How To!

By Slate Podcasts

Education Business

What's How To! about?

What if Dear Abby was an investigative reporter? Each week, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg (The Power of Habit) takes on listeners’ toughest problems and, with the help of experts, finds the answers to questions you’ve always wanted to ask, but couldn’t. Until now.

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How To Have a Fight That Ac...

05.11.2021

Diane feels like she’s constantly picking fights with her partner Mohammed—when he forgets to grab tomatoes from the grocery store or drops the ball on planning their son’s birthday party. Their conflicts are complicated by layers of cultural differences: Mohammed ...

How To! episodes:

05.11.2021 How To Have a Fight That Actually Helps Your Relationship Diane feels like she’s constantly picking fights with her partner Mohammed—when he forgets to grab tomatoes from the grocery store or drops the ball on planning their son’s birthday party. Their conflicts are complicated by layers of cultural differences: Mohammed ...
05.04.2021 Now Is the Time To Escape Your Bad Relationship. Here’s How. Dating is always tough, but during a pandemic it can feel downright impossible. “I’m incredibly lonely, and it’s impossible to meet anybody my age right now,” our listener Sarah said. Feeling isolated, Sarah has clung to a friends-with-benefit situation with ...
04.27.2021 I’m Great at My Job. So Why Do I Feel Like a Fraud? When Shellye Archambeau walked into her first meeting as a board member of Verizon, she felt a moment of panic. “Do I actually belong at this table?” she remembers thinking. Shellye, one of the first Black women to work as ...
04.20.2021 How To Give a Killer Speech We're all have to give a presentation at some point in our lives — on a stage, in a conference room, and, these days, on Zoom. So what makes a good speech? On this episode of How To!, we bring ...
04.13.2021 I Was Lost at Sea for 438 Days. Here's How I Survived. Imagine you’re floating in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on a boat the size of an SUV. You have no working electronics, no food or water, and only a styrofoam box to shade you from the sun. Your only ...
04.06.2021 How To Fight Rattlesnakes and Polar Bears Have you ever wondered how you’d fare in the wild? What you’d do when facing off against a rattlesnake or staring down a polar bear? On this episode of How To!, the first in a two-part series, we dive into ...
03.30.2021 How To Write the Perfect Obituary Laura’s dad lived an unusual life. He raised 12 children on a farm without running water in the Texas countryside while also programming his own website that connected families, for free, with help when they were going through difficult times. ...
03.23.2021 How To Make an Exit Like Mary Poppins For years, Stella helped raise twin girls whom she loved deeply. She potty trained them, read bedtime stories and made sure they ate their veggies. But then, one day with little warning, she was asked to leave them. Stella isn’t ...
03.16.2021 How To Stop Snoring (And Breathe Easier) Andrew snores so badly that his cats won’t sleep in the same room as him. He’s desperate to sleep better at night, and breathe more easily during the day. As a trans man, Andrew spent most of his life training ...
03.09.2021 How To Quiet the Chatter in Your Head Emilia can’t stop thinking about a long-ago love affair with Ivan, a man she met in Mexico in her early 20s and dated for several years. Now, a decade later, Emilia is newly married, but thoughts of her time with ...
03.02.2021 How To Survive a Doomsday Cult Michael grew up terrified that the world was going to end. This wasn’t your typical childhood anxiety, but something he was taught while being raised in the Children of God cult. Michael left the cult years ago, but now in ...
02.23.2021 How To Fall Out of Love Several months ago, Sarah told her best friend John she’s in love with him—but he doesn’t love her back. Now Sarah can’t get John out of her head, especially because they still talk all the time. How can Sarah move ...
02.16.2021 How To Start Over at 60 Age may just be a number but turning 60 is a big deal—at least, according to three listeners who recently wrote us about the challenges they’re facing in their later years. Joy can’t decide whether to retire from her job ...
02.09.2021 How To Leave the Church When Your Dad’s the Pastor Chris’s childhood was defined by the Pentecostal church, where his father is a minister and his siblings are following the same path. But when Chris went to college, his views on the church changed, and now at age 23, he ...
02.02.2021 How To Steal Back Your Identity Ever since Casey’s husband had his identity stolen, Casey hasn’t been able to relax. She spends late nights and weekends obsessively checking their family bank accounts and scouring the web for information on the thieves who live just 15 minutes ...
01.26.2021 How To Be a Badass On and Off the Court Juliet knows she’s one of the best tennis players in her community league, but whenever she gets on the court, she’s paralyzed by self-consciousness. Did the crowd notice how bad that shot was? With all eyes on her, Juliet keeps ...
01.19.2021 How To Get Things Done in a Divided Nation with Samantha Power Samantha Power knows what it’s like to arrive in Washington, D.C. and feel a little lost—literally. She once couldn't find the oval office. But more than that, as a Pulitzer Prize-winning human rights activist and former UN Ambassador under President ...
12.29.2020 Our Favorite Advice of 2020 Here at How To! headquarters, we give and receive a lot of good advice. This year we learned how to talk politics without wrecking relationships, lose weight and keep it off, confront a crazy neighbor, and even survive a shark ...
12.22.2020 How To Stress-Bake with Claire Saffitz Are you sick of sourdough? Stress-baking the same chocolate chip cookies every week? Our listener Daniel understands—he’s been baking like crazy during this pandemic, but is feeling tired and uninspired lately. On this episode of How To!, we bring on ...
12.15.2020 How To Get Your Dog to Stop Eating Your Daughters’ Underwear With Jenny Slate Erin thinks her dog Chief has the most embarrassing habit—he keeps eating her daughters’ underwear. This has happened several times, resulting in multiple costly surgeries. If she can't put a stop to it, it could eventually kill Chief. How can ...
12.11.2020 Bonus Ep - How To Get Out of Debt Faster Than You Think Irina and her husband are more than $100,000 in debt. They’re working to pay it off, but between monthly credit card bills, student loan payments, 401k contributions and spending on their new baby, their money is spread too thin. In ...
12.08.2020 How To Face Your Fear of Dying Katie is terrified of dying. As the youngest in a big family, she can’t stop thinking about the fact that all her loved ones may die before she does. Katie is a comedy writer who knows how to get laughs, ...
12.01.2020 How To Save Your Marriage Lauren and Carlos are afraid their marriage is at a breaking point. With Carlos out of work, an active toddler to care for, and another child on the way, Lauren and Carlos are feeling pressures familiar to many newlyweds—and the ...
11.24.2020 How To Rescue Someone From a Conspiracy Theory Matt’s dad believes some crazy conspiracy theories—that the moon landing was faked, that JFK’s assassination was an inside job, and that QAnon is real. Matt can’t stand talking about politics—or really anything—with his dad these days, but he’s desperate to ...
11.17.2020 How To Have an Open Relationship Abe’s girlfriend wants to try something different—sleeping with other people. In other words, she wants an open relationship. Abe could be on board, but he has some questions. How does that work exactly? What are the ground rules? And what ...
11.10.2020 How To Be the Next Erin Brockovich Mike is an average guy on a mission to change the state of Florida—specifically, to convince the Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to stop overspraying the rivers and lakes with herbicides. As a fisherman, Mike cares deeply about the waterways ...
11.03.2020 How To End a Sibling Rivalry With Kate & Oliver Hudson Sam and his sister used to be close, but lately their relationship feels strained. Years of favoritism toward Sam by their parents has taken its toll and now, after one disastrous family celebration, Sam worries he may lose his sister ...
10.27.2020 How To Avoid Becoming Your Mother Have you ever had a moment where you realized… I’m becoming like my parents? For many of us that can be a funny realization, but for Michelle it was a wakeup call. Her mother can be a bit of a ...
10.23.2020 Bonus Ep - How To Get People to Vote Isabelle decided to spend her gap year as a political volunteer campaigning on behalf of Joe Biden. She’s been writing postcards, making phone calls, and even posting on social media. But she worries she’s not making enough of an impact, ...
10.20.2020 How To Survive a Public Shaming With Katie Hill Back in 2018, newly elected U.S. Representative Katie Hill was a rising star in the Democratic Party. Then unauthorized nude photos of her were leaked to a right-wing blog by her estranged husband, triggering a House Ethics investigation. Katie denied ...
10.13.2020 How To Talk Politics Without Wrecking Relationships On a recent phone call Shannon’s mom didn’t mince words: The only way she’d vote for Joe Biden is if Jesus himself comes down and tells her to. Growing up in a conservative household, Shannon understands her parents’ support for ...
10.06.2020 How To Lose Weight and Keep It Off John needs to shed 15-20 pounds. At age 72, on the cusp of retirement, he wants to reduce his blood pressure medication and have more energy to travel. John knows how to lose weight—at an earlier point in his life ...
09.29.2020 How To Get Away With Murder One day in 1987, a young girl in a small town in upstate New York disappeared and then turned up dead. For seven years her murder went unsolved, until police finally caught the killer, a local man whom everyone knew. ...
09.22.2020 How To Win Arguments Like a Hostage Negotiator Shayne defuses bombs for the military, but in his personal life he’s terrified of confrontation. Take, for example, the time his kids’ babysitter cleaned out a week’s worth of groceries from his fridge and he never said anything. Shayne wants ...
09.15.2020 Cheat Sheet: How To Survive High School & Whatever Comes Next College application season is here and Aria, a 17 year-old senior, is stressing—even more than usual. At her high school in Chicago’s south suburbs, she gets good grades, is on the cheer team, in multiple honor societies, leads the choral ...
09.08.2020 Cheat Sheet: How To Talk to Your Son About Sex Thirteen-year-old Henry seems like a model son. He gets good grades, plays on the hockey team, and has a solid group of friends. But Henry’s been spending a lot more time on the Internet during the pandemic, and recently brought ...
09.01.2020 Cheat Sheet: How To Ace Zoom School Anna is sure the amount of time her two children spend on YouTube or Roblox cannot be good for them. With remote learning this fall, Anna is worried their addiction to screens is only going to worsen, stunting their imagination ...
08.25.2020 How To Become Your Own Boss with Guy Raz Mitchell is a physical therapy student who dreams of revolutionizing the industry. What if physical therapists and their patients weren’t so constrained by insurance companies? His classmates and professors think he’s crazy, but Mitchell thinks disrupting the status quo could ...
08.21.2020 How To! Presents: "Cheat Sheet" Expert tips for navigating a most unusual back-to-school season. A special three-part series coming September 1st! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
08.11.2020 How To Confront a Crazy Neighbor with Tig Notaro The trouble began when Sarah put a fern in front of her new condo. Nice, right? The woman who lives in the unit above didn’t think so, and without warning sent Sarah a slew of passive-aggressive notes. Sarah thinks it’s ...
07.28.2020 How To Get That Promotion You Deserve Johnny is worried about being stuck in the same job forever. He’s been trying to climb the corporate ladder of his software company for years but has had little success. He knows he deserves a promotion, but he doesn’t want ...
07.14.2020 How To Survive a Shark Attack David was in the ocean in Hawaii when the unthinkable happened—a shark attacked him and bit off his leg. “I don’t think you’re gonna make it,” a medic told the 25-year-old on the helicopter ride to the hospital. But David ...
07.07.2020 Bonus Episode - 'Hello Monday' with Jessi Hempel This bonus episode features Charles's recent appearance on the podcast Hello Monday, where host Jessi Hempel discusses the relationship between work and meaning. Charles tells the story of his experience attending Harvard Business School and all that followed after. It ...
06.30.2020 How To Write a Bestseller Lauren already knows the plot of her bestselling novel—the problem is she hasn’t written a word. Paralyzed by self-criticism and an earlier rejection, this former English major has spent years journaling instead of attempting the scary, difficult work of creative ...
06.23.2020 How To Fight Racism in Your Town Chris has always considered himself “on the right side of things,” but as Black Lives Matter protests sweep across the country, he’s starting to realize he needs to do a lot more. As a white man living in Austin, Texas, ...
06.16.2020 How To Stand Up for Your Kid When Society Won’t Karin always thought of herself as the mom of two boys—that is, until last year when her oldest child told her they were nonbinary, meaning they don’t identify as either male or female. Karin loves her kid deeply, but she’s ...
06.09.2020 How To Walk Away from an Impossible Parent When Sydney’s dad texted her, “Do me a favor and lose my number,” she was crushed. At 27, Sydney has always had a rocky relationship with her dad, but she held out hope he could still be a part of ...
06.02.2020 How To Find a New Career Before it's Too Late Donny is ready to leave the restaurant industry once and for all. As a recovering alcoholic, he was already looking for a new career before COVID-19 upended his life. But at 38 years old, Donny has held 30 different jobs, ...
05.26.2020 How To Get a Stubborn Parent to Listen Alan’s 86-year-old dad will not stop driving—even after an incident where he drove off the road and totaled his car. Feeling guilty and worried, Alan has tried to convince his dad to hand over the keys, even enlisting the support ...
05.19.2020 How To Say the Right Thing at the Worst Time Ann’s sister just lost her husband and Ann doesn’t know how to console her. Ann lives in a different state and, having experienced loss herself, knows saying the wrong thing can only add to the hurt. What can Ann do ...

Older episodes

How To!

What's How To! about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

How To! episodes:

How To Have a Fight That Actually Helps Your Relationship

Now Is the Time To Escape Your Bad Relationship. Here’s How.

I’m Great at My Job. So Why Do I Feel Like a Fraud?

How To Give a Killer Speech

I Was Lost at Sea for 438 Days. Here's How I Survived.

How To Fight Rattlesnakes and Polar Bears

How To Write the Perfect Obituary

How To Make an Exit Like Mary Poppins

How To Stop Snoring (And Breathe Easier)

How To Quiet the Chatter in Your Head

How To Survive a Doomsday Cult

How To Fall Out of Love

How To Start Over at 60

How To Leave the Church When Your Dad’s the Pastor

How To Steal Back Your Identity

How To Be a Badass On and Off the Court

How To Get Things Done in a Divided Nation with Samantha Power

Our Favorite Advice of 2020

How To Stress-Bake with Claire Saffitz

How To Get Your Dog to Stop Eating Your Daughters’ Underwear With Jenny Slate

Bonus Ep - How To Get Out of Debt Faster Than You Think

How To Face Your Fear of Dying

How To Save Your Marriage

How To Rescue Someone From a Conspiracy Theory

How To Have an Open Relationship

How To Be the Next Erin Brockovich

How To End a Sibling Rivalry With Kate & Oliver Hudson

How To Avoid Becoming Your Mother

Bonus Ep - How To Get People to Vote

How To Survive a Public Shaming With Katie Hill

How To Talk Politics Without Wrecking Relationships

How To Lose Weight and Keep It Off

How To Get Away With Murder

How To Win Arguments Like a Hostage Negotiator

Cheat Sheet: How To Survive High School & Whatever Comes Next

Cheat Sheet: How To Talk to Your Son About Sex

Cheat Sheet: How To Ace Zoom School

How To Become Your Own Boss with Guy Raz

How To! Presents: "Cheat Sheet"

How To Confront a Crazy Neighbor with Tig Notaro

How To Get That Promotion You Deserve

How To Survive a Shark Attack

Bonus Episode - 'Hello Monday' with Jessi Hempel

How To Write a Bestseller

How To Fight Racism in Your Town

How To Stand Up for Your Kid When Society Won’t

How To Walk Away from an Impossible Parent

How To Find a New Career Before it's Too Late

How To Get a Stubborn Parent to Listen

How To Say the Right Thing at the Worst Time

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