Everyday Better with Leah Smart
Everyday Better is your essential podcast for leveling up in personal development, life, and career success. Hosted by Leah Smart, an educator in self-improvement and positive psychology, this podcast offers transformative conversations with influential experts sharing real-life success stories, actionable insights, and research-backed tips. Elevate your mindset, gain clarity, and unlock your potential as you journey toward becoming 'Everyday Better.' Whether you're at a crossroads or simply seeking more daily clarity, every episode leaves you inspired, empowered, and ready for more. Find new episodes of Everyday Better, right here, every Tuesday.
Episodes
August 5, 2025 • 19 mins
As humans, we’re natural storytellers. The stories we tell shape how we see ourselves, others and the world around us. But not all of our stories are helpful — some keep us trapped in cycles of fear, blame or regret.
In this week’s episode, Leah shares a simple exercise from grief expert David Kessler to help you investigate how you tell your stories and rewrite the ones keeping you stuck. Using three examples from her own life, L...
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July 29, 2025 • 39 mins
When author and entrepreneur Nick Ortner first discovered tapping, he had no idea the impact it would have on his life. Nearly two decades later, he’s helped millions manage stress, anxiety, chronic pain and other physical and mental health challenges using the research-backed practice also known as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT).
This week, Nick joins Leah to break down the science behind tapping, how it targets the brain’s st...
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July 22, 2025 • 39 mins
Every single day, we’re confronted with more information than we could possibly verify. So how do we ever know we’re right? And what do we do when we find out we’re wrong?
This week on Everyday Better, professor Alex Edmans shares why you’re probably less open-minded than you think—and what you can do about it. As a researcher, Alex loves data. But after witnessing firsthand our tendency to cherry-pick the data we want to be true,...
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July 15, 2025 • 48 mins
Most of us avoid thinking about death until it hits close to home – but what if facing it head-on could actually help you live more peacefully and joyfully?
This week, Leah sits down with Julie McFadden, better known as Hospice Nurse Julie. After working as an ICU nurse for many years, Julie transitioned to hospice care, where she now helps patients and families navigate the end of life with honesty, compassion and even a little ...
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July 8, 2025 • 23 mins
Do you ever wish you had more time for what matters most to you?
Today, Leah shares a simple time management exercise designed to bring more clarity and joy to your schedule. Developed by researcher Cassie Holmes — a fan-favorite guest on the show — this technique, known as Time Crafting, helps you understand how you’re really spending your time and how to build your calendar around what energizes you.
Using her own schedule as a...
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July 1, 2025 • 40 mins
“Do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.” We’ve all heard it, maybe even lived by it. But what if turning your passion into a career is doing more harm than good?
In this episode, sociologist Erin Cech challenges our cultural obsession with finding fulfillment at work. Drawing from her book “The Trouble with Passion”, Erin explains how the “passion principle” can exacerbate societal inequalities as well as bu...
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June 24, 2025 • 42 mins
Morra Aarons-Mele, host of the podcast "The Anxious Achiever," long understood her challenges at work as byproducts of anxiety and depression. She had a hard time working for other people and often found herself saying the wrong thing in meetings. But a recent discovery changed everything: Morra learned she’s neurodivergent. That realization helped her reframe not only her struggles, but also her strengths, and paved the way toward...
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June 17, 2025 • 36 mins
Leah is back from maternity leave! In her first episode back, she and her producers talk about her birth story, the tools she used to manage anxiety during pregnancy and how she’s learning to let go of control and live in the moment.
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June 10, 2025 • 30 mins
After nearly a decade in remission, bestselling author, speaker and cancer survivor Suleika Jaouad learned that her leukemia had returned. Confronted with profound uncertainty about her future, she turned to journaling as both a creative practice and means of survival. And through writing, Suleika discovered a powerful shift in perspective: to live each day as if it were her first, not her last.
On this week’s episode of Everyday ...
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June 3, 2025 • 44 mins
For years, Dr. Russell Kennedy tried everything to treat his crippling anxiety – therapy, medication – nothing worked. It wasn’t until he stopped searching in his head and started looking to his body that everything changed. Today, Russell helps others heal by targeting what he calls “background alarm,” a residue of unresolved childhood trauma stored in the body.
On this week’s episode of Everyday Better, Leah sits down with Rus...
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May 27, 2025 • 32 mins
This week, Leah shares her story of living with and learning to manage her anxiety.
Additional Resources:
Anxiety and Depression Association of America
A Return to Love by Marianne Williamson
Anxiety Rx by Dr. Russell Kennedy
Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts by Dr. Martin Seif and Dr. Sally Winston
The Tapping Solution by Nick Ortner
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May 20, 2025 • 46 mins
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, Everyday Better is spotlighting some of the most common, yet least understood, mental health challenges.
This week, ABC News’ Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman joins Leah to share his personal journey with anxiety and panic attacks – struggles he hid for nearly two decades, even while reporting live on national television. But in 2020, after a career-altering on-air mistake, Matt...
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May 13, 2025 • 53 mins
In honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re exploring some of the most common, yet least understood, mental health challenges.
This week, Leah speaks with Dr. Anna Lembke, author of “Dopamine Nation: Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence.” Anna shares the science behind compulsive overconsumption and explains how the brain’s pleasure-pain balance can lead us into addictive loops — even when it comes to seemingly harmless b...
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May 6, 2025 • 46 mins
Here at Everyday Better, we’re always striving to improve our mental health. This May, in honor of Mental Health Awareness Month, we’re exploring some of the most common, yet least understood, mental health challenges.
This week, Leah’s joined by four-time Grammy nominated singer-songwriter and mental health advocate Jewel. Before she got famous, Jewel was a homeless teenager battling an addiction to shoplifting – who, despite h...
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April 29, 2025 • 31 mins
When it comes time to choose a career, we’re often told to follow our passions and optimize for things like title and salary. But rarely do we pause to consider the impact of our work and whether or not it actually matters. In a world where preventable tragedies occur every day, failing to consider the social impact of our careers is a missed opportunity – and perhaps a moral failing, too.
On this week’s episode of Everyday Bet...
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April 22, 2025 • 46 mins
After Jodi Wellman’s mother passed away at just 58-years-old, Jodi was left to clean out her apartment. Everywhere she looked, she found remnants of her mother’s unfulfilled dreams: business cards from enterprises that never took off, book manuscripts that were never submitted. The experience forced Jodi to realize that life is painfully short, and it’s up to us to make the most of it.
A speaker, author and executive coach, Jodi w...
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April 15, 2025 • 28 mins
In this special episode of Everyday Better, Leah walks through one of her favorite personal growth exercises: defining your core values. When you're facing a tough decision and unsure which path to take, a clearly defined set of values can equip you with the clarity and confidence you need to move forward.
After explaining her own approach to uncovering what truly matters, Leah revisits some powerful moments from a previous conve...
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April 8, 2025 • 47 mins
We often imagine mentorship as a formal relationship between an experienced professional and someone who’s just starting out. But sometimes the most valuable guidance doesn’t emerge from something structured, but from candid conversations with colleagues.
On this week’s episode of Everyday Better, we’re bringing you one of those conversations. Leah is joined by two of her LinkedIn colleagues, Jessi Hempel and Gianna Prudente, for ...
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April 1, 2025 • 42 mins
Thomas Curran is a Professor of Psychology at the London School of Economics and the author of The Perfection Trap: Embracing the Power of Good Enough. In it, he charts the recent rise in perfectionism among young people, exposes the paradoxical effects of perfectionism on everything from work performance to relationships and argues for a “good enough” approach to work that prioritizes sustainability over achievement.
On this week...
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March 25, 2025 • 38 mins
Judy Smith built a career handling some of the most high-profile scandals of our time. As the founder of crisis management firm Smith & Co., she’s advised many notable clients including Monica Lewinsky, Michael Vick and Wesley Snipes. But Judy is perhaps better known for what she inspired: ‘Scandal,’ the hit television series created by Shonda Rhymes.
On this week’s episode of Everyday Better, Judy joins Leah to discuss the core p...
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