Life as an Experiment -- with A.J. Jacobs

Afford Anything | Make Smart Money Choices

Paula Pant | Cumulus Podcast Network

Entrepreneurship, Investing, Business

4.7 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 27 November 2017

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

#105: A.J. Jacobs is the Editor-at-Large of Esquire Magazine and the New York Times bestselling author of multiple books. His three TED Talks have collectively garnered more than three million views. He describes himself as "a father of three, husband of one, and cousin to millions." And he's probably your cousin. Twice removed. AJ joins me on this episode to chat about motivation, habits, and living life as an experiment. Here are some of the stories we cover: - Why AJ divulged his entire sexual history to actress Scarlett Johansson. - How AJ successfully and frequently changes his behaviors and habits. - AJ's experimental approach to life. - Why the adage "fake it 'til you make it" -- or rather, "fake it 'til you become it" -- is essential for developing habits. - How gratitude at extreme levels can become a mindset game-changer. - How healthy living nearly killed him. - AJ's quest to demonstrate the idea that we're all related -- and throw the world's largest family reunion. Resources Mentioned: A.J.'s Books: It's All Relative My Life as an Experiment A Year of Living Biblically Drop Dead Healthy The Know-It-All A.J.'s TED Talks: My Year of Living Biblically https://www.ted.com/talks/a_j_jacobs_year_of_living_biblically How Healthy Living Nearly Killed Me https://www.ted.com/talks/aj_jacobs_how_healthy_living_nearly_killed_me The World's Largest Family Reunion https://www.ted.com/talks/aj_jacobs_the_world_s_largest_family_reunion_we_re_all_invited Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You can afford anything but not everything.
0:10.8	Every decision that you make is a trade-off against something else, and that's true,
0:14.3	not just for your money, but also your time, energy, focus, attention, anything in your
0:18.7	life that is a scarce or limited resource.
0:21.7	And so the questions become twofold.
0:23.8	Number one, what do you prioritize the most?
0:26.6	What do you value the most?
0:27.8	Number two, how do you align your day-to-day behaviors to reflect those priorities?
0:34.2	Answering those questions is a lifetime practice, and that is what this podcast is here to
0:38.4	explore.
0:39.4	My name is Paula Pan.
0:40.4	I am the host of the Afford Anything Podcast, and today, one of my favorite authors, the
0:46.4	hilarious AJ Jacobs is on the show.
0:49.2	I am super excited about this.
0:50.9	I've been reading AJ since I was in college.
0:54.8	He writes about a broader array of topics, but the theme throughout most of his work is
1:01.4	that he lives his life as an experiment.
1:05.6	So he will dive head-first into a thing in order to experience what that thing is like,
1:14.5	and he will try to act his way into a new way of thinking and feeling and being.
1:21.1	Some people call this immersive journalism or stunt journalism.
1:25.5	I call it really freaking entertaining, and with a lot of lessons along the way.
1:31.3	So some examples of some of the things that he does.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Paula Pant | Cumulus Podcast Network, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Paula Pant | Cumulus Podcast Network and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.