WorkLife: The emotions you’ve felt but never named with John Koenig

Worklife with Adam Grant

TED

Management, Worklife Podcast, Worklife With Adam Grant, Work Life Balance, Ted Talks, Podcast About Work Life, Ted Adam Grant, Adam Grant Podcasts, Ted Podcasts, Adam Grant, Organizational Psychologist, Business

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2025

⏱️ 39 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Have you heard of the word sonder? It’s the realization that each “random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.” John Koenig introduced it in his book The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows—a compilation of new words aiming to capture the nuance and complexity of emotions that can be hard to put a finger on. In this vocabulary-expanding episode, John and Adam explore the sense of loss upon finishing a great book or movie, the dread of chasing a dream, and the awe of human existence. They discuss John’s method and motivation for inventing new words and consider the profound capacity for language to show people that they’re not alone.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, TED Podcast listeners. It's Elise Hugh here from TED Talks Daily. Thanks for making our
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0:22.2	Head to the episode description to find the link. Thank you again for listening and for taking
0:27.1	the time to help our shows.
0:32.1	Hi, I'm Delvin, colleague at As a Hayes. And there are a few things that are always on my family's
0:37.2	shopping list. Luckily, loads of them are that are always on my family's shopping list.
0:37.9	Luckily, loads of them are now on rollback. That's right, Delwyn. We're rolling back a 900-mill
0:42.4	carton of Tropicana orange juice from £3.7 to £2.36. And a 48 pack of personal non-bio washing
0:49.3	capsules from £10.98 to £8. Now that's good honest value.
0:55.4	That's ASDA price.
0:57.5	Selected stores subject to availability.
0:59.0	Tropicana ends 23rd July.
1:00.7	May exclude ASDA Express and small stores.
1:02.2	See ASDA.com slash small stores.
1:03.9	Breaking up is never easy.
1:06.6	But saying goodbye to your old clunky work tools,
1:08.1	well, that's easy.
1:09.4	Just repeat after me.
1:10.8	It's not me. It's not me.
1:12.5	It's definitely you.
	...

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