10% Happier with Dan Harris

There's a three-part framework for analyzing, breaking, or building any habit. There's also a simple way to identify which ones might be "keystone habits" for you. And the surprising discovery of the GLP1 "habit window" suggests that some people may be benefiting more from the drugs than others.
Charles Duhigg is a Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and the author of The Power of Habit, which spent over three years on bestseller lists and has been translated into 40 languages; Supercommunicators, also a bestseller published in 2024; and Smarter Faster Better, a third bestseller. Mr. Duhigg writes for The New Yorker magazine and is a graduate of Yale University and the Harvard Business School. He previously wrote for The New York Times, and is a frequent contributor to CNBC, This American Life, NPR, and Frontline. He was also, for one terrifying day in 1999, a bike messenger in San Francisco.
In this episode we talk about:
The cue-routine-reward framework that underlies every habit, good or bad
The "golden rule" of habit change
What "keystone habits" are and how to identify them in your own life
Charles's 45-pound weight loss on a GLP-1 and what it revealed about "food noise"
The GLP-1 "habit window," and why some people may benefit from GLP-1's more than others
Kitchen-sinking: the habit where a fight about one thing becomes a fight about everything
Meta-conversations: asking your partner what they actually need before you respond
Related Episodes:
The Science of Effective Communication | Charles Duhigg
Weighing The Extraordinary Benefits And Disturbing Risks Of The New Weight Loss Drugs | Johann Hari
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Additional Resources: 
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Supercommunicators by Charles Duhigg
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Plus: her complicated relationship with antidepressants, weathering fertility struggles, and aging in public.
Sara Bareilles joins Dan to discuss her new album Good Grief, a record she made after losing three close friends — Chad Joseph, Gavin Creel, and poet Andrea Gibson. The conversation covers grief as a transformative force, medication and mental health, fertility struggles and miscarriage, the creative process as spiritual transmission, aging without intervention, and patriotism as grief. 
In this episode we talk about:
Grief is a shortcut to the truth — it strips away distraction and forces presence
"Name it to tame it" — putting feelings into words reduces their power
Sara's fear that medication would suppress her artistry turned out to be the opposite: Lexapro felt like "a return to herself"
The creative process as clearing a channel rather than owning the output — music arrives, it isn't manufactured
"Nothing to fix" — acceptance as a countercultural act in an era of optimization
Acceptance isn't resignation — you can surrender to what is and still take compassionate action
Grief of country: loving America and mourning what it's becoming aren't mutually exclusive
Social media distorts your experience of reality — have your experience of the world in the world
Sara Bareilles is a two-time Grammy winner and Tony-nominated composer whose music and lyrics powered the Broadway hit Waitress — a role she later performed herself, both on Broadway and in London's West End. On screen, she earned an Emmy nomination for Girls5eva and for her performance as Mary Magdalene in NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar Live! She has sold over three million albums and 3.5 billion streams worldwide.
Related Episodes:
Sara Bareilles: Anxiety, Anger and Art (2021)
How To Find Joy In an Anxious World (Sara Bareilles and Dacher Keltner, 2025)
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Additional Resources: 
Check out Sara Bareilles' website, including links to her new album Good Grief, and more info about the Good Grief documentary. 
This episode is sponsored by:
BiOptimizers: Head to bioptimizers.com/happier and use code HAPPIER for 15% off your order.
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Will AI take our jobs? Kill us? This episode provides both fact-checking and a psychological survival guide.
Cal Newport is a Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University, where he is also a founding faculty member of the Center for Digital Ethics and the inaugural Director of the Computer Science, Ethics and Society academic program. He is the New York Times bestselling author of eight books, including, most recently, Slow Productivity, A World Without Email, Digital Minimalism, and Deep Work. Newport is also a long-time contributing writer for the New Yorker and the host of the Deep Questions podcast.
Matthew Brensilver, MSW, PhD teaches retreats at the Insight Retreat Center, Spirit Rock Meditation Center and Insight Meditation Society. Before committing to teach meditation full-time, he spent years doing research on addiction pharmacotherapy at the UCLA Center for Behavioral and Addiction Medicine. Each winter and summer, he offers a four-month online Buddhist Psychology Training through Spirit Rock integrating Buddhist wisdom with modern psychotherapy. Matthew is the co-author of two books about meditation during adolescence and continues to be interested in the unfolding dialogue between Buddhism and science.
In this episode we talk about:
What really happened when an AI agent hacked a company while running a test
Why one Silicon Valley belief system may be fueling AI panic more than the tech itself
Why senior programmers are quietly going back to writing code by hand
Where Cal draws the line on using AI to help you write versus write for you
Why Matthew worries AI could quietly replace the ordinary, unfinished parts of daily life
Buddhist advice on being with this unprecedented moment
How stabilizing your mind makes acceptance possible, and how to do it
Why calming the sense of emergency doesn't erase uncertainty, but makes it easier to face
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Additional Resources:This episode is sponsored by:
Tonal: Right now, Tonal is offering our listeners $200 off your Tonal purchase at tonal.com
with promo code HAPPIER.
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Insights from the places on the planet where people apparently live the longest and healthiest lives. 
Dan Buettner is an explorer, National Geographic Fellow, and journalist. He has written a series of bestselling books, including The Blue Zones of Happiness and The Blue Zones Kitchen: 100 Recipes for Living to 100. He is also the host of the Netflix show, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones.
In this episode we talk about:
The origin story of the Blue Zones
The nine common denominators, or Power Nine, to longevity.
The surprising information about much maligned foods such as pasta and bread
Why trying to pursue good health can actually work against you
Why the single most important factor in longevity isn't advertised on instagram 
Tips for integrating Blue Zones wisdom into your daily life, including designing a life where you move more naturally
And some of the critiques and controversies surrounding his work
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Additional Resources: 
Link to Buettner's collaborators' response on demographics: https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/65/12/gnaf246/8381533?login=false
Saul Newman's critique of Blue Zones methodology:
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/704080v3
This episode is sponsored by:

BetterHelp: See the reviews, see what stands out, and see if BetterHelp is right for you. Visit betterhelp.com/HAPPIER.
Function: Join at functionhealth.com/HAPPIER and use gift code HAPPIER25. @Function #FunctionPartner.

Northwest Registered Agent: Visit northwestregisteredagent.com/HappierFree and start using free resources to build something amazing.
Warby Parker: Our listeners can buy one pair of glasses and get 20% off any additional pairs at WarbyParker.com/HAPPIER — and using our link helps support the show. #WarbyParker #ad
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An investigative journalist on why reincarnation, ghosts, and unexplained phenomena deserve more scrutiny; plus, why our need to believe in something bigger isn't something to be embarrassed about.
Miguel Sancho is an Emmy Award–winning television producer and author. He is a veteran of ABC News, where he helped run 20/20, and he is now the executive producer of The Proof Is Out There on the History Channel. His latest book is Evidence of the Extraordinary: Discoveries from the Series The Proof is Out There.
In this episode we talk about:
How to walk the line between skepticism and credulity
Why most UFO footage falls apart under scrutiny
The scientific case for Bigfoot
Why kids who remember past lives are hard to dismiss
How to spot a fraudulent psychic
Pascal's "God-shaped hole"
What unexplained ancient rock structures reveal about our history
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This episode is sponsored by:
MasterClass: Get at least 15% off any annual membership at masterclass.com/HAPPIER. 
OneSkin: Get 15% off OneSkin with the code HAPPIER at www.oneskin.co/HAPPIER. #oneskinpod
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