June 10, 2026 • 28 mins
Author and podcast host A.J. Jacobs shares how puzzles keep our brains sharp
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
episode will be a slightly longer one part of the
series where I interview fascinating people about how they take
their days from great to awesome and any advice they
(00:24):
have for the rest of us. So today, I am
delighted to welcome Aj Jacobs to Before Breakfast. AJ is
the author of several books such as the Year of
Living Constitutionally, The Year of Living Biblically, and The Puzzler.
He is the host of the podcast Hello Puzzlers. So Aj,
welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Thank you. I'm so thrilled to be here. I am
a fan and you have made my life better with
so many of your tips. So I'm hoping that I
can repay by giving some helpful feedback on your show.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I am sure you will. Did you tell our listeners
a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Sure? I am a writer. I mostly do nonfiction writing.
I've written several books where I try to take on
a weird, admittedly an odd lifestyle for a year and
then write about the lessons I've learned. So I spent
a year trying to live by all the rules of
the Bible that included the Ten Commandments, but also growing
(01:24):
a huge beard so people would cross the street to
avoid me. I tried to be the healthiest person alive.
I wrote a book about gratitude where I thank a
thousand people who had anything to do with my morning
cup of coffee, which is very relevant to this show,
and try to become as grateful as I could. So
(01:47):
those are the types of books and articles I write.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And now you're doing a podcast about puzzles, so I
would love to hear about this.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Why puzzles, Yes, I do. I love it. I do
a podcast called Hello Puzzlers and available everywhere, and it
is uh we give word put fun little word puzzles
to our guests and to each other. I have a
co host. And that came about because I wrote a
book about puzzles, mostly during COVID, which seemed like a
(02:20):
good time to write about puzzles. But I am a
huge fan of all types of puzzles, crossword puzzles, word find,
Jake Saws. I love Jake Saws. I'm not good at them,
but I love them and have I am convinced that
puzzles are not a waste of time. I know that
this this show is a lot about not wasting time,
(02:43):
using your time best you can. I believe puzzles are
a big part of that.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, tell us about that. I mean, what is it
about puzzles that. I mean, they're fun, they're fun, But
beyond just being fun, what are the benefits of that?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, and I do puzzles every morning. I do the
New York Times Crossword, I do connections, I do a
few others. I listen to my own podcast sometimes if sometimes,
Well that makes me feel good.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
For the morning.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
But I think the benefits include h Well, one is
is you've probably heard that puzzles keep your brain sharp
and help with staving off cognitive decline, which I think
is true. It's not like I'm a cure all but
it does help a little. And it's not exclusively puzzles.
(03:38):
It's just about keeping your brain engaged. You could learn
a new language, you could, uh, you know, learn a
new hobby. So, but puzzles are one way to keep
your brain engaged. But I think there are other advantages
in addition. One is, for me, it really helps keep
(03:59):
my mind flex So puzzles train you to see the
world from all these different angles and looking for a solution.
So it's if you see a clue in the crossword
with the word trunk in it tr u n K,
you're thinking, okay, well that could be an elephant trunk,
it could be the trunk of a car, it could
be bathing suit trunks what my grandma called bathing suits
(04:22):
or trunks. And that flexibility of mind seeps out into
my whole worldview, so that when I'm confronted with a
problem at work or at home, I'm able to keep
my mind flexible and not lock in on what of
this has to be the answer. No, I'm able to
(04:42):
keep my brain fluid. And finally, and this I think
relates to a lot of your message. It really encourages
a mind what I call the puzzling mindset, which is
a mindset of deep curiosity and looking for solutions because
we are with the media, as you point out, is
(05:04):
so problem oriented and it's just your your hit with
this relentless stream of negative news without solutions being presented.
I love it when you can look for solutions. There's
a great quote I like by Quincy Jones, the late
(05:24):
music producer, and he's his philosophy of life. He said,
I don't have problems. I have puzzles, and it's just
that simple reframe of being like, I can solve this.
I'm going to roll up my sleeves. It's a challenge,
but it's not a crisis. I'm not going to curl
up in the corner in a fetal position. I'm going
to try to make this happen and get to the solution.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I love it. And I was listening to you know,
Hello Puzzlers the other day and you had I was
noticing what my brain was doing as I was going
through one of your puzzles, and just to if anyone
wants to try it here, it was that there's a
South American country that if you rearrange the letters of
the capitol will give you the name of another country.
(06:09):
And of course when you hear that, so then I'm
like going through my list of you know, South American countries,
which I probably haven't thought about that much. But of
course that has to pull back from somewhere at the
back of my brain that I had to fill out
that geography thing in tenth grade, and so I'm going
back through it, like, Okay, where is the capital. Where's
the capital? Does anything have a short capital, because that's
probably what it's going to be. Rearrange that. And then
(06:31):
of course, you know, I'm thinking like, oh, well, you
know i've been to all right, I'll tell you guys.
The answer Peru where Lima is of course Mallei with
the country in Africa. And so I was like, ah,
I got it, I got it. I'm very excited. But
it was like that little you know, that hunting through
your brain and then that moment of excitement. I think
that's what's really what that's what it does, right.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Oh yeah, And I like to call that, or people
in the puzzle business called that the Aha moment. You
had an Aha moment, and that's what you're looking for,
and we as humans are wired for that aha moment.
And and I think that's you can you can make
that not just about puzzles, but about life, you know,
looking for the Aha moments in life. But I also
(07:13):
love what you did with the strategy because I think
that is very important too. When you're presented with a
puzzle or problem, what is the best way to solve this?
And you were like, well, I think it's going to
be a short word and that was a key insight
that will help a lot. So taking a step back
whenever you're presented with a puzzle or problem, what is
(07:35):
the best way to solve that? Instead of diving right
in and trying to solve it, step back and say
what strategies should I use?
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, and I hear that you may have a puzzle
for us. I do.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Okay, I wrote it this morning, hear it. It's not
it's not all that elaborate, but it is. It is
breakfast themed. So I thought that.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
People haven't had their coffee yet. But we don't need
a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Of frids exactly. Well, I just noticed that there are
a lot of fun phrases in the English language that
include breakfast foods. All right, so I am going to
give you a hint a clue where I will paraphrase
one of these idioms that include breakfast food, and you
(08:23):
tell me what you think might be the phrase, and
I will give you the food if you want, I
will give it to you up front, but for instance,
and we'll start with an example.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Okay, this is a.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Food, a breakfast food phrase that means to earn money,
So that is.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Bring home, bring home the bacon, the bacon. Okay, is
going to go all right? All right, all right.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
This phrase means to risk everything on a single plan
or a single person.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So, oh, all your eggs in one back.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Look at that. You didn't even need a hint. Wow,
all right, all right. This phrase refers to the unpleasant
process behind creating a finished product.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Oh, how we're making the sauce.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Oh, you are good, you are good. You know your
breakfast foods and.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I know my breakfast foods.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
How about if you, uh, if you've got to face
an unpleasant reality, you would encourage people to.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Would we eat that frog? Are we going?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
That's interesting? Some people have frogs for breakfast.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
No, no, that's what we say. Okay, well, we like to
think about that one. We're gonna take it. We're going
to take an ad. Break listeners come up with it,
and then we'll be right back. Well, I am back
talking with A. J. Jacobs, who is the co host
(09:59):
of the Hello Puzzlers podcast, author of several books of
sort of experiential journalism Doing things for a year. So
he is giving me some brain teasers here on breakfast
related idioms. Okay, so repeat the one you did just
before the break.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Well, this one. And I should have mentioned because maybe
this was the it's the I'm including beverages as well
as okay, beverages, all right, so this is to face.
If you're encouraging someone to face an unpleasant reality, you
might tell them too. It's the most famous, at least
(10:35):
in America, breakfast, beverage, coffee. Yeah, and what do you
have to do in every morning? You have to before anything?
You open your eyes?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
You okay, you got me here.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Wake up and smell the coffee.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Wake up and smell the coffee. Okay, gotcha? All right, Oh,
that's all right. We got last one.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Last one. Last one is uh, this is this is
a person who is very admired or celebrated in a
certain community or or small city. Uh. And it is
a I'll give you the food. Okay, it is toast.
(11:23):
So this is a phrase with toast blank blank blank,
someone who is very celebrated.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Oh, the toast of the town, most of the town.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Exactly. You got it too.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I have never thought of that many breakfast related idioms,
but it's true. It's true. I guess we're all we're
into our breakfast items totally.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
And who wouldn't be. It's it's a great meal.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
It is, it is, for sure. So AJ, how should
we I mean, are there particular puzzles you would recommend
that a newbie look into. If somebody's like, Okay, this
sounds good, I'd like to try doing a few puzzles.
Where should people go or what should they try if
they're new to this.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Oh, that's a good question. And I do think that
there are puzzles for everyone. So some people like logic puzzles,
some like number puzzles, some like word puzzles, like me. Also,
the scientists do say that the more you can vary
the types of puzzles, the better it is for keeping
your brain active. So I can just tell you some
(12:26):
of my favorites. I do the spelling Bee in the
New York Times, which is a good starter puzzle because
it's basically jumble. It's like, you know, finding words, the
word search and anagrams. I do the crossword in the
New York Times, which is tough. The Monday is the easiest,
but even the Monday is tough. It took me like
(12:47):
five years to get where I can finish all of
the puzzles. So it is a language that you have
to learn. There's a fun one on the Atlantic website
called racket City, which is free. I recommend that there's
one called parseword dot com, which was created by the
(13:08):
guy who created Wordle, named Josh Wardle. And of course
there's Hello Puzzlers. And we do try to have very
accessible puzzles because we know this is part of a
lot of people's morning routine. And yeah, you don't want
to frustrate them too much at the beginning of the day.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Absolutely, absolutely, Yeah, I feel like the crossword puzzles. I
have not yet crossed that bridge to like the New
York Times crossroad puzzle. I mean maybe someday, but I
have not yet attained to that level.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I'm sure you could. It's as I said, it's all
a language to learn.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah, yeah, no, I know somebody who does it with
like either the down or the across. Oh covered.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
That's a tough guy, yeah, a tough woman.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Exactly exactly. I wanted to pivot to your sort of
genre of experiential journalism, which you so like own that
category with all the books you've done in that. How
do you do like, how do you come up with
your topics for that? What makes you say that is
something I should try doing for a year.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Well, I actually I am very passionate about idea generation,
and in fact, that is one of my part of
my morning routine is I actually spend ten minutes. I
have a remarkable tablet, you know those tablets, which I
like because I cut it off from the Internet, and
I just come up with ideas for ten minutes I
(14:33):
have Sometimes I have a magazine and I use that
as like a mental jungle gym. And one key is
that ninety eight percent of those ideas are crap. They
are just not good, but hopefully there's two percent that
are good. It's really a numbers game creativity. So I
am a huge fan of that, and I come up
(14:55):
with book ideas, article ideas, random ideas that I know
are not going anywhere, but just keep my brain fluid
and flexible. As far as books come, I try to
find books. First of all. I like to think of
the customer, the reader, you know, what would they be
interested in? What would I want my book to check
(15:17):
a couple of boxes. One I wanted to be able
to improve their life. I want I want to stay
married to my wife. So there are topics that.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
She said, you just won't go into.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, and she is Yeah, So there's that. There's something
I wanted to be timely. I wanted to be broad
enough so that it can encompass a year's worth of adventures.
So my topics are usually big gratitude, the Bible, health,
so some of those are some of the considerations.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
And how do you project manage something like that? Like
they say, you know, you recently did the Constitutional year
as we're coming into the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary
here the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution, but still
you know, related people are celebrating two hundred and fifty
years of America here, Like how did you project manage that?
Like you look at doing that and then you say,
(16:12):
I'm going to do this for a year. How do
you sketch out what you're going to do?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
That's a good quote. Well, first of all, I'm a
huge fan of outlining in terms of writing. I love that.
I also keep two different sets of notes to keep
be organized. So I have a note I have sort
of a journal where it's my personal experience, like you know,
(16:36):
what it was like to pretend to be a revolutionary
war soldier and fight in the fake battle of Trenton.
And then I have another part where it's all research
because I do like to research, read hundreds of books,
so that's one. I also for the Constitution book. I
(16:57):
think this is relevant. I decided to follow Ben Franklin's
morning routine, which is to wake up at five AM.
And I used to be a night owl, wake up
at nine or ten in the in the morning. But
I've switched. I've so I don't think it's you know,
(17:18):
it is possible to switch, at least for me, and
I love it. I wake up at five. The first thing,
by the way, Brent Franklin did, he said he had
a little reminder what good can you do today? Which
I love. That is just such a night and I
try to remind myself in many days and I don't
(17:38):
don't I don't know if I'm doing good. Is this
help in the world? Maybe maybe not, but it's a
good goal to shoot for.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yeah. Well, we love Ben Franklin around here. Always this
to Ben Franklin in the self help universe. But I
mean with with something like that, I mean part of
when you're writing about your experiences, I mean nonfictionate needs
to sort of have these epiphanies like these realizations of
something that happened, and yet when you're going into something
you can't really know for sure where the epiphany is
(18:08):
gonna happen. I'm curious how you think about structuring your
activities through a project like that in order to get
realizations that will make compelling anecdotes.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I love that. That is a great question, and it
is hard because you have to I feel that it's
a balance between having a structure and being able to
improvise within that structure, and I think that's that's in
many endeavors. But yeah, I have a structure where I
know it's going to start and end at the year.
(18:40):
I know that. For instance, with the Gratitude Book, I
hoped at the end that I would become more grateful.
It would be a little disappointing if I didn't. And
then I came up with here are ten what they
call in movie set pieces. Here, I want to go
(19:01):
down to South America and visit the coffee farmer. I
want to meet with the guy who tastes the coffee
and says, oh, there's a hint of licorice and a
little bit of chocolate. And I'm always like you know,
it tastes like coffee to me, but I love that
you can taste all that other stuff. So having those
(19:25):
set pieces and at each one, I'm like, what did
I learn? What can I take away that I can
give the reader as a as a lesson. And for instance,
with the tasting one, it was a lot about savoring,
which is a big part of you know, holding onto
that moment for a little bit longer instead of just
letting everything flit by so rapidly like we often do.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Absolutely, well, We're going to take one more quick ad
break and I'll be back with more from AJ Jacobs. Well,
I am back talking with AJ. Jacobs is the author
of several books, including the Year of Living Constitutionally, The
Year of Living Biblically, and The Puzzler. He's the co
(20:12):
host of the podcast Hello Puzzlers. So Aj a few
you know a little earlier in the show, you mentioned
your morning routine has an element of idea generation that
you're sitting down come up with ideas. What else is
part of your morning routine?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Well, I love my morning routine, and I mean it's weird.
As I've gotten older, I've i have become a morning person.
So idea generation. I have a list of I won't
call them affirmations because some of them are kind of depressing,
(20:46):
but they are reminders you know, you're only here for
a little on this world. Try to make the most
of it, or you know, get curious, not furious. That's
on the phrase I love, and I have a list
of like fifty of those. So I'll just look at
those during the morning for a couple of minutes to
(21:07):
ground myself. I have the brain storming. I do split
up my exercise throughout the day, so I do five
minutes on the treadmill in the morning, but then I'll
do I'll get back on four or five times and
(21:28):
do another five minutes. But I from my research, and
I'm not a doctor, I think it's a little more
healthy than bunching all of the exercise at once. So
those are just a few of the things I love
to do.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I love that. Well, I'm going to next time I
want to get off the treadmill after five minutes, I'm
going to remember that excuse of first I have to
get back on at some point.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
That's the downside.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Oh well, oh well, And I'm curious when you mentioned
earlier that ninety eight percent of the ideas are bad.
How do you know a bad idea from a good one?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Oh, such a it's a great question. I have a
couple of tests that I do. One is I am
very free with telling people my ideas, and a lot
of people are who I tell are friends and they're
not going to say that absolutely sucks, but you can
kind of see it in their eyes. You can see
or if they ask follow up questions. So that's one test.
(22:24):
Another test is am I still thinking about this idea
in a couple of weeks and being like, oh, that
is an interesting idea. If I just forget it the
next day, maybe it's not worthwhile. And then just experimenting
starting to write and say, you know, is this flowing?
Is does this have legs? Because yeah, you can't always
(22:49):
decide in advance of a project. You might have to
start it and see if it takes off.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yep, test it out a little bit, just like a puzzle.
You have to work with it a bite, see what
you're pulling back from your brain and trying out and
looking at it in a different way. So aja I
always ask my guests what is something you have done
recently to take a day from great to awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Well, I have another little habit ritual that I do
that I have found very helpful, and I wrote about it.
I wrote about it on my substack Experimental Living with
ad Jacobs if anyone wants to check it out.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
And it is.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Just really keeping track of my moods when some both
good and bad. When I'm grateful for something, I write
it down on a little index card and I said, oh,
you know, I'm grateful that my dog wanted her belly rubbed,
you know, just little things and also things that annoy me.
This person didn't text back, you know. And I find
(23:53):
it good because it helps me savor the good emotions.
And also when I write down what I'm annoyed about,
more often than not it's something dumb and that I
look at it when I write it down, I'm like, oh,
I got to get over that. That is not a
good use of my mental energy. Now there are apps
(24:16):
you can get on the iPhone that do this mood tracking,
and they work for some people. I tried them. For me,
I actually like the physical index card because I have
it in front of me on my desk with a pencil,
and so it's almost It's very much a reminder like
when I have an emotion of gratitude or annoyance that
(24:38):
I should can write it down, and the iPhone is
not as helpful in that way. So that is something
that has really I wrote about it like six months ago.
I did it for like three months. Then I'm like,
you know, maybe I should take you know, maybe it's
served its purpose. And I found it was affecting my
(24:59):
day material I wasn't as happy, and I went back
to it, and now I am committed. I think I'm
gonna do it for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I love it. I love it well. And writing down
things that annoy you gets part of getting curious instead
of furious, right exactly. Maybe it's not as big as
I thought it Once I write it.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Down, and why does that annoy me so much? It's
like a little puzzle.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
It is a little puzzle. So ajay, what are you
looking forward to right now?
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I am looking for it. I feel very lucky that
I get to do what I do for a living.
And part of my overall thesis is that life that
we should all experiment with our lives. So and you
don't have to grow a beard and wear a robe
(25:47):
like I did for following the Bible. But it could
be just small experiments. It could be trying a new toothpaste,
a new way to work, et cetera. So I am
always looking forward to the next experiment because I think
it keeps life interesting. It improves life. Sometimes painful because
not all the experiments work out, but it is a
(26:09):
way to keep your mind young and carve new paths
in your brain and make life interesting. So that's what
I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Excellent. Well, aj, where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
I am I have that sub stack I mentioned Experimental
Living with aj Jacobs, and I also have the Hello
Puzzlers podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and I'm on
the socials at aj Jacobs wherever you can find me.
But I love hearing from readers and listeners and people,
(26:49):
whether it's ideas or constructive critiques, whatever it is I do.
I think writing can be a lonely a lonely job,
so I love that people have these ways of reaching out.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Absolutely well, aj thank you so much for joining us,
and thank you to everyone for listening. If you have
feedback about this or any other episode. As Ajay mentioned,
it's nice to hear from people, so you can always
reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In
the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening
(27:33):
to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(27:56):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
episode will be a slightly longer one part of the
series where I interview fascinating people about how they take
their days from great to awesome and any advice they
(00:24):
have for the rest of us. So today, I am
delighted to welcome Aj Jacobs to Before Breakfast. AJ is
the author of several books such as the Year of
Living Constitutionally, The Year of Living Biblically, and The Puzzler.
He is the host of the podcast Hello Puzzlers. So Aj,
welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Thank you. I'm so thrilled to be here. I am
a fan and you have made my life better with
so many of your tips. So I'm hoping that I
can repay by giving some helpful feedback on your show.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
I am sure you will. Did you tell our listeners
a little bit about yourself?
Speaker 2 (01:02):
Sure? I am a writer. I mostly do nonfiction writing.
I've written several books where I try to take on
a weird, admittedly an odd lifestyle for a year and
then write about the lessons I've learned. So I spent
a year trying to live by all the rules of
the Bible that included the Ten Commandments, but also growing
(01:24):
a huge beard so people would cross the street to
avoid me. I tried to be the healthiest person alive.
I wrote a book about gratitude where I thank a
thousand people who had anything to do with my morning
cup of coffee, which is very relevant to this show,
and try to become as grateful as I could. So
(01:47):
those are the types of books and articles I write.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
And now you're doing a podcast about puzzles, so I
would love to hear about this.
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Why puzzles, Yes, I do. I love it. I do
a podcast called Hello Puzzlers and available everywhere, and it
is uh we give word put fun little word puzzles
to our guests and to each other. I have a
co host. And that came about because I wrote a
book about puzzles, mostly during COVID, which seemed like a
(02:20):
good time to write about puzzles. But I am a
huge fan of all types of puzzles, crossword puzzles, word find,
Jake Saws. I love Jake Saws. I'm not good at them,
but I love them and have I am convinced that
puzzles are not a waste of time. I know that
this this show is a lot about not wasting time,
(02:43):
using your time best you can. I believe puzzles are
a big part of that.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, tell us about that. I mean, what is it
about puzzles that. I mean, they're fun, they're fun, But
beyond just being fun, what are the benefits of that?
Speaker 2 (02:57):
Yeah, and I do puzzles every morning. I do the
New York Times Crossword, I do connections, I do a
few others. I listen to my own podcast sometimes if sometimes,
Well that makes me feel good.
Speaker 1 (03:15):
For the morning.
Speaker 2 (03:16):
But I think the benefits include h Well, one is
is you've probably heard that puzzles keep your brain sharp
and help with staving off cognitive decline, which I think
is true. It's not like I'm a cure all but
it does help a little. And it's not exclusively puzzles.
(03:38):
It's just about keeping your brain engaged. You could learn
a new language, you could, uh, you know, learn a
new hobby. So, but puzzles are one way to keep
your brain engaged. But I think there are other advantages
in addition. One is, for me, it really helps keep
(03:59):
my mind flex So puzzles train you to see the
world from all these different angles and looking for a solution.
So it's if you see a clue in the crossword
with the word trunk in it tr u n K,
you're thinking, okay, well that could be an elephant trunk,
it could be the trunk of a car, it could
be bathing suit trunks what my grandma called bathing suits
(04:22):
or trunks. And that flexibility of mind seeps out into
my whole worldview, so that when I'm confronted with a
problem at work or at home, I'm able to keep
my mind flexible and not lock in on what of
this has to be the answer. No, I'm able to
(04:42):
keep my brain fluid. And finally, and this I think
relates to a lot of your message. It really encourages
a mind what I call the puzzling mindset, which is
a mindset of deep curiosity and looking for solutions because
we are with the media, as you point out, is
(05:04):
so problem oriented and it's just your your hit with
this relentless stream of negative news without solutions being presented.
I love it when you can look for solutions. There's
a great quote I like by Quincy Jones, the late
(05:24):
music producer, and he's his philosophy of life. He said,
I don't have problems. I have puzzles, and it's just
that simple reframe of being like, I can solve this.
I'm going to roll up my sleeves. It's a challenge,
but it's not a crisis. I'm not going to curl
up in the corner in a fetal position. I'm going
to try to make this happen and get to the solution.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
I love it. And I was listening to you know,
Hello Puzzlers the other day and you had I was
noticing what my brain was doing as I was going
through one of your puzzles, and just to if anyone
wants to try it here, it was that there's a
South American country that if you rearrange the letters of
the capitol will give you the name of another country.
(06:09):
And of course when you hear that, so then I'm
like going through my list of you know, South American countries,
which I probably haven't thought about that much. But of
course that has to pull back from somewhere at the
back of my brain that I had to fill out
that geography thing in tenth grade, and so I'm going
back through it, like, Okay, where is the capital. Where's
the capital? Does anything have a short capital, because that's
probably what it's going to be. Rearrange that. And then
(06:31):
of course, you know, I'm thinking like, oh, well, you
know i've been to all right, I'll tell you guys.
The answer Peru where Lima is of course Mallei with
the country in Africa. And so I was like, ah,
I got it, I got it. I'm very excited. But
it was like that little you know, that hunting through
your brain and then that moment of excitement. I think
that's what's really what that's what it does, right.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Oh yeah, And I like to call that, or people
in the puzzle business called that the Aha moment. You
had an Aha moment, and that's what you're looking for,
and we as humans are wired for that aha moment.
And and I think that's you can you can make
that not just about puzzles, but about life, you know,
looking for the Aha moments in life. But I also
(07:13):
love what you did with the strategy because I think
that is very important too. When you're presented with a
puzzle or problem, what is the best way to solve this?
And you were like, well, I think it's going to
be a short word and that was a key insight
that will help a lot. So taking a step back
whenever you're presented with a puzzle or problem, what is
(07:35):
the best way to solve that? Instead of diving right
in and trying to solve it, step back and say
what strategies should I use?
Speaker 1 (07:43):
Yeah, and I hear that you may have a puzzle
for us. I do.
Speaker 2 (07:48):
Okay, I wrote it this morning, hear it. It's not
it's not all that elaborate, but it is. It is
breakfast themed. So I thought that.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
People haven't had their coffee yet. But we don't need
a lot.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Of frids exactly. Well, I just noticed that there are
a lot of fun phrases in the English language that
include breakfast foods. All right, so I am going to
give you a hint a clue where I will paraphrase
one of these idioms that include breakfast food, and you
(08:23):
tell me what you think might be the phrase, and
I will give you the food if you want, I
will give it to you up front, but for instance,
and we'll start with an example.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
Okay, this is a.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Food, a breakfast food phrase that means to earn money,
So that is.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
Bring home, bring home the bacon, the bacon. Okay, is
going to go all right? All right, all right.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
This phrase means to risk everything on a single plan
or a single person.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So, oh, all your eggs in one back.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Look at that. You didn't even need a hint. Wow,
all right, all right. This phrase refers to the unpleasant
process behind creating a finished product.
Speaker 1 (09:14):
Oh, how we're making the sauce.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Oh, you are good, you are good. You know your
breakfast foods and.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I know my breakfast foods.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
How about if you, uh, if you've got to face
an unpleasant reality, you would encourage people to.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
Would we eat that frog? Are we going?
Speaker 2 (09:36):
That's interesting? Some people have frogs for breakfast.
Speaker 1 (09:39):
No, no, that's what we say. Okay, well, we like to
think about that one. We're gonna take it. We're going
to take an ad. Break listeners come up with it,
and then we'll be right back. Well, I am back
talking with A. J. Jacobs, who is the co host
(09:59):
of the Hello Puzzlers podcast, author of several books of
sort of experiential journalism Doing things for a year. So
he is giving me some brain teasers here on breakfast
related idioms. Okay, so repeat the one you did just
before the break.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Well, this one. And I should have mentioned because maybe
this was the it's the I'm including beverages as well
as okay, beverages, all right, so this is to face.
If you're encouraging someone to face an unpleasant reality, you
might tell them too. It's the most famous, at least
(10:35):
in America, breakfast, beverage, coffee. Yeah, and what do you
have to do in every morning? You have to before anything?
You open your eyes?
Speaker 1 (10:49):
You okay, you got me here.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Wake up and smell the coffee.
Speaker 1 (10:55):
Wake up and smell the coffee. Okay, gotcha? All right, Oh,
that's all right. We got last one.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Last one. Last one is uh, this is this is
a person who is very admired or celebrated in a
certain community or or small city. Uh. And it is
a I'll give you the food. Okay, it is toast.
(11:23):
So this is a phrase with toast blank blank blank,
someone who is very celebrated.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Oh, the toast of the town, most of the town.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Exactly. You got it too.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I have never thought of that many breakfast related idioms,
but it's true. It's true. I guess we're all we're
into our breakfast items totally.
Speaker 2 (11:44):
And who wouldn't be. It's it's a great meal.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
It is, it is, for sure. So AJ, how should
we I mean, are there particular puzzles you would recommend
that a newbie look into. If somebody's like, Okay, this
sounds good, I'd like to try doing a few puzzles.
Where should people go or what should they try if
they're new to this.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Oh, that's a good question. And I do think that
there are puzzles for everyone. So some people like logic puzzles,
some like number puzzles, some like word puzzles, like me. Also,
the scientists do say that the more you can vary
the types of puzzles, the better it is for keeping
your brain active. So I can just tell you some
(12:26):
of my favorites. I do the spelling Bee in the
New York Times, which is a good starter puzzle because
it's basically jumble. It's like, you know, finding words, the
word search and anagrams. I do the crossword in the
New York Times, which is tough. The Monday is the easiest,
but even the Monday is tough. It took me like
(12:47):
five years to get where I can finish all of
the puzzles. So it is a language that you have
to learn. There's a fun one on the Atlantic website
called racket City, which is free. I recommend that there's
one called parseword dot com, which was created by the
(13:08):
guy who created Wordle, named Josh Wardle. And of course
there's Hello Puzzlers. And we do try to have very
accessible puzzles because we know this is part of a
lot of people's morning routine. And yeah, you don't want
to frustrate them too much at the beginning of the day.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
Absolutely, absolutely, Yeah, I feel like the crossword puzzles. I
have not yet crossed that bridge to like the New
York Times crossroad puzzle. I mean maybe someday, but I
have not yet attained to that level.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
I'm sure you could. It's as I said, it's all
a language to learn.
Speaker 1 (13:41):
Yeah, yeah, no, I know somebody who does it with
like either the down or the across. Oh covered.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
That's a tough guy, yeah, a tough woman.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Exactly exactly. I wanted to pivot to your sort of
genre of experiential journalism, which you so like own that
category with all the books you've done in that. How
do you do like, how do you come up with
your topics for that? What makes you say that is
something I should try doing for a year.
Speaker 2 (14:11):
Well, I actually I am very passionate about idea generation,
and in fact, that is one of my part of
my morning routine is I actually spend ten minutes. I
have a remarkable tablet, you know those tablets, which I
like because I cut it off from the Internet, and
I just come up with ideas for ten minutes I
(14:33):
have Sometimes I have a magazine and I use that
as like a mental jungle gym. And one key is
that ninety eight percent of those ideas are crap. They
are just not good, but hopefully there's two percent that
are good. It's really a numbers game creativity. So I
am a huge fan of that, and I come up
(14:55):
with book ideas, article ideas, random ideas that I know
are not going anywhere, but just keep my brain fluid
and flexible. As far as books come, I try to
find books. First of all. I like to think of
the customer, the reader, you know, what would they be
interested in? What would I want my book to check
(15:17):
a couple of boxes. One I wanted to be able
to improve their life. I want I want to stay
married to my wife. So there are topics that.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
She said, you just won't go into.
Speaker 2 (15:29):
Yeah, and she is Yeah, So there's that. There's something
I wanted to be timely. I wanted to be broad
enough so that it can encompass a year's worth of adventures.
So my topics are usually big gratitude, the Bible, health,
so some of those are some of the considerations.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
And how do you project manage something like that? Like
they say, you know, you recently did the Constitutional year
as we're coming into the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary
here the Declaration of Independence, not the Constitution, but still
you know, related people are celebrating two hundred and fifty
years of America here, Like how did you project manage that?
Like you look at doing that and then you say,
(16:12):
I'm going to do this for a year. How do
you sketch out what you're going to do?
Speaker 2 (16:15):
That's a good quote. Well, first of all, I'm a
huge fan of outlining in terms of writing. I love that.
I also keep two different sets of notes to keep
be organized. So I have a note I have sort
of a journal where it's my personal experience, like you know,
(16:36):
what it was like to pretend to be a revolutionary
war soldier and fight in the fake battle of Trenton.
And then I have another part where it's all research
because I do like to research, read hundreds of books,
so that's one. I also for the Constitution book. I
(16:57):
think this is relevant. I decided to follow Ben Franklin's
morning routine, which is to wake up at five AM.
And I used to be a night owl, wake up
at nine or ten in the in the morning. But
I've switched. I've so I don't think it's you know,
(17:18):
it is possible to switch, at least for me, and
I love it. I wake up at five. The first thing,
by the way, Brent Franklin did, he said he had
a little reminder what good can you do today? Which
I love. That is just such a night and I
try to remind myself in many days and I don't
(17:38):
don't I don't know if I'm doing good. Is this
help in the world? Maybe maybe not, but it's a
good goal to shoot for.
Speaker 1 (17:46):
Yeah. Well, we love Ben Franklin around here. Always this
to Ben Franklin in the self help universe. But I
mean with with something like that, I mean part of
when you're writing about your experiences, I mean nonfictionate needs
to sort of have these epiphanies like these realizations of
something that happened, and yet when you're going into something
you can't really know for sure where the epiphany is
(18:08):
gonna happen. I'm curious how you think about structuring your
activities through a project like that in order to get
realizations that will make compelling anecdotes.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
I love that. That is a great question, and it
is hard because you have to I feel that it's
a balance between having a structure and being able to
improvise within that structure, and I think that's that's in
many endeavors. But yeah, I have a structure where I
know it's going to start and end at the year.
(18:40):
I know that. For instance, with the Gratitude Book, I
hoped at the end that I would become more grateful.
It would be a little disappointing if I didn't. And
then I came up with here are ten what they
call in movie set pieces. Here, I want to go
(19:01):
down to South America and visit the coffee farmer. I
want to meet with the guy who tastes the coffee
and says, oh, there's a hint of licorice and a
little bit of chocolate. And I'm always like you know,
it tastes like coffee to me, but I love that
you can taste all that other stuff. So having those
(19:25):
set pieces and at each one, I'm like, what did
I learn? What can I take away that I can
give the reader as a as a lesson. And for instance,
with the tasting one, it was a lot about savoring,
which is a big part of you know, holding onto
that moment for a little bit longer instead of just
letting everything flit by so rapidly like we often do.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Absolutely, well, We're going to take one more quick ad
break and I'll be back with more from AJ Jacobs. Well,
I am back talking with AJ. Jacobs is the author
of several books, including the Year of Living Constitutionally, The
Year of Living Biblically, and The Puzzler. He's the co
(20:12):
host of the podcast Hello Puzzlers. So Aj a few
you know a little earlier in the show, you mentioned
your morning routine has an element of idea generation that
you're sitting down come up with ideas. What else is
part of your morning routine?
Speaker 2 (20:25):
Well, I love my morning routine, and I mean it's weird.
As I've gotten older, I've i have become a morning person.
So idea generation. I have a list of I won't
call them affirmations because some of them are kind of depressing,
(20:46):
but they are reminders you know, you're only here for
a little on this world. Try to make the most
of it, or you know, get curious, not furious. That's
on the phrase I love, and I have a list
of like fifty of those. So I'll just look at
those during the morning for a couple of minutes to
(21:07):
ground myself. I have the brain storming. I do split
up my exercise throughout the day, so I do five
minutes on the treadmill in the morning, but then I'll
do I'll get back on four or five times and
(21:28):
do another five minutes. But I from my research, and
I'm not a doctor, I think it's a little more
healthy than bunching all of the exercise at once. So
those are just a few of the things I love
to do.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
I love that. Well, I'm going to next time I
want to get off the treadmill after five minutes, I'm
going to remember that excuse of first I have to
get back on at some point.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
That's the downside.
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Oh well, oh well, And I'm curious when you mentioned
earlier that ninety eight percent of the ideas are bad.
How do you know a bad idea from a good one?
Speaker 2 (22:02):
Oh, such a it's a great question. I have a
couple of tests that I do. One is I am
very free with telling people my ideas, and a lot
of people are who I tell are friends and they're
not going to say that absolutely sucks, but you can
kind of see it in their eyes. You can see
or if they ask follow up questions. So that's one test.
(22:24):
Another test is am I still thinking about this idea
in a couple of weeks and being like, oh, that
is an interesting idea. If I just forget it the
next day, maybe it's not worthwhile. And then just experimenting
starting to write and say, you know, is this flowing?
Is does this have legs? Because yeah, you can't always
(22:49):
decide in advance of a project. You might have to
start it and see if it takes off.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
Yep, test it out a little bit, just like a puzzle.
You have to work with it a bite, see what
you're pulling back from your brain and trying out and
looking at it in a different way. So aja I
always ask my guests what is something you have done
recently to take a day from great to awesome.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Well, I have another little habit ritual that I do
that I have found very helpful, and I wrote about it.
I wrote about it on my substack Experimental Living with
ad Jacobs if anyone wants to check it out.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
And it is.
Speaker 2 (23:28):
Just really keeping track of my moods when some both
good and bad. When I'm grateful for something, I write
it down on a little index card and I said, oh,
you know, I'm grateful that my dog wanted her belly rubbed,
you know, just little things and also things that annoy me.
This person didn't text back, you know. And I find
(23:53):
it good because it helps me savor the good emotions.
And also when I write down what I'm annoyed about,
more often than not it's something dumb and that I
look at it when I write it down, I'm like, oh,
I got to get over that. That is not a
good use of my mental energy. Now there are apps
(24:16):
you can get on the iPhone that do this mood tracking,
and they work for some people. I tried them. For me,
I actually like the physical index card because I have
it in front of me on my desk with a pencil,
and so it's almost It's very much a reminder like
when I have an emotion of gratitude or annoyance that
(24:38):
I should can write it down, and the iPhone is
not as helpful in that way. So that is something
that has really I wrote about it like six months ago.
I did it for like three months. Then I'm like,
you know, maybe I should take you know, maybe it's
served its purpose. And I found it was affecting my
(24:59):
day material I wasn't as happy, and I went back
to it, and now I am committed. I think I'm
gonna do it for the foreseeable future.
Speaker 1 (25:08):
I love it. I love it well. And writing down
things that annoy you gets part of getting curious instead
of furious, right exactly. Maybe it's not as big as
I thought it Once I write it.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Down, and why does that annoy me so much? It's
like a little puzzle.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
It is a little puzzle. So ajay, what are you
looking forward to right now?
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I am looking for it. I feel very lucky that
I get to do what I do for a living.
And part of my overall thesis is that life that
we should all experiment with our lives. So and you
don't have to grow a beard and wear a robe
(25:47):
like I did for following the Bible. But it could
be just small experiments. It could be trying a new toothpaste,
a new way to work, et cetera. So I am
always looking forward to the next experiment because I think
it keeps life interesting. It improves life. Sometimes painful because
not all the experiments work out, but it is a
(26:09):
way to keep your mind young and carve new paths
in your brain and make life interesting. So that's what
I'm looking forward to.
Speaker 1 (26:23):
Excellent. Well, aj, where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (26:26):
I am I have that sub stack I mentioned Experimental
Living with aj Jacobs, and I also have the Hello
Puzzlers podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and I'm on
the socials at aj Jacobs wherever you can find me.
But I love hearing from readers and listeners and people,
(26:49):
whether it's ideas or constructive critiques, whatever it is I do.
I think writing can be a lonely a lonely job,
so I love that people have these ways of reaching out.
Speaker 1 (27:05):
Absolutely well, aj thank you so much for joining us,
and thank you to everyone for listening. If you have
feedback about this or any other episode. As Ajay mentioned,
it's nice to hear from people, so you can always
reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In
the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening
(27:33):
to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(27:56):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Before Breakfast News
Host
Laura Vanderkam
Show Links
AboutPopular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
iHeartRadio 24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com