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Simplify

Kollo Media, Caitlin Schiller

Simplify is a podcast for anyone who’s taken a look at their habits, their happiness, their relationships, or their health and thought, “There’s got to be a better way to do this.” Join Caitlin Schiller and Ben Schuman-Stoler for conversations with authors and thinkers you know—and some you might not, yet—that sit at the intersection of reading, thinking, and daily life.

Simplify is now independently owned by Caitlin Schiller and Ben Schuman-Stoler.

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#118
Monday · 56 min
Heather Widdows: Pretty Privilege Is Real
When did "I resolve to be a better person" get replaced with "I resolve to tone my arms" in the register of resolutions? For a long time, philosophy treated caring about how you look as proof you weren't serious. Heather Widdows, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Warwick, thinks philosophy was simply wrong. In Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal, she argues that beauty has stopped being a matter of taste and become a moral framework—a thing around which we build our days, measure our worth, and feel we've failed at, morally, when we fall short. The self became the body. In this episode, Caitlin and Heather get into the four ingredients of the global beauty ideal, why so much talk about beauty "diversity" is fluff on top of a narrowing mean, and how a beautification practice goes from optional to invisible to required. Caitlin also pushes back. Pretty privilege is real—and so is the sixteen-year-old who believes being perfect would fix everything actually wrong? Heather's answer is more honest than comforting, and it takes a detour through Emily Ratajkowski's memoir. They're refreshingly candid about why the way we look matters and what it means to not make the normie cut. Resources Heather's Book: Perfect Me: Beauty as an Ethical Ideal by Heather Widdows Ben's Rec: Aesthetica by Allie Rowbottom Caitlin's Rec: "I Wish I Could Have a Body in Private" by Amy Key, from her Substack So Glad I'm Me Heather's campaign: #EverydayLookism Heather's website: heatherwiddows.com Coming soon: Selfie Culture by Heather Widdows Also mentioned: My Body by Emily Ratajkowski; What's Wrong with Lookism? by Andrew Mason; Jia Tolentino's New Yorker essay on "Instagram face,” Trick Mirror by Jia Tolentino More from Simplify on this topic: our episodes with Amy Key (Arrangements in Blue) and Elise Hu (Flawless) See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#117
September 7 · 17 min
NEW FORMAT EP1: Nobody Calls a Horse Ugly for Being Large
What if the fastest way out of the beauty standard is deciding you're a horse? This is the first of a new thing. On the weeks there's no interview, Caitlin and Ben take turns bringing each other one idea they found out in the world – a new term, a newsletter, a cultural weather system – and turn it over together. Caitlin drives this one, and she brings bimbo stoicism: a philosophy invented on TikTok by a thirty-year-old Georgian creator called Babushka, who took the two halves of her own personality – a bimbo and a stoic – and made three tenets out of them. Ben had never heard of it. By the end he can recite them. Then there's the homework, which is the fun part: find your twin animal. Not a spirit animal, not a personality quiz but an actual look at your own face that asks you to see something other than a list of things to fix. The format still doesn't have a name. So email us at info@kollomedia.com if you have a good idea! We're trying the video format out, playing with the studio cameras and the lighting so please do send us your feedback, we'd love to hear what you think. Resources Babushka on TikTok: @babushka.en. "Wtf is Bimbo Stoicism? Unpacking the internet's wildest new beauty trend" by Laura Pitcher for Dazed Kibbe body types Email us at info@kollomedia.com Simplify on Instagram Subscribe to our newsletter here. This episode was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Molly Rose Hart, and Ben Schuman-Stoler. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#116
August 10 · 41 min
Joanna Walsh: Amateurs Made The Internet
What did you make on the internet, back before anyone was paying you to? This time around, Ben takes the interview chair. He's talking with Joanna Walsh, writer, artist, arts activist, author of twelve books, several of them co-written with AIs she coded herself (badly and on purpose <3). Her new book Amateurs! is a philosophical history of the internet we all built for free: the Tumblrs, the blogs, the aesthetic wikis, the momentary flashes of hilarity. Her starting point is the French sense of the word—amateur, from amour. Not a beginner or someone who isn't any good, but someone who does the thing for love, without expecting to be paid. Joanna and Ben get into what happened to the braided conversation of early Twitter, the difference between paying attention online and performing it, and why Joanna's answer to "should we just log off?" is an immediate and emphatic no. There's a thread about vulgarity—she means it as a compliment—and what it revealed when people started mashing up Girl with a Pearl Earring. Then there's the dead internet: how we'd know we'd arrived, and whether we'd know at all. Joanna's image for it involves the sea, and it's the best thirty seconds in the episode. Her advice for anyone starting out right now isn't optimism. It's a union card. Resources Guest's book: Amateurs! How We Built Internet Culture and Why It Matters by Joanna Walsh (Verso, 2025) Ben's Rec: New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future by James Bridle. Also worth your time: Ways of Being. Caitlin's Rec: What to Save and Why: Identity, Authenticity, and the Ethics of Conservation by Erich Hatala Matthes (Oxford University Press, 2024) New: we're putting outros and bookends up on video. Find the Simplify page on YouTube and tell us what you think — we're experimenting with all of it. Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter on beehiiv here. Also, you can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and Molly Hart. Engineered by João Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#115
July 27 · 46 min
Nicola Guess: How To Tell What's BS in Wellness
What if almost everything you're doing to "optimize" your health is, at best, doing nothing at all? Caitlin sits down with Dr. Nicola Guess—dietitian, Oxford nutrition scientist, and quite possibly the best BS detector in the wellness space. She studies blood sugar and diabetes for a living and dismantles nutrition nonsense for fun. The twist that makes her worth listening to: she used to believe the hype herself, so she doesn't lecture—she just sets the record straight. Together they run the wellness interent's current greatest hits through her unsentimental filter—the cortisol cocktail, apple cider vinegar, the glucose goddess, creatine for your brain, the whole "maxxing" carnival. Some of it survives. Most of it doesn't. There's a thread about the one supplement Nicola actually keeps in her cupboard, and another about why the genuinely good advice is doomed to stay boring forever. The best part: Nicola shares a debunking framework that you can use on anything at all, from a nutrition reel to a headline to a guy trying to sell you on extra insurance. Resources Guest's Rec: work on nutrition misinformation by Alex Ruani, UCL researcher Ben's Rec: Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat Caitlin's Rec: Calling Bullshit: The Art of Skepticism in a Data-Driven World by Carl T. Bergstrom and Jevin D. West Also mentioned: Dr. Guess's Substack, Dr Guess's Blog; Stuart Phillips (protein researcher); the Being Well podcast with Rick and Forrest Hanson Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter on beehiiv here. Also, you can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and engineered by João Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#113
July 13 · 54 min
Christine Armstrong: AI is Messier Than You're Told
AI replacing our colleagues, feeling lonelier than ever despite enforced physical presense at the office. What is going on with the workplace? Caitlin sits down with Christine Armstrong, researcher, author, and founder of Armstrong & Partners, who has spent years doing something refreshingly unfashionable: actually asking people what's happening at work, instead of just theorizing about it. Christine is one of the world's top voices on the future of work, and she goes well beyond boardrooms and TED stages. She visits call centers in the north of England and local authority offices drowning in AI-generated letters to study the quiet erosion of the relationships that used to make work feel like it mattered. The conversation moves through two tangled questions: what is AI actually doing to our working lives (as opposed to what we've been promised it will do) and why are we so lonely, even when we're technically surrounded by colleagues? There's a thread about the gap between what CEOs think their companies are doing with AI and what workers on the ground are experiencing. A thread about what happens when the "human" becomes the luxury tie, and a surprising riff on gossip. Resources Ben's Rec: The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt Caitlin's Rec: Better Offline podcast by Ed Zitron Also mentioned: Armstrong & Partners — Christine's research and speaking consultancy The Mother of All Jobs: How to Have Children and a Career and Stay Sane(ish) by Christine Armstrong (Bloomsbury, 2018) Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter on beehiiv here. Also, you can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and engineered by João Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#112
June 29 · 56 min
Dr. Yoni Freedhoff: There Is No Ideal Weight
Diets fail us all the time, and yet we usually blame ourselves. This physician says that neither the blame nor the failure are necessary. In the episode, Caitlin sits down with Dr. Yoni Freedhoff—Canadian physician, obesity expert, and one of the first doctors in his country board-certified in obesity medicine—for a conversation about his book, The Diet Fix. Dr. Freedhoff's book really isn't a diet book at all. Its premise is simple: any diet can work, and the trick is understanding the handful of reasons they usually don't. They get into why a diet built on hunger is doomed before it starts, why food is so much more than fuel, and why exercise—for all its gifts—is a surprisingly lousy engine for weight loss. There's a thread about the marshmallow test, a reframe of willpower as biological rather than a measure of your moral fiber, and a 10-day reset built on one radical instruction: notice your own patterns before you try to change them. The part that lingers is the gentlest: Yoni's phrase, "your best weight" that isn't a number at all, but the healthiest life you can honestly enjoy. Not "can I eat less," but "can I happily eat less?" Resources Featured Book: The Diet Fix: Why Diets Fail and How to Make Yours Work by Dr. Yoni Freedhoff Ben's Recs: A small stack of willpower-and-habits books: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal, Atomic Habits by James Clear, and Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg. Plus his Guardian piece on refusing to be a salad purist: "French beans good, cucumber bad. Please, no." Caitlin's Rec: Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, which is a callback to an early Simplify episode and the origin of the immortal "G-BOMBS" (greens, beans, onions, mushrooms, berries, seeds) Also mentioned: Dr. Yoni Freedhoff's blog Weighty Matters. Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter on beehiiv here. Also, you can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and engineered by João Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#111
June 15 · 14 min
Caitlin & Ben: Milestones & Updates
10,000 downloads a month. 11 episodes. 6 months of independence. Caitlin and Ben sit down for a bonus episode to talk about where Simplify has been and where it's going. They bought the show back from Blinkist at the end of last year, set some ambitious goals, and hit all of them. This episode is a chance to catch up, say thank you, and let you in on what's coming next. They get into the ins and outs of funding Simplify and why neither of them is interested in a race to the bottom. There's also a thread about what Simplify has always been—a lens, not a quick fix—and how that's becoming more true, not less, as the show evolves. And they have a couple of things to ask of you. Those Two things: 1) Please fill out the Simplify listener survey—it takes just a few minutes and genuinely shapes the show. 2) If Simplify brings something to your life and you'd like to help keep it going, you can donate at buy us a coffee. It means more than you know. You can find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter on beehiiv here. Also, you can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and engineered by João Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#110
June 1 · 43 min
Amy Morin: 50 Plays for Your Worst Day at Work
What if the thing standing between you and a better day at work isn't a new habit—but just knowing which play to run? Amy Morin is the psychotherapist behind the 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do series, which has sold over a million copies and sparked one of the most-watched TEDx talks of all time. Her new book, The Mental Strength Playbook, takes a different tack. Where her earlier work was preventative, this one is urgent care. Fifty plays you can run in the moment you need them: before the presentation, during the spiral, in the middle of a task that feels completely pointless. Caitlin and Amy get into why positive thinking can actually leave you less prepared, what happens in your brain when you step away from a problem and the answer shows up in the shower, and a surprisingly simple vagus nerve trick that can drop your anxiety in thirty seconds. You'll also hear how Amy arrived at this work through personal loss that reshaped everything she thought she knew about helping people. Mental strength isn't about pushing through pain at all costs. It's about having enough clarity on your own values to know which battles are yours—and enough flexibility to let the rest go. Resources Amy's new book: The Mental Strength Playbook by Amy Morin Amy's rec: How to Not Know—launching May 2025 Caitlin's rec: Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis Ben's rec: Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal Also mentioned: Amy's podcast Mentally Stronger, the 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do series (6 books), Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor Frankl, Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter on beehiiv here. Also, you can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, Molly Rose Hart, and mixed & mastered by João Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#109
May 18 · 50 min
Deb Caulet: Essential Leadership Skills for the Age of AI
What happens in the gap between updating your LinkedIn title and actually knowing how to do the job? Caitlin sits down with Deborah Caulet—leadership coach, former VP of People at Blinkist, and someone who's spent 15 years helping leaders figure out what they're doing (and why they feel like they aren't doing it right!). Deb works with first-time managers and founders at growing startups, coaching them through the messy, humbling transition from high-performing individual contributor to someone whose job is to make other people shine. It's an identity shift, she says—and your sense of self has to catch up. They get into the classic traps: the leader who becomes their own bottleneck because delegating feels slower than just doing it, the difficult conversation that gets avoided for weeks because the anticipation is worse than the thing itself, and the imposter syndrome that 85% of professionals have felt at some point. Deb shares her CLEAR framework for navigating hard feedback conversations, and there's a thread about what it actually means to be kind versus nice at work — and why the difference matters more than you'd think. There's also a moment about AI's role in leadership that takes a surprising turn. The conversation lands on a deceptively simple piece of advice for anyone staring down a new role and feeling the weight of everything they don't yet know. It's the kind of thing you'll want to remember on a Monday morning. Resources Deb's Rec: Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock Ben's Rec: Radical Candor by Kim Scott Caitlin's Rec: A.Q.: A New Kind of Intelligence for a World That's Always Changing by Liz Tran Deborah Caulet's 7-Day Difficult Conversation Challenge (free) Deborah Caulet's 12-Week Leadership Bootcamp. Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter on beehiiv here. Also, you can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and engineered by João Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#108
May 4 · 46 min
Dr. Arielle Schwartz: Your Body Knows Before Your Brain Does
What if the part of you that knows what's actually wrong isn't your brain? This week on Simplify, Caitlin sits down with Dr. Arielle Schwartz—clinical psychologist, somatic therapy expert, and author of more books than seems reasonable for one person—to talk about what your body has been trying to tell you for years. Arielle has been working in somatics for thirty years, long before TikTok turned it into a buzzword, and her gift is making something that can feel slippery and slightly woo-woo feel concrete and useful. And, delightfully, she'll get us there via rivers, vagus nerves, and the wisdom of your gut. The conversation moves through somatic therapy itself, what an actual session looks like, and why the chairs aren't bolted to the floor, polyvagal theory broken down for a five-year-old, and why some of the most stubborn anxiety patterns aren't really about what's happening out there, exactly—they're about what's happening inside your. body. There's also a thread that quietly runs through the whole episode about how our earliest experiences—earlier than we usually consider—shape how safe the world feels in our bodies for the rest of our lives. Her parting demystification of the field is one for anyone who's tried to fix themselves quickly and wondered why it didn't stick. Resources: Arielle's Recs: The Post-Traumatic Growth Guidebook, the work of Janina Fisher Ben's Rec: Braiding Sweet Grass by Robin Wall Kimmerer Caitlin's Rec: Tell Me Where it Hurts by Dr. Rachel Zoffness Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter on beehiiv here. Also, you can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and engineered by João Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#107
April 20 · 53 min
Angela Natividad: Meet The God Inside Capitalism
What if the stories running your life aren't really yours? This week on Simplify, Caitlin talks with Angela Natividad: a mythologist, writer, and advertising veteran—a trifecta that turns out to be the perfect preparation for the argument she makes in her book Remember His Name: Unmasking the Faceless God of the West. That argument, put simply: capitalism isn't an economic system. It's a religious one. We get into what that actually means—the hidden god at the center of it all, the ancient mythologies that laid the groundwork, and a concept called the egregore that might be as unsettling as it is useful. Angela also makes a case for why the stories we tell ourselves about productivity, laziness, and whether we're doing enough aren't pointing to personal failings. They're architecture that someone built, and understanding that is the first step to not being entirely at their mercy. Resources Remember His Name: Unmasking the Faceless God of the West by Angela Natividad Midwifing The Mother, Angela's Substack The Dawn of Everything by Davids Graeber and Wengrow How to Re-Enchant the World by Serge Latouche Caitlin's rec: The Science of Storytelling by Will Storr Ben's recs: The Kingdom by Emmanuel Carrère / The primary texts (the Bible, the Quran, the Avesta — just dip in!) / Bad Cousins podcast Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter here. You can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and engineered by João Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#106
April 6 · 41 min
Nani Jansen Reventlow: How To Actually Change The World
A loss isn't always a loss—sometimes, it's one of many stepping stones towards winning big. When you change how you think about what succeeding looks like, the long game of changing the systems we live in seems infinitely more doable. This week on Simplify, Caitlin speaks with international human rights lawyer and author Nani Jansen Reventlow about her book Radical Justice—and about what real, systemic change actually looks like from the inside. Nani founded two nonprofits, the Digital Freedom Fund and Systemic Justice, and has spent her career building a model of legal action in which communities most affected by injustice stay in the driver's seat. The implications of that, for how we think about winning, losing, and the long arc of change, are quietly radical. They also get into the surprising connections between different kinds of justice, who gets left out of the climate conversation and why, and what it takes to imagine a world that isn't just a patched-up version of this one. Nani is one of those rare people who can hold a wide-angle view of broken systems and still tell you exactly what to do on a Tuesday. Her parting thought is one of those things that sounds simple until you actually try it: start today—you've already got the tools for revolution. Nani is doing a live event here in Berlin, Germany at Chapters Bookshop at the end of April—come say hi! Resources Radical Justice by Nani Jansen Reventlow (use JUSTICE15 for 15% off at https://www.plutobooks.com/. ) Win a free copy: email info@kollomedia.com — first come, first served. Caitlin's rec: Farewell to Growth by Serge Latouche Ben's rec: How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter here. You can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and engineered by João Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. Resources Radical Justice by Nani Jansen Reventlow. YOU can win a free copy generously donated by Nani and her publisher, Pluto. Just email info@kollomedia.com and ask for it—first come, first served. And if you don't win, you can use the 15% off code JUSTICE15 to buy your copy at https://www.plutobooks.com/. Nani's nonprofits: Systemic Justice / Digital Freedom Fund Nani is doing a live event in Berlin at Chapters Bookshop at the end of April — come say hi! Ben's rec: How to Blow Up a Pipeline by Andreas Malm Caitlin's rec: Farewell to Growth by Serge Latouche Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter here. You can email us (send a voice note!) at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and engineered by João Lucas, in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#105
March 23 · 55 min
Guy Winch: First Aid for Your Work Life
Most of us have gotten up on a Monday morning and thought: I simply cannot do this today. Our job is grinding us down in that slow, invisible way that work does when we're not managing it well. Psychotherapist, author, and podcast host Guy Winch has spent his career sitting with people who have experienced this for a passel of reasons from sabotaging coworkers to unrealistic goals. His new book Mind Over Grind is a practical, science-backed guide to surviving your job—even when it really, truly sucks. In this episode, Caitlin and Guy dig into why so many of us experience our jobs as far more stressful than they objectively need to be, what the Goldilocks zone of stress actually looks like, and how to catch yourself before you blow past it. Guy also speaks candidly about his own early burnout and the slow, identity-shifting work it took to come back from it—including why your Netflix queue might not be doing what you think it's doing when it comes to real recovery. Resources Mind Over Grind by Guy Winch Guy's podcast: Dear Therapists (with Lori Gottlieb) Caitlin's rec: How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job by Dale Carnegie Ben's rec: Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle by Amelia Nagoski Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter here. You can email us (or send us a voice note!) at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and Joao Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#104
March 9 · 39 min
David Richo: Better Than Revenge
What if getting back at someone isn't as satisfying as we think—and what we're really trying to avoid is grief? This week on Simplify, Caitlin speaks with psychotherapist, teacher, and author David Richo about his book Sweeter Than Revenge, which makes the case that there's a better way to respond when people hurt us than the one our brains (and basically every movie ever made) are wired for. Dave has spent decades sitting with people in their messiest, most wounded moments. What he's found is that retaliation isn't really about power or justice. It's about running from grief! We retaliate so we don't have to feel bad. Which, when you think about it, is kind of a bummer. The conversation gets into the neuroscience of revenge (yes, it lights up reward circuits—but only briefly), why our most beloved stories and films keep selling us the same retaliatory fantasy, and what it actually looks like to choose differently. He and Caitlin also dig into why we hurt the people we love in the first place, and Dave offers four concrete steps for the next time the urge to retaliate arises. Resources Sweeter Than Revenge by David Richo Caitlin's Rec: With The End in Mind by Kathryn Mannix Ben's Rec: How to Be And Adult in Relationships by David Richo Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on Instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter here. You can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and Joao Lucas in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#103
February 23 · 48 min
Christabel Mintah-Galloway: The Lost Relational Skill
Most of us have no idea what it means to repair harm, not just apologize for it. We also regard rage as frightening and out of place in loving, connected relationships. It takes a special person to demystify these staticky aspects of human relating—and we found her. This week on Simplify, Caitlin speaks with relational skills teacher Christabel Mintah-Galloway about repair: why it’s so difficult, why most of us avoid it, and why real accountability requires more than just good intentions. In a culture that prizes speed, certainty, and individualism, repair demands slowness, humility, and interdependence, so we're never taught how to practice this essential skill. Christabel offers tools that help us knit back together after a rupture (if we want to!), become true mirrors for one another, and learn to be in community—even when it's hard. The conversation also explores how rage can actually clarify values and point to injustice, strengthening our strongest relationships and freeing us from the ones that no longer work. Want to spend more time with Christabel? You can! Attend one of her Relational Skills for Liberation workshops, find her on Instagram, or get her Relational Skills Toolkit. Resources Christabel's Website Caitlin's rec: The WEIRDest People in The World by Joseph Heinrich Ben's rec: Nonviolent Communication by Marshall B. Rosenberg, Arun Gandhi Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter here. You can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and Ody Constantinou in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#102
February 9 · 52 min
Jane Borden: Cults and the American Monomyth
What if the United States wasn’t just influenced by cult-like thinking, but shaped by it from the very beginning? This week on Simplify, Caitlin Schiller speaks with journalist and author Jane Borden, whose book Cults Like Us: Why Doomsday Thinking Drives America explores how cult dynamics show up across U.S. history, politics, consumer culture, and self-help. From Puritan theology to superhero movies, Borden argues that cults aren’t fringe phenomena—they’re extreme versions of patterns baked so deep into American culture that they came over in the metaphorical sourdough starter brought over on the Mayflower. Together, Caitlin and Jane unpack why Americans are so drawn to comfort, certainty, and strongmen—and what it costs us when we give up agency in exchange for reassurance. You'll also hear about Caitlin's new least favorite figure in history (spoilers: it's the compunctionless Edward Bernays), dismantle the stories about power we're told, learn how the desire for comfort slowly erodes democracy, and where we should turn—if not to a singular outside "hero"—to save the day. Resources Cults Like Us by Jane Borden The American Monomyth by Robert Jewett & John Shelton Lawrence Caitlin's rec: The Hardest Job in the World by John Dickerson Ben's rec: Bowling Alone by Robert D. Putnam Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter here—this week, a take on hero worship & Bad Bunny. You can email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and Ody Constantinou in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#101
January 26 · 41 min
Seth Godin: Make Better Plans (and How to Beat AI)
Strategy. It can sound abstract, intimidating, and vaguely corporate. So who better to help demystify it than Seth Godin? Seth returns to Simplify to talk about his book This Is Strategy, and to reframe strategy not as a rigid plan or a set of tactics, but as a philosophy of becoming. In this conversation, Caitlin Schiller and Seth Godin explore what strategy really is, why tension is not only inevitable but necessary, and how pricing, trust, and generosity fit into long-term thinking about work. If strategy has ever felt overwhelming, or if you’ve been told to “be more strategic” without anyone explaining what that means, this episode is for you. ______ Resources Seth's Blog (going strong for 30 years without missing a day!) and his new book, This is Strategy Caitlin's rec: Considered Chaos, Substack of Eugene Healey Ben's rec: Good to Great by Jim Collins Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on instagram at @simplifypod. Subscribe to our newsletter here. Email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and Ody Constantinou in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#100
January 12 · 53 min
Elinor Cleghorn: The Sacrifices Behind Women's Health
Simplify is back! When you leave the doctor with a protocol for what ails you, do you wonder where the knowledge behind your prescription came from? In fact, we know how to treat today's woes thanks to the bodies of people who suffered—and nowhere is that data more inexact and editorialized than in women's health. Feminist cultural historian Dr. Elinor Cleghorn, who specializes in women’s health and its history, is just the person to set the story straight. Her book, Unwell Women, demystifies myths around women’s health—stories about what women's bodies are for, whether pain is just a necessary side effect of being a woman, and why women's bodies have been policed and traded as political capital, yet we still have to fight to be believed about our own bodily experiences. Women's bodies aren't mysteries—they are our own to care for and make decisions about. In this episode, Caitlin Schiller talks with Dr. Cleghorn about the relevance of this history today, as women's sexuality and reproductive freedoms are being redefined in response to a threatened patriarchy and budding pronatalist movements across the west. In the Bookend, Ben and Caitlin make reading recommendations and discuss Simplify's new, independent era. Caitlin's rec: Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Evolution by Cat Bohannon Ben's rec: The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins Let us know what you thought of this episode! Find us on instagram at @simplifypod on instagram. Subscribe to our newsletter here. Email us at info@kollomedia.com This episode of Simplify was produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler, and Ody Constantinou in Berlin, Germany, for Kollo Media. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#99
January 9 · 41 min
Kathryn Mannix: How to Die Well (Refresh)
Simplify is back on January 12, 2026! We’ve got a new look, we’re independent now, and we can’t wait to share new episodes with you every other Monday from January 12th onward. This episode features one of Caitlin's favorite-ever interviews, with Kathryn Mannix. To warm you up, we’re reissuing 5 of our favorite episodes. So, catch up on the great ideas you might’ve missed and get ready for Monday: you’ll hear from a cultural historian who will change the way you interact with the medical system. Sign up for our new newsletter, follow us on instagram. See you there! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
#98
January 9 · 40 min
Liz Fosslien: Work With Your Emotions (Refresh)
Simplify is back on January 12, 2026! We’ve got a new look, we’re independent now, and we can’t wait to share new episodes with you every other Monday from January 12th onward. This episode features Liz Fosslien. To warm you up, we’re reissuing 5 of our favorite episodes. So, catch up on the great ideas you might’ve missed and get ready for Monday: you’ll hear from a cultural historian who will change the way you interact with the medical system. Sign up for our new newsletter, follow us on instagram. See you there! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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