Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement - podcast cover

Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement

Sam Webster Harris | Growth Mindset Psychologywww.growthmindsetpodcast.com
Most self-help advice is guesswork dressed up as wisdom. We dig into psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral science to find what actually changes lives. WHY LISTEN? Over 8 million downloads because we answer the questions that matter: How do I build mental strength? What creates lasting motivation? How can I understand my own mind well enough to work with it, not against it? This podcast is for curious skeptics who want frameworks backed by psychology studies, not Instagram quotes. Whether you're navigating procrastination, building self-discipline, or designing your own philosophy for a life well lived—we explore the hidden psychology behind real change. WHAT YOU'LL GET Mental models and simple techniques from cognitive psychology, positive psychology, and ancient wisdom traditions like Stoicism and Buddhism. Being a human can be confusing, learning about it doesn’t have to be. We cover everything from emotional intelligence and habit formation to brain health and the nervous system. WHAT YOU DON’T GET No pseudoscience. No oversimplified "hacks." No hustle porn. Just practical insights on mindset improvement, self-development, and human psychology that respect your intelligence and mental health. THE APPROACH Instead of telling you what to think, we explore how thinking works. Armed with psychology studies, social science research, and relentless curiosity, we uncover the mechanics of belief change, attitude change, and personal development. Success is personal. You might want to leverage your neurodiverse strengths, build a business, or simply discover how to be happier. We provide the mental frameworks to pursue your definition of success with mental strength and self-care that fits your life. YOUR HOST I'm Sam Webster Harris—a lifelong learner with ADHD and an obsession with finding answers to hard questions. After launching businesses, traveling the world, and nearly dying a few times, I concluded that psychology and science are where real wisdom lives. This show is my excuse to dive deep into health and fitness research, behavioral psychology, and cool science while helping you build genuine self-discipline and motivation. PREMIUM Go ad-free and access exclusive content, AMAs, and our community Discord. Growth Mindset Premium PAST SERIES Previous guests include Olympians, Scientists, Billionaires, and Sam's Mum. Past series: — Psychology vs Stoicism — Time Management for Busy Mortals — Independence and Knowing Yourself — Cognitive Biases and Rational Thinking — Psychology of Connection and Relationships — Carol Dweck and the Multiverse of Mindsets — Addiction and Behaviour Change — Nervous System Mastery and Polyvagal Theory — Mental Strength and Self-Discipline
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Episodes

137: Perfectly hidden depression - Dr Margaret Rutherford, PhD, Author & host Self work podcast

Dr. Margaret RutherfordA clinical psychologist, who has practiced for over twenty years in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Since 2012, her writing has been found on her own website, as she writes about mental health, with a special focus on Perfectly Hidden Depression, midlife and relationship issues. She's the current mental health columnist for Midlife Boulevard, writes an advice column on Vibrant Nation, is a weekly columnist for The Good Men Project, and hosts a regular FB Live video session on depr...

Sep 01, 202039 min

136: Genuinely you - How to stay happy - Gina Gardiner - Author, Head Teacher & Coach

Gina GardinerNo.1 International Bestselling Author, Motivational Speaker, Empowerment and Relationship Coach and Transformational Leadership Trainer with well over 30 years of experience helping people experience happiness, success and fulfilment. In 2004 Gina left Headship (Principal) and has since worked with countless individuals, couples, teams and organisations helping them to step into their potential, to learn the lessons from the past and to recognise that it is their choice to step into...

Aug 24, 202052 min

134: 100 mile mindset - Nate Bailey - 1st Lietenant, entrepreneur, Ironman, author & podcast host

Nate BaileyA natural leader and a speaker who knows how to impact and reach an audience.He is a best selling author with three books as well as an entrepreneur. He has built multiple successful businesses in the areas of Insurance and Real Estate. He recently fulfilled his long-time dream of selling his insurance agency to follow his dream of being a full-time coach.Nate was a Lieutenant, serving our country in the United States Army. As a Platoon Leader during the Operation Iraqi Freedom, Nate ...

Aug 17, 202031 min

133: Digging deep - Maayan Gordon, Entrepreneur, Tik Tok influencer

Maayan GordonMaayan has been in digital marketing for 10+ years now. Maayan dropped out of college to do copy writing full time before she started her first business 2K Diffuser Beads where they sold a smoking accessory both B2C and B2B with great success through social media marketing. After that she successfully ran a graphic design and sticker printing business before starting a glassblowing business which she has been running for the past 5 years.Most recently Maayan found huge success on Ti...

Aug 13, 202037 min

132: Finding Your Own Success - Greg Spillane - Serial Entrepreneur

Greg SpillaneGreg brings a unique combination of hands-on technical experience and a track record of large-scale business development. Greg’s professional career began as a developer.Shortly afterward he founded a technology company, where he brought several cloud-based products to market. After they were acquired, Greg went on to lead business development with several of the top global technology consulting firms in the world, where he was directly responsible for generating over $250M in reven...

Aug 10, 202047 min

131: Being a Voice For Change - Mya-Rose Craig, AKA Birdgirl, Climate activist

Mya-Rose Craig AKA Birdgirl, is a young naturalist, ornithologist, and, birder (birdwatcher) as well as a young environmentalist, conservationist, activist, and writer. Mya-Rose wants to do everything she can to save the environment from damage and persuade people to do the same through my writing, talks & use of media. She's also proud to be a Bristol European Green Capital 2015 Ambassador. She loves birding in her garden & locally at Chew Valley Lake. Mya-Rose have been bird ringing (b...

Aug 06, 202028 min

130: Anything is popsicle - Josh Lee, Northern bloc ice cream

Josh Lee Left to right: Manolo Imperatori, Josh Lee, Dirk MischendahlThe director and co founder of a rapidly expanding business, Northern Bloc. They focus on paying homage to the traditional flavours whilst adding a modern twist, but always staying true to the principle of using only the best natural ingredients. Chef and chief creative Manolo Imperatori is a fourth generation ice cream maker and with Manolo’s help they started to source our ingredients and flavours from Italy. Their quality an...

Aug 03, 202041 min

129: The outside mindset - Verla Fortier - Author

Verla Fortier After a 40 year career as a nurse, and nursing professor, Verla finds that as more diseases are added to her systemic lupus diagnosis, her fears multiply. For the first year, she stayed inside her home trying to get better, and wanted to be the perfect patient. When this did not work, she decided to look into what trees, shrubs, and grass can do for her. When she applied what she found to her own situation, it worked. Then she found the research that was too good not to share.In he...

Jul 30, 202039 min

128: Top 1% life - Kathleen Black, Real estate investor & author

On the episode, Kathleen Black, a highly successful real estate, investor, and coach, and the author of the book The Top 1% Life, joins the podcast. We cover what it's like being a successful woman in a male-centred environment, such as real estate. Kathleen Black is A coveted coach, mentor and author. Kathleen has taken her experience as a top-producing Realtor and built it into a dynamic, results-driven consulting company where she serves as CEO, Speaker, Trainer and Elite Coach. Kathleen earn...

Jul 27, 202048 min

127: Growth Mindset Masterclass - Graham Hobson, Founder - Photobox

Graham Hobson Experienced entrepreneur, board member and technologist with startup through to Private Equity experience. Supporter of social impact businesses. Advisor for business scaling and technology. Previously an angel investor.In 2000, Graham co-founded Photobox.com - a photo printing and personalisation business - with friend and colleague Mark Chapman, and assumed the CEO position until 2006. At this point both Graham and Mark merged the company with Photoways in France and took VC fund...

Jul 20, 202015 min

126: CEO mindset - Graham Hobson, Founder - Photobox

Graham Hobson Experienced entrepreneur, board member and technologist with startup through to Private Equity experience. Supporter of social impact businesses. Advisor for business scaling and technology. Previously an angel investor.In 2000, Graham co-founded Photobox.com - a photo printing and personalisation business - with friend and colleague Mark Chapman, and assumed the CEO position until 2006. At this point both Graham and Mark merged the company with Photoways in France and took VC fund...

Jul 17, 202037 min

125: How to do relationships - Jonathan Aslay - Relationships coach and author - 'What the heck is self love anyway'

Jonathon Aslay The focus of one of America's Leading Mid-Life Dating Coaches has expanded into a deeper, essential philosophy of what it truly means to LOVE.After losing his 19-year-old son Connor in 2018, Jonathon Aslay’s grief led him on a soul-searching inner journey, where he became aware of an often-overlooked dimension of the dating conversation.Jonathon realized that the process of dating reveals the most common emotional health issue faced by many singles seeking a partner: a distressing...

Jul 13, 202047 min

124: Living to your own beat - Debbie Arcangeles, Author & Host - The Offbeat Life Podcast

Debbie Arcangeles Debbie Arcangeles is a digital nomad and the host of The Offbeat Life podcast, where she interviews individuals who are location independent. She aims to encourage others to follow their true calling and take a chance on themselves. Debbie has been featured in well-known publications such asRefinery 29, Forbes and websites for her expertise in travel.As the host of The Offbeat Life Podcast, Debbie interviews fearless nomads who have ditched conventional lifestyles to live their...

Jul 09, 202038 min

123: The Curious Mindset - Tom Davies, GeoWizard

Tom Davies, GeoWizardTom Davies, better known online as GeoWizard, is an English YouTuber who uploads videos based around the online map game GeoGuessr.In early 2019, Tom had felt a craving for an adventure — one that would push him mentally and physically and, with any luck, leave a sense of accomplishment at the end. He attempted to walk across the country of Wales in a completely straight line. He didn't upload the footage until summer of the same year. He attempted to cross from the English ...

Jul 07, 202026 min

122: Play your way to success - Tom Davies, GeoWizard

Tom Davies, GeoWizardTom Davies, better known online as GeoWizard, is an English YouTuber who uploads videos based around the online map game GeoGuessr.In early 2019, Tom had felt a craving for an adventure — one that would push him mentally and physically and, with any luck, leave a sense of accomplishment at the end. He attempted to walk across the country of Wales in a completely straight line. He didn't upload the footage until summer of the same year. He attempted to cross from the English ...

Jul 06, 202038 min

121: Face your fears - Zac and Jay - Epic Youtubers

Zac and Jay YouTubers, Zac Aslop and Jamie Rawsthorne run 'The Zac and Jay Show', a brilliantly entertaining and rapidly growing Youtube channel.After working separately seeking the meaning to life and failing, the duo started working together on their fun ideas. They built the project into a tool that lets them work on their own terms doing what they love. They now have a huge audience of 700k subscribers (July 2020 - watch this space) by focussing on telling great stories and setting outrageuo...

Jul 02, 202041 min

120: How to Youtube - Zac and Jay

Zac and Jay YouTubers, Zac Aslop and Jamie Rawsthorne run 'The Zac and Jay Show', a brilliantly entertaining and rapidly growing Youtube channel.After working separately seeking the meaning to life and failing, the duo started working together on their fun ideas. They built the project into a tool that lets them work on their own terms doing what they love. They now have a huge audience of 700k subscribers (July 2020 - watch this space) by focussing on telling great stories and setting outrageuo...

Jun 29, 202033 min

119: Overlording a city through a crisis - Peaches Golding OBE, Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Bristol

Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Bristol, Peaches Golding Mrs Peaches Golding, HM Lord Lieutenant of the County and City of Bristol, was elevated to OBE in 2009 for services to minority ethnic people in the South West and held the office of High Sheriff for the County and City of Bristol in 2010 (England’s first black High Sheriff).A highly experienced, award winning executive and non-executive director, Mrs Golding is the independent chair of the Bristol Water Customer Challenge Panel, non-exec...

Jun 25, 202035 min

118: How to become a Lord - Peaches Golding OBE, Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant of Bristol

Her Majesty's Lord Lieutenant of Bristol, Peaches Golding Mrs Peaches Golding, HM Lord Lieutenant of the County and City of Bristol, was elevated to OBE in 2009 for services to minority ethnic people in the South West and held the office of High Sheriff for the County and City of Bristol in 2010 (England’s first black High Sheriff).A highly experienced, award winning executive and non-executive director, Mrs Golding is the independent chair of the Bristol Water Customer Challenge Panel, non-exec...

Jun 22, 202024 min

116: Success formulas - Sean Castrina, Serial Entrepreneur, Author - Worlds greatest business plan

Sean Castrina A serial entrepreneur having started his first company at age 23 and has not stopped as he has started more than 15 successful companies ranging from retail, property management and development, direct mail, consulting to home services. His first passion is business as he continues to start businesses each year and it is with this relevance that he can teach with authority on Entrepreneurship.Sean has written multiple books and resource for business owners and entrepreneurs. On top...

Jun 11, 202031 min

115: Climbing the Right Mountain - Matt Barnett, CEO - Bonjoro

Matt Barnett A British industrial designer & artist, moved to Australia he decided to get his MBA. He fell for tech and found himself starting different businesses. Although he failed at some, failure did not stop him from developing what is to be known as Bonjoro.Having to ferry across the rivers of Sydney goint to work, Matt discovered that videos can play a huge role across customer acquisition. With this idea, Matt came up with Bonjoro - a video messaging app that allows you to record on...

Jun 08, 202036 min

113: Trauma and Mental Health - Karen Stefano, Author - What a Body Remembers

Karen Stefano A defence lawyer and an author. Her recent book, What a Body Remembers: A Memoir of Sexual Assault and Its Aftermath, looks back at the events where she was assaulted in college, went on to become a criminal defense attorney, and 30 years later was hit with anxiety and PTSD.Our guest was assaulted near her home in Berkeley, CA, after a late-night walk home from a shift as a Berkeley police department aide. Her assailant was charged with assault with a deadly weapon but was ultimate...

Jun 01, 202031 min

112: Adversity to advantage - Randy Ginsburg, Author

Randy GinsbergA natural-born entrepreneur, believes that a person’s future is not dictated solely by their past, and even the toughest challenges can be overcome through the power of entrepreneurship. He illustrates this idea through his book, Adversity to Advantage: How to Overcome Bullying & Find Entrepreneurial Success. Our guest dives into the stories and mindsets behind a group of highly diverse and successful entrepreneurs who were bullied in adolescence yet overcame bullying and used ...

May 28, 202042 min

111: Creating Magical Moments - Kate Boyle, CEO - Banjo Robinson

Kate Boyle Before Banjo Robinson, Kate had an impressive career in LA, running writers' rooms for influential screenwriter Etan Cohen, working as a creative executive on Ghostbusters III and Men in Black III for Sony, Museum of Supernatural History for Setven Spielberg at DreamWorks, Candyland for Disney and Daddy's Home for Paramount.The idea for Banjo Robinson came about when Kate's father used to hide mail throughout the house for her to find when she was a child and when she was writing to f...

May 25, 202040 min

110: Fixing your Mental Health - Ross Jackson-Hicks - Co Founder Man Down Cornwall

Ross Jackson-Hicks Ross Jackson-Hicks has battled anxiety since being diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as a child.Ross, who runs Rudi's hair salon, came up with an idea where men would be able to talk in a safe space. There is a toxic masculinity stigma where men are supposed to be viewed as macho men - and as a result Man Down was formed. Man down is a support group for men based in cornwall with mental health concerns. A very relaxed, very informal and non judgmen...

May 21, 202042 min

109: Life Lessons from a Legend - Dame Stephanie Shirley CH

Dame Stephanie Shirley CH DAME STEPHANIE SHIRLEY CH is a workplace revolutionary and successful IT entrepreneur turned ardent philanthropist. In 1962, she founded an all-woman software company that pioneered remote working, upending the expectations of the time. It was ultimately valued at $3 billion and made 70 of her staff millionaires.Since ‘retiring’, her focus has been on philanthropy, especially autism and IT.Her TED Talk has had over 2 million views, and her memoir ‘Let It Go’ is being ma...

May 18, 202040 min

108: Hacking Sleeping - Richard Hall - CTO, Kokoon

Richard Hall Kokoon are the world’s first sleep sensing EEG (electroencephalogram) headphones - comfortable enough to sleep in, without compromising acoustic quality. Richard Hall and Tim Atnos launched Kokoon Technology in 2015 with the aim of combating the common challenge of getting a good night’s sleep by using a soporific mix of audio and brain-sensing technology.The idea for Kokoon headphones stemmed from a personal problem: founder Tim Antos had a stressful job which led to him having tro...

May 11, 202037 min

106: Being a Person of Action - Dane Knighton, Copywriting Master

Dane KnightonThe founder and CEO of Dane Knighton, Inc. Growing up penniless in South Africa, Dane immigrated to England, Colchester at age 9 not speaking a lick of English. He grew up in a tiny 2-bedroom semi-detached house with no bedroom. As much as 6 people would live in this small Victorian like shack.Dane went from having just a few pounds in his bank account, almost never having his own bedroom since birth, suffering from severe acne and almost taking his life. To writing 4 books and bein...

Apr 27, 202039 min

105: Challenge Yourself to Change the World - Leah Chowdhry, 1st British Asian woman to swim the channel, CEO Pop Up Party and Play

Leah Chowdhry ‘He who says he can and he who says he can’t are both usually right’ - ConfuciusFounder and CEO of an award-winning childcare company, ‘Pop Up, Party & Play’. Leah's comapany provides mobile childcare and in doing so help to make childcare more accessible. They also offer children a safe, stimulating and exciting environment so they have as much fun as their parents can work or enjoy their corporate conference. You can see Pop Up, Party & Play popping at workspaces, members...

Apr 20, 202055 min

104: From Psychotherapy to Sex therapy - Rachel Jane-Cooke, Entrepreneur and Therapist

Meet Rachel Jane CookeRachel Jane Cooke is a therapist, trainer and coach who specialises in self-esteem, emotional intelligence, shame resilience and the Millennial Life Crisis.She has spent the last seven years working with individuals and couples, running an online therapy platform and giving talks and workshops. She has a focus on neuroscience, holds a Master's degree in Integrative Psychotherapy and is also trained in NLP, mindfulness meditation, hypnotherapy and EFT - Emotionally Focused T...

Apr 13, 202059 min
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