Unusual yet important questions you should ask yourself.

We steal some of the best questions and ideas from different domains that you can try applying to your own life.

• What is a life worth living
• Healthy vs toxic aspirations
• How to abandon what doesn't serve you
• The illusion of self-importance

Our guest today is Jodi Wellman the author of "You Only Die Once" and a source of positive ideas from her work in Applied Positive Psychology.

Jodi has a morbid fascination with positive ideas from existential psychology to help brighten your day.

As they say "Get busy living, or get busy dying".

Sponsor - Cozy Earth

Luxury Bamboo sheets and Loungeware that become softer the more you use them.

35% off code 'GROWTH' - CozyEarth.com

Sponsor - LinkedIn Jobs

Promote your job for free to over 1 billion professionals.

LinkedIn.com/Growth

Jodi Wellman

• Book - You Only Die Once
• Website - Four Thousand Mondays
• Quiz - How dead or alive are you?
• Insta - @FourThousandMondays

Growth Mindset pod

Sam Webster Harris explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

Success and happiness is a state of mind unique to ourselves and is our responsibility to create.

• Watch the pod - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
• Mail - GrowthMindsetPodcast(at)gmail.com
• Insta - SamJam.zen

Chapters

00:00 Importance of good questions

01:40 Net-promoter score - Would you recommend your life?

07:24 Abandoning What No Longer Serves You

10:33 Consistent Reminders and Psychological Tricks

14:26 Overcoming the Illusion of Personal Specialness

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How your brain creates movement and why it's interesting.

We learn about the movement control centre of the brain, how it is a leading indicator for brain and cognitive health in general and how to optimise it.

Important topics

• How does the motor cortex work exactly
• How to improve reflexes
• Repair damage and rewire brain circuits
• How alcohol and cannabis affect the brain

If you like understanding yourself or you want to become a pro athlete or musician the episode is a great place to geek out.

Sponsor - Cozy Earth

Luxury Bamboo sheets and Loungeware that become softer the more you use them.

35% off code 'GROWTH' - CozyEarth.com

Sponsor - LinkedIn Jobs

Promote your job for free to over 1 billion professionals.

LinkedIn.com/Growth

Growth Mindset pod

Sam Webster Harris explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

Success and happiness is a state of mind unique to ourselves and is our responsibility to create.

• Watch the pod - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
• Mail - GrowthMindsetPodcast(at)gmail.com
• Insta - SamJam.zen

Chapters

00:00 Why the motor cortex makes you cool

02:25 How the Motor Cortex was discovered

04:09 The areas and functions of the motor cortex

07:02 Mentality and Physicaly Link

08:45 Motor Function Impairment and Physical Rehab

11:36 Why you might be a bit Uncoordinated

13:54 Developmental Variation and mindset

14:52 How alcohol and Marijuana impact brain Health and Coordination

17:38 Reflexes and professional training

20:41 Why 10,000 hours makes sense

22:06 Reactions that don't require your brain

24:33 How physical movement affects mental thought

26:43 Wrap up

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The pillars of a happy life lead to increased satisfaction instead of having opposing priorities fight it out.

By treating work and life as opposing forces we inevitably end up tipping the scales the wrong way. We can't always subscribe time evenly and things get out of whack.

We find there is a much better way by examining the term itself 'Work-life balance".

This episode will not only help you find better harmony with your different life projects but also help your awareness and mindsets to the choices you make.

Advert - Cozy Earth

Luxury Bamboo sheets and Loungeware that become softer the more you use them.

35% off code 'GROWTH' - CozyEarth.com

Infinite Play - Nat Eliason

This episode was inspired an article from Nat Eliason and his brilliant newsletter Infinite Play - I highly recommend subscribing.

Growth Mindset pod

Sam Webster Harris explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

Success and happiness is a state of mind unique to ourselves and is our responsibility to create.

• Watch the pod - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
• Mail - GrowthMindsetPodcast(at)gmail.com
• Insta - SamJam.zen

Chapters

00:00 Importance vs Dangers of "balancing"

01:56 The number of heartbeats in your life

03:00 Why is finding Balance so complicated

03:50 The importance of words and language

06:50 When balance creates problems

07:50 The pillars of a happy life

09:00 Our obsession with good and bad instead of priorities

11:14 Seeking long-term enjoyment

13:10 Creating satisfaction whilst minimising sacrifice

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Avoid the partnership traps everyone falls into and select and build strong relationships, that last.

Matt Higgins is an incredibly successful serial entrepreneur and Shark Tank investor with a personal fortune +$150 million dollars. The unspoken ingredient to his success is relationships.

We learn about:

• Relationship dynamics in successful business ventures
• Avoiding pitfalls in partner selection
• The importance of shared values
• Humility and appreciation for different traits

This episode covers the importance of shared values over identical ones, strategies for aligning values in professional settings, and the impact of shared visions in business success.

Matt offers practical advice on avoiding pitfalls in partner selection and cultivating strong relationships in competitive environments. Learn from his experiences at the helm of a leading investment firm and how to evaluate partnership potential for long-term success.

Advert - Cozy Earth

Luxury Bamboo sheets and Loungeware that become softer the more you use them.

35% off code 'GROWTH' - CozyEarth.com

Matt Higgins

• VC Firm - RSE Ventures
• Insta - @MHiggins
• X - @MHiggins
• LinkedIn - Matt Higgins RSE
• Book - Burn The Boats

Growth Mindset pod

Sam Webster Harris explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

Success and happiness is a state of mind unique to ourselves and is our responsibility to create.

• Watch the pod - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
• Mail - GrowthMindsetPodcast(at)gmail.com
• Insta - SamJam.zen

Chapters

00:00 Rates of relationship failure

02:50 Arranged Marriages in Bangladesh and burning the boats

06:43 Identical vs Shared Values

10:33 How do you know someone is the one?

12:24 Attachment Styles and Self-Awareness

17:57 How do you mentor a CEO to become more self-aware?

19:15 Wrap up

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Build self-awareness and recognise the mind traps we easily fall into every day.

We examine 9 different cognitive biases related to Ego and how we can spot them.

Learn:

• When our ego serves us or sabotages us
• Why we fall in love for the wrong reasons
• How our bias to perceive ambiguity as hostility almost triggered a Nuclear war

From panicking over getting some ketchup on our trousers to explosive road rage, cognitive biases can give us an answer.

Learning how to recognise our own biases can lead to a much calmer, kinder and more successful life.

Enjoy the episode

Advert - Cozy Earth

Luxury Bamboo sheets and Loungeware that become softer the more you use them.

35% off code 'GROWTH' - CozyEarth.com

📕 Recommended Books

These books are full of brilliant insights and mental models to help you become a more rational thinker.

🏎️ Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

🧘‍♀️ The Art of Thinking Clearly by Rolf Dobelli

🧠 Super Thinking by Gabriel Weinberg & Lauren McCain

🪐 The Skeptics Guide to the Universe by Dr. Steven Novella

Growth Mindset pod

Sam Webster Harris explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

Success and happiness is a state of mind unique to ourselves and is our responsibility to create.

• Watch the pod - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
• Mail - GrowthMindsetPodcast(at)gmail.com
• Insta - SamJam.zen

Chapters

00:00 Spotlight Effect

02:25 Dunning Kruger Effect

04:41 Status Quo Bias

06:29 Curse of Knowledge

08:21 Cognitive Dissonance

10:34 The Halo Effect

14:07 Fundamental Attribution Error

16:13 Actor-Observer Bias

17:33 Self-Serving Bias

19:54 Hostile Attribution Bias

23:42 Note 1 - Don't blame other peoples behaviours

24:22 Note 2 - Don't get lost in our own world

27:21 Note 3 - These Biases exist for a reason

28:33 Note 4 - Don't get easily offended

29:14 Send Off

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Is society sick? Are we sick? Let's treat our drive to conform as a disorder we can diagnose and fix.

This episode is a hypothetical deep dive where we treat our obedience to social pressure like other personality disorders.

Main topics:

• DSM-5 entry for Social Pressure Personality Disorder (SPPD)
• 2 contrasting case studies
• Crossovers with other disorders
• How to manage and break out of your social pressure problems

We develop a set of symptomatic criteria, case studies and a treatment plan to get us to live an independent life on our terms.

Anyone wanting to take charge of their life instead of their life living them should listen.

It's also designed to help you think like a psychologist and imagine how a therapist would approach diagnosing and treating such a disorder if it existed.

THIS IS AN EXPERIMENTAL FORMAT

Comments are much appreciated!

Advert - Cozy Earth

Luxury Bamboo sheets and Loungeware that become softer the more you use them.

35% off code 'GROWTH' - CozyEarth.com

Growth Mindset pod

Sam Webster Harris explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

Success and happiness is a state of mind unique to ourselves and is our responsibility to create.

• Watch the pod - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
• Mail - GrowthMindsetPodcast(at)gmail.com
• Insta - SamJam.zen

Chapters

00:00 The Power of Social Pressure

02:23 Classifying Social Pressure as a Disorder

03:36 Diagnostic Criteria for SPPD

09:31 Case Study 1: Elena

13:17 Case Study 2: Liam

16:54 Therapy and Interventions

18:17 SPPD and Other Disorders

21:49 Overcoming Social Pressure with a Growth Mindset

23:06 Living Authentically on Your Own Terms

25:12 Wrap Up

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

~11% of men are porn addicts (+3% of women). You know a LOT of porn addicts.

Today's episode discusses:

• Why is porn addiction not discussed openly?
• Why is it so shameful to talk about?
• Why is the problem only getting worse?
• How do we create better systems for recovery?

On the show, we have Eric Zusack (Powerful Eric) a porn addiction coach. He spent 20 years in therapy for his own porn addiction. He finally recovered by breaking out of the disease model of addiction and instead taking ownership of his own power.

We discuss the many ways porn is harming society and getting worse and what to do about it.

Advert - Cozy Earth

Luxury Bamboo sheets and Loungeware that become softer the more you use them.

35% off code 'GROWTH' - CozyEarth.com

Powerful Eric

• Website - PowerfulEric.com
• Insta - @Powerful_Eric

Growth Mindset pod

Sam Webster Harris explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

Success and happiness is a state of mind unique to ourselves and is our responsibility to create.

• Watch the pod - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
• Mail - GrowthMindsetPodcast(at)gmail.com
• Insta - SamJam.zen

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Porn addictions

02:31 How to recognize and addiction

05:47 Eric's Personal Struggle with porn

08:31 Eric's Journey to beat his Porn addiction

11:04 Identity Reconstruction

15:43 The Dangers of Porn Desensitization

20:19 Addiction's Impact on Mental Health

22:17 Reframing the Disease Model

24:40 The Rise of AI-Generated Porn

29:13 Schizophrenia and murder

31:35 Finding a Healthy Habit

35:15 Overcoming Moral Conflicts

38:06 Masturbation vs. Pornography

41:44 Eric's Advice and Resources

43:42 Earliest Memories and Acts of Kindness

45:08 Wrap up

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The quiet path to loud success by overcoming our nature.

We explore ego and our automatic tendencies and how we can over-ride our inbuilt patterns that get in the way of our goals.

• Set yourself apart in a world dominated by noise
• Silent but powerful ways to surpass expectations
• Increase effectiveness at getting what you want

We delve into the art of quiet achievement, offering a fresh perspective on how to succeed without the spotlight.

Advert - Cozy Earth

Luxury Bamboo sheets and Loungeware that become softer the more you use them.

35% off code 'GROWTH' - CozyEarth.com

Growth Mindset pod

Sam Webster Harris explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

Success and happiness is a state of mind unique to ourselves and is our responsibility to create.

• Watch the pod - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
• Mail - GrowthMindsetPodcast(at)gmail.com
• Insta - SamJam.zen

Chapters

00:00 The Pitfalls of Unhelpful AI and the Human Mind

04:05 Defaulting to Surrendering Our Assumptions

06:25 Actively Seeking Our Own Incompetence

08:07 Mr. Beast's Path from Incompetence to Mastery

10:17 Three Ways to Block Others' "Aha" Moments

11:55 Allowing Self-Persuasion

12:16 The Entrepreneur's Paradox of Asking for Advice

13:30 Closing Thoughts on Humility's Impact

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What can we learn about stress management from consistent out-performers?

Dr Steven Stein is the author of "Hardiness: Making Stress Work for You to Achieve Your Goals", and several books on Emotional Intelligence.

We learn:

• How to self-motivate
• Life lessons from prisoners of war
• The traits of success behind Olympic champions, Military specialists, and Bus-drivers
• Dealing with Acute vs Chronic stress
• The art of resilience through challenge, control and commitment

Dr. Steven Stein

Bestselling author and psychologist who has worked with leading corporates, defence agencies and some of the biggest reality TV shows.

Steven J. Stein

Books:

• EQ Edge: Emotional Intelligence and your success
• Emotional Intelligence for Dummies
• Hardiness: Making stress work for you to achieve your goals

Advert - Cozy Earth

Luxury Bamboo sheets and Loungeware that become softer the more you use them.

35% off code 'GROWTH' - CozyEarth.com

Growth Mindset pod

Sam Webster Harris explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

Success and happiness is a state of mind unique to ourselves and is our responsibility to create.

• Watch the pod - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
• Mail - GrowthMindsetPodcast(at)gmail.com
• Insta - SamJam.zen

Chapters

Introduction to Hardiness Concept

01:58 Hardiness: The Three Cs

08:12 Positive Thinking vs Reframing

09:21 Hardiness in Acute vs Chronic Stress

12:04 Writing habits and hardiness

15:41 Does Hardiness Grow over time

21:11 Weird Memories

22:29 Kindest Thing

24:27 Moments of Wonder

25:59 Send Off

26:13 Wrap up

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Understand the circuitry of the self as we uncover the neurological pathways behind the Ego and explain what the Default Mode Network is.

Topics covered:

• What the hell is the Default Mode Network
• The Brain Pathways of Anxiety and Depression
• The imbalances causing ADHD
• How modern medicines interact with the brain
• The effect of meditation and psilocybin on the DMN

Starting with Hans Berger's pioneering work with EEG this episode covers the history of Default Mode Network discovery, its role in ADHD symptoms, and the impact of Default Mode Network on depression.

We also explore the connection between DMN and anxiety disorders and discuss the benefits of therapeutic interventions targeting the Default Mode Network.

Learn how modern neuroscience uses DMN insights to enhance psychiatric treatments and the overall understanding of mental health.

Advert - Cozy Earth

Luxury Bamboo sheets and Loungeware that become softer the more you use them.

35% off code 'GROWTH' - CozyEarth.com

Further Reading

• Default Mode Network on Wikipedia
• Where is the Default mode network
• Paper: The Brains Default Mode Network
• Paper: Schizophrenia and DMN
• Paper: Autism and DMN
• Theory of Mind

Related Episodes

• How to Stop Catastrophizing
• Science of Psilocybin Therapy w/ Gabriel Charalambides

Psilocybin Therapy

• John Hopkins Research
• Legal treatment in the USA - Odyssey

Meditation Retreats

• Paper: Meditation effect on the DMN
• Book: Why Buddism is True (Evolutionary Psychology of Meditation)
• 10 day Vipassana (free) - Dhamma.org

Growth Mindset pod

Sam Webster Harris explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

Success and happiness is a state of mind unique to ourselves and is our responsibility to create.

• Watch the pod - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
• Mail - GrowthMindsetPodcast(at)gmail.com
• Insta - SamJam.zen

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction to the Default Mode Network

02:04 Hans Berger and history of EEG and brain mapping

04:49 Discovery of the Default mode network

06:14 What is the default mode network?

06:33 #1 Self-referential thought

07:00 #2 Theory of mind

07:43 #3 Autobiographical memory

08:12 #4 Envisioning future scenarios

08:32 #5 Mind wandering and daydreaming

09:16 #6 Creativity

10:21 Depression and the brain

11:28 Anti Depressant medication and the DMN

12:41 Anxiety

14:08 Anti Anxiety medication and Benzodiazepines

15:27 ADHD

16:16 ADHD medication and stimulants

18:03 How Meditation Regulates the DMN

20:34 Psilocybin impact on the DMN

22:41 Wrap up

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Battle the flood of priorities with a tool to decide where to dedicate effort

Our tasks in life have different requirements but it's not always obvious. Sometimes we need to:

• Get it done
• Aim for average
• Excel with grandiosity

We'll learn the mistakes people make by applying effort in the wrong places and frustrating themselves. Selective bother will help you live a much happier and more complete life.

Advert - Cozy Earth

Luxury Bamboo sheets and Loungeware that become softer the more you use them.

35% off code 'GROWTH' - CozyEarth.com

Growth Mindset pod

Sam Webster Harris explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.

Success and happiness is a state of mind unique to ourselves and is our responsibility to create.

• Watch the pod - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
• Mail - GrowthMindsetPodcast(at)gmail.com
• Insta - SamJam.zen

Chapters:

00:00 The 90% Trap

01:51 Being "Done" vs Incomplete

02:21 The Struggle for Perfection

05:04 When Average is Enough

08:07 The Fisherman's Wisdom

10:16 Striving for the Extraordinary

12:51 Finding Your Balance

13:48 Send Off

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices