The Next Big Idea Daily

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

Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems

January 23, 2026 • 34 mins
1️⃣ Both/And Thinking by Wendy Smith and Marianne Lewis 2️⃣ Black-and-White Thinking by Kevin Dutton Sponsored By: Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/daily
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We’re Teaching American History All Wrong

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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How Not to Die (According to an ER Doctor)

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. Sponsored By: Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/daily
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Life Changes You. The Question Is How.

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. Sponsored By: Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/daily
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Why the Five-Day Workweek No Longer Makes Sense

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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How to Solve Problems Before They Happen

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. Sponsored By: Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/daily
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Your Self-Discipline Isn’t the Problem

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. Sponsors: Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/daily
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What If Laughing More Made You Better at Everything?

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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The One Human Need That Explains (Almost) Everything

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. Sponsored By: Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/daily
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Six Simple Rules for a Long and Healthy Life

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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How to Navigate Your Career in Uncertain Times

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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The Impact of Alcohol on Our Bodies and Culture

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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Forget Self-Improvement. Try This Instead in 2026.

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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Why a Tough Childhood Might Help Some Kids Survive

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 📱 Follow The Next Big Idea Daily on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen 📩 Want more bite-sized insights from the best new nonfiction delivered straight to your inbox? Sign up for our Book of the Day newsletter
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New Year, Same Patterns? Here’s Why That’s OK.

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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A Spy's Guide to Parenting

January 2, 2026 • 35 mins
Emily Oster is a professor of economics at Brown University and the author of the 2021 book The Family Firm: A Data-Driven Guide to Better Decision Making in the Early School Years. She makes a fascinating case: well-run companies have a clear mission, they make decisions deliberately, and they have processes that keep things running smoothly. So why don't we apply that same intentionality to our family lives? Then we’ll hear from ...
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What Is Capitalism?

December 31, 2025 • 23 mins
Capitalism shapes everything about our lives — the way we work, the cities we live in, the goods we consume. But where did it come from, and where is it headed? Capitalism: A Global History by Sven Beckert The Problem of Twelve by John Coates Supported By: GoDaddy - Get a domain for pennies at godaddy.com/nbid  The Next Big Idea Club - Get 20% off a subscription when you use code DAILY at nextbigideaclub.com
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Are You Smarter Than a Plant?

December 30, 2025 • 29 mins
Max Telford is a leading evolutionary biologist who's spent his career tracing the deepest roots of life itself. His new book is called The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle, and he joins us today to share some of his big ideas in just a moment. In the second half of the show, we'll hear big ideas from the 2023 book Planta Sapiens, exploring the surprising intelligence hidden in the plants all around us. Sponsored By...
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The Heart of Entrepreneurship

December 29, 2025 • 34 mins
Melissa Bernstein, co-founder of the beloved toy company Melissa & Doug, has spent decades discovering what it means to build a business that's true to who you are. Her new book is called The Heart of Entrepreneurship: Crafting Your Authentic Recipe for Success, and she'll join us to share some of her big ideas in the first half of today's show. After that, we'll hear from Catalina Daniels and James Sherman. They went inside eighte...
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How to Navigate Life's Transitions

December 26, 2025 • 27 mins
First up, Ann Tashi shares key insights from her book Traveling in Bardo: The Art of Living in an Impermanent World. And later in the show, we'll hear from Rachel Macy Stafford, New York Times bestselling author of 2023’s Soul Shift, who'll show us how small, incremental changes can help us rediscover what truly brings us joy. Support Us by Supporting Our Sponsors: GoDaddy - Get a domain for pennies at godaddy.com/nbid
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