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Join How to Be a Better Human as we take a look within and beyond ourselves.

How to Be a Better Human isn’t your average self improvement podcast. Each week join comedian Chris Duffy in conversation with guests and past speakers as they uncover sharp insights and give clear takeaways on how YOU can be a better human.

From your work to your home and your head to your heart, How to Be a Better Human looks in unexpected places for new ways to improve and show up for one another. Inspired by the popular series of the same name on TED’s Ideas blog, How to Be a Better Human will help you become a better person from the comfort of your own headphones.

Follow Chris on Instagram at @chrisiduffy

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to Be a Better Human

Remember those fun high school superlatives like the “Class Clown” or the “Biggest Flirt”? In this special How to Be a Better Human season finale, you will be hearing from our previous guest Dallas Youth Poet Laureate Naisha Randhar and our team of editors, marketers, producers, fact-checkers and more on their favorite episodes this year. 

How to Be a Better Human 2025 Superlatives

 • Most Likely to Make You Rethink Your Place in the World
 • Most Inspiring Story
 • Most Likely to Make You Feel Your Feels
 • Best Motivator 
 • Most Likely to Improve Your Life Tomorrow
 • Biggest Perspective Shifter
 • Most Shared Tidbit

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

2025 Staff Picks - Best of How to Be a Better Human

Money can buy you happiness – but not in the way we think. Giving money away – especially to help others – has been shown make us happier than spending on ourselves.

Social psychologist Lara Aknin explains the best ways to spend on loved ones, friends and even total strangers to get the biggest happiness bang for your buck.

And Harvard’s Josh Greene reveals how much money Happiness Lab listeners gave to charity via Giving Multiplier last year – and how many lives you saved.

Pods Fight Poverty: https://GiveDirectly.org/betterhuman

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Pods Fight Poverty: Why Giving Money to Others Makes us Happier | from The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

What makes a hometown home, and how do you find community? Sarah Kay is a spoken word poet and author of the latest poetry collection, A Little Daylight Left. Sarah and Chris grew up in New York City where the energetic and diverse community shaped their lives. They discuss how to find belonging in new neighborhoods, how to focus on creating art and being empathetic when it feels like the world is chaotic, and how to take note of the small things in life that bring them joy.

Host & Guest

Chris Duffy (Instagram: @chrisiduffy | https://chrisduffycomedy.com/)

Sarah Kay (Instagram: @kaysarahsera | https://kaysarahsera.com/)

Links

Humor Me by Chris Duffy: https://t.ted.com/ZGuYfcL

Follow TED! 

X: https://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ted

Facebook: https://facebook.com/TED

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ted-conferences

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tedtoks 

Podcasts: https://www.ted.com/podcasts

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to find small delights in an uncontrollable world (w/ Sarah Kay)

If you remove ingredients like dairy, wheat, flour, cane sugar, beef, pork, and chicken from your diet—then what do you eat? For Sioux chef Sean Sherman, excluding colonial ingredients from his cuisines gives him the opportunity to spotlight indigenous produce and uplift local communities. Sean is the owner of the James Beard Award-winning restaurant Owamni in Minneapolis. Sean joins Chris to discuss the philosophy behind his indigenous restaurant, where he thinks the American education system falls short, and how he is using food to reclaim indigenous history.

This episode is part of a series of bonus videos from "How to Be a Better Human." You can watch the extended video companion on the TED YouTube Channel and the extended interview on the TED Audio Collective YouTube Channel.

Watch

Sean cooking Indigenous foods: https://youtu.be/p0IpMqUZKbs

Chris extended interview: TBA

Follow

Host: Chris Duffy (Instagram: @chrisiduffy | https://chrisduffycomedy.com/)

Guests:

Sean Sherman (Instagram: @the_sioux_chef and @siouxchef | https://seansherman.com/) 

Linda Black Elk (Instagram: @linda.black.elk

Links

Humor Me by Chris Duffy (https://t.ted.com/ZGuYfcL)

Instagram: @owamni | Facebook: @Owamni - By The Sioux Chef | https://owamni.com/

Instagram: @natifs_org | Facebook: @NATIFSorg | https://natifs.org/

Follow TED! 

X: https://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ted

Facebook: https://facebook.com/TED

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ted-conferences

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tedtoks 

Podcasts: https://www.ted.com/podcasts

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to Eat with Awareness and Purpose (w/ Sean Sherman)

Where do you belong and what does community mean to you? These are the central questions Chris asks poet and cultural critic Hanif Abdurraqib while visiting Hanif’s hometown of Columbus, Ohio. Hanif is a poet and essayist of many notable works such as They Can’t Kill Us Until They Kill Us, A Fortune for Your Disaster, and A Little Devil in America, among others. Hanif joins Chris to share his love for the city Columbus, what it means to be cared for by community members, and how spending time with others can show you how to love them better. 

This episode is part of a series of bonus videos from "How to Be a Better Human." You can watch the extended video companion on the TED YouTube Channel and the extended interview on the TED Audio Collective YouTube Channel.

﻿Watch

Hanif shows Chris and Sarah his hometown: https://youtu.be/xGJe_eRw2Ao

Extended interview with Chris: https://youtu.be/hl-5PGuwEBg

Follow

Host: Chris Duffy (Instagram: @chrisiduffy | https://chrisduffycomedy.com/)

Guest: 

Hanif Abdurraqib (Instagram: @nifmuhammad | https://www.abdurraqib.com/)

Sarah Kay (Instagram: @kaysarahsera | https://kaysarahsera.com/)

Links

Humor Me by Chris Duffy (https://t.ted.com/ZGuYfcL)

Follow TED! 

X: https://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ted

Facebook: https://facebook.com/TED

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ted-conferences

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tedtoks 

Podcasts: https://www.ted.com/podcasts

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to find belonging (w/ Hanif Abdurraqib)

“All couples fight. In fact, how they fight in the first three minutes predicts with 96% accuracy not only how the rest of the conversation will go, but how the rest of the relationship will go six years down the road,” says relationship expert Dr. Julie Gottman. Dr. Julie and John Gottman are founders of the Gottman Institute and the Love Lab where they study how to sustain love and health in relationships. They join Chris to discuss why more people now than ever are deciding to go solo, what a healthy end to a conflict looks like, and the 52 questions you should ask your partner before getting married.

This episode is part of a series of bonus videos from "How to Be a Better Human." You can watch the extended video companion on the TED YouTube Channel and the extended interview on the TED Audio Collective YouTube Channel.

Watch

Julie and John answer listeners' questions: https://youtu.be/nJ4RtT0T_BA

Extended interview with Chris: https://youtu.be/CxW0JRAw8bk

Follow

Host: Chris Duffy (Instagram: @chrisiduffy | https://chrisduffycomedy.com/)

Guest: Dr. Julie and John Gottman

Links

Humor Me by Chris Duffy (https://t.ted.com/ZGuYfcL)

https://www.gottman.com/

Instagram: @thegottmaninstitute

YouTube: @TheGottmanInstitute

Linkedin: @the-gottman-institute

TikTok: @thegottmaninstitute

Follow TED! 

X: https://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ted

Facebook: https://facebook.com/TED

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ted-conferences

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tedtoks 

Podcasts: https://www.ted.com/podcasts

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Why you need to learn how to fight in a relationship (w/ Dr. Julie and John Gottman)

Edith Zimmerman is a sketchbook cartoonist and writer of the Substack newsletter, Drawing Links. In this episode, she joins Chris to talk about honesty and self-discovery. From sharing her artwork to discussing her sobriety journey to falling in love with running, Edith and Chris explore how creativity and pursuing new activities can help you overcome personal challenges.

This episode is part of the How to Be a Better Human Bonus Videos series. You can find the extended video companion on the TED YouTube Channel.

Watch

Edith draw and go running with Chris: https://youtu.be/1jWA3mE5o9Y

Edith and Chris' interview: https://youtu.be/U_tOmuja0w8

Follow

Host: Chris Duffy (Instagram: @chrisiduffy | chrisduffycomedy.com)

Guest: Edith Zimmerman (Instagram: @edithzimmermans | Website: https://www.edithzimmerman.com/) 

Links

https://drawinglinks.substack.com/

Stop Drinking Now by Allen Carr

Subscribe to TED 

Instagram: @ted

YouTube: @TED

TikTok: @tedtoks

LinkedIn: @ted-conferences

Website: ted.com

Podcasts: ted.com/podcasts

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to break bad habits (w/ Edith Zimmerman)

Did you know that you start losing bone AND muscle mass as soon as the age of thirty? Or that your fingers and toes don’t have muscles? Or how women in Scotland are starting to compete in the lighting of Dinnie Stones – which weighs 733 pounds?! These are topics that Chris discussed with Bonnie Tsui, author of the book On Muscle: The Stuff That Moves Us and Why It Matters. They also discuss what strength and weightlifting means in today’s society – especially as more women enter the sport. Bonnie and Chris also discuss studying martial arts, playing on sports teams, and the benefits of functional mobility as you age.

Watch

Bonnie teaches Chris to surf: https://youtu.be/YOryOy1qL00

Bonnie and Chris' interview: https://youtu.be/Z3WnwLtVUes

Follow

Host: Chris Duffy (Instagram: @chrisiduffy | https://chrisduffycomedy.com/)

Guest: Bonnie Tsui (Instagram: @bonnietsui8 | Website: https://www.bonnietsui.com/)

Links

Humor Me by Chris Duffy (https://t.ted.com/ZGuYfcL)

Buy Bonnie's book On Muscle: https://tinyurl.com/onmuscle

Newsletter: https://www.bonnietsui.com/events

Other handles:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bonnietsui

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bonnie-tsui-71a57775

Threads: https://www.threads.com/@bonnietsui8

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/bonnietsui

Follow TED! 

X: https://www.twitter.com/TEDTalks

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ted

Facebook: https://facebook.com/TED

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/ted-conferences

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tedtoks 

Podcasts: https://www.ted.com/podcasts

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to use your muscles — or risk losing them (w/ Bonnie Tsui)

How do you quit people-pleasing? Internet filmmaker Baron Ryan and family therapist Stephanie R. Yates-Anyabwile unpack the all-too-common fear of rejection and explore the practices necessary to reclaim your ability to finally say “no” and stop caring about what other people think. (This conversation is part of “TED Intersections,” a series featuring thought-provoking conversations between experts navigating the ideas shaping our world.)

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How do you stop caring what others think? A filmmaker and a therapist answer | TED Talks Daily

This is the surprising story of how Texas – rich in oil and gas – became America's biggest producer of wind energy. For our first episode, Ryan and Anjali talk with Pat Wood, once George W. Bush’s right hand man and head of Texas's Public Utility Commission, to uncover the innovative approach that turned Texas into a renewable energy powerhouse. It’s a story about what could get done before partisan politics got in the way of good climate policy, and it shows that economic incentives for consumers, government, and companies can play a huge role in supercharging clean energy.

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How Texas became America’s biggest producer of wind energy (from Speed & Scale)

There’s only so much you can do in a week – or, according to Oliver Burkeman, in the roughly 4,000 weeks the average human lives. Oliver is a journalist and author of the books Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals, Meditations for Mortals, and the newsletter “The Imperfectionist.” Chris and Oliver discuss the paradox of why change can only occur once we accept that we might not be able to change. Oliver also shares how life’s mishaps can become our most treasured memories and why sharing your imperfections is an act of generosity.

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts 

For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

How to make the most of a finite life (w/ Oliver Burkeman)

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