The iatrogenic effects of psychiatry. Something is deeply wrong with the mental health system. Instead of leading to recovery, it often perpetuates cycles of dependency on therapy, medication, and diagnoses. Psychiatric diagnoses, which are unreliable to begin with, have become our identities rather than tools for recovery. While more people are going to therapy than ever before, our collective mental health isn’t improving . For some disorders, such as ADHD and PTSD, medication is prioritized o...
Mar 10, 2025•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Anne-Laure Le Cunff is a neuroscientist, entrepreneur, and founder of Ness Labs. Her research at King’s College London explores the psychology and neuroscience of lifelong learning, curiosity, and adaptability. Her book, Tiny Experiments, is a transformative guide to rethinking goals, embracing uncertainty, and using curiosity as a tool for growth. In this episode, we dive into redefining success, the power of experimentation, distraction, and much more! Tiny Experiments: https://nesslabs.com/bo...
Mar 05, 2025•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nir’s Note: This guest post is by Sahil Bloom , an entrepreneur, investor, and writer known for his engaging content on personal development, finance, and wealth-building. He is the creator of “ The Curiosity Chronicle ,” a biweekly newsletter that captivates millions of readers with insights on various topics. His new book, The 5 Types of Wealth , is a guide to building a life around the things you truly care about. Most of us don’t think about how we spend our professional time—we just try and...
Mar 03, 2025•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast My wife and I started our first business together in 2003. We sold solar panels in Long Island, New York, which meant making thousands of in-home sales calls. Before we entered a potential customer’s home, we had a little ritual. We always looked at each other before we opened our car doors and said, “Let’s go sell a solar system.” It was cheesy and a bit silly, but somehow, we had to say it, or we thought we’d be jinxed and lose the sale. Though we didn’t know it then, we had tapped into one of...
Feb 24, 2025•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast A few years ago, I started waking up at three o’clock every morning. Over the years, I’d read many articles about the importance of rest, so I knew the research was unequivocal: Quality sleep supports cognitive performance and lowers the risk of diseases and health conditions such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke, obesity, and dementia. Knowing that, I’d toss and turn in bed, disappointed that I wasn’t following through on my plan to get seven to eight hours of shut-eye. It was on my sc...
Sep 23, 2024•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Something as vague and indiscernible as “luck” has no place in the business world, right? Yet studies show luck can make all the difference between business success and failure. So, can you learn how to be lucky? Joël Le Bon, professor of marketing and sales at Johns Hopkins University Carey Business School, has found that luck is a significant factor in sales professionals’ performance. He even says companies can manage their luck to get a competitive edge. You can read the Nir And Far blog pos...
Sep 16, 2024•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast We all dwell on unresolved personal conflicts from time to time. Who hasn’t ruminated on a hurtful comment or unintentional harm we might have caused someone? Feeling bad about something you did, or something done to you, is human. Congratulations on not being a psychopath! But while it’s expected that the arguments we’ve had, the negative events we’ve experienced, and the major decisions we face haunt us, overthinking can also pile on new problems. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: How...
Sep 09, 2024•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast ee if you can relate to Sarah. She’s a software engineer who loves her job—except for her manager, Tom. To Tom, everything is a crisis worthy of interrupting Sara, even when she’s deeply focused on her work. One morning, while Sarah is coding a critical feature, Tom calls and asks her to drop everything to help with an urgent report for the CMO. Sarah complies, but by the end of the day, she hasn’t dedicated much time to any of the tasks she planned to focus on. You can read the Nir And Far blog...
Sep 05, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast How belief in luck makes us bolder and better. Richard Branson will be the first to tell you that he’s generally a lucky person in business and life. An adrenaline junkie, he’s lived through several near-death experiences, including in the early ’70s, when he and his then-wife survived a shipwreck that no other passengers did by jumping off the boat in a storm and swimming to shore. You can read the Nir And Far article on: Only People Who Believe in Luck Have It https://www.nirandfar.com/believe...
Jul 22, 2024•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast As a clinically obese teen, my parents were desperate to get me to a healthy weight. My mom coaxed me on a walk through our boring, middle-class Central Florida suburb every Sunday. The road we walked was paved with good intentions, but for me, it was hell: the heat and humidity, the painful chafing between my thighs, the inevitable embarrassment of applying Vaseline to said chafing. … If I was going to suffer, I would need a reward, and it had better be a good one! You can read the Nir And Far ...
Jul 15, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace report highlights a stark reality: disengaged and burned-out employees are draining 9% of the world’s GDP, resulting in approximately $8.8 trillion in losses. On the other hand, engaged employees are 18% more productive and 23% more profitable. This underscores how closely productivity is tied to profitability and overall organizational health. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Work Productivity Hacks & Tips for Today’s Workplace https://w...
Jul 08, 2024•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Is there a reason everything some people touch turns to gold? You know those people who just seem to get more and more successful? It’s as if each success gives them momentum to achieve even more. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Why Successful People Only Get More Successful https://www.nirandfar.com/success-breeds-success/ Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It wi...
Jun 24, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nir’s Note: This guest post is by Nicholas Hutchison, founder of BookThinkers and author of Rise of the Reader . When I was growing up, you couldn’t pay me to read a book about self-help or business. Now, I read between 60 to 80 books every year. A good non-fiction book is the distilled knowledge of years of research and insight and costs just a few bucks. Why wouldn’t you take advantage of such a cheap, efficient way to learn lessons that could change your life without having to do the work or ...
Jun 10, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast If we think life is over in old age, it will be. There is no shortage of supposed methods for increasing lifespan. Typing in “longevity” into Amazon reveals over 40,000 books on the topic. Each author purports their own cure, typically involving a special diet, miracle supplement, or painful practice. What’s usually left out is how much extra life one can expect to gain by following these often difficult, frequently expensive, and rarely scientifically-backed routines. You can read the Nir And F...
Jun 03, 2024•12 min•Transcript available on Metacast Experiencing fear without harm lessens feelings of anxiety. Nir’s Note: The following essay is adapted from a chapter in Get Better at Anything: 12 Maxims for Mastery by Scott Young. Scott is the author of Ultralearning and a TedX speaker renowned for his “ MIT Challenge ,” where he learned 4 year’s worth of college-level computer science in just 12 months.. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: How to Overcome Anxiety Forever https://www.nirandfar.com/overcoming-anxiety/ Nir And Far, a pod...
May 13, 2024•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Referent power is considered the most potent because it doesn’t require that a leader micromanage , use coercion, or reward to influence others. People follow a leader with referent power based on who the leader is and how they behave. According to French and Raven, referent power has the broadest range of influence of any power, allowing it to be leveraged on a large scale. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Referent Power: The Ultimate Form of Influence https://www.nirandfar.com/refere...
May 06, 2024•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast I visit with Mike Norton about his new book, The Ritual Effect. Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/
Apr 29, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast “There are a whole lot of ways to be perfect, and not one of them is attained through punishment.” —science fiction author Ursula K. Le Guin Pushing ourselves and holding ourselves accountable are how we achieve success. Unfortunately, many of us mistake harsh self-criticism and self-castigation for “pushing ourselves.” And that has the opposite of the desired effect. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Studies Show Self-Compassion is the Motivator You’re Missing https://www.nirandfar.com...
Apr 22, 2024•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nir’s Note: This article is a collaboration between Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at New York University’s Stern School of Business, and me. He researches moral and political psychology and business ethics. He has delivered four TED Talks and written two best-selling books. We’ve been friends for years, and our daughters often played together when I lived in New York City. You can read the NirAndFar blog post on: Children and Technology: 3 Things Parents Need To Know https://www.nirandfa...
Apr 08, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Can virtual meetings be as effective as in-person ones? It’s one thing to eliminate distractions in meetings. It’s another to do the same in virtual meetings. Now that virtual teams are becoming a norm, many coworkers have never met each other in person. Yet, they’re expected to work every day toward a shared goal. Rapport and trust become even more crucial in virtual workplaces but also may be trickier to establish. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: How to Banish Virtual Meeting Boredo...
Apr 01, 2024•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast You’re probably not going to fulfill all your goals this year. And if you don’t, it likely won’t be because you’re incapable; it will be because you got in your own way. A slew of limiting beliefs will distract you from your goals and New Year’s resolutions . Below are four ways you’re likely to shoot yourself in the foot with self-limiting beliefs, plus how to get rid of them. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Limiting Beliefs: Ditch the 4 Dream Killers Holding You Back https://www.nir...
Mar 18, 2024•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nir’s Note: Noah Kagan is the Chief Sumo at AppSumo and runs a YouTube Channel with over 1 million subscribers. His new book, Million Dollar Weekend , is out now. Airbnb began as a weekend project when the founders sent an email offering their living-room air mattress to hotelless attendees of a major design conference. Facebook started when Mark Zuckerberg built a clone of ConnectU over the weekend and told everyone in his dorm about it. Even Microsoft began with Bill Gates making software quic...
Mar 11, 2024•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast How can we become more discerning buyers in a world that encourages us to spend? We have to stop falling for subtle sales psychology tactics. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Sales Psychology: Why You Make Terrible Buying Choices https://www.nirandfar.com/sales-psychology/ Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Plea...
Mar 05, 2024•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast Hindsight bias occurs when people feel that they “knew it all along” – when they believe that an event is more predictable after it becomes known than it was before it became known 2 . In other words, when we’re looking back at an event after it already happened, knowing that outcome influences our perception of the events leading up to it. Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review....
Feb 26, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast You could feel the excitement buzzing through the WhatsApp channel. An A-list fitness guru reportedly spending millions of dollars yearly to reverse aging was in town to hold an in-person workout. Without hesitating, I signed up. I was interested in seeing Mr. Guru in action and eager to be inspired by his approach. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Listening to Fitness Gurus is Making You Fat https://www.nirandfar.com/fitness-guru-myth/ Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour ...
Feb 19, 2024•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Whenever you have a disagreement with someone you care about and who cares about you, pose this straightforward question: “How important is this to you on a scale of 1 to 10?” The size of the disagreement doesn’t matter. Whether it’s about dinner choices or naming your first-born child, this method helps avoid unnecessary disagreements and keeps relationships strong (most of the time, see exceptions below). You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Score Your Spats: How to Stop Arguing and Enha...
Feb 05, 2024•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast Understanding the distinction is the first step to managing your time Because I write about distraction and how to avoid it , I often get asked the question “Aren’t distractions sometimes a good thing? Don’t we all need some distraction in our lives?” Nope! You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: The Crucial Difference Between Distraction and Diversion https://www.nirandfar.com/distraction-vs-diversion/...
Jan 29, 2024•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast End boring, useless meetings once and for all. We’ve all been in a dumb meeting—one that makes you think, “This doesn’t even apply to me,” “I’m learning nothing from this,” or, worst of all, “ This meeting could have been an email .” I’m sure you’ve commiserated with colleagues over what a time suck dumb meetings can be. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: This Meeting Could have Been an Email: From Time Suck to Unstuck https://www.nirandfar.com/meeting-could-be-an-email/ Nir And Far, a p...
Jan 15, 2024•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Some days, the world seems intent on sabotaging your timeboxed calendar . A meeting goes longer than expected. The daycare center calls to say that your child is ill and has to be picked up ASAP. A project you thought would take an hour to complete instead took three. Before you know it, the end of the day arrives, and you’ve barely given time to the tasks you had wanted to do. You can read the Nir And Far blog post on: Scheduling for Life’s Surprises: When Timeboxing is Toast: https://www.niran...
Dec 18, 2023•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast I sit down and chat with author, Devorah Heitner about her latest book, Growing Up in Public. Nir And Far, a podcast about business, behaviour and the brain by Nir Eyal. If you enjoy this podcast, please subscribe on iTunes and leave an iTunes review. It will greatly help new listeners discover the show. Please visit my website Nir and Far for other info about my writing, books and teaching: http://www.nirandfar.com/
Dec 04, 2023•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
