EP. 45: SURVIVING SURVIVAL: LAURENCE GONZALES ON TRAUMA AND NEW NORMALS
This podcast is an exploration into the mental processes that enable survivors to cope with extreme post-traumatic stress that sets in after an almost fatal event.
Take, for example, Debbie Kiley. Debbie’s sailboat went down during a hurricane, and she floated in deep ocean for five days watching three of her friends die before rescue. But rescue was not the end of the story;
Ep. 44: FREEDOM FROM RESULTS : MASSIMO PIGLIUCCI ON REDEFINING SUCCESS
On this episode, my focus is on finding peace of mind amidst persistent uncertainty. So many things that are directly affecting our lives are out of our direct control – and it can be maddening.
Massimo Pigliucci is the author or editor of 14 books, including the bestselling “How to Be A Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life.” The key to much of our neurosis is not understanding what’s in our control and what’s not. Crazy making is treating outcomes as objects.
EP. 43: MAKING BETTER DECISIONS: ANNIE DUKE ON CREATING YOUR OWN CRYSTAL BALL.
What do you do when you’re faced with a big decision? Annie Duke is an expert on decision fitness and is the author of “How To Decide, Simple Tools For Making Better Choices”, which is the topic of the show. We talk about her tools and heuristics to make quality decisions and how to create your own crystal ball.
EP. 42: HOW TO FEEL GREAT: DR. DAVID BURNS ON WHAT NEGATIVE EMOTIONS ARE TRYING TO TELL US
Dr. David Burns is one of the pioneers in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and largely responsible for its widespread adoption in psychotherapy today. 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.
EP. 41: MISTAKES WERE MADE: CAROL TAVRIS AND ELLIOT ARONSON ON COGNITIVE BIAS AND LEARNING FROM THE ERROR OF OUR WAYS
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 end with the mistake itself – it can get worse, much worse. My guests are Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson. They co-authored the book “Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me):
EP. 40: HOW WILL WE BEHAVE? RORY SUTHERLAND ON THE NEW WORLD OF WORK AND CONSUMER BEHAVIOR POST COVID-19
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.
EP.39: CORONAVIRUS UPDATES: JAMES ALTUCHER AND BOUNCE BACK PREDICTIONS
James Altucher has 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.
EP.38: HOW STOICS KEEP CALM, WILLIAM B. IRVINE ON PHILOSOPHICAL FRAMING
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. The 1st century Stoic Seneca wrote about the differences between experiencing a setback and suffering from it, by changing the perspective of how one thinks of setbacks.
EP. 37: THE WEDGE, SCOTT CARNEY ON STRESS AND HACKING THE NERVOUS SYSTEM
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.
EP. 36: CORONAVIRUS QA WITH DR. ALEX LICKERMAN, M.D.
As I publish this on April 6, 2020, there are 340,000 cases of the Coronavirus in the U.S. with over 9,700 deaths. Over 70,000 deaths world wide. The amount and velocity of information on the pandemic can be overwhelming and much of it is conflicting. Do this – don’t do that, this works, no it doesn’t.
EP. 35: STRESS INOCULATION: STEVEN SOUTHWICK ON THE SCIENCE OF RESILIENCE AND COPING WITH EXTREMES
Dr. Steven M. Southwick, is the author of Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges. In this show he summarizes his research into the psychological, biological, and social impact of trauma, combining the latest scientific findings in the area of resilience drawing on two decades of work with trauma survivors
EP. 34: THE MOTIVATION EQUATION: PIERS STEEL ON HOW TO STOP PUTTING THINGS OFF
This podcast is about every promise you made to yourself but broke. Let me introduce you to the Pope of Procrastination, who forgives you of all that. My guest is Piers Steel. Piers is a Distinguished Research Chair at the University of Calgary. He’s also the inventor of the procrastination equation, encapsulating pretty much every scientific finding on procrastination out there to date.