The Backseat Driver Podcast

You're on the 18th tee and all you can see is the water on the left. You are a couple points away from upsetting a better player. Why do these situations all of a sudden make your body feel like you've never done anything athletic in your life. Why does your mind start thinking of when your coach yelled at you when you were 9 years old. And what the heck do we do about it. This episode we break it all down for you!

In this episode we focus on pushing back against time scarcity by examining how we can design life for presence and depth. We will take a deep dive into all the ways we have practically pushed back against the current of productivity so that you can experience more of life in every moment.

We return to the podcast after nearly a year and introduce a discussion inspired by Chris’s Substack “Deep Lessons from Shallow Things,” specifically his article “Intentional Inefficiency.” We examine how modern culture treats efficiency, automation, and productivity as ultimate goals—an undercurrent amplified by AI—and question whether faster and more optimized systems actually improve quality of life. Drawing on Oliver Burkeman’s book “4,000 Weeks,” we discuss time as a cultural construct that became standardized with industrialization and globalization, contrasting it with earlier task-bound rhythms like farming and sleeping with daylight. We discuss that commoditizing time pushes people into constant future-orientation at the expense of presence and relationships, and cite the idea that more productive societies can become less happy. We explore how meaningful work, learning, parenting, and relationships are inherently inefficient. We finish by unpacking the “paradox of limitation,” the stress created by trying to control and optimize everything, and how accepting human finiteness can be freeing, especially for high achievers.

In this episode we talk through some of the big changes in our beliefs over the last few years. We dive deep into the psychology of changing beliefs. We explore some of the unchallenged assumptions of the world around us, and discuss the pros and cons of these narratives.

In this episode we dive into the battle for your attention especially in relation to your smartphone. Have you ever seen how many pickups you have per day? Have you wondered about the endless scroll on social media? Why do we have so many notifications? We cover all of this and more in this episode to help you focus better and be more present everyday.

Phone Table Study
The Anxious Generation
Stolen Focus

In the episode we interview sports dietician Alaine Mills. Alaine is a sports dietician with MUSC and the Charleston Battery.  During our conversation we discuss her approach to helping athletes maximize their fueling, the most common mistakes she sees in her practice, and her pet peeves about nutrition mis-information.

In this episode we debate whether you can become elite at something and still have an element of balance in your life. We also discuss if insecurity is inherent to becoming great. 

Have you ever had the thought that working away your prime and hoping for an exciting retirement just did not make sense then this is the episode for you! We take a deep dive into the background on delayed gratification, how it became overhyped, and how to find the right balance in order to enjoy your life now.

In this episode we discuss our take on the recent group stage exit for USA soccer. We also discuss the Euro and Copa America tournaments. Last, we talk about the art of sports and how data disrupts that creativity.