The Becoming Superhuman Podcast

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are joined by Jeff Emmerson. He is a new author who recently entered the self-help space and his book is called Beyond ADHD: Overcoming the Label and Thriving. Now, you guys maybe know that I've been diagnosed with ADD, rather, informally, under-the-table diagnosed with ADD. We get into that a little bit in the episode. We also talk about this whole culture of diagnosing kids with ADD. Do they all really have ADD to such a large percentage of the population, or is other stuff going on? In the episode, we talk about Jeff's own personal journey through depression. He gets very personal, which I always appreciate. He shares a lot of really hard stuff that he went through and ultimately talks about some of the things that he is doing and helps others do to manage and overcome this diagnosis, this black mark, that so many people carry around. It's a great episode and I think you guys are really going enjoy it!

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are joined, once again, by my SuperFriend Ms. Amy Smith, The Joy Junkie. In our last episode, we talked a lot about communication, and how learning to communicate properly will unlock SuperHuman levels of efficiency, happiness, and satisfaction in your life. That has proven to be so true for me, in my life and in my relationship. Thus, I wanted to catch up with Amy. I didn't really have any new reason to have her back on the show besides the fact that I love her perspective, I love her energy and, of course, that you guys really enjoyed our previous episode. So we hopped in, we started chatting and I think an amazing episode came out of it. We talked about goal setting, we talked about relationships and some of the difficult challenges that people get stuck on in relationships. We talked about compassion for the self and then we talked about something that I think is perhaps more important than all of that. At least it has been in my experience, and that is making peace with

Greetings, SuperFriends! This is an episode that is worth many, many listens. Personally, I am going to listen to it way more than I normally listen to our own episodes, which is 2-4 times already. Why, you ask? Well, do you guys remember how in 2016 we won Product Hunt's best podcast episode of the year? We got a Golden Kitty award, which is kind of a really cool thing. And we did it because we had today's guest on the show. That's right. We have David Heinemeier Hansson back on the show! For those of you who haven't heard that episode, stop what you are doing, go back and listen to it. David is the epitome of what we call a SuperLearner. He invented the Ruby on Rails software development platform, which is used by companies like Fiverr, YellowPages, Shopify, and Github. Many of the websites that you use every day were built on technology that David himself invented. On top of that, he is the co-founder of Basecamp, which he's been running for almost 20 years. To top even that off, he is an accomplished prof

Greetings, SuperFriends! In today's episode, I want to tell you about a very different experience that I had, where I was able to find my way into a room of 50 SuperHumans at the same time. 50 people I admire. This is an essay I wrote about getting yourself into the right room and surrounding yourself with people who inspire and motivate you. The biggest part of this post talks about the specific group that I was with, but I want to encourage you guys to think while you're listening about the types of people that you want to surround yourself with and what you could stand to gain from doing so. So, without any further ado, let me present you the power of being in the right room, even if it costs you $25k!    

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are joined by the amazing Sunny Lenarduzzi, who, to be honest, I don't think I could have gotten this interview with if we weren't already friends since years before. Sunny has almost a decade of experience as an award-winning video, social media and online business strategist. From tech start up’s to authors, you've probably seen her working with HootSuite, with Lewis Howes, with Gary Vee, and you've also seen her do amazing and incredible campaigns, such as one she did with Applebee's that had a billion impressions in one day! Sunny is the creator of Youtube for Bosses, and also teaches all kinds of amazing courses online. You may have seen her speak at NATO's headquarters, and you can also find all kinds of amazing stuff from her in Entrepreneur, Forbes and the Huffington Post. She is also on Youtube, and has been awarded 'Best in Social Media' in western Canada. Enough about the brag reel. Sunny is an amazing human being and an amazing entrepreneur. The reason I wanted to

Greetings, SuperFriends! Welcome to a special episode of the Becoming SuperHuman podcast. I'm calling this episode special because it's a little bit of a different format, once again. If you guys liked the episode where I focused in and explored a specific skill, did a spotlight if you will, then you will really love this episode. The goal of this episode is to spotlight the life of a real-world SuperLearner.  To try and understand what they did, how they did it, what the results were, and what kind of amazing life were they able to lead because of their incredible learning ability. We get to start out with a SuperLearner that you may have never heard of, but I'm not gonna tell you just yet who it is. I want to know what you guys think of this episode because I so enjoyed reading the books by this individual, exploring their life and just being inspired by what they were able to accomplish. I hope you guys enjoy it! If you guys do and if you guys want me to do more spotlights like this, I have to say they tak

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are joined by a guest that we've had a lot of requests for, and finally were introduced to thanks to one of our students. It is Jerzy Gregorek. You guys have probably heard about Jerzy, as he is in Tim Ferriss's latest book, as well as in one of the longest and most popular episodes of The Tim Ferriss Show. But, that is not his biggest claim to fame at all. In fact, Jerzy is the creator and founder of the UCLA Weightlifting Team, he is a 4-time champion Olympic Weightlifter, and he still has a world record that has been standing for 17 years, which nobody has been able to beat. Jerzy immigrated from Poland to the United States together with his wife, Aniela, in 1986, as a political refugee and rose through the ranks of being a trainer and mentor to people, for over 30 years. He went on to develop the Happy Body Program, which is a fitness regime and routine that you follow every single day. It is designed to improve upon the issue of fitness and help people create bodies that

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

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 ev

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

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 goi

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

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

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

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 amaz

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.

Today we are joined by Steven Kotler. Steven is the co-founder of the Flow Genome Project, and he is also a New York Times' best selling author. He has written quite a number of books, many of which you have already heard of, like "The Rise of Superhuman", his book on flow, "Abundance", his book on the future, "Tomorrowland: our journey from science fiction to science fact" and "Bold", which he wrote with Peter Diamandis, the book about how to go big, create wealth and impact the world. He has also written a bunch of other books like "Stealing Fire", his most recent one. Steven is an absolute authority, not just on writing, but also on flow. The Flow Genome Project has been doing research for decades, developing and understanding ways that we can get into flow and understanding what flow is and why it matters, why it exists and what we can use it for. I think that this is one of the most important topics in the whole realm of becoming SuperHuman and it is something that we haven't really covered in any of the

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are honored to have with us Dean Karnazes. He's a speaker, a bestselling author, an athlete, and an entrepreneur. TIME Magazine named him one of the top 100 most influential people in the world. Why, you ask? Because he is an ultra marathoner... not just any ultra marathon, by the way: he has run three hundred and fifty CONTINUOUS miles... not going sleep for three nights. He's run the Sahara Desert at 120 degrees. He has run 50 marathons in 50 days. He's biked for 24 hours straight. He swam San Francisco Bay... I could just go on basically and spend the entire episode talking about all the insane feats of endurance and athleticism that Dean has done. But I won't because I want you guys to hear from him. In any case he's been on The Today Show, 60 Minutes, Late Night Show, CBS, ESPN, CNN... basically all the networks! Again, I could spend the entire episode. I wanted to get Dean on the show for very obvious reasons. He is literally a superhuman. He has a lot of very interesti

Greetings, SuperFriends! Today we are joined by Ira Pastor. He is the CEO of BioQuark, and he has over 30 years of experience across multiple sectors in the pharmaceutical industry, working on biological solutions, managed care, OTC's, and more. He's served as the V.P. of business development for a drug development company. He's raised tons of money for different companies, and today he's working, as I said, at BioQuark, which is a company doing really really interesting things with biologic solutions to many of our health problems. I wanted to talk to Ira to understand what research is being done today to make us literally superhuman: to help us live forever, get rid of diseases, and so on. I learned a lot about just the types of research that are being done, and ultimately, I found it super interesting just the reverence and respect that Ira has for Mother Nature as an innovator and as a way for developing solutions to problems. It's a great episode. I'm sure you guys are going to enjoy it very very much!