Blinkist Podcast Playlist

Some ideas and products catch on like wildfire but some plain don’t. One man can tell you exactly why. In this quickie bonus episode, hear Jonah Berger, NYT bestselling author and expert on trends and marketing, reveal the secret sauce of stickiness.

NYT Bestseller Jonah Berger on Creating Viral Products and the Science of Stickiness

This week on the Blinkist Podcast, Blinkist Magazine Editor-in-Chief Caitlin Schiller speaks with David Allen, known as the man behind the productivity system Getting Things Done, and the bestselling book of the same name.

On today’s episode, they discuss what he calls “clear space,” and how easy it is to screw it up in your head; they talk about the happiness industry; and Abraham Lincoln, among other things. And near the end, you’ll find out why Allen isn’t a productivity or efficiency robot, but actually developed the system to have more time to do what he likes – like martial arts.

David Allen was born in Louisiana in 1945 and currently lives in Amsterdam. 

If you like what you heard, subscribe on iTunes and leave us a review here: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux]



Getting Things Done, Then What? The Truth Behind Productivity With David Allen

In her book The Sleep Revolution, Huffington Post Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington succinctly sums up the argument she’s been making in books and speeches for almost a decade now. Why should we fundamentally change the way we think about sleep? “Come for the job-enhancing benefits,” she says, “stay for the life-enhancing opportunities.”

Huffington’s sleep revolution isn’t just about convincing people to sleep more so that they’re more productive and healthy. The sleep revolution is about recognizing that we’re sacrificing ourselves too much. We’re not living the right way, and as a result of too much work, too little sleep, too much stress, too little nourishment, we’re suffering. 

So the sleep revolution is really about changing the way we think about our days and our lives. Instead of sacrificing our health to cram in more hours at the office, we have re-organize and re-prioritize how we spend our time. That way, we can work our best and still have time to take care of ourselves, get a full night’s sleep, and, you know, be happy. 

In this interview you’ll find out Huffington’s sleep ritual, what to do with your alarm clock, and why the sleep revolution is so important to her (and to us!). 

If you’re at your desk and don’t have headphones with you, you can read a full transcript of the interview with Huffington here: http://blnk.st/29NaBeB

And hop on over to iTunes to give us a review if you liked it: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Arianna Huffington Talks Burnout, Death, & The Power of Sleep

In this special bonus edition of the Blinkist Podcast, we talk to sleep specialist Max Kirsten. Max is a hypnotherapist and a sleep coach, and he’s worked with stars like Adele and Ewan McGregor.

In the podcast, Max and Ben delve into topics like the right position for optimal sleep, how one even becomes a sleep specialist, the problems some of his most difficult patients experience, and much more. 

This is a perfect follow-up to the first sleep-themed episode, which featured Arianna Huffington speaking about her new book The Sleep Revolution, and how we’re killing ourselves with bad sleep hygiene.

Some linkage:

- Also to receive your FREE Better Sleep MP3 Download and find out more about Max Kirsten visit www.thesleepcoach.co.uk

- We also want to give a shoutout to Eve Sleep, who sent us a Mattress so we could build our own little nap station, which we covered in the Blinkist Magazine, here: http://blnk.st/29WJPBE

- Subscribe to Blinkist Radio on iTunes here: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

- That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

- If you have any feedback about the podcast, or just want to say hi to Ben, email him at podcast@blinkist.com


BONUS: A How-To Sleep Talk with Max Kirsten, the Sleep Coach to the Stars

Welcome to a brand new era! Hot on the heels of the sleep episodes, this week’s podcast is the first of two episodes on the theme of Eureka. Where do great ideas come from? It turns out it’s not that clear. 

So today on the podcast, Ben speaks with Pagan Kennedy, author of the new book Inventology; How we dream up things that change the world. You probably already know Pagan from her time writing the Who Made That column in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. She’s an expert on invention, and we grilled her in particular about one central tension in her book: the paradox of serendipitous inventing (like accidentally inventing penicillin) and new technologies that can focus research to look for inventions in certain areas (like bioinformatics).

Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

You can read a transcript of this podcast, and more good stuff, over at the Blinkist Magazine: http://bit.ly/29PaJHT

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Inventology Author Pagan Kennedy on How to Accidentally Find Genius

This is our second podcast in the Eureka! theme. Last week we spoke with Inventology author Pagan Kennedy, and we’re excited to build on that by featuring David Burkus, author of The Myths of of Creativity. 

In this podcast, Ben and David focus on a concept called incubation. According to creativity research, this incubation moment often occurs right before a Eureka moment, and the best part? Everyone can incubate. The only question is how. 

David Burkus is a professor of management, bestselling author, and award-winning podcaster. 

Linkage: 

If you liked what you heard, we'd reallllly appreciate it if you hopped on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

More on David Burkus can be found here: http://goo.gl/iZqKPD
Also check out his podcast over here: https://goo.gl/SczJcV

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].


David Burkus Debunks Everything You Thought You Knew About Creativity

Today, we have the author of the The Sports Gene, David Epstein. The Sports Gene is a New York Times bestseller about exactly what it sounds like: whether or not there are things that make certain people preternaturally more likely to be great athletes. 

It feels like a perfect thing to talk about considering, you know, the Olympics start today. So Ben and David talk about some of the greatest physical specimens in the world, one athlete you must watch out for in Rio, and the central weakness of the 10,000 rule everyone always talks about. Oh, and also, if aliens invaded and you had to pick one athlete to compete against the aliens in a competition they decide, which athlete today do you pick?

David’s a journalist at ProPublica whose work appears in places like The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, and much more. He just put out an exclusive interview with the former chief investigator of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which you should read here https://goo.gl/u48unt.

- There's a transcript of the interview up here: http://buff.ly/2aG6aQ7
- If you liked what you heard, hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY
- And read more about the Sports Gene at David Epstein’s website: http://goo.gl/8mJwAz 

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].


David Epstein on the Olympics and Why 10,000 Hours Won’t Make You Great

Today on the podcast, we’re continuing our Olympics-themed episodes, where we’re talking about world-class athletes, these people who made it to the top, and how they got there. Last week we talked to David Epstein about what makes athletes great, and this week Ben speaks with a champion to find out more.
 
Andy Lee is 34-3-1, and a former WBO Middleweight Boxing Champion. Known in boxing circles as a tough-as-nails southpaw, Lee’s famous right hook is absolutely devastating. He’s also an Olympian, having competed for Ireland at the 2004 Olympic games in Athens.
 
In this interview, you’ll hear Andy and Ben get into what actually makes up a perfect right hook, what Lee thinks makes a champion different from a great athlete, and how Lee ended up acting in a Chekhov play.

Linkage:
 
- Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

- That link to Andy Lee’s knockouts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHZ8_mcuTug

- Lee winning the ‘ship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBd9NfSxiC4
 
That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].


BONUS: WBO Middleweight Boxing Champion Andy Lee on How Champions Approach Fights

*** Podcast programming alert!! ***

Today we have something a little different. Not only do we have Vishen Lakhiani, one of the most forward-thinking CEOs in the world, but we also have him in conversation with one of the Blinkist co-founders, Niklas Jansen. Niklas is a huge admirer of Vishen’s distinctive approaches to his companies, so we figured we should let him ask Vishen whatever he wanted!

Vishen is the founder and CEO of Mindvalley, a transformational education company, and Afest, an invite-only festival for entrepreneurs and change-makers that takes place in exotic locations all over the globe. He’s also an author now, and his book The Code of the Extraordinary Mind is just out and already a New York Times bestseller. (Read it on Blinkist here: http://buff.ly/2c41ZNF)

It’s cool to hear the two entrepreneurs chat. They talk about morning routines, exercise, and how to get the best possible company culture. But they also talk about the book, and get into Vishen’s distinctive way of optimizing his life, focusing on what he calls Consciousness Engineering and Brules (or bullshit rules).

Oh, and as a complement to the new magazine edition on #AlwaysLearning, we have a giveaway! We have five signed copies of Vishen Lakhiani’s book and five memberships to Mindvalley to go with it.

Here's what to do to win: download the Blinkist app, sign up, and open the blinks to The Code of The Extraordinary Mind. If you already have the app (well done you!), simply open up the blinks to The Code of The Extraordinary Mind to be in with a chance to win.

Extras:

- If you like what you hear today, please do hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

- Read the key insights to The Code of the Extraordinary Mind on Blinkist: http://buff.ly/2c41ZNF

- That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Entrepreneur Vishen Lakhiani of Mindvalley on Breaking Rules & Optimizing Everything

Today on the podcast, we welcome Cal Newport. Newport is Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University but most of us know him as the author of five excellent books, each of which takes a unique view on how to study better, find a career better, or, with his new book Deep Work, work better. 

Deep work, as he defines it, is professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate. 

Newport argues that the ability to work deeply is the most important skill to have in our knowledge economy. 

In our conversation, Newport explains why he thinks we need to teach people a new vocabulary for training focus, and why most of us are living the cognitive equivalent of a couch potato life. He also lays out how anyone can begin learning how to work deeply, right away.

Links!

- Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

- Newport's blog, Study Hacks, also deserves a shout out. It’s full of examples and tips for how people manage to hunker down and make great things. You can find it here: http://calnewport.com/blog/

- That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Deep Work: Cal Newport's Formula That Will Transform Your Productivity

Today on the Blinkist podcast we have an interview with branding expert Denise Lee Yohn, author of the book What Great Brands Do.

In the interview, Lee Yohn and Ben talk about why all branding starts inside, and how exactly Sony implemented that idea when Lee Yohn was there. Then they get into what happened with brands like Saturn and RadioShack – remember them???

They also tried something new: Lee Yohn and Ben read brief bits from some of their favorite branding books. (Hint: neither of them picked Seth Godin!) 

A quick intro to Lee Yohn: After her time as brand leader at Sony, she worked on many other big brands, including Land Rover, Jack in the Box, and Burger King. She currently runs her own brand consultancy in addition to giving speeches and writing for the Harvard Business Review blog, her own Brand-As-Business Bites blog, and many other outlets.

Linkage:

- Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

- Let Ben know what you think about the podcast by writing him at podcast@blinkist.com

- Lee Yohn's blog: http://deniseleeyohn.com/bites-brand-your-business-briefs/

- That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

What Great Brands Do: Denise Lee Yohn on how not to be RadioShack  | Business

This episode is an interview with famous Less Doing More Living author Ari Meisel, a champion of productivity and efficiency. 

Since beating the incurable Crohn’s Disease through optimizing his body, Ari has had a successful career as an entrepreneur. Recently he started a virtual assistant company called Less Doing and wrote a book with his co-founder Nick Sonnenberg called Idea to Execution that came out in early October. That book is all about how to optimize, automate, and outsource (these are the major themes in Meisel’s approach to success) everything in your business.

In the interview, you’ll find out what Ben’s doing wrong when it comes to optimizing his work, Ari’s favorite new tricks and tools out there to be more efficient, and what you can not under any circumstance delegate or outsource to someone else.

Linkage:

- If you haven't heard it yet, take a listen to our Podcastumentary (Ben note: sorry, had to) about the Blinkist rebrand! The audio and transcript are here: https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/blinkist-rebrand-podcast

- Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

- The year is almost over. We'd love to hear what you think about the podcast. Email us what you think at podcast@blinkist.com

- That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Productivity Champion Ari Meisel Shares How He Set Up A Business in 24 hours

Today on the Blinkist podcast, Ben speaks with esteemed behavioral economist, bestselling author, TED speaker extraordinaire, and all around cool guy Dan Ariely. 

Ariely is the author of Predictably Irrational, The Upside of Irrationality, and (just published) Payoff among other books. His TED talks have been viewed like 8 million times. No big deal. 

In the interview, Ben and Ariely go into some of the nuts and bolts of behavioral economics, like, why it’s different from standard economics, and what Ariely’s time away from his wife and children teaches us about short-term vs. long-term motivation. (Also: a story about a t-shirt with Ariely's name on it.)

Aaaand that’s it for interviews for 2016! Thanks so much for following us this year, it’s been a blast. There are a few more really fun podcasts in the hopper for the turn into 2017, and then we’ll be back at it. Hit us up at podcast@blinkist.com if you want to share some feedback or if you’re itching to hear something in particular.


Linkage:

- Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

- That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

TED Speaker Dan Ariely On Why Human Behaviour Is Utterly Irrational

TED Speaker Dan Ariely On Why Human Behavior Is Utterly Irrational

In this episode of the Blinkist Podcast Ben and Caitlin team up for Is That Even a Thing? Part 2.  It’s a follow-up to the first Blinkist Podcast episode ever, the original Is That Even a Thing. 

In Part II, they discuss and mythbust power posing, gratitude journals, whether or not your devices should be forever banished from the bedroom, and email. Plus, learn about Ben’s newest hobby (it involves carbs), and how imagining herself as an animal helps Caitlin get through first dates — and can help you, too! 

- As usual, hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

- That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Is that even a thing pt 2

Is That Even A Thing? Part 2: The Low-Down on What's Trending in Self-Help

Hey guys, it’s Ben. I just wanted to post this quick programming note: I’m away for a little bit because, well, I’m having a baby! Eek! 

But before I head out for family time, Caitlin and I put together some highlights from all the podcasts we made in 2016. 

In 2016 we grew into a podcast with tens of thousands of listens. So this episode is a bit of a look back at how we did that, via a 2016 Blinkist podcast Sampler episode. I think it shows how we’ve not only grown and learned a lot about how to make nice podcasts, but also how important it is to talk to authors and thinkers, to hear them open up about how they came up with the ideas that change our lives. It’s definitely changed how I approach challenges, or my semi-creative work.

As usual, hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Blinkist 2016 Sampler

Blinkist Podcast 2016 Sampler: Valuable Life Lessons From Self-help Experts to Transform Your Life

Hey guys, it's Ben. Before you listen to this week's interview with Rachel Hills, author of The Sex Myth, please take our **~~exciting~~** survey:

------->  https://goo.gl/dYUjeo
(It's just eight questions and takes literally two minutes to fill out. Email me at podcast(at)blinkist.com if you can do it faster.)

Today we have an interview with Rachel Hills, author of The Sex Myth. We talk about sex, Disney movies and how to not let sex make you anxious — which, in her view, is a major societal problem. 

Hills is a writer and activist whose work has appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, Buzzfeed, Jezebel, and more. You can check out her work at TheSexMyth(.)com. 

//// Use code sexmyth at Blinkist.com/Friends to get 14 free days of Blinkist. 

//// Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY

//// That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook(.)com/niceaux].

Not Having Sex? Author Rachel Hills Explains Why Your Sex Life is Okay

Hey guys, it's Ben. Before you listen to this week's interview with Adam Alter, author of IRRESISTIBLE: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked (Penguin Press; March 7, 2017), please take our exciting survey
-------> goo.gl/dYUjeo
(It's just eight questions and takes literally two minutes to fill out. Email me at podcast(at)blinkist(dot)com if you can do it faster. Big thanks to those of you that already have.)

This episode is an interview with psychology and marketing professor, researcher, writer, speaker, and overall very smart person Adam Alter, author of IRRESISTIBLE: The Rise of Addictive Technology and the Business of Keeping Us Hooked (Penguin Press; March 7, 2017). Alter published the bestselling and amazing and terrifying Drunk Tank Pink in 2013 and is currently on tour talking about his brand new book, Irresistible. The reviews are just starting to come out, and those of us lucky enough to get advance copies are all itchy to talk about it.

//// Use code irresistible at Blinkist.com/Friends to get 14 free days of Blinkist.

/// Check out the full transcript on the Blinkist Magazine: http://blnk.st/2mpnWiX Then read Irresistible on Blinkist: http://buff.ly/2mkGnoI

//// Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: blnk.st/28JBVIY

//// That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook(.)com/niceaux].

Candy Crush Your Addiction! Adam Alter On What Makes Everything So Irresistible

For this episode, we talked to Daniel Schacter, professor of psychology at Harvard and the author of The Seven Sins of Memory: How the Mind Forgets and Remembers. 

Our conversation focused on the three “sins of omission” outlined in his book on memory. The big bad memory sins, in order of badness, are: absent-mindedness, transience, blocking. Tune in for Schacter’s insights on how to remember what you have to remember and forget what you need to forget. 

____

Highlights:

"We tend to think of memory as being all about the past...But remembering the past has a lot in common with imagining the future."

"The most dangerous [of the seven sins] is absentmindedness: absentmindedness is the breakdown at the interface of attention and memory."

"The take-home message for everyday life: when you know there's something you want to remember...elaborate on that information. Try to relate it to other things you know."

____

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: blnk.st/28JBVIY

Forgetful? Harvard Prof Daniel Schacter Explains Why Our Memories Are So Flawed

Sandra Aamodt is a neuroscientist and former lifestyle dieter who wants to shout what she’s learned from the rooftops: according to the leading research in neuroscience, your brain has decided how much it wants you to weigh and will keep pushing you back to that weight *forever*. If you were already skeptical of popular weight loss methods, the ideas in Sandra’s book, Why Diets Make Us Fat, will be empowering. 

For the latest episode of Blinkist Podcast, I spoke to Sandra about the science of weight loss, the health advantages of mindful eating, what it’s like to sail to New Zealand, and why depriving yourself of office doughnuts never works.

You can find her book on Blinkist: http://blnk.st/2qbi13o
----------------------
Highlights:

On the myth of self-control: 
"It's just not true that somebody can simply decide to take control of their physiology and change it through sheer force of will."

On decision fatigue: 
"Most people make 200 to 300 food-related decisions per day."

On weight loss longevity: 
“Your brain will continue to try to push you back to the weight that it prefers forever.”

On food and common sense: 
"The best way to approach food is by relaxing and enjoying it and paying attention to what your body wants from moment to moment, and trusting that people have been maintaining stable weights for hundreds and thousands of years before anybody ever invented that little scale that you use to weigh chicken breasts."

--------------------------

That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: blnk.st/28JBVIY

Weight Loss Not Working? How the Secrets of Neuroscience Will Make You Stop Dieting Forever

After collapsing from burnout and sleep deprivation in 2007, Arianna Huffington threw herself into the latest research on sleep, discovering that the sleepless nights she’d depending on to build her career had had profound negative consequences on her health. What she learned was transformative: these days, Huffington is so dedicated to getting a full night of sleep, she won’t even bring her smartphone into the bedroom, for fear of accidentally stimulating a bout of insomnia. 

We spoke with Huffington about getting onboard the sleep train last year, after she published The Sleep Revolution, an account of her personal experiences with sleep deprivation and a passionate call for others to learn from her mistakes. 

We think it was a pretty great interview. And since the podcast crew is currently working on some super-special, super-secret new stuff that’s totally inspired by Arianna’s super-simple, super-good advice, we wanted to share the episode with you again today. 

We hope you enjoy. But more than that, we hope you get some sleep.

//// Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: blnk.st/28JBVIY

//// That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on SoundCloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook(.)com/niceaux].

Sleep Tips: The Secrets of Arianna Huffington’s Strict Bedtime Routine

Please visit us at blinkist.com/simplify to see our new podcast, Simplify!