How to Be a Better Human - "2025 Staff Picks: Best of How to Be a Better Human"

Podcast: How to Be a Better Human (TED)
Host: Chris Duffy
Date: December 8, 2025

Episode Overview

This special "yearbook superlatives" episode features the podcast’s team reflecting on their favorite moments from the past season. Each staff member nominates a standout episode for a playful superlative—such as "Most Likely to Make You Rethink Your Place in the World" or "Best Motivator to Get You to Do X, Y, and Z." Their picks include a mix of poignant interviews, practical advice, and new perspectives on self-improvement, community, work, and kindness. Each segment features a short introduction, an excerpt from the nominated episode, and staff commentary on its impact.

Detailed Breakdown

The Yearbook Superlatives Format

• Host Chris Duffy introduces the format: staff pick highlights from the season, each matching a yearbook-style superlative.
• Listeners hear from various TED and podcast team members as well as a guest poet, each sharing their favorite episode and why it stands out.

“These superlatives are going to be bestowed by folks who work on this show…We've even got a previous podcast guest poet, Naisha Randhar, who's going to share her own superlative pick.”
—Chris Duffy (01:23)

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Most Likely to Make You Rethink Your Place in the World

Nominated by: Lainey Lott
Episode: Nadia Bolz-Weber

• Lainey shares how Lutheran pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber’s approach to spirituality is grounded in kindness and community, rather than doctrine or supernatural claims.
• Nadia reframes faith as everyday trust in things unseen, not only religious miracles.

“It's really just about treating other people with sincere kindness…It humbles me and just brings me a lot of peace to think about my purpose as being to just be kind to others and help others.”
—Lainey Lott (02:47)

“A lot of people think they don't have faith because they don't think, 'Oh, I don't think Jesus was really alive after he was dead, right? Therefore I don't have faith.' And I'm like, oh my God, you definitely have faith in a million ways.”
—Nadia Bolz-Weber (paraphrased by Lainey, 03:48)

2. Most Inspiring Story

Nominated by: Michelle Quint
Episode: Edith Zimmerman

• Edith’s open, honest account of her journey to sobriety isn’t unique, but the vulnerability with which she shares it is powerful.
• The real inspiration lies in the willingness to confront uncomfortable truths.

"The root of what I found so inspiring was not the sobriety per se, but rather the idea that you can always make big personal changes if you are willing to look at yourself and your life clearly and honestly."
—Michelle Quint (04:19)

“So it was a very, I don’t know, medium, problematic drinker for, like, kind of a long time… for probably, like, seven years, I knew I was like, this is not good. But… I can’t really handle this right now… And then, like, one day I was. And then I stopped drinking.”
—Edith Zimmerman (05:34)

3. Most Likely to Help You Rethink Your Place in the World

Nominated by: Nysha Ramdar
Episode: Clint Smith

• Clint Smith explores “both-and-ness” in personal and national identity—how the shame and pride of America’s past can coexist.
• Argues that living with that complexity is central to being human.

"I think part of my project is to ask us to hold all of the both andedness of what it means to be human in the context of our personal lives, in the context of our identities, in the context of our history, because I think that is the most, perhaps central element of being human is accepting that we are a bundle of contradictions."
—Clint Smith (07:38)

4. Most Inspiring Story (Additional Pick)

Nominated by: Mateo Salas
Episode: Sean Sherman

• Chef Sean Sherman’s reclaiming of Indigenous food traditions as a path to healing, empowerment, and community restoration.
• Food is more than sustenance—it's identity and future-building.

"If we can get tribes to really consider that there is a path to control their own food, to be able to grow… preserve… make more than enough food for their entire community… If we can control our food, we can really control the power that we have for our future."
—Sean Sherman (13:06–13:31)

5. Most Likely to Make You Feel Your Feels

Nominated by: Daniela Valaresso
Episode: Hanif Abdurraqib & Sarah Kay

• The poets’ musings on home, community, and belonging resonate deeply.
• Hanif’s attachment to his hometown, Columbus, becomes an illustration of what grounded, community-rooted love looks like.

“Nothing brings me more joy than sitting in the passenger seat while Hanif drives around the city… pointing out personal landmarks… I have this great awe and this great respect for the way Hanif loves his hometown and how it's not abstract to him… the people there… the elders… the students he mentors and who mentor him back… the way that he moves through that place looks like what I imagine you are looking for when you are looking for an example of how to be in community."
—Daniela Valaresso (16:01)

6. Best Motivator to Get You to Do X, Y, and Z

Nominated by: Tanzika Sangmani Wong
Episode: Bonnie Choi (muscle & aging)

• Bonnie Choi reframes muscle as a philosophy—a metaphor for enduring, flexibility, and personal growth.
• The episode led Tanzika to start weight training for health and future capacity.

"I couldn't help but, over the course of writing this book, start to think of muscle as a philosophy where… there are all these characteristics of muscle… strength, form… flexibility, endurance… qualities that we strive for in personhood."
—Bonnie Choi (17:29)

7. Most Likely to Improve Your Life Tomorrow

Two Staff Picks:

• Lainey Lott: Dave Nadelberg & Neil Katcher ("How to Reclaim Your Cringe")

  • Embracing embarrassing past moments with humor; reframing shame as a source of endearment and self-compassion.
  • Journaling as a tool for perspective.

  “A lot of the things that we laugh at and enjoy but also relate to so much [are] just someone operating without a manual. And in a weird way, that's why they're keeping their journal and it's also why we root for them.”
  —Dave Nadelberg (23:07)

• Mateo Salas: Anil Seth (subjective existence & presence)

  • The practice of “catching yourself in the act of subjective existence”—being truly present and noticing how your brain constructs experience—can change the tone of your everyday life.

  “The brain makes this best guess about what's happening in the world by continually making predictions about the sensory signals that it's getting… we always actively construct [reality], actively generate it from the inside out… That's why I call it a controlled hallucination.”
  —Anil Seth (23:37)

8. Biggest Perspective Shifter

Two Picks:

• Tanzika Sangmani Wong: Debbie Millman (on personal branding)

  • Critiques the concept of “personal branding,” urging people to pursue reputation and character, not to turn themselves into a product.
  • Genuine human growth beats slick self-marketing.

  “What I suggest that humans work on is building their character and building their reputation and building their body of work… But the minute we begin to see ourselves as brands, we become a commodity. And I find that really unfortunate and a little bit sad.”
  —Debbie Millman (24:38)

• Nysha Ramdar: Katherine May ("Wintering")

  • Normalizes periods of rest and recovery, reframing them as natural, not failures.
  • Suggests that resisting pain increases suffering, and embracing a season of “wintering” allows for growth.

  “There's a really profound belief that we fail if we winter. Whereas actually… it's entirely obvious that it's normal. We can't live a whole life without having someone dear to us die… without getting sick… There are so many different things… and yet… we do this little trick of the mind that says, okay, so why is that their fault?”
  —Katherine May (28:58)

9. Most Shared Tidbit

Nominated by: Michelle Quint
Episode: Ingrid Lee (joyful design)

• Michelle shares Ingrid’s research showing that minimalism can dampen joy, while vibrant colors and patterns positively impact our mood and brains.
• Michelle bought a bright chair and began evangelizing the importance of more color in daily life.

"What I was trying to understand was what makes these things specifically joyful. And it's understanding that there are sensorial qualities to those joyful things that are repeatable… so things like bright color, round shapes, a sense of abundance and multiplicity, a feeling of lightness or elevation, repeating patterns…"
—Ingrid Lee (31:28)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Clint Smith: “We are a bundle of contradictions… My hope is that every day we wake up and try to get a little bit closer to the version of ourselves that we want to be relative to the version of ourselves that we are. That's like an ongoing praxis.” (07:38)
• Bonnie Choi: “Muscle is something that you can only get stronger. You can only strengthen a muscle by stressing it, by pushing it, by challenging it. And that's something that I think we all understand. We can look at life as something that always is stressing us, is always throwing these challenges at us.” (18:21)
• Katherine May: “The resistance to pain causes us the most suffering. And if we were to just take the time to winter, we would actually be able to be alive to the pain and, but also heal from that and be more alive to other things like beauty and happiness and good things in our lives.” (29:30)
• Ingrid Lee: “Our brains respond really positively to bright colors, repeating patterns and just how generally we should be trying to bring more color into our lives.” (31:28)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:23 – Chris explains the superlative episode format
• 02:47 – Lainey on Nadia Bolz-Weber and kindness-based spirituality
• 04:19 – Michelle on Edith Zimmerman’s story of honest self-change
• 06:13 – Nysha on Clint Smith and embracing contradictory histories
• 07:38 – Clint Smith on "both-and-ness" and striving for self-improvement
• 12:14 – Mateo on Sean Sherman and the power of food traditions
• 14:25 – Daniela on Hanif Abdurraqib, Sarah Kay, and community
• 17:29 – Tanzika on Bonnie Choi and muscle as personal ethos
• 22:12 – Lainey on Dave Nadelberg, Neil Katcher and laughing at your cringe
• 23:37 – Mateo on Anil Seth’s neuroscience of perception
• 24:38 – Tanzika on Debbie Millman and being more than a brand
• 28:58 – Nysha on Katherine May, “wintering,” and embracing rest
• 31:28 – Michelle on Ingrid Lee and designing for joy

Conclusion

This year’s staff picks episode of How to Be a Better Human serves as an engaging “highlight reel” of the podcast’s signature blend: practical wisdom, emotional depth, and a sense of community. The staff’s picks span spirituality, identity, vulnerability, rest, motivation, humor, and the very design of our environments—each offering distinct, actionable insights on what it means to keep getting better, together.