The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast

No one actually knows how many people are missing in America’s wilderness. In this gripping conversation, Ginny Yurich sits down with professor, journalist and The Cold Vanish author Jon Billman to explore what he calls the nation’s “silent mass disaster.” The silent mass disaster is about the people who vanish in national parks, forests, mountains, and other wild places. They talk about those who went missing and the families and searchers who refuse to stop looking. They discuss baffling disappearances, a father who gave up everything to search for his son, the astonishing abilities of search dogs, and what all parents should know before heading into the backcountry with their families. But this isn’t a conversation meant to make us afraid of wild places. It’s about respecting how vast they still are, being prepared when we enter them, and remembering the people who keep searching when everyone else has gone home. As Jon says, “It’s a good thing to find missing people.”'

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Popularity matters across our entire lifespan but it’s only a certain kind of popularity matters. Today, you get to learn what kind of popularity that is! Dr. Mitch Prinstein has spent decades studying what makes people liked, accepted, influential and connected, and his research also includes why popularity matters. Ginny talks with Mitch about the crucial difference between status and likability. You’ll learn why the “cool kids” of childhood don’t necessarily fare better later in life and why being more likable to can affect your health, relationships, and career. They also explore what happens in the adolescent brain that makes approval feel so important, raising likable kids, and the hundreds of small opportunities we have every day to become more likable.

Mitch is the author of Popular and Likeability and host of That Popular Podcast.

Learn more about Dr. Mitch Prinstein and all he has to offer here

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Let's talk about the energy you bring into a room! It changes more than you think and Jon Gordon is here to let us know that we can actually learn to change it. The bestselling author of The Energy Bus (and 31 other books!) has arrived to talk about optimism, dealing with adversity, and just how far out your energy permeates. Jon shares his own remarkable shift from a negative, stressed-out young dad whose marriage was falling apart to someone who has spent the last two decades teaching millions of people a different way to approach life. You're going to learn about raising resilient kids and becoming your own greatest encourager. Jon shares simple habits that can change the atmosphere of an entire family. Even when you can’t control what’s happening around you, you still have tremendous influence over what you bring to it.

Learn more about Jon, his books, and his free resources at JonGordon.com,.

Get your copy of The Energy Bus (over 12,000 reviews on Amazon), The Energy Bus for Kids (this one includes dealing with bullies), and The Power of Positive Habits.
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Some families produce not just one high-achieving child, but several and Susan Dominus spent years trying to understand why. In this episode, Susan joins Ginny Yurich for a deep dive on the families she studied for The Family Dynamic. They explore topics like the surprising influence siblings have on lifelong success, why letting kids struggle can actually help them thrive, the role of screens and environment, and the shadow side of extraordinary achievement. They discuss historical families like the Brontës to current families who have raised world-class athletes, musicians, and entrepreneurs. They even discuss Susan’s own family!

Grab a copy of The Family Dynamic here .

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Our kids are being handed powerful ideas about who they are, what will make them happy, and what it means to be free and most of those ideas arrive without anyone announcing themselves as a lesson. Michael Keller joins Ginny Yurich to unpack the cultural stories hiding inside everything from Disney movies and social media to the phrases “follow your heart” and “you do you,” and why some of our most well-intentioned messages can leave kids exhausted by the pressure to create and prove their own identity.

They talk about the surprising limits of freedom, why real love always costs us something, what AI companions can never give our children, and how parents can help kids recognize the messages they’re absorbing without becoming fearful of the culture around them.

Michael also shares the deeply personal story behind The Stories We Live By, the book he began with his late father, Timothy Keller, and the enduring alternative they offer to a life built on performance: an identity that is received rather than achieved.

Get your copy of The Stories We Live By here
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