How To Win a Trip to New York City (And Sit In On a Podcast Taping)

I didn't even want to do a podcast. Too much work!

I’m too shy to ask people to come on.

And I get so nervous I hope each podcast will get cancelled. Or a natural disaster will happen.

But I wanted an excuse to ask people how they made their lives better. Maybe I could do it also.

I’ve gone from successful to broke more than once. I’ve gone all the way down, then come back up. I’ve gained then lost multiple times, so I needed to talk to my super heroes...

I would read a book and think to myself: I wish I could ask Judy Blume, Peter Thiel, Coolio, Tim Ferriss, Jewel, Mark Cuban, etc. MORE about what they just said.

But if I just called them, would they return the call?

Definitely not. I needed a front. A lame excuse. I’d pick up the phone… "I have a podcast.”

People ask me “what's this podcast about?”

To me it's about interviewing people who are peak performers. Maybe even the best in the world at what they do.

It’s not about business or entrepreneurship. But about going deeper and exploring what it means to be human and achieve well-being in a world that is increasingly complicated.

This is what people struggle with in their lives, it's the layer underneath the bills, the relationships, the sicknesses. All of that are just byproducts of finding well-being in life.

It's been four years and now 300 interviews later. I've had close to 50 million downloads overall. More when I include other podcasts I've been involved in.

The podcast has saved my life. I've spoken to so many of my heroes. (People who I would never have expected to have a conversation with.)

Having Judy Blume, my favorite author as a child, give me relationship advice - might be the highlight of my life.

Or Brian Grazer, producer of many of my favorite movies and TV shows, give me advice about creativity.

Talking to Wayne Dyer, Coolio, Steven Pressfield, Seth Godin, Tim Ferriss, Judy Blume, Cheryl Strayed, Amanda Palmer, and on and on, has taught me so much about the world.

I hope I remember them. I hope I live what I learned. I try to.

Often people ask me what my favorite episode is... I can’t possibly tell you.

I've learned so much. Every one of the 300 people have changed my life in some way.

I could sit here and write 300 things... one from each podcast. But I wanted to try something different.

Now I want to hear what you’ve learned. Or how this podcast has helped you.So I’m doing a contest…

Here’s how you can enter. (And if you win, I’ll fly you out to New York City for a live podcast taping with me and one of my guests)

It’s simple. (And takes less than a minute.) Tell me your favorite podcast and how it's changed your life.

I'll go through each video and pick out the best one, fly you to new york for a live podcast episode (or two).

We’ll hang out…

You can ask me about the time I blew off Trump's inauguration to interview Sara Blakely. Or how I was able to get Mark Cuban, Arianna Huffington, and Gary Vaynerchuck on the phone for an interview.

You can't change 300 things in your life. But you can file a few things away and pull them out as necessary.

I learned about creativity, nutrition, persistence, peak performance, happiness.

Every day I think, “I’m going to quit this podcast. It’s too much work.”

But then I read a book. Or I see a person I’m curious about. And I think, “I need to know more about this.”

So I call them. I arrange to meet them. I pull out a recorder.

I start asking questions.

I also learned they’ll pick up. They’ll share their stories. I said I wanted to be like my heroes… Enter the contest. I’ll pick up.