Constraints often feel frustrating and limiting — but they can also create the friction that sparks creative breakthroughs, reveals better solutions, and leads to more thoughtful decisionmaking. In this episode, Anne and Frances are joined by David Epstein, an investigative reporter and bestselling author of the new book Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better. They discuss why limits are powerful tools for clarity and innovation, examining case studies of companies that used constraints to accelerate their success (and others that struggled after removing them). They also explore the constraints-based strategies elite athletes use in their training routines.

Featured guest

• Follow David Epstein on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, and at davidepstein.com/
• Buy Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better
• Subscribe to David's substack Range Widely

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• Watch Fixable videos on youtube.com/@TEDPods
• Visit Anne and Frances’ website
• Have a question you want Anne and Frances to solve? Email the team at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 234-349-2253
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For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/fixable-transcripts

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Can a five-minute walk change how you feel all day? Exercise scientist Keith Diaz shows how your body is built for the kind of movement that modern life has quietly erased — and suggests something refreshingly doable: making time for small doses of movement sprinkled throughout the day, as a way to boost your brain and body. And stick around after his talk for a deep dive conversation with our guest host for the week, author and podcaster Manoush Zomorodi, into the ideas he shared on stage and beyond.

This is episode one of a seven-part series airing this week on TED Talks Daily, where Manoush — and the seven speakers she curated for TED2026 — explore how you can live a healthier life in our high-tech era.

To hear more from Manoush, listen to TED Radio Hour wherever you get your podcasts. Check out her new book, Body Electric, to learn more about the hidden health costs of the digital age.

For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/fixable-transcripts

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Do you feel like you’re hitting a wall at work? This week, Anne and Frances are joined by Master Fixers Bob Sutton and Huggy Rao. Bob and Huggy are professors at Stanford University and authors of “The Friction Project: How Smart Leaders Make the Right Things Easier and the Wrong Things Harder”. Together, the four discuss how anyone can eliminate the obstacles to doing their best work—and create constraints that make work even better.

This episode originally aired in 2024.

For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/fixable-transcripts

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Work today is a lot less stable than it used to be. Career paths that once seemed predictable are constantly being disrupted and reshaped, leaving many of us feeling unsteady. In this final episode of the Finding Purpose series, Anne and Frances are joined by Arun Gupta, CEO of the NobleReach Foundation, who has spent his career helping people find ways to serve causes bigger than themselves. Arun makes the case for why following your purpose can be a powerful antidote to instability and anxiety, and shares practical ways to discover your own purpose. Anne and Frances also reflect on what they’ve learned from guests throughout the series.

Featured guest

• Arun Gupta

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• Watch Fixable videos on youtube.com/@TEDAudioCollective
• Visit Anne and Frances’ website
• Have a question you want Anne and Frances to solve? Email the team at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 234-349-2253
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For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/fixable-transcripts

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In a world that won’t stop changing, knowing what matters most can make all the difference. Yara Shahidi and Keri Salter are a mother-daughter duo building a more inclusive and imaginative Hollywood through their production company, 7th Sun Productions. In this episode, Anne sits down with Yara and Keri at the TED Conference in Vancouver to dig into their “highest order” framework for aligning purpose with priorities. They also reflect on how purpose evolves over a lifetime and explore what today’s changemakers can learn from previous generations.

Featured guest

• Follow Yara Shahidi on Instagram, TikTok, and her podcast The Optimistic Project
• Follow Keri Salter on Instagram and LinkedIn
• Learn more about 7th Sun Productions

Connect with the team

• Follow Anne on Instagram and LinkedIn 
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• Watch Fixable videos on youtube.com/@TEDAudioCollective
• Visit Anne and Frances’ website
• Have a question you want Anne and Frances to solve? Email the team at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 234-349-2253
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For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/fixable-transcripts

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In uncertain times, purposeful work can feel impractical and out of reach. But award-winning investigative reporter Jodi Kantor argues that meaning is both essential and available to all of us. Anne and Frances dive into the lessons from Jodi’s latest book, “How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work,” and explore practical strategies for anyone looking to chart a more purposeful career. The three also discuss two key principles for finding work that matters and challenge the idea that economic stability and purpose are mutually exclusive.

Featured guest

• Follow Jodi Kantor on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at https://jodikantor.com/
• Buy How to Start: Discovering Your Life's Work
• Read Jodi's NYT's articles

Connect with the team

• Follow Anne on Instagram and LinkedIn 
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• Watch Fixable videos on youtube.com/@TEDAudioCollective
• Visit Anne and Frances’ website
• Have a question you want Anne and Frances to solve? Email the team at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 234-349-2253
• Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/fixable-transcripts

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Does your “dream job” really exist? You may know Emily Durham as Emily the Recruiter on social media, where she shares practical, refreshingly honest career advice and coaches people through the biggest professional decisions of their lives. Emily doesn’t believe in the idea of a dream job. In this episode, she joins Anne to make the case for the “awake job” that actively fits into your purpose, lifestyle, and financial needs. Emily reflects on how her own purpose has evolved over time, and answers questions from listeners about how to gracefully quit a job, find a path forward when you feel stuck, and communicate your values to a potential employer.

Featured guest

• Follow Emily Durham on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and at https://emilydurham.org/
• Listen to Clock In with Emily Durham

Connect with the team

• Follow Anne on Instagram and LinkedIn 
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• Watch Fixable videos on youtube.com/@TEDAudioCollective
• Visit Anne and Frances’ website
• Have a question you want Anne and Frances to solve? Email the team at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 234-349-2253
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For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/fixable-transcripts

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What is your true purpose—and how do you find it? This month, Anne and Frances are tackling one of life’s biggest questions in search of answers for Fixers of all ages, from fresh graduates charting their first career moves to seasoned executives craving something more. In this episode, Anne sits down with Molly Graham, a former executive at Facebook and the new host of TED’s WorkLife podcast, to explore what it means to pursue meaningful work and stay open to opportunities you never saw coming. They also answer a question from a new graduate about finding your purpose somewhere between work and life. 

Featured guest

• Follow Molly on Instagram, LinkedIn, and at glueclub.com/
• Subscribe to Molly’s Substack Lessons
• Watch WorkLife with Molly Graham videos on YouTube at TEDAudioCollective
• Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

Connect with the team

• Follow Anne on Instagram and LinkedIn 
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• Watch Fixable videos on youtube.com/@TEDAudioCollective
• Visit Anne and Frances’ website
• Have a question you want Anne and Frances to solve? Email the team at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 234-349-2253
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For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/fixable-transcripts

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You might think the biggest, most prestigious job is always the right career move. Patty Stonesifer — founding CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and an early Amazon board member — says that’s exactly the wrong way to decide what to do next. So what should guide your career? In this special episode from WorkLife with Molly Graham, Patty shares the nine-word personal mission statement she’s used for decades to filter opportunities, turn down what doesn’t fit, and speak up for what matters. Patty shares how you can write your own, and even coaches Molly through creating hers in real time.

WorkLife is a podcast from TED where host and company builder Molly Graham and her expert guests talk through the messy feelings we all experience at work. Ambition and failure, joy and burnout, confidence and self-doubt — this show digs into it all to help you build a career without losing yourself. Listen now: https://link.mgln.ai/kEuQow

For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/fixable-transcripts

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When people don’t feel safe speaking up at work, fear spreads, trust falls apart, and good people head for the exits. That’s the story emerging from Unwell Networks, the media company led by Call Her Daddy host Alex Cooper and her husband, Matt Kaplan, where reports describe an alleged pattern of intimidation and retaliation inside the company. In this Unsolicited Advice segment, Anne and Frances unpack what appears to have gone wrong at Unwell Networks and break down the concept of psychological safety: why it matters so much to high-performing teams, how leaders can unknowingly undermine it, and what it takes to build a workplace where people feel safe enough to ask questions, admit mistakes, and disagree without being afraid of what will happen next.

Connect with the team

• Follow Anne on Instagram and LinkedIn 
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• Watch Fixable videos on youtube.com/@TEDAudioCollective
• Visit Anne and Frances’ website
• Have a question you want Anne and Frances to solve? Email the team at [email protected] or leave a voicemail at 234-349-2253
• Follow TED on X, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and TikTok

For the full text transcript, visit ted.com/podcasts/fixable-transcripts

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.