Debbie MillmanEvery podcast appearance, updated as new ones drop

Debbie Millman is one of the world's leading authorities on branding. For two decades she was President of Sterling Brands, where she had a hand in around 20% of the brands on the US grocery aisle. She has built her career on an understanding of how and why brands work, and at the centre of that understanding is the concept of deliberate differentiation. That branding is the act of attaching meaning to an object, idea, or movement. So when people ask her how to build a personal brand, her answer is surprising: don't. <...

Manoush Zomorodi is an award-winning journalist, author, and host of NPR’s TED Radio Hour whose work explores how technology shapes our minds, bodies, attention, and sense of humanity. She joins Debbie Millman live at the launch of her newest book, Body Electric, which examines the physical and psychological consequences of our increasingly screen-centered lives.

What do you hear when you sit in silence? For artist Rose B. Simpson, that question is the beginning of all art. She comes from a line of ceramic artists stretching back generations and, as part of her multidisciplinary work, she also builds custom lowrider cars. (If that sounds like a contradiction, that's kind of the point.) In conversation with "Design Matters" podcast host Debbie Millman, Simpson invites you to find your own aesthetic — not by searching, but by listening. Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Over two decades of interviewing countless creative people, Debbie Millman (host of the iconic "Design Matters" podcast) had a realization: the pride and joy of accomplishing something often evaporates almost instantly. She explains how to stop chasing external validation for your achievements and instead live for the act of creation itself. Learn more about our flagship conference happening this April at attend.ted.com/podcast Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Many of us feel like we’re drowning in invisible complexity. So I wanted to hit pause and ask a simple question: What are 1-3 decisions that could dramatically simplify my life in 2026? To explore that, I invited five long-time listener favorites: Maria Popova, Morgan Housel, Cal Newport, Craig Mod, and Debbie Millman. This episode is brought to you by: Shopify global commerce platform, providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business: Shopify.com/tim Helix Sleep premium mattresses: HelixSleep.com/Tim Timestamps: [00:00:00] Start. [00:01:49] Maria Popova [00:02:04] The Cherish Quotient: Stop giving hours to people who rank as “fine.” [00:03:15] When you apologize for your priorities, you’re apologizing for your life. Stop! [00:04:41] Morgan Housel [00:04:50] The do-nothing thesis: Be average long enough and you’ll end up in the top 1%. [00:08:42] Read more history, fewer forecasts — and watch the news lose its power over you. [00:09:32] How Stephen King’s 11/22/63 illustrates the futility of prediction. [00:12:21] Cal Newport [00:12:36] What deserves a “yes” when the default is “no?” [00:16:38] Deep Work sells two million copies and creates a schizophrenic double life. [00:19:07] The unifying insight: Both careers were always about technology and human flourishing. [00:24:07] Craig Mod [00:24:46] How quitting alcohol has been Craig’s highest-ROI decision. [00:27:13] Therapy after a decade of sobriety: The cliché that actually cleared the water. [00:30:27] The compounding interest that comes from committing to one craft. [00:33:09] Debbie Millman [00:34:30] H