The Next Big Idea Daily

Forget Self-Improvement. Try This Instead in 2026.


Listen Later

Maybe you’ve already set some resolutions for 2026 — exercise more, eat better, be more patient. But here’s the problem: We make these promises to improve ourselves as if our selves are solid, fixed entities that just need a little tweaking. But there might be a wiser approach. J. Eric Oliver is a professor of political science at the University of Chicago, and his new book is called How To Know Your Self: The Art & Science of Discovering Who You Really Are. He joins us today to explain why seeing yourself as a process rather than a fixed thing might be the most powerful resolution you could make this year — and how that shift opens up possibilities you didn’t know you had. Then, in the second half of the show, we'll hear some big ideas from Life Is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way by philosophy professor Kieran Setiya.

Sponsored By:

Shopify - Start your $1/month trial at shopify.com/daily

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Next Big Idea DailyBy Next Big Idea Club

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

75 ratings


More shows like The Next Big Idea Daily

View all
TED Radio Hour by NPR

TED Radio Hour

21,986 Listeners

Hidden Brain by Hidden Brain, Shankar Vedantam

Hidden Brain

43,633 Listeners

How to Be Awesome at Your Job by How to be Awesome at Your Job

How to Be Awesome at Your Job

1,029 Listeners

10% Happier with Dan Harris by 10% Happier

10% Happier with Dan Harris

12,745 Listeners

The Science of Happiness by PRX and Greater Good Science Center

The Science of Happiness

1,892 Listeners

Worklife with Adam Grant by TED

Worklife with Adam Grant

9,161 Listeners

Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel by LinkedIn

Hello Monday with Jessi Hempel

1,018 Listeners

Everyday Better with Leah Smart by LinkedIn

Everyday Better with Leah Smart

357 Listeners

The Happiness Lab: Getting Unstuck by Pushkin Industries

The Happiness Lab: Getting Unstuck

14,304 Listeners

The Anxious Achiever by Morra Aarons-Mele

The Anxious Achiever

576 Listeners

The Next Big Idea by Next Big Idea Club

The Next Big Idea

1,277 Listeners

ReThinking by TED

ReThinking

640 Listeners

A Slight Change of Plans by Pushkin Industries

A Slight Change of Plans

1,989 Listeners

Fixable by TED

Fixable

220 Listeners

HBR On Leadership by Harvard Business Review

HBR On Leadership

162 Listeners