Ever feel like you do not have time to learn from all the amazing thought leaders and experts available?
You feel like you are overloaded with information?
And you just don’t know what books to read or what courses to take?
Well, then I have news for you!
I am the same!
That’s why I have started to make it a habit to look for ONE favorite podcast show or ONE favorite expert to learn from until I feel ready to move on to something new.
To save you hours of time, I am so excited to share with you my favorite podcast, which is called Impact Theory.
Impact Theory is hosted by the founder of the billion-dollar company Quest Nutrition, Tom Bilyeu, and what I love about it is that it is focused on how we can develop the mindset and attitude of top performers so that we can level up our own personal- and professional lives.
Tom interviews top personalities from various walks of life, and his passionate and curious interviewing style really opens up his guests, giving us a real glimpse at how they think and live. Each episode is filled with lots of actionable advice, and what I try and do is learn at least ONE valuable lesson from each speaker.
To give you a flavor of the show, I want to share with you seven recent lessons I have learned from listening to Impact Theory.
Without further due, here they are:
Lesson #1: Take courses in humor and poetry to become more creative
From episode #002: V.M Ramachandran: Building your brain for success
If you want to find out how to become more creative in your business this episode is for you. Vilayanur S. Ramachandran, dubbed by many as the Marco Polo of neuroscience, discusses why synesthesia, a disease in which people see certain numbers in colors, is eight times more likely to occur with artists than everyone else
Ramachandran explains that synesthesia happens due to cross-wiring of brain parts responsible for numbers and colors, and it is the skill of combining seemingly unrelated themes that often defines creative people.
If you think about it, that makes total sense. Inventors often find solutions by combining different things, like say a phone that is also a computer.
So how can you use this information to increase your creativity and find new ways to enhance your business?
Ramachandran believes that while there is no definite answers yet how to train creativity, we all need to learn skills that force us to use different parts of our brain, like when we think metaphorically. This is how we can train our brain to think more creatively, and make connections across the brain, which is also how we can learn to link ideas on concepts that are seemingly unrelated.
Ramachandran recommends we all practice humor and poetry so that we learn to grasp analities, see random connections and create unusual juxtapositions of ideas. Whether these skills will spill over to other domains of life, like your business, is yet to be seen.
But here is the big lesson for me:
The brain is malleable, and training skills that activate different parts of your brain, and especially parts that we do not usually use, will increase our brain power. Therefore I have decided to make a conscious effort to stimulate my imagination and visual thinking by reading fiction books again, from time to time.
Lesson 2: Be Patient when facing adversity to experience breakthrough results
From episode #40: Maria Sharapova: The Keys to Building Grit and Discipline
Former world number one tennis player Maria Sharapova speaks about her childhood in Sochi, Russia, and how determined she had already been as a little kid as a kid. She is extremely unapologetic about wanting to win every time she steps on the court.
When Tom asked her, what is your #1 superpower, guess what Maria answers?
“I don’t think everyone has the patience to overcome adversity like me”.
Tennis matches are long bartles, and that is exactly what Maria means with being patient.
Instead of getting frustrated about a lost point,, she will do her best to avoid showing any signs of negativity to her opponent, and instead waits for her chance to turn around a match.
Maria explains why this is important.
While her opponents show signs of frustration after losing a point, she literally feeds off those moments of vulnerability, as she knows they are in a weak mental space. As a result, she will often play better and seize the opportunity to build real momentum.
At the same time, Maria definitely does not want to reciprocate that favor! By staying patient with herself when things do not go her way, and hiding any negative emotions, she avoids giving away any signs of weaknesses. Any opponent knows Maria will keep fighting until the bitter end.
The big lesson for me is that we need to have a long term perspective when pursuing ambitious goals, and be patient even when things do not go our way. This might sound difficult, but it is exactly the attitude that separates top performers from everyone else.
Lesson 3: Enjoy pressure moments and you will become a better performer than ever before
From episode #009: Shaun White: Always Winning, Even When You Lose
Regardless what you do, we all face pressure moments that will define our life and our career:
Whether we are negotiating a big deal, speaking in front of thousands of people or going on a date,, ultimate success depends on doing well in specific key moments.
So how do we do that?
Snowboarder and entrepreneur, Shaun White speaks about how he deals with the pressure to perform well at big events like the Olympics that only come up every four years.
Shaun will prepare well and do everything in his power to win.
But here is the interesting part:
To reduce anxiety, he tells himself minutes before his performance:
“Who cares, it’s only a competition”.
I know this sounds odd- we have these big dreams and then to tell ourselves that we don’t care.
Matthew Synd calls this strategy “doublethink” where we work hard towards big goals but then detach ourselves from any outcomes once we enter the performance situation.
The reason this strategy works so well is that while it is crucial to be ambitious, we also need to reduce fear and anxiety as much as we can, and this is only possible if we are feeling relaxed and calm.
Lesson 4: Lower your expectations and surprise yourself with unprecedented results!
From episode #005: Tim Ferriss: Super Learning and Pushing the Limits
Best selling author, entrepreneur, and public speaker Tim Ferris gives similar to Shaun White and recommends that to be successful we need to lower our expectations, at least in the short run.
Most ambitious people have this super big dreams but often find themselves never really taking the kind of action that brings them closer to their goals.
Ferris cites the example of IBM who had the highest sales force but whose sales teams had extremely low quotas set as their daily targets. By setting low short-term goals IBM made sure their sale force were not intimidated to pick up the phone and were able to hit their sales target early. Thereafter, it was easy for most of them to increase sales even further.
For himself, this strategy works well too.
Tim is a perfectionist. However, by pairing low expectations of completing at least two pages a day with writing an amazing book allows him to overcome any forms of procrastination. He builds enthusiasm from those little wins and usually ends up writing more than two pages.
Ferris describes the winning combination for goal setting consists of selectively low daily quotas with higher quarterly expectations.
The reason low daily quotas are so important is that they ensure that we overcome performance anxiety that comes from high expectations.
Lesson 5: Embrace feedback and you will cure procrastination!
From episode #49: Brendon Burchard: How to Become a High Performer
If you have ever wondered why we so often stop ourselves just before the finishing line of a big goal, writer and motivational coach Brendon Burchard has the answer. According to him, the reason for this is that we sense that the more successful we become, the more feedback we get. All of a sudden, we become exposed to potential criticism and ridicule.
Procrastination does not always mean sitting in front of the TV and eating popcorn. It can also include finding subtle ways to distract ourselves with the kind of busy work that does not really move us forward towards our big goals.
The lesson here is that if we want to experience breakthrough results, we must embrace feedback, even when it feels uncomfortable. This is difficult and only possible if we adopt the kind of growth mindset in which we seek progress through effort and hard work rather than as a result of innate personality traits.
By seeing input from others as an opportunity to continuously improve our skills, we realize that we no longer need to feel worried about making a fool out of ourselves when things do not go our way.
Lesson 6: Being a good parent will make you a better business owner!
From episode #37: Dr Shefali: The Pitfalls of Parenting (and How to Avoid Them)
International speaker and clinical psychologist Dr Shefali explains that every parent is stuck between the dance of setting boundaries and letting a child discover the essence of who he or she is. According to her, the reason this is such a difficult process is that often we don’t accept kids for who they are. Instead, we prefer them to match our own fantasies of who we actually want them to be.
According to Dr Shefali, a good dad or mom are self-accepting and confident individuals who are able to set their own longings aside so they can really hear the true needs of their kids when they misbehave or throw a tantrum. This is how we shape true connection with our little ones.
However, developing these traits means that parents need to learn to become more attuned and curious when they are around their kids.
While these skills take patience, they will also improve our social skills, allowing us to understand people beyond their mere words.
In business, this could mean appreciating the true desires of prospects and customers. As a result, we can offer them products and services that offer massive value, which we communicate in a manner that really captivate our audience. And this is what I believe great marketing is really about!
Lesson 7: Asking powerful questions is the secret to finding big solutions.
From episode #017: Vishen Lakhiani: Breaking All the “Brules”
One of the biggest struggles most people I meet have is that they are not clear about what it is they truly want. This is especially true for many entrepreneurs who want to combine their business with a fulfilling life purpose.
CEO and Founder of the revolutionary global empire Mindvalley Academy, best-selling author, and philosopher Vishen Lakhiani offers three questions that can help anyone become more clear on how to experience more direction in their lives:
These questions are:
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- What experiences do I want to have?
- How do I want to grow?
- How do I want to contribute?
You will be surprised how powerful good questions are as they trigger our brain to focus on finding answers. This is why I make it a habit to ask myself these and similar questions on a regular basis, and give myself some time to reflect on them.
These are the seven lessons I have learned from listening to Impact Theory over the last week or so.
Of course, each episode is filled with lots of valuable information. However, there was ONE common thread that I noticed.
All the guests I listened to created strategies that allow them to interpret life events in a manner that support their biggest goals, and help them overcome any setbacks.
But to fully grasp how these personalities think, I highly recommend you listen to a few episodes of Impact Theory. And once you do, please let me know which episodes you liked best!