The Next Big Idea Daily

What does it mean to find your way—through a city, a life, or a world that refuses to make perfect sense? In ⁠The Half Known Life: In Search of Paradise⁠, Pico Iyer travels from Iran to North Korea to Japan in search of peace in the middle of uncertainty. In Dark and Magical Places: The Neuroscience of Navigation, Christopher Kemp explores the astonishing brain systems that help us build mental maps and move through space. Together, these books ask how we orient ourselves when the destination isn’t quite clear. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Growing up is supposed to mean getting wiser. So why does it so often feel like losing something you can’t quite name? Julian Shapiro-Barnum, the creator of Recess Therapy, thinks kids still have some of the answers. In How to Grow Up Without Becoming a Grown-Up, he asks what happens when we trade emotional honesty, imagination, and hope for the version of adulthood we think we’re supposed to perform. Then historian Tobias Becker takes the other side of that longing in Yesterday: A New History of Nostalgia: why we keep reaching for the past—and why “nostalgia” might not mean what we think it does. Two books about growing up, looking back, and what we lose along the way. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Imagination isn’t just for artists, kids, or daydreamers—it’s one of the brain’s most practical tools. In Imagine That: Transform How You Think, Feel, and Live with the Science of Imagination, Cassandra Vieten shows how imagination helps us solve problems, manage stress, rehearse difficult moments, and expand what feels possible. Then, in Imaginable: How to See the Future Coming and Feel Ready for Anything—Even Things That Seem Impossible Today, Jane McGonigal explains how stretching our minds toward the future can make us more resilient, flexible, and ready for change. Together, these books make the case that imagination isn’t a luxury—it’s a skill we can, and should, practice. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What does it mean to think well? In Think Before You Think: Understanding and Mastering Executive Function, Adrian Owen explains the hidden mental skills that help us focus, plan, pause, and make better decisions. And in The Importance of Being Educable: A New Theory of Human Uniqueness, Leslie Valiant explores the uniquely human ability to absorb knowledge—and the very modern problem of knowing which information to trust. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Money is supposed to buy freedom. So why does chasing it so often make life feel smaller? In Young Money: A Field Guide to Wealth and Purpose in Your Twenties, Jack Raines argues that your twenties aren’t just a warm-up act for adulthood—they’re a stage of life with risks, opportunities, and joys worth taking seriously. And in The Money Trap: Lost Illusions Inside the Tech Bubble, Alok Sama takes us inside the wild world of high finance and tech investing, where more money doesn’t always mean more wisdom. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What do we really want from work—a paycheck, a purpose, a community, a calling? Today, MIT Sloan professor Zeynep Ton makes the business case for treating workers better in The Case for Good Jobs: How Great Companies Bring Dignity, Pay, and Meaning to Everyone’s Work. Then UC Berkeley sociologist Carolyn Chen looks at the other side of work’s expanding role in our lives: what happens when the office starts replacing older sources of identity, belonging, and meaning? Her book is Work Pray Code: When Work Becomes Religion in Silicon Valley. Together, these books ask how work can matter deeply—without becoming everything. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com ⁠⁠✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What happens when a handful of billionaires gain extraordinary influence over a democracy—and artificial intelligence begins reshaping how citizens participate in public life? In United States of Oligarchy: How America’s Wealthiest Ally with Dictators, Weaken the U.S., and Destroy Democracy, journalist Casey Michel examines how wealth, foreign influence, and political power have transformed America. Then, in Reboot: AI and the Race to Save Democracy, Beth Simone Noveck offers a possible path forward, using AI to help ordinary people engage with government, shape policy, and rebuild trust. Together, these books explore what’s threatening democracy—and what it might take to make it work better. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What if wellbeing isn’t something you find once and hold onto forever, but something you practice—quietly, imperfectly, day by day? In Lasting Wellbeing: Science-Based Practices for Tranquility, Authenticity, Meaning, and Joy, Matt Bloom shares simple, evidence-based ways to build a life with more calm, meaning, and connection. And in Rise and Shine: How to Transform Your Life, Morning by Morning, Kate Oliver and Toby Oliver show how the first few minutes after waking can shape the mood, energy, and intention of the day ahead. Together, these books offer a practical reminder: big change often starts small—and sometimes before breakfast. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Your mind is constantly selling you a story about who you are, what’s true, and what you should believe. But how do you know when that story is helping and when it’s quietly leading you astray? Today, we’re exploring two books about belief, evidence, and the slippery search for certainty: Inner Propaganda: Leading Hearts and Minds Through Turbulent Times by Owen Fitzpatrick and Proof: The Art and Science of Certainty by Adam Kucharski. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What if the questions you ask—and the languages you speak—are quietly shaping what you notice, remember, and believe? Today, we’re exploring two books about the architecture of thought: Q: The Hidden Power of Questions in a World That Wants Answers by Lani Watson and The Power of Language: How the Codes We Use to Think, Speak, and Live Transform Our Minds by Viorica Marian. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Money is never just math—especially in relationships. In Tightwads and Spendthrifts: Navigating the Money Minefield in Real Relationships, Scott Rick explains why financial opposites so often attract, why total transparency may not be the relationship cure-all we imagine, and how couples can talk about spending without turning every receipt into a referendum on love. Then, Myra Strober and Abby Davisson share ideas from Money and Love: An Intelligent Roadmap for Life’s Biggest Decisions, a guide to making major choices—about work, family, home, and partnership—with both your head and your heart. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What keeps national security experts up at night? For Annie Jacobsen, the answer comes in two terrifying forms: weapons that can end civilization in hours, and weapons that can spread invisibly through the air. In Biological War: A Scenario and Nuclear War: A Scenario, Jacobsen draws on deep reporting and expert interviews to show how fragile our safeguards really are—and why the most catastrophic threats are often the ones most people prefer not to think about. It’s a bracing look at deterrence, preparedness, and the thin line between worst-case scenario and real-world possibility. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What if the good life isn’t hiding in some grand achievement, perfect mood, or future version of yourself—but in the ordinary moments you’re already rushing past? Today, we’re pairing Ian Bogost’s The Small Stuff: How to Lead a More Gratifying Life with Cuong Lu’s Happiness Is Overrated: Simple Lessons on Finding Meaning in Each Moment, two books that gently challenge our obsession with happiness. Bogost invites us back into the sensory pleasures of the physical world; Lu, drawing on years as a Buddhist monk under Thich Nhat Hanh, points toward meaning, suffering, and connection. Together, they ask: what if this moment is already enough? 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

In Head in the Clouds: How the Weather Affects Our Minds and Mental Health, psychologist Trevor Harley explains how light, heat, rain, wind, and the seasons quietly shape our moods, choices, and mental health. Then, in The Story of CO2 Is the Story of Everything: How Carbon Dioxide Made Our World, science writer Peter Brannen zooms out to show how one tiny molecule has steered climate, life, civilization, and our planetary future. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Discipline usually sounds like a punishment: more willpower, more grind, more pushing through. But what if achievement gets easier when you stop obsessing over the finish line and start designing a process you actually enjoy? Today, Jia Jiang shares ideas from Easy Discipline: An Unconventional Way to Achieve Ambitious Things, arguing that lasting success comes from loving the work, choosing better stories, and turning big goals into simple repeatable actions. Then Wendy Leshgold offers big ideas from Fast Forward: 5 Power Principles to Create the Life You Want in Just One Year. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What makes work feel genuinely energizing—not just tolerable, but meaningful, absorbing, and even fun? In Intrinsic Motivation: Learn to Love Your Work and Succeed as Never Before, executive coach and performance expert Stefan Falk argues that motivation grows when we learn to challenge ourselves in the right way, turning routine tasks into opportunities for growth. Then, in Sparked: Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work That Makes You Come Alive, Good Life Project host Jonathan Fields explains why burnout is often less about working too much than working out of alignment with what naturally energizes us. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Every object, product, and place is designed for someone—but too often, that “someone” has been treated as male by default. In Man-Made: How We Designed a World That Leaves Women Out, and How We Can Make It Right, designer and former Nike Global Creative Director Karen Korellis Reuther shows how biased design can make daily life less comfortable, less dignified, and even less safe for women. Then, in Building for Everyone, Google’s Annie Jean-Baptiste shows how inclusive design can create better products, better experiences, and a better world for more people. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What if the secret to better sleep is trying a little less? In Think Less, Sleep More: From Panic & Perfectionism to Stress-Free Sleep, sleep physiologist Stephanie Romiszewski argues that sleep isn’t a performance to optimize—it’s a biological process we often disrupt by monitoring, managing, and worrying about it. Then, in Addicted to Anxiety: How to Break the Habit, psychotherapist Owen O’Kane helps explain why anxiety can become a pattern we cling to, even when it keeps us wired. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

We tend to think of data as something modern—born with smartphones, spreadsheets, and AI. But in Data Empire: The Power of Information to Organize, Control, and Dominate, Roopika Risam argues that data has always been a tool of power: used to count grain, map land, classify people, and decide who gets seen. Then legal scholar Jacqueline Lipton brings the story into the present with Our Data, Ourselves: A Personal Guide to Digital Privacy, a practical look at what we can—and can’t—do to protect our personal information. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What does it actually take to build a better life? In The 12 Levers, Spencer Greenberg and Jeremy Stevenson argue that the sprawling world of self-help can be boiled down to a dozen core strategies for change. And in The Good Life, Robert Waldinger and Marc Schulz share the central lesson from the world’s longest scientific study of happiness. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Why do humans keep inventing rituals—from weddings and funerals to morning coffee routines and lucky socks? Today, we explore the strange, soothing power of repeated acts with two books that take ritual seriously without taking the magic out of it: Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living by Dimitris Xygalatas and The Power of Ritual: Turning Everyday Activities into Soulful Practices by Casper ter Kuile. Together, they show how rituals help us manage anxiety, build connection, mark meaning, and turn ordinary life into something a little more soulful. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What if the answer to our late-stage collapse isn’t grim sacrifice, but a more joyful, humane way to live? Today, we hear from Elizabeth Dunn and Jiaying Zhao, authors of Leave the Lights On: How Joyful Decisions Can Save Our Species, who argue that climate action works best when it makes our lives happier, not harder. Then Sarah Wilson, author of I Eat the Stars: How to Live Fully and Beautifully in a Collapsing World, offers a clear-eyed but strangely hopeful guide to finding meaning, agency, and beauty amid systemic chaos. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What if the thing holding you back isn’t the world saying no—it’s the voice in your head asking, Are you sure you’re allowed to do this? Today, we’re exploring two books about moving through hesitation and into action: Cate Hall and Sasha Chapin’s You Can Just Do Things, a sharp, funny guide to becoming more high-agency in your own life, and Guryan Tighe’s Unmasking Fear, which argues that fear isn’t the enemy—it’s data, pointing you toward the places where growth is waiting. Together, they offer a bracing reminder: courage often begins with getting curious about what scares you. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What does it actually take to get better—and keep getting better—once talent has taken you as far as it can? Today, we’re exploring two books about the disciplined, sometimes uncomfortable work of growth: Ryan Hawk’s The Price of Becoming, which argues that lasting excellence is built through commitment, consistency, and choosing hard things on purpose; and Ric Bucher’s Coachable, which looks at elite athletes to show why the best performers never stop adapting. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What does it take to launch something people actually love—and then keep it lovable as it grows? Today, Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, shares lessons from Life at the Speed of Play: Launch Products People Love!, a practical, playful guide to turning ideas into products that work. Then Wharton’s Annie Wilson and Emory’s Ryan Hamilton explain The Growth Dilemma: Managing Your Brand When Different Customers Want Different Things, and why success can create its own strange set of problems. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What if some problems aren’t meant to be solved head-on—and others should’ve been prevented long before they became emergencies? Berthold Gunster, author of Flip Thinking: The Life-Changing Art of Turning Problems into Opportunities, and Dan Heath, author of Upstream: The Quest to Solve Problems Before They Happen, offer two smart ways to rethink the messes we usually meet too late. Together, they make a pretty compelling case for changing not just how we solve problems, but how we see them. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at nextbigideaclub.com ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to icaneatagain.com/daily for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What happens when ordinary people decide not to look away? In this episode, Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer’s On Courage and Elie Honig’s Untouchable explore two sides of the same question: how power holds, and how it’s challenged. Angwin and Fields-Meyer show how dissent begins with a gut check and grows through community, while Honig reveals how wealth, fame, and political clout can bend the justice system out of shape. Put together, these books make a sharp, timely case that courage isn’t just personal virtue—it’s a public necessity. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at nextbigideaclub.com ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to icaneatagain.com/dailyfor 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What do you do after things fall apart—and what do you do in the split second before you make the same choice again? In this episode, Steve Kamb’s How to Try Again and Jonathan Rhodes and Joanna Grover’s The Choice Point offer a practical guide to getting unstuck. Kamb shows why failure doesn’t send us back to square one, while Rhodes and Grover explain how the small decision points in everyday life can move us closer to the future we actually want. Together, these books make a reassuring case for self-compassion, clearer choices, and beginning again—on purpose. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at nextbigideaclub.com ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to icaneatagain.com/daily for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

As AI tutors our children and algorithms reshape classrooms, two urgent questions are emerging: What does human connection have to do with raising a child—and how do we harness these new tools without letting them take over? Dana Suskind, a pediatric surgeon and social scientist at the University of Chicago, makes a powerful case in Human Raised that no technology can replace the relationships that wire a developing brain. And Salman Khan—founder of Khan Academy and one of Time's 100 Most Influential People—offers an optimistic road map in Brave New Words (2024) for how AI, used wisely, can personalize and democratize learning like never before. Two essential perspectives on the biggest shift in childhood and education of our time. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Sex is one of the most fundamental forces in nature — and one of the most misunderstood. Today on The Next Big Idea Daily, biologist Lixing Sun upends everything we thought we knew about why sex exists in On the Origin of Sex: The Weird and Wonderful Science of Reproduction. Then historian Rebecca Davis takes us on a sweeping tour of America's surprisingly varied erotic past in Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America, revealing that the country has always been far more complex — and far less sexually repressed — than the myths suggest. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you use code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

The lone-genius myth is overdue for retirement. In No One Is Self-Made, entrepreneur and community builder Lakeysha Hallmon argues that true success is never a solo act — it's built on relationships, reciprocity, and the village you cultivate around you. And in Professional Troublemaker, bestselling author and speaker Luvvie Ajayi Jones makes the case that the most powerful thing you can do — for yourself and for others — is to stop playing it safe and start saying the hard things out loud. Two bold voices on what it really takes to build a life and career that matters. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

In Gerontocracy in America, Yale legal historian Samuel Moyn makes the case that older generations have systematically hoarded wealth and power, leaving younger Americans with fewer opportunities and a shrinking share of the future. On the second half of the episode, historian James Chappel shares ideas from his book Golden Years, tracing how Americans have invented and reinvented what it even means to grow old. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

Therapy is everywhere — in our language, our social media feeds, and increasingly, our daily routines. But is all that self-examination actually making us better? In Therapy Nation, therapist and author Jonathan Alpert argues that America's therapy obsession has left us more anxious and divided than ever. And in And How Does That Make You Feel?, therapist Joshua Fletcher pulls back the curtain on what really happens in the therapy room — the good, the awkward, and everything in between. Two honest, provocative takes on the talking cure. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What happens when a society forgets what public health is for? In today's episode, MIT professor Thomas Levenson shares ideas from A Pox on Fools: The True Believers, Grifters, and Cynics Who Convinced Us to Reject Vaccines, a timely history of vaccine skepticism and the fears, myths, and opportunism that helped turn medical caution into a dangerous ideology. Then Anya Kamenetz shares ideas from her 2021 book The Stolen Year: How COVID Changed Children’s Lives, and Where We Go Now, asking what the pandemic revealed about children, schools, and the social compact we too often take for granted. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at shopify.com/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠icaneatagain.com/daily ⁠for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

What does it actually mean to get ahead — and stay sane doing it? On Monday's episode, career coach Emily Durham (a.k.a. Emily the Recruiter, with 3 million+ followers across social media) cuts through the noise with her new book Clock In: No-BS Advice for Getting Ahead in Your Career (Without Losing Your Mind): forget the dream job mythology, make your value visible, and remember your job is what you do — not who you are. Then, Harvard professor and serial entrepreneur Christina Wallace shows us why the old career playbook is broken — and how building a Portfolio Life full of optionality, rest, and identity beyond your title is the smarter path forward. Two straight-shooting takes on work, burnout, and what a fulfilling career actually looks like. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Shopify — Nothing stands between your idea and a real business. So go make it one. Start your free trial at SHOPIFY.COM/daily FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily for 30% off your first order. Quince — Make your summer wardrobe easier. Go to quince.com/nbid for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns.

The Fourth of July is tomorrow — which makes today the perfect moment to ask what, exactly, the Founding Fathers actually built, and whether it's holding up. Law professor Jonathan Turley argues the revolution they launched is still very much unfinished — and under pressure — in Rage and the Republic: The Unfinished Story of the American Revolution. Then, bestselling biographer Walter Isaacson drills into the single most consequential sentence in American history in ⁠The Greatest Sentence Ever Written⁠, unpacking how a committee of brilliant, fractious men forged the words that still define us. Two authors, one birthday, and a question we're still answering. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that's right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily

With America's 250th birthday just days away, two books ask the same urgent question from very different angles: what does it mean to be American—and are we living up to our own ideals? In All We Say, former Obama speechwriter Ben Rhodes traces the battle for American identity through fifteen defining speeches, from Benjamin Franklin to Donald Trump. And in The Flag Was Still There, M. Todd Bennett and David McKean revisit the state of the union every fifty years, finding a through line of resilience even in our most fractured moments. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you use code PODCAST at nextbigideaclub.com ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to homeserve.com/nbid to find the plan that's right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to icaneatagain.com/daily

We've been told for decades to slather on sunscreen and stay in the shade. But what if the real health risk is avoiding the sun? Rowan Jacobsen, award-winning science writer, spent nine years diving into the research — and what he found will surprise you. In In Defense of Sunlight, he reveals that people who get regular sun exposure have lower rates of heart disease, many cancers, diabetes, and dementia — conditions that kill hundreds of times more people than skin cancer. Plus, endocrinologist Dr. Saira Hameed joins us to share big ideas from her new book Signals, exploring the body's hidden chemical messaging system ⁠The takeaway from both books: your body knows what it needs — are you listening? 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that's right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily

Margie Lachman is a psychology professor at Brandeis University where she conducts research on adult development and aging. She is an investigator on the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, in which they have followed thousands of adults for over 30 years to understand the variety of pathways to health and well-being in midlife and beyond. In the new book, Primetime: A New Vision for Midlife⁠, she agues that midlife is not a period of inevitable decline but a crucial opportunity to shape healthier, more fulfilling aging through positive attitudes, strong relationships, and investments in physical and mental well-being. In the second half of the show, entrepreneur Jane Marie Chen shares her own experience of midlife transformation. In the memoir Like a Wave We Break, she tells the story of achievement, burnout, trauma, and the hard-won discovery that we are more than what we produce. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that’s right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily

It turns out fatherhood isn't just a role — it's a biological transformation. Darby Saxbe, an award-winning psychologist at USC, draws on decades of research in Dad Brain to show how the fathering brain literally rewires itself through time and practice. Then, in the second half of the show, Emory University professor of Anthropology James Rilling traces the evolutionary story in Father Nature — how human males uniquely developed the capacity for deep parental involvement. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to homeserve.com/nbid to find the plan that's right for you FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to icaneatagain.com/daily

What happens when screens stop being something we watch…and become a place we live? Today, The Atlantic writer Megan Garber unpacks the strange new social reality she explores in Screen People: How We Entertained Ourselves into a State of Emergency—where everyone’s performing, politics feels like plot, and “main character energy” starts to warp how we treat real human beings. Then we connect it to the next generation, with Technology’s Child: Digital Media’s Role in the Ages and Stages of Growing Up by Katie Davis, a guide to how kids experience tech differently at each developmental stage—and what “good enough” digital parenting actually looks like. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com ⁠⁠✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that’s right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily

Most of us know we should reach out more — call the friend, chat with the stranger, strike up the conversation. And yet we hold back. Why? Behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley has spent decades studying this gap between what we know and what we do, and his findings are both surprising and encouraging: connecting with others almost always goes better than we expect — and the payoff for our happiness and health is enormous. His book is A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection. And in the second half of the show, physical therapist Dr. Milica McDowell and chiropractor Dr. Courtney Conley join us with big ideas from Walk: Rediscover the Most Natural Way to Boost Your Health and Longevity―One Step at a Time. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you use code PODCAST at nextbigideaclub.com ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to homeserve.com/nbid to find the plan that's right for you FODZYME — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to icaneatagain.com/daily

Whether you're in a face-to-face conversation or firing off a Slack message, most of what you communicate has nothing to do with the words you choose. Today we're unpacking the hidden language beneath our language — from physical signals to digital cues — with two authors who've spent their careers decoding how humans really connect. Joe Navarro is a former FBI counterintelligence agent turned world-renowned body language expert, and his new book Mastering Connections reveals how reading nonverbal signals can unlock deeper, more lasting relationships. And Erica Dhawan, leadership expert and author of Digital Body Language, shows how the same principles apply in our inboxes — where a single punctuation mark can make or break trust. Two books, one big idea: genuine connection is a skill you can learn. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that's right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily

If you’ve ever replayed a conversation in the shower—or staged an entire debate in your head on the way to the grocery store—you already know the brain can be a noisy place. Today, we’re learning how self-talk shapes what you feel, what you do next, and whether you get stuck in a loop. Writer Donna Jackson Nakazawa unpacks why rumination is so sticky—and how to interrupt it—in Mind Drama: The Science of Rumination and How to Outwit Your Inner Defeatist. And in the second half of the show, psychologist Ethan Kross joins us to share the big ideas from ⁠Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It⁠. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that’s right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily

What if the reason your team is struggling has nothing to do with the people on it? Psychologist and researcher Ron Friedman says exceptional teams aren't born — they're engineered. In Superteams, he breaks down the counterintuitive habits of high-performers: fewer meetings, more peer accountability, and leaders who actually want you to fail. Then, in the second half of the episode, journalist Jennifer Moss shares ideas from her 2025 book Why Are We Here?: Creating a Work Culture Everyone Wants. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that's right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily

Today on The Next Big Idea Daily, we’re rethinking two defaults we barely notice: the stories we tell, and the way we solve problems. Writer and teacher Henry Lien challenges the Western “three-act” template in Spring, Summer, Asteroid, Bird: The Art of Eastern Storytelling, showing how different structures—four-act twists, circular narratives, and more—change what feels meaningful and true. Then we turn from narrative to everyday design with engineer and design researcher Leidy Klotz, author of Subtract: The Untapped Science of Less, on why we so often add… when removing is frequently the simpler, smarter move. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that’s right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily

What happens when you let AI run your life—your work, your parenting, even your health? NBC News chief tech analyst Joanna Stern did exactly that for a year, and she’s here with big ideas from I Am Not a Robot: My Year Using AI to Do (Almost) Everything about how to use these tools without letting them use you. Then we widen the lens: Steven Kotler and Peter H. Diamandis argue that we’re entering an age of godlike technological power—and that the real challenge is keeping wisdom, discernment, and cooperation in the driver’s seat—in We Are as Gods: A Survival Guide for the Age of Abundance. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that’s right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily

What if “getting older” didn’t have to mean managing decline? Today, Michael Clinton explores the new landscape of modern longevity—from culture shifts to cutting-edge science—in Longevity Nation: The People, Ideas, and Trends Changing the Second Half of Our Lives. Then we get practical with health and longevity practitioner Jason Prall, who lays out a grounded, do-this-now roadmap in Beyond Longevity: A Plan for Healing Faster, Feeling Better, and Thriving at Any Age. Two complementary takes on the same question: how do you add years and make those years feel worth living? 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you use code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that’s right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily

What if the real secret to thriving isn’t pushing harder—it’s learning when to push, when to ease off, and when to recover? Today, science writer Elizabeth Svoboda shares big ideas from The Art of Pacing: A Guide to Balancing Short-Term Demands with Long-Term Thriving, a practical antidote to the “all gas, no brakes” culture of modern work and life. Then we hear some big ideas from Dorie Clark’s The Long Game: How to Be a Long-Term Thinker in a Short-Term World, a reminder that the best moves often look unimpressive in the moment—until they quietly compound. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that’s right for you. FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily

What if the gap between what you want and what you get comes down to how you communicate? Today on The Next Big Idea Daily, we're exploring the art and science of human persuasion. MIT and Harvard Law negotiation experts John Richardson and Attia Qureshi bring us practical advice from their new book ⁠Never Settle: Persuasion and Negotiation Skills to Get What You Want⁠. Then, Sally Susman — Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Pfizer and one of Forbes' World's Most Influential CMOs — shares strategies from her 2023 book Breaking Through: Communicating to Open Minds, Move Hearts, and Change the World. Then, Whether you're trying to lead, persuade, or just get a better deal, these two have you covered. 🎁 Save 20% on a Next Big Idea Club membership when you used code PODCAST at⁠ ⁠nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ ✉️ Get big ideas in your inbox with our daily newsletter. Subscribe at⁠ ⁠bookoftheday.nextbigideaclub.com⁠⁠ Sponsored By: Homeserve — Go to ⁠homeserve.com/nbid⁠ to find the plan that's right for you FODZYME. — Finally, you can enjoy your favorite foods without the pain. Go to ⁠icaneatagain.com/daily