How To Be A Better Person with Kate H...
Start your day with one simple thing you can do in the next 24 hours to be your better self--not so you can be a perfect person. Or even a good person! Just... better.
I wrote the book "How to Be a Better Person" after "be a better person" topped the list of most popular New Year's resolutions for the first time ever. This podcast builds on the ideas in that book and is intended to be like the little angel on your shoulder, providing a counter narrative to the negative thoughts and impulses that are floating around both out there and inside your own head. My mission is two-fold: to help you keep growing, and to inspire you to use your power for good.
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301
Need an Antidote to Cynicism? (Who Doesn't?) Pu...
16 min
302
Despite What Joe Pesci in ‘Goodfellas’ Thinks, ...
10 min
303
The Secret to Using Your Emotions to Build You ...
7 min
304
Real Money Talk: Forgiving Your Financial Mista...
6 min
305
Real Money Talk: Get What You Need and Give Wha...
8 min
306
Real Money Talk: Healing Old Money Wounds. EP: 579
21 min
307
Real Money Talk: The Piece of the Financial Equ...
7 min
308
Real Money Talk: Your Net Worth Is Not Your Sel...
7 min
309
Better Person Principle #5: Being better is a c...
7 min
310
Better Person Principle #4: There’s a time and ...
6 min
311
Better Person Principle #3: There’s an opportun...
6 min
312
Better Person Principle #2: Awareness is the fi...
7 min
313
Better Person Principle #1: It’s not about bein...
0 min
314
This Might Have Gotten You in Trouble in School...
7 min
315
All the Many Ways to Communicate with Your Elec...
7 min
316
Your City Government Needs You to Care. EP: 569
20 min
317
Why Supporting Local Journalism Matters, and Ho...
8 min
318
Being a Better Citizen. EP: 567
8 min
319
Who Is Your Messy Mentor? EP: 566
7 min
320
Your Mess Is Your Message. EP: 565
5 min
321
Make Friends with Your Inner Critic. EP: 564
17 min
322
Surprising Ways Perfectionism Shows Up. EP: 563
7 min
323
The Roots of Perfectionism EP: 563
This week on the podcast I’m talking about perfectionism, because as honorable as it is to care about being a better person and to give a shit about bringing your best and making a difference, we can go overboard with it all and feel like crap if...
9 min
324
The 5-Day Dawdle: Day 5: Get Your Stretch On EP...
Devoting some time to stretching is a great way to check in with yourself and your body and see how you’re feeling, where you might be feeling tension that you weren’t aware of, and just sending yourself some love. But you probably already knew...
8 min
325
The 5-Day Dawdle, Day 4: Visit Your Mother (as ...
The great thing about nature is that it has that magic ability to both calm you and energize you. And that’s precisely what we’re after during this week dedicated to dawdling and replenishing. Take a pic of you enjoying some nature and !
6 min
326
The 5-Day Dawdle, Day 3: Physical Pleasure, Yes...
Now that you’ve said no to some stuff and cleared some space in your schedule and your head, and you’ve spent some time alone and had a chance to digest some emotions, let’s get your senses involved and do something that feels physically...
7 min
327
The 5-Day Dawdle, Day 2: Take 20 Minutes Alone ...
Spending time alone is a key ingredient for replenishment. The thing is, when you’re alone, no one is talking to you, or asking you to do something, and you can hear yourself think. Even if you are the most extroverted extrovert, alone time is...
7 min
328
The 5-Day Dawdle, Day 1: Let’s Slow it Down a B...
This week on the podcast I’m doing things a little differently, and trying to create some space for us all to slow down a little bit, catch our breath, and refill our wells a bit. I’m calling it the Five-Day Dawdle--as in, five days of doing...
6 min
329
A Tactic to Feel Better About the Big Decisions...
There are many big, capital-D decisions that can take a really long time to figure out. Things like, should you move, change jobs, break up, have kids, or anything that feels like it’s going to change your life. These big decisions require...
5 min
330
How to Make Decisions Quickly: Decide When You’...
One way to avoid overthinking or ignoring some of the things that you need to decide is to give yourself a deadline. In other words, some times you need to decide WHEN you’re going to decide. !
4 min
331
How to Stop Overthinking Everything EP: 554
Because you are listening to a podcast called How to be a Better Person, you give a shit, about a lot of things, including making good choices. And that desire, while beautiful, can also be a slippery slope into overthinking. I mean, we’ve all been...
14 min
332
Choose Love: Making Decisions from the Heart E...
One of the reasons why decisions can be so taxing is that we’re over-relying on our brains to make them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for making pro and con lists and doing research and mulling things over, but your brain isn’t the only game in...
7 min
333
How to Use Intuition in Decision-Making EP: 552
Most of us know the basics of decision-making--name the problem, list the options, weigh the pros and cons of each, and choose the best one. But sometimes, the straightforward, tried and true approach just doesn’t work. Especially now in the...
8 min
334
Being a Better Person Online: Get a Grip on You...
OK the pandemic did NOT help us have a healthy relationship to screens. Not that all screen time is bad, but... we could all pretty much use a check in on how much time we spend starting at a screen.
8 min
335
Are You Meaner Online Than in Real Life? EP: 550
There’s a scientific term for the phenomenon of acting differently online than you do in real life, it’s called the internet disinhibition effect. So if you get fired up and leave snarky comments or bad reviews, you're living out a scientific...
7 min
336
Are You Addicted to Your Phone? Maybe (Probably...
Smartphones are designed to be addictive. If you can't stop looking at yours, it makes sense. Does that mean there's nothing you can do? No. Dr. Jud Brewer, a New York Times best-selling author, neuroscientist, addiction psychiatrist, and thought...
16 min
337
Managing the Onslaught of Opportunities to Sho...
Anytime you are online (unless you’ve paid for a subscription service with no ads), SHOPPING IS EVERYWHERE!! It’s very, very hard to resist. Which is tough on our willpower, which is a finite resource that burns pretty quickly, our credit...
7 min
338
Being a Better Person Online: Keeping Relations...
All our connectivity makes a lot of things easier, but there are some things where you don’t really want to take the easy route: for example, fostering day to day closeness to people you love.
8 min
339
DAY FIVE of the First-Ever Give a Shit Challeng...
Well, you commit to something. Something that helps keep a very manageable amount of your energy directed toward making a difference. I'll also share how I came to be secretary of the PTO--and why I'm so glad I did, despite the meetings.
7 min
340
DAY FOUR of the First-Ever Give a Shit Challeng...
In what I think might end up being the shortest How to Be a Better Person podcast episode ever, your tiny assignment today is just ridiculously simple. But hearing why it matters so very much will help inspire you to do it.
5 min
341
DAY THREE of the First-Ever Give a Shit Challen...
You may not have 50,000 followers on Instagram or a million followers on tiktok, but you still have influence. Today’s piece of the challenge is to take the information you gathered on who is already doing the work on the thing you want to help...
6 min
342
DAY TWO of the First-Ever Give a Shit Challenge...
Here’s a crucial thing to keep in mind when it comes to making a difference on issues big and small, global and local: You don’t need to be the savior rushing in a white horse. In fact, you'd likely only make things worse. Instead, your task...
6 min
343
DAY ONE of the First Ever Give a Shit Challenge...
This week on the podcast I’m doing something a little bit different. Because I’ve gotten such a great response to my free I Give a Shit sticker (it's a nice antidote to the I give zero effs thing that’s been floating around) and because there...
8 min
344
Ask Yourself This Question to Figure Out What Y...
Your emotions aren’t here to torture you; they’re messengers, giving you information about what you value, need, and want. Here's one question to ask yourself to figure out what information your anger is trying to convey. (Then it won’t have to...
8 min
345
What’s Your Anger Story? EP: 540
Each of us has a set of beliefs about anger that we’ve been carrying around since we were little. By taking a little time to think about what those beliefs are, you can get a little more objectivity and perspective on this emotion that so often...
8 min
346
Breaking the Cycle of Anger, an Interview with ...
I wanted to reach out to someone who could help us think about anger in new ways and potentially interrupt any of our habitual patterns around it so that we’ve got some space to learn some new skills for dealing with it. The person I’m talking to...
23 min
347
Reasons Why You Might Feel Angry All the Time E...
There’s nothing wrong with anger management strategies, which are fine but, to use a healthcare analogy, learning how to manage anger is trying to mitigate symptoms, instead of treating the root cause. Let’s look at some of the many, many things...
10 min
348
Is Anger Good, or Bad? Both EP: 537
This week's episodes were inspired by a listener question about feeling angry all the time lately, and what to do about it. And since anger is definitely having a moment (all that cooped-up angst has to have somewhere to go), let's figure out what all...
7 min
349
How Do You Feel When You’re Having Fun? EP: 536
Even when you’re busy and don’t feel like you have a lot of time to do things just for the fun of it, you can increase your experience of fun by tuning in to how fun feels in your body.
6 min
350
Using Fun to Motivate You--It Is Possible EP: 535
Let’s face it: Adulting can be a real slog. The list of things to do and take care of can feel relentless. However, that does not mean that doing the things you need to do has to be boring, or tedious. You CAN use fun to goad yourself into doing...
6 min
351
Feeling Fried? Might Be Time for the Healing Po...
Today I’m interviewing Dr. Rachel Allyn, a relationship and sex therapist and the author of the new book, The Pleasure Is All Yours: Reclaim Your Body’s Bliss and Reignite Your Passion for Life. After all fun and pleasure go hand in hand, and if...
15 min
352
So, What ARE You Doing for Fun? EP: 533
In order to invite more fun into your life, it helps to give some thought to what you consider to be fun, and what you’ve been doing for fun lately, and objectively assess whether you might need to prioritize fun a little more. I think of it as...
8 min
353
Let’s Have Some Fun EP: 532
I get that fun can feel frivolous, and that it’s easy to think that we should wait until things calm down before we even consider doing something just for the fun of it. But fun is not just enjoyable, but also it’s vital to our wellbeing and even...
9 min
354
How to Make Multiple Meals Out of One Cooking S...
There are two kinds of people in this world: those who embrace leftovers, and those who turn their nose up at them. By the end of this episode, I hope you’ll be firmly in the embrace ‘em camp, if you’re not there already.
6 min
355
Cooking Doesn’t Start in the Kitchen...It Start...
We can’t talk about how to get better and making more of your own food without also talking about getting better about grocery shopping. After all, you can’t cook what you don’t have.
6 min
356
How to Figure Out What the Heck to Have for Di...
Let’s be honest, figuring out what to eat can also be overwhelming. So today, I’m interviewing Kate Schulz, co-host of the Dinner Sisters podcast, for her tips on how to figure out what the heck to have for dinner. Kate is a home cook through and...
17 min
357
Cooking Strategies that Have Saved Me Weeks of ...
While you definitely don’t need any formal training to be a great home cook, having a couple techniques up your sleeve can make things a lot easier. So today I’m sharing three cooking strategies that, over the years, have saved me weeks of time. I...
6 min
358
Food Week: 7 Easy Ways to Eat More Vegetables E...
We all know that vegetables are good for us, but few of us are eating as many as we probably ought to be. In fact, a survey commissioned by the food brand. Dr. Praeger's found that a quarter of Americans have never had a vegetable! So let’s talk...
9 min
359
What Fall Is REALLY About EP: 526
Ok, yes, fall is busy, but it's about more than just being a busy little squirrel and hiding away your acorns for the winter to come (although it is about that too). Let's look at the deeper meaning--and opportunities--of fall so we can be intentional...
5 min
360
How a Supportive Schedule Is Like a Song EP: 525
Instead of creating a rigid new schedule for fall, think about how making your schedule more like a song--with a consistent rhythm that can adapt to different circumstances, like verses (weekdays), choruses (weekends), and even shredding guitar solos...
7 min
361
Self-Care for a Less Stressful Fall Transition,...
Today I’m talking with my go-to nutrition expert, Mary Sheila Gonnella, of Occidental Nutrition--a recurring guest on this podcast, a friend of mine, and a very talented and passionate nutritionist who blends traditional approaches,-like taking care...
16 min
362
Let’s Face It. Transitions Suck EP: 523
Let’s just go ahead and admit it. Transitions can be really hard. And fall is a lot of transitions rolled into one--changes in weather, in schedules, and overall energy. I share two ways to help you feel more stable and safe during this wonky time.
6 min
363
Getting Back in the Healthy Swing After the Exc...
Right about now, it is easy to be feeling like you’ve gotten off track with your healthy habits. Maybe your bedtime has crept later, and if you have kids, so has theirs. Maybe it felt too hot to cook so you got really into eating more stuff like...
5 min
364
The Things We Feel Shame About EP: 521
So very many of us have experienced something that makes us feel ashamed, and that shame can worm its way into your subconscious and make you feel like deep down inside, you are a bad person. Something that we’re scared that if people knew the truth...
10 min
365
Why Can’t I Stick With My Healthy Habits? I Kno...
I don’t know about you, but I find it comforting to know that humans have been backsliding for thousands and thousands of years! It’s not a question of if it will happen, but when. And therefore, not something that means you’re a bad person....
9 min
366
Does Lying Make You a Bad Person? EP: 519
Whether you’re telling a little fib, or blatantly telling someone something that isn’t true, or even NOT telling someone something that IS true, dishonesty is often one of those things that triggers a visit from the “am I a bad person?”...
15 min
367
I’m Always Running Late and Forgetting Stuff--A...
Today’s trait is running late and forgetting stuff and therefore, potentially letting other people down. Let me just say, I FEEL this one.
9 min
368
Are You a Bad Person If You’re Impatient? EP: 517
This week on the podcast I want to flip things and instead of talking about being a better person, to spend a little time talking about the things we all sometimes do that can leave us wondering, am I a bad person? When I surveyed listeners several...
9 min
369
Finding Your Way to Self-Acceptance EP: 516
Accepting the things about yourself that you might otherwise judge as "bad" is a big piece of loving yourself. After all, love isn't conditional. It's not, I'll love myself after I lose 5 pounds, or get a new job, or things calm down.
7 min
370
Refilling Your Attention Deficit EP: 515
These August days are about as quiet as it gets on the work front (except for, perhaps, the week between Christmas and New Year's). Let's take this opportunity to restore our ability to focus.
8 min
371
How to Cultivate Grit with Shannon Polson EP: 514
To help us all think about how to go about cultivating more grit I wanted to talk to a pro, so I reached out to Shannon Huffman Polson, the youngest woman ever to climb Mt. McKinley, one of the first women to be trained to fly an Apache...
11 min
372
Strengthen Your “Keep Going” Muscles EP: 513
One of my better person principles (that I shared last week in episode 509) is that every challenge has an opportunity wrapped up inside it. Even the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad challenges, like, say, a global pandemic. And one of those...
8 min
373
What’s the Better Person Thing to Do When It Co...
You used to more or less be able to decide when you wanted to wade into a potentially heated conversation. Now, whether you're talking about masks, vaccines, or the start of school, you can stumble into them multiple times a day. What's a person who's...
8 min
374
Better Person Principle #5: Being better is a c...
Being a better person isn't a fluke of genetics. Everyone has inherent goodness. Everyday, you’re faced with hundreds of decisions, and it’s in those decisions where you have the potential to move toward better.
6 min
375
Better Person Principle #4: There’s a time and ...
You don’t have to be a better person ALL the time. And thank goodness for that. Because trying to do anything 100% of the time is a recipe for burnout.
6 min
376
Better Person Principle #3: There’s an opportun...
Looking for the opportunity keeps your eyes open to what good things might be trying to emerge. And finding those opportunities is what helps you use the simple act of living your life as a personal development seminar.
5 min
377
Better Person Principle #2: Awareness is the fi...
Even though it’s a simple concept, awareness is a pretty rare and wonderful thing, like an orchid in a sea of carnations. Because it’s a lot more convenient to not pay attention to stuff--particularly your own stuff. Being able to see yourself...
7 min
378
Better Person Principle #1: It’s not about bein...
You don’t have to transform yourself into Mother Theresa or Gandhi or whomever your ideal ‘good person’ is. Truly, you just have to care enough to opt for a better choice at your next opportunity.
7 min
379
Admit that you’re probably going to stink at fi...
One huge obstacle to creativity is your inner critic, which is obsessed with keeping you safe, and will try to convince you that anything new you’re either thinking, doing, or trying to create, is either dangerous--as in, it could open you up to...
7 min
380
How to get inspiration to pursue you like Miss ...
Fun fact: the root of “spire” means breath, so inspired means filled with breath, or since if you aren’t breathing you’re dead, filled with life. So even if you don’t care one whit about doing anything creative, inspiration is still...
8 min
381
Finding your creative practice (even if you 'do...
OK, let's talk nuts and bolts. HOW do you incorporate creativity into what I'm assuming is already a pretty gosh darn busy life? I'm interviewing Jackie Dishner, an Arizona-based artist, author, and writer who teaches creativity classes. I'm gonna get...
15 min
382
If you don't (yet) feel creative, try feeling t...
Some of us--many of us--do NOT feel like we are creative beings. Like, it’s something that only gets handed out to some folks, and others are stuck in logical land. When really, creativity is an innate human trait, we all have it, in some form, to...
8 min
383
The amazing, Important Benefits of Creativity E...
Covid cases are trending back upward, this summer has been intense on the weather front, and you know, I think the collective we could really go for a topic that’s comforting and taps into the dreamier, more imaginative side of life. Plus,...
8 min
384
Taking stock and easing the stress of being in ...
This pandemic summer, when we still can’t really predict what the fall, winter and spring ahead will be like, and yet we theoretically are out of the worst of it, is a very transitional time to be. And the human brain typically does NOT like...
9 min
385
Things I’ve Learned from Producing 500 Podcast ...
Today is the 500th episode of this podcast! Can you believe it? I hardly can. For today’s big idea, I’m sharing five things I’ve learned over these past 500 episodes. But before I do, I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart...
7 min
386
Is the universe sending you a message through n...
Since tomorrow is the 500th episode of this podcast, and I am so blown away by this number, that I wanted to talk to someone who knows the symbolism of numbers to help me understand what this particular milestone means on a symbolic level. I...
21 min
387
What to do when you’re jealous of others’ vacat...
C'mon, you can admit it. When you see the photos of your friends on their vacations to the Cape, or Hawaii, or the lake, part of you is jealous. Maybe even a little judgy. Today, let's talk about how to work that feeling and turn it into an...
6 min
388
GIve to Yourself, Too EP: 497
Something we don’t generally think about when we think about being more generous is giving to ourselves, too. Which is a really important piece of being a more giving person, because you can’t give from an empty cup.
6 min
389
We’re All Stingy in Some Ways--What Are Yours? ...
You can be generous in some ways, and stingy in others. And it’s really fascinating to start to unpack where you are a natural giver, and where you might be more likely to freeze up and think, oh heck no.
7 min
390
Giving More Without Giving Too Much EP: 495
While giving is often energizing, there are definitely times when it’s draining. In addition, sometimes *your* giving can make the person you’re trying to give to feel bad--micromanaged, or like you think they aren’t capable. So today,...
6 min
391
Emotional Labor: How to Keep it From Taking Too...
Today I’m talking to four-time TED speaker Damon Brown about emotional labor--why it's the best thing you have to offer, and also how it can quickly deplete you if you're not intentional about it. PLUS, we break down the costs of letting someone...
22 min
392
All the Ways to Give EP: 493
There are so many ways you can give, and they don’t necessarily require a lot of time or money, which is what we typically think of when we think of giving. Check out this list of ways to be generous that will get you in that giving mood.(You can...
10 min
393
Let’s Talk About Giving, and Why It Matters EP:...
Yes, generosity is a virtue, and a key piece of being a better person. BUT the funny paradox about giving is that it feels really good to help others, and those good feelings help energize you in all parts of your life. Find out why
6 min
394
The Antidote to Re-Entry Awkwardness: Extending...
People’s best--including our own--may look nothing like what we would have expected in the 'before times.' We have to give each other a wide enough berth to be harried, or to overreact, or to be slow, or irritable, and to not make that behavior mean...
6 min
395
Before You Judge Someone Else, Remember This EP...
During times of transition, it’s easier than ever to judge our fellow humans, which is ironic, because this is when we need to offer each other the most tolerance we can muster. Here's a way to short-circuit this very human inclination.
6 min
396
Navigating the New Normal at Work EP: 489
Today I’m interviewing Gwen Moran who writes and speaks about the intersection of workplace issues and life. Gwen is a regular contributor to Fast Company, Inc., and many other outlets, where she’s been writing extensively about re-emergence from...
16 min
397
A Helpful Strategy for Reducing Re-Entry Awkwar...
You've probably noticed that people are acting a little ...odd lately --- agrressive, irritable, forgetful, solw. That's because collectively we're in a time of upheaval and our social skills have atrophied. You can either get knocked off your center,...
7 min
398
Little Things that Help Resist the Urge to Pour...
When the urge to pour yourself a drink strikes, it’s helpful to have a couple other strategies in place that you can do instead. Here are three of my favorites.
6 min
399
Re-Thinking Drinking: How to Take the Edge off ...
It's common to pop open something alcoholic when you're stressed, just so you can switch into chill mode. So what can do you to take the edge off if you're not drinking? Hoo doggie...so many things!!
9 min
400
How to Let Your Hair Down Without Having a Drin...
We often turn to alcohol as a way to let loose and have fun. So if you stop or cut way back on drinking, does that mean you're going to be boring? Nope. Today I'm talking about other ways to get into that ‘let’s have some fun’ state of mind...
7 min