In this Business Blast Podcast episode, host Tyler Wagner interviews psychologist and bestselling author Glenn Livingston, creator of Never Binge Again. The conversation opens with a childhood story about Livingston’s father being on a radio show, illustrating the early lesson that helping people requires trust and love, not just intellectual problem‑solving. Livingston then shares his core behavioral principle: “Commit with perfection and forgive yourself with dignity,” explaining how clear, character‑based rules (e.g., banning chocolate on weekdays) eliminate decision fatigue and bypass willpower. He offers a succinct business insight—marketing is simply asking people what they want and delivering it. When asked for personal advice, he humorously tells his younger self to stop eating Pop‑Tarts. On happiness, he emphasizes pursuing long‑term contentment over manic excitement, noting that one can have anything but not everything. He cites Jim Rohn’s How to Lead an Inspirational Life as his favorite book, extracting the lesson that a disciplined life beats regret. His favorite combined quote merges Peter McWilliams’ “You can have anything you want, you can’t have everything you want” with the discipline‑over‑regret mantra, urging people to choose a bullseye and pursue it passionately. The episode closes with a call‑to‑action directing listeners to the Never Binge Again website for free resources.
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Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode.
Alright everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner. Today I have Glenn Livingston with us. He's a psychologist and best-selling author of Never Binge Again. So welcome to the show.
Thank you so much, Tyler. Happy to be here.
Of course, man, we're happy to have you here. We'll dive in. The first question I have for you, Glenn, is what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?
Well, when I was 4 years old, my dad was on the radio. My mom called me into the living room to hear me on the radio. And I said, why is that on the radio? She said, he's a psychologist. I said, what does that mean? She said, he makes people happy when they're sad. And I said, I want to do that. Why is he on the radio? And she said, so we can make a lot more people happy when they're sad. It turns out that it's not that easy. I originally thought you could do that with puzzle solving and intellectual evaluation of what's wrong with their life, and then you tell them and they just go do it. It turned out— turns out that you need to get them to love and trust you enough to be willing to think new thoughts and take more chances. That's probably the best story from my life that has an underlying valuable message.
And what's the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?
Commit with perfection and forgive yourself with dignity. In our culture, it's common advice that particularly with regards to overeating, that you should go for progress, not perfection. Do the best you can. But when it comes to managing toxic pleasures like, you know, industrial bags and boxes and containers of chocolate or chips or whatever it is, it turns out that Progress, not perfection, really just means that I'll try for a little while until I don't feel like it anymore. What you want to do is set a very clear rule for yourself that defines the role you want a particular food to play in your life and then adopt it as a matter of character. So I will never eat chocolate during the week again, Monday to Friday. You're really saying I am not the kind of person who eats chocolate during the weekend. What you're doing is you're eliminating all the chocolate decisions Decisions wear down your willpower. There are only so many good decisions you can make over the course of the day, but very clear character commitments don't require willpower. They empower you to change and define yourself in the way that you want to with regards to a particular food.
And what is your best piece of overall business advice? So not necessarily industry specific.
Ask people what they want and then give it to them. Marketing is nothing more than asking people what they want and then giving to them. It doesn't have to do with dancing bears or bells and whistles or fancy advertising or a lot of the things that you see on TV. Ask people what they want and then give it to them.
And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?
Stop eating Pop-Tarts, man.
That's awesome.
Yeah. Awesome.
Yeah. And then in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?
The key to happiness is pursuing contentment rather than manic excitement. To understand that a lot of the extreme highs and lows that we experienced in childhood are very difficult to maintain as an adult in the world. But you can build a life of long-term contentment, reward, and fulfillment. You can have anything you want, but you can't have everything you want.
And what is the best book that you've read? And what was the number one thing you learned from that?
Um, best book I ever read was Jim Rohn's How to Lead an Inspirational Life— How to Lead an Inspired Life. And what I learned from that was that a life of discipline is better than a life of regret.
And what is your favorite quote and why?
I just told you two of them. And if you put them together, that would be my favorite. You can have anything you want, you can't have everything you want. That comes from Peter McWilliams in the '80s. And a life of discipline is better than a life of regret. Choose your bullseye, pursue it with passion and discipline, and you will move mountains.
Yes, man. Dude, thank you so much for coming on. The last question I have for you before we let you go is where's the best place for people to find you online?
Never Binge Again. Click the big red button, sign up for the reader bonus. You should get a bunch of really great free stuff.
Awesome, man. Thank you again. We appreciate you coming on.
Oh, sure.
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