Billboard Happiness

It's Thanksgiving Week and we're super grateful to share this great book with you: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by twin sisters Emily Nagoski, PhD and Amelia Nagoski, DMA. As is the case with every book we dig into, there is a ton of great advice in here that your kids could use, and we're focusing on one of our big themes of the year and the season: gratitude. 

Have a question about raising your kid or something you want us to chat about on Billboard Happiness?
Send us an email ([email protected]) or send us a voice text and we’ll use it on the podcast! 415-515-0995

Links:
Burnout by Emily Nagoski PhD and Amelia Nagoski, DMA
Jerome's psychology practice website
Laura's copywriting business and her website-in-a-day business

Jerome & Laura talk about Alain de Botton's classic 2005 book "Status Anxiety" to figure out how we can talk to our kids about what's really important in life and how to avoid the dreaded "comparison trap" that inevitably makes us feel yucky.

RESOURCES
Status Anxiety by Alain De Botton

Jerome & Laura talk about Sebene Selassie's fantastic new book, "You Belong: A Call for Connection." In addition to its essential lesson—the importance of connection—they reflect on a story Sebene tells about her first meditation retreat and the wise advice her teacher gave her: "Without the cheese, there is no freedom." Listen in to find out exactly what that means—and why it's an important lesson for kids (esp. middle and high schoolers!).

RESOURCES
You Belong: A Call for Connection by Sebene Selassie

Jerome & Laura get deep today on probably the most essential of wisdoms you can pass on to your kid: How to love yourself. They discuss this simple (yet profound) advice that comes from Kamal Ravikant in his book "Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It." Jerome, the self-compassion guru of our duo, talks about how he made loving himself a top priority when Donald Trump was elected, aided by his self-compassion guru, Dr. Kristin Neff. We think in this time of fear, division, and grief in our country, there's greater lesson we could teach our kids.

RESOURCES
Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends on It by Kamal Ravikant
Dr. Kristin Neff
The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook by Dr. Kristin Neff and Dr. Christopher Germer

Jerome & Laura talk about the fun and surprisingly resonant book, Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies by Tara Schuster. Tara's an executive at Comedy Central (Daily Show, Key & Peele) so you'd expect her book to be funny. But it's also jam packed with great advice she learned along the path of reinventing herself after a rock-bottom moment in her mid-20s. We pull out one nugget of the many gems in this book and it's a great one to share with kids—the earlier the better!

RESOURCES
Buy Yourself the F*cking Lilies by Tara Schuster

We've got a special treat today: Billboard Happiness' first interview with a book author! In this case, it's authors (plural) because we got to talk to Dr. William Stixrud and Ned Johnson, the co-authors of one of Laura's HALL-OF-FAME parenting books: The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives. As the renowned child psychologist, Dr. Madeline Levine, says about the book: "It is not an overstatement to say that this is one of the most radical and important books on raising healthy, resilient, purpose-driven kids."

We believe this book is really a gamechanger for the world of parenting, and so we are just beyond thrilled that Bill and Ned joined us for this inaugural interview. And a heads up: Given that this was recorded at the height of COVID-19 (April 5, 2020), we start the interview by asking their best advice on parenting in the age of COVID before diving into the main concepts in the book. It's a long episode, but it's one that's well worth your time.

RESOURCES
The book: The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives
The book website: The Self-Driven Child
Dr. William Stixrud's website
Ned Johnson's website
Ned's Washington Post articles on parenting and COVID:
•How we can help kids increase their sense of control as the coronavirus approaches
•A home school plan that’s realistic, not sadistic

YOUR HOSTS
Jerome's psychology practice in Nashville (and beyond!)
Laura's copywriting business and her website-in-a-day business

Jerome & Laura recorded this episode on March 29, 2020, as COVID-19 continues to spread rampantly across the country, changing our lives now—and potentially for years to come. To help your kids navigate the worry (often unspoken) of this unprecedented era, we take a look at one of Laura's favorite self-help books of all time, The Tools by psychiatrist Phil Stutz and psychotherapist Barry Michels. The specific Tool we explore is called Grateful Flow, which takes the gratitude practice we've discussed a million times and gives it a powerful tweak that can help us all.

RESOURCES
The Tools, by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels
More in-depth explanation of Grateful Flow
6 Daily Quarantine Questions by The Greater Good Institute

YOUR HOSTS
Jerome's psychology practice in Nashville (and beyond!)
Laura's copywriting business and her website-in-a-day business

This week, Laura & Jerome talk about Mitch Prinstein's book, Popular: Why being liked is the secret to greater success and happiness.

This episode hits really close to home for Laura, because as every parent of a middle schooler knows that this is the time when kids really start "keeping score." And of course with social media, keeping score is real (and doesn't even need the quotation marks!).

Prinstein's basic premise is that kids (and people) should strive for likeability, not popularity, if they want to live happier, healthier lives for the long run. Fascinating topic, great advice from Dr. Jerome.

Resources:
Popular by Mitch Prinstein

This week we bow down to the genius that is Brené Brown, giving you a nugget from her first book, The Gifts of Imperfection. As is the case with every book we dig into, there is a ton of great advice in here that your kids could use, and we're focusing on the big theme: find greater peace and happiness through embracing your (and the world's) imperfections. This is especially important for the tween/teen group who spends half their day on Instgram/whatever comparing themselves to their friends and (gasp!) celebrities (internet or otherwise). 

We also talk about a book Laura's re-reading that we'll do a full episode on soon. We misspoke the name of it in the episode, but it's actually The Self-Driven Child. Link in the resources below.

Have a question about raising your kid or something you want us to chat about on Billboard Happiness?
Send us an email ([email protected]) or leave us a voice message and we’ll use it on the podcast! 510-269-1944

Links:
The Gifts of Imperfection by Brené Brown
The Self-Driven Child by William Stixrud, PhD and Neal Johnson
Jerome's psychology practice website
Laura's copywriting business and her website-in-a-day business

This week, we have a mini-episode that's also a meta-episode. We talk about Tim Ferriss's billboard message he'd want everyone to see—and translate that into kid-speak. Laura's husband Rob makes an appearance—and there's even some bonus advice for grownups about managing work and home. A bit of a rough edit on the ending (but the bonus content is worth it!).

Have a question about raising your kid or something you want us to chat about on Billboard Happiness? 
Send us an email ([email protected]) or leave us a voice message and we’ll use it on the podcast! 510-269-1944