Mo Gawdat, recognised as the ‘happiness expert’, is a former Chief Business Officer at Google X who transformed personal tragedy into a global mission: to make one billion people happy. After the loss of his son Ali, Mo dedicated his life to teaching others how to find meaning, joy, and peace—even in the darkest of moments. In this episode, he shares deeply personal lessons and science-backed strategies to help you eliminate stress, navigate grief, and live with greater clarity.

00:00 Introduction
01:59 Chronic stress: “the biggest pandemic of our time”
11:12 Creative writing & the meaning behind Unstressable
15:42 How the loss of Mo’s son transformed him from grumpy to joyful
25:11 Be ruthless with your time & energy
28:44 Ego, identity, and grounding
32:20 One Billion Happy: how to beat sadness & stress
40:33 Find purpose using the “gamer’s mindset”
48:22 Your small step to make the world better
51:25 Power up your happiness equation
58:12 How to manage traumatic stress
1:03:45 “Happiness is a choice” — identify and eliminate stressors
1:10:04 Purpose through process of elimination
1:13:33 Spirituality, intuition & your non-physical self
1:21:11 Is hustle culture overrated?
1:23:04 Life-changing lessons from religion
1:33:00 Evolution, probability, and our existence
1:37:45 Perspective & living meaningfully
1:41:33 Biggest threats to humanity
1:47:25 Investing in yourself & your happiness
1:53:12 Hedonism, money & your social circle
1:59:02 Minimalism & decluttering your life
2:05:50 Maintaining love & relationships
2:21:22 “Most relationships break because of…”

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Follow Mo
Instagram: /mo_gawdat
Website: https://www.mogawdat.com/
Pre-order Unstressable: https://www.unstressable.com/

November 24, 2025

Letters from an American

Intro

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