The SuperHuman Academy 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 all fail at our New Year's resolutions and what we can do instead. And then, on top of that, we go through this amazing case study of what happens when you combine an aptitude for learning, like Benjamin's, and what I call an exponential skill, in this case, writing.

So, this is just an amazing case study in SuperLearning applied and what you can achieve if you master one of this core exponential skills. I know you guys are going to enjoy the episode. Personally, I didn't do a whole lot of talking here, I just sat back and listened to Benjamin, and I recommend you do the same!

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 even better, a SuperPower.

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 get quite nitty-gritty on how nutrition works and why there are so many different opinions about it.

One side note is that Dr. Greger works on a treadmill desk, not a standing desk, and I do apologize in case you can hear it in the background. We tried to do our best to minimize the sound. Nevertheless, we talk about it in the episode, and so it kind of works out.

So, without further ado, let's dive into the episode, which I really believe you will enjoy!

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 going to enjoy the episode, I think it's going to clear up a lot of misconceptions that people have around what we do, what I do, and also what the speed reading industry as a whole does.

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 the world.

Personally, I feel like this is an absolutely incredible interview. I tried to go as deep as I could and really get into some of the emotions, the fears and also the tools that Josh went through and developed, so I could really give you guys some practical takeaways that will help you overcome fear in your own lives and face the big scary what-ifs.

I really enjoyed the episode and I'm quite sure you will as well!

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 going to enjoy it!

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 with a pen and paper. Get out there and write out some thoughts about the things that I have to say and whether or not they are true for you and whether or not they are affecting you.

That I would say is this week's homework and regardless of the fact that I tell you not to in the episode, you are always welcome to comment on the blog post and share your thoughts, share your opinions and engage. So, thank you guys for listening and I hope you enjoy my rant on technology.

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 amazing episode and I know you guys are going to love it!

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.

We had an incredible groove recording this episode. We're definitely going to have Barb back on the show and I know you guys are just gonna love this episode and learn so much.