Selling products, ideas or even yourself is a task that can feel daunting, or maybe even a little uncouth for some people. But Colin Coggins, author and adjunct professor at USC’s Marshall School of Business, believes that anyone can learn the skills needed to sell anything – and that you already have more “sales” experience than you think. Colin shares why he believes that the best salespeople defy the expectations of what society thinks of as a successful salesperson, how self-awareness can help you achieve your goals and why learning the art of selling could teach you a lot about life in general. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Telling other people what you want – or need – can be a really difficult thing to do! Nedra Glover Tawwab is a therapist and New York Times bestselling author who helps people create healthy boundaries with themselves and others, both at work and in personal relationships. In this episode, she talks about why identifying your needs is so important, clarifies what healthy boundaries can look like and shares empowering tools so you can advocate for yourself – and get the treatment you deserve. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Jill Heinerth is a professional cave diver who faces threats big and small constantly – from dangerous technical dives deep inside underwater caves, to searching for never-before-seen ecosystems inside Antarctic icebergs. Jill recounts her incredible experiences in maneuvering through challenging times and shares tips on how to face what scares you – and dive into your own rich, rewarding adventures. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

For some of us it’s easy to lose ourselves in our work. But a lack of boundaries between your personal and work life is something mental wellness educator Gloria Chan Packer would warn you twice about. Gloria speaks about the perils of gaining your sense of self-worth from your job, discusses her experience with burnout and stress and shares empowering insights on how to shift our perspectives to create – and maintain – a healthy distance. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Making friends as an adult can feel like a baffling obstacle course. Why was it so much easier to connect as kids? To help you find well-rounded and fulfilling friendships, psychologist Marisa Franco discusses science-backed tips on how to make (and keep) friends, like the optimism-inducing "acceptance prophecy" and the shame-reducing "theory of chums." Learn more about the power of platonic love and how it can help you experience the full richness and complexity of who you are. This conversation, hosted by TED current affairs curator Whitney Pennington Rodgers, was part of an exclusive TED Membership event, and later published on TED Talks Daily, another podcast from the TED Audio Collective. You can find more episodes wherever you're listening to this or visit ted.com/membership to become a TED Member.

Chloe Cooper Jones knows how it feels to be complicit. The critically acclaimed author has moved through life with a rare disability that brings incredible physical pain and plenty of outward judgment. And she’s even guilty of judging herself. But now, she’s challenging our ideas of motherhood, disability and beauty in her memoir, Easy Beauty. In this episode, she talks about using art to step outside of your own mind, sitting with difficult experiences, embracing the messy contradictions of the human experience, and more!

ALOK doesn’t quite get the term multihyphenate – but how else to describe the internationally acclaimed author, poet, comedian, and public speaker? From exploring belonging and the human condition, to fighting to degender the fashion and beauty industries, ALOK is tapping into their creativity constantly. Today, they share their approach to the creative process, how art has helped them accept the beauty and pain of life, why poetry and comedy need each other and so much more! For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Let’s face it: if chores were fun, they probably wouldn’t be called that. Because for most people, life can be overwhelming – and that means it doesn’t always look like a cleaning commercial where everyone is dancing their way to do laundry, take out trash, or smiling while washing the dishes. KC Davis is a therapist, author, podcaster, and TikToker who knows that caring for yourself can be a struggle. In this episode, she shares how radically rethinking “care” tasks –like not seeing a lack of cleanliness as shameful, or viewing messiness as a moral failure– can improve our quality of life. She also shares small strategies that could help us take better care of ourselves, because we deserve it. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Kelli is a nurse at a leading teaching hospital where communication issues are not only leading to resentment – they could also be affecting patient care. After hearing from Kelli about the larger problems at play in the healthcare space, Anne and Frances discuss the link between communication and transparency and guide Kelli into taking matters into her own hands. This is an episode of Fixable, another podcast from the TED Audio Collective. If you want to be on Fixable, call our hotline at 234-Fixable (that’s 234-349-2253) to leave Anne and Frances a voicemail with your workplace problem. To hear more episodes on how to fix your work problems, fast, follow Fixable wherever you're listening to this.

Stephen Satterfield, the host of Netflix docu-series “High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America,” thinks the bananas in the U.S. are gross. Sure, they’re convenient to produce and ship commercially, but they’re fibrous, bland and maybe worst of all inescapable! They’re also just one example of how what we eat is shaped by culture, politics, and history. In this episode, Stephen explains why he uses gastronomy as a way to understand the world and shares how we can use food to empower people who grow and consume what we eat. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

When do you feel like you've reached "success"? Julissa Arce is an acclaimed social justice advocate, the author of four books, a former vice president at Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch, and was named a 2019 Woman of the Year by the City of Los Angeles. But if you ask her, she’s still redefining what success looks like, and if it matters. Julissa immigrated to the United States at 11, and was undocumented for almost 15 years. In her latest book, and in today’s episode, she rejects the idea that assimilation can create belonging and brings success – and asks what we can do instead to reconnect and celebrate all that makes us unique. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

You know what they say about unsolicited advice (don’t give it!) but when it comes to SOLICITED feedback, author and executive coach Kim Scott says: bring it on. Kim believes that when it comes to improving your life at home, work, and anywhere in between, it helps to ask for – and provide – kind, but radical, candor. In this episode, Kim shares what she’s learned about embracing candidness and care in the workplace, gives tips on how to engage in constructive conversations, and opens up about the benefits of addressing bias in communication. Her latest book, "Just Work: How to Root Out Bias, Prejudice, and Bullying to Build a Kick-ass Culture of Inclusivity" is out now. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Television writer Cord Jefferson has written for the kind of shows that crack hearts open. From The Good Place to Watchmen, Station Eleven to Master of None, Cord has spent his career wrangling human emotions in the writers’ room – but also in his own life. In this episode, Cord speaks about the connection between his personal life and his creative work, how he thinks about vulnerability in making art and why he thanked his therapist in his acceptance speech for his first Emmy. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

What does "burnout" even mean anymore? If you're asking yourself this question, you've come to the right podcast. Anne Helen Petersen is the writer who helped popularize the term and she thinks people are missing the big picture. In this episode, Anne Helen and Chris discuss the structures that are leading so many people, from nurses to teachers to office workers, to suffer from chronic, work-related stress. Then, Anne Helen suggests some of the ways that we can rethink our relationship to work – and offers practices that could protect us from laboring past our limits. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

From risky snowboard halfpipe runs, to 400m sprints where every second counts, to high-stakes archery tournaments, performing well in sports requires mental toughness as much as physical toughness. How do athletes get “in the zone”? And what can we all learn about focus, flow, and mental resilience from athletes? Good Sport is a podcast from the TED Audio Collective about the fascinating psychology behind athletic competition. Each week, host Jody Avirgan guides you through an array of stadiums, pitches, pools, and slopes–all the ways that sports can shed a light on the ups and downs of being human. Follow Good Sport wherever you get your podcasts.

In her critically acclaimed Showtime docuseries, Couples Therapy, clinical psychologist and psychoanalyst Dr. Orna Guralnik thinks deeply about relationships, emotions, and connection. In this episode, Dr. Guralnik explains why she believes psychoanalysis helps us love better, dispels myths about the right time to go to therapy, and gives tips on how to unblock our relationship with the world around us. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

When it comes to sports, it might seem like there are two kinds of people. Those who are religious about their love for the game and those who only see Super Bowl Sunday as a vessel for an epic halftime concert – if they think about it at all. Jody Avirgan argues this is a false binary. In Good Sport, his new show from the TED Audio Collective, Jody makes the case that sports are as good a lens as any to understand the world – regardless of whether you are an athlete, a fan or a begrudging bystander. In this episode, Jody shares the lessons he’s learned from playing and reporting on sports at the highest levels, and makes a compelling case that sports can help us uncover the amazing emotions that make us better humans. You can listen to Good Sport wherever you are listening to this. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

The internet can be a wonderful, but also a terribly unpleasant place. Andrew Marantz knows this well. He is a staff writer at The New Yorker who spent three years embedded in the world of internet trolls to understand how regular people propel fringe talking points into the heart of online conversations. In this episode, he shares how ideas spread on the internet – and what we can do to make our digital experiences less about doom-scrolling, and more about real human connection. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

The phrase “comparison is the thief of joy” might be the kind of cliche that makes you roll your eyes – and yet, it’s an idea that is, scientifically, pretty accurate. In today’s episode, psychologist Laurie Santos – a Yale professor and host of “The Happiness Lab” podcast – discusses some of the surprising evidence behind what does and doesn’t make us humans happy. Laurie also shares strategies on how to improve our well-being, discusses the irony behind “self-care”, and explains why happiness is often a journey not just within, but beyond, ourselves. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts

Activist, and MacArthur Genius, Ai-jen Poo believes that caring for others is one of the fundamental acts that make us human. But from nannies to elder-care workers, house cleaners to living assistants, single parents and beyond, globally, caretakers do not earn fair wages or recognition for their essential, life-giving labor. The President of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, Ai-jen explains how society undervalues domestic work, and provides a framework on how we can start a conversation about the future of care for our loved ones – and ourselves. For the full text transcript, visit go.ted.com/BHTranscripts