Elizabeth Svoboda has been trying to get inside people’s heads from the time she first cracked open a book. In her teen years, sprawled on her bed with her favorite authors for company, she found herself drawn to questions of moral motivation. In the midst of the twentieth century’s worst genocides, why did a select few do everything they could to rescue others—even under threat of death? And why did so many others stand back and fail to act?

After graduating from Yale, Elizabeth did an internship at Discover Magazine, where she relished the challenge of conveying new discoveries to readers. That first gig led her to a fulfilling career in science writing. Over the years, she’s written for publications like The New York Times, Psychology Today, The Washington Post, and Scholastic Choices, and she received the Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award for Young Science Journalists. Her stories have covered a smorgasbord of topics, from the biology of resilience to the psychology of moral motivation.

Eventually, Elizabeth noticed that the question of why people behave the way they do was at the heart of much of her work—and that a number of intrepid researchers were exploring that question scientifically. After a mind-bending chat with Stanford psychologist Phil Zimbardo, who’d just started a new venture called the Heroic Imagination Project, Elizabeth grew obsessed with finding out what scientists were learning about the origins of heroism and altruism. Her first book, What Makes a Hero: The Surprising Science of Selflessness, describes what she learned along the way — and also inspired a companion book for kids, The Life Heroic.

Later, Elizabeth had some pivotal conversations with high-level athletes and coaches who were more thoughtful about pacing themselves than anyone she’d met. They understood viscerally that going 110% without respite destroyed bodies, seasons and careers.

These conversations got Elizabeth thinking in new directions. If, like these athletes, we understood how to pace ourselves strategically — to range across the full spectrum of possible paces, rather than ping-ponging between grinding and withdrawal — what possibilities might arise? How might things look different if we learned to retreat from a major crash before it happened, rather than floundering in its aftermath? Through inquiries like these, The Art of Pacing was born: a scientific and contemplative look at how to pace yourself more deliberately so you can sustain your commitment to what matters most to you (and to the world).

A dynamic presenter and speaker, Elizabeth likes to share what she’s learned with groups of all sizes. She’s excited about where this journey will take her next—and she’d love for you to be a part of it!