How to Make Better Choices (with Barry Schwartz)
The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos
Pushkin Industries
4.7 • 14.8K Ratings
🗓️ 6 October 2025
⏱️ 43 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Every choice you make shapes your wellbeing - and the bigger the decision, the greater the impact. So when it comes to life-changing questions like where to live, who to marry, or which career to pursue, how can you tell if you’re making the best decision for your long-term happiness?
Economists might argue that you should weigh up every single option carefully - like a gambler in a casino figuring out the odds of winning. But psychologist Barry Schwartz says you can't apply a formula to happiness. In this episode, he shares insights from his new book, Choose Wisely: Rationality, Ethics, and the Art of Decision-Making (co-authored with philosopher Richard Schuldenfrei), offering a more thoughtful and human approach to making life’s hardest choices.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an IHeart podcast. |
| 0:04.0 | Are you looking for ways to make your everyday life happier, healthier, more productive and more creative? |
| 0:09.6 | I'm Gretchen Rubin, the number one bestselling author of the Happiness Project, |
| 0:13.1 | bringing you fresh insights and practical solutions in the Happier with Gretchen Rubin podcast. |
| 0:18.7 | My co-host and Happiness Guinea Pig is my sister, Elizabeth Kraft. |
| 0:22.9 | That's me, Elizabeth Kraft, a TV writer and producer in Hollywood. |
| 0:26.6 | Join us as we explore ideas and hacks about cultivating happiness and good habits. |
| 0:31.8 | Check out Happier with Gretchen Rubin from Lemonada Media. |
| 0:45.8 | Pushkin. Rubin from Lemonada Media. We're finally winding down our series on my favorite books of 2025. |
| 0:52.7 | And today's favorite book choice deals with a problem that I struggle with a lot. |
| 0:56.6 | How to make better decisions. |
| 0:58.9 | Our happiness is shaped by the choices we make |
| 1:00.8 | within the circumstances we're given. |
| 1:03.1 | Sometimes those choices feel obvious, |
| 1:05.3 | like whether to open a window |
| 1:06.5 | when the room you're in is feeling stuffy, |
| 1:08.9 | or whether to grab a glass of water |
| 1:10.4 | if you're feeling parched. But bigger lifey, or whether to grab a glass of water if you're feeling |
| 1:11.1 | parched. But bigger life decisions, like who to marry, which career path to follow, or where to |
| 1:16.5 | live, can feel paralyzing. And that kind of makes sense. The bigger the choice, the greater its |
| 1:22.1 | potential to impact your life and your well-being. So what do you do when you're faced with a big |
| 1:26.9 | decision? How do you make |
... |
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