Blinkist Podcast - Interviews | Personal Development | Productivity | Business | Psychology

Today on the podcast, we’re continuing our Olympics-themed episodes, where we’re talking about world-class athletes, these people who made it to the top, and how they got there. Last week we talked to David Epstein about what makes athletes great, and this week Ben speaks with a champion to find out more. Andy Lee is 34-3-1, and a former WBO Middleweight Boxing Champion. Known in boxing circles as a tough-as-nails southpaw, Lee’s famous right hook is absolutely devastating. He’s also an Olympian, having competed for Ireland at the 2004 Olympic games in Athens. In this interview, you’ll hear Andy and Ben get into what actually makes up a perfect right hook, what Lee thinks makes a champion different from a great athlete, and how Lee ended up acting in a Chekhov play. Linkage: - Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY - That link to Andy Lee’s knockouts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHZ8_mcuTug - Lee winning the ‘ship: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBd9NfSxiC4 That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Today, we have the author of the The Sports Gene, David Epstein. The Sports Gene is a New York Times bestseller about exactly what it sounds like: whether or not there are things that make certain people preternaturally more likely to be great athletes. It feels like a perfect thing to talk about considering, you know, the Olympics start today. So Ben and David talk about some of the greatest physical specimens in the world, one athlete you must watch out for in Rio, and the central weakness of the 10,000 rule everyone always talks about. Oh, and also, if aliens invaded and you had to pick one athlete to compete against the aliens in a competition they decide, which athlete today do you pick? David’s a journalist at ProPublica whose work appears in places like The Washington Post, Sports Illustrated, The New York Times, and much more. He just put out an exclusive interview with the former chief investigator of the World Anti-Doping Agency, which you should read here https://goo.gl/u48unt. - There's a transcript of the interview up here: http://buff.ly/2aG6aQ7 - If you liked what you heard, hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY - And read more about the Sports Gene at David Epstein’s website: http://goo.gl/8mJwAz That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

This is our second podcast in the Eureka! theme. Last week we spoke with Inventology author Pagan Kennedy, and we’re excited to build on that by featuring David Burkus, author of The Myths of of Creativity. In this podcast, Ben and David focus on a concept called incubation. According to creativity research, this incubation moment often occurs right before a Eureka moment, and the best part? Everyone can incubate. The only question is how. David Burkus is a professor of management, bestselling author, and award-winning podcaster. Linkage: If you liked what you heard, we'd reallllly appreciate it if you hopped on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY More on David Burkus can be found here: http://goo.gl/iZqKPD Also check out his podcast over here: https://goo.gl/SczJcV That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

Audio accompaniment to Blinkist Magazine's fourth edition, Eureka. This article was written by Erik Niklasson and narrated by Cam Drynan. You can find it, and more good stuff, over at the Blinkist Magazine: http://bit.ly/29PbDnJ

Welcome to a brand new era! Hot on the heels of the sleep episodes, this week’s podcast is the first of two episodes on the theme of Eureka. Where do great ideas come from? It turns out it’s not that clear. So today on the podcast, Ben speaks with Pagan Kennedy, author of the new book Inventology; How we dream up things that change the world. You probably already know Pagan from her time writing the Who Made That column in the New York Times Sunday Magazine. She’s an expert on invention, and we grilled her in particular about one central tension in her book: the paradox of serendipitous inventing (like accidentally inventing penicillin) and new technologies that can focus research to look for inventions in certain areas (like bioinformatics). Hop on over to iTunes to subscribe to the podcast or give us a review: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY You can read a transcript of this podcast, and more good stuff, over at the Blinkist Magazine: http://bit.ly/29PaJHT That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

In this special bonus edition of the Blinkist Podcast, we talk to sleep specialist Max Kirsten. Max is a hypnotherapist and a sleep coach, and he’s worked with stars like Adele and Ewan McGregor. In the podcast, Max and Ben delve into topics like the right position for optimal sleep, how one even becomes a sleep specialist, the problems some of his most difficult patients experience, and much more. This is a perfect follow-up to the first sleep-themed episode, which featured Arianna Huffington speaking about her new book The Sleep Revolution, and how we’re killing ourselves with bad sleep hygiene. Some linkage: - Also to receive your FREE Better Sleep MP3 Download and find out more about Max Kirsten visit www.thesleepcoach.co.uk - We also want to give a shoutout to Eve Sleep, who sent us a Mattress so we could build our own little nap station, which we covered in the Blinkist Magazine, here: http://blnk.st/29WJPBE - Subscribe to Blinkist Radio on iTunes here: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY - That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux]. - If you have any feedback about the podcast, or just want to say hi to Ben, email him at podcast@blinkist.com

Audio accompaniment to Blinkist Magazine's third edition, Sleep. This article was written by Tom Anderson and narrated by Gary Tiedemann. You can read the whole thing and find more good stuff at http://blnk.st/29eXeEA

In her book The Sleep Revolution, Huffington Post Editor-in-Chief Arianna Huffington succinctly sums up the argument she’s been making in books and speeches for almost a decade now. Why should we fundamentally change the way we think about sleep? “Come for the job-enhancing benefits,” she says, “stay for the life-enhancing opportunities.” Huffington’s sleep revolution isn’t just about convincing people to sleep more so that they’re more productive and healthy. The sleep revolution is about recognizing that we’re sacrificing ourselves too much. We’re not living the right way, and as a result of too much work, too little sleep, too much stress, too little nourishment, we’re suffering. So the sleep revolution is really about changing the way we think about our days and our lives. Instead of sacrificing our health to cram in more hours at the office, we have re-organize and re-prioritize how we spend our time. That way, we can work our best and still have time to take care of ourselves, get a full night’s sleep, and, you know, be happy. In this interview you’ll find out Huffington’s sleep ritual, what to do with your alarm clock, and why the sleep revolution is so important to her (and to us!). If you’re at your desk and don’t have headphones with you, you can read a full transcript of the interview with Huffington here: http://blnk.st/29NaBeB And hop on over to iTunes to give us a review if you liked it: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux].

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This week on the Blinkist Podcast, Blinkist Magazine Editor-in-Chief Caitlin Schiller speaks with David Allen, known as the man behind the productivity system Getting Things Done, and the bestselling book of the same name. On today’s episode, they discuss what he calls “clear space,” and how easy it is to screw it up in your head; they talk about the happiness industry; and Abraham Lincoln, among other things. And near the end, you’ll find out why Allen isn’t a productivity or efficiency robot, but actually developed the system to have more time to do what he likes – like martial arts. David Allen was born in Louisiana in 1945 and currently lives in Amsterdam. If you like what you heard, subscribe on iTunes and leave us a review here: http://blnk.st/28JBVIY That excellent intro and outro music you heard is by Nico Guiang. You can find more of it on Soundcloud [@niceaux] and Facebook [www.facebook.com/niceaux]

Audio accompaniment to Blinkist Magazine's second edition, Rethinking Productivity. This article was written by Tom Anderson and narrated by Amanda Mahr. You can read the whole thing and find more good stuff at http://blnk.st/28LdSda

Audio accompaniment to Blinkist Magazine's second edition, Rethinking Productivity. This article was written by Tom Anderson and narrated by Amanda Mahr. You can read the whole thing and find more good stuff at http://blnk.st/28JQL1c