The Becoming Superhuman Podcast

Greetings, SuperFriends! In a recent episode, I went on a full-on rant about writing, why it is such an important skill and how it can dramatically impact your life and change the way you think. Well, today we are joined by a real-world example. His name is Benjamin Hardy, and, on the outside, he is an everyday Ph.D. student working his way through a Ph.D. in organizational psychology. But, if you dig a little bit deeper, you will realize that Benjamin is actually the number 1 writer in Medium.com, which, through a crazy series of events, ended up landing him in Fortune, Forbes, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Business Insider, Psychology Today, and more. It also landed him a quarter-of-a-million-dollars book deal, and that is just the start of what his writing has done for him. So, in this episode, we talk not only about his psychology research, and some of the things that he has discovered, but we also go into willpower, and why, as his book says, Willpower Doesn't Work. We start to understand why it is that we

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today is a special episode, as I don't have a guest. Instead, I wanted to focus on a specific topic of SuperHuman performance, a specific little skill that I think people in today's day and age neglect. I started writing and what happened was pretty amazing. I ended up coming up with a whole new idea, a whole new category and class of skills that I articulate throughout this essay. A category of skills that I've always kind of known about in the back of my head but never put in words. In a way, it kind of proves my point on what I talk about today. That is the concept that, if you go through this process, if you practice this type of skill, you have so many dividends and so much interest that gets paid out of it. So I hope you guys really enjoy it. Generally speaking, you guys tend to love these non-interviews where I rant on about a given topic. So if you do like it, please let us know with a comment or a review. Alright, here is my essay on why writing is an exceptional skill, or ev

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are joined by Dr. Michael Greger. Michael is a New York Times best-selling author, a physician, an internationally recognized professional speaker, and, well, a really interesting dude, as you will find out. He has appeared on The Colbert Report, The Dr. Oz Show and was an expert witness for Oprah Winfrey at the infamous "meat defamation" trial. Another interesting fun fact that I learned as I researched Dr. Greger is that he donates all the speaking fees and proceeds from his books and DVDs, which I just think is really amazing and worth noting. You've probably heard of some of his books including How Not To Die and Carbophobia: The Scary Truth About America's Low-carb Craze. You can probably tell just from that title that he and I disagreed about a few things. We also agreed about a lot of things. Which ones? Well, listen to find out. In the episode, we talk about fruit, about nutrition, about legumes, which is an interesting topic, and we also talk about animal protein. We

Greetings, SuperFriends! This week we are going to dive into a rather controversial topic, one that people have brought up to me for years. That is, is speed reading a hoax, or is it the real deal? You know, over the last few years that I've been teaching accelerated learning a lot of people have sent me many articles either proving or disproving speed reading. Therefore, what I wanted to do was sit down and look at one of the most prominent studies disproving it, which is an evaluation of many other studies, and also share some studies proving it. Now, probably the most surprising thing through this whole exercise and analysis was that I probably agree with 70% t0 80% of what the research has found and you will see exactly why as I explain through the entire episode. You will listen to a lot of surprising things and a few surprising ones. I encourage you guys to challenge me and my assumptions, to share what you guys think and also to think critically about what I have to say. I think you guys are really goi

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are joined by Josh Perry, whom you may know from the world of extreme sports. Josh is an extreme athlete, specifically a BMX biker. But that's just the beginning of his story. You see, Josh has survived multiple brain tumors. He went through an unbelievable journey to get healthy and get well, including massive surgery and cutting-edge new treatment technology. He survived through it all and now he's living with this condition. Josh has so much to share. We talked about fear, we talked about life purpose and mission and we also talked about the journey that followed this horrifying experience for him and the beauty that came out of it. Josh today is an expert in the nutrition field as well as a BMX athlete. He has written and been featured in more publications than I care to list but, to name a few, they are Men's Health, GQ, US News, LiveStrong, People Magazine, ESPN and many more. He has also launched the dailybrainstorms.com blog where he shares his thoughts and ideas with

Today we are joined by Tal Gur. Tal is a blogger, an entrepreneur, a serial and best-selling author, and a devoted adventurer, who has spent the last decade pursuing 100 major goals across the globe. He has also been writing about it and philosophizing on how we can live fully. His book is called The Art Of Fully Living and it talks about his journey, including its challenges, crippling self-doubt and struggling for a sense of purpose. Through his journey, Tal has discovered a life-changing gift that he is now passing on to others. We talk about how to get fulfillment in life, we talk about some of the skills, strategies, and tips that will help you find fulfillment and happiness and much more. It is a short episode, but I think it's definitely going to uplift your week!

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are joined by Jon Vroman. If you haven't heard of Jon Vroman, he is a philanthropist, a speaker, a bestselling author, an ultra-marathon runner and the founder of the Front Row Foundation. Jon has been doing incredible work for many years, working with people at the end of their lives, mainly people with terminal illnesses. The lessons that he's learned and the inspiration that he's taken away has led him to write an incredible book and come up with an entire philosophy about how to make moments. It's normal if you don't understand what that means, what making a moment is actually about. I was unclear about it as well and I was also unclear on what it means to live life in the front row. We went into both of these in the episode, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they meant something way cooler, way more meaningful and way more inspiring than even I could have imagined. So I am very excited to bring you guys this episode and I am sure you guys are

Greetings, SuperFriends! This week we are doing something a little bit different, and it's actually the shortest episode I've ever done, but for good reason. That is because, as you are going to see, this episode is a bit of a rant. It's a rant on something that all of you are doing right now, which is using your phone, using your technology. I wanted to write a post about a really interesting accidental experiment that I conducted, without even realizing that I was conducting it on myself, and the very profound effect that it's had on me. I started to write, and what started as a story became a rant and then became a sort of manifesto. So I hope you guys really enjoy it, as I definitely enjoyed creating it and more importantly I hope that you guys think about it. Like I said, it is the shortest episode that I've ever done and I what I hope/wish for you is that you will take the time that you would have normally spent listening to a longer episode, and you will get out there in nature or sit in a coffee shop

Today we are joined by Michael Gelb. The world’s leading authority on the application of genius thinking to personal and organizational development, Michael is a pioneer in the fields of creative thinking. He is also an executive coach and an innovative leader. He has worked with DuPont, Genentech, Merck, Microsoft, Nike and the Young President’s Organization. Michael has also published 14 books, which is pretty creative if you ask me. His books range from How To Think Like Leonardo Da Vinci all the way to Thinking For A Change and they have also been translated into 25 languages. Focusing on the episode, Michael and I talk a lot about creativity, but we go much deeper while at it. We talk about how creativity is much more than many people think it is and how it's not what a lot of people often think it is. We talk about how creativity, memory, and learning are so intrinsically linked and we also talk about some different ways to enhance your mind, your brain and your life. Personally, I think this is an amaz

Today we are joined by Dr. Barbara Oakley. If that name sounds familiar, it should, because not only is she a professor of engineering at Oakland University, but she also teaches the world's largest and most popular online course, literally. It is called Learning How To Learn and has over 2 million students. You have probably also seen Barb's, as she told me to call her, Ted talk, which is a viral hit and definitely worth checking out. So, it is pretty obvious why I wanted to have Professor Oakley or Barb on the show. There is so much overlap between the things that we do, and we completely hit it off. We agreed on so many different things in this talk, but we also learned from one another. At a certain point she shares with me some ways in which the techniques that I've been teaching for years can be used, that I didn't know of and at another point I shared with her some of the visual mnemonics and gave her some advice as to how she can overcome a memory and learning challenge that she's been going through.

Today we are joined by Steven Kotler. Steven is the co-founder of the Flow Genome Project, and he is also a New York Times' best selling author. He has written quite a number of books, many of which you have already heard of, like "The Rise of Superhuman", his book on flow, "Abundance", his book on the future, "Tomorrowland: our journey from science fiction to science fact" and "Bold", which he wrote with Peter Diamandis, the book about how to go big, create wealth and impact the world. He has also written a bunch of other books like "Stealing Fire", his most recent one. Steven is an absolute authority, not just on writing, but also on flow. The Flow Genome Project has been doing research for decades, developing and understanding ways that we can get into flow and understanding what flow is and why it matters, why it exists and what we can use it for. I think that this is one of the most important topics in the whole realm of becoming SuperHuman and it is something that we haven't really covered in any of the

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are honored to have with us Dean Karnazes. He's a speaker, a bestselling author, an athlete, and an entrepreneur. TIME Magazine named him one of the top 100 most influential people in the world. Why, you ask? Because he is an ultra marathoner... not just any ultra marathon, by the way: he has run three hundred and fifty CONTINUOUS miles... not going sleep for three nights. He's run the Sahara Desert at 120 degrees. He has run 50 marathons in 50 days. He's biked for 24 hours straight. He swam San Francisco Bay... I could just go on basically and spend the entire episode talking about all the insane feats of endurance and athleticism that Dean has done. But I won't because I want you guys to hear from him. In any case he's been on The Today Show, 60 Minutes, Late Night Show, CBS, ESPN, CNN... basically all the networks! Again, I could spend the entire episode. I wanted to get Dean on the show for very obvious reasons. He is literally a superhuman. He has a lot of very interesti

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are joined by Ira Pastor. He is the CEO of BioQuark, and he has over 30 years of experience across multiple sectors in the pharmaceutical industry, working on biological solutions, managed care, OTC's, and more. He's served as the V.P. of business development for a drug development company. He's raised tons of money for different companies, and today he's working, as I said, at BioQuark, which is a company doing really really interesting things with biologic solutions to many of our health problems. I wanted to talk to Ira to understand what research is being done today to make us literally superhuman: to help us live forever, get rid of diseases, and so on. I learned a lot about just the types of research that are being done, and ultimately, I found it super interesting just the reverence and respect that Ira has for Mother Nature as an innovator and as a way for developing solutions to problems. It's a great episode. I'm sure you guys are going to enjoy it very very much!  

Today we are joined - and I want you guys keep an open mind here - by Jeff Berwick of the Dollar Vigilante. He is the author of one of the largest anarchocapitalist and libertarian blogs on the Web. And he's the organizer of the world's largest a anarchocapitalist conference. Now like me, you may feel the hairs on the back of your neck stand up when I say the terms anarchocapitalist or libertarian. And I certainly did. And I was really really uncomfortable when my partner at Bitcoin Academy suggested that I interview Jeff. But, you know what? I was completely surprised. Because what I learned in this interview was not only just how close the financial system is to major issues (and going through the numbers, I realized that we are all in big financial risk potentially), but also I realized that an ideology that I had always been told was evil and selfish was not nearly as evil or as selfish as it's portrayed to be. I had the opportunity to open my mind and gain some insights into something that I always had s

Greetings, SuperFriends! This week, we have a very special episode. Why is it special? Well, because as I write and record this, I am in hour 60 of a 72 hour fast. You may remember that in the past, we've spoken with a number of experts who advocate various types of fasting. We've spoken with Brad Pilon, an advocate of intermittent fasting. We've spoken with Jimmy Moore, a proponent of ketogenetic diets and longer-term fasting. And, more recently, we've spoken with Elaina Love, who teaches people how to complete 3-7 day "cleanses" that are very closely aligned with fasting principles. For years, I've wanted to try out a 3 to 7 day fast, but my schedule - and a good bit of fear - haven't permitted it. Recently, however, I was able to set aside the time (and have the proper supervision in the form of a live-in partner) to really try this out... and the results have been surprising, to say the least. In this episode, I want to talk through some of the things I've been experiencing and thinking about, explain the

Today we are joined by Tony Gaskins Jr. a celebrity life coach, a bestselling author an international speaker and a serial entrepreneur. But life wasn't always so amazing for Tony. He struggled very much with a lot of different things throughout his youth: he got kicked off the football team, lost his football scholarship, and found himself, like quite a few of the guests we've had on the show dealing drugs at the age of 18. But somehow Tony managed to turn his entire life around. At 22 years old he started publishing books. He started speaking and fast forward not that far ahead, Tony was invited to speak on Oprah, Tyra Banks, and many other media outlets, where he started sharing his wisdom and life experience... an absolutely incredible turnaround. As you'll see in the episode, Tony has so much to share about everything: about coaching and finding the right coach, about how Tony learns, about how to prioritize certain things in your life and set standards for yourself, and everything in between.  I'm sure

Today we are joined by Zach Evans and Zach actually came to us through a recommendation of someone in the SuperLearners Facebook group. Zach is a professional pianist who has also started very successful online music and piano training business, and he specializes in accelerated learning techniques for piano. Now I know some of you in the audience are saying right now "well I'm not interested in playing the piano, why does this relate to me?" I would encourage you to put that thought aside, because actually, Zach and I got into some pretty in-depth accelerated learning techniques... and I have to say I actually learned quite a bit from him in terms of things that I'm not doing that I could be doing better. Including some things that could improve the way that I learn, and ways that I've maybe been neglecting to structure out my own learning process. Zach really shares some very interesting stuff just about how learning a musical instrument, like learning a language, can be an incredible way to improve, refine

Today we are joined by Elaina Love. She's a repeat guest who is known as an authority in the organic and raw food spaces, but more than that, she's known for cleanses. It's something that we didn't cover at all in our previous episode together, so I wanted to have Elaina back on the show. Not just because she's amazing and I really enjoy talking to her, but also because she knows so much about cleanses. Now if you're skeptical about cleanses I was too. And you know, what I came to realize that all the research about fasting is so positive, and cleanses are just a way  to fast, but to give your body some additional ingredients as you're fasting, to help it clean out and get all the benefits of fasting... and then some. I have to say - I'm a convert. I've committed, on the air as you will see, to doing my first cleanse fast fast cleanse and I hope you guys will give it some consideration as well. What I love about talking to Elaina is she dabbles in both this soft world of holistic, raw food, and vegan, but she

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are actually joined by economist and author Jeffrey Tucker. Now, you might have heard of Jeffrey Tucker. He's very popular in the Bitcoin scene. He's an Austrian School economist...and you might be thinking, "what does this have to do with becoming superhuman?" Well, Jeffrey was here in the studio with me and we were talking about Bitcoin for a new project that I've been working on. Like myself, Jeffrey believes that Bitcoin is going to be one of the key technologies, if not the technology, that liberates humanity, creates unseen prosperity, unseen freedom, and much more. And as I was talking to him, about Bitcoin, I came to realize that a lot of the stuff that he was talking about is about financial freedom, having responsibility for your future, and a lot of different things that we've covered on the show only tangentially, but which really relate to becoming super human. And so I decided to share this interview with you guys here today. I know Bitcoin is not a topic that y

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are joined by Daniel Thomas Hind. He is a transformational coach and the founder of Evolution Eat. Daniel is a nutrition coach specializing in helping individuals create breakthroughs in their lives around their relationships with food. I discovered a lot of really really interesting things about Daniel throughout this episode, and we completely hit it off. We talked about food and nutrition. We talked about psychology. We talked about habits and we talked about how to game all of it to win your way day by day to better health. From there, we talked about all kinds of hacks and different ways that Daniel etches out the best performance in himself and in his business. I think you guys are really going to enjoy this episode. I sure did!