The Better Humans Project

About The Better Humans Project

A series of Podcasts that look at practical aspects of how your can make a transformation in your life and become a better human. Episodes may include practical tips and worksheets. For more information email contact@thebetterhumansproject.com

Publisher

Gregory Pfeiffer

Category

education · health & fitness · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

12 Jun 2023

Latest episode

11 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

51 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   11 Oct 2026

   Episode #48 - How Are You Thinking? The Power of Metacognition — Learning to Think About Your Thinking

   You spend a significant part of every day thinking. But when did you last stop to examine how you think? In this episode of The Better Humans Project, Greg Pfeiffer explores metacognition — the practice of thinking about your thinking. Not the content of your thoughts, but the process: the habits, patterns, assumptions, and biases that are quietly shaping every conclusion you draw. We cover the foundational psychology — Flavell's two components of metacognition, Kahneman's System 1 and 2 thinking, and Adrian Wells' Metacognitive Therapy, which shows that anxiety and depression are often maintained not by the content of distressing thoughts but by the beliefs we hold about those thoughts. We look at why metacognitive skill is a stronger predictor of learning outcomes than raw intelligence, and what it has to do with intellectual humility and fairer judgement of other people. We go into the three main obstacles to metacognition — the fluency illusion, the ego threat of self-examination, and the simple fact that most of us were never taught this skill — and five concrete practices for building it. And we bring it to life through practical, recognisable examples: the dismissal in a meeting that had more to do with relationship history than the idea itself; the worry that more thinking was making worse; the story about yourself you've been carrying as fact for years. Your weekly challenge: the seven-day Thinking Log. One significant thought per day, put through four honest questions. The free companion worksheet is in the episode notes. ───────────────────────────────────── ABOUT THE BETTER HUMANS PROJECT ───────────────────────────────────── The Better Humans Project is a podcast hosted by Greg Pfeiffer. Each episode draws on psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and lived human experience to explore the things that genuinely shape how we think, feel, relate, and grow. This isn't self-help for its own sake — it's serious, honest, and practical conversation about what it actually means to become a better version of yourself. Topics have included emotional intelligence, happiness, agency, tribalism, slow living, metacognition, and what makes a life worth living. Every episode comes with a free companion worksheet and a weekly challenge designed to move insight into action. 📩 Get in touch: contact@thebetterhumansproject.com

2. 

   20 Sept 2026

   Episode #47 - Passenger or Driver? The Psychology of Agency - Taking the Wheel of Your Own Life

   Are you driving your life — or are you a passenger in it? In this episode of The Better Humans Project Podcast, Greg Pfeiffer explores agency: one of the most fundamental and most underexamined forces in human psychology. What it is, why it matters so profoundly, how much of it we actually have, and what happens when we have too little, or are seduced by the illusion of too much. We cover Albert Bandura's self-efficacy research and the four ways agency can be deliberately built. We look at Seligman's learned helplessness: how passivity is learned and what it takes to reverse it - and at Viktor Frankl's radical insight that even in Auschwitz, the agency of meaning-making could not be removed. We explore the dangers of hyper-agency, the illusion of control, and the moral hazard of agency narratives that ignore structural inequality. We ask whether some people can genuinely thrive with less agency and draw the crucial distinction between chosen surrender and imposed helplessness. We look at how agency fluctuates across a lifetime, what psychological hardiness looks like under pressure, and how the Stoic tradition - particularly Epictetus, who was born a slave - offers perhaps the deepest possible account of what it means to be truly free. Your weekly challenge: the five-day Agency Audit. One area. One action per day. And a reckoning with what you notice. The free companion worksheet is available by emailing contact@thebetterhumansproject.com The Better Humans Project Podcast — real conversations about becoming more human.

3. 

   16 Aug 2026

   Episode #45 - Was it a Life Worth Living? Talking about measuring "success".

   What would make your life feel genuinely worthwhile — not impressive, not successful by someone else's measure, but truly worthwhile? It's one of the oldest questions a person can ask. And most of us are answering it with a scorecard we never consciously chose. In this episode of The Better Humans Project, Greg Pfeiffer takes that question seriously. We look at where our life yardsticks actually come from — family, culture, advertising, social media — and whether they have anything to do with what we genuinely value. We explore the psychological dangers of life assessment: the distortion of constant comparison, the particular cruelty of inaction regret, and the harm of issuing a final verdict on a story that isn't finished yet. We go into what social media — and LinkedIn in particular — has done to our sense of self-worth, drawing on research that shows passive scrolling makes us feel measurably worse about our own lives. And we explore five better measures to replace conventional 'success': Carol Ryff's six dimensions of psychological well-being, Winnicott's liberating concept of the good enough life, Bronnie Ware's deathbed regret research, Dan McAdams on narrative coherence, and Erikson's generativity — the question of what you gave and left, not just what you got and kept. Your weekly challenge: write the eulogy you actually want. Then ask how close you're living to it. The free companion worksheet is available by emailing contact@thebetterhumansproject.com The Better Humans Project — real conversations about becoming more human.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

8,716

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Podcast Authority Score: 32 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

36

Social presence

0

YouTube

68

Engagement

0

Contact The Better Humans Project

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.