The Science of Success

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.

David Epstein, a renowned author and speaker known for his expertise in problem-solving, discusses powerful thinking strategies for tackling tough problems. He emphasizes the importance of broad thinking and diverse experiences over narrow specialization. The conversation covers using Fermi estimation to simplify complex issues and the role of analogies in creative problem-solving. Epstein also highlights the benefits of career flexibility and strategic quitting, encouraging listeners to embrace exploration and hypothesis testing to enhance their skills.

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.