We're kicking off Simplify's relaunch with our first-ever two person interview! This lively, probing conversation with Being Well's Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson—a bestselling author and psychologist and also Forrest's dad—digs into common misconceptions in the mental health and self-growth space. They address the maybe-bogus notion that "until you love yourself, you can't love anyone else," dissect the difference between self-esteem and self-worth, and dig deep into the simplest strategy f...
Jun 30, 2023•38 min
Want to skip this year’s tsunami of New Year’s hacks, tips, and tricks that don’t even work? We’ve got you covered. In this episode, we’ve distilled powerful ideas and approaches from our 3 most popular episodes. And since we spend all our time divided between focusing on ourselves, our relationships, and our work, we’ll focus on simplifying those three areas. Just what you need for the new year—and nothing you don’t. BONUS: we’ve made a very neat New-Yearsy tool available to you for free. You c...
Jan 11, 2023•53 min
Follow the guidance of the bravest, highest, fullest version of yourself, and move closer to being the person you dream of becoming. SHOW NOTES Imagine having a mentor that’s available 24/7 to advise you on whatever challenge life puts in front of you—wouldn’t that be nice? In this bonus episode, Ken Page guides you through The Inner Mentor Process™, a guided meditation practice. In this practice, you'll find you're able to bypass your inner critic and get a message from your own personal mentor...
Oct 29, 2021•19 min
Figure out what matters most to you and let go of the rest. EPISODE NOTES Do you sometimes feel overwhelmed by all of the things you need to juggle in order to be a good... anything? A good partner, a good parent, a good worker, a good friend? And in the end, it feels like you never have enough time and energy to focus on what really matters to YOU? In this final episode of Season 7, Tiffany Dufu invites you to stop being "good" and drop the ball. Tiffany is the author of Drop the Ball: Achievin...
Jul 08, 2021•42 min
Reduce digital anxiety and optimize your communication no matter the distance. EPISODE NOTES Did you know that 50% of the time the tone over email, Slack, and text is misunderstood? This is because in the digital world, the cues we would usually send with our bodies are missing—facial expressions, gestures, vocal tone—and that can cause a lot of misunderstandings. And this is why Erica Dhawan, the author of Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance https://...
Jul 08, 2021•39 min
Put down your armor and open yourself to real intimacy. EPISODE NOTES Are you single—or in a relationship—and keep falling for people who almost love you right, but not quite? There's a reason why that happens, and Ken Page has figured out the formula behind these deeper physics of dating. Ken is a psychotherapist specialized in the search for intimacy, and author of the book Deeper Dating: How to Drop the Games of Seduction and Discover the Power of Intimacy (https://www.blinkist.com/en/nc/brow...
Jul 02, 2021•44 min
Learn how to stop saying yes when you want to say no, even to your boss. EPISODE NOTES Do you sometimes find yourself replying to work emails late at night... from bed? Or maybe taking on another task that, almost as soon as you've agreed, you realize you don't actually have time for? Often, instead of behaving as if we’re exchanging our intellect, talent, and skills for money, we feel like whoever pays us owns us. And this is where trouble starts. In today's episode Natalie Lue will help you un...
Jun 24, 2021•45 min
Prepare for your own death—and live life more fully in the meantime. EPISODE NOTES Does talking about death freak you out? No wonder, it's something many of us avoid thinking about and prefer pretending it's not there. But it's an important topic, and if we can allow ourselves to sit with the truth that life will eventually end, it becomes a beautiful call to appreciate our lives and the people in them. And this is why palliative care physician Kathryn Mannix wrote her book, With the End in Mind...
Jun 23, 2021•41 min
Eliminate drama and create better relationships by owning your 100%. EPISODE NOTES Most of us learned how to do relationships from a state of victimhood. According to Karpman's Drama Triangle, there are three different roles to play: the victim, the hero and the villain. Regardless of these parts we take on, we're avoiding taking full responsibility for our experiences and our results in the world, which in turn causes a lot of drama and suffering. In this episode, Diana Chapman explains what it...
Jun 23, 2021•35 min
Become a conscious, authentic leader by befriending your fear—and every other emotion, too. EPISODE NOTES One thing most leaders have in common is that they want to perform well. And that often leads them into the trap of believing that to be a great leader, you’re not allowed to be scared—or at least that you'd better not show it. In this episode, Jim Dethmer invites us to embrace the opposite: allowing yourself to be fully present and fully alive—including feeling all your feelings—is the firs...
Jun 15, 2021•40 min
Understand the science of your child's developing mind to calm the chaos. EPISODE NOTES If your child is having a meltdown or throwing a tantrum in the supermarket, you'll do almost anything to make them stop—including turning into MeanParent™. But there's another way! Dr. Tina Payne Bryson offers a different approach to discipline, free of threats and punishments, that is based on neuroscience. Understanding and nourishing your child's developing brain will not only help you survive the chaos, ...
Jun 15, 2021•39 min
Make big moves on the projects that matter most to you with the help of productivity expert Erik Fisher. EPISODE NOTES Worn down by your never-ending to-do list? Even though there’s been a shift towards a more holistic idea of productivity in the last years, a lot of people still think that being productive is all about efficient time managing and achieving more. And this is where Erik Fisher comes in. Over the past 10 years, Erik's hosted some of the world's biggest productivity experts on his ...
Jun 15, 2021•35 min
Keep your career thriving in today’s volatile job market with a new perspective on identity and jobs from Farai Chideya. EPISODE NOTES For a lot of us, our job is a profound expression of selfhood. That means that when we lose a job, or when a business fails, we might feel like failures, too. And in today’s uncertain economy this happens a lot more than anybody would like. In this episode, Farai Chideya, author of The Episodic Career https://www.blinkist.com/en/books/the-episodic-career-en [1], ...
Jun 15, 2021•38 min
After a long pandemic's nap, Simplify is BACK with 9 episodes that range in topic from career pivots to bandwidth to dropping the ball, through to parenting and how to have a good death. EPISODE NOTES To show you just how much we've missed you, season 7 of Simplify is extra large and extra excellent! This time, you'll hear from a dating psychologist on connecting at the deepest level, the ultimate productivity expert on working in seasons, and even a hospice physician on how to have a good death...
Jun 15, 2021•2 min
Sebastian Klein, psychologist, entrepreneur and co-author of The Loop Approach, shares how small changes in behavior can make big organizational transformations. In this interview, Caitlin and Sebastian discuss how businesses around the world are making changes that transform them from hierarchy, to more effective and people-centered organizations. Sebastian explains why designating roles rather than titles is more empowering, how he determines whether organizations genuinely want to change, and...
Oct 31, 2019•36 min
In this episode of Simplify, Sonya Renee Taylor explains how our language and mindset about our bodies impact us in ways that we are often entirely unaware of. Increasing our awareness of this factor enables us to better understand our own low moments, but also helps to explain major historical and societal harm. Listen in to learn more about what we can do to avoid repeatedly making these same mistakes. Sonya Renee Taylor is a multi-talented artist, activist, educator and transformational leade...
Oct 25, 2019•40 min
In this episode of Simplify, Caitlin asks Randolph Nesse why he believes that humans have evolved to experience hardships such as depression, anxiety and grief. As it turns out, while many of our most painful emotions often do not serve a proper function in our modern world, they may have a history that allowed for our ancestors to survive. Randolph Nesse is a Professor and Founding Director of The Center for Evolution and Medicine at Arizona State University. His decades of experience in a clin...
Oct 23, 2019•37 min
Can we make joy, on-demand? Ingrid Fetell Lee, joy researcher and former IDEO designer, reveals how in transforming our spaces, we also have the power to transform our wellbeing. Find out how color brought life back into a struggling city, how you might be able to cheer up a loved one in the hospital, and how to set up a meeting at work to bring more energy and positivity into the room. For more info, including links to everything discussed in the episode, check out this link: https://www.blinki...
Oct 22, 2019•36 min
In this episode of Simplify, journalist and two-time New York Times-bestselling author Johann Hari reveals the cultural causes of depression: loss of connection to meaningful work, meaningful relationships, a future that makes sense, and other amorphous factors, both political and personal, that just can’t be blamed on the human mind. Hear Hari tell Caitlin the stories of how people have reclaimed their connections to meaningful work and the moving story of the Berlin community that saved itself...
Oct 22, 2019•35 min
In this episode of Simplify, Susan Cain discusses the ways in which introverts and extroverts react differently to stimulation and why we often overlook the strengths of introverts. Giving introverts permission to be themselves not only makes them feel better, it can unlock their potential. With a few simple tweaks, schools and workplaces can create an environment in which introverts are better able to use their unique strengths to benefit everybody. Susan Cain is the author of the bestselling b...
Oct 01, 2019•38 min
Picture a person who uses cannabis regularly. Did you imagine an Olympic medal-winning athlete, or a successful entrepreneur? Or did you think of someone who fits the standard stoner stereotype? If, like most people, you conjured up the latter, then today’s episode of Simplify might challenge some of your assumptions about what cannabis-use looks like, and what it’s used for. In this episode, Caitlin interviews cannabis journalist and author of The Little Book of Cannabis, Amanda Siebert. As the...
Mar 13, 2019•39 min
What does whiteness mean? If you're a white person, the occasions on which you've thought about it might be few. If you're a person of color, the time you spend reckoning with its meaning & consequences are likely far too many. Today's episode of Simplify is an invitation to grapple with what white means in the world, and how to have more generative, revelation-ready mindsets and conversations about racism as a system. As a Racial Justice Educator, Robin DiAngelo exhorts white people to cons...
Mar 13, 2019•49 min
Coach & writer Jen Sincero tried every self-help technique out there, then condensed the most powerful practices into one straight-talking bestseller that thousands have used to kickstart their lives. Listen in as Sincero takes you through how to bust your own self-defeating beliefs to become the badass you’ve always known you are. Sincero, author of bestselling book *You Are a Badass* breaks down negative thinking about money, how to tap into "source energy" (without getting too woo-woo), a...
Feb 21, 2019•35 min
If you've got a pulse and like eating food, you've likely either been on a diet, or felt obligated to start one. Yet the fact remains that diets, in the traditional cut-and-count-calories format, rarely work long term. That's where Melissa Hartwig Urban comes in. On this episode of Simplify, the co-creator of nutrition phenomenon *The Whole30* talks with Caitlin about how to get free of diets forever, why your weight doesn't count, and how changing the way you eat can change everything. Plus, sh...
Feb 14, 2019•39 min
The turning point came for Ayelet Waldman when she found herself frozen before her medicine cabinet, wondering "What's going to kill me fastest?" She knew it was time to try a new tactic to improve her mental health. In this episode, hear this bestselling author (who's also a mom, a wife, and a novelist!) describe her experience with microdosing LSD and how it improved her writing and her marriage, and maybe even saved her life. Waldman will bring you deep into the research around psychedelics a...
Feb 07, 2019•41 min
For something that’s often sold as an antidote to the stresses of modern life, learning to meditate can feel weirdly pressurized. And in a secular society, those who have a healthy dose of skepticism running through their veins can find the esoteric nature of it a massive turn-off. And this, according to Dan Harris, is what people have got wrong about meditation. Reaching enlightenment isn’t the goal for most modern meditators, and a mind completely clear of thoughts just isn’t a thing. In fact,...
Feb 06, 2019•38 min
Hear ye, hear ye! We're kicking off the New Year with Simplify Season 5: Blinkist’s hit podcast returns on January 31st. Here's what's in store... In season 5, you’ll learn how easy meditation can be with Dan Harris, how to change your self-defeating beliefs with Jen Sincero, and how to talk about race with Robin DiAngelo. You'll also hear what it's like to microdose LSD for a month and learn the surprising ways a little bit of cannabis can improve your health. If you haven’t subscribed, make su...
Jan 17, 2019•2 min
In this bonus episode of Simplify, Caitlin talks to bestselling author, speaker and humorist Luvvie Ajayi on how we can all benefit from telling each other the ugly truth. If a friend of yours needed to hear an unpleasant truth, would you tell it to them? Or would you gloss over it in order to avoid an uncomfortable conversation? Many of us would probably opt for the latter to avoid hurting someone’s feelings, but sometimes loving criticism is necessary to make people understand that they deserv...
Oct 18, 2018•24 min
In this episode of Simplify, Caitlin talks to The Second City executive Kelly Leonard about how improv-based skills and techniques can be applied to the business world. Effective collaboration, innovative thinking, and constructive problem-solving can be major struggles for many teams, regardless of industry. But for those who really want to fix these issues, it’s time to look beyond how other companies work and turn to improv comedy ensembles for inspiration. After all, they’ve literally taken ...
Sep 27, 2018•42 min
In this episode of Simplify, psychologist Guy Winch tells Caitlin why we should treat our emotional pain as seriously as physical pain and explains how to heal from common heartaches. Nothing hurts worse than heartbreak. Whether it’s the painful end of relationship or the passing away of a beloved pet, grief and emotional suffering can quickly become all-consuming. And that’s where we blame ourselves and feel guilty for our inability to overcome emotional pain fast enough. Moreover, as psycholog...
Sep 20, 2018•46 min
