I'd Rather Be Reading

We've got such a fun one for you today—we're chatting with Nora Princiotti about her new book Hit Girls: Britney, Taylor, Beyonce, and the Women Who Built Pop's Shiniest Decade, which comes out on June 17. This book is being billed—rightfully so—as “the ultimate love letter to pop music,” and in this book Nora takes us on a deep dive into how female pop stars broke through the music industry in the 2000s and changed the game forever. Nora covers so many women in this book—Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Avril Lavigne, Katy Perry—and that's just for starters. She talks about how these women redefined the role of the pop star, not only within the music industry, but within culture, more broadly. Nora writes that “the aughts were a harrowing but magical time in music for women,” and she tells us all about why in today's episode. Nora is a staff writer at The Ringer, where she covers culture—everything from Taylor Swift to the NFL. Speaking of the NFL, Nora was previously a reporter for The Boston Globe, where she covered the New England Patriots dynasty. Nora currently co-hosts the Every Single Album podcast, which just hosted Miley Cyrus—so covering female artists is a specialty of hers. She writes in Hit Girls that, “though the aughts were over, they certainly left a mark.” We're going to dig into what that mark is right now.Hit Girls: Britney, Taylor, Beyonce, and the Women Who Built Pop's Shiniest Decade by Nora Princiotti

So excited to be back with you and our guest today, Megan Hellerer, author of Directional Living: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life, which came out last September 24. In this book, Megan introduces us to the concept of the underfulfilled overachiever—and I bet there are many of you listening, like myself, who will completely resonate with that term. Underfulfilled overachievers, Megan writes, have been taught the concept of destinational living—but through her book, as the title suggests, Megan is introducing a new way forward, a more fulfilling way forward: directional living. Of course, Megan talks all about what that means in today's episode, and why this is the better way. We talk about how to begin this paradigm shift and the five phases it takes to do so; what a “fulfillment ache” is; the difference between a fear self and a true self; and so much more. Megan is a career coach and the founder of the appropriately named Coaching for Underfulfilled Overachievers. She has worked with hundreds to transform their lives by transforming their careers, and she is a Stanford graduate, a former Google executive, and sees her mission and purpose now to provide others with the support and guidance that she needed when she was struggling. She has been featured everywhere from Vogue to The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, New York, and The Times, and I'm really excited for you to meet her.Directional Living: A Transformational Guide to Fulfillment in Work and Life by Megan Hellerer

One of the most popular books of 2025 so far is Dr. Judith Joseph's High Functioning: Overcome Your Hidden Depression and Reclaim Your Joy, which introduces us to the concept of High Functioning Depression—where you may look fine on the outside but don't feel fine on the inside. When people think of depression, they most likely think of “can't get out of bed” depression—but what about the lesser-known side of depression, the one that mostly stays hidden? If you are going through a time in your life where everything feels off, if you're struggling to find joy in happy moments, if you're walking around feeling numb, if you feel restless when you aren't busy or empty when you're sitting still—this book and this conversation might be for you. Today, Dr. Joseph and I talk about anhedonia—a word I had never heard of before she introduced me to it—and her five Vs, which are the crux of the book: validation, venting, values, vitals, and vision. The five Vs are our way out of High Functioning Depression, which I call HFD throughout the episode. Dr. Joseph talks about how trauma plays into HFD and so much more—it's such a rich conversation. Dr. Joseph is a board-certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist and researcher who specializes in mental health and trauma. She is the founder and chief investigator at Manhattan Behavioral Medicine, New York City's premier clinical research site, a clinical assistant professor in child and adolescent psychiatry at NYU's medical center, and chairwoman of the Women in Medicine Board at Columbia. She's extremely popular on social media and holds an undergraduate degree from Duke as well as a medical doctorate and a master's in business administration from Columbia. All of this, and the one and only Mel Robbins wrote the foreward for this book—further proof that it's such an important read. High Functioning: Overcome Your Hidden Depression and Reclaim Your Joy by Dr. Judith Joseph

Today on the show I'm thrilled to have Sophie Gilbert, author of Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves, which came out April 29. This book looks specifically at the late 1990s and early 2000s—when both Sophie and I were coming of age—as an inflection point, when the energy of feminism collapsed and regressed into a period of hyper-objectification, sexualization, and infantilization. This book examines the era across movies, music, fashion, television, tabloid journalism, the ever-present paparazzi and more and paints a picture of a vicious attack against women in the spotlight and damaging trickle down effects for those who weren't. Not shockingly, what happened in the early 21st century still has consequences today, and Sophie and I are digging into it. We talk about a great many things in this episode, and I want to fill you in on a bit about Sophie: she is a staff writer at The Atlantic, where she writes about books, television, and pop culture. She is the winner of the 2024 National Magazine Award for Reviews and Criticism and was a finalist for the 2022 Pulitzer Prize in Criticism. Girl on Girl follows 2023's book of essays, On Womanhood: Bodies, Literature, Choice, and I'm excited for you to hear from her and all she has to say. Girl on Girl: How Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves by Sophie Gilbert

I am thrilled to have Amina AlTai here with me today to talk about her new book The Ambition Trap: How to Stop Chasing and Start Living, which is out May 13. Here's what I love about this book, among many things, honestly—it is billed as “the anti-hustle guide to getting what you really want,” and it delivers. If you are experiencing or have experienced burnout, overwork, and stress when it comes to your ambition, then this book is for you. This book helps us escape the ambition trap—and don't worry, Amina tells us in this episode what that is—and step instead into joy-filled work. This is such a great book and a great conversation! She has taught me that we can be ambitious and not sacrifice ourselves in the process. Hallelujah! It turns out that maybe we're not looking for money or status but really acceptance and belonging. I know I've outsourced my self-worth externally for a great many years, and spoiler alert—that doesn't work. If you, like me, are ready to reconcile your ambition, let's heal our core wounds and get to the other side together, escaping the ambition trap once and for all. Today Amina and I talk about why ambition is complicated, especially for historically excluded people; how ambition is not up and to the right and isn't a linear journey; why being an ambitious woman is somehow still not acceptable, even in 2025; the difference between painful ambition and purposeful ambition; how hustle culture became so pervasive, anyway; what the resentment line is—trust me, you'll want to know all about that; and what healthy ambition looks like and a microstep we can take even as soon as today to get there. Amina is an executive coach, leadership trainer, and chronic illness advocate that has been featured everywhere from The New York Times to NBC, CBS, Forbes, and more. She's an expert-in-residence at Entrepreneur Magazine and was named one of Success Magazine's Women of Influence, and she's partnered with companies like Google, Snap, Roku, and Outdoor Voices. I not only enjoyed this conversation, but I deeply appreciated it. The Ambition Trap: How to Stop Chasing and Start Living by Amina AlTai

Once again, we don't often have fiction picks on I'd Rather Be Reading, but usually every year I leave you with a fiction book of the summer around this time of year—and here is one for you: Hotter in the Hamptons by none other than Tinx, who is my esteemed guest today! In case you're in the 1 percent of the population who isn't familiar with Tinx, she is an influencer that has become known as “TikTok's older sister” because of her advice about relationships and mental health. Her name is Christina Najjar, and her content focuses on celebrity commentary, dating advice, and so-called “starter packs for rich moms.” She attended Stanford and Parsons School of Design, and she too is a podcaster, hosting the It's Me, Tinx podcast. She has written a nonfiction book that came out in 2023 called The Shift: Change Your Perspective, Not Yourself, which tackles topics like self-confidence, friendships, dating, and more; now she's got a novel, Hotter in the Hamptons, coming out May 6, and it is as juicy as it gets. Tinx is already a New York Times bestselling author from her first book, and I fully expect her to become one again with Hotter in the Hamptons. There's so much in the book that is compelling—love, sex, friendship, fashion, influencer culture, the Hamptons—it's difficult for me to cover fiction because I just want to give it all away, but I refuse to do that. I found Tinx to be absolutely lovely; her calming, soothing voice will instantly relax you. I hope you enjoy this conversation and this book. Take a listen!Hotter in the Hamptons by Tinx

Today we are talking about a topic that will resonate with each and every one of you—waiting. Every last one of us has walked through a waiting season at some point in our lives, and I bet that most, if not all, of us are waiting on something to happen for them right now. Be it a marriage, a child, a job, a home, on and on and on, it's not so much that life is made up of waiting seasons, but life is one big wait. The question becomes—how will we live in the wait? How can we be happy even when we're waiting on a deeply held dream to come to pass? Today on the show we have the dynamic DawnCheré Wilkerson for a faith-filled conversation about her new book Slow Burn: The Work and Wonder of the Wait, which is out April 29. Today we talk about why humans don't instinctively wait well; how to live well while we wait; how our waits can transform us and allow God to shape us into the people we were called to be; what her waiting has taught her; and what she'd say to someone—maybe you—in the darkest corner of their wait. DawnCheré is a speaker, singer, songwriter, author, and pastor who has also struggled with infertility, which she beautifully opens up about in the book and this conversation. Spoiler alert—they now have four children, the youngest of which was born just as this book was about to come out! DawnCheré is the wife of Pastor Rich Wilkerson, and together they've built a ministry, VOUS Church, that brings so many people closer to God in Miami. We talk about her faith today, and it is such a blessing to see the Lord working through DawnCheré's powerful story. Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place, and in this episode.Slow Burn: The Work and Wonder of the Wait by DawnCheré Wilkerson

Today on the show we're talking about the beauty of staying put, and we're talking with Annie B. Jones, author of the new book Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put, which comes out April 22. Annie is a podcaster herself—her books podcast, From the Front Porch, is a huge hit—and she is the owner of The Bookshelf in Thomasville, Georgia, one of the most well-respected bookstores in the U.S. Annie writes in Ordinary Time that she had dreams of moving to New York City, but instead stayed put, planting roots in the small town of Thomasville. This book combats the notion that one has to have a “loud” life to make a difference, and argues we don't always have to leave the lives we have to live the lives we've dreamed of. Annie describes herself in the book's very first line as “someone who stays” and, as she writes, “I have not lived the adventurous life I envisioned for myself as a teenager; I have, against all odds and dreams to the contrary, chosen to stay, and in the staying, I believe there is a story to tell.” Maybe you, too, are someone who stayed—as Annie writes in Ordinary Time, among young adults, 80 percent live within 100 miles of their hometown. But it's not just about staying put in a geographic location: it's about staying put in a job, in a marriage, in a faith. Annie and I talk about so much in this episode, including our shared love for books; she also tells me what she'd tell the younger version of herself, and so much more. Sometimes, it turns out, staying put can bring forth a life better than you ever imagined. Annie is a writer, a podcaster, and a bookstore owner whose work has been featured in Southern Living. She lives in Thomasville with her husband Jordan and their dog, Sam Malone, and she has quite the story to tell. Ordinary Time: Lessons Learned While Staying Put by Annie B. Jones

I am delighted to have on the show today Chris Guillebeau, here to talk about his latest, Time Anxiety: The Illusion of Urgency and a Better Way to Live, which is out April 15. You may know Chris from his popular newsletter “A Year of Mental Health” or for his books, including 2010's The Art of Non-Conformity, 2012's The $100 Startup, 2014's The Happiness of Pursuit, 2016's Born for This, 2017's Side Hustle, and 2023's Gonzo Capitalism. In Time Anxiety, Chris examines our relationship with the clock, and in our conversation today defines time anxiety; tells us what a cognitive distortion is, including time blindness; how to cultivate a healthier relationship with time; how many of us have bought into the “magical thinking of time management”; how staying busy might be a way of staying avoidant; how our perception of time changes as we age; how a light schedule can be more psychologically challenging than a full one; and so much more. I learned so much from this book and this conversation. Take a listen!Time Anxiety: The Illusion of Urgency and a Better Way to Live by Chris Guillebeau

Whether you are decidedly a Swiftie or decidedly not, I promise you're going to get something out of this conversation. It's hard to believe that we've never, to my knowledge, spoken about Taylor Swift in her own episode in the nearly four years and 300-plus episodes of I'd Rather Be Reading, but now, she gets her due. Here today I have Kevin Evers, a senior editor at the Harvard Business Review who has written the brilliant book There's Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift, which comes out April 8. We look at Taylor today from many perspectives—a business perspective; a music perspective; and a personal perspective, focusing on her Eras Tour, which wrapped last year, and its impact; her fan-centric approach; and her drive, determination, and vision. Kevin and I talk about why Taylor decided to go the pop music route after her country music beginnings; what “that” moment with Kanye West at the 2009 VMAs did to her career, and to her personally; where she is most in her element—as a singer, a songwriter, and a performer; and what gives Taylor the “it” factor that has catapulted her to unparalleled levels of fame. We also talk about Taylor's long-term strategy; her moment of backlash and how she rose up from it; and what her most strategic business decision is. We also talk about her legacy, although, at 35, her story is most definitely still being written. Here to walk us through it all is Kevin Evers, who, as previously mentioned, is a senior editor at the Harvard Business Review. He has edited bestselling and award-winning books on high performance, creativity, innovation, marketing, strategy, and digital disruption, and he has written popular articles on Hollywood blockbusters, brain science, the unpredictability of success, and the art of persuasion, among others. He is fantastic, and I can't wait for you to hear what he has to say.There's Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift by Kevin Evers

We are in for such a fun conversation today with Dr. Morgan Cutlip, author of A Better Share: How Couples Can Tackle the Mental Load for More Fun, Less Resentment, and Great Sex, which is out April 8. In today's episode, Morgan teaches us why understanding the mental load is so important to a successful partnership. She teaches us that the mental load is comprised of three parts—physical, cognitive, and emotional, and we talk about that, as well as the cycle of unmet needs, the PAR acronym and what it means for both men and women, and what the death spiral is in a relationship. We also talk about what the default partner versus the non-default partner means as far as ownership of a task, and so much more from this great book. Morgan calls herself a “lifelong lover of all things relationship,” and she has worked in the field of relationship education for over 15 years alongside her dad, Dr. John Van Epp, who is the founder of Love Thinks and the developer of multiple relationship education courses that have been taught to over one million people worldwide. Morgan is also the author of the 2023 book Love Your Kids Without Losing Yourself: 5 Steps to Banish Guilt and Beat Burnout When You Already Have Too Much to Do, and she earned a master's degree in human development and family science and a doctorate in counseling psychology. She's also just so easy to talk to and so much fun. I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I enjoyed having this conversation.A Better Share: How Couples Can Tackle the Mental Load for More Fun, Less Resentment, and Great Sex by Dr. Morgan Cutlip

As our guest today, Dr. Caroline Fleck, writes in her new book Validation: How the Skill Set That Revolutionized Psychology Will Transform Your Relationships, Increase Your Influence, and Change Your Life—which came out February 18—validation is psychology's best kept secret. What is validation, anyway, and why does it matter? Caroline and I dig into all of it, including the power of validation, and why Caroline considers it a superpower. Practicing validation can lead to improvement in five important categories across one's life, Caroline says: improved relationships, decreased conflict, increased influence, increased ability to drive behavioral change, and increased self-compassion. (Um, yes please.) We also talk today about what validation isn't, and go through the ladder of validation—its eight rungs and three sections. We then put validation into practice, giving examples of what it looks like with ourselves, with our kids, within an intimate relationship, and in the workplace. This really is psychology's best kept secret, and I'm so glad it doesn't have to be hidden under cover anymore because of Caroline's book. Dr. Caroline Fleck is a licensed psychologist, corporate consultant, and adjunct clinical instructor at Stanford. She is a graduate of Michigan and Duke and has served as a supervisor and consultant for some of the most rigorous clinical training programs across the U.S. A respected voice in psychology, she's been featured in The New York Times, on Good Morning America, and in HuffPost, and in her private practice, she works with adults, adolescents, and couples, specializing in dialectical behavior therapy, otherwise known as DBT, and other cognitive behavioral treatments. Her corporate work strengthens company culture and individual performance, and she not only implements training programs to Fortune 500 companies but also provides executive coaching to industry leaders worldwide. She's got a great message to share.Validation: How the Skill Set That Revolutionized Psychology Will Transform Your Relationships, Increase Your Influence, and Change Your Life by Dr. Caroline Fleck

I have spoken before on the show about my absolute love and admiration for the one and only Nora Ephron, who is the reason why I am a writer. I have met my match in today's guest, Ilana Kaplan, who I previously worked with at People, who is absolutely fantastic, and who has written this gem of a book about our shared heroine called Nora Ephron at the Movies: A Visual Celebration of the Writer and Director Behind When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, and More, which came out last October 29. The words are beautiful, but it is a visually stunning book as well—one your coffee table absolutely needs. Today Ilana and I talk about the life, work, and legacy of Nora, who died far, far too soon at age 71 in 2012. And when I say I've met my match when it comes to being a Nora fan in Ilana, I mean it—she even had Nora in her wedding vows, which not even I can say I did. Among so much else, Ilana and I talk today about Nora's rom-com trio: When Harry Met Sally (which is my favorite movie of all time), Sleepless in Seattle, and You've Got Mail—and Ilana shocks me with a revelation about how one of those movies is actually meant to be a sequel of the other. We talk about Nora's successes in film, but also her failures, and which of Nora's movies Ilana thinks are underrated. Nora was a writer, a director, a playwright—we talk about her legacy and how her fingerprints are still felt, even 13 years after her death. Ilana is a writer and culture editor whose work has been everywhere from the aforementioned People to PAPER, The Independent, The New York Times, New York magazine, the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, GQ, Vanity Fair, Vogue, NPR, Pitchfork, Variety, Billboard, and more. She's totally compelling, and I can't wait for you to hear from her. Nora Ephron at the Movies: A Visual Celebration of the Writer and Director Behind When Harry Met Sally, You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, and More by Ilana Kaplan

Today on the show we've got Jenny Wood discussing her new book Wild Courage: Go After What You Want and Get It, which hits shelves on March 25. In the book, Jenny writes about how courage is essential to our success, and how, in her words, “Wild courage will change your life.” She explains to us what wild courage is, anyway; how to look fear in the eye and do it—whatever it is to you—scared; the four-step goal setting practice of rock, chalk, talk, and walk; and in one of the most fascinating parts of the book to me, Jenny takes nine traits that aren't necessarily associated with courage and reframed them for wild courage. You'll see what I mean when you read the book and listen to the episode. Jenny tells us about her absolutely wild love story—which was featured in The New York Times—and Jenny really is just incredibly fascinating: she is a tap dancer, an FAA-licensed private pilot, and a zucchini bread connoisseur, in her words. She describes herself in her bio as an “Unstoppable confidence booster,” and was a top executive at Google and is the founder of Own Your Career, one of the largest career development programs in Google's history. Jenny's work is dedicated to helping people make their impossible dreams happen, and she is a speaker, writer, mom, and, while at Google, ran a large operations team that helped drive tens of billions of revenue per year. Her writing has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur, Inc., and Forbes. Take a listen to our conversation!Wild Courage: Go After What You Want and Get It by Jenny Wood

Our guest today, Brad Meltzer, is one of the busiest people in book writing. It's only March, and already he's had two books come out in 2025 alone: The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy—and Why It Failed, written with his friend Josh Mensch and released January 14, and Make Magic: The Book of Inspiration You Didn't Know You Needed, which came out March 4. Today on the show we talk about both books with Brad—and they're very different. In The JFK Conspiracy, we learn about a plot against John F. Kennedy's life a full three years before 1963 and Dallas. The almost assassination happened in December 1960 in Palm Beach, Florida, after Kennedy had been elected to the presidency but before he'd been sworn in. I'll leave it to the episode to explain the gritty details, but what's interesting is that the book dives into Jackie Kennedy with as much gusto as it does JFK. It's a fantastic read. Then we have Make Magic, which was birthed from the text of a speech Brad gave at the University of Michigan's commencement last May, when none other than his son was one of the graduates. Brad, too, graduated from Michigan, and the book is in Michigan's colors and the text is extremely substantive, especially when he goes into kindness and empathy. The books are very different, but I enjoyed them both immensely, and I can't wait for you to hear about them. By the way—just want to throw this in here—The JFK Conspiracy and Make Magic were both instant New York Times bestsellers. Brad is such a likeable guy. He's a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author and has written so many books, perhaps evidenced by the fact that he wrote two books already in 2025 alone. If that's not enough, he's also the host of the History Channel shows Brad Meltzer's Decoded and Brad Meltzer's Lost History, which he used to help find the missing September 11, 2001 flag that the firefighters raised at Ground Zero on that awful day. Brad has written across so many genres—novels to nonfiction books to comic books to children's books. I know you're going to love this conversation. The JFK Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Kennedy—and Why It Failed by Brad MeltzerMake Magic: The Book of Inspiration You Didn't Know You Needed by Brad Meltzer

There aren't many of us—if any of us—who aren't experiencing stress. But what if I told you that a little stress isn't just okay for us as humans, but it's necessary? That's what Dr. Sharon Horesh Bergquist writes about in her new book The Stress Paradox: Why You Need Stress to Live Longer, Healthier, and Happier, which is out March 25. Now, hear her out—in this fascinating book, she argues that a little bit of being uncomfortable can actually have majorly positive results towards our longevity and vitality. We as humans have, as Sharon writes about, gotten ourselves into a bit of a comfort conundrum—while our modern day comforts are certainly nice, they are stripping us of temporary stressors that actually make us better. Today on the show Sharon walks us through what the stress paradox is and how brief and intermittent stress, counter to what we might think, actually heals, repairs, and regenerates us. There is, it turns out, actually such a thing as good stress, and stress might kind of be getting a bit of a rebrand here. We talk about how to spot the difference between good stress and harmful stress, what stress induced growth is, what a hormetin is and how we activate them, five major steps to bring good stress into our lives that we can all start doing today, and so much more. When you think about it, it really makes sense—no diamond was created without a little pressure first, and applied in the right manner for the right duration, we as humans need that pressure to grow into something (or, rather, someone) beautiful, too. It's really interesting. Sharon is an award-winning physician and visionary researcher who has helped lead numerous clinical trials, including the Emory Healthy Aging Study and the NIH-funded Emory Healthy Brain Study. She is widely published in peer-reviewed journals and has contributed to over 200 news segments, including on CNN, Good Morning America, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, and ABC News. She too is a podcaster and hosts “The Whole Health Cure” show, and her popular TED video on how stress affects the body has been viewed over 6 million times. She is a graduate of Yale and Harvard Medical School, and makes a really compelling case for stress actually being a necessary component to living our best lives.⁠The Stress Paradox: Why You Need Stress to Live Longer, Healthier, and Happier⁠ by Dr. Sharon Horesh Bergquist

Welcome back to week two of I'd Rather Be Reading season 16! Today on the show we have the lovely Grace Valentine, here to talk about her new book The Better Friend: 12 Truths to Shift from Shallow and One-Sided Connections to Vibrant Friendships, which comes out March 11. We talked a lot in season 15 about friendship, and the conversation is spilling over to season 16, too. Grace is a TEDx speaker, the host of the podcast “Water Into Wine,” and is the author of five books. She's a contributing writer for Proverbs 31 Ministries—which I can't get enough of—and Live Original. She is a native of one of my favorite cities, New Orleans, and is a graduate of Baylor, which is also where my husband graduated from! (Although, admittedly, we graduated a million years before Grace did.) Grace now makes her home in Atlanta and is earning a degree at Asbury Theological Seminary. In The Better Friend, Grace tackles shallow friendships and how friendships that don't serve us can negatively impact our lives; she talks to us today about signs we might be settling in friendship; how to prioritize friendship in our busy lives; how to maintain friends and make new ones; her thoughts on long distance friendships and friendship breakups; what she wishes everyone knew about friendship; and her faith, which very obviously means so much to her. Take a listen to our powerful conversation.The Better Friend: 12 Truths to Shift from Shallow and One-Sided Connections to Vibrant Friendships by Grace Valentine

I am thrilled to be back with each and every one of you for season 16—and I am thrilled to be joined by our guest today, Neha Ruch, author of The Power Pause: How to Plan a Career Break After Kids—and Come Back Stronger Than Ever, which came out January 14. We've all heard that phrase about having it all, about work/life balance (which I find to be a fallacy), and how to juggle it all, and Neha's book offers a really modern solution: the power pause, which she explains in this episode. After reading her book, truly, for the first time I thought, “I can actually maybe make all of my dreams work in life.” I learned about downshifting; about all of the stigma and shame that comes with being a stay-at-home parent, especially a stay-at-home mom; how to make the decision to take a career pause to settling into the day-to-day of a career pause to how to return from a career pause; how to make it work financially; how we become so attached to our job titles, and how to discover who we are beyond our titles; and how to find fulfillment in each stage of our lives, no matter where we're at. I also learned that a power pause is not a career dead end, and that we might actually be setting ourselves up for a career comeback that leaves us better off than before. We also talk about how to announce this on LinkedIn, how it should show up on our resumes, and so much more. I am really excited for you to hear this conversation with Neha, and I'd love to tell you a little bit about her and the work she's doing. First of all, The Power Pause has been so well-received—it's a USA Today bestseller, for starters! Neha is the founder of Mother Untitled, the leading platform for ambitious women leaning into family life that is catalyzing a shift in how society views stay-at-home motherhood. She lives in Manhattan with her husband, their two children, and their dog Coconut. Take a listen!The Power Pause: How to Plan a Career Break After Kids—and Come Back Stronger Than Ever by Neha Ruch

Today I am chatting with one of my absolute favorite writers, the one and only Gretchen Rubin, about her forthcoming book Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives, which comes out April 1. Gretchen writes here about the lessons she's learned to making life more meaningful and satisfying, covering areas as wide ranging as self-improvement, adventure, the challenge of love, friendship, work, creativity, procrastination, tough decisions, pain, desire, getting it wrong, and consequences. The book teaches us, or reteaches us, about aphorisms, which Gretchen explains in today's episode; we also talk about happiness, which is one of Gretchen's chief topics she writes about, and she writes in the book that as to there being a so-called “secret to happiness” that “there's no one best way—we each have to figure it out for ourselves.” In addition to happiness, much of Gretchen's work centers around human nature and habits; we talk about her latest book but also some of her past work, too, as well as her #Read25in25 challenge, which I love. In addition to being a prolific writer, Gretchen is also an avid reader, and I hope by now she's read the book I recommended to her on the show. You are probably already deeply familiar with her work—she's written New York Times bestsellers like The Happiness Project, The Four Tendencies, Better Than Before, Outer Order Inner Calm, and Life in Five Senses, for starters—and she's also a podcaster, hosting the top-ranked and award-winning “Happier with Gretchen Rubin.” Gretchen is one of the most forefront thought leaders out there today, and her books have sold a whopping 3.5 million copies worldwide and have been translated to more than 30 languages. Interestingly, Gretchen started her career in law, and realized she wanted to be a writer while she was clerking for none other than Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. I can't wait for you to hear what Gretchen has to say.Secrets of Adulthood: Simple Truths for Our Complex Lives by Gretchen Rubin

What an absolute honor it is today to have the first ever African American Rockette, the fabulous Jennifer Jones, here with me to talk about her new book Becoming Spectacular: The Rhythm of Resilience from the First African American Rockette, which comes out February 18. What a powerhouse woman Jennifer is. The Radio City Music Hall Rockettes had been in existence for 62 years in 1987, when Jennifer broke barriers and became the first African American Rockette. She made her debut with the Rockettes on January 31, 1988—which was also Super Bowl Sunday, which was in San Diego that year. Jennifer takes us inside that moment in today's conversation; she writes, poignantly, “Making history rarely feels like it in the moment.” Jennifer talks about the struggles she faced and her rock-bottom moments as she worked to achieve this dream; what it was like to be the first; dance and what it has meant to her life; what life as a Rockette was like—and Jennifer would know, as she was one for 15 years; her life after the Rockettes, including joining the cast of the acclaimed Broadway production of 42nd Street; her diagnosis with cancer and how she made it to the other side; and how, in her words from the book, “As I age, I feel more alive than ever.” Quick correction: I said in the episode that Jennifer was given five months to live; it was actually five years to live—but she beat the odds regardless. The Rockettes are an iconic dance troupe, but Jennifer is an iconic woman, and I know you're going to fall in love with her as I did in this conversation. She is a Tony Award-winning dancer, a staunch advocate for equal rights in the arts, and her work has been celebrated by the Harlem School of the Arts, Radio City Music Hall, and Madison Square Garden. She is a survivor of colon cancer, and she fiercely promotes early screenings. She's also written a children's book called On the Line, and there exists a Limited Edition Dancing Jenn Doll, which is reflective of her dedication to the arts. I am so thankful to now know her.Becoming Spectacular: The Rhythm of Resilience from the First African-American Rockette by Jennifer Jones

We have a really powerful conversation today from a second time guest—Dr. Steven M. Gillon is back to talk to us about the U.S. presidents who served in World War II (there are seven of them!) and what that service meant to their lives. The last time Steven was here, we were talking about his friend JFK Jr.; today we're talking about Eisenhower, JFK, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush 41 and how their service in World War II impacted them not just personally, but as president. If you do the math, Eisenhower took office in 1953 and George H.W. Bush left office in 1993, so that's 40 years of the presidency shaped by this war. Today on the show Steven talks about the long shadow of World War II; which president's war experience most stood out to him; how the men's experiences in war differed, from Eisenhower as a general down to a teenage Bush; the power of service, either in war or in political office; how the war shaped them as men and as leaders; how their experience in war would later affect their foreign policy when president; the bond that serving in the war brought about amongst these men, even if they were political opponents; and so much more. Steven's book, called Presidents at War: How World War II Shaped a Generation of Presidents, from Eisenhower and JFK Through Reagan and Bush, is out February 18, just in time for President's Day the day prior. Steven is professor emeritus at the University of Oklahoma and a senior fellow at the Miller Center for the Study of the Presidency at the University of Virginia. He spent over two decades as scholar-in-residence at The History Channel, where he hosted shows, produced primetime documentaries, and consulted on projects. He is a New York Times bestselling author who has written more than a dozen books about modern American political and cultural history, including the bestsellers America's Reluctant Prince: The Life of John F. Kennedy Jr. and The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry That Defined a Generation. I am so excited to have him back with us. Presidents at War: How World War II Shaped a Generation of Presidents, from Eisenhower and JFK Through Reagan and Bushby Dr. Steven M. Gillon

Right on the heels of my power punch conversation about love and grief with Loren Ridinger is an equally power punch conversation with friendship expert Anna Goldfarb, here, appropriately, on Galentine's Day to talk about friendship, which you all know has been a running theme throughout season 15. I found this conversation with Anna to be so soul-enriching — I truly felt that I had met a new friend through our conversation. Anna talks to us today about what she wishes more people knew about friendship; she shares a powerful anecdote about her father and an old friend of his — sadly, like me, Anna lost her father far too soon; how society isn't set up to support adult friendships and how we can prioritize friendship in a world where so much is competing for our attention; why friendships need an “about” and how many friends we can realistically give our time to; the difference between bathtub friends, jacuzzi friends, swimming pool friends, bonfire friends, and water park friends; what to do when a friendship feels unbalanced and when expectations between friends aren't lining up; how we can be better friends; how desire, diligence, and delight are three keys to a happy friendship; and so much more. Anna is the author of the bookModern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valued Connections, which came out last June 4, and in it she puts forth the concept of “wholehearted friendship” and teaches us so many strategies for maintaining friendships, as well as making new ones. Anna's explanation of active friendships versus memorial friendships was such a lightbulb moment for me — we have so much to learn from her. Anna is a journalist, author, and speaker specializing in the nuances of friendships, relationships, and pop psychology. Her work has appeared inThe New York Times, The Atlantic, TIME, VICE, The Cut, The Washington Post, Vox,Real Simple, and Oprah Daily, and she has a Substack, “Friendship Explained,” that explains friendship through a pop culture lens. I can't wait for you to hear our conversation.Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valued Connectionsby Anna Goldfarb

Today on the show we have the fantastic Loren Ridinger, author of the new bookScrambled or Sunny-Side Up?: Living Your Best Life After Losing Your Greatest Love,which is out today, February 11. On August 30, 2022, Loren lost her husband of nearly 26 years, JR Ridinger, while they were on vacation in Croatia. JR, who along with Loren is a successful entrepreneur behind Market America, died suddenly of a pulmonary embolism. He and Loren had been together a total of 36 years, and Loren was left to navigate her overwhelming grief while also maintaining the company they built together. This is a memoir, but it's also a relatable read to anyone going through grief — and I know that is so many of us. In addition to being a distinguished entrepreneur and cofounder of Market America, a leading global product brokerage and internet marketing company, Loren is also extremely well-connected and has a strong circle of celebrity friends; one friend, Serena Williams, even wrote the foreword for the book. The book's title is so rich in meaning that I don't want to spoil it — I want you all to get the power punch I did by reading the book's pages. At its heart,Scrambled or Sunny-Side Up? is a love story. In this episode, Loren tells us about JR and their deep love and how he still shows up for her two-and-a-half years after his passing; she shares advice for those grieving and the lessons she's learned; the worst things you can say to someone who is grieving; and how to live your dash. In addition to founding Market America with JR in 1992, Loren is CEO of Market America Worldwide | SHOP.COM and is also the creator of the cosmetic line Motives, is a dedicated philanthropist, and a sought-after speaker. She's got so much wisdom to share with us.Scrambled or Sunny-Side Up?: Living Your Best Life After Losing Your Greatest Loveby Loren Ridinger

Today is an extra special episode — it's officially our 300th episode of the show! I am so proud of this. In an appropriate nod to reaching the milestone of 300 episodes, we're talking today about how to make the most of our days, weeks, months, years — how to savor our time. We're chatting with Dr. Cassie Holmes about her 2022 bookHappier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most. In the book, Cassie puts forth that time is our most precious resource; in this conversation, we talk about time poverty and how it impacts a life; how she got started in this work; if having too much time on our hands is also a negative; effective time-crafting exercises like time tracking; how we are less happy when we're distracted; treating our weekends like vacations; hedonic adaptation and what that means; and how her work is not necessarily about being time rich or making more time, but making the time that wedo have more rich. It's not about how much time you have, necessarily, but how it's spent. We also talk about why women feel more time poor than men, and how Cassie's work helps us look back on our lives without regret, knowing we made the most of the time we have.Happier Hourhas become a massive hit since it came out, and I'm really excited to share it with you today. Cassie Holmes is a professor at UCLA's Anderson School of Management, where she's an award-winning teacher and researcher. Her work on the intersection of time and happiness has been featured everywhere fromThe New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, NPR,The Washington Post, The Atlantic, and more, and she is a graduate of both Columbia and Stanford's Graduate School of Business.Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most by Dr. Cassie Holmes

Stress and burnout are common and pervasive problems in our society. As today's guest Dr. Aditi Nerurkar writes in her new bookThe 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilience — which came out January 16 — “Stress and burnout aren't the exception anymore, they're the rule.” It turns out that we're all trapped in the stress paradox, where we are completely isolated in our togetherness with stress. Today on the show we talk about that, as well as the five resets she outlines in her book: No. 1, Get Clear on What Matters Most; No. 2: Find Quiet in a Noisy World; No. 3: Sync Your Brain and Your Body; No. 4: Come Up for Air; and No. 5: Bring Your Best Self Forward. We pack so much in today's episode, including explaining both the multitasking myth and the resilience myth; how not all stress is bad stress, necessarily; how critical digital boundaries are, as being hyperconnected is actually being disconnected; what popcorn brain is; and so much more. It's a really interesting conversation, and we leave it with hope that no one's stress is too far gone to be fixed. That's right — no one! Dr. Nerurkar is a Harvard stress expert, nationally sought after speaker, and television correspondent, and writes that these five small but mighty mindset shifts can help us all overcome our stress. She is an expert in stress, burnout, resilience, and mental health, and her work has been featured inThe New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Good Morning America, The Today Show, and NPR. She found that, even though stress plays a role in nearly 80 percent of doctor visits, only 3 percent of doctors actually offer stress management tips; her work closes that gap. If you're ready to get rid of stress and burnout for good, this episode is for you. The 5 Resets: Rewire Your Brain and Body for Less Stress and More Resilienceby Dr. Aditi Nerurkar

I'm excited to have on the show today Lynne Peeples to discuss her bookThe Inner Clock: Living in Sync with Our Circadian Rhythms,which came out last September 24. This book examines how the science of circadian rhythms can help us all sleep better, feel happier, and improve our overall health, and how modernization like artificial light, time zones, and eating late at night can really disrupt our internal clocks. Today we chat with science journalist Lynne Peeples — who even spent time in a Cold War-era bunker to research for this book — about what circadian rhythm is, anyway; how timing is everything, and what feeling in sync with our inner clock feels like — as well as what feeling out of sync feels like; how too little light during the day and too much light at night (think blue light) can impact us; how we can align our sleep to our inner clock rhythm and what we can do if, say, our work schedule makes that impossible; our chronotypes and why alarm clocks really contribute to us working against our internal time; social jet lag and its impact on a life; and why time-restricted eating is really beneficial. There are so many small shifts we can make in our lives by paying attention to circadian science, and they can really help improve our overall quality of life. Here to walk us through it is Lynne, a former staff reporter atThe Huffington Post whose writing has appeared inThe Guardian, Scientific American, Nature,The Atlantic, and other publications. Before she became a writer, she was a biostatistician for HIV clinical trials and environmental health studies, and she holds master's degrees in biostatistics from the Harvard School of Public Health and in science journalism from New York University. The Inner Clock: Living in Sync with Our Circadian Rhythms by Lynne Peeples

We are back today with Brian Kelly — who you might know as The Points Guy — chatting about his brand new book How to Win at Travel, which came out this week on February 4. I can almost guarantee that you will learn something about how to travel more effectively and save time and money after reading Brian's book, and that you'll likely never look at travel quite the same again — in the best way possible. In this book, Brian shares page after page — 336 pages, to be exact — of travel wisdom, and helps us be, in his words, more travel fluent. In today's conversation, Brian and I talk about how we are in, in his words, the platinum age of travel and what that means; whether travel insurance is really worth it; what airport lounges are really like; the best piece of travel advice he's ever heard; how credit cards play into travel; travel etiquette that he cringes to see travelers break; where he's headed next; and so much more. Any question you have about travel, Brian has probably answered it in this book. Brian is the founder of The Points Guy, where he's become the leading voice in loyalty programs, points, miles, credit cards, and travel. TPG reaches over 10 million unique monthly visitors globally, and he has been named Forbes' No.1  travel influencer, one of Travel + Leisure's Most Notable People in Travel, and so much more. Brian knows what he's talking about and is here to share his wisdom freely with all of us.  How to Win at Travel by Brian Kelly

As season 15 continues, we're chatting today about a topic that has been close to my heart lately, and always, really — the power of friendship. We've already spoken about friendship this season, and we will again before the season concludes. I really resonated with Laura Tremaine's 2023 book The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs. I think we have a tendency sometimes to put so much emphasis on one friend, but Laura's book puts forth that we have many different types of friends that make up a life — and that each member of the Life Council is important, valuable, and necessary. Like I tell Laura in today's episode, I see the Life Council like a presidential cabinet, all of my friends sitting around a table helping me navigate my way through life. And each of us has our own Life Council. Today Laura and I chat about how we are lonelier than ever, despite being more connected than ever; her five friendship philosophies, including making friendship a to do; the 10 members of the Life Council, including the Daily Duty friend, the Battle Buddy, and the Empty Chair; how we handle friendships when we are in different stages in life; the reality of the pain of a friendship breakup and how to grieve that loss; her best tips to make new friends as an adult and what she thinks about friendship groups; what she wishes more people knew about friendships; and so much more. I would personally like Laura to be my new friend, so let me tell you a little about her — she worked in film and TV production for many years at MTV, VH1, Fox, and Paramount Pictures before becoming a full-time writer. She writes about friendship (obviously), anxiety, motherhood, and marriage, and her posts and her podcast, 10 Things to Tell You, resonate with women looking for ways to connect more deeply with others as they move through life's stages. She's also the author of the 2021 book Share Your Stuff. I'll Go First: 10 Questions to Take Your Friendships to the Next Level, so, despite her reticence to call herself a friendship expert, I certainly see her as one. Sit back, get comfortable, and get ready to chat about friendship with me and the fabulous Laura Tremaine. The Life Council: 10 Friends Every Woman Needs by Laura Tremaine

As we continue this great week of episodes, I'm delighted today to welcome Dr. Ethan Kross to the show to talk about his latest book Shift: Managing Your Emotions So They Don't Manage You, which is out February 4. Shift follows the success of Ethan's 2021 book Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It, which was an international bestseller. In Shift, we're talking all about emotions — and how they can be our superpower if we can learn how to regulate and manage them. How do we make our emotions work for us, rather than against us? Ethan is helping us find that answer. Ethan is a psychologist, neuroscientist, writer, and one of the world's leading experts on emotion regulation and is an award-winning professor in the University of Michigan's top-ranked psychology department and its Ross School of Business. He is also the director of the Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory. In addition to appearing on CBS Evening News, Good Morning America, Anderson Cooper Full Circle, and NPR's Morning Edition, he has participated in policy discussion at the White House and has had his research featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, The New England Journal of Medicine, USA Today, and more. He is a graduate of Penn and Columbia and has spoken at TED, SXSW, and consulted with some of the world's top executives and organizations. From Shift's opening pages, it's a power punch, and I'm excited for you to hear what he has to say. Shift: Managing Your Emotions So They Don't Manage You by Dr. Ethan Kross

Today on the show we're talking about two topics that seem quite different but are actually incredibly related: breaking up with our phones and having more fun. Catherine Price's book How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life originally came out in 2018; the revised edition of the book actually comes out tomorrow, February 4 and is fully revised and updated. Today on the show we talk about a phone's impact on a life and how it robs us of living fully; that our phones — social media specifically — are designed to addict us and rob our attention and, as Catherine argues, what we pay attention to is what defines our lives. We talk about screen/life balance, a digital sabbath, and then we weave into Catherine's 2024 book The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again, which introduces us to a fun audit, having a fun squad, finding fun magnets, and the concept of True Fun, which Catherine explains today. There is so much good here, all of which will add to your quality of life. Catherine is also the author of Vitamania: How Vitamins Revolutionized the Way We Think About Food, which came out in 2015, and she is an award-winning science journalist who specializes in writing evidence-backed books about building joyful and meaningful lives. You might have seen her work in The New York Times, The Washington Post Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, O: The Oprah Magazine, Parade, Slate, Salon, Popular Science, The Los Angeles Times, Men's Journal, and more, and she has been dubbed, appropriately so, “the Marie Kondo of Brains” by The New York Times. You're going to get so much out of this conversation. All by Catherine Price: How to Break Up with Your Phone: The 30-Day Plan to Take Back Your Life The Power of Fun: How to Feel Alive Again “How to Feel Alive” on Substack

One year ago this month — February 20, to be exact — the world was introduced to Dr. Sue Varma's landmark book Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being. Its tagline certainly speaks to our modern times: “A practical program rooted in optimism to help you live fully and joyfully in an imperfect, turbulent world.” Yes, please! Sign me up. Sue has a fascinating story — she is a board-certified psychiatrist with a private practice in Manhattan, and was the first medical director and attending psychiatrist at the World Trade Center Mental Health Program. Through this experience, Sue worked directly with civilian and first-responder survivors in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001, and through this, she saw both devastation as well as resilience and growth. Through this experience, she asked herself how some people survived and even thrived, despite immense challenges, and how can we optimize what we have control over and block out stressors as much as possible? That was the genesis of Practical Optimism, the book we are discussing today. This book combines Sue's own personal experiences with the latest research in psychology, psychiatry, medicine, and neuroscience, and teaches us that cultivating an optimistic mindset makes all the difference — and is something that can be done by anyone, even if you're not a naturally born optimist. Sue has eight pillars to help us cultivate practical optimism, and her research shows that optimists aren't just happier, but they're also physically healthier, too. Optimism is a practice, something we can all get better at each day, and Sue's book teaches us how. If you're looking to boost your happiness, health, longevity, resilience, and success — and who among us isn't? — then today's conversation is tailor made for you. Dr. Varma is Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at New York University and teaches both medical students and residents; she's also a highly sought after and award-winning national medical contributor for major news outlets, and today we talk about topics like kintsugi — totally fascinating — as well as healthy pride, cultivating an aloneness practice, and how, in her words from the book, “It doesn't matter whether the glass is half full or half empty — it's always refillable.” So good. Practical Optimism: The Art, Science, and Practice of Exceptional Well-Being by Dr. Sue Varma

Like so many, my heart is deeply heavy today for the victims of both the Washington D.C. plane and helicopter collision and now, as of Friday night, the tragic plane crash in Philadelphia. Both incidents — as well as so much else going on in my life right now — have led me to start reevaluating my life. What matters most? What should be prioritized? Today's guest helps us, through her impressive body of work, learn how to make decisions, including learning when to quit and walk away from something, be it a relationship, a job, or a goal, for example. We've got Annie Duke here today to talk in particular about two of her many books: Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away, and How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices. Quit came out in 2022, and How to Decide in 2020. Annie is also the author of Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts, which came out in 2018; we briefly mention Thinking in Bets, but don't delve deep into it in this episode, though I have read it and highly recommend it. To deeper understand Annie's work, you must first understand Annie — she's now a prolific self-improvement writer, but she is also a former poker player, and brings those decision making skills into her writing. Annie isn't just some average poker player, mind you — she is one of the most successful poker players of all time, particularly among female poker players, and won the 2004 World Series of Poker Tournament of Champions. In addition to her mainstream work, she's also written a number of books for poker players specifically, and published her autobiography in 2005. Annie was educated at Columbia and Penn, an active philanthropist, a business consultant, public speaker, and is an expert in decision fitness, emotional control, productive decision groups, and embracing uncertainty, which is an area I feel like all of us are living in right now. Today on the show we talk about why quitting has an unfairly earned negative connotation; the dichotomy of grit versus quit; how quitting is a key decision making tool; how impactful decisions are on our lives; how her career in poker led her to the work she does today; and so much more. Let's kick off February with this great conversation. All by Annie Duke: Quit: The Power of Knowing When to Walk Away How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts

We've got an absolute legend on the show today, although he'd never refer to himself that way. Dr. Marshall Goldsmith, world-renowned executive leadership coach, is here today to chat with me specifically about his 2015 book Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts — Becoming the Person You Want to Be, which turns 10 years old this year. In Triggers, Marshall writes that meaningful behavior change is very hard to do, and today he explains what a trigger is and how triggers can stop behavior change from happening. Triggers, by the way, can be direct or indirect, internal or external, conscious or unconscious, anticipated or unexpected, encouraging or discouraging, productive or counterproductive. We talk today about how to identify our triggers, the path of going from a trigger to a behavior, why knowing about our triggers is so important, and if we can change our triggers, or if they're locked and loaded permanently. I spoke to Marshall soon after my father died, and we started talking about why becoming the person we want to be is such a noble pursuit. This conversation went in directions I wasn't expecting but could not be happier that they did. Marshall Goldsmith, my friends, is a legend for a reason. He is first in class, top of the heap, the best of the best. So, who is Marshall Goldsmith? In case you don't already know, Marshall is an academic and professor who held appointments at places like Dartmouth before he became a founding partner of the Marshall Goldsmith Group, an executive coaching group. Throughout Marshall's renowned career, he's worked with CEOs from over 200 companies and is credited with pioneering 360-degree feedback for leaders. He has written or edited 41 books which have sold over 2.5 million copies, been translated into 32 languages, and become bestsellers in 12 countries. Those books include, of course, Triggers, as well as What Got You Here Won't Get You There and so many others. Triggers is one of his best-known works amongst a slew of well-known titles, and today Marshall also tells us about a new AI project he's working on, and why he signs off his emails with the phrase “Life is good.” Lots to learn from this remarkable person. Triggers: Creating Behavior That Lasts — Becoming the Person You Want to Be by Dr. Marshall Goldsmith Make sure to check out marshallgoldsmith.ai!

I could not be more excited to continue our big week of programming with the fantastic Molly Fletcher, who is a podcaster, entrepreneur, speaker, and former sports agent, described as “the female Jerry Maguire” by CNN and ESPN. She is also the founder of The Molly Fletcher Company and, when she was working as a sports agent, she represented athletes, coaches, and broadcasters ranging from Tom Izzo to Doc Rivers, Erin Andrews, Billy Donovan, Joe Theismann, and more. She is a former athlete herself, having played varsity tennis at Michigan State. Molly was one of the first female sports agents, and during her almost two-decade career, she negotiated over $500 million in contracts and represented over 300 of sports' biggest names, including the aforementioned. These days, she's one of the most booked female speakers globally, and her TED Talk “Secrets of a Champion Mindset” has more than 1 million views. Her work has been featured everywhere from InStyle to Sports Illustrated, Forbes, Fast Company, CNN, and ESPN, and her latest book, Dynamic Drive, is a No. 1 USA Today national bestseller. Speaking of, today we're chatting with Molly about her book Dynamic Drive: The Purpose-Fueled Formula for Sustainable Success, which came out last September 3; she's also written a number of other books, including 2011's The Business of Being the Best: Inside the World of Go-Getters and Game Changers, 2013's The 5 Best Tools to Find Your Dream Career, 2014's A Winner's Guide to Negotiating: How Conversation Gets Deals Done, 2017's Fearless at Work, and 2020's The Energy Clock: 3 Simple Steps to Create a Life Full of Energy — and Live Your Best Every Day. Molly also hosts one of my favorite podcasts, Game Changers, which I can't get enough of. Dynamic Drive is Molly's latest work, and today on the show we talk about what dynamic drive is and how its heartbeat is purpose; she shares seven keys to unlock our dynamic drive, and she talks to us about how we are in a complacency epidemic and how to step out of our comfort zone and into our stretch zones. We also talk about, as the subtitle alludes to, sustainable success — not a quick fix, momentary, flash in the pan success, but success that lasts and lasts. Success to Molly is about so much more than achieving a goal or checking a box — it's about who we become as people in the process. I enjoyed learning from her so much. Dynamic Drive: The Purpose-Fueled Formula for Sustainable Success by Molly Fletcher

I could not be more excited, because today is R and P day on the show! That's right — today we're chatting with the fabulous Lindsay Jill Roth, one of my new favorite people, about her book Romances & Practicalities: A Love Story (Maybe Yours!) in 250 Questions, which comes out today, January 28. I spoke to Lindsay just before my wedding, and even though I was obviously in major love mode in the leadup to that, let's be honest — I'm always in major love mode. I'm a hopeless romantic, and I love reading books about relationships, and Lindsay's book and the 250 questions within it gave my husband and I a chance to bond even more during our engagement. R and P is not just the title of Lindsay's new book, but also a system created by her — today she tells us about that system and what she hopes it achieves; how this great idea originated; the methodology for choosing these 250 questions to help get to know someone more deeply; how she chose the sections of the book, which include Animals and Pets; Communication; Relationships, Sex, and Sexuality; In-Laws and Families of Origin; Chores, Domestic Duties, and Building a Home; Health and Medical; Children; Careers; Money and Finances; Weddings and Marriage; and Religion, Spirituality, and Politics. Romances & Practicalities is filled with experts and interesting people, and in it is sprinkled details of Lindsay's own romance with her now husband. Lindsay clarifies, by the way, that you do not have to be partnered to take this inventory, and that it's for everyone; I also ask her about what she means when she writes in the book “The sexiest kind of romance is also the most practical” and what it's like to write a book about relationships after writing a novel in the past, and how those two experiences differ. Let me introduce you to Lindsay — she is an award-winning television and live events producer who has created and developed a wide variety of programming globally, including original content for NBC, ESPN, BET, Billboard, Food Network, the Grammys, the TONYs, the Masters, and the U.S. Open. She is the former producer of the Emmy-nominated Larry King Now and the creator and executive producer of Haylie Duff's Real Girls Kitchen. As I mentioned a moment ago, Lindsay is also a novelist, writing What Pretty Girls Are Made Of in 2015. I am thrilled for her in this new adventure, and I certainly think she's found a big time calling here. Let's dig into it. Romances & Practicalities: A Love Story (Maybe Yours!) in 250 Questions by Lindsay Jill Roth

Today we've got another necessary conversation for so many of us — we're talking with Dr. Ellen Hendriksen about her new book How to Be Enough: Self-Acceptance for Self-Critics and Perfectionists, which came out January 7. It turns out, perhaps not surprisingly, that feeling a lack of enoughness is a widespread problem, and Ellen's book taught me so much about perfectionism — including that I apparently am one, even though I never would have thought that of myself. Perfectionism, as Ellen writes, can be used for good — it can help us have high standards, a strong work ethic, reliability, and a deep care of others — but it can also be used for ill, especially when it comes to our relationship with ourselves. Today on the show we explore the link between perfectionism and never feeling good enough; we talk about clinical perfectionism and where it stems from; how to stop putting our self-worth in the wrong places; seven shifts we can take to feel more enough; and so much more. Ellen has a Ph.D. from UCLA and completed her training at Harvard Medical School; she is a clinical psychologist at Boston University's Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders and, in addition to How to Be Enough, she also wrote How to Be Yourself: Quiet Your Inner Critic and Rise Above Social Anxiety. You might have seen her work everywhere from The New York Times to The Washington Post, BBC News, New York Magazine, Harvard Business Review, Psychology Today, Scientific American, The Guardian, Goop, O: The Oprah Magazine, and more, and she's here to help us stop being so hard on ourselves already.  How to Be Enough: Self-Acceptance for Self-Critics and Perfectionists by Dr. Ellen Hendriksen

Today I am thrilled to have on the show Israa Nasir to talk about her book Toxic Productivity: Reclaim Your Time and Emotional Energy in a World That Always Demands More, which came out November 19. Israa is a psychotherapist, speaker, and the founder of the mental health brand WellGuide, a digital community for mental health awareness. I love getting her WellGuide Substack, so make sure to subscribe to “The Well Guide” if you love this book and this conversation, which I know you will. Her work is centered on transforming the way we talk about mental health, taking it from a place of shame to a place of empowerment. You may have seen her work on NBC or in Teen Vogue, Huffpost, or Vox, and she's been invited to speak everywhere from Google to Meta to Yale. We know anecdotally what productivity is, but what is toxic productivity? It's something Israa has battled herself, as have I. Today on the show we not only define toxic productivity but healthy productivity, as well, and what that might look like; how we can separate a false sense of urgency from a true sense of urgency; that multitasking is not possible for the human mind; and how so many of us are using productivity as a barometer of self-worth and as a way to meet our emotional needs — and how this will never serve us. There is also a connection between shame and toxic productivity I think you'll be really interested to hear about.  Toxic Productivity: Reclaim Your Time and Emotional Energy in a World That Always Demands More by Israa Nasir

As we continue our ongoing, sporadic time management series, we're chatting today with Maria Bowler, the author of Making Time: A New Vision for Crafting a Life Beyond Productivity, which came out January 21. In the book, Maria writes that we are a culture obsessed with productivity — but in Making Time, she argues that our to do lists are just a distraction. In our conversation today, we talk about what we're distracting ourselves from; how we should act from our being rather than our doing; how important it is to tap into our creativity and that the opposite of productivity isn't necessarily doing less, but being more creative; and so much more, including that we should make time rather than manage time. Even if you don't consider yourself a creative, Maria asserts that there's a place for you; we also discuss breaking out of the productivity cycle so many of us are trapped in, and I'm excited for you to hear the conversation. A little bit about Maria — she is a writer, coach, and retreat leader, a graduate of Yale, and a former magazine editor who has taught creative writing at the university level. Take a listen to our conversation. Making Time: A New Vision for Crafting a Life Beyond Productivity by Maria Bowler

I recently had the great honor and pleasure of chatting with legendary sports broadcaster Chris Myers, whose book That Deserves a Wow: Untold Stories of Legends and Champions, Their Wins and Heartbreaks came out last November 19. This book is part memoir and part time capsule of some of the highlight reel of sports moments over the past few decades, as Chris has truly seen it all. Chris is an Emmy-winning FOX Sports broadcaster who in That Deserves a Wow takes us behind the scenes for his 1998 live interview with O.J. Simpson, the first of its kind after his bombshell murder case — and he tells us why he still has never watched it back. He was also there for NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt's tragic death in 2001, and Chris talks about his storied career, moments in sports he couldn't believe he was a part of, and his friendship with Bill Murray, who wrote the foreward for the book. Chris also tells us some of his best career advice, including my favorite nugget, “Every night is the Super Bowl.” One doesn't have to be a sports broadcaster to adopt that philosophy into their own careers. I spoke with Chris, actually, the day after my father's death; I canceled other interviews but kept his because I knew Chris would understand if I wobbled in the interview. He too knows grief well — in the book he talks about the tragic death of his son Christopher, taken far too soon. Chris is definitely one of the good guys, and has a career spanning over four decades — including 30 years at major networks — as a play-by-play announcer, reporter, and studio host, covering the NFL, MLB, NASCAR, and basketball at both the NCAA and NBA levels. Chris has covered multiple Super Bowls and World Series and has written a really powerhouse book. That Deserves a Wow: Untold Stories of Legends and Champions, Their Wins and Heartbreaks by Chris Myers

Today on the show we're talking about a fascinating topic — how to unlearn the idea of being a so-called “good mom.” We're chatting today with Nancy Reddy, author of The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom, which comes out January 21 and helps us unwind, as the title suggests, “the good mother myth” and myths we've been told over the years about what it means to be quote-unquote “good” in the mom department. In this book, Nancy presents so much science-backed advice when it comes to parenting; in today's episode we talk about whether she sees parenting as an art, a science, or a little bit of both; so-called “mom guilt” and why it's so pervasive; why “the good mother myth” is wrong, but seductive nonetheless; how suffocating expectations put on mothers can be, and how it makes mothers feel like they're not good enough (which is a fallacy); how so many ideas of motherhood are antiquated and no longer serve us; and so much more. In addition to The Good Mother Myth, Nancy also wrote the poetry collections Pocket Universe and Double Jinx, which was a winner of the National Poetry Series, and alongside Emily Pérez, Nancy is the co-editor of The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood. Nancy's essays have appeared everywhere from Slate to Romper, Poets & Writers, The Millions, and elsewhere, and in addition to teaching writing at Stockton University, she writes the newsletter “Write More, Be Less Careful.” Take a listen to our really compelling conversation. The Good Mother Myth: Unlearning Our Bad Ideas About How to Be a Good Mom by Nancy Reddy

Birmingham, Alabama — also known as The Magic City — is a major part of my story. I lived there for nearly 11 years, from January 2013 until December 2023; my husband is from there and I met my husband there; and, living there from age 26 to 37, it was part of my formative years as an adult. During my time in Birmingham, I worked in communications at the economic development organization the Birmingham Business Alliance, where I had the opportunity to meet Birmingham's mayor, Randall Woodfin, on a number of occasions. Sometimes those in office are one way in front of the cameras and a completely different person when the cameras are off; Mayor Woodfin was always kind, gracious, generous, and a genuinely good person — the real deal — even if it was just the two of us in a room. Mayor Woodfin won election as mayor in 2017 in a bit of a David and Goliath type victory over longtime Birmingham political mainstay William Bell; he has been in office ever since. Now, on January 21, he is coming out with a memoir, aptly titled Son of Birmingham: A Memoir, about his life, leadership, and, fascinatingly, his love of Outkast. As I tell Mayor Woodfin in this episode, we all deserve someone that loves us as much as he loves Outkast. Mayor Woodfin truly is a son of Birmingham and, having been in office since 2017, has seen the city through some difficult times, not the least of which is COVID-19. In this episode he talks about the modern day Birmingham and what the public still gets wrong about it; about being the youngest mayor in Birmingham's modern history; what it was like to win the mayoral election over seven years ago; some of the toughest situations he's faced in office; about answering the call to serve; and about his life as a husband and father now. A native of Birmingham, Mayor Woodfin attended Morehouse College and then returned to Birmingham, working at City Hall in jobs for the mayor and the City Council and for the Jefferson County Committee on Economic Opportunity. He attended the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University and, after obtaining his law degree, took on a job in the City of Birmingham Law Department. Outside of his work as an assistant city attorney, he was a political organizer, working on campaigns at the local, state, and federal level. After serving on the Birmingham Board of Education, he ran for mayor and is now in his second term in office, seeking a third in 2025. He was also a featured speaker at the 2020 Democratic National Convention. I will always, always have such an affinity for Birmingham, and for Mayor Woodfin, too. Son of Birmingham: A Memoir by Mayor Randall Woodfin

Earlier this week we spoke about romantic relationships, and today we're turning the focus to friendships — which are equally as important to a life. I have been so, so fortunate throughout my life to have the best of the best when it comes to friendships, both female and male, and I personally know — as I'm sure so many of you do — what friendship can add to a life. Our surgeon general Dr. Vivek Murthy, whose work I really appreciate and admire, has spoken at length in the past few years about the epidemic of loneliness, and we're learning more than ever how important human connection is. When I read our guest today Danielle Bayard Jackson's book Fighting for Our Friendships: The Science and Art of Conflict and Connection in Women's Relationships, which came out last year on May 7, I knew I had to have her on the show. Danielle is doing really fantastic work in this space, and today on the show she tells us how she became a friendship coach and expert; how, in her words, “Female friendship is a wellness essential” (and I agree); that friendship is the great equalizer and that, just like with romantic relationships, we're all figuring it out when it comes to friendship; how to prioritize friendship when marriage, children, and work are so demanding of our attention; how to not just maintain friendships but even make new friendships as an adult; three principles that bind us together as friends; friendship breakups and how to grieve that loss; the best piece of “friendship wisdom” she's ever heard; and so much more. Danielle has become a go-to expert on the subject of women's friendship, and has shared her insight everywhere from The New York Times to Good Morning America, NBC News, Essence, NPR, Psychology Today, and The Harvard Business Review. As you'll hear her talk about as she shares more about her journey, Danielle was a former high school teacher who is now leveraging her education background to study the latest research on women's cooperation, communication, and conflict, and delivers practical, research-based strategies for women who are looking to create and maintain better platonic relationships (and I think this work will speak to men, too). Danielle speaks to major companies like the NFL, the NBA, TikTok, Etsy, and more about this subject, and she is the founder of Friend Forward and hosts and produces a podcast of the same name. She is a fellow Floridian and has worked closely with Bumble as its resident friendship expert. She more than knows what she's talking about. Let's learn from her. Fighting for Our Friendships: The Science and Art of Conflict and Connection in Women's Relationships by Danielle Bayard Jackson

This week on the show, we're going to be talking about some of our most important relationships — our romantic relationships and our platonic relationships. Today on the show we have the relationship expert herself, Jillian Turecki, to talk about her new book It Begins with You: The 9 Hard Truths About Love That Will Change Your Life, which comes out January 14. As Jillian puts it in the book, no matter where your love life is at today, “you hold the key to the change you want to see in your love life”; she also writes that “you're not broken or doomed to be alone forever or forever unhappy in your love life.” It Begins with You, Jillian writes, “is about creating change” and, as the title suggests, it all starts with us, as, in her words, the “relationship we have with ourselves is the most important relationship we'll ever have.” In today's episode we go through each of the nine truths — parking on some more intently than others — and how we all have work to do in our romantic lives, as, in Jillian's words, “we all have patterns that do not serve our romantic lives, and we're all working on something.” Jillian talks about the myth of “the one”; how when we grow, the kind of people we are attracted to evolves, too, which is why it's so important to do the work on ourselves; what it actually means to love yourself and if you have to fully love yourself to attract the right partner; and so much more. We are all capable of being in a relationship that we deserve, and Jillian — who is a beloved relationship coach, teacher, and host of the top relationship podcast “Jillian on Love” — will help us get there. Let me tell you — I wish I'd read Jillian's book a decade ago. I probably could have skipped a lot of relationships that didn't serve me. In addition to her hit podcast, Jillian also has a huge social media community and a newsletter, “Love Weekly,” which reaches millions of people who are looking for help in this area of their lives. Through her work with Jillian Turecki Coaching, Jillian works with individuals and couples through transformative workshops, courses, and one-on-one coaching sessions, and she has done this work for over 20 years. I can't wait for you to hear from her. It Begins With You: The 9 Hard Truths About Love That Will Change Your Life by Jillian Turecki

When you think of the word “audacity,” what comes to mind? Honestly, for most of us, it's probably a negative connotation — as in, how do they have the audacity to do that? In her new book Cultivating Audacity: Dismantle Doubt and Let Yourself Win, Emmy Award-winning sports broadcaster Anne Marie Anderson is looking to reframe the word “audacity” into a positive, and something we all should be doing: being audacious enough to go for the big dream, the big goal, the big life. As she writes in Cultivating Audacity, which came out on January 1, “When the pain of staying the same is greater than the fear of change, it's time to cultivate audacity.” In this book and in this conversation, Anne Marie teaches us about decision making, and how to take calculated risks — not reckless risks — to get to the life we want. Inspired by the sudden passing of a colleague at just 37 years old — and right before her eyes — Anne Marie teaches us that we have no idea how much time we have left, and how imperative it is to just go for it — whatever “it” is to you. I know this is true in my own life, and I guarantee it is for you, too — there is something you want to do in your life, be it in your personal life or your professional life, that is gnawing at you. A calling that just won't go away. This book will get you over the line and encourage you to follow that calling and to take bold risks. In today's episode, Anne Marie talks us through four questions that will help us start focusing our intentions; introduces us to four big barriers to doing this work and how to overcome them; teaches us about the contemplations Cs and how they can help us; and, I think these are two of the most fascinating concepts she talks about, introduces us to “ikigai” and what it means to have a “front row” in your life — and how important that is. This conversation left me fired up to go and live the life I was meant to. Here to walk us through it all is Anne Marie Anderson, a three-time Emmy Award winning sports broadcaster, keynote speaker, and author. Anne Marie has spent more than three decades in sports television both behind and in front of the camera and has covered six Olympic Games, NBA and MLB playoffs, the Super Bowl, heavyweight title fights, golf majors, and countless other events. Anne Marie has lived out Cultivating Audacity in her own life, giving up a producer role for ESPN's SportsCenter at their headquarters in Connecticut and moving across the country to California; ESPN ultimately offered her a contract after that move that ended up more than doubling her salary. Soon she began to examine other areas of her life she wanted to change and challenge the status quo, and Cultivating Audacity was born. Anne Marie is one of the most experienced play-by-play announcers in the business, calling plays for ESPN, ABC, NBC, Fox, and TBS, and doing so in a very male-dominated business. Who said audacity had to have a negative connotation, anyway? Cultivating Audacity: Dismantle Doubt and Let Yourself Win by Anne Marie Anderson

Today we have an inside look into life in the Ford White House thanks to Bob Barrett's new book Inside the President's Team: Family, Service, and the Gerald Ford Presidency, which comes out January 7. In this book, Bob — who was one of President Ford's most trusted advisers — gives us a behind-the-curtain view of the Ford presidency as, second to Gerald Ford's wife Betty Ford, no one was closer to the president during his administration than Bob Barrett. Bob carried the “nuclear football” of the American nuclear codes, and literally couldn't let President Ford out of his sight. This led to a deep friendship with the First Family and gave Bob an inside look into the administration, which, born through President Nixon's resignation over Watergate, will always hold a unique place in history. In Inside the President's Team, we go inside the White House and inside the First Family in a way we've never really seen before. I want to pause here and say that I loved the insights on First Lady Betty Ford — you all know I love to study First Ladies, and she is one of my favorites. Inside the President's Team talks about why Ford decided to pardon Nixon for Watergate, and how he responded to criticism over his decision; what happened during the two assassination attempts on President Ford; and even about Betty Ford's intervention. President Ford was, as Bob puts it, “the most decent, honorable, trustworthy person I ever met.” Now, Bob actually passed away in 2022, so we have today on the show his son Nils Barrett to talk about his father and this remarkable book. We chat about how the Ford presidency already is remembered to history 50 years later and how it might be remembered 50 years from now; who both Bob Barrett and Gerald Ford were at their core; and how Bob continued serving Ford after his time in office ended, helping develop the Gerald R. Ford Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and the Betty Ford Center for drug and alcohol rehabilitation in Rancho Mirage, California. Ultimately, this book celebrates living a life of service, and Bob himself served two tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Army and attained the rank of major. He worked at the United States Army War College as its Public Affairs and Communications officer and was offered the role of military aid to President Ford at the start of his administration — hence the nuclear football. I can't wait for you to get to know him through the eyes of his son.  Inside the President's Team: Family, Service, and the Gerald Ford Presidency by Bob Barrett

It's 2025, and it's season 15! I could not be more excited for this season and all that it will bring, starting with today's guest, Rachel Hollis. Since Rachel's last book in 2020, so much has happened in her life, and she's here today to talk about it and her brand new book, What If YOU Are the Answer?: And 26 Other Questions That Just Might Change Your Life, which is out January 7. On the 1 percent chance you don't know Rachel and her work, Rachel is the stratospherically popular author of books like 2018's Girl, Wash Your Face: Stop Believing the Lies About Who You Are So You Can Become Who You Were Meant to Be, 2019's Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals, and 2020's Didn't See That Coming: Putting Life Back Together When Your World Falls Apart. She is an author, a motivational speaker, a blogger, a podcaster — a leader in the self-help space, which you all know is a world I love to read books about. As I said, since 2020, Rachel's world has been rocked by a divorce from her ex-husband, Dave Hollis, who died in 2023 after their separation; a miscarriage; finding new love (your world can be rocked even when it's good!). In this new book, Rachel is harnessing the power of asking questions, and is doing so in a very vulnerable, candid, and close-to-the-bone way. As she puts in the book, “the right question can change everything,” and in this book Rachel asks 26 questions that cause readers to look at their own life through a new lens. I loved this book, and I think you will too. What If YOU Are the Answer?: And 26 Other Questions That Just Might Change Your Life by Rachel Hollis

I know many of you — myself included — are thinking about what we want out of 2025, and with that reflection drumming up some New Year's resolutions. As we do so, I thought it would be helpful to bring in the habit expert herself, the one and only Wendy Wood, to close season 14 and to close 2024. Whatever type of year you had — a great one, or a not so great one — a fresh start is on the horizon, and 2025 is a blank canvas that we can make of whatever we want. Wendy wrote the 2019 hit book Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick, and she walks us through today what a habit is, in the first place; how hard it really is to change our habits and, in the process, change ourselves; the science behind changing our habits, including processes like context, repetition, and reward; statistics that might stun you, like that we as humans spend 43 percent — yes, 43 percent! — of our day doing things without thinking about them, as if on autopilot; whether it is easier to make a habit or break a habit, and so much more, including the best advice she's ever received regarding habit formation — and it is hopeful as we venture into a new year. Many of us have habits we want to make surrounding going to the gym more, and I can't wait for you to hear the statistics Wendy brings about how environment is so important, as well as proximity. Wendy Wood is here to help us reach our goals, so let me tell you a little bit about her. She is a professor of psychology and business at the University of Southern California and has written for The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times; her work has been featured so many places, including The New York Times, USA Today, The Chicago Tribune, NPR, and TIME magazine. Her purpose is to convey scientific insight on habit to the general public, and she's here today to do just that. Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick by Wendy Wood

My annual “Best Books of the Year” episode with Carla Jean Whitley is always such a highlight for me (and I know for all of you)! Below are her picks for 2024. Enjoy!   The Best Books She's Read This Year: Nonfiction — Meditations for Mortals: Four Weeks to Embrace Your Limitations and Make Time for What Counts by Oliver Burkeman (also adding in Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals for good measure, as well) Heartbreak is the National Anthem: How Taylor Swift Reinvented Pop Music by Rob Sheffield Memoirs — Just Like Glass: A Family Memoir by Amy Wight Chapman Grief Is for People by Sloane Crosley Fiction — The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley Sandwich by Catherine Newman   The Best Books She's Reread This Year: Looking for Alaska by John Green The Giver by Lois Lowry We All Want Impossible Things by Catherine Newman Tom Lake by Ann Patchett The Comfort of Crows: A Backyard Year by Margaret Renkl   The Books She Is Anticipating for 2025: Mothers and Other Fictional Characters: A Memoir in Essays by Nicole Graev Lipson (coming March 4, 2025) The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff (coming April 22, 2025) The Living Mountain: A Celebration of the Cairngorm Mountains of Scotland by Nan Shepherd (coming March 18, 2025) The Lost Trees of Willow Avenue: A Story of Climate and Hope on One American Street by Mike Tidwell (coming March 25, 2025) Everything is Tuberculosis: The History and Persistence of Our Deadliest Infection by John Green (coming March 18, 2025) Run for the Hills by Kevin Wilson (coming May 13, 2025)

We are continuing our series of life optimization episodes today with the dynamic Laura Vanderkam, time management expert and author of multiple books on the topic, including three books we're discussing in today's episode: her book 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think, which came out in 2010; Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done, which came out in 2014; and I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time, which came out in 2015. Laura has also written What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Mornings — and Life, which came out in 2012; All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Getting and Spending, which was released in 2013; The New Corner Office: How the Most Successful People Work from Home, which came out in 2020; and 2022's Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters. And that's still not all of her books! A graduate of Princeton, Laura and her husband share five children — so time management is a must! — and she became interested in time management while working as a journalist, after interviewing accomplished people juggling busy schedules. In October 2016, she gave a TED talk called “How to Gain Control of Your Free Time,” which has been viewed more than 12 million times, and she has written everywhere from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Fortune, and more. She is also the host of the “Before Breakfast” podcast and the co-host of the “Best of Both Worlds” podcast with Sarah Hart-Unger. With a life as busy as Laura's, she has to know how to manage her time! Today we chat about Laura's philosophy that looking at your life in 168 hour blocks — so, a week — is more preferable than looking at it in 24 hour blocks; the power of time tracking; the best piece of time management advice she's ever received; how outsourcing is a time management hack; her thoughts on multitasking; and so much more. There's not a person among us who has an extra stockpile of hours in their day or week — no, not even Beyonce! — and Laura's here to teach us how to make the most of our time. All by Laura Vanderkam: 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think Off the Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make the Most of Their Time

We have so much good for you even before 2024 closes, and especially as 2025 kicks off. We'll be bringing you lots of new books, especially in the new year, but as we close 2024 and look ahead to what next year will bring, I'm also going to bring in some conversations about books from years past that will make you think about the type of person you want to be going forward into this next chapter. That includes today's conversation with Amy Morin about her 2018 book 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don't Do: Own Your Power, Channel Your Confidence, and Find Your Authentic Voice for a Life of Meaning and Joy. In addition to this book, Amy has written a number of books about things mentally strong populations don't do — people, couples, kids, parents. We are zooming in on women today, but I think anyone will be able to take something from this conversation. Today we talk through each of the 13, spotlighting some of my favorites; I ask Amy, if she could revise this book — which came out six years ago this month — what she'd add or take away; and we talk about three components of mental strength. We also talk about what mental strength brings to a life, and I'm really excited for you to hear what she has to say. Amy is a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, college psychology instructor, keynote speaker, author, and expert on mental strength. Her books have sold over 1 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages, and, in addition to being an accomplished writer, she's also an award-winning podcast host, hosting “Mentally Stronger with Therapist Amy Morin.” She is also the former editor-in-chief of Verywell Mind and has been featured everywhere from Today, Good Morning America, Time, Fast Company, Success, CNN, CNBC, and more. Amy's TEDx talk “The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong” is one of the most popular talks of all time with more than 22 million views, and Amy's quest to find mental strength is hard won: she lost her mother at 23, and her husband died when she was 26. As she puts it, “Losing the two most important people in my life sent me on a quest to learn as much as I could about how to be mentally strong.” In 2013, during one of the lowest moments in her life, she wrote a letter to herself about what mentally strong people don't do, and 13 things emerged that could rob her of her mental strength if she let them. She figured her letter could maybe help someone else, so she published it online, thinking maybe a few people could benefit from it. It went viral, and more than 50 million people read it. From there came her book deal, and the rest is history. We are all better for her message.  13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don't Do: Own Your Power, Channel Your Confidence, and Find Your Authentic Voice for a Life of Meaning and Joy by Amy Morin

I have a great story to tell you about our guest today. Back in 2020, my co-host Jessica and I were looking to start what would become our podcast about the royal family, Podcast Royal. By 2020, Cathy Heller was already a prolific podcaster, as her show Don't Keep Your Day Job — which has since been renamed — debuted in 2017. Cathy gave me such helpful advice, and Jessica and I went on to launch Podcast Royal in November 2020 before I solo launched I'd Rather Be Reading about six months later in 2021. Cathy was so generous, selfless, and kind, and I've never forgotten it. Cathy gave so much to me without getting anything in return — she is truly, truly a good person. A light in a sometimes dark world. Now, flash forward to the present day, we're here to celebrate Cathy today with the December 3 release of her brand new book Abundant Ever After: Tools for Creating a Life of Prosperity and Ease. Speaking of Abundant Ever After, that is the updated name of Cathy's podcast, which is seven years running and 916 episodes strong! Along with her podcast, Cathy's book teaches us how to create the most expansive life possible and serves as a powerful guide for anyone ready to step into their most authentic self and transform their lives. In a word, Abundant Ever After is transformative, teaching us to do less striving and more surrendering, allowing more and more abundance in our lives. Today on the show we talk about what abundance is, how to live an abundant life and eschew limiting beliefs, and lean into, in Cathy's words, “a life that takes your breath away.” She also discusses what she might say to someone who is a skeptic of all of this, and so much more. It's a very powerful conversation with someone whose life I look at and genuinely say, in the iconic words of When Harry Met Sally, “I'll have what she's having.” I can't state enough what a difference Cathy has made in my life — and I'm not the only one. She is so giving of her time and energy and resources, and one of the best gifts she's given the world comes in the form of this fantastic book. Let me tell you a little bit about the force that is Cathy Heller. She has been described as a “fire hose of inspiration,” and is a dynamic transformational coach, spiritual guide, meditation teacher, and motivational speaker. In addition to Abundant Ever After, Cathy also wrote Don't Keep Your Day Job: How to Turn Your Passion into Your Career, and a through line through her work is providing inspiration for listeners and readers to boldly pursue their dreams and live authentically, to find their purpose and live on purpose. Cathy originally had a career in the music industry and has found new purpose through her work trying to help others find their happiest, most fulfilled selves. The world could use a million more people just like Cathy, and I can't wait for you to learn more from her today. She's the real deal.  Abundant Ever After: Tools for Creating a Life of Prosperity and Ease by Cathy Heller