In this episode we start with a dive into evolutionary psychology and how biases have been programmed into you by millions of years of evolution, look at why our guest condemns the concept of Empathy, how the science demonstrates that empathy has no correlation with doing good in the world, how empathy creates disastrous outcomes, and more with our guest Dr. Paul BloomSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how your environment plays a tremendous role in shaping who you are, look at how personality develops and what underscores it, talk about how to engineering your own environment to make yourself more productive and effective, examine at how to battle self sabotage and much more with our guest Benjamin Hardy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we take a journey into the inquiry know as “The Work’ and uncover the 4 question framework that you can use to break down negative thoughts and limiting beliefs. We examine what happens when we argue with reality, look at the difference between being right and being free, explore the causes of suffering, and much more with our guest Byron Katie. Byron Katie is an American speaker, author, and founder of the method of self-inquiry known as “The Work”. She has worked with millions of individuals at both private and public events in prisons, hospitals, treatment centers, universities, and schools. She is the author of three bestselling books and her work has been featured in TIME, The Huffington Post, Oprah, and much more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the danger of getting addicted to your screens. We look at how technology is designed to be as addictive as possible, and how those addictions specifically make you spend more time on things like social media and news that make you less happy. We discuss how screens rob us of time and attention and why it’s so hard to break away from them. We also look at how-how you can structure your environment to spend more time away from your phone and create ways to get out of these addictive behavior loops with our guest Dr. Adam Alter. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to become a “superconnector." We look at the idea that networking is not about tactics, it’s about a fundamental shift in how you think about interacting with people. We examine how to break free from the lazy and shallow networking that social media often creates, discuss why you should never ask “how can I help?”, look at the power of curiosity and asking better questions and much more with our guest Scott Gerber. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss becoming a SuperLearner. We dig into questions that I’ve pondered for a long time - does speed reading work? Can we actually speed read and increase our reading comprehension? Are there strategies you can use to improve your memory? And perhaps most importantly - how can we align the way we think, learn, and remember with the way our brains actually operate? We go into this and more with our guest Jonathan Levi.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how our guest went from a childhood head injury to becoming an accelerated learning expert. We cover memory, speed reading, improving your focus, taking notes like an expert and go deep into tactics for accelerated learning. We talk about the importance of mastering the fundamentals, and get into tons of highly specific and actionable advice you can use today with our guest Jim Kwik. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore emotions and facial expression in depth with one of the world’s top experts - the psychologist who pioneered much of the work in this field - Dr. Paul Ekman. We discuss the 6-7 major universal emotions, how emotional reactions are unchanged across cultures, ages, and even species, we discuss micro expressions, reading people’s faces, how to manage and control your emotions, and much much more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss whether time speeds up as we get older, why your life story only makes sense looking in reverse, whether or not brain games actually work, the importance of proactive learning instead of passive learning, why psychology confirms all your worst fears about studying and getting smarter – and much more with a special TWO GUEST interview featuring Dr. Art Markman & Dr. Bob Duke!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we look at how to live a healthy, happy, successful life - from the inside out. We explore what it means to have an “integrated” brain, look at lessons across vastly different scientific disciplines, and share the accessible, simple strategy you can use in 20 minutes to integrate the most important learnings from scientific research to create an integrated brain, body, and mind - to improve your health, happiness, wellbeing and success with our guest Dr. Dan Siegel. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how you create your own reality. We explore the idea that your life experiences are not random or arbitrary, but rather a direct result of your subconscious beliefs. When the conscious and the subconscious conflict, the sub-conscious wins and you’ll never get over your past until you realize how you use it to justify yourself. We dig into the powerful revelation that life only ever changes in the paradigm of action. You must do something differently than what you’ve done before in order to change. All of this and much more with our guest Gary John Bishop.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to beat FOMO - the Fear of Missing Out. How do you overcome the emotional barriers and fears of missing out and saying no to things? How do you get over the awful feeling of turning down opportunities? We share simple actionable strategies for you to say yes to yourself and for you to say yes to what’s really important and actually matters in your life. We share a great strategy you can use to make a huge difference in your life in two minutes or less and we dig into the important concept that in a world drunk on speed, slowness is a superpower - all that much more with our guest Carl Honore.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss PRIDE – and why it may not be the deadly sin that it’s often cracked up to be. We dig into how the research defines pride, examine the critical distinction between self esteem and narcissism, the deep importance of being able to accept criticism, and look at the difference between strategies of dominance and strategies of prestige with Dr. Jessica Tracy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss what Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking all consider the single greatest threat to humanity, why “death” is not binary event that makes you transition from being alive or dead at a specific moment in time, we ask if you would spend $1000 on a chance to live forever, we look at the biology behind cryogenics, vitfrication, and putting your body on biological pause, and we explore why poverty, climate change, war, and all our problems melt away in the face of one massively important issue with our guest Tim Urban. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss why you should not follow your passion, the two biggest pitfalls people struggle with trying to build a career they love, the incredible importance of DEEP WORK, why deep work is so valuable and how we can cultivate it, as well as how you can structure your lifestyle to attain autonomy and mastery with Cal Newport.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the incredible power of kindness, show how kindness triggers “the helpers high” and causes dopamine and oxytocin to flow through your brain, look at study data from 136 countries showing science behind why kindness is so powerful, we walk through several concrete examples you can use RIGHT NOW to take action and be kind to someone today, and much more with John Wang.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the errors people make in their reasoning and how to correct them, we explain a number of statistical principles to help sharpen your thinking and make you a better decision maker, why every $1 spent on a “scared straight” program creates $400 of cost for the criminal justice system, the illusion of objectivity, why you should NOT rely on your intuition and much more with Dr. Richard Nisbett. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the radical mismatch between your intuitive sense of risk and the actual risks you face. We look at why most experts and forecasters are less accurate than dart throwing monkeys. We talk about how to simply and easily dramatically reduce your risk of most major dangers in your life. We explore the results from the “good judgment project” study of more than 20,000 forecasts. We talk about what superforecasters are and how they beat prediction markets, intelligence analysts with classified information, and software algorithms to make the best possible forecasts and MUCH more with Dan Gardner.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview, we discuss why “creativity is the new literacy” and how you can unlock your own creative genius to create the life you want to live. Most people are completely wrong about what they think creativity is and how to be more creative. We dispel the myths about creative work and show you how to build your creative muscle so that you can create breakthroughs, find your calling, and live your dream life with our guest Chase Jarvis.Chase Jarvis is a photographer, director, and social artist. He is the CEO of CreativeLive and works with major brands like Nike, Pepsi, and more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we ask: how do you become an active and informed citizen? What are the challenges of forming a coherent view of history and politics? What do you do if your foundational beliefs are coming into question? In a world full of noise, confusion, and fake news - we sit down with our guest the legendary podcaster Dan Carlin to uncover how we can make sense of today’s confusing world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss how to hack your brain to finally create the results you want in life. We take a hard look at what really drivers results and the reality that knowledge and skill aren’t what make you successful - the subconscious drives your behavior, that’s it. You don’t need any more tools to achieve your goals, you just need to change your beliefs and your subconscious set points for success, happiness, and achievement. Action is the ultimate arbiter of your success, are you taking enough of it, and how can you take more? We discuss all of this and much more with our guest John Assaraf.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss conscious capitalism, transformational leadership lessons, and how to use win-win-win thinking to create breakthroughs in your business with Whole Foods co-founder and CEO John Mackey. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we share powerful strategies for dealing with uncertainty, some of the most important tools for making better decisions, how to get more flexibility in your life, and much more with our returning guest Josh Kaufman.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we explore the power of mentorship to transform your life with our guest Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we ask - why you don’t follow through on the things that are most important to you? How can someone facing down near death fail to follow essential health protocols? What causes people to self sabotage? Why is it so hard to follow up and follow through with your goals? We share the important lesson that it’s not about more information - it’s about finding the right pattern of behaviors and habits to match with your desired goal - and building a scientifically validated process to make sure you actually achieve them. We discuss this and much more with our guest Dr. Sean Young.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you feel uncomfortable in conflict with others? Do you experience fear and anxiety when dealing with tough situations? Most negotiation tactics and strategies assume you’re already a master negotiator with nerves of steel - that’s the wrong starting place. In this episode we discuss how you can get comfortable with having tough conversations and build the foundation to become a real master of negotiation - using a simple and easy to apply framework. We discuss how you can deal with tough situations and conflict from a place of poise, curiosity, and confidence with our guest Kwame Christian.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to train yourself to think and act like a spy, with lessons from a real world expert. In the game of spycraft, the stakes couldn’t be higher and one mistake may land you dead or in a foreign prison. In that deadly crucible, only the best ideas survive. We crack open the secrets you can use to influence, develop relationships, and create a bridge with anyone you meet with the die hard rules from the world’s top secret agents with our guest Jason R. Hanson.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we ask the big question - how do you find meaning in your life and work? When you’re starting death in the face, life’s purpose becomes clear. We learn how to harness those lessons to find meaning in your own life and discover a few simple things you can do every day - starting right now - to increase your odds of living a longer, healthier, happier life with our guest Tom Rath. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Irshad Manji is an internationally acclaimed educator, author, and speaker. She serves as the Director for Courage, Curiosity, and Character at Let Grow, a national nonprofit that promotes intellectual independence and emotional resilience in young people. Its signature program is Moral Courage College, which has been brought to K-12 audiences and further adapted for universities and businesses. Her latest book, Don't Label Me, is a guide to doing diversity without inflaming the culture wars. Irshad’s two previous books detailed the need for reform within her faith of Islam. Using the Moral Courage Method, she shows how to be disruptive without becoming destructive.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Blake Mycoskie is a serial entrepreneur, philanthropist, and best-selling author most known for founding TOMS Shoes and is the person behind the idea of One for One®, a business model that helps a person in need with every product purchased.Born and raised in Texas, Blake now resides in Jackson, Wyoming with his family, dogs, and horses. In his free time, you can find him outside enjoying nature whether it is rock climbing, surfing, or snowboarding. Most recently, he’s started a new company called Madefor to help you find specific things you could learn that would transform your daily life!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Phil Jones is an international business speaker and bestselling author. Phil has made it his life’s work to completely demystify the sales process. He has gone on to deliver over 2,500 presentations in 57 countries across five continents, training more than two million people (both sales and non-sales professionals, leaders, and experts) to learn how to have more influence, confidence, and control when steering their conversations.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

James is an American author, entrepreneur, and photographer. His personal blog, jamesclear.com has over 400,000 email subscribers. Since his last visit to the show, his first book Atomic Habits has gone on to sell over 1 million copies worldwide. James’s work focuses primarily on habits and human potential looking to answer the question “How can we live better?” by focusing on science-backed methods. James’s work has been featured in The New York Times, CBS, Forbes, and more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kamal Ravikant is the author of the bestselling books, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On I, Live Your Truth, and Rebirth. He’s been a US Army Infantry soldier, held the hands of dying patients, climbed in the Himalayas, spoken to audiences around the globe, walked 550 miles across Spain, meditated with Tibetan monks, and has worked with some of the best people in Silicon Valley. But more than anything, he is passionate about writing books that improve lives. He lives — for now — in New York City.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

***CONTAINS PROFANITY***In this episode, we discuss how to identify and defeat the stories that hold you back, how to use your complaints as a compass to improve your life, powerful methods for creating permanent habit change, and we unmask the number one reason why you resist making big changes in your life with our guest Jen Sincero. Jen Sincero is a bestselling author, success coach, and motivational speaker who spent more than a decade traveling the world helping people transform their lives and their bank accounts via her public appearances, private sessions, coaching seminars, and books, including the New York Times bestseller You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. Jen has since come out with more books in her You Are a Badass Series including her most recent, Badass Habits: Cultivate the Awareness, Boundaries, and Daily Upgrades You Need to Make Them Stick.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview, we dig into what it takes to be a fearless leader with the first-ever female F-14 Tomcat Fighter Pilot in the U.S. Navy, Carey Lohrenz. We dig into fearless leadership, what it was like being a pioneer in her field, how she came over the many obstacles in her way, and the mindset you need to lead and succeed. Carey Lohrenz is a WSJ bestselling author, a CSP designated keynote speaker, teambuilding expert, and was the first female F-14 Tomcat Fighter Pilot in the U.S. Navy. Carey has delivered Keynotes, Leadership Training, and Executive Coaching to both top Fortune 100 businesses, and associations. She is the author of “Fearless Leadership: High-Performance Lessons from the Flight Deck.” Carey has worked at developing senior executives & management teams for companies such as Cisco, AT&T, and State Farm Insurance.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the surprising science of creativity. We begin with a fascinating look into how your brain create reality around you and assigns meaning to things that often have no meaning at all, then we examine the unlikely relationship between doubt, ambiguity, and creativity. We ask how you can chip away at your assumptions so that you can open spaces of possibility to be more creative, we explore the foundations of asking truly good questions, and examine the way that doubt can be a powerful force for unleashing creative insights and more with our guest Dr. Beau Lotto. Dr. Beau Lotto is neuroscientist, author, and the founder of the Lab of Misfits. His studies in the science of human perception have led him to work in several fields including education, the arts, business, and more. Beau has given multiple TED talks, has spoken to companies such as Google, and his work has been featured on the BBC, PBS, Natural Geographic, Big Think, and much more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss why the “happiness” movement has done us a disservice and sometimes makes things worse, how perfectionism creates an illusion of control and distorts your reality, how to become aware of the critical inner voice at the root of your pain and unhealthy habits, the incredible power of self compassion, and much more with Megan Bruneau.Megan Bruneau is a psychotherapist, wellness coach, writer, podcast host and creator of oneshrinksperspective.com After years of perfectionism-fueled depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, she discovered how to like herself, take risks, and find success without beating herself up to get there. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss real life inception with a former bank robber turned neuroscientist. Is it possible to plant ideas in your head? Are your memories an accurate reflection of past reality? Can you change and mold your memories to be different? We open the door on human irrationality and explore why and how we make bad decisions, and what you can do to make small changes that will create a big impact in your life and much more with our guest Moran Cerf.Dr. Moran Cerf is a professor of neuroscience and business at the Kellogg School of Management and the neuroscience program at Northwestern University. He is also a member of the institute of complex systems and was recently named one of the “40 Leading Professionals Under 40.” His research uses methods of neuroscience to understand the underlying mechanisms of our psychology, behavior changes, emotion, decision making and dreams. His work has been featured on the TED Stage, In WIRED, The Scientific American, and much more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we share how a college dropout went from waiting tables to becoming the owner of a Major League Soccer Team and the most powerful VC in the healthcare industry. We uncover the incredible strategy that can be used to break into ANY industry and become a dominant player sharing the stage with top CEOs, even without any connections or relationships. We share why you don’t have to be an expert to leverage the credibility of others, the power of public speaking, what it means to orchestrate a deal and much more with our guest Marcus Whitney. Marcus Whitney is an entrepreneur, an author, and a founder or co-founding partner in many businesses include Health:Further, Jumpstart, and the Nashville FC professional soccer team. Marcus is the author of Create and Orchestrate, a book for entrepreneurs about living a creative, purposeful life. He also runs the podcast Marcus Whitney’s Audio Universe. Marcus has been recognized by several business publications including Techcrunch, Fast Company, The Atlantic and many more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we tell the truth about self-awareness. 95% of people think they are self-aware but only 10% actually are. Where do you think you stand and what can you do to improve what our guest calls the superpower of the 21st century? All this and more with our guest Dr. Tasha Eurich.Dr. Tasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist, executive coach, researcher, and New York Times Bestselling author. She is the New York Times Bestselling author of Bankable Leadership and INSIGHT. Her TED talk has been viewed over one million times and her work has been featured in Business Insider, Forbes, The New York Times, and many more! In 2019, she was named one of the top 30 emerging management thinkers in the world by Thinkers50, as well as the #1 self-awareness coach in the world by Marshall Goldsmith.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we share how you can be more confident when make the tough decisions in your life, discuss how to deal with FOMO and show you the key to ultimately achieving greatness with our guest Patrick McGinnis. Patrick J. McGinnis is a venture capitalist, writer, and speaker who has invested in leading companies around the world. He is the creator and host of the hit podcast FOMO Sapiens, with over 2 million downloads. Patrick coined the term “FOMO” short for “Fear of Missing Out”, which was added to the Oxford English Dictionary in 2013. He is also the creator of the term “FOBO” or “Fear of a Better Option” and has been featured as the creator of both terms in media outlets including the New York Times, The Financial Times, Boston Globe, Guardian, and many more! Patrick is also the author of the international bestseller The 10% Entrepreneur: Live Your Startup Dream Without Quitting Your Day Job and the newly released Fear of Missing Out: Practical Decision-Making in a World of Overwhelming Choice.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What can video games teach us about real life? In this episode, we explore the science behind the concept that we may be living in a simulation, look at the hard problem of consciousness, explore the relationship between quantum physics and consciousness and much more with our guest Rizwan Virk. Rizwan Virk is a successful entrepreneur, angel investor, bestselling author, video game industry pioneer, and indie film producer. Riz is currently Executive Director of Play Labs@ MIT, a startup accelerator for playful tech, and Partner at Bayview Labs, a Silicon Valley startup investment firm. Riz's startups and articles have been featured in Inc. Magazine, The Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, and many more! He is the author of Simulation Hypothesis (2019), Startup Myths & Models (2020), Treasure Hunt (2017), and Zen Entrepreneurship (2013).See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we’re diving into the two sides of the topic of influence. Surprisingly, there are two very different schools of thought on the best way to influence someone. But which style is more effective? What are the pros and cons of each of them? In order to get to the bottom of this debate, we brought in some incredible experts to make their cases on the topic. First, we’ll dig into the light side of the force of influence. You’ll hear from Robin Dreeke. Robin began his career in law enforcement in 1997 after serving in the United States Marine Corp. Robin has directed the behavior analysis program of a federal law enforcement agency and has received training and operational experience in social psychology and the science of relationship management. Robin is currently an agent of the FBI and the author of “It’s Not All About “Me”, The Code of Trust and the newly released Sizing People Up. Then, representing the dark side of influence you'll hear from Chase Hughes, Chase Hughes is the founder of Ellipsis Behavior Laboratories and the amazon bestselling author of The Ellipsis Manual. Chase previously served in the US Navy as part of the correctional and prisoner management departments. Chase speaks on a variety of topics including brainwashing and attraction and frequently develops new programs for the US Government and members of anti-human-trafficking teams around the world. Both of these experts have INCREDIBLE backgrounds and some amazing stories as well. In the end, how you use these incredible powers is up to you. Which side are you on?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we talk about execution, how to break down big goals into actionable steps, how and why Neil hired a “mama” for himself, the “ten minute rule” that could help you achieve big productivity gains and how to optimize your life to free up huge amounts of time with entrepreneur Neil Patel.Neil is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics. The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 online marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies in the world. He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations. Neil has also been awarded Congressional Recognition from the United States House of Representatives.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss the truth about championship performance. Nobody becomes a champion by accident. We uncover the counter-intuitive reality that being a champion isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing less. We expose the reality that most people spend too much time planning and not enough time acting and share the specific habits and routines that you can use to model your behavior after champions with our guest Dana Cavalea.Dana Cavalea is a high-level performance coach, speaker, and author. He coaches Pro Athletes, Entrepreneurs, and Business Executives on lifestyle strategies to improve daily performance and outcomes. He is the former Director of Performance for the New York Yankees, whom he led to a World Series Championship in 2009. In his first book, Habits of a Champion, he shares his own secrets to becoming a champion.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we show how you can decode scientific studies and spot bad science by digging deep into the tools and skills you need to be an educated consumer of scientific information. Are you tired of seeing seemingly outrageous studies published in the news, only to see the exact opposite published a week later? What makes scientific research useful and valid? How can you, as a non-scientist, read and understand scientific information in a simple and straightforward way that can help you get closer to the truth - and apply those lessons to your life. We discuss this and much more with Dr. Brian Nosek. Dr. Brian Nosek is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Center for Open Science and a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. Brian led the reproducibility project which involved leading some 270 of his peers to reproduce 100 published psychology studies to see if they could reproduce the results. This work shed light on some of the publication bias in the science of psychology and much more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we talk about one of the MOST important skills in the modern world - the ability to be inDISTRACTable. Are you sick and tired of distraction? Do you feel constantly overwhelmed in a world of notifications, demands, messages, and more and more information flying at you? In this episode we discuss exactly how you can battle back from distraction, control your attention and choose the life you want using the power of being “indistractable” with our guest Nir Eyal.Nir Eyal is an expert in “behavioral design” having worked in both advertising and video gaming helping companies build and create more engaging products. Nir is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the book Hooked: How To Build Habit Forming Products and has been featured in Forbes, Psychology Today, and more. Nir is an active angel investor and currently writes to help companies create good habit and behaviors in their users on his blog NirandFar.com.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how our guest helped the secret agents become more creative. We look at specific strategies to navigate personal change while empowering and using your imagination. How do you become more imaginative? What are the keys to sparking imagination and creativity? How do you use creativity to get through challenging setbacks? We discuss all of this and much more with our guest Beth Comstock. Beth Comstock is a business executive and author with a deep history of leading large companies to success through innovation and new opportunities. Beth is currently a director at Nike, the trustee of The National Geographic Society and former board president of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Museum. She is the author of the best-selling book Imagine it Forward - Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change. She has worked in top leadership roles at GE, NBC, CBS, and her work has been featured across the globe.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss an old trick palm readers use that you can leverage to get people to do what you want, why persuasion does not lie just in the message itself, but rather in how the message is presented, what the research reveals about why the context matters as much, if not more, than the content itself, why you shouldn’t ask people for their opinion but instead ask someone for their advice, how small differences that seem trivial make a HUGE impact on human behavior, and much more with Dr. Robert Cialdini.Dr. Robert Cialdini is the president and CEO of INFLUENCE AT WORK. He is the multi best selling author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way To Influence and Persuade, and his most recent book Influence, New and Expanded: The Psychology of Persuasion, available this May. He is also currently a Regents Professor Eremites of Psychology and Marketing at the Arizona State University. Commonly referred to as “The Godfather Of Influence” Robert’s work has been featured around the world with clients such as Twitter, Microsoft, London Business Forum, SXSW, and more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you don't feel worthy of love and belonging, if you feel lesser than other people; if you can't forgive yourself for your mistakes or your terrible moments or the stupid things you've done in life; if you can't accept your humanness; if you can't show your face or eyes to others due to shame; if you can't own up to your mistakes for fear of judgement; if you compare yourself to others; if you constantly strive to prove yourself to others but feel as if you never measure up; then this interview with Brene Brown is for you. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we have two incredible guests on the show, Gay Hendricks and Carol Kline. We dig into some of the incredible stories of how Gay and Carol's past, how you can create luck in your life, see more opportunities, and how luck played a huge part in the writing of their latest book!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we take a journey into the inquiry know as “The Work’ and uncover the 4 question framework that you can use to break down negative thoughts and limiting beliefs. We examine what happens when we argue with reality, look at the difference between being right and being free, explore the causes of suffering, and much more with our guest Byron Katie. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to make better decisions under conditions of uncertainty. We look at “the worst call in the history of football,” discuss examples from life, business and even high stakes poker to understand how to make the best possible decisions in a a world filled with unknowns. What exactly is a good decision? Is that different than a good outcome? We look at this key question - and uncover the wisdom hidden in the reality that these two things might be completely different. All this and more with our guest Annie Duke. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Scott Kelly is an American engineer, retired astronaut, author and naval aviator. He is best known for spending a record-breaking year in space. He is a former US Navy fighter pilot, test pilot, and veteran of four spaceflights. Kelly commanded the space shuttle Endeavour in 2007 and twice commanded the International Space Station. He has documented his experiences in both films and his books including Endurance: My Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery, My Journey To the Stars, and most recently his children’s book Goodnight Astronaut.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we have two incredible guests on the show, Gay Hendricks and Carol Kline. We dig into some of the incredible stories of how Gay and Carol's past, how you can create luck in your life, see more opportunities, and how luck played a huge part in the writing of their latest book!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist, and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is one of the world’s leading experts on human performance. He is the author of nine bestsellers (out of thirteen books total), including The Art of Impossible, The Future Is Faster Than You Think, Stealing Fire, The Rise of Superman, Bold and Abundance. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes, translated into over 40 languages, and appeared in over 100 publications, including the New York Times Magazine, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, TIME, and the Harvard Business Review. Steven is also the cohost of Flow Research Collective Radio, a top ten iTunes science podcast. Along with his wife, author Joy Nicholson, he is the co-founder of the Rancho de Chihuahua, a hospice and special needs dog sanctuary.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Suneel Gupta is a teacher of innovation at Harvard University and is the author of the upcoming book, BACKABLE, where he explores how to get people to believe in your ideas. Suneel’s ideas have been backed by firms like Greylock and Google Ventures, and he served as an Entrepreneur in Residence inside Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The New York Stock Exchange has named Suneel “The New Face of Innovation”. He has personally backed startups including Impossible Foods, Airbnb, 23&Me, Calm, and SpaceX. In 2019, Suneel established the Gross National Happiness Center of America in partnership with the Kingdom of Bhutan.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jen Sincero is a bestselling author, success coach, and motivational speaker who spent more than a decade traveling the world helping people transform their lives and their bank accounts via her public appearances, private sessions, coaching seminars, and books, including the New York Times bestseller You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life. Jen has since come out with more books in her You Are a Badass Series, including her most recent, Badass Habits: Cultivate the Awareness, Boundaries, and Daily Upgrades You Need to Make Them Stick.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Amy Morin is editor-in-chief at Verywell Mind, a licensed clinical social worker, psychotherapist, and psychology lecturer at Northeastern University. She’s also an international bestselling author. Her books include, 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, 13 Things Mentally Strong Parents Don’t Do, and 13 Things Mentally Strong Women Don’t Do. The Guardian dubbed her “the self-help guru of the moment” and Forbes calls her a “thought leadership star.” Her TEDx talk, The Secret of Becoming Mentally Strong, is one of the most popular talks of all time with more than 15 million views. Her advice for building mental strength has been featured by major media outlets, including Fox News, CNN, Oprah.com, Time, and many more! Her most recent project is the newest book in her series, 13 Things Strong Kids Do: Think Big, Feel Good, Act Brave, being released this spring.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Michael Shermer is an author, the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, a regular contributor to Time.com, and Presidential Fellow at Chapman University. His new book is Giving the Devil his Due, a defense of Free Speech and Open Inquiry in Politics, Culture and Science. He is also the author of The Believing Brain: From Ghosts and Gods to Politics and Conspiracies, and many others. He appeared on such shows as The Colbert Report, 20/20, Dateline, Charlie Rose, and Larry King Live (but, proudly, never Jerry Springer!). He has been interviewed in countless documentaries aired on PBS, A&E, Discovery, and other science and learning channels. He regularly contributes opinion editorials, essays, and reviews to: the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Science, Nature, and other publications. His two TED talks, seen by millions, were voted in the top 100 of the more than 1000 TED talks.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how our perception of reality dramatically shifts what actions we take, why you should embrace 2000+ years of wisdom to be happier and more productive, how to stop judging yourself and others based on your achievements and root your identity in something within your control, we look at how we can cultivate a more humble and resilient world view, discuss strategies for connecting with top tier mentors, and much more with Ryan Holiday. Ryan Holiday is a media strategist and writer. He is the bestselling author of over five books including The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is The Enemy, and most recently his upcoming book Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work That Lasts. Ryan previously worked as the director of marketing for American Apparel, working on several controversial campaigns, before starting his own creative agency. His work has been featured in The Huffington Post, Fast Company, Forbes, and more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss whether time speeds up as we get older, why your life story only makes sense looking in reverse, whether or not brain games actually work, the importance of proactive learning instead of passive learning, why psychology confirms all your worst fears about studying and getting smarter – and much more with a special TWO GUEST interview featuring Dr. Art Markman & Dr. Bob Duke!Dr. Art Markman is a Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas and Founding Director of the Program in the Human Dimensions of Organizations.Dr. Bob Duke is a Professor and Head of Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin, He also directs the psychology of learning program at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles.  Together they co-host the NPR radio show Two Guys on Your Head and recently co-authored the book Brain Briefs.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we bring back legendary FBI expert Joe Navarro to distill a lifetime of spy-hunting experience into the five principles that exceptional and outstanding individuals live byBefore he became internationally recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts on body language, Joe Navarro was an eight-year-old refugee fleeing communist-controlled Cuba. In America as a non-English speaker, he survived by observing others, eventually going on to lead a career as an FBI Special Agent studying and applying the science of nonverbal communication. Navarro eventually went on to spend a quarter century with the FBI, pursuing spies and other dangerous criminals across the globe. In his line of work, successful leadership was quite literally a matter of life or death. Now he’s collected his hard-earned lessons in BE EXCEPTIONAL, distilling a lifetime of spy-catching experience into five principles that outstanding individuals live by.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we ask what really produces success by looking at what separates truly successful people from the rest, we examine many common and conflicting “success maxims” and look at what the data actually says really works, we dig deep into the vital importance of knowing yourself and your own strengths, look at the power of aligning your work with your environment, and discuss the dangers of constantly overcommitting your time with Eric Barker.Eric Barker is the creator of the blog “Barking Up The Wrong Tree” - with over 290,000 subscribers.  His work is syndicated by Time Magazine, Business Insider and he has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and more. Just recently, his new book Barking up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong was named a Wall Street Journal Bestseller.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the incredibly important thing that everyone (including you!) get’s wrong about presence, we explore how to prime yourself for the best performance in moments of pressure and high stakes situations where other people are watching and judging you. We look at the results from thousands of experiments over the last few decades to uncover the fascinating truth about power and powerlessness. And we share the exact strategy you can use to shift your brain into the mode that allows you to view the world as more friendly, help you feel more creative, and make you into someone who takes action. We dig deep into all this and much more with our guest Dr. Amy Cuddy.  Dr. Amy Cuddy is an American social psychologist, author, and speaker. She currently lectures on the psychology of leadership and influence at Harvard University and she and her work have won several awards including being named one of “50 Women Who Are Changing The World” by Business Insider. She is the author of the 2015 best-selling book Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges and her 2012 TED talk is the second most viewed talk of all time. Her work has been featured in TIME, Wired, Fast Company, NPR, and countless academic journals.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we go deep into the high performance habits of the worlds top performers, look at the only place confidence truly comes from, dig into why we struggle to perform when the pressure is on, examine the habits, routines, and strategies the world’s absolute best use to perform at their peak, and much more with our guest Dr. Michael Gervais. Dr. Michael Gervais is a high performance psychologist who has worked with some of the world’s top performers including the Seattle Seahawks, Felix Baumgartner (The Red Bull Athlete Who Completed the Stratosphere Jump) Olympians, musicians, and champions! His work has been featured on ESPN, CNN, The New York Times, and much more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how school gives you zero of the social and interpersonal skills necessary to be successful in life, the best starting point for build nonverbal communication, how to read facial expression and body language to discover hidden emotions, how to become a human lie detector, the secrets super connectors use to work a room, and much more with Vanessa Van Edwards.Vanessa Van Edwards is the lead investigator at Science of People, a human behavior research lab. She is a Huffington Post columnist and published author. Her work has been featured on NPR, Business Week and USA Today. She has written for CNN, Fast Company and Forbes. Her latest book, Captivate, was chosen as one of Apple’s Most Anticipated Books of 2017.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s episode is a bit different than a normal episode of Science of Success. We share the incredible "Real Life Story of The Epic Quest To See How The World’s Most Successful People Launched Their Careers” - including a wild journey of hacking the Price is Right, meeting Bill Gates and Lady Gaga, and an epic five year quest to study and learn form the world’s top achievers. This is a topic I’ve dedicated my life to and this fascinating discussion with our guest Alex Banayan shines some new light on one of the most important questions of our lives - what was the inflection point that set massively successful people’s lives on a different trajectory? Alex Banayan is the best-selling author of The Third Door, which chronicles his five-year quest to track down the world’s most successful people to uncover how they broke through and launched their careers. He has been named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list and Business Insider’s “Most Powerful People Under 30.” He has been featured in major media including Fortune, Forbes, Businessweek, Billboard, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, and much more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss the relationship between bad ideas and creative genius, the three biggest lessons from studying the most successful hedge fund on earth, why a stranger may often be a better judge of your abilities than you are, and the key things that stand in the way of developing more self-awareness and how you can fix them, why it’s so important to invest in the ability to make better decisions, and much more with our guest Dr. Adam Grant. Dr. Adam Grant has been Wharton’s top-rated professor for six straight years and has been named a Fortune 40 under 40 and one of the world’s 10 most influential management speakers. He is the multi-bestselling author of Give and Take, Originals, and Option B, which have been translated into over 35 languages. His work has been featured on Oprah, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal, and he is the host of the new TED Podcast, WorkLife...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you don't feel worthy of love and belonging, if you feel lesser than other people; if you can't forgive yourself for your mistakes or your terrible moments or the stupid things you've done in life; if you can't accept your humanness; if you can't show your face or eyes to others due to shame; if you can't own up to your mistakes for fear of judgment; if you compare yourself to others; if you constantly strive to prove yourself to others but feel as if you never measure up; then this interview with Brene Brown is for you. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how our guest went from a hard-nosed skeptic who thought most self help was BS, to someone who uncovered the evidence based growth strategies that actually work. We talk about our guest’s journey from meeting self help gurus, to spiritual teachers, and neuroscientists to discover the biggest lessons about improving your mind and body, and the simple, scientifically validated tool that evidence demonstrates is the best way to be happier with Dan Harris. Dan Harris is a correspondent for ABC News and the co-anchor for the weekend edition of Good Morning America. Dan regularly contributes to Nightline, 20/20, and World News and has covered stories from all over the world including war reporting in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as investigative reports in Haiti, Cambodia, the Congo and more. Dan is the author of the book 10% Happier and his work has been featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Dr. OZ, Good Morning America, and much more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we show you the power of listening, teach you to transform how you listen, and unlock an incredible set of communication skills that almost no one uses or understands with our guest Julian Treasure. Julian Treasure is the chair of the Sound Agency, a consultancy firm that advises worldwide businesses on how to effectively use sound. Julian has delivered 5 TED talks with more than 100 million views about listening, communication, and the effect sound has on the human brain. His latest talk, How to speak so that people want to listen, is in the top 10 TED talks of all time.  He is the author of the book Sound Business and How To Be Heard. His work has been featured in Time Magazine, The Economist, and many more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we explore the power of mentorship to transform your life with our guest Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington. Kevin Harrington is an entrepreneur, author, an original "shark" from the show Shark Tank, the creator of the infomercial, pioneer of the As Seen on TV brand, and co-founding board member of the Entrepreneur's Organization. His work behind the scenes of business ventures has produced more than $5 billion in global sales, the launch of more than 500 products, and the making of dozens of millionaires. He’s authored and co-authored several popular business books including the most recent Mentor to Millions: Secrets of Success in Business, Relationships, and Beyond.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the dangers of “playing it safe” in life, how we can learn to celebrate more, the power of cheering on, showing up, and serving other people, how to balance the acceptance of negative emotions with amplifying the good and focusing on the positive, what it means to live life in the “front row,” lessons learned about living life from people fighting for their lives, and much more with our guest Jon Vroman.Jon is the co-founder of The Front Row Foundation, a charity that creates unforgettable moments for individuals who are braving life-threatening illnesses. Jon teaches others to “Live Life In The Front Row” through teaching and inspiring others with the Art of Moment Making. He is also an award winning speaker, podcast host, and the bestselling author of his new book The Front Row Factor: Transform Your Life with The Art of Moment Making.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you know what you should do but you don’t do it? In this episode, we dig into the science behind WHY this happens and HOW exactly you can overcome this massive obstacle. No one’s ever actually stuck, but the reason you FEEL stuck is that what you want, your goals, desires, change you want in your life, etc., are bumping up against an emotional roadblock or subconscious belief. It’s like having one foot on the gas while the other slams down the breaks. In this interview with Dr. Sasha Heinz, we share what you can do to overcome that fear and anxiety and transform your life finally.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Phil Jones is an international business speaker and bestselling author. Phil has made it his life’s work to completely demystify the sales process. He has gone on to deliver over 2,500 presentations in 57 countries across five continents, training more than two million people (both sales and non-sales professionals, leaders, and experts) to learn how to have more influence, confidence, and control when steering their conversations. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s episode is a bit different than a normal episode of Science of Success. We share the incredible "Real Life Story of The Epic Quest To See How The World’s Most Successful People Launched Their Careers” - including a wild journey of hacking the Price is Right, meeting Bill Gates and Lady Gaga, and an epic five-year quest to study and learn from the world’s top achievers. This is a topic I’ve dedicated my life to and this fascinating discussion with our guest Alex Banayan shines some new light on one of the most important questions of our lives - what was the inflection point that set massively successful people’s lives on a different trajectory? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we bring on Grant Cardone to give you a real look at what it means to be successful and what it really takes to get there. He shares the exact shifts you have to make in order to 10x your life. We share why you should ignore most people’s advice, how to push yourself to a new level, and why learning isn’t enough to get to the highest levels.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Matthew Walker is Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Founder and Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science. He has published over 100 scientific studies and is the author of the book Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. Which is currently the #1 Amazon Bestseller in Neuroscience . He has been featured on numerous television and radio outlets, including CBS 60 Minutes, National Geographic Channel, NOVA Science, NRP and the BBC.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mark Manson is the New York Times and international bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and his new already bestselling book Everything Is Fucked. His blog, markmanson.net, attracts more than two million readers per month. He is also the CEO and founder of Infinity Squared Media LLCSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

James is an American author, entrepreneur, and photographer. His personal blog, jamesclear.com has over 400,000 email subscribers. Since his last visit to the show, his first book Atomic Habits has gone on to sell over 1 million copies worldwide. James’s work focuses primarily on habits and human potential looking to answer the question “How can we live better?” by focusing on science-backed methods. James’s work has been featured in The New York Times, CBS, Forbes, and more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to boost your energy, focus, and happiness in 5 minutes or less using a dead simple strategy anyone can apply right away. We explore the power of self knowledge and why it’s one of the cornerstones of success in any area of life, and we uncover several powerfully uncomfortable questions we can ask ourselves to be happier, healthier and more productive with our guest Gretchen Rubin. Gretchen Rubin is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, Happier at Home, and The Four Tendencies and her latest book is Outer Order Inner Calm. She’s appeared on TV outlets such as the Today show, Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday Morning, and more. She’s also appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and many more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Mark Victor Hansen is an American inspirational and motivational speaker, trainer and author. He is best known as the founder and co-creator of the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. Mark has spoken to over 6,000 audiences world-wide and continues to receive high accolades from his audiences as one of the most dynamic and compelling speakers and leaders of our time. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

If you don't find some of your beliefs challenged by this episode, you weren't listening hard enough. Michael defends holocaust deniers, debunks anti-vaxxers and much more in a sweeping conversation that hits at the heart of some of the most controversial issues of our time. How do we search for truth in a world full of noise? How do we uphold free speech and freedom of inquiry during that quest? How do we wrestle with some of the biggest and toughest issues we face as a society today?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we bring on author Charles Duhigg to share the secrets and the science of building better habits.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we bring on polymath Luke Burgis to discuss the fundamental question of DESIRE - why do you want the things you want in life?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we bring on innovation expert Suneel Gupta to discuss how you can make yourself and your ideas backable.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we bring on one of the father's of decision psychology to discuss several fascinating takeaways about how to make better decisions with our guest Robin Hogarth.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we bring on Private Equity expert Perry Anderson to share the fascinating inside baseball of buying companies with no capital.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we bring former Buried Life star Ben Nemtin onto the show to discuss one of the most important questions in our lives - what do you want to do before you die?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we bring mental toughness expert Amy Morin onto the show to discuss how to help yourself and your family be mentally strong.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Greg McKeown is an international keynote speaker and the bestselling author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. Greg has spoek at events around the world including SXSW and interviewing Al Gore at the World Economic Forum, where he serves as a Young Global Leader.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we bring back legendary FBI expert Joe Navarro to distill a lifetime of spy-hunting experience into the five principles that exceptional and outstanding individuals live byBefore he became internationally recognized as one of the world’s foremost experts on body language, Joe Navarro was an eight-year-old refugee fleeing communist-controlled Cuba. In America as a non-English speaker, he survived by observing others, eventually going on to lead a career as an FBI Special Agent studying and applying the science of nonverbal communication. Navarro eventually went on to spend a quarter-century with the FBI, pursuing spies and other dangerous criminals across the globe. In his line of work, successful leadership was quite literally a matter of life or death. Now he’s collected his hard-earned lessons in BE EXCEPTIONAL, distilling a lifetime of spy-catching experience into five principles that outstanding individuals live by.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's time... you knew it was coming... and it's finally here...See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In November 2015 the first episode of the Science of Success hit the iTunes airwaves. This was after nearly six months of behind-the-scenes work recording episodes, planning the show, and getting ready for launch.I did not expect the show to do as well as it did, we garnered tons of initial traction, hit new and noteworthy, and so much more. What an incredible journey it has been!Now, more than five years later, we are coming up on 300 episodes, we have interviewed so many titans of our field, had some truly life-changing and incredible conversations, and now it's time for us to change things a bit too.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the incredibly important thing that everyone (including you!) get’s wrong about presence, we explore how to prime yourself for the best performance in moments of pressure and high stakes situations where other people are watching and judging you. We look at the results from thousands of experiments over the last few decades to uncover the fascinating truth about power and powerlessness. And we share the exact strategy you can use to shift your brain into the mode that allows you to view the world as more friendly, help you feel more creative, and make you into someone who takes action. We dig deep into all this and much more with our guest Dr. Amy Cuddy.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we share the lessons from Astronaut Scott Kelly's amazing career - form what it takes to become an astronaut, to surviving NASA's grueling training, the powerful experience of being in outer space and the lessons you can apply to your life with our guest the first human to spend a year in space - Scott Kelly. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss how to identify and defeat the stories that hold you back, how to use your complaints as a compass to improve your life, powerful methods for creating permanent habit change, and we unmask the number one reason why you resist making big changes in your life with our guest Jen Sincero. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

John Warrillow is the founder of The Value Builder System™, simple software for building the value of a company used by thousands of businesses worldwide. His best-selling book Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You was recognized by both Fortune and Inc. as one of the best business books of 2011 and has been translated into 12 languages.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kristin Neff, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor at UT Austin, an author, speaker, and a pioneer in the field of self-compassion research. Her books include The Mindful Self-Compassion Workbook and Self-Compassion and Teaching the Mindful Self-Compassion Program. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss the science of peak performance and share actionable takeaways for how you can achieve your goals and spend more time in the powerful state of Flow with our guest Steven Kotler. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss an old trick palm readers use that you can leverage to get people to do what you want, why persuasion does not lie just in the message itself, but rather in how the message is presented, what the research reveals about why the context matters as much, if not more, than the content itself, why you shouldn’t ask people for their opinion but instead ask someone for their advice, how small differences that seem trivial make a HUGE impact on human behavior, and much more with Dr. Robert Cialdini.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we have two incredible guests on the show, Gay Hendricks and Carol Kline. We dig into some of the incredible stories of how Gay and Carol's past, how you can create luck in your life, see more opportunities, and how luck played a huge part in the writing of their latest book!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we share an incredibly powerful annual planning ritual that can transform your entire year. We break down exactly what to do to set yourself up for success in the new year and show you how to avoid the biggest problems that stop you from achieving your goals. Don't let your 2021 goals become figments of your imagination by springtime, listen to this interview with returning guest Peter Shallard to crush your annual planning and goal setting.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we interviewed author and private investigator Tyler Maroney. We dig into what it’s like to be a private investigator, what’s fact and what’s fiction, and how you can learn to be more engaging, open-minded, and observant like a PI in your own life. Plus there are some incredible stories!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss several seemingly good ideas that are actually quite dangerous. We start with a look at how the immune system can teach us about the vital importance of being “anti-fragile.” We look at lessons from ancient cultural traditions all the way up to modern psychology research to peel back the layers of our current social dialogue and look at many notions that have permeated our current thinking.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tom Steding, Ph.D. has been CEO of more than 12 high-tech companies and active chairman of several others. He is co-founder of the Mayfield Alliance with former Facebook Executive Blaise Bertrand. Tom is also the co-founder of Quadrix Partners, providing leadership interventions. He is a “Seal Team Advisor” to the Stanford-Affiliated Alchemical Accelerator; a Founding member of the Silicon Valley Angel Group; and the Executive in Residence of the Palo Alto-based Venture Capital Private Equity Roundtable. He is also the co-author of the bestselling Built on Trust: Gaining Competitive Advantage in Any Organization and the author of the soon to be released Real Teams Win: What Smart Leaders Need to Know Now About Achieving Peak Performance.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Phil Jones is an international business speaker and bestselling author. Phil has made it his life’s work to completely demystify the sales process. He has gone on to deliver over 2,500 presentations in 57 countries across five continents, training more than two million people (both sales and non-sales professionals, leaders, and experts) to learn how to have more influence, confidence, and control when steering their conversations.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss the surprising future of work, the truth about robots, automation, and jobs, and how you can best position yourself for a successful career within the future of work with our guest Jeff Wald. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

J. Clifford Hudson is an American business executive best known for serving as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Oklahoma City-based Sonic Corp. He is the author of the new book Master of None: How A Jack of All Trades Can Still Reach the Top. He has served as a trustee of the Ford Foundation and is a past chairman of the board of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Brant Cooper is the CEO of Moves the Needle and the New York Times best-selling author of The Lean Entrepreneur, The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development, and The Lean Brand. He’s helped startups go from idea to IPO, acquisition, and rapid growth. But he also has first-hand experience with crushing failure. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss everything you ever wanted to know about sleep. We examine the findings from hundreds of studies across millions of people and pull out the major findings of how vitally important sleep is, the global sleep-loss epidemic, the stunning data about sleep and productivity, the simplest and most effective evidence-based strategies for getting better sleep, and much more with Dr. Matthew Walker.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Michelle Seiler Tucker is the author of EXIT RICH: The 6 P Method to Sell Your Business for Huge Profit and the Founder and CEO of Seiler Tucker Incorporated. She has sold hundreds of businesses to date and currently owns and operates several successful businesses. She is a leading authority on buying, selling, and improving businesses, as well as increasing business revenue streams.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview, we dig into exactly what it takes to create one of the world’s largest personal development content producers, scale a company from raising money to monetizing, and so much more with Victoria Montgomery-Brown.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Annie Duke is an author, corporate speaker, and consultant in the decision-making space. Annie’s latest book, How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices, is available now. Her previous book, Thinking in Bets, is a national bestseller.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David was an early angel investor in AirBnB and SpaceX and remains an angel investor for over 40 startups. He's co-founder of Bionic, which offers proprietary organizational solutions to Fortune 100 companies. David would love to chat about how the world's most influential CEOs see the world similarly, and how anyone can develop the same sight.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we have one of our all-time favorite guests back on the show, Dr. Tal Ben-Shahar. We dig into how to cultivate more happiness in your life, the habits of the world's happiest people, how we can continue to cultivate relationships during COVID, and more!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is near and dear to our hearts here at The Science of Success. This episode acted as a launching pad for our growth and we have a lot of people to thank for that. Listen to the episode intro for the full story and find out more about all the players involved in the resources below!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we sit down with Irshad Manji and discuss her latest book Don’t Label Me. We dive into how we can avoid making snap judgments about not only people we disagree with but also those we agree with. We use real-world examples to show how you can prevent small cues from making massively problematic assumptions about the world and those around you.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we dig into what the people who are most successful working from home do each and every day. We dig into how you can manage your time more effectively and how to stay sane and adjust in a world that has you working, living, and playing all in the same four walls. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss conscious capitalism, transformational leadership lessons, and how to use win-win-win thinking to create breakthroughs in your business with Whole Foods co-founder and CEO John Mackey. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we share powerful strategies for dealing with uncertainty, some of the most important tools for making better decisions, how to get more flexibility in your life, and much more with our returning guest Josh Kaufman.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Kamal Ravikant is the author of the bestselling books, Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On I, Live Your Truth, and Rebirth. He’s been a US Army Infantry soldier, held the hands of dying patients, climbed in the Himalayas, spoken to audiences around the globe, walked 550 miles across Spain, meditated with Tibetan monks, and has worked with some of the best people in Silicon Valley. But more than anything, he is passionate about writing books that improve lives. He lives — for now — in New York City.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we explore the power of mentorship to transform your life with our guest Shark Tank’s Kevin Harrington. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we dive deep into an incredible conversation with returning guest Dr. Rick Hanson to explore neuroplasticity, the science of changing your brain, and how to supercharge your ability to learn anything. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Bruce Feiler is an author, speaker, and television personality. He is the author of 15 books including six consecutive New York Times bestsellers; the presenter of two primetime series on PBS; and the inspiration for the drama series Council of Dads on NBC. Bruce's two TED Talks have been viewed more than two million times. In his newest book, Life Is in the Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age, Bruce describes his journey across America, collecting hundreds of life stories, exploring how we can navigate the growing number of life transitions with greater purpose and skill.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we get a behind the scenes peek at what it truly takes to rapidly scale a massive company - learning the inside lessons that enabled our guest to build his telecom startup from zero to twenty-five million dollars in recurring revenue in 18 months, with our guest Oliver Schmalholz.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alain Hunkins, author of CRACKING THE LEADERSHIP CODE: Three Secrets to Building Strong Leaders is a sought-after speaker, consultant, trainer, and coach. Over his twenty-year career, he has led over 2,000 groups in 25 countries. Alain’s clients include Wal-Mart, Pfizer, Citigroup, General Electric, State Farm Insurance, IBM, General Motors, and Microsoft. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we share the science of how to reprogram your body and reset your biological age. Can you permanently reverse aging? What should you do to slow down your aging process and stay young for longer.. maybe even forever.. with our guest Dr. David Sinclair. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview, we dig into the incredible story of Blake Mycoskie, the one for one model, and what it’s like to be an entrepreneur, be the founder of TOMS, and ultimately find happiness. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we dig deep into the science of decision making and thinking with best-selling author Ozan Varol. Ozan and I discuss how to pivot, dig into his incredible story and life journey, and how we can question our assumptions and challenge our own opinions!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we share some incredible insights into how you can improve your life, improve your thinking, and why advice so often gets it wrong with our guest Michael Bungay Stanier.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this wide-spanning conversation, we discuss the founding of a multi-billion dollar public company, the inside baseball of what it takes to build a truly massive company and then we dig into some of the biggest questions in life - how do we deal with the problem of evil? How do we merge science and spirituality? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we share how to ask for what you want, get the help you need to succeed, and look at the evidence-based lessons for how you can get more of what you want with our guests Dr. Wayne Baker and Larry Freed.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we hear the incredible story of how our guest went from a bricklayer to working with some of the most powerful and influential people in the world and the amazing lessons that he’s learned about making things happen with our guest Steve Sims.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we share the story of how our guest went from teetering on the edge of virtual bankruptcy to transforming his company into a high growth startup with a massive exit seemingly overnight with our guest Saud Juman.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview, we dig into what it takes to be a fearless leader with the first-ever female F-14 Tomcat Fighter Pilot in the U.S. Navy, Carey Lohrenz. We dig into fearless leadership, what it was like being a pioneer in her field, how she came over the many obstacles in her way, and the mindset you need to lead and succeed. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview, we share how you can finally make decisions with perfect confidence. We share what to do when you’re stuck in inaction and lack confidence in your decisions, and how to avoid being overconfident and making big mistakes with our guest Dr. Don Moore.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we are joined by Guy Kawasaki for a casual discussion - what we are calling a “fireside chat” where we touch on life, business, and success, and many stories from the trenches of scaling companies.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How do you stop being a victim, take responsibility, and make your life the life you want it to be? In this episode, we uncover the universal principles of success with one of the world’s top success experts, Jack Canfield.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview, we dug really deep into some of the stories from Robin’s past included in his new book. Everything from being in New York City near the towers when they fell to recruiting a Russian Spy asset. Some seriously intense stories, it flows like an episode of Homeland or something out of a spy novel. Then we go deep into the six-step system Robin has outlined to predict people’s future behavior, what motivated them, and some of the hard truths about behavior prediction. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we bring in legendary business expert Michael Gerber, author of The E-Myth Revisited to share why most small businesses don’t work and show you exactly how you can build a truly scalable business.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we show you exactly how to build the habits and routines you need to succeed, break down what makes powerful habits, and share how to stay motivated and productive no matter what happens with our guest James Clear.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we tell the truth about self-awareness. 95% of people think they are self-aware but only 10% actually are. Where do you think you stand and what can you do to improve what our guest calls the superpower of the 21st century? All this and more with our guest Dr. Tasha Eurich.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we share how to feel bold, powerful, confident, and alive and get the motivation you need to finally take action and make your goals and dreams a reality. Learn to believe in yourself with our guest Evan Carmichael. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we share how to face down your fears and we uncover what happens when you do. We hear the incredible story of how our guest, Michelle Poler, spent 100 days facing down her biggest fears and show what you can learn from her journey. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we’re releasing a short bonus episode to let you know about the launch of The Science of Success: Business Mastery Season 2.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we share how you can be more confident when make the tough decisions in your life, discuss how to deal with FOMO and show you the key to ultimately achieving greatness with our guest Patrick McGinnis.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we share how to decide what’s really important in life, how self care can actually lead to massively increased productivity, and how you can put away the guilt of not working hard enough with our guest Denise Gosnell. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we share how to deal with self doubt and what to do if you don’t feel like you belong. We explore the power of kindness and how to build your kindness muscle and much more with our guest Gabriella van Rij. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What can video games teach us about real life? In this episode, we explore the science behind the concept that we may be living in a simulation, look at the hard problem of consciousness, explore the relationship between quantum physics and consciousness and much more with our guest Rizwan Virk. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we explore the science of networks and human relationships, uncover how people you’ve never met have a huge impact on your life, and look at how we can respond effectively to the COVID-19 pandemic with our guest David Burkus.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss how to ask better questions, lessons from solving some of the world’s most interesting challenges, and why you need to think about the job to be done with our guest Bob Moesta. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Unless you've been living under a rock or (like Jared Leto) at a no phone meditation retreat for the past few months you're aware of COVID-19. In this episode, our producer Austin Fabel walks you through 10 creative things you can do in the world of social distancing to keep yourself entertained, healthy, happy, and with something to look forward to doing post insanity. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we uncover the truth about networking. Why most people do it wrong, how you can do it right, and the key ingredient that’s been missing in your networking efforts with our guest Dr. Ivan Misner.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we share the universal secret to growing any business, how to build a unicorn startup, what the real definition of an entrepreneur is and much more with our guest Jim McKelveySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we share the power of the experimental mindset. How can you use experiments to make better decisions and improve your life? What makes for good experiments? We share all this and more with our guest Stefan Thomke. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we share how to memorize a deck of cards in less than 60 seconds, how to remember anything, and hacks from one of the world’s leading memory experts, our guest, Nelson Dellis. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this special episode, our producer Austin Fabel conducts his first standalone interview with Angelo Poli. They dig into the science behind a healthy diet and lifestyle and why most people fail to see their goals both in life and health. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’re sorry about this episode.. or rather.. this episode is about BEING sorry. When should you say sorry and when should you stand your ground? What makes an apology meaningful? We uncover the truth about apologies with our guest Sean O’Meara. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we’re diving into the two sides of the topic of influence. Surprisingly, there are two very different schools of thought on the best way to influence someone. But which style is more effective? What are the pros and cons of each of them? See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we’re bringing back one of the most impactful episodes from the archives of The Science of Success. We dig into the proven science of how we can live a happy life and the pitfalls that can throw us off track. The crazy thing about this research is it’s totally not what you’d think.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Modern work has become exhausting and dissatisfying, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We share strategies for defeating burnout and making progress on the most important and meaningful things in your work with our guest Bruce Daisley.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we show you the power of listening, teach you to transform how you listen, and unlock an incredible set of communication skills that almost no one uses or understands with our guest Julian Treasure. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this business focused episode of the Science of Success we share how to recruit extraordinary talent and build a remarkable culture for your business with our guest Dee Ann Turner. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What happens when you peer into the dark underbelly of the human psyche? How should we react when we uncover the raw truth of human nature and emotion, sexuality, and racism? We explore all of this and much more in this fascinating interview with our guest Dr. Seth Stephens-Davidowitz. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss all things sleep. Sleep has been under attack for the last 10+ years and yet it is one of the most powerful things you can do for your performance, your health, your mental wellbeing, and your body. We explore how to improve your sleep, how sleep works, and what you can be doing to sleep better with our guest Dr. Dan Gartenberg. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we expose the lie that success makes you happy and discover the truth about engineering happiness into your life. Can you choose to be happy? If so, what should you do and how should you change your behavior? We also confront the reality that in today’s world we no longer have the tools to handle real or even perceived failures. We discuss how to build mental toughness and what you can do to build your mental strength and resilience. All of this and much more with our guest Neil Pasricha. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Happy Holidays from The Science of Success! Consider this mashup to be your personal little Christmas present from Me, Austin, and our team over here at The Science of Success. For this Holiday Special we brought you some of the best moments on giving, connectedness, compassion, kindness, Courage, and much much more. You’ll certainly recognize some of these guests such as Brene Brown, Oscar Timboli, as well as some potentially new faces like John Wang, Dacher Keltner, and more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we ask: how do you become an active and informed citizen? What are the challenges of forming a coherent view of history and politics? What do you do if your foundational beliefs are coming into question? In a world full of noise, confusion, and fake news - we sit down with our guest the legendary podcaster Dan Carlin to uncover how we can make sense of today’s confusing world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you want to figure out why you’re not walking the talk? In this episode we uncover the truth about what really holds people back - and share the the secret strategy that all successful people use to achieve incredible things. We examine the world’s most successful people and figure out exactly what commonalities they share, and how you can use them in your own life. All of this and much more in our interview with returning guest Alex Banayan. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we share how a college dropout went from waiting tables to becoming the owner of a Major League Soccer Team and the most powerful VC in the healthcare industry. We uncover the incredible strategy that can be used to break into ANY industry and become a dominant player sharing the stage with top CEOs, even without any connections or relationships. We share why you don’t have to be an expert to leverage the credibility of others, the power of public speaking, what it means to orchestrate a deal and much more with our guest Marcus Whitney. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we ask the big question - how do you find meaning in your life and work? When you’re starting death in the face, life’s purpose becomes clear. We learn how to harness those lessons to find meaning in your own life and discover a few simple things you can do every day - starting right now - to increase your odds of living a longer, healthier, happier life with our guest Tom Rath. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we take a look back at some of our past guest's most valuable insights on gratitude! Enjoy the mashup!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Grant Cardone is the CEO of Cardone Capital, an international speaker, entrepreneur and author of The 10X Rule as well as two dozen best-selling business programs. Named the #1 marketer to watch by Forbes Magazine, Cardone founded The 10X Movement & The 10X Growth Conference, which has grown into the world’s largest business & entrepreneur conference. He has been featured on countless media outlets across the globe.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alec Torelli is an entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and professional poker player. As a poker player, Alec has won millions playing live cash games and some of the biggest tournaments live and online. As a coach and digital entrepreneur, he shares his knowledge and insight to help others achieve their life goals. Alec has been featured on ESPN, CBS Sports, Travel Channel, Fox Sports, Poker News and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we unlock the POWER of ASKING. When you ask for what you need, miracles can happen, but so many of us are too afraid to really ask, or we feel like we don’t know how or what we should be asking for. How do you get better at ask? How can you tap the tremendous power and potential of the social capital within your network by using the power of asking? We answer these questions and much more with our guest Dr. Wayne Baker. How to unlock the incredible power and potential of your network and the social capital Dr. Wayne Baker is an American author and sociologist on the senior faculty of the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. He is best known for his research in economic sociology, and his survey research on values, where he documented Americans’ core values. He writes in both academic and popular media on this theme and is often invited to present his findings across the U.S. What’s the difference between “paying it back” versus “paying it forward” - what’s the difference? What is a kidney chain? And what can it teach us about the importance of “paying it forward?" What is a reciprocity ring and how can it change the way you interact with your social network? What is social capital? The network that we are involved in and all of the resources that the network contains. When you ask for what you need - miracles can happen There is a wealth of opportunity at your fingertips - but you have to ASK for it! What are the biggest reasons that people don’t ask for what they need? What stops you from asking for help on the most important things in your life? Why is it so hard to ask for what we need? How do we get better at asking? What should you do if you aren’t clear about what you need? What should you do if you don’t know what to ask for? Start with figuring out your goal. What’s your goal? What are you trying to achieve? What resources do you need to achieve that goal? Money? Advice? Resources? Then you have to figure out WHO to ask Then you have to MAKE the ask The “two step” method for asking for anything you want. You may not directly know someone, but you probably know someone who knows someone. The “quick start method” for figuring out WHAT YOU NEED and ASKING FOR IT Visioning - developing a detailed, vivid, description of a positive future. Then you start to identify the goals that are in that vision, that back that into request. What is a SMART request? People don’t know WHY you’re asking for something unless you EXPLAIN. Research is very clear - the more specific your request, the more likely people are to help. If you make a smart, well formulated request people are more likely to think you’re smart and competent. People are more willing to help than you think they are. Action item: Make a small request in a safe place. Action item: Use the reciprocity ring or other tools to create structured ways to interact and ask. How to integrate the “Stand Up” into your routines and meetings to structure asking into the natural rhythms of your work and life. People are willing to help, they are willing to give, but you have to ASK - because people can’t read your mind Life is about connection and asking is what jump starts the power of your connections. Be a giver-request - be very generous and freely help other people even if they’ve never helped you, or can never help you in the future. Freely give help and freely ask for what you need - this the most powerful mode of being.Don’t be a lone wolf. Doing it all by yourself is a recipe for failure. Overly generous giving, without ever ASKING for what you need - leads to burnout. Homework: Apply the elements from the quick start method questions above to figure out what you need help with. Homework: Assess where you are on the spectrum of giving and asking. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview we show you how to grow a business with no capital, no product and no service. You will discover how to train yourself to spot outrageous business opportunities surrounding you in everyday life and we give you the strategies for building trust with your ideal clients and business partners. We ask what does it take to become GREAT? In your career, job, business, partnering, relationships we look at exactly how you can achieve greatness in the key areas of your life. All of this and much more with our guest the legendary Jay Abraham. Jay Abraham is founder and CEO of The Abraham Group, Inc., and is recognized as one of the world’s most successful marketing strategists, business innovators, entrepreneurial advisors, and masters of revenue acceleration. He has spent the last 30+ years solving problems and significantly increasing the bottom lines of over 10,000 clients in more than 400 industries worldwide. How do you grow a company with no capital, product, or service? What does it mean to mine, monetize and maximize relational capital? Whatever your resource impediment or impairment is, someone else has that and you just have to figure out how to ethically leverage it How Jay created 1.5mm in less than 6 months by finding arbitrage between products, services, and audiences Find “strategic investors” - who else benefits from your growth? Complementary or related products, companies that benefit and naturally grow when you grow - and demonstrate to them that your growth is beneficial for them too - and then get them to help you. How do you build trust in a business relationship? How do you get someone to introduce you to all of their clients? Before you expend a ton of capital and time on a project - try to get some validation. The only validation that counts is dollars spent, not what a focus group thinks. How to easily validate your business ideas without taking risk on the front end. There’s a huge amount of IP that’s available to license from places like the Navy, the government, etc Find “parallel universes” that aren’t competitive and plug those opportunities in. Never put anything at risk until you’ve de-risked and validated your product, service, or business model What happens when a typical business is STUCK? Figure out what you’re stuck with. How can you unlock an “unlimited business checkbook” to fund ANY problem within your business? How someone got paid $1mm and a free Porsche to buy a Porsche dealership with creative deal making Spend time traveling outside whatever you do and whatever you’re interested in. Study other businesses, study how other products and services market, how they sell, study topics that are outside your domain of knowledge. How to train yourself to spot outrageous business opportunities lying around you in everyday life. How you can make the “money connection” - you don’t need to be brilliant, but you have to have the right “sensors” turned on - and they only turn on when you broaden your understanding of what’s possible What is Greatness? And why do so many people fall short of it? Everyone has the ability to be great - and everyone wants to be great. 98% of people are mediocre - yet they want to be great - WHY? What does it take to become GREAT? In your career, job, business, partnering, relationships - how you can achieve greatness in the key areas of your life. There are 4 keys to achieving greatness With every improvement in greatness there is an exponential increase in quality and outcome - not a linear increase. Most breakthroughs don’t come from WITHIN an industry - they come from OUTSIDE it. Homework: Be curious, ask people questions, dig into how other businesses and industries do business. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we have one of the absolute living legends of psychology on the show - we discuss the GREATEST unanswered question in psychology, the biggest thing people mis-understand about flow, what advice young people can take away from our guest's incredible career, and what he thinks the absolute biggest takeaways from his own research are - and much more with Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Your fate, your destiny, your future is not set out for you - you can shape it to be what you want it to be. You have the freedom to make life better for yourself and more worthwhile and meaningful for yourselves. Even the greatest traumas and struggles can be overcome. You don’t have to achieve fame and fortune to live a meaningful and wonderful life and to be truly alive.  Mihaly is Claremont Graduate University’s Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management. He is a bestselling author and founder and co-director of the Quality of Life Research Center. He is a member of the American Academy of Education, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Leisure Studies and his work has been featured on NPR,TED, WIRED, and more!! The key ideas supported by the data around how people respond to Trauma. People who are focused beyond themselves and their own wellbeing are more resilient to the things that happen to them. When you focus on the wellbeing of others, society, your family, etc - you’re much more resilient to Trauma How do you think of yourself? Do you think of yourself as the body in which you live? Do you see yourself as being part of a family, group, religion etc? This will shape your response to trauma. The self is a very poor site for meaning - don’t put all your eggs in the fragile basket of the self We are all connected - recognizing that helps contextualize our existence Flow and happiness are not the same thing - but they are very related Flow is a momentary state of experience and happiness is a general perspective towards life If your life is full of flow - it will be a happy life! How do we consistently create flow states in our lives? If you have those 2 traits you are more likely to be in flow more often Pay attention to the world around you and connect with it one way or another Life is quite malleable - we often feel like we’ve been dealt a tough hand, but its often how we react to it that is the most important How does Mihaly think about creating flow states in his own life? What is the greatest unanswered question in psychology today? What is the biggest mistake or pitfall that younger people (in their mid 20s) can make? You have to keep an open mind, be open to learning Don’t be too instinctive, don’t become an ideologue too soon What’s the biggest thing that people misunderstand about Flow and Mihay’s research? We have the opportunity to shape ourselves into whoever we want to be- but we have to take into account where we came from and what our experiences have been. What’s the biggest takeaway from all the research on Flow? Your fate, your destiny, your future is not set out for you - you can shape it to be what you want it to be. You have the freedom to make life better for yourself and more worthwhile and meaningful for yourselves. Even the greatest traumas and struggles can be overcome. You don’t have to achieve fame and fortune to live a meaningful and wonderful life and to be truly alive. It may not be an easy road to get there, but it’s possible for anyone to get there. This is open to everyone, but it’s hard to do the work and get there. Life can be much more fun than you think! We have to look past the limited perspective of our own egos and experiences to understand the beauty of life. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we show you how to turn your fear into health, wealth, and happiness. If you want something you’ve never had before, you have to do something you’ve never done before. That means suffering and taking risks. Building a positive relationship with suffering is one of the most important life skills you can master. Suffering is the true training ground of self-transcendence. With our guest Akshay Nanavati we show you how to choose your struggle and build meaningful suffering into your life. Akshay Nanavati is a Marine Corps Veteran, speaker, adventurer, entrepreneur and author of "Fearvana: The Revolutionary Science of How to Turn Fear into Health, Wealth and Happiness." He is also the founder of the nonprofit, the Fearvana Foundation. His work has been featured in Forbes, Psychology Today, entrepreneur.com, CNN, Huffington Post, Military Times, FOX 5 NY, ABC, NBC and other media outlets around the globe. From drug addiction to marine corps Bootcamp - to hunting for bombs in Iraq - how Akshay learned to deal with fear The toughest battle Akshay had to fight was coming home - dealing with PTSD and suicidal thoughts We live in a world that demonizes stress, anxiety, fear, pain and suffering - and yet in the psychology and neuroscience research shows us that our emotions are normal and inevitable We don’t live in a world of life-threatening risks anymore, and so our brain creates these risks No emotions are good or bad - we assign and create the meaning via our beliefs Humans are meaning-making machines - we naturally create meaning out of everything What you are labeling yourself can powerfully shape your experiences. Typical behaviors like “depression” “PTSD” etc are just brain patterns, and they can be re-written using “Top-Down Neuroplasticity” Don’t wait for the fear to go away, act despite the fear.. or once you learn to train yourself.. BECAUSE of the fear Building a positive relationship to suffering is the single most important skill to master. “Hebbs Law” - neurons that fire together, wire together There is a war in your brain for neuronal real estate - use it or lose it. Should you try to SEEK Suffering instead of AVOID suffering? "There is no coming to consciousness without pain. People will do anything, no matter how absurd, in order to avoid facing their own Soul. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.” - Dr. Carl Jung “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” - Dr. Carl Jung Visualize yourself in the process of going through the struggle, the suffering, the tough part of your goals - not the easy parts at the end. There is tremendous beauty in pushing through and into your fears. Everything worthwhile is hard, and you have to train yourself to fall in love with suffering. Fall in love with the process. You cannot get better at something without doing it. Exercise is a “miracle grow for your brain.” If you could put all the benefits of exercise into a pill, it would be the best selling pill of all time. If you want something you’ve never had before, you have to do something you’ve never done before. That means suffering and taking a risk. If you don’t proactively search out a proactive worthy challenge - something to struggle and suffer for in your life - then suffering will find you anyway. Don’t follow your passion, find your "worthy struggle." You don’t discover a passion you develop a passion. You have to put yourself in uncomfortable situations to develop your passion. You only evolve when you suffer. That’s why lottery winners typically lose their winnings. When you struggle for it, you become a different person. Homework: Find one little thing to test yourself. Do a little thing to push yourself outside your comfort zone. Don’t just do it, come back and reflect on it. Journal about it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss how to get started building your network and traffic online. We learn exactly how to build an audience from scratch, insider lessons about the best content marketing approach, how to get your content to go viral, a mind-blowing facebook advertising strategy and why email is still one of the most important marketing channels with our guest Joe Fier. Joe Fier advises businesses on marketing strategy and sales conversion to increase revenues. He consults and creates long-term selling assets for clients, which has generated over $50 million in revenue online. He runs a marketing and tech consulting company and full-scale content marketing agency. He and his Co-Founder at Evergreen Profits, Matt Wolfe are also the hosts of the Hustle and Flowchart Podcast and authors of The Evergreen Traffic Playbook, hosts of the Hustle and Flowchart Podcast and Evergreen Wisdom: Daily Habits & Thoughts To Optimize Your Business & Life. Producing the best possible content was one of the inflection points for Evergreen Profits Content Creation & Development is the cornerstone of their growth strategy “It starts with content - that’s the inflection point" Attracting the right people to your content hasn’t changed a lot in the last 10 years in the online world. When Joe kickstarted his podcast, he went to his network and got it front of them How do you build up a network or seed your initial traffic? Places like Reddit, Facebook groups, Quora - get involved in a community, get involved in a bucket of an audience, interject or inject value with the content that you produce - and be consistent. You have to be consistently involved in the community. You have to build your own “credibility” in the community before you post your own content Go into the community and spend a few weeks JUST answering questions Just keep adding a ton of value and get the other people to start self-promoting for you Get to know the OWNER of the subreddit or the MODERATOR of the subreddit (same strategy Sol used) that’s the KEY Spend a minimal budget to kickstart a piece of content Reddit Ads Quora Ads Facebook Ads Google Ads The target goal of the ads = join our email list Email Opt-Ins for a new audience Run these $1/day ads targeting Brene Brown on FB and point them straight to the show notes page There’s no commitment on their part, and you’re selling them on the podcast Retargeting Warm approach “Exclusive notes on this Brene Brown interview - click here to get them absolutely free" Driven by FB retargeting after they’ve already visited your page Start low and work your way up as you see it working / frequency getting higher They will have a pool of 10 potential ads and they will assign a budget to the pool, and FB will pull the various ads - let FB’s algorithm do the work for you Repurpose episodes into something more visual for FB / Instagram / Ads They try to do the opposite of the “Launch” model Have a longer-term mindset and know that the content you’re putting out in the world will live there for a long long time Create amazing valuable content that will pass the test of time Always try to follow up, the money is made on the follow-up Don’t try to rush the sale, don’t be too pushy, lead with value Homework: Start an email list and create a good opt-in freebie + pair it up with a checklist or short opt-in guide Then set up retargeting + simple FB ad strategy to bring people back to what you’re doing. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Have you always wondered if the “Law of Attraction” is real? In this episode we dig into the science behind visualization, manifesting and much more to find out what really works and what doesn’t. We share strategies for access your intuition and aligning your emotions, your intuition and your rational thought process to supercharge your brain, show you how to beat imposter syndrome, and much more with our guest Dr. Tara Swart. Dr. Tara Swart is a neuroscientist and former psychiatric doctor. She is a senior lecturer at MIT Sloan and visiting senior lecturer at Kings College London, and an executive advisor to some of the world's most respected leaders in media and business. In 2016 she was named the world's first Neuroscientist-in-Residence at Corinthia Hotel, London. She is the author of the award-winning Neuroscience for Leadership, co-author of An Attitude for Acting, and lead author of her soon to be released third book, The Source. Can we merge science and spirituality? Is there science that actually explains the “law of attraction?" Because of the way that you think you attract certain things into your life. The concept of abundant thinking The mental model “loss aversion” and why losses are more painful than gains Mastering your emotions, cultivating intuition, they are all very similar to learning a new language Replace any negative thought with a positive thought immediately - an ancient Buddhist lesson that is supported by the neuroscience of neuroplasticity What should you do if you can’t dislodge a negative thought from your brain? If you have a repetitive negative thought or a theme to a negative narrative in your brain - distill it down to the basic underlying belief that drives that negative thought - create an opposite state and use that as your positive affirmation or mantra (check out limiting belief episodes for more) Use laughter and oxytocin to powerfully encode or recode beliefs How do you deal with imposter syndrome? Strategies for overcoming imposter syndrome Does visualization work? Visualization makes things more certain for the brain. How creating a vision board can powerfully improve your brain’s focus on your goals Value tagging and selective attention - by visualizing your future you start to prime the brain to focus on the things that you want to be important. “The Tetris Effect” - Do your visualization board as the last thing you do before you go to bed to prime and feed information into your subconscious. The period of time that you’re about to fall asleep is the period where your subconscious can be the MOST influenced. Visualization is an umbrella that three big things fall under Neuroplasticity is the ability to change your brain. What you think and how you live can actually change physical things in your body. Journaling is the “single best way” to access your intuition and align your emotions, your intuition and your rational thought process. You can avoid repeating the same mistakes if you start to tap into and access your intuition There’s a large neuronal connection between the gut neurons and the limbic system If you take a high-quality probiotic it can reduce negative thinking in your life There’s a deep connection between your gut and your brain Probiotics, prebiotics, and fermented foods can improve your brain, your happiness, and your performance Meta-cognition - thinking about your thinking. Stepping back and asking yourself if your thought processes are healthy and helpful. An awesome exercise you can use to improve your meta-cognition and reframe your thinking Homework: Create an action board. The structure of the board is important. Don’t use words - that go down the logical/rational pathway. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How did one of the greatest geniuses of all time lose his life savings overnight? Despite our illusions of rationality, even the most brilliant humans are not rational at all. We tell ourselves that it’s always the other person who is irrational, envious, and aggressive, and that it’s never us. But science shows that all of our brains are remarkably similar, sculpted by evolution to have baked in biases and bad habits. No one is exempted from the laws of human nature. In this episode we explore the path that all the world’s greatest strategists have used to master their own irrationality and achieve mastery with our legendary guest Robert Greene. Robert Greene is an author known for his books on strategy, power, and seduction. He has written six international bestsellers: The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The 33 Strategies of War, The 50th Law, Mastery, and The Laws of Human Nature. In addition to having a strong following within the business world and a deep following in Washington, DC, Greene’s books are hailed by everyone from war historians to the biggest musicians in the industry (including Jay-Z, Drake, and 50 Cent). How one of the greatest geniuses of all time lost his life savings overnight. Could it happen to you? Despite our illusions of rationality, humans are not rational at all - we are governed by our emotions. To be rational requires deep work and training. Many forces from evolution that are wired into our brains used to be adaptive, now they can be dangerous and even counter productive These primitive elemental forces form the cornerstones of human nature Are the emotions that you’re feeling actually from your life? Did they come from you or did they come from other people? We need to be independent, we need to think for ourselves, we need to gain control of our emotional responses. You can’t begin to be a rational strategist in life until you are aware of your own emotions It begins with humility. Turn your internal self absorption around. Rationality is being aware of your irrationality. Being aware of the emotions that govern your decisions. Step back. Cultivating the ability to step away, to pull out of tunnel vision, to see a bigger picture, is a cornerstone of rational thinking and strategic thinking. The brain operates by simplifying information - we often don’t have access to the SOURCE of our feelings and emotions. You need other people to do anything in life. Investing in the skill of influencing them is one of the most powerful things you can invest in. How LBJ was a master influencer and could melt away anyone’s defensiveness Respond to people as they ARE not as you want them to be Your natural tendency as you get older is for your mind to close up. Open, curious, having a mindset of discovery and openness is much more powerful than a deeply convicted rigid mindset. Having a rigid perspective is destroying your mind. A creative mind is incredibly flexible. That’s the quality of any truly great artist, entrepreneur, or political figure. It’s the path that ALL of the great strategists in life have followed. Do you want power, creativity, success, and influence? OPEN UP YOUR MIND. Homework: Use a journal or simply do a thought experiment in your own head - in the course of a day you will feel many different emotions - dig into those emotions and understand what is going on with yourself and your own emotions. Try to find one moment, one emotion, and think about the root cause, think about where that emotion comes from. Where does it REALLY come from? Question. Dig. Think before your act. Try to come up with one little nugget about yourself and why you feel that way and analyze it instead of giving into it. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to make the most important decisions in your life. Where should you spend your time? How do you evaluate different opportunities? Are you focused on creating wealth or income, and which is more important for you? Should you make a big change in your career or industry? We dig into all of these important questions and give you the tools to answer them with our guest the legendary Roland Frasier. Roland Frasier is a serial entrepreneur who has founded, scaled or sold dozens of different businesses.  He is currently CEO of the War Room Mastermind, where he advises over 150 major companies and principal in DigitalMarketer.com, among several other successful online companies. Roland has experienced business success in several industries including real estate, law, publishing, consulting, and many others. He has worked with major companies such as Microsoft, Infusionsoft, Etihad Airlines, Harper-Collins Publishing and Uber.The biggest business breakthroughs often come from applying unexpected places and cross applications The importance of creating models and frameworks for solving business problemsTake what you read and break it down into something that’s simple and useable How do you take what you’re reading and learning and turn it into something that is actually usable and applicable?The Long and The ShortThe dangers of being “cash poor” and “asset rich”Are you over-focused on income or wealth? Are you a dancing bear? Its so easy to get trapped into reinvesting 100% of your profits into growing your company How do you balance our time between short term income creation and long term wealth creation? Formula: Income Needs = Long Term Growth Desires + Lifestyle Costs + Cushion If you want yourself too far on one side or the other, it’s time to rebalance your focus a bitLife is so fragile - you have to balance living for today and living for tomorrowClassify your opportunities as either “wealth” opportunities or “income opportunities”You should be hustling, but you shouldn’t be hustling all the time.You have to stop and think.You have to stop and recover too.If you study some seriously successful and ultra driven people - they often achieve that success at the cost of their own personal and family lives If you want to really innovate, you have to take time to think.The world will demand 400% of your time. You have to limit the number of opportunities you take on. It’s easy to drown in opportunity. Once in a lifetime opportunities come around 3 or 4 times per year. PFM + Will it move the needle in terms of what you want to accomplish personally and financially? PeopleFunMoneySaying “not now” is not the same thing as saying no - it’s a great way to defer opportunitiesThe power and importance of asking for things Be inquisitive and child like in asking the things you are curious aboutThe “No harm in asking” RuleIn a business deal, if you don’t ask for what you want, it sure as well won’t be handed to you. The power of “inception” via the principle of Socratic Influencing - how you can get people to think that your ideas are theirs Lead people logically to the conclusion that you want them to arrive atThe absolutely magical power Should you “grow where you are planted?"The power and importance of developing your personal brand to help your business Homework: Determine what are you going to spend your time on? IDEA: Create a “Life Priority Matrix”  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss crazy research that can predict 94% of the time whether or not your relationship will be successful. We reveal why you should NEVER give someone unsolicited advice. We share the communication “Swiss army knife” that you can use to build rapport, influence anyone, and deepen the most important relationships in your life and much more with our guest Michael S. Sorenson. Michael S. Sorensen is an award-winning author, marketing executive, relationship coach, researcher, and personal development junkie. He is the author of the best-selling I Hear You: The Surprisingly Simple Skill Behind Extraordinary Relationships and the 3-Minute Morning Journal.Listen, seek to understand, and then validatePeople question if we understand how they are feelingReflective listening vs validationCrazy research that can predict 94% of the time whether or not your relationship will be successful.The 3 primary ways of respondingHappily married couples validate each other more than 87% of the time. Divorced couples validated each other only 33% of the time.The biggest takeaway from this interview - don’t give unsolicited advice! When you give people advice they get defensive, and then both parties get frustrated pretty quickly. In today’s societies we have serious difficultly processing and understanding our emotions. Most of the time what people want is NOT advice, they want help processing the difficult emotions that they are experiencing. Reframe: Ask yourself “So, what are you gonna do about it?"When you jump in and give advice, you miss out on an opportunity to show them respect and an opportunity for them to grow. Validation can help when someone is experiencing both negative and positive emotions. Validation is a tremendously powerful negotiation tool. When people feel heard and understood they are more likely to listen to you and understand you. Validation helps you break down defensiveness.What is validation?Invalidating responsesTo be an effective communicator you have to communicate to people the way they ARE, not the way you want them to be. We often invalidate OURSELVES too - saying “it’s fine” or “I shouldn’t feel this way”You can’t repress an emotion and get away with it - they come back stronger and stronger. Repressed emotions are the root of many negative behaviors. We repress ourselves both ways - positively and negatively. When we experience positive things we should validate ourselves.Why you should accept compliments instead of deflecting them. How do you validate and justify an emotion that you don’t agree with? Lessons from dealing with someone who has schizophrenia - and how you can validate emotions that you “disagree with” Justifying emotions - “it makes sense, given what you think, that you feel that way” 4 Steps of ValidationDo you ever feel like someone isn’t listening to you? Maybe you need to flip the script and ask if you’ve really been listening to THEM.“Given what you’ve said, I completely understand why you would feel that way."A lot of emotional problems are a result of parents or people close in our lives who invalidated our negative experiences. Dealing with your emotions is HARD. Your emotions are unruly. Imagine how scary your emotions are as an adult, children don’t have the tools to deal with their emotions.Homework: the next tough conversation you have, don’t give them your advice.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Are you feeling too distracted to pay attention? Does listening make your brain hurt? In a world full of noise and distraction - listening is the biggest leadership hack in today’s world. In this episode we crack the code on how to deeply listen, how to listen to what is unsaid, and the tons of specific hacks and tactics you can use to take your listening to the next level with our guest Oscar Trimboli.Oscar Trimboli is on a quest to create 100 million Deep Listeners in the world. He is an author, Host of the Apple Award winning podcast--Deep Listening and a sought-after keynote speaker. He consults for organizations including Cisco, Google, HSBC, and many others. He is the author of the best selling works Breakthroughs: How to confront assumptions and Deep Listening: Impact Beyond Words.If you can listen, you can change the worldThe mission of creating 100 million listeners If you can achieve your goal in your lifetime it’s not ambitious enoughWe are struggling as individuals and the world is struggling - we are distracted, we can’t focus, we are overwhelmed86% of people struggle with distraction todayWe spent the 20th-century learning how to speak, the leadership hack for the 21st century is learning how to listenThe more senior you are, the more you lead, the more time you spend listeningLess than 2% of people have been trained how to listenHow do you teach your kids how to listen? How do you teach your employees how to listen?We listen in 2 dimensions - we listen in black and white right now - but we can listen in more colors, and we can listen more deeply.Listen to someone on TV who you fiercely disagree with. What’s the difference between hearing vs listening? What assumptions and prejudices do you hold?How do you become aware of your listening blind spots?Spend 30 minutes listening to someone who you fiercely disagree with, and you will start to really understand your listening blind spots.We spend a huge chunk of our lives screaming to be noticed. Hearing = here sounds. Listening = make sense of what you hear. The difference between hearing and listening is the action you take. Deep listening is helping the person who is speaking make sense of what they’re saying Three key lessons from neuroscience about listeningWe can listen so much faster than we can speak, it creates a massive opportunity for us to get distractedYou must be an “empty vessel” to focus on someone else and actually listen to them 3 Quick tips to center yourself in a conversationBefore you even think about listening to the speaker, you have to be ready to listen. When somebody says something, treat silence at the end of what they say like it’s another word. 3 Phrases to continue any conversationIn our rush to fill the silence, we miss out on quite a lot. When you use phrases like “tell me more” you give someone the opportunity to align their thoughts more clearly, think through the idea, and figure out the most important themes and ideas to shine through in the conversation. How many breakthroughs are you missing in your organization just because you’re not listening? 5 Levels of Listening“You’ve heard something in 25 minutes that we couldn’t hear in 3 months"A powerful question that can solve insurmountable business problems: Who are you not listening to right now?Sometimes the people you really need to listen to aren’t in the room. The only way to get someone to see the gap between where they are today and where they want to be tomorrow is by ASKING THEM A QUESTION, not by telling them. The magic happens when you put your attention on other people instead of just putting it on yourself.If the question if about YOU and YOUR understanding, it’s not as powerful as a question helping THEM improve THEIR understanding. Homework: Listen to something you deeply disagree with for 30 minutes.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview we discuss how to finally break through what’s holding you back, take action, and create lasting habit and behavior change. Less than 30% of people succeed in changing their behavior without using the tools and strategies we share in this interview.  Uncover the neuroscience of how your brain gets stuck and finally start using strategies that really work to create more breakthroughs and results in your life with Dr. David Rock. Dr. David Rock coined the term 'NeuroLeadership' and is the director of the NeuroLeadership Institute. He co-edits the NeuroLeadership Journal and heads up an annual global summit. He is the author of the best-selling 'Your Brain at Work',  'Quiet Leadership',  and the textbook 'Coaching with the Brain in Mind'. He has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Fortune Magazine, PsychologyToday and many more publications.The brain gets stuck very easily. What happens when we get stuck?Its really hard for our brains to break out of their preexisting molds and patterns of thinking Even breaking out of the smallest mental “schemas” can be very difficult The mechanics of how we get trapped in mental schemas - your subconscious does most of the processing and heavy liftingChanging your thinking patterns is as hard as changing traffic flow on the freeway The unconscious brain is trillions of times more powerful than the conscious brain“Language gives you the ability to alter your experience."The more language you have for your own brain the more you can notice what is going on. Language connects the prefrontal cortex to the rest of the brain. How do you generate more creative insights?If you can even get one day a week of spending your mornings doing contemplative routine, your creative output will explode. After exercise or a nap, or after something fun and restful - when you have energy, when you have the urge to write or create - pay attention to those phenomena and try to tap into them when you get a chance. How do you do a better job paying attention to your mental state and your thoughts?There is ENORMOUS value in learning socially and learning with other people. “Hundreds of percentage” bump in the likelihood of real change.The number one reason that people change is because other people change. This comes from hard scientific data, it’s not theoretical.The default mode network is pretty much always on - and it focuses socially and thinks about how you fit in socially. Social factors are a huge motivation driver - social rewards and social threats are huge drivers of human behavior. The strongest carrots and sticks are SOCIAL. The “SCARF” Model for understanding human behavior, threat response, and how people behave.The brain classifies everything into either danger or opportunity, but it’s a continuum not binary.Managing your “threat state” is one of the most important things you can do. “Help people think better, don’t tell them what to do"Coaching is helping people have their own insights. Conversations, where you help anyone have an insight, is far more likely to create change. Advice is almost always MUCH more about the giver than about what you actually need. How do you actually turn your insights into action?Harness the positive social pressures of learning with other people. The social pressure of learning something together, in little bites, at a time. It helps constantly remind you of the importance of those learning and insights. How do we create organizational change at any scale?Most organizations are pretty good at making priorities, OK on systems, and terrible at the habits. 30% of change initiatives succeed because they ignore habits and human psychology HOMEWORK: Start building language, one habit at a time, find something you’re curious about or want to work on around improving your brain, and learn socially with others.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview, we discuss why “creativity is the new literacy” and how you can unlock your own creative genius to create the life you want to live. Most people are completely wrong about what they think creativity is and how to be more creative. We dispel the myths about creative work and show you how to build your creative muscle so that you can create breakthroughs, find your calling, and live your dream life with our guest Chase Jarvis.Chase Jarvis is a photographer, director, and social artist. He is the CEO of CreativeLive and works with major brands like Nike, Pepsi, and more. His personal and fine artwork has caught the attention of everyone from mainstream audiences to art critics across the globe. He is the author of the popular books Seattle 100, The Best Camera Is The One That's With You, and the soon to be released Creative Calling.Why “Creativity is the new literacy” and what that means for your career and life The transition between the Renaissance and the Dark Ages Creativity is everything. Creativity is not just art. It’s not just painting. Creativity is the driving factor behind being successful today. What is creativity? Putting two things together to form something new and useful. Fundamental lessons of creativityYou have agency over creating your own life. Humans are naturally creative machines.Creativity is the #1 most sought after characteristic of world-class CEOsCreativity is a superpower and it’s something that we all possess. Creativity is such an important skill set - in today’s world there’s so much noise, so much new information - stepping back and applying creativity is more important than ever The more that you study people who have become successful, the more you realize that you can’t follow the traditional narrative of business schoolThe school system has failed us - it’s a modern-day factory that hurts creativity. 4 Step Process To Live Your Dream LifeFind your calling, find your path, and make your life effortless Once you become creative, you start seeing creative opportunities everywhere - you can’t unsee them. Never tell yourself “I’m not creative” - everyone has the ability to be creative“Creativity is an infinite resource, the more you use the more you get” - Maya Angelou "Shitty first drafts” are the path towards creativityThere’s so much untapped reactivity in the world, so much untapped potential - you have to realize your own untapped potential and unleash it. To uncover your calling, start pulling threads - it’s not a direct journey, it’s an indirect adventureBecome creative is about a mindset shift - and it’s a shift you’re capable of making right now Don’t be the next "so and so” be the first YOU!Entrepreneurship is alchemy, part science part art Science, productivity, achievement etc - they all boil down to developing the skillset of creativityYour brain evolved to keep you alive, NOT to keep you happy! Your mind short circuits into fear in situations where it shouldn’t Homework: Find something that you can make a habit for 10 days that would meet your own definition of creativity, and do it! Homework: Think of more things in your life as CREATIVE ACTS"Make art, and while everyone else is judging your art, make more." -Andy WarholSuccess is not a map. It’s a compass. You have to walk that direction, navigate the obstacles, and figure it out along the way. Just start.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss how our traditional education system has given us the wrong perspectives on how learning actually works. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of looking for and waiting for the perfect step by step formula, but it’s actually the ability to flexibly experiment that empowers you to be successful in learning, and really anything. We share exactly how you can apply these lessons and much more with our guest Scott Young. Scott Young is a writer and programmer who has undertaken many incredibly challenging self-education projects in his career. These challenges include feats such as attempting to learn MIT's four-year computer science curriculum in twelve months as well as learning four languages in one year. He is the author of the best-selling book Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition and Accelerate Your Career and his work has been featured in The New York Times, Business Insider, TEDx, and more!Attempting to learn MIT's four-year computer science curriculum in twelve monthsOur expectations around learning are often wrong - and we frequently go about learning the wrong wayHow you can learn any language in less than 3 months How you can harness the power of immersive practice to rapidly accelerate your learningOur traditional education system has given us the wrong perspectives on how learning actually works Practice directly, get feedback, get your hands dirty Self-directed learning is super important - what you want to learn, how you want to learn, and what resources you want to use. It needs to be self-directed.Ultralearning also needs to be focused around efficiency - collecting and learning information as quickly as possible. The powerful concept of “meta-learning” - learning about learning. Before you start ANY learning activity, you want to do some research on what the BEST way to learn is Ultra learning is not a short cut to find a way so you don’t have to do the work but rather prevents you from going down dead ends. If you want to get good at something, you need to do the thing you want to get good at. If you want to know something, ask yourself WHERE and HOW will I use this knowledge?Human beings are really bad at “transfer” - transferring knowledge to new and different contextsThe important difference between “free recall” and “repeated review” when studying information Desirable difficulty in learning. Often the more difficult it is to learn, retrieve or remember somethingThe importance of experimentation. You often want a step by step formula, but those often do not exist. As soon as the formula becomes popular it gets copied to death. The ability to flexibly experiment is a huge skillset towards being successful in learning, and really anything.Start building a toolkit of software tools and mental models to improve your learning and thinking Cultivate a lifelong philosophy of learning new things and adding new thinking tools The greatest moments in your life aren’t because you get a reward, they’re because you experience something that expands your sense of what’s possible How you can use the Feynman Technique to improve your ability to think better and understand complex or confusing topics.How you can debug your own understanding and solve any problem using this powerful technique from a legendary scientist Homework: Think about something you’re learning right now (or trying to learn) think very clearly about the situations where you would use that knowledge or apply that skill. Ask, what kind of situations would this knowledge come up and be relevant? If you read a book, you have to actually IMPLEMENT the IDEAS that you learn from it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss powerful thinking tools and strategies you can use to break through tough problems and give yourself confidence and clarity when you’re dealing with uncertain situations. We share the breakthrough strategy that was used to invent astrophysics, explore how you can make tough life and career choices, and show you how you can use quick experiments to test, learn, and get results quickly. We share all of this and much more in with our guest David Epstein. David Epstein is the author of Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World, and of the New York Times bestseller The Sports Gene. He has master's degrees in environmental science and journalism and has worked as an investigative reporter for ProPublica  and as a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, writing some of their most high-profile investigative stories.We don’t teach the skill of actually THINKING in today’s world. There’s a HUGE advantage in connecting ideas and learning how to think broadly, especially as people specialize more. The more and more people specialize the more powerful range and broad thinking becomes. For much of the 20th century most of progress was driven by specialization, but beginning in the 1980s, most breakthroughs started coming from multidisciplinary combinations and breadth, not depth. The “cult of the head start” - the drive to specialize as narrowly and as early as possible. What can we learn from the story of Tiger Woods? Traditional chess is an activity where early specialization is really important. Moraveck’s paradox - humans and machines have opposite strengths and weaknesses.In freestyle chess, you outsource the pattern study to the computer, and you focus on the higher level strategy - it becomes a completely different game. That’s what has happened to success in today’s world.“A broader set of integrative skills” is where humans can add the most value. How “wicked learning environments” like business, investing, medicine, and human interaction are much trickier to navigate, and what that means for how you learn and improve Learning and improvement in “kind domains” vs “wicked domains” Using “Fermi Problems” to navigate tough situations and learning environmentsThe Importance of “broadly applicable reasoning tools” over highly specific knowledge Analogies are one of the most important tools for creative problem solvingSuccessful problem solvers are more able to determine the deep structure of a problem before they proceed to match a strategy to it.“Switchers are winners” - why changing your job or changing what you study can end up being a huge win for you. The economics concept of “match quality” and how it can impact the direction of your lifeWho wins the tradeoff between early and late specializers? Grit is great, but strategic quitting can be a great thing. Even the researcher of Grit, Angela Duckworth, supports changing directions. Which among my various possible selves should I start to explore now? How can I do that?Taking a beginning fiction writing class helped David become a better nonfiction writer. How you can use the Japanese concept of “Bansho” to improve your thinking and become a more effective learner “Making connections” knowledge  vs “Using procedures” knowledge. Drawing broad and deep connections instead of learning routines. The power of using “Interleaving” as a learning method. Forcing learners into "conceptual thinking" improves deep and longer lasting learning. Homework: Create a “book of small experiments” and start testing the things you might want to do or learn. Do something new once a quarter. Create a hypothesis of why you want to explore that interest and test the hypothesis. Homework: Whenever you’re thinking about a project you’re going to take on, you will make predictions about how that project will go, use the ‘outside view’ instead of the ‘inside view.’ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss what creates great performance at work. Uncover how you can do better work in fewer hours. Get rid of wasted meetings with hacks you can use to make your meetings radically more productive, finally remove the things that are distracting you, learn the recipe you need to say no to your boss the right way, and focus on the biggest things that will create the most value in your work. We share all of these lessons and much more with our guest Dr. Morten Hansen. Dr. Morten Hansen is a management professor at the UC, Berkeley and a faculty member at Apple University. His academic research has won several prestigious awards and he is ranked as one of the world’s most influential management thinkers by Thinkers50. He was also a manager at the Boston Consulting Group, where he advised corporate clients worldwide. He is the author of the best sellingGreat at Work, Great by Choice, and Collaboration.Study of 5000 people, how they work, and their performance. The biggest conclusion… most people work the WRONG way. Most people think working MORE is better. The VERY TOP PERFORMERS across PROFESSIONS and INDUSTRIES and AGE GROUPS tend to be those who are really really good at picking the most important priorities, engaging extreme focus, and going all-in on the few things that matter the most. Productivity is going down in today’s world, it’s not going up. You have to work hard, but after about 50 hours of work, there are massively diminished returns, and a sharp spike in marginal productivity, beyond 65 hrs per week you start performing less well than someone working 40 hours per week. It’s not about cramming more hours into your week, it’s about focusing those hours on the RIGHT THINGS and prioritizing appropriately. Evidence-based insights into what it means to be a top performer at work. “What creates great performance at work?"Focus is often misunderstood. “Do less, then obsess."Focus in the workplace means FEWER TASKS and FEWER PRIORITIES. Many people are not good at saying no“One of the greatest professional skills required to be successful today is the ability to say no."If you don’t say no, then you start doing mediocre work. What do you do when your boss fires back “all your projects are important?"How do you think about focus in the context of “portfolio” opportunities? (Investors, real estate agents, and so forth). If the execution of each one of those things depends on YOUR effort, then you should be FOCUSING on that. Whether or not it hinges on your specific effort, that is the key question. Whenever the execution is reliant on you, you have to FOCUS DEEPLY and execute. What’s the difference between passion and purpose?People who have more passion and purpose don’t work more hours, but they get more out of EACH hour they work. How do you find passion and purpose in your work every day?KEY TACTIC: What are the 3 most valuable things I can do at my job?Most people spend less than 40% of their time on their top 3 priorities. How do you change and remove things from your calendar that are distracting you?Routine busywork prevents you from taking the time to actually implement these kinds of contemplative routines.Are you tired of wasting your time daily in ineffective meetings?Hacks for radically improving the productivity of your meetings:Homework: Do Less, then Obsess. Review your calendar for the next 2 weeks and cut out one or two things. Say no to something or don’t accept the invitation. Free up your time and then dedicate it on the most important thing you need to get done.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we explore the mind-bending science of genetic engineering and why it’s going to change everything in our lives, whether we want it to or not. We share crazy stories and examples from the cutting edge of science, look at shocking examples around the world of what is going on with human genetic science and explore the science of immortality with a few simple life hacks can you implement right now to extend your life and help you live past 100, with our guest Jamie Metzl.   Jamie Metzl is a Senior Fellow of the Atlantic Council. In February 2019, he was appointed to the World Health Organization expert advisory committee on developing global standards for the governance and oversight of human genome editing. He is the author of five books, including the non-fiction work, Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity. Jamie previously served in the U.S. National Security Council, State Department, Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as a Human Rights Officer for the United Nations in Cambodia. The future is already here, it’s just not evenly distributed yetOpen your eyes a little bit wider and see the radical technological developments that will fundamentally transform your life are on the short term horizonGenetic technologies are, in very short order, going to fundamentally transform our societiesThe genetics revolution is inevitable and it’s already here. Countries like China are already massively pushing the limits on genetic science, well beyond what we may even feel comfortable with in the US todayChina is extremely wealthy, extremely powerful, and has a “Wild West” culture around genetic engineering, designer babies, and human genome editing“The Arms Race of the Human Race” - what happens in a world where the US restricts or prevents genetic engineering but another country, for example, China, substantially embraces them?Slippery slope and how this radically starts to change our world pretty incredibly - most people would probably want to know if their child had a higher risk of a certain disease, so they could prevent it… what happens when we make that shift from a child to a human embryo?“The End of Sex” - “Old Fashioned Sex” will soon be viewed as reckless and dangerous.“Would you play Russian roulette with your child’s future health by NOT affirmatively selecting health?"Would you wish polio on a child because it’s natural? What about a genetic disease that could be prevented?It’s not a question of wonderful nature vs scary science. Nature is pretty scary. People die of horrible genetic disorders today.Why Jamie considers anti-vaccine “monstrous""In vitro gametogenesis” - what happens if you could make 100,000 potential embryos and pick the healthiest ones?What is a synthetic womb and why is it something that is so crazy it might make total sense in 30-50 years?Why Jamie’s goal is to live to 150, and what he’s doing to get there. Simple life hacks can you implement to extend your life as much as possible?Do everything that people who live in the blue zones are doing.Homework: Get yourself educated on genetic science. Homework: If you’re planning on having children, freeze your eggs and freeze your sperm today. Freeze them when you’re twenty. It gives you the option of using healthy and vibrant genetic material in the future. Homework: For longevity: Exercise 45 minutes a day. Eat healthy food. Homework: Do your own homework and empower yourself about precision medicine. Medical knowledge is decentralizing. You are the primary agent of change in your life.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we talk about one of the MOST important skills in the modern world - the ability to be inDISTRACTable. Are you sick and tired of distraction? Do you feel constantly overwhelmed in a world of notifications, demands, messages, and more and more information flying at you? In this episode we discuss exactly how you can battle back from distraction, control your attention and choose the life you want using the power of being “indistractable” with our guest Nir Eyal.Nir Eyal is an expert in “behavioral design” having worked in both advertising and video gaming helping companies build and create more engaging products. Nir is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the book Hooked: How To Build Habit Forming Products and has been featured in Forbes, Psychology Today, and more. Nir is an active angel investor and currently writes to help companies create good habit and behaviors in their users on his blog NirandFar.com.How do we deal with distraction in today’s world?Why don’t we do what we say we’re going to do? Why do we do the things we know we shouldn’t do?What is “akrasia” and how did the greek philosophers deal with the challenge of distraction?Many of the “folk psychology” remedies to distraction don’t actually workMost likely you know what you want to do. It’s also equally important to avoid the things you don’t want to do. How do you become “indistractable"? It’s about CONSISTENCY over INTENSITY to achieve anything. What gets in the way of consistency moves you away from your goals. If you don’t focus on the CORE reason you’re getting distracted you won’t solve the issue. What is the job of a knowledge worker?What is the output of knowledge work? Problem solving. Coming up with novel solutions to hard problems. "The psychology of distraction”The opposite of distraction is NOT focus, the opposite of distraction is TRACTION. And both words end in ACTION. EXTERNAL TRIGGERS are NOT the DISTRACTIONEverything we do is about the avoidance of discomfort. In psychology, this is called the “homeostatic response."To begin, we have to master our internal triggers. One of the most common distractions in the workplace are OTHER WORKERSDistraction is the third leading cause of death in the United States! How nurses at UCSF made a simple yet earth-shattering change that saved thousands of lives by removing external distractions, reducing prescription mistakes by 88%!!What can you as a knowledge worker do to prevent being distracted during deep work?Mindfulness and meditation is fantastic when you can’t get rid of the internal triggers. The first question you should ask yourself before you meditate is can you change the SOURCE, can you FIX the problem? Self-compassion is a cornerstone of achievement and an essential component "You can’t call something a distraction unless you know what it distracted you from."The myth of the todo list. The magic to do list fairy doesn’t exist. Your to dos are your OUTPUTS not your inputs. They have nothing to do with your inputs. You can only control and schedule the INPUTS. That’s what you need to focus on. Schedule everything you want to spend time on, good, bad, fun etc - and when you’re NOT doing that, you’re being distracted. Homework: Know what you WANT TO DO with your TIME. Homework: Realize you have power, control, and agency to put distraction in its place in your life.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you know what you should do but you don’t do it? In this episode, we dig into the science behind WHY this happens and HOW exactly you can overcome this massive obstacle. No one’s ever actually stuck, but the reason you FEEL stuck is that what you want, your goals, desires, change you want in your life, etc, are bumping up against an emotional roadblock or subconscious belief. It’s like having one foot on the gas while the other slams down the breaks. In this interview with Dr. Sasha Heinz, we share what you can do to finally overcome that fear and anxiety and transform your life.  Dr. Sasha Heinz is a developmental psychologist and life coach, is an expert in positive psychology, lasting behavioral change, and the science of getting unstuck. She received her BA from Harvard, her Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Columbia, and her master’s in applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania, where she also served as a faculty member.Education is good. Application is better. Transformation is best.Focus on mitigating mental disorders vs focusing on happiness and mental health“The neurotic paradox"Focusing your life around “optimal human functioning”If you aren’t doing something, you aren’t going to see different results. Do you ever know what you SHOULD do, and yet you don’t do it? “The biography of your beliefs” shapes how you think, perceive, and ultimately act in the world. Your emotional brain is much more powerful than your logical brainNo one’s ever actually stuck, but the reason you FEEL stuck is that what you want (your desire, change, etc) is bumping up against an emotional roadblock or subconscious belief (often from your childhood). Are you actively directing and engaging the direction and amplitude of change in your life?If you want to know WHY you’re not moving forward, pay attention to what you’re feelingYour thoughts are totally optional. You have the autonomy to decide what you want to believe about yourself.You have to work at both ends of the psychological spectrum simultaneously - healing wounds and trauma, and focusing on optimal human functioningDo a deep inventory of your current belief systems. What were you taught about yourself? What were you taught about your potential? What did you believe about your health, competence, intelligence, lovability, etc as a child? Conduct a “belief blueprint” of yourself. You have one foot on the gas, that’s your neocortex, and you have one foot on the brake, that’s your emotional cortex saying “that’s way too scary."Often a coach or a psychologist can help you uncover those beliefs and figure out what is making your emotional brain freak out?When you’re doing something you don’t want to do… pause and reflect.. and ask yourself “WHY AM I DOING THIS BEHAVIOR?"The action that comes out of negative emotion is very narrow.Sometimes personal development work is hysterical because the human brain is so irrational You can rationalize anything.. Rational Lies.Managing your mind is the currency of the next generation because our world today requires it to be successful. Become more fluent in your own emotions and experience them. Don’t resist your emotions, just allow them to happen, feel them, and observe them. They last about 90 seconds. Growth and development require uncomfortable emotions. Homework: Make a list of all the things you do to avoid feeling your feelings. Homework: Make a list of the things you do that seem completely bonkers and seem completely contradictory to your goals and desires. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you feel like you don’t have enough time and you’re constantly in a state of reacting to external stimulus? How do you conduct a powerful monthly review that will unlock opportunities for growth, focus, and improvement? In this episode, we go deep into stacking powerful mental models, harnessing best practices, and optimizing your life with our guest Sebastian Marshall. Sebastian Marshall is an author, entrepreneur, and founder of Ultraworking.com. His blog SebastianMarshall.com has been read by over half a million people from a wide range of industries and walks of life. At Ultraworking, Sebastian helps those who are already tremendously productive take even greater leaps and get more done in record timeHow do you take things apart and learn what makes them tick?What stops people from applying ideas and techniques that they know, understand, and would help them?How do you learn about any topic that is interesting to you?How do you follow the ancient wisdom of “know thyself"The problem of losing weight is not a problem of lack of information - it’s a problem of something else stopping you - this can be applied to anythingThis idea of how to think, how to make decisions - if you want to lose weight - people spend 99% of their time trying to get the perfect bit of information and the perfect strategy, if you just took something that was “Good enough” - you could get 90% of the way there with extremely simple tactics - but I the big barrier to that is that people often don’t know how to THINKWhen you’re trying to create ANY result - you have to begin with studying some of the best practicesWhen you’re trying to learn, beginners want basic rules to follow Very advanced people tend to operate on heuristics instead of rigid rules What are mental models and why are they important? The 3 question weekly review that will revolutionize your time and priorities.Starting with big, aspirational goals can actually be dangerous or problematic If you want to take on any big goal and succeed, you have to start with an analysis of where you are and what’s working. How do you conduct a powerful monthly review that will unlock opportunities for growth, focus, and improvement?Do you feel like you don’t have enough time and you’re constantly in a state of reacting to external stimulus? How do you apply the idea of compounding your own personal development? If there’s a lot of junk in your life, you don’t have space for the good and important things in your life Cut the junk, set a baseline of contemplative routines, and start stacking them up If you stack enough best practices and mental models together, suddenly you start to build rockets. It’s not about being a super disciplined person - it's about creating the conditions that enable you to be successful. A lot of people break down the first time they have a failure, design your protocols and habits to have failure baked into it. Sebastian targets a 70% success rate for his daily habits. The ideal Olympic athlete doesn’t give 110%. Most people only give 40-60% of what they’re capable of, even when they think they are trying hard. Athletes should train at 80% of maximum ability.Why you should establish a “fire break” to clean your mental slate periodically. Homework: If you don’t have a structured introspection time or contemplative routine. Pick a time and do one. Create a calendar appointment to do this.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to train yourself to think and act like a spy, with lessons from a real world expert. In the game of spycraft, the stakes couldn’t be higher and one mistake may land you dead or in a foreign prison. In that deadly crucible, only the best ideas survive. We crack open the secrets you can use to influence, develop relationships, and create a bridge with anyone you meet with the die hard rules from the world’s top secret agents with our guest Jason R. Hanson. Jason R. Hanson is a former CIA Officer, New York Times bestselling author and serial entrepreneur. He is the founder and CEO of the survival company, Spy Escape & Evasion which was featured in the 5th season of Shark Tank landing a deal with Daymond John. He is the author of Spy Secrets That Can Save Your Life, Survive Like a Spy, and coming soon Agent of Influence: How to Use Spy Skills to Persuade Anyone, Sell Anything, and Build a Successful Business.If you’re a spy, the stakes are high - if you screw up you may end up dead or in a foreign prisonWhen you’re a spy you’re often alone and you have to figure things out for yourself. Resourcefulness is an essential skill for survival as a spy. How spies “throw people to the wolves” to see how resourceful they truly areHow spies use resourcefulness, creativity and problem solving to always find a way to win“Never give up, never take no for an answer, there’s always a way to figure it out."Empathy and emotional intelligence are two cornerstones of the spies toolkit - you can’t be fake. In the CIA - you HAD TO PUT IN THE WORK because if you made a mistake, you might end up dead. Spies have really truly battle-tested their concepts in a brutally unforgiving proving ground “Treason is not an easy product to sell” - how do you sell someone on betraying their country?If you want to influence an “asset” - you have to research the “hot button” that is important to them - figure out what matters and frame everything in terms of their top prioritiesThe “SADR” Cycle Spies use to Recruit and develop assetsHow do you quickly identify people who can help you succeed?How to generate a warm introduction or referral from anyoneThe “Art of Elicitation” - how to question and read people like a spy The “hourglass conversation technique” Flattery works. Period. But you have to be GENUINE about it. And do it in a sincere way.“Die hard rules” for creating a bridge with someone The Law of Reciprocity is HUGE in the spy game. In today’s world its a huge strategic advantage to spend your time LISTENING instead of TALKING. Recruiting - if you’re not 100% sure the deal is gonna close, don’t go for the sale - do more work on developing the relationship first How do you transfer or terminate a previously important relationship?Spy skills are just “Enhanced Common Sense” - how do you leverage the basic common sense to improve your effectiveness in communication“Extreme preparation” is the difference between players and people who won’t be that successful. To be a successful spy you must always be VERY teachable  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sign Up For Unlimited Confidence Secrets for FREE here - https://aziz34e14e.clickfunnels.com/webinar-registration-2 Dr. Aziz Gazipura is a clinical psychologist and founder of The Center for Social Confidence, which is dedicated to helping others break through their shyness and social anxiety. He is the author of the #1 Amazon best-seller Not Nice: Stop People-Pleasing, Staying Silent, & Feeling Guilty... And Start Speaking Up, Saying No, Asking Boldly, And Unapologetically Being Yourself. Aziz’s work has helped thousands of people through workshops, coaching, media appearances, and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss information overload. How do you deal with a world where there is a constant and overwhelming stream of noise. How do you filter and decide what to pay attention to? How can you determine what’s worth your precious time and attention? What should you do with information that you disagree with? In a world full of more and more information, this interview with Dr. Thomas Hills explores the solution that will help you finally deal with information overload.  Dr. Thomas Hills is a professor of Psychology at the University of Warwick. His research involves using algorithmic approaches to understanding the human condition through language, wellbeing, memory, and decision making. He is a current fellow of the Alan Turing Institute and the Director of the Bridges-Leverhulme Doctoral Training Centre. He also, co-directs Warwick's Global Research Priority in Behavioural Science and his works have been published in numerous academic journals.What is Information Overload?This is a phenomenon that has crept into our lives and yet it’s gone largely unnoticed - we’ve had to outsource the information filtering in some way There’s so much information that we have to outsource the filtering process in some way - either to other people, experts, thought leaders, or algorithms Dr. Hill’s research began from studying how we make tough choices across hugely complex fields, beginning with things like how children learn language The question we have to ask ourselves - what’s the best way to go about dealing with something like information overload? Whether we are looking at religion or even something as simple as the food you eat - you have the same problemPeople only look for information that supports their existing beliefs and that is “incredibly dangerous.” We only know the language/vocabulary of our past experiences - and that’s what we begin with to filter out our understanding of the world People tend to have very similar reactions to similar situations - learn from the experiences of similar people You must look for people who have done or experienced what you want to understand and learn from them - case studies and base ratesIt’s essential to seek out the beliefs and ideas from those you disagree with There is an infinite amount of information around you - your brain can’t process all of it and is forced to filter out certain experiences and events What is an attentional bottleneck? How does it shape our understanding of reality?What is negativity bias? How does the innate, evolutionary bias baked into our brain cause us to focus on things that are negative It’s really important to ask yourself - WHAT AM I BIASED ABOUT?If you’re not getting outside of your box, your safety zone, you’re getting dumber. By exposing yourself to other people’s criticism you get smarter You have to be willing to be wrong about something to get more right about itAsk yourself - how might I be wrong? Why might I be wrong? Try to harness the wisdom of the crowd in your own head Homework: If you know ahead of time what it is you want out of your relationship with reality and what it takes to get there. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to beat FOMO - the Fear of Missing Out. How do you overcome the emotional barriers and fears of missing out and saying no to things? How do you get over the awful feeling of turning down opportunities? We share simple actionable strategies for you to say yes to yourself and for you to say yes to what’s really important and actually matters in your life. We share a great strategy you can use to make a huge difference in your life in two minutes or less and we dig into the important concept that in a world drunk on speed, slowness is a superpower - all that much more with our guest Carl Honore. Carl Honore is a bestselling author, broadcaster and the creator of the Slow Movement. His TED talk on the benefits of slowing down has been viewed 2.6 million times. Carl has spoken all over the world to audiences ranging from business leaders and entrepreneurs to teachers, academics and medical practitioners. He is the author of In Praise of Slow, Under Pressure, The Slow Fix, and most recently Bolder. His books have been translated into 35 languages and been on the bestseller’s list of as many countries.The world is speeding up and speeding up - how do we deal with the constantly accelerating pace of change and the rush for speed?“Forget frantic acceleration, mastering the clock of business means choosing when to be fast, and when to be slow."Do you suffer from FOMO? Are you like a hamster on a wheel trying to do, learn, experience and achieve as much as possible as quickly as possible? By becoming a hamster on a wheel you end up missing EVERYTHING and getting NOTHING and skimming the surface of life. “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say no to almost everything.” - Warren Buffet "You can have anything you want but you can’t have everything” - Ray Dalio How do you get over the emotional barriers and fears of missing out and saying no to things?Take one thing off your to-do list each day and put that item on your “not to do” listBy saying NO, you say YES to something much more important - your really important priorities and goals The most creative minds, the people who’ve gotten the most done throughout history are the people who understand the power of MOMENTS OF QUIET. You will be more engaged, more switched on, more effective when you are in fast mode when you take the time to have moments of quiet. Sometimes you can get things done more quickly when you slow down.Multi-tasking is nonsense, the human mind cannot multitask. A “fast” multi-tasker will take twice as long and make twice as many mistakes as a slow “mono tasker"When you move too fast everything becomes a blur and nothing remains with you. It harms your memory. There’s an intimate bond between memory and slowness. There is no such thing as a quick fix. Slow fixes actually work. When a quick fix blows up later on, sometimes we're forced to spend the time and money to get it right the second time. Invest that time and money now on a real solution.What does it mean to be aging in a world that is obsessed with youth?We are in the “golden age of aging” - there’s never been a better time in human history to be agingHomework: Do less. Look at your todo list and start cutting things out of it. Drop one thing a day and let more oxygen into your schedule. Homework: Create time where you aren’t reachable and can unplug from gadgets. Turn your smartphone into a tool instead of a weapon of mass distraction. Homework: Integrate some kind of slow practice into your day. Meditate, cook, go for a walk. Anything that can inoculate you against the virus of hurry.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss cutting edge brain hacks that sound like they are straight out of science fiction. Is it possible to use technology to rapidly change the structure of your brain? How does your brain actually learn? What is neuroplasticity and why is it so important? What are the key things you can do in your life to improve your brain health, memory and performance? We discuss all of this, along with a truly innovative technology that may be the key to unlocking super performance and massively accelerating your learning with our guest Dr. Daniel Chao. Dr. Daniel Chao is a neurotech entrepreneur, specializing in devices that improve brain performance. He is the co-founder and CEO of Halo Neuroscience. The company’s first product, Halo Sport, is the first neurostimulation system built specifically for athletes. Before Halo, Dr. Chao was the head of business development at NeuroPace, and a consultant at McKinsey & Company.Your brain is a living computer chip that can create new circuits on demandYour brain is “plastic” The Nobel prize in the year 2000 went to the scientists who discovered neuroplasticity and the mechanisms behind itNeuroplasticity is the process by which the brain learnsWhat actually happens in the brain when you are learning a new skill?What happens to the brain and your neural connections when you learn a new skill?Focused, repetitive, deliberate practice starts to build thicker and thicker and faster and faster neural connections Repetition is the foundation of practice - you’re literally building physical connections in your brain that get stronger and stronger, the more you repeat that practice The first time you learn something it’s like hacking a path through the jungle with a machete, then it’s like hiking through tough brush, then it’s a dirt road, then it becomes a paved road, then ultimately a highway and a superhighway “Myleanation”- the cabling inside the brain The brain is a plastic organ and it adapts to your needs Repeated practice, learning, and thoughts literally change the physical structure of your brain The brain is literally built on the principle of “use it or lose it” - if you aren’t using your brain, those parts atrophy and shrink What are some strategies we can implement to optimize our brain and improve our brain health?Sleep is one of the most important and obvious strategies for optimizing and improving brain health. Your day is “unequal”- you have better executive function in the first part of the day. Prioritize the most difficult and most important work in the early part of the day because you will be at a cognitive peak. How can we take advantage of emerging brain science to “hack” the brain or “hack” learning? What if you put electrodes into your brain to stimulate learning and memory?Starting in our late teens, our ability to learn stats to decline - can we use cutting edge science to reverse that?If you use electrical stimulation on your brain - it opens up about an hour of “hyper plasticity”- a super learning window Slapping a “motor cortex neurostimulator” onto your brain - can be for any physical activity, playing violin, shooting a gun, playing video games, performing surgery etc What happens to the additional “lift” in learning you get from neurostimulation? How “durable” is that learning?The safety data for neurostimulation is incredibly robust- over 250,000 neurostimulation sessions its incredibly safe, there are over 4000 scientific articles about the safety of neurostimulation Homework: Sleep, exercise is GREAT for brain health. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we welcome legendary researcher Dr Brené Brown to the Science of Success. We discuss vulnerability and learn that vulnerability is not weakness, it’s not oversharing, it’s not soft. We learn that even brave and courageous people are scared all the time. We discuss the incredible power of learning to get back up when you’re down, how you can stop caring about what other people think about you, and much more in this in depth interview. Dr Brené Brown is a research professor at the University of Houston where she holds the Huffington Foundation – Brené Brown Endowed Chair at The Graduate College of Social Work. She is the author of five #1 New York Times bestsellers: The Gifts of Imperfection, Daring Greatly, Rising Strong, Braving the Wilderness, and her latest book, Dare to Lead, which is the culmination of a seven-year study on courage and leadership. Brené’s TED talk – The Power of Vulnerability – is one of the top five most viewed TED talks in the world with over 35 million views. She is also the first researcher to have a filmed talk on Netflix, “The Call to Courage” which debuted in April 2019.Life is about the willingness to show up, to put yourself out there, to be all in, when you can’t control the outcome It’s not the critic who counts - it’s easy to spend your life in the cheap seats and hurl judgement at people who are trying and failing Our society doesn’t teach people how to get back up when the fall. Everyone spends their whole life tiptoeing around to ensure they never fall, but the more important skill is to build the skill of GETTING BACK UP. The importance of experiencing adversity. There’s a line between adversity and trauma, we need to experience. It’s not about being perfect at walking, it’s about LEARNING THE SKILL SET OF GETTING BACK UP AGAIN AND AGAINCourage is learnable, teachable, and measurable Courage is essentially the same thing as vulnerability. The Willingness to show up, put yourself out there, and be seen when you can’t control the outcome. Vulnerability, at its core, is about Uncertainty, Risk, and Emotional Exposure“There is no courage without vulnerability” Vulnerability is not as hard, scary, or dangerous as getting to the end of your life and asking “what if I would have shown up?"One of the most defining lessons of Brene’s seven-year study on leadership is the importance of courageous leadership. Even brave and courageous people are scared all the time. It’s not fear that gets in the way of us being brave or vulnerable, it’s armor. What is your go-to armor? How do you self protect when you feel emotionally at risk or exposed?How do you start to take off the armor? Loving kindness and self-compassion. When you work so hard to keep the peace on the outside, you wage a war internally. It’s not your job to make sure you don’t disappoint anyone.You can replace the armor with something that helps you - CURIOSITYGet curious about how you’re showing up, is it serving you? Are you self protecting in a way that’s keeping you small? Your brain thinks in stories - it builds and creates stories to explain the world around you - even if those stories are wrong.A lot of the time we create stories that don’t reflect reality in any way. Why you should start using “The story I'm telling myself…” or “The story I’m making up right now is…"Homework: Take the daring leader survey. Homework: Educate yourself. Watch her TED talk, her Netflix special, read her books. Creating a shared vocabulary is the root of change. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss how to hack your brain to finally create the results you want in life. We take a hard look at what really drivers results and the reality that knowledge and skill aren’t what make you successful - the subconscious drives your behavior, that’s it. You don’t need any more tools to achieve your goals, you just need to change your beliefs and your subconscious set points for success, happiness, and achievement. Action is the ultimate arbiter of your success, are you taking enough of it, and how can you take more? We discuss all of this and much more with our guest John Assaraf. John Assaraf is an entrepreneur, brain researcher and the CEO of NeuroGym. He is the author of two New York Times best-selling books and his latest work is titled “Innercise: The New Science to Unlock Your Brain’s Hidden Power”. Throughout his career, he has worked some of the world's top minds and has shared his expertise with millions of viewers on Larry King Live, The Ellen DeGeneres Show, and dozens of other media venues worldwide.Emotions are triggered in your subconscious, that then trigger neurochemicals, which cause feelings, which you either like the experience of or don’t like How do you deal with the subconscious fear of failure or disappointment? Emotions are just signals for what’s going on in your brain and in your body Instead of focusing on just on the emotion - focus on what’s CAUSING the emotion - use the emotion as a signal When you don’t understand what’s causing you to be afraid and stopping you from taking action - you will be a VICTIM of your emotions Our behaviors are an EFFECT - if you take action, that’s an effect, if you don’t take action, that’s an effect. Ask yourself - why am I taking (or not taking) the action I want to take?What does real science say that can help you really understand what’s going on?Results are nothing more than effects… but the effects of WHAT?What causes RESULTS in your life?Whenever we have an implicit subconscious belief that differs from a conscious explicit belief we have “neural chaos” and you will “rationalize why you can’t or shouldn’t do it” Not taking action is a behavior. So is taking action. What’s going on in my subconscious mind that is preventing me from taking action?If your values are in conflict with your beliefs - you won’t get the results you want.Knowledge doesn’t drive behavior. Skill doesn’t drive behavior. The subconscious drives behavior. That’s it. How do you embark on the deliberate conscious evolution of yourself?People often confuse GATHERING information with what it takes to impregnate that information into the subconscious You have to practice and exercise and build “neuro muscles” over and over again It takes hours and hours of practice, hundreds and hundreds of hours in many cases - to learn behavior or habit into the brain. The new era of personal development and the new science of success is about understanding brain circuitry and reprogramming it People often don’t need more TOOLS - the problem is that your beliefs and financial set points get stuck How John’s mindset principles created $100mm in 6 months at his real estate company Are you interested in achieving your goals or are you COMMITTED to them?Homework: Cognitive priming. Ask yourself - what do you want from every area of your life?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss improving your “mental nutrition.” Decades ago we realized that our society had started eroding our physical health, with desk jobs and fast food, and we became conscious of the need for fitness and nutrition. Now, we stand at the precipice of an even bigger struggle - we are healthier and happier than ever before and yet anxiety, suicide, and depression are on the rise. How do we improve our mental fitness and take action to challenge our irrationality, our impulsiveness, and our bad habits? Do you want to finally move past inaction, procrastination, and laziness? Do you want to feel happier about the world? Listen to this interview with our returning guest Mark Manson. Mark Manson is the New York Times and international bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck and his new already bestselling book Everything Is Fucked. His blog, markmanson.net, attracts more than two million readers per month. He is also the CEO and founder of Infinity Squared Media LLCThe world today is so polarized, mental health issues are on the rise, and yet we are physically safer and healthier than ever before. The better things get, the more anxious humans become about losing them Our world is filled with “hope narratives” that help us hide from the reality that on a cosmic scale we are truly insignificant How do you deal with life if you achieve all your goals early on?What happens when your hope narrative dies? The only defense against our own cosmic insignificance is creating meaning for ourselves Our values and emotions aren’t tethered to our rational thoughts. The thinking brain vs the feeling brain. All the issues around purpose, discipline, control and importance are EMOTIONAL issues, not intellectual issues. The first step to create value and meaning in your life is to develop an action oriented bias. Humans are largely irrational creatures. Most of our actions are impulsive, selfish, and not well thought through, and our conscious mind spends a huge chunk of it’s time and energy coming up with reasons - rationalizations - to explain and justify what the unconscious mind wants to do. You probably think that all your actions are rational and justified - but have you ever really thought about and looked into the narratives and stories you use to explain away bad habits and behaviors in your life?Emotional intelligence is the core of understanding the dialogue between your conscious thoughts and your emotional reactions to your thoughts You must learn to barter with your feeling brain, keep lowering the stakes until your feeling brain is willing to get on board with what your thinking brain wants to do Why is our society, and why are people, so fragile today, and how can we toughen up?Technology today is designed and geared to take advantage and exploit our psychological flaws -what if we had technology that did the opposite, that corrected our cognitive biases? Information diet & mental nutrition - you must take responsibility for your own mental consumption habits, your own mental habits, you must read things that challenge you, consider that your ideas may be wrongHomework: Unfollow or unfriend at least half of the people you follow or friend, including news and media sources Homework: In terms of personal habits think about your goals in terms of thinking brain vs feeling brain - you must find a way to work with your emotions instead of against them. Strike a bargain with your feeling brain. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss the truth about championship performance. Nobody becomes a champion by accident. We uncover the counter-intuitive reality that being a champion isn’t about doing more, it’s about doing less. We expose the reality that most people spend too much time planning and not enough time acting and share the specific habits and routines that you can use to model your behavior after champions with our guest Dana Cavalea. Dana Cavalea is a high-level performance coach, speaker, and author. He coaches Pro Athletes, Entrepreneurs, and Business Executives on lifestyle strategies to improve daily performance and outcomes. He is the former Director of Performance for the New York Yankees, whom he led to a World Series Championship in 2009. In his first book, Habits of a Champion, he shares his own secrets to becoming a champion.Nobody becomes a champion by accident.When you study high-level performers and world champions - what habits and abilities make them different from everybody else?Champions are extremely consistent and extremely persistent It takes a lot of work to become a champion - but there are commonalities What makes people champions - a deep focus on the simple fundamentals and the basics. It’s not about quick fixes, it’s not about “hacks” and short cuts - it's about really executing the basics and the fundamentals. Step one for champions - MASTERY OF MINDSETSelf-awareness is another cornerstone of championship performanceWhat is the mindset of a champion? What are the common mindsets of champions?How do we learn from and emulate and ultimately create a championship mindset for ourselves?What can Derek Jeter teach us about the psychology and mindset of champions?Baseball is a sport that is “built around failure” and what that can teach us about the psychology of performance?Reframe negative moments into positive momentsIt’s about training your mind to see things in a certain way Focusing on externals - focusing on others and what they are doing won’t get you to where you want to go Championship performance is not about doing more, it’s about doing LESSNo two people should have the same daily routine - we are all at different places in our journey, we have different strengths, different needs, etc How do you go about crafting your own daily routine?Dana recommends starting with your health as the basis of your daily routine The best place to begin changing your mindset is to start with the physical body - activating the body, hydrating the body, taking care of your body What is your vision for yourself? What are you trying to build? What are you trying to create?How important is consistency to world-class performance?You can’t be consistent at everything. You have to keep it simple. Keep it small. Keep it very focused. If you have too many things, you won’t be consistent. Identify what is interrupting your ability to be consistent. Identify things that are draining your energy away. Environments can impact your feeling - it’s important to create environments that enable you to focus on rest and recovery. Create a transition between work and home Homework: Ask yourself if you’re ready to take action and commit to what it is you say you want. Ask yourself - are you willing to do the work?Homework: Start with the basics - hydration and mindset. Built consistency slowly with small habits. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how you’re wrong about what you think will make you happy. Research shows that the vast majority of people are terrible at predicting what will actually make them happy and even when you think you know what makes you happy, you’re often wrong. We break apart the core delusions that stop you from being happy, and we dig into a scientific analysis of the state of “enlightenment” to uncover that it’s not just something for Buddhist monks, but a measurable brain state that can achieved by anyone, anywhere with our guests Dr. Ash ElDifrawi and Dr. Alex Lickerman. Dr. Ash ElDifrawi is a thought leader in clinical, social, and consumer psychology. He's been featured in The Economist, Forbes, Bloomberg, the WSJ and much more. Dr. Alex Lickerman is the author of The Undefeated Mind and physician. He is the former assistant professor of medicine, director of primary care, and assistant vice president for Student Health and Counseling Services at the University of Chicago. His work has been featured in The New York Times, TIME, USA Today and much more!What you think you need to be happy is wrong Your current beliefs about how to achieve happiness are “delusions” Most of the things you think will make you happy are “delusional beliefs"Does happiness come from getting the things you want?What happens when you lose the things that you’ve anchored your happiness to?It’s like a stick of gum - you get a hit, but then the taste and flavor fade over timeThe science shows that this is a neurological phenomenon - we habituate to any attachment we have. We start to take things for granted. It’s delusional to think that getting something you want is going to make you a happier person. Because of our psychology and our neurology - you can get stuck on a hedonic treadmill and you always come back to your baseline level of happiness. The question for happiness began with empirical study of science, psychology and researchBuddhist philosophers have been observing the mind for 2500 years, in many ways they were some of the earliest psychologists There has been an explosion of research on happiness and yet unhappiness is increasing, too much of the current research is too superficial How can the belief that happiness is about the avoidance of pain lead to more pain, suffering and unhappiness?The Nine “Core Delusions” that prevent you from being happy Any attachment, by definition it’s ability to provide you joy is temporary. All external attachments are eventually lost. All attachments are temporary. Every attachment contains the seed of future suffering. How do you get ENDURING INDESTRUCTIBLE HAPPINESS? Instead of temporary happiness?Could enlightenment be a reproducible life experience? “The default mode network” - the self referential part of the brain How do you “pierce the veil of illusion of the self?"Enlightenment, the scientific brain state of transdencent joy, is something that can be achieved by anyone, anywhere. It’s not just for buddhist monks. How can we reach for the state of awe in our every day lives? How can we move towards enlightenment in our everyday lives? Homework: Become mindful to the degree to which these core delusions determine how happy you are. When something makes you unhappy, ask yourself what has happened that has made you unhappy, what core belief has this event stirred up in you that has made you unhappy?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the important difference between competence and confidence and look at the dangers of focusing too much on building up your self esteem. We explore the “gift of failure” and why, sometimes, it’s better to let children fail than to try and make them feel better. We learn why frustration is a vital and important piece of the learning process, why we must consider the inevitability of failure, and we uncover “one of the most powerful teaching tools” you can use to learn, grow, and improve with our guest Jessica Lahey. Jessica Lahey is a teacher, writer, and author. She is an expert contributor for The Atlantic and the New York Times, and is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Gift of Failure: How the Best Parents Learn to Let Go So Their Children Can Succeed. She is also a member of the Amazon Studios Thought Leader Board.The trajectory of parenting today into “overparenting” is dangerous and worrisome Propping up kids self confidence and telling them how wonderful they are has done children a serious disservice Kids today are more anxious, less interested in taking risks, less interested in learning, and less interested in being brave. They don’t have any experience trying and screwing things up and learning how to do things better. There has been a big drop-off in interest in learning, motivation for learning, and self awareness - all because of the self esteem movementWhen the vision of them being super talented doesn’t match up with their reality - having struggles and problems, which are inevitable - the disconnect creates serious problems for kids and erodes their trust in their parents. Kids become confused. At an early age - turn it around and ask your kids “What do YOU think?” Instead of just telling them they are brilliant. Help them build an internal compass for quality. To succeed - kids must be able to take feedback.It never gets easy to withhold praise from your kids and give them real feedback - but it’s vitally important. Emphasize the PROCESS over the END PRODUCT in what you praise 90% of kids feel like we love them more when they bring home high grades. The dangers of “outcome love” or “performance love” and why its highly destructive to kids on an emotional levelWhen your kids fail - that’s not the end point, that's the starting point for learning. Are you a parent listening to this who says “but I really do care about results, I care about grades” not this other BS - what should you do?How can we redesign our schools and learning system to focus on mastery instead of cramming and playing games?Kids feel like they can’t take to their parents when their parents become super fixated on grades. Focus on the long term - how do you want to shape your kids in the future? Not just this one particular grade or issue. Be an “autonomy supportive parent” and focus on preparing your kids to handle this particular challenge or problem NEXT TIME not just this immediate moment or problemWhy frustration is a vital and important piece of the learning process. Support your kids frustration and let them learn to direct themselves. What is “desirable difficulty?” And why is it “one of the most powerful teaching tools” we have?Kids who can’t be frustrated fall apart whenever they face difficulty. The way to overcome learned helplessness is to give your children autonomy and control. The reality is that failure is inevitable - and it's very dangerous to make our kids brittle in the face of a difficult and challenging world. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how you can get smarter in a complex and complicated world. How do you deal with confusing and difficult situations? How do you work through some of your life’s most complex problems? In a world of accelerating change, how do you accelerate the quest for wisdom and creativity? We share simple, powerful, solutions you can use to handle complexity in this interview with our guests David Komlos and David Benjamin.David Komlos and David Benjamin - they are the CEO and CTO respectively of the company Syntegrity. Mr. Komlos is an expert coach for leaders on solving their issues. He advises top leaders and enterprises on how to dramatically accelerate solutions and execution on their defining challenges. Mr. Benjamin leads Syntegrity’s lab and client delivery organization. He has been recognized internationally for his work on global strategic planning with top executives in Fortune 500 companies.What is complexity? Why is it so important to be able to handle complexity in today’s world?How is complex different than complicated? Experts can help solve complicated challenges, but not necessarily complex challenges Complex challenges are multi-dimensional and human.What are some basic mental models for sorting complex challenges vs complicated challenges?Ask yourself:Has this been solved before? And how was it solved? Would this problem have been the same 5 years ago or 5 years from now?Complex challenges don’t have a recipe or a discreet playbook to be solvedPlanning a wedding is complicated, having a happy marriage is complex Building a fence is complicated, being a good neighbor is complex The Law of Requisite Variety / Ashby’s Law "Only variety can destroy variety"You can only solve complex challenges by bringing an equal amount of variety to a challenge When we are facing tough complex challenges - we need a variety of experience and expertise “A Lion In Your Office"Often a BIG chunk of the challenge is just SEEING the problem in its entirety An ounce of information is worth a pound of data. An ounce of knowledge is worth a pound of information. An ounce of understanding is worth a pound of knowledge. An ounce of wisdom is worth a pound of understanding. Shared understanding is essential - but we often rush to action before we get there We need FAST Wisdom and CREATIVE Judgement to solve our biggest challenges in today’s world - but wisdom takes a lifetime How do you accelerate the quest for wisdom and solve the world’s toughest and most complex challenges?Complexity is the defining challenge we face in todays’ worldHow do you engineer Fast Wisdom?The framework you can use to engineer “fast wisdom” and solve tough, complex challenges N*N-1 Mental Model and how to create “collaborative collisions” The ideal number of a group of people to work in a group is 5-8 people - you can have very creative and effective collisions How you can create groups to crunch through tough, complex challenges - by using this specific formulaObserversCriticsMembersHow do you ask good questions when looking to solve tough challenges?Homework: Think about a dinner party. What question will guide the conversation in the right way? Who would you invite to create variety?  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how you create your own reality. We explore the idea that your life experiences are not random or arbitrary, but rather a direct result of your subconscious beliefs. When the conscious and the subconscious conflict, the sub-conscious wins and you’ll never get over your past until you realize how you use it to justify yourself. We dig into the powerful revelation that life only ever changes in the paradigm of action. You must do something differently than what you’ve done before in order to change. All of this and much more with our guest Gary John Bishop. Gary John Bishop is a personal development expert and is the author of the bestselling book Unfu*k Yourself: Get Out of Your Head and into Your Life and the soon to be released Stop Doing That Sh*t: End Self-Sabotage and Demand Your Life Back. His approach blends a unique in-your-face approach with high-level training and development practices. Hailing from Glasgow, Scotland Gary’s work has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, Vice, Business Insider, and much more!You’re responsible for the creation of your life. You have to accept it, embrace it, be aware of it, and know it. In the living of your life - you will have to live the decisions and conclusions that you’ve made, whether you’re conscious of it or not As a human being, its incumbent upon you to go beyond yourself, expand your awareness, and live life being fully Just because you’re aware of a problematic belief or behavior -doesn’t mean you will stop doing it Why do people attend tons of personal development seminars, read books etc but then never actually change?Your life experiences are not random or arbitrary, they are defined by an invisible set of rules that you believe to be true - but the reality you experience may not be the same reality that other people experience - the same rules that others experience. You currently existing in a “Default” way of living your life - but there are infinite alternatives to being alive and living your life Freedom for a human being is defined as the actions you take, in relation to your default mode of being You have to actually take action, you have to actually DO something with it. Reading a book is nice, but if you don’t do anything with it, what’s the difference in having read it or not?Life ONLY EVER CHANGES in the PARADIGM OF ACTION. You must DO SOMETHING DIFFERENTLY than what YOU’VE DONE BEFORE. You don’t have to feel differently to do differently, you just have to DO differently.Some of the greatest breakthroughs of science and engineering where discovered by accident.You have to go into the unknown and work your way through it to achieve anythingIf you’ve had success, you try to preserve and maintain certainty, you lose the very strategy that made you successful (plunging into uncertainty) If you’re not as hardcore as Gary John Bishop - how do you start taking action? Start with small actions - and small steps to build momentum and credibility with yourselfIs your life about revealing the future you want or perpetuating the past? Whatever you don’t forgive lives on with you. That includes forgiving yourself and forgiving others. Withholding forgiveness perpetuates what happens, and you end up being left with the resentment. You’ll never get over your past until you realize how you use it to justify yourself.Homework: Look around in your life, look at something you’ve been tolerating, putting off, ignoring or pretending about - pick one item you’ve been tolerating and go handle it TODAY. Take that item, step into action, and go handle it TODAY, regardless of how you feel about it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the the male and female brains. Are they different? If so, what are the differences and do they matter? We look at the science behind all of this and unlock key insights into how you can improve your health, happiness, and relationships with by using a few simple strategies with our guest Dr. Louann Brizendine.Dr. Louann Brizendine is the Founder of The Women's Mood and Hormone Clinic and a neuropsychiatrist at UCSF. She is the author of the New York Times best-selling books, "The Female Brain" and "The Male Brain"  and executive producer of the 2017 movie, The Female Brain. She has served as faculty at both Harvard and UCSF and her work has been featured in The Harvard Business Review, The Guardian, and much more!How do we use science of a decision-making framework?Should we stop using science to shape our decisions because it gets things wrong?Why do scientists and experts often hedge their bets when citing evidence and research?Can we believe Science? Is science useful or not?Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater - science and give us really actionable and useful information starting today The process and the progress of science is constantly questioning and constantly testing your assumptions - this is how you move towards the best answers and objective truthThe male and female brain are more alike than they are different, but they do have differences Starting as early as eight weeks of fetal life, the male’s tiny testicles start to pump out testosterone that shape substantial changes in the male’s brain vs the female’s brainThe biology is straightforward - males and females have different brainsThe major differences in the male and female brain have to do with reproduction Puberty impacts males and females differently, and shapes their brains and behaviors in a number of ways From age 11 to age 15 - a man's testosterone levels spike by 25x How much of our gender roles are a result of culture, parenting, and biology?“Relationship play” vs “rough and tumble play” for young boys and girls Is the debate on nature vs nurture dead?These behavioral patterns and traits are like a standard distribution that mostly overlap, but do have differences Does this research about the human brain reinforce gender stereotypes and biases?What is ‘daddy brain’ and how does it affect men?Testosterone decreases by 30% for about 6 monthsThis triggers the male brain to be more protective and more nurturing You can hear infants cry from much further awayVideo games impact the male brain by tapping into your search for mastery and flowHow do we shape or change our behavior as a result of our different brains?Other people are different from you - they think differently! Why offering people advice or solutions instead of validating their feelings can often be the wrong strategy If you’re missing the emotional component when to try to influence people, you’re missing a key piece Homework: For men - say “Honey, I know how you feel” and then pause Homework: For women - Men’s testosterone levels are 10x more than yours, that means your partner is (if you’re the same age) 3x more sexually interested than you are  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Have you ever desperately wanted something, and then as soon as you get it, or as soon as you achieve it, you seemingly toss it aside and move on to the next new thing? In this episode we explore the powerful brain science behind why this happens. We look at dopamine, how it shapes your behavior, why it causes you to desire certain things and motivates you to achieve new things, but also why it can be dangerous if it becomes too imbalanced. We share strategies for enhancing and harmonizing with your brains “dopamine circuitry” and much more in this interview with Dr. Daniel Z. Lieberman. Dr. Daniel Z. Lieberman is a professor at George Washington University. He has published over 50 scientific reports on behavioral science and provided insight on psychiatric issues for the U.S. Government. He is also co-author of the best-selling book Molecule of More, which discusses the effect dopamine has on the human desire and the human brainThe simple concept of “up versus down” and how it cascades through the way we all live and interact in the world The “paripersonal” space - everything within arms reach - things that you own, possess, and control. When you look “down” into the paripersonal space - you experience these things in “the here and now"When you look “up” you look into the “extra personal space” - beyond yourself - things beyond the here and now that require effort, planning, and motivation to get, acquire, or achieveThe idea of dopamine as the “reward molecule” is WRONGDopamine is not the molecule of reward, but rather the molecule of DESIRE and MOTIVATION People who are dopaminergic might have addictive personalities - excessively eating, gaming, watching porn, etc. A brain on dopamine is like a high performance sports car - it can produce spectacular results, but it breaks down easily What is a dopaminergic brain? A brain with a highly active dopamine system. How does dopamine impact our love circuitry and our experience of love?All dopamine derived pleasures DON'T LAST - as soon as what we desire in the future becomes what we have in the present, dopamine shuts down - and achieving it becomes a let downIf you’re spending most of your time in the dopamine circuitry - you’re ALWAYS focused on WHATS NEXTUnderstanding the brain is the most important thing we can do Highly dopaminergic people like ideas, concepts, and tools - not emotionsEmotional intelligence is the perfect counterbalance to being highly dopaminergicA more advanced strategy to spend more time in the here and now would be mindfulness meditationMeditation is all about clearing your thoughts of future clutter and focusing like a laser on the here and now. Meditation strengthens the circuitry in the brain responsible for processing the here and now. When those circuits are strong it becomes easier to shift into them.Homework: If you are dopaminergic - spend more time focused on the fine arts - fine arts are a great way to see the synthesis between dopamine circuitry and the here and now circuitry.Bonus Homework: Take up a hobby that involves the creation of something. Painting, cooking, playing an instrument, woodworking. These hobbies have fallen out of favor in our modern world. If you want to get the most out of your brain - you have to appreciate its structure, which has been built up for millions of years of evolution. Find ways to do things with your hands. Tinkering, making things. When you’re engaged in a sport or physical activity you’re also harmonizing the here and now (moving your body) + using dopamine to develop strategies to score points and defeat your opponents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss trauma and how it is stored in the body. What causes trauma and what does it do to your body? We explore whether the rational, thinking mind can deal with trauma and look at some of the ways you can deal with traumatic experiences in your life. What are the best strategies for feeling safe, feeling calm, and feeling in control of your own body? How do you release trauma from your body and feel safe? We discuss all of this and much more with our guest Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk.Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk is a Boston-based psychiatrist and The New York Times best-selling author of The Body Keeps the Score. He was previously the President of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies, Professor of Psychiatry at Boston University Medical School, and Medical Director of the Trauma Center. He has taught at universities around the world and his work has been featured in TIME, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and more!What is Trauma? How do we define and understand trauma in today’s society?It makes you want to forget, it makes you want to push it away, it makes you want to erase it. Trauma is something that is so horrendous that you can’t cope with it, it’s too much to deal with Trauma renders you helpless and makes you feel like there is no way out Helplessness is an absolute precondition for a traumatic experience Our society continuously ignores how trauma is formed and created - pushing it under the rug and hiding from itTrauma is not a story - trauma is not a memory about the past. Trauma changes the brain. Trauma sits within you and within your body. People experiencing trauma keep behaving and reacting as if they were stuck in that experience When we are traumatized - the brain often cannot process it and the body “stores it” - the body gets stuck in a state of hyper alertness, the mind gets stuck in a state of hyper-alertness The perceptual situation in the brain becomes rewired to be on “high alert"Your body, your mind, your entire system gets frozen or stuck in “fight or flight” mode When you’re traumatized, it’s very hard to learn or integrate new experiences - thats what makes treating trauma  so difficult Trauma is not typically rationally processed, it goes into the irrational part of the brain and your body gets locked into a place of constantly reacting as if you’re in a sense of danger One of the most tragic results of trauma is people try to shut the feeling down and end up shutting down their ability to feel - or they turn to drugs, alcohol, and pharmaceuticals Studies show that yoga is more effective than any drug that has been studied for solving trauma There is promising research around psychotropics (psylocbin and MDMA) for trauma reliefNeurofeedback is another promising solution for trauma Self regulation - learning to control your own physiology using ancient Chinese and Indian methods - research is starting to show these solutions help as mind body interventions to solve trauma in the body Exposure treatment misunderstands how to treat real trauma It’s not the memory its that your brain/body - entire system - is locked in a state of being “high alert” - and that these mind body interventions are some of the best ways to help people feel “Safe” inside their own bodies Once your body feels safe, you can allow yourself to slowly go to experiences from the past that caused the body to be put into a traumatic state Homework: Take care of your body. Develop a loving relationship to taking care of your body. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss emotions at work. Do they have a place? What can you do about them? We look at why you should be less passionate about your job, we explore the science behind actually being motivated at work and prevent yourself from being burnt out, and we share a powerfully simple emotion management checklist you can start using right now with our guests Molly West Duffy and Liz Fosslien. Liz Fosslien and Molly West Duffy are the co-authors of No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotion at Work. Liz has run workshops for leaders at organizations such as Google, Facebook, Nike, and Stanford on how to create inclusive cultures. Her writing has appeared in CNN, The Economist, The Financial Times, and NPR. Molly is an Organizational Designer at global innovation firm IDEO. Her writing has been featured in Fast Company, Quartz, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Entrepreneur, Quiet Rev, and other digital outlets, and she’s taught design courses at Stanford.Why you should be LESS passionate about your jobCaring too much about your job can actually be bad for your healthHow do we “take a chill pill” and distance ourselves from our work?The Power of Rest and Recovery and the diminishing returns of over workingCarve out time to think, carve out time to be alone, make time for friends and family What do people get wrong about motivating and inspiring themselves?Your emotions can create and sustain your motivationsWhat are the things that kill motivation?How to take back control of your work and deal with a tough or micro managing boss The “progress principle” - small incremental progress of small wins can snowball How do you build motivation at work? (And stop the things that kill your motivation) It’s biologically impossible to stop feeling emotion. You cannot make decisions without emotion. Is it possible that envy can be a productive emotion? Can envy help you make better decisionsCan anger and anxiety be productive tools to helping you achieve your goals?We walk through a great emotional management checklist that you can start to use right away to improve your decision making Discover your decision-making tendency - satisfiers and maximizers - what are the differences and why is that important?Run your thinking by another person - verbalizing them out loud forces you to synthesize information and identify biases in your thinking How do you create psychological safety? One easy strategy is to positively reinforce someone taking one of these risks. Use “generative language” to keep ideas flowing and open The concept of “task conflict” - we like each other, but we clash with each other over the CONTENT of our work Write your own “User Manual” or “How To Work With Me Guide” to give to your boss, coworkers, etc Your feelings aren’t factsWe often react and interact with each other based on assumptions that we never both to explore or look into at all The words we say are not always what we mean The 3 things to do if you have an issue with someoneLabel your feelingsUnderstand where those feelings are coming fromFeel calm enough to have a conversation about your emotions without getting emotional An in person request is more than thirty times more likely to be a yes than an emailed one What are some best practices for digital communication?Homework: Sit down and write down everything you’re feeling to develop your emotional granularity and self awareness. Take the time to reflect and think about what you’re feeling. Then identify the NEED behind those feelings. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we share how to “get over yourself” and stop taking things so seriously, we discuss the important relationship between confusion and clarity, and we explore the art of letting go of the need for safety, security and control in your everyday life so that you can relax into who you’ve always been with our guest Dr. Mark Epstein. Dr. Mark Epstein is a psychiatrist in private practice in New York City and the author of a number of books about the interface of Buddhism and psychotherapy, including his most recent books The Trauma of Everyday Life and Advice Not Given: A Guide to Getting Over Yourself. He is currently Clinical Assistant Professor in the Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis at New York University and his work has been featured in Psychology Today, The New York TImes, and more!How do we move from addiction/anxiety/depression/worry to love/relief/understanding?What’s the prescription for solving anxiety and worry?The prescriptions from the ancient texts of buddhism are still highly relevant in solving many of today’s problems with the human condition Realizing that the mind is trainable is the beginning of your journey towards relief and understanding The untrained mind is a wild thing - one of the challenges of adulthood is to get a handle on your own mindHow do we start to be honest with ourselves and confront our own mental addictions and negative thoughts?Anything that promotes self reflection is the way to begin confronting your thoughtsYou don’t have to overcome your fears - you just have to be willing to examine them The hardest thing is often just being willing to take the first step You can’t force someone into meditation - someone has to reach a critical point of personal suffering and to make their own decisionHow his father’s battle with brain cancer transformed Dr. Epstein’s relationship with helping othersHow do you handle your own mind when facing death or dying?“The craft of meditation” - the practice and technique of what to do and how to meditate - is only one part of the puzzle The “art of meditation” - beyond just the physical technique - is a rich field of exploration Ancient buddhist texts offer some deep insights into modern psychotherapy - but the language of ancient Buddhism is couched in the understanding of thousands of years ago and needs some interpretationWhy people “expect too much from meditation” and what that means In the west especially - we want the science to “do it for us” - but we have to do it ourselves There’s an important relationship between confusion and clarity The clarity that one seeks only comes from sitting and staring at your confusion The fundamental power of meditation and mindfulness comes from really staring and facing the difficult Creating a "therapeutic split in the ego"It’s possible to be both the observer and that which is being observed in your own stream of consciousness The ego - as we think about it in western society is all about self preservation and self control - it’s looking for safety, security, and control We can’t jump right into enlightenment - it's about the JOURNEY and the everyday work, practice, and moments of honest reckoning with ourselves  How to create humility and graciousness in your life Homework: Read a book, or go to an art museum. Go outside, close the door, stand there and listen. Trust yourself.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this interview we discuss how to create an “external brain” that lets you keep track of your tasks, projects, ideas and inspirations - while freeing your conscious mind for the most productive and focused thinking - we explore how you can connect the external world of meetings and events with your internal world of ideas and thoughts in a uniquely powerful way, and we demonstrate how you can save up to 144 hours a year using a few simple techniques with our guest Charles Byrd. Charles Byrd is a productivity and organizational expert and the founder of Byrd Word. He’s known as the world’s foremost Evernote guru.  As a productivity expert, Charles coaches CEOs and entrepreneurs how to "Kill the Chaos" of information overload.  Evernote is a “trusted system” you can apply to your life, profession, business etc. Creating an “external brain” to keep track of your tasks, projects, ideas, inspirationThe powerful merger of collecting things from your internal worlds and external world and connecting them Your “5 second superpower” - find whatever you want or need in 5 seconds or less Do you use Evernote for one “specific thing” instead of everything? How you can find key information you need in high pressure and difficult situations How you can cut down on task switching How you can be more focused and creative by taking processing load out of your conscious mind How to tag things in Evernote for instant and easy recallWho, What, Where Why How to hack Siri shortcuts to amp the power of Evernote to the next levelThe “Power Trifecta” - a combination of tools, work flows, and habits to create the most optimized routines possible Simple tactics you can use to start adding things to Evernote right away “Do I need it, do I dig it?"How to begin with Evernote if you’ve always wanted to, but aren’t sure where to startHow you can save 3 hours a week using Evernote - that’s 144 hours a year - 18 working days of reclaimed timeCreate a Siri shortcut for master list and marketing idea notesHow you can feel like a rock star who can do anything How to hack meetings to be more productive Click the “Task” Checkbox on any action items you have within a meeting or conversationWrite a 1-2 sentence summary of the meeting and any key action items Evernote is the “cornerstone” of productive sanity Evernote is the foundation of being productive in the modern day Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to boost your energy, focus, and happiness in 5 minutes or less using a dead simple strategy anyone can apply right away. We explore the power of self knowledge and why it’s one of the cornerstones of success in any area of life, and we uncover several powerfully uncomfortable questions we can ask ourselves to be happier, healthier and more productive with our guest Gretchen Rubin. Gretchen Rubin is the author of the New York Times bestsellers, Better Than Before, The Happiness Project, Happier at Home, and The Four Tendencies and her latest book is Outer Order Inner Calm. She’s appeared on TV outlets such as the Today show, Oprah’s Super Soul Sunday Morning, and more. She’s also appeared in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and many more!I finally cleaned out my fridge and now I know I can switch careers.When we get control of the stuff of our lives we often see big results.American adults spend 55 minutes a day looking for misplaced items. Focusing on order can yield huge benefits VERY QUICKLY with simple focus. The “one-minute rule” - if you can do it in less than a minute, do it without delay.How to keep the scum of clutter on the surface of life go away.It’s much easier to keep up than to catch up.Figure out WHAT YOU NEED to do your best work and then GET IT - create the environment in which you can thrive.There isn’t ONE BEST WAY to set up your environment to thrive. Self knowledge is the most powerful and fundamental kind of knowledge you can create. One of the great challenges of our lives is really trying to grapple with - what is the truth about ME?Ask yourself uncomfortable questions. Whom do you envy?It’s a very revealing thing. It shows you that they have something that you wish for yourself.Whose job or life gives you a TON of envy? There’s information there about what you want to do. Most useful things involve discomfort - especially when it comes to self knowledge. When trying to decide - should I ask this of myself or not? Choose the BIGGER LIFE - what to YOU will create a BIGGER life? Sometimes it’s worth the insecurity and frustration and anxiety if you’re pursuing what - to you- represents a bigger life. Is it worth the time? The bandwidth? All reality is one interconnected mess.That’s why it’s so important to have a multi-disciplinary perspective.There’s a HUGE difference between “I’m right” and “This is what’s true for me."In a fight over dirty dishes at the office - that’s the tip of a giant iceberg of psychology that shapes hundreds of complex and nuanced interactions. There are so many ways to achieve your goals, experiment and try different methods.Homework: How do you decide what to get rid of? Do you need it, do you use it, do you love it? Don’t get organized, get rid of things first. Homework: The one minute rule - anything you can do in under a minute, do it without delay. It’s not so much WHAT should you do, but rather how can you get yourself to STICK to what you want to do? Experimentation is crucial. Homework: Ask yourself - how have you succeeded in the past? Ask yourself what you learned from that and model that behavior.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss why it’s so important to study and understand psychology if you want to master any aspect of life. We look at evolutionary science behind how your brain can often play tricks on you. We share a simple and impactful model from psychology for dealing with stressful and tough situations, and we discuss the dangerous illusion of the “quest for certainty” and how you should actively embrace taking risks in your life with our guest Dr. Daniel Crosby. Dr. Daniel Crosby is a psychologist and behavioral finance expert who helps organizations understand the intersection of mind and markets. His most recent book, The Behavioral Investor, provides an expert look at the useful mix of psychology and investment science. His work has appeared in the Huffington Post and Risk Management Magazine, as well as his monthly columns for WealthManagement.com and Investment News.In order to understand how the financial and capital markets work - we have to understand human behavior.Since almost everything we do is largely a function of interacting with humans - in order to understand life, business, the world - we have to understand human behavior and the human mindEvidence based growth is a powerful niche - because the leadership and personal development space is full of voodoo, bad thinking, and wrong common sense The evidence based approach is harder but ultimately much more fulfilling and impactfulThings that have served us well from an evolutionary perspective often serve us poorly in the modern world and the financial markets The human brain hasn’t been upgraded in over 200,000 years. Your 200,000 year old brain is trying to cope with systems that are tens if not hundreds of years old - this leads to a number of problems and issues. We are wired to act - we feel a burning need to take action and do something - and yet often times the best investment strategy is to do nothing The best performing investors are people who either died or forgot about their trading account! “Success begets failure.” As you win, you become more convinced of your skill, and you start to make worse and worse decisions,  becoming sloppy and undisciplined You must be a rules based, systematic investor when it comes to decision-making. There is a very real, physical side, of dealing with stressful and difficult situationsBefore you do any interventions to prevent anxiety - you can get a HUGE amount of mileage out of taking basic care of your body - sleeping better, drinking less caffeine, getting in some moderate exercise.We are more than what happens to us - at any time we can change our RESPONSE to any stimulus.There is NO substitute for TAKING RISK, DOING HARD THINGS and SINKING AND SWIMMING ON YOUR OWN MERITS. In our best efforts to protect ourselves from harm we bring about the very thing we are trying to avoid. You aren’t really protecting yourself - you’re bringing about the absolute realization of what you’re really scared of. The quest for certainty is very dangerous. There is uncertainty. It’s part of the game. The alternative of embracing uncertainty is to always settle for the lowest common denominator.The “backfire effect” - often times when presented with data and evidence that disagrees with people’s world view, people often become MORE committed to their idea or belief than they were before. Meet people who don’t share your beliefs and try to understand why they hold the beliefs that they do. Homework: Go somewhere that makes you uncomfortable.Homework: Seek first to get your own house in order. Take a hard look at yourself. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we ask - how do you make decisions that let you see beyond your every day inbox, busy work, and demands of others? We uncover that there are huge mismatches between how you think you spend your time and how you actually spend it. We share you can deal with the fear, and the reality, of disappointing other people and not meeting their expectations and we share one simple strategy - in 30 minutes - that can help you reclaim control of your time with our guest Laura Vanderkam.  Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books. Her TED talk titled “How To Gain Control of Your Free Time” has been viewed over 5 million times and she is the co-host of the podcast Best of Both Worlds. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune.While people are happy to get information, they remember it much better when its in the form of storiesYou should make time in your life for what’s important. Time is a choice, you’re ALWAYS choosing how you spend your time. You HAVE to choose how to spend your time, whether you want to or notWhat people often miss, especially when you try to be everything to everyone,  there are tradeoffs and opportunity costs to EVERYTHING - even if you don’t see it Saying yes to something is, by definition, saying no to something else. Every choice to do one thing is is, by definition, a choice to NOT do something else. Have you ever binged an entire book or TV series in a short amount of time? That’s proof that you have more time than you think, you’re just not spending it how you necessarily want to. How do you make decisions that let you see beyond your every day inbox, busy work, and demands of others?Envision your ideal future, and start to bring those things into your life. Your priorities should inform your scheduling choices. It’s that simple. And yet so few people do it. You must consciously choose to invest time in the things that matter to you. If you don’t your time will be TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU, by someone else’s priorities. It’s not a priority just because someone else thinks is it important or because society at large thinks it’s important. This doesn’t have to be huge chunks of time, even an hour or two a week can be transformational.Challenge yourself to find 30 mins a day, or 3.5hrs a week - of extra time per week. Anyone can achieve this. This can apply to both your PERSONAL life and to your professional life - too often we neglect one or the other or think time management only Is the bigger challenge to figure out your own priorities or just to make time for them?What questions or activities can you do to figure out what’s most important to you and where you SHOULD spend your time?How do you deal with the fear, and the reality, of disappointing other people and not meeting their expectations?What were you thinking about on today’s date, two years ago?Likewise, whatever is keeping you up now probably won’t matter in two yearsTrying to manage your time without measuring it is like losing weight without paying attention to your diet and exercise habits. There are HUGE mismatches between how you THINK you spend your time, and how you actually spend it. By doing a time audit you start to realize huge opportunities in your schedule and where you are spending your time.Often times the small chunks of time here and there start to add up - and don’t register on how you’re spending your time. Homework: Time tracking is the best starting point. Write down what you’ve done over the previous 24 hours. Try that out for a week.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how you can understand the world with powerful clarity. What makes other people behave in certain ways? What are the most important concepts and ideas in the business world? Do you often feel like you’re looking for a magic bullet or paint-by-numbers approach to solving your problems? The solution to all of these questions lies in the powerful framework that we explain in-depth and show you how to apply with our guest Josh Kaufman. Why Mental Models are so important and one of the best thinking frameworks you can use to organize information and understand the world.Mental models are universal, important, and flexible concepts that describe how the world works in some key way Mental models - for me - come from a fundamental place of curiosity - I'm obsessed with understanding HOW and WHY things work - businesses, humans, success etc - and I find mental models to be a very helpful tool for organizing the reasons that things happen in the world Mental models are cognitive tools to approach any situation and understand it better How does the world work? What makes other people behave in certain ways?What are the most important concepts and ideas in the business world?Mental models are one of the defining factors that separate ultra achievers from people who plateau in their lives and careersMental models are powerful and systematically underrated and studying mental models is one of, if not the most, high leverage activities you can do with your time We often fall prey to having too narrow of a focus and ignore the bigger picture, we often under-value versatility and a broader persecutive - which mental models give you. What are the most useful mental models to start with? What mental models does Josh frequently apply over and over again?How do you start with mental models? How do you begin to implement them into your life?What do people often get wrong about the 10,000 hour rule? Have you ever said “I would really like to learn how to do something new” but felt like you didn’t have the time?The “Law of Practice” - the early hours of practice at a skill lead to an extremely rapid improvement and development in skills What’s the method or framework for rapidly learning any skill in 20 hours or less?Adult learners often struggle when they compare their skill level with that of other people. Your job is not to compare yourself with others - it's to compare yourself AFTER the 20 hour framework to yourself BEFORE the 20 hour framework. How to fight a hydra is a story of - Ambition, Uncertainty, Risk, Fear of the Unknown How do you deal with the difficulties and self doubts of whether or not you are doing the right thing?Where do most people go wrong with their approach to uncertainty and fear of the unknown?Most people wish uncertainty would go away - they think that if the uncertainty is still there that they are doing something wrong and that they need to change course - but it’s the opposite - you have to be willing to tolerate, accept, and live with uncertainty.Homework: Do some research on mental models and do some reading and learning around mental models. Start filling your mental model toolbox. A practical way to do this - choose to read or listen to something that is dramatically outside your area of expertise. Broaden your intellectual landscape as much as you can. Homework: If you were going to invest 20 hours into learning how to do something that is either personally fulfilling or very helpful for work - if you invested 30 to 40 mins per day for a month - what skill would you focus on first and why? Is that skill really worth committing 20 hours of practice? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to find your purpose in life, especially when you’re lost or confused about what to do next. We hear some incredible stories and unforgettable lessons from people who are fighting through life threatening illnesses, and look at how to really push yourself beyond what you thought was possible to achieve what truly matters to you, all of this and much more with our guest Jon Vroman.  Jon Vroman is the co-founder of The Front Row Foundation, a charity that creates unforgettable moments for individuals who are braving life-threatening illnesses. Jon teaches others to “Live Life In The Front Row” through teaching and inspiring others with the Art of Moment Making. He is also an award-winning speaker, podcast host, and multi best-selling author.Learning about living life, from people who are fighting for their livesWhen you are facing down death - things become super clear. A lot of things that we used to worry about seem to fade into the backgroundWhy one woman was happy that people looked at her with disgust when she was going through her chemo treatmentYour life is going to end. The ride is going to come to an end. How does that shape and change your thinking?How do you face the reality of existence, and mortality, with a sense of vibrancy and positive urgency instead of anxiety and fear of death?If we ask powerful questions, we get powerful answers. Questions shape our lives.If we get ask the wrong questions, we get the wrong answers. You have to manage your mindset. You have to create a positive environment and you have to surround yourself with powerful positive relationships How do we foster powerful relationships Action Item: Write down the 8 most important people in your life, then write down that their #1 goal or dream. Do you know it? How can you help THEM achieve it. Hope can powerfully shape your behavior Hope is uniting, hope is collaborative, hope brings things to life When life throws you curve balls, when you get punched in the face - hope brings you through - it creates the power of possibilities Ask yourself and others “what dreams are making you come alive right now?” If this year was wildly successful for you how would it change your life? How do you fuel yourself? Why do you want to do what you do?The power of telling yourself “If you can’t, you must"When your why has heart, your how gets legs. When the why really matters, you will always find a How. You don’t have to know how, you can figure the how out if you have a strong enough why. How to create real purpose, real fuel in your life - to really push yourself beyond what you thought was possible to achieve what truly matters to youBeing a parent vs being a business person - where does your identity sit? How does shame show up in your life? The ego, the false self, and the true selfBeing a better parent isn’t about learning to say specific things to your kids, it’s not about practical and logical action steps and items - it’s about awakening and developing yourselfHomework: write out the list of your top 8 relationships and write out their dreams, do something once a month to support their dreams. And follow up. And do it right now. Do it with no expectation of anything in return.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we ask how champions are made. Are they born or are they built? Is nature vs nurture even a useful model for understanding human performance? We look at the incredible power of focus and how it translates into championship performance, we study how Navy Seals use the technique of “drown proofing” and how you can use the same thing to conquer your own fear and perform like a champion. All of this and much more with our guest Dr. Rowan Hooper. Dr. Rowan Hooper is managing editor of New Scientist magazine, where he has spent more than ten years writing about all aspects of science. He is also the author of the bestselling book Superhuman: Life at the Extremes of Our Capacity. He worked as a biologist and reporter in Japan and two collections of his long-running column for the Japan Times have been published in Japan. His work has also appeared in The Economist, The Guardian, Wired, and The Washington Post.Are champions and high performers born or are they made?How does expertise, traits, and personality develop over time? To be the best in the world at something, no matter what the rest of us may desire, you probably have a genetic leg up to help you achieve absolute greatness Even if you don’t win the genetic lottery, you can make huge strides and get a very long way with practice - it’s an essential component of achievement It’s not as simple as having a gene that simply makes you a better singer or better runner - it’s a mix or combination of dozens, if not hundreds, of genes - and whether those genes are expressed, via epigenetics Does nature vs nurture make sense? Is that still a useful model for understanding performance?For many complex traits, for example intelligence, around 50% of the variance in that trait is typically linked to genetics For memory - its one of the traits where you can substantially increase your memory without any real genetic help. What you can learn from the world record for sailing around the world solo The incredible power of focus - and how Ellen MacArthur organized her entire life towards setting an epic world record What does the science say about how we can become more focused?Massive meta analysis studies of meditation show that over time your brain structure changes and your cognitive ability improves What does “the science of bravery” say?What do scientists say about how we can increase bravery in ourselves? What Navy Seals training and “drown proofing” can teach us about conquering fear and being more brave What does it mean when “the training kicks in” in a moment of crisis?Exposure therapy - and why it’s so important to helping conquer fear Courage is moving slowly towards what you’re naturally inclined to fear The power of lucid dreaming - controlling your dreams to improve your performanceHow do we think about performance and achievement in our lives, in the context of this science?Think about WHY you are doing what you are doing. Is it really what you love doing? Why do you want to achieve that goal or improve that aspect of yourself?Cross train, and don’t specialize too early. Try different things until you find the one that just suits you perfectlyHomework: Practice whatever it is you’ve decided you want to improve yourself in, practice in a directed and deliberate way, check the science behind what you’re doing  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

What happens when a prominent neuroscientist finds out there is something wrong with his own brain? In this episode we explore the shocking discovery that our guest made when he realized, after years of studying the brains of psychopaths, that he had the exact same brain structure. We unwind the twisted narrative and the wild conclusions that come from his riveting discovery - and much more - with our guest Dr. James Fallon. Dr. James Fallon is a Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at UC Irvine and internationally renowned neurobiologist. He is the author of the best-seller The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist’s Personal Journey into the Dark Side of The Brain. Fallon has lectured worldwide on neurolaw and the brains of psychopathic killers and dictators. His work has been featured on NPR, CBS, ABC, and numerous science specials.A neuroscientist studying the brains and brain scans of muderers and psychopathic killers discovers something truly shockingStudying and analyzing the brains of killers - Dr. Fallon found a surprising pattern of what the brain of a psychopath looks likeFrom studying the genes of Alzheimers patients - Dr. Fallon started uncovering the genetic links to brain structures of psychopaths and sociopaths Adult Stem Cells in your brain can be activated to reverse serious brain conditions Real life Criminal Minds - inside the brain of serial killers and psychopaths What it’s like to discover that you’re a psychopath What are epigenetics? Why don’t all genes express themselves? What’s the “junk DNA” in your cells and what does it do?One of the major things that triggers the expression of certain genes is stress and abuse, especially at a young age (between birth and 3 years old) Most serial killers were not only psychopaths, but also typically had serious damage to their brains as well Smart psychopaths are very hard to catch and very hard to spotFor an everyday person, how do you determine that someone is a psychopath or has psychopathic tendencies?What are the typical signs of psychopathy / narcissistic personality disorder?The use a lot of personal pronouns, more than an average person talkingTheir hands often move up higher and higher above their headsThey will talk very graphically about their own sex life, or their own body, etc They are very glib, they are very slick verbally, and know what to say They often seem very intelligent They are often over confidentThey are often very competent and aggressiveThey might seem too interested or care too much about you and your emotionsTheir conversations always seem like a performance Some of the most dangerous aspects of psychopathy are pro-social psychopaths who know how to navigate society Many of the pro-social traits of psychopaths are often overlapping with the major pro-social traits of psychopathy Psychopaths are always looking for what bothers you emotionally, and then they want to use it against you to manipulate you What’s the best way to defend yourself from a psychopath manipulating you? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss a proven way of overcoming the self-doubt, negativity, and insecurity that hold you back and we show you how to ultimately become your best self using a unique and unlikely strategy. We look at legends from pro athletes to MLK and uncover how they used the same exact strategy to get into the zone when it counts. We discuss all this and much more with our guest Todd Herman. Todd Herman is a high-performance coach and author of, 'The Alter Ego Effect: The Power of Secret Identities to Transform Your Life'. He is the creator of the 90 Day Year a performance system which is designed to create results for business owners, fast. He has worked with Olympic athletes, Entrepreneurs, and Leaders including members of the Spanish Royal Family. He's been featured on the Today Show, The Good Life Project, Inc Magazine and more.Nature is the ultimate litmus test of whether or not an idea has credence and truthIf something doesn’t exist in nature - we need to look at it and understand itBalance does not exist in nature - but equilibrium does If you want to achieve big things, if you want to explore your capabilities, you have to throw yourself out of balance, you have to push past your comfort zone, to achieve big goalsIn order to achieve big goals, you have to give up focus on other areas of your life to do it Integration is far more important than balance - how do we actually integrate things into our lives? How do you move beyond the idea of work-life balance and move into integration?An alter-ego can be an internal trusted friend. Bring an ally inside your mind. How do you get into the zone? How do you get into flow states? An alter ego ALLOWS you to have permission to achieveHow to leverage the science of "Enclothed Cognition” to transform yourself and create a powerful alter ego that can help you achieve anything How legends like pro athletes and Martin Luther King would use physical props to tap into their alter egosThe idea that you are one single self is completely flawed. Life is about context. You are different people in different contexts. You don’t build an alter-ego for your entire life. You build specific alter egos for specific contexts and opportunities.To meet force with force does not help when dealing with difficult people. All it does is prolong the tantrum and create problems. Be like Mr. Rogers.Don’t fight against yourself, leverage the way you naturally behave and turn that to your advantage.Resistance comes from the unconscious and is extraordinarily powerful. Willpower comes from the frontal lobe. It’s like a mouse fighting an elephant. At your core, you have unlimited possibility - you have to decide and choose WHO you are and WHO is gonna show up to get the results you want. If something is getting in the way of you doing what you want to do or know you can do - THAT’S being inauthenticWhat’s the critical difference between being childish and child-like? And why does that matter?Homework: Define what “field of play” it makes the most sense for you to use an Alter Ego in. Start with - what area of life are you most frustrated with?Homework: What are the traits you most want to bring into that field of play? Is there anyone or anything that already embodies that? A fictional character? A real person? A historical figure? Is there someone that you’re really drawn to? Your mind is constantly telling stories - if you tap into an existing story that’s already been written - you harness the power of it. Ask yourself - how can you ACTIVATE that? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how our guest helped the secret agents become more creative. We look at specific strategies to navigate personal change while empowering and using your imagination. How do you become more imaginative? What are the keys to sparking imagination and creativity? How do you use creativity to get through challenging setbacks? We discuss all of this and much more with our guest Beth Comstock. Beth Comstock is a business executive and author with a deep history of leading large companies to success through innovation and new opportunities. Beth is currently a director at Nike, the trustee of The National Geographic Society and former board president of the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian National Design Museum. She is the author of the best-selling book Imagine it Forward - Courage, Creativity, and the Power of Change. She has worked in top leadership roles at GE, NBC, CBS, and her work has been featured across the globe.What is the imagination gap?How does our quest for certainty end up killing possibility?We often fail to use our imagination to move ourselves, and the world, forwardWhat did a chance meeting with the CIA have to do with navigating personal change and using your imagination?We want a risk free world, a risk free life - but it doesn’t existRisk is the will to act on imagination The 5 key elements of sparking imaginationIn today’s world - we have to “Get good at change"How to handle change and the disruptive pace of change in todays world Do you have your own process or practice of adaptation?What does it mean to have a practice or process of adaptation?“Going on threes” - after you see something a third time, use that as a trigger to follow up and learn more about itTake back 10% of your time for these contemplative routines Pick up a magazine you would NEVER read and read it on a plane - expose yourself to radically new ideas The future is here, its just not even distributed yetYou have to put yourself out there to discover new ideas - “mushroom hunting” "Get outside the Jar” - getting outside creates a whole new perspective In a world where we often choose our filters based on what we already believe - its even more important to expose yourself to new and different ideaWhat is social courage and how can you create it for yourself?The power of small challenges and change to help build your skillsWhat do we do when gatekeepers limit us from what we want?Most of the time people give up on an idea when they hear No one timeThe power and magic of “No is not yet” - no is an invitation to come back in a new way Building up resilience and persistence when we really care about our ideas How do you build bridges instead of walls? Your critics can become your best advocates if you treat them the right way“I’m gonna work to do better, but I need your help”What problem are we trying to solve? Are you aligned with the people you work with on solving the same problem?Often times we try to protect ourselves, our ideas - even our own egos - by trying to hide from negative feedback - but it’s often essential to fueling creativity and getting to the best ideas and solutionsIt’s so easy to delude ourselves, to think things are they way we want them to be, or they should be, instead of the way they are - acknowledging reality is a vital step towards creating results Constraints are very powerful for fostering creativity Homework: Ask yourself what’s one thing you want to move forward on? Ask yourself what’s holding you back and write a permission slip to yourself “I give myself permission to do this." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss what causes the big moments that can transform your entire life in an instant and we show you how to create that kind of motivation and inspiration in your every day life so that you can be more productive and happier. We also expose why the common wisdom about willpower and “ego depletion” is completely wrong and what you should do instead. All this and much more with our guest James Fell. James Fell is an author, owner of BodyForWife.com, and science-based motivator for lasting life change. He is one of the most read health and fitness writers in North America and currently writes articles for the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous publications including TIME Magazine, Men’s Health, Women’s Health, and much more. He is the author of the recently released book The Holy Sh!t Moment: How Lasting Change Can Happen in an Instant.When we have a transformative experience it’s not about behavior change, its about a change in your CORE IDENTITY or your VALUESWhat causes the big moments that can shift or transform your life in an instant?Minimizing the discomfort of change so that it doesn’t combat your core identity to much In order to create lasting behavior change and form sticky habits its a slow and painful processIdentity and value change can happen in a flash, effortlessly Do we have to use willpower and grit? Do we have to tough it out and suck it up? The idea that people can’t change because they lack willpower is DEEPLY FLAWED The 1996 Case Western Study - would you rather eat chocolate or radishes? “Ego depletion” - the idea that willpower is a limited resource - is a flawed and dated ideaThe 2 big flaws with the studies about ego depletion and willpowerWillpower is often irrelevant to the equation of motivationWillpower training and efforts to increase willpower have never shown any effectHaving to power through and do things you hate has negative mental and physical consequences The “Rage to Master” and how it drives people to work relentlessly on things they are overwhelmingly passionate about Rather than trying to CREATE GREATNESS - find the thing that makes you WANT TO CREATE GREATNESS - the field that naturally makes you want to strive for greatness Happiness vs Flourishing Happiness is a state of mind - it’s temporaryWhat really drives people is flourishing - finding something where you a contributing to your own wellbeing and the wellbeing of othersThe science of epiphanies and eureka moments - how you can prep and prepare your brain for insights What could I accomplish if I had an endless fountain of motivation to do it? What could that be?Life changing epiphanies typically happen after you’ve done deep analytical preparation work The answers don’t come when you’re trying to solve the problem, they come later when the conscious mind is distracted. Go for a walk. Do something to distract yourself. You can’t be listening to a podcast, listening to an audiobook etc - you can’t be distracted in any way. You have to get inside your own head and let data meander and collide until you see a novel solution.“Most people tip toe through life trying to make it safely to death."What if life could be more of a thrill ride? Keys to creating life changing epiphaniesHomework: As soon as you finish listening to this podcast, go lie down in a quiet place with no distraction. No TV, no radio, no phone, no one talking. Be alone with your thoughts for ten or fifteen minutes and free associate, think about anything. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to break into careers in tough industries, the skills it takes to succeed in difficult circumstances, how to deal with the difficulty of constant rejection, how to build the “muscle” of determination, a hack for switching your thinking that can make it much easier to face challenging situations and rejection and much more with our guest Alex Grodnik.  Alex Grodnik is the COO at the fin-tech startup Payclub. Alex holds a finance degree from UCLA Anderson and has spent the past 9 years in investment banking, digital media, business development, and more. He is the host of the “Moving Up” podcast by Wall Street Oasis where he interviews business leaders to learn and share their secrets to success and life.What does it take to get a job at one of the toughest industries in the world From sending out hundreds of resumes amidst the financial crisis - what does it take to really succeed in finding the career you desire?Always be moving the ball forward - leverage any possible way you can to get into the door Be dogged, be determined, don’t take no for an answerUnique outcomes, huge life changing moments, don’t come from your first trial or your first failure How do you deal with the challenges of constant rejection?It’s all about practice and getting reps - getting reps getting rejected and building that muscle of determination Every no gets you one step closer to a yes If you’re afraid of something, exposing yourself to it will actually lessen that fear What’s the conversation rate of the activity you’re working on? It’s probably not 100% - Its probably really close to 5% or 10% Everyone is so caught up in themselves that they aren’t paying attention to you You have to expose yourself to discomfort to become stronger and to become anti-fragile Evolutionarily we’re programed to be risk averse - and yet the risks today are so much lower than they were thousands of years ago - and yet we constantly stay within what’s comfortable to us The benefits of being rejected - Confidence, Humility, Seeing the world in a positive light The goal is to reduce the fear of rejection by constantly exposing yourself to it The risk reward of rejection is massively in favor of getting rejected Homework: Start small and get rejected now Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we look at how to live a healthy, happy, successful life - from the inside out. We explore what it means to have an “integrated” brain, look at lessons across vastly different scientific disciplines, and share the accessible, simple strategy you can use in 20 minutes to integrate the most important learnings from scientific research to create an integrated brain, body, and mind - to improve your health, happiness, wellbeing and success with our guest Dr. Dan Siegel.  Dr. Dan Siegel is a clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and the founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA. He is a multi-best-selling author and award-winning educator and a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. His work has taken him across the globe to work with individuals such as the King of Thailand, Pope John Paul II, and The Dalai Lama.What is integration? What does it mean to live a fully connected life?Different parts can be honored for their differences and then linked and connected and allowed to communicate with one anotherThe linking of different integrated parts - is the fundamental way a complex system optimizes functioning - the way it “self organizes” An optimally integrated organism or organization is in a state of harmony, a state of flow, a state of healthA healthy life, a successful life, a happy life comes from being integratedThe opposite of integration is either Chaos or Rigidity Dan comes at the questions of happiness and successful lives from a wholistic integrated perspective across any and all scientific fields  “interpersonal neurobiology”A healthy mind is both integrated within - inside your body - and integration between - integration between other people and the planet Information.. IN FORMATION - information is just energy in a certain configuration that gives it context and meaning - information is meaning embedded via energy patterns How is the MIND part of the system of energy and information flow in reality and the world as a whole?“Emergence” - the essence of a complex system is that it interacts with itself and self organizes 3 Pillar Training - how to integrate the brain to be healthier and happier - how to live in harmony instead of chaos Do you feel like you belong? Does our society today foster a sense of belonging? This powerful story about a sense of belonging ties into the science of the mind and the brain - the “embodied brain” and the “relational” mind What is the self? What is the mind? Does the mind exist, as the source of your self, inside your skin encased body? Is that it?You also have a relational self that is equally as important as your individualized self By cultivating the 3 pillars you develop neuroplastic changes in your brain - changes in the physical structure of your brain - to create meaningful integration for the brain Integration is the basis of wellbeing in your body, mind, and relationships The accessible, simple strategy you can use in 20 minutes to integrate the most important learnings from scientific research to create an integrated brain, body, and mind - to improve your health, happiness, wellbeing and success.Homework: Take the Wheel of Awareness on Dan’s website (linked in the show notes) - most efficient, effective, science based, multi-disciplinary thing you can bring into your life . It’s wholly grounded in science and its accessible for you to do anywhere.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we show you how to solve any problem in your life - using a simple and no risk tool that you can start with right now. We dig into why you get stuck on problems and how we often deceive ourselves. We talk about why reasons are often a ruse and how they can become dangerous once they turn into excuses, and much more with our guest Dr. Bernard Roth. Bernard Roth is the co-founder of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford. He is one of the world’s pioneers in robotics and the primary developer of the concept of the Creativity Workshop. He is the best-selling author of The Achievement Habit: Stop Wishing, Start Doing, and Take Command of Your Life. His work has been featured in FORTUNE, The New York Times, Fast Company, Business Insider, and more!Why do you get stuck in your life?Are you focused on the right problems in your life, or the wrong problems?Reframing problems opens up a tremendous new solution space to your problemEven if you solved the problem that you think you need to solve, it may not get you what you ultimately want to get What would it do for me if I solved this problem? Work on THAT solution instead of the original problem The no-risk tool you can use to solve any problem / reframe any problem The one question that can completely blow apart your thinking and help you solve any problemWe often lie to ourselves, we don’t tell ourselves the truth, you often try to deceive yourself to maintain your self image The importance difference between disappearing a problem vs solving a problem Why you have to get super clear about what you REALLY want to achieve (and how to do it)Tell yourself the truth about the REAL problem and open up the problem-space and solution space for new ways of conceiving of it - so you that you can find new solutions We all do things we aren’t proud of and we all have motivations we don’t want to admit - we have to develop the self awareness to see what the truth about ourselves and our motives areWhy Bernie says "Reasons are Bulls**t” The only function of reasons is that they let you pretend that you are a reasonable person There’s no one cause for anything you do - the moment you isolate that single cause you are lying The way your brain works - you do stuff, and then you make up a reason to do it There are a multitude of reasons for everything - we just single out one and pretend it’s the entire cause We explain the world with a simple cause and effect model - and yet there is not one single cause for anything in the worldReasons are an excuse for being late, not losing weight, not getting your job done, not creating the results you want, etcIf you stop lying to yourself, it becomes easy to change your behavior When saying NO to people, you will get more reception if you don’t give a reason (aka an excuse) Fix yourself first, don’t worry about fixing othersIn your own behavior, substitute the word REASON for the word EXCUSEWhat’s the difference between Trying and Doing? (Was Yoda right?)If you’re trying to do something it might or might not happen. If you’re doing something you will make it happen, no matter what. When people are DOING - obstacles don’t defeat them - they make it happen. Obstacles are often a gift, unless you let them be a deterrent Force often takes a lot more energy than power, when you’re powerful you flow and achieve Knowledge is useless if you don’t apply it Homework: Stop using reasons. Reframe your problems. Ask yourself if you’re doing or trying, and decide which one it is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Today’s episode is a bit different than a normal episode of Science of Success. We share the incredible "Real Life Story of The Epic Quest To See How The World’s Most Successful People Launched Their Careers” - including a wild journey of hacking the Price is Right, meeting Bill Gates and Lady Gaga, and an epic five year quest to study and learn form the world’s top achievers. This is a topic I’ve dedicated my life to and this fascinating discussion with our guest Alex Banayan shines some new light on one of the most important questions of our lives - what was the inflection point that set massively successful people’s lives on a different trajectory? Alex Banayan is the best-selling author of The Third Door, which chronicles his five-year quest to track down the world’s most successful people to uncover how they broke through and launched their careers. He has been named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list and Business Insider’s “Most Powerful People Under 30.” He has been featured in major media including Fortune, Forbes, Businessweek, Billboard, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, and much more!My passion has been studying the worlds top achievers - Alex took that to another level Alex’s seven year journey becoming obsessed with studying the world’s most successful people Do you know what do you want to do with your life? Are you on the right path?How did Bill Gates, Stephen Speilberg etc achieve epic results so early in their lives?When no one would talk to the world’s most successful people early in their careers - how did they break through?The ridiculous story of “hacking” the Price is Right“The Flinch” - when you become so nervous that you don’t do anythingBreakfast with Larry King The common strategy shared by the worlds top achieversThe world’s top achievers all treat success the exact same way The Power of the Third Door Framework Most people think success is either a function of waiting your turn or being born into it The reason most people never achieve their dream is not because the dream is unachievable but because of their fear stops them from going after their dreamsTop achievers don’t achieve fearlessness, instead they achieve courage Fearlessness is jumping off a cliff without thinking about it, courage is acknowledging your fears, looking at the consequences, and then deciding you care so much about it you’re going to take one step forward anywayFor the world’s most successful people there wasn’t one big single tipping point in their lives - it was a series of incremental small steps that compounded over time When you’re in the trenches building your dream there is no tipping point - it’s all just little steps Everyone tries to over-optimize and wait for things to be perfect. If things are 80% there it’s up to you to jump and close that gap. The founder of TED live’s his life by two mantras:If you don’t ask you don’t getMost things don’t work out The Power of Possibility transforms people much more than giving them the tools and resources to succeed Homework: If you’re looking to find your path, looking to find your passion - Take the “30 Day Challenge.” Buy a notebook, write “30 day challenge” on the front. Every day for the next 30 days you have to journal about the same 3 questions. It has to be 30 consecutive days, it can’t be spread out over several months. Pick the same time of day and consistently do it:What excited me today? What filled me with enthusiasm?What drained me of energy today? What did I learn about myself today?The magic happens on the last few days  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we ask - why you don’t follow through on the things that are most important to you? How can someone facing down near death fail to follow essential health protocols? What causes people to self sabotage? Why is it so hard to follow up and follow through with your goals? We share the important lesson that it’s not about more information - it’s about finding the right pattern of behaviors and habits to match with your desired goal - and building a scientifically validated process to make sure you actually achieve them. We discuss this and much more with our guest Dr. Sean Young. Dr. Sean Young is the Executive Director of the University of California Institute for Prediction Technology. He has previously worked with companies such as NASA and has spoken in forums such as the European Parliament. He is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal Best-Seller Stick With It: A Scientifically Proven Process for Changing Your Life - For Good and his work has been featured across the globe.When we fail to create personal change, is it a question of lack of willpower?Why don’t we follow through on the things that matter most to us?It’s not about changing the person, its about changing the process What is the science behind sticking with your goals?It’s almost never a question of having enough information - smokers KNOW smoking is bad, and yet they keep doing it, people KNOW how to lose weight, but they don’t “A, B, C Behaviors"Automatic BehaviorsBurning BehaviorsCommon Behaviors Not all behaviors are created equal - and not all habits solve certain kinds of behaviors Automatic behaviors happen without conscious thoughtBurning behaviors - things like addictions, “having to do something” having to play video games, having to check your phone, having to text someone, etc. Common behaviors - we are aware of what we’re doing - but we often can’t stick with it because other things come up The 7 Forces of Behavior Change - well documented psychology research The “SCIENCE” Framework - each letter represents a different one of these 7 tools you can use to create behavior changeStep LaddersCommunityImportantEasyNeurohacksCaptivatingEngrained We have to create behavioral and habit change in small incremental stepsThe “steps, goals, and dreams” framework that helps quantify and looks at how to differentiate between steps, goals and dreamsA dream is something that takes more than 3 months A goal takes between 1 and 3 monthsA step takes a week or lessMake change easier for yourself - remove barriers to the behaviors you want to foster and create barriers towards the things you don’t want to do Joe Colombe and the story of building a business around making it easy for consumers What are “Neurohacks” and how can we use them to switch our behavior over time?If you want to create change it doesn’t start with the mind, it starts with the behavior first, and then your mind will follow Rewards sometimes work, but they need to be the right ones. The rewards you use have to be the most captivating First, figure out what kind of behavior it is. Then, determine the right Force of Behavior Change to use on that particular favor. Most powerful Tool for each behavior type?Homework:Step One: What Kind of Behavior Are You Trying to Change?Step Two: Put together a calendar, and take small action steps towards the goals you want to achieve.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we show you how to command your focus and attention. We discuss why many people have the wrong idea of what it means to be productive - and how thinking that you need to boil your life down to spreadsheets and checklists is the wrong way to approach productivity . We share the secret ingredient for true productivity - and look at exactly how you can implement it, practically and realistically, in your own life with our guest Chris Bailey. Chris is a productivity expert, speaker, and best-selling author. His career began by conducting a year-long experiment examining best practices for productivity which is documented in his book, The Productivity Project. His latest book Hyperfocus aims to help readers stay focused and avoid distractions. His work has been featured in The Harvard Business Review, The New York Times, TED, Fast Company, and more!Many people have the wrong idea of what productivity is - and it often leads to implementing the wrong solutions It’s not about efficiency and boiling your life down to checklists and spreadsheetsIf there’s one thing that underlies real productivity is INTENTION We are perfectly productive when we accomplish the things we set out to doIntention is like the “wood behind the arrow"The percentage of the day with which you act with intention is directly proportional to your results and to the quality of your life How much control of attention you have is correlated with happiness, satisfaction, and productivity What is intentionality and why is it so important?Most people manage their time relatively well, but where they massively fall short is managing their ATTENTIONThe novelty bias in our brains causes us to constantly jump into new phenomenon to get our next dopamine hitDeliberate mind wandering is as important as the time we focus on being productive“Not all those who wander are lost” - J. R. R. TolkeinCultivating “unfocus”, mind wandering, and contemplative routines open up space to focus on and determine what’s most important - to unearth the beautiful, brilliant ideas we wouldn’t arrive at otherwiseResearchers found that people who watched 6 or more hours of news coverage about a bombing were more likely to develop PTSD than someone who was actually at the bombing event (Boston Marathon) How do you go about taming your distractions?Does meditation waste time or does it make you more productive?Meditation is one of the few things that gives you more attention and focus for other thingsWhen you have an active meditation practice your working memory increases by up to 30% If you don’t execute on productivity ideas and strategies - what’s the point?Meditation has the best time-adjusted return of any productivity strategy We look at busyness as a proxy for how productive we are when that’s completely wrong. Working on a sleep deficit shrinks your ability to focus by up to 60% There’s a huge amount of guilt, especially in western society, around taking breaks, resting, and downtime - even though these are HUGE components of being highly effective and productive How do you deal with the GUILT of not feeling productive?Set 3 intentions every day, set 3 intentions every week, and set 3 intentions every year Pre-Decisions create intention throughout your day How do you Re-Charge your attention?Habitual tasks create the structure that frees our mind to think freely and wander Homework: What resonated the most for YOU - take action on that? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore how to unleash and live in your genius. How do you discover what your genius is? How can you spend more and more of your time doing what you love? We discuss how you can unlock the incredible potential within yourself and avoid the traps that may stop you from getting there. We share the lessons learned from working with more than 20,000 people to help them on their own journeys to genius - and give you the exact strategies and tactics to create a positive upward spiral of genius for yourself with our guest Dr. Gay Hendricks. Dr. Gay Hendricks is the president of the Hendricks Institute and has been a thought leader in the fields of relationship transformation and body-mind therapies for over 45 years. Gay earned his Ph.D in counseling psychology from Stanford and taught at the University of Colorado for 21 years and has conducted seminars across the globe. He is also a multi-bestselling author, having written more than 40 books most recently The Joy of Genius which was released earlier this year!The 2 big issues that human beings faceUpper limit problems Living in your genius People get used to operating at a certain level of success, happiness, etc - we often trip these fears that cause us to sabotage back to the levels we feel we deserveLessons from working with over 20,000 people and 5000 couples Almost everyone, no matter how successful you are, has a lot of potential left to be developed You need to make a commitment to bringing forth your genius. You have absolutely no idea how much potential you have left inside of yourself. It doesn’t matter how bright you are - it’s about making an inner commitment to bringing your genius out. That inner commitment is the first starting place. How Gay went from spending 10% of his life doing what he loves - it took him years to get to 30%, years more to get to 50% - until 20 years later he spends 90% of his time doing what he loves The first thing you need to do is find out if you’re courageous enough to make a heart felt commitment to living in your zone of genius Simple Mantra - “I Commit To Bringing Forth My Genius No Matter What It Takes"You must find 10 minutes per day committed to finding your geniusGenius is addictive and its contagious - the more you do it, the more you want to do it , the more you inspire people with your genius, the more people who get inspired What is the genius Move? How can you do it everyday?What’s a Genius Moment? We are confronted with them every day. A genius moment may look like a problem at the surface, but it’s often actually an invitation to spot your genius There are some things you can control, and some things you cannot control What often makes miserable is focusing on things that we don’t have control over whatsoever None of us have any control whatsoever over the past - the only reason to think about the past is to identify something in this moment that you can do differently True creativity is when you’re expressing your own genius - and when you’re doing it in a way that is inspiring others around you“All of humanities problems stem from not being able to sit quietly in a room” - Blaise PascalHomework: Sit for 10 minutes quietly living with the question of “What is my genius?"If you already know what your genius is - ask yourself “ How can I bring forth my genius in a way that inspires me and other people I interact with?"How and why you can use “Wonder questions” to discover your life’s purpose  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we explore how you can confidently be yourself - even if you’re afraid of what other people may do or think. We discuss how our obsession with niceness and people pleasing is often a problem and share specific tools you can use to overcome it. We also talk about the power and importance of saying no - and the right way to do it so that you can move away from approval seeking and step into bold authenticity with our guest Dr. Aziz Gazipura.  Dr. Aziz Gazipura is a clinical psychologist and founder of The Center for Social Confidence, which is dedicated to helping others break through their shyness and social anxiety. He is the author of the #1 Amazon best-seller Not Nice: Stop People-Pleasing, Staying Silent, & Feeling Guilty... And Start Speaking Up, Saying No, Asking Boldly, And Unapologetically Being Yourself. Aziz’s work has helped thousands of people through workshops, coaching, media appearances, and more.Do you struggle with people pleasing and being afraid to say no to people?What’s the difference between being nice and behind kind?A lot of the behaviors that we think are nice often come from fear, obligation, or guilt The opposite of niceness is BOLD AUTHENTICITYNiceness is a way of being that is focused on “damage control”- being in a place of “safety mode” When we are focused on being nice our #1 priority is to focus on avoiding possible danger - making sure everyone is pleased If you didn’t care at all what people thought of you - would couldn’t have any relationships - you would be a sociopath“Nice conditioning” - is a pattern that is conditioned into us from an early age. We’re systemically told not to trust our own desires and to instead “do the right thing” and “be nice” Why we’ve lost the ability to ask “what do I want” and how that is dangerousWhy you should be more selfishExcessive niceness is not benign - it’s coming from a place of fear, insecurity, and feeling threatened - and when you’re constantly in that space you are much more likely to experience symptoms of stress, anxiety, sickness, pain and more - TMS - Tension Mytosis Syndrome - from living in  place of chronic stress First become AWARE that it’s OK to say no and that we need to say noTo retrain from niceness to authenticity - it’s about being uncomfortable and discomfort training You live in a cloud of stories and dramatic fantasies about what will happen when you say no - TEST THE ASSUMPTION and see what happens. Why you should do a “social fitness” “warm up” to get out of your comfort zone. Friendly greetings to strangers is a great strategy for this. It’s like launching into orbit - after a few tries, you reach a breaking point where you “pop” into zero gravity and you’re no longer being held back. Niceness is not serving you, it’s not who you are, it’s a safety pattern.This is how you STOP BEING AFRAID TO BE YOUFind 2 opportunities per week to specifically ask for what you want. Then build that muscle, start asking for things that are edgier and edgier and edgier for you. Homework: Make a fundamental decision that you don’t want to be as nice anymore. Write out a short paragraph about why it’s no longer serving you to be the nice and that you are going to do something different. Homework: Pick one thing - what’s the one thing that will be the easiest for you to do that would benefit you and change your life the most? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss a highly counter-intuitive approach to learning that flies in the face of the way you think you should learn and how it might transform your learning process. We explore several powerful, evidence based learning strategies that you can start to apply right now in your life, we explain why you should focus on getting knowledge out of your brain instead of into it (and what, exactly, that means), we share a number of powerful memory strategies you can use to super charge your brain - and much more with our guest Peter Brown. Peter Brown is a best-selling author and novelist. He is the author of five books including Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. Peter’s work turns traditional learning techniques on their head and draws from recent discoveries in cognitive psychology to offer concrete techniques for becoming a more productive learner. His work has been featured in The New York Times, American Public Radio, The New Yorker, and more!What teaching and learning strategies lead to better retention of material?The non-intuitive approach to learning that flies in the face of the way you think you should learnThe act of wrestling with knowledge and material is what actually builds learning that sticks3 Big ideas from Brian’s research (1) It's about getting the knowledge out of your head, not getting it in(2) When learning is easy it doesn’t stick. You have to challenge yourself.(3) Intuition leads us astray. We think that simple repeated practice makes it easier to learn, but that may not be the case. You can’t rely on learning that feels constructive. How does memory get stored? How can your lack of understanding about this lead to worse learning strategies?The more connections you make to existing knowledge, the more you are likely to remember something The more complex knowledge that you build and develop the more you can develop complex mental models for explaining and understanding realityVisual markers, memory palaces and mnemonic devices can be very powerful memory techniques They are not about learning, but rather ORGANIZING what you’ve already learned The key to learning is to put ideas in your own words, to digest them, play with them, and think about the application of them - not just to review the text or information you’ve already read. The “forgetting curve” is a mental model that helps interrupt your pattern of forgetting things - and remembering them at just the right time  Mass practice vs mixed practice - and why the feeling of improvement may be misleading your learning efforts Mental effort and persistence towards a learning goal help build deeper memories - literally change the physical structure of your brain and lead to better and richer memories Homework: Look back at your own life and the things that you’ve tackled that were a struggle, and yet you became good at it - use these as examples for how this strategy can work Homework: Read about the science of learning in generalHomework: Create flash card sets or quizzes for things you want to memorize (even if you aren’t a student)  in order to TEST yourself. Practice retrieving information, over and over again. The retrieval is key! Only by doing it can you be confident you know how to do it. Self testing, space it out, and come back later to do it again.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the incredibly important thing that everyone (including you!) get’s wrong about presence, we explore how to prime yourself for the best performance in moments of pressure and high stakes situations where other people are watching and judging you. We look at the results from thousands of experiments over the last few decades to uncover the fascinating truth about power and powerlessness. And we share the exact strategy you can use to shift your brain into the mode that allows you to view the world as more friendly, help you feel more creative, and make you into someone who takes action. We dig deep into all this and much more with our guest Dr. Amy Cuddy.   Dr. Amy Cuddy is an American social psychologist, author, and speaker. She currently lectures on the psychology of leadership and influence at Harvard University and she and her work have won several awards including being named one of “50 Women Who Are Changing The World” by Business Insider. She is the author of the 2015 best-selling book Presence: Bringing Your Boldest Self to Your Biggest Challenges and her 2012 TED talk is the second most viewed talk of all time. Her work has been featured in TIME, Wired, Fast Company, NPR, and countless academic journals. The incredibly important thing that everyone (including you!) get’s wrong about Presence Presence is a momentary state - its when you are attuned to and able to comfortably express your authentic best selfWhat is does it mean to be your “authentic best self?"Presence is about moments of pressure that come from human interaction - people judging us, high stakes situations throwing us off our games When you are present you become aligned, you become synchronous, you aren’t getting in the WAY of yourself you’re BEING yourself - you believe your story and people hear, feel, and see that in your verbal and nonverbal communication The people who do the best on Shark Tank are the ones who clearly buy what they are selling - there is no reservation, you can hear their belief and their conviction When you’re in a place of feeling Powerful - you see the world as more friendly, you’re more creative, you’re more likely to take action - you view the world from the “approach” systemThe vital difference between what Amy calls PERSONAL POWER and what many people’s traditional understanding of POWER might be.Make peace with the idea of Power - its OK to feel powerful. Power is not just power over others or power over resources - its about feeling that you control your own resources, your own destiny, your own life.You want to feel powerful - you want other people to feel powerful - power is a HUGE piece of your general wellbeing. As you start to feel less powerful, as you start to feel less control, you begin to flip into the “Inhibition System” Focus on feelings of expansiveness and try to prepare yourself before getting in high-pressure situations Often times “Mind-Body” Interventions are MUCH more effective, especially when we’re anxious, than “Mind-Mind” InterventionsIf the body is acting like it’s not being threatened, the mind will often follow into the same pattern How does Imposter Syndrome play into feelings of powerlessness? Homework: Before you go into a stressful situation - prepare by using expansive postures, in private, have good posture, carry yourself with a sense of pride, mind your posture. Notice when you slouch and make yourself small. Homework: Change how you’re holding your phone - sit back and hold your phone up over youHomework: Pay attention to other’s posture. Presence invites presence from others.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you feel uncomfortable in conflict with others? Do you experience fear and anxiety when dealing with tough situations? Most negotiation tactics and strategies assume you’re already a master negotiator with nerves of steel - that’s the wrong starting place. In this episode we discuss how you can get comfortable with having tough conversations and build the foundation to become a real master of negotiation - using a simple and easy to apply framework. We discuss how you can deal with tough situations and conflict from a place of poise, curiosity, and confidence with our guest Kwame Christian. Kwame Christian is a business lawyer and the Director of the American Negotiation Institute where he puts on workshops designed to make difficult conversations easier. As an attorney and mediator with a bachelors of arts in Psychology, a Master of Public Policy, as well as a law degree, Kwame brings a unique multidisciplinary approach to the topic of conflict management and negotiation. He also hosts the top negotiation podcast in the country, Negotiate Anything.Should we hide from conflict or should we seek it out and embrace it?Avoiding conflict is human, but it’s not healthyPowerful tactics and strategies don’t matter if you’re unable or unwilling to enter conflicting situations in the first place When people are afraid - their limbic system lights up and their prefrontal cortex is less active - your rational decision-making shuts down and you react more emotionally Cognitive Behavioral Therapy - an action oriented approach to pushing past phobias, fears, anxieties and moreRejection Therapy & exposure therapy - how to build the skillset of mental toughness By forcing yourself into difficult and tough situations - your brain actually changes (via neuroplasticity) and it gets easier over time How do you negotiate with someone and move them out of a negative place / negative emotional state so that you can help get what you want out of a tough situation?3 Step FrameworkStep one is to Acknowledge EmotionsGet Curious with Compassionate CuriosityEngage in Joint Problem Solving / Collaborative Negotiation How do you use the tool of “Acknowledging Emotions"Put it on YOURSELF, not on you “If I was in this situation, I would feel X (frustrated, etc)"Tell me more about what you’re experiencing?The goal is to help them get it out of their system?Then transition to "compassionate curiosity"How can we help you feel more secure?How can we help you solve this problem / situation?Often times people’s emotions will be hidden under a veil of professionalism - exploring the emotional side first helps to defuse themWhen exploring emotional issues - use the past tenseThe power of joint problem solving and joint brainstorming to develop a collaborative approach to solving problems The “copy machine” experimentFalse Belief Negotiations is a zero sum game.There is a difference between conflict and combat. Conflict is an opportunity to solve problems and learn more, there is a big difference. Negotiation isn’t the art of deal making, it’s the art of deal discovery 3 Pillars of NegotiationGet more of what we wantGet less of what we don’t wantStrengthen relationships Even if you don’t get a deal, there is still value to be achieved from a negotiationHomework: Take action - don’t avoid conflict, look at it as something to approach and use it as a Tool to strengthen your skills - find and seek out small conflicts Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to deal with never feeling like you’re “enough,” show you how to overcome the insidious trap of "people pleasing,” look at the most effective treatments for OCD, panic attacks, anxiety and stress, discover the dangers of “toxic perfectionism” and how it might be holding you back, tell you why “should” is a dangerous word, and much more with our guest Taylor Newendorp.  Taylor Newendorp is the founder and president of Chicago Counseling Center and specializes in the treatment of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Perfectionism, and Anxiety Disorders. He was worked as a practicing therapist for many years and completed the International OCD Foundation's Behavioral Therapy Training Institute Taylor is the author of The Perfectionism Workbook: Proven Strategies to Break Free from Perfectionism and Achieve Your Goals.What is the myth of perfection and how does it impact your life?You are more likely to grow, thrive, and succeed once you acknowledge and accept your weaknessesThe Five Tendencies of Toxic PerfectionismWhat is the root cause behind the “people pleasing” tendency? Perfectionism can often be genetically pre-disposed if your family has a history of OCD or anxietyPeople pleasing is rooted in the idea that for you to be loved you have to achieve and be successfulHow much of what you’re doing is is because you WANT to or because you feel like you HAVE TO in order to have other people like you?What activities are you doing that you do solely for the approval of others? Would you do them for their own sake?Growth Mindset vs Fixed Mindset and how that impacts perfectionist tendencies Do you feel a feeling of discontent? No matter what you do, no matter what you achieve, do you feel like it’s never enough? Do you keep pushing yourself harder and harder causing stress and anxiety for yourself?How do you deal with self criticism and negative self talk?What is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and how does it work?Exposure and response prevention is a highly effective solution to OCD, panic attacks, anxiety disorders, etc Learn and familiarize yourself with the cognitive distortions that are out there and see how they are playing out in your head Understand the connection between thoughts and feelings and how that might be influencing how you’re behavingOne question you can use to challenge your negative thoughts - if you had to stand up in a court of law and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that this thought is 100% true would it hold up? When you feel something uncomfortable - avoidance and distraction are the two most common strategies for avoiding discomfortThe more you avoid something the more you increase your anxiety around that fear. The fear grows larger and larger in your brain. The more you face and spend time with your fears, your anxiety dissipates. Dig into and understand the triggers that make you uncomfortable and continually face them to build tolerance and resistance to them Exposure and response therapy creates new neural pathways that reduce anxiety over timeWhat is the relationship between perfectionism and OCD?A lot of people with OCD engage in compulsive behaviors to get a sense that things feel “just right"You should make your goals specific, measurable, and meaningful Mindfulness at its core is about observing yourself, observing others, without attaching judgement to it Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the surprising science of creativity. We begin with a fascinating look into how your brain create reality around you and assigns meaning to things that often have no meaning at all, then we examine the unlikely relationship between doubt, ambiguity, and creativity. We ask how you can chip away at your assumptions so that you can open spaces of possibility to be more creative, we explore the foundations of asking truly good questions, and examine the way that doubt can be a powerful force for unleashing creative insights and more with our guest Dr. Beau Lotto.  Dr. Beau Lotto is neuroscientist, author, and the founder of the Lab of Misfits. His studies in the science of human perception have led him to work in several fields including education, the arts, business, and more. Beau has given multiple TED talks, has spoken to companies such as Google, and his work has been featured on the BBC, PBS, Natural Geographic, Big Think, and much more!Do we see reality as it really is? Do we see the world as it really is?We have no direct access to the world except through our senses Raw data from the senses is all the information the brain gets Data by itself is pointless - any piece of data could mean literally anythingYou can conflate so many different things from your senses The brain relies on history - on context - to interpret all the information it collects - the history of your life, your culture, your evolution, your family, and much moreYour brain has effectively encoded biases and assumptions that filter and shape your perception of reality We didn’t evolve to see the world accurately, we evolved to see it usefully - evolution didn’t optimize for accuracy, it evolved for utility Because of this conclusion we can constantly update and adapt our perceptionsYour brain does not create meaning by passively receiving content - it makes meaning by physically engaging with the world We think of creativity as putting two things that are far apart together - of a eureka moment or moment of insight - for YOU these ideas are far apart - the creative person is making the next logical step of assumption Creative people are making small steps to the next most likely possible. The key to creativity is to CHANGE what’s possible and change your perceptions and assumptions of what’s possibleNothing interesting begins with knowing - it begins with not knowing, it begins with doubt, it begins with a questionThe need for closure, the need for certainty is so strong that we constantly need closure Awe and wonder are also key skills to embracing uncertainty. When you experience awe and wonder you feel connected to the world, you feel curiousFind out what you care about, have the desire to shift/move/change, and ask the right question - then engage other peopleHow do we celebrate doubt? How do we chip away at our assumptions so that we can open spaces of possibility to be more creative?A KEY to asking good questions is to Doubt what you assume to be true alreadyHomework: Take ownership of your own biases and assumptions. Engage in a person you care about with a question of your assumptions next time you have a conflictHomework: Go from A to “Not-A” - Let go of reflexive meanings. Take a cold shower and feel the cold water, don’t attach the significant of uncomfortableness - just feel the coldness as neutral.Homework: Change the meaning of what’s happened in the past (which will change your assumptions and perceptions). The brain is a time machine - we can never change what happened, but we can change the MEANING of what happened. You can change history of your past meanings. That’s what therapy does.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss the science of Talent. We look at how great talent is built into the very physical structure of the brain itself, explore the incredible importance of striving at the edge of your ability and staying there as long as possible, the vital importance of mistakes in the learning process, how a group of kindergartners beat a bunch of CEOs at a simple team-building exercise, a powerful tool Navy Seals use to make better decisions that you can apply to your life right now, and much more with our guest Daniel Coyle.  Daniel Coyle is the New York Times Bestselling Author of The Talent Code, The Culture Code, several other books. He is a contributing editor for Outside Magazine and works as a special advisor to the Cleveland Indians. His most recent work focuses on how we can build cultures that last and high highly productive and his work has been featured on the TED stage and more.What is a talent hotbed? What are these little places that produce hugely disproportionate high achievers?How does the brain learn and what that has to do with Talent?What does great practice look like, what does great motivation look like,  what great coaching looks like?Repeatedly going to the edge of your ability, noticing your failure, and learning from it - that’s how great performance is builtIt’s not nature vs nature - it's not either or - its nature multiplied by nature How do we learn at the edge of our growth zone?You should be aiming for a failure rate of 20-30% of the timeIf you’re failing more than that, move the target closerIf you’re failing less, move the targets further away This concept of learning at the edge of your comfort zone flips the entire idea of mistakes on its head - mistakes are WHERE the learning takes place Mistakes are information that you can use for your next try - they’re a keep component of the learning process Mistakes are the gift - they ARE the moment - when the learning is embedded in your brainThe way to create feedback loops in business and areas with murky or long feedback loops is to define your scoreboard - define yourself against a very clear standard or dashboard for yourself - hold yourself accountable to metricsDefine what you want - make the bar really clearLearning = Experience + Reflection. Without the reflection, you won’t learn. Get really specific on what skills you want to improve - and then build a process towards improving those skills and make it as measurable as possibleCulture is the MOST IMPORTANT THING you do in a group - it's your most important asset, it's your Achilles heel High-performance groups operationalize truth, vulnerability, and safety Navy Seals “AAR” - After Action Review - hard conversation about what went wrong, what went right, what they’re doing to do differently next time Groups that hide vulnerability are weakLeaders who are constantly radiating humility have more strength - humility takes strength To be vulnerable at work - frame your vulnerability around learningWe have a powerful instinct to hide away from negative moments and things we don’t like - and yet leaning into mistakes and problems is the best way to grow as an individual - and the best way to form strong organizations Homework: “WSD” - Write s**t down. Have a place and a time every day where you can get away from things and reflect on what happened. A cool calm place where you can reflect, trace threads, connect dots, reflect on your performance. This is the most powerful thing you can do. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss the foundations of evidence based thinking, the important balance between Habits and Decisions and how each of them shapes who you ultimately become and dig into the idea that your decisions set the trajectory of your life, but your habits determine how far you walk on that journey, from there we explore how to build high impact habits, what you need to do to determine the best habits to focus on first, how you can harness the the power of the “aggregation of marginal gains,” and much more with our guest James Clear. James Clear is an american author, entrepreneur, and photographer. His personal blog, jamesclear.com has over 400,000 email subscribers and his first book Atomic Habits is set to release in October this year. His work focuses primarily on habits and human potential looking to answer the question “How can we live better?” by focusing on science-backed methods. James’s work has been featured in The New York Times, CBS, Forbes, and more.There’s no real playbook, everyone is operating on their best guess and trying to do their best with limited informationScience and scientific research are the best tools we have for determining what the “Best guess” would be for improvementScience is still a guess, but its the best method we have to guide our actions and is much better than anecdote or opinion You are not the average - you have to adopt this philosophy of self experimentation to determine what works for youIt’s very hard to step outside of your own experience - but that experiment may not always be the best predictor or provider of informationYou could live a billion lives - its up to you to decide and determine which single version of YOU actually gets lived Your decisions set your trajectory and your habits determine how far you walkDecision making creates leverage, habits capture itIt’s always the process that leads to the outcomes. Focus on the process. And build a system so that process happens every dayTrue behavior change is identity change. Once you change your identity it doesn’t feel like work anymore. It’s NEVER the first mistake that ruins you - its the spiral of mistakes that follows it. Get back on track. A “craving” is a desire to change your state” to some small degreeMotivation is something that rises and falls arbitrarily - don’t rely on motivation to force yourself to adopt new habitsIt can be dangerous to “start too big” with new habits The true impact of habits is far greater than we realize - little habits are like an entrance ramp to a highway - the determine what we end up doing for minutes or even hours afterwardsFocus on mastering a few decisive moments that end up shaping how you spend your time - and make those moments as easy as possible.Find people who’ve achieved what you want to achieve - but also have SOME commonality with you nowHomework: downscale your habits until they can fit within 2 minutes (make sure your habits are small enough)Read one page in a bookMake the decisive moment as easy as possible Homework: reduce friction so that doing that behavior is as easy as possible. Start with environment designIncrease friction for bad behaviorsReduce friction for good behaviors Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to become a high performer at work. We look at one simple question you can use to double your productivity, we talk about how to decipher scientific evidence and determine what’s really important to focus on for maximum performance, we examine how to get quality feedback on your work, share strategies for creating high performance habits and behaviors, and uncover what it takes to quickly improve your performance with our guest Marc Effron. Marc Effron is the founder and president of the Talent Strategy Group and publisher of the Talent Quarterly Magazine. He is a Harvard Business Press best-selling author and just released his latest book 8 Steps To High Performance. He has been recognized as one of the Top 100 Influencers in H.R. and he has worked and consulted with some of the largest companies in the country.We have so much science that tell us many of the right things to do - and yet its often so hard to discern signal from noise People like writing about individual topics - but often don’t combine them all into one cohesive view of reality as a whole“The Three Tiers of Proof” Bottom tier “Research" - a consulting firm does a study and comes out with a report - not peer reviewed, not validated, not controlled - but still may have some valueNext step up - "Science" - someone has published an article in a peer reviewed journal The best - "Conclusive Science" - 100 people do the experiment and all come to the exact same conclusion If you want to get better you’re much better off asking others for feedback than just looking at yourselfWhat’s your disciplined approach for gathering feedback from others about what makes you so successful?How do we gather quality feedback?Source of opinions and quality of opinion are not equal. Find your high performing peersFind your high performing people at your bosses level that you would like feedback fromIf you’re a solo entrepreneur your customers or investors are probably the best people to askCan we set goals that are too big and too ambitious? How do we strike that balance?Ask yourself - is your big goal too disengaging? Could it be harmful to the organization?Given where my company is - what needs to happen for me to be the most high performance I can be? What are the few behaviors that matter the most for performance right now?Three “buckets” of behaviors that cause us to derail:“Moving away” behaviors - behaviors that cause you to put distance between you and other people. Passive aggression, shyness, etc. “Moving against” behaviors - putting you into other people’s space and make them want to spend less time with you“Moving towards” behaviors - suck up behavior, managing up and the people below you don’t like itThere are many fixed traits of your life, background, abilities etc that you can’t change - focus on what you can change It’s the experience we have that grow us fastest - the most big, challenging, scary, risky experiences you have the faster you’re going to learn. It’s easy to get comfortable, but comfort is the enemy of growthWe often exaggerate the downside and underestimate the upsideHomework: Action begins with an assessment of where we are today - how do you compare against the 8 step framework - then determine what your ONE key priority going forward should be Homework: Ask your boss: I want to deliver 2x next year - what’s the ONE thing I could do differently to deliver more on that goal? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the shocking truth about the dangers of positive thinking. Is it always good to visualize your goals? Could there be potential downsides to daydreams and fantasies about the future? How can we identify what stands in the way of our goals and take concrete action to get there? We look at these questions and much more, along with a proven evidence-based methodology for creating effective behavior change - to actually achieve what you want - with our guest Dr. Gabriele Oettingen Dr. Gabriele Oettingen is a Professor of Psychology at New York University and the University of Hamburg. She is the creator of the WOOP process and author of the book Rethinking Positive Thinking: Inside The New Science of Motivation. Her work has been featured in The Harvard Business Review, NPR’s Hidden Brain, and much more!Positive thinking must be positive, right?The shocking and counter-intuitive science behind the truth about positive thinkingPositive fantasies and daydreams about the future can be very helpful when we think about improving our mood - but when it comes to actually executing and creating results, positive fantasies can have a serious negative impact on our behavior and our resultsStudies show that inducing positive fantasies about the future causes a drop in energy and motivationPositive fantasies and daydreams sap our energy for moving towards our goalsMental Contrasting of the Positive Future and the Inner Obstacles of Reality standing in the way of that positive futureMental contrasting helps you prioritize your goals and figure out the right ones to pursue The myth of “positive thinking” and “being optimistic” is very seductive - but it can be dangerous and misleadingMost of our wishes are more challenging, difficult, and complicated than we think they areSheer positive visualization won’t help you get to your goals, and may be harming you and making it less likely for you to achieve your goals Positive visualization creates a measurable physical change in your body that makes you less likely to the action and create results The idea that you have an obstacle in the way will stir up the energy necessary to overcome your obstaclesThinking about your obstacles will produce strategies that will help you overcome your obstaclesThe Conscious Exercise of Mental Contrasting triggers nonconscius processes and the conscious processes do the workThe work of Mental Contrasting builds associative links to the subconscious that produces the behavior change necessary to achieve your goalsThe combination of Mental Contrasting + Implementation Intentions it the “WOOP” StrategyWishOutcome (imagine)Obstacle (imagine)Plan (if/then)It only takes 5-10 mins to apply the WOOP methodology - 5-10 mins of concentrated focusSlowUninterruptedFocusedBy yourselfWOOP builds the subconscious framework that creates the behaviors that result in actionWOOP is a skill you can learn and its different because it draws on automatic subconscious processes to create behavioral changeWOOP is a discovery tool - dig a little deeper into your wishes - what is it really that stands in the way?Homework: WOOP for yourself (details on woopmylife.org) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we go deep on the science of performing under pressure. We look at why some people perform under pressure and others don’t. We discuss the skill of flexibility and “fluid intelligence,” explore the differences between stress and pressure, look at concrete strategies for managing both in your life, and much more with our guest Dr. Hank Weisinger. Dr. Hank Weisinger is a psychologist trained in clinical, counseling, school, and organizational psychology. He is the originator of Criticism Training and the emerging field of pressure management. He is the author of several books including his most recent New York Times Best Seller How To Perform Under Pressure and his work has been featured on the Today Show, Good Morning America, ESPN, NPR, and much more!The work on criticism and anger that Dr. Weisinger comes from deep clinical experience and informs his perspective on emotional intelligenceEmotional intelligence is not a new field - it’s been around for a long time - and yet most people don’t grasp the basic premises of emotional intelligenceWhy advice doesn’t work and what you should do instead of giving people adviceYou can’t criticize someone for something they can’t change - the goal of criticism is to create change - and sometimes people can’t change - sometimes the best way to create change is to change your own behaviorA good key to developing the skill of criticism is how quickly you can recognize the defensiveness of another person and use it as a clue that you’re being ineffective and need to try something elseThe faster your recognize that you’re being ineffective the faster change your behavior and create resultsIf you played your best and lost - don’t feel bad. You only feel bad when you play below your capability. Pressure is a villain in your life. There’s nothing good about it. The function of pressure is to weed people out. What is pressure? You're experiencing pressure in a situation where the (a) the outcome is uncertain and (b) its dependent on your performance. Stress and pressure are two different psychological concepts - you must treat them separately and handle them separately. Stress is about having lots of demands on your time and feeling overwhelmed. There are lots of ways to reduce stress. If you have to perform effectively under pressure 24x7 that's a terrible way to liveEvidence-based strategies for reducing the feelings of pressure during the moment“Pressure anxiety” vs “performance anxiety” - what’s the difference and why is it important?How people perform under pressure is often about how they perceive the situation - do they perceive it as threatening or do they perceive it as an opportunity?Don’t get over-attached to an outcome and define yourself and your self-esteem by your job performanceHomework: Literally write down your anxiety and you will do better in your pressure moments. Write them down and they will be less likely to surface during the moment of truth.Homework: Affirm your self-worth before a pressure moment with 3 things that have nothing to do with your performance. Homework: Share your feelings of pressure with others. Homework: Anticipate what might go wrong during a pressure moment.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss several seemingly good ideas that are actually quite dangerous. We start with a look at how the immune system can teach us about the vital importance of being “anti-fragile.” We look at lessons from ancient cultural traditions all the way up to modern psychology research to peel back the layers of our current social dialogue and look at many notions that have permeated our current thinking. What are the best ways to promote growth and development? How can we help heal people who have suffered from trauma? How can we create a framework that allows for our society to seek the truth and solve our toughest challenges? We take a hard look at the answers to these questions and much more with our guest Dr. Jonathan Haidt. Dr. Jonathan Haidt is a social psychologist and professor of ethical leadership at New York University’s Stern School of Business. He is the author of multiple books including most recently The Coddling of The American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. He is also the author of over 90 academic articles and his work has been featured across the globe.What can the immune system teach us about vital importance of anti-fragility?The reason peanut allergies are rising is because America started protecting kids from peanuts in the early 90sKids need to get sick and be exposed to dirt and germs so that they can be healthier - that’s the cornerstone of the immune systemComfort zones are most often expanded through discomfort - we must be uncomfortable to growOur extreme culture of overprotection has really harmed childrenYou don’t grow in a threatening world - you hunker down and get defensiveChildren need to be in the zone of exploration and excitementWhat happens when students themselves ask for protection from ideas and think that ideas will traumatize them?A desire to protect those who are emotionally fragile is wrong - exposure is how you solve fear and emotional fragilityIf the goal is actually to help people - the entire culture of safetyism - that people are fragile and need to be protected - is directly opposed to the scientific research around what actually helps peopleAre the phenomena of Safe space, trigger warnings, micro aggressions and the morality of “safetyism” that arose in the last few years healthy for individuals and society?If you goal is healing trauma and helping people improve - embracing discomfort is the best solutionIf your goal is to seek truth - then you must expose yourself to ideas you disagree with and have others challenge your ideas as well If you goal is ideological victory then you try to silence your opponents ideas If people don’t share ideas because they’re afraid of being attacked - then the entire goal of truth seeking cannot be achieved. Today people are afraid of speaking up and afraid of challenging many ideasThis is a pragmatic argument - its not moral or political - and yet the dialogue today prevents the discussion of truth from even happeningThe “Chicago Principles” for freedom of thinking - an open platform to speak, discuss, and debate ideas - so that you can make your case with evidence and good arguments. If you don’t have diversity of ideas when you’re searching for truth you often come to erroneous conclusions. When we lose viewpoint diversity the science itself is at risk. If you don’t have diversity you’re likely to have bad thinking. Homework: Spread these ideas to others.Homework: Think about the context and system you can to improve and think about how these principles can be appleid to keep healthy debate and productive disagreement  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss several simple strategies for thinking better by looking at lessons ranging from sources as disparate as the methods of Sherlock Holmes to the principles of professional poker. How do you create focus and engagement when you’re trying to solve a problem? What are the potential ways that you can improve your memory to supercharge your thinking ability? How can you train your mind to think more effectively about emotion, risk, and uncertainty? We discuss this and much more with our guest Maria Konnikova. Maria Konnikova is the author of two New York Times best-sellers Mastermind: How To Think Like Sherlock Holmes and The Confidence Game. Maria graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University and received her Ph.D in psychology from Columbia University. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Scientific American, WIRED, and much more and she is an avid poker player as well.Is is possible that a fictional character could teach us how to think and make better decisions?Mindfulness - the thing that distinguishes Sherlock Holmes from any other detective is that he is fully present and sees and observes small detailsThe hidden power of how remarkably quiet Sherlock Holmes is - he’s a great demonstration of the power of contemplative routinesHow do we create focus and engagement when we’re working on something?You carry this real estate with you all the time - your “Brain attic” - and how you can use it to think more effectivelyAny information you remember is only useful to you if you can retrieve it when you need - and that’s why you must store things properly A few strategies for making your memory more effective:Encoding - the moment where we first remember it. If you aren’t paying attention you won’t remember in the first place and the memory will never get encoded. Memories are most powerful when they’re tied to other existing memoriesEvery single point of encoding is an anchor or retrieval point that can retrieve everythingUse multiple senses to encode a memory - not just one - build a rich texture of memories to encode them Encoding is different than rote memorization - it’s much more powerfulHow Maria went from a psychology PhD to becoming a professional poker playerHow poker can teach you how to make decisions under conditions of risk, uncertainty, and emotion You can teach people about biases and yet they still make the same mistakes Poker is a way to teach your mind to think in the right ways about risk, emotion, and uncertaintyThere is no better metaphor for the game of life than pokerWhat enabled Maria Konnikova to go from a total outsider to a professional poker player in such a short period of time?Having one of the top players in the world mentor her was a huge piece of itHaving a beginners mind and being willing to not know and ask simple questions Being willing to study and put in massive hours to learnFully immersing yourself, studying 9-10 hours a day, reading, analyzing hands, watching streams, taking notes, talking to people about strategyThere are no shortcuts, ever. There’s no magic bullet. You must put aside your ego to learn and improveHomework: Single most important thing that you can do is meditate 10 minutes per day every day. It doesn’t matter what’s going on around you. Admit the distractions and then let go of them. It doesn’t need to be a quiet place. That one habit can be life changing.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we break down the complex and confusing world of body language and nonverbal communication. We discover the easiest starting point for learning the basics you need to know to get started with reading and understanding body language and we dig into the specific tools and strategies you can start using right away to not only decode the body language of others, but also change your own body language to communicate what you want. We explore all this and much more with our guest Joe Navarro. Joe Navarro was approached to join the FBI while working as a police officer at the age of 23. He spent the next 25 years at the FBI working as both an agent and a supervisor in the areas of counterintelligence and counterterrorism. Since retiring in 2003 Joe has written several best selling books on human behavior most recently The Dictionary of Body Language: A field Guide To What Every Body is Saying. His work is frequently featured on programs such as The Today Show, Fox News, Good Morning America, and more!How do we breakdown the maze of nonverbal communication and cues and use them to understand and influence others?Nonverbals are everything other than spoken communication - body language, clothes, cars, pens, accessories, etc You can use nonverbal cues to deeply understand other people, their behaviors and desires The most simple way to understand human body language is to break it down in to the basic categories of “comfort” and “discomfort”We are always transmitting, we’re always being examined, people are assessing us the minute we come into viewEasy signs of discomfort to spot and teach yourself to view:Eye touching / eye covering - a powerful phenomena that can even be seen in blind children Lip compression is a very good indicator that something is wrong - someone is struggling with something or worried about somethingJaw shifting - sign of struggle / difficultyNeck touching - welcome tend to touch the base of their neck with their finger, men tend to grab their necks or massage their necksVentilation behaviors - pulling on your shirt, lifting up your hair - shows difficulty or struggleIf you stand at an angle, people will listen to you for a longer period of timeTilting your head slightly to the side is one of the best ways to build rapport with peopleThe feet are the most honest part of the body - how you can read people’s feet to understand what they’re telling you When they’re something we don’t like our feet will immediately turn away from itThe limbic system in the brain - the “lizard brain” - is responsible for our survival and triggers many of these subconscious nonverbal reactionsTry this out at a meeting or cocktail party - pick out a behavior, observe it, and see if you can learn to watch for itIt’s very difficult to detect deception in someone’s body language - the story of the parking ticket All actors rehearse - it’s no different with the nonverbal personas you want to use to interact with peopleHomework: watch as people are reporting on the stock market on a good and bad day and watch their nonverbalsHomework: watch a TV show with the sound off and see if you can pick out what’s going on from just the nonverbal cuesHomework: 3 starting behaviors to look for Look for eye blocking/eye closureLook for lip compression & jaw shiftingLook for neck touching Notice when it happens, how it happens, what questions were asked, and how people answer - build that into your repitoirs and the expand your skills Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how a few crazy ideas from quantum physics might just change your life. We look at how some of the core principles from the hard sciences have huge implications for the way we live, love, and deal with a world of danger and uncertainty. It is possible that the laws of physics hold lessons that could help us redefine our relationship with anxiety and suffering and open the door to possibility? We discuss this and much more with our guest Mel Schwartz Mel Schwartz is a psychotherapist, marriage counselor, author, and speaker. He is one of the first contemporary practicing psychotherapists to distill the basic premises of quantum theory into therapeutic approaches. Mel is the author of the book The Possibility Principle: How Quantum Physics Can Improve the Way You Think, Live and Love and has been featured in Psychology Today, TED, and much more.How a panic attack led to a chance encounter with a worldview that transformed Mel’s perceptiveThe Core Principles of Quantum Physics and how they can redefine our livesThe epidemic of anxiety in our society has to do with our relationship with uncertainty - warding off uncertainty creates stress and anxietyQuantum theory holds the premise that reality is literally one inseparable wholeScience confirms the “mystic” belief that everything in life is inseparable “The myth of separation” - We are no longer separate disconnected cogs You don’t need to be a math wizard to understand how the principles of quantum physics can transform your world view Our thinking has been trained to compartmentalize and separate the worldDepression comes from a sense of alienation and alone-ness from Newton's deterministic worldviewThe Newtonian worldview - the deterministic / mechanistic worldview Quantum reality is in a state of potential - always waiting to occur Mistakes should not be feared - labeling your experience as mistakes causes you to live in a prison of fear and anxietyDon’t avoid it - embrace discomfort - we must embrace discomfort psychologically and cognitively to grow Embrace confusion - it’s exciting, its a sign post for growth, it gets you to places you’ve never been before The way to embrace uncertainty is by shifting your relationship with your thoughtsUncertainty = possibilityAddiction to certainty = anxiety, fear, stressAsk yourself - what is my thought telling me? How do I know it’s true? How often do I have these thoughts?What does it mean to really be strong? To be vulnerable. Sharing your insecurities, self doubts, and fears.You give other people the power to judge you - and judge yourself based on what you think, they think of youThe way we picture reality is the way we experience reality Homework: In the course of your day - try to capture the themes of your thoughts and ask yourself, what are they telling you? Homework: As yourself some larger question - how do you view life? How did you come to your core beliefs about the world? What informs your core beliefs about the world? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we tell the truth about time. We throw out the old and dated conceptions of “time management” and look at how time really works. We explore the fundamental way you must flip your approach to time so that you can focus on what really matters in life. We look at how you can become an artist manipulating time at your will - stretching your best moments so that they last longer and ruthlessly removing the things that clutter your life. If you feel pressed for time - like there is never enough - and want to figure out how to create time for what really matters - listen to this episode with our guest Laura Vanderkam.  Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books. Her TED talk titled “How To Gain Control of Your Free Time” has been viewed over 5 million times and she is the co-host of the podcast Best of Both Worlds. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune.Does time management work? Is time management a concept with too much baggage associated with it to even be meaningful?It’s not about cramming so much stuff into your life - it’s about focusing on the most important things. Fundamentally flip your approach - removing as much as possible is much more important than cramming as much as possible into your dayPeople who were highly relaxed around their time had a tendency to plan “mini adventures” in their lives Putting more valuable stuff into our lives makes time more memorable. If you want to feel like you have more time you need to create more memories. Can we become “artists manipulating time” to stretch the best moments so that they last longer?Anticipation is powerful - starting savoring before it startsBe as present as possible, notice details, think about how you might describe it to someoneTell the story of what happened - every time you tell it you get pleasure from itCommemorate it with artifacts (ticket stubs, t-shirts, etc)Play the same song over and over again to encode that song to a specific memory or experienceCreate as many memories as possible - more memories makes time expand Time is highly elastic - it stretches to accommodate what we need or want to fit into it Time management is not about shaving extra hours out of every day - it’s about selecting the right prioritiesIf you’ve ever binged something on Netflix - you found extra time because you had something that was a big priorityLack of Time = Lack of Priorities “Reflective Activities” like journaling, meditating, praying - stepping back from life and thinking about life - people with the highest time perception and time management scores did these every other day, the lowest scores people never did itPart of feeling relaxed about your time is knowing when and how you’re spending your leisure timeLetting go of expectations is a great time management strategy Planning your weeks before you’re in them is a great strategy to make time for your priorities FIRSTMake a 3 category priority list:CareerRelationshipsSelfEach one of those categories is key!!A great tactic for setting your short to medium term goals - writing a “Performance Review” (for next year)Look at this list all the timeIt can start informing your schedule choicesHow do we create more effective morning and evening routines?Homework: Track your time for a week (if you can’t track it for a day or two)Homework: Plan a “mini adventure” during the work day or after work this week - do something different, put a little adventure into your life Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we show you the science of communication. Have you ever been afraid to speak or present? Are you worried about not having the skills or tools to communicate your ideas to the world? We dig into the science and the strategies of mastering skills like speaking and presenting, crushing the anxiety that often accompanies thee high stakes moments, and share evidence based strategies for becoming  a master communicator. Matt Abrahams is a Professor of Strategic Communication for Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He is the co-founder of Bold Echo Communication Solutions and author of the book Speaking Up Without Freaking Out. Matt’s videos and training techniques have been viewed tens of millions of times in TEDx, Inc. and much more!What happens when you rip your pants in the middle of a big speech?Anxiety can have a tremendously negative impact on our ability to to communicateConfidence in speaking and what it means to be authentic and how to be an engaging communicator Anxiety negatively impacts communication in two major waysAudiences have trouble listening to a nervous speakerYou get caught up in your own head A foundational tenant of all communication is to be audience centric - your job is to serve the needs of your audience Research sees anxiety about speaking and communicating as ubiquitous across ages, cultures etcFear of communication is hard-wired intro your brain by evolution and it’s social pressuresThere are two fundamental approaches to dealing with anxietyDealing with the symptomsDealing with the actual sources of anxietySpeaking in high stakes situations is internalized by your body as a threatHold something cold in the palm of your hand it can reduce your body temperature and counter-act sweating and blushing that results from anxiety. Distracting your audience is a great strategy to take their focus off of you. Give the audience something to distract them and get them more engagedIf you gesture more slowly you will actually slow down your speaking rateGreet your anxiety - give yourself permission to be anxious. This is how you short circuit the loop of getting nervous about getting nervous. This works with any emotion, not just anxiety. The powerful learnings from improv comedy that can make you be a more confidence speaker Dare to be dull - don’t strive for perfection. Do what needs to be done, and by reducing the pressure you put on yourself you increase the likelihood that you will actually achieve a great outcome.The “Shout the wrong name” exercise that can help you reduce your anxiety in real timeConstraints and structure invite more opportunities for creativity (in life) and in communicationThe components of confidenceManaging anxietyCreating presence & meta awareness - adapt your communication to what’s happening the moment Convey emotion - confidence speakers convey emotion You have to tie the data and facts back into the emotions - the implications of the science and the dataThe “What?,” “So What?,” “Now What?” Structure The answerWhy its importantWhat you do with the answer that’s just givenHomework - Take the opportunity too build your skills. Like any skill you’re trying to build -  it’s all aboutRepetition - find avenues to speak and give presentationsReflection - ask yourself what worked and what didn’t workFeedback - find a trusted other - a mentor, a colleague, a loved one who can give you honest feedback. We are bad at judging our own communication Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss happiness. Can the pursuit of happiness backfire? Why are people more depressed an anxious than ever in a time when the world is physically safer and healthier than ever before in history? We look at the crisis of meaning in our society and examine how we can cultivate real meaning in our lives, beyond ourselves, and move towards an existence of purpose with our guest Emily Esfahani Smith.  Emily Esfahani Smith is a journalist, positive psychology instructor, and author. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College and earned a master of applied positive psychology from the University of Pennsylvania. Her articles have been read over 30 million times, her TED talk has over 1.3 million views and her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, TIME, the TED stage, and more.Should we be pursuing happiness?There’s more to life than being happyWhen we pursue happiness - it’s very self-oriented2 reasons why the “pursuit of happiness can backfire"It’s not possible to be happy all the time - and it’s a fool's errand to try and pursue happiness all the time - it’s not a realistic expectation for your lifeHappiness is very “self-focused” - how is this affecting ME - its a very selfish perception People are healthier, safer, more comfortable than any time in history - and yet anxiety and depression are increasing, suicide rates are increasing - why is this happening?Meaning is about connecting and contributing to something beyond yourself - being connecting to your family, to god, to nature, to the universe, etc Some of the essential characteristics of people with meaning in their livesYour life has worth and significanceYour life has a sense of purposeYour life is coherentHow can we find meaning beyond ourselves in a world where most of our major social institutions have eroded away to a large degree (patriotism, religion, family, etc)?In the modern era - the challenge of being alive is the challenge of trying to find meaning on your ownThe Four Pillars of MeaningBelonging - being in communities and relationships where you feel valued for who you are intrinsicallyPurpose - using your strengths to serve other people. Having something worthwhile to do with your time. Making a contribution to the world. Children who do chores around the house have a higher sense of meaningTranscendence - when your sense of self-starts to turn down or turn off completely. Stepping beyond yourself.Storytelling - the story that you tell yourself about yourselfHow do we create belonging in your life?Forming intimate relationships with othersBelonging is a choice that we make - and we can choose to cultivate in any given momentYou can also take the initiative to create these new types of communities within your own life and communityHow do we change the stories that we tell ourselves about ourselves?The first thing is to recognize that we are constantly telling ourselves stories about ourselvesA “contamination” story and how that can change your self-perception and create negative results in your life?Something happened in my life, then there was a negative result, not I’m “contaminated"A “redemptive” story - a story that moves from bad things happening to good things happeningSomething bad happened in my life, and that has made me grow, made me stronger If you’re telling a negative story, how do you start telling a better story?Narrative writing, journaling Is leading a meaningful life just about accomplishment and achieving results? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how the impossible becomes possible. We look at how to create paradigm shifting breakthroughs, dig into the science and research at the frontier of peak human performance to understand what’s at the core of nearly every gold medal or world championship - the powerful concept of flow. How do we create flow in our lives, how can we use it as a tool to become 400% more creative and learn skills 200% faster? We dig into this and much more with our guest Steven Kotler.  Steven Kotler is a New York Times bestselling author, an award-winning journalist and the cofounder and director of research of the Flow Genome Project. His most recent work, Stealing Fire, was a national bestseller and nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Steven’s work have been translated into over 40 languages and appeared in over 100 publications, including The New York Times, Atlantic Monthly, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Wired and TIME.Wherever people are taking huge risks to change the world, you find flow How do you create Paradigm Shifting Breakthroughs?Whenever you see the impossible become possible you see two things:People leverage and take advantage of disruptive technologyPeople finding ways to extend human capacityPeak performance is about being fanatical - repeating, week after week, year after year, for your entire career. You have to have that level of hunger, motivation, and driveSteven’s work is focused on studying the peak performance state known as FlowHow can we use Flow to massively level up performance?Major Characteristics of FlowFlow is definable - it has  core characteristicsComplete ConcentrationTime DilationFlow is measurableFlow is universalFlow is a spectrum experience - you can be in micro flow or macro flowFlow often mistaken for a mystical experience before it was measured and studiedMcKinsey did a 10 year study on flow - it made top executives 500% more effectiveFlow creates a 400% - 700% increase in creativityCan that really be true?What is creativity?Soldiers learn skills 230% faster in flow statesWhen you’re in a flow state you’re actually using LESS of your brain not more of itYour brain is burning a lot of energy and so it shut’s this part of the brain downAs your need for concentration goes up, the brain starts shutting down non-critical areas to maximize attentionFlow also creates a huge dump of positive neurochemicals and stress hormones are flushed out of your system and replaced with “big five” neurochemicalsAnybody can access flow because flow stats have triggers - flow is universal provided certain initial conditions are metOne of the most important triggers is the challenge/skills balance - when the challenge slightly exceeds our skillset“Let my people go surfing” - PatagoniaTraining up flow while you’re surfing trains the brain to enter flow states in generalHeightened creativity lasts for several daysConscious altered and being focused is usually 1-1.5 hrsA place where most people screw up Flow - they take the amplified creativity from flow and ride it til the very bitter end until they are very exhausted. That makes it more difficult to jump into flow the next time. The intersection of flow states and the Science of SpiritualityThe same neurobiological states from flow show up in the same place as mystical experiences, psychedelic states, states of awe, near death experiences. All of these experiences neurobiologically are very very similar. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to make better decisions under conditions of uncertainty. We look at “the worst call in the history of football,” discuss examples from life, business and even high stakes poker to understand how to make the best possible decisions in a a world filled with unknowns. What exactly is a good decision? Is that different than a good outcome? We look at this key question - and uncover the wisdom hidden in the reality that these two things might be completely different. All this and more with our guest Annie Duke. Annie is a professional decision strategists and former professional poker player. She has leveraged her expertise in the science of smart decision making throughout her life and for two decades was one of the top poker players in the world. She is the author of the book Thinking In Bets: Making Smart Decisions When You Don’t Have All The Facts and after being granted the National Science Foundation Fellowship, studied Cognitive Psychology at The University of Pennsylvania.How do we get create lessons from our experiences?How do we sort out the noise in the gap between decision quality and outcome quality?In poker (like life) you can make really good decision and have a really bad outcome - but that doesn’t mean that you made a bad decisionThis fuzzy relationship between decision making and outcomes can be very problematic for people “Resulting”- tying the quality of the outcome too tightly to the quality of decisionsAn unlucky / bad outcome is not the same as a bad decisionRed lights and green lights - and how they can shine a light on hidden risks to decision-makingThe only thing that matters is not the result - but the process  of making decisions - because that is all we can controlIn our own lives we constantly lurch into over-reactions when we focus only on results and not on our decision-making qualityStrategy #1: Approach the world through the frame of decisions as betsWhy you should ask “Wanna Bet?” to get more clarity about a situationThere are 2 major sources of uncertainty between Decisions and OutcomesLuck/RandomnessInformation AsymmetryStrategy #2: Get other people involved in the process with youYou are really good at recognizing other people’s bias, even when you can’t see your ownWhen you’re trying to make a decision (or a bet) the person who will win is the person who has the most accurate “mental model” or model of realityStrategy #3: Try to quarantine yourself from experienceEscape the quality of the outcome and how it impacts your assessment - unless you have enough data to actually verify it Key Steps to Focusing on the Decision-Making Process Not the OutcomeEvaluate decisions prior to getting the outcomeCreate a Decision Pod of other people who can challenge your thinkingThe key to making effective decisions is to multiply the probability of the outcome by the impact/magnitude Homework #1: find a group of people who are open minded, who want to be better decision-makers, and agree together that you want to question each others thinking, not be defensive, hold each other accountable to biasHomework #2: Start listening to yourself for signals that you might be engaging in biased behavior, using the words wrong/right, should ofHomework #3: Discuss a decision with 2 different people and give them opposite “outcomes” (Tell one it went really well, tell the other it went really poorly) to get clear sense of different sides of the coin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we go deep on the science of personality. We look at how we’ve moved way beyond the debate of nature vs nurture, we look at the “Myth of Authenticity" and the danger of “just being yourself,” we examine why human wellbeing (aka success) depends on the sustainable pursuit of core projects in our lives, explore the complex dance of self improvement between the limitation of biological, social factors and the identity of individuals, and look at how much agency and control we really have in shaping our personalities and lives among all of these different factors with our guest Dr. Brian Little. What is Trait Psychology?Traits do have predictive validity“The Big Five” personality model is the most dominant perspective in personality trait psychologyOCEANOpenness to experienceConscientiousnessExtraversionAgreeablenessNeuroticism Honesty / humility is a sixth factor that may not be included in the “Big Five” modelThese personality traits have consequential predictive ability for your life outcomes, happiness, marriage, success, divorce, etcThe trait of conscientiousness is a very good predictor of work place success but also predicts health outcomes, why is that?Disagreeable people also have a health risk factor - low agreeableness shows an increased risk for heart diseaseOpenness-to-experience and conscietouness have different paths to success - but both can be successful predictors of positive life outcomesThe myth of the creative hero. The creative project is much more important than the illusion of the solo creative.How changeable or immutable are our personality traits? Are we stuck with the personality we are born with?Your trait expressions can be shaped not just by your biology but also by the things that really matter to you - by your own “personal projects”If you constantly act out of character - you may eventually run the risk of burning outThe study of our traits gets us INTO the study of personality but not ALL THE WAY inWe’ve moved WAY beyond the nature vs nurture debate Genetic expression is a matter of external influence than shapes the expression of genesThere is a biological “base” to our personality - but it’s a base that we can either act against or act in accordance with itSelf improvement is a dance between biological, social, and individual factors Traits are a necessary way of understanding personality but they are not sufficient We explore "The Bodnarian Aspects of Matt"We are not just pawns - we can shape things and change the trajectory of our lives (within reasonable boundaries)“Go for it” feels good - but its often a cheap way out - take a harder look and really look at the best path forward for yourself Accepting and facing reality as it is - including your own limitations and weaknesses - is an essential component of successHuman wellbeing (“success”) depends on the sustainable pursuit of core projects in our lives. Natural dispositions that we don’t borrow from our cultural scripts are the first line of influence that help shape what becomes the core projects in our livesOut of the stew emerge biological shaped, but also socially influenced possible futures for yourself that are anchored in core projects The sustainable pursuit of core projects is vital - the way in which we get them isHomework: If you want to play outside your personality comfort zone, start with small uncomfortable changes and gradually build into more and more difficult situations Homework: Conduct short term experiments, self change experiments, “fixed role explorations” and then monitor the impact that has on your personality and behavior Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we show how you can decode scientific studies and spot bad science by digging deep into the tools and skills you need to be an educated consumer of scientific information. Are you tired of seeing seemingly outrageous studies published in the news, only to see the exact opposite published a week later? What makes scientific research useful and valid? How can you, as a non-scientist, read and understand scientific information in a simple and straightforward way that can help you get closer to the truth - and apply those lessons to your life. We discuss this and much more with Dr. Brian Nosek.  Dr. Brian Nosek is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Center for Open Science and a professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. Brian led the reproducibility project which involved leading some 270 of his peers to reproduce 100 published psychology studies to see if they could reproduce the results. This work shed light on some of the publication bias in the science of psychology and much more.Does the science show that extrasensory perception is real?Is there something wrong with the rules of the science or the way that we conduct science?What makes academic research publishable is not the same thing as what makes academic research accuratePublication is the currency of advancement in scienceNovel, positive, cleanWhat does “Nulls Hypothesis significance testing” / P-Value less than .05 even mean?Less than 5% of the time would you observe this evidence if there was no relationshipThe incentives for scientific publishing often skew, even without conscious intent by scientists, towards only publishing studies that support their hypothesis and conclusionsThe conclusions of many scientific studies may not be reproducible and may, in fact, be wrong How the reasoning challenges and biases of human thinking skew scientific results and create false conclusionsConfirmation biasOutcome bias“The Reproducibility Project” in psychologyTook a sample of 100 studies Across those 100 studies - the evidence was able to be reproduced only 40% of the timeThe effect size was 50% of what it was What The Reproducibility Project spawned was not a conclusion, but a QUESTIONHow do we as lay consumers determine if something is scientifically valid or not?We discuss the basic keys to understanding, reading, and consuming scientific studies as a non-scientist and ask how do we determine the quality of evidence?Watch out for any DEFINITIVE conclusionsThe sample size is very important, the larger the betterAggregation of evidence is better - “hundreds of studies show"Meta-studies / meta-analysis are important and typically more credibleLook up the original paperIs there doubt expressed in the story/report about the data? (how could the evidence be wrong, what needs to be proven next, etc)Valid scientific research often isn’t newsworthy - it takes lots of time to reach valid scientific conclusions It’s not just about the OUTCOME of a scientific study - the confidence in those outcomes is dependent on the PROCESS Where do we go from here as both individuals and scientists? How can we do better?Transparency is keyPreregistration - commit to a designThe powerful tool of “pre-registration” and how you can use it to improve your own thinking and decision-makingHomework - deliberately seek out people who disagree with you, build a “team of rivals" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss real life inception with a former bank robber turned neuroscientist. Is it possible to plant ideas in your head? Are your memories an accurate reflection of past reality? Can you change and mold your memories to be different? We open the door on human irrationality and explore why and how we make bad decisions, and what you can do to make small changes that will create a big impact in your life and much more with our guest Moran Cerf. How Moran went from an accomplished bank robber to a prominent neuroscientistMost times in life we tell our story backwards to make sense of the pastAre people rational actors who make decisions in their own best interest?Humans are not rational actors - they often make irrational choicesBehavioral economics opened the door to explaining human irrationality - but neuroscientists were necessary to truly explain WHY these mistakes were happeningIrrational behavior - why it works - and how we can change it Is losing a $10 movie ticket the same as losing $10? In case of most people’s behavior - almost certainly not.  Your memories are not a reliable reflection of reality or your past - despite the fact that you think they are “Don’t believe everything you think"Real Life Inception - Planting Ideas In Your Brain, re-shaping your memoriesHow neuroscientists use magicians and slight of hand to demonstrate our ability to rationalize and explain our decisionsIf you make a small positive step, the brain will start to build pillars of support to underpin that new behaviorHow does neuroplasticity impact our brains ability to change adapt and transform our beliefs and memoriesYour memories are never fixed - they aren’t sitting in a vault, perfect, unchanged. Your memories are changed and modified every time you remember them and pull them back. Ever time you use a memory, you change it a little bit - over time we change memories greatly - we can remember things that never existed and forget what truly happenedThis is how the brain deals with trauma and negative experienceEven when you’re sleeping your brain rehearses, loads, and engages with your memories.Bringing up and talking through negative memories physically reshapes those memories in your brainYou think you are very unique - in terms of your brain - but we are very similar and fall into predictable behavioral patterns and biases We often think our decisions are our own - but in reality they are often influenced by biases, the environment, and many things beyond our control. We are discovering that more and more of our brain is not really under our control. Subtle shifts in your environment change how you respond to things. “Embodied cognition” shows that many things are happening to us, that we don’t have full control over If you have a name for something you can think about it, if you can think about it you can control itCoding things is huge as well (what was the temparture, your mood, hunger level etc when you made decisions)Just by listening to this episode you’re improving your ability to think more effectively and make better decisions! How can we take these lessons of neuroscience and apply them to make ourselves smarter and better decision makers?Planting computer chips into your brain - and teaching your brain how to read and interact with them. Homework - surround yourself with people who are doing what you want to do Think about what you wantFind people who have it Spend time with them and in their proximity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the secrets of perfect timing. Is there really a science to timing the most important things in life? Is it possible that something as simple as time of day could impact the effectiveness of doctors and other medical experts? Can you align your day to be more effective just by changing the time that you do certain activities? We dig into these questions and much more as we explore the truth about the power of time - with Dan Pink. Dan Pink is the New York Times bestselling author of multiple award winning books including his most recent work When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. Dan has been named one of Thinkers 50’s top 15 business thinkers in the world. His TED talk on the science of motivation is one of the 10 most-watched TED talks of all time and his work has been featured across the globe.Is timing an art or a science?The science of timing is multi-disciplinary challengeThe power of multi-disciplinary thinking and how thinking between and beyond the boundaries of academic disciplines gives us the more coherent picture of realityWe don’t take WHEN as seriously as WHATScience say about constructing better daily architectures?The three major day parts - Peak / Trough / Recovery How we should think about aligning our day around each of these periodsOur “vigilance” peaks in the morningAlign Analytic, Administrative, Creative We see the same patterns across different domains of lifeAll times of day are not created equal The performance gap is pretty astounding Why you should never go to the doctors office in the afternoon“The Science of Breaks” is proving to be really powerful The science of “breaks” is where the science of sleep was 15 years ago“Breaks are for wimps, breaks are a sign of weakness” - this is totally wrongProfessionals take breaks, amateurs don'tThe three “chronotypes” - the field of chronobiology Morning people - “larksEvening people - “owls"Intermediate people - “third birds"“The Munich Chronotype Questionnaire"Does fasting raise your energy levels throughout the day?Does caffeine positively or negatively our energy flow throughout the day?Take a cup of coffee and then a short nap - will energize you tremendously Our lives are a series of episodes, not a clear linear progressionLife is full of Beginnings, Middles, and Ends - and each affects us differently Middles can bring us up or bring us downMid points are often invisible to usHomework: Make a “break list"A small break is better than no break at allMoving is better than not movingSocial is better than soloBest breaks are FULLY detachedHomework: Track your daily behavior Set an alarm every 45min to an hourHow do I feel right now 1-10How am I worked right now 1-10?Chart those answers over time for a week or twoHomework: Observe your own behavior and conduct small experiments - A/B Test on yourself Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss why the way we think about grit and willpower is fundamentally wrong. Self-control is one of the most research-validated strategies for long-term success - but the way we think about cultivating is fundamentally wrong. Emotions don’t get in the way of self-control - they are actually the path forward to sustainable and renewable willpower. How do we develop the emotions that underpin grit, self-control, and achievement? We dig into that and much more with our guest Dr. David DeSteno.  Dr. David DeSteno is an author and professor of psychology at North-Eastern University where he directs the Social Emotions Group. He is a fellow of the Association for Psychological Science and the American Psychological Association. His work has been featured in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and more!What do Marshmallows have to do with success?What do Buddhist monks and hot sauce have to do with the most effective strategies for succeeding over the long term?Lower debt, lower addictive behavior, better SAT scores, and higher overall life success can be predicted by the ability to resist temptation and delay gratificationThere’s NO DOUBT that delayed gratification/resisting temptation is highly correlated with success The real question is - what’s the best way to create self-control. Does willpower actually work? Do our emotions get in the way of self-control?Self-control didn’t evolve so that we could save money for retirement or complete Whole 30. It evolved to help us develop strong relationshipsWhat are the mechanisms that create fairness and good character? Positive emotions. Rather than being a roadblock to self-control, emotions may actually be the best way to develop self-controlRevisiting the marshmallow test for adults - and determining what really works to help adults develop self-control The three emotions of developing self-controlGratitudeCompassionPridePeople who have more of these pro-social emotions (gratitude, compassion, and pride) persevere 40% longer than someone who doesn't. Most successful teams at organizations like Google are predicated on empathy and compassion, not technical skill. These emotions seem to form “pushing vs pulling” - more sustainable and powerful strategy of self-control The pro-social emotions are “the font of virtue” - you don’t have to struggle and remind yourself, they naturally create more self-control53% of Americans feel lonely in their work lives. Loneliness is as bad for your health as smoking. Pro social emotions not only give you “grit” - they give you “grace” - and the ability to invest in others and to help them. Resume virtues vs eulogy virtues - what are they and how do we balance them?Should you be a jerk or should you be nice in order to succeed?Self-control is double sided - it's about both controlling negative impulses (anger, etc) and making positive long-term choices (eat healthily, save money, etc)Meditation does not tamp down your negative responses, it prevents them from arising in the first placeKey strategies for cultivating pro-social emotionsGratitude practicesMeditationPerspective taking exercisesSelf-compassionWhy Pride? Is that really a positive and pro-social emotion?People will work 40% longer when they feel “proud” of the work they are doingEmotionally based strategies for self-control are more robust and sustainableHomework: Choose your emotion and pick a weekly practice to start implementing itGratitudeMeditationCompassion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore the power of moments in our lives. Moments are the way we remember our lives, they define us, and yet we don’t have a coherent way of thinking about and understanding them. Can you engineer the defining moments of your life? Can you create more moments that are powerful and impactful? We discuss that and much more with our guest Dan Heath. Dan Heath is a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE Center where he founded the Change Academy. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and is the co-author of several New York Times best sellers. Their book Switch was named one of the best nonfiction books of the year and spent almost an entire year on the bestseller list.The power of moments - why did Chip and Dan decide to study the defining moments in our lives?Are there patterns that link the defining moments of our lives?The four elements of defining moments?Elevation - the high pointsInsight - in an instant your view of the world shiftsPride - times when are at our best, when we’re recognized for what we’re capable ofConnection - when we deepen our ties to other people - either individual or groupsStruggle, especially with a group, can create deep connectionsIf you look at powerful moments, they tend to be composed of these four elementsYou can flip that around and make it practical - if you want to create better experiences in your own life - these are the ingredients of HOW to do thatWe don’t remember our own experiences What’s so special about the The Magic Castle Hotel in LA?What’s the secret behind the second highest rated hotel in Los Angeles?Ahead of the Ritz CarltonAhead of the Four SeasonsMoments have power. Great experiences hinge on peak moments The academic research on memory and how that shapes the power of moments“Duration neglect” There are two kinds of moments that we disproportionately recall - the Peak and the EndWe are in the business of creating great experiences for people. If you get the Peaks right - you can create a great experience.The power of things that are obvious in retrospect“Moments are the medium of memories” - and yet we don’t live in a way that’s intentional around creating more momentsInconveniencing yourself to create a powerful moment is worth it - you will remember the powerful moment but not the inconvenience “We feel most comfortable when things are certain, but we feel most alive when they’re not"What can we do to create more dramatic and memorable moments in our life?“The Saturday surprise” - how you can break your script and create novelty in your life. Sometimes you need to resist your routinesWhen you start thinking in moments you start spotting all kinds of strange phenomenon in your lifeFixing problems doesn’t make people happyHow do set about creating peak moments for ourselves (and others)?Peaks, ends, and transition points are disproportionately memorable for peopleWe can be the authors of amazing moments in our livesPowerful insights come with speed and force - in the flash of momentHow change happens:People see somethingThat makes them feel somethingThat makes them CHANGE sometimeHow can creating new rituals help us manufacture transition points in our lives that become powerful moments?“The Fresh Start Effect”The power of forgiving yourself for falling short and cleaning the ledger, starting fresh.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we take a look at the biggest failure of The Science of Success and what we can do about it. We examine the three types of people in the world and how they go about approaching their own development and achieving their goals. Peter and Matt dig into accountability, the impact it’s personally had on Matt and his businesses, and how you can build accountability in your own life with Matt himself. Finally, we examine the gap between learning and doing that prevents most people from ever actually applying what they’ve learned.  Known as “The Shrink for Entrepreneurs” - Peter is a renowned business psychology expert and therapist gone renegade, he works with entrepreneurs from around the globe to help them master the psychology of reaching their goals of success faster, better, and with a bigger impact.Matt has failed, failed you, failed his listeners. Matt shares his personal struggle with moving from learning to doing and actually applying everything he learns.  The three types of people and how they go through life…which are you?Close eyed and on autopilot - These people typically have a closed mindset and are not ambitious about achieving their goals. Learners - These people are curious and passionate about the world and their goals. Typically these types have a growth mindset.High Leverage Action Takers - There are not many. They concretely apply these learnings in their lives and execute every day. Are some people just born in group 3? Born High Leverage?If you want to become high leverage and level 3 then you cannot do it alone. It’s not possible.The importance of having AccountabilityThe Science Behind Accountability and what makes it so powerful. How Peter and Matt formed strategies for accountability and executing on Matt’s most important projects. It’s up to you to take the action, but group accountability will get you there. We take a deep dive into Matt’s past both accomplishments and failures. Learn the history behind the beginnings of The Science of Success. Matt’s first experience learning outside of a classroom and actually applying that knowledge for results in the real world. Matt’s list of his personal favorite influencers and thought leaders. The PERIL of the learning-doing gap. What is it? Are you in it? And how can we get our of this spiral?Are you stuck in the “bat-cave of learning?"Do you have a huge sense of what you’re capable and know you have potential… but never actually realize it?What evidence do you have for your own growth?How to move from intellectual learning mode to high energy doing mode.Matt’s unknown “selfish" reasons for starting The Science of Success. What you need to do after every episode of The Science of Success from this day forward. There is an aspect of development that simply cannot be taught, it must be experienced. The studies and research showing that conscientiousness is a learnable skill and can be a predictor of success. This IS NOT about doing more stuff. It’s about doing the right things that require courage and discipline. How isolation affects your productivity due to your mammalian brain. Technology is robbing us of that “paleo” accountability that would normally flourish. Do you have accountability - These questions will tell you!Is it even possible to hold oneself accountable?Unveiling of The Science Of Action! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we look at the real strategy for producing breakthrough results, high contribution and personally satisfying work .The last time someone asked you how you were doing - did you answer “Busy?” Then this episode is for you. We explore why smart, capable people end up plateauing and failing. We examine the culture of busyness that has overtaken us and examine how to avoid the traps of getting overwhelmed and focusing on the wrong things. We share strategies for determining what’s important, eliminating the non-essential, and making execution effortless with our guest Greg McKeown. Greg McKeown is an international keynote speaker and the bestselling author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. Greg has spoek at events around the world including SXSW and interviewing Al Gore at the World Economic Forum, where he serves as a Young Global Leader. Greg has worked with some of the largest and well known companies in the world and his work has been featured on Fox, NPR, NBC, and praised by many more.How do smart, capable people end up plateauing and failing?Success breeds options and opportunities, which can eventually undermine successSuccess can actually be a catalyst for failure via "the undisciplined pursuit of more"You have to become “successful at success,” success itself must be managed if we are to get to the next levelEssentialism is a continually process and a disciplined pursuit of lessThe three key strategies of essentialism are:Explore what’s essentialEliminate the non-essentialMake Execution as effortless as possibleThe forces of success are such that they tend to naturally push us away from that process of focusing on the essentialOur old responses are necessary but not sufficient to the challenge of focusing on the essentialDo you ever feel busy but not productive?Do you ever feel like your life is being hijacked by other people’s agendas?It’s not just about eliminating the time wasters, but also eliminating the good opportunities tooWe have to shift more deliberately than we have, more deliberately than we think we need to. We must become FAR more selective in what we go afterDoes this sound familiar: How are you? “Busy"What does the science say about being productive?The second most highly correlated item that distinguishes TOP PERFORMERS from good performers - is the number of hours of sleepIt’s not about doing more thing's its doing more of the RIGHT THINGS“First less, then obsess"The essentialist mindset can help both your personal and your professional lifeThe idea is not called “no-ism”  - the key is to figure out what IS essential - what’s the most important thing we could be doing - and then DO THATThe most graceful no is actually saying YES to something that’s more important. Yes to a bigger and more important opportunity.  How do you say no gracefully? How do you overcome the discomfort of telling people (especially your boss) NO?Are you falling prey to "Bertolt-Becht Thinking”? (and why that might be dangerous)What will matter when I’m no longer in the picture?This is what we need to do in order to not waste our lives Self actualization is not the same as self transcendence - and why that distinction is essential (no pun intended) to understand "Reducing oneself to zero""Humility and simple truth is more powerful than empire"How to cultivate a self-transcendent perspectiveThe most important thing to do is to figure out the most important thing to do is and to do itHomework - begin a daily reflection a journal - even just one sentence a day Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to build self control and self esteem. We look at what happens when you lose control - and how to develop the strategies so that you can feel calm and collected in tough situations. We discuss the importance of having an “allegiance to reality,” share concrete strategies for building self esteem, discuss the relationship between pain and fulfillment - and discuss how you can never get angry again with our guest Dr. David Lieberman. Dr. David Lieberman is a New York Times bestselling author and expert in the fields of human behavior and interpersonal relationships. His most recent work Never Get Angry Again dives into the science behind our emotions and how we can stay calm in any situation. His work has been featured on ABC, The Today Show, NPR, Entrepreneur and more.Why do people get angry? What’s at the root of anger?At the core of anger is a feeling of vulnerabilityWhen we become angry the brain releases a number of neurotransmitters and hormones - and it gives us the illusion of feeling in controlAs our self esteem erodes, we like ourselves less, we get angrierThe degree that we don’t like ourselves, the more we need other people to validate us, engaging the egoWhen someone is angry - it's about them, its not about youThe core of anger is fear and a fear of losing control Anger creates the illusion of controlPeople with low self esteem are often the most controlling people - because they need to be able to influence things around them, because they feel like they don’t have control of themselvesSelf control is at the CORE of self esteem. If you can control your own behavior, you begin to build self esteem.How do you build self esteem?Recognize that you’re in pain. Acknowledge and accept that. Allegiance to reality at all costs. Don’t pretend that it doesn’t exist. Self compassion, not self pity. Don’t beat yourself up more. With self love, you begin to grow out of pain. Reconnect with who you are. What are you living for?Living being driven by the ego - causes pain and sufferingSlow simple progress, moving step by step out of darkness will begin to fuel self esteem The entire trajectory of our lives can be shaped by our egoFocusing on achieving to win the praise and approval of other peopleQuestions to break through the ego and understand what really matters to you:What would I do if I had all the money I needed?What would I do if I felt that I couldn't fail?What would I do if I was unconditionally loved?Neurotics build castles in the sky, psychotics live in them, and psychiatrists charge rentThe beginning of mental health is when you face yourself. Ask yourself: Where have I been trying to ignore a reality?By ignoring a problem, you end up compounding it and feeling worse and worse about yourself. "Blame mode" conflicts with "solution mode". We live in culture that fosters the idea of not accepting responsibility and blaming other peopleThe way to gain self esteem is to ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY “The lottery curse” - what is it?Money, intelligence, life experience have no bearing on happiness - just the QUALITY OF OUR CHOICESThe power of decision is the power to change your life.Painful experiences ultimately help create meaning in our livesJill Bolte Taylor "90 Second Rule" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss what happens when you mistake being busy with creating results, we take a hard look at time management and examine concrete strategies for carving out more time, we look at the dangerous power of “defaults” in shaping our behavior and how we can use them to our advantage, and examine how to have a healthy relationship with our inbox with our guest Jake Knapp.  Jake is the New York Times bestselling author of Sprint. He spent ten years at Google and Google Ventures, where he created the Design Sprint process and ran it over 150 times with companies like Nest, Slack, 23andMe, and Flatiron Health. Previously, Jake helped build products like Gmail, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Encarta, and his work has been featured in Tech Crunch, Fast Company, The Wall Street Journal, NPR, and more.Jake’s own battle and journey with time, time management, and figuring out how to make the most of his time, effort, and energy to create more results Lessons from a “time dork” who has spent time in the trenches thinking about how to best spend your timeWe spend a lot of our time in the world of “defaults” - with our technology platformsThe “busy bandwagon” - the cultural norm of wanting to be and appear that you’re busyDeleting instagram, facebook, twitter and more from his phone helped Jake be more present What happens when you mistake being busy with creating resultsIf you're caught up in the minutiae of life - what can you do to step back and get clarity on priorities and what’s really important in your life?There’s no secret solution for everyone - it’s about trying strategies to see what works for you - and constantly engaging in contemplative analysis of what’s important A “burner list” strategy you can use to organize your todo list We’re not super human and we don’t want to be - many of us wouldn’t be happy with the life of Elon MuskThink about the space between a TASK and a GOAL - clear 60-90 minutes to really dive in and create results on your most important item on your ToDo listYou don’t need to be busier to create the results you want - its about taking control of what you’re doing“Someday” goals can become realities if you prioritize correctly and break them into executable chunks If you’re not taking steps toward your goals, they effectively don’t existThe importance of creating a meaningful connection to your goals - to create motivation in the near termYou have the ability to “recover time” in your day by spending less time in a reactive stateAs one of the early pioneers of email, spending his time help building gmail app and much more - Jake has some strong insights into how we can have a healthy relationship with our inboxes The difficulty of saying no - and how we can do a better job of itGet out saying yes/no to commitments in person, defer and come back later when you’ve had time to think about itSaying yes to something is a great way to kill your own priorities. They are like barnacles on the hull of your shipTrying to construct situations where a team can make really good decisions using the Design Sprint process Lessons from constructing environments to help people make better decisionsThe design sprint process and how it helps teams work together and make great decisions Making sure that you’re considering opinionated / conflicting solutions to, and creating an environment where it’s healthy to have disagreement  Anonymous disagreement on paper Homework - Lightning Decision Jam Homework - What is your distraction kryptonite? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we explore the brain. Are the two halves of the brain really that different? What is the idea of whole brain thinking? How do you get your brain to do what you want it to do? Can we become more “right brained” or “left brained” if we want to? And we also dig into the personal story of our guest - a neuroanatomist who suffered from a devastating stroke - and how the experience transformed her worldview - with our guest Dr. Jill Taylor.  Dr. Jill Taylor is a Harvard-trained and published neuroanatomist. She is the bestselling author of her memoir My Stroke Of Insight which recounts her experience and recovery after a severe stroke, which left her unable to walk, read, write, or recall any of her life. Here iconic TED talk has been viewed over 22 million times and her work has been featured all over the globe from Oprah to the New York Times and more. Are the two halves of the brain really completely disconnected?The right hemisphere and the left hemisphere process the world completely differently Whole brain thinking - how to think about yourself and the world in a holistic way by integrating both hemispheres into your thinking process The different hemispheres have different value structures and ways of perceiving the world Every ability we have is a result of brain cells that perform that function - if those cells go away, we lose that functionThe more you practice/use a group of cells in the brain, the more automatically those cellular networks run - that’s true for an athlete training, and it's also true for how we think and act in the world Whatever cells we exercise become dominant, and those begin to shape our thinking and actionIs it true that people can be more left brained or right brained?How you can engage processing in the hemisphere that you are less dominant inHow do you get your brain to do you want it to do? Self-awareness is a KEY component and the first step  Get an understanding of how much time you’re spending with each brain hemisphere being dominant Do your brain hemisphere’s get along? Each of your own cognitive minds (left and right hemisphere) have their own emotional limbic systemsWhat should someone do if they don’t feel like they have the power or don’t understand how to CHOOSE which hemisphere to engage?Look at your own patterning and begin understanding how you react to given situationsHow do shape your reactions to negative emotional experiencesThe importance of observing your emotions instead of engaging in them - the simple fact that you’re alive and capable of having an experience of the negative experience is a powerful thing Why is not the question its the WOWWe all get caught up in the oh my gosh, I'm so important - when really we are just stardustThe incredible story of how Dr. Taylor’s own stroke was a profound experienceThe experience of being one with everything that came from Dr. Taylor’s strokeMindfulness research shows that certain thought patterns can transform and change our brain circuitry Is the idea that we are separate from everything else a controlled illusion maintained by the brain?The profound lessons that come from having your entire left hemisphere shut downWhat is neuroplasticity? Is it possible to change our brain?Neuroplasticity is a fundamental property of the neurological systemHomework “pay attention to what’s inside of your head" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we go deep into a scientific look at consciousness. We ask, how do our brains experience reality? What is consciousness? Is our perception of reality nothing more than a “controlled hallucination?” What is the “hard problem of consciousness” and what are the major aspects of consciousness? How can we use the neuroscience of consciousness to better ourselves and improve our lives? And much more with our guest Anil Seth.  Anil Seth is the professor of Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience at the University of Sussex. He is the co-director of the Sackler Centre for Consciousness Science, the editor in chief of Neuroscience of Consciousness, and was the President of the British Science Association for psychology in 2017. His TED talk has been viewed over 2.5 million times and his work featured in The Guardian, the BBC, New Scientist, and more! How does our brain experience reality?Consciousness is a funny thing - we don’t have a good definition of it, but everyone knows what consciousness is There is a subjective experience of consciousness for being humanThe questions of consciousness are some of the most important and urgent questions we can askWhat is the “hard problem of consciousness?” and why is it so important?What are the problems of consciousness? The easy problem is figuring out how brains do what they do, how they implement functions, guide behavior, allow the world to be sensed, how the brain works as a mechanism - this will keep neuroscientists and biologists busy for a long time The hard problem is explaining how and why any of this should have anything to do with conscious experience and why conscious experiences happen However detailed your understanding of the brain is - it will leave untouched the question of how/why consciousness exists in the first place The three major aspects of consciousness (they inter-related and not necessarily independent) Conscious level - a scale from being completely lacking in consciousness (a coma, dead) all the way to being fully awake and fully conscious Conscious content - when you’re conscious you’re conscious OF something The experience of being a particular person When we perceive things, our brain is taking energy waves and electrical signals and interpreting them into prior predictions and expectationsOptical illusions really demonstrate how adapted our visual system isInformed skepticism is an incredibly valuable thinking framework - the scientific method and a healthy dose of humility help us move towards truthHow Anil’s own battle with negative emotions and negative emotional states has been shaped by the work he does in neuroscienceWhat interventions have helped Anil battle his own depression? Going for a long walk in the country Exercise Fresh Air Nature When you’re in the thick of it - you forget these interventions work, but they DO work Cognitive Behavioral Therapy helps Anil as well You aren’t defined by your own suffering - does having the Flu define you as a person? Why should a psychological issue? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we look at how to use insights from behavioral science to improve your life. We look at what it means to have a “good day” and figure out how to reverse engineer more good days, by examining decision making, the power of rest and recovery, intention setting, setting boundaries, and much more with our guest Caroline Webb.      Caroline Webb is CEO of Sevenshift, a firm that uses insights from behavioral science to improve their client’s working lives. She was previously a partner at McKinsey consulting and is the best selling author of How To Have A Good Day, which has been published in 16 languages in more than 60 countries. Her work has been featured in Inc., Forbes, Fortune, and much more.       What does it mean to have a good day? What does that have to do with the science of improving your life?  What is a bad day? what is a good day?  3 Core things about having a good day  Working on your priorities  Feeling that you’re producing great work  Can it be repeated?  What is the science behind what actually allows people and organizations to change?  The two system brain - there are two systems that interact in the brain, as Kahneman called them System 1 and System 2.   “System 2” - the slow system, our conscious experience, deliberate thinking mind, but it moves slowly and can only process information slowly and clunkily   “System 1” - the automatic system - our subconscious mind, immense processing power, but it often takes shortcuts   How do we create the conditions for our deliberate system to be as successful as possible?  Breaks are not for wimps, breaks are crucial opportunities to reboot your deliberate system and improve your thinking and decision-making  Frequent, short breaks enormously enhance your mental ability   Short cardio activity will boost your focus and mood materially  When we are resting, we encode and consolidate information - and often create new insight  When you “single task” you work about 30% faster than someone who is multi-tasking - every time your attention switches, there is a cost in time and processing power  Why saying "ABCDEFG 1234567” is so much easier than saying "A1, B2, C3, D4, E5, F6, G7”  What’s the most important thing you’re doing today and how can you get yourself to single task on that?  Willpower is not the way to create big changes in your life, it's about changing your environment  Nudges vs Sludges - how to shift your environment to create behavioral change  Your brain is constantly filtering out a huge amount of information - and whatever is top of mind for you filter your reality  The hard science of setting your intentions - set what attitude you want to have, what your aim is, what your assumptions are, etc - setting intentions can have a material impact on your behavior Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we learn the memory tactics and strategies of an International Grandmaster of Memory, we look at why there is no such thing as a bad memory or a good memory - only bad memory strategies and good memory strategies, in real time we build a memory palace that you can use to memorize and effortlessly recall the ten emotions of power, go deep into the system for organizing and remembering huge chunks of information and much more with our guest Kevin Horsley.      Kevin Horsley is an International Grandmaster of Memory, and was one of the first five people in the world to obtain this title. Kevin is also the World Record Holder for the matrix memorization of 10,000 digits of Pi. He is also the bestselling author of several books on memory and his work has been featured in Oprah Magazine, Times, Forbes, Inc. and many more.      How Kevin went from severe dyslexia, almost being diagnosed with brain damage, to becoming a world record holder in memory  You can never be more than your definition of yourself, you have to question your labels as they aren’t often the absolute truth There is no such thing as a good memory or a bad memory - there are only good memory strategies or bad memory strategies Auditory memory is always sequential - improving your spacial/visual memory allows you to move seamlessly through information  The best way to get your brain engaged is to imagine content and connect it to something you know  There are 3 keys to developing a super memory A place A unique image Glue them together “PUG”  Place (long-term memory) Unique Image Glue We build a memory palace on your body to memorize the 10 emotions of power from Tony Robbins Long-term memory + short-term memory = medium-term memory Using google maps and tourist attractions to remember anything by exploring and planting memories anywhere on earth  There’s no real limit to what you can do with your mind - the only real limit is time  “The more you know, the easier it is to know more” We have a phenomenal brain and aren’t using all of its potential  Do you need to know something for Just in Time or Just In Case? The power and importance of periodic review to encode information for the long-term Just in case information - using a system of Evernote + Todoist to store and review information Book strategy:  Get the book - first do an overview of the book, look at the table of contents, make predictions what is the book about, what do you know about (active knowledge networks), once he’s overviewed the book, he does a preview of the book - what specifically do you want to know from this book? Lay the book contents out on a memory journey with the key principles ideas - what is the key content - put it on a journey  Put a little note - you put a specific information You need to work on these ideas and get the key fundamentals - it’s like driving. You have to train yourself and improve and grow.  Kevin spends 1 hour a day on new content, 1 hour a day on review. Discipline is a key to this Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we go deep into the high performance habits of the worlds top performers, look at the only place confidence truly comes from, dig into why we struggle to perform when the pressure is on, examine the habits, routines, and strategies the world’s absolute best use to perform at their peak, and much more with our guest Dr. Michael Gervais.      Dr. Michael Gervais is a high performance psychologist who has worked with some of the world’s top performers including the Seattle Seahawks, Felix Baumgartner (The Red Bull Athlete Who Completed the Stratosphere Jump) Olympians, musicians, and champions! His work has been featured on ESPN, CNN, The New York Times, and much more!      We love to put some of the world’s top performers on a pedestal - but there are extraordinary things that take place every day that aren’t capture on the cameras  Are extraordinary performers born that way? No. Why do we struggle to perform “when the lights are on”/ “when there is pressure” Top performers have fundamentally organized their lives around growth and improvement What does it mean to have your life organized around performance and growth? There are only 3 things we can train We can train our body We can train our craft We can train our minds When we look at the best in the world across domains - they are more similar to each other than dissimilar  Relentless dedication to building and refining their craft Relentless dedication to building the right body / carriage  Ability to adapt and be strong from a mental perspective Provide opportunities to stress the system (mind & body) and to recover the system  Feedback loops are both internal and external  The importance of having consequences - both natural/physical consequences and man made consequences Lessons from working with coach Pete Carroll from the Seattle Seahawks  Ask yourself: Who in your life helps you be better and what are the characteristics of those people? Internal feedback loops How am I doing? How does it feel? Am I executing at the right level? What is going on in my body? Being aware of the energy, tension in your body, your thoughts, etc  External feedback loops - having people in your life who can help you get better At any given time we can have our attention focused internally or externally - but we can’t spend too much time focused on the internal To do extraordinary things in life - NOBODY does it alone. We need other people. You have to invest in the true connection with other people.  The greatest wayfinders, when they set sail, they don’t pray for calm waters, they pray for rugged seas, moving through the rugged seas is what forges strength - that is where you get made, that is where you find your true nature The brain’s job is to scan the world and see what’s dangerous - but you can’t let the brain have too much control Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the relationship between bad ideas and creative genius, the three biggest lessons from studying the most successful hedge fund on earth, why a complete stranger may often be a better judge of your abilities than you are, the key things that stand in the way of developing more self awareness and how you can fix them, why it’s so important to invest in the ability to make better decisions, and much more with our guest Dr. Adam Grant.      Dr. Adam Grant has been Wharton’s top-rated professor for six straight years and has been named a Fortune’s 40 under 40, as well as one of the world’s 10 most influential management speakers. He is the multi bestselling author of Give and Take, Originals and Option B which have been translated into over 35 languages. His work has been featured on Oprah, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and he is the host of the new TED Podcast, WorkLife...      You don’t know yourself as well as you think you do There are two things that stand in the way of self awareness  We have blindspots that other can see, that we can’t Biases - the things we don’t want to see We are better judges of our internal state, but much worse at judging our external behaviors than our friends and colleagues We are motivated to have a positive image of ourself A complete stranger is a better judge of your assertiveness, creativity, and intelligence after 8 minutes than you are of yourself (after your entire life!) We all want to think of ourselves as being smart and creative “Male pattern blindness” At Bridgewater they tape video + audio of every single meeting Bridgewater was a fascinating place to study deep self awareness No one has the right to hold a critical view without speaking up about it Peer support in the workplace is vital When we get criticized, we make the mistake of going to people to support and cheer us up - we need a “challenge network” to challenge our assumptions, push us, and see through our BS When things are going poorly, people usually ignore the naysayers and dissenters, but the more you do that the worse things typically get - you should be doing the opposite How do we avoid shooting the messenger when we receive negative feedback? Any time you are about to receive negative feedback, get some praise / positive feedback in a positive domain to buffer your negative emotional response first Why “feedback sandwiches” (praise, criticism, praise) doesn’t work as well as people think they do If you’re praising, praise in a separate realm “Democracy is a dumb idea for running a company” - some people’s decisions are objectively better than other people’s The power of domain specific believability scores and how that’s shaped Bridgewater’s results in a positive way Not all feedback is equal  Go around and look at your feedback sources and ask yourself two questions What’s their track record in the skill you’re asking for feedback on? How well do they know YOU? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we approach the concept of the self from a concrete perspective, not in an abstract philosophical way. What do the hard sciences like biology and physics say about the existence of the self? Does the “self” exist from a psychological perspective? What does the science say and what does that mean for ourselves, our future, and how we think about change and self improvement? We explore the scientific search for the self with Dr. Robert Levine.      Dr. Robert Levine is a professor of psychology and former dean of the College of Science and Mathematics at California State University. Robert is the bestselling author of Geography of Time, Stranger in the Mirror, and The Power of Persuasion, which has been translated into eight languages. His work has been featured in The New York Times, NPR, CNN, and more!      Is our current conception of “the self” accurate? The hard sciences demonstrate that there is not one, single, conception of the self The boundaries that we imagine divide us from the rest of the world are vague, porous, and sometimes non existent The self is a changeable object and we have control over changing it When does the self become the non-self? A huge portion of our body is bacteria - does that constitute part of the self? From a psychological perspective, we do not have a single personality or self Who are you?  Approaching the concept of the self in a real way, not in an abstract philosophical way What do virtual body parts have to do with the perception of the self? What are the consequences of the lack of a concrete, definitive, self? Your mind can be tricked, despite knowing that it’s being tricked Context and situation often determine your behavior moreso than your personality / self The interconnectedness of everything / are we actually separated from the universe / what is the “boundary” of the self? Where do our thoughts, decisions, and ideas come from? The notion from early psycho-neurology that your brain decides before we are aware that we have decided The self versus the non-self Where do our thoughts, desires, and impulses come from?  The boundary between ourselves and others is vague & malleable How do we use the fluidity of the self to reshape and edit ourselves? We are multiple personalities and selves - and this allows for and creates real possibilities for change What are the implications of this fluidity of the self? We can actualize the possibilities within our multiple and complex understanding of self-hood to create positive change in our lives We are the “editors” of our own lives and “selves” Creating positive change in your life requires thinking for self, introspection, and self honesty The lowest hanging fruit for keeping track of your “self” and editing to become the person you want to be Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how your environment plays a tremendous role in shaping who you are, look at how personality develops and what underscores it, talk about how to engineering your own environment to make yourself more productive and effective, examine at how to battle self sabotage and much more with our guest Benjamin Hardy.    Benjamin is a PhD candidate at Clemson University in Industrial and Organizational Psychology and is currently the #1 Writer for Medium.com with over 50 million page views recorded. He is the author of the upcoming book Willpower Doesn’t Work and his research and writing has been featured in Psychology Today, Business Insider, The Huffington Post, and more!   Success is about growth, never plateauing Always be a student, always be growing Living according to a value system that you believe in / a cause you believe in / serving people who you love The difference between security and freedom. Many people base their security in something external to themselves.  Develop your own worldview / beliefs / values / goals to help form a more independent Transformational learning experiences” helps transform your world view and perception of yourself Stretch your mind, push your body - to start to open up your world view If you do not create and control your environment, your environment controls you  The western belief that we exist independent of our context, what psychological research shows is that your environment has a tremendous impact. Your environment shapes who you are. Mindfulness is awareness of your surrounding and how those surroundings influence you You can also shape your environment, and this creates the possibility for radical change Epigenetics shows that your environment has a huge impact on your personality Personality is more of an adaptation to situations and unresolved trauma  The false belief of western culture is that we think personality is a fixed trait - science shows that it’s not Suppressed trauma can “freeze” your personality  “You are a sick as your secrets” - the things you keep isolated are the things that keep your personality frozen, your personality changes and continues to grow, you are stuck as a child in some aspects of your personality  Will Durant - most people believe that history was shaped by heroes, “It’s not heroes that shape history, its demanding situations that create heroes - the average person could have double their ability or more if the situation demanded it of them” How to “up the stakes” of your environment to create external situation to force you into the behaviors you want to create  The two kinds of “enriched environments” you need in order to maximize your performance Only 16% of creative ideas happen when you’re at your desk (when the mind is in a rested state) The concept of “psychological detachment” - letting go of work for a few days - really helps you fully engage when you come back to it The vital importance of recovery as a key component of being both happier and more productive How do you stop from self sabotaging? Put yourself in situations where its a self fulfilling prophecy. Create the environmental components necessary for you to succeed and thrive. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we take a journey into the inquiry know as “The Work’ and uncover the 4 question framework that you can use to break down negative thoughts and limiting beliefs. We examine what happens when we argue with reality, look at the difference between being right and being free, explore the causes of suffering, and much more with our guest Byron Katie.  Byron Katie is an American speaker, author, and founder of the method of self-inquiry known as “The Work”. She has worked with millions of individuals at both private and public events in prisons, hospitals, treatment centers, universities, and schools. She is the author of three bestselling books and her work has been featured in TIME, The Huffington Post, Oprah, and much more!   What happens when you don’t accept reality? Do you like it when you scrape your knee? How should you deal with negative experience? Missing the miracle of life by arguing with it What happens when we get caught up in having to be right? Why it’s painful to “believe your own thoughts” and why you should question your own thinking The Four Questions of “The Work” that can allow you to challenge your negative thoughts and limiting beliefs Using the “Four Questions” to meditate on and reflect on challenges in your life How to become a better listener, listening is powerful When you argue with someone else, you miss valuable information and become disconnected with that person We are often looking outside for the answers to our questions - we should instead look inside The only way to change the world is to question what you believe about the world? How to be open and fearless What you think that causes your suffering - it's only what you’re thinking and believing that causes your suffering What we think and believe create our identities People don’t need to change - what you think and believe about them could use some work Be aware of your life right here, right now - the value and the gift of life and how to take care of it. The Four Questions of the Work and how you can apply each of themIs it true? Can I absolutely know that it’s true? Who am I when I believe this to be true? Who would I be without this thought? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

 In this episode we discuss the danger of getting addicted to your screens. We look at how technology is designed to be as addictive as possible, and how those addictions specifically make you spend more time on things like social media and news that make you less happy. We discuss how screens rob us of time and attention and why it’s so hard to break away from them. We also look at how-how you can structure your environment to spend more time away from your phone and create ways to get out of these addictive behavior loops with our guest Dr. Adam Alter.        Dr. Adam Alter is an Associate Professor of Marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business, with an affiliated appointment in the New York University Psychology Department. His research focuses on judgment, decision making, and social psychology. He is the bestselling author of Drunk Tank Pink, and Irresistible, and his work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, WIRED, and much more!      Technology programs like Facebook are not designed to make you happy - they're designed to be as addictive as possible and consume you Steve Jobs didn't let his children use iPads Why technology giants in Silicon Valley often don’t let their children use technology (and why that’s important for you) The four negative affects of being addicted to your screens Your psychological wellbeing Your threshold for boredom declines dramatically Boredem is good, it creates creative and divergent thinking Negatively impacts your social wellbeing Lowers your emotional intelligence and your ability to read the emotions of others Negatively impacts you financially In app purchases Negatively impacts you in a physical way Too much time in front of screens Screens rob you of time and attention Can’t get into Deep Work Get less sleep Not spending time being present, enjoying time with loved one and friends The Drug of Choice Today is the PHONE There’s a huge rise in behavioral addictions today Social media and news make you LESS HAPPY when you use them - leaving you hollow and unfulfilled AR and VR will make it even more difficult to break away from technology addiction Apps today are built like slot machines - they are intentionally designed to hook you and not let you go Humans don’t like open loops - goals help close them  “Email is a lot like zombies” - you can kill them all and they just keep coming The abscence of stopping queues makes technology keep you addicted How can we mindfully create stopping queues in our own lives? You must become the architect of your own environment to control your own stopping queues Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to become a “superconnector." We look at the idea that networking is not about tactics, it’s about a fundamental shift in how you think about interacting with people. We examine how to break free from the lazy and shallow networking that social media often creates, discuss why you should never ask “how can I help?”, look at the power of curiosity and asking better questions and much more with our guest Scott Gerber.      Scott Gerber is CEO of The Community Company and founder of Young Entrepeneur’s Council. He is also an internationally syndicated columnist, the co-author of Superconnector and the author of Never Get a “Real” Job. Scott has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg and has even been honored by White House.      How do we cut through the quagmire of endless linked-in connections, twitter followers and more? Self awareness is one of the key attributes of super connectors Rather than being authentic, we are being internet authentic - social media conscious  Providing real signal, being human, allowing your humanity to show through - amplify your humanity We live under the illusion that vanity metrics determine social status Step one is the cultivation of emotional intelligence Focus on being of service to others Networking is not about tactics, its about a fundamental shift in how you think about interacting with people One of the key principles to networking is that you have to be a real, authentic human What kind of service / value do you want to bring to a community of peers? Failure is often a result of not building your relationships and communities Come from a true place of wanting to help others first Don’t be a “networker": A taker Out for yourself Wolf in sheeps clothing Get back down to the basics - guru nonsense, marketing hucksters etc are full of it A connector thinks about - what questions / context do I need to ask that this person is not giving me, so that I can figure out how to play a role to help them in succeeding in life or business - where I can be helpful? Why asking “How Can I Help” is the Worst Question You put the onus on the other person to tell a stranger how they can help Directionally it provides no guidance It shows you don’t care - because if you actually wanted to help, you would be curious, keep asking questions, to come up with a thesis and then say “here are some ways I CAN help, proactively” Offer actual assistance, not the platitude that you can help It’s the new social script - but it has no meaning or value You MUST ask better questions. The best connectors are curious.  Great question - “what does success look like for you?” “what are the steps you need to take to get there” How to cultivate curiosity and ask better questions Start with auditing your conversations Be curious about the other person Figure out questions that you want to ask people Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss becoming a SuperLearner. We dig into questions that I’ve pondered for a long time - does speed reading work? Can we actually speed read and increase our reading comprehension? Are there strategies you can use to improve your memory? And perhaps most importantly - how can we align the way we think, learn, and remember with the way our brains actually operate? We go into this and more with our guest Jonathan Levi.     Jonathan Levi is an author, learning expert, and founder of Super Human Enterprises. He is the author of the book Become a SuperLearner and has helped over 120,000 students improve their learning methodology through his online courses. He has been featured on the TED Stage and his work has been published in Inc. Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and more.      How Jonathan went from a “troubled student” to a learning and memory expert Memory strategies from greek philosophers to current day experts - what actually works? What to do if speed reading doesn’t work? You average college graduate reads about 250 wpm, at Jonathan’s peak he was reading 750-800 wpm with 80-90% comprehension Its vital to distinguish between rote memorization and how the memory actually works Most people have no concept of how powerful and effective memory techniques actually are By doing memory work you can change the physical structure and neurochemistry of your brain "Paleo Learning” - Get back to what actually works, from an evolutionary standpoint, with learning strategies Using our brains in the way they are intended to use - aligning our learning with our evolutionary design - creates an huge impact on your learning  The framework of 40 day study with 30 minute sessions per day Strategic memory techniques you can use to improve your memory How these two specific memory techniques could more improve your memory by 135% Pygmalion effect and the golem effect - people typically conform to the expectations of teachers and leaders  The same thing happens with your ego and your perception of yourself Even if these techniques don’t work for you, they still work for you Your ego’s incentive is always trying to prove you right Lessons from both the hard and soft sciences on how you can improve your memory Our brains are built in clusters / neural networks There are more neurons in your brain than stars in the known universe The 3 primary strategies for improving your memory Strongest memory effect are SMELL and TASTE - very deeply rooted in your brain Second most effective memory sense is sight - the "Picture superiority effect” Next most powerful is location-based memory Visual memory and location based memory are deeply ingrained in your brain and the keys to unlocking super learning Connecting all of your knowledge to preexisting knowledge “Hebb's Law” - Neurons that fire together, wire together Our brains thrive on novelty and newness - our brains are amazing at recognizing patterns and connections Learning how to use the memory palace technique  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how money messes with your brain. We look into the obvious traps we fall into when we think about money, examine how cultural influences shape our financial choices, and explore the key biases that underpin the most common and dangerous financial mistakes that you are most likely to make with our guest Jeff Kreisler.     Jeff Kreisler is a bestselling author and the winner of the Bill Hicks Spirit Award for Thought Provoking Comedy. He is most recently the co-author of the new book Dollars and Sense: How We Misthink Money and How To Spend Smarter with Dan Ariely. (who we have previously had on the show as well?) Jeff is a regular contributor for CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and more!    Get rich cheating??? What’s that all about? The common tropes within the self help industry (and how many of them are not based in evidence) The power of satire to explore the underpinnings of human behavior What is money? Why do we have such a hard time thinking about money? Awareness of your biases is a huge difference maker (even if you do nothing other than just being aware of your biases) Spending is very obvious in our culture, but saving is not Research shows men are more willing to admit they take viagra, than how much money they've saved in their 401ks We dig deep into several of the mental biases that stop you from understanding money The relativity bias and how that impacts spending habits ‘What do you want for dinner” vs “would you rather have chicken or fish for dinner” “The Pain of Paying” Bias and how it impacts what we think about money “The credit card premium” and how using a credit card makes you pay more Anchoring bias and arbitrary coherence.  How your social security number could impact how much you pay for a bottle of wine We often obsess about small financial decisions, but make judgements on a whim with large financial decisions like buying a home or car “Ulysseses contracts," reward substitution and how to create self control How self awareness is the cornerstone of making better financial decisions The locksmith example and how we misunderstand value and fairness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to build a rockstar brain. We get into the neurochemical compositions that create moods from happiness to depression and look at you can change the building blocks of the neurochemicals by changing your diet and your habits. In a world were people are more stressed than ever, sleeping less, and trying to do more - we look at the causes of “brain drain” and what we can do to have physically happier and more productive brains with Dr. Michael Dow.      Dr. Michael Dow is a psychotherapist, neurotherapist, and a New York Times Bestselling author. He has been the host of several television series examining relationships, brain health, addiction, and mental illness. Dr. Mike is frequently a guest cohost on The Doctors and his work has been featured in Today, Good Morning America, Nightline, and more.      Your brain is being drained every day by stress, life, etc  The 3 subtypes of brain drain Adrenaline Norepinephrine Cortisol What happens, neurologically, when you suffer from “brain drain” or brain fog The brain balancing neurochemicals that are the antidotes to stress hormones EPA and DHA Omega 3 Acids - and why they are important co-factors in building a healthy brain People are feeling more stressed than ever, working more, sleeping less How are we causing “brain drain” with our daily habits and activities? The 24 hour relationship between cortisol and melatonin Throughout the day, your melatonin level rises and your cortisol level decreases What we do every single day has a far more profound effect on our neurochemicals than we even realize Lifestyle interventions you can implement to rebalance and change your neurochemicals Sugar and flour drain and shrink the hippocampus - which is the main site of neurogenesis How do we cultivate GABA? Glutamine from spinach Vitamin B6 in bananas, magnesium and zinc Eat seven servings of whole fruits and vegetables every day Are vitamins and supplements are useful tool or should we get all our nutrients from whole foods? The importance of getting Omega-3 fatty acids (EPA and DHA) EPA = Feel Better Omega 3 (stress less Omega 3) DHA = Sleep soundly Omega 3 (promotes restful sleep) EPA and DHA compete for space in your cells Omega 3s are one of the best foods you can eat for your brain - they are the building blocks of yo You can build a “rockstar brain” with a modified mediterranean diet Lean protein Nuts Olive Oil Fish Lots of fruits and vegetables The modified mediterranean diet has been shown via research to combat major depressive disorder Common sources of omega 6 fats - soybean oil and factory farmed meat products - most intense source of omega 6 fats which cause brain inflammation Strategies for shifting the brain from the sympathetic to the parasympat Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore luck. Does luck exist? Is there a science of luck? What does the research reveal about lucky people and unlucky people? Is it possible to manufacture your own luck? We speak with research psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman and learn the truth about luck and how you just might able to create a bit more in your own life.     Dr. Richard Wiseman has been described by The Scientific American as “The most interesting and innovative experimental psychologist in the world today” and his books have sold over 3 million copies worldwide. Richard started his career as a working magician and now holds Britain’s only Professorship in the Public Understanding of Psychology. His work has been featured across the globe and he has delivered keynotes to The Royal Society, The Swiss Economic Forum, Google, and more.      How Richard went from being a performance magician to being deeply interested in human psychology How studying "the psychology of deception” taught Dr. Wiseman to subtly influence human perception and behavior Most people think they are good lie detectors, but they are in fact not - they are no better than chance When you focus on reading only a transcript - average people go up to 60-70% effectiveness in detecting lies People prefer to lie with the spoken word rather than with written word What research reveals the difference between lucky and unlucky people For the most part, people are CREATING THEIR OWN LUCK by the way they are thinking and acting The research supports, with enormous consistency, that you can create luck The “newspaper experiment” and how it demonstrates the difference between being lucky and unlucky  How your “attentional spotlight” filters your perception and reality - causing you to miss basic opportunities - this is what the “unlucky” often do to themselves Then, Dr. Wiseman taught subjects in experiments to “think like a lucky person” and these simple exercises caused the “unlucky” to be more lucky Keep a “luck diary” - the most positive thing / positive thought that happens in a day - will rapidly reorient you towards being more “lucky” The lucky tended to be more intuitive, risk seeking, and resilient Generating “negative counterfactuals” and “finding the silver lining” can help you generate more luck You are creating your own good and bad luck by what you are thinking and feeling What happens if you don’t think you can train your mind to be more positive? Try these “luck producing strategies” for 1 month and you will be luckier in your life How people get stuck in an identity of being “unlucky” can sometimes trap you in a certain behavior pattern Creating and cultivating flexibility in your life - taking a different route to work, changing your conversational style - enables you to capture luck in your life Lucky people are “team players” and constantly look for win-wins - trying to help other people become successful and engaging and talking with other people constantly  Buying lottery tickets all day by exploring opportunities and relationships in an open way is how you can “create luck” in your life The biggest myths of self help - and what evidence actually says about them The danger of visualization - and why it doesn’t actually work - in fact “visualization is a terrible idea” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the habits of high achievers, the motivation myth, dig deep into habits, routines, and strategies you can use to achieve more in less time, balancing hustle and hard work vs recovery and much more with our guest Jeff Haden.    Jeff is a contributing editor for Inc.com, author, and ghostwriter. Jeff has ghostwritten nearly 40 non-fiction books including four amazon best sellers. He is the author of the upcoming book The Motivation Myth: How High Achievers Really Set Themselves Up To Win and his articles for Inc.com were read by over 20 million people in 2016 alone.How Jeff achieved his dream and realized it wasn't nearly as exciting as he thought it would beTop achievers don't have special sauce - its hard work and hustle that gets them thereIn interviewing and studying top achievers and the lessons from studying themThe power of process and the power of routineMap out and create a blueprint of what you want to do The power of doing the right things every day without fail How do we find out what the right things to do are?Find someone who has achieved what you want to do, look at what they did to get there, create a blueprint based off of that and execute itYou don't need to reinvent the wheel The hard part is actually what gets you to where you want to be Motivation comes from action and progress - not the other way aroundYour muse comes from action, you get ideas from doing things, you get inspiration from getting out there and getting started2 quick and easy tricks to be as productive as possible every dayA fantastic daily productivity strategy you can implement right awaySetting your daily MIT every week to avoid decision fatigue and make high leverage choices every week"I can’t” vs “I don’t” and what research reveals about using one phrase vs the otherThe benefits of working out in the morningHow to generate energy in the afternoon with small rest periodsHow do you balance hard work and hustle with recovery?High leverage thinking, focusing questions, and avoiding busyworkThe “breaking a sweat” principle - starting with the smallest thing possibleHow do you deal with big, far off goals? “the distance between here and there”How Jeff did 100,000 pushups in a yearSet big goals, but focus on the routine/process every single day to execute How talking about your intentions and big goals can actually prevent you from achieving themHow Jeff want from being a factory manager to a prolific writer, writing more than 40 books and countless articlesJeff’s daily writing habit and how he developed itBreak down into parts, and execute each of those component parts by day Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore emotions and facial expression in depth with one of the world’s top experts - the psychologist who pioneered much of the work in this field - Dr. Paul Ekman. We discuss the 6-7 major universal emotions, how emotional reactions are unchanged across cultures, ages, and even species, we discuss micro expressions, reading people’s faces, how to manage and control your emotions, and much much more.      Dr. Paul Ekman is best known for his work as a pioneer researching the field of emotions and how they relate to our facial expressions and as founder of the Paul Ekman Group. These studies along with many others led to Paul being named one of the top 100 most influential people in the world by Time Magazine and One of the Most Influential Psychologist of the 20th Century by the American Psychological Association. Paul has written over 14 books and 170 published articles having his work appear in Psychology Today, The New Yorker, Oprah, Larry King, and more.Reading facial expressions with definitive evidenceThere is some universality to our expressions across cultures, ages, and even species Expressions are a product of evolution There are 6-7 major universal emotions FearAngerSadnessDisgustSurpriseEnjoyment Contempt (maybe not as robust evidence)You have to avoid “Othello’s error” - you can read an emotion, but that doesn’t tell you what TRIGGERS itThe face, as a universal signal system, conveys a tremendous amount of informationThere are 16 different types of enjoymentHow poker tells can teach us about emotional expressions and how we often read them wrongWe can know HOW people feel, but we cannot know what triggered how they feelIn one hour you can learn to read anyone's faceThe hardest emotion to turn on is enjoymentEmotions are memories, expectations, changes in what we think, and changes in how we can rememberWhen we are in the grip of an emotion - we most readily perceive things that fit the emotion we are experiencing and ignore things that don'tIt’s not easy to manage your emotions, but it is possibleFast onset vs slow onset emotional reactivenessFast vs slow emotional offsetThe specific steps you can take to manage your emotions and create a gap between emotional triggers and emotional reactionsDiary / journal is a powerful tool for understanding and managing your emotional statesRecord negative emotional experiencesSee what they have in commonSee if you can anticipate and prepare for negative emotionsEmotion is useful, powerful, but also can become cumbersome Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss everything you ever wanted to know about sleep. We examine the findings from hundreds of studies across millions of people and pull out the major findings about how vitally important sleep is, the global sleep loss epidemic, the stunning data about sleep and productivity, the simplest and most effective evidence based strategies for getting better sleep and much more with Dr. Matthew Walker.    Dr. Matthew Walker is Professor of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, and Founder and Director of the Center for Human Sleep Science. He has published over 100 scientific studies and is the author of the book Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams. Which is currently the #1 Amazon Bestseller in Neuroscience . He has been featured on numerous television and radio outlets, including CBS 60 Minutes, National Geographic Channel, NOVA Science, NRP and the BBC.Global sleep loss epidimic - the average American sleeps only 6.5 hours per nightSleep has slowly been eroded by our society over the last 60 yearsSleep is vital and essential from an evolutionary standpoint - you can’t just lop off 25% of the necessary sleep you need If you sleep less, you will be dead sooner, lack of sleep kills your more quicklyLack of sleep is a major predictor of “all cause mortality” including cancer, alzheimers, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, depression, and suicideHard science shows why a lack of sleep is tremendously bad for youSleep has an image problem, we stigmatize sleep and think its lazy and slothful - people wear lack of sleep as a badge of honor to be celebratedThe 5 clear truths of sleep research and productivity Under-slept employees take on less challenging problems They produce fewer creative solutions They exert less effort when working in groups (slacking off, social loafing) They are more likely to lie, cheat, and engage in deviant behavior The more or less sleep that a CEO has had, the more or less charismatic they will be Chronic exhaustion cost most first world nation 2% of the GDP - 411 billion dollars lost each year to a lack of sleepThe evidence is resoundingly clear - cutting on sleep makes you less productive and less creative and less effectiveAfter being awake for 21 hours, you’re as cognitively imparied as someoen who is legally drunkThe two principle types of sleep - REM sleep and non-REM sleepThe different stages of sleep - the 4 stages of REM sleepHard science shows that deep Sleep is critical to clearing toxins out of your brainSleep is like a sewage system for your brian - it cleans all the toxins and debris out of your brainThe less sleep you have, the higher your probability of getting alzheimersDifferent cognitive systems in your brain also work during sleep - its like saving files to a hard drive, you have to sleep to get the save button Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is a bit off the beaten path for us here at the Science of Success. Given this time of year, when many are thinking, reflecting, and being a bit more spiritual - we wanted to offer a different perspective. This episode is not as science based, but still provides a fascinating dialogue with a Buddhist monk, who was the first westerner ordained by the Dalai Lama, on life, meditation, mindfulness, and much more with our guest Robert Thurman.    Robert Thurman is a Professor of Indo-Tibetan Buddhist Studies in the Department of Religion at Columbia University, and President of the American Institute of Buddhist Studies. Time magazine has called Robert “the leading American expert on Tibetan Buddhism.” and named him one of Time Magazine most influential Americans in 1997. Robert was the first westerner ever to be ordained as a Tibetan Monk by the Dalai Lama and his work and books have been featured all over the globe.How Robert’s journey took him to becoming a Tibetan Monk under the Dalai LlamaThe dogma of materialism - mind is the power that directs matter The basic misunderstandings of buddhism from a western perspectiveLife is sufferingIt’s just meditationMeditation without context isn’t useful The two kinds of meditationClearing your mind of thinking / emptying the mindAnalytic / critical meditation or “insight meditation”Thinking something directed towards the exploration of yourself, ideas, or things around youHow an egotistical approach creates “guaranteed misery” - you could become the most powerful person on the planet and people still wont think you’re important Why enlightenment is not clearing your mind of thoughtsThe importance of focusing on and being open to other peopleYou can learn if you examine yourself and your worldLook more objectively at your thought flow - see where thought flows arise, penetrate the thought flow, see the negative thoughts and the positive thoughts What thought is that? How accurate is it? Where does it come from? Whose voice is it? my mother’s voice? my fathers? my uncles? my teacher? Gain leverage on how the mind works, edit how the mind works reinforce the positive insights, de-enforce the negative insights  It’s helpful to have help of others - mobilize minds that are further along the path than you are - your the only one who can learn your reality in a  viscerally transformative way - use their help and follow their methodsHow Eckart Tolle battled back from the verge of suicide - looking critically at negative thoughts Experiential understanding of the nature of reality - reality is beyond anyone’s idea of realityHow does the Dalai Llama keep up his joy, good humor, and happiness in a world full of so much suffering?The nature of life itself is blissful. Reality is good. The more you’re open to reality, the happier you are. Broaden your attitude and orientation, don’t deny the bad experiences Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss one of the most important evidence based psychology principles that make people successful - self awareness. We look at the difference between people who succeed and those who plateau. We talk about why self awareness is the meta-skill of the 21st century and the foundational skill required to succeed in anything, and we examine conclusions form over 800 scientific studies about self awareness with our guest Dr. Tasha Eurich.       Dr. Tasha Eurich is an organizational psychologist, researcher, and principal of The Eurich Group. She received her Ph.D in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Colorado State University and a BA in Theatre and Psychology. She is the New York Times Bestselling author of Bankable Leadership and INSIGHT. Her TED talk has been viewed over one million times and her work has been featured in Business Insider, Forbes, The New York Times and many more!    How Tasha uses evidence based psychology principles to make people more succesful The difference between people who plateau and people who meet and defeat challenge head on Self awareness “the meta skill of the 21st century" What does the data show is linked to high self awareness? Self awareness is foundational to all skills required to succeed What does the Science say about Self Awareness? Self aware people are: More fulfilled Better communications More confidence Have better relationships More effective leaders Run more profitable companies Self awareness sets the UPPER LIMIT for the skills you need to be successful in the world today 95% people of people think that they are self aware but only 10-15% actually are On a good day 80% of people are lying to themselves about lying to themselves Conclusions from reviewing over 800 scientific studies to figure out WHAT self awareness was The 2 broad categories of self awareness - the ability to see yourself cleary Internal Self Awareness (introspective people) External Self Awareness (pleasers) Self awareness is an “infinitely learnable skill” There are no demographic commonalities between self awareness The 3 categories of Self Awareness Unicorns  Being in a new role / new set of rules Earthquake events - usually negative - that are so devastating that they either cause is to bury our heads in the sand, or they become a catalyst for self awareness The MOST LIKELY - everyday insights The barriers to self awareness are myriad Internal wiring of human beings - change the way you introspect The power of substituting the word WHY for the word WHAT The world we live in today - social media, reality TV, the “cult of self” The cult of the self - and how our culture damages self awareness The challenges of excavating our subconscious / unconscious mind Moving forward with purpose, logic, and curiosity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to master relationships, go deep into cutting edge networking strategies from one of the world’s top connectors, examine how to unite people in collaboration and co-elevation, the power of generosity in building real and authentic relationships, how to let go of individualism, and much more with Keith Ferrrazi.     Keith Ferrazzi is the CEO and founder of Ferrazzi Greenlight and the best selling author of Who’s Got Your Back and Never Eat Alone. Keith’s Greenlight Research Institute has proven the correlation between specific practices that improve relationships, with business success. His work has been featured in several high profile publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Harvard Business Review, Inc, Fast Company, and around the globe. Why you need to make the shift form networking to authentic relationship building The importance of leading with generosity to build real authentic relationships Are you still clinging to the rugged john wayne individualism and self focus? Keith wants to shift that to recognition that the greatest things in our lives only happen via co-creation Co-creation vs collaboration - it's one step beyond collaboration, going higher together How do we commit to growing together in the process?  You have to put in the work to bring about co-elevation and co-creation Take full responsibility for all the relationships around you - take responsibility for making those people successful  The victim mindset and how to defeat it For someone stuck in a victim mindset - how do they start making the shift towards responsibility? “What’s your blue flame?” What really matters to others? What drives success in their eyes? How do you serve that? Do you really know the blue flame of your boss? What does your boss truly care about? How do you become a conduit for other people to achieve their goals? (And why that’s so important)  Focus on fully understanding what a person needs, wants and how you can serve them 2 Key shifts you have to make to get out of the victim mindset: Understanding that it’s all on you to take action Understand that it’s all about “them” (and the more broadly you define them, the more successful you will be) Creating is the new competency of leadership How do you invite this community into becoming a movement? The 3 reason people don’t get on board with Co-creation Laziness Cowardice Sense of Entitlement / Ego / Vindictiveness / Indulgence You have no choice if you want to be successful other than to embrace relationship building Practice is the KEY to building successful relationships and enabling co-creation Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore rejection in depth. We talk about the incredible power of rejection, go deep into rejection therapy, look at the incredible results created by seeking out rejection and living beyond your comfort zone, talk about the magic of asking why, hear a few incredible stories from 100 days of rejection, and much more with our guest Jia Jiang.      Jia Jiang is the founder 100 Days of Rejection and the author of Rejection Proof. In an effort to overcome his fear of rejection Jia spent 100 Days forcing himself into situation after situation where rejection was almost guaranteedJia has been featured on the TED Stage, Forbes, Business Insider, and much more.    Jia’s personal relationship with rejection The misalignment between wanting to achieve and being afraid of rejection The only way to overcome your fear is to embrace it and meet it head on How to become a badass and become fearless Saying no with grace - how to say no with grace Show people alternatives Give them something else / help them to get a yes in some way Have respect "Everything amazing and beautiful happens outside your comfort zone" The amazing power of forcing yourself to constantly challenge and operate outside your comfort zone The importance of understanding the vast majority will stay say no to you and why that doesn’t matter It doesn’t matter when you get rejected The few people that say yes make a huge impact - a real breakthrough "How many yesses have I missed in my life?” You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take It’s not about getting a yes - it’s about EXPLORING and CREATING SOMETHING The worst thing that can happen is you saying no to yourself It’s about having fun and challenging yourself Jia’s advice for someone who is afraid to take the first step How to take the first step and overcome the inertia of facing your first rejection Start small, just a little bit outside of your comfort zone, and grow If you ask enough, there is no request that will get rejected by everyone What to do if you feel like you’re bothering people when you ask them for something Be curious, don’t make your goal to get a yes - make your goal to ask 10 people  Turning no into yes, and the magic of asking “why” Ask people why they said no to you - find out what the reason is What Jia learned from asking a stranger to plant a flower in his back yard The power of doubt and empathy Humor and positivity - don't take yourself too seriously We go through a bunch of rapid rejection techniques you can use right now You can do rejection therapy for FUN - or you can align it with you goals!  Embrace rejection - rejection means something GOOD not something BAD Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore what it takes to succeed at the highest possible levels, we get science and data from years in the trenches with top performers to uncover the strategies that really work for achieving results, we dig deep into the life long quest of discovering your own personal philosophy and much more with Dr. Michael Gervais.      Dr. Michael Gervais - Michael is a high performance psychologist who trains mindset skills and practices that are essential to revealing one’s potential. Michael has worked with some of the world’s top performers including sports teams such as the Seattle Seahawks, Felix Baumgartner (The Red Bull Sponsored Athlete Who Completed the Stratosphere Jump)Olympians, musicians, and more! His work has been featured on ESPN, CNN, The New York Times, and much more!     NOTES:    Years in the trenches with top performers to get the best strategies The importance of rugged and hostile environments to cultivating presence and peak performance The value of working hard and getting right on the edge of capacity in order to grow Our ancient brain is the thing that gets us stuck, keeps us safe, and keeps us small There are only 3 things you can train as a human You can train your body You can train your craft - this varies by person - can be anything from writing to motorcross to partening You can train your mind Everything falls into those buckets when we talk about the development of the human experience A personal philosophy is one of the most significant anchors you can ground yourself with. Great achievers always have clarity of personal philosophy Line up your thoughts, words, and actions across any environment - there is a sense of power that comes from that - an inner knowing and being that is so rock solid that you can move eloquently in any environment when you have that mindset The life-long quest of discovering your own personal philosophy - and the 3 methodologies Mindfulness - being present with your inner experience Being around wise people - people who are switched on, people who are having deep convos, talking about their philosophies, having those conversations Writing - the art of writing, taking a thought and all the words in your native tongue and lock down these ideas and concepts Start with putting your philosophy to memory, and then most importantly begin putting your philosophy into practice There’s nothing new in the world of self help - the science is super clear - this is what we know to be true - you just have to do the work Optimism is a foundational pillar for mental toughness, optimism is about how you think about your future Relentless belief that you can focus your mind on what’s good First function - without awareness of inner dialogue you’re dead in the water - you must have meditation/mindfulness - train your inner experience to become more aware of thoughts and sensations Second - Martin Seligman - focus on 3 good things - gratitude journal  Become a researcher of amazing / researcher of good in your own life  Mindfulness is the backbone that runs through all of these strategies Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We're extremely excited to introduce to you a new occasional segment of The Science of Success, Tuesday Talks! Are you tired of all the BS and fluff that oftentimes accompanies personal development? Tuesday Talks delivers to you Evidence Based Growth tactics that are proven to work and deliver maximum impact in your life in under five minutes.  In this episode, we dive into the 80/20 principle and the impact it can have on your life starting today. This principle can be applied to everything in life. By utilizing it the right way, you can ensure you are focusing on the right things, getting the most out of your time, and ultimately, begin producing more results than you ever thought possible.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the proven strategies building effective relationships, why it’s vital to understand that the results you get in the world are a result of working with other people, how you can see the world from other people’s perspectives, tactics for building your credibility, how to get better feedback and much more with Todd Davis.      Todd Davis is the Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Franklin Covey and author of the new book Get Better: 15 Proven Practices to Build Effective Relationships at Work. Todd is responsible for Franklin Covey’s global talent development in over 40 offices in 160 countries and previously served as director of innovations, developing many of the company’s core offerings.    The culture of an organization can make all the difference The nature of relationships between people becomes a companies ultimate competitive advantage Todd’s lessons from working with and coaching hundreds of companies and executives What did Sarte mean when he said that “Hell is other people?” The ultimate way you are measured is by the results you get You get your results WITH and THROUGH and other people What we see determines everything we do, and what we do determines the results we get Consider stepping back and understanding that their may be a different way to view things - that can powerfully impact your relationships Ask yourself “have you considered the other person’s perspective?” An exercise can you use right now to start to see the world from other people’s perspectives The power of examining your real motives Journaling exercise you can use to understand your real motives “The Five Whys” - keep asking why until you get to the root cause The most effective, successful, and influential people start with themselves first Your circle of influence vs your circle of concern Why you should focus your time, energy, effort, and resources on things that you can impact and control The power of asking “Can you help me understand something?” Start with humility - the power of having humility in dealing with tough conversations Proactive, effective people don’t wait for feedback, they actively go and seek it out The 4 common reasons why we don’t seek feedback (and what you can do about them) A great opening line for dealing with tough conversations and situations  Seeking validation vs actually seeking feedback How to “behave your way to credibility” The 2 key components for credibility - character and competence  An exercise you can use to build your credibility over the long term The single biggest mistake of influencing other people - not “walking your talk” Make sure someone deeply understands your intent When emotions are high - that’s not the moment to start addressing the problem With people - "fast is slow and slow is fast" The socratic method of influencing people - if you ask the right questions, seek understanding, and uncover the real issues - you can solve serious problems Todd shares a personal story that deeply impacts the lessons we discuss in the show Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how our guest went from a childhood head injury to becoming an accelerated learning expert. We cover memory, speed reading, improving your focus, taking notes like an expert and go deep into tactics for accelerated learning. We talk about the importance of mastering the fundamentals, and get into tons of highly specific and actionable advice you can use today with our guest Jim Kwik.      Jim Kwik is the founder of Kwik Learning and Superhero You. Jim is a brain coach in speed reading, memory improvement, brain performance, and accelerated learning. Jim’s methods and work have been utilized by with several high profile companies including Nike, SpaceX, and GE, as well as individuals such as the Clintons, Oprah, Richard Branson and more.    We’ve discovered more in the last 20 years about the human brain than we learned in the 2000 years before that How Jim went from growing up with learning challenges from an early childhood head injury to become an expert in accelerated learning and speed reading How to read 30 books in 30 days How we can actually retain what we read Knowledge is not power, its only potential power  The one super power you want to master in the 21st century (learn faster) Traditional speed reeding, skimming, skipping words, getting the gist of something is not enough - its about fully capturing and retaining the information The average person reads 1-2 books per year, but the average CEO reads 4-5 books per month What Bill Gates said the #1 super power he would pick would be How you can gain 2 months of productive time per year Why motivation is such a critical component of accelerated learning - have a purpose for why you read "H-Cubed” - 3 things you need for motivation to have accelerated learning  The fastest way to read something is not to read it at all - figured out what your end goal is How you can remember names more effectively & become a great connector If you forget someone’s name, you show that they’re not important to you How to give a speech without notes Brain Hacks for Speed Reading “Leaders are readers” and why Jim thinks you should read 30 minutes per day  12 things Jim does every morning to jumpstart his brain Mental fitness is as important, if not more important, than mental intelligence Using a “visual pacer” and how that brain hack can help you instantly double your reading speed One of the biggest traps in the personal development field is the “next new thing” People who are truly on the path to Mastery focus on the fundamentals and get REALLY REALLY GOOD at the BASICS How to get a 20-50% boost in your reading speed right now Excellence comes down to a set of routines, rituals, and habits If we always do the easy thing in life, life becomes hard, if we do the hard things, life becomes easy BEMAT = behavior equals motivation ability and trigger The primacy principle and the recency principle - and why you should chunk and take breaks to create more “beginnings and ends" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how our guest went from a hard-nosed skeptic who thought most self help was BS, to someone who uncovered the evidence based growth strategies that actually work. We talk about our guest’s journey from meeting self help gurus, to spiritual teachers, and neuroscientists to discover the biggest lessons about improving your mind and body, and the simple, scientifically validated tool that evidence demonstrates is the best way to be happier with Dan Harris.      Dan Harris is a correspondent for ABC News and the co-anchor for the weekend edition of Good Morning America. Dan regularly contributes to Nightline, 20/20, and World News and has covered stories from all over the world including war reporting in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as investigative reports in Haiti, Cambodia, the Congo and more. Dan is the author of the book 10% Happier and his work has been featured in the New York Times, The Washington Post, Dr. OZ, Good Morning America, and much more.    How Dan went from being a skeptical hard-nosed reporter who thought meditation and self was was largely “bulls**t”What happened when Dan had a panic attack in front of 5 million people on Live TVWhat it’s like to have your mind get hijacked by the most boring person aliveDan’s journey of visiting self help gurus, religious leaders, neuroscientists and more led him to one major conclusion about how to improve your brain and your bodyHow many self help gurus are correct, but often not useful in a practical senseSimple and scientifically validated tool to deal with the voice in your headThe secrets of "contemplative neuroscientists"How to train up the ability to focus, deal with emotions, be nice to other people, be nice to yourself, have patience, and be gratefulThe radical notion, supported by research, that you can literally train and transform your brain to prime it for happinessHappiness is skill, according to the science, and it can be trainedThere are thousands of kinds of meditation and it’s not useful to get overly dogmatic about the superiority of one method over the otherDan gravitates towards mindfulness meditation because it has valuable and strong research supporting itThe basic and simple strategy you can use to start meditating RIGHT NOWYou don’t need to clear your mind - clearing your mind is impossibleThink about meditation like going to the gym - if you’re not sweating and panting you're not doing it right, meditation is like bicep curls for the brain. The whole game of meditation is have the collision with the voice in your head and return to breath How to defeat anxiety, depression, and panic attacks using meditation What to do if you don’t have enough time to meditate The different between responding wisely and reacting blindly How do we strike a balance between acceptance/mindfulness and achievement? Non-attachment to results - you are not fully in control of the universe - everything is interconnected and multifactorial - the wise stance for an ambitious person is to recognize that you shouldn’t be attached to results How do we battle back from nihilism if we go to deep down the path of buddhism? We do have some agency to impact the universe, but we aren’t the master of the universe The importance of seeing things as they are instead of as you want them to be Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the groundbreaking research behind the ancient molecule that fuels peak performance, the foundations of neuroeconomics, how our brains react during social interactions, we examine how our brains are designed to connect and built to work cooperatively, we dig into the power of oxytocin and how you can increase it in your life, and much more with Dr. Paul Zak.     Dr. Paul Zak is founding Director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies and Professor of Economics, Psychology, and Management at Claremont Graduate University. He was also among the team of scientists who were the first to use brain imaging to identify the role of oxytocin as a key driver of trust, love, and morality that distinguish our humanity. Paul is the author of the new book Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performance Companies and has appeared on ABC World News, CNN, Fox Business, and more.    Paul founded the field of Neuroeconomics - what is that? How are humans able to interact with total strangers when that is impossible in the animal kingdom? How do our brains balance the risks of meeting a stranger vs the benefits of increased social influence? Our brains live in this soup of chemicals, none of which we are aware of consciously How Paul’s groundbreaking research transformed what scientists thought about the production of oxytocin and how humans build trust  Oxytocin is an on/off switch Paul challenges the listeners to a fight!  Our brains naturally help us adapt to the environment we are in How do we get people in groups to perform at their highest level How you can train your brain to release more oxytocin Learn how to read the emotional state of the people around you How “listening with your eyes” can help boost your oxytocin and help you become more in sync with people The “evil trick” you can use to get tons of information when you meet someone (it’s NOT what you expect!) Our brains are designed to connect, we want to be connected. We are naturally open to touch. Our brains are built to work cooperatively.  Strategies you can use in your daily life to increase your oxytocin  How companies can measure and manage their culture for high trust and high performance The 8 key building blocks leaders can use to build trust and improve high performance Paul focuses on measuring brain activity and use that to solve real problems that humans have. The neuroscience firmly demonstrates the power and vital importance of sleep  How you can implement concrete changes to get the biggest bang for your buck in building a culture of high performance We trust people more who are their real, vulnerable, natural selves Why you should replace “how was your weekend” with “hey you look really ” to build deeper relationships Almost no human can survive on their own - we only survive in groups - we must understand how to engage the groups that we are constantly around Science predicts, and data strongly supports, that people want to be and enjoy being part of high performance groups Why isn’t work an adventure? How can we make a work an adventure Connecting, touching, giving a gift - give the gift of connection, empowerment, love, to someone around you Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss How To Use “Mind Control” Techniques to Create Any Habit You Want, why we are driven much more by pain than pleasure, the “hook” model for describing human behavior, how to hack your rewards to change your behavior, the power of tiny amounts of friction, and much more with Nir Eyal.    Nir Eyal is an expert in “behavioral design” having worked in both advertising and video gaming helping companies build and create more engaging products. Nir is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the book Hooked: How To Build Habit Forming Products and has been featured in Forbes, Psychology Today, and more. Nir is an active angel investor and currently writes to help companies create good habit and behaviors in their users on his blog NirandFar.com.   We discuss:   Persuasion, mind control, and behavioral design What is a habit and how do you define it? How we can leverage technology to build healthier habits How 50% of your actions take place with little or no unconscious thought Internal vs External triggers  There is only one reason you use a product or service - to modulate your mood - that’s it Our behaviors are driven NOT by seeking of pleasure, but rather the quelling of a unconformable emotion  Figure out what your frequently occurring internal triggers are We are driven more by PAIN than by PLEASURE There’s no end to what we can accomplish if we can understand that pain is our primary motivator Even seeking pleasure = satisfying the PAIN of WANTING The power of the unknown to draw us in  The 4 stages of the “Hook” Model on how Habits are formed and sustained Rewards are actually wanting to quell the “stress of desire” Discomfort drives us to action How the same mental hardwiring behind addiction also underpins love and desire The easier you can make a behavior the more likely people are to do it The biggest thing that drives people to adopt technology is making life EASIER Reward itself doesn’t have much impact on your brain, its the anticipation of the reward that drives us  3 Kinds of Variable Rewards Rewards of the Tribe Rewards of the Hunt Rewards of the Self Belief is as much of a factor in addiction as physical dependency itself How making a behavior just a little bit easier can have dramatic results How to put the hook model in reverse and destroy bad habits How putting space between steps in your habit loop can create massive changes How can you make bad habits more difficult, take longer, or be harder to do? How you can use “temptation bundling” to break the hold of variable rewards in your habit loop Never do something when you don’t have the end in sight - do things that have a finite END so that you don’t get hooked Key question you must ask yourself: Is this technology serving ME, or am I serving IT? One simple piece of advice to implement the ideas discussed in this interview right away How to leverage technology to combat technology that is distracting you  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode, we discuss what happened when our guest astronaut Chris Hadfield went blind during a space walk - and how he made it out alive. We talk about the mental toughness necessary to survive extremely dangerous situations like that, discuss in depth how astronauts deal with fear, look at the vital importance of powerful training to deal with huge risks, and much more with  Chris Hadfield.     Chris Hadfield, who the BBC called “the most famous astronaut since Neil Armstrong" has been a part of several space missions with the Canadian Space Agency and NASA. He served as Chief of Robotics and Chief of International Space Station Operations. Chris was the first Canadian to command the International Space Station and was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and inducted to the Canadian Aviation Hall Of Fame. In addition to his work as an engineer and astronaut Chris is an author, musician, and speaker.     We discuss:    The 3 key things that enabled chris to make it all the way through the astronaut selection process How Chris survived going BLIND during a space walk in outer space!! How astronauts rescue incapacitated crew in outer space How to cultivate the mental toughness to survive the most dangerous situations imaginable The learned and trained ability to deal with extremely complex circumstances Why Chris was an astronaut for 21 years and only spent 6 months in space, thats how important training is In outer space, you can’t count on luck, you count on your own learned ability to deal with the probable things that could go wrong How NASA develops training programs to do everything possible to be successful The vital importance of visualizing failure and understanding what could go wrong Astronauts don’t visualize success, they practice for failure, all the time Visualize failure, incrementally improve, don't count on luck NASA’s Recipe for Success The relationship between DANGER and FEAR Things don’t change whether or not you are afraid of them - the ONLY question is whether or not you are prepared Your body’s physiology reacts to being unprepared to a dangers situation with a reaction we simply call “fear” FEAR = LACK OF PREPARATION Perpetual fear = STRESS (and overwhelm) Listen to fear, but don’t keep fear from allowing you to dictate your life How do you change your own threshold of fear? Recognize real threats through the noise of the non threats if you dont know what to be afraid fo, then your afraid of everything the difference between belief and knowledge If you're afraid of a jaguar, should you be afraid of a kitten? One of the ways to increase your own significance is to exaggerate your problems Why the perception that the world is more dangerous now than ever is fundamentally flawed "The Sky is Not The Limit" Life is TOUGH and the earth is TOUGH - it’s been here for 4.5 billion years The perspective of an astronaut viewing the entire world from above Why Chris recommends that you should “aim to be a zero” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how neurology's perspective on the brain fundamentally ignores the health of the entire system, we look at your gut biome’s role in depression, mood regulation and how the microbiome controls your behavior and emotions, we ask why it is so hard for people to break negative eating habits, talk about the biochemistry of addiction, the incredible importance of understanding your microbiome and gut health with Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary.      Dr. Kulreet Chaudhary is a neuroscientist and Ayurveda expert. She has participated in over 20 clinical research studies working with new stem cell therapies for diabetic neuropathy and drug development for the treatment of ALS. Dr. Chaudhary is the author of The Prime: Prepare and Repair Your Body for Spontaneous Weight Loss, and is a regular guest on the Dr. Oz show!    How Dr. Chaudhary’s personal experience led her down the path of integrative medicine The health of the brain is highly dependent on the health of the gut Auyerveda is the oldest recorded medical system in the world - one of the oldest forms of “lifestyle medicine" Why food is medicine How the Neurologist’s perspective on the brain fundamentally ignores the health of the entire system Dr. Chaudhary’s perspective on how eastern & integrative medicine can be integrated with western science to form a more holistic solution for health Tumeric is a great example of a spice that has scientifically demonstrated health benefits Micro-biome & gut health underpins huge medical issues Western medicine is just now catching up with insights from 5000 year old holistic medicines 90% of your serotonin comes from your gut and gut health is a major factor in depression  Scientifically, the mind and mental health are deeply connected and directly related gut health Why is it so hard for people to break negative eating habits? Is it really just a question of willpower? The neurochemistry and biochemistry that underpins negative eating habits Your micro biome itself can shift your eating habits and make you desire and consume certain foods Why 85% of people cannot change the way they are eating with willpower The biochemistry of addiction and food addiction & the role dopamine plays  How food scientists have engineered junk food to produce massive dopamine spikes The dangers of overstimulated dopamine receptors and how they lead to addiction An obese person’s brain chemistry responds the same way to sugar as a cocaine addict responds to cocaine Environmental toxins and toxic inflammation and how they impact your body Enteric nervous system - the “brain inside your gut” which produces 95% of the serotonin and 50% of the dopamine in your body “The gut does most of the talking and the brain does most of the listening” Who dictates the content of what the gut says? The Microbiome  "How smart is your gut?" How fecal matter transplants in mice can completely reverse genetically engineered personality traits Research clearly demonstrates that your micro-biome controls your behavior and emotions We are still in the infancy of discovering and understanding the microbiome - there is a lot of “noise” that’s hard to understand Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the darker side of how the US military influences human behavior - we touch on brainwashing, reading human body language, creating Manchurian candidates, how this one psychological bias can convince strangers to murder someone more than 80% of the time, how to profile someone and search for their weaknesses, and much more with Chase Hughes.      Chase Hughes is the founder of Ellipsis Behavior Laboratories and the amazon bestselling author of The Ellipsis Manual. Chase previously served in the US Navy as part of the correctional and prisoner management departments. Chase speaks on a variety of topics including brainwashing and attraction and frequently develops new programs for the US Government and members of anti human-trafficking teams around the world.     We discuss:    How seeing "how weak and vulnerable everyone was" transformed Chase’s worldview Is it possible to create real world Manchurian candidates?  Why you’re grossly underestimating the work necessary to read human body language and understand human behavior Why the typical strategies of influence won’t work unless you can profile and understand the individual - and tailor what you’re saying and doing to meet that individuals weaknesses and needs Simple questions you can use to “disengage someone from autopilot” and break the pattern they are stuck in How you can develop “FIC" to hack human behavior  Focus Interest Curiosity The “RAS” - reticular activation system - constantly looking for things that are threats and things that are socially valuable How the Milgrim experiment fundamentally demonstrates the incredible power of the authority bias The one strategy that can be effective influencing strangers to commit murder more than 80% of the time The 5 key factors you can use to hack authority and trigger an “obedient” response Dominance / ambition  Discipline Leadership Gratitude Fun /  sense of adventure When we interact with authority we go through an “agentic” shift - our brain shifts responsibility for our own actions onto the person who instructed us to do it - you can make people take extreme behaviors if you get them to give YOU responsibility for their actions Master yourself first before you can influence others Master environment first Master your time - keeping a plan and sticking to it Master the mechanics of your habits Master your attention span Tactics for mastering authority today Express genuine interest in other people and make them feel INTERESTING not interested Remember the phrase - LEADERSHIP through SUPPORT The people who think they are alpha males are usually NOT the alpha male - big dogs don’t feel the need to bark The Columbo method - make deliberate social errors, be vulnerable, start with an insecurity - that helps open people up to influence Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

How this FBI spy recruiter hacked evolutionary psychology to learn to change anyone’s behavior, 5 steps for “strategizing” trust, how to get someone’s brain to reward them for engaging with you, the vital importance of self awareness, the power of not keeping score, and much more with Robin Dreeke.      Robin began his career in law enforcement in 1997 after serving in the United States Marine Corp. Robin has directed the behavior analysis program of a federal law enforcement agency and has received training and operational experience in social psychology and the science of relationship management. Robin is currently an agent of the FBI and the author of “It’s Not All About “Me”” and the upcoming book The Code of Trust.    How Robin went from being a hard charging type-a individual to learning the principles of actually inspiring people and changing behavior Robin’s main job was to recruit spies How manipulating, pressuring, bullying people doesn’t work - and why learning that lessons in counter-intelligence is one of the most powerful places to learn the lesson The Art Form of Inspirating Anyone and Getting them to do what you want The New Car Effect - and what that has to do with influencing and inspiring anyone "Strategizing Trust" - the five steps of trust  How the old conception of leadership is flawed and ineffective How being hard charging, type-a, and in your face is backwards from what you need to be successful How the crucible of counter-intelligence doesn’t afford you the luxury of making mistakes - and the strategies that come out of that for influencing others When people don’t have to talk to you and don’t care about your title and position - you have to find the strategies that work The vital importance of self awareness and honest self assessment What you think you’re projecting to the world is often not what the world is seeing How ego, vanity, and insecurities can hijack what you say and do Listen to the people around you, take feedback, and learn how you can change How strategies of inspiration and influence focus almost exclusively on the other person Focus on other people, what their priorities are, and what’s important to them - that’s how you can change their behavior and influence them Why should someone want to talk to you, listen to you, and do what you want? Think in terms of inspiring other people, not manipulating them How seeking other people's thoughts and opinions can help you neurobiologically build trust with them Leaders don’t keep scorecards. Give and let go. And wait.  When you honor the healthy and happy relationships - everything falls into place and flows very easily How to get someone’s brain to reward them for engaging with you Honesty is one of the critical factors  Why you shouldn’t convince, cajole, and manipulate people How the FBI spy recruits hacked evolutionary psychology to learn to change anyone’s behavior How the use of lies and deception can destroy trust forever It cost nothing to make it about other people and its one of the simplest strategies in the world - and can have a huge impact on your ability to influence and inspire  Become an available resource for other people Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we ask "do you have to be ruthless to succeed?”, we examine how compassion is powerfully linked with success, we discuss the essential task of challenging your own world view and seeking evidence you disagree with, learn how to ask great questions, and much more with Dr. Chris Kukk.      Dr. Chris Kukk is a former counter intelligence agent, now a professor of Political and Social Science at Western Connecticut State University. He is the founding Director of the Center for Compassion, Creativity, and Innovation. He is the author of the newly released book The Compassionate Achiever and has been featured on NPR, NBC, The Economist, and more    Social and emotional learning and how Chris is using that to transform early childhood education How positivity and compassion can spread from the bottom up to change schools The neuroscience behind how compassion helps children learn more effectively Why cultivating personal awareness is the first step to mastery With meditation you catch more than you miss, without it, you miss more than you catch What did Charles Darwin have to say about how compassion impacts the “survival of the fittest” How a focus on helping one another moves society forward Why the conception of compassion as “soft” or “weak” is completely wrong How compassion is powerfully linked with success Mother Theresa’s “Ripple of Kindness”  Do you have to be ruthless in order to succeed? Compassion enables you to have sustained success Lessons from Enron What psychology and neuroscience studies show about extrinsic focus vs intrinsic focus on your achievement How Utah has saved money by pursuing a policy of compassion in solving homelessness The “4 step program” for cultivating compassion that you can start implementing right now The power of “LUCA” The power of listening to learn instead of listening to reply The definition of compassion - understanding and taking action How we can “understand to know” and build a deeper mosaic of understanding to find common solutions to our problems Connecting to capabilities, reaching beyond yourself to help people with the human potential hidden in plain sight The essential task of challenging your own world view and seeking disconfirming evidence  All feedback makes you stronger, ideology fears the truth, wisdom seeks it  The buddhist concept of “fierce compassion” Remember, water cuts through rock over time What are “knownaughts” and “noxxers”? The power of connection to make your success limitless How do we ask great questions (and why its so important to do that)? The great question is like the lens of a camera, the aperture shapes what you see on the other side The words that you use frame the way you see a problem How silence can open up doorways for deeper understanding Lessons from counter intelligence interrogations about how we can become better listeners The power of "nondoing" Practical steps you can implement right now to begin walking the path of compassion Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss habit loops, how they form, and what they are, we look at why you can’t stop picking up your phone (I know that’s definitely a challenge for me), the habits and routines that research shows are most correlated with success, how to bake mental models into your brain, and much more with Charles Duhigg.     Charles is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist and senior editor at The New York Times. Charles is the author of “The Power of Habit,” which spent over two years on the New York Times best-seller list, and more recently “Smarter Faster Better,” also a New York Times best seller. Charles graduated from Yale University, Harvard Business School and has been featured in This American Life, N.P.R, Frontline, and much more.     We discuss:    Habit Loops, what they are and how they form 40-45% of what we do every single day is not a decision it's a habit Emotional cue for checking your phone and "novelty seeking" How your brain makes that behavior automatic because it's delivering a reward How to break habits What Reward are you seeking? Get as specific as possible Figure out the REWARD, then reprogram the HABIT Keystone habits and how they can transform your identity and create a chain reaction Why it's that the most successful people work harder, they just think differently The rituals and habits of people who are more productive Why its not being smarter, its not working harder, its not going to the right schools - the research shows that what correlates the MOST with success is that the people who are most successful tend to have “contemplative routines”, habits in their lives that push them to think more deeply Journaling is a great example of a contemplative routine that can make you be more productive Being busy and being productive are not synonymous Thinking has always been the killer "productivity app" The story of Quantas Flight 32 Maintaining focus while in the middle of a crashing airplane and how to cultivate situational awareness How Firefighters develop ESP Building a story, a mental model of a situation, and how that can shape your situational awareness The vital importance of building mental models Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how you can fall into cycles of self sabotage and constantly reset your happiness down to where you think it should be, lessons learned from coaching over 20,000 people, how to crush upper limit problems and break through the beliefs holding you back, the questions you need to discover and live in your zone of genius, and much more with Dr. Gay Hendricks.      Dr. Gay Hendricks is the president of the Hendricks Institute, he earned his Ph.D in counselling psychology from Stanford and taught at the university of Colorado for 21 years and conducted seminars across the globe. He is also a multi bestselling author, having written more than 40 books and his work has been featured on CNN, CNBC, Oprah, and more.     We discuss:    Gay’s "encounter with destiny" and how it “knocked him out” of his usual way of thinking Lessons from training thousands of counselors and coaches to help people transform their lives Lessons from counseling and coaching over 20,000 individuals! How Gay went from 300+ lbs, smoking 2-3 packs of cigarettes per day, and transformed his entire life The two “big ideas” from the Big Leap Upper Limit Problems Occupying your Zone of Genius What are "Upper Limit Problems?" How to Occupying your “Zone of Genius" Often times its not the lack of business skills that stifle us, its lack of heart centric communication skills If you’re able to bring forth what is within you, it will pave the path to success - but if you keep your emotions in, you stifle yourself How a tiny bit of misalignment can create echos and rattles throughout your life How we fall into cycles of self sabotage to “reset” our happiness down to where we think it should be We often manufacture fears, stresses, and anxieties to stop ourselves from feeling good The core fears you experience underpinning that Upper Limit Problem #1 The Fear of Outshining #2 The Fear of Being Fundamentally Flawed Upper limit problems are rooted in fear - unless we come to terms with those - we cannot actualize our full potential How to explore, lovingly, your own fears and limitations The concept of having enough vs having plenty  #3 The Fear of Leaving Behind or being disloyal to the people you care about Do you ever feel like “things are going too well, now something bad is going to happen” Focusing on what can go wrong is useful if we TAKE ACTION about it, but if we can’t act on it, its just useless worrying The “quick fix” for blame and criticism - get underneath the blame, own what you’re afraid of that is causing that blame and talk about it openly and honestly  How to fix broken relationships and heal communication problems in 10 minutes or less Self criticism is rooted in FEAR - something you’re afraid of in yourself, or something your afraid to communicate to someone else - what is it that im basically afraid of? Can honesty (with ourselves and our relationships) reduce suffering? Ultimate success mantra - I expand in love, abundance, creativity, and success every day as I inspire other people to expand in love, abundance, success, and creativity!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we look at why your definition of success might be hurting you - and how you can redefine it in a much healthier way, examine the power of intellectual humility, talk about what it means to provide value and how to do it, we go deep into the power of listening, why its so important, and discuss 3 strategies you can use to become a better listener, we explore the concept of brilliance as well as how you can unlock your own brilliance in 30 seconds, and much more with Simon T. Bailey.     Simon T. Bailey is the CEO of Simon T. Bailey International an education company that specializes in creating learning and development content for individuals and organizations. Simon is a hall of fame keynote speaker and is one of the top 10 most booked corporate speakers on Leadership, Change, and Customer Experience and will be the emcee at the upcoming SUCCESS Live Event in September!    Why your definition of success might be hurting you - and how you can redefine it in a much healthier way.  Why success is about others and not just yourself Intellectual humility and why it’s so important  Questions to put yourself on the path towards true success: What would I do if I knew that I couldn't fail? What would I do if no one paid me to do it? What makes me come alive? Don't ask what the world needs, ask what makes you come alive - the world needs people who come alive How to create an “exit strategy” to test your ideas and pursue your dreams Can (and should) you quit your job and play videos games all day? We are now in a recommendation economy - people will tell other people if you are excellent What it means to provide value to the world and how you can do it: Going above and beyond, exceeding expectations, doing more than people expect of you Listen and discover ways to exceed expectations Meta Listening and why you should often slow down in order to speed up The 3 levels of listening & Why listening shows the person that they matter Why it’s not good to “need to be the smartest person in the room” People don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care How to practice intellectual humility Release the need to be right Understand the power of diversity of opinion & perspective Find someone who is willing to say no and challenge your ideas How to step outside your comfort zone and seek disconfirming opinions Simon’s strategy for reaching 1 billion people around the globe Brilliance - what it is, why its important - and what Harvard research says about it  Within the next decade millions of knowledge worker jobs will be eliminated due to automation How you can unlock your own brilliance in 30 seconds The concept of emotional congruence Language is the software of the mind - your words carry energy and create worlds How to rehearse the future in the present "15-7-30-90" You decide your habits, and your habits decide your future Answer the question “W Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we ask what really produces success by looking at what separates truly successful people from the rest, we examine many common and conflicting “success maxims” and look at what the data actually says really works, we dig deep into the vital importance of knowing yourself and your own strengths, look at the power of aligning your work with your environment, and discuss the dangers of constantly overcommitting your time with Eric Barker.     Eric Barker is the creator of the blog “Barking Up The Wrong Tree” - with over 290,000 subscribers.  His work is syndicated by Time Magazine, Business Insider and he has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and more. Just recently, his new book Barking up the Wrong Tree: The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success Is (Mostly) Wrong was named a Wall Street Journal Bestseller.    The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed How Eric took a myth-busters approach to success maxims and figured out what really works Vital importance of knowing yourself and your strengths Why you need to align with a context and environment that rewards your skills What really produces success? What separates the very successful from the rest of us? We take a lot of the common maxims we hear that conflict about success and look at what the DATA actually says about them What are intensifiers and why should you know about them? When are negatives positives? How can you know when it’s important? Context really reveals when and how these maxims work or not Do nice guys really finish last? What does the science say? Why, in some contexts, being a jerk can pay off (and when it can backfire) Strategies to improve self knowledge and know yourself more deeply Pursuing your passion doesn't always lead to happiness, but pursuing what you’re good at more frequently does lead to happiness Research is clear - focus on what you’re good at - and find a way to compensate for your weaknesses.  Understanding your strengths allows you to plan the right way to go about achieving your big picture goals Deluding yourself is often worst situation of all and you frequently end up working against yourself Do quitters never win? Should we quit or persevere? How do we think about Grit? The vital importance of opportunity cost - we only have so much time in the day - we have to focus in on the biggest things Strategically quitting is not the opposite of grit, but enables you to focus in on the most important things People consistently over-commit their time and don’t understand how little time they have Find a balance - look at what’s producing results - show grit with those things - things that aren’t producing results Why you should absolutely dedicate 5-10% of your time to what Peter Simms calls “little bets” The key litmus test on whether or not you should apply GRIT or QUIT What research reveals (Richard Wiseman in the UK) on how you can improve your luck! How do we “walk the tightrope” between confidence and delusion? How often should we “believe in ourselves”? Confidence as a whole is a problematic paradigm, confidence follows success, it doesn’t lead to success - it has NO effect on outcomes, only impact on trying to build confidence is that it increases narcissism  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss why people struggle to reach outside their comfort zones – and why it’s so critically important that you do, we explore the 5 core psychological road blocks stopping people from stepping outside their comfort zones, we go deep on how you can become tougher, more resilient, and embrace discomfort, how you can master the art of small talk, what you need to do to cultivate the skill of “global dexterity” and much more with Dr. Andy Molinksy.     Dr. Andy Molinsky is a professor of Organizational Behavior and Psychology at Brandeis University. Andy is the author of Reach: A New Strategy to Help You Step Outside Your Comfort Zone, Rise to the Challenge and Build Confidence, as well as Global Dexterity: How to Adapt Your Behavior across Cultures without Losing Yourself in the Process. He has been featured in Inc., Psychology Today, The Harvard Business Review, and was named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices for 2016.     We discuss:    Lessons from interviews with students, teachers, police officers, rabbis, priests, entrepreneurs, goat farmers - and the common lessons of WHY people struggle to step outside their comfort zones Why do people struggle to reach outside their comfort zones? The vital importance of stepping outside your comfort zone The 5 core psychological road blocks / challenges that make it hard to step outside our comfort zones Authenticity/Identity/Self image Likability Competence Resentment Morality Imposter Syndrome and how it can trap you in your comfort zone Our “amazing capacity” to avoid discomfort and seek relief What happens when people avoid uncomfortable situations How we can often create imperfect substitutions for situations we want to avoid How our minds rationalize excuses so that we can avoid uncomfortable things “Fear is about predicting the future” and we are often poor predictors of our own futures Specific tactics and strategies you can use to step outside of your comfort zone How conviction can help you step outside your comfort zone and push you Customizing and tweaking situations to make them slightly more bearable can help you take that first step The danger of “catastrophizing” and always assuming the worst case scenario The power of clarity and getting clear on the truth about what you want, and what the worst case scenarios are How we can build resilience and make the pursuit of discomfort stick The power of a learning orientation and growth mindset to give you the ability to step outside your comfort zone Stepping outside your comfort zone starts in your mind The power of desensitizing yourself to things outside your comfort zone, and what happens when you continue to have experiences outside your comfort zone How to deliver bad news to people, fire someone, and have tough conversations The dysfunctional conversations that might arise if you don’t know the right way to deliver bad news The vital importance of mastering the art of small talk & strategies for mastering small talk Why every meaningful relationship you’ve ever had (other than family) started with small talk Focus first on building camaraderie and rapport, then trust Listening, making connection, asking questions in an open ended way Developing global dexterity and learning to act outside of your cultural comfort zone Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss an old trick palm readers use that you can leverage to get people to do what you want, why persuasion does not lie just in the message itself, but rather in how the message is presented, what the research reveals about why the context matters as much, if not more, than the content itself, why you shouldn’t ask people for their opinion but instead ask someone for their advice, how small differences that seem trivial make a HUGE impact on human behavior, and much more with Dr. Robert Cialdini.     Dr. Robert Cialdini is the president and CEO of Influence at works. He is the multi best selling author of Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, and his latest book Pre-Suasion: A Revolutionary Way To Influence and Persuade and he is currently a regions professor eremites of psychology and marketing at the Arizona State University . Commonly referred to as “The Godfather Of Influence” Robert’s work has been featured around the world with clients such as Google, Microsoft, IBM, The Department of Justice, and more.     We discuss: Research reveals that getting you to pay attention to something doesn't just reveal who you are, it makes you who you areHow small differences that seem trivial make a HUGE impact on human behaviorWhy most people don't’ recognize the subconscious priming of pre-suasionLessons from Dr. Cialdini's time as an amateur palm readerHow researchers boosted their response rate from 29% to 77.3% with one simple questionCan a photo change your ability to solve problems more effectively?How you can create a state of mind in your recipient that is consistent with the message you’re about to giveHow getting people to reflect on a particular trait that they might have can prime them to respond to what you want them to doHow you can get people to think of themselves as whatever you want them to beThis one trick palm readers use that you can leverage to get people to do what you wantPersuasion does not lie just in the message itself, but rather in how the message is presented"Tell me what you’re paying attention to, and I'll tell you who you are"Does it matter what store you’re standing in front of if you ask a woman for her number at the mall?Why Pre-suasion is "a dangerous stick of dynamite"The medium is the message, the messenger is the message, and the multitude is the message - the true power of authority and social proofWhat does the United Kingdom’s tax policy have to do with creating more influential communicationLearning what most others are doing is a message itselfContext matters as much as or more than contentHow can you ethically leverage the concepts of persuasion?One thing you can do to hack job interviews using this simple tacticWhy you shouldn’t ask people for their opinion but instead ask someone for their adviceWhy its better to ask for $75,123.00 than $75,000.Ask yourself “What is it about my message that will make it most wise for people to say yes to it”Is it possible to use pre-suasion on ourselves?How changing a simple image can improve your ability to solve problems by more than 48%The best thing you can do to prime someone for change (the simple easy thing you can to do to get people to change)And much more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss what to do if you don’t know what you want to be when you grow up, we look at the concept that you only have one true calling, we learn how to become a better big picture thinkers, we look at the superpowers you can develop by being a “multi-potential-ite,” how to master rapid learning and cultivate beginners mind, the fallacy behind the phrase “jack of all trades,” and much more with Emilie Wapnick.     Emilie is a speaker, career coach, founder of the popular blog Puttylike, and author of the book How To Be Everything: A Guide for those who still don't know what they want to be when they grow up. Her TED talk has been 3.7 million times and translated into over 36 languages. Her work has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, Lifehacker, and more. How Emilie’s diverse interests and passions lead her down the path of creating a community of people who wanted to do more than just focus on one thing in their lives What does it mean to be “puttylike” Who are Multi-potential-ites and what makes them so interesting and powerful? Do you have a destiny, one true calling? How the industrial revolution shaped our language and understanding of “what you do” being who you are (and why that’s wrong) The idea that there is one specific thing you should master is a socially reinforced illusion & narrative Do you have to focus on one thing to be able to be successful? The assumption that you can either be a master of one thing or a jack of all trades is fundamentally flawed There are nonlinear and multi-connected and multi-faceted domains of knowledge that multi-potential-ites thrive in The diminishing returns and 80/20 principle behind mastering knowledge in different domains The Superpowers of Multipotentialites Idea Synthesis Rapid Learning (and passion) Adaptability Big Picture Thinking Relating and translating How to cultivate the ability to be a better big picture thinker Pattern recognition underpins many of these super-powers How to master rapid learning and cultivate beginners mind The power of exploring other fields and domains and how that can bring back new knowledge to the field you’re an expert in The 4 common approaches that multi-potentialites use to succeed financially in today’s world The “group hug” approach - combining all your interests into one thing The “slash” approach - creating separate and distinct revenue streams that you focus on fractionally The “Einstein” approach - find a job that supports your true passion The “Phoenix” approach - diving deep into a field, then pivoting out into something completely else What you do for money isn’t necessarily more valuable than the other things you do in your life Failure Celebration Week and taking the stigma away from failure If you had 10 lives what would you want to be in each of them? How to cultivate the variety you need in your life and career The importance of getting everything out of your head and onto paper And much more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss emotional agility and how you can cultivate it, discover that beneath your difficult emotions are the signposts to the things you value most, learn how to make space for emotions and embrace a willingness to experience difficult emotions, talk about why its vital to understand the distinction that emotions are meaningful but not always correct, how you can “piggyback” your habits to create very powerful strategies to live more aligned with your values and more with Dr. Susan David.     Dr. Susan David is an award winning Psychologist at Harvard Medical School, co-founder of the Institute of Coaching at McLean Hospital, and CEO of Evidence Based Psychology. She is the author of the #1 Wall Street Journal bestseller Emotional Agility and has had her work featured in several publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, and TIME magazine. Susan’s work and research have led to her consulting and working with several top organizations including the United Nations, and the World Economic Forum, and much more!    How Susan’s experience growing up in apartheid South Africa led her down the path of studying emotional resilience and agility The tyranny of positivity and how it can actually harm us How focusing too much on your happiness can make you less happy over time How surpassing your emotions increases depression and anxiety and decreases your chance at achieving your goals Beneath your difficult emotions are signposts to the things we value most Research psychology reveals the power of the “amplification effect” when we push our thoughts and emotions aside Emotional contagion and how the behavior of others - even people you’ve never met and who are far removed from your life, can have a huge impact on your behavior and your life If someone in your social network - even if you don’t know them - puts on weight or gets divorced, you are more likely to do those things! Between stimulus and response, there is a space, in that space is our opportunity for agency What happens when you bottle and brood on your emotions Who’s in charge, the thinker or the thought? Who’s in charge, the emotion or the person feeling them? This story, or you the person who can experience many stories? What is emotional agility? How can we cultivate it? How to make space for emotions and embrace a willingness to experience difficult emotions Our emotions are not good are bad, they just “are” Strategies for developing self compassion Imagine yourself as a child approaching yourself as an adult - how would you treat that 3-4 year old who has failed, been rejected, struggled, etc? Emotions are meaningful, but not RIGHT (emotions are DATA not direction) Its critical to cultivate space between stimulus and response Emotions are important but they aren’t necessarily correct - tap into the wisdom they offer us, but don’t necessarily go in the direction they want us to go in The vital importance of cultivating an “observer” view of our emotions to help us step out from our emotional reactions and create space between stimulus and response  Why you should use language like “I am noticing that I am feeling X” and “I am noticing the emotion of fear” Accurately labeling your emotions, digging in beyond just the surface, taps into and helps deal with negative emotions - the field of emotional diff Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how our perception of reality dramatically shifts what actions we take, why you should embrace 2000+ years of wisdom to be happier and more productive, how to stop judging yourself and others based on your achievements and root your identity in something within your control, we look at how we can cultivate a more humble and resilient world view, discuss strategies for connecting with top tier mentors, and much more with Ryan Holiday.      Ryan Holiday is a media strategist and writer. He is the bestselling author of over five books including The Obstacle is the Way, Ego is The Enemy, and most recently his upcoming book Perennial Seller: The Art of Making and Marketing Work That Lasts. Ryan previously worked as the director of marketing for American Apparel, working on several controversial campaigns,  before starting his own creative agency. His work has been featured in The Huffington Post, Fast Company, Forbes, and more!    Why you should understand the Stoic discipline of "perception" The way in which we see the world changes how we interact with it How to accept situations as they are, not as you want them to be Why you shouldn't waste time figuring out how things happened, who is to blame, etc - you should shift your focus to constructively determining the next thing to do “There’s no problem so bad (in space) that you can’t make it worse” The challenge of perception is not making the situations in your life worse with interpretations, resentments, anxieties  The story of Amelia Earhart and how you can use it to take action in the face of challenges When you’re offended, when you think something is beneath you, you are projecting onto that situation something that may not be there How do you react when people don’t think you have what it takes? How to make yourself the most important person in a room, not by posturing, but by what you can contribute How we can flip obstacles on their heads and view setbacks as opportunities “What stands in the way becomes the way” We have the ability with our minds to change how anything means  Setbacks make some people worse, some people tough it out, other people get even better What is “Stoic Optimism” and why stoicism is not a focus on the negative The distinction between Being and Doing and why its so critical Should you do the “right thing” even if it pisses people off, hurts your chances of being promoted, causes political infighting, and worse? Many people make the choice unknowingly between being and doing - and end up one day wondering where it all went wrong How do we untangle success from our identities? How do we avoid the trap of judging people based on their achievements? Focus on basing your identity on an internals scorecard that is within your control Decide what’s important to you, and root it within the things you control How do we anchor our identity and self worth on a more stable footing? The critical difference between stoicism vs pessimism and how to look at both sides of the coin and realizing there are no good or bad outcomes - just outcomes Everything is relative and subjective - someone in the third world would kill to live the life you may think of as failure Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the dangers of “playing it safe” in life, how we can learn to celebrate more, the power of cheering on, showing up, and serving other people, how to balance the acceptance of negative emotions with amplifying the good and focusing on the positive, what it means to live life in the “front row,” lessons learned about living life from people fighting for their lives, and much more with our guest Jon Vroman.     Jon is the co-founder of The Front Row Foundation, a charity that creates unforgettable moments for individuals who are braving life-threatening illnesses. Jon teaches others to “Live Life In The Front Row” through teaching and inspiring others with the Art of Moment Making. He is also an award winning speaker, podcast host, and the bestselling author of his new book The Front Row Factor: Transform Your Life with The Art of Moment Making.     We discuss: How John went from being bullied and feeling insignificant, to stepping up and living his life in the front rowHow would you rate your contribution to the world on a 1-10 scale?The dangers of “playing it safe” in lifeWhat does it mean to live life in the front row?The anticipation principle and how to bring the power of the future into the present momentHow we can learn to celebrate - bring light and attention to something, even if its something smallCelebration is appreciation and gratitudeHow do you recognize or create a front row moment every day in life?“What can I celebrate right now?If you can’t celebrate yourself, ask “How can I celebrate somebody else?”Being in the front row is also about service, stepping up for people, and not always being the center of attentionThe power of cheering on, showing up, and serving other people and why there is so much meaning, love, and joy in doing thatWhat does it mean to be a moment maker?Recognizing the beauty and joy within a moment and noticing it, take a moment, breathe in, look around, feel it and appreciate it - recognizing what’s already there and not chasing what could beWhy you should ask “How can I make this special?”How you can create special moments in the simplest spaces within life, turning something normal into something spectacular Why we should amplify the good so that we silence what’s notThe importance of accepting negative emotions and living the full range of emotions in life, the importance of being cold so you can appreciate the warmthThe 90% Rule - where do you want to “live” 90% of the timeHow to re-align with what you value and live a life of making moments and celebrationThe three things you need to live life in the front rowHow to balance questions of acceptance/discomfrot/negative emotions with amplifying the good and focusing on the positive - focus on what state you end up at when you have the balance between those two things"Proximity is power” - what thoughts, questions, and relationships are you close to that are shaping your life?Questions drives our lives - what questions are we trying to answer?What questions are running your mind? What different questions could be running your mind?Everything we've learned about living life from people fighting for their lives Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the inevitable technology shifts that will be impacting our future, the second industrial revolution, the importance of having an open mind, critical thinking and seeking disconfirming evidence, we explore how to ask better questions (and why it’s so important that you do), and talk about some of the biggest technology risks with Kevin Kelly.     Kevin Kelly is the Senior Maverick and Co-Founder of Wired Magazine. Kevin is also the co-founder of The All Species Foundation, which seeks to catalogue and identify every living species on earth as well as The Rosetta Project, building an archive of ALL documented human language and much much more. He is a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of several books including The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future, his work has been featured in Forbes, Smithsonian, and more!     We discuss:    The 12 inevitable forces that are shaping the future of humanity and our livesHow the physics of the “technological” terrain make tectonic technological shifts INEVITABLE and what you can do about itWhy cars, telephones, light bulbs, and the internet were also “inevitable"Evolution keeps trying to make “minds” - is AI the next attempt?How we are “cognifying" the world around us and what that meansHow we will fill the world with a zoo of possible minds that think differentlyAI will become a commodity like electricity - it will be a utility that anyone can get or useWhat can I do with 1000 minds (like 1000 horsepower) working on a problemThe second industrial revolution and how it will impact our entire societyHow our lack of understanding of intelligence currently hinders our ability to truly understand what makes intelligenceYou can’t optimize every dimension - there will always be trade-offsHow much of today’s technology is akin to “flapping wings” versus artificial flight using fixed wingsThe chief asset for innovation and wealth generation in this new economy is being able to THINK differentlyHow do we focus our attention in a world with such infinite possibilities of things to do and focus on?How do we battle against fake news, alternative facts, and the temptation to only filter information we want to hear?In the future - we may have to teach the “literacy” of filtering and understanding information as Kevin calls it “techno literacy”or “critical thinking”The vital importance of being open to having your mind changed - and how travel can be a tool to do thatWhy asking great questions will be one of the most valuable skillsets and assets in the futureHow we can start to ask better questions right nowThere are no dumb questions - never be afraid to ask if you don’t understand  - and then really listen for the answerWhy we should use lateral thinking to approach a question or challenge from a completely different angle - how we ask a question that has never been asked beforeHow you can believe you are a martian and ask questions as if you were a machine and you didn’t know all the things humans normally knowDon’t be afraid of obvious questionsThe technology trend that Kevin Kelly is most afraid of and thinks is the biggest risk to humanity Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the “experience trap” and why someone who has been doing their job for 20-30 years may be no better (and sometimes worse) than someone who has very little experience, look at the shocking truth that 35 years of research reveals separates world class performers from everyone else, how “Talent” is overrated, misunderstood, and most research says it doesn’t even exist, we go deep on the critically important concept of deliberate practice, and much more with our guest Geoff Colvin.       Geoff Colvin is an award winning speaker, writer, and broadcaster. Geoff holds a degree in economics from Harvard, an MBA from NYU, and is currently the the senior editor-at-large for FORTUNE. He is the bestselling author of several books including Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World Class Performers from Everyone Else, Humans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will and more. Geoff has delivered over 10,000 broadcasts on the CBS Radio Network and has been featured on Good Morning America, CNN, CNBC, and more.    The “experience trap” and why someone who has been doing their job for 20-30 years may be no better (and sometimes worse) than someone who has very little experienceWhat do surgeons, auditors, parole officers have in common with their skillsets?Why the assumption that a lot of experience makes you good at something is fundamentally flawed What the very best performers are constantly doing that most people simply don’t doWhy going to a teacher and taking lessons is NOT enough to get better at singing (or any other skill)What separates world class performers from everyone elseWhy the concept of talent is a loaded term that most people don’t understandWhy the conception of “talent” as an in-born gift is a mischaracterizationHow “Talent” is overrated, misunderstood, and why most research says “talent" simply does not existWhat 35 years of research and science answer exactly what explains great performance better than anything elseWhat is the concept of "deliberate practice" and why is it so vital to great performance?The road to great performance is long and hard, but most importantly its available to anyoneWhy deliberate practice is not what you typically think of when you think of practiceThe key components of deliberate practice. Deliberate practice is an activity designed especially for you, at your stage of development, at doing what you’re doing right now It is designed to push you just beyond what you’re currently capable of doing Can be repeated at high volume The vital importance of continual feedback Why high-volume deliberate practice changes the physical structure of your brainAs you get better, your deliberate practice must be adjusted higherWhy deliberate practice is neither work nor playThe vital importance of training and practicing just outside your realm of abilityHow to harness deliberate practice for business & investingSimulationSoftware that lets you make these decisions at high volumeCreate simulators that put these decisions to the test at high volumeThese simulations have to be highly realistic and very demanding Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to master the universal skills required to succeed at work, the counter-intuitive truth of taking more responsibility for your own mistakes, flaws, and screw-ups can help you succeed more quickly, we look at how to cultivate and create accountability in your life, challenge yourself to rise to a higher level, and become more vulnerable, we talk about the Benjamin Franklin effect, and much more with Pete Mockaitis.     Pete Mockaitis is an award-winning trainer focusing primarily on helping professionals perform optimally at work. He’s delivered 1-on-1 coaching to over 700 clients across 50 countries, and every Ivy League school. He currently hosts the How to be Awesome at your Job podcast which has listeners in over 150 countries and has been ranked as a top 5 career podcast on iTunes.     We discuss:    The importance of reading to improving your knowledgeThe book that has had the biggest impact on Pete’s lifeHow you can transform yourself into “peak state” so that you don’t feel scared or unmotivatedHow to master the universal skills required to succeed at workGrit - what it is, why its so important, and how you can cultivateThe concept that had the biggest impact on Pete’s lifeWhy its so important to take a hard look at yourself and your own shortcomingsWhat to do when your paralyzed by fear in your jobWhy Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fearHow to be a more effective communicator“Answer first communication” and how it can transform how you speak and presentHow “hypothesis driven testing” can make you a much better communicatorWhy you should ask: “What things need to be true for this to be a good idea”Numbers galvanize attention and focus for people listening to youIf you’re stressed out in your current role, you’re not ready to make the next move up“The time to meet your neighbors is not when your house is on fire”How to cultivate and develop better relationshipsThe power of making the ask and "ask not, have not”The Benjamin Franklin Effect and how it can help you build a powerful network of mentorsYou can achieve whatever you want in life, if you help enough other people achieve what they want in lifeHow to ask for good feedback and how to give feedbackAsk for role models and ideal next steps when asking for feedbackWhy you should never be afraid to ask for feedback and counterintuitively how demonstrating your weakensses can help you advance in your careerThe counter intuitive truth of taking MORE responsibility for your own mistakes, flaws, and screw-ups can help you succeed more quicklyHow to cultivate and create accountability in your life, challenge yourself to rise to a higher level, and become more vulnerableWhat you should do when your unsatisfied with your career Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we ask can, and should, we set aside our emotions to make decisions in huge, high stakes environments (like trading)? How to channel and listen to your emotions to make even better decisions, learning from negative emotions, how historical echoes in our life create repeated behavior patterns, and much more with Denise Shull.      Denise Shull is a decision coach, performance architect, and founder of the Re-Think Group. She utilizes psychological science to solve the issues of mental mistakes, confidence crises, and slumps in Olympic Athletes and Wall Street Traders. Her Book Market Mind Games has been described as “The Best of It’s Genre” and “The Rosetta Stone of Trading Psychology”. She has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, CNBC, The New York Times, and consulted on the SHOWTIME Drama series Billions as one of the inspirations for Maggie Siff’s character - Wendy Rhodes.     We discuss:    How Denise studied the neuroscience of emotions and unconscious thought but ditched her PHD to become a traderCan (and should) we set aside our emotions in a high stakes environment like trading?Why you should consciously incorporate your emotions into your decisions to make the best decisionsFeelings, thoughts, emotions, and physical body are all part of one integrated system and you have to think about it as an integrated continuumYour psyche is trying to get important information to you by turning up the volume of your emotionsWe should focus on finding the valuable kernel of information that our emotions are sending usHow do we learn from negative emotions (such as fear and anxiety)Being able to differentiate between granularity of anxiety helps you process the feelings betterIf you didn’t have some level of anxiety you would never do the preparation necessaryDefine, as clearly as possible, the things you are afraid of, own it, connect head to stomach, and describe it with the word. (your psyche will feel like you got the message through)Once your anxiety and fear feel acknowledged it naturally dissipatesThe vital importance of journaling and being gentle and kind to yourself, to help you understand your emotionsEveryone has all kinds of feelings, everyone doubts themselves on some level, the top performers, hedge fund managers, and olympic athletes  - its part of the human conditionHow can historical echoes create repeated behavioral patterns?The critical period for who we are and how we relate in the world happen very early - as Freud called them “the compulsion to repeat”, and as Denise calls them “echoes” or “fractals”Negative feelings are a mechanism to look and understand the fractals from our past and exploring child hood experiences can help you uncover more about themThe importance of doing the historical work, digging into your childhood, asking yourself “how would I have felt” (so you can get past the filter of “oh that didn’t bother me”)An amazing question you can ask yourself about past events - how would someone else have felt about that? That question helps you break past the self denial that it did hurt you. Repetitions of past mistakes are opportunities to reorganize things you weren't able to deal with in your past Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we look at how Toyota turned the worst automobile factory in America into the best without changing any personnel, we discuss the paradox of choice, paralysis by analysis and the danger of having too many choices, the vital importance of having a multi-disciplinary viewpoint to truly understand reality, ask if there are quick fixes for wisdom, and much more with Dr. Barry Schwartz     Dr. Barry Schwartz is a Professor at the Haas school of business at UC berkley. He has authored over 10 books including The Paradox of Choice, Why We Work, and Practical Wisdom as well as more than 100 professional journal articles. He has been featured on the TED stage, in the The New York Times, USA Today, CNN, and much more.     We discuss:    How Barry’s work in animal learning, following in the footsteps of BF Skinner, led him down the path of his journey Why a focus on rewards and punishments is too narrow an understanding The importance of multi-disciplinary work to unearth the truth and understand reality How we can begin to think in a more multi-discplinary way The answers to the most important questions in life are very complex, and efforts to simplify them are doomed to failure The flaws in the dominant ideologies of western society in understanding and explaining why we work People don’t work only for pay - here are the other reasons people work: They want to be engaged They want discretion and control They want to be appreciated They want to be challenged They want to do something that has meaning Why only 10% of the world’s work force is “engaged in their work” How did Toyota turn around the worst automobile factory in America into the BEST factory in America without changing the work force? The importance of the big 3 factors - Autonomy, Control, and Discretion What has enabled the container store to be so successful How focusing on improving the quality of work and creating good work can be good for the bottom line as well How Aristotle defines “Wisdom” How excessive management and supervision has destroyed the ability of teachers to become effective How the the reliance on rules and incentives to get people to behave properly is the enemy of wisdom Wisdom is learned, but it can’t be taught - the way you learn to be wise is by trying and failing You learned by doing, by getting it wrong, and by correcting your mistakes Trial and error, mentoring, modeling - there’s no quick fix for wisdom, you have to be in it for the long haul Its OK to get it wrong We go deep into Barry’s famous book The Paradox of Choice Paralysis by analysis and the danger of having too many choices How can we simplify our lives and avoid the paradox of choice? “Good enough is virtually always good enough” People who aspire to “the best” get better results, and feel worse about them, than people who are happy with “good enough” Don’t be unambitious and have no standards, have high standards, but don’t feel like if you aren’t the absolute best you’re a failure And much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we dig into Negotiation. Why, no matter what you do, its essential to master the skill of negotiation, the barriers that prevent people like you from negotiating effectively, why the common sense rules of the real world are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions, the most powerful type of question you can use in a negotiation, the single biggest mistake you can make negotiating, and much more with Kwame Christian.     Kwame Christian is a business lawyer and owner of the Christian Law as well as the founder of the American Negotiation Institute. He also hosts the podcast Negotiation for Entrepreneurs, the top rated negotiation podcast on iTunes, where he interviews successful entrepreneurs and shares powerful persuasion techniques.     We discuss:    Why the majority of the conversations we have are negotiations and its a vital skill to work on and improve Whether or not you’re good at negotiation, you’re still going to be negotiating on a daily basis The “Three Pillars” of Succeeding at Negotiation What is “offensive negotiation” & how to maximize value for yourself What are the “defensive” uses of negotiation? And how you can use negotiation to avoid bad outcomes and resolve conflicts How you can use negotiation to build relationships How to become comfortable with asking for what you want The FIRST barrier everyone faces when they negotiate The SECOND barrier everyone faces when negotiating Rejection therapy and how it can transform and improve your ability to negotiate One question you should always ask to see how much flexibility you have The common sense rules of the real world are a fragile collection of socially reinforced illusions How to use framing to transform a negotiation and conversation (with concrete examples from Kwame’s work) How open ended questions decrease the perceived threat of a conversation How to become a “puppet master” controlling the conversation while the other party feels like they are in control How to cultivate information asymmetry and get the informational advantage in a negotiation How you can lead someone down a logical path where they convince themselves of what you want How do you develop the skill of asking questions How you can practice and improve the skillset of persuasion Why curiosity is a critical component of being an effective negotiator and communicator Why you need to be able to be persuaded to be able to persuade Why preparation is an essential component in a negotiation How, specifically, Kwame preps for a negotiation (specific checklists, questions, etc) The Three Characteristics of Master Negotiators How creativity fits into being an effective negotiator and why you should try to find inexpensive ways to solve other people’s problems The false belief that negotiation is a zero sum game Why great negotiators go out of their way to try and solve other people’s problems The single biggest mistakes you can make in a negotiation One of the biggest barriers to moving forward in a negotiation How to build strong working relationships, with trust, and free flow of communication And much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This episode is all about MINDSET. What is a mindset? What is the fixed mindset and how does it shape the way we act in the world, what is the growth mindset and how can it transform the way we live our lives? We look at research data from over 168,000 students, examine the mindset of champions, the dangers of blame and excuses, and much more with Dr. Carol Dweck.     Dr. Carol Dweck is a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is the author of the best-selling book Mindset: The New Psychology of Success - which is one of the single most important books in shaping my life. Her work has been featured in several publications including The New York Times, Washington Post, The Today Show, 20/20 and many more.    What is a mindset?What is the fixed mindset?We go deep into the “fixed mindset” and how they view challenges and the worldWhat is effort and how does the fixed mindset perceive it?Is effort necessary to be successful or is it a sign that you’re not naturally talented?If you have a fixed mindset, how do you think about criticism?Do you often “need to be right?” - and how could that need be impacting your life?We examine in detail what the “growth mindset” is and what underpins its core perception of realitySetbacks are welcome and setbacks are inevitableThis fundamental conclusion is backed by 35+ years of psychological research, hundreds of studies, and moreA study of over 168,000 students (the entire 10th grade population of Chile) demonstrating all of these findings Research data from everything from dating life to conflict in the middle east bears out the lessons of fixed vs growth mindsetWhat is the most effective way to recover from devastating rejections?Is it possible to change your mindset?How to transform your mindset and specific steps you can take to move towards a growth mindsetHow to find the things that trigger your fixed mindset reactionsDiscover and name your “fixed mindset persona”Success as improvement vs success as superioritySelf handicapping and the concept that effort robs you of your excusesRepairing your self esteem vs repairing your failureIt’s impossible to learn from a mistake if you deny making it in the first placeThe grave danger of placing blame, making excuses, and denying failure in order to protect your self esteemThe mindset of a champion and how champions rise to the occasionViewing people as judges vs viewing people as alliesHow do we reconcile the lessons of mindset with the idea that you should focus on your strengths?What are the most common triggers of the fixed mindset? Taking on a challenge, out of your comfort zone Struggling, not making progress Setback, criticism, failure Strength and weakness are much more dynamic than we understand or give them credit forDon think your strengths will be strengths forever if you don't work on them and grow themThe dangers of the self esteem movement and how it actually cultivates the fixed mindset Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we go deep on sound – we discuss how sound changes your body and affects your heart rate, breathing, brain waves, and hormone secretions, the secret to cultivating soundscapes that make us happier and more productive, the incredible power of listening and how it can change your reality, how, like sound waves, we are all vibrating, from the smallest physical level, to the macro level, and much more with Julian Treasure.    Julian Treasure is the chair of the Sound Agency, a consultancy firm that advises worldwide businesses on how to effectively use sound. Julian has delivered 5 TED talks with more than 30 million views about listening, communication, and the effect sound has on the human brain. He is the author of the book Sound Business and the upcoming book How To Be Heard. His work has been featured in Time Magazine, The Economist, and many more.   We discuss:   Why musicians have slightly larger brains than non-musiciansWe are all vibrating, from the smallest physical level, to the macro levelWhat is sound itself and how does it affect us?How sound changes your body and affects your heart rate, breathing, brain waves, and hormone secretionsWhat sound to listen to if you have trouble sleepingHow sound entrains all of your bodily rhythmsIt is possible to listen to two people talking at once?How ambient noise (especially human voice) can reduce your productivity by up to 66%How noise can negatively change your behavior, create stress, etcHow noise kills 1 million health-years per year in Europe (via reduced life expectancy)The secret to cultivating soundscapes that make us happier and more productiveThe incredible power of listening and how it can change your realityThe underutilized sensitivity and power in the earsWhy it's a grave mistake to think that everyone listens the same way that you doHow silence is a vital part of improving your ability to listenThe power of 3 minutes of silence per dayWhy open plan offices are terrible for concentration and contemplation“The mixer” exercise you can perform to make yourself a better listenerThe importance of savoring the mundane sounds around us every dayHow you can use "listening positions” to transform how you listenThe difference between critical listening vs empathic listeningWe all want to be heard, to be understood, and to be valuedDo men and women have different default listening positions?Convergent listening vs divergent listeningHow “RASA” can make you a much better listenerHow truly listening to someone can be an amazing giftThe human voice is one of the most complex and amazing instruments in the worldThe 4 communication channels - Reading, writing, speaking, listeningThe way you say something is much more important than how you say itThe vocal toolbox and how you can use these tools to be a more effective communicatorPosture is a critical component in the vocal toolboxThe power of breath, and a simple breathing exercise we can all useYou want your voice to have the timbre of hot chocolate (rich, smooth)How changing pace, pitch, and tone can impact h Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we dig into a massive framework for answers some of the biggest questions in life, ask if its possible to integrate 50,000 years of human knowledge into a single comprehensive map of reality, we look at the greatest good that a human being can achieve, we go deep on the path of “waking up” offered by thousands of years, hundreds of cultures, and what the clearest and strikingly similar paths to enlightenment are, we discuss how to integrate and understand the connections between art, morality, and science and much more with our guest Ken Wilbur.     Ken Wilbur is the founder of the Integral Institute which serves as a think tank aiming to synthesize all human experience and knowledge. He’s been called the “Einstein of consciousness”, and is the author of over twenty books with a focus on transpersonal psychology including A Brief History Of Everything, The Integral Vision, Sex, Ecology, Spirituality and more.    We dig into a massive framework for answers some of the biggest questions in life (who am I, why am I here, etc)Building bigger pictures that fits all of our knowledge into a cohesive framework for understanding realityIs it possible it to integrate 50,000 years of human knowledge into a single comprehensive map of reality?The different paths of showing up, cleaning up, growing up, waking upMost people, even experts, a completely unaware of the vast intersections of knowledge across human history and the major academic disciplinesThe “integral” approach tries to take everything into account to provide a truly comprehensive approach to human society, life, business, ecology, politics, and moreThe paths of “waking up” and “growing up” and why they are some of the most central and significant paths you can pursue in lifeThe two major states of consciousness that humans experienceIs it a misunderstanding to take ourselves as a single egoic self?How every single thing and event is interwoven with the entire universe as a wholeWhat is the greatest good that a human being can achieve?What is it like to have an enlightenment experience?The seen self vs the seeing self? What is the observing self?The synthesis of zen koans, Jesus’s teachings, and philosophyThe maps of “waking up” offered by thousands of years, hundreds of cultures, and what the clearest and strikingly similar paths to enlightenment areAll the major religious traditions describe a strikingly similar path towards “waking up”Why mindfulness “resting in the witness” is the powerful path towards enlightenmentReligion as a mythic story that you’re supposed to agree withPaths of waking up are not a “mythic story” but psychotechnologies of transformationNobody is smart enough to be wrong all the time - there has to be partial truth in almost everything that can be integrated into a holistic understanding of realityThe levels of human consciousness / understanding from developmental psychology The great stages of human development of society mimic the develop of individuals“Waking up” and “growing up” are two very different things and you can be at different places on either of those pathsThere is some degree of truth in virtually every approach to reality you look at, how can all of these approaches fit together, how can embrace all of them in a coherent fashion?Hierarchies exist, but they don’t equate to moral superiorityThe “big three” - the beautiful, the good, and the true (art, morality, science)Is the current scientific perspective too limited to incorporate and under Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we examine how mindfulness practices developed independently in cultures across the world, discuss how evolution shaped our brains to focus on survival instead of happiness and fulfillment, we ask what is success? How do we define it? What is the failure of success? We go deep into how to practice self-compassion, and much more with Dr. Ronald Siegel. Dr. Ronald Siegel is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology at Harvard Medical School, where he has taught for over 30 years. Ronald also currently serves on the Board of Directors and Faculty of the Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy. He is a longtime student of mindfulness meditation having authored and co-authored several books on the topic including The Mindfulness Solution, Mindfulness and Psychotherapy, and more. We discuss: Lessons about mindfulness from the Harvard medical schoolWhy did mindfulness practices spring up independently in cultures across the world?You didn’t evolve to be happy (and why that’s super important)How evolution shaped our brains to focus on survival and not happiness and fulfillmentHow our minds are like Teflon for good things  & Velcro for bad thingsType 1 Errors and Type 2 Errors (and why our minds evolved to make way too many Type 1 Errors)How evolution sculpted our brains to be incredibly concerned about social ranking and hierarchiesWhy we focus incessantly on what other’s think about us and how we compare to other people and how that drives much of what happens in the world around usThe pain of “I, Me, My Mine” and how constant preoccupation with ourselves is a major cause of pain and sufferingWhen we are preoccupied with proving ourselves, it harms our connections with other peopleWhat is success? How do we define it? What is the "failure of success?"The major misconceptions about what will make us happyThe importance of connecting with others and engaging more fully in this momentThe dunning-Kruger effect and how it clouds our understanding of mindfulness“High-resolution consciousness” and how you can create itThe relationship between mindfulness and thoughtA huge amount of psychological suffering has to do with our thinkingThoughts are mental contents rather than realitiesHappiness stems from being FULLY PRESENT and ENGAGEDFantasizing about future/past etc creates sufferingHow does mindfulness relate to meditation? What’s the difference?Train the mind not to push away the unpleasant experiencesWe go through exercises explicitly design for cultivating acceptanceHow mindfulness helps you break out of a cycle of comparison and cultivate loving self-acceptanceIdentify the feeling states in your body and notice each time you get feelings of inflation and deflationFeel your feelings and trust that it's OK to feel themWho was the King of England in 1361? (and why it's ESSENTIAL to understand that)The concepts of narcissistic recalibration and the hedonic treadmillThe scientific reality that everything is a wave functionConsciousness is a stream of experience that fluctuates up and down Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss learning how to learn, meta learning, how Salvador Dali and Thomas Edison practiced the art of “sleeping without sleeping” to hack their neural systems, the concept of Chunking - what the neuroscience says about it and how you can use it to become a learning machine, why “following your passion” is not the right thing to focus, and much more with our guest Barbara Oakley.     Barbara Oakley is an associate professor of engineering at Oakland University in Michigan. She has been described as the “female Indiana Jones” and her research adventures have taken her from Russian fishing boats to Antarctica. She has authored several books on topics ranging from genetics to neuroscience and has a recent book called Mindshift: Break Through Obstacles to Learning and Discover Your Human Potential.      We discuss:     -How Barbara’s journey has taken her from the Army to Russian Trawlers in the Bering Sea, to an outpost in Antarctica  -How Barbara went from a math-phobe to a professor of engineering (and what she learned along the way)  -Are you afraid of math? Why math can seem to be intimidating (and it doesn’t have to be)  -Why the emphasis on memorization as the sole basis of learning has sabotaged our efforts to learn  -How the concept of deliberate practice and why it's so important to learning  -How you can augment deliberate practice to become an even more effective learner   -Meta learning and how you can "learn how to learn"  -The concept of chunking - what the neuroscience says about it and how you can use it to become a learning machine  -What learning an instrument can teach us about learning physics and math  -How the brain learns - and the difference between “focused mode” and “diffused mode”  -The “task positive network” and the “default mode network” within your brain  -Why you can’t be in both the “focused mode” and the “diffused mode” at the same time  -How Salvador Dali and Thomas Edison practiced the art of “sleeping without sleeping” to hack their neural systems and harness the benefits of both the “focused mode” and the “diffused mode"  -How do we strike a balance between “focused attention” and “diffused attention”?  -How you can harness learning limitations like ADHD or slow memory to your advantage  -How the difference between a race car and a hiker illustrate the difference between divergent thinking styles and strategies  -The curse of genius, why geniuses often jump to conclusi s, and have a hard time changing their minds when they are wrong  -Illusions of competence and how they can short circuit our learning attempts  -Is test anxiety real? Why do we feel anxious before a test?  -Often limiting beliefs and excuses crop up when we haven’t done the work truly trying to learn something  -How to test yourself and improve your knowledge and understanding of any topic  -How you can think about math equations as a form of poetry to more deeply understand them  -Why you should focus on distilling knowledge into the core elements and principles  -Why you procrastinate (and the neuroscience behind what happens when you do)  -The pomodoro technique and how it can help you conquer procrastination  -Why “following your passion” is not the right thing to focus on  -How testosterone impacts how women and men learn differently and why women often mistakenly don’t pursue analytical paths  -Passions can lead you to dead ends in your career, you should focus on broadening your Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how school gives you zero of the social and interpersonal skills necessary to be successful in life, the best starting point for build nonverbal communication, how to read facial expression and body language to discover hidden emotions, how to become a human lie detector, the secrets super connectors use to work a room, and much more with Vanessa Van Edwards.     Vanessa Van Edwards is the lead investigator at Science of People, a human behavior research lab. She is a Huffington Post columnist and published author. Her work has been featured on NPR, Business Week and USA Today. She has written for CNN, Fast Company and Forbes. Her latest book, Captivate, was chosen as one of Apple’s Most Anticipated Books of 2017.     We discuss:    School gives you zero of the social and interpersonal skills necessary to be successful in lifeThe skills of nonverbal communication can be learned and trainedBetween 60% and 90% of our communication is non-verbalWhy you shouldn’t put 100% of your eggs in the “verbal communication” basketHow humans give more weight to non-verbal communicationWhat is the best starting point for build nonverbal communication?The importance good eye contact & a strong handshakeWhy eye contact creates oxytocin and builds deeper connectionsThe “sweet spot” for maintaining good eye contactHow twins separated at birth have the same nonverbal affectationsWhat are micro-expressions and why they are so importantThe facial feedback hypothesis and how our faces create a feedback loopThe 7 micro-expressions that will change your lifeResearch from mental patients who lied to their doctorsHow to read facial expression (or body language) to discover hidden emotionsThe “fake science” myths around human lie detectionThe statistical cues to deceit - things that liars most often doDo “truth wizards” exist?Average person is 54% accurate in detecting liesWhat is baselining?Encoding vs DecodingWhat research on thousands of hours on TED Talks tells us about successful body language & the importance of congruencyWe cannot cover up what we feel, focus on opportunities where you can thrive instead of places where you are merely surviving “The secrets of super-connectors,” how to “work a room” and the specific patterns they use How to be someone’s "social savior”"Context conversation starters”You learn ALOT about someone from a handshakeHandshakes produce more oxytocin than 3 hours of face to face timeMake the handshake equal (firmness and direction) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we look at what rabbit populations, craters on the moon, files on your hard-drive and the GDP of countries have in common, we discuss The power of fractals, the math of chaos theory, and what that all has to do with the 80/20 principle, How your understanding of the 80/20 is only the tip of the iceberg, how to generate 16x more leverage to achieve your goals, we go deep into sales wisdom from one of the world's top marketing consultants and much more with Perry Marshall.    Perry Marshall is a trained engineer and one of the world’s most sought-after business consultants, helping clients across 300 industries by combining sales, engineering, art, and psychology. Perry is the bestselling author of several books including The Ultimate Guide To Google AdWord, 80/20 Sales and Marketing and Evolution 2.0.  How Perry went from being laid off and surviving on ramen and bologna sandwiches to becoming one of the world's top marketing consultantsHow your understanding of the 80/20 principle is only the tip of the icebergWhat Fractals and Chaos Theory have to do with the 80/20 principleWhat the pattern that Earthquakes, volcanoes, tornados and hurricanes follow has to do with marketing strategyFractals are everywhere in your life, nature, and the universeThe raw power of the butterfly effectHow the 80/20 principles rules everything in your life and business“Levers within levers, within levers” and how that can shape your focusWhere to find the tiny hinges that swing huge doorsWhat do rabbit populations, craters on the moon, files on your hard-drive and the GDP of countries have in common?How to align yourself with the 80/20 principle and harness its incredible powerDo you want to live in the IS world or the SHOULD BE world?If you deal with reality the way it is things become effortlessOnce you understand the 80/20 principle, it transforms what you focus onHow most problems in life are a result of being on the wrong side of the 80/20 equationWhat is “racking the shotgun?” and why is it so importantDon’t focus on fixing the bad 80%, focus on reproducing the successful 20%One of the jobs of civilization is to mitigate the 80/20 principleThe world will always condition you to focus on the underperforms (the 80%)You can get “A's" in six different subjects, but you’re gonna make a living in ONEIf you try 20 projects, the law of 80/20 says 1 should succeed!Failure is OK, you only have to go get rich onceThe 20% is 16x more leverage than the 80% that doesn’t generate resultsEveryone is in sales in some form or fashion in their livesSales is not a convincing people process, sales and elimination processFirst thing you should do in sales is disqualify people as quickly as possibleNever ask someone who can say no but who cannot say yesThe key questions you need to ask to disqualify sales leadsThe story of the $2700 espresso machineThe 8 different modalities of selling and how you can thrive by embracing your own unique sales strengths Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how you can create success by mashing two seeming unrelated ideas together, why energy is the currency of the biological world (and how that impacts the evolution of money within our society), we go deep into understanding money and its role in our lives, and we look at why you should investigate your own biases about money with Kabir Sehgal.    Kabir is a former a vice president in emerging markets at JP Morgan. He is the new york times and wall street journal bestselling author of the book Coined and has served as a speechwriter for the John Kerry presidential campaign, having been featured in Fortune, The Harvard Business Review, and other publications. Kabir is a CNBC contributor as well as a grammy winning producer, composer, and Jazz musician.     We discuss:   Creating an opera about the financial crisisHow you can create success by mashing two seeming unrelated ideas together The idea of lateral combination vs incremental growth and how it amplifies possibilityWhat is Money?Unit of Value Instrument of Exchange Counting mechanism Why Kabir defines money as a symbol of valueThe neurological triggers associated with moneyHow a trip to the Galapagos islands transformed the way Kabir thought about moneyThe “biology of exchange” and how money expresses something deeply biological and rooted in evolutionWhy energy is the currency of the biological world (and how that impacts the evolution of money within our society)Looking at financial decisions through brain scans and MRIsHow talking about money can change the electrical conductivity of your skinFascinating research data about how money impactsHow making money creates a brain state almost identical to cocaine addictsWhat does research show gets men more excited - dead bodies, naked women, or money?How your genetic composition impacts your psychology of moneyHow twin studies demonstrate people’s genetic preference for certain financial behaviors and risk profilesThe history of bartering and how social debt was actually the first currencyThink of money as a measurement of debt What’s the difference between currency and money?What does Genghis Khan have to do with the history of money?What are Native American potlatches and what do they tell us about tipping behavior?What is Soft Money, what is Hard Money, and what are the differences?Does the weather impact your financial decisions?Do Jesus and the Hindu scriptures offer the same financial advice?Understanding money and its role in our livesWhy you should start with investigating your own biases about money Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the fundamental principles of game theory, we correctly guess the answers to SAT questions - without every knowing what the question was! We look at how to use game theory in practical ways, and go deep on how a college professor and his student started a beverage company, sold a billion bottles of tea, and competed against Coke, Nestle, and other major players to become incredibly successful with our guest Barry Nalebuff.     Barry is a Professor of Economics and Management at Yale School of Management. A graduate of MIT, a Rhodes Scholar and Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows, Barry earned his doctorate at Oxford University. Barry is the author of several books, an expert in game theory which he applies to business strategy, and the co-founder of Honest Tea which has been named one of America’s fastest Growing Companies     We discuss: What is game theory?What are the fundamental principles of game theory?The difference between ego-centric and being alo-centricHow do you design a system that avoids death spirals?Everything in life is a gameBarry grills me on game theory with a fascinating exampleWe crush through some SAT questions and find the correct answer - without every knowing the question!We use a simple game to understand Nash equilibrium and how that explains third world development challenges and corruptionWhat is the prisoner’s dilemma and how does it apply to the real world?How global warming demonstrates a multi-person prisoner’s dilemmaThe concept of “signaling” in game theory and how Michale Spence won a noble prize studying itA real world example of how signaling can be used to change outcomes getting hiredHow to use game theory to negotiate and create the best possible outcomesA concrete example of how to "divide the pie” and reach a fair and “principled” conclusion in a negotiationWhy its important to figure out what the pie is before you determine how to split itHow a professor and his student pooled their resources, started a beverage company, sold a billion bottles of tea, and competed against coke, nestle, and other major playersThe concept of “declining marginal utility” and how that shaped the founding of Honest TeaWe explain why a function is maximized when its derivative is zeroThe “Babysitter Theorem” and why it was critical to Honest Tea’s successHow Barry and Seth used the Lean Startup approach to launch Honest TeaWould it make sense for Pepsi to release a perfect replica of Coke?Barry’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs  Be radically different Solve a challenging problem Succeed without being copied How Honest Tea prevented their business model from being copied and knocked off Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss why dieting actually predicts weight gain over the long run, how you can build a “healthstyle” of habits that can accumulate small advantages and create a healthy lifestyle over time, how “habit loops” are formed and how you can leverage neuroscience to create habits that stick, the concept of Mindful Eating and how it can transform your relationship to the meals you eat, and more with our guest Darya Rose. Darya Rose is a neuroscience Ph.D and the author of the book Foodist: Using Real Food and Real Science to Lose Weight Without Dieting. Darya is the creator of Summer Tomato a blog where she teaches others to form healthy food habits by combining neuroscience, mindfulness, and nutrition. She has been featured on the Today Show, Oprah, Time Magazine, and was recently named one of the 100 Most Influential People In Health and Fitness How Darya dug into the science behind healthy lifestyles and what she discoveredHow everything Darya learned about health and nutrition was wrongHow Darya defines “dieting” (and why that’s so important)Why dieting actually predicts weight gain over the long runHow your current relationship with food impacts your long-term health (and how you can shift it)What the “biggest loser” gets wrong about dieting and weight gainWhy dieting is “torture” and is “set up so that you can't’ win”The psychology behind why dieters often regain weightWhat it means to  “moralize” your food choices and why you should avoid itWhy you should lose weight more slowlyHow “dieting” can confuse your hormones and negatively impact your satiety cuesYou are the sum of your habitsHow do you build a “healthstyle” of habits that can accumulate small advantages and create a healthy lifestyle over timeHow “habit loops” are formed and how you can leverage neuroscience to create habits that stickWhy growth mindset is essential to changing your habits and living a healthy lifestyleThe critical importance of rewards in building habits (and the different types of rewards)Rewards must be internal and innately linked to whatever you’re doing“Home court habits” that you need to develop to live in a healthy place and stay there sustainably Why you should eat your veggies!Why Darya says that "Sitting is the new smoking"The importance of sleep and maintaining your circadian rhythms to building a healthy lifestyleWhy Mindfulness is a critical part of a healthy dietMindful Eating and how it can transform your relationship to the meals you eatThe definition of "mindfulness” - being aware of your present physical experience, thoughts, & feelings (emotional feelings in the body) and being AWARE that those are happening without judgment Why you should focus on chewing your food more and eating more slowlyHow to battle junk food cravingsThe importance of real food, how do define it, and how to find itThe 80/20 principle and how it applies to healthy livingCreate a habit journal and recognize how the things you are doing often Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

  In this episode, we discuss why you can’t out-think your emotions, the relationship between trauma and our mind/body connection, how to start listening to your emotions, the power of hypnosis, and how to drop into your body to experience what you’re truly feeling with Rene Brent. Rene is a Certified Clinical and Transpersonal Hypnotherapist. She is the Director and Instructor of the Externship Program at the Orlando Florida Institute of Hypnotherapy. She’s also the bestselling author of How Big is Your But: Discover How To Let Go Of Blocks And Move Forward In Your Life. We discuss: How working as a trauma nurse deepened Rene’s understanding of the mind/body connectionHow our thoughts control our body chemistry and physical reactionsWhat is hypnosis and how does it work?How Rene approaches hypnosis from a science-based perspective and how hypnosis impacts your brain wavesThe difference between alpha brain waves and beta brain wavesThe relationship between hypnosis and flow statesHow we can get caught in conscious thought loops that prevent us from experiencing our emotionsWhat happens when we consciously suppress our subconscious thoughts and feelings?How the subconscious mind bubbles up and tries to get you to listenHow being very busy with your external life can prevent you from looking at your internal lifeTrue joy only exists when you start experiencing emotions and listening to your subconscious mindYou cannot out-think your emotions, positive thinking doesn't work when you’re in a survival stateHow something that happens in childhood can imprint a false belief that can impact you for your entire life Communication is not what you said, it's what the other person heardHow do you listen more effectively to your subconscious mind?How to push a pause button and pattern interrupt in the subconscious brainWhy you cannot heal something until you bring it up from the subconscious mindThe power of breathing and breath exercisesAnxiety is not an emotion, its a symptom of fearEmotions amplify when we push them down, they release when we allow them to happenWhile you may not have words for your emotions, your physical body is your emotional GPSThe “felt sense” of emotion and how you feel it in your bodyWhen you drop into your body, you’re actually dropping into your subconscious mindIf the heart is quiet and you pay attention, the mind will be stillThe pattern of how events create beliefs, beliefs create emotions, and emotions create symptomsHow targeting the subconscious mind rapidly speeds up interventionsThe power of forgiveness and working with your inner childHow negative self-talk is counter productiveWhy SLEEP is the fundamental pillar of psychological wellbeing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

 In this episode we discuss what to do if you feel like you’re having a mid-life crisis every two years, the importance of staying grounded while you make big changes in your life, how to pivot your career and take “smart risks,” how to discover your strengths, and the right way to make big, exciting changes in your career with Jenny Blake.       Jenny Blake is a bestselling author, career and business strategist. Jenny began in the startup world and went on to work in Training and Career Development at Google before pivoting to pursue her own projects full time. She’s teh author of Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One: and has been featured on TED, CNBC, Forbes, US World & News, and more!     We discuss:  What to do if you feel like you’re having a mid-life crisis every two yearsThe importance of learning, growing, and making an impactHow to find “pivot points” in your life and what to do when you find themThe importance of staying grounded while you pivot and while you make big changes in your lifeThe 4 stages of pivoting & how to take "smart risks”The comfort zone, the panic zone, and the stagnation zoneThe critical importance of finding your strengthsExercises that help you truly find your strengthsThe risk of “self assessment” strength tests and what you can do to find your strengths more effectivelyThe critical importance of bolstering your bench“Frentors” and how they can create accountability and help you achieve your goalsHow finding people who are a few steps ahead of you can help you The “perpetual newbie state” and the critical importance of learning and growingThink of your career like a smartphone, not a ladderWhy you don’t have to know what direction you’re heading in next, but you can try many directions and double down on the ones that are working the bestThe importance of "10% projects” and how you can find them either within your career or in entirely new spaceThe “15 for 30” challenge and how you can transform your options Why you should revel in what others rejectHow someone else’s grunt work can be your area of geniusThe “3 Es” of Testing a new idea and how they can help you pick the right direction to move inHow you can “flip failure”How defining failure can help you overcome the fear of it Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

 In this episode, we talk about Emotional Intelligence. What is emotional intelligence and why does it matter so much? How the science demonstrates that emotional intelligence matters far more than IQ, how you can develop and improve your “EQ”, how to build the muscle of focus, and much more with Dr. Daniel Goleman.    Daniel is a co-founder of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. He currently co-directs the Consortium for Research on Emotional Intelligence in Organizations at Rutgers University. He is the international best-selling author of several books including Primal Leadership, Focus, and Emotional Intelligence which has been translated into over 40 languages.     WE DISCUSS:What is emotional intelligence and why does it matter so much?The 4 pillars of emotional intelligenceIs IQ or EQ more important, which correlates more with success?Why IQ is more of a threshold, and EQ scales more with people’s actual results in the worldHow the science of “competence modeling” demonstrates that emotional intelligence matters far more than IQ, the more successful you become Which of the four pillars of EQ do people struggle with the most?The 3 varieties of empathy - cognitive empathy, emotional empathy, and empathic concernThe mental exercises you can do to strengthen certain brain circuitry required to build emotional intelligenceHow to cultivate and strengthen emotional self controlWhat the science say about ways to strenghten the prefrontal cortext around controling your amygdalaThe mind is a muscle and basic repetition strengthens your circuitryThe hard science behind how to cultivate a positive outlookThe ventilation fallacy and why venting your anger is actually bad for youThe more you rehearse an emotion, the stronger the underlying brain circuitry becomesThe incredible power of seeing your thoughts as thoughts and nothing moreHow to step back and assess your thoughts by asking “Is this helpful?"The power of distraction to shift your thoughts away from anxiety and depressionHow Dr. Goleman defines FOCUS and why it's so importantHow focus and attention are muscles and cultivating them can help strengthen your underlying brain circuitryThe difference between rumination and reflection - and why reflection is so importantHow a Power Nap can restore your brainHow to restore your attention and focus when you find yourself at wit’s end and cannot focus anymoreWhat is PRIMAL Leadership and why is it so important?Why the crucial competencies you need to develop EQ and emotional intelligence are all learned abilitiesHow to give positive feedback and constructive criticism - the right way and the wrong way - don’t attack the PERSON - don’t trigger the negative circuitry, trigger a positive outlook Why managing your own negative emotions is the FIRST STEP towards cultivating emotional intelligenceStep back from your thoughts and ask yourself - is this useful? Cultivate self-awareness Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

 In this episode we start with a dive into evolutionary psychology and how biases have been programmed into you by millions of years of evolution, look at why our guest condemns the concept of Empathy, how the science demonstrates that empathy has no correlation with doing good in the world, how empathy creates disastrous outcomes, and more with our guest Dr. Paul Bloom    Dr. Paul Bloom is a Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Science at Yale University and received his PhD from MIT. Paul is the coeditor of the journal Behavior and Brain Sciences and author of several books including Just Babies: The Origins of Good and Evil, and most recently Against Empathy: The Case For Rational Compassion.We dig into Paul’s research on babies and their innate sense of right and wrongA surprising and extremely powerful source of bias that babies innately haveThe in-group vs out-group and how babies slice up and divide the worldHow dividing a group by coin flips can create serious behavioral biases towards your own groupEvolutionary psychology and how biases have been programmed into you by millions of years of evolutionThe morality of evolution and how kindness evolved How people, from an evolutionary point of view, think about strangersThe definition of empathy and how Paul defines itWhy Paul criticizes the concept of empathyWhy feeling the feelings of others is a really lousy moral guideWhy the science shows that empathy has no correlation with how much good people do in the worldWhat happens when soccer fans see someone shocked and how they're brains respond completely differently if its a fan of their team vs their opponents teamHow our natural empathy response is riddled with extreme biasHow empathy creates disastrous political outcomesThe "Willy Horton incident" and how the empathic response resulted in more rapes and murdersWhy Paul says controversially that mass shootings are objectively less than a rounding errorWhy being against empathy doesn't mean we should turn into cold blooded monstersThe distinction between empathy and compassion and why its so criticalHow Buddhist philosophy lead Paul to move away from empathy and towards compassionWhy its so critical to be aware of your biases before you can shift them and overcome themWhy we are more than just our biases and limitations Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

 In this episode we discuss the paradox of happiness - why pursuing it makes you less happy, and what you can do about it, we dig into the research about what really makes people happy, we break down happiness into its essential components and discuss how to cultivate it, we look at the interaction between stress and recovery and why most people look at it the wrong way, why active acceptance and surrender is critical to processing and dealing with negative emotions and much more with Dr. Tal Ben Shahar.    Dr. Tal Ben Shahar created the most popular course in Harvard University’s history, he is the best-selling author of several books including The Pursuit of Perfect, Happier, Choose The Life You Want, Even Happier. He’s also the co-founder and chief learning officer of The Wholebeing Institute, Potentialife, Maytiv, and Happier.TV.     We discuss:What science shows is the The #1 Predictor of HappinessHow the direct pursuit of happiness can actually prevent you from being happy and makes you less happyOne of the most robust findings in the field of psychology research is about what creates happinessThe paradox of happiness - why pursuing it makes you less happy, and what you can do about itWhy the expectation that you should be happy all the time is a barrier to your own happinessThe “hamburger model” and how it can transform the way that you live your lifeThe lens that we can use to understand all of our “happy” experiencesHow Tal defines “happiness” as the intersection of meaning and pleasureWe discuss what The BEST predictor of your future behavior isWhy awareness is a critical first step to cultivating happinessWe dig into the research about what really makes people happyWhy money has very little to do with happiness (according to the research)The vital importance of cultivating healthy relationshipsWe discuss the blue zones where people live the longest in the world and why these people live longer than anyone elseThe critical importance of physical exercise on your psychological wellbeingHow to trigger a release of the “feel good” chemicals in your brain (norepinephrine, dopamine, serotonin)How happiness helps you be healthier, more creative, gives you more energy, and makes you more productiveStrategies for indirectly pursuing happinessThe only 2 types of people who do not experience painful emotions (are you one of them?)How experiencing and accepting negative emotions can paradoxically improve your happiness Why active acceptance and surrender is critical to processing and dealing with negative emotionsHow perfectionism can create self sabotage and unhappinessThe critical distinction between healthy perfectionism and unhealthy perfectionismThe vital importance of accepting criticism and how refusing to accept criticism hamstrings youAdaptive vs maladaptive perfectionism and why its important to know the difference The interaction between stress and recovery and why most people look at it the wrong wayWhy stress isn’t bad and in fact can be very good for - but with a very important caveat How the concept of weight lifting can help us better understand and manage stress in our livesHow recovery is vital to your productivity, health, and happin Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we go DEEP on free will. Does free will exist? How does quantum physics impact the existence of free will?  We look at the neuroscience behind the concept of free will, and look at whether conscious decision-making exists at all or all of our decisions arise within the subconscious with Dr. Alfred Mele. Dr. Alfred Mele is a Professor of Philosophy at Florida State University. He is also the Director of the Philosophy and Science of Self-Control Project and previous director of the Big Questions in Free Will Project (2010-2013). Mele is the author of over 200 articles and ten books including “Free Will & Luck”, “Self Deception Unmasked,” and “Free: Why Science Hasn’t Disproved Free Will."We do deep on the definition of Free Will and what it meansDo you have free will?Dr. Mele’s “gas station” model of Free will and what it meansWhat is “deep openness” and does it underpin the existence of free will?The concept of determinism and whether or not it is compatible with the idea of free willHow quantum physics shapes the physical reality of free willPhilosophical concept of dualism and how it interacts with the existence of free willDoes your environment impact your ability to have “free will” and make independent decisions?Does science leaves open the possibility for free will to  exist?We go deep into the actual neuroscience experiments that test whether or not we have free willWe get into the millisecond readings of EEGs that show how the brain’s decision making works to determine whether or not our decisions are truly freeWe explore type 2 readiness potential and why its so critical to understanding whether or not we have free willWhere the evidence lands in terms of the neuroscience of free willDoes your unconscious rule your mind or can you consciously make free decisions?Does your environment and upbringing predetermine your decisions?Does moral responsibility exist in a world without free will? How do we handle questions of moral responsibility if free will doesn’t exist?How do people behave when they dont believe they have free will?Why 94% of University Professors rated themselves as above average professorsWhy 25% of High School Students rated themselves in the top 1% of their ability to get along with othersWe discuss the concept of Self Deception and how to combat it Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the 8 step process for overcoming anxiety and conquering your fears, how to stop a panic attack in real time, how you can tap into your subconscious mind and reprogram it, how to get deeper sleep, the power of hypnosis, and much more with Justin Stenstrom.     Justin is a nationally acclaimed life coach, author, entrepreneur, and speaker. He is the founder of EliteManMagazine.com, the host of the Elite Man Podcast. Justin’s work has been featured in the Huffington Post, Lifehacker, Maxim, and several other publications.     We discuss:How Justin overcame major depression, anxiety, and panic attacks to achieve his dreamsHow Justin went from 3-4 panic attacks per week, suicidal thoughts, to living a healthy and happy lifeWhy Justin views his struggle with depression and anxiety was a blessing in disguiseJustin’s 8 step process to overcome anxiety and conquer your fears: #1 - Realize that you’re not going crazy and there are a lot of solutions #2 - Do a combination of meditation, yoga, hypnosis #3 - Live in the present, future focus builds up a lot of anxiety, living in the past creates depression #4 Exercise 4-5x per week, backed by substantial research #5 Improve your sleep #6 Improve your diet #7 Take the right supplements #8 Use the 3 step technique to crush panic attacks The incredible 3 step process for dealing with a panic attack right nowHow hypnosis can be an incredibly powerful intervention for dealing with anxiety and how you can hypnotize yourselfWhy hypnosis is so powerful, because it speaks directly to your subconscious mindHow to tap into your subconscious mind and reprogram itThe “trance” state between sleep and wakingPractical tips for cultivating a healthy and deep sleep environmentHow to condition your mind for deeper sleepWhy Cell phones and TV before bed are one of the worst things you can doHow to stop yourself from hitting the snooze buttonThe ideal temperature to sleepWhy having a midnight snack might be really good for youShould you wake up in the middle of the night and work?Dietary interventions to deal with depression“This is how you ride a roller coaster”The power of facing your fears head on and exposing them for what they are Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss PRIDE – and why it may not be the deadly sin that it’s often cracked up to be. We dig into how the research defines pride, examine the critical distinction between self esteem and narcissism, the deep importance of being able to accept criticism, and look at the difference between strategies of dominance and strategies of prestige with Dr. Jessica Tracy.      Jessica is a professor of psychology at the University of BC where she also directs the Emotion and Self Lab. She is the author of Take Pride: Why The Deadliest Sin Holds the Secret to Human Success. She has published over 80 journal articles, book chapters, edited volumes, and reviews, and her groundbreaking work on pride has been covered by hundreds of media outlets, including ABC’s Good Morning America, NPR’s All Things Considered, the New York Times, the Economist, and Scientific American.How Jessica defines Pride in a way that may shock youHow pride can also be positiveThe two different kinds of pride experiences How one type of pride is linked to tons of positive outcomes (and the other has severe downsides)The critical distinction between self esteem and narcissismThe truth about what narciststs and hubristic people feel deep downWe dig into research studies show about how people with narcissism deal with criticism The critical importance of being able to take criticism Why not being able to take criticism is a huge red flag for hubristic prideWe discuss Paul Eckman’s research on the universality of emotionsThe expansive and visually apparent physical display of Pride and how you can recognize itThe fascinating finding from studying blind olympians and how they demonstrate prideHow pride can be a huge positive motivator to make you want to succeedWe dig into a number of specific research examples from Dr. Tracy’s researchHow your emotions are “adaptive” and what that meansThe adaptive benefits of pride and how it helps you achieve statusThe critical difference between prestige and dominance We discuss whether a strategy of dominance or a strategy of prestige is more effective in creating the results you wantWould you rather be loved or feared? (we answer that)We discuss President Donald Trump and how his strategy of dominance caught many people by surprise and serve as a fascinating real life case study of Dr. Tracy’s researchWe discuss the concept of “self conscious emotions”, what they are, and why they are importantWe discuss some of Dr. Tracy's research about shame Why its better to be guilty than ashamed Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss what Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking all consider the single greatest threat to humanity, why “death” is not binary event that makes you transition from being alive or dead at a specific moment in time, we ask if you would spend $1000 on a chance to live forever, we look at the biology behind cryogenics, vitfrication, and putting your body on biological pause, and we explore why poverty, climate change, war, and all our problems melt away in the face of one massively important issue with our guest Tim Urban.      Tim Urban is the creator of Wait But Why and has become one of the most popular writers on the internet with fans such as Maria Popova, Sam Harris, and Elon Musk.     His content has become so popular that according to Fast Company he has “captured a level of reader engagement that even the new-media giants would be envious of” with an average of over 1.5 million unique readers visiting and engaging on Wait But Why each month.      We discuss:Tim’s story and how he got started with Wait But WhyHow Tim writes about everything from the human condition, to the universe, the future and huge technology trendsHow Tim becomes a mini-expert in tons of different fieldsHow Tim overcomes massive procrastination to achieve his goals The interplay between “The Rational Decision-Maker”, “The Instant Gratification Monkey” and "The Panic Monster”The vital importance of "important but not urgent" activities Tim’s struggle with perfectionismThe importance of creating accountability to overcome procrastination What Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Stephen Hawking all consider the single greatest threat to humanityWhy Artificial Intelligence is the single most defining issue facing humanityAre you smarter than a computer?The difference between “narrow” artificial intelligence, “general” artificial intelligence and artificial “superinteliigence"What happens when artificial intelligence develops the ability to improve itself?Why the AI revolution is inevitable and will take place within the next 20-40 yearsWhy poverty, climate change, war, and all our problems melt away in the face of artificial superinteligence The battle between instant gratification and long term planning - how it relates to procrastination and AIWhy the notion that cryonics is the act of “freezing” “dead people”is fundamentally wrong on several levelsWhy “death” is not binary event that instantly transitions you from being alive or dead at a specific moment in timeThe biology behind cryogenics, vitfrication, and putting your body on biological pauseWould you spend $1000/year for a chance to live forever?“The truth is, involuntary death sucks”The body is just a physical object that can be upgraded and replaced Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss whether time speeds up as we get older, why your life story only makes sense looking in reverse, whether or not brain games actually work, the importance of proactive learning instead of passive learning, why psychology confirms all your worst fears about studying and getting smarter – and much more with a special TWO GUEST interview featuring Dr. Art Markman & Dr. Bob Duke!     Dr. Art Markman is a Professor of Psychology and Marketing at the University of Texas and Founding Director of the Program in the Human Dimensions of Organizations.     Dr. Bob Duke is a Professor and Head of Music and Human Learning at The University of Texas at Austin, He also directs the psychology of learning program at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles.      Together they co-host the NPR radio show Two Guys on Your Head and recently co-authored the book Brain Briefs. We discuss:Does time speed up as you get older?Why your brain pays less and less attention to things that don’t change How you underestimate the power of new experiences to have a positive impact on on youBrains are efficient, and efficient is another word of lazyHow Dyson vacuums where created (and what saw mills have to do with it)The importance of learning things that seem like they “don’t matter” right nowThe downside of a linear and close minded path of achievementWhy “everyone they know who is successful knows ALOT about ALOT of things” and you can’t know ahead of time what key information will make you successfulWhy you shouldn’t edit your life story in the forward direction (and what that means)Is your memory doomed to fail?Why one of the worst things you can do for your memory is to worry about your memory!Do brain games actually work?How do you engage the mind a way that develops thinking?The difference between reading and writing and how they impact your brainThe importance of proactive learning instead of passive learningWhat the data says about regret and how to deal with itHow learning is effortful when it actually works, and why without effort, there is very little learningIs it true that we only use 10% of our brains?Your brain is 3% of your body weight, but uses 25% of your daily energy supplyDoes listening to Mozart make you smarter?Why we can’t get something for nothing (and why you should stop looking for “get smart quick schemes”)Why psychology confirms all your worst fears about studying and getting smarterWhy its OK to get stuff wrong, as long as you repair your errorWhy every bit of skilled performance that you see has a deep reservoir of hard work hidden behind it The critical importance of perception and self awareness in growing and improvingWhy you are worst at judging your performance when you are bad (isn’t this one true!)Why “expert performers” are really good at identifying all of their flawsHow to cultivate self awareness of your flaws in a way thats non-threatening to you and your egoMistakes are not the problem, but denying them isHow sleep clears toxins out of your brain, helps you form better memories, learn more, etc Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the Daily Practice that works to develop self-love, how fear is often the signpost for what we most need to do next, lessons from a 550 mile pilgrimage through Spain, how seeking too much knowledge can be counter productive, and much more with our guest Kamal Ravikant. Kamal has worked with some of the best minds in Silicon Valley, hiked to one of the highest point in the Himalayas, mediated with tibetan monks, earned a US army infantry patch, and walked 550 miles across Spain. Kamal is the best selling author of several books including Love Yourself Like Your Life Depends On It and most recently Rebirth: A Fable of Love, Forgiveness, and Following Your Heart. We discuss: How a 550 mile pilgrimage through Spain transformed Kamal's life and taught him many powerful lessons How everyone who is great goes through some kind of fall before they truly rise and start to shine The Daily Practice that works to develop self love How Kamal leveraged neuroplasticity to pull himself out of a deep depression How Kamal spends 10 mins per day to develop real self love Why you have to work every day consistently to love yourself The BEST piece of advice Kamal has ever received in his life "Life is from the inside out” and how that wisdom transforms everything Why practice means you have to do it frequently Why loving yourself is the opposite of being egotistical and selfish The paradigm shift of life happening to you vs life is happening for you "Rejection is God’s Protection" The difference between “success” vs “success and fulfillment” If something scares you, there is magic on the other side How are fears from within are often a signal where we need to go, what we need to do next You have to take a jump first, and then you sprout wings Why we can’t overcome fear, but we can use it to our advantage Why gaining knowledge doesn't make you better, but applying it does How seeking too much knowledge can be counterproductive How Kamal re-evaluated his definition of success and realized that we are the effort not the outcome Why Kamal decided to write a fictional self-help book and how stories can help you learn The amazing power of forgiveness, and why self forgiveness is so important Why you should ask "If I loved myself, would I do this?" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we sit down and discuss everything we’ve learned in the last year of doing The Science of Success, review some of our favorite lessons and episodes, and talk about all the incredible insights we’ve discovered and share some of the biggest common themes that have emerged from a year of interviews with amazing guests ranging from FBI Hostage Negotiators, Game Theory Experts, Neuroscientists, World Class Poker Players, Amazing Entrepreneurs  and much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss why you should not follow your passion, the two biggest pitfalls people struggle with trying to build a career they love, the incredible importance of DEEP WORK, why deep work is so valuable and how we can cultivate it, as well as how you can structure your lifestyle to attain autonomy and mastery with Cal Newport.     Cal is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at Georgetown University, He previously earned his Ph.D. from MIT in 2009. Cal has authored several bestselling books including “So Good They Can’t Ignore You” and “Deep Work” both of which have received deep praise from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and many more.      If you’re looking for some guidance as you plan your new year, listen to this episode!      We discuss: Why following your passion is bad adviceThe 2 fundamental flaws of the idea that you should follow your passionThere’s a huge difference between what makes you enjoy a hobby and what makes you enjoy a professionThe core components of having a happy professional lifeIf we don't follow our passions, how do we end up with a job we are passionate about?The simple, but not easy, path to having a passionate careerImportance of building up rare and valuable skills by pursuing an apprecenticeship phaseHow to cultivate skills to attain leverage to get the autonomy and mastery that will make your work meaningfulThe right question you should ask if you are unsatisfied with your jobThe 2 biggest pitfalls people run into trying to find and build a career they are passionate aboutWhy you need career capital and how to cultivate itThere are many many paths you can take that could lead to a passionate careerWe go deep on the concept of DEEP WORKWe discuss why deep work is increasingly both valuable and rareHow you can produce at an elite level while working fewer total hoursHow Deep Work is a meta skill that fuels other skills Attention residue and how it can crush your cognitive abilityWhy Deep work requires zero distraction. A single glance at an inbox or social media account can disrupt an entire deep work sessionThe importance of scheduling deep work far in advance on your calendarWhy everyone is an artist, and how that changes what work you should focus on The danger of focuses on “taxes and paint”Deep work is a SKILL not a HABIT and it gets better with practiceHow to stretch your ability to concreteLifestyle changes you can implement that create the foundation for deep focus and deep workHow to break the cycle of addiction to novel stimuli Why you should schedule all your deep work on your calendar ahead of timeExercises that you can implement right now to train your concentrationWhy Cal recommends that you should embrace boredomYour deep mental addiction to new stimulus and how you can break it Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the incredible power of kindness, show how kindness triggers “the helpers high” and causes dopamine and oxytocin to flow through your brain, look at study data from 136 countries showing science behind why kindness is so powerful, we walk through several concrete examples you can use RIGHT NOW to take action and be kind to someone today, and much more with John Wang.    John Wang has spent the past several years researching the scientifically proven benefits that being kind to others has on our own lives. Making us not only happier, but healthier, and even more attractive! John is also the founder of The One Kindness Challenge which transformed a personal experience into a mission to spread the healing powers of kindness. Through unique accessories called kindness bands, The One Kindness Challenge seeks to remind us to commit at least one act of kindness each day and to help spread the message of kindness wherever we go.  How John’s personal challenge transformed into a missionJohn’s Lessons learned from taking homeless people out to lunch for a yearHow John’s visit to Nepal after the Nepalese earthquake changed his lifeThe evolutionary purpose of Kindness Why people aren’t kind often enoughJohns experience from practicing radical honesty for an entire yearWhat is the one kindness challenge?We walk through the feelings and experiences of a moment of kindnessKindness is triggered by the Vagus NerveHow kindness triggers “the helpers high” and causes dopamine and oxytocin to flow through your brainEven the smallest acts can trigger the same effect as large acts of kindnessConsistency in kindness it he MOST important thing21 day challenge will transform your lifeWhy kindness is more important now than everHow one Uber ride can change your life Its not about the words its about making a connectionHow social media has replaced real connection with fake connectionsHow a single smile could transform someone’s lifeWe dig deep into the science behind kindnessHow study data from 136 countries showcased the incredible power of kindnessWe walk through several concrete examples you can use RIGHT NOW to take action and be kind to someone TODAYJohn shares some incredibly inspiring stories from his own life about sharing and creating kindnessResearch data showing how kindness literally makes you live longer Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the errors people make in their reasoning and how to correct them, we explain a number of statistical principles to help sharpen your thinking and make you a better decision maker, why every $1 spent on a “scared straight” program creates $400 of cost for the criminal justice system, the illusion of objectivity, why you should NOT rely on your intuition and much more with Dr. Richard Nisbett.      Dr. Richard Nisbett is a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan. He has been awarded the Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award of the American Psychology Association, the William James Fellow Award for Distinguished Scientific Achievements, and the Donald T. Campbell Award for Distinguished Research in Social Psychology, among others. He is the author of the recent book Mindware, as well as The Geography of Thought, Think Differently, and Intelligence and How To Get It.   The errors people make in their reasoning and how to correct themHow to apply the lessons of statistics to making better decisionsIs your intelligence fixed and unchangeable?How the industrial revolution massively transformed the way people thinkWe discuss the skills, not on an IQ test, that you must have to be able to function effectively in today’s ageWhy job interviews are totally useless and have almost no correlation to job performance How misunderstanding the law of large numbers can lead you to make huge mistakesWhy does the rookie of the year almost always have a worse performance the following year?Understanding regression to the mean and how it creates extremely counterintuitive conclusionsWhy Performance = Skill + Luck Why deterministic thinking can drastically mislead you in finding the root cause of a phenomenaWe explain a number of statistical principles to help sharpen your thinking and make you a better decision makerThe concept of "base rates" and how they can transform how you think about realityWe walk through a number of concrete examples of how misunderstanding statistics can cause people to make terrible decisionsIf you’re like most people, then like most people, you think you’re not like most people (but you are)Why every $1 spent on a “scared straight” program creates $400 of cost in criminal and incarceration costs Why the “head start” program is a massive failure and what we could have done about it How you can use the experimental method to make data driven experiments in your lifeThe illusion of objectivity - Why you should NOT rely on your intuition How we massively distort our perception of reality and why our perceptual apparatus can easily mislead usHow many of the structures we use to understand the world are highly error proneWhy we are amazing at pattern detection but horrible at "covariation detection”Why the traditional rorschach test is bogus and doesn't actually produce any results Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the radical mismatch between your intuitive sense of risk and the actual risks you face. We look at why most experts and forecasters are less accurate than dart throwing monkeys. We talk about how to simply and easily dramatically reduce your risk of most major dangers in your life. We explore the results from the “good judgment project” study of more than 20,000 forecasts. We talk about what superforecasters are and how they beat prediction markets, intelligence analysts with classified information, and software algorithms to make the best possible forecasts and MUCH more with Dan Gardner.    Dan Gardner is a New York Times best-selling author and a senior fellow at the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. His latest book Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction, which he co-authored with Philip Tetlock. Superforecasting was chosen as one of the best books of 2015 by The Economist, Bloomberg, and Amazon. Dan is also the author of Future Babble and Risk: The Science and Politics of Fear and previously worked as a policy advisor to the Premier of Ontario and a journalist with the Ottawa Citizen. How and why people make flawed judgements about riskThe radical mismatch between our intuitive sense of risk and the actual risks we faceWhy we are the safest, healthiest, wealthiest people to live on planet earth (and we don't realize it)Why we focus on vivid, dramatic risks, and ignore the real dangers in our livesHow to simply and easily dramatically reduce your risk of most major dangers in your lifeThe power of “meta cognition,” what it is, and why it’s so importantLessons you can learn from the mega successful investor George SorosWhy most forecasters are less accurate than monkeys throwing dartsThe difference between foxes and hedgehogs (and why you never want to be one of them)The inverse correlation between fame and prediction accuracyWhat cancer diagnosis shows about how averse people are to uncertaintyThe universal principles of good judgementThe importance of intellectual humility and intellectual curiosityWhy certainty is an illusion and nothing is ever certainWhy everything is a question of degrees of maybe (probabilistic thinking)The results from the “good judgement project” study of more than 20,000 forecastsWhat superforecasters are and how they beat prediction markets, intelligence analysts with classified information, and software algorithms  to make the best possible forecastsThe differences between these “superforecasters” and regular forecastersThe importance of being “actively open minded"Why you should unpack smaller questions & looking things like base ratesHow to use “fermi estimates” to solve tough and challenging problemsWhy the growth mindset had a huge impact on positive ability to forecast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss why the “happiness” movement has done us a disservice and sometimes makes things worse, how perfectionism creates an illusion of control and distorts your reality, how to become aware of the critical inner voice at the root of your pain and unhealthy habits, the incredible power of self compassion, and much more with Megan Bruneau.    Megan Bruneau is a psychotherapist, wellness coach, writer, podcast host and creator of oneshrinksperspective.com After years of perfectionism-fueled depression, anxiety, and eating disorders, she discovered how to like herself, take risks, and find success without beating herself up to get there. Why Megan advocates a holistic approach to mental healthWhy the “happiness” movement has done us a disservice and sometimes makes things worseHow to become aware of the critical inner voice at the roof of your pain and unhealthy habitsWhat your “secondary emotions" are and why its so important to pay close attention to themHow you internalize self judgement from your childhood experiencesYou can have expectations about mood not just performance and that can create sufferingThe importance of giving yourself permission to feel feelings even when they are uncomfortableWhat your physiological symptoms look like when you experience a fight or flight responseHow to build tolerance and grow your “emotional muscle”The tools you can use (with a concrete example) to stop a downward spiral of anxietyThings you might do that actually make a negative emotional response worseThe importance of making space for difficult feelings ( through mindfulness )How to have deep self compassion and treat yourself with kindnessWhat exactly to say to yourself when you’re dealing with difficult emotionsWhy you should treat yourself like a dear friend who is sufferingHow the “self esteem” movement screwed you up and created many of your emotional challengesWhat happens when your self worth is dependent on being better than other peopleHow Megan defines perfectionism (and why you might be a perfectionist without even realizing it)The critical importance of self compassion and how you can practice itThe importance of understanding the concept of "common humanity"We define mindfulness and its core components, and discuss how to practice itWhy painful feelings don't make you broken, but are a natural part of the human experienceThe huge downsides of having your self worth tied to your achievementsWhy your fear of difficult and uncomfortable emotions is the roof of your sufferingThe exact internal dialogue you should use if you constantly put too much pressure on yourselfThe massive danger of “globalizing” negative experiencesWhy giving up high expectations actually enhances your performanceWhy you should change for your focus from being productive to focusing on what’s meaningfulHow you can “become friends” with difficult emotions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss lessons from 25 years of studying the evolution of human emotion, examine whether the Machiavellian concept of power still works, explore the surprising scientific data on how you can acquire power, and look closely at the foundation of enduring power from studies of military units on how to achieve and maintain power with Dr. Dacher Keltner.     Dr. Dacher Keltner is the founding director of the Greater Good Science Center and a professor of psychology at UC Berkeley. He is also the author of The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence and Born to Be Good, and a co-editor of The Compassionate Instinct.Lessons from 25 years of studying the evolution of human emotionWhat the hard science says about the powerful impact of gratitudeWhy you’re interpretation of “survival of the fittest” is totally wrongWhy emotion is not something to “remove” or rid ourselves ofHow emotions guide social behaviors in many very important waysDoes the Machveiallian conception of power still work?Studies in military organizations, schools, show about how to effectively wield powerThe surprising scientific data on how you can acquire and maintain power We discuss in depth if power is given or if power is seized What are the foundations of enduring power?Importance of empathy and building strong social ties rather than serving your narrow self interestThe power paradox and why the more powerful you get, the harder it is to stay powerfulThe importance of focusing on other peopleHow do we create organizations and societies that prevent the abuses of power?We review and share resources for practical steps to implement all of these lessonsThe massive impact and power of touch to communicate emotionsThe shocking science of how half a second of touch can communicate almost every major emotionThe hilarious gender differences in Dr. Keltner’s emotional touch researchHow to cultivate gratitude and aweThe simple power of just saying thank youThe new collaborative definition of power and how its radically different from what you may think of when you think of power Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss one of the most interesting results ever found in the psychological research of education, why pleasure maximization is a flawed model for human understanding, we go deep into a number of research examples, discuss the massive (and counterintuitive) difference between motivating top performers and bottom performers, and much more with Dr. Dan Ariely!     Dan Ariely is the James B. Duke Professor of Psychology and Behavioral Economics at  Duke University and is the founder of The Center for Advanced Hindsight and also the co-founder of BEworks. Dan's talks on TED have been watched over 7.8 million times. He is the author of Predictably Irrational and The Upside of Irrationality, both of which became New York Times best sellers, and he has a newly released book Payoff: The Hidden Logic That Shapes Our Motivations.  How being badly burned and spending 3 years in the hospital radically changed Dr. Dan Ariely's lifeHow good intentions can go terribly wrong in changing behaviorThe two flawed models of motivation and why neither worksI get interviewed by Dr Dan Ariely - he turns the mic on me and starts grilling me!The difference between momentary joy and lasting purposeThe critical importance of creating, meaning, improvement, and having an impactHow money can demotivate and skew your motivationWe get into the weeds on some fascinating experiments Dr. Dan Ariely has conducted about how money (doesn’t) motivate usWhy bonuses don’t actually workThe massive (and counterintuitive) difference between motivating top performers and bottom performersWhy it’s much better to analyze the BARRIERS to good performance and remove themOne of the most interesting results ever found in the psychological research of educationWhy pleasure maximization is a flawed model for human understandingWe dig into the the science of motivation itselfThe difference between social norms and market norms (and why it’s important)Why you would rather move a couch for free, than get paid $5 to do itIdeas for how we can use psychology to change America’s education systemWhy suicide rate among physicians are climbing rapidly The Crazy Day Care Story (and why its important) How effort and complexity create affinity for things you work onWhy Dr. Dan Ariely and I both love legos! We go through half a dozen hilarious and very counter-intuitive findings from Dr. Dan Ariely's researchWe discuss the quest for symbolic immortality (and why it matters to you) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how our guest went from being “wildly unsuccessful”, sleeping in a used van, to launching a massive brand, the power of simple gratitude during the toughest challenges of our lives, the transformational superpowers that can change your life, the massive perspective shift you can grain from two simple words, and much more with John Jacobs.    John is the co-founder and chief creative optimist for Life is Good as well as the author of Life Is Good: The Book. He and his company have previously been featured on CNN, CNBC, Nightline, Today, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal,and much more.The ten superpowers that can change your lifeWhat drove John to find a way to combine art and business to launch an amazing companyHow Life is Good went from being “wildly unsuccessful”, sleeping in a used van, to launching a massive brandWhy its often the people that face the biggest adversity and trauma that embrace the real meaning of “life is good"How Life is Good takes a stand against the negativity in the news media The incredible power of simple gratitude during the toughest challenges of our livesHow to focus on optimism without ignoring the negative experiences in your lifeHow the story of one person can transform your experience The Amazing story of how one act of hate created a wave of loveHow John embarks on his mission to “spread the power of optimism"Even when facing hardest adversity - you can consciously shift your mind to the positive and grow good instead of being consumed by the negativeThe incredible power of optimism and strategies to become more optimisticWhy you should never say you “have to” do something (and what you should say instead)Incredible, simple perspective shift you can get by changing a SINGLE WORD when you find yourself complainingThe Rule of “Yes, And,” how it can have a huge impact on your life & unleash your creativityThe real depth behind the concept of “life is good”and why its OK to acknowledge the painful parts of your lifeThe importance of taking a few moments to connect with someoneWhy fun is “part of the main course” and not your dessertHow to find simple ways to weave joy into your life Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we look at the single biggest factor that impacts your performance at work, the 7 major catalysts for creating progress in your life, we dig deep into the data to look closely at the correlations between mental states and actual performance in terms of creativity, technical skill, productivity and much more with Dr. Teresa Amabile. Dr. Amabile is a Professor and Director of Research at Harvard Business School. She received her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford. Her research investigates how life inside organizations can influence people and their performance. She has published over 100 articles in top scholarly journal and is the co-author of The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, as well as Creativity in Context and Growing up Creative.  We discuss:  How offering a reward can undermine people’s intrinsic motivation to do something  We dig deep into the nearly 12,000 daily diary entries from over 200 professionals inside organizations that formed the foundation of Teresa’s research  We look closely at the correlations between mental states and actual performance in terms of creativity, technical skill, productivity and more   How positive and negative work environments arise within organizations   Your “inner work life” and why its so important (and you may not even be aware of it)  How external motivators can accidentally wipe out your true motive for working and achieving your goals  Why “Making Progress on Meaningful Work” is the single biggest factor impacting performance  An important and powerful tool that managers can use to help people do better in their work and have better experiences every day  The "intrinsic motivation principle of creativity” and why it matters to you!   The largest disconnect between what managers think motivates their employees and what the research actually shows that motivates them  The 7 catalysts to creating progress in your life  The importance of having clear goals (what you’re doing and why it matters)  Why creating a culture where people learn from problems, failures, and mistakes is vital to success  The importance of control and autonomy in your work Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore how you can learn from dating mistakes to make better financial choices, the most expensive words in investing (and how you can avoid them), why highly qualified experts are wrong more than 94% of the time, the importance of focusing on process vs outcome and much more with Dr. Daniel Crosby. Dr. Crosby is a psychologist and behavioral finance expert as well the author of New York Times Best-Seller "Personal Benchmark: Integrating Behavioral Finance and Investment Management” as well as “Laws of Wealth: Psychology  and the secret to investing success.” He was named named one of the “12 Thinkers to Watch” by Monster.com, a “Financial Blogger You Should Be Reading” by AARP and listed on the Top 40 Under 40 by Investment News.com.   We discuss:How Daniel works to integrate the messiness of human psychology into fields like economics and financeHow your emotional state colors your perception of riskHow you can learn from dating mistakes to make better financial choicesThe most expensive words in investing (and how you can avoid them) The insane “tulip” craze and what it says about financial marketsWhy in our efforts to manage risk we often create the outcomes we are trying to avoidHow you control what matters most (often without realizing it)The importance of focusing on process vs outcomeWhy “you are not special” and how that advice can save you a lot of money! Why experts are wrong 94% of the timeWhy really successful people automate their day and free up their cognitive power for more important tasksHow to be aware of the biases impacting our thinking and get a second opinionThe importance of being “not stupid” instead of being smartExistential boundary experiences and how they can transform youHow to break out of the glorified business of our daily lives and embrace the inevitability of our own mortality2 simple and actionable steps you can take right now to improve your personal finance and investment knowledgeAnd much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the secret lessons hostage negotiators around the world use to win the day, how to understand and influence people’s emotional drivers, the two words that can transform any negotiation, the biggest hallmarks of powerful master negotiators and much more with the FBI’s former lead international kidnapping negotiator Chris Voss.   Chris Voss is the founder and CEO of the Black Swan Group, an adjunct professor at Georgetown and University of Southern California. During his 24 year term with the FBI where he most recently served as the FBI’s lead international kidnapping negotiator, Voss worked approximately 150 kidnappings worldwide, from the Middle East to Haiti including a number of high-profile kidnappings. Voss has been trained by the FBI, Scotland Yard and Harvard in the art of negotiation and negotiated with likes of terrorists, hostage takers, and bank robbers.  We discuss:FBI’s behvaioral change stairway they use to negotiate with terrorists and hostage takersWhy emotional intelligence is at the forefront of business success todayHow to leverage “tactical empathy” in your life to achieve the results you wantHow to create leverage to influence anyone in the world by understanding their emotional driversWhy you should never be mean to someone who could hurt you by doing nothingWhy understanding is NOT the same as agreement and why that is importantThe biggest barrier to negotiation success is not complexity - its overcoming the awkwardnessHow repeating the last 1-3 words someone said can have a huge impactWhy winning in a negotiation is not the same as beating the other sideThe incredible importance of listening and how you can cultivate “active listening"The power and importance of open ended and clarifying questionsHow to draw out the hidden cards from the other side of a negotiationThe secrets hostage negotiators AROUND THE WORLD use regardless of cultural dynamicsThe two most important words in any negotiationThe three different types of negotiator and the strengths and weaknesses of eachHow changing one question totally transformed the kidnapping negotiation for Jose Escobar Why Chris would “never lie to anyone he’s not going to kill"Why Chris hates compromise in any negotiationThe “F Word” in negotiations and why you should be careful with itOne of the biggest hallmarks of powerful negotiators And much more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we talk about execution, how to break down big goals into actionable steps, how and why Neil hired a “mama” for himself, the “ten minute rule” that could help you achieve big productivity gains and how to optimize your life to free up huge amounts of time with entrepreneur Neil Patel.   Neil is the co-founder of Crazy Egg, Hello Bar and KISSmetrics. The Wall Street Journal calls him a top influencer on the web, Forbes says he is one of the top 10 online marketers, and Entrepreneur Magazine says he created one of the 100 most brilliant companies in the world. He was recognized as a top 100 entrepreneur under the age of 30 by President Obama and one of the top 100 entrepreneurs under the age of 35 by the United Nations. Neil has also been awarded Congressional Recognition from the United States House of Representatives.  We discuss:How to break huge goals into small bite sized tasks that you can quickly and easily executeHow Neil defines success and why money wont make you happyThe "10 minute rule" and how it can help you achieve big results“Hacks” that Neil recommends for those who want to climb the corporate ladderHow to go from A to Z by skipping B, C, D etc and getting straight to the resultWhy you don’t have to take the traditional path the everyone else does to get what you want in lifeThe strategy Neil uses to pitch huge deals to corporate executivesHow to optimize your life to save time and free your time upThe rules that Neil uses to improve and use his time more efficientlyHow Neil hired a “mom” to cook him breakfast and do his laundry (and why!)How to manufacture and generate luck for yourselfWhy shouldn’t “rent your dreams"How to take action on the things that matter and actually create results, so you can stop spinning your wheelsAnd much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore the link between trauma, mental health, learning disabilities and genius, look at a number of historical figures and how they harnessed challenges like depression and ADHD to achieve world-changing results, and examine the practical steps you can take to overcome struggles today with Dr. Gail Saltz.   Dr. Gail Saltz is a Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at the New York Presbyterian Hospital Weill Cornell School of medicine and a psychoanalyst with the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. She is a columnist, bestselling author, podcast host and television commentator and one of the nation’s foremost go-to experts on a variety of psychological and mental health issues, having appeared on Good Morning America, Dr. Oz, The View, Dateline, 20/20, Primetime, Today, CNN, CBS This Morning, MSNBC, The Oprah Winfrey Show and more.    We discuss:How people like Vincent Van Gogh and Abraham Lincoln harnessed their mental issues to achieve successDeconstructing the “psychobiographies” of some of the greatest achievers in the world (DaVinci, Einstein, Lincoln, etc)Close to half of Americans struggle with some sort of mental health issueWhat people who are embarrassed about seeking help can doWhy “mental illness” is often a STRENGTH and the greatest achievements are a often a DIRECT RESULT of struggles with issues like dyslexia, anxiety, depression, etcHow Abraham Lincoln struggled his whole life with depression and why it gave him the empathy to reshape historyHow Einstein overcome crippling ADHD to change physicsPractical steps that someone can take who is struggling with anxiety and depression right nowHow to hone-in on your strengths and leverage themHow we get caught in defeating stories that we tell ourselvesHow to identify and “re-write” self-defeating stories that we tell ourselvesA few actionable insights into how to improve and build relationships from one of the best sex and relationships experts in the worldHow to LISTEN better, improve communication, and build better relationshipsAnd more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to create evil in a research laboratory, what makes people “turn evil”, we examine the definition of heroism, dig into the famous Stanford Prison Experiment, explore time paradoxes, and much more with the legendary Dr. Philip Zimbardo.  Dr. Zimbardo is an internationally recognized scholar, educator, researcher and media personality, winning numerous awards and honors in each of these domains. He has been a Stanford University professor since 1968, where he conducted the famous Stanford Prison Experiment. His career is noted for giving psychology away to the public through his popular PBS-TV series, Discovering Psychology, along with many text and trade books, among his 500+ publications. He was recently president of the American Psychological Association.  We discuss:How to create evil in a research laboratoryThe different kinds of evilIs there a fixed line between good and evil?What is the definition of heroism (and how its distinct from altruism)How Dr. Z defines evil (and why thats important)What happens when you put only good people in a really bad situation?The inside take on the famous Stanford Prison ExperimentHow a situation can create an emotional breakdown in a normal, healthy, smart person in less than 36 hoursThe social processes that can grease the slippery slope of evilHow normal people can transform into monstersThe substantial risks of dehumanizationThe power of the heroic imaginationHow teachers can bring the best out in their studentsThe time paradox and how we live with vastly different time perspectives How conflicts derive from people’s differing time perspectivesIf you want to hear from a titan of psychology about the inner workings of the human mind - listen to this episode!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss the intersection between neuroscience and game theory, ask whether you are smarter than a Chimpanzee, examine how simple mental judgments can be massively wrong, explain the basics of game theory, and dig deep into strategic thinking with Dr. Colin Camerer.    Colin is the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Finance and Economics at the California Institute of Technology. A former child prodigy Colin received his B.A in quantitative studies from John Hopkins University at the age of 17, followed by an M.B.A. in finance from the University of Chicago at the age of 19, and finally a Ph.D in behavioral decision theory from the University of Chicago at the age of 21. Colin research is focused on the interface between cognitive psychology and economics.    We discuss: How to out-think (and think one level ahead of) your competitionHow we make simple mental judgments that go wrongThe fundamentals of game theory and how you can practically apply it to your lifeAre you smarter than a chimpanzee? (the answer may surprise you)The psychological limits on strategic thinkingHow game theory cuts across multiple disciplines of knowledge from evolution to corporate auctionsThe concept of a nash equilibrium and why its importantThe fascinating intersections between psychology and game theoryThe game theory behind rock paper scissors (and the optimal strategy)Why people don’t think strategically (and why it matters)Discover if you re you a level zero thinker or a “Level K” thinkerWhy working memory has a strong correlation between making strategic decisions and cognitive flexibilityThe fascinating results behind the “false belief test"How to make strategic inferences from the knowledge that other minds haveAnd much more!  If you want to make better decisions or have always been fascinated by game theory - listen to this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how to escape the feedback loop from hell, the paradoxical idea of embracing negative experiences, why struggle creates meaning, how discover the false values underpinning your worldview, and how to cultivate the ability to sustain and handle adversity with Mark Manson.   Mark is a blogger, author and entrepreneur. Most well-known for his site markmanson.net, where he writes personal development advice that doesn't suck. He also wrote a book called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. It doesn't suck, either. We discuss:Alan Watt’s Backwards Law (and why its so important)How to escape the Feedback Loop From HellThe paradoxical idea of embracing negative experiencesHow your mind invents problems for you every dayWhy Mark gives the advice “don’t try"How to release the judgement of your own emotions The difference between indifference and “not giving a f*ck"The biggest “false values” you cling to that create unhappiness in your lifeWhy "entitlement" is the idea that you deserve happiness and don’t have to struggle for it (and how that causes suffering How to cultivate the ability to sustain and handle adversityWhy the key question to living a better life is NOT “what do I want out of life?"Why struggle creates meaning and its important to feel bad sometimesWhat champions and world class performers focus on every dayWhy you should listen to Disappointment PandaWhy pain is required for growthAnd much more!If you are dealing with a challenge and can't figure out what to do next - listen to this episode!  Warning this episode has some profanity!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore the mental game of world champion performers, examine the emotional issues preventing you from achieving what you want to achieve, how those issues happen in predictable patterns that you can discover and solve, look at why people choke under pressure, and discuss how to build mental toughness with mental game coach Jared Tendler.   Jared is an internationally recognized mental game coach. His clients include world champion poker players, the #1 ranked pool player in the world, professional golfers and financial traders. He is the author of two highly acclaimed books, The Mental Game of Poker 1 & 2, and host of the popular podcast “The Mental Game.”  We discuss:  -The emotional issues preventing you from achieving what you want are happening in predictable patterns, and you can discover them!   -Why people choke (and what to do about it)  -How to cultivate mental toughness over time  -Why the typical sports psychology advice doesn’t work  -Lessons from 500+ of the best poker players in the world of dealing with mental game  -How high expectations create self sabotage  -Why emotions are the messengers and not the root cause of performance issues  -Why mistakes are an inevitable and important part of the learnign process  -The yin and yang of performance and learning  -The characteristics of peak mental performers  -How to deal with “tilt" in poker and the different kinds of “tilt"  -How to use confidence intervals to deal with uncertainty   -And much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore one of the biggest things disrupting your sleep, examine strategies for getting a better night’s rest, dig into sleep cycles, talk about the 30 Day No Alcohol challenge and break down how to read books more effectively with James Swanwick.   James is an Australian-American entrepreneur, former SportsCenter anchor on ESPN and host of The James Swanwick Show podcast. He is the creator of the 30 Day No Alcohol Challenge, which helps people reduce or quit alcohol; and creator of blue-blocking glasses Swannies which improve your sleep. Forbes magazine voted him one of Top 25 Networking Experts. Swanwick has interviewed celebrities including Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger.    We discuss:   -The #1 reason you don’t get a good night’s sleep  -Melatonin and your sleep cycle  -The importance of a good night’s sleep   -Why you shouldn’t read your smartphone in bed  -The 30 Day No Alcohol Challenge   -How to build rapport and have a conversation with anyone  -How to read a book in 15 minutes  -Why you retain only 10% of what you read (and what to do about it)  -The 3 main lessons in radical honesty  -How to build a framework to retain everything you learn   -Why knowledge is NOT power  -We discuss "social skydiving" and how you can do it  -And Much More!     If you want to get a better night’s sleep - check out this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore strategies to jump start your creativity, how to think about the definition of success, how to retain the knowledge from all of the books you read, and how to be a better writer with best-selling author and publishing expert Tom Corson-Knowles.   Tom is a serial entrepreneur, blogger and international bestselling author. He started his first business at age 13 and is the founder of TCK Publishing whose mission is to help every client earn a full-time income as an author. Tom’s bestselling books include Secrets of the Six-Figure Author, The Kindle Publishing Bible, and The Kindle Writing Bible, among others.  In this episode we discuss:Why creativity is a learned skill and not an innate talentWhy creativity is important for everyone, not just “starving artists"3 simple strategies you can use to improve you creativity right nowThe incredible importance of “thinking time"The two parts of the creative processHow to improve your writing skillsHow you can double your creative output in 15 minutes per dayHow to stop yourself from pressing the gas and the brakes at the same time when trying to createAnd much more! If you want to boost your creativity - check out this episode!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how you have multiple limiting beliefs that you have yet to discover that, if uncovered, could radically transform your life. We go deep into limiting beliefs, look at how random childhood experiences can shape your worldview for decades, discuss how your outer world is created by your inner world, examine how to reverse engineer bad behavior and much more with our guest Catherine Plano.   Catherine is the founder of the I Am Woman Project and an International Executive Coach with more than two decades of experience working with top companies, having impacted more than 100,000 lives and whose mission is to aid companies and individuals in becoming aware of their limitless potential and in using their extraordinary abilities to achieve their desired outcomes. Catherine is also a certified Life Coach and a certified Master Practioner of NLP.  Catherine focuses on changing lives daily through her coaching and motivation speaking.   We discuss:How simple, innocuous things in our environment plant seeds that can dramatically change of our livesHow we give meaning to situations without fully understanding themHow your parents programmed many of your behaviors How limiting beliefs get planted into your mind from childhoodHow your memories can be completely falseHow your outer world is a reflect of your inner worldWhy your thoughts become self fulfilling propheciesWhy 95% of your behaviors are not “who" you are, they are “learned behaviors"programmed by your environmentAnd Much More!   If you feel like something is holding you back, but you can’t figure out what it is - Listen to this episode!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode – we go deep on mastering the superpower that underpins all other powers, how your brain’s automatic survival mechanism tilts you towards unhappiness, growing the mental resources to deal with the biggest challenges of your life, and down the rabbit hole of exploring the idea of the self, ego, and much more with Dr. Rick Hanson. This was one of the most profound conversations we have had on this podcast.   Dr. Hanson is a psychologist, Senior Fellow of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley, and New York Times best-selling author. His books include Hardwiring Happiness, Buddha’s Brain, Just One Thing, and Mother Nurture. He’s also the Founder of the Wellspring Institute for Neuroscience and Contemplative Wisdom, he’s been an invited speaker at NASA, Oxford, Stanford, Harvard, and other major universities.  We discuss:  -How to master the SUPERPOWER that BUILDS ALL OTHER POWERS  -How to grow the mental resources inside yourself to deal with the biggest challenges in your life  -We reverse engineer the olympic athletes of the mind to learn their secrets  -We discuss how your thoughts change the physical structure of your brain  -How your brains 5 core survival strategies create suffering in your life  -How reality is continually constructed by the underlying hardware of the brain  -How to disengage from stress and suffering  -How to let go of attachment to your ego  -How to stop being defensive and taking things personally  -Why your “self” doesn't have an independent existence outside of the totality of the universe  -And MUCH more!    If you want to wire your  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore the boundary where eastern and western medicine meet with international yoga expert Tiffany Cruikshank – we discuss how cultivating body awareness can put your nervous system in “Relaxation mode,” how meditation impacts your metabolism, the lessons Tiffany has learned from more than 25k patient visits, and how to jump in and start yoga TODAY as we demystify and examine some of the science behind the practices of Yoga!   Tiffany is an international yoga teacher who has been teaching for over 20 years, an author, health and wellness expert, the founder of Yoga Medicine, and she is internationally known for her focus on fusing the two worlds of eastern and western medicine together and apply it to the practice of yoga in an accessible and relevant way. We discuss:How to put your body in "relaxation mode"The science behind the parasympathetic nervous system (and why its so important)How to cultivate a mind-body connection and develop body awarenessHow to get started simply and easily with yoga todayThe impact meditation has on your metabolismThe differences between yoga and meditationThe lessons Tiffany has learned in more than 25,000 patient visitsAnd more!If Yoga has interested you and you don’t know where to start - or you just want to learn how to become more relaxed - listen to this episode!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we are going to talk about how random dice rolls can influence judges to give people longer jail sentences, how so-called experts are massively influenced by completely random numbers – even when they explicitly deny it – and how you can better understand this crazy phenomenon – the Anchoring Effect.   As Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman puts it in his book Thinking Fast and Slow:   "The main moral of priming research is that our thoughts and our behavior are influenced, much more than we know or want, by the environment of the moment."   Arbitrary numbers and anchors can have huge implications for your decisions without you even realizing it and this all operates at a subconscious level beyond your conscious experience.    This episode is going to focus on drilling down and understanding a specific cognitive bias – a mental model – to help you start building a toolkit of mental models that will enable you to better understand reality.    Anchoring bias – along with Priming and Framing, which we have covered in previous episodes – are all cognitive biases that you want to know, understand, and be aware of – so that you can add them to your mental toolbox and make better decisions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you think that your doctor makes their decisions based on data or on trivial factors such as how a sentence is worded?   Do you think that your decisions are typically rational and based on the facts?   In this episode we discuss how a twist of phrase made 50% of doctors choose a more dangerous medical procedure, what explains an 88% difference in organ donations in two similar countries, and how experts can make vastly different choices based on the same exact data as we explore the Framing Bias.   As Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman puts it in his book Thinking Fast and Slow:   "It is somewhat worrying that the officials who make decisions that affect everyone’s health can be swayed by such a superficial manipulation."   The way things are presented can have huge implications for your decisions without you even realizing it and this all operates at a subconscious level beyond your conscious experience.    Behavioral economist Richard Thaler explains it this way: “The false assumption is that almost all people, almost all of the time, make choices that are in their best interest."   This episode is going to focus on drilling down and understanding a specific cognitive bias – a mental model – to help you start building a toolkit of mental models that will enable you to better understand reality.    Framing bias – along with Priming, which we covered last episode, and Anchoring – which we will cover in a future episode – are all cognitive biases that you want to know, understand, and be aware of – so that you can add them to your mental toolbox. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you think you’re in control of your thoughts and actions?    What if things totally out of your conscious experience of reality actually controlled your decisions?    What if random phenomenon – like the music you just heard, or the words on a billboard, changed the way you thought, moved, and the decisions you made?    The power of your subconscious mind is much greater than you realize.    As Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman puts it in his book Thinking Fast and Slow: “You cannot know this from conscious experience, of course, but you must accept the alien idea that your actions and your emotions can be primed by events of which you are not even aware.”    In this episode of the Science of Success Podcast we dig deep into the Priming Effect – the way that your environment can shape your decisions, actions, and thoughts without you ever even realizing it.     We discuss:  -The powerful factor shaping peoples decisions that 86% of people were totally unaware of  -What caused voters to care more than children’s parents about funding the school system  - How “like ripples on a pond” primed effects can shape and define our behavior in huge ways  -How the word Florida makes people behave like the elderly  -Another mental model to add to your tool-kit  -And much more!     Do you want to get smarter and make better decisions? Listen to this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Learn to think like some of the greatest creative minds of our time - to question, challenge, and create new rules for your ideas of success, happiness, and much more with Vishen Lakhiani. Vishen shares incredible strategies to redefine your life and success on your own terms in this episode of The Science of Success.   Vishen is an entrepreneur, best-selling author and speaker. He is the founder and CEO of Mindvalley, a learning experience company serving three million students, subscribers and followers worldwide.   His book, The Code of The Extraordinary Mind, a New York and LA Times best seller, blends evolutionary biology and computational thinking, providing a new framework for identifying, questioning and redefining beliefs to understand and enhance the human self. The book also draws knowledge from the world's leading thinkers such as Elon Musk, Richard Branson, Peter Diamandis, Ken Wilber, Arianna Huffington and more.​   If you’re looking for something to take yourself to the next level, break through barriers, and achieve your dreams, listen to this episode immediately.   Vishen and I discuss:  -How language shapes reality and controls your understanding of the world  -How to uncover the “bulls**t rules” making you unhappy in life  -How to set “ends goals” instead of “means goals"  -How to cultivate “rocket fuel” for your success  -How to live a life of “Blissipline” (and why that’s important)  -How to set and accomplish huge goals without having you happiness anchored to them  -How to combat the fear that “I Am Not Enough"  -How to live life as though everything is rigged in your favor  -And Much More! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we discuss how you can battle depression and anxiety and break out of a vicious downward spiral by literally changing the chemistry of your brain using very simple and straightforward tactics that you can start applying right now.  If you've struggled with depression or anxiety, or you want to understand how we can reshape our brains with our actions, listen to this episode immediately!   Dr. Alex Korb is a neuroscientist at UCLA, is the author of The Upward Spiral: Using Neuroscience to Reverse the Course of Depression, One Small Change at a Time, and author of the Prefrontal Nudity blog on Psychology Today.   Alex and I discuss:  -How people get stuck in a loop of anxiety or depression  -How to strengthen and grow new neurons to literally change the structure of your brain  -Why nothing is wrong with your brain when you get stuck in a loop of depression or anxiety  -How the same action can have an entirely different impact on your brain at a different time  -How your own choices and actions change your brain in real time  -The difference between depression and anxiety  -How 10 mins of exercise can dramatically change your brain chemistry (and the study that shows it)  -How your actions can determine your perception and shape your reality  -The Neuroscience behind “The Secret” and why it really works  -And much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you want to improve your decision-making a build a better mental toolkit? In this episode we explore the psychology behind making better decisions with Michael J. Mauboussin. Michael is the Head of Global Financial Strategies at Credit Suisse. He is the author of three books, including More Than You Know: Finding Financial Wisdom in Unconventional Places, named in the The 100 Best Business Books of All Time. Michael also serves as an adjunct professor of finance at Columbia Business School. We discuss the following topics:   -The interconnectedness of knowledge across many different disciplines -How to switch to the “outside view” to make better predictions and decisions -How to improve your results without being any smarter or better trained  -A fascinating psychology study that demonstrates how we deceive ourselves -The biggest biases that cause investors to make bad decisions (and how to combat them) -Why the right tools aren’t enough to make you a successful investor -Concrete steps to start down the path of better decision-making -How to understand the difference between luck and skill in complex fields like business, investing, and entrepreneurship -How to become “numerate” and understand the physics and mathematics of misjudgment -What statistical base-rates are and how they can improve your decisions -How reversion to the mean really works and why you’ve been misunderstanding it Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Do you feel like your life is on auto-pilot? Do you want to take control and build a better and deeper understanding of reality? In this episode we discuss mental models, cognitive biases, go deep on decision-making and how to improve and build a smarter decision-making framework and we look at a number of key mental models that you can add to your mental toolbox.    If you want to dramatically improve your decision making with a few short steps - listen to this episode!     Shane Parrish is the founder and author of the Farnam Street blog, which has been featured in Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times, and much more, its one of my personal favorite blogs and an incredible resource dedicated to making you smarter every day by mastering the best of what other’s have already figured out.    We discuss the following topics:  -Why you should focus on mastering things that change slowly or don’t change at all  -Why reading “pop” books and news doesn’t make you smarter  -How to pattern interrupt yourself when you get focused on the wrong things  -What “mental models” are and how you can use them to your advantage  -Why you should focus on your “circle of competence"  -How to reduce your blindspots and make better decisions  -Simple steps you can take right now to improve your decision-making  -How to think about the world like Charlie Munger  -How you can avoid becoming “a man with a hammer"  -Why you should focus on avoiding stupidity instead of trying to be smart  -Why its so important that you should keep a decision journal (how to do it)  -And much more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

You may be oblivious to the secret relationship rules around you - and in this episode with Art of Charm host Jordan Harbinger we dig into what you can do to avoid the biggest mistakes and pitfalls when building relationships with influential people, looking at many different examples and stories. If you want to take your relationships to the next level - listen to this episode!    Jordan is the co-founder and host of The Art of Charm - one of the top 50 podcasts on iTunes with more than two million downloads per month, he was named by Forbes as one of the 50 best relationship builders anywhere, and Inc Magazine called him the "Charlie Rose of Podcasting.”    We discuss the following topics:  -How you might be oblivious to the secret game being played around you  -The major networking mistakes you’re making  -How to build relationships with influential people  -How you might be sabotaging your relationships  -Why you should focus on providing value to others first  -How to create a scalable way to provide value to your network  -The “double-opt in” tactic  -Why it's a bad idea to ask “how can I help you?"  -And much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode - we dig into the truth about time management, uncover the reason that most time management thinking is wrong, and learn how we can give ourselves permission to multiply our time with our guest Rory Vaden.    If you feel like you never have enough time and your todo-list just keeps growing, listen to this episode!   Rory is the best-selling author of Take The Stairs and Procrastinate On Purpose, an award winning entrepreneur and business leader, a self discipline strategist, and co-founder of Southwestern Consulting.    We discuss the following topics:  -Why everything you’ve heard about time management is wrong   -The one calculation that changes everything in your time managemnet  -How to do things today to create more time tomorrow  -How to tell people “no” in a kind way  -How to create "compound interest" for your time  -How to overcome the fear of delegation  -How to overcome the emotional barriers preventing you from multiplying your time  -Why time is NOT money  -And more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we dive into how to activate your brain, create and sustain momentum to make your goals a reality, how goals can often be self-sabotaging, and the neurochemistry behind how and why all of this happens with our guest Scott Halford.   If you are feeling stuck or want to make progress on a goal but can’t figure out why you’re not – listen to this episode!   Scott is an Emmy Award winning writer and producer, acclaimed public speaker, and the author of Activate Your Brain. Scott is also a long-time educator of Fortune 500 executive teams on topics including achievement psychology, brain-based behavioral science, and more.   We cover some incredible topics including:  -How long term goals can self sabotage by triggering a “disgust” response in your brain (and what to do about it)  -The ways to “erase” cortisol and other stress inducing neurochemicals  -How to create momentum towards your goals and put yourself in an achievement state  -Simple strategies to “activate” your brain  -The “three brains” inside your head and what each of them is responsible for  -The truth about multi-tasking and why its impossible  -And Much More!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we explore the fascinating enigma of human memory – how memories are created and stored, why we remember certain things but not others, and how to improve your memory long term – as well as an incredible tool to “hack” your short-term memory used by national memory champions:    You will learn about:The weird trick that national memory champions use to memorize decks of cards, huge strings of numbers, and much moreWhy your memories aren’t accurate representations of realityThe science behind how your memories can be manipulatedThe positive memory benefits of playing video gamesHow memories are created and stored in your brainWhat you need to do to protect and preserve your memory for the long term And much more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we will talk about the incredible neuroscience behind the biggest breakthroughs of some of the world’s smartest minds, how those same principles apply to a world champion’s "daily architecture," and how you can design your day the same way to harness this powerful strategy.    This episode goes deep on:  -The neuroscience behind Einstein and Isaac Newton’s biggest breakthroughs  -How one world champion structures his entire day around this one key principle  -Simple steps to structuring your day in the same way to harness the untapped power of your subconscious mind  -How to harness the subconscious mind for huge creative insights  -How to break through challenging questions and problems  -The 4 Phases of the Creative Process  -What the science says about cultivating creativity and creative incubation  -And much more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode you’re going to learn how a few tiny leaps can help you achieve your goals, how to optimize your day around your biorhythms, the truth about the difference between night owls and early birds, how to invest in improving your sleep, practical steps to increase your creativity, and much more with our guest Gregg Clunis. Gregg is the creator and host of Tiny Leaps, Big Changes - a rapidly growing podcast that shares simple research backed strategies to get more out of your life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode you’re going to learn the surprising data-backed truth about achievement, the one personality test that can predict success in the real world, the incredible importance of willpower, the ultimate indicators for personal growth, and much more with our incredible guest Peter Shallard.   Known as “The Shrink for Entrepreneurs” - Peter is a renowned business psychology expert and therapist gone renegade, he works with entrepreneurs from around the globe to help them master the psychology of reaching their goals of success faster, better, and with a bigger impact.   You will also discover:  -What Peter Learned from More Than 10,000 1on1 Phone Calls with High Achievers  -Why A Select Few Have Advantages In Achieving Their Goals  -The Amazing Finding of the “Marshmallow Experiment"  -How to Refuel Your Willpower  -And more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode we will talk about the myriad benefits of meditation, look at a few different ways to meditate, and discuss a simple and easy way to get started on meditation that finally got me into a daily meditation practice, as well as:How meditation increases the size of your brain, your focus, attention, and creativityThe incredible power of gratitudeThe simplest and easiest way to start meditatingClear up the clutter around different kinds of meditationThe right kind of meditation environmentHow e=mc2 plays an important part in my meditation frameworkAnd much more!Show Notes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of The Science of Success we dig deep into how to uncover the software running in the back of your mind and how to re-wire  your brain by understanding your neural pathways. You will get a helpful  definition of the term “peak state”, learn how to create a better Alter Ego of  yourself, and much more with our guest Andy Murphy. Andy Murphy is a performance coach who has worked with VIP clients including Saudi Arabian Royalty, TV producers, and world-champions,  he’s a master practitioner of Neurolinguistic Programming or as it’s commonly  known “NLP” - and he's also the host of the podcast Mindset by Design where he  talks about NLP, Self-Improvement, and World-Class Mind-Hacks for Peak  Performance. In this episode you will also learn:All about NLP (and what it is if you've never heard of it)How the concept of "peak state" works and why it’s so  importantHow the patterns in your mind can shape your realityHow to change and interrupt those patternsAnd much more!    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of The Science of Success we dive into what it’s like to have breakfast with the Dalai Lama, the difference between compassion and empathy (and why it's important), and how you can harness compassion to achieve more and be a better version of yourself with Dr. Chris Kukk.   Dr. Kukk is a former counter-intelligence agent, the founding Director of the Center for Compassion, Creativity, and Innovation, a professor of Political Science at Western Connecticut State University, and author of the upcoming book The Compassionate Achiever.   In this episode you will learn:The physical and chemical differences between compassion and empathy (and why that matters)How compassion can help you achieve your goalsHow to avoid emotional quicksandHow compassion fuels creativityHow to cultivate emotional resilienceWhat we can do to widen our circle of compassionAnd much more! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is the FINAL episode in a six-part series on "The Science of Success" titled WEAPONS of INFLUENCE, based on the best-selling book “Influence” by Robert Cialdini. Each of these weapons of influence are deeply rooted and verified by experimental psychology research (of which you'll get a ton of amazing examples).     Today you’re going to learn about Scarcity Bias, and what happens when you take people’s cookies away; how changing a single phrase drove six times more sales; and why open outcry auctions turn your brain into mush. Like many of the weapons of influence, this is something we intuitively know and understand, but often don’t realize how powerful it is or how much it impacts our decisions at a subconscious level through daily life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This is the FIFTH episode in a six-part series on "The Science of Success" titled WEAPONS of INFLUENCE and based on the best selling book “Influence” by Robert Cialdini. Each of these weapons of influence are deeply rooted and verified by experimental psychology research (which you will get a ton of amazing examples of).     This week we're going to talk about the Authority Bias. This bias can create some astounding affects in the real world, such as: Why con artists wear lifts in their shoes; how a normal person can administer lethal shocks to an innocent research subject; why 95% nurses were willing to give deadly doses of a dangerous drug to their patients; and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we are continuing our new miniseries within "The Science of Success" called "Weapons of Influence". This is the fourth episode in a six-part series based on the best selling book Influence by Robert Cialdini. If you loved the book, this will be a great refresher on the core concepts. And if you haven't yet read it, some of this stuff is gonna blow your mind. So what are the 6 weapons of influence? -Reciprocation -Consistency and Commitment -Social Proof -Liking Bias -Authority -Scarcity   Each one of these weapons can be a powerful tool in your belt - and something to watch out for when others try to wield them against you. Alone, each of them can create crazy outcomes in our lives and in social situations, but together they can have huge impacts.   Today’s episode covers the fourth weapon of influence: Liking Bias. In it, we'll cover what made Joe Girard the greatest car salesman of all time; how Tupperware grew their sales to 2.5 million per day; and why uglier criminals are more than TWICE as likely to go to jail; and much more.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Based on the bestselling book “Influence” by Robert Cialdini, this is the third week of our six-part "Weapons of Influence" miniseries within "The Science of Success". If you loved the book, this will be a great refresher on the core concepts. And if you haven't yet read it, some of this stuff is gonna blow your mind.      So what are the 6 weapons of influence?     Reciprocation Consistency & commitment Social Proof Liking Authority Scarcity      Each one of these weapons can be a powerful tool in your toolbelt - and something to watch out for when others try to wield them against you. Alone, each of them can create crazy outcomes in our lives and in social situations - but together - or combined - they can create huge impacts.       Today’s episode covers the third weapon of influence - Social Proof.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Based on the bestselling book Influence by Robert Cialdini, this is the second part of a new six-part miniseries within "The Science of Success" called "Weapons of Influence". If you loved Cialdini's book, this will be a great refresher on the core concepts in it. And if you haven't yet read it, some of this stuff is gonna blow your mind.    So what are the 6 weapons of influence?       Reciprocation Consistency & Commitment Social Proof Liking Authority Scarcity      Each one of these weapons can be a powerful tool in your belt - and something to watch out for when others try to wield them against you. Alone, each of them can create crazy outcomes in our lives and in social situations, but together they can have huge impacts.       Today’s episode covers the second weapon of influence: Consistency & Commitment Bias. We'll cover:       The powerful application of the “foot in the door” technique Why hard won commitments are the most powerful The dangers of seemingly innocuous commitments How commitment builds its own internal justifications How you can defend yourself against falling prey to commitment bias Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we are kicking off a new miniseries within "The Science of Success" called "Weapons of Influence". This is the first in a six-part series based on the best selling book Influence by Robert Cialdini. If you loved that book, this will be a great refresher on the core concepts. And if you haven't yet read it, some of this stuff is gonna blow your mind.      So what are the 6 weapons of influence? Reciprocation Consistency & commitment Social Proof Liking Authority Scarcity  Each one of these weapons can be a powerful tool in your belt - and something to watch out for when others try to wield them against you. Alone, each of them can create crazy outcomes in our lives and in social situations, but together they can create huge impacts.     Today’s episode covers the first weapon of influence - Reciprocation Bias - and you'll learn: How reciprocation creates unequal exchanges, and in one experiment by a factor of more than 500% Why reciprocation is powerful regardless of how much someone likes you How giving away flowers help build a powerful religious movement What made the “rejection and retreat” technique triple the success of an experiment How to defend against reciprocation bias from negatively impacting your decisions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

 Improve your decisions, hack your mind, and master the psychology of persuasion with "The Science of Success".  This podcast will teach you the tactics and strategies to understand how psychology rules the world around us and what you can do to use that information to make yourself smarter and achieve your goals.      We're very excited about the guest we have this week on "The Science of Success": Steve Kamb, the "Rebel Leader" and founder of NerdFitness.com. He's also the author of the new book Level Up Your Life.    In this episode, you'll learn:   -How Steve's Epic Quest of Awesome changed his life -How to achieve your New Year's resolutions    -Using game mechanics to create accountability -Overcoming the fear of changeHow to preserve willpower to make the best decisions    -How to turn your life into a video game (using science and research!)   -Why its a good idea to floss a single tooth -How to create your own batcave (like Bruce Wayne)   -The importance of the "progress principle" in forming habits And much more!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week's episode of "The Science of Success", we speak with Columbia Ph.D. Josh Davis, who is currently the director of research for the NeuroLeadership Institute, a NeuroCoach and Master Practitioner of NLP. Josh is also the author of the recent international bestseller Two Awesome Hours, in which he shares science-based strategies to get your most important work done.     In today's episode you will learn:Why working all the time means you actually get LESS done.How to conquer overwhelm (using scientific findings, not advice)How to snap out of auto-pilot and make effective use of your timeHow to leverage negative emotion to be more productive A surprising finding about how music impacts your work flowAnd much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week's episode of "The Science of Success", Matt explores the subconscious' role in our ability to be successful. Looking at powerful core beliefs--beliefs that could be holding you back from your true potential--he walks us through ways of re-drawing everything we think we know about ourselves.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week's episode of "The Science of Success", host Matt Bodnar discusses the difference between the fixed and growth mindsets. Which do you have? Have you even ever heard of it? If you haven't, listen in: It could make all the difference between whether or not you're successful at what you're doing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

It's hard not to look at things that happen in your life and think, "That's not fair." It's even harder not to look at them and think, "That's great!" or "That's terrible!" But that's human tendency.     On this week's episode of "The Science of Success", host Matt Bodnar discusses the act of personalizing events in our lives, and letting ego have a say in how we should feel about things. He also explains why it's important NOT to do this--and what to do instead.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week's episode of "The Science of Success", host Matt Bodnar explores how we perceive the world and how this affects our ability to navigate every day life. Are you positive and upbeat? Or do you complain about everything? If you're not happy with the current way you view the world, or how the world "treats" you, there are ways of changing both. Find out how on "The Reality of Perception". Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of "The Science of Success", Matt delves into the debilitating affect of setbacks. You've got a goal. You're working towards it, then BOOM: Something gets in your way. What do you do? Do you give up and try something else? Or do you brush yourself off and keep moving forward?     How you answer this question will make all the difference. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this week's "The Science of Success", Matt explores one of the most crucial elements to leading a successful life: moving through discomfort. It's human tendency to want to avoid things that make us feel awkward, and most of us do. But that doesn't necessarily mean it's the right thing.      Matt discusses two tricks that can help you move through discomfort and, if practiced enough, ultimately embrace it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

On this episode of "The Science of Success", we explore one of the fundamental underpinnings of psychology: the brain itself. Your brain is a roughly million-year-old piece of hardware, designed to operate in the world of hunting and gathering, where dangerous animals and competing humans may lurk behind the nearest bush. While our society has changed massively in the last 10,000 years (or even the last 500 years), our brains have not had time to catch up. As a result, you and I are equipped with a tool that is riddled with shortcuts and processing errors, which can manifest themselves in mistakes, calamities, and all around terrible decisions. To find out how you can get around these and make life a little easier, listen to this week's episode "The Biological Limits of the Human Mind".  Also continue the conversation by following Matt on Twitter (@MattBodnar) or visiting his website MattBodnar.com. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.