Today's episode is an encore presentation of a conversation I had with Harvard psychologist Dan Gilbert two and a half years ago.

It's one of the two or three most downloaded episodes we've ever done, and it's one of my personal favorites.

To give you a sense of just how much I like talking to Dan and how in sync I felt with him,

as soon as the interview ended, I asked him if he wanted to share the people I mostly admire

podcast with me, taking turns being the host each week.

I felt like we were so similar in our worldviews that anyone who liked me as a host

would like Dan at least as much, probably more. Alas, Dan said no, till you're all just stuck with me.

My guest today, Dan Gilbert, is a Harvard psychologist, author of the Blockbuster Bestseller Stumbling on Happiness,

and co-writer and host of the PBS television series This Emotional Life.

I do suspect that many, many people would be much happier if they did less, better.

Welcome to people I mostly admire with Steve Levitt.

Dan Gilbert and I have followed remarkably similar career paths.

We both had lots of early success in academics, leading to a best-selling popular book,

which opened up all sorts of opportunities. And once we had a taste of these non-academic

activities, traditional academics no longer seem so inspiring. But we're also different in one notable

way. Dan is one of the most irrepressibly positive, enthusiastic, and chovial people

you will ever meet. And me, who you know me, I'm just me.

So at the end of last year, we put together a podcast episode that captured the highlights and the lowlights of the podcast in 2021.

And as part of that, I had to pick the single best idea that I had heard from a guest in the entire year.

And I suspect that it will surprise you, especially since you weren't even a guest on the show in 2021,

that it's one of your ideas that won the prize.

Well, I'm absolutely delighted that other people are talking about my ideas and saving me the

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