My guest today is published author, behavioral investigator, and fellow Udemy instructor Vanessa Van Edwards. She is a professional people watcher—speaking, researching and cracking the code of interesting human behavior for audiences around the world. Her groundbreaking workshops and courses teach individuals how to succeed in relationships and in life by understanding the hidden dynamics of people. Besides being a Huffington Post columnist and Penguin author, She has been featured on NPR, the Wall Street Journal, the Today Show and USA Today. She has even written for CNN, Fast Company and Forbes. Cool fact - she was actually trained by Dr. Paul Ekman, who is the real-life version of the main character in the popular show “Lie To Me."   You’ll notice that we dive pretty deep and geek out on body language and charisma really fast. What can I say? Vanessa is, after all, an expert in communication and getting people to open up. The end result is an interview jam-packed with usable tips and inspiring anecdotes that will get you sitting up straight and paying more attention to the image you are presenting! I know you’re going to enjoy it.

My guest for this episode is Luis Congdon, an expert in helping people form strong and lasting relationships. In this episode, we learn some very personal stories from Luis, who explains how he pulled himself up from a very difficult upbringing and a broken home in drug-torn Medellin, Colombia, and spent years training himself and contributing to the nation’s largest ever study on what makes human relationships work. Through his website and podcast, Lasting Love Connection, and through his popular retreats and seminars, Luis has helped thousands of couples reach better communication and understanding. He was gracious enough to share with us his deeply moving story, his thoughts on why a strong, healthy relationship is an essential part of becoming superhuman, as well as tons of really impactful and practical tips for achieving that type of relationship.

My guest today is one of the most notable and respected names in the CrossFit world, and an accomplished Olympic weightlifting specialist. If you’ve ever visited a CrossFit gym anywhere in the world and seen a chart on the wall demonstrating the ideal Olympic lifting movements and positions, you might already been familiar with her. She has been in the fitness industry all of her professional life, and has trained and worked early on with the great Kelly Starrett at SF CrossFit, long before either of them were what they are today. More recently she has competed nationally as an Olympic lifter, and is the head coach at FuBarbell. On another note, she’s just a crazy-strong lady who breaks barriers and personal records like it’s her business - and actually, it kind of is! For those who are interested in optimizing health or getting more out of their workouts, this interview will offer a lot of value. It’s also a really lively conversation, and has  tons of entertainment value!  

Our interview with Chad Foreman, Chad Foreman, a former Tibetan Buddhist monk from Australia. After spending 6 years in a monastery studying from the most respected gurus in the world, Chad began spreading the seeds of their wisdom. Since 2004, he has amassed a following of 1.5 Million people for his organization, The Way of Meditation, and continues to touch lives and inspire through workshops and one-on-one training. Whether or not you currently have a meditation practice, this episode will offer you a lot of tips and inspiration to start or improve it. Chad is a truly inspiring and thoughtful speaker, and I am confident you'll enjoy listening to him as much as I enjoyed interviewing him.

We host lifehacker, entrepreneur, and electric-shock advocate Mr. Maneesh Sethi. For those who haven’t heard of him, Maneesh is a truly unconventional serial entrepreneur and self-proclaimed digital nomad. He has published 4 books (including an international bestseller authored at the age of 14), built a very successful blog on hacking the system, launched an NGO in India, traveled the world, and has recently launched a wearable technology company called Pavlok, which aims to help everyday people achieve superhuman levels of discipline and motivation in reaching their goals.   This interview is a bit like drinking from a fire-hose. It’s jam-packed full of useful knowledge, inspiring stories, and life-changing tidbits of wisdom. There are dozens of takeaways on how to create and eliminate habits, which habits most drastically improve your life, and much, much more. You’ll quickly see that Maneesh is not only an inspiring and passionate entrepreneur, but he's also one of the more interesting and unique people I’ve ever met.

A lively interview with Ms. Jennifer Cassetta, a clinical nutritionist, personal trainer and 3rd degree black belt in Hapkido with a passion to empower women to be strong, safe and sexy. But gentlemen, don’t tune out just yet!  Jennifer created the popular Stilettos and Self Defense DVD series, has recently published a book, and has been featured on The Today Show, The Doctors, E! and many more. She teaches empowerment, safety and self defense workshops around the country while she continues her nutrition and corporate wellness practice in Los Angeles.  As you will quickly notice, Jennifer and I really had fun chatting, and we go on a lot of interesting but kind of unrelated tangents. Whether you’re a male or a female, this episode will offer you a lot of value and maybe remind you of some important mindset adjustments you should be keeping in mind. We talk about all kinds of different ways to defend your mind, your heart, and your body from would-be attackers, ranging from being conscious of what types of things and people you expose yourself to all the way to grass-fed beef. Furthermore, for the men in the audience, Jennifer’s wisdom will definitely offer you some great insights and ideas that you can share with the women in your life to help them stay happy, healthy, and safe. I think you’ll have a lot of fun listening to it, and I hope you take a lot away from it, as well.

This week's guest is quite possibly one of the toughest, fiercest women on the planet - seriously. Her name is Adi Rotem, and she holds no less than 2 WORLD championship titles in Thai boxing, from both the WAKO and WFCA organizations. As if that weren’t enough, Adi holds a third degree black belt and seven consecutive Israeli national championship titles in mixed martial arts. She also served in the Israeli Defense Forces as a Krav Maga instructor, and has more recently competed in a reality TV show in the Enfusion style of martial arts. Basically, if it is a form of martial arts, Adi has either trained in it or won a title in it. When you hear Adi speak and tell her story, you’ll immediately understand just how deep her determination goes. It’s a very inspiring story that will help you understand just how much determination it takes to earn the title “World Champion." If you take away just one thing from this interview, it should be this: Hard work and determination outweigh natural talent any day of the week.

Our guest this week is Ryan Ford, an internationally-recognized expert and coach in a lesser-known and fascinating sport called “parkour.” If you have never seen a video of Parkour, it’s a sport where people in urban environments climb, jump, flip, twist, and generally maneuver through their environment like Batman or Spiderman. Besides performing world-wide for dozens of respected organizations and competitions, Ryan is also an accomplished entrepreneur, with a network of his own gyms and online businesses. His success - and superhuman feats - have lead to media attention from such media giants as the New Yorker, TIME, and ESPN. Whether or not you have a burning desire to jump off of rooftops, this interview will offer you a lot of awesome takeaways, ranging from fitness advice, tips on how to avoid injuries, ideas on how to turn your passion into an entrepreneurial career, and a better understanding of how one should approach obstacles - both physical and mental. I know you're going to enjoy it!

An interview with Dr. Andrew Hill,  Ph.D in Cognitive Neuroscience from UCLA, who is is currently focused on developing tools and technologies to help everyday citizens enhance their cognitive performance outside of the lab. In under an hour, we cover every imaginable method of how to increase brain power, mental performance, and intellectual longevity, and we offer a TON of practical steps you can and should take TODAY. I just know you're going to LOVE this episode and share it with all of your friends.

Our guest this week is one of the world’s most renowned experts on learning languages quickly and effectively. By his early-20’s, Benny Lewis had failed to learn Spanish and Irish, despite living in Spain and growing up in Ireland. As a result, he decided to reapproach language learning in a smarter way, and developed his own system. Using this methodology, he has since becoming fluent and confident in 7 languages. He runs a popular blog called Fluent in 3 months, and his book of the same title was the #1 bestseller across numerous categories and countries on Amazon.  Benny has been featured in Time Magazine, Forbes, Lifehacker, the BBC, and many more, and  he also gave one of my favorite TEDx talks of all time.