefeated mind isn’t one that never feels discouraged or despairing; it’s one that continues on in spite of it - Alex Lickerman
Over the last twenty years Dr. Alex Lickerman has watched thousands of patients struggle with sickness and issues from colds to cancers. He has extensive experience treating the sickest of the sick at a renowned academic medical center located in the heart of one of the poorest neighborhoods in Chicago. Caring for and observing his patients he says taught him the most important lesson he’s ever learned:
That our capacity to suffer may be immense, but so is our ability to endure it—if we've taken effective steps to develop our strength.
Alex Lickerman is a former assistant professor of medicine, director of primary care, and assistant vice president for Student Health and Counseling Services at the University of Chicago. He currently leads a direct primary care private practice called ImagineMD in Chicago.
Alex’s first book, The Undefeated Mind: On the Science of Constructing an Indestructible Self. Alex has been quoted in Crain’s Chicago Business, Playboy, The Chicago Tribune, Men’s Health, The New York Times, and TIME, and has had articles appear in Psychology Today, Crain’s Chicago Business, USA Today, Slate, The Huffington Post, Counselor Magazine, and Medicine on the Midway. He’s also been a guest on NPR’s On Point.
I loved talking with Alex. He reminded me of Sam Harris. Smart and articulate. His message is a simple one and a reality check for all of us.
Stop hoping for easy lives and instead to focus on cultivating the inner strength we need to enjoy the difficult lives we all have.
We talk about this is in detail on the podcast. How does he cultivate inner strength? How do we cultivate it?
Alex thinks your purpose is not an endowed one but rather an evolved function. He says eventually you find all reasons lead to the same place, to the one core reason for living, the reason against which we measure the value of everything we do:
To - Be - Happy
Want to find out more? Give the show a listen, you’ll be glad you did.
Show Notes
[00:05:38] On concierge medicine
[00:10:30] How he came to write the book “The Undefeated Mind”
[00:13:35] On Nichiren Buddhism
[00:16:54] A discussion about chanting, it’s benefits, differences from meditation.
[00:23:49] Summarizing what chanting does for him personally.
[00:35:29] Turning poison into medicine
[00:39:34] Dealing with loss and grief
[00:45:07] On the ultimate goal of human development
[00:46:00] Why happiness supersedes the goals of survival and reproduction
[00:50:55] On the benefits of adversity
[00:55:52] On dealing with discouragement and the writing exercise
How difficult would your day-to-day tasks become if you were missing just one of your arms? How about both? What if you were missing all four limbs? Now, after you surmount your everyday challenges regarding getting dressed, feeding yourself, typing etc (without prosthetics mind you), go compete in football, excel at wrestling, then go climb (check that, bear crawl) up a mountain, wait, make it Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Yeah, this is just SOME of what Kyle Maynard has accomplished.
Listen as I interview quadruple congenital amputee Kyle Maynard, who has conquered more physical-related challenges and obstacles than most people able bodied people,
Kyle is an entrepreneur, speaker, best-selling author of the book No Excuse, he was the focus of a moving ESPN documentary called “A Fighting Chance.” has appeared on Oprah, HBO Sports, ABC's 20/20, He was on the University of Georgia wrestling team, he is an ESPY award winner, the first quadruple amputee to climb to the top of the highest mountain in Africa at 19,340 feet, and the summit of Argentina’s Mount Aconcagua at 22,838 feet.
Find out how the environment Kyle grew up in affected his positive mindset despite his physical setbacks. Kyle talks about how his parents “Jedi-mind tricked” him into believing that he was capable of doing the same things his able-bodied peers could do. Their confidence in him was a key ingredient to the success and independence he steadily built.
In the interview, Kyle describes some of the darker periods of his life when he wasn’t sure if he wanted to continue on. He says, “I’m fortunate and lucky at the fact that I didn’t make a more permanent decision to end my life at that point.”
Every day we’re faced with a choice– do we want to live within the confines we’ve set for ourselves or do we want to try to surpass them?
“If we’re fixed to what we know, we can’t grow,” Kyle says. “I used to say anything is possible, but I don’t really believe that,” he continues. “I believe a better way to state that is to know your limits but never stop trying to break them. But that only happens by, ironically, not knowing your limits.”
Kyle’s story serves as a reminder that we so often define our lives by what we don’t have. Perhaps instead we should start focusing on what we do.
Show Notes
0:05:28 How he types 50 words per minute ...without hands
0:06:43 Kyles 1st experience with resilience as a kid
0:06:48 Hie parents jedi mind trick to get him tough
07:39 Learning how to wrestle, an education in failure
09:57 His first goal in wrestling
11:39 For BJJ grappling nerds only.
0:13:48: The power of belief
18:25 Why no arms and legs is his greatest strength
23:47 His parents “bounce” moment
26:23 Great story where he talks about the first time dressed himself
34:09. The “bounce”. When the worst periods in life turn into the best periods