Best of Think '25: Stuff you can do to be happier
Think from KERA
KERA
4.7 • 911 Ratings
🗓️ 24 December 2025
⏱️ 48 minutes
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Summary
Happiness may feel elusive, but there are some proven strategies to get you there. Arthur C. Brooks is Parker Gilbert Montgomery Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School. He is also a columnist at The Atlantic, where he writes the weekly “How to Build a Life” column. He joins host Krys Boyd to discuss a compendium of his columns about the pursuit of happiness, how we can conquer our worries, and when it’s time to stop pursuing perfection. His book is “The Happiness Files: Insights on Work and Life.”
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| 0:00.0 | Have you heard about OMG? Yes. This is a website the New York Times wirecutter featured as one of their most popular gifts. And for good reason, it presents new findings from the largest ever research study into women's pleasure and intimacy. In partnership with researchers at Yale and at Indiana University, they asked tens of thousands of women what they |
| 0:21.6 | wished they and their partners had discovered sooner. They found the patterns in those |
| 0:26.2 | discoveries and all that wisdom and intimacy is organized as hundreds of short videos, |
| 0:31.6 | animations, and how-toes. When you see OMG, yes, you might understand why wirecutter recommended it. |
| 0:38.2 | It is warm, honest, and has regular women talking about real experiences. |
| 0:42.7 | It's truly eye-opening. |
| 0:44.8 | See for yourself at omgyes.com. |
| 0:47.3 | That's OMGS.com. Most of the goals we set for ourselves, large and small, we pursue because we expect them to make us content. |
| 1:05.8 | Surely we'll be happy once we get a great job or find a life partner or lose 10 pounds or perfect our pickleball game. |
| 1:12.4 | But often when we get one reward, our brains suddenly fixate on something else to wish for. |
| 1:17.6 | It's not so different from the way successful startups are constantly raising their revenue targets. |
| 1:23.2 | From KERA in Dallas, this is think. I'm Chris Boyd. |
| 1:27.2 | We're never really done pursuing happiness, which is not to say there isn't joy to be found |
| 1:32.4 | in the journey. |
| 1:33.5 | And my guest believes that of all the skills, he can help his Harvard Business School students |
| 1:37.8 | cultivate, the project of managing their own lives is perhaps the most important. |
| 1:43.1 | Arthur C. Brooks is a professor at Harvard. He's also |
| 1:45.7 | a columnist at the Atlantic where he writes the weekly How to Build a Life column. His newest book |
| 1:50.9 | is titled The Happiness Files, Insights on Work and Life. All this week, we're listening back to |
| 1:56.7 | our best shows from 2025. And of course, Arthur Brooks had to make the list. His wit and wisdom |
| 2:02.7 | are always a favorite of mine. And I hope that you will enjoy all the wonderful ways we can embrace |
| 2:07.6 | happiness, not only during the holiday season, but throughout the year. Arthur, welcome back to |
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