Some people can hold a room, sound confident, and talk for 20 minutes without actually communicating much of anything.

Stephen and Danny talk about the difference between speaking well and communicating well, why intelligence can sometimes make teaching harder, what good listeners do differently, and whether communication is a skill almost anyone can learn.

Also: pointless meetings, golf swing revelations, fake listening, a professor with three whiteboards full of differential equations, and an unexpectedly serious investigation into whether mimes are lying to us.

How much of success is skill—and how much is just luck?

After Danny tells the story of the golf swing that ended his career before it started, we try to figure out whether you can actually create your own luck. We get into billionaires, sports, careers, marriage, beginner's luck, confidence, preparation, opportunity, and why taking more shots might actually change your odds.

Plus: why other people's preparation can look like luck, what to do when life deals people very different hands, and whether luck opens the door while skill keeps you in the room.

**We are not doctors, and this is not medial advice**

What if the world isn’t as scary as your brain says it is?

Stephen tells the story of leaving a bag—with his wallet inside—in a Chicago park for four hours and somehow finding it exactly where he left it. Danny explains why perfectly normal people voluntarily run 26.2 miles, and we talk about World Cup visitors discovering an America that didn’t quite match the caricature they expected.

Along the way: tipping culture, Dungeons & Dragons, marathon suffering, red flags vs. unfamiliarity, why some people are just hard to understand, and what it looks like to be wise without becoming suspicious.

Maybe most things look a little crazier from the outside.

What if your dream job isn’t something you find—but something you help create?

This week, Stephen and Danny ask whether loving your job is overrated, what we should actually expect work to give us, whether meaningful work is worth making less money, and how much responsibility we have for turning the job we already have into a good one.

Then we play Pick Your Pain: five years in one job, same pay, same status—and some truly terrible career options.

And on The Internet Made Me Think: the remarkable story of Market Basket employees rallying around their fired CEO, and what companies might be missing when they treat good employees as replaceable.

Would you take less money for a job you loved? Or is a job ultimately just a job?

Is college still worth the time, money, and debt—or are we hanging onto an outdated path to a good career?

We talk about what our degrees actually did for us, when college is worth paying for, how much debt is too much, whether specialized degrees are different, and what we'd tell our 18-year-old selves today.

Also: adult hobbies, Irish goodbyes, a high-school pop quiz, the woman who helped make computers feel human—and Danny eats a dog treat.

Our parents could buy houses, stay at one company for decades, and follow a pretty predictable path toward a stable life. We have more information, more options, and maybe more opportunity than any generation before us—so why does adulthood sometimes feel harder?

This week, we talk about whether previous generations actually had it easier, why stability has become harder to find, the strange tradeoff between ordinary success and extraordinary opportunity, and what it takes to build a good life when there’s no obvious path to follow.

Plus: should employers be asking ChatGPT what kind of person you are, when does relying on AI go too far, a very pessimistic C.S. Lewis character, MapQuest vs. TikTok, and the incredible story of Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers.

Making friends used to happen almost automatically. School, sports, college, neighborhoods—you were constantly surrounded by people. Then adulthood happens, and suddenly finding even one close friend can take a surprising amount of effort.

This week, Danny and Stephen talk about why adult friendship is so difficult, the disappearance of “third places,” why friendship requires margin, and why sometimes you have to pursue ten people to find one you really connect with.

Plus: Formula 1 is apparently trying to rewrite the laws of physics, and we draft the ultimate friend groups from movies and TV.

A Podcast about...Coffee? Adventure?

We are all becoming something—but how much of that change are we actually choosing?

In this episode, Stephen and Danny talk about the habits, algorithms, complaints, comforts, and repeated choices that quietly shape who we become. Can you train your algorithm without letting it train you? Does venting help, or does it lower your tolerance for discomfort? And do we discover courage before doing hard things—or somewhere along the way?

A conversation about doomscrolling, discipline, suffering, motivation, Lord of the Rings, and why you may be stronger than you think.

Some things make perfect sense—until you try to explain them.

Inexplicable is a conversational podcast about the strange beliefs, everyday arguments, cultural habits, personal stories, and big questions that shape the way we live.

New episodes weekly.

Why has disagreement become so difficult—and why do so many conversations stay shallow?

In the first episode of Inexplicable, Stephen and Danny talk about friendship, certainty, social media arguments, shrinking attention spans, and what it takes to understand someone who sees the world differently.

Can two people strongly disagree and still be genuine friends? Why does sharing an opinion feel so personal? Is confidence a sign that someone knows what they’re talking about—or could uncertainty actually make us more accurate?

A conversation about political coffee shops, unfollowing your friends, the average weight of an elephant, The Lord of the Rings, and why clarity may matter more than certainty.

Some things make perfect sense—until you try to explain them.

Inexplicable is a conversational podcast about the strange beliefs, everyday arguments, cultural habits, personal stories, and big questions that shape the way we live.

New episodes weekly.