[video available on spotify] since high school, i've been cycling between two phases: wow, this girl is productive, and wow, this girl can't get anything done. when i'm in a productive phase, working comes easily to me. and when i'm in an unproductive phase, it's the complete opposite. during these unproductive times, i take a step back and analyze what's happening. and what i'm trying to figure out is am i being lazy, or am i burnt out? so today, i want to talk about the difference between laziness and burnout because they are kind of hard to distinguish, but understanding where you’re at helps you get back on track.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

[video available on spotify] today i present to you, amanda montell: a writer, linguist, and fellow podcast host. amanda has written three books. one of them, the age of magical overthinking, is about to come out. today i want to zoom in on one of our many common interests. she wrote an entire book about cults, the language used in cults, and cult-like behavior, and i'm excited to discuss how we participate in cult-like behavior on a day-to-day basis without even realizing it. she's really investigated the line between what is a cult and what is just cult-like behavior. and this is something I am curious to explore because I think it's a little bit more relevant than we even realize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

[video available on spotify] it's 2016. i'm 15 years old, and for the first time i'm realizing that life is challenging. i'm becoming obsessed with inspirational quotes. i think i’m having a philosophical awakening. now imagine during this time someone comes up to me and says, hey emma, what's your favorite quote? well, my answer would've been - everything happens for a reason. during that time, that quote answered all the questions that i needed answered, because my challenges were painfully simple. i thought i would get that tattooed on my body somewhere as a teenager, and i thank my lucky stars every day that i didn’t because i'll tell you, inspirational quotes look really good on the surface, but when you start to analyze them, they usually have some holes. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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[video available on spotify] we're all constantly waiting on our favorite creatives to put out their next project. and the reason for that is because art takes a long time to create. i think a lot of us know this, but we forget this. i see a lot of fans online saying things to their favorite creatives like, hello, where's the next project? did you forget about us? are you being fucking lazy? it's very easy to believe that for artists, being creative is just automatic. and if they're not coming out with stuff left and right, it's because they don't want to. but that's very far from the truth. so today i want to talk about why good art takes time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices