Brett McKay (@artofmanliness) is the founder of Art of Manliness, one of the largest independent men's lifestyle sites on the Web. Similarities in the naming schemes between AoM and AoC are purely coincidental! The Cheat Sheet: What is manliness? What are the domains -- the hard and soft skills -- an aspiring well-rounded man should develop? Why men of any culture should strive to be useful, not important. How to increase resilience by challenging your faulty "Me, Always, Everything" style of th...
Mar 16, 2017•45 min
Robert H. Frank (@econnaturalist) is the HJ Louis Professor of Economics at Cornell University and author of Success and Luck: Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy. The Cheat Sheet: As we strive to achieve success, there are natural limits on how hard we can work and how smart we can be. There's no denying that luck plays a part in this achievement. Understand the role of luck, talent, and hard work in the overall formula. Discover why we tend to minimize the role of luck in our success. Fin...
Mar 14, 2017•53 min
In this Minisode Monday, Jordan reflects on a grumpy old man he met in New York City and wonders if this fellow was a grumpy young man, or if he became that way over time. The Cheat Sheet: Some say that people don't change. But if you listen to this podcast, you already know that's not true. The real question is: are you making an effort to change for the better, or are you just letting change happen with the passage of time? How do you see yourself today as compared to how you were ten years ag...
Mar 13, 2017•3 min
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: Like our new show music? It's Start Shootin' by Little People. As a freelancer, how do you politely ask current clients for referrals? [Related: Boomerang] Is it wrong to leave the door open to a relationship that's been broken by the presence of a psychotic alter-ego? How does someone go about getting audio testimoni...
Mar 10, 2017•22 min
Clint Emerson (@100deadlyskills) is a retired Navy SEAL, founding partner of crisis management and risk mitigation company Escape the Wolf, and author of 100 Deadly Skills: Survival Edition: The SEAL Operative's Guide to Surviving in the Wild and Being Prepared for Any Disaster. The Cheat Sheet: How much of a SEAL's life is training, and how much is spent in active deployment? How can we spot potential terrorists in the making? What's an express kidnapping, and what can you do if you find yourse...
Mar 09, 2017•1 hr 2 min
Mike Rowe (@mikeroweworks) of Dirty Jobs fame joins us to talk about the skills gap, authenticity, and life experiences possible outside the comfort zone. Just don't tell him he's following his passion. The Cheat Sheet: Did you know Mike Rowe started his show business career in opera -- to get women? What are Anagnorisis and Peripeteia? Discover how Mike broke a pattern of commodity hosting by approaching the profession as a tradesman. Bromide busting and the problems with conventional wisdom. W...
Mar 07, 2017•1 hr 15 min
In this Minisode Monday, guest James Clear rejoins us to talk about how pre-commitment (aka implementation intentions) can make following through with a plan more likely. The Cheat Sheet: "Amateurs do things when it's easy -- when they feel motivated to do them. Professionals do things on a schedule." -James Clear Pre-commitment (aka implementation intentions) is the idea that if you lay out a plan for implementing your behavior with a very specific time, place, and location, you're much more li...
Mar 06, 2017•12 min
Sally Hogshead (@SallyHogshead), author of Fascinate: How to Make Your Brand Impossible to Resist, rejoins the show to tell us how our audience scored in her Fascination Advantage Assessment. You'll be as surprised as she was when you hear the results! The Cheat Sheet: Personality Danger Zones -- understanding how other people see us and maximizing the chances of making a positive first impression. The upsides and downsides to creativity. How positive attributes can translate into pitfalls. Do y...
Mar 05, 2017•32 min
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: A recovering smart alec wonders how to get a second chance at a bad first impression. Zooming out on talent to see the skill beneath. How do you become so interesting that people can't help but befriend you, hire you, and line up around the block to get your attention? A close friend suddenly stops responding to every...
Mar 03, 2017•25 min
Jessica Tracy (@ProfJessTracy) is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where she also directs the Emotion & Self Lab. She is the author of Take Pride: Why the Deadliest Sin Holds the Secret to Human Success. The Cheat Sheet: Pride is a universal human emotion and a force that can be harnessed to help humans succeed -- it's a key ingredient to confidence. Understand the difference between hubristic and authentic pride -- why we should seek out one ...
Mar 02, 2017•50 min
Joi Ito (@joi) is the director of the MIT Media Lab, a professor of practice in media arts and sciences at MIT, and co-author of Whiplash: How to Survive Our Faster Future. [Photo by Andy Ryan] "Education is what people do to you, and learning is what you do to yourself." -Joi Ito The Cheat Sheet: How does someone who dropped out of college three times wind up directing a lab at MIT? The pros and cons of formal learning vs. informal learning. Why does diversity make for better problem solving? W...
Feb 28, 2017•1 hr 15 min
In this Minisode Monday, we talk about the pointless habit we all have of mentally reliving embarrassing moments in our lives and what we can do to stop it. Let's get to it! The Cheat Sheet: There are times when we all mull over embarrassing moments from our past. Like worrying, it's a pointless exercise. Ivan Pavlov proved that he could anchor a dog's feelings to stimuli. As humans, we're even better at doing this to ourselves. We beat ourselves up over a story we've built around a feeling and ...
Feb 27, 2017•3 min
John Lee Dumas (@johnleedumas) is the founder and host of EOFire, an award-winning podcast where he chats with today's most successful entrepreneurs seven days a week -- with over 1400 interviews under his belt. How is he so productive? He shares some of his secrets with us here. The Cheat Sheet: How does John stay focused enough to put out a new podcast every single day and have a life? Does social media promote de-evolution? Where does John find new books to read (and what's been worth reading...
Feb 26, 2017•45 min
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: Understanding people in person can be challenging enough. So how do we read between the lines when people write to us to determine the best advice to give? How do you remind yourself to do the doorway drill (as discussed on episode 582)? You don't really need to listen to The Art of Charm podcast anymore because you've got a handle on...
Feb 24, 2017•27 min
The Art of Charm (@TheArtofCharm) trio of Johnny, AJ, and Jordan goes over the importance of resilience and how we can develop it to be ready for anything life throws our way. [Photo by Art Bromage] The Cheat Sheet: What is resilience and why is it so important? Consider resilience as a bedrock mindset upon which other improvements are built. Johnny, AJ, and Jordan share personal examples of the role resilience has played in their lives here at AoC. "Bend, don't break." Learn actionable techniqu...
Feb 23, 2017•40 min
Roy Wood Jr. (@roywoodjr) was on Variety's 10 Comics to Watch For list in 2016, is currently a correspondent on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and is the star of Father Figure on Comedy Central. The Cheat Sheet: Learn how a youthful indiscretion was "the most important thing" that led Roy Wood Jr. to pursue a life of comedy. Discover how a forgiving journalism school and a deal with his mother gave Roy's comedy career the low-stakes structure it needed to grow early on. Find out how Roy took b...
Feb 21, 2017•1 hr 16 min
Jonathan Raymond, author of Good Authority: How to Become the Leader Your Team Is Waiting For, tells us how we can let go of resistance to change by using the DANCE Method. If you've ever struggled with time management, you'll really appreciate the example he demonstrates! Let's get to it! The Cheat Sheet: D: Define the problem simply. A: Assess the impact. N: Name the underlying dynamic. C: Create the smallest next step you can. E: Establish personal accountability. To learn more about social d...
Feb 20, 2017•10 min
Kerry Dolan (@KerryDolan), Assistant Managing Editor of Wealth at Forbes, curates the Forbes World Billionaires List. The Forbes List, hosted by Jordan Harbinger, reveals the details behind the lists that don't make it to the magazine or online. You'll get a deeper look at what it takes to put together Forbes' lists of the top companies, wealthiest people, and biggest celebrities in the world. In this first episode, Forbes Assistant Managing Editor Kerry Dolan joins Jordan to discuss: How Forbes...
Feb 19, 2017•41 min
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: Jordan really does read everything. Per episode 572's reverse interview with Gabriel Mizrahi, how do you figure out what to pursue that is uniquely you? The thought of a lifetime of chronic pain after an injury is menacing. What can you do to face it? Does your life have room for people who make you feel small and und...
Feb 17, 2017•32 min
James Clear (@james_clear) experiments with and writes about behavioral psychology, habit formation, and performance improvement through mental models. The Cheat Sheet: Why is decision-making such a fallible process? What are mental models, and how can they help us make better decisions? Why should we collect mental models rather than relying on one as a default to solve all problems? How can we ruthlessly eliminate mediocre results? Where is the Zone of Good Luck and how can we live there? And ...
Feb 16, 2017•57 min
Judah Pollack (@JudahThinks) and Olivia Fox Cabane (@foxcabane) rejoin the show to discuss their new book, The Net and the Butterfly: The Art and Practice of Breakthrough Thinking. The Cheat Sheet: What is breakthrough thinking -- and how does it relate to nets and butterflies? Though we all have the same brain architecture, why do some of us find breakthrough thinking more natural than others? Learn how to access your brain's genius lounge (without being impeded by your brain's executive office...
Feb 14, 2017•1 hr 6 min
If something can be learned, it is a skill. If it's innate, it's a talent. The reality: most so-called talents are skills in disguise, so stop making excuses that you're not talented enough to do things and skill up! 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. Let's get to it! The Cheat Sheet: The concept of "talent" is overrated. If something can be learned, it is a sk...
Feb 13, 2017•2 min
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 the process of getting in better shape, is it too much to ask that the people you attract are similarly trying to improve their own lives in some way? Your partner is perfect in every way until the alcohol comes out. How do you deal with this Jekyll and Hyde scenario? You're really just shy, but people think you're arrogant because...
Feb 10, 2017•31 min
Steven Kotler (@steven_kotler) revisits the show to discuss his latest book, Stealing Fire: How Silicon Valley, the Navy SEALs, and Maverick Scientists Are Revolutionizing the Way We Live and Work. The Cheat Sheet: Why did psychology take a hundred-year detour around the therapeutic benefits of non-ordinary states of consciousness (NOSC)? Learn about ecstasis -- a specific range of NOSC sought by high performers like Navy SEALs and the elites in Silicon Valley. Compare the speed of conscious tho...
Feb 09, 2017•1 hr 4 min
Jonathan Raymond (@jonathanraymond) is the owner of management training startup Refound and author of Good Authority: How to Become the Leader Your Team Is Waiting For. The Cheat Sheet: What's the real purpose of a business? Why should a business owner or manager treat employees with the same respect afforded to the most valuable customers? Understand why getting rid of old, inherited beliefs about being in an authority position are critical to becoming the kind of leader people want to work for...
Feb 07, 2017•1 hr
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. Um, like, so today we're going to talk about filler words -- why you should avoid using them, and how to shed them for good. Let's get to it! The Cheat Sheet: When you're trying to convey a message with credibility, it's not just what you say, but how you say it. Overuse of filler words like "um" and "like" are lessening the i...
Feb 06, 2017•7 min
Breakup Triage: The Cure for Heartache author Susan Winter rejoins us to answer a couple of questions that were addressed to her and help with our usual assortment of email in this Fan Mail Friday. Let's get to it! In this episode: Should a broken relationship be mended when the primary glue is guilt? It says more about the people who have cheated on you in multiple relationships than it does about you when you're always faithful and loving. But maybe you should review your selection process. Is...
Feb 03, 2017•44 min
Dr. Travis Bradberry (@talentsmarteq) is the award-winning co-author of Emotional Intelligence 2.0 and the co-founder of TalentSmart, the world's number one provider of emotional intelligence tests and training. The Cheat Sheet: You may know your IQ (intelligence quotient), but do you know your EQ (emotional quotient)? Unlike IQ, which tends to stay the same throughout life, emotional intelligence is a flexible set of skills that can be acquired and improved with practice. Emotional Intelligence...
Feb 02, 2017•50 min
Peter Diamandis (@PeterDiamandis) is the founder of the XPRIZE Foundation and co-author of Bold: How to Go Big, Create Wealth and Impact the World and Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think. The Cheat Sheet: What does the future hold for human longevity, space colonization, artificial intelligence, and beyond? How can we adapt -- individually and as a society -- to deal with increased automation in the workforce? What is linear thinking and why does it cause us to miss the mark when copi...
Jan 31, 2017•59 min
In this Minisode Monday, we talk about how gratitude may be a buzz word you're tired of hearing about, but it's a fact: people appreciate being appreciated. Here's why we should be showing gratitude for the things others do for us now rather than later. The Cheat Sheet: Far from being a woo sentiment, gratitude is a powerful motivator. We often take the little things people do for us for granted. What would happen if we started showing appreciation for them? A little kindness doesn't have to be ...
Jan 30, 2017•3 min
