The Zack Arnold Podcast

How do you make time to read more books and build a reading habit that lasts in a world full of distractions?

Alex Wieckowski, better known online as Alex & Books, has been writing and posting about the importance of reading books to his more than 1 million followers across social media since 2017. He has read over 750 books and he's currently writing the 21st century version of Mortimer Adler's classic text How to Read a Book. In today's conversation, Alex and I talk about why reading real books matters more than ever in the age of AI. We discuss the four different types of reading and how better understanding these different approaches can help you build a more consistent reading habit. We'll help you choose what to read, reclaim the time to read it, and remember what you read long after you've closed the book.

If you've got a stack of books you keep meaning to get to, or it's been so long since you read a book you don't even know where to start, Alex and I will show you that Reading is a skill anyone can develop and improve.

• Make reading part of the time you already have instead of waiting to find more time. Use a time journal to see where your hours are actually going, then prioritize reading or build it into an existing routine.
• Choose books that address what you’re working through right now. Reading when you need the information most makes it easier to remember what you learn and put it into practice.
• Read the whole book when the ideas matter instead of outsourcing the struggle to a summary. The stories, context, and effort of reading are part of what make the lessons memorable and meaningful.

• Origin story of loving reading as a kid to losing it, then finding it again.
• Why books could become more popular in the age of AI as people look for ways to exercise their brains.
• Why the struggle of reading is part of the learning, and what gets lost when someone else does the work for you.
• Using the table of contents as a map and the three-chapter rule for knowing when to quit.
• How syntopical reading turns three to five books on one subject into a “mini PhD”.
• The simple time journal that reveals where your hours are actually going and helps you reclaim time for reading.
• Why “read it when you need it” can help you choose books that are relevant enough to remember and apply.
• How a simple distraction catcher can get intrusive thoughts out of your head without pulling you away from the book.
• Why reading 100 books a year is not the goal, and why speed reading can sacrifice the very things that make reading valuable.
• How the Reading Triangle forces you to choose between enjoyment, retention, and speed instead of trying to maximize all three.

• How Tiny Changes Can Create Remarkable Results | with James Clear
• How to Become ‘Indistractable’ | with Nir Eyal

• How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie Books
• How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler
• Write a Must Read by A.J. Harper
• Write Useful Books by Rob Fitzpatrick
• 4,000 Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
• Community Made by Jayson Gaignard
• Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg
• The Elephant in the Brain by Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson

Alex Wieckowski is the creator of Alex & Books, where he shares book recommendations, summaries, reviews, and reading tips from more than 750 books. He is also the author of Learn To Love Reading and creator of The Art of Reading, a course focused on helping people find books, build better reading habits, take notes, remember what they read, and apply what they learn. His work is dedicated to helping more people discover the value and enjoyment of reading.

Alex's Website Alex and Books

Alex's Course The Art of Reding

Alex's Book Learn To Love Reading

Alex's Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube | Substack

Edited by: Curtis Fritsch

Published by: Vim Pangantihon

Music by: Thomas Cepeda

We seldom write for ourselves because we instead want our stories to touch others. Yet we’re often terrified to put our work (and ourselves!) out into the world. How can we walk the line between wanting to make things that matter while also making sure other people know we made these things for them?

I discuss this (and so much more), with Allison Sweet Grant, a former psychiatric nurse practitioner turned author whose is the author of the novel I Am the Cage and the new memoir Lump: A Memoir in Ineloquent Reflections, which candidly explores her experience with breast cancer. In this conversation, we talked about the power of the written word to help create emotional connection, why she chose to write about what cancer actually feels like (rather than her “journey”), and how carefully chosen words can help someone feel less alone.

If you're going through something hard, or trying to support someone who is, this conversation offers a different way to connect through uncertainty, pain, and shared experience.

• Put your hardest experiences into words instead of keeping them inside. Writing can help you process what happened, get it out of you, and onto something else.
• Write about what something feels like, not just what someone needs to do. Practical information can tell you what comes next, but emotional truth can help someone feel less alone.
• Stop apologizing for pain you didn't choose. Fear of being a burden can cause you to swallow your struggles and limit the possibility for connection.

• What a memoir looks like when it mirrors the most difficult period of your life
• How the same chemo room can feel like hell to one patient and like a heaven that is saving someone's life
• Why a book for people too sick to finish a chapter comes in bite-sized pieces
• Why the language of the "cancer journey" never fit, and how they can place an identity on someone
• On Riches: a scene about pancakes that becomes a lesson in noticing the small details you want to remember
• Five Letters: the poem about packing a chemo bag and leaving letters on the table
• Why putting real human words and real human experiences on the page matters more
• I'm sorry, I'm okay: why we apologize for being an inconvenience and a burden
• How the involuntary combination of colors with letters and numbers has influenced her choices
• Just My Luck: a rant against everything people say caused cancer

• From Setback to Comeback: Finding Strength in the Hardest Moments | with Bevin Farrand
• How to Keep Moving Forwards After You've Lost Everything | with Christina Rasmussen

• On Vulnerability and the Courageous Act of Creating From a Place of Truth | with Allison Sweet Grant
• Glennon Doyle
• Zingerman's

Allison Sweet Grant is an author who has been published in The New York Times and The Atlantic. Previously, she was a psychiatric nurse practitioner; she holds dual master's degrees from the University of Michigan. An introvert, synesthete, and avid poet, Allison can usually be found at home with a cup of hot tea in hand, reading or rewatching a film she has seen sixteen times. She lives outside of Philadelphia with her husband and their three children (and two cats, Pom-Pom and Jasper).

Allison's Website

Allison's Books: I Am the Cage | Lump: A Memoir in Ineloquent Reflections

Allison's Instagram | Facebook

Edited by: Curtis Fritsch

Published by: Vim Pangantihon

Music by: Thomas Cepeda

Quickly find exactly the right interview for your needs with this helpful index.

If we haven't met before, hey! I'm Zack, an award-winning Hollywood editor and documentary director turned writer, speaker, and career coach who is fascinated by humans, especially the oddball, introverted, and often neurodivergent "creatives" like us who see the world just a little differently. If you're new to the podcast, I've provided the best of the best from my interview archive to get you started on the right learning path. And if you're looking to solve a specific problem, head over to zackarnold.com/episodes to search our entire library.

• Oliver Burkeman | Why Optimization Isn’t the Answer (and How to Make the Most of Our Four Thousand Weeks On Earth)
• Amie McNee | Why the World Needs Your Art (Even When It's On Fire)
• James Clear | How Tiny Changes Can Create Remarkable Results
• Cal Newport | Becoming a ‘Digital Minimalist’
• Greg McKeown | The Disciplined Pursuit of Less
• Jay Papasan | How to Accomplish Your ‘One Thing’ Every Day
• Gretchen Rubin | Using ‘The Four Tendencies’ to Better Understand Yourself (and Others)

• Jay Clouse | The Intersection of Legacy Hollywood and Next-Gen Content Creators
• Kylee Peña | Creativity in The Age of AI
• OpenAI’s Chad Nelson | How Artificial Intelligence Could Shape the Future of Creativity and Collaboration (and How We Can Survive)

• Christina Wallace | How to Future-Proof Your Creative Career, Avoid Burnout, and Build a Life Bigger Than Your Résumé
• Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar | How to Pursue Fulfilling Work and Find Your ‘Calling’
• Annie Duke | How to Know (Without a Doubt) If It’s Time to Quit
• Mauro Guillén | Redefining Your Career Path in a Post Generational Society
• Philippe Danielides | How to Know What You Actually Want (and Find Support to Make It Happen)

• Chase Jarvis | Building Your Network of ‘A-Gamers,’ Designing the Life You Want, and Fulfilling Your ‘Creative Calling’
• Selena Soo | How to Build 'Rich Relationships' (Especially For Introverts)
• Carole Kirschner | How to Leave an Impression, Build Your Network, & Get Hired
• Troy Takaki, ACE | Networking (the Right Way), Mentorship, and Connecting with ‘Experts’
• Scott Davis | [CASE STUDY] Why People Don’t Respond to Your Cold Outreach (and How to Get a Response)

• Joey Cofone | What Creativity Is, How It Works, and the Laws to Learning It
• Scott Barry Kaufman | How We are “Wired to Create”, What It Means to Be a “Creative”, and How We Can Leverage Our Unique Gifts
• Allison Sweet Grant | On Vulnerability and the Courageous Act of Creating From a Place of Truth
• Nir Eyal | How to Become ‘Indistractable’
• David Allen | The Zen-like Art of ‘Getting Things Done’
• Cal Newport | FOCUS: The Superpower of the 21st Century

• Dr. Edison de Mello | Understanding the Difference Between Integrative & Traditional Medicine
• Dr. Azure Grant | Optimizing Sleep, Productivity, & Creativity Using Ultradian Rhythms and Self-Tracking
• Shawn Stevenson | How to Sleep Smarter
• Dr. John Ratey | How Regular Movement Makes You Smarter
• Dr. Joan Vernikos | How Being Sedentary Is Damaging You (According to NASA)

• Dr. David Fajgenbaum | What Five Near-Death Experiences Can Teach Us About Living
• Bevin Farrand | From Setback to Comeback: Finding Strength in the Hardest Moments
• Shane Burcaw | Rewiring Your Brain to Be Happier
• Sandy Zimmerman, ANW | How to Overcome Doubting Yourself When You Know You’re Meant For More
• Jimmy Choi, ANW | Using Fitness to Overcome Parkinson’s and Become a Ninja

We’re living through a time when meaningful relationships have never been more important, yet reaching out to the people who could help us most can feel harder than ever. In this mini-episode, I explore why we’re lonelier and more disconnected despite being globally hyperconnected, and why so many of us are terrified to reach out. I share why our only path forwards through this confusing next phase of work and life is together, and how kind, thoughtful, and genuinely HUMAN outreach can turn connection into an act of service. Along the way, I pull back the curtain on how I built my entire creative career and my upcoming Connection Conference from the comfort of my pajamas, using hand-crafted, well-researched, and thoughtful cold outreach emails to connect with some of the world’s leading experts in psychology, communication, creativity, and AI.

All that in more in my latest Substack → The People You Want to Connect With Want to Connect With You

When you're done → ​I'd love your thoughts here in the comments!

If you enjoyed this article and you don't want to miss my future essays, my actionable insights, and my soapbox rants about navigating the world as analog humans in today's digital hellscape, make sure to subscribe at zackarnold.com/substack.

What if success isn’t about avoiding failure but instead learning how to try again when you do fail?

In this episode, I talk with Steve Kamb, founder of Nerd Fitness and author of How to Try Again. Steve built a global fitness community of over 50,000 members and 20 coaches, gave a TEDx talk, and has worked with companies like Google and Facebook. But he’s also faced procrastination, perfectionism, and personal setbacks. We explore why constant optimization doesn’t always work, and how accepting failure and learning to restart might be the real key to lasting progress.

• Stop trying to win for a moment and focus on staying afloat. Sometimes the most courageous move is not making progress but treading water long enough to see what tomorrow brings.
• Accept your reality with complete sincerity and compassion. Acceptance is not resignation or giving up. It is looking clearly at what is actually happening so you can decide what to do next.
• Recognize that change often feels more like caterpillar goo than a beautiful transformation. The messy middle is not evidence that you're failing. It is often evidence that real change is happening.

• When everything crumbles all at once and you're forced to actually live the very advice you're writing about.
• Brett Archibald's unbelievable survival story and what it teaches about swimming in the wrong direction.
• Acceptance without resignation and how to face reality without losing hope.
• Why waiting for things to "get back to normal" may be the most dangerous habit of all.
• The concept of "yes, and" as a practical framework for navigating uncertainty.
• Caterpillar soup: the uncomfortable truth about what transformation actually looks like.
• Why Atomic Habits works for many people and what happens when consistency becomes impossible.
• The mindset shift that starts with: “You don’t have to”
• How vulnerability helps you find people who will do the thing with you
• Why chasing perfection paralyze creativity, and embracing your voice unlocks breakthrough
• What future Steve would tell his 10-years-younger self about success, failure, and change

• How Tiny Changes Can Create Remarkable Results | with James Clear
• Using ‘The Four Tendencies’ to Better Understand Yourself (and Others) | with Gretchen Rubin

• Dialectical Behavior Therapy
• James Clear’s Atomic Habits
• Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit

Steve Kamb is an author and full-time internet writer who has been publishing online since 2010. He is the founder of Nerd Fitness, an organization he launched as a hobby in 2009 that expanded into a global health and wellness community with millions of readers. Steve is a dedicated bookworm, gamer, and cinephile who explores behavior change and personal development through his weekly newsletter, Level Up With Steve Kamb. He is a TEDx speaker who has delivered presentations for major corporations and Vanderbilt University. His published work includes the book Level Up Your Life and his June 2026 release, How to Try Again.

Steve’s Website | Nerd Fitness

Steve’s Books: How To Try Again | Level Up Your Life

Steve’s Substack | Threads | Instagram | Youtube

Edited by: Curtis Fritsch

Published by: Vim Pangantihon

Music by: Thomas Cepeda

As someone who has built diverse professional networks across three industries, and secured over a decade’s worth of employment through cold outreach, I had to find out whether AI is actually killing one of the most effective and human ways we connect with one another. In this episode, I dig into the rise of AI-generated “personalized” messages, and why thoughtful, human-generated outreach may be more effective than ever in a world desperate for real, imperfect, authentic connections.

All that in more in my latest Substack → Have the robots killed cold outreach?

When you're done → ​I'd love your thoughts here in the comments!

If you enjoyed this article and you don't want to miss my future essays, my actionable insights, and my soapbox rants about navigating the world as analog humans in today's digital hellscape, make sure to subscribe at zackarnold.com/substack.

Not convinced yet that cold outreach can still be effective, even in The Age of AI? Join The Connection Conference, a live virtual event I’m launching in October. The guest list is absolutely BANANAS! Curious how I built my entire guest list? Yup, you guessed it.

Kind, thoughtful, and value-driven cold outreach. 😁

If you’ve ever wondered why we’re more “connected” than any point in human history yet somehow more lonely and isolated than ever, this conversation is for you. In this episode, I explore why we’ve lost sight of what it means to “connect,” how social media turned an awkward, messy, and imperfect human process into mindless clicks, likes, and subscribes, and why AI now threatens to remove humans from the loop completely. As a self-proclaimed extreme introvert, I’ve desperately wanted to believe I could be “discovered” while working alone in my creative cave, but I’ve learned that the quality of our lives is dictated by the quality of our relationships, and creative inspiration doesn’t happen in isolation.

All that in more in my latest Substack → We’ve lost sight of what it means to “connect”

When you're done → ​I'd love your thoughts here in the comments!

If you enjoyed this article and you don't want to miss my future essays, my actionable insights, and my soapbox rants about navigating the world as analog humans in today's digital hellscape, make sure to subscribe at zackarnold.com/substack.

Ready to hit the reset button and rethink what it truly means to connect as analog humans in this digital nightmare? Join me at The Connection Conference, where we’ll explore the psychology, communication, creativity, and AI behind the art and science of true human connection.

I’ve built my entire creative career on outreach, yet I spent years believing it was just emails, nothing special, until my students began handing me their messages and asking why they weren’t getting responses. In this mini-episode, I pull back the curtain on the first “vomit draft” of my new book, The Outreach Survival Guide, and explore why everything we’ve ever wanted is on the other side of outreach, why everyone is reachable via email, and why the robots writing email slop are making it harder than ever to genuinely connect with another human being. If you’ve ever stared at your inbox, overthought every sentence, wondered why nobody taught us how to write a good email, or felt like your hopes and dreams were trapped behind someone else’s inbox, this essay will show you why thoughtful, kind, and personal messages still matter, why our survival depends on the strength of our relationships, and why a world of opportunities opens when we stop writing messages and start telling stories.

All that in more in my latest Substack → Everything you've ever wanted to know about connecting with humans (but were afraid to ask)

When you're done → ​I'd love your thoughts here in the comments!

If you enjoyed this article and you don't want to miss my future essays, my actionable insights, and my soapbox rants about navigating the world as analog humans in today's digital hellscape, make sure to subscribe at zackarnold.com/substack.

I'm just going to dive right in and point out the giant elephant in the room (elephant SFX): It's been a LOOOOOONG time since I've released a new podcast interview. It's been almost a year now, in fact, since I hosted my 5-day virtual summit about navigating the future of entertainment. And this is by far the longest gap I've had between episodes since all the way back to when I launched the podcast in 2014. Over the last decade I've conducted well over 400 long form interviews, and I always prided myself on **being a good little content creator who pleased the algorithms by consistently releasing new content on a weekly basis.

Ugh...there are so many things I hate about that sentence.

One, I disdain the term "content creator." That's not to say that I disdain content creators, in fact there are several that I follow religiously, learn from, and highly recommend. But at the same time, I can't stand what this term has come to represent and the expectations that come with it. I didn't launch a podcast so I could add "content" to people's news feeds and to-do lists, I launched a podcast because I love exploring the human experience, learning about individuals and their journeys, and sharing this knowledge with others whom it can benefit. And it just so happens people ended up finding me and getting value from these conversations. So I just kept doing it. And a global community emerged around these conversations. But then the excitement of building something was overtaken by a dark pit in my stomach. An overwhelming feeling took hold that I "have to" be releasing content every single week, or else I'm letting my listeners down.

The second thing I hate is the idea that content creators work for the algorithms...and let's be honest, content creators have become slaves to the algorithms across all the platforms. And I frankly have no interest in being a part of an ecosystem that deals dopamine hits with the intent of keeping analog humans tethered to their digital binkies, disassociated from their thoughts and feelings, incapable of tolerating boredom, and preventing them from being more present for the actual people around them.

And third, I shudder at the term "consistently." Content creator burnout is an absolute epidemic across industries and platforms. On the surface it may sound amazing to run your own business, do your own thing, and generate revenue by making your own stuff by your own rules. But once you became a slave to the algorithms, the only way to consistently support yourself is feeding said algorithms. . And as someone with ADHD, let's just say consistency with...well...anything is not my strong suit. So in short, I'm over it. All of it. No thanks. I'm out of the consistency game.

In my most recent Substack essay about declaring Expectation Bankruptcy (which you can listen to in this same podcast feed), I go into much deeper detail about this next phase of my creative career, but to briefly summarize what's relevant to you, the podcast listener:

As of Wednesday, May 27th , I've started working on my first book. I’ve transitioned from the future tense mindset of “I’m going to write a book someday when all of the conditions are perfect and I have all of my ducks in a row and I’m ready and prepared” to the present tense of actually writing the fucking book despite not being ready and not having the time.

To quote bestselling author and artist Austin Kleon:

If I want to be a writer, I need to be writing. Not waiting to write. Not preparing to write. FUCKING. WRITING.

Given this will most likely be the most difficult professional undertaking of my entire career, and having recently declared expectation bankruptcy, these are my new zero-based expectations for you, the podcast listener:

• I’ll do my best to release a couple of long-form podcast interviews for per month. I might hit this goal. I might not. I might even release more! Who knows. But the book comes first.
• I’ll do my best to write a couple of long form Substack essays per month. I might hit this goal. I might not. But the book comes first.
• I will continue to work with clients and students in The Arnold Academy both privately and in small groups, but I will protect my calendar such that there is always time to write. Because the book comes first.

Having said that, I will continue to explore the human condition and how we as analog humans fit into this new digital world dominated by robots. And in doing so I intend to introduce you to different ideas and perspectives from a multitude of experts, authors, filmmakers, storytellers, and inspirational humans doing awesome things. I will not be interviewing people that are trending, and by and large I will not be accepting cold solicitations for podcast guests. I will chat with people I find interesting and that have value to provide you, whether they have a book releasing this week or they haven't released anything in fifty years. If the conversation can make your life even a little better, my goal is to record it and make it available to you.

Despite not having an endless conveyor belt of new and fresh content coming your way on a weekly basis, I want to remind you that my entire library of conversations are evergreen educational resources that you can now discover and search by learning path at zackarnold.com/episodes. Whether you want to navigate the next act of your career, build your dream network, do your best creative work, learn how to take better care of yourself, or just plain be inspired, you can find whatever conversation you need sorted by learning paths, your unique goals, and the obstacles standing in your way. Once again you can access my entire episode index and find the exact conversation you need when you need it at zackarnold.com/episodes.

On that note, I look forward to years if not decades to come of engaging, insightful, and inspirations conversations with fascinating, highly creative humans. And I'm so glad you're along the ride with me. Thank you so much for letting me into your earbuds, your inbox, and your heart. Take care of yourself, and be well.

If you constantly feel like you're falling behind, failing to meet your own expectations, or exhausting yourself trying to optimize every facet of your work and life, this episode is for you.

In this mini-episode, I share why years of measuring my self-worth by unchecked boxes, unfinished goals, and an endless pursuit of perfection left me burned out, frustrated, and stuck chasing a version of success that no longer fit the life I wanted to build. Through stories of career pivots, painful failures, unexpected setbacks, and lessons from one of the greatest athletes of all time, I explore what happens when you stop comparing yourself to who you used to be, let go of expectations that no longer serve you, and embrace the uncomfortable reality that you may never feel ready. If you're tired of waiting for the perfect time, the perfect plan, or the perfect version of yourself before taking action, this episode might help you finally start from where you are instead of where you think you should be.

All that in more in my latest Substack → ​I Declare 'Expectation Bankruptcy!'​

When you're done → ​I'd love your thoughts here in the comments!

If you enjoyed this article and you don't want to miss my future essays, my actionable insights, and my soapbox rants about navigating the world as analog humans in today's digital hellscape, make sure to subscribe at zackarnold.com/substack.