Shit You Don't Learn in School

In Part 3 of our East Africa series, Steph and Cal walk through how they'd plan a trip to East Africa after spending 26 days across Kenya, Tanzania, and Rwanda. We cover when to go, how to think about safari (luxury, budget, or somewhere in between), gorilla trekking logistics in Rwanda, which non-safari stops were worth it (and which weren't), and practical tips on visas, packing, and money. If a trip to Africa feels off-limits or...

After two weeks on safari in Kenya and Tanzania, Steph and Cal spent a week in Rwanda — a last-minute addition that ended up being their favorite leg of the trip. In Part 2 of our East Africa series, we cover the history and lasting impact of the Rwandan genocide, what Rwanda is like today, and a special experience visiting gorillas in Volcanoes National Park.

Resources:

• Gorilla Families in Volcanoes National Park
• Machete Se...

Last summer, Steph and Cal spent 26 days traveling through East Africa, including a safari through the Maasai Mara, Serengeti, and Rubondo Island. In Part 1 of this three-part series on Africa, we cover what life on safari is actually like — from watching a fresh lion kill and getting mock-charged by an elephant to walking on foot through the bush and visiting a remote fishing village where most locals had never left the isla...

Steph and Cal spent 8 days on a boat in the Galapagos Islands with 14 strangers, a local guide, and exotic animals that barely noticed their presence. In this episode, we cover what boat life is actually like, the wildlife moments that blew our minds, a wild experience with scopolamine, and why the Galapagos Islands might be the best place on Earth to see nature as it was before humans took over.

Resources:

• Recommended boat

D...

A year ago, Steph ran her first half marathon and crushed it. Five months later, she ran her first full marathon and spent seven miles puking her way to the finish line. In this episode, we cover what went wrong the first time, how she retrained, and whether she hit her goal on her second attempt — a birthday marathon in Sacramento, complete with custom rap jingles and live race-day updates.

Resources:

• Runna

Disclaimer:...

Steph and Cal are back to take stock of a wild 2025 — the wins, the bad experiments, the money mistakes, the obsessions that stuck, and the questions that refused to go away. From health and work to travel, marriage, and what comes next, this episode is a reset and a preview of the season ahead.

Resources:

• Surferdiary.com 🌊
• Build your own apps course

Quick note: This episode was recorded in December 2025. Much has chang...

Technology has enabled more people than ever to support their lives via online side projects. Steph is one of the people who understands this world well, having created multiple six-figure projects over the last few years.

In this episode, Cal interviews Steph about her perspective on bringing an idea to life, managing your psychology, maintaining a reputation, how to price projects, and doing all of this while working a full-time j...

You probably spend more time at home than anywhere else. And how you feel about that time is heavily influenced by the design and functionality of your space.

But how do you create a space that you truly enjoy? Unless you're an interior designer or have the resources to hire one, you may not know where to start and default to keeping things the way they are. That's okay, but what if you could make a few simple, affordable ch...

You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t say their health is paramount, yet you'll be just as hard-pressed to find someone who knows what to do to "get there". While every person’s health journey is going to be unique, in this episode Cal and Steph share their experimentation across many of the major categories – from sleep to supplements and beyond. 

Of course, this podcast is for information ...

Everybody warns you that your body slows down with age, but that deterioration so sneaky, we continue to convince ourselves that we’re doing just fine.

At least, that’s what happened to Steph over the past decade, going from an athlete in her youth to waking up one day without the fitness she once remembered. This episode is a walk through that story, but more importantly, how she got back on track and just ran her first...

In part 2 of our series in Japan, we dive into the how behind planning a trip there, from what is worth seeing, how to navigate the epic train system, their unintuitive review system, and more.

After traveling to 40+ countries each, we’ve found Japan to be a unique beast, and hope this helps you navigate one of the best countries in the world.

If you missed part 1, start there!

Resources discussed:

• Ful...

We’re back with a whole new season. In our first episode back, we discuss everything from the wonderful to the wacky of Japan.

You'll hear about an epic art island, specialty coffee and konbini (AKA convenience store food), 100+ year-old businesses, the philosophical ideas that make Japan such a distinct place, and much more.

In our next episode, we get tactical and break down exactly how we would plan a future ...

This is the 10th episode back for SYDLIS, so if you want us to continue creating new episodes for the podcast, let us know by leaving a review at ratethispodcast.com/learn. 

In this episode, Steph and Cal bring a medley of half-baked business ideas to the table. They introduce the origin story of each idea, rate it on a scale of A-F, discuss modifications that would make it better, and most importantly, roast each other...

There is something out there that can make one person more productive and kind, while another inharmonious -- even resentful. That thing is identity.

And while we passively adopt parts of identity, we often forget that much of our identity is left up to us. In this episode, Cal and Steph explore the depths of identity and how being intentional around what parts of your identity you adopt, shed, or embrace can lead to a more ...

The internet has a treasure trove of information that you can use to generate business ideas, spot trends, and understand what the future will look like before everyone else. But to benefit from the internet's wealth of knowledge, you need to learn how to use it in the right ways.

In this episode, Cal and Steph discuss four unconventional ways that you can use the internet to find good ideas for businesses and products that ...

Writing is one of the most powerful tools on Earth. But few have mastered the craft.

Perhaps because success in writing often actually veers you off course, leading you to a life of talking instead of living -- the very thing that drove the quality of your writing in the first place.

One man  -- (who has written several novels, thousands of poems, and hundreds of short stories) has some merciless takes on the art...

Few waves have hit the world quite like remote work; a wave impacting billions of people overnight due to a worldwide pandemic.

But in reality, this wave was brewing for decades and thousands of nomads had long been proving there was a different and viable way to work. Calvin and Steph were two of those people, starting in 2016.

Now that the world has caught up, they decided to reflect back on what was so special abou...

Few people inspire us more than Yayoi Kusama.

Cal recently discovered this 94-year old's work while at the Guggenheim in Bilbao. Like many others, he was immediately gripped by her art – enough to be the only artist he looked up after his visit. Little did he know she was one of the world's most successful living artists, had been creating thousands of pieces across nearly a century, and has quite the storied past.
...

Many people waddle through life without asking themselves a simple, but important question: What do I want? 

In this episode, Steph and Cal discuss how to figure out what you want and avoid some common traps that take you down unhelpful detours.

The episode is based on two of Cal's recent articles, which you can read here:

• What Do You Want?
• Calvinball: The Only Game Worth Playing

This episode is not affilia...