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Habit Science

“It Turns Out Willpower Doesn’t Exist” with Jud Brewer, MD PhD: PYP 337

August 27, 2019

Jud Brewer is Director of Research and Innovation at the Mindfulness Center at Brown University, and a second-time guest on Plant Yourself.

I wanted to catch up with Jud to find out how his academic research and public writing had migrated into the world. What is the state of mindfulness-based health improvement? Does he have data on how his approach compares to current best practices, like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for smoking and other addictions. 

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The Martial Art of Tech-Proofing with Glenn Murphy: PYP 322

May 14, 2019

Our lives have changed dramatically since 2007, when the first iPhone was introduced.As today’s guest, Glenn Murphy, points out, if we handled any other object over 1000 times a day, we would be considered severely OCD, or addicted, or certainly life-impaired in some way.Yet that’s exactly how many times most of us reach for our smartphones in a typical day.And this behavior pattern is not just weird – it’s damaging to our productivity and mental health.

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Great article on winning the war against food

March 28, 2019

My buddy and teacher Glenn Livingston, PhD is author of Never Binge Again, whose methodology I use to help people break long-standing self-destructive food habits.

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Changing Habits and Lifestyle Through the Entrepreneurial Process with Danny Warshay: PYP 315

March 26, 2019

Danny Warshay is the executive director of the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship at Brown University, and a long-time friend. He dropped by to talk about how to apply his Entrepreneurial Process to lifestyle and habit change. Neither of us knew exactly what we would discover when we began speaking, although we both had hunches that there was direct applicability somehow, some way

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Vanquishing Procrastination with Hillary Rettig: PYP 306

January 22, 2019

Hillary Rettig is both an activist and a productivity expert, two vocations that don’t seem to have much in common at first glance. But as soon as I started reading two of her books, The Lifelong Activist  and The Prolific Writer, I got the connection.

Unproductive would-be activists are disempowered activists.

And in a world that systematically tries to disempower those who challenge its structures of power and privilege, the last thing we need is to get in our own way when we stand up to injustice.

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“If You Want Real Change, Make Real Change” with Joseph Alexander: PYP 305

January 15, 2019

Joseph Alexander is a nurse and park ranger in Minnesota. He’s always been interested in health, and has always loved the outdoors.

Knowing just those facts about Joseph, if you were to close your eyes and picture him in your imagination, you probably wouldn’t see him as a 438-pound diabetic who had started – and given up on – just about every diet and weight loss strategy known to man.

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Howard Jacobson on Procrastination, Cocoons, and the Unfinished Office: PYP 303

January 2, 2019

Happy New Year! I come to you today from the cab of my truck, in my driveway, to talk about the fact that my new office isn’t ready to move in, and it’s January 1, and it’s kind of driving me crazy.

I don’t even have access to my studio, my computer, my completed interviews – nothing. Everything is in tight storage, because I thought the new office would be ready for me by New Year’s Eve.

I turn for solace and wisdom to the poet David Whyte. In today’s episode, I read and discuss with you a short essay titled “Procrastination.”

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Defeating Distraction and Living Powerfully with Chris Bailey: PYP 301

December 18, 2018

When you’re doing a video podcast with the guy who wrote the book on focus and mastering our attention, you don’t take lots of notes. Instead, you look at your guest and stay present to the wisdom and insight he’s dropping left and right.

Which explains why I don’t have a lot of show notes for today’s guest, Chris Bailey. Chris and I got on Skype to discuss his latest book, Hyperfocus: How to be More Productive in a World of Distraction. 

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Launching Your Next Chapter with Sanyin Siang: PYP 295

November 6, 2018

Sanyin Siang is a CEO Coach, Author, and the Executive Director of the Fuqua/Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics (COLE) at Duke University. In other words, quite a big deal.

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Harnessing Positive Emotions to Defeat Bad Habits with David DeSteno: PYP 292

October 16, 2018

Why do 92% of New Years’ Resolutions fail, one year on? Why has the current cultural obsession with grit and willpower failed to move the needle on our behaviors? And why do long-time Buddhist monks demonstrate more self-control than the rest of us?

Today’s guest, David DeSteno, PhD, has been studying these and related issues for a long time. David is a psychology superstar, and I was amazed when he agreed to take time out of his busy schedule to chat. He’s a professor of psychology at Northeastern University, where he directs the Social Emotions Group.

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Hi, I’m Howard Jacobson, host of the Plant Yourself Podcast, co-author of You Can Change Other People and Sick to Fit, and co-founder of WellStart Health Coach Academy.

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