Today’s episode is a bit different than a normal episode of Science of Success. We share the incredible "Real Life Story of The Epic Quest To See How The World’s Most Successful People Launched Their Careers” - including a wild journey of hacking the Price is Right, meeting Bill Gates and Lady Gaga, and an epic five year quest to study and learn form the world’s top achievers. This is a topic I’ve dedicated my life to and this fascinating discussion with our guest Alex Banayan shines some new light on one of the most important questions of our lives - what was the inflection point that set massively successful people’s lives on a different trajectory? 

Alex Banayan is the best-selling author of The Third Door, which chronicles his five-year quest to track down the world’s most successful people to uncover how they broke through and launched their careers. He has been named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30” list and Business Insider’s “Most Powerful People Under 30.” He has been featured in major media including Fortune, Forbes, Businessweek, Billboard, Bloomberg TV, CNBC, Fox News, MSNBC, and much more!

• My passion has been studying the worlds top achievers - Alex took that to another level 

• Alex’s seven year journey becoming obsessed with studying the world’s most successful people 

• Do you know what do you want to do with your life? Are you on the right path?

• How did Bill Gates, Stephen Speilberg etc achieve epic results so early in their lives?

• When no one would talk to the world’s most successful people early in their careers - how did they break through?

• The ridiculous story of “hacking” the Price is Right

• “The Flinch” - when you become so nervous that you don’t do anything

• Breakfast with Larry King 

• The common strategy shared by the worlds top achievers

• The world’s top achievers all treat success the exact same way 

• The Power of the Third Door Framework 

• Most people think success is either a function of waiting your turn or being born into it 

• The reason most people never achieve their dream is not because the dream is unachievable but because of their fear stops them from going after their dreams

• What makes the world’s top achievers so fearless? 

• Top achievers don’t achieve fearlessness, instead they achieve courage 

• Fearlessness is jumping off a cliff without thinking about it, courage is acknowledging your fears, looking at the consequences, and then deciding you care so much about it you’re going to take one step forward anyway

• For the world’s most successful people there wasn’t one big single tipping point in their lives - it was a series of incremental small steps that compounded over time 

• When you’re in the trenches building your dream there is no tipping point - it’s all just little steps 

• Why you have to “Build a pipeline"

• You’re naturally going to get “bullshit no’s” throughout your life

  1. The key to dealing with NO is having enough other people in your pipeline who are going to say yes 

• “Adventures only happen to the adventurous” 

• Saying Yes when you’re scared, when things don’t make sense, but you still have an opportunity in front of you

• Everyone tries to over-optimize and wait for things to be perfect. If things are 80% there it’s up to you to jump and close that gap. 

• The founder of TED live’s his life by two mantras:

• If you don’t ask you don’t get

  1. Most things don’t work out 

• The Power of Possibility transforms people much more than giving them the tools and resources to succeed 

• Homework: If you’re looking to find your path, looking to find your passion - Take the “30 Day Challenge.” Buy a notebook, write “30 day challenge” on the front. Every day for the next 30 days you have to journal about the same 3 questions. It has to be 30 consecutive days, it can’t be spread out over several months. Pick the same time of day and consistently do it:

  • What excited me today? What filled me with enthusiasm?

  • What drained me of energy today? 

  • What did I learn about myself today?

  • The magic happens on the last few days 

Thank you so much for listening!

Please SUBSCRIBE and LEAVE US A REVIEW on iTunes! (Click here for instructions on how to do that).

Make a positive impact this giving season!

And let us make it easy and help you do it!
That's why for the rest of 2018, we're proud to be partnering with The Life You Can Save!

For a limited time, we're giving you the chance to win a free $100 donation to The Life You Can Save charity and cause of your choice!

Simply click here or the image above and submit your answer to be instantly entered to win!

The Life You Can Save has a well-curated, compelling list of impactful giving opportunities where your donation will be HIGHLY IMPACTFUL and cost-effective!

Show Notes, Links, & Research

• [Twitter] Alex Banayan

• [Book] The Third Door: The Wild Quest to Uncover How the World's Most Successful People Launched Their Careers by Alex Banayan

Episode Transcript