Personal Power - Human Behavior

February 6, 2012

Interview with Susan Cain, author of the book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking

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Mike Carruthers:
Being shy and being an introvert are not the same thing.

Susan Cain:
Shyness is more the fear of social judgment and introversion is simply the preference for less stimulating environments including less socially stimulating environments.
 

January 30, 2012

Interview with Winifred Gallagher, author of the book New: Understanding Our Need for Novelty and Change

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Mike Carruthers:
Unlike any other species on the planet human beings crave novelty and change.

Winifred Gallagher:
We are natures novelty specialists who are primed both biologically and psychologically to engage with the new and different and to adjust to change.
 

January 26, 2012

Interview with Sarah Welch, author of the book Pretty Neat: The Buttoned-Up Way to Get Organized and Let Go of Perfection

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Mike Carruthers:
Keeping your life organized all of the time can be a challenge.

Sarah Welch:
The average American wastes about an hour a day because they’re disorganized. They have something but they can’t put their finger on it.
 

January 25, 2012

Interview with Kelly McGonigal, author of the book The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do To Get More of It

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Mike Carruthers:
Willpower is something that’s often misunderstood.

Kelly McGonigal:
Most people feel like they don’t have any willpower and actually willpower is something that everybody has. It’s a basic biological human instinct.
 

January 17, 2011

Interview with Stephen M.R.Covey, author of the book Smart Trust: Creating Prosperity, Energy, and Joy in a Low-Trust World

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Mike Carruthers:
We are probably less trusting of other people today than ever before.

Stephen M.R. Covey:
In a low trust world we tend to become more suspicious, more cynical, more distrusting because none of us want to get burned.
 

January 11, 2012

Interview with Sam Sommers, author of the book Situations Matter: Understanding How Context Transforms Your World

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Mike Carruthers:
We think of people in our lives as having certain set characteristics yet actually the context in which we see them affects everything.

Sam Sommers:
You know seeing your surgeon who’s supposedly this world renowned physician having trouble reading a map or parallel parking – that’s disconcerting to us because we don’t think about this person in these other mundane contexts.
 

December 28, 2011

Interview with Sonja Lyubomirsky, author of the book The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want

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Mike Carruthers:
What does it take to be happy?

Sonja Lyubomirsky:
Well, researchers define happiness as having two components and one of those components is the experience of frequent positive emotions like joy, contentment, pride, curiosity.
 

December 27, 2011

Interview with Pat Pearson, author of the book Stop Self-Sabotage: Get Out of Your Own Way to Earn More Money, Improve Your Relationships, and Find the Success You Deserve

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Mike Carruthers:
Do you ever sabotage your own success?

Pat Pearson:
The issue is that you set a goal, and then you shoot yourself in the foot and you make sure you don't achieve it and it all has to do, Mike, with deserve level.
 

December 23, 2011

Interview with Daniel Amen, M.D., author of the book Change Your Brain, Change Your Life: The Breakthrough Program for Conquering Anxiety, Depression, Obsessiveness, Anger, and Impulsiveness

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Mike Carruthers:
It appears that you actually have more control over your brain than you may have thought. For example…

Daniel Amen, M.D.:
How you think (moment-by-moment thoughts) have a huge impact on how your brain works.
 

December 22, 2011

Interview with Tim Wilson, author of the book Redirect: The Surprising New Science of Psychological Change

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Mike Carruthers:
Changing your life for the better, how do you do that? One way is called the do good, be good approach.

Tim Wilson:
Which is kind of counterintuitive but it suggests that sometimes the best way to edit our stories is to change our behavior first. That if we act like a person we want to be that our story follows that rather than preceding it.