The Best Podcast

Today’s podcast is the first of two episodes in which I read my latest Substack post, my quarter one review. This was a new experience for me in some ways, as I made an explicit shift in where I would place my focus at the start of the year. I hope you enjoy it and find some value in the lessons I share. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

I, like perhaps everyone, find myself reminiscing from time to time. Reliving past experiences opens parts of my identity that used to be so much more prevalent than they are today. Experiencing a sense of nostalgia and longing for those times is not uncommon, and yet I realize it’s a bit of a trick played by my mind when I’m able to step back and observe it from a distance. I share a bit about that experience here, which I hope you enjoy. Perhaps it will spark some reflection of your own. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Although I haven’t had the instagram app on my phone since 2019, the platform is still ubiquitous in the world around me. I get multiple instagram videos sent to me per day, which leads me to opening them in my browser. I watch and respond to the sender, and I often find myself perusing through other posts when this happens. This time perusing, perhaps 5-10 minutes at the minimum on each occasion, has some significant consequences, which is the topic of today’s episode. I hope it sparks a similar reflection for you. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today I reflect a bit on our physical bodies and the ways we get to a great physique. I don’t focus on the technical pieces of this, but instead I turn our attention to the mindsets that go into building and maintaining a healthy body and a great physique. I hope it gets you to think about your body and health in a bit of a different way than usual. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is simple, but its implications carry much more weight. I start each day by reading for 10-25 minutes, and it has been a transformative change for me to adopt. I share why in this episode while sharing a bit about the joys of reading. I hope you enjoy it and find it valuable enough to consider a similar habit for yourself. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

My wife and I recently used a large language model to help us verify our thinking about taxes. It did some good work quite quickly, but it ended up making quite a big mistake. I share a bit about this experience and the reflections it provoked in me. I hope they prove interesting and valuable to you as they did for me. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

How to resolve conflicts and challenges in relationships is a question we’ve been trying to deal with since the dawn of time. Two people who are different are always going to see things differently, so the conflicts and challenges themselves are inevitable. However, we have a say in how well we address them and whether they become productive for us, moving us toward greater connection and understanding. I share a framework here that I believe can help us to be more productive in this regard, which I hope you find useful and practical. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

My wife and I watched The Secret Agent the other night. We really enjoyed it, and we were also a bit puzzled by it. The acting performances were impressive, leaving us with a clear impression that this wasn’t just another movie. And yet, we also noticed that the meaning of the movie wasn’t necessarily easy to grasp for anybody stepping into the experience of watching it. I share more about this here and the takeaways I had from that reflection. I hope you find it insightful. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast comes out of a recent experience of mine in my Italian learning journey. Frankly, I’m not investing the time needed to really learn effectively, and I’m far from consistent. I explore why this has become the case, along with the background for the system I aspire to use to learn vocabulary. It’s a challenge, but talking it out here helped me quite a bit. I’m hopeful it’s insightful for you, too. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today, I spend some time discussing a Terry Real quote that has sat with me since hearing it. “There is no redeeming value in harshness. There is nothing harshness does that loving firmly doesn’t do better.” I couldn’t agree more, although it is incredibly tempting to act out of line with this for a number of reasons. I share some of my thoughts about it here, which I hope you find useful. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

This weekend was a nonstop onslaught of activities. It felt like I was running from the time I left my door in NYC to the time I returned to it over the course of four days. Many emotions ran through me, and I was happy with the way I dealt with them when I had a second to be with them. I share my experience here, which I hope you find valuable. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Uncharacteristically, I have missed 2 weeks of uploading a new podcast episode. I could make up many excuses, some of which I share in this recording, but at the end of the day, we all make choices. Each day, there was an opportunity to record. There always is. Everyone has ten minutes, whether they want to admit it or not. And yet, here we are. Today, I made a different choice. I’m happy with that, and I hope you enjoy listening to the outcome of that choice. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is a broad reflection on Terry Real’s How Can I Get Through to You. He offers such a compelling framework and set of insights about how to have better relationships. The main focus is on romantic relationships, but the principles are generalizable across all types of relationships we have. I summarize some of the principles and ideas he shares here, which I hope you find valuable. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast was seeded by some observations I had this morning on the subway. My eyes were opened in a pretty strong way about the ways even the smallest of choices and behaviors can affect us, so I wanted to share my experience here. Perhaps you’ll hear some passion in my voice in a way you might not often hear on this podcast, so I hope you enjoy that little twist. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is short and sweet, just like its central topic. Living life simply, in a more disciplined, focused, and consistent manner, over the last 3 months has brought me so much. Challenge, learning, satisfaction, and more. I discuss the experience and what I’ve learned along the way thus far, which I hope you find valuable. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is a special one. I take some time to sit with my mom and talk about a wide array of topics. We discuss her childhood, parenting, her career, her marriage, her perceptions of me, her parents, and much more. It pulled some tears out of both of us, and I imagine it may for you as well. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast pulls from a book I’m currently reading by Terry Real. In it, he tries to build a bridge for men and women to better understand each other in their relationships to one another. It’s a powerful read. One passage jumped out to me that I wanted to share, which serves as the focus of today’s episode. I’m sure it will bring you something worth chewing on. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

I return to a topic today that I discussed over 6 years ago. We often experience a fear of missing out when there are many joys that also come along with it. I share some of my thoughts on this, in addition to sharing a current example of this. I hope you enjoy it and find some value in what I share here. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

This was a fun episode for me. It allowed me some space to reflect on an area of significant personal evolution over the past decade or so. Communication is complicated, but opening ourselves to be fascinated by it and to study its nuances is a powerful act. I describe my personal journey with that here, offering what I’ve learned and its implications. I hope you find value in it. Thanks for listening z as always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is inspired by a singular paragraph from Carl Jung’s autobiography in which he discusses the relationship between self-knowledge and understanding evil. It brings so much to unpack, which is why I dedicate an entire episode to it. I’m sure it will bring you something worthy of reflection and feeling throughout your being. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast gets into the tactical weeds of how I stay organized and systemize the things I need to get done in life, whether they are personal or professional tasks. I walk through how I plan my week, the tools I use, and how I capture the things I need to get done. As philosophical as I may get, I am a big believer in the value of strong processes to keep ourselves organized in our daily lives, which I hope you resonate with after listening. Thanks for tuning in. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is an extensive one, but it needs to be. I’ve taken my time to think about where we are with our attack on Iran, and I lay that thinking out here. I organize it into two sides, but each side introduces several variables in their own right. I hope it helps you to understand the situation more clearly and that it can help you to make a more informed assessment of where we are and what you think is right. Perhaps you’ll align with me. Perhaps not. What’s most important is that you actually think for yourself. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s run reminded me of a very useful lesson about performance. For those who are like me, the pressure we impose on ourselves can often make our performance worse, even if it feels like it’s supposed to improve it. Easing off and focusing on my breathing, staying steady, and being in the moment led me to a much faster pace than I expected, in addition to a more positive experience of the run itself. I hope it’s a reflection that brings you some value as well. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast puts a microscope on what a typical day looks like for me during the week. This professional phase has demanded a lot from me, and my approach to meet those demands has been one of simplicity. As I’ve said many times before, simple doesn’t mean easy. Executing on simple over these last several weeks has made a big difference for me, so I wanted to share a bit about that here. I hope it brings you some value and inspires you to think more simply as well. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is a recording of my latest Substack post, where I compiled my key learnings from the final quarter of 2025: www.mbest.substack.com/p/quarter-four-2025 . There’s a lot here, so I’m sure some of the points will be insightful or at least get you thinking. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is a wandering one. It starts out a little gory, with details of an unpleasant recent experience of mine, but it ties into quite a beautiful thing on the other side. I hope you enjoy the reflection and that it brings you come value. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

As I ran yesterday, my watch missed a mile and a half due to a technical glitch. In the moment, I was immediately a little upset because it didn’t record that stretch of the run and I might not be able to fix it on the back end. Shortly after that initial thought, I realized something much more important, which I take some time to share here. I hope it brings you some inspiration and quality reflection. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

My brother returns to the podcast today for our second recorded conversation. To commemorate his 30th birthday, we reflect on the 30 years he has spent on this earth, talking through his personal highlights. Knowing Tim, we had to mix in a lot of conversation about sports as well. I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast starts with a reflection on a small change I have recently made in my life. Despite how small it seems, I have felt its effects more broadly in my life in an outsized way compared to how small of a change it appears to be. I reflect on this process, along with its many impacts of which we benefit a great deal from remaining aware. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is a reflection on some challenges I’ve been working through over the past week. There are a couple of key pieces that have helped me deal with them in a productive way. They may seem obvious, but I know that the obvious is often hard to put into practice, so I wanted to take some time to talk them through as an incentive for you to put it into practice, too. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is meant to pull us out of the craziness that the world can throw at us, with the intention of turning us back in toward what is within our reach. When it feels like so much is going on, it is most important to not forget the essentials of our individual existences. To leap out into the world, we need a solid foundation, and in this episode I share a bit about what comprises that foundation and how I approach it. I hope it brings you some insight and inspiration. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Something I haven’t done in a while here is tell a story. I had quite an eventful experience a couple of weeks back that I think is worth sharing here, so I wanted to take some time to talk it through. It’s a story I’m sure I’ll carry with me for years to come. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast was inspired by a conversation I had with my wife within the last hour. She shared the pressure and agony that she endures in her work, to which I responded with an alternative approach to it all. It applies not just to creative work in my view, but to anything we do in this life. I hope you find some value in it and can play with the idea yourself. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

What are your values? What do you believe and why? What are your principles for living a good life and approaching the various things you do? What is the life you are striving to build? These are some questions that guide high quality reflection that I think all of us should take time to ponder and write down. I share why in this episode, along with how I will be approaching this in 2026. Perhaps you’ll join me. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is a recording of my latest Substack, which also serves as my most recent social media post. You can find it at mbest.substack.com/p/the-professional-phase . I elaborate on the phase of life in which I currently find myself and what I think it means. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is my longest one in some time. A friend of mine asked me thoughts on the state of the US and the world, which provoked a desire in me to just talk it out. I ramble my way through several topics, covering US economics, politics, history, and foreign policy, what’s happening around the world, and a critique of social media and its role in debilitating our thinking. It’s a lot to chew on, so I hope this opens your mind to some new ideas and perspectives. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today was my first run in three weeks. In many ways, I paid for it, as it was quite a tough one to get through. Nevertheless, I managed myself and got through it, a little slower than usual, but unscathed. It brought my a few reflections as well, which I wanted to share here and hope bring you value. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is a bit of a stream of consciousness exercise, in which I take a moment to reflect on my two weeks in my hometown and my trip back to the city this past weekend. A lot of good came from these two weeks, which excites me for what is to come as we start a new year. As always, thanks for listening. Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is a long time in the making. After 948 episodes, I finally have my dad on for a conversation. We talk about his early years, his life story, being a father and what his father was like for him, his experience raising my brother and me, and much more. I hope you enjoy it and find some value in what he shared. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

The solution is so often to simply let time do its work. Our lack of patience tends to bring us further from our desired outcome rather than closer to it. I share my thoughts about this here, which I hope brings you some useful reflection. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Food and drink during the holidays can be a big challenge for us to manage. Trying to stick to a diet and manage our weight isn’t easy when so much is on a table before us. In this episode, I offer some thoughts on how I’ve managed this in the past, how I think about it now, and what I think it means for you. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Oh, how I wish we prioritized our minds and everything that goes into them. What a difference it would make for all of us as individuals, as well as the impact it would have on our societies as a collective. It’s a topic I can’t seem to shake, so here I am, discussing it yet again, with the hopes that I may turn a head or get someone who hasn’t thought deeply about this to start doing so. As always, thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is a reflection from a recent conversation with my mother in law, where we talked about her persistent challenges and a possible solution to what she is facing. It’s a general practice that I wish all of us could practice in life, as it holds immense power for us to retrain ourselves, moving us away from suffering. I’m sure you’ll find something of value here. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

A friend of mine has a way of being that I aspire to and think makes the world a better place. It’s an attitude that is refreshing and simple, but not necessarily easy to uphold. I share more about it in this episode, which I hope you chew on and consider integrating into your life. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Coming from an admittedly biased person toward words and all things verbal, spending time at an art museum and listening to some classical music over the past few days was an extremely enriching and enjoyable experience. As I grow, I find these two art forms to be more and more engaging and valuable. I share a bit about my experience with them here, which I hope drives a useful reflection for you in return. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

John Mayer was my most listened to artist this year. It wasn’t his first time occupying this spot, either. I take some time sharing what his music has meant to me at different points in my life before focusing on some lyrics to one song that is currently working its magic on me. I think you’ll find some value in what I share here, and perhaps you’ll be interested enough to listen for yourself. Thanks for tuning in. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast stems from some recent personal work I’ve been doing. Trying to articulate the events of my life from start to present has been cumbersome, but it has taught me a great deal so far, both about the process and about myself. I share some of those insights here, which I hope you find to be valuable. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

Today’s podcast is for the hard moments. Often when we want to lean away and exclude ourselves, isolating our problems from the world, what we really need is to lean in and share. Our friends and social networks are assets that help us to mend our suffering, making life much more bearable. I hope what I share here is of use to you as it has been to me. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

1800 days of writing and 939 podcasts have taught me so much. One thing in particular is the power of words, and more specifically, being able to use language to express ourselves and make sense of our internal worlds. I share the value of writing and speaking as a practice here, which I hope convinces you to incorporate a similar practice into your own life. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.

The latest Epstein file release has been eye-opening to say the least. Extremely successful men with moral bankruptcy, pursuing their vanity through the temptations of a mysterious man. It sparked quite a reflection for me, which I spend time sharing here. I’m sure it will bring a meaningful reflection to you as well. Thanks for listening. As always, Much Love ❤️ and please take care.