Motivation

There are more sweat glands in your two feet than anywhere else on your body. And when bacteria breaks down that sweat, it can stink . (That’s right — it’s not the bacteria itself that stinks.)  Because of all the sweat from your feet, which inevitably soaks into your shoes, stinky footwear is a rather common occurrence. While in some cases it’s a minor annoyance that really only impacts yourself, in others it’s a truly embarrassing matter — people can smell it if they’re simply sitting next to you on the subway, and if you take your shoes off around folks, the stink can bowl them over! The amount you sweat and the pungency of your body odor is partially genetic, and if you’re on the more stinky end of things, you’ll just unfortunately have to do more to fight it (and prevent it).  Below you’ll find how to do just that. We start with a handful of tips focused on prevention, and then move into a number of mostly natural options you can try before you’re forced to t...

You’ve probably experienced a few aha moments in your life. Moments where an idea for a new business or piece of art, or a solution to a sticky technical, relational, or philosophical problem, suddenly popped into your mind. What causes these proverbial light bulbs to go off over our heads? What’s going on in your brain when you experience an insight? And can you do anything to encourage more “aha” moments? My guest has spent his career researching the answers to these questions. His name is John Kounios , and he’s a professor of psychology and the author of the book The Eureka Factor: Aha Moments, Creative Insight, and the Brain . We begin our conversation discussing how researchers define what an insight is, and examples of how scientists and musicians have experienced them. John then walks us through the stages that lead up to getting an insight and explains what is going on in our brains right before and at the moment we experience one. We end our conversation discussing way...

There are more sweat glands in your two feet than anywhere else on your body. And when bacteria breaks down that sweat, it can stink . (That’s right — it’s not the bacteria itself that stinks.)  Because of all the sweat from your feet, which inevitably soaks into your shoes, stinky footwear is a rather common occurrence. While in some cases it’s a minor annoyance that really only impacts yourself, in others it’s a truly embarrassing matter — people can smell it if they’re simply sitting next to you on the subway, and if you take your shoes off around folks, the stink can bowl them over! The amount you sweat and the pungency of your body odor is partially genetic, and if you’re on the more stinky end of things, you’ll just unfortunately have to do more to fight it (and prevent it).  Below you’ll find how to do just that. We start with a handful of tips focused on prevention, and then move into a number of mostly natural options you can try before you’re forced to t...

Shame on the man of cultivated taste who permits refinement to develop into fastidiousness that unfits him for doing the rough work of a workaday world. Among the free peoples who govern themselves there is but a small field of usefulness open for the men of cloistered life who shrink from contact with their fellows. Still less room is there for those who deride of slight what is done by those who actually bear the brunt of the day; nor yet for those others who always profess that they would like to take action, if only the conditions of life were not exactly what they actually are. The man who does nothing cuts the same sordid figure in the pages of history, whether he be a cynic, or fop, or voluptuary. There is little use for the being whose tepid soul knows nothing of great and generous emotion, of the high pride, the stern belief, the lofty enthusiasm, of the men who quell the storm and ride the thunde r. –Theodore Roosevelt A tee for the world’s thunder riders. Da...

You may have heard the story, often attributed to the Cherokees, in which a grandfather tells his grandson of a fight that takes place within him between two wolves. One of the wolves is virtuous, and one is evil. When the young man asks, “Which wolf will win?” his sage mentor replies, “The one you feed.” It’s a great little parable, and a lens that can be applied in another way as well. Within your mind, there’s a conflict playing out between two different actors: a rat and a human. These respectively represent the lower, instinctive, primeval parts of the brain which we share with reptiles and rodents, and the higher, more complex parts which are unique to mankind. Our appetites and instincts aren’t bad; they drive us towards the things we need to survive, thrive, and reproduce. But the rat can become glutted at the expense of the emaciation of what makes humans, human. When I check my phone out of what can only be called a Pavlovian response; look at social media comments i...

Many of our goals in life — from losing weight to saving more money — require willpower. But what is willpower anyway, why does it feel like it fails us so often, and what can we do to make better use of it My guest today explores the answers to these questions in her book:  The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It . Her name is Kelly McGonigal , and she’s a psychology professor at Stanford. We begin our discussion discussing what exactly willpower is, how it can be described as an instinct, and what goes on in your brain when you utilize it. We also unpack the idea that there are really three different types of willpower: I won’t power, I will power, and I want power, and how these powers can be increased. We then spend the rest of our discussion digging into the limitations of willpower, so we can avoid putting ourselves in situations where it’s likely to fail us. We talk about how s...