The Next Big Idea Daily

"What matters most in life?" There's a reason Matt and Ryan, theology professors at Yale and our guests this week, call it the Big Question. It's too big to answer all at once. You have to break it down. Today they're going to teach you how.

Today, we learn why the deepest question — the one that can truly change our lives, ground us, and give us direction — is not “What do I really want?” It’s “What is really worth wanting?” (Have you checked out our newsletter? Every Friday, Michael looks back on the week's episodes and shares his key takeaways. Sign up now!)

This week: Matt Croasmun and Ryan McAnnally-Linz, professors at the Yale Center for Faith and Culture, share key insights from their New York Times bestselling book "Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most."

Even your suboptimal behaviors have a function. Understanding what they are can help you make a change.

You say self-sabotage, your brain says self-protection. In today's master class, Britt Frank explains how your brain tries to keep you safe by shooting you in the foot. --- • Have you checked out our newsletter? Every Friday, Michael looks back on the week's episodes and shares his key takeaways. Sign up now!

This week we’re getting unstuck. We’re passing Go. We’re collecting $200. We’re finding a way forward. How? By utilizing the neuroscience-based tools psychotherapist Britt Frank shares in her new book, “The Science of Stuck.” Today, she explains why it’s so empowering to realize that mental health is a physical process.

In our brains, there is no such thing as a true “lack of motivation.” But how can we harness this biological fact to get off the couch and get more done?

This week on The Next Big Idea Daily: psychotherapist Britt Frank shares five key insights from her book "The Science of Stuck: Breaking Through Inertia to Find Your Path Forward." Today, Britt explains why you should treat anxiety like a check engine light. • Download the Next Big Idea app to hear hundreds of audio summaries of the best new books

In the final installment of the master class based on her book “Tranquility by Tuesday,” productivity expert Laura Vanderkam says nailing your work-life balance comes down to how you use your Fridays.

Do effortful fun before effortless fun. But what's the difference? Laura explains in today's mini master class.

To renew your spirits, Laura says you need to take some time for yourself. --- Download the Next Big Idea app and listen to hundreds of the world's bestselling authors summarize their books in just 12 minutes.

You know what you need? An adventure. That's right. You don't have to wait until your next vacation. You can — and should — make it a habit to do surprising, novel things on the reg. And, yes, we know you're thinking: "How can I fit that in with everything else I have going on?" Don't worry. Laura Vanderkam has a simple solution for making adventures of all sizes part of your routine.

In "Tranquility by Tuesday," time management guru Laura Vanderkam shares tools you can use to finally make time for the activities you love. But before you can do that, you need to get a good night's sleep. Today, Laura explains how.

All good things must come to an end. It's our last day with Mónica Guzmán, journalist, political de-polarizer, and author of "I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times." This week, she's been our anti-debate coach, teaching us how to have tough talks about thorny topics that don't end in fisticuffs. In her final chat with Michael, she...

What's the most powerful question you can ask in a politically charged conversation? "How did you come to believe that?"

“The paths we walk to our views are rich and long,” Mónica Guzmán says in today’s episode, “and it is not very likely that one meme or mic drop point is going to change someone else’s mind.” So what will?

“I don’t understand this person!” You know you’ve thought it. About the uncle or neighbor or co-worker whose worldview is diametrically opposed to your own. But what would happen if you checked your bewildered outrage and tried curiosity instead?

This week, award-winning journalist Mónica Guzmán stops by to teach us how to cross the political divide, find common ground, and learn from people whose worldviews radically differ from our own. Mónica's new book is "I Never Thought of It That Way: How to Have Fearlessly Curious Conversations in Dangerously Divided Times." (Have you checked out our app? It's loaded up with hundreds of book summar...

Alright, it's time to wrap up Seth Stephens-Davidowitz's five-part master class based on his book "Don't Trust Your Gut: Using Data to Get What You Really Want in Life." Today, Seth explains what the data says about finding happiness. • Our newsletter comes out today. Sign up now! • Download The Next Big Idea app

Success depends less on getting lucky and more on using your luck well. In this episode, the fourth in Seth’s mini master class, he explains how to do it.

You might assume that the wealthiest 1% of Americans are neurosurgeons, corporate attorneys, and hedge fund managers. In reality, they're more likely to own car dealerships or run beverage distribution companies. Today, Seth explains why that is.

Good news for all you parents out there: the data says you can relax. But there’s still one parenting decision that matters. A lot. Want to know what it is? Tune in to today’s episode!

Big data. Baseball managers use it to win pennants. Stockbrokers use it to beat the market. And now you can use it to get what you really want in life. That's according to a new book by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz called Don't Trust Your Gut. When faced with difficult life decisions-like "Who should I marry?" and "How can I avoid screwing up my kids?"-we typically follow our intuition. The problem is...

Today, we wrap up our week-long master class with David Myers with a discussion of hindsight bias and how it can help you be less hard on yourself. Our newsletter comes out today! Sign up now.

"Others notice us less than we imagine. This is liberating: A bad hair day hardly matters. Few will notice. Fewer will care. Of those, fewer still will remember."