A Stanford innovation expert shares practical tips on future-proofing your mind.

Frederik Pferdt was Google’s first Chief Innovation Evangelist, where founded Google’s Innovation Lab. He’s also taught classes on innovation and creativity at Stanford University for more than a decade. His new book is called What's Next Is Now: How to Live Future Ready.

In this episode we talk about:

• Why we are so resistant to change
• How to embrace the unknown
• Why and how to develop compulsive curiosity
• The value of experiments and why we shouldn’t fear failure
• What it means to have expansive empathy, and why that can help you develop a future-ready mindset
• And how to identify what he calls your Dimension X—your own unique capacities

Related Episodes:

Dua Lipa On: Radical Optimism, Falling On Stage, And “Writing Yourself Into A Good Idea”

#516. Robin Roberts on the Skill of Optimism

#274 The Case for Optimism | Dr. Jonathan Salk

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More from Frederik Pferdt:

Book: What's Next Is Now: How to Live Future Ready

NextLetter (newsletter signup): https://www.frederikgpferdt.com/#nextletter

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/frederikgpferdt/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fgpferdt/?locale=en_US

Full Shownotes: https://happierapp.com/podcast/tph/frederik-pferdt-851

Additional Resources:

• Download the Happier app today: https://my.happierapp.com/link/download

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Cultivating what’s good in us helps during times of both abundance and adversity. In fact, it’s when times are hard that we need it the most.

About Kaira Jewel Lingo:

At the age of twenty-five, Kaira Jewel Lingo entered a Buddhist monastery in the Plum Village tradition and spent fifteen years living as a nun under the guidance of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Now based in New York, she sees her work as a continuation of Engaged Buddhism as well as the work of her parents, inspired by their stories and her dad’s work with Martin Luther King Jr. on desegregating the South. The author of We Were Made for These Times: Ten Lessons on Moving through Change, Loss and Disruption, Kaira Jewel especially feels called to share mindfulness and meditation with Black, Indigenous, and People of Color, as well as activists, educators, youth, artists, and families.

Recently on the podcast:

Six Buddhist Practices To Stay Calm In A Tumultuous World | Kaira Jewel Lingo, Valerie Brown and Marisela Gomez

To find this meditation in the Happier app, you can search for “Growing the Good.”

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Why the man behind “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” is a self-help junkie.

Judd Apatow is one of the most prolific comedic minds in the industry. Recently, Apatow produced Peacock’s buddy comedy Please Don’t Destroy: The Treasure of Foggy Mountain and Universal’s romcom, Bros, starring and co-written by Billy Eichner. Apatow also directed, produced, and co-wrote with Pam Brady, the Netflix comedy The Bubble and produced and co-directed HBO Films’ Emmy®-winning documentary George Carlin’s American Dream with Michael Bonfiglio. His Netflix comedy special, Judd Apatow: The Return, released in 2017 and premiered to critical acclaim. Previous director credits include the Emmy®-award-winning documentary, The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and The King of Staten Island. He produced Academy Award®-nominated The Big Sick and Bridesmaids, as well as Superbad, Pineapple Express and Anchorman. For television, he executive produced Crashing, Girls, and Freaks and Geeks. Off screen, Apatow authored Sicker in the Head, a follow-up to his New York Times best-seller Sick in the Head.

In this episode we talk about:

• The role of his parents’ bitter divorce in his life and work
• The balance between creativity and ambition
• Why so many comedians are so neurotic
• His creative process, including some gems from the TV writer David Milch
• His relationship to panic, and a hilarious story about freaking out on weed
• The way he’s started to understand the different voices inside of him
• His recent experiment with ayahuasca, and what he learned
• And the role of comedy when it feels like the world is on fire

Related Episodes:

Bill Hader on Anxiety, Imposter Syndrome, and Leaning into Discomfort

Duncan Trussell on: Being a Spiritual Omnivore, Whether Psychedelics Are a Bridge to the Divine, and How the Gates of Hell Are Locked From the Inside

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Full Shownotes: http://www.happierapp.com/podcast/tph/judd-apatow

Additional Resources:

• Download the Happier app today: https://www.happierapp.com/

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What you resist persists. Buddhist strategies for acceptance and equanimity.

Ofosu Jones-Quartey, a meditation teacher, author, and musician hailing from the Washington DC area brings over 17 years of experience in sharing mindfulness, meditation and self-compassion practices with the world. Holding a bachelor’s degree from American University and certified by the Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Certification Program, Ofosu is a graduate of the Teleos Coaching Institute and is the male voice on the Balance meditation app, reaching over 10 million subscribers. 

Ofosu leads meditation classes and retreats nationwide, having taught and led retreats at the Insight Meditation Community of Washington, The Insight Meditation Society, Spirit Rock, Brooklyn Zen Center, Cleveland Insight, Inward Bound Mindfulness and more.

As an accomplished hip hop artist under the name “Born I,” Ofosu released the mindfulness-themed album “In This Moment” in 2021. His most recent album is “AMIDA”, a spiritual, Lo-Fi Hip Hop album exploring life, death and his Buddhist faith.

Beyond music, Ofosu is an author. His self-published children’s book “You Are Enough” debuted in 2020 and his next work “Love Your Amazing Self” via Storey Publishing in 2022. Ofosu’s latest book: “Lyrical Dharma: Hip Hop as Mindfulness” will be released in 2025 via Parallax Press. You can pre-order the book here.

Ofosu lives in Rockville, Maryland, with his wife and four children.

Cara Lai has worked as an artist, wilderness guide, social worker, and therapist before becoming a full time meditation teacher. She teaches teens and adults at Spirit Rock, Insight Meditation Society, and Ten Percent Happier.

To find out more about what Cara does, you can go to her website, www.caralai.org – where she’s got some online meditation classes, including one called Meditate Your Face Off. She also has a monthly class for parents, co-led by Ofosu Jones-Quartey.

Speaking of podcasts, Cara also co-hosts a podcast called Adventures in Meditating (For Parents), along with Jess Morey and Jon Roberts.

Cara lives in Vermont with her husband and their 2-year-old son.

Related Episodes:

The Upside of Desire | Cara Lai 

Can You Get Fit Without Self-Loathing? | Cara Lai 

Rewire How You Talk To Yourself | Ofosu Jones-Quartey

What It’s Like To Do A Year-Long Silent Meditation Retreat—By Yourself | Cara Lai

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Ten Percent Happier online bookstore

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Our favorite playlists on: Anxiety, Sleep, Relationships, Most Popular Episodes

Full Shownotes: https://happierapp.com/podcast/tph/cara-ofosu-848

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.