The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos

Most of us are familiar with this frustrating pattern: you set a goal, start off strong, but then lose motivation and end up right back at square one. Why does it seem so hard to change — even when you have a plan in place? Turns out, you may be aiming too high, too soon.
Laurie breaks down the science behind this pattern with Eric Zimmer, host of the award-winning podcast “The One You Feed” and author of the new book How A Little Becomes A Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful Life. Eric spent years struggling to overcome a heroin addiction before eventually turning his life around. He explains why lasting change often comes from making consistent progress in the right direction rather than attempting one dramatic transformation, and shares what he’s learned about building momentum, overcoming setbacks, and finally reaching the goals we’ve been striving for.
Experts Mentioned:
Eric Zimmer, author and host of “The One You Feed”
Steven Pressfield, author
Resources Mentioned:
How A Little Becomes A Lot: The Art of Small Changes for a More Meaningful Life, by Eric Zimmer (2026)
“The One You Feed,” hosted by Eric Zimmer
The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield (2002)
Related Episodes:
"Dump Your Inner Drill Sergeant"
"How to Kick Bad Habits (and Start Good Ones)"
"You Only Live Once… So Commit"
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Your brain is changing all the time, whether you realize it or not. Everything from your hobbies and chores to the media you consume can physically shape it. So how can you make sure it’s changing in ways that actually serve you?
Laurie speaks with neuroscientist Dr. Richard Davidson, whose decades of work with the Dalai Lama helped pioneer the scientific study of meditation. Drawing on research with Buddhist monks, stressed-out school teachers, and others, Richie explains why psychological flourishing is a skill we can train, and how simple practices involving awareness, connection, insight, and purpose can help us become more resilient, focused, and fulfilled. His new book, Born to Flourish, is out now.
Experts Mentioned:
Richard Davidson, Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry and Founder and Director of the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
Cortland Dahl, Contemplative Scientist at the Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin–Madison
14th Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism
Matthieu Ricard, Buddhist monk
François Jacob, Nobel Prize-winning biologist
Resources Mentioned:
Born to Flourish: How New Science and Ancient Wisdom Reveal a Simple Path to Thriving, by Richard Davidson and Cortland Dahl (2026)
“Neurogenesis in the adult brain: death of a dogma,” by Charles Gordon Gross (Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2000)
“The book of neurogenesis,” by Matthew Sloan (Harvard Health Publishing, 2021)
“In pursuit of resilience: stress, epigenetics, and brain plasticity,” by Bruce McEwen (Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2016)
“The plasticity of well-being: A training-based framework for the cultivation of human flourishing,” by Cortland Dahl, Christine Wilson-Mendenhall, and Richard Davidson (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2020)
“Navigation-related structural change in the hippocampi of taxi drivers,” by Eleanor Maguire, David Gadian, Ingrid Johnsrude, Catriona Good, John Ashburner, Richard Frackowiak, and Christopher Frith (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2000)
“Training induces changes in white-matter architecture,” by Jan Scholz, Miriam Klein, Timothy Behrens, and Heidi Johansen-Berg (Nature Neuroscience, 2009)
“Long-term meditators self-induce high-amplitude gamma synchrony during mental practice,” by Antoine Lutz, Lawrence Greischar, Nancy B. Rawlings, Matthieu Ricard, Richard Davidson (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2004)
“A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Smartphone-Based Well-Being Training in Public School System Employees During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” by Matthew Hirshberg, Corrina Frye, Cortland Dahl, Kevin Riordan, Nathan Vack, Jane Sachs, Robin Goldman, Richard Davidson, and Simon B Goldberg (Journal of Educational Psychology, 2022)
“Altered anterior insula activation during anticipation and experience of painful stimuli in expert meditators,” by Antoine Lutz, Daniel McFarlin, David Perlman, Tim Salomons, and Richard Davidson (Neuroimage, 2013)
Healthy Minds Program (meditation app)
“Integrating mindfulness and connection practices into preservice teacher education results in durable automatic race bias reductions,” by Matthew Hirshberg, Lisa Flook, Evan Moss, Robert Enright, and Richard Davidson (Journal of School Psychology, 2022)
“Sitting and Active Meditation Practice: Utilization and Associations with Outcomes in Naturalistic and Clinical Trial Data,” by Simon B Goldberg, Zishan Jiwani, Cortland J Dahl, Raquel Tatar, John D Dunne, Richard J Davidson, Matthew J Hirshberg (Mindfulness, 2026)
Related Episodes:
“How to Find Your Purpose”
“The Power of Awe… and Where to Find It”
“Happiness Lessons of The Ancients: Socrates and Self-Knowledge”
“How to Adopt a Growth Mindset”
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When we’re struggling to reach a goal, most of us assume the answer is to buckle down and try harder. But what if all that white-knuckling is actually making things more difficult than they need to be?
Dr. Laurie speaks with psychologist Angela Duckworth, best known for her groundbreaking work on grit, about a surprising new approach to achievement. In her new book, Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best, Angela explains why changing what’s around us can sometimes be more effective than trying to change ourselves.
Experts Mentioned:
Angela Duckworth, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania
Lee Ross, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University
Richard Nisbett, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at the University of Michigan
James Gross, Professor of Psychology at Stanford University
Adrian Ward, Associate Professor of Marketing at University of Texas at Austin
Joseph Henrich, Professor of Biological Anthropology and Professor of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University
Bob Bowman, Director of Swimming and Diving and Head Men’s Coach at University of Texas at Austin
Martin Seligman, Professor of Psychology at the University of Pennsylvania
Anders Ericsson, Professor of Psychology at Florida State University
Walter Mischel, Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Columbia University
Reinhold Niebuhr, Protestant theologian
Viktor Frankl, Austrian psychiatrist and neurologist
Resources Mentioned:
Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best, by Angela Duckworth (2026)
Grit: The Power and Passion of Perseverance, by Angela Duckworth (2016)
The Person and the Situation: Perspectives on Social Psychology, by Lee Ross and Richard Nisbett (1991)
Frog and Toad Together, by Arnold Lobel (1972)
Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl (1946)
“The Serenity Prayer,” by Reinhold Niebuhr
The Art of War, by Sun Tzu
The Golden Rules: 10 Steps to World-Class Excellence in Your Life and Work, by Bob Bowman (2016)
“A Stitch in Time: Strategic Self-Control in High School and College Students,” by Angela Duckworth, Rachel White, Alyssa Matteucci, Annie Shearer, and James Gross (Journal of Educational Psychology, 2016)
“Self-Control and Academic Achievement,” by Angela Duckworth, Jamie Taxer, Lauren Eskreis-Winkler, Brian Galla, and James Gross (Annual Review of Psychology, 2019)
“Self-control and SAT outcomes: Evidence from two national field studies,” by Chayce Baldwin, Kyla Haimovitz, Priya Shankar, Robert Gallop, David Yeager, James Gross, and Angela Duckworth (PLoS One, 2022)
“Situational Strategies for Self-Control,” by Angela Duckworth, Tamar Szabó Gendler, and James Gross (Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2016)
“Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One's Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity,” by Adrian Ward, Kristen Duke, Ayelet Gneezy, and Maarten Bos. (Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, 2017)
“A 2-Phase Labeling and Choice Architecture Intervention to Improve Healthy Food and Beverage Choices,” by Anne N Thorndike, Lillian Sonnenberg, Jason Riis, Susan Barraclough, and Douglas E Levy (American Journal of Public Health, 2012)
“Innovation in the collective brain,” by Michael Muthukrishna and Joseph Henrich (Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 2016)
Related Episodes:
“Your Environment Affects Your Happiness More Than You Think with Dr. Leidy Klotz”
“How to Spend Your Time and Money Better (with Nobel Prize Winner Richard Thaler)”
“The Man Who Invented Happiness Science: Marty Seligman”
“How Our Screen Habits Impact Our Stress Levels”
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It’s hard to focus on wellbeing when we’re expected to work nonstop until retirement. Taking a break from time to time should be a given, not a privilege.
Dr. Laurie works in one of the few industries that recognizes the importance of extended time off. As she begins her own year-long sabbatical from Yale, we’re revisiting her conversation with DJ DiDonna, author of Big Time Off, about what can happen when we step away from work for more than just a vacation.
DJ breaks down how to manage the biggest barriers to taking a sabbatical, from money and workplace optics to family responsibilities. He also explains why extended time off can help us recover from burnout, rethink our routines, and experiment with different versions of ourselves.
Whether you’re contemplating months away or just fantasizing about turning off your email, this episode makes the case that sometimes the best way to move forward is to stop for a while.
Experts Mentioned:
DJ DiDonna, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School
Resources Mentioned:
Big Time Off: The Transformative Power of Sabbaticals and How to Take One, by DJ DiDonna (2026)
Recover, Explore, Practice: The Transformative Potential of Sabbaticals, by Kira Schabram, Matt Bloom, and DJ DiDonna (Academy of Management Discoveries, 2023)
The Sabbatical Project
Related Episodes:
“You Can Change”
“Happiness Lessons of the Ancients: The Day of Rest”
“How to be Happier at Work (with Dan Harris)”
“Burnout and How to Avoid It”
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Most of us hate asking for favors. We worry about being a burden, coming across as needy, or facing rejection for asking too much. But what if our fear of bothering people is stopping us, and the people around us, from becoming happier?
Dr. Laurie explores why our instincts about asking for help are usually wrong. She speaks with psychologist Nicholas Epley about why asking others for help can actually make them like us more. And author and entrepreneur Jia Jiang shares how 100 days of asking for outlandish favors totally transformed his life.
Experts Mentioned:
Nicholas Epley, Professor of Behavioral Science at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Jia Jiang, author, entrepreneur, and expert in “rejection therapy”
Resources Mentioned:
Rejection Proof: How I Beat Fear and Became Invincible Through 100 Days of Rejection, by Jia Jiang (2015)
“What I Learned from 100 Days of Rejection,” by Jia Jiang (TED, 2016)
“100 Days of Rejection Therapy,” by Jia Jiang (YouTube series, 2013)
RejectionTherapy.com
“Surprisingly Happy to Have Helped: Underestimating Prosociality Creates a Misplaced Barrier to Asking for Help,” by Xuan Zhao and Nicholas Epley (Psychological Science, 2022)
“Beautiful mess effect: Self–other differences in evaluation of showing vulnerability,” by Anna Bruk, Sabine Scholl, and Herbert Bless (Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2018)
Related Episodes:
“Treating the Pain of a Broken Heart”
“Forget Small Talk: Go Deep Instead”
“The Surprising Case for Oversharing”
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