Gretchen Rubin hosts the podcast, Happier and has written a bunch of bestselling books. To offer your own advice, call Zak @ 844-935-BESTTRANSCRIPT:ZAK: Being the person that you are, do you formally or informally coach people?GRETCHEN: Well, I mean, if by coaching you mean, do I give unsolicited advice, probably yes, my sister calls me a happiness bully because if I feel like there's a way for somebody to get Happier I can just start throwing things out. ZAK: Something that Gretchen throws out a lot is the following prompt...GRETCHEN: Choose the bigger life.THEME MUSIC PLAYSGRETCHEN: Because what is the bigger life? Because only you can decide what's the bigger life. For instance in our family, my children really, really wanted to get a dog. This was like 5-6 years ago. My husband was like, eh, I'm ok with getting a dog. And I was very much on the fence because I thought this is a lot of work, a lot of trouble. It's a big commitment. This dog is probably gonna be living with me and Jamie longer than are only children did...I felt the pros and cons were very evenly balanced. And t hen I thought to myself, choose the bigger life. Now, I think for some families a bigger life would not be getting a dog because you might have more freedom, you'd travel more, you'd have more money freed ip to spend on other things. It's expensive to have a dog. So I think for some people choose a bigger life would be not to have a dog. But it was obvious to me the minute I asked myself that question, that for our gamily the bigger life was to get a dog and so we did and I',m just absolutely thrilled. It was exactly the right choice. But I think for a lot of times you get very confused about what's better, what's worse and then...or like I remember talking to somebody who was like, should I move back to my hometown, my husband's there too, we have all this family and all these old friends but we love being in big city and I said, well, choose the bigger life. And for her the bigger life, she realized, meant going back home because she felt like that's the bigger life for us but other people might have said, oh, the big city, that's the bigger life. It would have been obvious to them. It kind of shows you that indirect look into your head which can be very hard to do. It's easy to get confused and distracted...I feel like that's a helpful question. I'm Gretchen Rubin. I'm a writer and podcaster who explores the issues of happiness, habits and human nature. ZAK:Gretchen Rubin's podcast is called, Happier. Is there a prompt you use in your life when you're feeling confused? I would love to hear it. Give me a call at 844-935-BEST. That's 844-935-BEST. Also, please consider sharing this show with your friends if you think they would like it. I would like that. Thank you. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information. Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Polly Washburn (@pollywashburn) makes things in Denver, Colorado. To offer your own advice, call Zak @ 844-935-BESTTRANSCRIPT: POLLY: I'm Polly Washburn and I live in Denver, Colorado and I would recommend that you figure out your sleepy foods. So when I was about 30, I read a book about sugar sensitivity and was like, Me. Me. Me. This is me. And so I started out cutting out sugar. And so my basic advice would be to, it's not like you can never eat sugar or whatever you find out is your sleepy food. But, don't have it during the day. So have it at night and then if it makes you sleepy that's cool, you can go to sleep. So my sleepy foods are sugar and flower. So, I'm not gluten intolerant or whatever, but it's great for me that there's been all these gluten-free foods that have come out cause it gives me an option during the day to have a rice cracker instead of Triscuit or whatever. ZAK: And once you realized that that was a thing and that you were made sleepy by, uh, sugar and flower, was it difficult at all to not go after that stuff?POLLY: So yeah, sugar is totally addictive. So, it is a problem to give it up and and it's tough sometimes and that's why I would say, don't put yourself in the mindset that you can never have it again. Either, I can have on the weekends or I can have it at night...ZAK: How do you learn what your sleepy food is?POLLY: So, the best way is to do a little log for about a week and every half-hour log what did I eat, cause some people, you know, things don't kick in for another half-hour, hour, so make a log of what time you ate everything and then give yourself like an energy scale, maybe 1-10 or 1-5. And rate your energy scale through the day and notice, ok, after I ate that...trash happened...I was fine eating that. You know, so for someone else it might be rice or dairy or you know, something totally different.ZAK: You've been listening to what I hope has been a very helpful Food Friday on The Best Advice Show. Thanks Polly for that advice. My name is Zak Rosen and I would love to hear your advice. Give me a call on the hotline at 844-935-BEST. That's 844-935-BEST. And if you're enjoying this show. If it's making a difference in your life somehow, I would so appreciate you going on to Apple Podcasts and rating and reviewing The Best Advice Show. Another really helpful thing you can do is tell your friends and family about this podcast. Well, just the ones that you think would like it. Thank you so much. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information. Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Emilee Speck is the host of Space Curious.Upcoming Rocket Launches - https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/launches-and-events/events-calendar?pageindex=1TRANSCRIPT: EMILEE: My name is Emilee Speck. I'm a space reporter and digital journalist for WKMG in Orlando, Florida and I host Space Curious.ZAK: In her personal and professional life. Emilee has gone to a ton of rocket launches. And she has some advice for you in case you're gonna go to one, which is possible in a handful of states. Or if you're just gonna watch it online.EMILEE: If you've never been to a launch before. The number one thing you need to do it put your phone down. Don't record it with your phone. Just watch it and be amazed.3, 2, 1, 0 and LIFTOFF!And the other thing I would do if you're gonna watch it in person is watch it with other people. In particular watch it with kids. Watching a launch with a child especially with one who has never seen a launch before is the best experience. Kids are just, they're just us and they're little and they just don't contain their excitement and they get so excited. Some of the favorite video that I've ever seen covering a launch is watching kids react to the rocket. They're just absolute freaking amazed. It is so cool.If you're trying to watch a launch online, my advice, and this is what I did the other day because during the Coronavirus, I haven't been able to cover as many launches in person. So I will put the launch feed up on my tv in my living room and that's kind of the best thing that you can do. It's amazing. And turn the sound way up. hahaha. Yeah. Cause the booster, the launch, the rumble...it's way, way better in person but sometimes the live streams will do a good job as well.ZAK: And for those of us who haven't witnessed a launch, like, what is it that's so amazing to you about it?EMILEE: If you're watching it in person, just the feeling of knowing that something that we made here is leaving earth, because that's really freaking hard to do.ZAK: If you want to attend a rocket launch in person or online, you can go to the link I posted in our show notes from Kennedy Space Center to see their launch schedule. Emilee Speck is the host of the new podcast, Space Curious. And full disclosure, I edit that show. It's totally worth checking out. I didn't care much about space when I started hte project with her and now she's convinced me that it's amazing and there's so much to learn. Each episode she answers a different listeners' question, like "where does all the space junk go?" How did the International Space Station get assembled in the first place? Stuff like that. Find it wherever you listen to podcasts. You've been listening to The Best Advice Show, I'm Zak Rosen. If you have some advice I would love to hear it. The hotline number is 844-935-BEST. That's 844-935-BEST. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information. Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Matt Berninger (greengloves777) is the lead singer of The National. His solo album, Serpentine Prison, is out October, 2nd.To offer your own advice, call Zak @ 844-935-BESTTRANSCRIPT: ZAK: If you're working on a creative project...it's so important to pay attention to your boredom.MATT: If you're bored, you're not making art.ZAK: Do you have like a boredom defense strategy?MATT: If I'm working on something and I'm not excited. If I'm working on a song and I don't jump up and high five myself or cry then I don't know what I'm doing.ZAK: Matt Berninger is the lead singer of The National, which, if you don't know, is an incredible band. To Matt, the art part of, in his case songwriting, but it can apply to any creative form. To him, the art comes in when he notices the emergence an idea that he's genuinely moved by.MATT: It's like the seeds have to be exciting. The seeds are the ideas. If the seeds of the idea at first aren't exciting and you're planting it in soil that's rocky and you're not in the mood to do it. You're not gonna want to raise that tree. You're not gonna want to go back to it. You're not gonna want to keep watering this idea that you weren't even sure if the seed...you don't even want to eat that plant. You know? Maybe it's poisonous or something. And so, I find just go back, find new seeds and go find a new place to plant them and then you'll be excited about raising that plant and pruning it and doing the craft part of it and selling, taking it to market, you know? But the seeds have to be exciting, yeah.ZAK: So it's not like you're crying or high-fiving yourself through the whole process. You're feeling those big feelings at the start of the thing.MATT: Yeah, then you get to work.ZAK: Matt Berniger's new solo album is called Serpentine Prison. It's produced by the great Booker T. Jones. And it's out October, 2nd. You're listening to the title track.This is The Best Advice Show. I'm Zak Rosen. I want to hear your advice. Call me on the hotline at 844-935-BEST. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information. Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Alice Bagley is a farmer in Detroit.To offer your own advice, call Zak @ 844-935-BESTTRANSCRIPT: ALICE: Hi, this is Alice in Detroit, Michigan on Anishinaabe land. I'm calling to recommend that people scatter wildflower seeds. This time a year in the fall is a really good time to do it. A lot of seed heads are dried up and ready. The best ones to do are native plants like milkweed or goldenrod or echinacea. Um, it's really good for the earth. It's really fun. You can throw them up in the wind or take a handful and just drop them as you walk around your neighborhood. A lot of times it has a really nice tactile sensation. I like the way milkweed seeds lay close to each other like fish scales in their pod. Or the way that if you rub an echinacea blossom just right it won't be pokey but will be kinda nice and smooth. Um, so, yeah, I think that people should spread wildflower seeds around.ZAK: If I had the rights to it, I would so love to play Wildflowers by Tom Petty for you right now. But I don't so you should go listen to it after this episode. First you should know that you can call the advice hotline anytime. That number is 844-935-BEST. That's 844-935-BEST. I would love to hear what you're thinking about. Also, think of someone in your life who you think would give great advice. I would love to hear from them too. Thank you. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information. Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Rob St. Mary is the author of The Orbit Magazine AnthologyTo offer your own advice, call Zak @ 844-935-BESTTRANSCRIPT:ROB: The phrase that pays, as I like to say is, it's better they say no than to not know.ZAK: It's better they say no than to not know.ROB: That's right. If there's a question you want to ask. If there's an idea that you have...just ask it. Just say it. Just come out with it. You know, um, it's better to do that than to, you know, walk away or to not get that opportunity and go, ah, you know, I really should have asked that question. But I think it even goes furthers when I think about it. Like where this idea of just being willing to ask the question and not feel stupid. It goes back to my dad. And he was always like impressed on me that there really is no stupid question. That it's ok to ask questions and to not feel dumb about it. Just because you don't know something doesn't mean you should feel bad about that. I mean, we're all ignorant in some ways. And asking the questions helps to fill in the gaps. So I found this it's better to say no than to not know. I mean that can go for anything. You know, you want to go apply for a job...why not? You want to go ask that person out, why not? I really wanted that car or I really wanted that thing but it was a little too much and maybe I should have asked the guy if he would have taken 500 dollar less or something. He might think I'm crazy, but you never know. Why not. It's better to be rejected, I think. I think people have a lot of fear of rejection but I think that just asking and finding out if you could do that...I think it helps me sleep better at night because I don't have a lot of regrets. ROB: My name is Rob St. Mary and I'm a radio journalist here in Detroit. Also, published author, filmmaker, musician, cat dad.ZAK: It's better they say no than to not know. As long as I've got you here, I might as well ask, right? How would you feel about going on to Apple Podcasts, if that's the servce you use and rating and reviewing this show. I would really appreciate that. At least I asked, right? You've been listening to The Best Advice Show. My name is Zak Rosen. If you have some advice I would love to hear it. The hotline is 844-935-BEST. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information. Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Louise Belensz called the advice hotline @ 844-935-BEST. You can too!LOUISE: Hi Zak. My name is Louise Belensz. I live in North River, New York. And my advice is whenever you're going to cook something that you're going to put lemon on, like fish or grilled zucchini or eggplant, um, grill or cook or roast the lemon along with that food and then squeeze it on the food and it's so much better and you get so much more juice and it's way sweeter, so, that's my advice for one of your Food Fridays.ZAK: Yes, yes, yes...the power of lemons. They make so many things better. Thank you Louise and thank you lemons. You've been listening to Food Friday I would love to hear your food related advice. You can let me know what that is at 844-935-BEST. Thank you so much. I'll talk to you soon. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information. Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Jo Strausz Rosen (@bubjo) creates in Metro-Detroit. To offer your own advice, call Zak @ 844-935-BESTTRANSCRIPT:ZAK: From my childhood backyard, I'm pleased to welcome to the show today...my mom.JO: Ever since I created this outdoor space in my garden, its been such a healing place for me to come and paint all of the feelings that I have from the political upheaval through COVID. So I feel like painting alone, surrounded by beauty and nature helps me figure it all out and helps me get my head around it. Recently I spray-painted by some huge canvases and I've been drawing all these different faces and painting them in and everybody looks different but the one thing we all have in common is that we all have hearts and we all want to live. ZAK: And so, what do you think the advice is?JO: I think the advice is, if you can carve out a space somewhere...whether it's in your house or outside, if you're lucky enough to find a space outside. Make it your own and just let your creative juices flow. Think and play. I think everybody's creative in different ways. So maybe it would be a place to sing a song or write a poem or read and then write your impressions of something. There's so many ways to let your right-brain guide you.ZAK: So what do you need for a bare minimum outdoor art space?JO: I think a space where you can be quiet and you can appreciate the surroundings. You can hear the trees rustle in the wind. But you really only need a table or even a cement sidewalk where it can change and you can draw how you feel and then the rain will wash it away. I think the impermanence of having an outdoor space is kind of fun. It changes everyday. I'm Jo Strausz Rosen. Mother, grandmother, wife, sister, painter, peacemaker, former cheerleader but I never stopped cheering. ZAK: You can look at my mom's outdoor painting sanctuary and at some of her paintings if you go the Best Advice Show Instagram. That's @bestadviceshow. If you have some advice I would love to hear. Please give me a call at 844-935-BEST. That's 844-935-BEST. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information. Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Jay Acunzo (@jayacunzo) is the founder of Marketing Showrunners. Pair today's show with: Detaching with Hanif Abdurraqib - https://bestadvice.show/episodes/2020429_detaching-with-hanif-abdurraqib/To offer your own advice, call Zak @ 844-935-BESTTRANSCRIPT: ZAK: Are you feeling creatively stuck or intimidated? If so, today's advice is going to help you to profoundly demystify what it means to make stuff. JAY: First and foremost, creating anything is an act of you trying to understand it. The creator should be, for example, writing to better understand something. Not writing to share what you already understand. Because by forcing yourself to articulate something, you're gonna have to really interrogate your assumptions and the holes in your thinking. You're gonna have to learn how to articulate things that you can remember and others can hold on to. Write to understand. Don't write to share what you already understand. So you think of it as the process of self-discovery and learning instead of I'm a completed product or at least I'm done learning about this one thing and now I'm sharing that back to you. And the way you do that is you have to start creating. You have to force yourself to go a little bit further than you're comfortable because that's where you'll do your best work. And so for me, that's the act of writing before I understand something. I'm writing to understand. And then that leads to new questions. And that's the next thing you write. So it's this awesome, virtuous cycle. When somebody assumes that their heroes or inspirational sources or even just whoever they're consuming today has it all figured out and now they're sharing what they've figured out, it prevents them from seeing writing or the creative process for what it is, which is the act of them understanding through them creating. ZAK: Jay Acunzo is an author and public speaker. He's founded a company called Marketing Showrunners. He's also a really helpful twitter follow. If you have some advice on the creative process, fighting writers block...I would love to hear it. Give me a call on the advice hotline @ 844-935-BEST.I think episode pairs particularly well with an early episode from this show. It's called Detaching with Hanif Abdurraqib. HANIF: I see people talking about this idea of growth and it has be paired with a disdain for the work that one created before they grew. And I think a way that I've avoided that is by understanding that I did the best I could with what tools I had and because I wrote that book, I was able to grow and write something else. ZAK: You can find that episode with Hanif in today's show notes. Thanks for listening and I'll talk to you soon. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information. Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow

Lauren Ober (@OberandOut) is the host of the podcast, Spectacular Failures.To offer your own advice, call Zak @ 844-935-BESTTRANSCRIPT:ZAK: Are you a news junkie but feel like you just can't handle it anymore? If so, today's advice is for you.LAUREN: I am a consummate news consumer. I love listening to the radio and I love reading the newspaper everyday and I have gotten to a point and I feel really sad about this where I can't consume the news anymore. It's so terrible. The view never changes. It's like catatonia, really. And so, I was like, I need something that feels like it has and ending. You know, that it isn't a story that lasts for six or nine or twelve months or whatever. I've always been interested...my guilty pleasure is British mystery novels. There's a beginning, a middle, and end, and then you're done. And I feel like our news cycle does not end with particular stories. And Corona virus is the most open ended hell you could ever conceive of, and these mystery novels...they're not like that. There are no real stakes. It's generally, like, a bunch of goobers who are just flitting about and like, maybe one person's gonna solve a mystery in their spare time. And most of the time they're like smoking pipes and reading The Telegraph. I'm just along for the ride but I know that by page 300, we're gonna be done. This problem is gonna come to an end. And that is very, very satisfying in this particular time that we're living in where nothing seems like it has an end-date.ZAK: So yours happen to be mystery novels, but someone's else's could be like a quilt.It could be. It absolutely could be. Any craft that has an end point. You start it and then you finish it.ZAK: That's partly why making this show has been helpful for me lately. These episodes are short. I can start then and end them. There's something satisfying there.LAUREN: My name is Lauren Ober. I'm the host of the podcast, Spectacular Failures.ZAK: If you have some advice for getting through these hard times, I would love to hear it. The hotline number is 844-935-BEST. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information. Help Zak continue making this show by becoming a Best Advice Show Patron @ https://www.patreon.com/bestadviceshow---Call Zak on the advice show hotline @ 844-935-BEST---Share this episode on IG @BestAdviceShow