Sleep is objectively worse when splitting a bed. Yet that’s the default for most couples. But that doesn’t mean sharing the covers is easy. Especially when one person is having trouble falling or staying asleep. On this episode of How To!, the second in a two-part series, co-host Carvell Wallace continues the conversation with Dr. Wendy Troxel, author of Sharing the Covers: Every Couple’s Guide to Better Sleep. Dr. Troxel explains how couples can experiment with sleeping arrangements in a way th...
May 30, 2023•33 min•Transcript available on Metacast Vanessa isn’t a night owl. Yet, often, you can find her lying awake desperately trying to turn off her brain. When her partner stays over she often resorts to the couch just to get some rest. On this episode of How To!, co-host Carvell Wallace brings in Dr. Wendy Troxel. She is a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in sleep medicine and the author of the book, Sharing the Covers: Every Couple’s Guide to Better Sleep. On part one of a two part series—Dr. Troxel explains how insomnia disru...
May 23, 2023•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast ‘I’ve got bad news’ is a sentence no one wants to hear. But at some point, all of us will either have to deliver bad news or will be on the receiving end. So what can make these gut-wrenching conversations go less horribly? On this episode of How To!, co-host Amanda Ripley brings in Dr. Robert Arnold, co-founder of Vital Talk, and Maura, a social worker at a level one trauma center to talk about how to better communicate serious news. Because just about all of us can get a lot better at it — onc...
May 16, 2023•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s not easy to start a business. It’s even harder to build a successful one. Luckily, we can ask experts, entrepreneurs, and business leaders for advice. In this special Slate episode, brought to you by Bank of America, we’ve gathered the best business advice from our hit shows How To! and Working. You’ll hear helpful tips and inspiring stories from business experts like Guy Raz, The Knot co-founder Carly Roney, Everything Everywhere All at Once fight choreographer Daniel Mah, and others. Join...
May 12, 2023•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast On this bonus episode from our friends at Slate's Dear Prudence podcast—Bomani Jones (host of HBO’s Game Theory With Bomani Jones and The Right Time With Bomani Jones) joins Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) to answer questions from letter writers about workplace socializing, friends who are no longer likable people, and youth football. Podcast production by Se’era Spragley Ricks and Daisy Rosario, with help from Brandon Nix. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
May 09, 2023•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Guns are now the leading cause of death for children in America. Each tragedy can be visceral, whether it’s in your community or across the country. And it’s especially heartbreaking when your kid voices that fear directly, as our listener Allison recently experienced. On this episode of How To!, co-host Amanda Ripley brings in Melinda Wenner Moyer. Melinda is an author and science journalist with years covering gun violence and parenting issues. She’s also the author of the substack, Is My Kid ...
May 02, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast If you haven’t heard of ChatGPT, chances are you will soon. Maybe you’ve tried casually playing with the artificial intelligent chatbot. Maybe you’ve tried avoiding it. Or maybe ChatGPT is the new host of this podcast and you haven’t realized it yet. Either way, we’re on the precipice of a new, powerful technology. On this episode of How To!, co-hosts Carvell Wallace and Amanda Ripley join forces to talk through all things artificial intelligence. They bring on Kevin Roose, tech columnist for th...
Apr 25, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kate stopped reading in 2016. Since then, she’s tried to find her way back to it but something’s not clicking, and it’s left a book-shaped hole in her heart. Reading used to be something she really enjoyed, took pride in, and loved connecting with people over. On this episode of How To!, co-host Carvell Wallace brings in Maryanne Wolf, director of UCLA’s Center For Dyslexia, Diverse Learners, and Social Justice and author of the book, Reader, Come Home. Maryanne explains the science behind the r...
Apr 18, 2023•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast John has spent years training to become a Pararescueman, a member of Air Force Special Warfare tasked with recovering downed military personnel around the globe. He has pushed himself past countless obstacles and trials, except one — holding his breath in the pool. On this episode of How To!, co-host Carvell Wallace is joined by free diving expert and founder of the Performance Free Dive Academy Kirk Krack. Kirk has spent decades mastering the art of lowering his heart rate and increasing his ca...
Apr 11, 2023•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Emily is a successful career and executive coach in Ohio, who has done well finding clients through word-of-mouth. But in order to expand her business she knows she has to up her online marketing game. The only catch? She is terrified of social media. On this episode of How To!, co-host Amanda Ripley brings in Suzy Wagner, president of Brand & Buzz. Suzy has some surprising advice for creating a social media strategy that cuts through the noise while being realistic and authentic to yourself. If...
Apr 04, 2023•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast On a recent workday, Pauline woke up and logged into her computer from home … only to find an email saying she was being laid off — effective immediately. She and her entire team, many of them working remotely, instantly lost access to all of their company accounts. Pauline was shell-shocked, hurt, and wondering what to do next. In the wake of massive tech layoffs, it’s a story that’s now all-too familiar. On this episode of How To!, host Carvell Wallace brings in Susan Peppercorn, a career coac...
Mar 28, 2023•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week we present a special episode from A Slight Change of Plans hosted by Dr. Maya Shankar, a cognitive scientist who studies human behavior and was our featured expert on How To Stick To Your New Year's Resolutions. Maya's podcast examines who we are and who we become in the face of a big change. In this episode, Maya looks at a feeling most of us are familiar with: stress. We’re all familiar with the ways stress can make us feel bad, but can we use it as a helpful resource? Maya’s joined ...
Mar 21, 2023•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Leslie landed her dream engineering job right out of college, she was elated but also worried she was a tad unqualified—even though she has the skills and expertise. Since then imposter syndrome has reared its ugly head on a regular basis. Besides being the youngest in her department, she’s one of the only women and the only person of color, which has made things even more isolating. On this episode of How To!, host Amanda Ripley brings on Dr. Jessica Esquivel, physicist, advocate for margi...
Mar 14, 2023•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Cooking is one of the most basic human activities. We’ve probably been doing it since the discovery of fire and, yet, it’s more than just fuel. It’s culture. It’s comfort. It’s increasingly content. The problem is when we have such high expectations for something so simple and vital, we can find ourselves, well…paralyzed with doubt. Not to mention hungry. On this episode of How To!, host Carvell Wallace brings on Samin Nosrat, author of Salt Fat Acid Heat, who talks with food writer, Rachel Baro...
Mar 07, 2023•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast This summer, Hillary and her fiancé will be moving into their first home together. It’s an upgrade from their apartment, and they get to design it from scratch. Hillary is really looking forward to entertaining friends and even growing their family in the space. She wants to design the interior of the house so it feels like a home, but she has no idea where to start, style-wise. On this episode of How To!, host Carvell Wallace brings on award-winning interior designer Corey Damen Jenkins. Corey ...
Feb 28, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Joey is a young creative living in Australia who can’t decide which hat to wear. Should it be songwriting, skateboarding, acting, or should he focus more on his day job as a retail clerk? Fitting everything in during the week seems impossible and he feels guilty when he can’t cross everything off his checklist. On this episode of How To!, co-host Amanda Ripley brings in journalist Oliver Burkeman, the author of 4000 Weeks: Time Management for Mortals. He explains how he too once wanted to do it ...
Feb 21, 2023•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sharon is 38 and never been kissed. This, as she acknowledges, is “a bit weird.” As a nurse who loves ballroom dancing, Sharon is smart, funny, and attractive. At the same time, she’s deeply religious and has been waiting so long for the perfect man she worries that she’ll never find “The One.” In this classic How To! episode, founding host Charles Duhigg brings in one of New York City’s finest matchmakers, Lisa Clampitt, for some tough love. Lisa believes Sharon has a lot going for her, but in ...
Feb 14, 2023•37 min•Transcript available on Metacast Keith prides himself on being a good dad to his three sons. But in a post-pandemic world with looming student debt and uncertain opportunities, the future can be really scary. He’s especially worried about his middle son Ben, an introvert who doesn't know what to do after he graduates high school this year. On this episode of How To! host Carvell Wallace brings on Rebecca Lavoie. She’s a versatile podcaster and former co-host on Slate’s parenting show Mom and Dad are Fighting. She’s also a recen...
Feb 07, 2023•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Yuzuha has been interviewing people for six years. She’s a journalist based in Japan who writes about business and technology but has dreamed of working in broadcast, interviewing people for an audience. Her first challenge is coming sooner than she expected. Yuzuha was asked to moderate a panel at a big conference in Tokyo. She wants to know how to speak with confidence, capture an audience, and ensure her questions get answered without putting on a fake persona. On this episode of How To!, Ama...
Jan 31, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Earlier this year, our listener, Rell, nearly failed a promotion. Not because she was unprepared or unqualified, but because she didn’t maintain enough eye contact with the interviewers. Rell’s eye hasn’t been fully receiving information since she was born, a condition that’s outwardly visible and known colloquially as a “lazy eye.” It’s beginning to affect her self-confidence and is this “ugly thing [she] can’t let go of.” On this episode of How To!, new co-host Carvell Wallace brings on Sarah ...
Jan 24, 2023•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast January is barely two weeks old and already some of our ambitious New Year’s resolutions may be starting to fade. No shame! Approximately 90% of resolution makers don’t reach their goal. Which means there’s gotta be a better way. Our listener this week, Emily, is discouraged about her unhealthy eating and lack of exercise and wants to form better habits that last long after the new year. On this episode of How To!, we bring on Maya Shankar. Maya is a cognitive scientist and host of the award-win...
Jan 17, 2023•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the wake of the anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, and now similar riots in Brazil’s capital, we’re picking up our conversation about how to reduce political violence. In the first episode of our two-part series, we heard from Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. This week, we’re talking with Curtis Toler, director of outreach at Chicago CRED. After joining his first street organization at the age of 9, Curtis went from a gang leader...
Jan 10, 2023•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast It’s been two years since the January 6th riot at the US Capitol in Washington DC. Over 900 people have been criminally charged, but political violence continues to be a threat. Well, here at How To!, we are not content to just marinate in fear and blame so we’re dedicating two episodes to see how we can prevent more tragedies like January 6. In our first episode, we bring on Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace where she focuses on the intersecti...
Jan 03, 2023•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast Here at How To! headquarters, we give and receive a lot of good advice. This year we saved the planet, unbroke the news, discovered our style, sat in silence, found pleasure, put a small town on the map, learned to laugh, ran for office (without being an a**hole), and talked politics with our parents. On this episode of How To!, the team gathers ‘round the mic to round up our favorite advice of the year. We talk about how we applied that advice to our own lives, share some surprising updates fro...
Dec 27, 2022•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast TJ has spent years trying to heal herself and put her childhood behind her. Both of her parents struggled with addiction, which made for a very complicated, unstable upbringing. After sacrificing her own childhood to raise her siblings—TJ feels deeply wounded by her mother in particular. She really wants to let it go. The only question is how. On this episode of How To!, we bring on journalist Marina Cantacuzino. Marina is the founder of The Forgiveness Project, a charity that shares stories of ...
Dec 20, 2022•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast This week, Los Angeles’ newly elected mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency to help address the city’s homelessness crisis. It’s an overwhelming issue that has left a lot of Angelenos wondering how they can help, including this week’s listener Alex. On this episode, host Amanda Ripley brings on two people who have experience fighting housing insecurity. Theo Henderson is an activist and host of the podcast, We the Unhoused, which sheds light on the struggles faced by the unhoused commun...
Dec 13, 2022•43 min•Transcript available on Metacast ‘Tis the season of gathering with friends and family. It’s also a time where some of us yearn for a closer community, like this week’s listener. Morgan is looking for a way to hang out with friends in a consistent, meaningful manner. On this episode of How To!, Priya Parker, author of The Art of Gathering, explains how to transform a lackluster hang-out where people just sit around drinking beer into a party with a purpose where guests want to come back. She tells us how to create an event that ...
Dec 06, 2022•44 min•Transcript available on Metacast Victor’s job—at its core—is to change the world. But he feels like he’s plateaued within his large humanitarian and development organization, and is now on the verge of jumping ship. On this episode of How To!, Annie Duke, author of Quit: The Power Of Knowing When to Walk Away, helps Victor decide if he should recommit to his current job or move on to something else. She explains the cognitive biases that prevent us from quitting and reveals why most of us quit things far too late. If you liked ...
Nov 29, 2022•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode from our friends at The Atlas Obscura Podcast, you'll visit the San Diego Automotive Museum in California to hear about one man’s dream of creating the ultimate road trip car. Their podcast is an audio guide to the world’s wondrous, awe-inspiring, strange places. In under 15 minutes, they'll take you to an incredible site, and along the way you’ll meet some fascinating people and hear their stories. Join them daily, Monday through Thursday, to explore a new wonder with cofounder ...
Nov 25, 2022•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lauren already knows the plot of her bestselling novel—the problem is she hasn’t written a word. Paralyzed by self-criticism and an earlier rejection, this former English major has spent years journaling instead of attempting the scary, difficult work of creative writing. On this episode of How To!, we turn to writer Taffy Brodesser-Akner, whose debut novel Fleishman Is in Trouble, was one of the hottest books of the year. Can she help Lauren finally put pen to paper? The first thing Lauren need...
Nov 22, 2022•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
