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

177: Mind love - Melissa Monte, Host of Mind Love Podcast

Melissa Monte A keynote speaker, entrepreneur, and the host of the popular podcast “Mind Love”. Melissa is obsessed with learning what makes us humans tick. After spending too long as a guinea pig for bad decisions, she learned first hand how to undo a downward spiral. She’s now spent the last 16 years exploring methods of improving the human condition. Top Takeaways: Hitting rock bottom undeniably put her life in such a tumultuous state, but has definitely brought her into a place she never ima...

Jul 06, 202119 min

176: The best interview strategy ever - Jim Rutt, Podcaster at The Jim Rutt Show

Jim Rutt is an American businessman and entrepreneur who was the former CEO of Network Solutions, and the former chairman of the Santa Fe Institute. He was also a Researcher in Residence at the Santa Fe Institute from 2002 to 2004, studying the application of complexity science to financial markets, and evolutionary artificial intelligence. He is one of the thinkers behind BigChainDB, the highly scalable blockchain architecture. He was CEO of Network Solutions, which operated the .com, .net, and...

Jun 29, 202120 min

175: Exploring consciousness and reality - Jim Rutt, Podcaster at The Jim Rutt Show

Consciousness John Stuart’s view of consciousness is biological: We are conscious because we are animal. Consciousness is something that we evolved without animal lines. Conscious is biological phenomena. Perceptual memory: e.g when you are seeing a scene those residences on your visual system are stored close to the rest of the visual system in milliseconds Short term working memory- can be stored in a short period of time. e.g : the 7-2, you cellphone number. Episodic memories – various period...

Jun 18, 202120 min

173: Investing in friendships - Jack Hughes, Co-Founder at Reason FM

Jack HughesCofounder of Reason FM and my business partner, Jack Hughes, has been my best friend for over 20 years. We started Reason FM, our business, which is a social podcast player to let people listen to podcasts together and stay more in touch with their friends.We've always thought about friendship and how to make the best of it and how to be the best friend you can be in sort of enrich your life with the right relationships. And the following is just a really big conversation to friendshi...

Jun 08, 202124 min

172: Living on your terms - Chris Howard

We have another massive insight drop from the founder of The Rattle, Chris Howard. We take a dive into the mindset of why we do things and really picking the right reasons and not letting yourself be driven into making rash decisions just because everyone is doing it. How to choose your own entrepreneurial journey that fits the lifestyle for you rather than. Just kind of what everyone else says you should doTop TakeawayEntrepreneur vs FounderEntrepreneurs Prove their Ideas, Founders Choose to Li...

Jun 01, 202127 min

171: Raising money - When, Why, What - Chris Howard

Chris Howard CEO of The Rattle & Cofounder of Min Chris Howard is a builder of provocative companies. His mission is to free talented makers from old-school gatekeepers. While he considers himself a beginner at almost everything, he has spent a considerable number of years exploring the boundaries of entrepreneurship and psychology. Chris, It's just an amazing human I have to say is like energy and vibe is awesome. Top Takeaways Three stages on raising money Founder Fit – knowing thy purpose...

May 25, 202119 min

170: Controlling your outcomes by controlling your thoughts - Brian Biro

Brian Biro Brian Biro is one of the foremost motivational and leadership speakers in the United States. With degrees from Stanford University and UCLA, he has spent the last 21 years delivering over 1,300 presentations around the world. A former vice president of a major transportation corporation, and the author of nine books including the bestseller, Beyond Success, Biro was rated #1 among 40 speakers at four consecutive Inc. magazine international conferences. He has appeared on Good Morning ...

May 17, 202137 min

169: 3 Strategies to Lead Life on Your Terms - Brian Biro, Professional Speaker and Bestselling Author

America's Breakthrough Coach - Brian Brio No matter what industry you’re involved in, we are in the breakthrough business. Every day we seek to breakthrough with customers to generate loyalty, satisfaction, and relationship. The key to lasting success in business is breaking through with your own team members so they eagerly embrace personal responsibility, committed purpose, and leadership. Don’t let what you can’t do keep you from doing what you can. Shift your energy to what you can control t...

May 12, 202120 min

168: Hooked book summary - the science of forming habits - Nir Eyal

1st interview with Nir Eyal in Growth Mindset Podcast (https://www.growthmindsetpodcast.com/2021-nir-eyal)Wiser Than Yesterday podcast (https://www.wiserpod.com/)Hooked - how to build habit-forming products by Nir EyalNir Eyal is the author of a New York Times best selling book about consumer psychology and technology: "Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products".He is a prominent figure in the silicon valley start up scene with specialist expertise in product development and consumer psycholog...

Apr 27, 202139 min

167: Make a plan, work the plan - Chris Bello

Chris Bello A college graduate who later on questioned the direction he was going into and quit his corporate job 3 years in. Chris wanted to take hold of the reigns of life and write his own story.After struggling with one side-hustle after another, he went all-in on residential real estate, where he has quickly caught momentum. Chris is also the host of the top-rated business podcast, the Entrepreneur Motivation Podcast, where he documents his journey and interviews incredible guests. Recently...

Apr 19, 202143 min

166: Applying Growth Mindset to business, startups and life - Matt Lerner, Founder Startup Core Strengths

Matt LernerBefore becoming a VC, Matt has spent 15 years as a “growth marketer” in Silicon Valley, including 10 years at PayPal. As a Partner at 500 Startups, Matt led 35 early-stage investments, and he developed and led the “Distro Dojo” growth program, where he helped startups achieve average growth of 250% in 12 months.Matt also help founders skip expensive mistakes, focus on the impactful work, and build high-growth startups. After watching hundreds of startups waste investors’ money on bad ...

Apr 12, 202151 min

165: Morning routine - Stop hacking it and start enjoying it - Sam Harris

Morning routineI'm going to be talking all about morning routines because there's lots of information lately around like how to hack your morning routine and make the most of it.There's a lot of really bad advice out there that I think actually gives you a bad mindset around how to approach your mornings and can actually end up making you feel worse about your day than you need to. And instead you really want to be empowered.I'll be sharing with you my best solid tips for setting yourself up aro...

Apr 05, 202117 min

164: ALL things purpose, passion, and PLANTS - JP, Founder allplants

Jonathan PetridesMeet the founder leading a plant-based revolution Jonathan 'JP' Petrides. allplants is on a mission to make eating plant-based meals easy and delicious for everyone to enjoy. From their kitchen in London they use bold flavours and hyper convenience to bring more plants onto plates across the UK, inspiring us all to eat healthy and nourish the planet - delivering chef-made meals nationwide. Since launching in early 2017 with his brother Alex, they've bagged culinary awards for pu...

Mar 29, 202149 min

163: Making bets that pay off - Annie Duke, Author, Speaker and Decision Strategist

Annie DukeAnnie Duke has leveraged her expertise in the science of smart decision making to excel at pursuits as varied as championship poker, public speaking, teaching and philanthropy.For two decades, Annie was one of the top poker players in the world, winning several championships during her career. She has shared her knowledge through a series of best-selling poker instruction and theory books, Decide to Play Great Poker and The Middle Zone: Mastering the Most Difficult Hands in Hold’em Pok...

Mar 23, 202144 min

162: Mindsets and methodology for taking big shots - Listener questions

Jomiro's question'My partner, who is 32, left his software career of 15 years. He's sick of being an employee and living for a paycheck.He wants to figure out what his contribution to the world is. His inspiration. At the moment, though, he feels stuck. Like his savings won't last. Feels l ike he has one shot to make the right decision and feels maybe some anxiety around this. His worst fear is that it won't work out and you have to go back to his desk job.I really hope that hearing from someone...

Mar 16, 202127 min

161: Fulfil your (multi)potential - Beta Lucca, Entrepreneur and Investor

Beta LuccaRoberta Lucca (aka Beta Lucca) is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, international keynote speaker and host of Hyper Curious podcast.Roberta is an expert in and frequently speaks about high growth entrepreneurship, creativity, diversity and futurism. She brings first-hand 20 years of experience in launching dozens of innovative products, companies, games, and helping leaders take disruptive actions to grow their businesses while improving their leadership.Her mission is to empower ...

Mar 09, 20211 hr 1 min

157: Study now, pay later - Austen Allred, CEO and co-founder Lambda School

Austen AllredCEO Austen Allred was inspired to co-found Lambda School after spotting the major disconnect between a labor market in need of specialized talent, and the inaccessibility of training programs designed to fill that gap. His solution is a fully remote tech school with Income Share Agreements; rather than pay the Lambda School for training upfront, students pay a portion of their income after they've graduated and secured a job.Lambda School trains people to be software engineers at no...

Feb 09, 202142 min

156: Making humans Indistractable - Nir Eyal, author ‘Hooked’ and ‘Indistractable’

Nir EyalThe author of bestselling book Hooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products and more recently Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life.Nir is also an active investor in habit-forming technologies. Some of his past investments include: Eventbrite, Anchor.fm (acquired by Spotify) Product Hunt, Pantry, Kahoot!, Refresh.io (acquired by LinkedIn), Happy Bits, Presence Learning, 7 Cups of Tea, and Pana. Connect with Nir on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nireyal/...

Feb 02, 202144 min

155: Startup Investing - Nick Telson, Horseplay Ventures and Pitch Deck Podcast

Nick TelsonA serial angel investor and previously co-founded Design My Night, a nightlife discovery website, in 2010. Nick came from a background in marketing with L'Oreal launching two brands in the UK before going into Design My Night, which went on to have 8 million views a month and 250 million worth of transactional revenue with two groundbreaking B2B hospitality systems.Design My Night was later acquired by the access group. And Nick now has founded the Horseplay Ventures group, which is a...

Jan 27, 202113 min

154: Impact investing with Dhiraj Mukherjee, cofounder Shazam

Dhiraj MukherjeeDhiraj Mukherjee is a Co-Founder of Shazam, and an experienced digital business executive with a proven track record in both corporate and start-up environments.In 2000, he co-founded Shazam Entertainment, the world’s first mobile phone-based music recognition service. He was a Director of Shazam from 2000-2003, and raised £600,000 in seed funding and over £10 million in venture capital investment over three rounds. Shazam was acquired by Apple in 2017 for a reported $400 million...

Jan 26, 202113 min

152: Olympic training to change the world - Nazra Noushad, futurist and blogger

Nazra NoushadNazra Noushad is on a journey to impacting billions: she has dropped out of university, joined TKS as the first employee, helped them scale to 6 cities, and have been consulting for world recognized companies/teams since 17 years old. Nazra aims to rebuild our world. Success to her is fulfillment. It’s helping people, it’s being present, it’s utilizing the gift of life to give other people the gift of fulfilled living.She is taking the unconventional path towards her development and...

Jan 06, 202142 min

151: Top life-hack from 2020- Charity budgets

Life hack for the yearI've done a very successful life hack of the year since starting this podcast. And I'm pleased to say this year is no different.Annual Charity budgetsSomething I came up with a few years ago to reduce general stress in my life and make me a happier and kinder person. After three years of this the results are in. It works.I spend more time being happy, my relationships are better and more good things come back my way. I feel like I actually practice being the person I aspire...

Dec 24, 202016 min

150: Lessons from building Shazam - Dhiraj Mukherjee, Cofounder of Shazam and Angel Investor

Dhiraj MukherjeeDhiraj Mukherjee is a Co-Founder of Shazam, and an experienced digital business executive with a proven track record in both corporate and start-up environments.In 2000, he co-founded Shazam Entertainment, the world’s first mobile phone-based music recognition service. He was a Director of Shazam from 2000-2003, and raised £600,000 in seed funding and over £10 million in venture capital investment over three rounds. Shazam was acquired by Apple in 2017 for a reported $400 million...

Dec 15, 202051 min

149: Planning and executing - Nick Telson, Design My Night

Nick TelsonA serial angel investor and previously co-founded Design My Night, a nightlife discovery website, in 2010. Nick came from a background in marketing with L'Oreal launching two brands in the UK before going into Design My Night, which went on to have 8 million views a month and 250 million worth of transactional revenue with two groundbreaking B2B hospitality systems.Design My Night was later acquired by the access group. And Nick now has founded the Horseplay Ventures group, which is a...

Dec 01, 202047 min

148: Building people that build startups - David Brown, CEO Techstars

David BrownDavid is a serial entrepreneur who has founded three startups and been involved with two others. David is one of the original founders of Pinpoint Technologies, Inc. which is now part of ZOLL Medical Corporation and provides solutions to the emergency medical servicesmarket.David later co-founded Techstars along with David Cohen, Brad Feld, and Jared Polis. He has been an investor and advisor to Techstars since inception. In 2013, he joined Techstars in a more active role as President...

Nov 17, 202036 min

145: Deep dive into my hidden mindset limitations - Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D.

Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D.A cutting-edge mindset author, researcher, and consultant. He helps improve organizations, leaders, teams, and employees by improving their mindsets. Ryan is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of “Success Mindsets: The Key to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work, & Leadership” (Morgan James Publishers). He is also a leadership professor at the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton (CSUF). He ho...

Oct 27, 202033 min

142: Investing in curiosity - Reece Chowdhry, Founder & CEO - RLC Ventures

Reece Chowdhry Founder and CEO of the multi award-winning RLC Ventures, a venture capital firm that specialises in investing in technology-based seed stage businesses. Reece was awarded “Top 5 Asian Tech Investors” in 2018 (KPMG & Diversity UK) and is the youngest-ever investor to profiled by The Sunday Times. Since launching RLC three years ago, Reece has invested in 30 start-ups and sits on the board of six portfolio companies. Reece Connect with Reece on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com...

Oct 06, 202052 min

140: Using Focus to Fuel Your Fire - John Lee Dumas, Entrepreneur On Fire

John Lee DumasAn American entrepreneur and podcaster based in Puerto Rico. He is the founder and host of Entrepreneurs on Fire, a business podcast where he interviews successful entrepreneurs. John developed the concept of a daily podcast that would feature the story of successful entrepreneurs. He named it Entrepreneurs On Fire. EOFire launched September 22, 2012. As his subscribers grew, he published Podcast Launch in the Amazon bookstore. Podcast Launch is a guide of the exact steps he took t...

Sep 22, 202017 min

139: The Neuroscience of Success Mindsets - Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D.

Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D.A cutting-edge mindset author, researcher, and consultant. He helps improve organizations, leaders, teams, and employees by improving their mindsets. Ryan is the Wall Street Journal and USA Today best-selling author of “Success Mindsets: The Key to Unlocking Greater Success in Your Life, Work, & Leadership” (Morgan James Publishers). He is also a leadership professor at the Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton (CSUF). He ho...

Sep 15, 202029 min
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