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10% Happier with Dan Harris

The Psychology Of Success | Guy Raz

September 4, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Psychology of Success: Guy Raz on Failure, Luck, and What Actually Matters

In 1997, Guy Raz applied to every major newspaper and magazine for an internship—the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, NPR—and got exactly one interview, which he didn't get. He ended up at a temp agency doing data entry for eight dollars an hour. Two weeks later, his father got a message on his answering machine from someone at NPR, who had pulled Raz's resume from a pile after their first-choice intern fell through. Raz was the first to call back. That failure—and the luck that followed—sent him into broadcasting instead of print journalism, and eventually into podcasting, where he would create How I Built This, Wow in the World, and The Great Creators. The story is emblematic of everything he has come to believe about success: failure is not just inevitable but often the hidden mechanism that redirects you toward something better.

Failure as a Gift You Don't Recognize at the Time

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (01:53) **Failure as a Gift** - Guy Raz introduces the central paradox of his career: failure has been his most instructive teacher.
  • 2 (03:17) **Personal Failure: The Path to Broadcasting** - Raz recounts how a string of rejections from print journalism led him to an unexpected career in radio.
  • 3 (08:33) **The Humiliation of Being Passed Over** - Raz describes the painful period of returning to NPR from war coverage to a lowly web-copy writing job.
  • 4 (11:44) **The Crushing Rejection That Changed Everything** - Raz details the specific moment he was denied the anchor job he had coveted his entire career.
  • 5 (17:28) **The Pivot to Podcasting** - Raz explains how his failure to become a news anchor directly led him to pioneer the podcast *TED Radio Hour*.
  • 6 (20:42) **The Lesson: Failure as a Blessing** - Raz synthesizes his career story, arguing that the anchor job rejection was actually the best thing that could have happened.
  • 7 (24:58) **How to Respond to Failure** - Raz offers his personal framework for metabolizing failure, emphasizing resilience and perspective.

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Guests on this episode

Guy Raz

Show Notes

A podcast pioneer on failure, resilience, luck, work/life balance, and the power of questions.

Guy Raz has been instrumental in creating some of the most iconic podcasts in the world, including Wondery's How I Built This, Wow in the World and TED Radio Hour. The New York Times has described him as "one of the most popular podcasters in history." 

We talk about:

  • The challenge – and gift – of failure
  • Getting comfortable with discomfort and risk
  • The notion of luck 
  • The balance between your relationships and your work 
  • Why scale isn't always the answer 
  • Success vs. happiness 
  • And much more

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