The Next Big Idea Daily

Today, New York Times bestselling author Cal Newport offers a bold vision for liberating workers from the tyranny of the inbox — and unleashing a new era of productivity.

In this episode, Rina Bliss, a genetics expert and professor challenges our understanding of intelligence, explaining what it truly means to be “smart,” why conventional assessments are misleading, and what everyone can do to optimize their potential.

Change is not the exception, it’s the rule. Today, Brad Stulberg tells us how to deal with it.

We are stuck in “Infinite Browsing Mode” — swiping through endless dating profiles without committing to a single partner, jumping from place to place searching for the next big thing, and refusing to make any decision that might close us off from an even better choice we imagine is just around the corner. This culture of restlessness and indecision, Pete Davis argues, is causing tension in the lives of young people today: We want to keep our options open, and yet we yearn for the purpose, community, and depth that can only come from making deep commitments. Today, he's here to teach us how to make it to the other side. • Subscribe to our newsletter • Download our app • Join our club (code DAILY gets you 10% off)

As an award-winning science journalist, Melinda Wenner Moyer was regularly asked to investigate and address all kinds of parenting questions: how to potty train, when and whether to get vaccines, and how to help kids sleep through the night. But as Melinda's children grew, she found that one huge area was ignored in the realm of parenting advice: How do we make sure our kids don't grow up to be assholes?

Today: a fascinating exploration into how the brain creates our conscious experiences — potentially revolutionizing neuroscience and the future of technology.

Sportswriter Sally Jenkins has spent 30 years observing, interviewing, and analyzing elite coaches and playmakers, such as Bill Belichick, Peyton Manning, Michael Phelps, and more. In this episode, she shares the principles that lead superstars to success — and how you can apply those principles to your life. • Subscribe to our newsletter • Download our app • Join our club (code DAILY gets you 10% off)

Spend 13 minutes with us today and develop the life-changing ability to excel in spontaneous communication situations—from public speaking to interviewing to networking—with a few essential strategies courtesy of Matt Abrahams, a Stanford lecturer, coach, and host of the popular "Think Fast, Talk Smart" podcast.

Today, licensed therapist and bestselling relationship expert Nedra Glover Tawwab offers clear advice for identifying dysfunctional family patterns and choosing the best path to breaking the cycle and moving forward. --- Subscribe to our newsletter Download our app Join our club (code DAILY gets you 10% off) Send us an email

Many of the problems we face today, from climate change to work anxiety, are the result of short-term thinking. But there is a solution. Futurist Ari Wallach offers a radical new way forward called “longpath,” a mantra and mindset to help us focus on the long view.

Social scientist Dan Ariely explores the behavior of misbelief that leads people to distrust accepted truths and embrace conspiracy theories.

In their groundbreaking book, "Random Acts of Medicine," Anupam Jena and Christopher Worsham reveal the hidden side of medicine and how unexpected — but predictable — events can profoundly affect our health.

Today, in just eight minutes, award-winning Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson is going to transform your relationship with failure.

The pursuit of perfection can become a dangerous obsession that leads to burnout and depression — keeping us from achieving our goals. Today, Thomas Curran gives us tips for letting go so we can focus on what matters most. • Subscribe to our newsletter • Download our app • Join our club (code DAILY gets you 10% off) • Send us an email

Racism, says Heather McGhee in her award-winning book "The Sum of Us," is the common denominator of our most vexing public problems, the core dysfunction of our democracy, and constitutive of the spiritual and moral crises that grip us all. But how did this happen? And is there a way out?

Today, Shankar Vedantam, host of "Hidden Brain," walks us through the surprising role of self-deception in human flourishing.

Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas teach the popular course "Humor: Serious Business" at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where they help some of the world’s most hard-driving, blazer-wearing business minds infuse more humor and levity into their work and lives. In "Humor, Seriously," they draw on findings by behavioral scientists, world-class comedians, and inspiring business leaders to reveal how humor works and—more importantly—how you can use more of it, better.

In 2006, John Warren and John Thompson led Marines into combat in the world’s most dangerous city: Ramadi, Iraq. In "Lead Like a Marine," Warren and Thompson lay out the simple, universal rules that helped them succeed, from valuing grit and potential over pedigree, to condensing large groups into resilient “fireteams,” to cross-training team members so that anyone can step up to the plate in a crisis.

You can get happier. And getting there will be the adventure of your lifetime. Today, Harvard professor Arthur C. Brooks shares a few tips on how to do it from his new book — co-written with the one and only Oprah Winfrey — "Build the Life You Want." • Subscribe to our newsletter • Download our app • Join our club (code DAILY gets you 10% off) • Send us an email

Tribalism is one of the most complex and ancient evolutionary forces. But in our vast modern world, has this blessing become a curse?

In "High Conflict," bestselling author and award-winning journalist Amanda Ripley investigates how good people get captured by high conflict—and how they break free. • Subscribe to Michael's newsletter

Today, Paul Bloom takes us on a brisk tour through modern psychology.

What distinguishes the great from the truly exceptional? After five years of writing The Profile, Polina Marinova Pompliano has studied thousands of successful and interesting people in the world and examined how they reason their way through problems, unleash their creativity, and perform under extreme pressure.

Jane Ferguson has covered nearly every war front and humanitarian crisis of our time. Today, she shares career advice inspired by her bestselling memoir, "No Ordinary Assignment."

Actor, producer, and writer Rainn Wilson explores the problem-solving benefits that spirituality gives us to create solutions for an increasingly challenging world.

Today, our curator Adam Grant stops by to share the key takeaways from his #1 New York Times bestseller "Think Again." • If you're an Adam Grant fan, you'll love The Next Big Idea Club. Adam, Malcolm Gladwell, Susan Cain, and Daniel Pink handpick their favorite books, and then we send them to your doorstep. Sign up at nextbigideaclub.com and use code DAILY for a special discount.

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela, a leading political and intellectual historian and a certified fitness instructor, explores the complex and far-reaching implications of how our contemporary exercise culture took shape.

Today, Stanford Graduate School of Business faculty member, serial entrepreneur, and investor David Dodson details the five skills every great manager needs to know if they want to get things done.

To write "Beginners," Tom Vanderbilt embarked on a yearlong quest of learning just for the sake of it. Along the way, he interviewed dozens of experts about the psychology and science behind the benefits of becoming an adult beginner. Today, he joins us to explain how anyone can get better at beginning again — and why it's worth it.

In "On Disinformation," Lee McIntyre shows how the war on facts began, and how ordinary citizens can fight back against the scourge of disinformation that is now threatening the very fabric of our society.

In "Imaginable," Jane McGonigal draws on the latest scientific research in psychology and neuroscience to show us how to train our minds to think the unthinkable and imagine the unimaginable.

In "Remember," neuroscientist and novelist Lisa Genova delves into how memories are made and how we retrieve them.

The chasm separating managers from leaders is widening as the skills required to be an effective leader grow in number and complexity. But you're ambitious. You want to cross that chasm. And your organization needs you to cross it in order to join its bench of stars who will lead with empathy and humanity and ground the organization's strategies in a meaningful, mission-driven, and purposeful way. Today on the show Adam Bryant will teach you how to make that leap.

Most of us try to avoid feeling sad, but therapist Chelsea Harvey Garner believes the future will be brighter if we learn to enjoy the unenjoyable and support each other when the vibes aren’t so good. Today, she tells us how to do it. • Subscribe to our newsletter • Download our app • Join our club (code DAILY gets you 10% off) • Send us an email

In his new book, award-winning journalist Jeff Goodell explains how extreme heat will dramatically change the world as we know it.

In "How to Think like a Philosopher," Julian Baggini turns to eminent philosophers, past and present, to find practical solutions for today's most vexing questions.

Jessica Carew Kraft, an urban wife and mom of two, was firmly rooted in the modern world, complete with a high-powered career in tech and the sneaking suspicion that her lifestyle was preventing her and her family from truly thriving. Determined to find a better way, Jessica quit her job and set out to learn about "rewilding" from people who reject the comforts and convenience of civilization by using ancient tools and skills to survive. Along the way, she learned how to turn sticks into fire, stones into axes, and bones into tools for harvesting wild food―and found an entire community walking the path back from our technology-focused, anxiety-ridden way of life to a simpler, more human experience.

The traditional ways of earning a living are outdated, if not outright rigged. That’s why a growing number of enterprising individuals are instead turning to the growing ecosystem of decentralized, fast-moving virtual markets to pursue a host of previously unheard-of ways to pay the bills. Join New York Times bestselling author Chris Guillebeau on a fascinating tour of this brave new world where novelty is currency, and the creators are in control.

Today, Juliet Funt provides strategies you can use to regain control of days, liberate yourself from burnout and busy work, and reclaim creativity and focus—even when there's chaos all around you. • Subscribe to our newsletter • Download our app • Join our club (code DAILY gets you 10% off) • Send us an email

What can a 19th-century naturalist teach us about reclaiming our attention?

Today, two-time Guinness World Record memory champ Dave Farrow shares practical tips you can use to “rewire” your brain and boost its power.

Our most precious resource isn’t money. It’s time. We are allotted just 24 hours a day, and we live in a culture that keeps us feeling “time poor.” Since we can’t add more hours to the day, how can we experience our lives as richer?

You may have noticed that the kind of focus we all need to get stuff done is harder and harder to come by. But fear not. To help you get back on track, we've called in some of the smartest writers we know to give us their take on the attention crisis and what we can do about it. All this week, we'll be hearing from them. First up is journalist Johann Hari. Johann is the author of three New York Times bestsellers, and he joins us today to share some key insights from his latest, "Stolen Focus: Why You Can't Pay Attention—and How to Think Deeply Again."

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 masterclass.

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.

In the final installment of her interview, Vanessa Patrick ("The Power of Saying No") gives us tips for turning down the pushy people in our lives.

Today: The difference between "pass the salt" and "bake your favorite lasagna" asks.