"The One You Weed" w/ Eric Zimmer

Published Dec 1, 2023, 9:00 AM

Hello, Puzzlers! Puzzling with us today: behavior coach, writer, and host of "The One You Feed," Eric Zimmer.

Join host A.J. Jacobs and his guests as they puzzle–and laugh–their way through new spins on old favorites, like anagrams and palindromes, as well as quirky originals such as “Ask Chat GPT” and audio rebuses.

Subscribe to The Puzzler podcast wherever you get your podcasts! 

"The Puzzler with A.J. Jacobs" is distributed by iHeartPodcasts and is a co-production with Neuhaus Ideas. 

Our executive producers are Neely Lohmann and Adam Neuhaus of Neuhaus Ideas, and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts.

The show is produced by Jody Avirgan and Brittani Brown of Roulette Productions. 

Our Chief Puzzle Officer is Greg Pliska. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg.

Hello Puzzlers. Welcome to the Puzzler Podcast, the Apple Cake and Your Puzzling Swanson's TV Dinner. I'm your host, AJ Jacobs, and I'm here with our guests, the awesome Eric Zimmer, host of the wonderful podcast right here on. iHeart the one you feed, which I have been lucky enough to be a guest on.

Welcome Eric, Hi, Aj, thanks for having me on.

We are delighted. I love your show, and I also love the way you start your show. You always start your podcast with the same parable, So would you mind telling it to us?

Sure, it's an old parable. We don't really know where it comes from. Some people think it's a Native American parable. Other people insist that's not true. I've been able to find no definitive scholarship, so we don't know where it comes from. But it goes like this. There's a grandparent who's talking with their grandchild and they say, in life, there are two wolves inside of us that are always at battle. One is a good wolf, which represents things like kindness and bravery and love, and the other is a bad wolf, which represents things like greed and hatred and fear. And the grandchild stops think about it for a second. They look up at their grandparent and they say, well, which one wins, and the grandparent says, the one you feed.

I love that. I love that for many reasons. First of all, I love it because the first time I heard it was from my son's Rabbi when he was preparing for his aparmits. Well, but I also love it because it's such a good message and weirdly, and I don't think this is a stretch. I think that it's very relevant to puzzles.

Yeah, well, you and I talked about that on our most recent conversation on my show. I think you've been on a couple times at this point, and we were able to talk about the way that parable relates to puzzles last time.

Yeah right, And for those you should go listen to that. But in my book on Puzzles, I talk about the puzzler mindset, which is all about seeing the world as a series of puzzles instead of a series of problems. And I actually Quincy Jones, the great musician, he said his life philosophy is I don't have problems, I have puzzles. So reframing your problems as puzzles because problems are like the bad wolf to me. They're negative, they're they're intimidating, and puzzles are like the good wolf. They're sort of playful and experimental. So if you feed the good wolf of puzzles in your life, then you will have more curiosity and positivity than negativity and fear. So that's my pitch for why puzzles are not just fun but good for your psyche.

I couldn't agree more. I think you just you saying that just made me think of a situation in my own life that I should try and or I don't don't know. If I say should I could try and reframe as a puzzle versus just a problem.

Well, I'll tell you I use it. I've been using it recently with people when I talk politics, because you know, my gut instinct is to try to argue with them and like bash them over the head with my correctness. But that's not going to work. That never works, So instead turn it into a puzzle. What do we really disagree about? Why do we disagree? What evidence is there that could convince me or her of a different way to look at it?

Yeah? And what did what do they? You know? What are the series of experiences in their life that have caused them to come to that conclusion. Right. You know that's another aspect of the puzzle, like why are they why do they see the world this way? Because that ato unlocks a lot of different things.

Right. Okay, I love talking psychology, but we've got an agenda here. We are a puzzle show, so we're gonna move into the puzzle portion. Are you ready to play a quick puzzle?

I am, I'm I'm not a great puzzle solver, so you know, I hope I do okay here, but yes, I am certainly ready.

No, we like that first of all, everyone. We believe everyone is a good puzzle solver. It's just you have to let it out. It's feeding that wolf, right, the puzzle wolf. Well, this puzzle we came up with is actually related to your wonderful show, which is about psychology and self improvement. So the idea for this puzzle is that your show is so good it needs some spinoffs. So we've come up with a bunch of ideas for spinoffs that happened to rhyme with your show, the one you feed. So you're gonna have to guess what is the spinoff, and I'm going to tell you a parable that's at the start of every show, and based on the parable, you are going to have to figure it out. So, for instance, if the parable is about two gardens, not wolves, but two gardens, and one of them has a nice, clean flower bed with no invasive plants, the title of that show might be the one you we'd weed exactly. Okay, you got it? So are you ready?

I am ready, by the way, you got that very quickly.

So I want to say you're underestimating yourself. Uh, this show starts with a parable about two books, and one of those books has better spelling and fewer typos, and that show is the one you.

Well, if it's a better book, it's an AJ Jacobs book, right, we know that, we know that, so but I'm pretty sure what you're aiming at there is the one you read, yeah.

Or even more the one you if you're looking for typos, the one you one you preroo freed.

Oh, you've got multiple syllables in there. That's is that legal?

Well, we set the rules. I will say. First of all, you cannot do better than your first answer about my books, so you get not only a correct you get like two points.

All right?

All right?

How about if this show starts with a parable about two loads of bread, one is softer? The title of that show might be the one you need k exactly ad exactly. It's a little tricky with the K. How abing a show what starts with a parable about two football teams and which one wins? You need someone to help you win on the sidelines. The one you.

All hang on, I don't need another hint, The one you cheer lead excellent.

See now you're in the double syllables. You're fine with it. All right. Here's the one maybe a little trickier. This parable is about a colonial doctor. I'm doing a book about the early America, so it's on my mind a colonial doctor and two of his patients. The one who was cured is the one who.

You well, I'm I'm thinking we're talking about medicine back in the days before we really knew what the heck we were doing, and I think a common cure at that time was one variation of it was leeches. So I'm going to say the one you bleed.

You got it, the one you belied, And by the way, for my book, I researched. You can still buy medicinal leeches, which claim is sort of like the alternative medicine like Goop type that you actually these will I don't clean your chakras and make you healthy.

Well, you know that's really interesting. When you say Goop, do you mean the magazine that it was founded by.

Yeah, the Gwyneth Paul Show, sort of lifestyle alternative medicals.

I don't think that. I don't think that group of buying leeches a j. I just don't think that's I think you're I think it's it's alternative medicine, but I think it's a different crowd.

All right, Well, have you heard some of the things they do, I mean family podcast. I don't know if I want to get into details.

Okay, all right, you're right. I just well, we'll see. Maybe we could maybe we could ask them.

I think it's worth asking. All right, what about one last one? What about this is a show about two startups? Uh, and you're an angel investor, and the one that succeeds is the one that you the one that goes to an I p O is the one you.

Oh goodness, all right, let me think.

A little tricky. So if you're an angel investor, and there's.

The one, the one you have the most greed.

Oh, I give you full credit. That was now what I was going.

Now, okay, give me another hit.

Well do you know there's like different rounds. There's the round as.

Oh, yes, yes, yes, I've got it all right, the one you seed.

Exactly you did it say? I knew you were a good puzzler. Thank you so much, Eric.

That was fun.

I'm so glad. I'm glad that I was able to have you on my show, in addition to being on your wonderful show. Speaking of which, where can listeners find your show?

You can search for the one you feed in any podcast app you use, or if you want to know more about it, you can go to one you feed dot net. That's O N E y O U F e E d dot net.

Love it. And before we wrap up, as always were all you puzzlers at home, an extra credit puzzle. What if there's a show about two? It starts with a parable of two sheep in an animal husbandry program. The one who has more offspring is the one you blank? I see, Eric, I.

Think am I supposed to answer or not?

No, No, you're doing great.

Yes, just keep quiet, keep quiet, yep, okay, please.

Keep quiet all right, and listeners, please come back tomorrow for the answer, and don't forget to subscribe to the Puzzler podcast and we will meet you here tomorrow for more puzzling puzzles that will puzzle you puzzlingly.

Hello puzzlers, I'm here with the extra credit answer from last episode. As you know, I'm the chief Puzzle Officer, Greg Pliska. We played daily shows with Roy Wood Junior where every answer was a show with a day of the week in the name. We gave you the clue. This showtime comedy shows the events leading up to an historical event where the losses are estimated at one point seventy one trillion dollars. That, of course is black money. Hope you enjoyed. We'll see you back here again soon. Thanks for playing along with the team here at the Puzzler. I'm Greg Pliska, your chief puzzle Officer. Our executive producers are Neelie Lohman and Adam Newhouse of New House Ideas and Lindsay Hoffman of iHeart Podcasts. The show is produced by Jody Abergan and Brittany Brown of Roulette Productions. Our associate producer is Andrea Schoenberg. The Puzzler with Aj Jacobs is a co production with New House Ideas and is distributed by Poached Artists Oh No Sorry Rearrange the Letters distributed by iHeart Podcasts. If you want to know more about puzzling puzzles, please check out the book The Puzzler by AJ Jacobs, a history of puzzles that The New York Times called fun and funny. It features an original puzzle hunt by yours Truly, and is available wherever you get your books and puzzlers. For all your puzzling needs, go visit the puzzler dot com. See you there,

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