In this episode Ian, Darren & March continue the Better Look Back series. We reflect on our personal experiments with how to be better gift-givers and how to improve our relationships. We had a lot of successes to report on in this episode, but we also share some things that didn’t work out as planned. Finally, we feature a few new things we’ve discovered since our original episodes covering these topics. Lot’s a good stuff in this episode, including:
Show Notes
- 2:19— We dive into our experiments for better gift-giving and Darren starts by sharing his tactic this year of giving experienced-based gifts and gifts that are consumable — like Lush Bath Bombs.
- 4:13— March admits that he, too, loves Lush products but laments the assault that one experiences when entering a Lush store.
- 6:44— Ian has a great idea about alternating gift types each year similar to how wedding anniversary gifts have themes throughout the years.
- 8:44— March makes a great impression on his close friends and family members by sending handwritten cards and notes to express his gratitude.
- 11:58— Ian coins a new phrase “pod friends” to describe our (Ian, March, and Darren’s) relationships. Remember that you heard it here first.
- 14:11— March shares a big success he had in hand selecting some of his favorite books to give to each of his family members.
- 17:20— Ian shares a success and a hilarious fail in his attempt to send handmade cards to friends this holiday season.
- 19:22— Darren shares a pro tip with Ian on how to avoid getting a hand cramp when addressing multiple holiday cards.
- 21:31— Darren shares a funny story about a return address stamp they gave as a gift recently to his brother and sister-in-law.
- 23:22— Ian reflects on how making the extra effort with a personalized card inspires others to return the gesture, bringing us closer with those we care about.
- 24:55— Darren reflects on his wife’s family’s tradition of writing Christmas letters.
- 27:18— March mentions Google Photos as a good resource for assembling a look-back over the previous year.
- 28:29— March shares one of his favorite gifts received this year: a subscription to Master Class.
- 34:16— We hear about March’s son’s adorable gift to his dad of quality time together on the ski slopes . And March wonders about Sam’s possible ulterior motives.
- 36:53— We begin discussing our experiments with better relationships and Darren notes that the Gottman seminar, The Art & Science of Love, is so popular that he and his wife had to book it several months in advance.
- 38:52— March shares his experience attending the Gottman seminar in 2010 with his wife Kristin.
- 40:42— Darren shares something he and his wife gave to each other this year: a subscription to MoviePass to motivate them to schedule more date nights.
- 42:56— Darren suggests an idea for a new podcast called “How do they make money?” where we delve into specific companies to understand how they make money.
- 43:43— Ian proposes starting a Better Show movie night for the extended Better Show community.
- 44:09— March describes the effectiveness of one of his experiments: sending hand-written thank you notes to close friends and family.
- 47:11— Ian shares his successful experiment of planning more social lunches rather than working through lunch and shares a trick he devised to motivate himself to arrange more social lunches.
- 48:46— Darren and March wonder where, exactly, Ian is taking all these people for lunch. (Ian swears that it’s not Chipotle)
- 49:29— March shares how the three of us have started scheduling Better Show lunches so we can carve out more time for planning the podcast.
- 50:21— March admits that he does look forward to playing in the ball pit at McDonald's during our Better Show planning lunches but regrets that the fun has to end when the firefighters arrive to physically remove him from the play area.
- 52:51— Darren notes that never eating alone is great career advice in addition to being good for social relationships.
- 53:05— Ian mentions the great advice offered in the book “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi.
- 53:40— March becomes concerned about the viability of his new book “Never Eat: a book about Fasting”
- 54:22— Ian notes his love of sitting and Darren suggests a new experiment to try.
- 55:24— We give a shout out to listener “Physics Fantastic” who left a very touching review of The Better Show on iTunes.
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