A lot of the things that we’ve learned about how our minds work are simply not true.

Did you know that a small part of your brain can fall asleep while the other parts are awake and working? And we can't trust our memories, either: it turns out that much of what ends up getting stored in memory, especially what people remember about themselves and their past, is a distortion.

But it's not all bad news! Listen as Dr. Daniel Levitin of The Organized Mind sheds light on what we've long misunderstood about our brains and makes recommendations on how to keep your mind healthy with “cellular housekeeping."

Stick around after the interview for when Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin Schiller to talk about the key ideas in this episode and recommend some great reads on the various functions of the all-mighty mind.

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to

Let us know what you thought of the episode, or just give us some book recommendations on Twitter—we’d love to hear from you! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller and Ben at @bsto.

That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/niceaux).

As a sex educator, Emily Nagoski sees her main purpose as “teaching people to live with confidence and joy inside their bodies.” Step one? Understanding what’s actually going on in there!

In this episode, Nagoski employs colorful analogies to illustrate the ways in which our minds and bodies react to stressful situations (spoiler alert: you'll have to use your imagination and become a gazelle) and to describe our physical responses to sexually relevant information (enter: car metaphor).

If you’ve been anxious about sex, are struggling to connect to a long-term partner, or just want to understand yourself better, this episode offers lots of calm, informed, empathetic advice on how you can find your way.

Stick around after the interview for when Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin Schiller to talk about the big ideas in this episode and help make a sexy book list for your nightstand.

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to

Let us know what you thought of the episode, or just give us some book recommendations on Twitter—we’d love to hear from you! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller and Ben at @bsto.

That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/niceaux).

Pultizer-prize-winning, bestselling author and NYT writer Charles Duhigg has cracked the code to what makes the world’s most productive people so effective—and how you can use those techniques for yourself. Listen in to hear why self-belief is the key to real, lasting change and find out which productivity tips Duhigg’s teaching his kids. Plus, hear the smart, slightly dirty productivity trick he pulled on Caitlin.

If you want to break an old habit or be your most innovative, creative self, then this episode is for you!

After the interview, Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin to go deeper into the ideas and books covered in this episode. Also, they make a booklist to help you keep becoming more productive.

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/

Let us know what you thought of the episode, or just give us some book recommendations on Twitter—we’d love to hear from you! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller and Ben at @bsto.

That excellent music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/niceaux) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/niceaux).

Simplify Season 3 launches next week with an episode featuring Nobel Prize-winner, NYT columnist, and master of habits: Charles Duhigg! If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @CaitlinSchiller.

One more thing! We'd still love to get your voices on Simplify. Specifically, we want to hear how you would answer one of the questions we always ask our guests: “What have you discovered was much easier than you initially thought it was?” Just record your answer as a voice memo on your phone and email the audio file to us at [email protected].

See you next week!

What’s better than getting to the heart of a great idea? Getting to the heart of seven great ideas in under 40 minutes—which is exactly what happens in this best-of episode.

Hear from Simplify Season 1 and 2’s most beloved guests, including Seth Godin, David Allen, Dan Savage, Jaclyn Friedman, Ryan Holiday, and more. And stick around after the last interview’s rolled to hear hosts Ben Schuman-Stoler and Caitlin Schiller share a very special Bookend—plus some quality overshares from their lives.

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-everything-simplifys-2017-sampler-episode.

Quick reminder: Great news: Simplify will be back! In preparation for Season 3, we’re collecting your voices. We’d love to hear how you answer one of the questions we always ask our guests: “What have you discovered was much simpler than you initially thought it was?” Just record your answer with a voice memo app of your choice and then email it to us at [email protected].

If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @caitlinschiller. Let them know what you're reading!

Thanks to Nico Guiang for our fantastic intro and outro music. Listen to more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.

In this bonus episode of Simplify season 2, we talk with Eli Finkel. Finkel is a writer and social psychologist at Northwestern University. He's also the author of the new book The All-or-Nothing Marriage.

On this episode, Caitlin Schiller talks to Finkel about where the ideas in the book came from. Finkel explains how he discovered that marriage is tied to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: throughout history, the main purpose of marriage was tied to survival, but today we’re asking for much more. We want our marriage to make us better people; to help us realize our best selves.

He and Caitlin dive into social psychology, long-term passion, and a couple of “love hacks” that can get you and your partner back on track.

After the interview, Ben Schuman-Stoler and Emily Phillips discuss the key takeaways of the interview and make a booklist for anyone who wants to read more about changing your mindset (which has more to do with good relationships than you think!).

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-marriage-eli-finkel.

Quick reminder: This season, we are collecting your voices! It's not as creepy as it sounds, we promise. We just would love to hear how you would answer one of the questions we always ask our guests: “What have you discovered was much easier than you initially thought it was?” You can just record your answer with any voice memo app and email it to us at [email protected].

If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @CaitlinSchiller. Let them know what you're reading!

Thanks to Nico Guiang for our fantastic intro and outro music. Listen to more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.

Rebecca Traister is an author and writer-at-large for New York Magazine. She writes about women, culture, and politics, and her most recent book is All The Single Ladies.

On this episode of Simplify, Traister and Caitlin Schiller discuss the larger meaning of singlehood, why marriage doesn’t make any sense anymore, and the one thing that attracts the most single-ladies. It's part Traister's story, part journalism, part history, and part crazy clever idea-connecting.

After the interview, Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin to discuss the key takeaways of the interview and make a booklist for anyone who wants to read more about this.

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to http://blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-singlehood-feminist-writer-rebecca-traister-power-single.

Quick reminder: This season, we are collecting your voices! It's not as creepy as it sounds, we promise. We just would love to hear how you would answer one of the questions we always ask our guests: “What have you discovered was much easier than you initially thought it was?” You can just record your answer with any voice memo app and email it to us at [email protected].

If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @CaitlinSchiller. Let them know what you're reading!

Thanks to Nico Guiang for our fantastic intro and outro music. Listen to more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.

Julian Treasure is a sound designer, a musician, and a public speaker—his TED talks have been viewed more than 40 million times!—and he’s also a master of what he calls the “silent skill:" listening.

In this episode, Treasure talks to Caitlin about the 7 deadly sins of speaking, how your listening shapes who you are, and why certain cities sound so delicious to our ears.

Plus, Caitlin finds out why she feels old every time she walks past an Abercrombie & Fitch store.

After their conversation, Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin to make a booklist about sound, listening, communication, and Sam Harris.

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-communication-julian-treasure

This season, we are collecting your voices, dear listeners (not as creepy as it sounds)! Specifically, we’d love to hear how you would answer one of the questions we always ask our guests: “What have you discovered was much easier than you initially thought it was?”

You can just record your answer with a voice memo app of your choice and then email it to us at [email protected]. We are looking forward to listening to your responses, and stay tuned—you just might hear yourself on a future episode of Simplify!

If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @CaitlinSchiller.

Your hosts are Caitlin Schiller and Ben Schuman-Stoler.

Stellar research and production assistance by the outstanding Natallia Darozhkina.

Thanks to Nico Guiang for our fantastic intro and outro music. Listen more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.

Sound and editing by Ody Constantinou and Ben Jackson.

Jaclyn Friedman is a writer, sex-educator, and activist whose work helped establish the “yes means yes” standard of sexual consent. Her new book, Unscrewed; Women, Sex, Power, And How To Stop Letting the System Screw Us All, was released in November, 2017.

On this episode of Simplify, Caitlin Schiller talks with Friedman about sexual empowerment – or the lack thereof, which Friedman calls “Fauxpowerment.” They discuss some of the fundamental challenges to women becoming truly sexually empowered and what’s at stake if we don’t make it happen. In between, they touch on nitty gritties ranging from the politics of the Spice Girls to tactics for talking to your partner about sex.

Plus, they break down where the term “girl power” comes from.

After their conversation, Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin to make a booklist about good sex and working with (or against) the powers that be.

(FYI- we're publishing this episode a day earlier than our usual Thursday release date because tomorrow Blinkist is having an all-day Holiday Party! Woot! Next week we'll be back to Thursdays.)

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-sexual-empowerment-jaclyn-friedman-youre-not-broken/.

Quick reminder: This season, we are collecting your voices! It's not as creepy as it sounds, we promise. We just would love to hear how you would answer one of the questions we always ask our guests: “What have you discovered was much easier than you initially thought it was?” You can just record your answer with any voice memo app and email it to us at [email protected].

If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @CaitlinSchiller. Let them know what you're reading!

Thanks to Nico Guiang for our fantastic intro and outro music. Listen to more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.

Coach of coaches Michael Bungay Stanier is a bestselling author and #3 coach worldwide according to Global Guru. In this episode of Simplify, Bungay Stanier talks to Caitlin Schiller about why leaders who get quiet, get curious, and ask a few simple questions are more successful than advice-giving maniacs.

(Warning: you're probably an advice-giving maniac.)

Bungay Stanier explains how you can be more coach-like without becoming a drill instructor. There are a few surprises along the way: being lazy is a good thing, for example. And sometimes, when you know the right answer, you just have to shut up. (In the interview, Caitlin learns this the hard way.)

After the interview, Ben Schuman-Stoler joins Caitlin to make a booklist about the topics covered in this episode. Bill Bryson is involved.

For more info, including links to everything we discussed in the episode and a voucher to use Blinkist for free, go to https://www.blinkist.com/magazine/posts/simplify-coaching-michael-bungay-stanier-podcast.

Quick reminder: This season, we are collecting your voices! It's not as creepy as it sounds, we promise. We just would love to hear how you would answer one of the questions we always ask our guests: “What have you discovered was much easier than you initially thought it was?” You can just record your answer with any voice memo app and email it to us at [email protected].

If you want to say hi to Ben and Caitlin in the meantime, you can find them on Twitter: @bsto and @CaitlinSchiller. Let them know what you're reading!

Thanks to Nico Guiang for our fantastic intro and outro music. Listen to more on Soundcloud or check him out on Facebook.