Some ideas don’t spread because they’re true.
They spread because they’re repeated.

This One-Minute What looks at cultural brainworms and why they’re not accidental. How simple ideas, repeated often enough, start to feel like facts. Not because they’re proven, but because they’re familiar.

Brands don’t need to convince you. They just need to remind you. Again and again. Until belief feels obvious.

So if something feels self-evident but you can’t remember where it came from, it might not be truth.
It might just be well distributed.

And that’s your One-Minute What.

Ever notice how “Mercury in Retrograde” is the only astronomical event that makes everyone panic?

Before you decide you’re just “off” today, this episode looks at how astrology became one of the most effective belief systems in modern marketing.

We trace astrology back more than 4,000 years to Babylonia, where tracking the stars wasn’t about personality traits or compatibility. It was a high-stakes survival tool used by kings to anticipate famine, war, and political collapse. Over time, that complex system was simplified, personalized, and repackaged.

By the 20th century, astrology had been transformed into something scalable. Sun signs replaced planetary charts. Horoscopes shifted from nations to individuals. Media learned that identity sells better than prediction, and astrology became a brand.

We explore how zodiac signs turned into personality shorthand, why retrogrades offer emotional cover when life feels chaotic, and how ancient meaning was reshaped into modern reassurance.

This episode isn’t about whether astrology is real.
It’s about how belief is built, simplified, and sold.

Welcome to Lies We Bought.
They sold it. We bought it. Now we’re unpacking it.

Follow the show for future episodes.

Work-life balance isn’t a personal failure. It’s a system problem.

In this One-Minute What, we’re unpacking why burnout isn’t caused by bad boundaries, poor time management, or not trying hard enough. Research shows burnout comes from chronic workload, lack of control, unclear expectations, and workplace stress, not individual weakness.

So how did work-life balance become your responsibility instead of your employer’s? Marketing, wellness culture, and productivity hacks quietly shifted the blame.

If you’re exhausted, you’re probably not doing life wrong. You’re operating inside a system that was never designed to be balanced.

And that’s your One-Minute What.