The country has empowered its women, established itself as a garment-industry powerhouse and vastly improved public health—but its politics <a href="https://www.economist.com/asia/2021/03/27/as-it-turns-50-bangladesh-is-doing-well-despite-its-politicians?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">remains troubled</a>. The pandemic has not reduced average global happiness, but rather <a href="https://www.economist.com/international/2021/03/20/the-pandemic-has-changed-the-shape-of-global-happiness?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">reshaped it</a>: the old are more content and the young less so. And a look at the <a href="https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2021/03/24/the-jumbo-traffic-jam-on-the-suez-canal?utm_campaign=the-intelligence&amp;utm_medium=podcast&amp;utm_source=third-party-host&amp;utm_content=show-notes" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">staggering costs</a> of the Suez Canal blockage. For full access to print, digital and audio editions of The Economist, subscribe here <a href="http://www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">www.economist.com/intelligenceoffer</a> &#10;&nbsp; <hr>See <a style='color: grey; ' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for privacy and opt-out information.

Growth and stagnation: Bangladesh’s first 50 years

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Trailer Music — Louis Rugg

Unstoppable Financial Momentum - Powerhouse of Success

https://mindpersuasion.com/willpower/

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Unstoppable Financial Momentum

Michael interviews Simone Moir, Registered Psychotherapist, on the precept of aparigraha (non-greed) and the practice of generosity. They discuss what comes up around possessiveness, addiction and obsession, embracing impermanence, the importance of relationship and knowing the importance of boundaries.

Generosity & Not Being Possessive

Humans like starting new things much more than taking care of older things. This is true on both an institutional and individual level: it’s more exciting to build a new road than to maintain it; more exciting to lose weight than to keep it off. There’s plenty of short-term pleasure and intrinsic motivation when it comes to pursuing something novel, but the effort to keep up unsexy maintenance on what we’ve already got takes real intent. 

My guest today says we’ve lost that intent and need to revive it. His name is Lee Vinsel and he’s a professor of science, technology, and society, the co-founder of The Maintainers, a research network dedicated to the study of maintenance, repair, upkeep, and ordinary work, and the co-author of The Innovation Delusion: How Our Obsession With the New Has Disrupted the Work That Matters Most. Lee and I begin our conversation with how our cultural focus on innovation has come at the expense of attention paid to maintenance and repair, and yet how talking more about innovation hasn’t really led to greater progress. We then get into the way the necessity of maintenance, repair, and caretaking has been neglected in business and government, creating a situation where we keep on building new things without investing in the upkeep of our current infrastructure. From there we turn to the way our all too common neglect of maintenance applies not only to big institutions, but also our personal lives, as in the areas of home ownership and health. We discuss how there’s less incentive these days to repair things in our disposable society where everything is cheap, and stuff is harder to fix, even when we want to. We end our conversation with how we can revive a maintenance mindset in our culture and individual lives. 

Get the show notes at aom.is/maintenance.

#658: In Praise of Maintenance in a World Obsessed With Innovation

This is a re-broadcast. The episode originally ran in October 2018. 

Do you have a teenage boy who struggles in school? Or do you have a younger son who you can imagine struggling in school as he gets older? He may be an otherwise capable young man, but seems apathetic and unmotivated, to the point you think he’s not excelling simply because he’s lazy. My guest today says that’s the wrong conclusion to draw, and one that leads to the wrong parenting approach to addressing it.

His name is Adam Price and he’s a child psychologist and the author of He’s Not Lazy: Empowering Your Son to Believe in Himself. Today on the show, Dr. Price argues that the real reason many young men are unmotivated is not that they don’t care about succeeding, but that they feel too much pressure to do so, and are scared of failing. We discuss why nagging and over-parenting simply exacerbates this issue, and how stepping back and giving boys more autonomy can help them become more self-directed and find their footing.

Get the show notes at aom.is/notlazy.

#448: Your Son Isn’t Lazy — How to Empower Boys to Succeed [RE-BROADCAST]

Stream/Buy Here: Mrshemzy.fanlink.to/H-O

This is the first release in 5 years from 'Shemzy' and He takes us on an awe-inspiring musical ride of emotions pulling from his contemporary Gospel and Hip Hop influences. Shemzy touches on losing loved-ones, his self-esteem and passion by rapping and crooning his way through this self produced track and all he asks is that we "Hold On".

- HOLD ON -

This is a re-broadcast. The episode originally ran in November 2018.

Humans are storytelling and story-listening creatures. We use stories to teach, persuade, and to make sense of the complexities of existence. Being able to craft and deliver a good story is thus a real advantage in all areas of life, giving you a foot up when doing job interviews, going on dates, interacting with friends, or making a sales pitch.

Fortunately, good storytelling is a skill that can learned by anyone. Here to teach us the art of storytelling is Matthew Dicks, a writer, five-time Moth GrandSlam storytelling winner, and the author of the book Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life through the Power of Storytelling. 

Today on the show, Matthew walks us through the nuts and bolts of how to craft a compelling story. We begin our conversation discussing ways to generate story ideas, why good stories don’t have to be about big moments, and why he recommends a practice called "Homework for Life." Matthew then tells us what we can learn from movies about making a story so engaging that people are waiting to hear what you say next. We also discuss the don'ts of storytelling, including how to never begin a story. And we end our conversation with a five-minute story from Matthew that showcases all the principles we discussed during the show.

Get the show notes at aom.is/storyworthy.

#462: How to Tell Better Stories

This is a rebroadcast. This episode originally aired January 2019.

If you’re like a lot of men listening to this podcast, you’ve likely made it a goal to lose some weight this year. But if you’re also like a lot of men listening to this podcast, you’ve made that goal before, maybe even succeeded with it, but have had to make it again because you gained all the weight back. My guest today argues that losing weight is actually pretty easy. The real trick is keeping it off.

His name is Layne Norton. He’s a professional bodybuilder, powerlifter, and doctor of nutritional science, and today on the show we discuss all things fat loss. We begin our conversation discussing why losing weight is easier than keeping it off, the mechanisms that kick into gear once we shed body fat that cause us to gain all of it, and even more back, and why yo-yo dieting is so terrible for you.

We then dig into whether there’s one diet that’s the most effective in helping you lose fat, the tactics you need to use to keep the weight off in the long run, and the real reason exercise plays a role in helping you do so, which isn’t what you think.

#475: How to Lose Weight, and Keep It Off Forever

Performances by the actor Steve McQueen in classic films like The Great Escape and Bullitt earned him the nickname "The King of Cool." But behind the scenes, McQueen's character was complex in nature: he could be both difficult and demanding and kind and generous; someone who could act aloof, but care about things deeply.

My guest has traced both sides of the coin of McQueen's coolness for decades. His name is Marshall Terrill, and he's the author of multiple biographies on McQueen, including his latest, Steve McQueen: In His Own Words. Today on the show Marshall and I discuss McQueen's enduring influence on popular culture in terms of everything from style to motorcycles, the code he lived both on and off screen, and whether after years of studying McQueen's life Marshall has figured out what it was that made him so cool. We then talk about McQueen's deprived childhood, which left him ever craving affirmation, and his youthful stints in a reform school and the Marines. We get into how he found his way into acting and then to superstardom, despite the fact he could be difficult to work with. Marshall explains McQueen's relationships with women, and the role race car driving played in his life. We also discuss why McQueen had a hermit phase, and how, in a lesser-known aspect of his life, he had a literal come to Jesus moment in which he became a born-again Christian. We end our conversation with McQueen's untimely, tabloid-exploited death at age 50.

Get the show notes at aom.is/mcqueen.

#673: The Complex Coolness of Steve McQueen

I don't know if I'd make it
I wonder if I tried
I'm always contemplating
Or have I just been blind
You know it takes 
A little time to break
I know when I'm awake
A meaning that I stake
Oh I seldom wait 
Messing with my fate
I always see your face
You've got me realigned
Journey to that space
To the void between the stars
Connecting what's unshaken
A message from beyond

#462: How to Tell Better Stories

The Art of Manliness

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