Simplify

Simplify Season 2 launches next week with an episode featuring Seth Godin. If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @CaitlinSchiller. And we have a favor to ask! We want to include your voices in this season of Simplify. Specifically, we’d love to hear how you would answer one of the questions we always ask our guests: “What have you discovered was much easier than you initially thought it was?” Just record your answer as a Voice Memo on your phone and email the audio file to us at [email protected]. See you next week!

We’re back on November 16th, 2017, with a new season of Simplify! Tune in for 6 new guests and 6 new ways to look at your world. To keep you busy ‘til then, we have an assignment for you: go into your voice memo app on your phone (called Voice Memo on iOS and on Android, you've got lots of choices) and record us a message with your name, where you’re calling from, and one thing you learned is much simpler or easier than you thought it was. Then, email it to us at [email protected]. If you have questions, want to say hi, or tell us what you had for breakfast, get at us on Twitter. Find Ben at @bsto, and Caitlin @caitlinschiller.

Ben Schuman-Stoler talks to speed-reading expert Abby Marks Beale about how to become a more mindful reader. Abby is a consultant and the author of 10 Days to Faster Reading. Abby and Ben clarify the meaning of speed-reading (it’s NOT reading War and Peace in five minutes and knowing it’s a book about Russia) and review simple strategies for getting the most out of your reading material. After the interview, Caitlin joins Ben to recap the interview and have a very meta conversation about books you can read about books. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blnk.st/2isbPSb. That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/niceaux). See you in Season 2!

Caitlin Schiller talks to New York Times bestselling author Jonah Berger. Berger is a marketing professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he teaches Wharton’s top-ranked online course. He is also the author of Contagious: Why Things Catch On and Invisible Influence: The Hidden Forces that Shape Behavior. Jonah tells Caitlin about his newest book, Invisible Influence, which reframes the latest research on decision-making and behavioral psychology in a way that will make you rethink how your brain actually works. He explains that our peers play a powerful role in shaping our behavior and that’s mostly okay: influence helps us make decisions; it’s groupthink that’s a problem. After the interview, Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin to go deeper into the ideas and the books covered in this episode. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blnk.st/2uojuCl. That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/niceaux).

Ben Schuman-Stoler talks to time management expert Laura Vanderkam, author of I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours. Her writing has appeared in Fast Company, Fortune, USA Today, and the Wall Street Journal. Vanderkam made a surprising discovery after interviewing hundreds of professional women: most of us actually have way more free time than we think. She also tells an unforgettable story involving an exploding water heater and a flooded basement that will motivate you to get to work on that unfinished novel languishing on your desktop. After the interview, Caitlin Schiller joins Ben to go a bit deeper into the ideas and the books covered in the interview, so that by the end of the episode you’ll have an entirely new perspective on how to make the most out of the 168 hours that make up your week. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blnk.st/2fb8k1n. That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/niceaux).

This week, we talk with Dr. Joel Fuhrman. You might be familiar with his bestselling books, like Eat to Live and Super Immunity. Dr. Fuhrman is the passionate pioneer of nutritarianism, a style of eating which focuses on jamming into your diet as many nutrient-rich, cancer-fighting, health-bolstering foods as possible. Over his many years of medical practice, Dr. Furhman has seen nutritarianism reverse diabetes, stall cancer, and remedy many long-term health problems — all in addition to helping millions of people lose weight. Host Caitlin Schiller is one beneficiary of the nutritarian approach: two years ago, following Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat to Live plan allowed Caitlin to get off her iron supplements. Plus, it improved her vision so much, she had to stop wearing glasses! You’ll hear all about that and more on this week’s episode of Simplify. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blnk.st/2uAMfyn That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/niceaux).

Caitlin Schiller travels to Amsterdam to talk to productivity guru David Allen, the best-selling author of Getting Things Done, Ready for Anything, and Making It All Work. They talk about how to overcome the internal obstacles that stand in our way when we’re trying to get things done in the external world. In the second segment, Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin to make another must-have reading list. By the end of the episode, you’ll understand David’s no-nonsense approach to productivity, plus how you can apply it to your own life. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://bit.ly/2uBCdO5. That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/niceaux).

Caitlin Schiller talks to sex and relationship advice columnist Dan Savage. Savage is the author of four books, including American Savage, and a nationally syndicated column called Savage Love. Since 2006, his podcast, Savage Lovecast, has been regularly featured on the Apple Podcasts top charts. In the interview, Savage explains why the best thing you can do for your relationships might be to lower expectations. Plus, how monogamy is a lot like snowboarding and why a nail in his head made him great at his job. (There is swearing and sexual vocabulary in this episode. Careful around the kids.) In the second segment, co-host Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin to make a must-have reading list. By the end of the episode, you’ll have a good idea of what you can read and do to simplify your sex life and relationships. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blnk.st/2uUMcLS That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/niceaux).

Caitlin Schiller talks to Gretchen Rubin, NYT bestselling author of Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, and Happier at Home. Her books have sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, in over thirty languages. Rubin speaks about her approach to happiness, habits, and self-acceptance. The main thing you should listen for is how to apply the ancient idea of “know thyself” to your fast-paced 21st-century life. In the second segment, Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin for a deep but pithy dive into some of the ideas and books Gretchen mentions in the interview. By the end of the episode, you’ll understand Gretchen’s #1 best-selling approach to happiness, plus what you can do to apply it to your own life. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blnk.st/2t6dRMB That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/niceaux)

Here's a little taste of what you'll hear in the next six weeks. Hit subscribe to have the first episode automatically delivered to your podcast feed in just a few days! Until then! Be good, Ben and Caitlin