Moonwalk

There's a hidden side to your first impression that you forgot.

It's the secret that you forget - routinely - everyday when you slip on your carefully chosen off-color khakis, you spritz on your favorite cologne, and you spill orange soda all over your face. 

Now, it's time to remember. 

###

Moonwalk is produced and hosted by Mohnish Soundararajan. It's co-hosted by Kevin Sanji. Editing direction was by Jarrod Sport and Kevin Sanji. Feedback is by Justine Brumm.

Music is by Podington Bear.

Special thanks to Eliza, Mario, and Sam! Eliza is a WNYC Producer over at The Takeaway and Freakonomics Radio. 

Go to moonwalkpodcast.com for more, and sign up for the email list for exclusive updates. They are awesome. 

"...And then the dread sets in - that immeasurable depression and blackness of your future that you have no bearing of what it's going to hold" - Devyn Tammons

After you do the song and dance, put on the goofy outfit, and grab your diploma cover - graduation's over.

But then the void hits. You have too much time. Boredom sets in. That excitement you had - it's gone. You start asking what the meaning of life is, and negotiate whether or not you can find it between the melted cheese of a ham sandwich.

You are losing your mind.

But, thankfully - as you spiral into a deep and deafening madness - there is something you can do. 

On this episode, we talk about that something, how to do it, and why it's so, so important. 

###

Moonwalk is produced and hosted by Mohnish Soundararajan. It's co-hosted by Kevin Sanji.  Feedback is by Justine Brumm.

Music is by Podington Bear.

Special thanks to Devyn Tammons and Alec! 

New essays can be found at mohnish.net

For more episodes, go to moonwalkpodcast.com

"And they say the exact same thing. They say, 'there's no way this is real...this can't be real', even though we're here and we're living it" 

- Finn

If you talked to other people, they’d say they made friends with the wrong person. That they did something they shouldn’t have. That, if given the chance, they should take it back, retrace their steps, and stop what they did.

But they wouldn’t say that.

We sit down with them - and a psychological anthropologist - to figure out why, and what it says about the human mind. 

###

The Facts

Moonwalk is produced and hosted by Mohnish Soundararajan. It's co-hosted by Kevin Sanji. This episode was edited by Jarrod Sport and Kevin Sanji. Feedback is by Justine Brumm.

Music is by Podington Bear.

Special thanks to Jonce and Finn. Huge thanks to T.M. Luhrmann.

You can find more research and fun stuff at moonwalkpodcast.com

New essays can be found at mohnish.net

This isn't a episode of Moonwalk. If you're on the email list, you already got this update.

But if not - well then - here's the update:

- The first is a big change: we're now releasing one podcast a month, and I'm releasing one written piece a month. In total, that's two pieces of content, but instead of both of them being podcasts, one of them will be written.

- This gives us more time for better stories, better science, and better productions (content that can rival the best in the business)

- This is a good strategy to save my sanity. 

- Also, writing is awesome, and I'm excited to get back into it. 

Get psyched every other Tuesday night (or, for people who love sleep, Wednesday morning). And of course, thanks for listening. We're pumped. 

Find the essays and new content all at www.mohnish.net and www.moonwalkpodcast.com

"Mohnish is about to lose his mind" - Kevin Sanji

Per Se is the 3rd most expensive restaurant in the world. Marisa Negro - a pastry chef - works at the 3-star Michelin restaurant (12 hour days are a minimum). 

Ever since she could remember, she loved cooking.

But when she was 19, she fell in love. And - surprisingly - that story is much different than what happened with cooking. Weirder still, it brings us to something else: the secret to falling in love with learning.

On this episode, we cover:

- How to fall in love with learning a skill 

- Are you born to be good?

- The counterintuitive secret to rapid skill acquisition

- How did Marisa first fall in love?

And more, all on this episode. 

The Facts

Moonwalk is produced and hosted by Mohnish Soundararajan. It's co-hosted by Kevin Sanji, and this episode was edited by Jarrod Sport, Kevin Sanji, and Justine Brumm.

Music is by Podington Bear and Eter Dub.

Special thanks to Marisa, Airis and Lucas. Check out Airis' site here. Lucas Sin runs Junzi Kitchen. 

You can find more research and fun stuff at moonwalkpodcast.com

"I don't know how to describe it...it was a traumatic experience" - Airis Johnson

There's a church, right in the culinary underbelly, that no one knows about. It makes you work faster, work easier, and work better. It has no God, and it's followers wear chef whites, dice onions, and produce culinary experiences that would you make your grandfather's face explode right off. 

We wanted to know more - so, we got a few chefs who've worked at Michelin star restaurants to talk: 

- What is Mise en Place? 

- What are the basics of organization?

- How do you prep your day-to-day?

- When you have no time, everything's on fire, and you have no idea what to do - what do you do? 

And more all on this episode. 

The Facts

Moonwalk is produced and hosted by Mohnish Soundararajan. It's co-hosted by Kevin Sanji, and this episode was edited by Jarrod Sport and Justine Brumm.

Music is by Podington Bear. 

Feedback is by Justine Brumm.

Special thanks to Kevin MacLeod for "In the Hall of the Mountain King" and Kenzie Vaness, for the clip "Cooking in the Kitchen"

Special thanks to Airis and Sandy. Check out Airis' site here, and Sandy's The Kosher Tomato here. Lucas Sin runs Junzi Kitchen.

Special thanks to Dan Charnas for his book Work Clean, which inspired this piece.

You can find more research and fun stuff at moonwalkpodcast.com

"I heard this story of this guy, and he was rushed to the emergency room because he was having heart palpitations...because he was watching too much porn"

- greyrocks1 

Your mind is slipping. We've been conditioned to check our phones every 20 minutes, grapple with an inability to read essays longer than two paragraphs, and then scroll through our Twitter feeds at 2AM in the morning while crying softly in our sleep. 

But on the internet, there's people who are fighting back.

So, a few days ago I reached out. I waited, waited, and then - two usernames responded: thunderbolt-zhu and greyrocks1.

I have no idea who they are. But they said they wanted to talk. 

On this episode, we cover:

- Who is thunderbolt-zhu and greyrocks1?

- Why our minds are slipping, and how we can stop it

- The real cognitive consequences of the internet, our phones, and technology

- Why was the man in the retail store bleeding? 

- Strategies to rebuild your attention and focus 

And more, all on this episode. 

The Facts

Moonwalk is produced and hosted by Mohnish Soundararajan. It's co-hosted by Kevin Sanji, and this episode was edited by Jarrod Sport and Justine Brumm.

Music is by Podington Bear. 

Feedback is by Jarrod Sport, Kevin Sanji, and Justine Brumm.

Special thanks to Nick and Conrad. Check out nosurf and check out their blog, Kaizenhabits.

Special thanks to my sister, Vysali, and a huge thanks to the researchers who helped bring the science alive. Thanks to Cal Newport for his book, Deep Work. 

You can find more research and fun stuff at moonwalkpodcast.com

"No - No. What the fuck is up with the texts?" - Karen Lee Poter

On December 24th, we got an email: 

"I'm very attractive in certain social groups, but I'm afraid of showing interest. I'm afraid of coming off as a creeper. On the bright side, I'm seen as very safe ;}"

For this Q&A, we sit down with Karen Lee Poter and use everything in our toolbox from evolutionary psychology to Kevin's love life, to solve this guy's crisis. 

A throwback to our earlier seasons, we strip away the bells and whistles, and cover:

- How to effectively show romantic interest in someone, without coming off as the weirdest person on the planet

- How to build confidence and - if you can swing it - meta-confidence

- How to ask someone out, if you're terrified of doing so 

- The crucial difference between narrowcasting and broadcasting

The Facts

Moonwalk is produced and hosted by Mohnish Soundararajan. It's co-hosted by Kevin Sanji, and edited by Jarrod Sport. 

Music is by Podington Bear. 

Feedback is by Jarrod Sport, Kevin Sanji, and Justine Brumm.

Our main guest is Karen Lee Poter - listen to her podcast, Sex Talk With My Mom, and you can find her at the Karen Lee Poter Show.

Special thanks to Alec, Jenn, and Mohi. Big thanks to the anonymous Aladdin.

You can find more research and fun stuff at moonwalkpodcast.com

"It's sort of like someone else is doing an autopsy on your dead body, but you're looking at it through a TV screen and you're completely confused what's going on." - Mohnish Soundararajan

Imagine a grand experiment. Two men set foot to reconstruct your past - as accurately as they can. They talked to everyone you've ever cared for, looked at, talked to, yelled at, peed on, and washed a dish for.

But the story keeps changing. And in the process, they shatter everything you ever knew about your memory, your self-awareness, and - lucky you - your sense of self.

And what if - we actually did this.

Featuring special guest Cam Poter, this episode deconstructs not just Cam's narrative identity, but the search for self-awareness, and covers:

- The most technically challenging and time-consuming podcast we've ever done

- Specific, actionable steps to get a better sense of self-awareness, so you don't take the one, precious life your parents paid so much money for and absolutely screw it up 

- The differences in memory between a diverse, dynamic social circle, and yourself

- How we piece together our narrative past - and how wrong we get it

And more, all on this episode. 

The Facts

Moonwalk is produced and hosted by Mohnish Soundararajan. It's co-hosted by Kevin Sanji, and edited by Jarrod Sport. 

Music is by Podington Bear. 

Feedback is by Jarrod Sport, Kevin Sanji, and Justine Brumm.

Our main guest is Cameron Poter - listen to his podcast, Sex Talk With My Mom.

Special thanks to Scott Breen - if you want to learn about sustainability, check out his podcast Sustainability Defined. Also, you can find special guest Karen Lee Poter on Youtube at the Karen Lee Poter Show.

Special thanks to Jeremy Poter, David Goese, and Leesa Hapsel.

You can find more research and fun stuff at moonwalkpodcast.com. 

It's not just a new season or a new episode - we're getting a new name. And this time, we're not messing around. 

Unless we're messing around. Then, technically, I guess we'd be messing around.

Moonwalk premieres January 24th, 2017.

Produced by Mohnish Soundararajan. Music is by Podington Bear.