Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement
Sam Webster Harris | Growth Mindset Psychology

Latest episode
533 episodes
Start Before You Feel Ready - How to Overcome Rejection and Take Action w/ Jonathan Petrides [AllPlants]
07/08/2026 | 36 mins.Most people wait to feel ready before they begin. But readiness is often the the feeling we only enjoy after we have already taken the first step.
Jonathan Petrides, founder of AllPlants, knows what it means to keep going when the obvious answer is “no.” He was rejected by every university he applied to, experimented with businesses that went nowhere, and eventually built a company around a simple insight: people may want to eat more plant-based food, but wanting something and making it easy are different things.
This conversation explores the psychology of taking action before you feel ready, finding a mission worth committing to, and staying resilient when progress is slow. JP explains why purpose creates endurance, how persistence can change outcomes, and why showing up often gives you an advantage over people who are still preparing.
Turn rejection into information rather than identity.
Find a problem you care about solving for years.
Make the first step so small that action feels inevitable.
Listen now and start before you feel ready.
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Acorns.com/PSYCHOLOGY
NEW SHOW - How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
Learn about the evolving story of the human species and our ideas told in chronological order. The podcast is full of fun facts, surprising stories and philosophical insights.
Found on all major podcast players:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1Fj3eFjEoAEKF5lWQxPJyT
Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-change-the-world-the-history-of-innovation/id1815282649
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HowToChangeTheWorldPodcast
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Growth Mindset Psychology:
Sam Webster explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.
📺 Watch - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
🛜 Website - Growth Mindset
📧 Email - GrowthMindsetPodcast (@) gmail.com
Chapters
00:00 Introduction01:19 Importance of Showing Up02:01 Who JP Is03:50 The importance of a Fallow Period05:03 Finding Something You Can Commit To06:53 Why JP Moved to Nairobi08:55 Starting a Vegan Business12:59 How AllPlants Operations Started15:40 Did AllPlants Go to Investors?18:21 The Most Difficult Thing AllPlants Faced21:02 Mistakes Made22:22 Converting No Into Yes29:22 JP’s Mantra in Life30:16 Earliest Memory31:11 The Kindest Thing Someone Has Done32:09 Send-Off
Topics
How to turn rejection into persistence, purpose, and entrepreneurial action.
Building AllPlants and making plant-based food easier, tastier, and more accessible.
Why meaningful missions create resilience during difficult stages of business growth.
The psychology of starting before you feel confident, prepared, or ready.
How entrepreneurs can use long-term thinking to navigate uncertainty and setbacks.
Turning customer behaviour insights into practical innovation and sustainable business models.
The challenges of scaling operations, hiring teams, and eliminating organisational debt.
Why convenience and deliciousness influence plant-based eating more than moral arguments.
Learning from failed ideas, abandoned ventures, and entrepreneurial experimentation.
The importance of showing up, asking directly, and creating unexpected opportunities.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoicesHow to be remembered in a forgetful world - 3 rules to build lasting impressions [ARCHIVE]
04/08/2026 | 25 mins.Most people don’t have a skills problem. They have a memory problem.. no one remembers them.
So why is it you can say all the right things and still be forgettable? Because people don’t store information, they store feelings.
Think about the last person you met. You probably don’t remember what they said. But you remember how they made you feel. In this episode, we break down the psychology of first impressions and why “telling” people your strengths quietly fails.
Instead, you’ll learn how to show who you are through small, repeatable actions. Not big performances. Just consistent signals. Like giving someone the better slice of cake, or telling a story that lands. Memorable people aren’t louder, they’re clearer:
Replace claims with proof: show traits in action, don’t describe them
Turn everyday moments into simple, emotional stories
Make people feel something specific when they’re around you
If you want to stop being overlooked, this episode will change how you show up.
SPONSORS
🌳 Acorns
Smart way to grow your money
$5 welcome bonus
Acorns.com/PSYCHOLOGY
NEW SHOW - How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
Learn about the evolving story of the human species and our ideas told in chronological order. The podcast is full of fun facts, surprising stories and philosophical insights.
Found on all major podcast players:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1Fj3eFjEoAEKF5lWQxPJyT
Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-change-the-world-the-history-of-innovation/id1815282649
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HowToChangeTheWorldPodcast
---
UPGRADE to Premium:
🏖️ Ad-free listening
🤘 Support the show
🔓 Exclusive AMAs and bonus content
GrowthMindset.Supercast.com
Growth Mindset Psychology:
Sam Webster explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.
📺 Watch - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
🛜 Website - Growth Mindset
📧 Email - GrowthMindsetPodcast (@) gmail.com
Chapters
00:00 The Power of Being Remembered03:07 Why People Forget You05:00 Becoming Yourself Takes Practice08:13 Show, Don’t Tell11:31 Building Proof and Confidence14:04 Turning Traits Into Stories16:38 Making Yourself Easy to Understand19:14 Small Actions That Make You Memorable21:59 Final Reflections and Takeaways
Topics
Why people remember feelings more than facts or information
The psychology behind strong first impressions and emotional impact
Show don’t tell: proving traits through actions not words
How to build trust quickly in social and professional settings
Turning everyday experiences into engaging and memorable stories
Developing a personal style through experimentation and practice
Communicating complex ideas in simple, relatable language
Building confidence through evidence and real-world demonstrations
Small acts of kindness that shape how others perceive you
How to stand out and avoid being forgettable in conversations
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices- What if the goal isn’t to be right, but to be less wrong, over time?
Charlie Munger didn’t chase brilliance. He built a philosophy. A quiet system for navigating uncertainty, grounded in psychology, humility, and a refusal to follow the crowd.
In this episode, we explore what it means to develop “worldly wisdom”—a latticework of mental models that help you see reality more clearly. This isn’t about hacks or shortcuts. It’s about choosing to think differently. To question your instincts and notice where bias creeps in.
Every decision you make is a vote for the person you become. And most people are voting blindly. Munger’s approach offers an alternative: deliberate thinking, grounded in first principles and sharpened by inversion.
Redefine success as avoiding preventable mistakes
Build your own latticework of mental models across disciplines
Practice arguing against your own beliefs to sharpen judgement
The shift is subtle, but once you see it, you can’t unsee it—so the question is, what will you do differently next?
NEW SHOW - How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
Learn about the evolving story of the human species and our ideas told in chronological order. The podcast is full of fun facts, surprising stories and philosophical insights.
Found on all major podcast players:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1Fj3eFjEoAEKF5lWQxPJyT
Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-change-the-world-the-history-of-innovation/id1815282649
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HowToChangeTheWorldPodcast
---
UPGRADE to Premium:
🏖️ Ad-free listening
🤘 Support the show
🔓 Exclusive AMAs and bonus content
GrowthMindset.Supercast.com
Growth Mindset Psychology:
Sam Webster explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.
📺 Watch - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
🛜 Website - Growth Mindset
📧 Email - GrowthMindsetPodcast (@) gmail.com
Chapters
00:00 Introduction to Mastering Wisdom02:46 Interdisciplinary Thinking05:32 Understanding Circle of Competence06:42 Opportunity Costs in Decision Making07:36 The Inversion Principle10:31 Cognitive Biases Overview17:42 Critiquing Charlie's Rationality24:39 The Art of Rational Decision Making25:52 First Principles Thinking27:40 Probabilistic Thinking and Risks29:15 The Margin of Safety30:30 Chauffeur Knowledge vs. True Understanding32:44 Applying Mental Models in Real Life
Topics discussed:
Charlie Munger’s mental models for better decision-making.
How to build worldly wisdom through interdisciplinary thinking.
The importance of knowing your circle of competence.
Why opportunity cost matters in investing and life choices.
How inversion helps you avoid mistakes and think more clearly.
The role of cognitive biases in psychology and judgment.
How confirmation bias distorts the way we see information.
Why authority bias and social proof can lead to poor decisions.
The value of first principles thinking for solving complex problems.
How probabilistic thinking and margin of safety improve risk management.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Are You Creating Your Life, Or Uncovering It? — What Confucius, Radiohead, and lightning rods teach us about success
21/07/2026 | 25 mins.Explore the psychology of identity, creativity, and timing in this deep dive on mindset, leadership psychology, and finding your path.
Today we ask if success is not a thing you manufacture, but a pattern you learn to recognize?
This episode explores a different model of growth: one where Confucius, Radiohead, and lightning rods all point to the same truth. The world is full of tension, potential, and unfinished energy. The rare person is not always the one who creates something from nothing, but the one who notices it, names it, and gives it a path forward.
This concept changes leadership, it changes creativity and it changes the way we think about the self. Maybe the work is not to become more forceful, but more attuned. We can spend less time obsessed with building and more time on discovery:
Look for the signal inside the noise.
Replace pressure with attention.
Build conditions that let good work surface.
Press play and see what becomes possible when you stop trying to invent everything.
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☺️ NOCD
Struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help
Book a free 15 min call
https://learn.nocd.com/growthmindset
NEW SHOW - How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
Learn about the evolving story of the human species and our ideas told in chronological order. The podcast is full of fun facts, surprising stories and philosophical insights.
Found on all major podcast players:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1Fj3eFjEoAEKF5lWQxPJyT
Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-change-the-world-the-history-of-innovation/id1815282649
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HowToChangeTheWorldPodcast
---
UPGRADE to Premium:
🏖️ Ad-free listening
🤘 Support the show
🔓 Exclusive AMAs and bonus content
GrowthMindset.Supercast.com
Growth Mindset Psychology:
Sam Webster explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.
📺 Watch - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
🛜 Website - Growth Mindset
📧 Email - GrowthMindsetPodcast (@) gmail.com
Chapters
00:00 The Quest for Self-Discovery03:03 The Role of Timing in Success - according to history07:40 The Power of Ideas and Creativity12:06 The Story of Radiohead's 'Nude'17:51 The Nature of Ideas and Their Timelessness20:08 The Inversion Principle in Life and Business21:28 The Potential Within Us All23:06 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Topics
Why timing matters more than talent in success
How to know if you are building or uncovering your identity
What Confucius, Buddha, and Socrates teach about leadership
Why some ideas succeed only when the world is ready
How lightning rods explain cultural change and influence
The psychology of finding your purpose and direction
Why creativity often comes from removing rather than adding
What Radiohead’s Nude teaches about patience and timing
How to use inversion thinking to improve decision-making
Why great leaders often reveal ideas instead of creating them
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices- Most people don’t need a new life. They need a better Tuesday.
In this episode, I speak with Alastair Humphreys about why life starts to feel flat when every week looks the same, and how adventure is often less about geography and more about psychology.
We get into the mindset traps that keep smart people stuck: waiting until they have more time, more money, more confidence, more certainty. Which is a bit like waiting to get fit before entering the gym.
Alastair makes a simple point: that interesting lives are usually built from small acts of courage, not cinematic reinventions. A night outside. A local walk. A plan that slightly scares you. We also explore how discomfort sharpens attention, why challenge builds self-trust, and how curiosity can pull you out of autopilot faster than motivation ever will.
Use small adventures to interrupt routine before routine hardens into identity.
Stop treating confidence as a prerequisite; treat it as the reward.
Make life richer by adding novelty, friction, and stories worth remembering.
Listen if you want practical ways to feel more alive, more curious, and less trapped by your own habits.
SPONSORS
☺️ NOCD
Struggling with OCD or unrelenting intrusive thoughts, NOCD can help
Book a free 15 min call
https://learn.nocd.com/growthmindset
NEW SHOW - How to Change the World: The History and Future of Innovation
Learn about the evolving story of the human species and our ideas told in chronological order. The podcast is full of fun facts, surprising stories and philosophical insights.
Found on all major podcast players:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/1Fj3eFjEoAEKF5lWQxPJyT
Apple - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-change-the-world-the-history-of-innovation/id1815282649
YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@HowToChangeTheWorldPodcast
---
UPGRADE to Premium:
🏖️ Ad-free listening
🤘 Support the show
🔓 Exclusive AMAs and bonus content
GrowthMindset.Supercast.com
Growth Mindset Psychology:
Sam Webster explores the psychology of happiness, satisfaction, purpose, and growth through the lens of self-improvement.
📺 Watch - YouTube (Growth Mindset)
🛜 Website - Growth Mindset
📧 Email - GrowthMindsetPodcast (@) gmail.com
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction to Alistair Humphreys
03:29 Quick Fire Questions
05:07 Success, Happiness, and Internal Measures
07:48 Why We Should Be Adventurous
09:43 How to Start an Adventure
11:08 Microadventures
13:18 Finding Time for Adventure
16:06 The Money to Adventure Ratio
21:09 Just Go: Cheap, Local, and Simple
22:19 Expertise, Imposter Syndrome, and Becoming an Adventurer
25:51 Building a Sustainable Adventure Career
29:12 What Alistair Would Do Differently Today
32:18 A Thousand True Fans
34:26 The Three Stages of Flabbiness
36:31 Mental Flabbiness, Habit Calendars
38:00 Closing Thoughts
Topics Discussed
Defining success through internal values instead of comparison
Why adventure builds confidence, humility, and self-knowledge
The biggest barriers: time, money, expertise, and identity
How microadventures make everyday life more vivid and meaningful
Scheduling adventure by protecting time in your calendar
Measuring the money-to-adventure ratio before spending more
Starting local can create better stories than expensive trips
Imposter syndrome often fuels the urge to seek adventure
Turning adventure into a career through story and audience
Physical, mental, and moral flabbiness feed each other
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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About Growth Mindset Psychology: The Science of Self-Improvement
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 change.
WHAT YOU'LL GET
Mental models and simple techniques from cognitive psychology, positive psychology, and ancient wisdom traditions like Stoicism and Buddhism.
Being a human can be confusing, learning about it doesn’t have to be.
We cover everything from emotional intelligence and habit formation to brain health and the nervous system.
WHAT YOU DON’T GET
No pseudoscience. No oversimplified "hacks." No hustle porn.
Just practical insights on mindset improvement, self-development, and human psychology that respect your intelligence and mental health.
THE APPROACH
Instead of telling you what to think, we explore how thinking works. Armed with psychology studies, social science research, and relentless curiosity, we uncover the mechanics of belief change, attitude change, and personal development.
Success is personal. You might want to leverage your neurodiverse strengths, build a business, or simply discover how to be happier. We provide the mental frameworks to pursue your definition of success with mental strength and self-care that fits your life.
YOUR HOST
I'm Sam Webster Harris—a lifelong learner with ADHD and an obsession with finding answers to hard questions. After launching businesses, traveling the world, and nearly dying a few times, I concluded that psychology and science are where real wisdom lives.
This show is my excuse to dive deep into health and fitness research, behavioral psychology, and cool science while helping you build genuine self-discipline and motivation.
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PAST SERIES
Previous guests include Olympians, Scientists, Billionaires, and Sam's Mum.
Past series:
— Psychology vs Stoicism
— Time Management for Busy Mortals
— Independence and Knowing Yourself
— Cognitive Biases and Rational Thinking
— Psychology of Connection and Relationships
— Carol Dweck and the Multiverse of Mindsets
— Addiction and Behaviour Change
— Nervous System Mastery and Polyvagal Theory
— Mental Strength and Self-Discipline
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