The Becoming Superhuman Podcast

Greetings, SuperFriends, and welcome to a very special episode of The Becoming SuperHuman Podcast. Why is it special, you ask? Well, it's not every week that I turn 30 years old! To mark this milestone (which happens on March 18th), I wanted to do something special. To commemorate the very blessed and very unique life I've lead up until this point, and to reflect back on just what the heck I've learned over the last 30 years. Years ago, I was greatly inspired by Ryan Allis, who, on his 30th birthday, published a 1,284 slide presentation aptly named Lessons From My 20's. I very strongly recommend you check it out (at http://hive.org/20s) if you haven't already. In it, Ryan shares just about everything he learned over the period of 10 years as an entrepreneur, thought leader, and human being.  I'm also deeply grateful to Gretchen Rubin, who, in her fantastic and pragmatic book on becoming a better human being, Better Than Before, shares a wonderfully catchy concept she calls "Secrets of Adulthood." Basically, a

This week, we are joined by Elaina Love from Pure Joy Planet, and the Pure Joy Culinary School, and one of the pioneers in the growing “raw, plant based diet” movement. Like so many of the nutrition experts we’ve had on the show, Elaina focuses on a low carb, higher-fat diet free from artificial junk and processed foods. What makes Elaina unique is that she is known as one of the more respected authorities both in the raw and in the vegan communities, though as we found out in the interview, her diet isn’t as black-and-white as you might expect. Because we’ve never done a show about veganism, much less about raw food, I wanted to understand that side of the story a little bit better, and challenge some of my own assumptions and long-held beliefs about diet and nutrition.   In this episode, we talk about dietary suggestions, the benefits of raw food, and a whole entire new world of enzymes and why you should consider taking them. I really expected to find her much more extreme, but was surprised to find that w

Today, we’re joined by Jared Kleinert - a 21 year old entrepreneur and author best known for his bestselling book, 2 Billion Under 20, and more recently, 3 Billion Under 30. Starting out at a very young age, Jared has built one of the world’s most valuable networks, and regularly rubs elbows with some of the world’s most influential people - and in doing so, has become quite the influencer himself. You’ve probably seen Jared on TED.com, Forbes, and more… Pretty impressive! The goal of this interview was to understand just how Jared has achieved so much success at such a young age, but also, to see what tips he can share with us from his time with the world’s top thought leaders, entrepreneurs, artists, and more. Throughout the episode, we talk about a LOT… we talk about relationship building skills, networking, craaaazy stories that come from Jared’s network, what he’s learned from some of the world’s top performers, how he learned what he learned and got to where he is, and much, much more. It was so inspiri

So, I know this is confusing, but today, we are joined by Jon Levy - with a Y instead of an I - the author of The 2AM Principle: Discover The Science Of Adventure. Once a self-described nerd, today, he runs with the bulls in Pamplona, crashes million dollar weddings, takes a flight on average every 3 days, and is widely considered one of the top experts in adventure, with endorsements from many of the industry’s biggest names like Lewis Howes and Chris Bailey. In this episode, we talk about Jon’s framework for seeking out and experiencing jaw-dropping adventures. As someone who considers “adventure” to be one of the 8 criteria for a balanced and happy life, and an avid adventurer myself, I was eager to figure out how Jon finds and chooses various adventure opportunities, and how he has turned something so seemingly random into a well-thought-out methodology. We talk about how to systematically create and find adventure, the difference between those two things, suggestions for building an incredibly exciting l

Today, we are joined by author, neuroscientific researcher, therapist, and the world’s leading expert on spirituality and the brain, Mark Robert Waldman. Mark is faculty at Loyola Marymount University and author of 13 books, including Words Can Change Your Brain and How God Changes Your Brain, the latter of which was nominated as a “must read” by Oprah Winfrey. He’s also just published a new book on January 31st, called Neurowisdom. Mark’s body of work is a formidable cornucopia of knowledge on the brain, and how we can influence it’s development and behavior with something as simple as thoughts and beliefs. But don’t worry, this isn’t going to be another episode where I go off into energies and woo-woo… Mark is a very respected researcher in the field of neuroscience, having had his work published in peer-reviewed journals worldwide, and publications ranging from Time Magazine to Forbes and The New York Times. In this episode, we talk about… god, neuroscience, psychedelics, spirituality, yawning, communicati

Today, we are joined by Edmund John, founder and CEO of Flag Theory… Flag Theory is a company that specializes in, well… turning people into Jason Bourne. International bank accounts, offshore corporations, multiple passports… you name it. This episode reflects my ongoing curiosity around and passion for disaster planning. What happens when economies collapse? When countries go to war? I don’t know about you, but I want to be prepared, just in case. In this episode, we talk about everything from weathering political instability to legally avoiding taxes and everything in between. Though you might think you need to be a multimillionaire to worry about this kind of stuff, but as Edmund explained, you really don’t… In fact, after meeting Edmund and his team a month or so ago, I promptly signed up for their services and started protecting myself. Just a quick heads up and disclaimer. I do use and do recommend Flag Theory and their services, but it’s important that you know that I earn a small commission if any of

So, check it out, guys. As you know, I’ve been pretty interested in ideas like Q’i, energy healing, and the unknown for the last year or so. Well, today, we’re going to take a deep dive into that, and really exploring the outer reaches of the word “superhuman" - and, well, I’m not quite sure what to make of this. We’re joined by Yolanda Williams of Yew Chi Wellness, a Reiki master teacher, educator, and speaker. If you don’t know about Reiki, well, we’re going to get into that in the episode, but basically, it’s a form of energy healing… but here’s where things get really interesting. Before the interview, Yolanda offered me a Reiki healing session, which I was very happy to accept. So far, so good. But here’s where things get really interesting… the Reiki session was performed remotely - over the span of 7,500 miles - without Yolanda and I ever talking. What’s even more interesting? Yolanda’s assessments were actually quite accurate. Needless to say, I had to get to the bottom of this and figure out just wha

This week, we have a little bit of a unique episode... This week's guest is... Me! You see, after lots of feedback from you guys to share more about me, and my thoughts, and my story, I decided to recruit my friend and repeat podcast guest Dr. Anthony Metivier to turn the tables around and interview me on my own show. Now, in this episode, we cover a LOT of new information, and we unearth a LOT of things that I've never really talked about elsewhere. I share a pretty in-depth and pretty upsetting story of my own struggles with depression and low self esteem, I talk about the various ways that I've grown, changed, and overcome... and I share my thoughts on entrepreneurship, authenticity, and a lot, lot lot more. Because Anthony and I are such dear friends, the conversation does have a pretty informal tone. And, I have to say that we do jump around a bit from subject to subject. My hope, though, is that this episode will really help you guys get to know me better, and that it will offer you some valuable inform

Today, we’re joined by David Karr, Co-Founder and Chief Brand Cebador for Guayaki. You might recognized the name Guayaki for those bright yellow packages of teas called Yerba Mate in supermarkets everywhere.. and if you’ve been a fan of the show for a while, you probably know a bit about Yerba Mate, or have heard me recommend it for it’s powerful nootropics powers. Well, today, I wanted to interview someone who has devoted a good part of his life to sharing this plant with the world. My goal for this episode was to explore Yerba Mate, a plant medicine that I’ve used and promoted extensively for the many benefits it offers, but of course, you’ll get much, much more from it. Throughout the episode, we talk about Yerba Mate and it’s many health benefits, we talk about social entrepreneurship, business, life journeys, and much, much more. David shares his thoughts on how capitalism can be hacked to create and amplify social good, and also explains how he managed to build such a successful company from the ground

Today, we are joined by Kevin Warwick, Deputy Vice Chancellor of Research at Coventry University, and former Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading. Oh… he’s also considered to be the world’s first actual cyborg, having connected his nervous system to the internet nearly 15 years ago. But don’t worry, we’ll get to that later on in the interview...   Kevin is one of the leading researchers in artificial intelligence, robotics, and biomedical engineering, and has authored and co-authored more than 600 research papers and written or edited 27 books including I, Cyborg, QI, The Quest For Intelligence, and In The Mind Of The Machine. He’s also received doctorates and awards from more higher learning institutions than I have time to list, but one interesting one is that the Institute of Physics selected Kevin as one of only 7 eminent scientists to illustrate the ethical impact their scientific work can have… the others, by the way, were Galileo, Einstein, Curie, Novel, Oppenheimer, and Rotblat. You m

This week, we are joined by a New York Times bestselling author who’s books you’ve almost certainly heard of: Why We Get Fat and Good Calories, Bad Calories. Way before the “Paleo” movement took off in a meaningful way, our guest today was one of the early opinion leaders to promote the idea that not all calories are the same - and that the idea of just “eating less” regardless of what you eat is fundamentally flawed.   Though we have covered diet and nutrition quite a bit on the show, it’s such a central aspect of optimal performance that it bears further investigation and occasional repetition.   Throughout the episode, we take a really deep dive into not just nutrition, but also how it came to be that everything the average person knows about nutrition is fundamentally wrong. We learn how this misinformation has persisted, why it has been so detrimental, and how things are starting to change all over the world. We talk about paleo nutrition, common dietary misconceptions, and a criticism of bad science

Today we are joined by Mattias Ribbing, a 3-time Swedish memory champion, and one of less than 200 people in the entire world who can lay claim to the title “GrandMaster of Memory.” He’s written three books on both memory and productivity, and is an accomplished public speaker and coach. But, while today Mattias is one of the top experts in memory and accelerated learning in Europe -as you’ll learn today, he wasn’t always a memory whiz. And like myself, Mattias’ journey started out of a passion for learning and improving himself. In this episode, Mattias and I mind-melded on everything from learning and memory, to a brain-optimizing diet, to fasting, flow, and nootropics. Mattias shares a LOT of incredible wisdom and certainly doesn’t hold back his best tips… I even learned a few new things about mnemonic techniques that I’ve never heard, and came away with a long list of improvements I want to make to my own training materials! Mattias is simply brilliant, and his intellect and enthusiasm simple bubbles over

This is the 2nd part of the Episode 100 where I revisit each episode, and offer you the top 1-2 takeaways that I personally remember from each one. I'll tell you why I think that each one is important, and how it has affected my life. At the end, I'll also let you know my top 10 favorite episodes, and the top 10 books that guests have recommended.   Please refer to Episode 100A which is the first part of the Special Episode 100.

Greetings, SuperFriends, and welcome to a very special episode of The Becoming SuperHuman Podcast... Our 100th episode! Can you guys believe that it's been a HUNDRED episodes? When I first started out, I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to 10. And when I listen back to my first few episodes, the absolutely cringeworthy performance I gave makes it all the more impressive that you guys have stuck with me this far. For our 100th episode, I wanted to do something a little bit special. You see, at the beginning of every episode, we promise to give you the skills and strategies to overcome the impossible. For the most part, I feel that we deliver on that promise every single week. Though, with 100 episodes, it can be hard to keep track of all of the takeaways we've offered on the show. Even I, who records the episodes and then listens to them after they've been edited, lose sight of all the nuggets and hidden gems that come out over the course of time. That's why, for this special episode, I want to revisit ea

A few years ago, today's guest was a financier headed down a path of poor health. Today, he is one of America’s top transformational coaches, with millions of followers on his social media channels, numerous companies, and an internet marketing empire that, quite frankly, blew my mind when I discovered it. Through his message of the powers of juicing and other dietary habits, he’s transformed the lives of thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people… He’s also published 11 books, ranging from juicing to dream hacking and mental transformation… So you know we just had to hear more. In this episode, we talk about childhood trauma, path to self improvement, spirituality, belief systems, juicing, lucid dreaming, motivation, accelerated learning, outsourcing and delegation, identity and purpose, and so much more. I went into the interview expecting to talk about juicing and nutrition, and in the end, came away with a massive, massive dose of inspiration, motivation, and heck… even a few life lessons that just mi

This week we are joined by Justin Stenstrom, a nationally acclaimed life coach, author, entrepreneur, and speaker. Justin is the founder of EliteManMagazine.com, host of the Elite Man Podcast, and the author of the book Giving Shy Guys Game. Justin’s mission is to empower modern men to be their absolute best selves - a mission which we share - though the episode has appeal to both men AND women. Throughout this episode, we talk about confidence, self esteem, fear, relationships, and much, much more. You’ll clearly see that years of interviewing, writing, reading, and learning has turned Justin into a jack of all trades when it comes to personal development, and so what’s really nice about this episode is that it hits the high notes of a TON of different areas of life. I think you’ll really going to enjoy it and learn a lot!  

Today, we welcome nutrition expert and public speaker Jaakko Halmetoja to the show. Jaakko is the host of InspiRadio Podcast and has spent the last few years popularizing unique uses of foods like chaga mushroom, chocolate, wild foods, berries, and medicinal herbs. He’s also the author of two books, including The BioHacker’s Handbook. My goal for this episode was to go a bit wider with nutrition - far beyond the topic of paleo that we’ve covered before. I wanted to discover unique foods, unusual findings, and surprising takeaways. In this episode, we talk about a wide variety of health and biohacking topics - from superfoods to unusual supplements and different ways to hack your body and mind. I really enjoyed his very holistic approach to nutrition and nutrients, which is so much less rigid and pinpointed than that of so many experts out there. My big takeaway from this episode was that it’s more about the big picture - the overall lifestyle and mosaic of what you eat and how you live, than it is about addin

This week, we are joined by Australian endurance athlete and motivational speaker Luke Tyburski. Luke is the subject of the new documentary, The Ultimate Triathlon, which documents his grueling journey towards completing the notorious Morocco to Monaco triathlon, a 2,000 kilometer, 12 day taste of hell on earth. To put it into perspective, The Ultimate Triathlon is the equivalent of swimming 500 laps in a 50 meter pool - then cycling the entire length of Britain, and then running a staggering 14 - yes, 14 - marathons. All in less than 2 weeks. In this episode, I wanted to gain some insight not just into Luke’s physical performance and training regimen, but also into what goes on in the mind of a person who willingly subjects himself to such grueling conditions. How does he do it? Why? And what can we learn from it? Throughout the episode, we talk about endurance, goal setting, tenacity, and how you can learn to overcome even the toughest of physical limitations. Luke shares how he has been able to train himse

This week, we’re joined by Olly Richards, the world-renowned language learning expert behind IWillTeachYouALanguage.com. Olly speaks no less than 8 languages, and has taught tens of thousands of people all over the world how to learn languages quickly, easily, and without all the headaches. Also a successful entrepreneur and author, having written numerous books and online courses, and he even hosts his own top-rated podcast. In this episode, I wanted to connect with Olly and hear what he has to say about language learning. Does he agree with past experts we’ve had on the show? Disagree? How and why? How do his own strategies for accelerated language learning mesh with my own framework? In this interview, Olly and I really hit it off, and we jammed about everything from language learning, to memory techniques, to why all of this is so important. Olly shares some interesting and often surprising thoughts on how best to learn a language, and even tells us about some cool resources that I’d never heard of. It’s

This week we are joined by Ryan Munsey, a former athlete turned bestselling author. Ryan started his career with a degree in dietetics, and along the way, worked as a personal trainer, a nutritionist, and even a fitness model. Today, however, in addition to writing, he hosts The Optimal Performance Podcast, runs the House of Strength training facility in Roanoke, Virginia, AND, on top of all of that, serves as the Chief Optimizer of Natural Stacks, a supplement and nootropic company. He’s been featured in Men’s Fitness, CBS, FOX, ESPN Radio, and many more. Ryan and I really hit it off during the episode, and you can definitely tell that we’re cut from the same cloth. The episode runs the gamut - from nootropics, to diet and nutrition, to supplementation, and more. A lot of the things Ryan shared, I had never even heard about before, and I found myself learning a lot more than even I expected. I can confidently say that after hearing this episode, you’ll have a much better grasp on how to boost your mental and