Reconsidering

As recently as a decade ago, most of Western culture dismissed meditation as a sort of “touchy-feely” pursuit with no real value. Thanks in large part to the rise of meditation apps like Headspace however, that attitude has dramatically shifted from one of skepticism to one of curiosity heading towards broad acceptance. And just in time too as the pandemic and lockdown revealed for all of us the p...

John Maeda would rather be curious than afraid, despite the tectonic shifts in our world. AI—artificial intelligence—is reaching new milestones that foreshadow big changes in many careers. Some ignore what’s on the horizon, others acknowledge what’s to come but are paralyzed by fear. John Maeda takes a different approach: he just keeps reinventing himself. John jumped from MIT where he was a profe...

Life is hard. We want to think that isn’t the case but again and again, the universe shows us we’re wrong. We face loss, periods of illness and infirmity, and failure. Such is the human condition and there is no escaping these essential truths. Where better to turn for comfort, insight, and wisdom than the great minds of philosophy that came before us? Our guest, Kieren Setiya, professor of philos...

“No regrets.” You’ve heard people proclaim it as a philosophy of life. That’s nonsense, even dangerous, says Dan Pink in his latest book The Power of Regret. Everybody has regrets. They’re a fundamental part of our lives. And if we reckon with them in fresh and imaginative ways, we can enlist our regrets to make smarter decisions, perform better at work and school, and deepen our sense of meaning...

Now that season 2 has wrapped, the Reconsidering team is taking a break. Season 3 is already coming together with exciting new interviews that will further illuminate the elements of a satisfying life. Kieran Setiya will be back to talk about his new book, Life is hard, which explores philosophical insights that can set us on the right path. Dan Pink will share the power of regret and how it can a...

In sports, the coach plays the important role of guiding players and delivering the feedback they need to operate at their best. But in our professional lives we almost never have the guidance and support of a coach, which makes it challenging to reach our full potential and at times leaves us trapped in negative behavior cycles. Ed Batista has spent years coaching senior leaders who are facing a...

Starting early in childhood, creativity is slowly extracted from our lives. It becomes the domain of the select few of exceptional talent. But creativity can and should be an important part of everyone's life. In this episode of Reconsidering we’re going to explore an entirely different way of approaching creative expression—one that sees it not as a destination that yields a singular artifact but...

If the past few years have taught us anything it is this: don’t get too attached to your plans. Or as Patricia Ryan Madson might put it, “Life is something we all make up as we go along.” For many of us, the improvisational life can feel awkward, uncomfortable, and even frightening. But with some practice, reflection, and a slight shift in attitude, it can lead us to a life filled with YES! One wh...

In this special rewind episode, we re-air one of our most popular interviews that guests on the show have often cited as a favorite. In it Brad Stulberg shares practical guidance to get out of the grind and build a more grounded life. Hustle culture keeps us grinding, busy, overcommitted, rushed, and subsequently ungrounded. It’s a phenomenon Brad Stulberg calls “heroic individualism” and it’s som...

At some point we all struggle with stress, anxiety, and incessant overthinking. Meredith Arthur, author of Get Out of My Head, is on a mission to help us find strategies for defusing these emotional bombs. Meredith founded Beautiful Voyager, an online community where people discuss mental health challenges and support one another on their journey. In this episode we talk with Meredith about her ow...

In his New York Times bestselling book Four Thousand Weeks, Oliver Burkeman writes, “The average human lifespan is absurdly, terrifyingly, insultingly short. But that isn’t a reason for unremitting despair, or for living in an anxiety-fueled panic about making the most of your limited time. It’s a cause for relief. You get to give up on something that was always impossible – the quest to become th...

Though most people pass through a midlife malaise or crisis, few have studied the phenomenon as closely as M.I.T Philosophy Professor Kieran Setiya. As Kieran shares in his book Midlife: A Philosophical Guide, people as far back as ancient Greece have written about midlife crises and searched for answers to life's big questions. In this episode, Kieran Setiya boils down what happens to us at midli...

Living in isolation for two years without the support of community clarified for many of us just how nourishing and essential relationships are to us. Now that we’re starting to re-enter the world, how might we be more intentional about cultivating community? Tina Roth-Eisenberg—Swissmiss to her hundreds of thousands of followers on the web—has thought about this deeply. She’s the founder of Creat...

Too often we’ve been told that the workplace is an arena of competition, a zero-sum game where the strong thrive and the rest barely survive. If we’re going to reconsider anything, it’s hard to imagine a better place to start than this outdated, outmoded, and destructive model of the workplace. In this episode, Scott Shute, the former Head of Mindfulness and Compassion at LinkedIn and the author o...

It’s no secret that many of us feel pushed to the limit, rushed, overwhelmed, and perennially behind. We keep our heads down, focused on an endless to-do list without a moment to breathe. How can we break out of this vicious cycle of short-term thinking and create the kind of interesting, meaningful lives we all seek? Dori Clark, Duke University professor and author of The Long Game, wants to help...

Now that season 1 is wrapped, we're bringing you a special mini-episode to tide you over while we work on season 2. The tables are turned as Bob Baxley and Meredith Black interview their co-host Aarron Walter to uncover his origin story and why the themes of Reconsidering are important to his personal journey. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/12

Now that season 1 is wrapped, we're bringing you a special mini-episode to tide you over while we work on season 2. The tables are turned as Bob Baxley and Aarron Walter interview their co-host Meredith Black to uncover her origin story and why the themes of Reconsidering are important to her personal journey. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/11

Now that season 1 is wrapped, we're bringing you a special mini-episode to tide you over while we work on season 2. The tables are turned as Meredith Black and Aarron Walter interview their co-host Bob Baxley to uncover his origin story and why the themes of Reconsidering are important to his personal journey. Show notes and transcript: https://reconsidering.org/episodes/10

Shanti Brien received a phone call from her husband that changed everything. Authorities started a criminal investigation into her own husband’s company and he needed a lawyer to defend him. As a criminal defense attorney, Shanti knew how to navigate these situations but not when it was her own husband facing jail time that could tear her family apart. In this episode, Shanti shares how this momen...

Katherine May is a mother, nature lover, writing teacher, and a New York Times best selling author. She’s also been knocked down many times in her life and found a way forward by embracing the coldest passages of life. Katherine’s personal struggle is the subject of her most recent book Wintering, which has influenced many with wisdom about the power of rest and retreat to help us through difficul...

Hustle culture keeps us grinding, busy, overcommitted, rushed, and subsequently ungrounded. It’s a phenomenon Brad Stulberg calls “heroic individualism” and it’s something he knows all too well from his own life and his performance coaching work with people doing their best to reach their peak. Brad wants to shake us out of the hustle mindset and help us find a more grounded, sustainable existence...

We all have those moments of uncertainty where we don’t know if we should stay put at our careers or jump ship. And sometimes we don’t have a choice and are forced to jump. It can lead to an existential crisis. Who am I now? Do I have anything left to offer? What’s next? These are all questions pop up in our conversation with our guest, Maria Giudice, who has navigated career change many times wit...

Listening. It’s a skill that is hard to perfect in a world filled with distractions. But cultivating a satisfying life filled with rich relationships, growth, and connection requires this foundational skill. Getting good at listening to others can also help you tune into your own inner dialogue and emotional state. In this episode, Ximena Vengeochea, author of “Listen like you mean it” explains th...

For many of us, time slips by mysteriously. It’s gobbled up by email, social media infinity pools, and the flotsum and jetsum of life. At the end of the day we’re left wondering, “uh, what did I do today?” John Zertasky, co-author of Make Time, wants us to be more aware of and intentional about how we spend our most precious resource—our time. John spent years working at Google and GV, the venture...

Careers, careers, is there anything else so central to our lives that is so ill-defined and largely misunderstood? Academic career, sports careers, college careers. It seems we're awash in careers, and yet when it comes to our professional career, the one that really matters, many of us feel somewhere between uncertain and confused. Unable to see or appreciate the common patterns or longer arcs th...