THE GUEST
Today’s guest is AJ Jacobs, who is a world-renowned writer and a human guinea pig. He has written four New York Times bestsellers that combine memoir, science, humor and a dash of self-help. AJ is famous for undergoing intensive deep dive, long term challenges, where he undertakes something or investigates as thoroughly as possible, such as following the exact rules of the bible for one year or thanking EVERY person involved in his morning cup of coffee (regardless of how small, or how costly or difficult it was to source them).
However, apart from being fantastic reads, AJ’s books are about more, they are motivational tools, they show you that you can change, you are not the story that you were told by your family, your upbringing, education level or what your negative demons tell you are. AJ’s work shows you that everyone can change, the joy of life is about looking deeper, and discovering for yourself, as you will never know how it can change your life. We can all make changes in our lives and become a more investigative, and open to experiment person. Listen to this episode to discover how you too can benefit from a life of experimentation and discovery.
In this interview, we discuss his story, experimentation, analysis and throwing yourself fully into a challenge, how to make that initial step and what a life of experimentation can do for you.
LISTEN HERE
WHAT IS DISCUSSED
In this interview, we discuss gems like:
- Who they are
- Where does his curiousosity come from
- Should we all be curious and investigate things in our life
- How can we overcome the fixed mindset and instead adopt a more growth-focus approach?
- How did he avoid being murdered by his wife during his intensive investigations
- How can you keep on track and focused on your journey of discovery when potential interruptions may come up
- What is his approach typically like when he is planning and operating challenges of this size
- Hacks he has found on keeping motivation
- The importance of considering your future self
- Have any of the challenges he has undertaken changed a deep-seated belief he has held
- How does he undertake the challenges and not lose the part of him that makes him ‘him’, how did he not lose sense of who he is but still work fully and honestly towards the challenge
- How radical honesty can be a positive thing as much as a negative one
- How you should analyse and track your challenges as you progress
- Dr Oz and his interest in bowels
- His advice on how you can start your own challenges
- How to deal with mistakes and failures – how to cope with errors, mistakes and back sliding
- How has living a life of challenging himself, investigation and being a human guinea-pig affected him – can he live a normal life now?
- Writing his books and how he managed it when he found writing annoying!
- How would he react if one of his kids wanted to take on an intensive challenge? How can we encourage and assist others in becoming more experimental in life
- Was there anything challenges he wished he had done differently, or is there a challenge he wants to try?
- What challenges would he advise guys to start with in their own journeys of experimentation and discovery
- How we can build deeper, closer and more honest relationships
- What does he want you to take from the podcast?
- What role models did he/does he have in his life?
- How does Pokemon Go fit into this?
- How you can connect with them
KEY POINTS TO REFLECT ON
In this interview, a lot of jewels of self-improvement are discussed. Some of these and their associated thoughts include:
- Experimentation is one of the key joys in life
- Curiourisity in kids should be encouraged and allowed to blossom … in a safe manner
- Curiosity can be turned and developed within yourself, just because you weren’t normally curious about life, doesn’t mean you can’t change and discover the deeper parts of life like AJ did
- You don’t need to try major investigations like AJ did to help develop your brain and the joy of life, small changes can bring about unexpected discoveries and start you down a path you never planned for but the results can be life changing
- You need to find the positive, joy and fun side of the challenges, negative options rarely become successful as your interest and motivation will be dampened until any other distraction is more pleasurable and your progress will stop
- Miniature goals are a great way to keep yourself motivated, and likely the momentum of achieving these goals will push you to achieve another … and another and before you know it, you are progressing well
- Just because something is old and has been done for years or centuries, doesn’t mean it is correct or the best way to do things – question everything!
- Radical honesty doesn’t need to be negative, it can be life-changing and build relationships etc – can you make amends, build a relationship, confront someone etc, using radical honesty?
- Just because you start something doesn’t mean you need to finish it. Give everything a good try but if it isn’t working, or worse damaging you in some way, it is ok to stop, revise and try something else
- It is OK to fail, it is not fun to live with regrets, don’t go to your death-bed with regrets and wishes about what you wished you had done in your life
- Just because you are born one way does not mean you can only go the way that most people do. You can choose your path in life. You are the captain of the ship of discovery in your life (and no I will not apologies how awful that description is!)
- Musicians and actors are great examples of people who are never static – look at those people who are still around after years, through different fads, focuses etc, look at how they have changed themselves and their art etc, to keep in with the changing likes of the audience and build a fan base that has lasted so long – how could you do the same with your interests?
WHAT SHOULD YOU DO AFTER LISTENING
These are some key actions that you should undertake after listening to this interview:
- What interests you? How could you do an intensive interactive deep dive investigation into it, instead of just being a hobbyist? How can you throw yourself into things and really experience something on a level few others will and truly see if it is for you and possibly obtain a skill level and understanding few others will?
- Could you be radically honest with someone or something in your life? Truly happy with your education choice? Your relationship? How you treated someone? Use Radical Honesty and see how things work out for you
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What are you looking at?
Bestselling author A.J. Jacobs has undergone a life-changing and entertaining journey. The idea is deceptively simple: he takes one of our greatest pleasures- our morning cup of coffee – and tries to thank every single person involved in making it, from the barista to the coffee farmer and all those in between. This turns out to be a stunningly large number, including artists, chemists, presidents, mechanics, biologists, miners, smugglers and goatherds. Hundreds of people. Thousands. Maybe more.
Through this seemingly straightforward quest, Jacobs reveals inspiring truths. The book is a reminder of the amazing interconnectedness of our world. It shows us how much we take for granted. It teaches us how gratitude can make our lives happier, kinder and more impactful. And it will inspire readers to follow their own “Gratitude Trails.”
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