John Assaraf on "Brain-Training, the Power of Repetition, Resourcefulness and the Future"

This is episode #32 with John Assaraf, one of the leading mindset and behavior experts in the world, who has appeared numerous times on Larry King Live, Anderson Cooper and The Ellen DeGeneres Show. You can watch this Flashback interview on YouTube. Welcome to the “Neuroscience Meets SEL” podcast, my name is Andrea Samadi, a former educator who has been fascinated with understanding the science behind high performance strategies in schools, sports and the workplace for the past 20 years. Today we have John Assaraf—he has built 5 multimillion-dollar companies, written 2 New York Times Bestselling books and has been featured in 8 movies, and today, he is the founder and CEO of NeuroGym, a company dedicated to using the most advanced technologies and evidence based brain training methods to help individuals unleash their fullest potential and maximize their personal and professional results. In 2014 when my company was awarded grant funding to run character programs in Arizona schools, I knew I needed to find someone who had a proven path for business success to make sure I had the right systems in place, so I immediately looked up John to see what courses he was teaching and applied to join his “Cloning for Business Success Class” that he was teaching at the time. For those interested, you can see a similar business acceleration mastermind he is currently accepting applications for called The Escape Velocity Mastermind.[i] I had no idea that this class would lead me to brain-training (I was given a FREE course to try that has been a part of my daily routine for the past 6 years), and that this decision would lead me to Mark Robert Waldman, and eventually adding the most current neuroscience research to my programs. It all started with John and with anyone who has met him, or knows his work, you would know that this was a pivotable point in my career as he has such a wealth of knowledge, is an expert at helping people change their behaviors to get the results they want, and he sincerely wants to see other people succeed. To learn more about John, go to www.myneurogym.com and enjoy this Flashback interview from 2016. Keep in mind this was 4 years ago, when he speaks about research that has just emerged. We apologize for the sound quality, but sure you will agree with me that this information is powerful. [i] See John’s most current course Escape Velocity 212 Mastermind http://links.myneurogym.com/EV212   Andrea Samadi: So John, can you explain your story. What were you doing that wasn't working and what made you decide to choose a different path for your life? John Assaraf: You talking about when I was younger, the kid getting myself into a whole lot of trouble. Andrea Samadi: Yes. What made you decide to move past that and stop going that direction that you were going, to the pathway that you're on now? John Assaraf: Well, I grew up with loving parents who taught me right from wrong. What they didn't teach me is how to overcome or even recognize my low self-esteem and that I didn't think I was smart enough or good enough and I don't think, they knew that I thought that way. And I don't, no. That they have the tools to know themselves to grade three and grade five is where my parents finished school. I knew that when I was getting myself into a lot of trouble and that it was the wrong thing to do. But I also didn't know that there was a better way. And it wasn't until I was 19 years old where I met a mentor, somebody who saw a good young kid who was just doing the wrong things. That showed me that there was a different path and he showed me that I could do something that I really loved to do instead of doing what I thought I had to do, which is well, and I had a job, a company that was an electronics company is Phillips Electronics. John Assaraf: And that as the scenario, you know, for eight hours a day and the little three by five cards writing when inventory came in and when inventory went out, and that was, it was m