Office Hours with Arthur Brooks

Today’s topic: love. Forget Valentine’s Day—where romance only happens once a year. Try my new book, The Meaning of Your Life, out March 31, where I describe how to make love lifelong.

Many people today feel discouraged about love. Fewer people are getting married, fewer are falling in love, and more are opting out of romance altogether. This isn’t just a personal problem—it’s a cultural one.

In this episode of Office Hours, I explor...

If you’ve been feeling empty or lonely and are looking for immediate solutions, I hope today’s episode helps—and if you want to go deeper, you can order my new book, The Meaning of Your Life, out March 31.

Today’s topic: the loneliness epidemic. We know more people than ever before, but do we actually know them? In a world of constant connection, many people still feel unseen, unknown, and disconnected from those around them.

In this...

I’ve hinted at this before, but in my new book, The Meaning of Your Life, I explore where meaning actually comes from—one place, for example, is by serving others with our time and treasure. However, you certainly won’t find it in the worldly idols we so often chase. This all brings us to today’s topic—money.

Most people assume that having more money will make them happier. The research suggests something more subtle. What matters i...

Most advice about anxiety is wrong.

“Don’t think about it.” “Let it go.” “Stop worrying.”

In this clip, I explain why that advice actually makes anxiety worse, and I teach a practical technique that does the opposite: the Anxiety Journal.

You’ll learn how to take vague, haunting anxiety and turn it into clear, structured fear by writing down your worst-case scenario, best-case scenario, and most-likely scenario, then assig...

If you wake up feeling uneasy or heavy before the day even starts, you’re not alone. Morning anxiety is incredibly common, and it has a biological explanation.

About 30 to 45 minutes after waking, your brain releases a natural spike of cortisol, the stress hormone designed to help you get moving. For those of us who feel emotions intensely, that surge can make mornings feel turbulent. I know this feeling well, and over the years...

Most of us know that we should set goals, but there is a lot of confusion about why they matter and how to choose them well.

In this episode of Office Hours, I reflect on the difference between meaning and purpose, and on how the goals we pursue quietly shape the direction of our lives. I talk about why some goals leave us feeling empty even when we achieve them, and what it means to aim our lives toward something that truly matters...

Most people don’t get hurt in relationships because they’re weak. They get hurt because they’re kind, trusting, and fall too quickly for the wrong kind of person.In this clip, I explain the Dark Triad personality traits: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy, and why they’re so destructive in romantic relationships.If you’ve ever wondered why you ignored the red flags, or how to spot them next time, this is for you.If you&#...

Most people think emotions happen to them. In reality, emotions are signals—and you can learn to manage them.

In this clip, I break down how emotions move from the limbic system, where they’re generated, to the prefrontal cortex, where you can interpret, direct, and act on them wisely. This is the difference between being controlled by your emotions and learning to control them. You’ll learn why “counting to ten” actually works (and...

Why do we care so much about what other people think of us?

In this episode of Office Hours, I explain the science behind why concern about others’ opinions is so powerful in the first place. I talk about the two reasons we are wired to care what people think, how our brains treat social judgment as a real threat, and why this fear can quietly shape our choices, our behavior, and even our sense of self.

Once we understand what is hap...

In this episode of Office Hours, I sit down with my friend Hoda Kotb and talk about how we meet change when it shows up uninvited. Hoda has lived through transitions that resist simple narratives. Early rejection in her career. Public reinvention. Serious illness. Grief. Becoming a parent later in life. Each chapter forced a decision about how to move forward when there were no clear answers.

Hoda is known to millions as the longtim...

Every New Year, we set ambitious goals. Unfortunately, most of our resolutions fade faster than we would like to admit.

In this episode of Office Hours, I explain why New Year’s resolutions so often fail. This isn’t a question of discipline per se. Instead, our failure occurs because of the way we frame our goals (and how we sometimes set the wrong goals in the first place). I explain how these forces leave us feeling discouraged an...

Does Christmas never live up to the version you remember from childhood? Or does it bring up painful memories that keep you stuck in the past? Or maybe you’re like I once was, feeling more like a curmudgeon than a bundle of holiday cheer.

In this episode of Office Hours, I explain why the holidays so often surface disappointment, sadness, and annoyance, and what research on memory reveals about why this happens. I share ways to refr...

Satisfaction is one of the three macronutrients of happiness, yet it has a way of slipping through our fingers. We reach a long-awaited goal, feel a brief lift, and then find ourselves wanting something more. 

In this episode of Office Hours, I explore why this happens and how our ancient impulses keep pulling us back toward craving and comparison. I talk about the tendencies that erode our sense of fulfillment and why relying on ac...

Everyone wants to be happier—but too often we go chasing things that make us miserable instead.

In this episode of Office Hours, I break down the three big elements—what I call “macronutrients”—that you must have to live a happy life: enjoyment, satisfaction, and meaning. I offer practical ways to strengthen each macronutrient in your own life and revisit the concept of emotional profiles. I help you think about your unique experien...

Creativity might not make you happier, but it can make you less unhappy. We know this from research.

When people recall moments of creativity, their symptoms of anxiety and depression decrease, and well-being improves. Brain scans show that creative work activates the same regions of the brain as meditation, which helps to relieve the burdens of life. 

Millions of people now use creative practices simply to feel steadier in a chaotic...

The benefits of gratitude aren’t exactly a secret, but many of us still think of it as some kind of fixed personality trait. Some people seem to be born grateful, while the rest of us feel like we’re the ones who automatically notice what’s wrong. It’s true that we all have different affect profiles, but gratitude works the same way happiness does. It’s a skill you can train, and it becomes more powerful the more you practice it.

In...

Want to make your own evening protocol? Download Arthur’s guide to help you get started: https://www.arthurbrooks.com/evening-protocols. 

Most of us know how important it is to start the day well, but ending it well is what sets up your morning for success. A few weeks ago, I shared my 6-step morning protocol for managing mood and maximizing creativity. This week, I share its companion: my evening protocol.

In this episode, I walk th...

Our phones make life easier in countless ways. They connect us, inform us, and keep our lives running. But they also creep into every quiet moment, stealing our focus and dulling the satisfaction we find in real experiences.

In this episode of Office Hours, I talk about how our phones tap into the brain’s reward system and what we can do to reclaim control. I am not suggesting that you give up your devices entirely, since that is li...

Many people think Stoicism is about suppressing emotions or accepting suffering with a stiff upper lip. But it’s really about learning to live well, to find peace, courage, and happiness in a chaotic world.

In this episode of Office Hours, I sit down with my friend Ryan Holiday, bestselling author and modern Stoic who has written several books about Stoicism, including his latest, Wisdom Takes Work. Together, we explore how ancient ...