Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement

Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement

Most self-help advice is guesswork dressed up as wisdom. We dig into psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral science to find what actually changes lives. WHY LISTEN? Over 8 million downloads because we answer the questions that matter: How do I build mental strength? What creates lasting motivation? How can I understand my own mind well enough to work with it, not against it? This podcast is for curious skeptics who want frameworks backed by psychology studies, not Instagram quotes. Whether you're navigating procrastination, building self-discipline, or designing your own philosophy for a life well lived—we explore the hidden psychology behind real change. WHAT YOU'LL GET Mental models and simple techniques from cognitive psychology, positive psychology, and ancient wisdom traditions like Stoicism and Buddhism. Being a human can be confusing, learning about it doesn’t have to be. We cover everything from emotional intelligence and habit formation to brain health and the nervous system. WHAT YOU DON’T GET No pseudoscience. No oversimplified "hacks." No hustle porn. Just practical insights on mindset improvement, self-development, and human psychology that respect your intelligence and mental health. THE APPROACH Instead of telling you what to think, we explore how thinking works. Armed with psychology studies, social science research, and relentless curiosity, we uncover the mechanics of belief change, attitude change, and personal development. Success is personal. You might want to leverage your neurodiverse strengths, build a business, or simply discover how to be happier. We provide the mental frameworks to pursue your definition of success with mental strength and self-care that fits your life. YOUR HOST I'm Sam Webster Harris—a lifelong learner with ADHD and an obsession with finding answers to hard questions. After launching businesses, traveling the world, and nearly dying a few times, I concluded that psychology and science are where real wisdom lives. This show is my excuse to dive deep into health and fitness research, behavioral psychology, and cool science while helping you build genuine self-discipline and motivation. PREMIUM Go ad-free and access exclusive content, AMAs, and our community Discord. Growth Mindset Premium PAST SERIES Previous guests include Olympians, Scientists, Billionaires, and Sam's Mum. Past series: — Psychology vs Stoicism — Time Management for Busy Mortals — Independence and Knowing Yourself — Cognitive Biases and Rational Thinking — Psychology of Connection and Relationships — Carol Dweck and the Multiverse of Mindsets — Addiction and Behaviour Change — Nervous System Mastery and Polyvagal Theory — Mental Strength and Self-Discipline

Episodes

December 18, 2025 42 mins
How to nurture the best in people with consistency and be remembered for what matters. This is going to be a different episode about a cake my nan used to make. But isn't just a story about cake. It's about the difference between control and nurture. My school thought resilience came from forcing kids to clear their plates (even if they ended up vomitting). They were wrong. My Nan knew that real strength comes from consistency. Sh...
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A boat is safe in the harbor. But that is not what boats are built for. We tend to view our lives as a single, continuous narrative. But in reality, we are a series of temporary selves, each with a distinct beginning and end. The teenager who dreams of adventure is not the same as the retiree who seeks comfort. When we defer our dreams, we aren't saving them for later; we are denying them to the person we are right now. This epis...
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How to master cognitive flexibility by understanding the biases that keep you stuck. In WWI, generals sent horses against machine guns. Cognitive Rigidity mean they couldn't reimagine the battlefield. In this episode, I break down the five mental traps keeping you stuck. We look at why you value your own bad ideas more than good ones (The Endowment Effect) and why you can’t stop scrolling TikTok instead of working (Hyperbolic Dis...
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How the mind blinds us to reality by showing us what we want to believe. We don't see with our eyes; we see with our stories. In 1951, psychologists proved that fans from opposing teams physically saw different fouls during the same game. This is the power and danger of perception. It is the tension between what is real and what we believe is possible. When a doctor gives a patient a placebo, the patient heals not because of med...
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How to make smarter decisions that improve your life by understanding your mind and it's hidden psychology. We are all storytelling creatures, desperate to fit the world into a narrative that makes sense to us. Thus, we build echo chambers not because we are stupid, but because we are afraid. The Confirmation Bias is a shield against the discomfort of being wrong. The Availability Bias shapes our worldview based on the loudest st...
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Think you konw what you're doing with you money on your mind? Think again. You walk into a cinema and buy the $12 large popcorn because the medium is $10. You think you got a deal, but you actually just fell for the "Decoy Effect."Your brain is wired to latch onto the first number it sees. In this episode, I break down the psychological pricing traps that businesses use to hack your wallet. We also cover why Sir Isaac Newto...
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Ever caught yourself defending a dumb idea just to look smart? That's your ego controlling your brain. Cognitive biases and ego team up to screw your decisions daily. Picture this: confirmation bias has you cherry-picking facts that stroke your self-image, while ego whispers you're too smart for mistakes. Spot the traps like Dunning-Kruger (overestimating skill) or sunk cost fallacy (throwing good money after bad). Takehomes: ...
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You think you're rational? Think again. We love feeling like thoughtful decision-makers, but the truth is we're riddled with cognitive shortcuts. Daniel Kahneman's Nobel Prize-winning work breaks down the systems of our mind. We constantly substitute hard questions with easy ones; e.g. Buying a stock because you like the company, not because you've done the data. This episode cuts through the 300,000-word book to show you exactly...
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We can try all the things: new habits, different mindsets, therapy, medication, or god save us... self-help books. Yet to no ones surprise: we don't wake up a different person, we don't start doing all the things we keep saying we will eventually do, we don't even lose weight... What is the deal? Are we broken? Is there a way to fix ourselves? It all comes down to a single question. Who are you VS. Who do you want to be? Th...
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Inner Peace vs Retail Rage - How do shops design our experience to remove our decisions and make us to FOMO into all sorts of weird situations? This episode peels back the slick banners and countdown timers to show the tiny psychological tricks that turn shoppers into hunters. Scarcity, anchoring, and anticipation aren’t marketing buzzwords — they’re brain hacks. Retailers riff off ancient instincts: spot a rare fruit, grab it....
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Most problems in the world aren't random accidents, they're built into the systems we live in. When we look closer we find systems all around us drive the currents that change the world. Systems Thinking is a key idea in science, politics and business, but it knows no boundaries as systems show up everywhere. In every era of humanity we created new systems in politics, law, technology and economics to deal with the problems ...
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What if “enough” wasn’t a number — but a moment? This conversation explores the quiet art of leaving nothing essential undone. We talk about the trap of “more” — more savings, more time, more planning — and how it steals the urgency that makes life vivid. To die with zero regrets isn’t to die empty; it’s to die complete. Like an artist who finishes a painting not because it’s perfect, but because it says what it needed to say. We...
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99% of podcasters quit before episode 20. Why do 1% keep going... and what does it teach us about ourselves? Paul Davies interviews Sam on the psychology of motivation, self-determination, signalling theory and more as we break down the psychology of what makes people podcast. Besides analysing what's driving the trend to start a podcast we also learn about why humans do anything and how to make your own decisions for the right r...
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What if the life you're living is just a metaphor for the life you're meant to live? Pressfield kept his typewriter buried under spare parts in his truck. He knew it was there. Thought about it constantly. But he was too terrified to dig it out and write. So he drove. For years. Shadow callings aren't about laziness—they're about proximity without risk. We fall into fixed mindset thinking this is all we can do. We become Englis...
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What if winning isn't a destination? What if it's the quiet act of becoming slightly better than you were when the sun rose this morning? Frank Dick spent five decades asking "How do we help people see their own progress?" As British Athletics' legendary Director of Coaching, he discovered something profound. We're wired to notice missing buttons but blind to the ones that are there. His Four Rs framework (Reason, Reality, Reflec...
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Ever notice how the people who never mess up also never win big? Frank Dick, the legendary British Olympic coach who led Team GB through its golden era, calls this "the risk of winning." For over 50 years, Frank coached Olympic champions like Daley Thompson and Sebastian Coe. His growth mindset framework reveals a counterintuitive truth about mental strength: failure isn't falling off your bike—it's refusing to get back on. This e...
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Ever said "you just need the right mindset" without knowing what that actually means? You're not alone. Most people use mindset like a magic word—vague, fluffy, and completely useless. This episode breaks down what mindset really is through psychology, not wellness guru nonsense. You'll learn the difference between growth mindset (seeing failure as learning) and fixed mindset (believing ability is static), why abundance mindset be...
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Panic less, enjoy more - treat time well and it will treat you well. Humans have a difficult relationship with time. Sometimes just a birthday can lead to spiralling mental health. Yet time is the medium of existence that gives us all the experiences that make life so great. Of course, time also ages us and ultimately robs us of everything we ever have and ever loved. With the right mindset we can enjoy it and use it wisely. ...
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Build a mindset that doesn't care what other people think, because you know what actually matters to you. In this episode we examine insightful ways to take control of your life and define where it's going. We steal some of the best questions and ideas from existential psychology that you can try applying to your own life. What is a life worth living? Healthy vs toxic aspirations? How to abandon what doesn't serve you? ...
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Rethinking the problem and our mindset from scratch when it comes to this whole life thing. What if the problem isn't your schedule—it's your metaphor? We've inherited a story about work and life as opposing forces, locked in eternal combat for our limited hours. This story feels true because everyone tells it. But stories shape reality. Consider this: your life contains multitudes. Work, yes. But also relationships, creativity,...
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