The Most Important Conversation You’ll Have This Year

Dear Friends,

Welcome to 2021. Despite all the madness of the first weeks, we are approaching this new year with stubborn optimism and a commitment to clear thinking and clear seeing. To that end, we wanted to share our excitement about author Ethan Kross and his new book Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It, which is out this month.

Chatter is that voice in your head that, just before going to sleep, reminds you about the worst parts of your day. The voice that, when you’re looking for your inner coach to inspire you, ends up being your biggest critic instead. The voice that gives life to your ruminations, anxieties, and regrets, and traps you in a cycle of negative thoughts.

But if harnessed, that same voice can also be your greatest support.

“Fresh and riveting. Chatter is a masterpiece—a landmark book that will change the way you think about human nature.” 

In Chatter, Ethan Kross, an award-winning psychologist and neuroscientist, reveals the hidden power of our inner voice and shows how we can harness it to live a healthier, more satisfying, and more productive life. He offers practical, immediately applicable tools, ground-breaking research, and a fascinating narrative to explore the most important conversations we have—the ones we have with ourselves. As Apple editors wrote in picking Chatter as their book of the month,  ‘”Chatter isn’t just thought-provoking—it’s thought-transforming.’”

To help get you started on changing your relationship with the voice in your head, we want to offer you a toolbox with just a few of the many tools offered in the book. Many of these tools are hidden in plain sight—in the words we use to think about ourselves, the technologies we embrace, the diaries we keep in our drawers, the conversations we have with our loved ones, and the cultures we create in our schools and workplaces. Chatter shines a spotlight on these tools to help you live healthier, more satisfying, and more productive lives.

If you find these tools helpful, please share them with a friend. And if you’d like to read more about the science of the inner voice, and get more tools, please take a moment and order Chatter and let us know what you think.

With gratitude, Doug, Lara, Rachel, Esmé, Ty, Jordan, Stacie, Mariah, Staci and everyone at Idea Architects