Figuring out the pitfalls and best practices of adulthood can be tricky. It's helpful to have some pearls of wisdom to guide you along the way.

My guest today has spent decades collecting these kinds of helpful truths and has crafted her own guiding mantras of maturity.

Gretchen Rubin is the author of numerous bestselling books, including The Happiness Project, and her latest, Secrets of Adulthood. Today on the show, Gretchen shares how she came to write hundreds of aphorisms on how to navigate life, and we dig into some of my favorites of these concise, sage sayings. Amongst many topics, we discuss why "happiness doesn't always make us feel happy," the best strategy for changing ourselves, a very useful heuristic for making decisions, why you should wear a favorite sweater more often, and even why big top tables at restaurants are one of my pet peeves.

• Gretchen's books
• Gretchen's "What's the next new habit that will make you happier?" quiz
• AoM Article: The Self-Deception Destroying Maxims of Francois de La Rochefoucauld
• AoM Article: Nietzsche’s 66 Best Aphorisms
• AoM Article: Just Go to Sleep
• Sunday Firesides: Life Is for Living

• Gretchen's website
• Gretchen on IG
• Gretchen on FB
• Gretchen on LinkedIn

Feelings of burnout and boredom have become prevalent in modern life. To understand the roots of and solutions to these issues, we can turn to both ancient philosophers and contemporary thinkers. Among the latter is Korean-German philosopher Byung-Chul Han, whose thought-provoking analyses are gaining increasing recognition.

If you’re not yet familiar with Han’s philosophy, Steven Knepper, a professor at the Virginia Military Institute and the co-author of a new critical introduction to this modern philosopher’s work, will take us on a tour of some of Han’s key ideas. In the first part of our conversation, Steven unpacks Han’s concept of the “burnout society” and why so many of us feel tired from participating in what he calls “auto-exploitation” and “positive violence.” We then discuss how our burnout society is also a “palliative society” that tries to avoid suffering at all costs and how our obsession with health has turned us into a modern version of Nietzsche’s “last man.” We end our discussion with some of Han’s ideas for resisting the pitfalls of modernity, including embracing ritual, contemplation, and an openness to the mystery of others.

• Byung-Chul Han’s books, including The Burnout Society and The Palliative Society
• Shop Class as Soulcraft and The World Beyond Your Head by Matthew B. Crawford
• New Verse Review
• Steven’s work at The Lamp
• Dying Breed Article: Resonance as an Antidote to Social Acceleration
• Dying Breed Article: What Nietzsche’s Typewriter Brain Can Tell Us About Twitter Brain
• Sunday Firesides: Protect the Sanctum Sanctorum of Selfhood
• Sunday Firesides: We Need as Much Meaning Extension as Life Extension

• Steven at VMI

Do you have a goal to lose weight? If so, you're probably thinking about how you need to exercise more. And that can certainly help. But what about the 23 hours a day you're not at the gym? How much you move during those hours — from walking to the mailbox to fidgeting at your desk — can be just as important in winning the battle of the bulge.

Here to explain the importance of what's called non-exercise activity thermogenesis, or NEAT, is Dr. James Levine, a professor, the co-director of the Mayo Clinic's Obesity Solutions Initiative, the inventor of the treadmill desk, and the author of Get Up!: Why Your Chair Is Killing You and What You Can Do About It. James explains how much more sedentary we are than we used to be and what happens to your body when, as the average American does, you spend two-thirds of your day sitting. He shares how doing the lightest kinds of physical activity, even standing more, can help you lose a significant amount of weight and improve other aspects of health, from your sleep to your mood. And we talk about how to easily incorporate more NEAT into your day.

• Role of Nonexercise Activity Thermogenesis in Resistance to Fat Gain in Humans — James' overfeeding study
• AoM Article: The Digestive Power of an After-Dinner Walk
• AoM Podcast #552: How to Optimize Your Metabolism
• AoM Article: The Importance of Building Your Daily Sleep Pressure