The Science of Success

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!

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 talent Why creativity is important for everyone, not just “starving artists" 3 simple strategies you can use to improve you creativity right now The incredible importance of “thinking time" The two parts of the creative process How to improve your writing skills How you can double your creative output in 15 minutes per day How to stop yourself from pressing the gas and the brakes at the same time when trying to create And much more! If you want to boost your creativity - check out this episode! 

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 lives How we give meaning to situations without fully understanding them How your parents programmed many of your behaviors  How limiting beliefs get planted into your mind from childhood How your memories can be completely false How your outer world is a reflect of your inner world Why your thoughts become self fulfilling prophecies Why 95% of your behaviors are not “who" you are, they are “learned behaviors"programmed by your environment And Much More!  If you feel like something is holding you back, but you can’t figure out what it is - Listen to this episode! 

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

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 awareness How to get started simply and easily with yoga today The impact meditation has on your metabolism The differences between yoga and meditation The lessons Tiffany has learned in more than 25,000 patient visits And 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! 

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.

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.

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 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 “bullshit 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!

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!

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

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! 

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!

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! 

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!