The Science of Success

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.