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Time for Fan Mail Friday, where we'll be answering your questions and dropping some knowledge and feedback to help you kick the weekend off right. Let's cut to it! In this episode: Does Jordan still use any skills he learned in law school? How can you get rid of uptalk and vocal fry? Interesting feedback: Quite a few Russians and Ukrainians wrote in to agree with recent guest Timothy Snyder's take on tyranny. How do you break the news to your religious, conservative family that you've got divergent ideas? Listeners offer further advice for Former Fatima from FMF 121. Ever considered joining the Peace Corps? Another listener has advice for Torn Between Two Paths -- also from FMF 121. Do people with dyslexia display unique body language? Have I remained true to my purpose laid out in an interview with Jason Steinle way back in episode 34 -- ten years ago? Documentary of the Week. Quick shoutouts to Jay and CJ -- engineers who helped Jordan record some amazing upcoming interviews in NYC -- and Eric, who sent so

Tim Grover (@ATTACKATHLETICS) is the legendary trainer called upon by athletes like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant when they want to be at the top of their game. He's the CEO of Attack Athletics and author of Relentless: From Good to Great to Unstoppable. "Unless you have that mindset, skillset does not matter." -Tim Grover The Cheat Sheet: Putting aside inspirational Internet meme bromides, What does it really mean to be relentless? Why does every team need cleaners, closers, and coolers? Relentlessness can be taught; we all have a trigger that puts us in the zone to maximize our pursuit of excellence. Learn how to increase your threshold for high-pressure situations to perform better under stress. Find out how to harness your dark side and not let it control you (while understanding the consequences). And so much more... Full show notes at https://theartofcharm.com/636/ Find out more about the team who makes The Art of Charm podcast here! Hate grocery shopping but you love to cook? Blue Apron delivers rec

Jack Barsky (@DeepCoverBarsky) joins us to discuss his book Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Tangled Allegiances as a KGB Spy in America. This is part two of a two-part episode; listen to part one here! The Cheat Sheet: We continue Jack Barsky's story that began in episode 633. Make sure you start there! How Jack handled a double life -- complete with two families. Why the once-powerful allure of Soviet-style communism began to wane over time for Jack. Why Jack decided to stay in the United States and become a "real" American. How Jack shook his KGB handlers. And so much more... Full show notes at https://theartofcharm.com/635/ Find out more about the team who makes The Art of Charm podcast here! Distinctive style meets unique spirit in the all-new crossover Toyota C-HR. Check out Toyota.com/C-HR to learn more! Learn over 500 subjects (no tests or homework!) at The Great Courses Plus -- The Art of Charm listeners get one free month + 50% off three months here! Betterment is the largest independent online

This Minisode Monday, we examine how even the most reliable news sources and documentary makers skew the facts or present half-truths when reporting -- often unintentionally -- we just don't notice it unless it happens to be about something with which we're already familiar. It's a reminder to always consider multiple sources if we want to be truly informed on any subject. The Cheat Sheet: We all get news from somewhere. But how do we know our sources are reputable? The truth is, even with the best of intentions, every journalist gets it wrong sometimes -- because nobody's an expert at everything. Chances are pretty good you've been aghast at poor media coverage of a subject in which you consider yourself well informed -- at least once in the entire time you've been consuming news and documentaries. Watch a media production by a news agency or a journalist about a subject in which you are an expert. Take note of the gaps in the coverage. We tend to notice such gaps when we have a good grasp on the subject it

Liz Dolan (@SSLiz) and Larry Seal (@IHateMyBossShow) from the I Hate My Boss podcast join us for this Fan Mail Friday to answer your work and career-related questions, so let's cut to it! In this episode: Company loyalty vs. personal goals when a change in ownership is pending. Have you outgrown your "negaholic" friends at work when they're always complaining about the job you love? Hey, ambitious but unfulfilled intern! Should you stay or should you go? How do you reasonably cope with an unmotivated boss with divided attention -- when that boss is your dad and his attention is divided by family medical issues? What can you do to "forget" your nerves and be confident around your boss? (Warning: advice may vary depending on the business culture of your country.) It's tough being at a small company you really like when you have to report to a "leader" who doesn't take their role seriously. What are your options? Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at friday@thea

Christian Picciolini (@cpicciolini) is an Emmy Award-winning television producer, reformed extremist, co-founder of peace nonprofit Life After Hate, and author of Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead. "Hatred is born of ignorance. Fear is its father, and isolation is its mother." -Christian Picciolini The Cheat Sheet: How the marketing of extremism has evolved to become more palatable to the masses. How identity, community, and purpose drive extremism -- not ideology. Why extremism and race identity are popular with youth now more than ever before. What we can do if we know someone involved with -- or thinking of becoming involved with -- an extremist group. How an ex neo-Nazi skinhead became a uniquely qualified peace advocate to help others avoid walking in his footsteps. And so much more... Show notes at https://theartofcharm.com/634/ Find out more about the team who makes The Art of Charm podcast here! SmartMouth is the only activated oral rinse clinically proven to eliminate existing bad

Jack Barsky (@DeepCoverBarsky) joins us to discuss his book Deep Undercover: My Secret Life and Tangled Allegiances as a KGB Spy in America. This is part one of a two-part episode; stay tuned for the second installment next Monday! "The only advice I can give young people is the following: 'It always takes longer, and it always costs more.'" -Jack Barsky The Cheat Sheet: What Jack Barsky's childhood was like in postwar East Germany. The stickiness of Soviet-style communist ideology and how it appealed to young people on Jack's side of the Iron Curtain. How spies were recruited and trained during the Cold War. What skills Jack used to assimilate seamlessly into American culture. Why caution is a spy's best friend; paranoia is his enemy. And so much more... Show notes at https://theartofcharm.com/633/ Find out more about the team who makes The Art of Charm podcast here! Casper makes hybrid mattresses that combine premium latex foam with memory foam -- and won't charge you an arm and a leg for them. Get $50 to

Welcome to Minisode Monday, where we kick off the week with something quick and actionable -- to make you more magnetic and effective -- that you can implement right away. Are there any benefits to suppressing emotions vs. acknowledging them? Here's an exercise to ensure you're doing the right thing. Many thanks to recent guest and How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain author Lisa Feldman Barrett (hear her full show here) for helping put this one together! The Cheat Sheet: Suppressing emotions is like putting a bandage over an infected wound -- it's only putting unpleasantness out of sight, not healing it. Even if it makes you feel silly, you need to acknowledge the true set of emotions you're having in order to process and move on. One way to do this is to write down your emotions. Are you hurting? Ashamed? Jotting it all down and noting how comfortable or uncomfortable these emotions make you feel forces you to face what you might otherwise be subconsciously avoiding. Give it a try this week

Time for Fan Mail Friday, where we'll be answering your questions and dropping some knowledge and feedback to help you kick the weekend off right. In this episode: As a "nice guy," how do you let go of an ex -- who attempted suicide when your relationship ended -- without feeling heartless? Listener feedback for Nouveau Tech (from FMF 119) about how to respond next time the opportunistic entrepreneur ex makes contact. Listener Sweet Cheeks weighs in on what she does when male coworkers dismiss her statements with infantilizing condescension. Sometimes even gun-toting manly men need real talk from honest friends -- boundaries be damned! When you're fresh out of college, don't be too quick to dismiss the experience you can get in your ideal field from working at a non-ideal place of employment. Listener Westbound and Down tells us how he used Reddit to ask questions of locals prior to moving to a new town. Is there a kind way to discourage stalker-like attention from a socially awkward person without crushing

Chase Hughes (@thechasehughes) teaches interrogation and behavior science on a tactical level for the US military, created The Behavioral Table of the Elements for behavior analysis in interrogations, and is the author of The Ellipsis Manual: Analysis and Engineering of Human Behavior. "Instead of trying to figure out what a person's good at, try to figure out what they want to be seen as being good at and you'll get ten times the results." -Chase Hughes The Cheat Sheet: What is the Behavioral Table of the Elements and how can we use it to determine the likelihood that someone is telling us the truth? Why Chase considers polygraph tests "just about as accurate as a coin toss" -- and how they're actually biased against people who tell the truth. What someone training to spot deception indicators and stress might learn from watching Conan O'Brien interviews. How training ourselves to be subconsciously aware of truth signals clues us in when someone who's lying deviates from them. How to hack authority for influ

Aaron Walker (@VFTCoach) has almost four decades of successful entrepreneurship under his belt; he rejoins us to talk about his new book, View From the Top: Living a Life of Significance. "I'm always looking for a way to make it happen, not excuses why it won't work." -Aaron Walker The Cheat Sheet: Aaron grew up with nothing; discover what significant mindset shifts along the way changed his own results. Understand why we should fear missing opportunity more than we should fear failure. The importance of living proactively instead of reactively. The value of participating in a mastermind group. How a personal tragedy led to an entirely new way of thinking for Aaron. And so much more... Show notes at https://theartofcharm.com/631/ Find out more about the team who makes The Art of Charm podcast here! SmartMouth is the only activated oral rinse clinically proven to eliminate existing bad breath and prevent it from returning for a full twelve hours per rinse. Visit SmartMouth.com to get an in-depth, scientific

Welcome to Minisode Monday, where we kick off the week with something quick and actionable -- to make you more magnetic and effective -- that you can implement right away. Vanessa Van Edwards (check out our full episode with her here) rejoins us to talk about value languages -- the motivations we have for entering into relationships with each other. Let's get to it! The Cheat Sheet: Ever wondered how to hack motivation? It begins by understanding what people really want out of a relationship. If you think about it, all relationships are transactions in which we give and take resources. Value languages are what we hope to get out of a relationship; they can be any of the following: Information Goods Status Service Love Money Vanessa gives us ways to practice how to recognize what value languages are being used in our own relationships so we can best address the motivations behind them. This week, take a look at brags and complaints when you hear them and try to match them up with these different value lang

Time for Fan Mail Friday, where we'll be answering your questions and dropping some knowledge and feedback to help you kick the weekend off right. Let's cut to it! In this episode: Is the clock ticking on your window for big adventures? Consider mini-retirements. How do you tell your conservative religious family that maybe you've decided to go a different way -- especially when being disowned is a possibility? Is there a cure for 21st century millennial loneliness? Is there a cognitive difference between listening to audiobooks and visual reading? When you're growing good corn in this day and age, you've got more good neighbors than you may realize. How do you deal with a coworker who acts like they have complete disdain for you? Can you make your resting face more approachable? If Jordan had to be a lawyer again, what would be his specialty? A quick shoutout to Mo the Uber driver in Denver! Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at [email protected]! Che

Timothy Snyder (@TimothyDSnyder) is the Housum Professor of History at Yale University and author of Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning and On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. "Americans are no wiser than the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, and communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience." -Timothy Snyder The Cheat Sheet: Democracy has to be an ongoing activity -- not a waiting game for the next election cycle. Understand how fragile a democratic republic can be against the concentrated efforts of would-be tyrants -- and that the United States is not immune to their strategies. Take these small actions every day to ensure we're doing our part to maintain an open and free society. Learn how to consume information critically in a "post-fact" world. Recognize the scary parallels between historic catastrophes and current events. And so much more... Full show notes at https://theartofcharm.com/629/ Find out more about the team

Welcome to Minisode Monday, where we kick off the week with something quick and actionable -- to make you more magnetic and effective -- that you can implement right away. This week, we're taking a little friendship audit to determine if we're hanging out with people by default or if we're actually enriching each other by association. Let's get to it! The Cheat Sheet: Personal development giant Jim Rohn famously said that we are the average of the five people with whom we spend the most time. How intentional are you about your friendships? What's the criteria for the people you choose to spend time with? Here's an exercise designed not to alienate you from your default friends, but to get you thinking about how -- and why -- you spend your time with each other. Write down your fifteen closest friends and why you're friends. Are you friends because you grew up on the same block, or are you friends because you have legitimate connections that elevate both of you by association? Reach out to the people on your

Time for Fan Mail Friday, where we'll be answering your questions and dropping some knowledge and feedback to help you kick the weekend off right. Let's cut to it! In this episode: How much eye contact is just right? How do you spend meaningful time with friends before going away for a long time? Have you tried the StoryCorps app? (From listener feedback -- not an advertisement!) Is selling insurance the right job for someone who's "too nice?" Can you handle more than one life crossroads at a time? Does a felon deserve a second chance? Aside from guest content, what are we reading at The Art of Charm these days? Jason recommends The Age of Absurdity by Michael Foley and Jordan recommends Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden, but make sure to check out our Bookshelf and this new monthly feature at The AoC! Quick shoutouts to fellow small world residents Shellie Lempert and Josh Pollack! Have any questions, comments, or stories you'd like to share with us? Drop us a line at [email protected]! Check ou

Brian Brushwood (@shwood) has spent the last twenty years performing onstage, on TV, and on the Internet, entertaining and teaching people how to harness the deceptive (and self-deceptive) skills of scientists, spies, criminals, and con artists. "The moment a magician says, 'Now we begin,' you're already screwed!" -Brian Brushwood The Cheat Sheet: Why being interesting isn't a gift -- it's a practice. Fixed action patterns and how they help us get others to do what we want them to do. (Important note: for good -- not evil!) How to control a conversation by asking the right questions. The best way to convince someone to help us? By making it their idea. Why we're all capable of being duped in spite of our highly developed human brains -- and how practicing magic can train us to be more resistant to the fraudulent. And so much more... SmartMouth is the only activated oral rinse clinically proven to eliminate existing bad breath and prevent it from returning for a full twelve hours per rinse. Visit SmartMouth.

David Buss (@ProfDavidBuss) is a professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin. He is considered the world's leading scientific expert on strategies of human mating, and his most recent book is -- appropriately enough -- The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating. The Cheat Sheet: Why does mating matter? The mating crisis among educated women. How to select a good long-term mate. What leads to mating disasters. What we can do to become better long-term mates. And so much more... If you're a business owner, did you know your payments solution can be an engine for growth? Rethink payments with Braintree. Find out more at braintreepayments.com/forbes! Whether you're a lady or a gent, you don't need to know what MicroModal fabric is to enjoy the comfort of MeUndies; you just need to wear them -- support this show (and yourself) with MeUndies here for 20% off! Hate grocery shopping but you love to cook? Blue Apron delivers recipes and farm fresh ingredients to you. As an Art of Charm list

Commander Chris Hadfield (check out our full episode with him here) was the first Canadian to walk in space, but the experience went far from smoothly. In this Minisode Monday, he explains how he went temporarily blind but still managed to finish the task before him -- and what we on Earth might learn from his ordeal. The Cheat Sheet: Humans didn't evolve in zero gravity; you can never overtrain for life in orbit. If you can't navigate to the bathroom in the middle of the night, imagine trying to build a robot in space without being able to see. When something goes wrong, an astronaut must heed the immortal words of Douglas Adams: "Don't panic." We could all learn from what Chris Hadfield did when he found himself blind in space. What would you do if you were in his astroboots? To learn more about social dynamics and productivity hacks, take the Art of Charm Challenge by clicking here, or text CHARMED to 33444. Also be sure to check out our Social Capital Intensive here! Let us know about how you put today's

Norm Pattiz (@PodcastOne) is a legendary broadcasting entrepreneur who founded radio syndication company Westwood One in the '70s and the PodcastOne network in 2013. He's a member of the National Radio Hall of Fame and one of the most successful and influential businessmen in Los Angeles. "If you don't know the rules, you can't be limited by them." -Norm Pattiz The Cheat Sheet: Success often depends on spotting opportunity in adversity -- Norm knows this better than most. Discover what modern podcasting has in common with the heyday of radio broadcasting. Hear how Norm transformed the entertainment industry with his ideas and find out what he aims to do with digital media and podcasting. Understand how business intersects with influence -- political and otherwise. Enjoy Norm's personal Hollywood stories and why he's never had a bad job in his life. And so much more... Does your business have an Internet presence? Now save a whopping 50% on new webhosting packages here with HostGator by using coupon code CHA