HOW TO Change Your Life

Considering a reimagination of your own? Find insight and perspective from learning how others have faced challenging circumstances. Below we've rounded up books, shows and a podcast that can offer inspiration and motivation, as well as practical advice from an economist and author on the best way to think about problems that don't have straightforward solutions.

- LIZZ SCHUMER

READ

Wild Problems

This thought-provoking book offers a new way to address problems that don't have clear solutions, taking cues from great artists, writers and scientists who have struggled. $27

The Takeaway: By spending less energy focused on the idea of being happy, we can figure out our true purpose and really flourish.

IN CONVERSATION

RUSS ROBERTS

On how to wrangle challenges no algorithm can solve

Why is this book important now?

In modern times, we look to so many analytical or algorithm-driven ways to make decisions. But there's no app to help make those big-picture decisions: Should I get married, should I have kids, should I move? That's why we need to think of them differently.

Can you explain what a better approach might entail?

Think of these problems less as decisions and more as choosing a path to go down. Think about standing in the middle of the woods, considering this path or that path, choosing a direction. These decisions often determine who we are so don't just think about which path is more fun. Think about Which path should I aspire to? Which path might have more meaning or purpose?

Talk about the distinction you make between a puzzle and a mystery.

Puzzles tend to have solutions. In that way, puzzles are very comforting. We have a method for getting to the answer. They have certainty behind them. But a mystery is something that doesn't have answers, so I think a lot of us try to push those out of our mind. It's uncomfortable. One of the themes of the book is that the big decisions in life are more mystery than puzzle. So we have to accept that there is no best answer.

How do we begin to become more comfortable with that uncertainty?