I'm Scott Lynch, host of The Motivated Mind, a Spotify top 100 Health & Fitness podcast with over 6 million downloads. Each week, I bring you practical and tactical insights on how to master your mindset and optimize your happiness. No fluff, no BS, no filter, just a swift kick in the mind. If you like learning about things like philosophy, psychology, lifestyle hacks, entrepreneurship, or dodging existential dread, then you're in the right place.
All content for The Motivated Mind is the property of Scott Lynch and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
I'm Scott Lynch, host of The Motivated Mind, a Spotify top 100 Health & Fitness podcast with over 6 million downloads. Each week, I bring you practical and tactical insights on how to master your mindset and optimize your happiness. No fluff, no BS, no filter, just a swift kick in the mind. If you like learning about things like philosophy, psychology, lifestyle hacks, entrepreneurship, or dodging existential dread, then you're in the right place.
Intermittent fasting isn’t a diet; it’s about when you eat, not what you eat. For the last two years, I’ve been unintentionally doing a 16-hour fast every day. I didn’t plan it, and I definitely didn’t expect it to stick. So I decided to dive into the latest science and expert opinions to see what’s really going on. Is fasting the secret to better health, or just another overhyped trend?
I love organization. Maybe it’s the minimalist in me, or the perfectionist, but there’s something deeply satisfying about turning chaos into order. The problem is, most organizing advice online seems designed for people with infinite time, money, and storage space (and no kids). In this episode, I share seven simple, realistic things my wife and I actually do to keep our home clean, tidy, and functional, without it becoming a full-time job.
At some point, self-care went from drinking water and getting enough sleep to sticking coffee where the sun doesn’t shine. Literally. The global self-care market ballooned from $10 billion in 2014 to over $450 billion by 2020, and along the way, wellness became a full-time job. From 4:30 a.m. wake-ups to skincare routines that require a chemistry degree, we’ve officially overcomplicated the art of taking care of ourselves. In this episode, I react to some of the most viral “self-improvement” TikToks and reels, unpacking the absurdity, and asking a simple question: when did growth stop being… simple?
Dreams: the place where your punches are only half as effective, all your teeth fall out, and you can only run away from bad guys in slow motion. But can you actually hack your dreams and control what happens in there? In this episode, I dive into my experiment with lucid dreaming, the science, the surprises, and the reality of trying to take the reins while you sleep.
Most productivity advice focuses on fancy apps, hacks, or endless to-do lists. But real productivity? It’s about understanding how we actually work, the traps we fall into, and setting up simple rules that help you get real work done without the burnout. In this episode, I share four productivity rules that reshaped how I approach projects, plan my week, and keep moving forward, even when life throws curveballs.
Ever feel like your brain just isn’t working the way it should? Like you’re stuck in dumb dumb mode and can’t quite get yourself unstuck? That was me not long ago, mentally drained, unmotivated, kind of lost, and feeling like my IQ was leaking out of my ears. In this episode, I share how I turned things around, rebuilt my mental energy, and found a way to feel sharper and more focused every single day.
Most of us measure our lives with a single metric: money, career, or some arbitrary idea of success. But what if there was a simpler way to see the bigger picture? In this episode, I share a tool I’ve been using that changed how I think about success, happiness, and stress, and why tracking what really matters might just change everything.
Ever feel like everyone else has their life together except you? Well, you’re not alone. In this episode, I break down the seven steps that helped me go from feeling like a hot mess express to, well, slightly less of a mess. No hacks promising to 10x your life overnight, just practical steps, awkward honesty, and a reminder that getting it together is less about buying a $50 water bottle and more about doing the simple stuff that actually works.
It’s been five years since I first called myself a minimalist. A lot has changed since then: my work, my family, and how I see the world. In this episode, I reflect on why I still choose minimalism, even when life gets messy, why it remains one of the most powerful tools I have to keep things simple, and how one simple question continues to keep me grounded in what matters most.
Eating healthy doesn’t have to be complicated. For the past couple of years, I’ve kept my diet simple by cycling through almost the same meals every week. In this episode, I break down what I’m eating right now as I train for my Spartan 21k, why this approach keeps me feeling strong and focused, and how keeping it simple has been the key to building consistency without overthinking every bite.
Making friends used to be simple. You shared a juice box at recess, and boom, best friends. But as adults, most of us kind of suck at it. In this episode, I unpack why making friends feels so hard these days and share a few ideas that might just change the way you think about building genuine connections.
We love to obsess over morning routines, daily habits, and productivity hacks. But strip away the clickbait, and what does a productive day really look like? In this episode, I take you behind the scenes of my day, from 5:30 a.m. wake-ups to why delegating is harder than it sounds, and unpack what actually moves the needle and what just clutters your to-do list.
Most days, we’re too busy to ask ourselves how we actually feel. We just keep moving, ignoring the frustration, burnout, or tiny moments of joy that slip by unnoticed. But what would happen if you tracked your mood every single day? In this episode, I share what happened when I tracked my mood every day for a month, the patterns I didn’t expect to find, and how a simple five-point scale taught me more about happiness than any self-help book ever has.
If you’ve ever wondered why your six-figure degree didn’t come with instructions on how to do your taxes, build habits, or not ruin your credit score in your first year out of school, you’re not alone. In this episode, I break down the 8 most important things college doesn’t teach you and practical ways to finally fill in those gaps.
It’s not a lack of information that’s holding you back. It’s not your schedule, or your inbox, or the algorithm. More often than not, it’s just you, caught in the endless loop of waiting for the perfect plan instead of showing up consistently. In this episode, I unpack why doing something small every day matters way more than going big once in a while.
We all do it. That task you’ve been avoiding? Still there. That thing you told yourself you’d start tomorrow? Welcome to tomorrow. We like to think procrastination is just laziness, but it’s usually something deeper. A hidden fear, a mental block, or maybe just a really well-organized form of avoidance. In this episode, I unpack five surprising reasons you keep putting things off and why willpower isn’t the solution.
I used to scribble notes everywhere, Post-its, Google Docs, notes app, my hand, and then wonder why I couldn’t find anything when I actually needed it. Turns out, productivity isn't just about to-do lists and caffeine; it’s about getting your digital life in order to free up your mental space and make room for better ideas (and fewer forgotten passwords). In this episode, I break down the simple system I now use to capture ideas, organize my digital clutter, and actually follow through on projects.
Have you ever wanted to just start over, to hit control, alt, delete on your life and start from scratch? A few years ago, my wife Mel and I asked ourselves a terrifying question: What if we let it all go and started over? The answer sent us down an unexpected path, one that taught us a lot about freedom, burnout, and the science of change. In this episode, I unpack our story, explore the psychology behind the Fresh Start Effect, and reveal why the timing of change might matter more than the tools.
Motivation is often treated like this mysterious, elusive force, something you wait for, something that magically appears before you finally take action. But what if that’s exactly backward? What if action itself is the spark that fuels motivation? In this episode, I unpack the "Do Something" Principle.
I'm Scott Lynch, host of The Motivated Mind, a Spotify top 100 Health & Fitness podcast with over 6 million downloads. Each week, I bring you practical and tactical insights on how to master your mindset and optimize your happiness. No fluff, no BS, no filter, just a swift kick in the mind. If you like learning about things like philosophy, psychology, lifestyle hacks, entrepreneurship, or dodging existential dread, then you're in the right place.