How To! Plus

You’ve got questions. Together, we get answers. We all need advice, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to turn. Each week, Courtney Martin and Carvell Wallace bring a listener on to the show to solve their toughest problems with the help of world-class experts. It’s free therapy, and you’re invited.

How To Rob a Bank (Encore) 01/27/2026

How To Rob a Bank (Encore) robbed over 30 banks during an 18-month span before going to jail. In this episode of How To! Charles wants to rob one bank on a Saturday afternoon, and get away scot-free. Can Joe teach Charles the tricks of the trade? Or will he shatter his dreams, and a few stereotypes along the way? Also, is it a good idea to carry a microphone while attempting a robbery? /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39903355

How To Never Miss a Deadline (Encore) 01/21/2026

How To Never Miss a Deadline (Encore) Avalon is driven, creative, and… can’t meet a deadline to save her life. In her defense, she’s a card-carrying member of the gig economy, juggling a complicated schedule as a DJ and . Avalon’s tried to organize her life using a bullet journal, but procrastination keeps getting in the way of her career pursuits. On this episode of How To!, the second in a two-part series on time management, we talk to Christopher Cox, author of He explains why concrete deadlines, the shorter the better, can actually help Avalon’s creativity. And he gives all of us tips on how to set the perfect deadline—and never miss it. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39805795

How To Know When to Quit Your Job (Encore) 01/13/2026

How To Know When to Quit Your Job (Encore) Victor’s job—at its core—is to change the world. But he feels like he’s plateaued within his large humanitarian and development organization, and is now on the verge of jumping ship. On this episode of How To!, , author of , helps Victor decide if he should recommit to his current job or move on to something else. She explains the cognitive biases that prevent us from quitting and reveals why most of us quit things far too late. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39758070

How To Confront a Vindictive Neighbor with Tig Notaro (Encore) 01/06/2026

How To Confront a Vindictive Neighbor with Tig Notaro (Encore) The trouble began when Sarah put a fern in front of her new condo. Nice, right? The woman who lives in the unit above didn’t think so, and without warning sent Sarah a slew of passive-aggressive notes. Sarah thinks it’s all a big misunderstanding, but now her neighbor refuses to even speak to her. Sarah is wracked with anxiety, struggling to sleep, and contemplating moving out. On this episode of How To!, we turn to stand-up comedian Tig Notaro, a cancer survivor and host of the new advice podcast , to help Sarah approach the situation with humor and clarity. When things don’t go your way, Tig says, you have to take back control of your own story. What would the hero in your favorite movie do? For Sarah, this means gardening with headphones and the Rocky theme on the soundtrack. Subscribe for free on , or wherever you listen. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39758050

Our Favorite Advice of 2025 12/30/2025

Our Favorite Advice of 2025 In 2025, our listeners contacted How To! for advice about outsmarting student loans, moving to a new city, hosting a low-key gathering, living with chronic pain, quitting a dream job, letting go of ADHD shame, and yes, losing your virginity in your 40s. Today on the show: Carvell Wallace and Courtney Martin get updates from some of those advice-seekers—and they check in with Jeff, whose family narrowly escaped an L.A. wildfire this year. Plus, what’s ahead for How To! in 2026. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39629955

Quick Fix: Date Night Done Right 12/23/2025

Quick Fix: Date Night Done Right Tired of being the project manager for date night? On this bonus episode of How To!, Jackie Kelley explains how to make logistics equitable and easy—so your partner can help. Plus: a tip for quickly finding restaurants when date night is spontaneous. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39629960

How To Create ‘Marriage Rules’ as a Couple 12/23/2025

How To Create ‘Marriage Rules’ as a Couple Cohabitation can be bliss—except when it comes to your partner's incompatible approach to household tasks. Bonnie likes things clean, organized, and prompt. Vince, on the other hand, is a classic procrastinator. On this episode of How To!, Carvell Wallace brings on self-described “human glitterbomb” Jackie Kelley to offer up some practical “marriage rules” designed to improve everyday communication with the love of your life. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39629965

Quick Fix: Sexual Fawning 12/16/2025

Quick Fix: Sexual Fawning In this bonus episode, Dr. Ingrid Clayton discusses another aspect of everyday life where fawning can show up and take over: sex. Ingrid tells How To!’s Courtney Martin about the ways we lose ourselves during sex—and how we can reconnect with our needs. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39629970

How To Stop Fawning 12/16/2025

How To Stop Fawning When clinical psychologist, trauma therapist, and complex trauma survivor Dr. Ingrid Clayton learned about fawning — the fourth “F” after fight, flight, and freeze — she felt like this was the missing piece that explained her whole life. On this episode of How To!, Ingrid talks to Courtney Martin about what can happen when you find yourself in a chronic fawning response, and how to break free. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39629985

How To Sing in Front of Other People 12/09/2025

How To Sing in Front of Other People Slate staff writer Rebecca Onion wants to improve her singing voice, but she’s unsure about belting it out in public. On this episode, How To!’s Carvell Wallace introduces her to G. Phillip Shoultz III, associate director of VocalEssence, for advice on strengthening her voice, performing with confidence, and (gasp!) auditioning for a vocal group. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39629995

How To Give to a Good Cause—and Make It Count 12/02/2025

How To Give to a Good Cause—and Make It Count With the year-end giving season underway, you might be wondering how much to donate and where you can make the biggest impact. On this Giving Tuesday, How To!’s Courtney Martin brings on Grace Chiang Nicolette of the Center for Effective Philanthropy to explain how to pick the right organizations and ensure your dollar goes as far as possible—regardless of how much you’re giving. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630000

How To Learn to Love Your City 11/18/2025

How To Learn to Love Your City It wasn’t long after Melody Warnick moved to Blacksburg, Va., that she realized its nickname—“Bleaksburg”—wasn’t a joke. Feeling stuck, she devised a research-based experiment to acclimate to her new city. On this episode: Melody explains how she went from hating Blacksburg to loving it (and how you can deepen your connection to the place where you live). /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630005

How To Move to a New City 11/18/2025

How To Move to a New City Kerry is ready to leave rural Virginia and move to a walkable, vibrant city. The only problem? She can’t decide which walkable, vibrant city is right for her. On this episode, How To!’s Courtney Martin brings on Melody Warnick, author of This Is Where You Belong and If You Could Live Anywhere. Melody asks Kerry what she’s really seeking in a new place—and introduces a process that can help make such an important decision. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630010

Quick Fix: The Reality of Owning a Home 11/04/2025

Quick Fix: The Reality of Owning a Home In this Quick Fix bonus episode, Carvell Wallace talks with home improvement expert Mercury Stardust about her first year of homeownership. The ups and downs of that experience are the subject of Mercury’s upcoming book. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630015

How To Take Charge of Home Repair (with Sam Sanders and Mercury Stardust) 11/04/2025

How To Take Charge of Home Repair (with Sam Sanders and Mercury Stardust) In the second half of How To!’s wide-ranging conversation about home improvement, gender, sexuality, and much more, journalist Sam Sanders and author Mercury Stardust (aka The Trans Handy Ma’am) talk with co-host Carvell Wallace about a truly daunting idea: skipping the contractors—and doing the work yourself. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630020

How To Talk to Contractors (With Sam Sanders and Mercury Stardust) 11/04/2025

How To Talk to Contractors (With Sam Sanders and Mercury Stardust) Sam Sanders is many things: journalist, podcaster, pop-culture obsessive, and a familiar voice from public radio. He’s also ”quite possibly the world's most hesitant homeowner.” Sam wants to fix up the house he recently bought, but three things are holding him back: First, he doesn’t have a clue where to start. Second, he’s not very handy. And third, he’s intimidated by the thought of talking with contractors (who might discover the first two things about him). In the first episode of a two-part /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630025

How To Stop Snoring 10/28/2025

How To Stop Snoring Andrew Zaleski couldn’t stop snoring. Fed up, he did what any good journalist would do: He started digging. On this episode of How To!, Andrew tells Courtney Martin about his investigation into sawing logs, his experiments with anti-snoring devices, and what he learned from sleep experts while reporting his recent story for Slate. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630035

How To Survive Getting Fired 10/21/2025

How To Survive Getting Fired If you recently lost your job—or think you might lose it soon—Laura Brown and Kristina O'Neill are here to help! On this episode of How To!, Carvell Wallace talks to the authors of All the Cool Girls Get Fired about what to do when you get the ax—and how to turn termination into a real opportunity. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630040

Quick Fix: Dismantling Male Supremacy 10/14/2025

Quick Fix: Dismantling Male Supremacy Journalist and activist Soraya Chemaly decided to write her new book All We Want Is Everything: How We Dismantle Male Supremacy before the 2024 election. No matter the result, “there was going to be a huge backlash,” she says. “I thought we should talk about this problem, which I define as a problem of male supremacy being invisible.” Soraya breaks down how male supremacy operates, our hopes for beating it, and why it’s bad for everyone—including men. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630055

How To Harness Your Anger 10/14/2025

How To Harness Your Anger Contemporary women are primal-screaming and hitting rage rooms, but are these really the solutions to our personal and political anger? On this episode of How To!, Courtney Martin talks with Soraya Chemaly, journalist and author of Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women’s Anger, about her own recent upsurge of anger. Soraya explains how to identify, understand, and harness what’s bottled up inside you—and use it for change. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630065

Quick Fix: Starting Conversations About Identity 10/07/2025

Quick Fix: Starting Conversations About Identity In this special bonus episode, youth mentor Ashanti Branch talks with our listener Jen about her son’s early observation about his skin color—and how to sustain conversations with young kids about race and identity. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630070

How To Raise a Boy 10/07/2025

How To Raise a Boy Jen is raising a pretty stellar 9-year-old son. With his tween and teen years on the horizon, she wants to steer him toward kindness, acceptance, and openness—and away from the pitfalls of toxic masculinity. On this episode, How To!’s Carvell Wallace brings on Ashanti Branch, founder of The Ever Forward Club and host of unMASKing with Male Educators. Ashanti offers his advice on talking with boys about their emotions, understanding the “mask” that young men present to the world, and building trust a /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630075

How To Quit IVF (and Start a New Chapter) 09/30/2025

How To Quit IVF (and Start a New Chapter) After seven years of trying to conceive, Lauren is ending fertility treatments and starting a new journey: adoption. She’s excited about this unexpected detour into parenthood—but she’s also grieving the loss of something deeply personal that she desired for so long. On this episode: How To!’s Courtney Martin brings on Ada Limón, author of the new book Startlement and the current U.S. poet laureate. Ada offers Lauren guidance on finding strength and joy in this unplanned chapter of her life—and o /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630080

Quick Fix: The Afterword 09/23/2025

Quick Fix: The Afterword In our latest mailbag episode, Courtney and Carvell had so much to say about books that we’re bringing you even more in this Quick Fix bonus chat about audiobooks, cozy mysteries, and romance novels. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630085

Update: Losing Your ‘Virginity’ at 43 09/23/2025

Update: Losing Your ‘Virginity’ at 43 In this mailbag episode of How To!, we get an update from Elizabeth, the 43-year-old listener who contacted us for advice on her plan to have sex for the first time. Then, co-hosts Courtney Martin and Carvell Wallace get listeners’ takes on our most talked-about episodes of the year—and the staff holds an impromptu idea meeting for upcoming episodes. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630090

Quick Fix: Carvell’s Take on Hypnosis 09/16/2025

Quick Fix: Carvell’s Take on Hypnosis Two days after his experience with hypnosis, Carvell answers his How To! coworkers’ burning questions: What does he remember (and not remember)? Does he feel any different? And most important: Would he do it again? /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630095

How To Use Hypnosis 09/16/2025

How To Use Hypnosis Much of our common understanding of hypnosis has been gleaned from mind-control plots in Hollywood movies or hokey on-stage demonstrations. On this episode of How To!, Carvell Wallace brings on Stanford University psychiatrist and researcher Dr. David Spiegel to talk about what hypnosis is (and isn’t), as well as its potential to address stress, pain, and even athletic performance. Plus, with Carvell wrestling with an ongoing major project, Dr. Spiegel tests our host’s hypnotizability—then leads him t /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630100

Quick Fix: How to Be an Atheist Chaplain 09/09/2025

Quick Fix: How to Be an Atheist Chaplain Vanessa Zoltan’s decision to enroll at Harvard Divinity School as an avowed atheist might seem unusual—at first. In this Quick Fix bonus episode for Slate Plus members, Zoltan talks with Carvell Wallace about becoming an atheist chaplain and why operating outside of organized religion helps her connect with people in times of need, regardless of what they believe. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630105

How To Quit Your Dream Job 09/09/2025

How To Quit Your Dream Job Alice has an objectively cool job. She programs film festivals and gets to watch documentaries for a living. But that living is also stressful: It’s low-paying, seasonal work that provides some status, sure, but not much stability. On this episode of How To!, Carvell Wallace brings on atheist chaplain and author Vanessa Zoltan, who spent two years helping countless people decide whether to quit (or not) on her podcast The Real Question. Vanessa shares what she learned from those conversations—and helps /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630110

Quick Fix: Meet Your Neighbors 09/02/2025

Quick Fix: Meet Your Neighbors When was the last time you said more than “hello” to your neighbors? On this installment of How To!’s Quick Fix, Katherine Goldstein shares advice from her How To Find Your People Club project and helps us break the ice with bubbles, stoop coffee, and a dash of courage. /episode/index/show/7959c55e-07ee-4f44-9c97-f48dd675a9f0/id/39630115

How To! Plus

TOPICS