Blinkist Podcast - Interviews | Personal Development | Productivity | Business | Psychology

Hey y'all, here's an episode from our new podcast, Simplify. As we mentioned, we're phasing out this RSS feed, so if you want to hear more great stuff, subscribe to the new podcast! iTunes: apple.co/2sUeLYA PocketCasts: pca.st/qnKH Overcast: bit.ly/2uVNFlk RSS: bit.ly/2uVeF4j // Caitlin Schiller travels to Amsterdam to talk to productivity guru David Allen, the best-selling author of *Getting Things Done*, *Ready for Anything*, and *Making It All Work*. They talk about how to overcome the internal obstacles that stand in our way when we’re trying to get things done in the external world. In the second segment, Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin to make another must-have reading list. By the end of the episode, you’ll understand David’s no-nonsense approach to productivity, plus how you can apply it to your own life. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://bit.ly/2uBCdO5. That excellent intro and outro music you heard is

Hey y'all, here's the first episode of our new podcast, Simplify. As we mentioned, we're phasing out this RSS feed so if you want to hear more great stuff subscribe to the new podcast! iTunes: apple.co/2sUeLYA PocketCasts: pca.st/qnKH Overcast: bit.ly/2uVNFlk RSS: bit.ly/2uVeF4j // What does relationship utopia look like? Dan Savage, nationally syndicated sex and relationship advice columnist, shares what 26 years of giving advice has taught him about making good love, and making good love last.

Hey y'all, here's the first episode of our new podcast, Simplify. As we mentioned, we're phasing out this RSS feed so if you want to hear more great stuff subscribe to the new podcast! iTunes: http://apple.co/2sUeLYA PocketCasts: http://pca.st/qnKH Overcast: http://bit.ly/2uVNFlk RSS: http://bit.ly/2uVeF4j We talk to NYT bestselling author Gretchen Rubin about how to apply the ancient idea of “know thyself” to your fast-paced 21st-century life. Gretchen is the author of Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home. Her books have sold more than 2 million copies worldwide in over thirty languages. **For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blnk.st/2t6dRMB** That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/niceaux)

We have some good news and some bad news. Bad news first: we're moving off Soundcloud. Good/amazing news: our new podcast, Simplify, is launching next week! You can find it and listen to it on iTunes (or wherever else you get your podcasts). >>Check out the teaser and subscribe here: https://itunes.apple.com/de/podcast/simplify/id1255922966?l=en >>Our new landing page is here: https://www.blinkist.com/simplify We want to thank all you Soundclouders for supporting us through these many iterations of the Blinkist Podcast. We're excited to keep learning and growing with you! /// For a free trial of Blinkist, go to blinkist.com/friends and use the promo code: soundcloud /// That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook(.)com/niceaux].

After collapsing from burnout and sleep deprivation in 2007, Arianna Huffington threw herself into the latest research on sleep, discovering that the sleepless nights she’d depending on to build her career had had profound negative consequences on her health. What she learned was transformative: these days, Huffington is so dedicated to getting a full night of sleep, she won’t even bring her smartphone into the bedroom, for fear of accidentally stimulating a bout of insomnia. We spoke with Huffington about getting onboard the sleep train last year, after she published The Sleep Revolution, an account of her personal experiences with sleep deprivation and a passionate call for others to learn from her mistakes. We think it was a pretty great interview. And since the podcast crew is currently working on some super-special, super-secret new stuff that’s totally inspired by Arianna’s super-simple, super-good advice, we wanted to share the episode with you again today. We hope you enjoy. But more than that,

Sandra Aamodt is a neuroscientist and former lifestyle dieter who wants to shout what she’s learned from the rooftops: according to the leading research in neuroscience, your brain has decided how much it wants you to weigh and will keep pushing you back to that weight *forever*. If you were already skeptical of popular weight loss methods, the ideas in Sandra’s book, Why Diets Make Us Fat, will be empowering. For the latest episode of Blinkist Podcast, I spoke to Sandra about the science of weight loss, the health advantages of mindful eating, what it’s like to sail to New Zealand, and why depriving yourself of office doughnuts never works. You can find her book on Blinkist: http://blnk.st/2qbi13o ---------------------- Highlights: On the myth of self-control: "It's just not true that somebody can simply decide to take control of their physiology and change it through sheer force of will." On decision fatigue: "Most people make 200 to 300 food-related decisions per day." On weight loss longevity: “Y

For this episode, we talked to Daniel Schacter, professor of psychology at Harvard and the author of The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers. Our conversation focused on the three “sins of omission” outlined in his book on memory. The big bad memory sins, in order of badness, are: absent-mindedness, transience, blocking. Tune in for Schacter’s insights on how to remember what you have to remember and forget what you need to forget. ____ Highlights: "We tend to think of memory as being all about the past...But remembering the past has a lot in common with imagining the future." "The most dangerous [of the seven sins] is absentmindedness: absentmindedness is the breakdown at the interface of attention and memory." "The take-home message for everyday life: when you know there's something you want to remember...elaborate on that information. Try to relate it to other things you know." ____ That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on S

Hey guys, it's Ben. Before you listen to this week's interview with Adam Alter, author of IRRESISTIBLE: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked (Penguin Press; March 7, 2017), please take our exciting survey -------> goo.gl/dYUjeo (It's just eight questions and takes literally two minutes to fill out. Email me at podcast(at)blinkist(dot)com if you can do it faster. Big thanks to those of you that already have.) This episode is an interview with psychology and marketing professor, researcher, writer, speaker, and overall very smart person Adam Alter, author of IRRESISTIBLE: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked (Penguin Press; March 7, 2017). Alter published the bestselling and amazing and terrifying Drunk Tank Pink in 2013 and is currently on tour talking about his brand new book, Irresistible. The reviews are just starting to come out, and those of us lucky enough to get advance copies are all itchy to talk about it. //// Use code irresistible

Hey guys, it's Ben. Before you listen to this week's interview with Rachel Hills, author of The Sex Myth, please take our **~~exciting~~** survey: -------> https://goo.gl/dYUjeo (It's just eight questions and takes literally two minutes to fill out. Email me at podcast(at)blinkist.com if you can do it faster.) Today we have an interview with Rachel Hills, author of The Sex Myth. We talk about sex, Disney movies and how to not let sex make you anxious — which, in her view, is a major societal problem. Hills is a writer and activist whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, Buzzfeed, Jezebel, and more. You can check out her work at TheSexMyth(.)com. //// Use code sexmyth at Blinkist.com/Friends to get 14 free days of Blinkist. //// Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY //// That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook(.)com/niceaux].

Hey guys, it’s Ben. I just wanted to post this quick programming note: I’m away for a little bit because, well, I’m having a baby! Eek! But before I head out for family time, Caitlin and I put together some highlights from all the podcasts we made in 2016. In 2016 we grew into a podcast with tens of thousands of listens. So this episode is a bit of a look back at how we did that, via a 2016 Blinkist podcast Sampler episode. I think it shows how we’ve not only grown and learned a lot about how to make nice podcasts, but also how important it is to talk to authors and thinkers, to hear them open up about how they came up with the ideas that change our lives. It’s definitely changed how I approach challenges, or my semi-creative work. As usual, hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

In this episode of the Blinkist Podcast Ben and Caitlin team up for Is That Even a Thing? Part 2. It’s a follow-up to the first Blinkist Podcast episode ever, the original Is That Even a Thing. In Part II, they discuss and mythbust power posing, gratitude journals, whether or not your devices should be forever banished from the bedroom, and email. Plus, learn about Ben’s newest hobby (it involves carbs), and how imagining herself as an animal helps Caitlin get through first dates — and can help you, too! - As usual, hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY - That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Today on the Blinkist podcast, Ben speaks with esteemed behavioral economist, bestselling author, TED speaker extraordinaire, and all around cool guy Dan Ariely. Ariely is the author of Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, and (just published) Payoff among other books. His TED talks have been viewed like 8 million times. No big deal. In the interview, Ben and Ariely go into some of the nuts and bolts of behavioral economics, like, why it’s different from standard economics, and what Ariely’s time away from his wife and children teaches us about short-term vs. long-term motivation. (Also: a story about a t-shirt with Ariely's name on it.) Aaaand that’s it for interviews for 2016! Thanks so much for following us this year, it’s been a blast. There are a few more really fun podcasts in the hopper for the turn into 2017, and then we’ll be back at it. Hit us up at podcast@blinkist.com if you want to share some feedback or if you’re itching to hear something in particular. Linkage: - Hop on

This episode is an interview with famous Less Doing More Living author Ari Meisel, a champion of productivity and efficiency. Since beating the incurable Crohn’s Disease through optimizing his body, Ari has had a successful career as an entrepreneur. Recently he started a virtual assistant company called Less Doing and wrote a book with his co-founder Nick Sonnenberg called Idea to Execution that came out in early October. That book is all about how to optimize, automate, and outsource (these are the major themes in Meisel’s approach to success) everything in your business. In the interview, you’ll find out what Ben’s doing wrong when it comes to optimizing his work, Ari’s favorite new tricks and tools out there to be more efficient, and what you can not under any circumstance delegate or outsource to someone else. Linkage: - If you haven't heard it yet, take a listen to our Podcastumentary (Ben note: sorry, had to) about the Blinkist rebrand! The audio and transcript are here: https://www.blinkist.com/m

Today on the Blinkist podcast we have an interview with branding expert Denise Lee Yohn, author of the book What Great Brands Do. In the interview, Lee Yohn and Ben talk about why all branding starts inside, and how exactly Sony implemented that idea when Lee Yohn was there. Then they get into what happened with brands like Saturn and RadioShack – remember them??? They also tried something new: Lee Yohn and Ben read brief bits from some of their favorite branding books. (Hint: neither of them picked Seth Godin!) A quick intro to Lee Yohn: After her time as brand leader at Sony, she worked on many other big brands, including Land Rover, Jack in the Box, and Burger King. She currently runs her own brand consultancy in addition to giving speeches and writing for the Harvard Business Review blog, her own Brand-As-Business Bites blog, and many other outlets. Linkage: - Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY - Let Ben know what you think about the podcas

Today on the podcast, we welcome Cal Newport. Newport is Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University but most of us know him as the author of five excellent books, each of which takes a unique view on how to study better, find a career better, or, with his new book Deep Work, work better. Deep work, as he defines it, is professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate. Newport argues that the ability to work deeply is the most important skill to have in our knowledge economy. In our conversation, Newport explains why he thinks we need to teach people a new vocabulary for training focus, and why most of us are living the cognitive equivalent of a couch potato life. He also lays out how anyone can begin learning how to work deeply, right away. Links! - Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: h

*** Podcast programming alert!! *** Today we have something a little different. Not only do we have Vishen Lakhiani, one of the most forward-thinking CEOs in the world, but we also have him in conversation with one of the Blinkist co-founders, Niklas Jansen. Niklas is a huge admirer of Vishen’s distinctive approaches to his companies, so we figured we should let him ask Vishen whatever he wanted! Vishen is the founder and CEO of Mindvalley, a transformational education company, and Afest, an invite-only festival for entrepreneurs and change-makers that takes place in exotic locations all over the globe. He’s also an author now, and his book The Code of the Extraordinary Mind is just out and already a New York Times bestseller. (Read it on Blinkist here: http://buff.ly/2c41ZNF) It’s cool to hear the two entrepreneurs chat. They talk about morning routines, exercise, and how to get the best possible company culture. But they also talk about the book, and get into Vishen’s distinctive way of optimizing his li

Today on the podcast, we’re continuing our Olympics-themed episodes, where we’re talking about world-class athletes, these people who made it to the top, and how they got there. Last week we talked to David Epstein about what makes athletes great, and this week Ben speaks with a champion to find out more. Andy Lee is 34-3-1, and a former WBO Middleweight Boxing Champion. Known in boxing circles as a tough-as-nails southpaw, Lee’s famous right hook is absolutely devastating. He’s also an Olympian, having competed for Ireland at the 2004 Olympic games in Athens. In this interview, you’ll hear Andy and Ben get into what actually makes up a perfect right hook, what Lee thinks makes a champion different from a great athlete, and how Lee ended up acting in a Chekhov play. Linkage: - Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY - That link to Andy Lee’s knockouts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHZ8_mcuTug - Lee winning the ‘ship: https://www.youtube.com/wat

Today, we have the author of the The Sports Gene, David Epstein. The Sports Gene is a New York Times bestseller about exactly what it sounds like: whether or not there are things that make certain people preternaturally more likely to be great athletes. It feels like a perfect thing to talk about considering, you know, the Olympics start today. So Ben and David talk about some of the greatest physical specimens in the world, one athlete you must watch out for in Rio, and the central weakness of the 10,000 rule everyone always talks about. Oh, and also, if aliens invaded and you had to pick one athlete to compete against the aliens in a competition they decide, which athlete today do you pick? David’s a journalist at ProPublica whose work appears in places like The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, and much more. He just put out an exclusive interview with the former chief investigator of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which you should read here https://goo.gl/u48unt. - There's a tran

This is our second podcast in the Eureka! theme. Last week we spoke with Inventology author Pagan Kennedy, and we’re excited to build on that by featuring David Burkus, author of The Myths of of Creativity. In this podcast, Ben and David focus on a concept called incubation. According to creativity research, this incubation moment often occurs right before a Eureka moment, and the best part? Everyone can incubate. The only question is how. David Burkus is a professor of management, bestselling author, and award-winning podcaster. Linkage: If you liked what you heard, we'd reallllly appreciate it if you hopped on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY More on David Burkus can be found here: http://goo.gl/iZqKPD Also check out his podcast over here: https://goo.gl/SczJcV That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Welcome to a brand new era! Hot on the heels of the sleep episodes, this week’s podcast is the first of two episodes on the theme of Eureka. Where do great ideas come from? It turns out it’s not that clear. So today on the podcast, Ben speaks with Pagan Kennedy, author of the new book Inventology; How we dream up things that change the world. You probably already know Pagan from her time writing the Who Made That column in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. She’s an expert on invention, and we grilled her in particular about one central tension in her book: the paradox of serendipitous inventing (like accidentally inventing penicillin) and new technologies that can focus research to look for inventions in certain areas (like bioinformatics). Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY You can read a transcript of this podcast, and more good stuff, over at the Blinkist Magazine: http://bit.ly/29PaJHT That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Ni