The Way of Excellence
Episodes about this book
29 episodesHow to Care Deeply and Compete Fearlessly
The speaker credits the book Way of Excellence—specifically its Curiosity chapter—with providing a reframe of treating everything as an experiment. They describe how this mindset, which lets failures become feedback and data, has been personally helpful in dealing with uncertainty, while acknowledging that it remains emotionally difficult in practice.
The Way of Excellence, Interview with Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg is interviewed about The Way of Excellence, arguing that genuine excellence is a humanistic process of deep care and relentless consistency—not optimization hacks. He discusses how Sebastian Sawyer used the book's confidence-from-evidence concept for his sub-two-hour marathon, the identity-as-a-house metaphor for resilience after injury, the necessity of joy alongside intensity in top performers, and "internet brain" as a hazard to the deep focus that real excellence requires.
The AI Resistance is Forming. (Should You Join?)
Brad Stolberg appears as a guest and discusses his book The Way of Excellence, a New York Times bestseller, in the context of his personal rejection of AI tools. He argues that effort and struggle are essential to meaning, and that AI undermines this by eliminating difficulty from tasks. He shares that the book's most-highlighted passage concerns the irreplaceable subjective feeling of human effort—writing, lifting—which no machine can replicate. Cal Newport frames this as a "humanist resistance" overlapping with both their bodies of work.
Am I Optimizing Too Much? | Monday Advice
The Science of Excellence: How To Master Your Craft, Passion vs. Obsession, The Myth of Balance, and More w/ Brad Stulberg
The entire episode is an interview with author Brad Stulberg, in which he and host Jay Papasan discuss the book at length. Topics include defining excellence as purposeful engagement aligned with one's values, mastery milestones, the role of curiosity in displacing fear, passion versus obsession, the myth of balance countered by an 'identity house' metaphor, confidence built from evidence, and community as a sustaining force on the path to excellence.
Six Books That Changed How We Think About Performance
How to Come Back, from the Greatest Playoff Run in NBA History
Brad Stahlberg repeatedly references his own book, The Way of Excellence, using the New York Knicks' 2026 playoff run as a live illustration of the book's principles. He draws on the book's framing of finite versus infinite games to explain coach Mike Brown's resilience, reads a passage from the book about working through self-doubt, and Clay Skipper recaps the episode by naming the book as the source of the show's core lessons on excellence.
Story: Brad Stulberg (Self-harm-themed OCD, writing, and his book The Way of Excellence) (#541)
Everyday Excellence with Brad Stulberg | EP44
Rebecca Rusch interviews Brad Stulberg about his book, which argues that excellence is a process of caring deeply about something and engaging with it in alignment with one's values, producing mastery and mattering. Stulberg contrasts genuine excellence with optimization and pseudo-excellence. Rusch, who has read and listened to the book multiple times, says she cannot recommend it enough and found its concepts helpful during her recovery from post-concussion symptoms.
How to Pursue Excellence and Stay Human in the Age of AI With Brad Stulberg (EP.248)
Author Brad Stulberg, the episode's guest, discusses key ideas from the book at length: a values-based, democratized definition of excellence distinct from perfectionism or status; the "identity house" metaphor for sustaining multiple life roles without burnout; the role of community in meaningful pursuit; and designing environments—rather than just building willpower—to promote focus. Stulberg frames excellence as an approachable process available to anyone willing to engage with intention.
390 - The Way Of Excellence With Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg, the guest author, and host Matt Dixon explore the book's central argument that excellence is a practice rather than an outcome. They discuss process-focused goal-setting illustrated by an Olympic athlete's four-year training cycle, and Stulberg's 'identity house' framework—maintaining multiple life domains to sustain performance through chaos. Stulberg frames the book as a culmination of twenty years of thinking about craft, quality, and meaningful growth.
🎯 The Way of Excellence: Mastery, Mattering & Leadership with Brad Stulberg
The entire episode is built around Brad Stulberg's book. Betsy Butterick and JP Nurbit interview him about its central framework—excellence as the intersection of mastery (concrete skill progress) and mattering (feeling one's contribution counts). Topics include three goal types (outcome, process, person), finite vs. infinite games, rewarding effort over results, aligning actions with values, and using values as an anchor when purpose fades. Steve Kerr is cited as a real-world exemplar of the book's ideas.
The Way of Excellence with Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg is the author and guest on the show. He and host Holly discuss the book's central themes at length: the distinction between genuine excellence and pseudo-excellence (hustle culture, perfectionism, cold-plunge posturing); the 'identity house' metaphor urging athletes not to tie all self-worth to one pursuit; why balance is the wrong goal; the equation 'stress plus rest equals growth'; the concept of gumption as intrinsic stick-to-itiveness; and why social media parasocial comparison undermines authentic pursuit of excellence.
The Way of Excellence With Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg discusses his book at length with host Jill Schlesinger. He introduces 'zombie burnout'—burning out from not doing enough meaningful work—and argues that true excellence means heartfelt, values-connected engagement with a craft, not hustle-culture performance. The conversation covers intimacy with one's craft, the embodied feeling of being at one's best, the role of rest and renewal in growth, self-compassion as a driver of discipline, and community as a nurturer of excellence.
Brad Stulberg: The Way of Excellence
#438 Brad Stulberg - The Way of Excellence
Brad Stulberg Talks About Sustainable Excellence, Mastery, and Doing What Truly Matters
Mike Vardy interviews Brad Stulberg about his new book 'The Way of Excellence,' which reclaims excellence as a heartfelt human aspiration distinct from hustle culture and optimization. Stulberg discusses the book's foundations, mindsets, habits, and practices for sustaining excellence, the four levels of competence, the paradox of focusing on process over results, and the distinction between fleeting happiness and lasting satisfaction.
Achieving excellence, with Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg, author and performance coach, is interviewed by host Laura Vanderkam about his new book. They discuss excellence as accessible to everyone, his "quit, fit, and grit" framework, breaking big goals into daily steps, the importance of making bad days better (raising the floor), and his "brave new world" mantra for shifting from fear to curiosity when facing difficult challenges.
#466 Brad Stulberg, Author of The Way of Excellence, on Redefining Excellence, the Mindset of High Performance, Building Effective Habits, and Finding Meaning in it All
Brad Stulberg discusses his new book at length with hosts John O'Sullivan and Jerry. He defines excellence as 'involved engagement in something worthwhile that aligns with your values and goals,' distinguishes it from flow (which is values-neutral), argues that pursuing excellence looks like love, and walks through practical tools including curiosity as an antidote to fear. Both hosts praise it warmly and recommend it to listeners.
How To Cultivate Excellence in a Chaotic World with Brad Stulberg
The entire episode is an interview with Brad Stulberg about his new book. Topics include: reframing excellence as a practice rather than a standard or finish line; a process mindset that decomposes big goals into daily steps; care as the engine of excellence; the identity-house metaphor for sustaining multiple life roles; trade-offs and minimum effective doses; and the paradox that fierce self-discipline requires fierce self-kindness. Both host Eric Zimmer and Stulberg draw extensively on the book's arguments and examples throughout.
EP 469- Author Brad Stulberg on What ‘Excellence’ Means for Amateur Chess Players
Brad Stulberg's new book is the subject of the interview. Discussion covers the arrival fallacy, summit fever, excellence as a process rather than a standard, the importance of consistency over intensity, and the biophilia hypothesis—all applied to amateur chess. Stulberg argues genuine excellence means caring deeply about a craft and embracing the process, accessible to hobbyists and world-class performers alike, and criticises hustle-culture versions of excellence.
#237 | The Way of Excellence: How To Build A Life Of Meaningful Mastery Ft. Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg is interviewed about his new book, The Way of Excellence, which he describes as the culmination of two decades of work on human performance and flourishing. The wide-ranging conversation covers the book's core framework: starting with personal values before setting goals, breaking goals into daily components, encoding excellence through consistency over intensity, avoiding 'zombie burnout,' developing focus and discipline, and marrying intensity with joy. Stulberg also shares his own writing process and a striking University of Virginia study featured in the book.
EP 220: How To Develop Greatness and Deep Satisfaction in a Chaotic World w/ Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg guests on the Vigor Life Podcast to discuss The Way of Excellence. Host Luca calls it Brad's best book and plans to reread it annually as a foundational text. Brad explains he wrote it to reclaim excellence from misconceptions—not perfectionism or optimization—and to counter modern numbing. The conversation covers excellence as a biological drive and lived feeling, the illusion of balance, curiosity as fuel at the mastery level, and the stovetop analogy for managing life's competing priorities.
RWH065: Joyful Excellence w/ Brad Stulberg
The episode is an extended interview with Brad Stulberg about this new book. Host William Green says he found it "really helpful and deeply thought-provoking," calling it extremely practical yet humane and soulful. Green pre-ordered 28 copies as gifts. The conversation explores the book's central argument—that orienting life around genuine excellence, drawing on Robert Pirsig's concept of quality, is the path to a meaningful life—and goes through its frameworks for values, consistency, deep focus, rest, self-kindness, and joy.
246 Brad Stulberg: The Way of Excellence - The Secret to What It Really Takes to Thrive
Brad Stulberg joins host Dr. René Paul Gaultier to discuss this new book at length. They explore excellence as a process of becoming rather than a fixed standard, tracing it to Aristotle; the tension between self-discipline and self-compassion; the "brave new world" mindset (reframing fear as curiosity, supported by neuroscientist Yak Ponsky's findings on competing neural circuits); the quit-fit-grit framework for mastery; and the concept of micro-adversities in performance.
Episode 269: In a World of Chaos, Find Your Way of Excellence: A Conversation with Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg, the author, is interviewed by host Julie Sapper about his new book. He contrasts genuine excellence—defined as deep caring engagement with something worthwhile that aligns with one's values—against hustle-culture pseudo-excellence. He walks through 16 factors of excellence, including caring, consistency versus discipline, identity diversification, and finding joy in the process, arguing that reclaiming authentic pursuit of excellence is a humanist response to a chaotic world.
Excellence Without Burnout: Brad Stulberg on Escaping Hustle Culture
Brad Stulberg is interviewed about his new book, which argues that pursuing excellence—defined as deep caring and intimacy with one's craft—is the path to lasting satisfaction, distinct from hustle culture or happiness-chasing. He discusses zombie burnout, values-aligned goal-setting, and the stress-rest cycle. Hosts Juliet and Kelly describe it as a timely, practical read and share how it influenced them personally going into 2026.
Reclaim Your Excellence: The Path To A Meaningful & Joyous Life w/ Brad Stulberg
Brad Stulberg discusses his new book at length with host Rich Roll. Topics drawn from the book include distinguishing genuine excellence from hustle culture, the 'humble badass' archetype, holding non-dual qualities such as self-discipline paired with self-compassion, building an identity house with multiple rooms, the role of joy in driving sustainable excellence, the concept of shitty flow, and the importance of completion rituals.
Episode 659: Wrapping Up the Wellness Series with Brad Stulberg on Excellence, Care, and Meaningful Goals
Brad Stulberg, the book's author, is interviewed about his forthcoming book. Host Lindsey Hein read it ahead of a major athlete interview and found it sharpened her mindset. The conversation covers themes from the book: approaching new challenges with curiosity rather than fear, caring deeply even at the risk of heartbreak, an identity 'house with many rooms' metaphor, and aligning goals with core values. Brad promotes pre-order bonuses including a workbook and reading list.
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