Unless you’ve been living under a pretty sizable rock, you’ve already heard about Bitcoin.

Perhaps you’ve heard that it’s the currency of choice for drug dealers and criminals. Or you’ve heard that it uses as much energy as entire countries. Perhaps you’ve read about someone who bought Bitcoin way back in the day, only to lose their backup, losing millions and millions of dollars in the process.

But, more likely than not, you’re among the 90% of people who haven’t really paid much attention to “that Bitcoin thing” yet. Perhaps, you’re not sure what the big deal is, and at this point, you’re too afraid to ask.

Perhaps you believe that Bitcoin is “nerd money,” “a bubble,” or just not something you’re interested in.

In this article, my goal is to change your mind.

Why do I care? Because like most people who’ve studied Bitcoin for a few years, I wholeheartedly believe that this technology is going to change the course of human history for the better. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Bitcoin is one of the most important inventions humanity has ever created. What’s more, I know that like the internet, you cannot simply “opt out” of a technology that transforms society. You can be a late adopter — at your own peril — but you cannot opt out. And the sooner that everyday people understand all this, the better. As my friend David explains, “if you hold any currency, you have already placed a bet regarding Bitcoin — and if you don’t know what it is, then you have bet against it.”

This article is not going to get too deep into the technology of Bitcoin, because quite frankly, you don’t need to understand it any more than you understand TCP/IP or how the internet actually works. Instead, whether or not you’re a “tech person,” understand the history of money, or have a basic grasp of economics, my goal is to simplify the tangible benefits of Bitcoin so that anyone can understand them. What you do with that information is up to you. But at least you won’t find yourself saying “If only I’d known…”

So come one, come all. Beginner Bitcoiners and technophobes. Gather round, while a die-hard Bitcoiner explains…

What’s the big deal with Bitcoin, anyways?

1. The fiat money system is broken (Government-issued money sucks)

As a form of money, the idea of “fiat” money is a relatively new concept. Throughout history, humans have used different objects or substances as “money,” but it was only recently that this money became what we would call “fiat.” (“Fiat,” in Latin, means “it shall be,” and reflects the idea that fiat money is only valuable because governments declare it to be). Money is a technology almost as old as human societies, and it existed way before empires and governments. Money, therefore is not only whatever a government says is money, but any good with certain properties that make it suitable as a medium of exchange. The idea of having a form of money backed by a government or central bank is actually pretty new.

Up until the 1930’s (and then, conclusively, in 1971), the US dollar and many other currencies were actually based on something: they were tied to Gold. This meant that you could, at least theoretically, redeem your dollars for gold, if you wanted to. In this way, the US dollar and other currencies had certain limits around them. Except for brief periods where governments abandoned the gold standard, they couldn’t just print more money willy-nilly.

Today, however, there is no limit to how much money can be printed. Governments around the world are indebted by a total of $281 trillion dollars — an amount that they literally will never be able to pay.

To keep up with their debts, and to pay for various projects, governments (and the privately-held central banks that loan to them) maintain a monopoly on the ability to print more money. (In reality, they don’t even have to print money, they just tell banks to lend more to people, effectively creating more money out of thin air, with no cost to them whatsoever).

Although this “quantitative easing” (printing money to flush the market with cash) is presented to us as a way to “manage and balance the economy,” in reality, it presents a lot of problems. First of all, through continuous inflation, governments are able to slowly drain the savings of everyday people to absolutely nothing.

Have a look at the value of the US dollar from 1899 to present:

By doing this, the governments of the world literally rob us of our ability to save for our futures. And because they’re almost all doing it, and because there is no alternative currency, we are virtually powerless to stop them. We just have to sit back and watch as the cost of living increases year after year. Keep in mind, this is not because “prices are going up” as modern economists would lead you to believe, but in fact, because the value of your money is going down.

Oh, and by the way, the above chart does not include the estimated 12% inflation rate of the US dollar in 2020. Not to mention the long list of hyperinflated or completely defunct currencies.

All over the world, and throughout the history of the modern nation state, humanity has learned the same mistake over and over again. When governments have the ability to pay their debts by printing an endless supply of money, currencies collapse. This, many argue, is what lead to the fall of the Roman Empire, as well as the fall of the Byzantines. If you break the money, you break the society.

Frankly, it’s a miracle that the US dollar and British Pound have held on as long as they have.

2. Bitcoin is verifiably “hard money” (They aren’t making any more of it)

To fully understand Bitcoin, you need to understand one central idea:

There will only ever be 21 Million Bitcoins.

Unlike “easy money” that can be effortlessly and freely created (ehem, US dollar), Bitcoin is what’s known as “hard money.” In other words, you cannot make more of it without doing considerable work. The software protocol for Bitcoin itself has a hard-coded limit of 21 Million Bitcoins. At the time of this writing, there are 18,744,550 Bitcoins in existence, with 6.25 new Bitcoins created approximately every 10 minutes. The amount created will become smaller and smaller according to a predetermined schedule, until some time in 2140, when there will be no more Bitcoins left to create.

How can we be sure? I mean, software can be edited, right? Well, not exactly. You see, the rules of Bitcoin are enforced by every single decentralized “node” on the planet. That means that a swarm of hundreds of thousands of computers, worldwide, are all independently verifying that the rules are being obeyed. If you try to break the rules, they will reject you and any transaction you try to submit. Therefore, in order to attack the network and issue more Bitcoins, it would take more computing power — and more electricity — than even the most powerful nation-states could muster together. Or, you could try to find and take out all 300,000+ computers all over the world. Good luck with that.

What’s more, because people inevitably make stupid, easily-avoidable mistakes (like not backing up their keys) and lose access to their Bitcoin, the available pool becomes smaller and smaller, and the value for the rest of us gets higher and higher. In the words of Satoshi himself, “Lost coins only make everyone else’s coins worth slightly more. Think of it as a donation to everyone.”

Here’s the crazy thing:

In this way…

Bitcoin is literally the most scarce resource on this planet.

How can that be, you ask?

Every day, more gold and diamonds are dug out of the ground — and that’s before we figure out how to mine asteroids or other planets. Every day, new apartment complexes go up, creating more supply in the real estate market. Heck, some countries like Singapore and Dubai have even figured out how to create more land!

But not Bitcoin. Nobody — literally nobody — can create more than 21 Million Bitcoins.

3. Bitcoin is a great investment (and a solid hedge against uncertainty)

Now that you understand the fixed limit on Bitcoin, you will easily understand why it’s a great investment. In a world of infinite creation, Bitcoin is the only truly finite resource I can think of, besides time itself. With more people being born every day (and more people losing their Bitcoin keys, too), there is an ever-increasing amount of competition for an ever-decreasing number of coins.

If everyone in the world wanted to own just ₿0.1, they couldn’t. If every Billionaire in the world wanted to buy ₿10,000…. they couldn’t. There is only ₿0.00269 per person available… much less if you consider that as much as 20% of the current supply has already been lost forever (Satoshi himself seems to have “burned” an estimated ₿1,000,000 — the largest donation of any person in history). As my friend David points out…

by the end of 2021, 90% of all Bitcoin will have been mined — and only about 2% of people on earth already own some.

As more and more people understand this — understand the incredible scarcity of Bitcoin — the value can only go up. After all, they aren’t going to make any more! Fortunately, Bitcoin can be divided down to ₿0.00000001, or 1 Satoshi, so you can still buy a lovely 3,000 “sats” for just $1. What a deal!

What’s more, Bitcoin’s existence outside the traditional monetary system makes it a very powerful hedge against uncertainty. I once heard a quote: “I don’t know what weapons World War III will be fought with, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.” I believe that the same is true of Bitcoin. I don’t know what the future of the US Dollar, the British Pound, the Euro, or even the countries that issue those currencies are going to be. But I do know that the Bitcoin blockchain is going to keep running no matter what happens to them. If ever the day comes that those currencies lose their value, I’ll be more than happy to accept Bitcoin in my rental properties and businesses.

I used to think that keeping 5% of my wealth in Bitcoin was enough. Today, I honestly ask myself if I’m comfortable keeping as much of my wealth in fiat and fiat-based instruments as I do. Especially when the money printer goes “brrr” nonstop…

4. Nobody “controls” Bitcoin (and nobody can)

“OK, so, wait a second. If nobody can create more Bitcoin, then, like, who controls this thing?”

This is a concept that is really hard for beginners to grasp. They often (falsely) believe that Bitcoin is controlled by the core development team (the people building and maintaining the software that runs the network) or by the miners (the people doing complex mathematical calculations to secure the Bitcoin network and process transactions). And while these people do have a say in the future of Bitcoin, they don’t “control” it. And nobody — not governments, not corporations, and not even cartels of all of the above, ever could.

This is because…

5. Bitcoin is open source, transparent, decentralized, and democratic

In reality, Bitcoin is a consensus protocol. Baked into the software is an incredible system for expressing support for and voting on changes.

Let’s say, for example, you have an idea that could improve the way Bitcoin operates — or at least, you think it could.

Great! You would then just need to submit a Bitcoin Improvement Protocol, outlining the idea and how it works. If you get enough support, you can recruit others to write it into code, which full node operators (people with entire copies of the Bitcoin network on their computers) and miners (the people processing transactions) can choose to support.

From there, voting happens every 10 minutes. Every time a batch of transactions is settled, the protocol checks to see if the miner who solved it expressed support for your idea. In order for your idea to be implemented, 90% of blocks mined need to express support for your idea. (There are other ways for everyday people who run “full nodes” to vote on and implement changes, but we won’t get into that as it’s a bit technical. Just know that even if the miners reject a change, the community can — and has — force implemented it for the good of Bitcoin).

Suffice it to say that Bitcoin is very much “the people’s money,” and unlike the changes the Fed makes every day without consent or consensus, everyday people can easily have a say in the future of Bitcoin.

6. Bitcoin is indestructible (Against just about anything you can imagine)

OK, so governments and corporations can’t control this thing… then what’s stopping them from just destroying it instead?

In reality, they can’t. Bitcoin is a completely decentralized protocol. There are no “servers” to take down — just a few hundred thousand independent computers all over the world, each of which is sufficient to keep the network alive. If you leave even one of those machines online, the network survives.

But what if the governments of the world collaborate to shut down the entire internet?

Bitcoin doesn’t care. Bitcoin is in space, running on satellites that broadcast the blockchain down to earth. In fact, it’s been demonstrated that you could even broadcast Bitcoin transactions using short-wave radio, fiber optics, infrared, or a whole litany of other impossible-to-block technologies.

Bitcoin is often referred to as “the honey badger” — because it just doesn’t give a shit. Your local currency collapsed? Bitcoin doesn’t care. The network is still running. The Iranians, North Koreans, or Martians finally muster up the courage to nuke your country? Bitcoin doesn’t care. The network is still running. In fact, short of a meteor decimating all life on this planet, it’s likely that the Bitcoin network will continue running. In fact, because so much of it is powered on renewable energy, it might even outlive us…

Fine, so the technology is impossible to screw with. But governments can just ban the use of Bitcoin, right?

That’s true. They could. But would it make much of a difference? I mean, governments all over the world have banned drugs… and last I checked, people are still using them.

What’s more, any attempt by governments to “ban” Bitcoin would be a last-ditch effort to stop us from using them. It would be an admission that their own monetary system is under threat — which would, in turn, drive people to acquire Bitcoin. And still, many people will flout the law, and hold Bitcoin anyways. Just like they held gold when it was outlawed, and made moonshine during prohibition.

Countries can opt-out of Bitcoin and shoot themselves in the foot, but short of blocking the internet, they cannot stop their citizens from using it.

7. Bitcoin is 100% Trustless (And that’s a big deal)

We don’t often think about it, but in order to use the legacy “fiat” banking system, we need to trust a whole lot of people.

Every time you get paid in cash, you need to trust that the cash isn’t counterfeit. Every time someone pays you on Venmo, you need to trust that the sender isn’t going to call up Venmo or their bank and claim that the transaction was fraud, or that their phone was stolen. This is because transactions on the legacy banking system are fully malleable — they can be changed after the fact. But that’s just the beginning. You also need to trust that your bank and Venmo aren’t going to lock your account or your funds. You need to trust that the government isn’t going to reach into your bank account and seize your assets (which they can do with one simple letter). You need to trust that a court order won’t be placed on your assets, or that the IRS won’t freeze your accounts. And of course, you must trust that they aren’t going to devalue your money… a trust that is misplaced, considering they already have.

Bitcoin is different. From its inception, it’s been 100% trustless. When you send me Bitcoin, I don’t need to know you, trust you, or even like you. All I need to do is look at the blockchain. From there, I can see that you have the funds you claim to have, and that you haven’t double-spent them or sent them to anyone else. I can also see that you’ve transferred them to me, as verified by hundreds of thousands of computers all over the world. In fact, I can even run my own full node, so that I don’t even have to trust the maker of my wallet or their copy of the blockchain to tell me that the transaction is confirmed.

After 1 confirmation, your transaction is pretty much permanent. After 3 transactions, it’s completely irreversible. How do I know? Because, again, it would take more computing power and energy than every nation state combined for you to change the history of that transaction.

This might not seem like a big deal, but it is. First, things like credit card fraud cost consumers (and businesses) almost $30 billion dollars a year. What’s more, the ability to do business with anyone, even if we don’t know their name, opens up a world of possibilities for privacy and free commerce. Gone are the days where you needed to “trust” someone to transact with them. Don’t trust… verify!

8. Bitcoin is the only property that can’t be taken away or stolen

One of the things you hear a lot about when you go down the Bitcoin rabbit hole is the idea of “self custody.” Many people are surprised to learn that there is no “customer service” in the world of Bitcoin. If you make a mistake, send a transaction to the wrong address, or lose the only set of keys to your wallet, there is no going back.

This may seem like a bug, but it’s actually a feature.

As we’ve already mentioned, with Bitcoin, there is no bank. There’s no “company” in charge. This means that you are in complete control of your Bitcoin. Unless you do something stupid (like keeping it in an exchange, sending them to the wrong address, or using a compromised device to store your keys), nobody can “steal” it from you.

Think, for a moment, about the rest of the things you claim to own. Is the same true of any of them? If someone sues you (or divorces you), the court can take away your home. If you have gold stored in a vault, a bank employee can walk away with it. The money in your bank account? …Please. The government can not only reach into your bank account, but they can actually garnish your future wages, too.

Basically, fiat money can be stolen from you before you even earn it! 😂

Bitcoin is different. Nobody can take it away from you. And if you have taken enough steps to have “plausible deniability,” nobody can force you to give it up, either.

I, for example, lost all my Bitcoin in a boating accident just last week. I happened to be transporting all of my keys and their backups at the same time, and… oops. They’re now at the bottom of the Mediterranean. I officially own no Bitcoin. Good luck proving otherwise.

But, in all seriousness, “self custody” is one of the most important steps towards self sovereignty and self determination. If you control your own, sound money, you control your own fate. This is a tremendous amount of power to put back into the hands of people, and of course, it’s also a huge responsibility.

In a world where people set their dog’s names as passwords and put them on post-it notes, Bitcoin teaches us to take our own security seriously.

It teaches us to take custody of the things that matter to us (like our savings), without relying on or trusting others. And in exchange, it gives us access to an asset that will remain with us, no matter what.

In fact…

9. Bitcoin eliminates the need for banks altogether

For the most part, a bank’s business model is this: charge you to store and use your own money, then turn a profit on that money by renting it to other people, while giving you little if any of those profits.

It’s a pretty ridiculous model, especially if you consider that a huge portion of their profits come from things like ATM fees, wire transfer fees, overdraft fees, and exorbitant credit card interest rates.

Bitcoin fixes this. With Bitcoin, you don’t need a bank to store your money. You don’t need the bank’s outdated network to send your money. And you sure as hell don’t need their god-awful security to protect your money. You effectively become your own bank.

But what about loans and interest, you ask? Well, first of all, how many of us would actually need loans if our money wasn’t subject to constant inflation (and, maybe one day, taxation)? I’d wager that it would be quite a bit less. Nonetheless, there are a number of companies cropping up who will give you low-interest loans — as low as 1% — in exchange for Bitcoin as collateral. Best of all, at the end of your loan period, you get your Bitcoin back, even if it has appreciated.

What’s more, as we’ve already learned, Bitcoin eliminates the need for “trust” — meaning that the technology itself can be used to secure collateral for loans, rather than charging high interest rates to offset the risk of default. It’s still early days, and we have no idea what type of financial innovations will come out of the power that Bitcoin offers us, but I think it’s safe to say that lending is going to be turned on its head.

10. Bitcoin is borderless

Here’s one of the best parts of Bitcoin: it’s the first of its kind, truly global currency. It is native to the internet, and nothing else. This means that it can be transmitted instantly to anyone around the world, without intermediaries. GONE are the days of paying for international wire transfers or 9% western union fees. Bitcoin is peer-to-peer — and that’s absolutely life changing if you’re one of the one billion people who depend on overpriced cross-border remittance services.

But there’s another important aspect to being “borderless,” besides sending money to people around the world in the snap of a finger… and that’s preserving your own wealth over time.

In the late 1920’s, my great grandparents were wealthy business-owners in the thriving Jewish community of Frankfurt. Do you want to guess what happened next? In those days, the only “wealth” they could transfer to their children as they shoved them onto trains to save their lives were a few pieces of jewelry. Their wealth, homes, businesses, bank savings — and their lives — were taken by the Nazis.

Bitcoin may not fix the sometimes evil nature of humans in large groups, but it fixes the monetary ramifications. Today, If you need to flee your country (or just move under positive circumstances), you can hop on a plane with 24 words on a piece of paper — or even stored in your head. Your Bitcoin, unlike your houses, businesses, gold, and bank balances, will be there waiting for you when you land.

You see, because Bitcoin exists in the blockchain (and not on your devices or bank balances), it can go with you wherever your keys go. It’s always there, in the blockchain, wherever you are, and it will stay there until you or someone with your keys decides to move it. Bitcoin therefore allows you to store and transmit wealth and value across time, borders, and regimes.

11. Bitcoin gives you privacy

I don’t know about you, but I don’t remember when exactly I opted in to having the government and the banking system know my every transaction. Of course, I have nothing to hide — but why is it, for example, that the American government demands to see all of my bank balances and transactions worldwide, even though I haven’t lived there for a decade? I am a resident of a foreign nation, paying taxes in that foreign nation — why does Uncle Sam have his nose up my ass?

But let’s forget about governments for a second, and talk about corporations. Do you really trust corporations to know your every move? Do you want Bank of America, Chase, and VISA to know everything you buy? Do you want them to know where you travel, and when? Do you trust them not to sell that information to advertisers? And do you like it that the credit bureaus and banks have a full record of every account you’ve ever had and every missed payment you’ve ever made?

Unfortunately, there is no way for you to “opt out” of this invasion of privacy — unless you want to keep your cash under the mattress.

OR, you could use Bitcoin. Not only is your Bitcoin balance private and pseudonymous, but every time you transact in your Bitcoin wallet, it creates a new address. Sending money? It sends that money, and then routes the change to a new address. Receiving money? You’ll receive it on a fresh, 1-time-use address. These addresses can never be connected to another, and they contain no information about who you transacted with or what you bought. So, while everything is public and traceable on the Bitcoin blockchain, as long as you don’t re-use addresses, none of it is ever linked to you, your identity, or the things you purchase.

You might think that this makes Bitcoin the perfect tool for criminals, but it could never compete with cash for that. At least Bitcoin transactions can be traced and followed — even if pseudonymously. And plus, if we were going to resist technologies just because they make it easier for criminals, we’d have to get rid of nearly every technology ever invented, from guns to the internet and everything in between.

12. Bitcoin costs nothing to store.

You might think that this privilege of super-secure, private money would cost something, right? After all, your bank charges you a $25 fee to keep your account open, and your broker a 1% management fee to manager your portfolio. Even robo-brokers charge 0.15%! But not Bitcoin. With Bitcoin, you can store hundreds of millions of dollars, without suffering inflation, and without paying any ridiculous fees of any kind. It lives on the blockchain, free, forever.

Which leads me to…

13. Bitcoin is cheaper to transfer — no matter the amount

Perhaps you’ve heard, though, that Bitcoin transactions are expensive. Or that “Bitcoin doesn’t scale” because so many people are using it.

And yes, it’s true — at peak times, an “on-chain” Bitcoin transaction on the main Bitcoin network can cost as much as $30. Most times, it averages between $0.38 and $5. This is, compared to the early days, incredibly expensive! For example, in April of 2020, someone set $1.1M worth of Bitcoin for just $0.68.

And yet, it’s still much cheaper than the legacy banking system. Let’s start with large transactions. With the legacy system, you’re looking at $15 for a domestic wire transfer, and $25 international — regardless of the size. And they limit you to $50,000, most of the time, so if you’re making a downpayment on a new house, prepare to pay that fee multiple times over. And any time a store accepts credit card, you’re actually paying 3% more, whether or not you pay by credit card, since the vendor is paying $0.30 + 2.9% and passing that on to you. For a $5,000 purchase, that’s a staggering $150! So, without a doubt, Bitcoin wins on a transaction cost basis for large questions.

But what about small transactions? After all, $0.38 is a lot if you’re just buying a cup of coffee (though that’s pretty much what the cafe is paying over the Visa network). For that, Bitcoin has something called “The Lightning Network.” It’s a second-layer on top of the Bitcoin blockchain, and it works a little bit differently. Think of it kind of like Venmo or PayPal. After all, you don’t set up a wire transfer every time you want to pay your friend for lunch, right? You use an app built on top of the “settlement layer” of the banking system. Lightning network is just like that — except it’s instant, much more secure, much more private, and virtually free (PayPal/Venmo charges 3% if you pay by credit card or pay a business).

No matter the size of the payment, Bitcoin is cheaper — and that’s before you even consider cross-border conversions. Living in Israel, I often transfer USD to ILS, paying $25 per wire transfer and hundreds of dollars in conversion fees — and that’s using the more affordable and innovative services like Wise.com. If I used the bank’s conversion rate, I’d lose even more. If I were unbanked, and had to rely on Western Union, it would be even more!

Bitcoin fixes this. Transactions on-chain can be as low as $0.06 each, and off-chain are exponentially less than that.

14. Bitcoin is faster (yes, seriously)

Another common argument against Bitcoin is that it’s “slow.” Transactions settle every 10 minutes, on average, and you might wait hours or even days for a low-fee transaction to clear. This is true, and yet, I think people who claim this are looking at the wrong comparisons.

First of all, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to send money overseas, but it’s really slow. My “main” bank doesn’t even do foreign wires, so it takes 2–3 days to transfer to another account that does. Then it’s another 2–3 days to transfer to the overseas bank, or, if you don’t want to get screwed on the conversion rate, 2–3 days to transfer to Wise.com. From there, they’ll take their sweet time confirming it — as much as a week, before taking another day or so to send. Finally, the money lands in your foreign account — only to be held for 2–3 days till they can confirm it. All in all, you’re looking at as much as 3 weeks. Trust me, I know.

But that’s just the beginning of it, because that transaction isn’t really “settled.” When a Bitcoin transaction is confirmed, it’s confirmed forever. It may take two hours — or even two days in extreme scenarios — but once it’s settled, the funds are in your wallet forever. Compare this to a credit card transaction — which takes 2–3 business days to appear in the vendor’s bank account. But that’s just the beginning. Have you ever had your credit card stolen, only to call the credit card company and get your money back? Guess what? That vendor loses 100% of the money — and the products, if they shipped them. You can make these types of claims as far as 90 days out — meaning that the transactions are not truly “settled” at all. The same is true of PayPal and other services. You can even call and get a wire transfer reversed in many cases. But if a payment can be reversed, it’s not really settled, is it? That means that some traditional transactions aren’t really settled for as much as 90 days. By this comparison, Bitcoin’s 10–30 minute average looks pretty good, doesn’t it?

Then again, if it’s still too slow, you can always use Lightning Network, where transactions are settled, permanently, in fractions of a second. Can your bank do that?

15. Bitcoin is more convenient

Today, our phones are pretty much our command centers. They handle our calendars, our communications, and even some of our finances. Why, then, are we still using “legacy” banking systems that are not internet native? Why, in 2021, is my bank still asking me to come in to a branch to perform certain transactions or open an account?! Why am I still carrying around credit cards, debit cards, and cash? “Do you have Cash App? PayPal? Venmo? Cash? Zelle? Do you take credit cards?” Ugh. Why do I need to manage so many different channels? And why, for god’s sake, do I need to type in account numbers or other details?

On Bitcoin, all transactions are treated the same, whether they’re large or small. You might choose to transact on Layer 1 or on Lightning Network, but the experience is still the same. Instead of typing in my friend’s account number, phone number, or whatever number, I just scan a QR code. I click “send,” and boom! The money shows up on their side. And unlike other solutions like Venmo or PayPal, once it’s there — it’s there. No additional account to manage, and no need to withdraw funds to my account, because the transaction layer is the settlement layer (at least for on-chain transactions. For lightning, you can keep them in your Lightning wallet or transfer them to an on-chain wallet if you like).

There are no account numbers to remember. No need to add someone to your contacts. No need to sign up for a bunch of services. No need to deposit or take out cash at the ATM. Just scan, click, send. Simple!

This is especially true when you compare Bitcoin to the only other thing that’s ever come close to “hard money” in human history — gold. Gold is a really great store of value, and very inflation-resistant, but it’s notoriously difficult to divide, send, carry, and secure. I’ll stick to Bitcoin.

16. Bitcoin is the future

When you really look at it, it’s not possible for the legacy banking system to continue business as usual in a fully digital and connected world. There are too many intermediaries. Too many middlemen. Too many boundaries. The system is completely fragmented by country, by bank, and by payment layer. My Zelle + Chase account can’t send to your Venmo / CapitalOne Account, much less your Wise / Lloyd’s Account, your Remitly + HSBC account, or your Payoneer + Whatever account. And even if it could, it would be expensive, between foreign transaction fees, conversion fees, transfer fees, withdrawal fees, and probably even fee-payment fees. The entire system is a mess. A slow, expensive, and archaic mess.

Bitcoin is not only the first universal, international currency. It’s also the world’s first internet-native currency.

Created by the internet, for the internet, it is a payment system designed for a world without borders or friction. Information moves freely today — why wouldn’t money?

If you look objectively at Bitcoin versus the legacy banking system, you’ll come to the same conclusion: it’s headed the way of the telegram and the fax machine.

17. Bitcoin is fair (The rules are the same for everyone).

One of the things I hate the most about the legacy banking system is just how incredibly unfair it is. Consider this, for example: as someone with a high credit score, I have access to products that many people don’t. I can get credit cards with awesome perks and cash-back rewards, sign-on bonuses, miles, and a huge line of credit right when I sign up. I can get “premium” bank accounts which pay higher interest rates and charge lower or zero fees for many types of services. Even when I do get charged a fee, I can just pick up the phone, call the bank, and get that fee waived instantly. Plus I get better access to and lower interest rates on loans. Banks are essentially chasing me down to try and recruit me as a customer, throwing an endless supply of money and perks my way, even though they make less money off me, since I never carry a negative balance or take out loans besides mortgages.

Compare this to someone who wasn’t born into a privileged, white, middle class American family. Assuming they are banked (a big assumption), they have a very different experience than I do. They pay higher interest rates, get access to inferior products, and have less access to capital. What’s more, the bank is constantly doing everything in its power to charge them fees wherever possible. How is this fair, that the people with the least money are paying the most and getting the least?

Oh, and don’t even get me started on the idea of banks being bailed out every time their own irresponsible behavior gets them in trouble. Or hedge fund managers playing by their own set of rules.

Bitcoin doesn’t operate like this, because Bitcoin doesn’t know (or care) who you are.

To Bitcoin, you are just the holder of a set of keys. Those keys may have ₿0.001, or they may have ₿1,000,000. Either way, the protocol is not going to give you any sort of preferential treatment. It’s not going to give you access to features that other people don’t have, charge you fees because you don’t have enough, or give you better transaction rates because of how much you’re worth. Bitcoin is the great equalizer: no matter how much you have, you have the same access and experience as everyone else. Plus, whenever the system improves, those benefits are rolled out equally to every single user on the network.

Which is a lovely segue into…

18. Bitcoin is hope for billions of unbanked

At this point, you might be thinking… “hey, this Bitcoin thing is starting to sound pretty good.” But let me blow your mind a little further: you are probably not the target audience for Bitcoin.

The real target audience for Bitcoin is the 2–2.5 billion people who are unbanked or underbanked — including an estimated 50 million Americans.

These are people who have access to mobile phones, but no way to safely store their money. They’re people who are forced to rely on predatory check cashing and remittance services that take as much as 10% of their earnings to perform a simple service. The other real target audience for Bitcoin is the billions of people worldwide living under fiscally irresponsible regimes who devalue and debase their currencies. Places like Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and Argentina, to name just a few. Also, Paraguay, Iran, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Brazil… need I continue?

For you and I, Bitcoin is an incredible new technology that will give us incremental value and convenience compared to our existing monetary instruments. We don’t really NEED Bitcoin. But for these individuals, Bitcoin is hope.

It’s a way out of a broken system that has impoverished them and wiped out their savings generation after generation. It’s an on-ramp to joining the global economy, with a currency that holds its value, crosses borders, and is increasingly accepted everywhere.

Sure, you and I can argue the merits of Bitcoin, the challenges it faces, and the future potential of the technology. But billions of people don’t have that luxury. For them, Bitcoin is the only way out.

19. Bitcoin is fully permissionless

So how can Bitcoin succeed where legacy banking (and central banking) have failed? I mean, over 2 billion people have been marginalized by this system — there’s no way that some geeky, open-source money from the internet can do any better.

Oh, but it can, it will, and it is!

You see, to join Bitcoin, you just have to download a wallet and open an app. You don’t even need to be online continuously (though most of the “base of the pyramid” do have access to mobile data today).

There is no ID verification. No sign up process. No approvals. Nothing. Bitcoin is completely permissionless, both as a user, and as a developer.

That means that I cannot stop you from using it — and you cannot stop me. You cannot force me to use a specific wallet, either. Just look at El Salvador, which is airdropping $30 worth of Bitcoin (now legal tender) to each of its citizens, but only if they want to use the official wallet app. They’re free to use any wallet they want — and so are you. You can open as many wallets as you want, move your funds as many times as you want, move from one wallet software to another by restoring your keys, and more. And most importantly, you can now save your money in an asset that appreciates. At no point in any part of this process do you need permission or approval.

That’s a really big deal if you are unbanked.

Which leads us to…

20. Bitcoin is completely censorship resistant

When you join the Bitcoin economy, a few things will probably stand out to you. First of all, you’ll likely realize that “your” money is “yours” in name only (and, quite frankly, hardly “money” at all, but a system of IOUs — but that’s besides the point). In order to actually use your own money, you need to ask permission. You need approvals. And guess what? Your bank doesn’t have to give you those approvals.

Don’t believe me? Just try the simple act of transferring money into a Bitcoin exchange. After all, it’s your money, isn’t it? You should be allowed to do whatever you want with it. But no. The legacy banking system has decided for you that they want to “protect” (prevent) you from getting mixed up in this cryptocurrency thing. Depending on the bank, they’ll block your transaction — or even close your account.

Now, if you think that was hard, try sending some money to that freelance software developer you’ve been working with in Tehran. Or donating to Wikileaks. Or even just sending a donation to a new charity organization in Gaza.

You can’t. Because the legacy banking system will censor you. They will block your ability to transact. And while I’m the last person who believes it should be easy to fund terrorism, you have to ask: do they really need to have this power over us?

Governments already have a monopoly on the use of force, and unprecedented ability to surveil us online and in the real world — shouldn’t that be enough for them to combat terrorism, money laundering, and fraud? Do they really need to block my $20 donation to a family in Syria?

21. Bitcoin reduces government control

As you’ve probably gathered by this point, Bitcoin is pretty anti-establishment. Born out of the cypher-punk movement, freedom is part of its very DNA. (As my friend Ari points out, this is kind of ironic, considering the NSA invented the SHA-256 encryption algorithm that it uses!)

We’ve already talked a bit about how Bitcoin reduces the government’s ability to censor, confiscate, or monitor your finances — but it goes much, much further.

Governments all over the world manipulate the economy, and the lives of their citizenry, by manipulating the money. This isn’t some crazy conspiracy theory — it’s the basis of Keynesian economics and the central banking system as a whole. The government, in all their wisdom, tweaks levers such as interest rates and money supply to try and get the economy to stabilize, without acknowledging that the real problem in most modern economies is what they call “quantitative easing” — i.e. they just can’t seem to stop printing money.

This control extends far beyond unemployment rates and inflation, into geopolitics. Wars are funded by governments with the power to print an endless supply of money. It’s the reason that World War I grew from a small, regional conflict to a multi-year global disaster (As Saifedean Ammous explains in The Bitcoin Standard, governments at the time suspended the Gold Standard to print more money out of thin air and fund their militaries). If the government couldn’t print money, they’d have to pay for wars through taxation alone — and they’d need voter support to do it. How many wars do you think would have been avoided if they had to be supported by the majority of voters enough to pay out of pocket?

Bitcoin changes all that. The money supply is fixed, and it’s value is determined by supply and demand. This means that the more citizens all over the world transition their wealth away from fiat currencies and into Bitcoin, the less power the government-backed fiat currencies have, and the less power their purveyors have as a whole.

I’m not anti-government by any means. I rather like having healthcare, a police force, and a system of law. But I do wonder: it took centuries for us to come out of “the dark ages” with the understanding that the state and religion should be separate. How long will it take for us to realize that the same is true of our money?

22. Bitcoin is more environmentally friendly (Yes, you read that right)

Speaking of war and governments, I want to take a moment to touch on the big “environmental” concern of Bitcoin, with a couple of thoughts.

You’ve probably heard that Bitcoin consumes a ton of energy — as much as some nation-states — and that’s true. Sure, an increasing percentage of that energy is renewable, carbon-free (a recent report from the Bitcoin Mining council states 54%), or otherwise wasted, but that’s actually besides the point. The question is, what is the alternative, and what do we get in exchange?

Comparing Bitcoin to the legacy financial system is revealing. Just the printing of paper money alone consumes a tremendous amount of electricity — and fresh water — while producing millions of tons of CO2:

But that’s just a fraction of the energy used to run the “fiat” monetary system. You then have to factor in all of the banks, which consume an estimated 100 terawatts of energy per year to power their servers and offices. That’s twice as much as the entire Bitcoin network!

But it doesn’t end there. Because you then have to consider all the ancillary energy use and CO2 emissions that prop up the fiat monetary system. How much are countries spending in defense and military budgets to secure their economies against cyberattacks? How much military spending are fiat currencies financing with their endless ability to print money? How much are countries worldwide spending to convince us that “the full faith and credit” of their government is actually worth something?

If I were to flip a switch, right now, and replace the legacy financial system with global adoption of Bitcoin, I bet we could save hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 every year.

But that’s still not the point. Because, you see,

even if Bitcoin consumed more energy than the legacy banking system — it would be worth it.

Just look at all of the problems Bitcoin is solving. Poverty. Inflation. Remittance. Fraud. Security. Economic disenfranchisement and discrimination. Privacy. Look at how many people Bitcoin can (and will) lift out of poverty. If all Bitcoin did was provide us with sound, borderless money, it would be worth it — especially if you ask someone who has lived their entire life unbanked and on hyperinflated fiat money. After all, money is the foundation of our entire society. Money — as a tool for collaboration — is the reason why we as a species are enjoying such unprecedented peace and prosperity. If better money isn’t worth the energy expenditure and carbon emissions, then what the hell is?

23. Bitcoin is a hotbed of open-source innovation

Over the last couple of decades, the banking industry has given us very few real innovations. You have a card. You can tap the card instead of swiping it, or connect it to your phone to pay your friends. Big. Freaking. Whup. The real innovations, the banking industry keep for themselves. Innovations like algorithms that reorder your transactions so that you get charged more overdraft fees. Or innovations like the types of shitty financial derivatives that caused the 2008 global financial meltdown. They’re an innovative bunch — just not in the right ways.

Bitcoin, on the other hand, is different. Because it’s permissionless and open-source, anyone and everyone can innovate for it. You can build apps on top of it that solve new and novel problems. No applications, approvals, or permissions required. And, for the most part, everything that’s being built is open-source. Nobody can trick you into paying fees you don’t anticipate, because you can examine the code yourself. And if you don’t like that code, you can write some better code yourself.

This is why Bitcoin is innovating and improving at a break-neck speed. Multi-signature wallets. Taproot. Schnorr Signatures. Lightning Network. Smart Contracts. Decentralized Exchanges. You might not know what any of that means, but these are all incredible innovations being built, open source, on the Bitcoin blockchain. And it’s all happening incredibly quickly.

Which leads me to…

24. This is just the beginning for Bitcoin.

The best metaphor to help people understand this comes from Andreas Antonopolous, a thought leader who has converted millions of Bitcoin acolytes all over the world. He reminds us that Bitcoin today is roughly where the internet was in 1997 or 1998. We could have never imagined things like Zoom, Netflix, Oculus VR, or Facebook Live back then. We could have never imagined we’d be turning on our lights, watching our nanny cams, and unlocking our doors over the internet from miles away. All we saw was email and basic web pages.

Similarly, we have no idea what will be built on Bitcoin over the next 20 years. It’s still early. But the potential has already demonstrated itself to be immeasurable. As Andreas likes to remind us, Bitcoin isn’t just “the money of the internet,” it’s also “the internet of money” — and payments is just the first application, like email was for the internet. And yes, there were plenty of people who said that the internet was a geeky fad, too.

You might feel like you’re “too late” to get involved, but you’re not. It’s still 1997 on the Internet — and you are still one of the first 200 million people to get into Bitcoin.

It’s a deep rabbit hole, and there is a lot to learn and unlearn — but it is well worth it. After all, this is universal human freedom — economic and otherwise — that we are talking about here.

— -

I hope that this article has inspired you to take a deeper look into Bitcoin and it’s potential.

If it has, make sure to follow me on Twitter @jonathanalevi and consider subscribing to my upcoming YouTube channel. And if you’re ready to go deeper and take the orange pill, check out my Bitcoin MasterClass, which will teach you the ins and outs of safely buying and holding Bitcoin.

Keep HODLing

JL

Over the last few days and weeks, the news has become more and more — well… terrifying. I think, at this point, it’s safe to say that if you’re not at least somewhat scared, then you’re not paying attention. And so, for those of us who are paying attention, we are eager to find a way to reduce anxiety and stress… Amiright?

First and foremost, it’s important that we all do our part. Social distancing, hand washing, and staying home as much as possible are the only proven defense we have against the Coronavirus. So on behalf of the entire international community, I humbly ask that you take these measures seriously.

But of course, those steps are only designed to protect our physical health…

…What about our emotional health during times like these?

The fact of the matter is this: nobody knows what is going to happen in the next few months. This is because are so many variabyles. Will people adhere to social distancing? Will government aid packages roll out in time? What about a “Hail Mary” vaccine? Will the healthcare system hold up? How will businesses withstand this? Can the banks survive this? And many, many more. With so many variables at play here, even epidemiologists and macroeconomists are unsure what’s going to happen next.

That uncertainty — like all uncertainty in life — is a major source of stress, anxiety, and fear. This, above all else, is why people are hoarding sanitation products, obsessively checking the news, and venting their anger online. They are trying to claim back a little bit of certainty, control, and comfort, when there’s almost none to be found.

But here’s the thing: almost none of those things (besides social distancing) are going to change the fact that this is the new reality — at least for now. This thing is happening, it’s already tanked the economy, and while we can slow it down or ease it — we can’t stop it. We just have to face it.

So, as I mentioned before: stress, anxiety, and fear.

It seems to me that given this fact, the best course of action is to figure out how the heck we, as individuals, can cope with that stress, reduce anxiety, and overcome fear.

And that’s why I’m writing to you today.

After interviewing 270+ of the world’s top health experts and elite performers, I’ve learned a great deal about how the world’s most rugged individuals handle stress.

Some of these suggestions may be new to you. Some of them, you may be hearing for the 10,000th time. But yet, let me ask you: how many of them do you consistently practice? During this tremendously scary time, reminders like these can be lifesavers. Not to mention, what else can you do while you’re locked up indoors?

MEDITATE… A LOT.

I know, I know. You’ve heard it all before. But again: how consistently have you been meditating? In study after study, meditation has been proven to ease stress and distractibility, reduce anxiety, and control fear. The reasoning behind this is simple. Contrary to popular belief, meditation is NOT “clearing your mind,” a religious practice, or hippie-dippie woohoo (at least not per se). Meditation is simply learning to control your mind and your thoughts, and to redirect them when they venture off course.

In this regard, I like to think of meditation as a muscle. Whether it’s mindfulness-based, breath-focused, on mantra-driven, all meditation teaches us one primary thing. To focus on something specific, and as soon as you notice your mind wandering off, bring it back to that thing.

When a trained meditator’s mind “ventures off” into something like fearful thinking, they are able to catch it — almost immediately — and redirect their thoughts back to something more calming and productive. This is why experienced meditators are able to bypass their opioid receptors and reduce the sensations of chronic pain. It’s also why in fearful times, meditation can mean the difference between getting sucked in to a doom spiral and being able to focus on the positive till the storm blows over.

But first, you have to train that muscle.

Fortunately, it doesn’t take much to get started. Today, there are a plethora of great apps out there, from Headspace and Calm to the more techy Muse. There are also millions of free audio recordings, YouTube videos, and written tutorials out there. But at the end of the day, you don’t need any of that. All you need to meditate is your breath, and a few minutes.

Now. For those of you who are meditators, let me remind you: during times of increased stress, it’s a great idea to double your dose. In fact, this reminds me of an apocryphal story about the great Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi:

One day, during a major crisis, Gandhi came in to his office to find his aids scurrying around frantically.

“Sir, we must get started, the people need to hear from their leader,” they shouted.

“Alright. I just need one hour to meditate,” replied Gandhi.

“Sir, with all due respect, this is a serious crisis! We don’t have an hour,” they replied.

“Alright,” said Gandhi, “then I will need two hours.”

PRACTICE “INFORMATION DIETING”

..in the next few weeks or months, what you see in the news is going to provide more fear than comfort

It might come as a surprise that I, the poster boy for “learn more, read more, change the world” would advocate limiting your information consumption. And yet, during scary times like this, this is one of the absolute best things you can do to preserve your sanity.

To be clear, I’m not talking about reducing all forms of information. On the contrary — consume as many books and online courses as you possibly can! (Here’s a free copy of my latest book, if you’re looking for a suggestion).

I’m also not talking about sticking your head in the sand and pretending there’s nothing going on. That would be downright irresponsible.

But there is a certain point where the marginal value of each additional news article, tweet, and statistic goes to zero — and even dips into the negative. There’s a also big difference between checking the major updates on a pre-set schedule and obsessively refreshing 3 different news websites hoping for some relief.

Chances are, in the next few weeks or months, what you see in the news is going to provide more fear than comfort. It stands to reason, then, that you should aim for the “minimum effective dose.” Ask yourself: what is the minimum amount you can consume, without sacrificing your ability to protect yourself and your family?

I know. It’s hard. I, too, have been glued to every possible source of new information for the better part of a week, trying to get a feel for what’s going on. But do I feel any better as a result? Far from it. Since the initial wave of health and safety recommendations, have I learned anything new that will help me weather this storm? Not really. In the end, then, I just have more stress, more anxiety, and lesstime to spend on other things.

So, here’s what I suggest: come up with a schedule, and set limits. As my dear friend Dr. Benjamin Hardy reminds us, Willpower Doesn’t Work. Left to our own devices, we will get sucked in, and most of us will lose control. That’s why my wife and I have ratcheted up the Screen Time restrictions on our iPhones (which neither of us have our own passcode for). That’s also why, if I want to avoid getting sucked in to the news, I’ll be locking the TV remote in my kSafe.

Your methods may vary, but I suggest checking in once — maybe twice — per day, on a set schedule, and then spending your time consuming more beneficial and productive information… or coming up with a plan to turn these lemons into lemonade. Which leads me to…

ENGAGE IN PRODUCTIVE DISTRACTION

Know how you’ve always wished you “had the time” to learn that new skill, write that book, or play that instrument? Well… guess what? Now you do

Aside from meditation, one of the best ways to reduce anxiety and keep your mind from venturing into “the dark place” is to keep it busy. For some, this may mean self-pacifying by binge-watching Netflix, playing video games, and so on. But, at the end of the day, if we end up being locked in for 6 months… what will you have to show for it?

Instead, I recommend engaging in what I’m calling “productive distraction.” Know how you’ve always wished you “had the time” to learn that new skill, write that book, or play that instrument? Well… guess what? Now you do. You now have the perfect excuse to stay home and focus on learning and improving.

Whether this crisis lasts a week, a month, or a year, it will end. Think forward to that day for a moment. “Coronavirus Defeated!” the headlines read. On that day, how do you want to feel about how you spent your time? Do you want to make excuses, such as “well, there was nothing I could do?” Or do you want to come out of this saying “wow. Look at how much I’ve grown. I’m more ready than ever to go out and achieve what I’ve always dreamt of. This time didn’t slow my momentum down at all. If anything, it sped it up!”

Of course, “productive distraction” can mean much more than sharpening the axe in preparation for future success. It could also mean taking action towards your future success… for example:

RECOGNIZE THIS OPPORTUNITY — AND ACT ON IT

It’s a simple fact of history. Nearly every great fortune starts or grows during times of economic hardship. “When others are greedy, be scared,” said Warren Buffet on investing, “but when others are scared, be greedy.” Of course, this is not me condoning you to hoard resources or avoid helping those around you. But it isan invitation to look at this economic downturn as an opportunity.

One of the best ways that we can combat anxiety and fear is by taking action. This, again, is why people are hoarding toilet paper and hand sanitizer; it’s an easy action they can take to feel like they’re “doing something.” The thing is, 10 years from now, hoarding toilet paper will have no effect on how you came out of this crisis. Other actions will.

Here’s an example. Have you been dreaming of buying your own home in the next decade? Well, it’s your lucky day. Interest rates are now 0%, and most investors are running for the hills. Sure, you might not be able to go out house-hunting just yet, but there’s still plenty you can do. You can use this time to research markets and neighborhoods, get all your loan application documents lined up, email a few brokers, and more. When we’re all allowed out into the world again, you’ll have a head-start over others, and be able to get the best deals.

In fact, this is exactly what I did during the 2008 financial crisis. I spent 8 months or so preparing and shopping, so that by 2009, I was ready to make the deal of a lifetime on my first home. The rental income from that property sustained my quality of life for a decade. And recently, I sold for more than twice what I’d paid.

Or how about starting a business? Sure, you might be thinking that this is the worst time to start a business — but you’d be mistaken. The list of companies founded or expanded during recessions is long and impressive one. It includes IBM, Disney, Microsoft, Tesla, Netflix, Amazon, CNN, and literally thousands more.

There’s a reason for this: during a recession, everything is on sale. It’s almost like playing the game of entrepreneurship in “easy mode.” Loans are cheap (or free), the labor market is full of people looking for work, and the competitive playing field has been leveled by layoffs and bankruptcies. Not to mention, many people receive unemployment checks that lessen the risk of starting a new venture.

So if you’ve always dreamt of starting your own business — don’t be discouraged. Now is the time. (Also, given the whole quarantine thing, if you feel like now is the perfect time to get into the online education, check out Branding You™ Academy)

In short: you have a huge opportunity to set yourself (and your family) up for the rest of your lives. Play your cards right, focus your energy on taking the right actions, and this coming recession could be the best thing that ever happened to you.

You just need to stay positive, stay optimistic, and stay focused. Which leads me to…

GRATITUDE JOURNAL

Here’s another one I’m sure you’ve heard about — but how many of you do it every single day? In 2018, Dr. Benjamin Hardy finally convinced me to give this one a chance, and I’m so glad he did. It’s been the easiest and most rewarding habit I’ve ever picked up.

What does gratitude have to do with stress, anxiety, and fear, you might ask? Umm… everything! As I’ve come to learn, gratitude is a not only a mindset and an emotion — it’s a muscle. The same is true of fear and negativity. In some sense, this is a lot like the fable of the two wolves:

“There is a fight raging inside me,” an old Cherokee man says to his grandson.

“It is a terrible fight, between two wolves. One is evil; he is anger, fear, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, pessimism, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, and ego.”

“The other is good,” he continued. “He is joy, peace, love, optimism, hope, serenity, kindness, generosity, empathy, truth, compassion, and faith.”

“The same fight is raging inside you–and inside every other person you meet, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee smiled, and replied, “The one you feed.”

To put it simply, gratitude journaling is feeding the good wolf — consistently, deliberately, and every single day. With the world in the state it is right now, the bad wolf inside each of us is force-fed nonstop. Hateful words. Terrifying news. People turning against one another. While we should do all we can to starve this wolf out (information dieting), it’s not enough if we don’t deliberately feed the good wolf.

While the metaphor is a beautiful one, it’s also backed by the scientific literature. Plenty of scholarly publications such as Harvard and UC Berkeley have touted the benefits and research on daily gratitude. Whether it’s showing gratitude for what we have, or showing gratitude to others, the results are very convincing. In study after study, people who practice gratitude — who feed the good wolf — are happier and more able to handle stress.

This, again, is an easy one: pick up a journal, every morning, and write out 10 things you are grateful for. They can be big or small, silly or serious. They can repeat themselves every day, or vary it up. None of that is important. What is important is this: every time you do this simple routine, you train your brain, through gratitude, to look for the good in your life. You train your reticular activation system to seek out and pay attention to the positive. And in times like these, that can make a major difference.

STUDY THE STOICS TO REDUCE ANXIETY

“Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed, and you haven’t been.”

In recent years, thanks to the work of folks like Ryan Holiday and Tim Ferriss, Stoic philosophy has seen a resurgence in popularity.

Dating back to the 3rd century AD, Stoicism is the Ancient Greek philosophy observed by many of history’s greatest figures. These include Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius — once the most powerful man on earth. At its core, it is a philosophy designed to help mankind deal with great uncertainty, fear, and pressure. That’s probably why people in power, from kings and queens to economists and founding fathers, are so drawn to it.

The central tenants of Stoicism, as I understand them, are pretty simple. There are really only a few core teachings. Chief among them is the reminder that life is unpredictable, and that we have virtually no control over what happens to us. In this regard, Stoicism shares two defining threads with Buddhism: acceptance and detachment.

In Stoicism, we learn not to fear misfortune, but to embrace it. To practice it. To become intimately acquainted with that which we fear most.

Stoicism teaches us to train our perception against seeing things as “good” or “bad.” In the words of Marcus Aurelius: “Choose not to be harmed and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed, and you haven’t been.”

What’s more, Stoicism tirelessly reminds us just how insignificant we and our troubles are. We are all here for a short time, and then quickly forgotten. Our entire lives are not even so much as a blip on the radar of our planet’s multi-billion year history. While this might fill you with dread at first, the Stoics would argue the contrary. Lighten up, man: nothing really matters.

Ultimately, the most important teaching of Stoicism is this: you don’t control what happens, but you control how you respond. Nothing could be more true during these times of fear and uncertainty. If you take just one message away from this post, let it be that. YOU control how you feel, think, and respond to this crisis. YOU control how it will define and influence you.

Of course, there is plenty more to learn from Stoic philosophy. Some have devoted their entire lives to the study of the subject. But that is outside the scope of this blog post. And plus, this is the perfect type of “productive distraction” to keep you learning and growing. You’ve got the time — so go read up.

A great starting place is Ryan Holiday’s Daily Stoic. For those looking to step it up, Seneca’s Letters From A Stoic or this translation of Meditations by Marcus Aurelius are both essentials. Personally, I particularly enjoy reading the interpretations and contextualizations of modern thinkers.

USE “FEAR SETTING” TO NEUTRALIZE YOUR FEAR

One such “modern thinker” on the topic of Stoicism is Tim Ferriss, who popularized the idea of a “fear setting exercise.” Inspired by Stoic exercise of premeditation malorum (“the pre-meditation of evils”), the idea is simple:

Imagine, with as much gruesome detail as possible, what could go wrong.

Not only does this help you prepare and strategize your response (see above re: opportunity), but it also can be deeply liberating. When you envision, in gory detail, the worst possible scenario, you will generally find that even that isn’t so bad.

Once you reach that “rock bottom” of doom and gloom, ask yourself: “then what?” What steps can you take to make things better or repair the damage?

Worried that this recession will cost you your job? That you’ll lose your home as a result? That’s a legitimate concern. So, if it happens… what will you do? Chances are, you could move in with a family member until you’re back on your feet.

Worried that the Coronavirus may claim the life of someone you love? Yes, that would be deeply painful. But would life eventually go on? How would you then honor that person’s memory going forward?

The point of this exercise, of course, is not to become apathetic to what may happen (though, in its purest form, that is exactly what Stoicism would advise). Instead, the main objective is to come to terms with the worst-case scenario. To look it in the eye, and accept the possibility that it will happen.

Then, and only then, are you able to envision your plan of action. And once you do that, you’ll finally be able to stop obsessing over something that may or may not even happen.

In the words of Mark Twain, “I am an old man and have known a great many troubles, but most of them never happened.”

DRINK CAMOMILE TEA (SERIOUSLY)

With the philosophical stuff out of the way, let’s talk about reducing your physiological stress.

A year or two ago, I experienced my first serious anxiety attack. Without any exaggeration, I can confidently say that I was freaking the f*** out.

So you can imagine how I reacted when my mother’s sage advice was to “drink two cups of camomile tea.”

Keep in mind, I was so worked up that even Klonopin had little to no effect.

And yet, two cups of camomile tea later, I felt a lot better.

Upon further research, I discovered that there is actually a significant body of research backing the use of Camomile. Studies have shown it’s potent ability to lower cortisol levels, reduce anxiety, improve sleep, and more. Why two cups, you might ask? Most tea bags contain a relatively small amount of camomile — and dried up, low quality stuff at that. For this reason, if you’re sticking to tea-bags, it might make sense to double up.

UP YOUR MAGNESIUM INTAKE

I’ve heard it said approximately 1,200 chemical processes in the body require magnesium. As such, it makes sense that many of these processes would be vital for things like stress reduction, recovery, and hormone regulation. And yet, roughly 80% of the population is deficient in one form or another.

That’s probably why a some studies have shown that magnesium supplementation can help reduce anxiety. Though, to be fair, a meta-analysis of studies did find issues with research design and quality.

Regardless, the average adult male needs 400mg of magnesium per day (females 300mg). Due to topsoil depletion, it has become harder and harder to get that much through diet alone. For this reason, it can’t hurt to add in some good ol’ magnesium to your supplement regimen.

But beware: many of the mag supplements you find in stores use dirt-cheap magnesium oxide — a compound that has low bioavailability and absorption. According to the experts I’ve spoken to, different processes in the body need different types of magnesium, so it’s best to consume various types. What’s more, I’ve been repeatedly told to lean towards “chelated” types such as magnesium citrate, glycinate, threonate, and so on. As a rule of thumb, if it ends in “ate” instead of “ite,” it’s a better choice. (I’m partial to Natural Calm, because it’s easy to consume).

DIFFUSE LAVENDER OIL AT HOME

This is, I’m sure, another one that will have you rolling your eyes — especially you dudes out there. And yet, once again, study after study after study has shown that lavender oil can reduce stress, anxiety, blood pressure, and cortisol. Some studies determined that lavender does so by bolstering the immune and autonomic nervous systems. This isn’t a post on boosting immunity, but given what we’re up against, that’s a definite plus.

Personally, I choose to diffuse either Lavender or the “Peace” blend, both by DoTERRA. If you plan to do the same, I suggest signing up as a “wellness advocate,” so that you can get 25% off everything. It adds up pretty quickly.

TRY ASHWAGANDA

In addition to Camomile and Lavender, this little-known herb can be a real life-saver during times of stress and anxiety. A common ingredient in Ayurveda, Ashwaganda can reduce anxiety, cortisol, and overall stress. Personally, I take 700–1,100 mg of Ashwagandanightly to promote relaxation and keep the anxiety at bay.

While it may not be quite as effective as Lexapro, this all-natural alternative is safe to use, without lasting side effects or chemical dependencies. Enjoy!

GET INTIMATE

While you’re at home, with the nice Lavender aroma, tucked away in bed with your beloved… this might be a great time to, well, you know… “do it.”

The stress-relieving benefits of orgasms are well established in the medical literature. Plus, reaching climate can lower blood pressure and reduce anxiety. So, while you might feel like this is the worst time to think about sex and intimacy, your body will most likely disagree.

Here’s another fun fact: oxytocin, a hormone that makes us feel good, is not only released during romantic or sexual touch. Studies have shown that hugging your children — or even your dog — releases oxytocin in the same way that cuddling your partner does. So if you’re going through this time alone (and not taking the chance with Tinder right now), at least you and Fido can comfort one another.

So there you have it. A whole plethora of options to help manage your stress and reduce anxiety. Try one, or try them all — you have plenty of time to experiment! Whichever you choose, I guarantee that any one of them will do you more good than refreshing the news one more time.

“Well, to be honest, I gave up,” he said.

“You know how you said that less than 2% of people have that weird visualization disability? Well, it turns out, I’m one of them. When I close my eyes and try to visualize, all I see is black.”

“I don’t buy it,” I replied.

A bold statement…

…But how could I be so sure?

Well, for one, I had only a week earlier memorized a series of interesting findings from researchers at Dartmouth, The University of North Carolina, and the RIKEN-MIT Center for Neural Circuit Genetics at the Picower Institute describing the neurochemistry of episodic memory, and the new theory that memory is inextricably linked to location (and therefore novel visual stimuli) in the brain.

But beyond that, this is also a claim that I’ve heard (and overcome) all too many times before from students.

Lots of students believe that they have “aphantasia” — the inability to visualize

So… how could I prove to someone that in fact they don’t have a psychological condition…

…especially one like aphantasia, which is hardly even understood, much less testable?

Easy.

“Tell me,” I asked my friend. “Do you remember your parents’ home?”

“Of course,” he replied.

“In the kitchen, can you tell me where the stove is?” I continued, beginning to smirk.

“Yeah, it’s on the left side — why?” my friend inquired.

“What color is it…?” I began to close in on him.

“Off-white…” he sheepishly replied — the conclusion setting in.

“But how do you know? You can’t see it…?” I teased.

At this point, the light bulb lit up: “Oh, wow. I see what you’re saying!”

“Now, was that an electric stove, or a gas one?” I continued, gloating in my victory just a little.

“OK, you made your point — now you’re just showing off,” he fired back.

You see, there’s quite a bit of evidence that the overwhelming majority of us not only have the ability to visualize — but that it’s how our brains naturally remember.

That’s why, when students claim to have aphantasia, I generally call B.S.!

So why, then, is visualization so hard for so many people?

Why does it take weeks of training in our course to master it?

It’s simple:

Through decades of learning the “broken” way, in spoken lectures and with boring written materials, our natural ability to visualize and imagine is gradually bred out of us.

That’s why, despite the fact that visualization and imagination are crucial survival skills for the human species, so many people believe that they are unable to do it.

But fear not:

Not only can you learn to visualize (and therefore take full advantage of the world’s most powerful learning and memory techniques)…

…You can make it second nature.

All it takes is some diligent practice, and integrating visualization into your daily life.

Once you do that, you’ll be amazed at how easy it becomes to remember anything and everything you set your mind to.

Happy Learning!

JL

Listen to the audio version here.

One of the best ways to learn is by example.

As the years march forward and I teach more and more, I’ve realized that often times, a metaphor, analogy, or perfectly-timed example can be the difference between a student nodding and smiling and truly understanding.

This is applicable not only to small things — such as calculating curves in Algebra or understanding shapes in geometry — but also to very big things… Such as understanding and gaining benefit and insight from the life of another.

Allow me to explain.

People don’t often ask me to articulate what exactly I mean by the term “SuperLearner.” After all, the name is, I’d say, pretty self explanatory.

With that said, on the rare occasion that they do, I find that any explanation I could offer usually comes up somewhat short.

“A superlearner is someone who understands and implements a seemingly impossible amount of knowledge from any number of fields, quickly and effortlessly.”

Big whup.

But, if I throw out a name or two…

“A SuperLearner is someone like Elon Musk, Tim Ferriss, or Leonardo Da Vinci. Someone who can dominate various fields of business, art, and life to make a lasting impact on the world around them in ways that others simply cannot.”

Well, now we’re talking.

That’s why, in this series, which, as with all ongoing projects on this podcast, could very well start and end here, I want to explore the life of a specific SuperLearner.

To summarize, analyze, and extract any wisdom possible from the example they’ve lived, in order to see not only how they did it, but also what the outcome was.

In short: I want to show you all what’s really possible when someone has the ability to learn, unlearn, and relearn a diverse set of skills and subjects, and apply it to their lives and their careers.

There are a great number of SuperLearners that I could choose from for this first exploration…

Indeed, history has had no shortage of truly great learners and leaders.

But rather than borrow from the list of “the obvious” — the Benjamin Franklin’s and Alfred Einstein’s, I’d like to focus on a name that many of you probably have never heard of:

Theoretical physicist and Nobel Laureate Dr. Richard Feynman.

Richard Phillips Feynman was born on May 11th, 1918 in Queens, New York City, to Lucille and Melville Arthur Feynman, a homemaker and a sales manager respectively. Though he would eventually go on to become a brilliant genius, it’s worth noting that Feynman, like Albert Einstein, developed verbal skills very late: in fact, his third birthday came and went without Feynman uttering even a single word.

In time, Feynman developed, and as a child, immediately took an interest in science and engineering. From a very young age, he built and maintained a laboratory in his parents’ home, and delighted in fixing radios and other electronic devices. Feynman would often design and develop his own types of inventions, including ham radios to contact foreign countries and an electronic burglar alarm system to detect when his parents had tampered with his laboratory.

By the age of 15, Feynman had taught himself trigonometry, advanced algebra, infinite series, analytic geometry, and both differential and integral calculus.

Up until this point, you might be thinking that all this is very impressive. Indeed, it’s plain to see that Feynman was a gifted genius and autodidact, right?

But, alas, he had only begun to strut his skills as a SuperLearner

Feynman went on to attend MIT, and would soon tackle a new and unique learning challenge: developing social and romantic skills.

In his autobiographical and hilarious book, Surely You Must Be Joking, Mr. Feynman, we discover another side of Feynman… as an astute and life-long student of human interactions, a social engineer, and an all-out mischievous prankster.

Early on, Feynman realized that his social skills, particularly with the fairer sex, were lacking. But rather than resolve himself, like so many people in the hard sciences, to accept this as a tradeoff, Feynman set out to learn everything he could about this perplexing and foreign field of interest.

From his first days at MIT, all the way through to adulthood, Feynman surrounded himself with mentors and set up various types of learning experiments and challenges to try and understand interpersonal relationships. From the looks of it, he was extremely successful: Not only did he have quite a few female companions and beloved friends throughout his life, ranging from elite socialites, to nobel-prize winning physicists, to celebrities and prostitutes who treated him to drinks for the pleasure of his company… he was also married, and remarried, after the death of his wife.

Indeed, Feynman’s tales of his hilarious exploits paint the picture of someone who was well-liked by those around him, wherever he went, despite his early challenges and failure to understand social norms. As a reader, we are left with just one conclusion: Feynman took this as just another learning challenge, and like so many he would tackle in his life… he nailed it.

To give a bit of perspective on just how brilliant Feynman was, his first seminar at Princeton, delivered in 1939, was attended by none other than Albert Einstein, Wolfgang Pauli, and John von Neumann.

Indeed, even before Feynman went on to achieve greatness in his own field, he demonstrated an ability to apply his learning skill set to a great number of subjects. Feynman tells stories of how he was able to make an impact in a great many fields during his academic career, including biology, mathematics, engineering, and more. In every situation he found himself in, Feynman was able to quickly understand the challenges and ground rules of a completely foreign discipline, and often times see things that the subject matter experts weren’t able to.

To whit, Feynman once found himself giving a lecture on biology — a field completely unrelated to his own — at Harvard University. Another time, he welcomed as a lecturer on the subjects of on Mayan codices, hieroglyphics, astrology, and mathematics at UCLA and Caltech. He even made crucial safety findings and corrections to the architectural floor plans of buildings used during the Manhattan Project. To quote Feynman, “There I was, being something I’m not, again!”

Fortunately for all of us, Feynman focused in on physics as his one true love, and by his senior year at MIT, was quickly becoming recognized as one of the leading thinkers in the field. In fact, his senior thesis, “The Forces In Molecules,” was published. Today, it is known as the Hellmann-Feynman Theorem.

After MIT, Feynman was awarded a Putnam Fellowship and scored an unprecedented perfect score on the entrance exams to Princeton University. He was admitted, despite prejudice among the administration over his Jewish roots.

To give a bit of perspective on just how brilliant Feynman was, his first seminar at Princeton, delivered in 1939, was attended by none other than Albert Einstein, Wolfgang Pauli, and John von Neumann.

Before that happened, though, the US became involved in World War II, and like most of the great minds of his generation, Feynman was compelled to help. He was recruited by Robert Oppenheimer, and though he was initially against contributing to the development of nuclear weapons, he was convinced by the realization that if the United States didn’t, then Nazi Germany would.

Compelled by this idea, Feynman agreed to move to Los Alamos to participate in The Manhattan Project. He had no formal degree; he was 23 years old.

Feynman’s time at Los Alamos was marked by a great many achievements, including a number of massive contributions to the way that calculations were performed. As the leader of his division, Feynman developed a procedure for completing complex mathematical calculations in tandem, increasing the number of calculations that could be completed in a given time period by three-fold.

Feynman was also sought out by famed physicist Niels Bohr, who acknowledged him as the only physicist with the wit (and the cajones) to poke holes in Bohr’s thinking. In his spare time, and in the absence of entertainment at Los Alamos, Feynman developed a number of other interesting skills. For one, he was also the only individual capable of setting up the state-of-the-art IBM machines, doing so weeks or months before IBM’s own technicians would arrive.

He also developed an aptitude for cryptography, using it to avoid government censorship of his communication to his bedridden wife. Always the prankster, Feynman figured out a number of methods for determining safe codes and lock combinations, and would routinely crack the safes and filing cabinets of pretty much everyone at Los Alamos. On more than one occasion, Feynman cracked sophisticated safes containing top secret materials about the nuclear weapons program, leaving notes behind simply to demonstrate the weaknesses in the way things were being secured.

As we all know today, Feynman’s time at Los Alamos was a success; after the Trinity Nuclear Test, Feynman left The Manhattan Project, and went on to become a professor at Cornell University, and later, at Caltech.

You might think by now that Feynman had peaked. After all, how much more could one person contribute to the body of human knowledge after doing so much so early?

You’d be wrong.

Indeed, a life-long SuperLearner, Feynman continued to achieve and innovate not just in his field, but also in a great many unrelated fields, for the rest of his relatively short life.

In fact, despite his passing away at the early age of 69, Feynman’s list of accomplishments, creations, and ingenious endeavors is, quite literally, too long to list, and trying to describe them to you in any sort of comprehensive or chronological timeline has proven simply insurmountable.

So here are a few highlights, delivered in a haphazard and playful manner — just the way Feynman would have liked it.

After his undergraduate studies, Feynman spent a summer as the chief (and only) research scientist of the Metaplast Corporation, and single-handedly innovated and developed many of the processes used for metal plating plastics.

Feynman enjoyed a life-long love affair with the bongo drums, and played them with great skill throughout his adult life. In fact, he often performed for local schools, appeared in a series of plays throughout California, and had his music recorded and used for training purposes by an accomplished ballet instructor — who competed on the world stage with it!

What’s more, though Feynman couldn’t read music and claimed to be unable to carry a tune, the drum wasn’t his only musical instrument. During an extended stay in Brazil, he learned to play a Brazilian street instrument known as the frigideira with such skill that he was chosen over local Brazilian street musicians to play in band competitions at Carnaval.

He also invested his time in learning to draw, in hopes of finding a new way to express the wonders of physics and the universe… and became so talented that his drawings were often sold to art enthusiasts in Southern California. At one point, an entire exhibition of his drawings was put together at a ritzy department store. With his patent disregard for what others thought of him, Feynman would not only hire nude models to pose for him, but was even known to visit topless bars five to six times a week and draw the dancers!

It’s worth noting, at this point, that Feynman found himself in these situations — selling his drawings, competing in Brazilian band competitions, and recording his bongo music — not because of his fame as a professor. In fact, he drew under a silly pseudonym, was unrecognized by his band mates, and agreed to perform in ballet productions only under the condition that nobody would know he was a Nobel Prize winner.

In his own words… “I didn’t want to do the drumming if I was doing it because, as Samuel Johnson said, If you see a dog walking on his hind legs, it’s not so much that he does it well, as that he does it at all. I didn’t want to do it if I was a physics professor doing it at all; we were just some musicians she had found in Los Angeles, who were going to come up and play this drum music that they had composed.”

To Feynman, as with every curiosity in his life, he pursued these endeavors to see how could he could get, how much he could learn, and what great adventure would result from it.

In addition to being a phenomenal learner, Feynman developed not one, but two widely-recognized instruments for teaching others, as well. The first one, known as The Feynman Diagram, is a uniquely clever system for pictorial representations of the mathematical expressions describing the behavior of subatomic particles.

Like all good SuperLearners, Feynman was a highly visual learner, and regularly used doodling and drawing to better understand concepts. In his books, he talks about his methodology for understanding complex problems in physics and calculus by visualizing real-world examples.

Along those lines, Feynman also developed The Feynman Technique, a unique methodology for autodidactic learning.

The Feynman technique is such a clever way of learning that it deserves a special aside.

As a lecturer at Cornell and Caltech, and later on television, Feynman realized the power of teaching as a learning instrument. He even had a policy to turn down any position that did not include a heavy teaching load, claiming that teaching — and the questions he received while doing it — were among the biggest secrets to his success as a learner and thinker.

In Feynman Technique, then, there are 4 steps to learning a new topic:

1. Pick a topic you want to understand and start studying it.

Write down everything you know about the topic on a notebook page, using illustrations wherever possible to simplify the understanding and portrayal of the subject. Add to that page every time you learn something new about it.

2. Pretend to teach your topic to a classroom.

Make sure you’re able to explain the topic in simple terms.

3. Go back to the books when you get stuck.

The gaps in your knowledge should be obvious. Revisit problem areas until you can explain the topic fully.

4. Simplify and use analogies.

Repeat the process while simplifying your language and connecting facts with analogies to help strengthen your understanding.

Feynman would use this technique, and his own Feynman Diagrams, to simplify, understand, and explain even the most complex problems of the day.

In his own way, Feynman articulated and exemplified many of the principles of SuperLearning, including the use of visual markers and the diverse approach of multi-pronged learning we call “Brute Force Learning.”

In fact, Feynman had a very keen interest in learning, and in influencing the students of tomorrow. Not only did he sit on the commission choosing textbooks for LA school districts — he was the only one who actually read every single one of the proposed books… a 17-foot high stack of books! Ultimately, however, Feynman was extremely disappointed with the materials being offered to students, and left the position frustrated by the sheer lousiness of the materials available to students and educators alike.

Feynman consequently spent 3 years of his life attempting to improve the way physics was taught at Caltech and beyond, developing a series of lectures that eventually became The Feynman Lectures on Physics — the most popular series of books on physics ever written, with over 1.5 million copies sold.

In total, Feynman wrote and published a total of 12 books on physics and other topics. These books, and the lectures from which they were developed, earned Feynman the nickname “The Great Explainer.” Indeed, Feynman became an outspoken advocate of alternative teaching methods and improved pedagogical techniques wherever he went, including the California State Curriculum Commission, the National Science Teachers Association, and even in Brazil, where he was supposed to be an honored guest!

On the topic of Brazil, Feynman once again displayed his SuperLearner skills when he spent a year in Brazil. He gave courses there, took up Samba music as I mentioned before, and of course, learned Brazilian Portuguese well enough to give lectures in it.

Later in life, he became enthralled with Japanese culture, and even invested some time learning basic Japanese.

Feynman also played an important role on the Presidential Rogers Commission, investigating the Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster. Though not an engineer, it was none other than Richard Feynman who identified and demonstrated during the televised hearing that the cause of the disaster had been a simple design flaw in the shuttle’s O-rings.

Of course, all of this isn’t even to mention his great many accomplishments and discoveries in the field of physics, which, quite simply, I can’t comprehend… much less explain. These include The Feynman path integral, discoveries about quantum electrodynamics, and The Feynman parton model of hadrons… whatever the hell all that means.

During his life, Feynman was awarded the Albert Einstein Award, The Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, and a Nobel Prize… all of which he accepted reluctantly and with great displeasure. Feynman had little care for public recognition and little patience for pompous circumstance, and made a characteristically big joke out of his acceptance of the Nobel Prize — jumping up the stairs backwards in front of the King of Sweden. In his own words, “It’s nice that I got some money — I was able to buy a beach house — but altogether, I think it woudl have been much nicer NOT to have had the Prize… because you never, any longer, can be taken straightforwardly in any public situation.

Richard Feynman died in 1988, as a result of complications involving a rare form of Cancer. He was 69 years old.

In his wake, however, he left a tremendous legacy. A great deal of his discoveries, ranging from Feynman diagrams, to Feynman Technique, to Feynman path integrals and the Feynman parton model of hadrons, are all still in use today. Furthermore, his brilliant books on physics, and his hilarious ones about his own life, are still widely read and enjoyed.

Looking at Feynman’s life, it’s easy to write off his achievements as the products of sheer genius… heck, he was gifted! Case closed, right?

But I believe this would be a huge mistake.

Indeed, as Feynman himself explained time and time again, his achievements came not from particular brilliance in any one area, but from the fact that he applied a different type of thinking, pulling together and synthesizing ideas from completely unrelated fields and providing fresh perspectives. Feynman could — and did — point out the flaws in and influence the thinking of biologists, mathematicians, architects, engineers, and even other physicists simply because he applied different models of thinking about the problems. Feynman wrote an entire chapter on the topic, concluding,

“I got a great reputation… only because my box of tools was different from everybody else’s.”

Like any SuperLearner, he took a holistic, rigorous, brute-force approach to learning, which allowed him to see the world in ways that nobody else around him could. He was patently against memorization, and in favor of rigorous and applied understanding. To whit, he once wrote: “I don’t know what’s the matter with people: they don’t learn by understanding; they learn by some other way — by rote, or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!”

Feynman wasn’t naturally gifted in music or art — he learned those skills later in life — and applied his knowledge from completely different fields such as physics or engineering — to excel at them.

In a world where so many subject matter experts become hyper-specialists, Feynman refused to be pigeon-holed into one subject. He was not simply a physicist — he was a lover of science, in any way, shape or form. But he didn’t relegate himself simply to the lab or the university lecture halls, but routinely took time away to read, play music, paint, lecture, travel, and learn languages.

Whereas many people around him argued that he achieved greatness in Physics despite these seeming distractions, anyone who knows anything about SuperLearning knows that he achieved greatness because of them.

Feynman’s life is not only a case study in the capacity of a human being to learn nearly anything and everything they set their minds to, but also one of curiosity, passion, and the highest forms of creative expression.

He was a truly great man — a tremendous SuperLearner, and a model to us all — and we can learn a great many things from his example.

For one, to quote the title of one of his books: “What Do you care what anyone else thinks?” If you follow the limitations and arbitrary rules that everyone else does, then your thinking will be no different from theirs… So take a year off and go to Brazil! Skip lunch and go draw topless models! And just for the heck of it, learn how to crack safes, simply to prove a point. Though it may seem like a distraction, you just might find out that these seemingly silly endeavors provide a great deal of value in your life.

In fact, Feynman himself wrote about this, admitting that the entire idea of the Feynman diagrams and his Nobel Prize both came out of an effortless and silly idea to calculate the movement patterns of a wobbling plate he saw thrown during his lunch break!

What’s more, if we can learn anything from Feynman, it’s this: the richness of your life is directly proportional to the diversity and depth of your curiosity. Channeling yourself into one field of study, be it medicine, business, or mathematics? How absolutely humdrum. Taking on 3 or 4 fields, with a side of bongo drums and a smattering of Portuguese? That’s a recipe for an exciting life.

Richard Feynman was one of the greatest thinkers — and one of the greatest teachers — of all time. How fitting, then, to end our exploration of his life with the realization that even 3 decades after his death, he continues to teach, inspire, and enthrall us by his example.

…..

I hope you’ve been as moved by Richard Feynman’s incredible story, and if you have, I encourage you to pick up a copy of his gut-busting autobiographical book, Surely You Must Be Joking.

-JL

P.S. If you’d like to learn 85% of my top “superhuman” life hacks, just click here.

At various points in my life, I have looked around the room and asked myself… “why am I here?”

Indeed, though I have found a good number of rooms that I did belong in…

Rooms like those of The Entrepreneurs’ Organization, Summit, and more…

I’ve also found a number of rooms in which I didn’t so much feel a sense of belonging.

For the most part, these rooms include just about all of academia, and a recent misadventure into the world of LandMark Forum.

Let’s be real: as an entrepreneur, I know I’m not alone in having struggled to find my place in the universe.

But more recently, I had a very exciting experience of a very different kind of room.

A room that costs $25,000 just to enter, and which is limited to just 50 hand-picked business leaders of the utmost integrity and ambition at a time.

I’m talking, of course, about Genius Network®, one of two exclusive mastermind groups led by marketing legend Joe Polish and his team.

(The other group, GeniusX, costs $100K).

So, what does it feel like to enter into a room with some of the world’s greatest…?

A room where you don’t just discuss the books that are reshaping the business landscape, but have lunch with their authors?

In this post, I will attempt to capture some of the magic, and explain why you, too, should seek out rooms that challenge, inspire, and energize you.

A few months ago, I reconnected with Cameron Herold, a bestselling author, TED Speaker, and highly-sought-after business coach, who I had coincidentally met in another type of invite-only room nearly 10 years ago.

After a quick catch-up conversation sharing where we each were in our businesses, Cameron made a bold statement.

“You HAVE to join Genius Network®. Actually do it — don’t just kick the tires.”

A short while later, a message came in from a more recent SuperFriend of mine, Benjamin Hardy:

“Dude. It will be the best investment you ever make.”

Intriguing — to say the least.

Truth be told, I had taken an interest in the exclusive network, and had even sent in an application a week or two earlier, upon which I was waiting to hear back.

An hour or so after getting off the phone with Cameron, I was greeted by an email introduction to the team at Genius Network®, who informed me that personal referrals are an important part of how they keep their community a healthy and positive one, and that Cameron had very kindly made one on my behalf.

I was welcomed into Genius Network® shortly thereafter — a testimony to the power of being in the right rooms (and maintaining the connections you make while you’re in them).

Going in to Genius Network®, I had admittedly high expectations… and even higher hopes.

So high, in fact, that some of the people closest to me expressed concerns that I was setting myself up for disappointment.

And of course, there were the logistics:

As I booked an additional 3 transatlantic trips — on top of the 2 already on my calendar — I couldn’t help but feel a little crazy.

Each time, I would travel for as much as 26 hours, to be on the ground in Phoenix for as little as 2 days — and oftentimes only two weeks apart from my other trips back and forth to California.

With such extreme circumstances, could this new group really live up to the very bold claim that Genius Network® makes…?

The one about members making back a staggering 10X what they invest?

Well, you’d be surprised.

In fact, I can confidently assure you that by 11AM on my first day at Genius Network®, I had made back my entire investment for the first year’s membership — and then some — thanks to one simple idea shared by marketing great Dean Jackson.

By 5PM that same day, I had decided to level up my investment, by bringing at least one of my key staff members into the group as well.

I simply couldn’t bear the thought of not having someone from my team at the meetings that I wouldn’t be able to personally attend.

And by 5PM the next day, I was planning a half-day meeting of my company’s key decision-makers, simply to disseminate the incredible volume of knowledge, wisdom, and ideas I had absorbed over the previous two days.

So, What The Hell Was So Incredible About Genius Network®?

Well, let’s start at the top, with first impressions.

My first impressions of Piranha Marketing, the team behind Genius Network®, were simply of awe.

From the outside, at least, the company appears to be a case study in phenomenal and visionary leadership — though Joe humbly admitted that even they sometimes suffer from growing pains. How comforting it is to know that the same problems persist for every entrepreneur, no matter how long they’ve been in the game.

Around Joe swarm an army of energetic, enthusiastic, outgoing, and deeply kind human beings that don’t miss a single beat. Whereas most entrepreneurs move fast and make broad, sweeping motions, Joe has managed to install a team of world-class people at every post, from digital media to administration and logistics, so that they catch every single long-shot pass he throws their way. Often times, he’s able to look across the room, and they’ve already anticipated what he’s going to ask and launched into action.

Every entrepreneur should learn how to put together a team like Joe’s.

When I had concerns as to whether I was a good fit, or whether I’d miss out by not attending the star-studded annual event, they took the time to guide me through the decision in a compassionate and honest way.

When the hotel next door didn’t have any spaces left at the “Genius Network” rate, they made a few calls and just took care of it.

When I joined, they sent me a box of incredibly cool goodies and free member services that put a huge grin on my face and made my imagination soar.

And from the moment I arrived, I was simply blown away by the authentically kick-ass culture they’ve created.

In fact, perhaps one of my biggest takeaways from the meeting came not from the content, but from observing how it was delivered; I came back to my company with the mission of investing in, training, and empowering my team to have my back (and my customers’ backs) the way Joe’s team clearly has his.

First impressions aside, I was continually impressed by even the most minute details of my time at Piranha Marketing’s offices.

Everything at Genius Network® is done just right.

From the mouth-wateringly delicious Paleo and Bulletproof® snacks and beverages that are trucked in everyday via a combination of private chefs and fellow Genius member Dave Asprey, to the swarm of high-definition cameras and innovative microphones installed throughout the room to capture every second of the action, to the stacks of stickers, swag, and even the worksheets that are handed out to members.

In fact, just the worksheets and exercises alone stood out to me as huge value adds.

It’s clear that the Genius Network® team has put in a tremendous amount of thought not just into making each meeting an enjoyable experience, but also a genuinely enriching one.

I’ve been to many retreats, conferences, and executive development seminars, and generally speaking, they’re considered successful if attendees can actually implement 10% of what they learn.

Not so with Genius Network®.

Each worksheet and exercise is carefully crafted to emphasize ACTION — pointing out the first step you should take, and how it aligns with the organization’s shared values.

In fact, we were even treated to a special “aside” from a very high-profile member specializing in operations and leadership, who revealed to us a proven, 3-step method to get our teams to act on the information we were learning during the meeting.

All of this was followed by daily summaries, drafted up by a dedicated staff member in real-time, and of course, live video broadcasts uploaded to Facebook for instantaneous viewing by members who weren’t there in person. At the end of the day, we took the time to read the professional summaries aloud and discuss everything that was shared in the meeting that day, reinforcing the points of value and the next steps.

As an accelerated learning expert, I really appreciated the focus on actualizing the learning, spaced repetition to improve retention, and ensuring that attendees squeezed every drop of juice out of the knowledge that was shared.

The lasting impression is one of caring about the results and of paying attention to every single detail that is likely to influence a member’s success.

The same, in fact, can be said of Joe Polish himself.

Of course, like anyone who’s taken even a passing interest in marketing, I knew quite a bit about Joe Polish and Dean Jackson before entering the Genius Network® room, largely thanks to the famed I Love Marketing Podcast.

What I didn’t expect, however, was just how much he would know about me.

Within the first hour of being in the meeting, I understood why Joe Polish has quite possibly the most inspiring (and valuable) network on the planet, comprised of everyone from Sir Richard Branson to Peter Diamandis and Tony Robbins.

What’s his secret?

The dude cares.

Like, really cares.

I’d seen a lot of videos and testimonials about Joe, from close personal friends like Bonnie Fahy, to role models like Tim Ferriss, before.

And while they all mention his business acumen and mind for marketing in passing, what consistently stands out in these testimonials is their emphasis on his heart.

In the marketing world, not many are known for their authenticity or compassion.

Joe is the opposite. And no amount of video testimonials can prepare you for actually experiencing just how genuine and present he really is.

He leads with a smile, and genuine interest about you, and then follows on by delivering incredible knowledge, vulnerability, and value.

In fact, his generosity and caring are unlike anything I’ve ever seen, in my decade and a half of business — and I’ve only known him for a short while.

Imagine how the people who’ve worked with him for 30 years must feel?

Not only did Joe take the time to learn about me and my business well before we met, but he made sure that others in the room did, too.

He repeatedly passed the ball my way, taking a genuine interest in exploring how I could share my knowledge and become established as an expert and resource to other members in the group, and even asked his team to schedule me for a Genius Network® podcast interview to help share that knowledge.

When you’re in the right room, you won’t be the only one to recognize it — and you won’t be the only one to benefit from it. In fact, yet another thing that I really appreciated both in the discussions and in the summary worksheets was an emphasis on what each one of us was giving in return.

The lesson here is a clear — and important — one. You are welcome to be a part of this room, and to benefit from the tremendous quality of both the content and the characters… but you must be willing to offer a great deal in return.

Indeed, everyone in Genius Network® is, of course, a captain of industry in his or her own right, but more importantly, each of them is clearly eager to do anything they can to help one another.

Whereas a room of this caliber could very easily reek of ego and boasting, instead, the very opposite was true.

While there were some very, very sizable names in the room, each worthy of some considerable bragging rights, the overwhelming air and attitude I was left with was one of humility and service.

Everyone I spoke to was not only happy to help or answer questions on the spot — despite the very significant value of their time — but they were also eager and overjoyed to make plans and connect to discuss further.

Each one of them was lasting proof of one of Genius Network’s core values: the idea that if everyone comes with the intent to give as much value as possible, we’ll each get much more value in return, too.

I left Genius Network® with a dozen or so follow-up phone calls, podcast interviews, and joint business opportunities worth exploring — each and every one of them a potential avenue for 10X returns.

And while I’m not going to name drop or reveal who was actually at this meeting, I will say this:

Even if I never actually charge a dime to help these other business owners with things like memory or online course creation… these are the types of people who could provide 10X returns simply by giving my businesses a one-line testimonial.

But that’s not the point here, at all.

In fact, as one very prominent member shared on our first day,

“Genius Network® is NOT a treasure map that leads you to gold and riches. It’s a treasure map that leads you to other treasure maps.”

In other words, Genius Network® is, like many groups to bring together high-quality and like-minded individuals, a map to finding the people, ideas, and opportunities that inspire and motivate me to keep going.

Whereas 3 months ago, I felt stuck in a “success trap,” bored, and isolated from the people I admire, in one short trip across the atlantic, I was able to not only regain back my passion, but return to my business with more enthusiasm and excitement than I’ve probably ever had.

Whereas before, I felt alone here in Israel, where I have nearly nobody to share the struggles of growing an information products “expert” business, today, I have a list of hundreds of industry heavy-hitters that I can message and share ideas with.

In a word: my entire mindset was shifted. My instrumentation recalibrated. My level increased.

All from simply being in the right room, with the right people, and being welcomed as one of them.

I’m reminded of the feelings that overwhelmed me when I attended my first regional Burning Man Event:

I’m Home.

In fact, what most struck me about the Genius Network® experience was not the star power in the room, or the premium feel of it all… it was how incredibly natural and comfortable it all felt.

Whereas in most rooms of 50+ people, I still, even as a public speaker and thought leader, get a bit of nerves and butterflies when standing up to speak in front of the room, at Genius Network, I felt none of that.

Instead, every single time the microphone was passed to me, I was most surprised by just how welcomed, understood, and supported I felt.

You see, despite the fact that many of these business leaders were leaving their impact on the world and making their millions when I was still wetting the bed, the simple fact is this:

I’m in the right room. A room that challenges me, yes, but which also supports me, my growth, my challenges, and my goals.

A room where I truly feel that I belong.

And that makes all the difference.

But this isn’t really a post just about Genius Network®.

Because, of course, not everyone wants to be a leader in the worlds of marketing and business — not should they.

This is a post about putting yourself in the right room for you.

The room that fosters your growth, uplifts your spirits, and supports your wildest ambitions.

The room that allows you to build handfuls of authentic, strong connections through shared experiences, rather than through one-on-one cold calls or emails.

The room where you can confidently say you are not the smartest person there — or even close to it.

The room where you have to occasionally pinch yourself and ask “am I really qualified to be here?!”

Because let’s face it: relationship building is yet another one of what I call exponential skills: a force-multiplying superskill that supercharges everything else you do.

And if that’s true, then it all starts with getting yourself into the right room, with the right people.

Maybe it’s a “virtual” room, like an exclusive Facebook group or Slack channel for people in your industry, or a members-only mastermind group held by one of your favorite authors.

Maybe it’s a literal room, carefully curated for inspiration and connection by a team of professionals, like those offered by MasterMind Talks, Summit, The Entrepreneurs Organization, The HIVE, The Rotary Club, Kiwanis, or any number of academic honors societies, student groups, and industry associations.

The room itself will vary based on who (and where) you are in your life. And it will vary from time to time.

The rooms that are most beneficial for you today won’t be the rooms you’ll want to be in 10 years from now.

And of course, they are not mutually exclusive, either.

So ask yourself this:

What are the rooms you should be gaining access to…?

As a student, a professional, a husband, a father, or even as a member of your community?

Where are the people that you admire meeting to share ideas, build relationships, and inspire one another — and how can you get involved?

It may not be a $25K MasterMind group that you fly halfway around the world to attend…

Though even if it is, chances are, it’s well worth it.

Thanks for reading!

(Spoiler alert: It was massages and steaks… she knows me so well!)

But all day long, despite the relaxed vibes, she kept raving about this concert hall she’d seen years before.

After all, we are both big fans of bold, beautiful architecture… and of classical music.

“It’s just so beautiful,” she kept telling me.

“You are going to flip out when you see it.”

And so, there we were, fresh from our massages, and looking to get a peek of the magnificent wooden hall.

On our way down the long, marble corridor, we were stopped by an innocuous hotel employee, who asked us, completely legitimately:

“Can I help you?”

“Yes, we’re just hoping we can sneak a peek at the concert hall,” we replied.

“I saw it years ago with my father, and I just want to show the birthday boy, if it’s OK?”

“Well, it might be closed,” replied the employee, “but if there’s a tour group in there, you have permission to go in and join them.

Now, here’s the thing:

99.9% Of People Wouldn’t Have Taken The Time To Notice — Or To Memorize — One Key Piece of Information

What piece of information is that, you ask?

The employee’s name.

You see, despite the fact that it was proudly emblazoned on his logo-clad golden nametag, most people simply wouldn’t bother.

After all, how any of us claim that we’re just “terrible” with names?

Fortunately, not me.

Because, long before I was a memory and learning expert, I was a devotee of one of the most important books on human relationships ever written:

How To Win Friends & Influence People, by the late, great Dale Carnegie.

And among the many life-changing lessons in that book, I remember one of them above all others:

“Remember That A Person’s Name Is, To That Person, The Sweetest And Most Important Sound In Any Language”

So, you see, while it’s likely that I would never again meet Kai after that day, I made sure to take special note of his name, committing it to memory instantly.

Fast forward a few minutes, and we are now deep in the belly of this majestic and historic hotel, when we hear a voice.

“Thanks for attending, everyone, please exit in a single file line.”

Oh no. We were too late.

We rushed to the entrance, only to be greeted by a very tired (and rather sour) hotel employee, charged with leading the tours of the grounds.

“I’m sorry, entrance is allowed only with the accompaniment of a tour guide,” she barked.

“But we just want to see the hall very quickly,” we replied.

“Then you’ll just need to come back next week,” she said, blocking our entry.

My companion tried one last hail mary attempt… “But a hotel employee said it was OK!” she said, defeat starting to creep into her eyes.

“Which employee, exactly?”… A worthy adversary, indeed.

“Umm…” stuttered my fearless lady.

“KAI!” I proclaimed. “Kai said we could squeeze in if you were here.”

The suspense nearly killed us.

“Well, then,” she sighed. “If Kai said so, I will wait here for you to finish.”

SUCCESS!

And here was our reward:

Totally worth it, right?

As we entered into the glorious wooden concert hall, the last two people to do so before it closed for the weekend, two things crossed my mind.

The first, how much I love modern architecture and innovative acoustic treatments.

But the second, and most important, was this:

How Many Opportunities In Life Do We Miss Out On By Forgetting Something As Simple As A Name?

I simply can’t tell you how many times I have gotten into a bar or a night club because I took the time to memorize the owner’s name.

Or how many times I have been able to make friends at conferences or networking events because people rely on me to “remind” them of all of the names of the attendees.

(Names that I usually memorize secretly in a few minutes by looking at the pamphlet before I even arrive).

The simple fact is this:

While memorizing long strings of numbers, or tons of historical dates, are without a doubt very useful skills…

…they pale in comparison to the satisfaction and return-on-investment of learning to memorize the names and faces of everyone you meet.

Because as my father taught me over two decades ago…

“You never know when you’ll need someone’s help or kindness… so treat everybody with the same respect.”

And how much respect can you really offer another human being, if you don’t even take the time to remember their name.

Thanks for reading

Jonathan

P.S. If you’d like a list of my top “superhuman” life hacks, click here.

Listen to the audio version here.

Unless is the first time you’ve stepped into my little corner of the internet, you’ve probably heard me talk about learning.

Indeed, I’ve built an entire career on the idea that the ability to learn is the only skill that truly matters.

I’ve stated, time and time again, that if you can learn, un-learn, and re-learn effectively, the world is your oyster.

You can do anything. Become anyone.

All you have to do is learn.

But where do you begin?

In a world of endless options, virtually unrestricted access to free or cheap information, and a never-ending barrage of new developments and discoveries, a new challenge presents itself:

What should you learn?

Of course, different people have different interests.

And despite the attempts of the industrial revolution to standardize and mechanize the education of mankind into a handful of cookie-cutter degrees, no two people could possibly create the same learning mosaic — Nor should they.

I’m not here to tell you everything you should learn.

Learn what you want!

Learn what excites you.

But with that said:

Not all subjects are created equal.

In fact, among fields of study, there are some — a select few — that stand out.

Force multipliers.

Skills that — like accelerated learning — compound the effect of everything else you learn and do.

The types of skills that aren’t a 1+1 = 2, but rather a 1+1 = 10.

For our purposes, let’s call these “exponential skills,” to reflect their ability to amplify the power of everything else we do.

You can probably come up with a few of these skills off the top of your head, if you think about it.

The first that comes to mind?

Discipline, especially when paired with grit and organization.

If you are able to set clear goals, organize your mind, your environment, and your life in a fashion that is conducive to those goals, and then persist in the face of adversity until the job is done… that is certainly a force multiplier.

That’s an exponential skill — and one that most of us learn by the age of 16.

Developing discipline and becoming more organized doesn’t just allow you to do 20% more in the day… it allows you to do two, three, or even ten times more.

It’s the difference between going to the gym once a month and going five times a week.

It’s the difference between bouncing from minimum wage job to minimum wage job because you can’t show up on time, and the $150K programming gig fresh out of undergrad.

You probably don’t realize it, but discipline, organization, and a little bit of luck are the only things separating you from the residents of your local freeway overpass.

But I digress.

Other exponential skills include the cluster of aptitudes we call “people skills:” the ability to create meaningful connections with others, to be liked and respected, to follow cultural norms, and to exhibit empathy.

How’s this an exponential skill?

Well, what one lone person can do in a lifetime, a charismatic leader with a team of believers can accomplish in an afternoon.

Once again, you might not realize it, but people skills, charisma, adherence to social norms and organizational culture, and the ability to inspire trust, belief, and rapport are the only things separating the Pope — who guides and directs billions of both people and dollars — from the lone whackjob waving a bible over his head at oncoming traffic.

But once again, I digress.

And though I do think it’s worth pointing out the tragedies of the homelessness epidemic or the inadequate availability of affordable mental health treatments, that’s not the point of today’s post.

The point of today’s post is to introduce the concept of exponential skills, and, in the first of a series of posts that may very well end here, delve into one such skill to understand why it’s so important.

In this post, I don’t want to dissect organization, nor people skills — though both are well worth investigating in the future.

Today, I want to go into a skill you may not realize is exponential in nature.

A skill that we all learn before our adult teeth come in, but which most of us fail to ever truly excel at.

That skill?

Writing.

It’s been said before that “all wealth comes from writing,” and based on my life experience thus far, I believe that to be true.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

And it’s not what makes writing an exponential skill.

Indeed, in order to qualify as a exponential skill, writing would have to accelerate and magnify everything else that you do.

In this essay, I want to show you how and why it does precisely that.

But first, what is writing?

Most of us probably think of writing as literature.

The ability to sculpt incredible stories, moving and inspirational books, or fanciful prose.

Writing is all of that, but it’s much, much more.

At its core, writing is the ability to transform thoughts, ideas, and emotions into the written word.

It’s the ability to communicate anything and everything in an asynchronous way — detached from the deep connection of a face-to-face encounter — while preserving as much meaning, emotion, and weight as possible.

Cast in this light, you can understand why I declared that while we all technically learn how to write, very few of us actually know how to do it well.

In a world of Snaps, videos, audio messages, phone calls, and short-form text messages… very few of us actually hone the art of formulating great writing anymore.

I see so many people my age, with years and years of formal schooling and even advanced degrees, who don’t know how to properly use punctuation in a sentence — much less craft articulate, flowing, and compelling long form prose.

This is a shame not just because of the many benefits associated with writing — which I’ll get to in a moment — but also because, as I said, writing is a exponential skill.

I’ve heard many of my favorite authors and thinkers, from Timothy Ferriss, to Joe Polish, to Gary Halbert, and even friends like Dr. Anthony Metivier, say it before:

Learning to write will transform the way that you think.

When you learn to build and describe your ideas elegantly, systematically, and deliberately…

…To create art with words, and dance around ideas using perfectly placed punctuation and awe-inspiring alliteration….

…To effortlessly weave webs of profundity using simile and metaphor…

…Something within you changes.

Soon thereafter, you begin communicating differently.

You think before you speak.

You put yourself into the shoes of your audience — whether a text message recipient or a crowded room of chattering onlookers — and ask…

“…How will I make sure my message actually registers with this person?”

Maybe it’s the act of planning and preemptively structuring your thoughts.

Maybe it’s because only when we write are we able to actually look back and review our own use of language.

Or maybe it’s because of the inherent disconnection and dis-intimacy created by putting a paper, a screen, or a smartphone between a chain of communication, which forces us to think a little bit deeper and a little bit harder about how exactly we breathe life into our thoughts and ideas.

Maybe it’s all of that.

Whatever it is, writing has a magical ability to shape and influence our thought patterns, and in doing so, our lives.

Is it any wonder, then, that nearly all of history’s greatest thinkers, from Plato and Socrates, to Da Vinci, to Franklin, Einstein, and Hawking, have written consistently throughout their careers?

This begs the question: did these historical figureheads become writers because they were great thinkers? Or did they become great thinkers because they took the time to write?

In the cases of Da Vinci and Franklin, we know that their writing — whether in personal notebooks or in local publications — were formative experiences that long predated their fame and success.

It’s certainly worth thinking about.

But writing has even more to offer than reshaping the way we think to ourselves.

Because, you see, writing is just another form of communication.

And just as we established that people skills are themselves an exponential set of skills solely because they allow you to influence the hearts and minds of others around you….

…The same is true of writing.

If you write well, you communicate well.

If you communicate well, you succeed.

What’s more, the reason that all wealth comes from writing is because, if you think about it, most value itself comes from writing, in one way or another.

Whether you’re writing powerful AI algorithms, inspirational speeches, legal contracts, business proposals, or just an entertaining movie script…

The very fabric of our capitalist economy is intrinsically tied to writing.

To the idea that by taking a specific set of words and arranging them in a unique and alluring way, they become irrefutably mine.

My private property.

Furthermore, without the ability to write official, reliable records, the idea of private property itself becomes utterly unfeasible and unsustainable.

How fitting, then, that the very symbol of Early Industrial Capitalism isn’t a specific company, a specific political leader, or a specific technology…

It’s Adam Smith’s The Wealth Of Nations, a beautifully-written literary work.

Indeed, writing is at the center of everything we modern humans do.

If I can write beautiful code — a form of modern day spell-writing, I will never want for a job.

If I can write beautiful letters and touching messages to others, I will never want for companionship.

If I can write captivating sales letters and proposals, I will never go hungry.

Writing, my friends, is the key.

But how can we actually learn how to write?

Personally, I was extremely fortunate.

Growing up, I had an extremely articulate mother who stressed the importance of eloquence and vocabulary, and a select few teachers, such as Mrs. Rodriguez (4th grade) and the notorious Mr. Scarola (6th grade) — who forced good writing onto me through painstaking hours of tutelage.

In 4th grade, we were instructed to shout out and interrupt anyone using the ineloquent-sounding “got,” and penalized for using so-called basic words like “said.” Instead, we were issued a list of a hundred or more synonyms more uniquely suited to articulating our ideas.

In 6th grade, I remember student after student being called to the whiteboard to point out the most minute of stylistic or syntactic errors.

These weren’t your run-of-the-mill “I vs. Me” or “less vs. fewer” corrections.

These were laborious, roll-up-your sleeves lessons on the inner mechanics of the english language itself.

A misplaced adjective.

A poorly-formed construction.

A comma where a semicolon should be.

As students, we were expected to know not only the different ways of using each form of punctuation, but also it’s proper nomenclature.

And then, there were the assignments.

Early on in my academic career, I learned — and relearned — the structures and strategies involved in crafting flowing, well-thought-out arguments and essays.

These skills carried me forward to high school, where I managed my way into Advanced Placement Language and Composition, further honing my skills as I opined on everything from Israeli culture to car shows.

By the age of 18, my writing was in the top tenth of a percent of students my age.

I was able to waltz into the SAT’s and SATII’s, and compensate for somewhat “average” scores in mathematics by setting back-to-back perfect scores in English… on my first attempts.

This aptitude, used lavishly in college applications, garnered me entry into one of the world’s finest learning institutions, UC Berkeley.

Once there, I received even more instruction on the style and nuance of collegiate writing in the halls of Berkeley’s hallowed Sociology department.

Later on, these skills would land me a spot in the world’s exclusive, #1 MBA program, INSEAD.

But my love affair with writing hadn’t even begun in earnest.

After graduating from INSEAD, I spent half a year searching for what was next.

Bouncing from startup idea to startup idea, searching for something I could really make an impact in.

Here again, writing crept back in to save the day.

You probably know the story:

I sat down to write a course on speed reading and memory as a side project, and 4 years later, found myself with a seven figure business, two published books, and a whole ecosystem of online courses and information products.

Writing, my friends.

Great writing comes from the ability to mix and match. To vary things up. To break the rules in just the right ways, so you can start sentences with And and But, while placing every comma exactly where it needs to be.

In fact, when I look back on the role of writing in my life, I’m reminded of the iconic Shel Silverstein book, The Giving Tree.

Not only did writing give me access to the places and people I wanted to go…

Not only did it create a business and an income stream for me when I didn’t know what to do next…

Not only has it given me the blessing and opportunity to touch over 100,000 lives through my work…

But on top of all of that, in January of 2016, inspired by the urging platitudes of my dear friend Dr. Anthony Metivier, I set out to learn another type of writing… One that did NOT come naturally to me.

This time, it was copywriting.

For the uninitiated, copywriting does not mean filing legal paperwork to copyright your idea.

Same pronunciation, different spelling.

No, in this case, we’re talking about copywriting… the art (and science) of crafting magnetizing and monetizing sales copy.

In my previous business, I had shied away from writing too much.

Shorter emails. Less text. People are busy — just give them what they want.

“In business communication, use as few words as possible,” my father had always taught me.

Whether it was our website, our product descriptions, or our sales letters… we were all photos and very little writing.

In 2016, that changed.

I was introduced to the world of long form sales copy.

Of spellbinding, page-turning sales letters that hook you deeper and pull you harder than even the most gripping murder mystery.

Ever the SuperLearner, I devoured a laundry-list of all the greatest hits.

The Boron Letters. The Robert Collier Letter Book. Scientific Advertising. The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing.

And of course, a hefty dose of real-world, actual sales copy from marketers I admired.

What happened next, not even I could have predicted:

Within a matter of months, my business tripled.

Announcements I would send out, even on bargain-basement marketplace websites, would generate more sales than ever before.

Automated emails, written on anything from the benefits of my products to interesting stories and ideas, began gaining traction and increasing conversion rates.

But of course, writing better emails wasn’t the only thing responsible for this windfall.

I’d taken the ideas learned from these long-form giants like Gary Halbert and Dan Kennedy, and applied them in the last place anyone might think to do:

Facebook.

I wrote longer ads… ads that took up entire pages on people’s smartphone screens.

I wrote long posts in our community group, sharing my thoughts and ideas with my audience.

I even ditched the short, 10-minute marketing videos for a 60-minute webinar presentation, following a very specific psychological and emotional journey.

And then, I let the writing do its job.

The results have been nothing short of astounding.

And I still have plenty to learn.

So that’s how I learned to write. You might not be so lucky.

You may not have had mentors, teachers, or role models who possess this skill.

In fact, you may be the most literate member of your social circle.

No matter.

Language is an inherent part of our DNA as homo sapiens.

Writing, therefore, is a skill that anyone, whether dyslexic or disadvantaged, can possess.

It is our birthright as human beings, and you can learn it just as I have.

Here’s how:

It starts by paying attention to writing.

To respecting the written word enough to stop and smell the literary roses.

Once your attention is tuned — study the classics. Any you can get your hands on.

Here, the concept of Brute Force Learning is especially pertinent.

Great writing comes from the ability to mix and match. To vary things up. To break the rules in just the right ways, so you can start sentences with And and But, while placing every comma exactly where it needs to be.

If you want to write great literature, pick up some Tolkien, Tolstoy, Twain, or an order of Hemingway with a side of Fitzgerald.

If you want to write killer sales copy, then go straight to Halbert, Collier, Kennedy, and Kern.

And if you want to write great self help, then some Ferriss, some Robbins, some Tolle, and some Chopra are just what the doctor ordered.

What you read matters less than the fact that you read at all.

…respect your reader’s intelligence — and their attention — by rewarding it with beautifully-crafted prose that is worth the paper — or the pixels — that it’s printed on.

While you’re at it, don’t shy away from some the how-to’s, either.

Strunk’s Elements of Style and Zissner’s On Writing Well are essential handbooks to sharpening every tool in your writing tool kit.

It may seem like quite a bit of work, but it’s not.

Writing well is, like anything else, a simple set of reproducible habits and behaviors that anyone can learn.

You just have to commit the time and the energy.

Now I know what you’re thinking:

“Who reads all this writing, anyways? Modern people don’t have the attention span to read an 8 page sales letter, much less a novel.”

People have been saying that since radio came and challenged the status quote of newspapers.

And guess what?

They’re even more mistaken today than they were back then.

In a sea of hasty, careless, and short messages urging you BUY BUY BUY and CLICK CLICK CLICK, the absolute best way to stand out is to do things old school.

To write flowing, gorgeous, and engaging literature and sales copy that educates, informs, and entertains.

To respect your reader’s intelligence — and their attention — by rewarding it with beautifully-crafted prose that is worth the paper — or the pixels — that it’s printed on.

Quality, elegance, and class stand out.

If your average newsletter or advertisement with 1 line of text and a big “buy now” button is a suspicious and disheveled woman on the corner shouting “wanna have some fun,” an educational and carefully designed sales letter is an elegant woman in a red dress sending a smirk and a “come here” finger curl seductively across the bar.

One repels, the other invites.

One lights your defensive radar up like a christmas tree… the other slips beneath it completely.

In this way, proper copywriting is a skill that has many uses, beyond just sales letters and advertisements.

It’s a tool that can be used to open many doors — even those that are locked or jammed shut.

Time and time again, I’ve used copywriting — and a bit of humor — to craft “for sale” posts on Facebook that get more attention and response than paid advertisements or pinned posts.

I’ve used it to craft notes that have bypassed the filters of people otherwise inaccessible to me.

Heck, I’ve used it right before your eyes to convince you to read or listen to the last 3,800 words, when we both know there are plenty of other things you could be doing.

The point is:

Copywriting, like all writing, is a exponential skill.

It’s a force multiplier.

If anyone tells you that copywriting is dead, they’re wrong.

If anyone claims that this type of writing has no place in their lives, they’re dead wrong.

After all: if a software developer told you over drinks that “He not need talk good,” because he doesn’t talk much in his line of work, would you believe him?

Of course not.

No matter what you do in this world, you need to be able to communicate effectively to do it well.

So why do we accept this as true when it comes to speaking, but fail to accept it with writing?

Too much of the generation coming of age today is not only incapable of writing truly breathtaking excerpts of text… they are increasingly incapable of even reading it.

We are living in a time where anyone, anywhere, has the power to write, and to disseminate their thoughts and ideas to the entire world.

A time where the gatekeepers — newspaper editors, book publishers, government sensors — have no power to stop you from spreading your ideas and contributing to the ever-growing colossus of human knowledge.

And yet, instead of nurturing this ability and taking advantage of the incredible opportunity therein, so many among us content ourselves with the literary equivalent of junk food.

Writing that fills our minds, while failing to nourish them.

BuzzFeed articles haphazardly listing out the top 10 reasons your cat’s nose is wet.

Impersonal and rapid-fire chat messages that require no thought nor patience.

And like the junk food we put in our stomachs, the junk food we put in our minds has long-lasting effects.

Too much of the generation coming of age today is not only incapable of writing truly breathtaking excerpts of text… they are increasingly incapable of even reading it.

Don’t fall into this trap.

Don’t neglect the exponential skill of writing.

It is a gift that will keep on giving, rewarding you and paying interest in ways that you can’t even imagine.

Study writing.

Read great literature.

Take a course on language composition.

Then apply what you learn, and see what happens.

To your finances, your career, and even your mind.

And then, if it works out — and it will — write me something beautiful to thank me.

-JL

P.S. For a list of all of my top “superhuman” life hacks, click here.

Speed reading is a pretty controversial topic. After all, in this day and age, who wouldn’t want to be able to read faster and remember more?

But in the past, the speed reading industry has been… well, a bit dodgy. A lot of big promises, and not a lot of results. Even I, as a teacher of speed reading and memory enhancement, failed with a couple of these so-called speed reading methods in my early youth, leading me to believe that it was all a bunch of bullshit.

And then, there’s the research. Every so often, a student or would-be student will post in our facebook group with the latest piece of research that supposedly proves or disproves speed reading.

Who should you believe? Is speed reading the real deal? Or is it, like psychics and UFO’s, mostly BS?

Well, to dive into this, I dove into one of the most commonly-cited research papers that “disprove” speed reading:

“So Much to Read, so Little Time: How Do We Read , and Can Speed Reading Help?”, written by Keith Rayner , Elizabeth R. Schotter, Michael E. J. Masson, Mary C. Potter, and Rebecca Treiman, psychology researchers from UC San Diego, University of Victoria, MIT, and Washington University at St. Louis.

To be clear, I want to say from the outset that this is a very impressive and well-thought out paper — 60+ pages of analysis of various studies, with 16 entire pages of citations and references. I have no intention of calling into question the legitimacy or scientific credentials of any of the researchers… on the contrary, I agree with the vast majority of what they’ve found.

In fact, I found only one major inconsistency in their work that I couldn’t agree with…

But overall, if anything, I found their paper to be a huge validation of a lot of the things that our company has been telling students for years… even if that’s not at all what the researchers intended to communicate.

How can that be, you ask?

Well, let me explain, point by point.

First off, I’d like to point out that one major inconsistency in the authors’ claims that I mentioned.

You see, on pages 11 and 12, the authors explain the properties of rods and cones in the human eye, showing diagrams of how our eyes are able to focus on a very limited area called the fovea

They then conclude:

“These facts about rods and cones have some important implications for reading. As we have discussed, all text, regardless of writing system, is comprised of combinations of lines, normally dark on a white background. Therefore, fine discrimination between dark and light areas is essential to recognizing the visual elements of writing. If the light pattern coming from a word hits the fovea, the cones will easily recognize such fine detail and relay the pattern — with high fidelity — to the brain. However, if the word hits non-foveal areas and is sensed primarily by rods, it will be relayed to the brain as an average and will appear fuzzy. This will make it difficult to discern the exact identities of the symbols (see the beginning and end of the sentence represented in Figure 2). In fact, when people are asked to report the identity of a word that is presented so briefly that they cannot make an eye movement, accuracy is high in the fovea and drops off dramatically, with performance reaching chance levels around the middle of the parafovea (approximately 3 degrees of visual angle away from fixation), Bouma, 1973;

The authors go on to state:

“These facts cast doubt on suggestions from speed reading proponents that people can read more effectively by using peripheral vision, taking in an entire line or even an entire page at a time.”

My response?

They’re absolutely right!

In contrast to a lot of the scammy “photo reading” courses out there, we would never claim that people can take in an entire line at once… much less an entire page!

So, where’s the inconsistency, then?

Well, as mentioned above, the authors claim that anything outside of the foveal area of the eye — the central focus point of the eye — words are “fuzzy and difficult to discern.”

But just a few paragraphs later, on pages 13–14, the authors provide much stronger arguments against their own claim than I could possibly hope to, when they shift their attention away from photoreading towards debunking apps like Spritz that show you one word at a time.

In this argument, the authors claim that these apps don’t work, because they don’t allow you to see the context of the other words around the word you’re reading — even if those are words you would “skip” as a speed reader.

To quote:

“Importantly, just because a word is skipped does not mean that it was not processed at all. All major theories of reading posit that word skipping is based on at least partial recognition of the word from information obtained in parafoveal vision and/or expectations about the word’s identity…. This shows that readers are actually processing many or most of the words they skip over, along with the words they fixate…”

Here’s the part that really made me scratch my head, though:

“Although acuity is lower in the parafovea than in the fovea, information in the parafovea is not completely ignored.”

“If the word to the right of the fixated word disappears after 60 ms, reading behavior is disrupted (even if the word reappears once it is directly fixated; Rayner, Liversedge, & White, 2006). This finding suggests that readers use information from more than just the fixated word in order to read efficiently.”

Wait, what?

A few pages prior, while debunking speed reading courses, the authors claimed that anything in the parafovea -

the area outside the focus point of our view — is “fuzzy and difficult to discern.” But now, when debunking so-called speed reading apps, they are claiming that this peripheral parafovea vision is essential for reading and comprehension?

I don’t know about you guys, but that seems like a major contradiction to me.

The authors even include graphical explanations, outlining studies that proved the importance of the parafovea for effective speed reading:

In fact, this is exactly what we’ve been claiming for years: that by using tools like Schultz tables

to train your brain and eyes to pay more attention to information in the parafovea, you will be able to increase your reading speed and comprehension.

But that’s not the only ways in which, for me, the authors are actually arguing in favor of speed reading.

You see, one of the biggest arguments made by critics of speed reading is that there’s no way the brain can comprehend as fast as speed reading teachers claim it can.

Of course, as I said before, many speed reading teachers do make outright bogus claims of thousands of words per minute, and except for a few select individuals I’ve met in the past, it’s important to stress the fact that I don’t trust 95% of those claims.

So, what do the authors have to say about it?

To quote:

“The use of foveal and parafoveal information to process text. Now that we have reviewed the characteristics of eye movements, we return to the issue of how information is obtained from a text once an eye movement is made. Visual perception occurs very rapidly — so rapidly, in fact, that even if a word disappears completely after only 60 ms of directly looking at it, reading behavior is unaffected. That is, fixation durations were similar regardless of whether the word remained visible or was erased or masked after 60 ms” (Ishida & Ikeda, 1989).

They continue:

“These findings suggest that visual perception takes up only a small fraction of fixation durations, leaving time for higher level cognitive and linguistic processing to occur before the decision of when to move the eyes next. Crucially, the finding that readers’ eyes remained on words that had disappeared for as long as they would have when the words were still there suggests that the reading system naturally delays looking directly at the next word until it has performed a certain amount of linguistic processing of the currently fixated word.”

My response?

Again, they’re absolutely right.

And we’ve been telling people this for years, too. The only difference is that we’ve been saying that you can process the visual information you took in at the end of the paragraph or even at the end of the page, if you’re creating visual mnemonic markers — rather than after every word. Like doing all of your laundry at once instead of one sock at a time, this is a method of batching the processing and comprehension — and as we’ve said from day 1 — it’s only possible by learning advanced memory techniques to overcome the limits of short term memory. But more on that later.

Next, we have another claim that I completely agree with:

“When a word falls within the perceptual span , it can be perceived but not necessarily fully identified. In fact, the area from which words can be identified, the word identification span , is much smaller than the perceptual span . The word identification span is about 7 characters to the right of fixation in English ( see Rayner, 1998). Thus, with normal text there is a small window comprised of the currently fixated word and one or two words to the right within which words are identified . The perceptual span is a larger window , used to perceive the visual layout of the text (i.e., where the words and spaces are , in writing systems that have spaces ) in order to plan eye movements. The final aspect about the perceptual span that we should point out is that readers do not access any information from the lines above or below the line currently being read (Pollatsek, Raney, LaGasse, & Rayner, 1993) . This is important because it is inconsistent with the speed reading claim that someone can read an entire page at once.”

Why, yes! I agree!

Not just with the fact that you cannot read multiple lines at once, but also, the authors themselves make the point that our perceptual span is wider than just the word we’re reading — in fact, it includes about 7 characters to the right — i.e. another word or two.

Funny enough, that’s almost exactly the claim we make in our speed reading trainings.

By now, you might be starting to think that we had a hand in funding this research paper… haha!

But the list of vindicating findings goes on and on.

Describing an experiment where readers are not able to preview the text to the right of what they’re currently focused on, the authors state:

“The general finding from studies using the boundary paradigm is that readers obtain parafoveal preview benefit. That is, they are faster to read the target when the preview was identical to the target than when the preview differed from the target (for a review see Schotter, Angele, & Rayner, 2012)

Of course, there are some caveats. The research being cited did show that people can’t fully recognize words two to the right of the word they’re fixated on unless the words are short — and this is in line with our claims.

In our courses, we suggest 3 fixations on a normal page, which usually has about 8–10 words… or, in other words, that your fixations will only see a maximum of 3 or so words each!

The list of supporting evidence goes on and on…

On page 30,

the authors demonstrate the fact that visual word recognition is so incredibly quick and strong that it can interfere with retrieval of a competing word — the name of the color.

On Page 33, they begrudgingly admit that readers are able to comprehend even while saying nonsense words out loud to reduce subvocalization (the little voice in your head when you read), but found that for combining concepts together, they weren’t as good — which is why we advocate the pausing and reviewing concepts at the end of each page and chapter

Now, on the note of subvocalization, It’s important to note that we do NOT claim you can completely eliminate subvocalization — but rather, that it should be reduced. Our only claim is that you don’t need to read a large portion of the words in your head, and this was found to be true even in their research, which found that based on whether the word is a homophone or not, it may or may not be subvocalized.

So, I know what you’re thinking:

Wasn’t this supposed to be a research paper debunking speed reading? Where is the criticism here?

Well, on page 49, the authors debunk a lot of speed reading courses which claim you can read entire sentences or zig-zag across pages… and I agree, for all of the reasons above. The only place I would differ is that I strongly believe that people can take in small groups of words, as I explained — and the researchers’ own findings substantiated — before

As we get towards the end of the paper, on Page 50–51,

the authors have to admit that there are proven cases of speed reading — even if they’re overstated. The funny thing is, their defense is to claim that these people aren’t doing what other people are doing… they give the example of someone who did “impossible” memory techniques of numbers using chunking and memory techniques to lean on long term memory instead of short term memory, and then defend their stance by saying “is something similar going on with trained speed readers?

NO $#!*!!!

That’s exactly what we are advocating that you do!!!… To use memory techniques to overcome traditional limitations and push information into your long term memory, instead of reading slowly and using your short term memory.

My god, it’s like they’re handing the marketing firepower to me on a silver platter, you guys.

The example they give to debunk speed reading is a 1983 study where graduates of speed reading programs were given less than 6 minutes to speed read a college-level textbook…. A speed of 15,000 words per minute? And then say that even though the students were allowed to read the book 3 times, their comprehension was very bad.

Are you frickin’ kidding me?

Of course they couldn’t read that fast!

How about some studies with realistic claims, like 600–700 words per minute?

On page 52,

they are forced admit that graduates of a speed reading program read at 300–1300 words per minute FASTER than the control group, with the same level of comprehension on non-fictional materials. And this is for the Evelyn Wood program, which, personally, I had very little success with due to it’s lacking in visual memory techniques.

On page 53,

they give another example, and show that speed readers were able to comprehend more than skimmers, but claim that it’s only because they were able to connect to pre-existing knowledge and infer logical connections. Now, I don’t know what kind of memory techniques and visualization those speed readers did besides connecting to pre-existing knowledge, but I would say… uh… yeah, that’s the whole point. Connecting to pre-existing knowledge and fact-checking your own assumptions about the text is one of the strategies we teach. That’s part of the reason why it works!

The list goes on:

On page 55–56

they validate skimming — which is basically what we teach as pre-reading — saying that doing it will help you better summarize and understand the text. We’ve been saying that all along.

They go on to say that skimming

helps readers perform better under time pressure and make sensible decisions about what to focus on — no kidding! We’ve been teaching that — under the name of pre-reading — since day !

They actually say that skimming is an important skill — but fail to realize that if it’s used as pre-reading, it can alleviate a lot of the problems they came to discover with speed reading — in other words, the two are not mutually exclusive!

This video is already running long, guys, and so I’m not going to dive into the remainder of the report, which deals with speed-reading software. After all, because of the reasons I already mentioned above — I’m against these types of apps, and can only agree with the authors that they’re just not the same as actual reading with a page…

So, how about we look at some research that does support speed reading?

Well, to cite one, A study done at the children’s hospital in Boston in 2009

discovered that our brains are able to process images MUCH faster than we previously anticipated — as in — 100 milliseconds.

In the study, children were shown images from one of 5 categories,

and scientists measured to see which part of their brains lit up — meaning that they could instantly measure when the image was recognized and comprehended.

What’s really interesting is that this was the first study to plant electrodes

directly into the brain, as opposed to noninvasive monitors — which allowed scientists to avoid the lag of other measurement technologies, and be more exact in where they picked up activity.

They’re now exploring this further with movies — which, of course, are much more complex images than simple words — but the findings are very promising and exciting.

Now, here’s the funny thing. As I said, in our courses, we make claims very modest claims of 600–750 words per minute — despite the fact that my mentor — a gifted genius — reads much faster.

If you do the math, you’ll realize that 600 words per minute equals 10 words per second… which equals 1 word every… you guessed it… 100 milliseconds.

Now, figure in the added speed benefits of reading — or at least previewing — 2 to 3 words per minute like we discussed before, plus optimizing movements of the eye, and improving your speed by reducing — but not eliminating — subvocalization, and it’s quite easy to see how we substantiate our 600 word per minute claim.

But look, guys. I’ll be honest here.

Speed reading is a controversial topic, and the research isn’t all positive and favorable. While studies do seem to leave the door open for more modest claims of improved reading speed with minimal — if any loss of comprehension, the fact of the matter is, there have been a lot of dishonest and greedy people that have come along and made ridiculous and downright impossible claims over the last 70 years. Claims about photo-reading, absorbing entire pages in a glance, and 5,000 word per minute guarantees.

But I do think it’s important that we differentiate the types of reasonable and realistic speed reading — substantiated by research on how quickly our brains process images, and how effectively they are able to pick up information via peripheral vision and visual information process — from unrealistic hogwash.

Can a rare few people like Anne Jones and my mentor, Dr. Lev Goldentouch achieve speeds of 2 to 5 thousand words per minute? Yeah, maybe.

Should the average person hope to achieve speeds like that with high comprehension? Absolutely not.

But that doesn’t mean that you can’t significantly improve your reading speed and comprehension by taking advantage of the exact effects discussed by researchers — the parafoveal preview effect, and the incredibly fast speed with which your brain can process images.

In this post, I’ve tried to substantiate some of the claims that it is possible to read up to 600 or even 750 words per minute — 2 to 3 times faster than the average reader — with limited effects on comprehension.

But that doesn’t mean it’s easy, and it certainly doesn’t happen in some sketchy 1-day course at your local community college.

In our programs, it takes students literally months of training their eyes, their memories and their reading skills to achieve these results. And even then, speed reading at this level is physically and mentally exhausting, and it never comes naturally. Much like walking on your hands, you can get very good at, and do it for short bursts — but it’s always going to be easier and more comfortable to walk on your feet.

What I want to say is this:

Speed reading is a powerful and important skill in today’s information-overloaded society, but it’s just one small part of becoming a better learner. More important than the speed with which you read is whether or not you have the ability to understand, encode, retain, and apply large amounts of information effortlessly and effectively.

And that’s why, despite “speed reading” being a very sexy and alluring marketing opportunity, we design our programs to be 70+% focused on memory skills, learning habits, and health optimizations. Speed reading is, in our opinion, the “cherry on top” in many ways.

Because what’s the point of reading fast if you’re just going to forget everything you read?

What’s the point of trying to learn faster if your brain isn’t performing at it’s optimal capacity?

And why struggle through learning when a few changes to your habits and mindset can dramatically improve your experience and your results?

That, my friends, is how you really become a more effective learner.

So… in conclusion… Is Speed Reading a Hoax?

It depends on what kind of “speed reading” you’re talking about. But one way or another, it isn’t the magic bullet solution to all of your learning problems.

But hey, don’t take my word for it — after all, speed reading has already changed my life, and it’s my career. Admittedly, it’s nearly impossible for me to be objective on the topic. So I encourage you to read the research papers that I’ve speed-read and summarized here today, and come to your own conclusion as to whether or not my arguments make sense. If they do, then I hope you’ll give speed reading — and, of course, the accelerated learning techniques that make it truly possible — a try.

-JL

P.S. If you want to get a list of my TOP superhuman life-hacks, click here.

Immediately after I graduated from business school, a lot of people began asking me what I would do, or if I’d found a job. The answer was almost always “working a few hours a week on some side projects until re-launching my startup.” Whereas this may sound like an unfortunate or undesirable outcome, really was not so bad… My gross income then — without really “working” on anything — was higher than it was when I was working 80 hour weeks running a $3M/year eCommerce company. Sure, it wasn’t glamorous, but it was all part of a strategy that would eventually lead me towards “accidentally” building a 7-figure media business that runs whether or not I show up to work this month. Let me explain…

Passive Income:
What it is and Why You Want It

Like many, I was first really turned on to the idea of passive income by Tim Ferriss. In The Four Hour Work Week, he describes the system he developed with BrainQuicken, where the marketing, shipping, reordering, banking, and even customer service of the company was on complete auto-pilot. I found this idea intoxicating. The idea that Tim could travel the world learning to tango and staying on private islands while money just accumulated in his bank account seemed like some strange fiction — surely, this isn’t how people actually live, is it?

Well, no. That type of lifestyle is a pipe dream, and for good reason. Setting up passive income takes work, maintenance, and constant reinvention. But we’ll get to that. The more pertinent question is why.

The point of passive income is to liberate your time for more fruitful endeavors — whatever those may be.

Most people who set up passive income don’t do it so they can lay on a beach all day, or even so they can spend their time learning a third or fourth language (ok, maybe I’m doing that), or living on private islands. No, the point of passive income is to liberate your time for more fruitful endeavors — whatever those may be. If you have the ambition and gall to get out of the “9 to 5 game” and set up passive income, chances are you won’t be happy with sitting on your butt or traveling year round. You’ll want to do something with meaning and purpose.

For Tim, that was learning and writing a series of books, which he’s truly passionate about. For me, that’s traveling, learning, and working on startups that are “high risk” or have a long road to generating revenue. For you, maybe it’s spending time with your kids and not having to take overtime when it’s offered to you. In any case, the goal is to spend as little time as possible to cover your basic needs; if you want to spend more time to make more money, that’s always an option — but you want it to be an option, not a necessity.

For me, this has worked out brilliantly. Because I had passive income streams set up, I didn’t have to worry about generating sales immediately, raising funds from investors so that I can eat, etc. I could take my time, try out 100 different opportunities, and ultimately settle on a business that suited my needs (the one that I’m running now), which allows me to live and work wherever I want and whenever I want, and is, for the most part, fully autonomous. But I didn’t always have passive income — in fact, it took a lot of trial and error and a lot of learning (do yourself a favor and read Rich Dad Poor Dad — iBooks Link Here) before I had anything worth mentioning.

My Governing Laws of Passive Income

I’m not sure how other people look at passive income, though I’m also not sure I’ve innovated anything here. My thinking on the matter is a hybrid between 4HWW, RDPD, and a general understanding of business strategy and economics, reinforced by my time at Berkeley and INSEAD.

Let’s start from the basics and lay down some general laws about passive income.

Money is made where value is created and exchanged,

where “value” is defined as some benefit that people are willing to pay to receive. Seems really basic, right? But most people don’t seem to get this basic step. Any time anyone makes money in any way, value has been created and exchanged. In a way, we are all value-creating assets. It’s how we make money. Nothing wrong with that. The problem is how most of us create value.

Nearly every “9 to 5” worker (nothing against them) is a service worker. The definition of a service is a commodity where the value is created and consumed at the same time — think massages, for example. They create value — inputting purchase orders, serving customers, managing employees, etc — for a company or employer. The employer then consumes these services simultaneously.

(An interesting side note: I recently realized that by definition, a company is only going to hire you if they can sell the value you create for more than it costs them to obtain. In a way, this means that any time you’re employed, you’re getting a raw deal).

The books are pleasantly organized, customers served, teams managed, etc. The problem (in my mind) is that this is hugely time intensive and easily capped. Income = Time x Value, where Time is a finite resource limited to 24 hours a day (or, more realistically, 12).The way most people address this is to change the second variable. They get a law degree, MBA, or PhD, making their time worth more money. This works swell… but it’s still limited. At some point, you’re that lawyer making $550/hr, but your income potential is capped, as willingness to pay more is at it’s highest, and no new time can be created. What to do?

Value that can only be consumed once isn’t very valuable at all

You are valuable. Your time, your work, knowledge, experience, and output are all valuable. In fact, your employer (or your customers, if you’re an entrepreneur), probably pay a lot of money to rent these things from you. The problem is, whether you’re a doctor, a lawyer, an artist, an engineer, or even a baker, the value you create is consumed once — then it’s gone. You can only sell a loaf of bread once. You can only sell each open heart surgery to one client. The value trades hands, and now it belongs to the customer — you get paid once.

As we’ll see, one of the key tenets to passive income is to break this relationship; to create value that can be amortized and repeatedly sold, rented, or otherwise traded again and again and again.

Value has to originate from people, but it doesn’t have to be delivered by them

At some point in every value chain, value has to be created by a real human. No argument there. However, who says that a human has to deliver that value? Some very smart humans put in the work to create Google, but for the most part, they don’t have to do any work to deliver value to you, whether it’s search results or GMail or Maps. Your landlord put in a lot of work to afford the apartment you live in, to remodel it, and even to find you as a tenant. But now, he doesn’t have to do any work to deliver value to you: you wake up every morning in the apartment whether or not he works.

Caveat: Passive income isn’t free money

Passive income is defined as income-generating activity that is independent or loosely dependent on time commitment. Just so we’re on the same page, here, there’s no such thing as making money without creating value (I wish), and creating value takes time and effort. So, you are technically transacting time for money, in a way. But passive income is where we separate or at least alienate the proportional relationship between time spent and money made. It’s where there is no longer a fixed ratio, and if there is, it’s not a 1:1 ratio, but more like a 10 or 20:1 ratio of man-hours-worth-of-time to actual time. As another side note, knowing how much your time is worth both to you and on the open market is a valuable piece of information for guaging how effective your passive income activities need to be.

The Three Types of Value Exchange

Fortunately, there are only so many ways to skin a cat, er, deliver value. If you look at just about all economic activity, you’ll see that it breaks down into a few categories.

Selling Value

The term “selling” probably doesn’t need much explanation, but it’s where value is transfered one time in exchange for money. Heart surgery, baguettes, and designer jeans are all ways to sell value. This one would probably the least optimal of all, at least for passive income, if it weren’t for an exception. This is because once you sell a normal commodity or service, you can’t re-sell it. Here’s the exception to this: software or digital goods can be duplicated with a very low marginal cost(now that we don’t use CDs, you can duplicate it with a cost of $0.00), and therefore, technically can be “sold” advantageously over and over and over again. This is why Microsoft grew to such a profitable company, and why I love selling digital goods.

Renting Value

Renting value is exactly what you do when you go to work every day. This is a great way to adhere to our rule against one-time consumption, although you can only rent something to one person at a time (drawback). By renting something, I can generally avoid degradation of the value, or at least lessen it. By renting you a house, I’m charging you for the value of the shelter and comfort, and in fact incur pretty minimal decrease in value as your usage of the house causes wear and tear. When you’re done renting the house, there’s still plenty of value left to rent out, and the fact that you’ve enjoyed a year or two of value doesn’t much matter to the next willing consumer.

Creating secondary value — generally advertising potential — and then selling or renting that

Note that the mechanics of selling and renting here are the exact same, the difference is that with secondary value, we’re going to create another form of value, and we may or may not charge to exchange both forms of value.

That’s confusing, so let’s take a simple example. I create a free newspaper, and give away the value (information, entertainment) to people at no charge. By doing so, I’ve created a powerful form of secondary value: the attention of my readers. I then rent this value out to advertisers, who consume it regularly. If an advertiser leaves and I find a new one, the fact that the other advertiser consumed value before is of little or no concern to the new consumer.

That’s it. If you can think of another way of delivering value, I’d be interested to hear it. Governments create value and deliver it in this way (selling you the services of the FDA in exchange for taxes, for example). There’s no “magical” fourth revenue model.

That’s it.

But don’t worry, it works to our advantage.

Engineering Passive Income & Examples

Knowing that there are only so many ways to create value, we simply have to look at the cost/benefit of each one and be selective about how value is created.

Plain and simple, we have to create or buy valuable assets, preferably ones that deliver their value automatically.

Instead of working in the service framework, passive income necessitates that we build (or otherwise acquire) something that inherently contains value, which can then be easily and repeatedly transferred to others with little or no work. Plain and simple, we have to create or buy valuable assets, preferably ones that deliver their value automatically. There are a lot of ways to do this, but they all fall into the 3 categories above, and realistically, a lot of them look like different flavors of the same thing.

Think about the value you rent out or own . Then put it into something that can be sold or rented more passively.

I’m somewhat embarassingly reminded of Harry Potter and the concept of “Horcruxes” here, in that the goal is to find a piece of your value, and impart it into an inanimate object or product, Voldemort Style (did I really just make a Harry Potter reference?) Anyways, whatever. If you want passive income, you have to think about the value you rent out or own. Or, you need to buy something valuable that other people would like to use (I love the idea of a 3D Printer). Then put it into something that can be sold or rented more passively. Maybe you have a car that sits in the driveway, or a vacation home that is empty half the time. Maybe you just have some funny jokes you could put into a YouTube video and run ads on. At some point, you have to “transfer” the value into something that can work for you — that something is an asset.

Let’s look at some different assets that can be harnessed to make money, and understand how they work.

Digital Goods, Software, Information Products, Stock Photography, Music Loops, etc.

This encompasses everything from eBooks to stock images and even Udemy courses. The idea here is to create a digital good that has value. Why digital? Well, if you’re creating really unique hand-made socks, you can’t just duplicate them and resell them. Furthermore, you have to pack and ship each pair. Both of these things mean that there’s a fixed ratio of labor to income, and we’ve already discussed why that’s not ideal. Digital goods can be duplicated, and we can engineer systems (or use online marketplaces) to deliver them automatically. Awesome.

Side note: Patents, if you’re smart enough to create one (I’m not), are also great. They require a bit more work and legal hoops to set up, but if a company like Samsung is going to license your patent in one of their products, that is a “set it and forget it” income stream for as long as they need the patent.

Blogs, Websites, YouTube Channels, and other informative materials

This is separated intentionally from “information products,” because here I’m referring specifically to secondary value creation. If you can write a popular blog and get people reading it, you can sell ads. Alternatively, if you write a niche blog about vegetarian, gluten-free cat food, you can use special affiliate links to different websites, and get paid when people buy through those links. There’s lots of great blogs making tons of money doing these two things (I know of people making millions referring credit card signups), but please note that unless someone is writing and distributing the content for you, this is not passive income. It takes a lot of work to drive traffic. Some of the smarter people I know doing this have hired content writers and set up a bunch of sites, but they invest a TON of time on SEO, finding the right topics, etc.

Selling actual products

Like we said above, there’s nothing passive about this, but if you can create another type of asset — a system for selling products — then it is. One example is to write a book, and use Amazon Fulfillment Services to automatically print and ship it every time you sell a copy, depositing the money in your account. Another example is Tim Ferriss, who hired overseas assistants to handle everything at BrainQuicken, from the marketing to the reordering. With drop-shipping (having the manufacturer ship directly to your customer), this has become easier, but you should know that it’s still a good bit of human labor to advertise, handle customer service, etc. But, it’s a good option, and you can experiment with automation and delegation as you go along. If you want to know more about this, read The Four Hour Work Week already!

Real Estate and Physical Assets

Though it requires a huge up-front investment (well, at least 20%), real estate is awesome, because it’s (usually) pretty stable, and it’s a triple-whammy: you make money by leveraging a bank’s money, you can rent it out with almost no work at all day-to-day, and the value of the underlying asset INCREASES. This is why so many people flock to AirBNB to rent out their apartments when they’re going on vacation, too. It’s pretty passive, you don’t have to own the asset, and you just hand over keys and hire a cleaner before/after. The value of your apartment is untouched. By contrast, imagine buying a plane and renting it out to people for tours — you pay tons of money to maintain it, and after 20 years, it’s value is almost nothing. The exception is if you can manage depreciation and somewhat automate the value-delivery. If you have an expensive tool (like a 3D printer) and charge people to come over to your house and print things on your 3D printer, it’s pretty passive for you to answer emails and open the door, so I give it a “Semi to yes” for passivity.

Real estate has another perk: Tax law in the US (and most countries) has been written by landowners. There are some ridiculous loopholes, like the ability to deduct expenses (and maybe even some interest) as a cost of doing business. Also, you can sell the property and buy another one without paying taxes. I won’t go into detail here, but Real Estate is my favorite form of passive income, and it makes up over 50% of my portfolio. See the next section for a breakdown.

Traditional Investments

Stocks and bonds and all that good stuff can be passive income, too, but with high investment requirements up front (not unlike real estate). If they’re set up to pay dividends, this is a great passive income generator, because it’s low risk and can hedge out some of the risk you introduce in other endeavors.

Diversification and My Passive Income Mix

As we’ll discuss, passive income opportunities are usually limited-time only, and honestly, over half of what you try won’t work. Diversification is your friend. Having many sources of income — at least 7 including your “day job” — is an important hedging strategy. Personally, I have been working at it for a long time, and I’ve had many failures in trying to build my portfolio. I’ve done a few apps for BlackBerry (come on, it was 2009), contemplated writing a book, started a bunch of blogs and forums, and joined countless affiliate programs. Here are the ones that are currently working right now.

Real Estate

I rent out a 3 bedroom townhouse I bought back in 2009. My tenants have ranged from students, to the most lovely, most responsible couple who themselves own a home in another state. They take great care of the house, automatically send checks from their bank, and have only had 1 or 2 problems in the last 2 years (the neighbor’s house caught on fire). They’re awesome, and I’m so thankful to have them.

Note: a lot of the money made here goes into mortgage, property tax, insurance, and homeowners’ insurance, but it builds equity value, but there’s still a sizable chunk left at the end for spendable income. And the house itself has doubled in value since 2009 — so that’s nice.

Traditional Investments

For someone my age, I have an extremely low risk portfolio of mutual funds, foreign currency, and bonds. It’s made a bit more risky by my recent exposure to cryptocurrency, but that’s the only “high risk” activity going on here. Nothing exciting, but it pays some nice dividends and beats the hell out of keeping money in a savings account. This is a way for me to hedge against the risk I incur by angel investing in startups.

Structured Payments for Sold Assets

When I sold my company, the buyers were both thrilled and surprised that I was willing to accept such a large portion of the proceeds as structure payments. For 5 years, I received a monthly check, including interest, for the sale of that company. I created the value a long time ago, added a little more value by allowing payment over time, and thereafter that value was paid on a schedule.

Information Products

Well, my first book project didn’t generate the interest I would have liked to, but another set of products suredid. In 2013, I launched a course on Udemy, which grew so fast, it became my biggest income earner of all time. That course resulted in a series of books (audio, digital, and print), a not-so-passive podcast, and even lead to my now full-time gig: SuperLearner Academy. Though I run the company full time, it is, for all intents and purposes, an automated business.

Note: I’ve since spun off into 2 additional “passive” businesses in the online course space, Bitcoin Academy and Branding You™ Academy, both which teach people how to earn a fortune the way that I have.

Digital Goods (Software)

I’m not a software developer, and my early software projects (Blackberry Apps) failed because after paying a developer to build the product, I didn’t anticipate needing to update it regularly or provide support for it. For years after that, however, I had a partner who helped me upgrade our software once a year, and provided support if there are any issues (pretty rare). In 2013, we released our third module for Magento (they range from $49–149), and then ended up building a pretty successful SaaS product for Shopify. I left the business to my partner, and it still pays him over $3K a month in completely passive income. He updates the software every few months and answers the occasional customer email. Not bad!

Affiliate Sales

I make a little bit of money off of referring people to services I truly believe in. I never recommend things I don’t personally use, but if I’m going to refer friends to Shopify, products on Amazon, or Udemy courses besides my own, I have no shame making a couple bucks off it. In most cases, these referral sales come from older links within my podcasts or courses, and therefore, are completely passive.

Criticisms

As with any methodology for getting more for less, there will be critics (read: people too afraid to challenge their notions of what life is and can be). I’ve probably pre-emptively covered a lot of those concerns, but let me address a few grumblings that are likely to come up.

Passive income isn’t passive, you have to work for it
No shit. It’s about having a finite ratio of work to income. I can put 100 hours of work into an information product and sell it 10,000 times for $100 each.Find me somewhere else I can make $10,000 an hour, remembering that brain surgeons and actors spent literally tens of thousands of hours developing their skill set, and I’ll be happy to switch to that. I’ll then work an hour a month and forget about passive income.

Passive income means doing things you hate for money, just like normal work
Not really. I love my speed reading courses, I’m passionate about them. I loved working on apps to help small businesses kick more ass. Sure, it’s not as “sexy” as running a full time startup with dozens of employees, but that’s not the point. The point is to make enough money to be able to take risks and do what I want. Plus, if I’ve proven anything, it’s that you can turn these projects into full time if they become interesting enough to you.

Don’t you get bored if you don’t have to work?
Yeah, actually, this is the best criticism to date. I do get bored, and sometimes I lose motivation. That’s why passive income can’t be a replacement for active income. This is precisely why I eventually gave in and turned the online course business into a full time gig — which is how I fill up my days.

Most opportunities will disappear within a year or two, competition will come in and kill you if you’re not vigilant
Yep. That’s why we come out with a new version of our software every year or two. That’s why I improve my courses every year or two. That’s why I have to re-sign a lease on my house every 2 years. And it’s why I’m always creating new strategies and new income channels. The fact is, even with this research and trial/error process, I still have more free time than most people I know, and that’s free time I’m using to patiently seek out an awesome opportunity doing something I love.

You can’t build a successful company or a loyal following without hard work
Who cares? I don’t care one bit about building a “successful company” with most of my passive projects. That’s for my active projects — and I’ve done that when I converted them into active projects. For passive income, I can build products and automated services that are useful enough that people want to buy and use them. My Magento modules and Udemy course had 5 star ratings despite being passive. I knew back then that I could probably sell 2x as many copies of each if I made it my full time job — but I chose note to. I realized that if I could have more fun, get more fulfillment, and make more money out of other passive activities, and that’s why I don’t care that my passive businesses are small and nichey. Again, though, converting one of them into an active business has made it much more successful — so I would just remind you that they aren’t mutually exclusive, and if anything, having a Passive Income side business or 2 let’s you try out a few different waters before you dive in to any one.

I can’t do this, because I don’t have value that’s sellable
Bullshit. If you have a job, you have marketable value. Maybe it’s low value, if you’re flipping burgers, but you can create value somehow. I don’t care if you have to start out by re-renting the parking spot in front of your apartment, you can find, create, or buy something valuable worth repeatedly selling or renting, or you’re not thinking hard enough. Here’s a free idea: A lot of people want to play with 3D printers. Get 5 of your friends together and buy one. Put up a website and a listing in the local paper. Charge $50/h for printing. Set up a system that verifies if payment has been submitted and then automatically prints out the files that have been emailed to you. Split the earnings with your friends. Boom. You have passive income.

You can’t make enough money to live a good lifestyle
That depends what you call a “good” lifestyle. Could I rent yachts and get bottle service every weekend living off my passive income? No way. Could I travel 10–15 weeks a year and live in central Tel Aviv with money to spare? Definitely. I was able to earn low 6 figures completely passively. But if you want to make boatloads of money, and step up to the 7-figure territory, then yes, you’re going to need a combination. If, however, you want time to pursue your passions and have a moderate amount of fun, you can definitely sustain yourself with passive income.

This isn’t for everybody
No argument here. It’s not for everybody. Just like you can’t imagine taking risks or finding the energy to be creative after you get home from work, I can’t imagine trading 40% of my waking life for money, leaving me with no time to actually spend the money I made. Even when building startups, I believe that I’m trading time for asset creation (which is why I still receive checks every month from my last startup). Nothing against you if 9–5 is how you choose to live, and in fact, I’m very happy for you if it makes you happy. Just know that you have a choice!

Conclusion

This article is long enough, and I think it’s time to end… but not to worry. I recently created an entire course about passive income on Udemy. And, in a very “meta” way, it’s contributing yet another fantastic passive income stream to my portfolio!

Let me know what you think.

JL

P.S. If you want a list of my TOP 75 life hacks, you can download it here.

Listen to the audio version here.

This week, I want to elucidate an idea or framework that I’ve been developing and pondering on for quite some time.

It’s an idea I have for a certain type of people. A group that I like to call “Iceberg People.” And in this episode, I’ll not only explain to you who they are, but also why (and how) to become one.

WHAT ARE “ICEBERG PEOPLE?”

Iceberg people have always attracted me — even before I knew that they existed.

In fact, the concept didn’t truly become clear to me until a few years back, when I made a new friend. Let’s call her “Pauline.”

Pauline was, by all means, a very impressive person from the get-go. She had a great job, a fantastic educational background, and wonderful social skills.

Little did I know, however, that just like an Iceberg, the “visible” elements of Pauline’s life — as big and impressive as they might be — were a mere fraction of her true grandeur.

Over the course of three years of friendship, I slowly began to learn more and more about Pauline, her past, and her present.

I learned that she’d lived in the developing world for years, and survived numerous attacks, diseases, and close calls.

I learned that she spoke numerous languages, had received prestigious awards like the Rhodes scholarship, and had even set up a massively successful nonprofit in her spare time — which she still managed from across the globe. And did I mention, she’s also competed in not one, but two martial arts?

For years, it seemed that every time Pauline and I would meet, I would learn about some huge new — and fascinating — element of her life that had simply never come to light before.

That, my friends, is an iceberg person. And that’s just one example.

“IN A WORLD WHERE ALL THE ICEBERGS DIMINISH IN SIZE — DEFLATE THEIR GRANDEUR AND BECOME JUST ANOTHER BLOCK OF ICE — A CRITICAL PART OF THE ECOSYSTEM FAILS, AND WE FIND OURSELF IN A CRISIS — IMBALANCE.”

I once traveled for an entire month with my friend — who we’ll call “Ronny.” In 30 days, I managed to discover new things almost daily that hadn’t surfaced in years of friendship. Once again, I learned about languages spoken, countries lived in, and even past lives lived. I learned about career paths not taken, past girlfriends never mentioned, and beliefs that I never knew we shared. As I looked deeper and deeper into the life of someone whom I already considered a dear and trusted friend, I discovered new layers of intellectual depth, curiosity, and experience.

Classic Iceberg Person.

But the metaphor goes further, of course. Because not only are icebergs large, impressive structures — they’re also quiet. Subdued. Unimposing — at least at first glance.

And beyond that, the world needs icebergs. Because, in a world where all the icebergs diminish in size — deflate their grandeur and become just another block of ice — a critical part of the ecosystem fails, and we find ourself in a crisis — imbalance.

WHY THE OBSESSION WITH ICEBERG PEOPLE?

There are a few things that make people of this breed so unique — and awesome.

For one, I think it goes without saying that we should all aspire to lead deep, rich lives full of eclectic hobbies, hidden skills, and unbelievable stories that border on the simply absurd.

Indeed, to become an “Iceberg Person” is, by definition, to create a life that is overwhelming in it’s size and density. The type of person that seems to have an endless share of experiences from which to draw on, and as such, a truly unique way of seeing the world around them.

Iceberg People fill the world with passion, creativity, excitement, and awe. They’re the computer programmer who miraculously plays a piano ballad at your wedding — while singing in Italian. The mother of three who defends you in a dark alley by revealing she’s a black belt in Jiu Jitsu. Iceberg people are, quite simply, well rounded humans, who are able to draw experience and knowledge from all of life’s many avenues, to create excellence in any of them.

“ICEBERG PEOPLE PAIR AMBITION AND EXCELLENCE WITH MODESTY AND EGOLESS AUTHENTICITY. THEY REST COMFORTABLY IN THE KNOWLEDGE THAT THOSE WHO NEED TO KNOW WILL DO SO EVENTUALLY, AND THOSE WHO DON’T, WELL, DON’T.”

But being an iceberg person is, of course, so much more.

Because, as I said before, one key element of being an iceberg person lies in the ratio between the immediately visible and the yet-to-be-discovered.

Iceberg people don’t advertise their experiences, achievements, or credentials. They leave them to be discovered. A tremendous surprise unlocked only by those who overcome their intimidation, and dare to come close enough to touch.

In doing so, Iceberg people pair ambition and excellence with modesty and egoless authenticity. They rest comfortably in the knowledge that those who need to know will do so eventually, and those who don’t, well, don’t.

Compare this to the other alternatives. While a comparison to someone with a less colorful or accomplished life is, admittedly, banal and plainly favorable, the comparison to the other extreme is significantly more interesting.

“WHEREAS THE ICEBERG PERSON UNDERSTANDS THE POWER OF HUMILITY, INTRIGUE, AND THE ELEMENT OF SURPRISE, THE BRAGGART UNDERSTANDS ONLY THEIR OWN EGO — AND HOW TO MOMENTARILY APPEASE IT.”

Consider the difference when compared to The Braggart; someone who advertises — or even inflates — the intrigue and excitement of their life’s journey… whether substantiated or not. You know the type. They’re quick to one-up your story, to upload that photo from the exotic location, and to name-drop that elite university they went to. Sure, it’s fair to say that many such people are impressive, and even extraordinary in their own right, they rarely leave as positive of an impressive. Indeed, though these folks may occasionally reach the stature and largesse of their more subtle counterparts, most people are generally too annoyed to pay heed.

Whereas the Iceberg person understands the power of humility, intrigue, and the element of surprise, the braggart understands only their own ego — and how to momentarily appease it. If the Iceberg person is hearing about a beautiful new vacation destination from a close friend who reluctantly agrees to share their secret, the Braggart is a bright yellow billboard for budget flights departing daily.

“BECOMING AN ICEBERG PERSON NECESSITATES THAT YOU DEVELOP A MASSIVE LIFE FOOTPRINT.”

That which is easily discovered is not only inherently less valuable, but often times, less appreciated, as well.

SO, HOW DO YOU BECOME AN “ICEBERG PERSON?”

Well, it starts with a concept I call “The Life Footprint.” You’ve maybe heard about a person’s ecological footprint: the impact that his or her lifestyle leaves on the environment. A “life footprint” is no different. How many people do you touch, across how many different walks of lives, and to what extend do you make a lasting impression.

Becoming an Iceberg person necessitates that you develop a massive life footprint.

How do you do that?

First, start with something you’re passionate about. Not a job that you’re somewhat good at, or that makes a good living, or that makes your parents proud. Something that you were born to do. That makes your heart SING. And then, do it with as much gusto and exuberance as you possible can.

Next, explore the remainder of your curiosities with a vengeance. Who among us would readily admit to being so boring — so simple minded — as to have no interests beyond work, friends, and family. And yet, in practice, this is exactly what so many people do. We leave the colors in the box, shy away from the unnecessary tangents, and begin painting in black and white. We become “a programmer,” or “a doctor,” instead of becoming a fully formed human being who happens to practice medicine or write code.

And sure, there’s lots to be said for being the absolute best at what you do. To hone in on your craft or field of study and devote yourself to it wholly. But quite frankly, I agree with Robert Heinlein, who famously said:

“A HUMAN BEING SHOULD BE ABLE TO CHANGE A DIAPER, PLAN AN INVASION, BUTCHER A HOG, CONN A SHIP, DESIGN A BUILDING, WRITE A SONNET, BALANCE ACCOUNTS, BUILD A WALL, SET A BONE, COMFORT THE DYING, TAKE ORDERS, GIVE ORDERS, COOPERATE, ACT ALONE, SOLVE EQUATIONS, ANALYZE A NEW PROBLEM, PITCH MANURE, PROGRAM A COMPUTER, COOK A TASTY MEAL, FIGHT EFFICIENTLY, DIE GALLANTLY. SPECIALIZATION IS FOR INSECTS.”

So.

That instrument you’ve always admired? Pick it up, and start taking lessons. That language that you mysteriously are drawn to? Learn it already. And that opportunity to drop everything and move to another country you know nothing about? Take it, dammit!

“THE POINT IS, ABOVE ALL, TO DEVELOP YOURSELF. TO CREATE A SELF — AND A LIFE — GREATER AND DEEPER THAN ANY CURSORY GLANCE COULD EVER REVEAL.”

And finally, learn to seek the path less traveled — even if it’s just for a great story. The most wonderful iceberg people I know are those who can step in at just the right moment, to guide you through the darkest of moments, with a perfectly articulated and closely-guarded story about the time they spent in a silent Hindhu ashram, dancing on the edge of insanity.

If you’re to become an iceberg person, you’ll need a lot of seemingly random hobbies and far-out stories just like these. And sure, all of this will leave people scratching their heads in awe — but that’s not the point. The point is, above all, to develop yourself. To create a self — and a life — greater and deeper than any cursory glance could ever reveal. And, true to the way of the iceberg person, to do it all for nobody but yourself, as you quietly and calmly float through life’s journey, untold depths within you, discoverable only to those who truly seek to know.

P.S. If you want a list of my top 75 life hacks, you can download it here.