The Vitalist How to Think Differently: Dr. Jeff Karp on ADHD, Curiosity, and the Science of Learning
In this inspiring conversation, Dr. Jeff Karp, Harvard Medical School professor, MIT scientist, and bioinspired innovator shares the story behind his revolutionary approach to learning, creativity, and curiosity. From being told in second grade that he’d “never make it,” to leading a world-renowned biomedical lab, Jeff reveals how metacognition, thinking about how we think, became the foundation for his success.
We explore how ADHD and neurodiversity can be superpowers, why true learning engages all the senses, and how curiosity can literally rewire the brain to foster connection and innovation. Jeff also exposes how modern systems, from education to technology, dull our natural wonder and attention, and offers practices to reclaim our creative potential through nature, questions, and embodied focus.
Together, we unpack insights from his new book LIT: Life Ignition Tools, diving into:
- Turning failure into fuel for creativity
- Using pattern recognition and constraints to spark innovation
- The danger of AI homogenizing our minds
- The neuroscience of curiosity and connection
- Nature as the ultimate teacher and problem solver
This episode invites you to rethink how you learn, create, and lead—igniting your curiosity to design a life that feels truly alive.
BIO:
Dr. Jeff Karp is a biomedical engineering professor at Harvard Medical School and MIT, a Distinguished Chair at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Known for translating nature’s intelligence into breakthrough medical technologies, his lab’s work has launched thirteen companies—creating innovations from tissue glue for beating hearts to smart needles and cancer-fighting immunotherapies.
Once told he’d never succeed in school, Jeff turned his learning differences into a superpower, developing Life Ignition Tools (LIT)—a framework for creativity, focus, and purpose. He also serves as Head of Innovation at Geoversity, a rainforest bio-leadership institute, and continues to mentor others in unlocking curiosity as the engine of discovery.
HIGHLIGHTS:
Dr. Jeff Karp is a Harvard professor leading groundbreaking innovation, but in 2nd grade, Dr. Jeff Karp was told he’d never make it. (1:55)
A single question from a tutor in the 3rd grade asked “How did you think about that?” became the question that changed his entire life. How and why we think the way we do. (2:42)
Jeff reveals how learning to observe deeply and seeing patterns that others don’t serves as the foundation of his success. (4:25)
What happens when teachers tell you to dream smaller and you refuse to listen? (6:35)
After being diagnosed with ADD, Jeff’s mom helped him discover how his mind really worked and he went from straight C grades to straight A grades. (7:15)
“School has become a museum of ideas,” Jeff says. He shares what true learning actually looks like when all your senses are awake. (8:00)
Can ADHD be a creative edge instead of a diagnosis? Jeff shows how to turn it into a superpower. (11:10)
What ancient tribes knew about survival and how their pattern recognition holds clues for modern innovation. (11:50)
Why static classrooms and rigid systems are killing curiosity and how to bring learning back to life. (12:30)
AI is flattening our language and numbing our imagination. Jeff explains how to keep curiosity alive in an automated world. (14:08)
In a world with heightened feelings of aloneness and anxiety, curiosity can activate neurotransmitters that allow us to experience a world of connection. (15:30)
The story behind LIT: Life Ignition Tools and how to reignite learning in a distracted world. (16:14)
From spider webs to jellyfish, Jeff reveals how nature holds the blueprints for solving humanity’s toughest problems. (16:45)
Our attention is being monetized. Jeff exposes how corporations hijack our focus and how we can reclaim it. (17:58)
Feeling overstimulated? Jeff teaches how to focus one sense at a time to reconnect with embodied learning. (19:05)
The role of nature captivating and deepening our ability to imagine solutions that are about impact. (20:30)
Curiosity begins with one thing: asking better questions. (23:30)
What the world’s top performers have in common when they ask questions. (26:18)
How to ask questions that don’t just inform but energize the mind. (27:50)
Why constraints can be the birthplace of creativity and how limits actually set ideas free. (30:30)
The most creative moments often follow failure and Jeff shares why. (31:30)
When failure strikes, it’s not the end, it’s evolution in motion. (35:30)
Why your best ideas come in the shower, and how to make space for them to find you. (38:00)
How to stay in rhythm with failure and use it as feedback, not defeat. (40:30)
The deeper reason connecting to nature awakens our creativity and sense of belonging. (43:30)
Get a sense inside Jeff’s lab, where innovation and nature merge in real-time discovery. (45:00)
Why the brain craves low energy states and how that affects our problem solving and focus. (46:10)
How convenience culture quietly drains curiosity and what to do about it. (48:30)
The simple tools that help you reconnect to your biology and move through the world with intention. (50:30)
Why Jeff uses a YouTube blocker and what it reveals about reclaiming attention in a noisy world. (51:53)
Salt, sugar, and caffeine: the everyday algorithms of stimulation. Jeff invites us to interrupt these patterns and reawaken our senses by simply choosing to go without it and noticing how our perception changes. (52:15)
RESOURCES:
Visit Dr. Jeff Karps website: jeffkarp.com
Buy his book: https://amzn.to/4qnQirG
Watch his TedMed talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AshPR7OsZA0
Follow his lab work: https://www.jeffkarp.com/karps-lab/
Connect on social: https://www.instagram.com/mrjeffkarp/
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