The Knowledge Project Podcast

No.1 Flow Expert: How to Wire Your Brain for Extreme Focus

55K views · 3d ago · 1:06:11

Steven Kotler is a bestselling author and the executive director of the Flow Research Collective, where he studies the science of peak performance. Most of us have felt it. Hours disappear, everything else fades away, and the work seems to do itself. But what’s actually happening in those moments, and can you make them happen on purpose?

Topics: What Is a Flow State? The Most Addictive State on Earth · Signs You're in Flow (Most People Miss These) · The Real Secret to Peak Performance · The Hidden Biology Behind Flow and Focus · How to Get Into a Flow State · Why You Need One "Flow Activity"

$1 Billion in 365 Days: The Habits of an Elite Closer

206K views · 2w ago · 55:33

Ryan Serhant is a real estate broker, founder of SERHANT., and star of Bravo’s Million Dollar Listing New York and Netflix’s Owning Manhattan. He explains how to sell without making people feel sold to: build a connection, help first, and earn the right to ask. He also breaks down the psychology of attention and persuasion, showing how to get people's attention, hold it, and turn it into business.

Topics: Get Chosen Before You’re Established · Why Sellers Should Take Acting Classes · What Is Embarrassment Costing You? · The 1,000 Minutes a Day Framework · Why Buyers Resist Your Pitch · Are You Giving Up Too Soon?

Bill Ackman: People are Going to Lose a Lot of Money

1.3M views · 1mo ago · 1:17:27

Guest: Bill Ackman

Bill Ackman is the founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management, one of the most closely watched investment firms in the world. In this conversation, he breaks down how he tells the difference between real innovation from hype, what he looks for before making a billion-dollar investment, and why he sold Netflix—and later bought it back. He also shares the mistakes that reshaped his investment process and his plan to build a modern-day Berkshire Hathaway.

Topics: The Night His Daughter Nearly Died · His Plan to Rethink Brain Recovery · Could Her Ring Have Raised the Alarm? · How He Holds It Together · How Bubbles Pull You In · Is Venture in a Bubble?

Shopify CEO: This Is Your Edge Against AI

191K views · 1mo ago · 1:04:49

Guest: Shopify CEO

Shopify founder and CEO Tobi Lütke joins Shane Parrish to discuss AI agents, better decision-making, and the future of work. He explains how he uses an AI council to examine his hardest decisions and why taste, judgment, and responsibility become more valuable as AI becomes more capable.

Topics: How Shopify Uses AI · The Case for Skeuomorphism · How Bing's Chatbot "Sydney" Inspired Shopify's AI · River: Shopify's Internal AI · How to Encourage Osmosis Learning · AI Dreaming and Self-Reflection

The 12 Years that Changed Steve Jobs

51K views · 1mo ago · 1:02:53

We all know the Steve Jobs who came back in the late 1990s and saved Apple from becoming a footnote. And we've all heard the story of how, in 1985, he was pushed out of the company he'd created. What we don't know is what happened in between.

Topics: Why Steve Jobs Was Pushed Out of Apple · Steve Jobs' Failed Coup Attempt to Oust CEO · The Failure of Macintosh II · Starting NeXT Computers · The Story Behind NeXT's Iconic Logo · A Perfect Cube: The Impossible Design of NeXTcube

How to Make Better Decisions by Fixing Yourself First | Roblox CEO

20K views · 2mo ago · 45:33

Guest: Roblox CEO

David Baszucki is the co-founder and CEO of Roblox, a platform built around a simple idea: give people the tools and incentives to create together. In this short conversation we discuss how a health decision saved his son's life and how it changed how he eats, why bureaucracy compounds unless you actively destroy it, monitoring your mind before making decisions, and why the best products often improve by removing complexity.

Topics: How Keto Can Help Treat Bipolar Symptoms · Link Between Physical and Mental Health · Current Metabolic Routine · How Your Metabolic State Affects Decision Making · The Signs of a Great Product · Bureaucracy is the Enemy of Progress

The Business Lessons That Made Him Billions

131K views · 2mo ago · 1:39:17

This summer, I’m revisiting one of my favorite episodes. If you haven’t heard it, now is the time. If you have, it’s a classic and worth listening to again. Brad Jacobs has built eight billion-dollar companies, completed more than 500 acquisitions, and created extraordinary returns for shareholders over four decades. Few people understand how great businesses are built better than he does.

Topics: Finding Every Opportunity to Make Money · The Singularity & The Future of AI · How to Think Rationally · The Meta-Trend Driving the Future · His Research Process · How to Ask Better Questions

The Price of Excellence Most People Won’t Pay

75K views · 3mo ago · 53:43

No company decides to fail. It drifts there one comfortable lie at a time. Kaz Nejatian took over Opendoor when it was just months away from bankruptcy and set out to rebuild it from the ground up. What happened next shocked everyone.

Topics: How Opendoor Came Back from the Dead · How Mismanagement Causes Atrophy · The Blueprint that Changed Opendoor · Rewriting the Book on Company Turnarounds · The People You Hire Is the Company You Build · Be a Nuclear Bomb of Truth

No.1 Performance Psychologist: The Secret to High Performance and Excellence

1.7M views · 3mo ago · 1:08:17

Dr. Gio Valiante is one of the world's leading performance psychologists, trusted by elite athletes, investors, executives, and high performers to help them perform at their best when the stakes are highest. In this conversation, Gio explains why most people never reach their potential, how confidence and fear shape performance, and what separates those who consistently excel from those who stay stuck.

Topics: Why most people underperform and the central governor hypothesis. · Why lasting change starts with behavior rather than thinking. · The difference between mastery motivation and ego-driven motivation. · Flow states, presence, and learning to enjoy the everyday work of excellence. · Practical techniques for developing presence and reducing distraction. · What interview questions reveal about confidence, motivation, and character.

What Your Gut Is Trying to Tell You

61K views · 4mo ago · 54:43

Dr. Giulia Enders has changed the way millions of people think about the human body. As a physician, microbiome researcher, and bestselling author, she has spent years studying the surprising role the gut plays in everything from digestion and immunity to mood, sleep, metabolism, and long-term health.

Topics: How A Thriving Gut Can Unlock Your Health · Foods to Eat to Improve Gut Health · The Link Between Your Gut and Immune System · How to Get Prebiotics in Your Food · Why Fiber is Key to a Healthy Gut · How Cooling Starches Can Help You Lose Weight

Mental Models That Change How You Think | Bill Gurley

120K views · 4mo ago · 1:01:20

Guest: Bill Gurley

Bill Gurley spent years on Wall Street, built his career as a partner at Benchmark, worked through Uber’s hypergrowth era, and now serves on the board of the Santa Fe Institute, where he studies complexity and systems thinking.

Topics: Key Mental Models · Investing Journey and Key Players · Knowing the Bedrock of the Industry · Obsessive Learning in Founders · The Silent Edge · Surprising AI Use

FarmVille Creator: The Hidden Path to Successful Products

22K views · 5mo ago · 1:09:29

Guest: FarmVille Creator

Mark Pincus created FarmVille and Words With Friends, built Zynga into a multi-billion dollar company, and experienced both spectacular success and painful failure along the way. In this conversation, he reveals the lessons that came from nearly missing the biggest opportunities of his career, rebuilding after setbacks, and learning how to spot winning ideas before everyone else.

Topics: The Principles of Great Products · How to Test if Your Idea Has "Heat" · Falling Out with His Father · Early Career Fails · The Presentation that Kicked him out of Bain · The Book of Life System for Making Strategic Decisions