Benjamin Hardy, #1 Author on Medium, on Writing and on Willpower
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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 theĀ number 1 writer in Medium.com, which, throughĀ 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.Ā We start to understand why it is that we all fail at our New Year's resolutions and what we can do instead. And then, on top of that, we go through this amazing case study of what happens when you combine an aptitude for learning, like Benjamin's, and what I call an exponential skill, in this case, writing.
So, this is just an amazing case study in SuperLearning applied and what you can achieve if you master one of this core exponential skills. I know you guys are going to enjoy the episode. Personally, I didn't do a whole lot of talking here, I just sat back and listened to Benjamin, and I recommend you do the same!
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In this episode, we discuss:
- Who is Benjamin Hardy, and what does he do? [4:45]
- Insights from Benjamin's research on entrepreneurship and organizational psychology [5:30]
- What is, according to Benjamin, the ‘point of no return'? [6:00]
- How to determine whether you can become an entrepreneur [8:30]
- The course on guest blogging that started Benjamin's writing journey [10:00]
- The experience of putting your work out there [11:00]
- How Benjamin transitioned to using Medium.com [12:20]
- How has writing changed Benjamin's thought process and life? [13:50]
- The impact of journaling in Benjamin Hardy's life (and everyone else's) [14:40]
- How and when you journal is important [17:30]
- The way Benjamin Hardy has transformed his income through writing [19:00]
- A small insight into Benjamin's writing process [21:00]
- Insights on willpower from Benjamin's new book [22:00]
- How changing your environment can remove the need for willpower [24:00]
- A lesson by Josh Waitzkin: put yourself in difficult positions to speed up your growth [25:20]
- The concept of ‘forcing functions' [27:30]
- Other habits of Benjamin Hardy that foster his success [29:30]
- Helping others achieve their goal eventually helps you do the same [31:30]
- How creating conditions for unique and novel thinking can dramatically change your results [34:00]
- Benjamin Hardy's best ideas come when he listens to audiobooks, with his journal open in front of him [35:00]
- Incremental progress is NOT the way to progress [36:30]
- There is a thing like being too much of an entrepreneur [39:00]
- Where can you find more about Benjamin Hardy
Resources Mentioned in This Episode:
- Our previous episode onĀ writing as an exceptional skill
- Benjamin Hardy's book, Willpower Doesn't Work
- The Art of Learning by Josh Waitzkin
- Genius Network
- How to turn journal ramblings into viral articles, a post on Medium.com by Benjamin Hardy
- Principles: Life and Work by Ray Dalio
- The Obstacle Is The Way by Ryan Holiday
- Choose Yourself by James Altucher
- Benjamin Hardy's website
19 Comments
Thanks, I learned a lot of interesting things in past episodes.
loved th heart and the depth of the conversation. The way that Dr. Metivier shared from his enormous experience and insights was just amazing. Thank you Jonathan for doing this podcast!! š
Great interview with Dr. Greg Wells! He mentioned a doctor from Colorado around the 42:30 point of the podcast, discussing turmeric and black pepper. I couldnāt make out the doctorās name. Can you provide me with his full name and maybe his website or contact info. Interested in his products.
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Rob
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Maybe oarts of the things he has to share are right, maybe not. If I look at him which impact his nurturing and living style has on himself I see a very old looking man! He is year 1973!! That is not old and he looks definitly much older!! If I would not know his birthyear I would guess that he is in his mid-60ies!! A bit concering for someone who claims his lifestyle is suitable for a long life, isn’t it?
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