Michael Easter
New York Times Bestselling Author, Living Well & Performance Expert, Professor of Journalism
Michael Easter
New York Times Bestselling Author, Living Well & Performance Expert, Professor of Journalism
Biography
Michael Easter is a New York Times bestselling author who has made a career of traveling the world to uncover innovative and practical ideas that help people live healthier, happier and more productive lives. His research has taken him everywhere from war zones to the Arctic to the most remote reaches of the Bolivian jungle.
Michael’s work has been embraced by leading institutions ranging from professional sports teams and the military to Fortune 500 companies, universities, medical schools and government agencies. The tactics he uncovers have influenced how organizations approach issues such as physical and mental health, performance, innovation and long-term success. Most importantly, his ideas have helped millions of people worldwide rethink how modern environments shape behavior and wellbeing.
He is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Comfort Crisis and Scarcity Brain. In The Comfort Crisis, Easter explores how embracing challenge and intentional discomfort in an overly convenient world can unlock greater health, resilience and meaning. In Scarcity Brain, he examines how modern abundance hijacks our evolutionary wiring and fuels habits around food, technology and consumption that leave many people feeling stuck, distracted and overwhelmed.
Michael’s insights and research have been featured in many of the world’s most influential media outlets including Good Morning America, The New York Times, CBS Saturday Morning and The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.
Drawing on his global research and bestselling books, Easter speaks with organizations, universities and leadership teams about resilience, health, behavior change and how modern environments shape our habits, performance and wellbeing. Michael Easter works in partnership with APB Speakers for speaking engagements worldwide.
When he is not traveling the world for his writing, research and speaking engagements, Michael lives in Las Vegas where he is a professor in the journalism department at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He co-founded and co-directs the Public Communications Institute, a think tank at UNLV. He lives on the edge of the desert with his wife and two dogs, Stockton and Conway.
Speaker Videos
The Power of Leaving Your Comfort Zone
Michael Easter's Hot Takes on Scarcity Mindset and the Secret Power of Boredom
How to break bad habit loops with Scarcity Brain author Michael Easter
The comfort crisis, doing hard things, rucking, and more | Michael Easter, MA
Speech Topics
How an Abundance Mindset Builds Better Businesses & People
In this fascinating keynote, Michael Easter explores why our brains are wired for scarcity and how that ancient survival instinct now works against us in a world of abundance. Drawing from research featured in his book The Scarcity Brain, Easter shares insights gathered from neuroscience labs, military training environments, and remote communities around the world to explain how scarcity thinking fuels anxiety, burnout, and inefficiency. Through compelling storytelling and cutting-edge science, he reveals how individuals and organizations can rewire their habits and mindsets to thrive. By shifting from scarcity to abundance, businesses can unlock healthier cultures, stronger decision-making, and greater productivity. This keynote offers a practical roadmap for building workplaces and lives defined by clarity, balance, and enough.
Audiences will learn:
- Why the human brain evolved to focus on scarcity and how that instinct affects modern behavior and decision-making.
- How scarcity thinking contributes to burnout, anxiety, and inefficiency in workplaces and daily life.
- Practical strategies for shifting to an abundance mindset that supports healthier people and more effective organizations.
The Comfort Crisis: How Discomfort Unlocks Human Potential
In this riveting keynote, Michael Easter reveals why modern life, while more comfortable than ever, may be quietly limiting our resilience, creativity, and wellbeing. Drawing from the research and global reporting behind The Comfort Crisis, Easter shares the extraordinary lessons he learned from spending 33 days in the Arctic and studying how humans expand their capabilities through challenge. For most of human history, survival required physical, mental, and social tests that forced us to grow stronger, calmer under pressure, and more capable. Today, many of those challenges have disappeared, leaving us comfortable but often stressed, disengaged, and disconnected from our true potential. Through vivid storytelling and cutting-edge science, Easter shows how intentionally seeking discomfort can help individuals and organizations rediscover resilience, creativity, and meaning.
Audiences will learn:
- Why modern convenience and comfort can unintentionally fuel stress, burnout, and declining resilience.
- How challenge and intentional discomfort expand human potential, confidence, and adaptability.
- Practical ways individuals and teams can step outside their comfort zones to build stronger performance, health, and perspective.
Testimonials
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