Simplify

Feel like there's never enough time in the day? Then this episode is for you. In this very first Spotlight episode of Simplify, time-management expert Laura Vanderkam offers surprising ideas from her new book Off The Clock: Feel Less Busy While Getting More Done to help you overhaul your relationship with time. Here, she tells Emily Phillips about how committing to more activities—not fewer—is the key to slowing the experience of time so you feel less time-poor and richer in life. And what's Spotlight, you ask? It's an experimental mini-member of the Simplify family that gives you one big idea from a new nonfiction book, straight from the author who wrote it. You’ll walk away with something to think about—and a plan for what to read next—in just about fifteen minutes. Stay tuned for more Spotlights (and more experiments) in the Simplify feed. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/introducing-simplify-spotlight/ Let us know what you thought of the first episode of Spotlight, or just come say hi on Twitter! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller, Emily at @phillips_em. Try Blinkist for free for 14 days by going to https://www.blinkist.com/en/nc/friends/ and typing in the code lessbusy That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud and Facebook.

Are you slavishly devoted to your to-do list, rushing around to fit every vacant area of time to a task? In this day and age, most of us are—and it's doing no favors to our creativity, our minds, and our very humanity. Something's got to give, and Alan Lightman has a plan. Or, rather, a lack of one. And that's perfect. In this episode of Simplify, the MIT professor, scientist and novelist offers an antidote to how we live today. He underscores the importance of wasting time, revealing how unstructured time with no goal, unplugged from the wired world, can actually make you a better version of yourself. Tune in to learn how procrastination sparks your creativity and makes you even more productive and how wasting time is essential for establishing a solid sense of self. Stick around after the interview for when Emily Phillips joins Caitlin Schiller to talk about the main takeaways from the conversation and the two compose a book list for further reading on making the most of your time in a fresh new way. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-time-management-alan-lightman-wasting-time/ Let us know what you thought of the episode, or just come say hi on Twitter! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller, Emily at @phillips_em, and Ben at @bsto. Try Blinkist for free for 14 days by going to https://www.blinkist.com/en/nc/friends/ and typing in the code relax. That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud and Facebook.

In this episode of Simplify, Caitlin talks to Janice Kaplan, bestselling author, TV producer, and magazine editor about how luck happens and how you can create it. Does luck feel like something you either have or you don’t? Does it feel like chance? Or, do you think you have some, not all of it good? Well, Janice Kaplan and Barnaby Marsh turned to research, pioneering studies, and interviews with “lucky" successful people to discover that luck is actually very much under our control. And you can set yourself (and your kids) up for being luckier in everyday life. Hear Janice Kaplan reveal some simple techniques to help you generate luck and share stories of people who took failure as a lucky opportunity to turn fortune to their favor. Tune in to discover the best way to get lucky in love and learn how to raise lucky children. You’ll also discover which people will help you get lucky—and why your mom probably isn't one of them. Stick around after the interview for when Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin Schiller to talk about the main takeaways from the conversation with Janice Kaplan and helps put together a book list for further reading on generating luck in health and in love, at work and at home. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-luck-janice-kaplan-says-luck-isnt-magic Let us know what you thought of the episode, or just give us some book recommendations on Twitter—we’d love to hear from you! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller and Ben at @bsto. Try Blinkist for free for 14 days by going to https://www.blinkist.com/en/nc/friends/ and typing in the code luck. That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud and Facebook.

Ever wondered whether humans are meant to be monogamous, or when we started to look at our sexual partners as private property? The authors of the extraordinary book on sexual evolution Sex at Dawn, Cacilda Jethá and Christopher Ryan, study our primate legacy and explain how it shaped human sexual behavior. In this episode, Ryan talks about the purpose of sexual relations in matriarchal and male-dominated societies, why what we believe about our primate origins is doing us more harm than good as a species, and how to reposition your own beliefs about what is and isn't a sexual taboo. Stick around after the interview for when Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin Schiller to talk about the main takeaways from the conversation with Christopher Ryan and helps put together a book list for further reading on sexual evolution, bodies, and biology. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-human-sexuality-christopher-ryan-embrace-fantasies/ Let us know what you thought of the episode, or just give us some book recommendations on Twitter—we’d love to hear from you! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller and Ben at @bsto. Try Blinkist for free for 14 days by going to https://www.blinkist.com/en/nc/friends/ and typing in the code bonobo. That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/niceaux).

While mindfulness can feel like a relatively new phenomenon in western societies — Jon Kabat-Zinn popularized it in the US in the 1970s — it has, in fact, been helping people feel connected to their lives for centuries. Dr. Lori Brotto experimented with the practice as treatment for women with sexual concerns and found that mindfulness can have positive effects on desire, response and connection — and the effects seem to be lasting. A lot of what we ‘know’ about sex as a society is based on outdated research and cultural assumptions. Listen to Dr. Lori Brotto talk about her new book, Better Sex Through Mindfulness and explain some of our many misconceptions about sex, and introduce ways we can use mindfulness practices to feel more connected to ourselves — and to our partners — during sexual encounters. By the end of this episode, you’ll learn concrete practices you can use to really tune into sex and make it better – regardless of your age or gender – and discover that pleasure is always there for you, if you can be there for it. Stick around after the interview for when Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin Schiller to talk about the main takeaways from the conversation with Dr. Lori Brotto and to compose a sexy book list on mindfulness, positive psychology, improving 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 https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-desire-lori-brotto-make-love-mindfully Let us know what you thought of the episode, or just give us some book recommendations on Twitter—we’d love to hear from you! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller and Ben at @bsto. That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/niceaux).

A lot of the things that we’ve learned about how our minds work are simply not true. Did you know that a small part of your brain can fall asleep while the other parts are awake and working? And we can't trust our memories, either: it turns out that much of what ends up getting stored in memory, especially what people remember about themselves and their past, is a distortion. But it's not all bad news! Listen as Dr. Daniel Levitin of The Organized Mind sheds light on what we've long misunderstood about our brains and makes recommendations on how to keep your mind healthy with “cellular housekeeping." Stick around after the interview for when Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin Schiller to talk about the key ideas in this episode and recommend some great reads on the various functions of the all-mighty mind. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-thinking-daniel-levitin-how-to-organize-your-mind Let us know what you thought of the episode, or just give us some book recommendations on Twitter—we’d love to hear from you! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller and Ben at @bsto. That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/niceaux).

As a sex educator, Emily Nagoski sees her main purpose as “teaching people to live with confidence and joy inside their bodies.” Step one? Understanding what’s actually going on in there! In this episode, Nagoski employs colorful analogies to illustrate the ways in which our minds and bodies react to stressful situations (spoiler alert: you'll have to use your imagination and become a gazelle) and to describe our physical responses to sexually relevant information (enter: car metaphor). If you’ve been anxious about sex, are struggling to connect to a long-term partner, or just want to understand yourself better, this episode offers lots of calm, informed, empathetic advice on how you can find your way. Stick around after the interview for when Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin Schiller to talk about the big ideas in this episode and help make a sexy book list for your nightstand. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-sex-emily-nagoski-pleasure-measure-great-sex-life Let us know what you thought of the episode, or just give us some book recommendations on Twitter—we’d love to hear from you! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller and Ben at @bsto. That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/niceaux).

Pultizer-prize-winning, bestselling author and NYT writer Charles Duhigg has cracked the code to what makes the world’s most productive people so effective—and how you can use those techniques for yourself. Listen in to hear why self-belief is the key to real, lasting change and find out which productivity tips Duhigg’s teaching his kids. Plus, hear the smart, slightly dirty productivity trick he pulled on Caitlin. If you want to break an old habit or be your most innovative, creative self, then this episode is for you! After the interview, Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin to go deeper into the ideas and books covered in this episode. Also, they make a booklist to help you keep becoming more productive. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/ simplify-productivity-charles-duhigg-says-thinking-killer-app/ Let us know what you thought of the episode, or just give us some book recommendations on Twitter—we’d love to hear from you! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller and Ben at @bsto. That excellent 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).

Simplify Season 3 launches next week with an episode featuring Nobel Prize-winner, NYT columnist, and master of habits: Charles Duhigg! If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @CaitlinSchiller. One more thing! We'd still love to get your voices on Simplify. Specifically, we want 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 podcast@blinkist.com. See you next week!

What’s better than getting to the heart of a great idea? Getting to the heart of seven great ideas in under 40 minutes—which is exactly what happens in this best-of episode. Hear from Simplify Season 1 and 2’s most beloved guests, including Seth Godin, David Allen, Dan Savage, Jaclyn Friedman, Ryan Holiday, and more. And stick around after the last interview’s rolled to hear hosts Ben Schuman-Stoler and Caitlin Schiller share a very special Bookend—plus some quality overshares from their lives. For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-everything-simplifys-2017-sampler-episode. Quick reminder: Great news: Simplify will be back! In preparation for Season 3, we’re collecting your voices. We’d love to hear how you answer one of the questions we always ask our guests: “What have you discovered was much simpler than you initially thought it was?” Just record your answer with a voice memo app of your choice and then email it to us at podcast@blinkist.com. If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @caitlinschiller. Let them know what you're reading! Thanks to Nico Guiang for our fantastic intro and outro music. Listen to more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.