The James Swanwick Show

Show notes: JamesSwanwick.com/262 We all have those days, right? Those days when it just feels like everything is going wrong. When nothing comes easy, and each time you try to accomplish a new task, you find yourself blocked by some unforeseen problem. Roadblocks to your productivity pop up out of nowhere, and things that would normally be a breeze to get done are practically impossible. Sometimes, those momentary setbacks and problems in life can put you in a funk. They put you in this kind of attitude where it seems like everything in your life is going wrong, like you don’t have anything to be thankful for, and like you’re in the worst situation possible. Whenever this happens, if you look at the actual circumstances, you will almost certainly find that you are definitely NOT in the worst situation, but that doesn’t change how these times can make you feel. Today, I’m talking about what I do when I find myself in these moods of depression and anxiety, how I deal with it, and how I eventually recover and g

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/261 Procrastination plagues almost everyone who dreams about doing great things. Humans are inherently lazy, which means that making progress on anything you want to do is going to be a struggle. But you have a very simple choice: The short term pain of getting off your ass and taking the first step, or the long term, immensely greater pain of regretting not reaching your full potential. This is the incredible danger of procrastination: It can easily cause you to wake up 10 years, 25 years, or 50 years later, and feel like it passed in an instant without accomplishing what we truly wanted to. If you find yourself held back from taking the first steps in your goals and dreams, consider the very real danger and fear of waking up in 10 years and still being right where you are now. That fear should spur you to action TODAY! This episode is my call to you to stop being lazy, to stop letting fear hold you back, and to finally beat procrastination and start doing the things you want to

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/260 A lot of you will already know my guest today. Aaron Marino of Alpha M is an expert in fashion, self-discovery, confidence, and business. Today we’re talking about fashion, swag, and success for the modern man. In the current age, an alpha male is a much different thing than it has been throughout history. In previous ages, dressing well was almost considered feminine, and not often conflated with the idea of the alpha male. But all of that has changed, and that is what I’m speaking with Aaron Marino about today. We also dig into the idea of the overnight success (spoiler alert: it doesn’t exist), the single most important aspect to look at in clothing, and why each failure leads you one step closer to success. All that and more, on this episode of the James Swanwick Show! Key Takeaways: In the modern age, the idea of an alpha-male is less one-dimensional than it used to be Start helping people. Be self-less to start discovering yourself and gain confidence Overnight success

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/259 Whether you’ve moved to a new place, decided to level-up the kind of friends you hang around, or just want to broaden your social circle, learning how to make new friends quickly is an essential skill for the human existence. From our earliest ages and through the rest of life, the ability to make new friends plays a large role in your ability to be successful and happy in your life. This episode is about how to make new friends quickly. Having moved around a lot, I’ve found myself in the position of needing to make new friends quickly several times, and have found out what works well, and what brings the right kind of people into your life. That’s what I’m sharing on this episode, so take notes and learn how to make new friends fast on this episode of the James Swanwick Show! Key Takeaways: Commit to hosting a social event. Be the host When you are an active connector of people, you make a very good impression on both people Consider joining a sports time, if that’s your th

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/258 These days, it’s possible to find almost anything online. Not only that, if you’re a little tech-savvy, you can even find pirated versions of a lot of content, and effectively “cheat” your way into thousands of dollars worth of content! But the question is: Should you? What I have learned through trying both ways is that financial investment is essential to get you to really take massive action on what you want to learn. If you don’t invest, and won’t have “skin in the game,” you will continue to procrastinate, and the education will be worth far, far less to you. That’s why my phone says “pay to get rich.” It’s a bit counterintuitive, isn’t it? But it’s a fundamental truth, and once you learn it and start investing in yourself, you will see your results dramatically improve, and your learning and education will become so much more valuable. Key Takeaways: You will find that when you pay for coaching, you take it more seriously Skin in the game is what you gain from purchasi

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/257 Do you remember the movie “Limitless” with Bradley Cooper? In the movie, Cooper plays a character who gains access to a pill that will give his brain limitless functional capability, and completely turns his life around. But is something like this possible in the real world? My guest today is Daniel Schmachtenberger, founder of NeuroHacker, a company working to develop nootropics, a kind “brain pill” that increases brain function, alertness, and productivity. In addition, we’re talking about the kind of diet and lifestyle that results in optimal brain function, so listen to this episode to take your intelligence and brain functionality to the next level! Key Takeaways: Modern diets tend to be low in the nutrients the brain needs to perform at optimum levels Modern habits also contribute toward sub-optimal brain power Go local and organic for foods that won’t hamper brain functionality For optimal ergonomics, look just slightly up at the screen, with the keyboard low It’s imp

Show notes: JamesSwanwick.com/256 There is a saying that goes, “you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.” If this is true, there’s almost nothing as important to your ultimate success in life as who you choose to be your friends. That is why I would argue emphatically that YES, you should be picky about your friend group. If there is an area of your life that you definitely should purposefully be picky about, it is your group of friends. However, it can often be tricky to make smart decisions without hurting people. How can you be diplomatic about the decisions you are making? How do you deal with family? I’m answering all of that and more on this episode of the James Swanwick Show! Key Takeaways: Audit your friend group, and ask yourself: Are they pulling you in the right direction, or the wrong? Some people need to break up with several of their friends Understand that you will change, and your friend group might need to change as well When everything is competing for your attentio

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/255 While it’s true that sometimes you need to make mistakes to learn, hopefully they don’t have to be YOUR mistakes! This means that you can learn from the mistakes of others, through books, podcasts, and mentors. Today I am talking about the biggest mistakes that I made in business, so that you don’t have to make the same ones. These mistakes were costly, and if someone had told me this I probably could have saved millions of dollars. So learn from my mistakes, and avoid them in your own business ventures! Key Takeaways: Learn how to be a “business-person” as soon as you can. Educate yourself! Instead of listening to music to kill time, educate yourself with podcasts and audiobooks If you just listen to educational material while working out instead of listening to music, you could be ahead of most people by about an hour a day! Knowledge is not power. Applied knowledge is power. Do it! Take action! Take the first step. Getting started is so essential, and too many people don’

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/254 There are a lot of extremely successful people in measurements of finance, fitness, and many other categories of life, who simply can’t seem to be able to figure out the romantic and relationship side of things, so that is the subject that I’m tackling with Heather Ann Havenwood on today’s episode of the James Swanwick Show. Heather digs into my own life, past relationships, some of my own preconceived notions about women, what I look for, what has been difficult for me in the past. In fact, this episode basically turned into a “get James a wife” conversation. If you want some practical advice on understanding the often confusing world of relationships, this episode is for you! Hope you enjoy! Key Takeaways: Marriage, for the woman, is often about security Men have to quickly decipher between “crazy” or “psycho” in a woman We tend to attract what we are Look for a mate who is at a similar level of self-esteem as you Shifting self-esteem is a core change, very difficult to ch

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/253 Today’s episode is a bit off the cuff. I’m sharing an Uber with my mate Brad Blanks, on the way to the airport. We’re both trying to switch our flights, but we manage to talk about some really interesting topics that I think you’ll enjoy and find useful. We get into how I am able to travel the world through entrepreneurialism, why it’s extremely worth it to get coaches, educate yourself, and put effort and money into building the you of the future, and how sometime it can be clarifying to focus on what you don’t want, to better understand exactly what you do want. Enjoy! Key Takeaways: 90% of success is just showing up Entrepreneurialism can give you the opportunity to travel the world without worrying about stopping the flow of money Get coaches, put effort and money into learning, because it pays off down the road Focus on what you do not want first, to clarify what you do want Never rest on your success, always be looking for what the next thing is Resources: Are You Sti

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/252 The choices that you make about how you structure your day, what you spend your time on, the order that you do things in, has a very direct effect on how productive you are able to be and, as a consequence, how successful you are able to be. Today I am going through the details of how I structure my day, and specifically how I do so today versus earlier in my life when I was less productive. It’s the little choices that I make throughout the day that, individually don’t seem like much, but add up to a large advantage, For instance, most people listen to pump-up music or something like that when they’re working out, but I listen to educational material. This simple choice ensures that I get an additional 30-90 minutes of education every single day, and over time, that adds up to far more knowledge. That is just one of the examples of how I make consciously and very purposeful choices to make sure I am able to get the most out of every day. Learn the rest of them on this episod

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/251 Dan Peña is known around the world as the “50 Billion Dollar Man,” because his mentees cumulatively have created over 50 billion dollars worth of wealth. There are not too many, if any, people who can make a claim like that, and today he is bringing his passion and fire to help others create wealth to the James Swanwick Show. We talk about how President Trump will change the world, why a first impression is so vital, how to grow a pair, why you must get comfortable being uncomfortable, and how to get the money that you need to build and grow a business. If you’ve felt like you weren’t living up to your full potential before, in business and in life, Dan Peña is the guy to help you get that extra boost, and that is the knowledge and passion that he is bringing to the show today. Enjoy! Key Takeaways: You only have one chance to make a good first impression, so craft it carefully In a lot of ways, the world has gone soft. People need backbone to survive and thrive Build a pers

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/250 If you feel stressed out, like you’re always striving for more and more, and never able to attain it, or like nothing ever goes right for you and you’re constantly fighting an uphill battle, this episode will speak to you directly. This episode is a book review of the book “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, which is all about the freedom, joy, and happiness that comes from acceptance. When something goes wrong, act as if it were what you wanted to happen, and spring into action! Take advantage of everything that goes wrong to accomplish something else! So much of true happiness and contentedness is in how you see the world and circumstances, and this book trains you on how to be happier and more fulfilled in your life through the power of now. Key Takeaways: A lot of what you want are stories in your head, so when they don’t happen you feel loss, when you really didn’t lose anything because you didn’t have it in the first place This allows you to see what you gain out of d

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/249 In this age of big businesses, there is a subtle change that is starting to take place: Business are starting to focus on doing good! Whereas businesses used to focus exclusively on the bottom line and pocketing more money, social businesses are starting to pop up, whose founders and operators are focused on doing good in the world, and Adam Force is here to talk to us about that change. The good news is that any business can change or tweak its focus to be more on social good than bottom line revenue, so this episode is a discussion of what the differences are in these two lines of thinking, how businesses can be changed to be more socially conscious, and how to start and build a business from the ground up that has this intent. Key Takeaways: Younger generations are more interested in buying things from companies that align with their values In social entrepreneurship, you need to think about scaling impact above scaling income Social entrepreneurs work to make money so th

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/248 Being liked by other people is an essential aspect to living a happy life. Your happiness is, in some ways, going to be directly proportional to the quality of your friend group, and so making sure that you know exactly how to make yourself more likeable is going to be essential to creating a good social circle. On today’s episode I am going through my top 10 principles for being likeable. Most people have no idea how to improve in this area. They never think about it! Or maybe they think it is something that is built into who you are, but there are things you can tweak, while being 100% genuinely you, that will improve the likelihood that someone will like you when they meet you. So learn how to become more likeable on this episode! Make careful not of the below 10 principles, and implement them consistently over time to see real results in your social circle, and, as a consequence, your happiness and quality of life. The 10 Principles: Remember people’s names. When you do

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/247 Today I’m going over my 21 principles for success. These are the things that I do daily to ensure that my life is setup for as much success as possible. Implement these in your own life to turn it around!Slowly, maybe one at a time, create a habit out of each of these 21 steps. The Principles: Write down your goals Practice gratitude daily. 2-minutes is enough Meditate. Try using an app like Headspace Daily visualization of the life you want. Be specific, and put it on a board Hold yourself accountable to other people for what you want to do Get consistent feedback on your work Daily exercise. Not regular, but every single day Be an “ask-hole.” Always ask for help, and always ask for what you want Invite people to do things with you Stop complaining. No matter how much you have to complain about, find something positive Don’t by GOOP: the Good Opinion of Other People. If you believe in something, go for it Pay to get rich. Invest in yourself through coaches, mentorships, boo

Do you ever wonder how some people have endurance beyond what seems at all normal? It seems that Dr. David Minkoff as cracked the code. He has run 41 Ironmans, and it doesn’t seem like he’s stopping anytime soon. Today, we’re talking about the mindset behind endurance competition, as well as health aspects. Dr. Minkoff has a vast knowledge about amino acids, their importance and their use, proteins, as well as the inner game of endurance. Whether you’re an endurance athlete or not, this conversation is packed with information to help live healthier and happier. Enjoy! Key Takeaways: Work to acclimate your mind to the idea that things will come up, but if you persevere, you will get through it For endurance training, try to break the super long distances into chunks you can understand Don’t compare yourself with your younger self or other people. Compare yourself with what you know you can do Improvement, and the feeling that you’re getting somewhere, is extremely important in keeping you happy There are 22 d

Self confidence is the single ingredient that is completely essential to almost anything you want to do. But it’s so difficult to understand exactly how to increase it, isn’t it? Sometimes, it seems like you’re either born with it or not. The good news is that you certainly can improve it, and YahYa Bakkar is showing us exactly how on today’s episode! The 3-Ways Understand that your self-worth is not connected to your net-worth or your social worth Don’t compare your chapter 1 to somebody else’s chapter 20 People who are confident are confident even in the things that they lack Resources: YahYa Bakkar on Youtube YahYa.tv

Show Notes: JamesSwanwick.com/244 Why do humans love the ocean so much? Why is it that we enjoy going to the beach? What draws us to the open fields, meadows, and water? As it turns out, our brains are simply wired this way. From an evolutionary, self-preservation standpoint, the open spaces would have allowed us to see danger sooner, to be able to react more quickly. This is why being in these spaces provides us with a sense of calm and relaxation. We feel subconsciously feel safer in these places, and it is because of our brain’s wiring. This means that we should always make the effort to find places like that to relax. If you’re feeling especially stressed for any reason, or you just want to calm your mind and relax, seek out the ocean or an open area. Also, consider carefully where you move, as living somewhere without this sort of space could be a mistake. Enjoy this episode, and if you like the show, please leave a rating and review in iTunes. Key Takeaways: Humans love open space, greenery, water, tre

Understanding how to convince somebody to do something is one of the most important skills that you will ever learn in life. While it’s obviously important in business, being persuasive is essential to almost to accomplishing anything that you want to accomplish, because you will nearly always have to convince others of your idea and point of view. Josh Muccio is the host the podcast The Pitch, which is currently starting on its second season. The Pitch is the Shark Tank of podcasts. On it, founders of startups pitch investors for money, trying to convince them to invest in their idea or business. So it’s safe to say that Josh knows a thing or two about pitching. This episode goes through the specific steps that you need to understand, with certainty and clarity, when pitching. The things you need to practice, the angle you need to take with your words, and how you must present yourself. If you would like to know how to be more persuasive in your life, this episode is for you! And remember to checkout season