March 01, 2021

Abel James - How to Recreate Yourself in the Face of Adversity

1 hour 9 minutes

How to Recreate Yourself in the Face of Adversity!!!

Today on the show we are talking about how to recreate yourself in the face of adversity and I can’t think of many people that have more experience in this than Abel James. Abel is a New York Times Best Selling author,a musician and the host of The Fat Burning Man Show, a podcast with over 50 million downloads.

Abel was a touring musician early on in his life until suddenly the momentum stopped and he was faced with one of the toughest decisions of his life. He had two choices: continue grinding as a touring musician struggling to pay his bills or change careers to make a sustainable living. He chose the latter and dove deep into the world of health and wellness. The process certainly wasn’t easy, but he used his work ethic from his music career to build something meaningful. He was a celebrity coach on a ABC primetime weight loss show and has been voted as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness by Greatist for several consecutive years. When his debut cooking app, Caveman Feast, beat out The Food Network and Martha Stewart with more than 1,000 5-star reviews in 48 hours, Abel became the first independent publisher to hold Apple's #1 Food App and #1 Health Podcast at the same time.

Today we chat about his story as well as how he keeps himself out of the comparison trap and the power of solitude and disconnecting from technology. We also discuss his best practices for staying grounded and recreating yourself when change is needed. Lastly, he shares the heartbreaking story of how he and his wife nearly died last summer from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Topics discussed:

How Abel got really passionate about music

When did he realize that doing music full-time wasn't serving him anymore, and he needed to make a massive change to be able to generate some income and continue to help so many people

What happened to Abel during the moments when he was physically and mentally unhealthy

How does Abel continue to reinvent himself through the years

How does he keep himself out of the comparison trap

Other things Abel does on a daily basis to keep himself grounded

Abel’s thoughts about playing to the algorithm of social media and other platforms

Abel James’ story about the incident happened in July last year that caused him to nearly die.

Abel James’ advice for people who are trying to recreate themselves, their health, their relationship with their inner selves, and trying to recreate some meaning in their lives

Takeaways:

Playing to the algorithm is different than creating what you want to create.

“I think now more than ever is a time to focus on meaning and purpose, and so early in the day, not that everyone can do this right away, you have to prioritize it and find a way to set this up in your own life and set up your own practices to kind of make it automatic.” - Abel James

You have to put your notebook out and get used to writing it. Even if you don't remember your dreams, just write something and be like, “You know what, I don't remember my dreams today, but these are the three things I'm grateful for.”

If you're looking to learn something, then read it and write it down.

Be sure you're not suffering over your own suffering.

Be explicit and write down who you want to be, or what you want your life to be. The more often you do that, the more you start training your brain to build those things.

Connect with Abel James:

Website: https://abeljames.com/ & https://fatburningman.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fatburningman/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AbelJames

Twitter: https://twitter.com/fatburnman

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/fatburningman.

Connect with Doug

Instagram: @dougbopst

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Website: www.dougbopst.com/gift