The Obvious Choice 327 I The Explorer's Gene I Jonathan Goodman and Alex Hutchinson
In today's episode, I'm thrilled to sit down with my long-time friend Alex Hutchinson, New York Times best-selling author of "Endure" and his new book "The Explorer's Gene." We dive into the courage it takes to explore new creative paths rather than getting typecast by your past successes, and Alex shares how his unplanned writing journey led to his most powerful work.
Get my friend Alex Hutchinson's new book, The Explorer's Gene: Why We Seek Big Challenges, New Flavors, and the Blank Spots on the Map
Alex Hutchinson is the New York Times bestselling author of Endure, a longtime columnist for Outside covering the science of endurance, and a National Magazine Award–winning journalist who has contributed to the New York Times, The New Yorker, and other publications. A former long-distance runner for the Canadian national team, he holds a master’s in journalism from Columbia and a Ph.D. in physics from Cambridge, and he did his post-doctoral research with the National Security Agency.
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Jonathan Goodman is the creator of the Personal Trainer Development Center and host of the popular Obvious Choice podcast, a top show for coaches, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. Jon’s been featured in most major business and fitness publications including Men’s Health, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Robb Report, Inc., and many more. Over 200,000 coaches and small business owners in more than 120 countries have purchased business development materials from him.
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Timestamps
0:00 Alex Hutchinson Introduction
1:28 Discussing Alex's books, including "Endure" and "The Explorer's Gene"
3:12 The evolution of book writing toward self-development and life design
4:25 What exploration really means beyond physical travel
5:06 The dilemma of being typecast after success
6:18 The explore-exploit dilemma: balancing new ventures vs. known success
7:49 "It just didn't seem fun to me" - Making career choices based on enjoyment
8:50 The challenge of crossing between different professional worlds
10:47 How John and Alex first met through a cold email
14:00 The challenges of writing: structure vs. crafting sentences
17:33 How the interludes in "Endure" evolved organically
20:37 The choice not to track book sales and analytics
21:23 Injecting personal experience into writing in the age of AI
24:32 Writing with "your cup half full" to prepare for life's challenges
28:57 - Introduction to the Wundt curve concept