Why Hope Is Learnable (Scott Barry Kaufman)

Hard Knox with Amanda Knox

Knox Robinson Productions

True Crime, Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Society & Culture

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 30 December 2025

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Scott Barry Kaufman is a cognitive scientist and bestselling author whose work explores creativity, intelligence, and what helps people grow after hardship. In this episode, Amanda and Scott talk about how we get stuck in stories about ourselves, how to tell the difference between honoring pain and letting it run the show, and why growth often starts with a small shift in perspective rather than a dramatic breakthrough. Along the way, they explore why curiosity beats self judgment, how hope can be learned, and why becoming more whole does not require erasing what you have been through. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm Amanda Knox, and you're listening to Hard Knocks.
0:07.0	You have this new book out. Rise above.
0:18.0	So about overcoming the victim mindset,
0:22.7	empowering yourself, and realizing your full potential. Okay. So Scott Barry Kaufman,
0:28.8	SBK, as we like to call you. That's my friends call me. Yeah, that's right. That's right.
0:34.8	All right. You, are you trying to just fix everyone?
0:39.4	Is that what's going on?
0:41.4	Oh, boy.
0:42.8	No, definitely not.
0:44.5	Definitely not.
0:45.3	My thing is I want to really help people, empower people to self-actualize in their own direction.
0:52.1	Okay.
0:52.7	And I would phrase it in that way.
0:55.0	I don't know, fixing is a funny word, right?
0:58.3	It's like suggests there might be some sort of ideal standard upon which someone needs to be fixed.
1:05.7	But, yeah, I want to empower people to, yeah, really go for it.
1:09.9	Okay.
1:10.4	And do you feel like that message is super important
1:15.7	right now? I know one of the big things that you write about in your book is not just about
1:21.5	achieving an empowered mindset, but also looking at all of the different ways that we are incentivized to not cultivate an empowered mindset in just regular culture.
1:33.9	Can we talk a little bit about that?
1:35.7	Like, what are you concerned about right now?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Knox Robinson Productions, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Knox Robinson Productions and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.