Episode 13 - Denali the Eagle & Nature
For one episode, Joe hijacks the show and tries to convince Todd to watch eagle “Nest Cams” on Youtube, and to revolt against robot pets like Pleo the Dinosaur and nursing home seals.
148 - The Connector Codebook
It’s not what you know, it’s who you know. But if that’s true then how do we purposely cultivate extensive, valuable connections?
Episode 12 - Da Vinci, Machiavelli, & Polar Opposite Collaborators
They say opposites attract, but can they work together? How do you get the best results from an introvert and an extrovert? And what landmark, exactly, did Niccolò Machiavelle and Leonardo De Vinci team up to steal?
147 - Is It Better To Know The Hour Of Our Death
When a child or elderly patient receives a terminal diagnosis, should the family withhold it from them? Is knowledge of one’s death in advance a relief, or pure dread?
Episode 11 - Monsignor de Grandpré & Grudges
Revenge is a dish best served cold. But in today’s episode, we’ll ask if it should be served at all. How healthy are grudges? What do we risk by harboring them? And why did two Frenchmen decide to settle their grudge over Paris, in air balloons, with blunderbusses?
Episode 10 - Rick Springfield & Self Esteem
Whether you got it from critical parents, a lackluster salary, or a physical defect—Low Self-Esteem is a growing issue in America today, and a booming industry. But could a tiny shift in values hyper-charge your feelings of worth?
146 - A Shocking Cost Benefit Analysis of Mega Churches Pt2
Local churches provide homeless outreach, school programs, and emergency aid. How much do Televangelists and Mega Churches give back to the public…?
145 - A Shocking Cost Benefit Analysis of Mega Churches Pt1
Local churches provide homeless outreach, school programs, and emergency aid. How much do Televangelists and Mega Churches give back to the public…?
Episode 8: Stephen King & Alcoholism
Geniuses, creatives, and commoners can fall prey to alcoholism. But neuroscience may have found a uniting drive that pushes all mammals to pick up the bottle...a drive that writers have known about for decades.
144 - From Doughbirds to Donuts - America's Struggle with Easy Mode Eating (ft Amanda Sick)
How has subsisting on “easy meat” influenced America’s collective gut bacteria? And how do we break away from generations of bad eating habits?
Episode 7: Prison Letters & Hybristophilia
Has someone ever addressed a letter to you by accident? Todd experienced this when he opened a mysterious letter and found himself reading a heartfelt plea from a prisoner, asking his lady to forgive his long silence, and to take him back when he gets released. This letter spawned our topic today, about prison letters, forbidden love, and the disorder known as Hybristophilia.
143 - Why High-Profile Geniuses Can’t Solve Our Problems
There is no Wizard of Oz we can petition to solve our woes. So why do we keep asking genius entrepreneurs to jury-rig our economy, healthcare, and travel?
Mark Driscoll & Ego
Ego can look like the solution to low self-esteem, but it’s a slippery slope that will leave you vulnerable in the long term. In this episode, science is providing us the climbing shoes to come back from the ego trap, and we’ll look at how the disgraced leader of a mega-church might have escaped his downward slide.
Episode 142 - Immigrant Businesses & The Clean Slate Advantage
Why do immigrants start businesses at twice the rate of everyone else? What’s holding US-born citizens back? Well, a lot of things, it turns out…
Abe Lincoln & Vulnerable Leaders
Vulnerability, anxiety, and depression. They can feel like flaws in your character, but they might secretly be your greatest evolutionary gift. And, if you’re Lincoln, they’re the master key for unlocking life’s problems.
Episode 141 - 5 Ways Brilliant Connectors Create Life Options
Crossing off goals and leaving old crappy jobs in the dust is so satisfying. So why do brilliant Connectors avoid that kind of reductive thinking?
Franklin Roosevelt and stress
Join us in this episode as we explore the fundamental connection between stress management, leadership, and the most chill president who ever opened a day-spa...when he wasn’t winning wars or dodging torpedoes; Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
Episode 140 - The Secret Link Between Humility and Mastery Behavior
In an era of shameless self-promoting, how can practicing humility put us ahead of the narcissists at work?
Hitler Youth & Approval
We’re born seeking approval from our parents. We go through elementary school trying to get approval from our peers. And as teens we play stupid, dangerous games to win our friend’s approval.
Why do we need it? Where does the drive for approval come from? Are we hard-wired by evolution to impress our friends when we’re teenagers? On today’s episode we’ll answer these questions by exploring the behavioral science of approval, and we’ll talk about how far some people will go to get that all-important ‘upvote’ or ‘like’.
We’ll also look at the indoctrination system of a youth organization that weaponized peer approval; The Hitler Youth. And we’ll ask ourselves; how could anyone join an obviously evil organization?
MLK & Procrastination
In this episode we expose the fundamental truth behind procrastination, and we explain how your brain goes to war with itself whenever you’re faced with a boring task. We also dig into Martin Luther King Jr’s speech to discuss the potential benefits of procrastination. And we offer you scientifically proven techniques to beat procrastination, fool your brain into enjoying tedious tasks, or even turn procrastination into a secret weapon.