Today we have one of our favorite episodes so far, we’re totally excited to be speaking with our good friend and podcast veteran Brian Rose of London Real. We dive into the lessons learned from Brian’s 8 years of podcasting. From the drugs and a near death experience to being mentored in a castle and finding a sense of purpose.

His show is the archetype of podcasting. Before Youtube was big and before people knew what a podcast was, Brian took inspiration from other early podcast adopters like Joe Rogan and set about crafting his own original style of interviewing. He knew he wanted to provide value in people’s lives, in the same way his life had changed from being engaged in inspiring long format conversations. Brian’s vision would be realized in 2011 when he launched London Real and he went on to pioneer this media through its early days up to what it has become today.

Things haven’t always fallen into place though. Today we chat with Brian about his dark past, drug abuse and overdoses, leaving California, dropping out of his engineering studies in Boston and becoming a Wall Street banker. Then once he got there, the money never satisfied him and how the aggressive lifestyle forced him to disconnect from society.

‘All the dark holes inside Brian, Brian the kid, all the dark things just weren't going away even though I was earning 100,000’s of dollars’ - Brian Rose [12:30]

One day, the intense lifestyle took its toll and it was time for him to clean up his act. Moving to London would give a chance at a new life away from what he describes as a “shameful past”.

Within the first few weeks of arriving on British turf, he quickly realized he had nothing to do with his time and had to throw himself into something to avoid his addictive tendencies. He found a great mentor while studying martial arts, also allowing him to adopt new traits like accountability, confidence and discipline that shaped Brian and gave him the grounding he needed to start making the podcast.

“I nearly had to die to get here, everyday I walk through the graveyard thinking what would these bodies have done different if they had the chance to live life over, then I think about what my obituary is going to say, that really pushes me forward” - Brian Rose [40:00]

Brian has interviewed some amazing people in his time hosting one of the longest running podcasts, but in this episode the table is flipped and we get to explore his remarkable life, all the ups and downs and everything in between.

Here’s what else we get into:

• How to create your own huge life transformation
• Finding your own sense of purpose
• Everyone ones shares a baseline, we all want the same things in life
• Comfort leads to transparency
• Transcendental meditation is like holding a mirror up to your real self
• Coming back from the brink of destruction makes you stronger then ever before
• Money, cocaine, heroin, prostitutes - leaving Wall Street for a new life
• Relax, all good things will come in good time
• Why taking more risks is the only way to the top
• False expectations appearing as fear - Dan Pena’s mantra that puts fear in its place

Full show notes: https://www.ikonns.com/podcast/episode35