How to Be a Better Human
By TED
<p>How To Be A Better Human isn’t your average self improvement podcast. Each week join <a href="https://chrisduffycomedy.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chris Duffy</a> in conversation with guests and past speakers as they uncover sharp insights and give clear takeaways on how YOU can be a better human. From your work to your home and your head to your heart, How To Be a Better Human looks in unexpected places for new ways to improve and show up for one another. Inspired by the popular series of the same name on TED’s Ideas blog, How to Be a Better Human will help you become a better person from the comfort of your own headphones.</p><br /><p>Follow Chris on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/chrisiduffy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Instagram</a> and <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@chrisiduffy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TikTok</a> at @chrisiduffy. Buy his book <a href="https://t.ted.com/ZGuYfcL" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Humor Me</a>.</p><br /><p><strong>Fill out our survey</strong> at <a href="https://bit.ly/BHSurvey6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><strong>bit.ly/BHSurvey6</strong></a></p><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>
44 episodes
All Episodes
Building Creative Durability Through Constraints and Internal Friction
Optimizing for downstream success, such as pitch decks or adaptations, hollows out your core product. True durability and creative dominance emerge only when you embrace internal friction and resist the urge to eliminate productive struggle.
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Developing Ethical Competence Through Deliberate Moral Simulation
Stop treating ethics as a static list of rules. By using roleplay and pop culture as cognitive sandboxes, you can stress test your moral framework to build the decision making flexibility required for high stakes leadership.
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Prioritizing Creative Intent Over Perfectionism and Market Validation
To overcome creative blocks, trade perfectionism for external constraints and raw, live-capture workflows. When you decouple your work from market validation, you protect your creative drive and prioritize authentic expression over technical polish.
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Reclaiming Identity by Dismantling Erasure Through Genealogical Research
Reconstructing suppressed family history helps people reclaim their identity. When you uncover the truth behind erased narratives, you can dismantle systemic stereotypes and anchor your current perspective in a factual account of survival.
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Cultivating a Triad of Desires to Replace Singular Identity
Sticking to a single career path or a rigid professional identity is a trap that often leads to burnout. Instead, cultivate a constellation of three core desires. This approach helps you gain professional fluidity, navigate setbacks with more stability, and keep your work aligned with reality.
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Rejecting Smartphone Panics to Address Systemic Youth Mental Health
Blaming smartphones for the decline in youth mental health overlooks systemic issues like poverty and instability in the adult world. Focusing on structural support provides more effective, long-term solutions for the well-being of adolescents.
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Using Structural Frameworks to Master Spontaneous High-Stakes Communication
Rigid scripts kill your ability to connect during high-stakes moments. Master flexible structural frameworks and contextual engineering to replace performance anxiety with the ability to stay present, responsive, and influential under pressure.
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Productivity Obsession Erodes Resilience Through Play Deprivation
Our obsession with productivity creates a structural barrier to resilience. When you protect creative spaces that serve no professional goal, you train your brain to navigate uncertainty and prevent burnout in a volatile world.
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Leveraging Playful Improvisation to Enhance High-Performance Systems
High performance systems often fail when they are too rigid to adapt. Instead of taking everything so seriously, use strategic play to turn mistakes into advantages. This approach helps you navigate obstacles that stop others and reveals potential you might otherwise miss.
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Mastering Performance Through the Strategic Relinquishment of Control
Trying to control every detail kills creativity and hurts performance because it breaks your ability to reach a flow state. If you learn how to let go intentionally, you will unlock better cognitive flexibility, build lasting resilience, and reach a higher level of professional work.
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Leveraging Improv Principles to Navigate Professional Uncertainty
Focusing too much on being right hinders innovation and builds professional silos. Learn to support your team through uncertainty. This builds trust and helps you turn unexpected obstacles into a competitive advantage.
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Improving Cognitive Performance Through Frequent Physical Movement
Sitting for long periods leads to CO2 buildup and mental fog, which hurts your ability to think clearly. Instead of staying sedentary for hours, take frequent, short breaks to move. This improves circulation, sharpens your focus, and helps you maintain a consistent professional advantage.
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Cultivating Courage: Skillful Action Amidst Uncertainty
Courage isn't innate; it's a skill you can build. Learn to act decisively in spite of fear, transforming paralysis into empowered action.
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Cultivating Courage Through Daily Micro-Risks
Cultivate courage by taking small, daily risks, transforming fear into a signal for growth and building resilience to navigate uncertainty and unlock potential.
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Algorithmic Bottlenecks Reshape Language, Identity, and Reality
Language actively reshapes reality, with algorithms subtly influencing our words, identities, and collective understanding. Grasp these hidden dynamics to navigate the modern world and understand *why* and *how* our thoughts are shaped.
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The Hidden Costs of Certainty and Strategies for Navigating Uncertainty
Embrace uncertainty as the fertile ground for possibility and personal evolution. Discover practical strategies to reframe ambiguity, build resilience, and gain a competitive advantage where others falter.
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Reframing Stress: Managing Overwhelm With Resets and Buffers
Minor annoyances cascade into crises by amplifying negative emotions. Learn quick "resets" and preemptive "buffers" to manage stress and build resilience.
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Proxy Connects Strangers to Dissolve Isolation And Shame
Discover the radical power of shared confusion: realizing you are not alone dismantles shame and fosters resilience, offering a vital counter-narrative to isolation.
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Embrace J-Curves and Two-Way Doors for Career Growth
The conventional career ladder is an illusion. Discover how embracing uncertainty, strategic risks, and self-data leads to profound growth and a truly fulfilling, high-performing career path.
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Embrace the J-Curve: Navigate Careers Beyond the Illusion of Stairs
Embrace the J-curve of learning and growth over the illusion of predictable career stairs to unlock deeper self-discovery and build professional resilience.
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Learned Sexual Shame Hinders Pleasure, Demands Societal Excavation
Discomfort with sex stems from societal shame, not inherent flaws. Unpacking these ingrained fears unlocks personal pleasure and a more compassionate society.
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Small Wins Build Lasting Change Through Consistent Habits
Lasting change stems from consistent, tiny actions, not grand gestures. Master the skill of willpower by focusing on low-resistance habits that build momentum.
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Humor as Practice: Building Resilience Through Self-Compassion and Connection
Embrace imperfection and absurdity: laughter, not wit, builds resilience and connection, transforming challenges into growth and deeper human bonds.
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Embracing Uncertainty: The Biological Drive for Novelty and Meaning
Embrace uncertainty to unlock profound life enrichment. Discover how actively seeking the unknown enhances cognitive function, alters your perception of time, and reveals deeper personal meaning.
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Re-examining Consciousness Beyond Brain and Self
Uncover consciousness beyond the brain, challenging narrow definitions of intelligence and sentience. Discover how the self is a construct and plant life possesses complex awareness.
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Purpose as Dynamic Practice: Integrating Ambition and Authenticity
Purpose is a dynamic practice, not a destination. Discover how integrating diverse interests and embracing discomfort builds resilience and a richer, more authentic life.
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Finance's Abstracted Reality and the Power of Asking "Why"
Finance's abstract layers can detach from reality, creating hidden inefficiencies and opportunities. Understand the "why" behind your money to gain a distinct advantage.
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Your Mind is the True Battleground Against Work Stress
Reclaim your life from work by mastering your internal responses. True relief from anxiety and burnout comes from managing your mind, not just your office environment.
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Caregiving as Existential Portal--Transforming Self, Humanity, and Connection
Caregiving transforms your understanding of humanity, revealing resilience and clarity by reframing suffering and service as sources of unexpected strength.
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Reclaiming Friendship's Vital Role in Identity and Well-being
Friendships are crucibles for self-discovery, expanding identity and resilience. Learn how to invest in your social ecosystem to unlock a richer, more expansive self.
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Love as an Inside Job: Cultivating Lasting Connection Through Authenticity
Love is an inside job, not a fairy tale. Discover how shifting focus from external validation to authentic self-worth builds lasting connections and breaks free from dating illusions.
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Rewiring Learned Habits to Dismantle Bias and Foster Belonging
Bias is a learned habit, not an inherent flaw, distorting perceptions and decisions. Rewire your consciousness to dismantle prejudice and cultivate genuine belonging for individual and collective well-being.
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Safe Danger: Fostering Trust for Growth and Innovation
True safety fosters productive friction for growth and innovation, not comfort. Discover how vulnerability and curiosity build trust for deeper connection and creativity.
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Deep Attention Through Art Cultivates Wisdom and Resilience
Transform negative emotions into creative wisdom and build resilience by practicing deep attention, moving beyond judgment to uncover profound insights within yourself and the world.
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Lessons in Empathy Through Canine Sensory Perspective
Unlock a richer human experience by adopting a dog's sensory perspective. Discover how scent and viewpoint shifts foster presence, empathy, and deeper connection with the world and others.
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Humor as a Generative Force for Resilience and Connection
Embrace self-deprecating humor and shared laughter to build stronger connections, navigate challenges, and enhance well-being. Humor is an active tool for resilience and meaningful living.
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Mass Psychogenic Illness: Contagion of Real Symptoms Through Social Connection
Real physical symptoms spread through groups without organic cause, revealing how collective anxiety and the need for belonging manifest physically, blurring the lines between contagion and connection.
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Cultivating Curiosity to Navigate Difference and Repair Relationships
Cultivate curiosity over judgment to foster stronger relationships. Manage emotional intensity and listen deeply to understand others, even when they disagree.
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Intentional Gathering Design Fosters Deeper Connection and Community
Design gatherings with clear purpose and specific rules to foster deeper human connection and combat modern loneliness, moving beyond superficial details to create impactful experiences.
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Retrospective on Personal Growth, Community, and Mindful Existence
Embrace "wintering" for rest, view spirituality through kindness, and reclaim ancestral food traditions for healing. Discover how your mind constructs reality and build character over brands for authentic living.
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Direct Cash Transfers and Kindness Maximize Happiness and Societal Impact
Direct cash to the impoverished and acts of kindness significantly boost giver happiness more than spending on oneself, yet we underestimate this benefit.
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Finding Small Delights Through Openness and Connection
Discover how to find small delights and connect deeply, even in an uncontrollable world. Learn to cultivate openness, vulnerability, and seek beauty amidst pain.
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Indigenous Food as Cultural Reclamation and Future Resilience
Discover how indigenous ingredients and ancestral knowledge are revolutionizing modern cuisine, offering a path to food sovereignty and a deeper connection to our planet.
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Cultivating Community and Belonging Through Intentional Care
Discover how to find belonging by embracing your community and the profound impact of place on identity, even when facing challenges.
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