Sam Webster Harris | Growth Mindset Psychology
500 episodes listed below
PRESS PLAY
Most self-help advice is guesswork dressed up as wisdom. We dig into psychology, neuroscience, and behavioral science to find what actually changes lives. WHY LISTEN? Over 8 million downloads because we answer the questions that matter: How do I build mental strength? What creates lasting motivation? How can I understand my own mind well enough to work with it, not against it? This podcast is for curious skeptics who want frameworks backed by psychology studies, not Instagram quotes. Whether you're navigating procrastination, building self-discipline, or designing your own philosophy for a life well lived—we explore the hidden psychology behind real ch...
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Psychology becomes usable here through concrete examples, energetic explanation and questions that turn abstract ideas about behavior into experiments in everyday choice.
Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement turns questions about agency, habits and judgment into brisk lessons with room for argument.
A mistaken wave ends in Poland; your mental shortcuts get examined before you book a flight.
Press play if you want
Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A brisk case for questioning the scripts running the mind.
The episode starts with a sharp question about how much of the self is habit, pressure, or old programming. From there, it reaches across deep history, tying self sabotage to evolution, morality, ancestry, and the cooperation that held groups together.
A grounded reminder that progress needs to be noticed before the next demand takes over.
Feeling good enough gets harder when every win is treated as a launchpad for the next demand. This episode frames that cycle through an entrepreneur who reaches a funding milestone, only to feel the pressure of the next round almost immediately.
A direct case for treating curiosity, uniqueness, and enthusiasm as practical strengths.
The episode argues that some of the most useful traits are also the hardest to say plainly: curiosity, uniqueness, enthusiasm, attention, and the urge to go deeper than the obvious self.
A blunt case for burning the boats and skipping the fallback plan.
The episode starts with the burn-the-boats story and builds a plainspoken case that a backup plan can dilute commitment. Matt Higgins is strongest when he treats setbacks as something to learn from, not just survive, and the conversation gains weight when it shifts from history…
A clear, lively case for treating innovation as the repeatable work of execution.
Ideas can look clean and persuasive while they stay in the mind; this episode is about the messier passage from possibility into finished work. Sam Webster Harris frames innovation through the image of a plane moving from wheels to lift and, eventually, back to ground.
A focused look at how early attachment shapes the patterns people carry forward.
Attachment gets the clearest treatment here: how early care shapes a person's sense of safety and threat, their relationships, and even temperament, and how those internal figures keep living inside the inner world.
A newsletter mistake turns into a sharp look at control, reactance, and the need to choose.
An accidental second newsletter gives the episode a clean way into a bigger question: why small disruptions can feel so personal. Sam Webster traces the mishap through perceived control, showing how an unexpected email can register as intrusive and why a steady publishing rhythm…
A crisp challenge to the idea that mental strength comes from treating the brain like a muscle.
Sam Harris takes aim at a familiar productivity habit: treating the brain like a muscle that gets stronger the harder it is pushed. He draws a clean contrast between physical training and learning, using neuroplasticity to show why stress can sometimes teach the brain to avoid…
Jonquilyn Hill chases one listener question per episode to the experts who can answer it.
Three hosts and psychologist Dr Emily talk vulnerability, therapy, and imperfection with guests.
Fearne Cotton interviews guests like Boy George and Bryony Gordon about mental health and identity.
Dr. Joy Harden Bradford pairs therapy insight with Black TV recaps, maternal health, and history.
Potential is the topic.
Sam Webster-Harris opens with a story.
Sam Webster-Harris uses a Christmas-season interview to reflect on family, memory, and the people who shape us.
This episode explores the importance of failure for personal growth and expanding comfort zones, grounded in neuroscience and psychology.
Exploring why founder conflicts are the leading cause of startup failure and how to make better partnership decisions, with insights from entrepreneur and investor Matt Higgins.
This episode explores how time is essential for growth and introduces the podcast's focus on evidence-based self-improvement.
This episode explores how the brain can overcome physical and mental limitations through neuroplasticity and a growth mindset, illustrated by the story of surfer Bethany Hamilton.
Are you actually you?
Are you actually celebrating anything?
Weird skills sound silly.
Burn the boats, for real.
The show opens on attachment as something fundamental to survival and keeps circling back to it.
Sam Webster turns a Substack mistake into an explanation of why 4% of his followers unsubscribed after receiving a second long email two hours later.
Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement episode "How To Train Your Mind: The surprising benefits of play" argues that the common "brain like a muscle" advice breaks down in practice.
Sam Webster-Harris frames Richard Wrangham’s airplane-and-chimpanzee contrast as a question about why humans can sit calmly among strangers while chimps would "sling" violence.
Jonathan Aslay joins Sam Webster-Harris for a conversation about how life can look successful and still come apart.
The episode opens on how online culture can feel strangely repetitive.
Sam Webster-Harris of the Growth Mindset Psychology Podcast argues that free will is central to self-improvement, linking growth mindset to “our own free will and autonomy.” He uses Charles Duhigg’s In the Power of Habit to contrast Brian Thomas, who strangled his wife while sleepwalking, with Angie Barkman, who lost her house and savings through compulsive gambling while fully conscious.
Sam Webster-Harris explores how understanding life as a series of games - both finite (won/lost) and infinite (played for love) - transforms your approach to everything from career to relationships.
A frozen ship sets the tone.
This episode breaks down neuroscientist Andrew Huberman's five fundamental rules for mental health and clarity: sleep, movement, sunlight, diet, and social connection.
The show opens on a rough 1951 football game between Princeton and Dartmouth.
Sam Webster explores seven critical cognitive biases that shape decision-making and perception.
The episode opens by asking why people assume every small slip is on display.
The episode opens with a viral story about a wave, an awkward mistake, and a trip to Poland.
The gap between who you are and who you want to be is a battle between two competing desires.
Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement looks at Black Friday as a retail ritual shaped by scarcity, FOMO, and anticipation, with Sam Webster-Harris opening on a Target fight in Buffalo over a discounted blender.
This Growth Mindset Psychology episode frames systems thinking through H.
This episode explores the top regrets of dying people, focusing on the wish to have worked less, and discusses how to avoid that regret.
The host is interviewed about the psychology behind why people start and continue podcasting, exploring motivation and self-determination.
This episode explores the heliotropic effect and how to become a positive influence that attracts others, featuring psychologist Dr.
This episode explores the biological and psychological components of love, including lust, attraction, and attachment.
Exploring Nassim Taleb's Antifragile to understand how systems and individuals can thrive under stress and uncertainty.
This episode explores how cognitive biases, false memories, and the Dunning-Kruger effect reveal the unreliability of our minds.