The Next Big Idea Daily
What if engaging with great ideas could become one of your daily habits? What if some of the best tips for living better and working smarter were served up with your morning coffee, a hit of motivation guaranteed to start your day right? That’s the idea behind The Next Big Idea Daily. We work with hundreds of non-fiction authors — experts in productivity, creativity, leadership, communication, and other fields. They distill their big ideas into bite-sized chunks, and we offer you one each morning.
Episodes
January 30, 2026 • 31 mins
Think bookstores are an anachronism? Think again. Evan Friss, author of The Bookshop, says they remain a cornerstone of American cultural life and are just as vibrant as ever. And later in the show, David Damrosch, a comparative literature professor at Harvard, takes us on a journey through 80 books from around the world—and shows us why we're lost without our storytellers.
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January 29, 2026 • 31 mins
Shadé Zahrai is a peak performance educator who has spent a decade training leaders at Microsoft, Deloitte, and JPMorgan. She argues that self-doubt plagues even the smartest people, and she offers a way out. Her new book is called Big Trust: Rewire Self-Doubt, Find Your Confidence, and Fuel Success. And later in the show, we hear from Kelli Thompson, author of the 2022 book Closing the Confidence Gap, on how your insecurities can ...
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January 28, 2026 • 28 mins
Today, Jennifer Wallace shares a blueprint for living a meaningful life and creating a world we so urgently need. Her new book is Mattering. And later in the show, you'll hear from Zach Mercurio.
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January 27, 2026 • 32 mins
Kate Murphy explores how and why our bodies, brains, and emotions fall into rhythm with others.
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January 26, 2026 • 27 mins
Brad Stulberg is a bestselling author and performance coach whose new book, The Way of Excellence, offers a practical guide to achieving mastery in whatever personal or professional domains you care to focus on. And later in the show, we hear from Karen Doll.
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January 23, 2026 • 34 mins
1️⃣ Both/And Thinking by Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis
2️⃣ Black-and-White Thinking by Kevin Dutton
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January 22, 2026 • 29 mins
James Traub is a journalist and educator who spent a year visiting public schools across the country to understand what’s going wrong and what’s going right. His new book is The Cradle of Citizenship: How Schools Can Help Save Our Democracy. And in the second half of the show, you'll hear from Alexandra Robbins, whose book The Teachers goes behind the scenes of America's most vulnerable profession to show why supporting educators i...
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January 21, 2026 • 19 mins
Ashely Alker MD is an emergency medicine doctor and medical consultant who has seen it all — from freak accidents to horror-movie-worthy diseases. Her new book is 99 Ways to Die: And How to Avoid Them, and she joins us below with her potentially life-saving tips.
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January 20, 2026 • 28 mins
First up, Maya Shankar (The Other Side of Change) on uncertainty, resilience, and becoming someone new on the other side of disruption. Then John Kaag shares five key insights from Robert Richardson's 2023 book Three Roads Back.
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January 19, 2026 • 32 mins
Chances are, you work five days a week. Monday through Friday. And you probably don’t think much about it, because that’s just how work works, right? But who decided that five days was the right number in the first place? As it turns out, the modern workweek wasn’t thoughtfully designed for focus, creativity, or even productivity. It was inherited from the Industrial Age, built for factory floors and time clocks, not knowledge work...
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January 16, 2026 • 34 mins
First, Dan Heath reveals how the most effective leaders don't just solve problems — they prevent them from happening in the first place. Then Thomas Wedell-Wedellsborg shares research that shows reframing problems is the real key to breakthrough solutions.
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January 15, 2026 • 34 mins
Productivity expert Chris Bailey explains why follow-through fails — and how aligning your values, intentions, and friction levels makes action feel natural. And later in the show, we hear from Becky Blades, author of Start More Than You Can Finish.
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January 14, 2026 • 27 mins
Most of us think of humor as something that happens at comedy clubs or in group texts with friends. But what if laughter could actually make you better at your job, more creative, and more connected to the people around you? Chris Duffy is a comedian, TV writer, and host of TED’s award-winning How to Be a Better Human podcast. In the first half of today's show, he shares five big ideas from his new book Humor Me: How Laughing More ...
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January 13, 2026 • 35 mins
First up, Philosopher and novelist Rebecca Newberger Goldstein argues that the mattering instinct is the hidden engine behind nearly everything we do. Then we hear from rabbi Sharon Brous, author of the 2022 book The Amen Effect.
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January 12, 2026 • 27 mins
First up, Ezekiel ("Zeke") Emanuel, one of America's leading physicians, makes the case that enjoying life — cheesecake included — might be the healthiest choice of all. His new book is Eat Your Ice Cream: Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life. He's here to make the case that enjoying life, cheesecake included, might be the healthiest choice of all. Then, in the second half of the show, journalist Cole Kazdin shares some big...
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January 9, 2026 • 24 mins
Whether you're plotting a job change or just trying to survive another uncertain year at work, the truth is most of us spend 90,000 hours of our lives working. That's too much time to spend feeling stuck, stressed, or unfulfilled.
Journalists Lisa Leong and Monique Ross are here to help. Their 2023 book This Working Life: How to Navigate Your Career in Uncertain Times is packed with practical wisdom for building a career that act...
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January 8, 2026 • 31 mins
Some of us may have overindulged during the holidays, and some of us may be trying a Dry January — or at least rethinking our relationship with booze. This is the time of year when we might notice how much alcohol has woven itself into our social lives, our stress management, our celebrations. Charles Knowles is a Professor of Surgery at Queen Mary University of London and Chief Academic Officer at the Cleveland Clinic London, and ...
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January 7, 2026 • 25 mins
Maybe you’ve already set some resolutions for 2026 — exercise more, eat better, be more patient. But here’s the problem: We make these promises to improve ourselves as if our selves are solid, fixed entities that just need a little tweaking. But there might be a wiser approach. J. Eric Oliver is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, and his new book is called How To Know Your Self: The Art & Science of Disc...
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January 6, 2026 • 23 mins
An evolutionary perspective reveals how early adversity can sometimes accelerate development.
The Nature of Nurture by Jay Belsky
The Social Genome by Dalton Conley
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January 5, 2026 • 25 mins
Now that we’re in early January, a lot of us are thinking about what we want to change this year. But here’s the thing — we often focus on adding new habits when the real question might be, Why do we keep repeating the old ones?
Why Do I Keep Doing This? by Kati Morton
Look Again: The Power of Noticing What Was Always There by Tali Sharot and Cass Sunstein
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