About this episode
This episode explores the importance of saying yes to new experiences to enhance happiness and willingness to take risks.
You don’t know what’s going to make you happy until you try it. The job or the relationship that looks good on paper may not feel so great at, say, ten o’clock on a Tuesday. That’s one reason to say yes to more things, so you can get a better feel for more things. Saying yes is a habit and a mindset. If you practice saying yes to smaller things with low stakes, you might find yourself more willing to take bigger risks. That’s what we hope to inspire in this edition of Doing What Works. Here are your show notes… Irresistible author Adam Alter [ http://adamalterauthor.com/ ] was one of Katie’s professors at NYU Stern and “say yes” was his advice. “I wish I might go back and do the little things you asked me to” is from a poem by Alice E. Chase [ https://www.scrapbook.com/poems/doc/860.html ] entitled “To My Grown-Up Son.” Saying “yes” (and “yes, and”) is a rule of improv [ https://medium.com/the-improv-blog/the-first-rule-of-improv-is-yes-and-30e5954240d6 ]. “If you can’t imagine any other explanation for a set of facts, it might be because you are bad at imagining things.” That’s from Dilbert creator Scott Adams [ https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays ]. “Marriage is a big bet. It’s…
People in this episode
Host: Katie
Topics covered
- saying yes
- mindset
- risk-taking
- happiness
- improv
Keywords
- saying yes
- happiness
- mindset
- risk-taking
- improv
More episodes of Doing What Works
- How do you live without regret? · June 8, 2026 · 40 min
- What’s the upside to stress? · June 1, 2026 · 40 min
- What makes a good entry-level job? · May 26, 2026 · 40 min
- When is the right time to make a change? · May 18, 2026 · 40 min
- What makes an effective leader? · May 4, 2026 · 40 min
- How do you approach a puzzle? · April 27, 2026 · 40 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Doing What Works podcast page.