Future Squared with Steve Glaveski

With a writing career spanning 19 years, Mezrich has authored twenty books, with a combined printing of over 4 million copies, including the wildly successful Bringing Down the House, which spent sixty-three weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List, and sold over 2 million copies in fifteen languages and was adapted into the #1 Box Office movie 21.

His book, The Accidental Billionaires was adapted into the movie The Social Network which was #1 at the box office, won Golden Globes for best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay, best score, and was nominated for 8 Oscars, winning 3 including Best Adapted Screenplay. Mezrich and Aaron Sorkin shared a prestigious Scripter Award for Best Adapted Screenplay as well.

Ben Mezrich cracked the Hollywood Reporter’s annual hot list: Hollywood’s 25 Most Powerful Authors. This power list of authors touted to be “the industry’s most sought-after word nerds” is based on stats like Mezrich’s multiple movie deals in production such as Woolly, Seven Wonders, Once Upon a Time in Russia, and The 37th Parallel.

Ben’s newest book Bitcoin Billionaires chronicles the second act of wonder twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss as they claw their way through Silicon Valley and come out on top as the first bitcoin billionaires after an unlikely-to-win battle with the omnipotent Empire–Facebook.

This was a wide-reaching conversation with Ben, and we explored:

• Ben’s ascendancy to the top of the writing game, and numerous lessons learned along the way that anybody aspiring to great heights can learn from
• His new book Bitcoin Billionaires, in which we unpacked who Mark Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss Twins really are; and
• We talk about crptocurrency more broadly, and the role that tech companies play in our lives today

 Ben rattled off countless value bombs in this conversation, so if you’re sitting down, grab a pad and pen, take some notes, and please enjoy, my conversation with the one and only, Ben Mezrich. 

Topics Discussed:

• Ben’s upbringing
• How Ben got his start in writing
• Influences on Ben’s writing
• Originality, and where it comes from
• How Ben wrote 9 books during college, none of which were very good
• On having several published books perform poorly before gaining success with Bringing Down the House
• On developing a healthy relationship with rejection
• The role of luck and serendipity
• Writing to keep people’s attention in an age of attention deficit
• Bringing Down the House
• Accidental Billionaires
• Bitcoin Billionaires
• The more at bats you have, the more home runs you hit
• Early exchanges with Eduardo Savarin and an eventual restraining order
• On playing the long game, and maintaining energy and enthusiasm for work
• Tackling a blank page, and overcoming writer’s block
• How Ben chooses his projects
• How Ben gets into the flow state
• What makes a good story
• Introversion, and playing a role
• Who Mark Zuckerberg really is
• Who the Vinklewoss twins really are
• Cryptocurrency
• Big tech companies and our attention

Show Notes:

• Books: amazon.com.au/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ABen+Mezrich&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1
• Twitter: www. twitter.com/benmezrich
• Website: benmezrich.com

This episode was brought to you by Blinkist - get your free 7-day trial at www.blinkist.com/futuresquared

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Employee to Entrepreneur book: www.employeetoentrepreneur.io

Listen to Future Squared on Apple Podcasts  goo.gl/sMnEa0

Also available on: Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher and Soundcloud

Twitter: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski

Instagram: www.instagram.com/@thesteveglaveski

Future Squared: www.futuresquared.xyz

Steve Glaveski: www.steveglaveski.com

Medium: www.medium.com/@steveglaveski

NEW Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/futuresquared/

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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“Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not: nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not: the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” — Calvin Coolidge, 30th US President

The spirit of Coolidge’s quote has been echoed time and time again by high performers across many domains on my podcast, whether it was Robert Greene, Michael Shermer, Ryan Serhant, or Georges St Pierre; they all say that resilience is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, factor underpinning success.

This is why venture capitalists invest in people first. Veteran Israeli VC Yossi Vardi, who has exited 30 of 86 investments, told CNBC that when he started investing he thought ideas were overrated — now he thinks they’re irrelevant. “It’s about execution and the personality of the people, rather than about the idea”.

In sports, UFC legend Georges St Pierre told me that “confidence plus skill equals success”.

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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From a very young age, Lucas Aoun became interested in the effects of certain foods and herbs on his own physiological and psychological performance. When he was playing soccer, he found himself monitoring his performance very closely and discovered that some supplements were having a drastic effect on reaction times, decision making and ability to the "read" the play. This then sparked a passion to spend copious amounts of his "spare time" to research various ergogenic aids.

Having battled with his own health issues, he began to biohack his way out, getting to the root cause of his issues. Through relentless experimentation and research, he has optimised his baseline to consistently perform at a solid level.

Today, Lucas’ purpose and mission is to assist and empower people to reach their fullest potential. He does this by being an information portal and teacher, giving others the knowledge that they need to manipulate their own physiology and behaviours. 

We settled in for a wide-reaching conversation in which we ventured down many a rabbit hole, including:

• Naturopathy v western medicine
• Nootropics and cognitive enhancers
• The gut-brain connection
• Sleep
• Dopamine enhancement; and…
• Why men should ice their gonads.

With that, please give it up for an up and coming star in the space of human performance optimisation, Lucas Aoun.

Topics Discussed:

• Lucas’ backstory
• Naturopathy
• Nootropics and biohacking
• Biomarkers
• Blue blockers and sleep
• Maximising growth hormone
• Improving testosterone levels
• Purpose
• Rapid experimentation
• The gut-brain communication axis
• Criticisms of naturapathy
• Dogma
• Dopamine enhancmenet
• Serotonin suppression
• GDAs
• Infrared saunas
• Cold exposure

 Show Notes:

Instagram: instagram.com/ergogenic_health

Facebook: facebook.com/ergogenic_health

Website: www.ergogenichealth.com.au

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Employee to Entrepreneur book: www.employeetoentrepreneur.io

Listen to Future Squared on Apple Podcasts  goo.gl/sMnEa0

Also available on: Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher and Soundcloud

Twitter: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski

Instagram: www.instagram.com/@thesteveglaveski

Future Squared: www.futuresquared.xyz

Steve Glaveski: www.steveglaveski.com

Medium: www.medium.com/@steveglaveski

NEW Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/futuresquared/

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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I recently concluded an intense but rewarding podcast tour in support of my now newish book, Employee to Entrepreneur.

Having appeared on over 50 podcasts, I thought I had been asked just about everything on the topic of making the aforementioned leap. That was until I spoke with Erik Fisher of the Beyond the To Do List podcast. Erik took a different approach and asked me whether or not an employee can be an entrepreneur.

I rattled off some initial thoughts that came to mind, but the first thing that comes to mind isn’t always the best, so I continued to ponder the question after the interview.

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Employee to Entrepreneur book: www.employeetoentrepreneur.io

Listen to Future Squared on Apple Podcasts  goo.gl/sMnEa0

Also available on: Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher and Soundcloud

Twitter: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski

Instagram: www.instagram.com/@thesteveglaveski

Future Squared: www.futuresquared.xyz

Steve Glaveski: www.steveglaveski.com

Medium: www.medium.com/@steveglaveski

NEW Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/futuresquared/

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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Daniel Paisner is one of the busiest collaborators in publishing. He's written over sixty books, on topics ranging from business and sports, to politics and popular culture, including sixteen New York Times best-sellers.

His work has been profiled in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, ESPN: The Magazine and on National Public Radio. (In a recent New York Magazine article on how to write someone else's memoir, he was referred to as the "most prolific living ghost" - a title that may or may not have been meant as a back-handed compliment.)

He is co-author of best-selling books with tennis champion Serena Williams, Ray Lewis, Denzel Washington, Steve Aoki, Whoopi Goldberg...and even Ivanka Trump.

We spent little time talking about his new releases and spent most of the conversation unpacking:

• How Daniel came to be the most prolific living ghost
• What he has learned about success from over 35 years as a ghost writer who has worked with big names from across myriad domains; and
• What Daniel’s creative process looks like

We unpacked that and more so sit back and enjoy my conversation with 16-times NYT bestselling author, Daniel Paisner.

Topics Discussed:

• Daniel’s backstory
• How Daniel got his big break in writing
• Luck v talent v persistence
• How to maintain energy and enthusiasm for your work
• What characteristics successful people share
• The common pitfalls of success
• The arrival fallacy
• Steve Aoki
• Bringing diverse experiences to writing
• Sleep and creativity
• Daniel’s creative process
• How Daniel gets into the flow state
• How to overcome blank page terror
• How to capture the voice of your subject as a ghost writer
• How to tell better stories
• The value of seekking out uncertainty and novelty
• Why ‘the book finds you’ in writing, business and in life
• How to develop a growth mindset when embarking on new, challenging endeavours

Show Notes:

Twitter: @danielpaisner

Web: danielpaisner.com

Books mentioned: 

1 - The Ball - https://amzn.to/2YAh1nj 

2 - Ray Lewis - https://amzn.to/2Yoqcae 

3 - Steve Aoki - https://amzn.to/2YrTp47 

4 - Daymond John - https://amzn.to/2VBATcx 

5 - Game 7, 1986 - https://amzn.to/2YCgNft 

6 - Izzy Paskowitz - https://amzn.to/2YsIBCF 

7 Mourning Wood - https://amzn.to/2YAtzLn 

8 Serena Williams - https://amzn.to/2YzNUR1 

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Employee to Entrepreneur book: www.employeetoentrepreneur.io

Listen to Future Squared on Apple Podcasts  goo.gl/sMnEa0

Also available on: Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher and Soundcloud

Twitter: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski

Instagram: www.instagram.com/@thesteveglaveski

Future Squared: www.futuresquared.xyz

Steve Glaveski: www.steveglaveski.com

Medium: www.medium.com/@steveglaveski

NEW Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/futuresquared/

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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Raj Nathan is a hypeman - no, he doesn’t wear a clock around his neck like Flavor Flav - he’s a startup hypeman, and his mission us to help companoes not suck at pitching and telling their story, so they stand out to customers and investors, and stand apart from competitors and pretenders.

He’s the founder of Startup Hypeman, host of the Startup Hypeman podcast, and, as you’ll learn, he’s also a rapper, and yoga instructor.

We explored a number of topics in this conversation, including:

1. How to tell better stories to sell what you do
2. What the ideal sales call looks like, especially in the SaaS space; and, most importantly
3. The merits of old skool v new skool hip-hop

With that, give it up for my guest, straight outta Chicago, Illinois, Raj Nathan.

Topics Discussed:

• Raj’s background
• 80s v 90s v 00s hip-hop
• The compelling intersection of entertainment and business
• Why stories matter
• How to tell better stories
• SaaS demo calls
• Elevator pitches
• The Hamilton Broadway show

Show Notes:

• Wen: com
• Twitter: @rajnation / @startuphypeman
• Insta: @rajnation / @startuphypeman

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Employee to Entrepreneur book: www.employeetoentrepreneur.io

Listen to Future Squared on Apple Podcasts  goo.gl/sMnEa0

Also available on: Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher and Soundcloud

Twitter: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski

Instagram: www.instagram.com/@thesteveglaveski

Future Squared: www.futuresquared.xyz

Steve Glaveski: www.steveglaveski.com

Medium: www.medium.com/@steveglaveski

NEW Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/futuresquared/

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell was an absolutely gripping read about a legendary coach and business executive, whose mentoring of the likes of Steve Jobs, Larry Page, Eric Schmidt, and Jeff Bezos, amongst other tech luminaries, played a major role in the success of their companies.

While Bill was a private person — he passed away in 2016 — who instead preferred to shine the spotlight on the entrepreneurs and executives he worked with, three of his mentees, Eric Schmidt, Jonathan Rosenberg and Alan Eagle, decided that his invaluable teachings needed to be shared far and wide, in order to have the biggest impact that they possibly could; so they captured his wisdom in this easily digestible 191-page book (a welcome reprieve after having previously ground through a series of 400–600 page books).

Somewhat surprisingly, Bill took no cash, no stock…and no shit, and until I picked this book up, I didn’t realize people like Bill existed.

The book was packed with value bombs and what follows are some excerpts from the book, and my own notes, which I thought I’d publish to, again, amplify the reach of Bill’s teachings.

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Employee to Entrepreneur book: www.employeetoentrepreneur.io

Listen to Future Squared on Apple Podcasts  goo.gl/sMnEa0

Also available on: Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher and Soundcloud

Twitter: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski

Instagram: www.instagram.com/@thesteveglaveski

Future Squared: www.futuresquared.xyz

Steve Glaveski: www.steveglaveski.com 

Medium: www.medium.com/@steveglaveski

NEW Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/futuresquared/

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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Steve Brophy is a passionate and innovative educator with 17 years of experience both locally and internationally in K-12 schools. In his role as the Director of ICT & eLearning at Ivanhoe Grammar School, Steve is responsible for overseeing the digital strategy and development of the school. Steve was recipient of the 2017 Digital Learning and Teaching Victoria (DLTV) Outstanding Leader of the year award. He is the co-host of the TeachTechPlay web-show, organiser of the TeachTechPlay conference and co-host of the Design and Play podcast.

Steve is also the founder of Thrive Capacity, which offers peak performance coaching for individuals and businesses on focus, productivity, habits, and flow, and he recently returned from a week away in San Jose’s Redwoods with Jamie Wheal of the Flow Genome Project, so he was primed and ready to deep dive into this thing called flow and unpack (1) why flow is fundamental to living an optimised life and reaching self-actualisation, (2) what the many barriers to flow are in our day to day lives, and (3) how we can get to and spend more time in flow.

We geeked out so much in this episode, so much so that after I had officially signed off on the episode, Steve and I kept chatting about flow for another 10 minutes. Fortunately, I kept recording, so I decided to bring you those ‘off-air’ takes as well.

With that, please enjoy my conversation with Steve Brophy.

Topics Discussed:

• What is flow
• Why flow matters
• Why willpower isn’t enough
• Michael Jordan and Larry Bird
• Create an environment to get you into flow
• What surfing and motorbikes have to do with flow
• Cognitive load
• The neuroscience behind flow
• How to build habits
• The power of momentum
• The challenge skill gap
• The value of high consequences
• Why rapid feedback is key to flow
• How flow can leave us feeling more fulfilled and content
• The impact of sleep on creativity, memory and mood
• How organisations sabotage flow
• The value of spaced repetition

Show Notes:

• Get tickets to Steve’s event in Melbourne: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-science-of-living-an-optimised-life-going-beyond-the-pale-tickets-60863997856
• Twitter: @stevebrophy3
• Thrive Capacity: thrivecapacity.com
• Steve’s website: stevebrophy.com
• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

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How often do you find yourself in flow like the rock climber above; that place where you are so immersed in a solitary task that the rest of the world seems to just slip away?

Turns out that being in this headspace not only makes us up to five times more productive and a lot more creative, but also measurably happier too. And no, you don't need to be risking life and limb to get there. 

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Employee to Entrepreneur book:Â www.employeetoentrepreneur.io

Listen to Future Squared on Apple Podcasts  goo.gl/sMnEa0

Also available on: Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher and Soundcloud

Twitter: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski

Instagram: www.instagram.com/@thesteveglaveski

Future Squared: www.futuresquared.xyz

Steve Glaveski: www.steveglaveski.com 

Medium: www.medium.com/@steveglaveski

NEW Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/futuresquared/

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew Tarvin is obsessed with efficiency. In fact, that's why he goes by Drew Tarvin, it's more efficient. As the world's first humor engineer, he teaches people how to get better results while having more fun. Combining his background as a project manager at Procter & Gamble with his experience as a stand-up comedian, he reverse-engineers the skill of humor in a way that is practical, actionable, and gets results in the workplace.

 

Through his company, Humor That Works, Dew has worked with more than 35,000 people at over 250 organizations, including Microsoft, the FBI, and the International Association of Canine Professionals.

He is the bestselling author of three books, including Humor That Works: The Missing Skill for Success and Happiness at Work. He has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and FastCompany and his TEDx talk has been viewed more than four million times.

 

Having recently ventured down the standup comedy open mic circuit in Melbourne, this was a timely conversation, and one I really enjoyed.

Andrew dropped a lot of value bombs in this conversation, including:

• How to make work more fun
• The power of constraints in humor and innovation
• How to reframe your relationship with failure

With that, enjoy my conversation with the one and only, Andrew Tarvin.

Topics Discussed:

• Andrew’s start in comedy
• Why humanity needs humor
• Why everybody can be funny
• Why people find standup scary
• Practice and repetition
• Why funny is everywhere
• Improve tenets: Yes and… and Don’t Block
• Humor strategies
• How humor helps organisations perform better
• How humor can make us more successful
• How humor can help us sell better and get deals across the line
• How to promote fun in the office
• Andrew’s ‘one smile per hour’ philosophy
• Why failure is just data
• Introversion and how it can make you a better comic and innovat
• Why standup is a great tool to help you build a relationship with adversity
• The Reticular Activating System (RAS)

Show Notes:

Andrew’s business: www.HumorThatWorks.com  

Andrew’s personal site: www.AndrewTarvin.com

Get the Book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PN74BJG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0 

Twitter: @andrewtarvin

TEDx talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdZAMSyn_As

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Employee to Entrepreneur book: www.employeetoentrepreneur.io

Listen to Future Squared on Apple Podcasts  goo.gl/sMnEa0

Also available on: Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Stitcher and Soundcloud

Twitter: www.twitter.com/steveglaveski

Instagram: www.instagram.com/@thesteveglaveski

Future Squared: www.futuresquared.xyz

Steve Glaveski: www.steveglaveski.com 

Medium: www.medium.com/@steveglaveski

NEW Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/futuresquared/

• GET COACHED BY LUCAS: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/coaching
• GET LUCAS TO DESIGN YOUR SUPPLEMENT PROTOCOL: https://www.ergogenic.health/product/custom-stack

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.