Habits and Hustle

When you want to understand someone's success, you look at what they built. The company, the exit, the valuation. But James Beshara says you are looking at the wrong thing. You are studying the fruit when the real story is in the roots. James has built three separate companies to nine-figure valuations before 40, ranks as the top #2 angel investor on AngelList, and has made over 100 startup bets. He is also the founder of Magic Mind and after 14 years of investing and 18 years of building companies, he has learned that the founders who get funded are not the ones with the best pitch deck. In

There's a cognitive bias that runs more of your decisions than you do. Marketers figured it out a long time ago. The reason it keeps working on you is that nobody's taught you how to use it back. People have been saying it's a willpower problem for years now. And while willpower is part of it, the real reason you keep falling into the same patterns has less to do with discipline and more to do with how your brain is wired. In this episode of Habits and Hustle, I unpack what loss aversion actually is, why marketers have been using it on you for decades, and how to flip it so it works for you

The most interesting people to sit down with aren't always the ones the world agrees about. Some of the most compelling conversations happen with people who hold their ground and refuse to be neatly categorized by the world. Kevin Trudeau is infamous for a lot of things but what’s notable about him is he sold 50 million books, served 8.5 years in federal prison for contempt of court, and walked out at 60 with $10,000 in donations. Kevin has been called a snake oil salesman by some of the biggest names in the media. He's also the man who wrote about ultra-processed food, gut health, and the hy

Are you doing all the right things to strengthen your mindset but still feel like something is missing? The wellness space has been selling mindset as the answer to everything for years now. And while it matters, leading with mindset is actually where most people get the order wrong. Because before your mind can perform at its best, your body has to be conditioned for it. When you flip that order and put your physical health first, everything else starts to move differently. Your mental toughness builds naturally. Your stress response changes. The way you show up in your relationships, y

The biggest threat to a founder's success isn't failure. It's spending years trying to become someone they were never built to be. Jamie Siminoff never followed the CEO playbook. He followed the problem. He built Ring in his garage with a soldering iron, got publicly rejected on Shark Tank, never ran a single team meeting, and still built one of the most recognizable home security brands in the world. In this episode, Jamie shares why the traditional founder playbook is a trap, what actually drives a company to scale, and what AI is about to do to the entrepreneurs who never questioned how t

The same part of your brain behind every bad habit you have ever had is the exact same part that builds your best ones. Which means the traits you have been trying to fix your whole life might be the very thing that builds your biggest success. That connection is exactly what Liz Tenuto, better known as The Workout Witch, lived. She went from posting somatic exercises from her bed during a divorce to building an eight figure business that has helped millions of people heal, and the only thing that changed was what she pointed her energy at. In this third Fitness Fridays episode with Liz, she

The same intensity that can destroy your life is the same intensity that can rebuild it. The difference isn't the person, it's the direction. Ken Rideout is the world's fastest marathoner over 50, a former prison guard, a former addict, and someone who has never once in his life waited to feel ready before making a move. He spent 10 years taking 50 Percocets a day while making millions on Wall Street and hiding it from everyone around him, including his wife.  Today he runs 10 miles every single day, has won age groups at every world marathon major, and won a 155-mile desert ultra he signed

The field of somatics has one uncomfortable truth most people aren't ready to hear: you cannot think your way out of trauma or chronic stress. If the stress response of the body never gets discharged through physical movement, your body stays on high alert. Some people still write somatics off as “woo-woo”. That gap between what the science actually says and what people assume is exactly why I wanted to go deeper with Liz Tenuto, better known as The Workout Witch. Liz holds a degree in Psychology from UC Santa Barbara, is certified in Pilates and Reiki, and spent six years being mentored in t

Have you noticed how the more we're connected by the internet and have all these gadgets, the lonelier we get? The things we thought would bring us together are actually making us more isolated than ever. That is the conversation I had with Dr. Laurie Santos. She is a Yale professor, an expert on happiness, and the woman behind Psychology and the Good Life, the most popular class Yale has ever offered. She also hosts her own hit podcast, The Happiness Lab, focused on the science of feeling good.  In this episode, Dr. Laurie breaks down why English-speaking countries are quietly getting unhap

The Greek word "soma" means body. Somatic exercises were first researched in the 1970s as a way to release trauma and stress through tiny physical movements, bypassing the mind entirely.  Decades later, most people still think it sounds like a woo-woo wellness trend. That gap between what the science says and what people assume is exactly why I wanted to sit down with Liz Tenuto. Liz, better known as The Workout Witch, has nearly 5 million followers, 240,000 students, and a 99% success rate with her courses. She holds a degree in Psychology from UC Santa Barbara, is certified in Pilates and

GLP-1s are the fastest growing drug trend in health right now. But a 30-year fasting study says there's something every user needs to know before their next dose. Dr. Valter Longo has spent 30 years studying aging and longevity at USC, running over 40 clinical trials on what actually makes people live longer and healthier. What he found challenges almost everything the wellness industry is pushing right now, from 16-hour fasting windows to high-protein diets to GLP-1 drugs. In this episode of Habits and Hustle, Dr. Longo breaks down the science behind the Fasting Mimicking Diet (FMD), why 12

The problem was never that you didn't know what to do. It's that you keep letting the version of you who doesn't feel like doing it cast the deciding vote. That's the trap. We make decisions based on how we feel before the thing, instead of how we'll feel after it.  And before anything hard, the feeling is always the same: tired, unmotivated, full of reasons to wait. If that's the voice you're listening to, of course you're stuck restarting. You've handed the mic to the wrong version of yourself. We try to fix this with more discipline, more motivation, or another reset on Monday. None of i

I live by one rule that has shaped almost every good thing in my career: do the thing first and ask for forgiveness later. Not permission. Forgiveness. The people who wait for the right connection, the right introduction, the right moment, usually end up watching someone bolder walk past them into the room they were trying to get into. That is exactly why I wanted to sit down with James Dumoulin. James is the 23-year-old founder of School of Hard Knocks, the media brand you have almost certainly seen on your feed even if you never clocked the name. He is the guy who walks up to strangers in

Are you having a hard time connecting with your kid to know what they’re up to?  By the age of 10, kids may start to have short answers like “fine” and speak less to us parents because their brains develop and start navigating more independence over parental guidance. As parents, we want to make sure what is happening with our kids and it can be frustrating to get them to share more which sometimes leads to yelling.  Kids are sensitive to our emotions as parents and they would rather distance themselves and become more mute when met with frustration and stress.  In this episode of Habits &

Most women are told that wanting more makes them selfish. It’s like fitting on a societal construct of a “woman” as a mother, parent, and wife is the only destiny that awaits every female. Sarah Shahi spent years believing that too until she got the role of Billie. Playing the lead in Netflix's global hit Sex/Life didn't just make Sarah famous. It cracked her open into seeing what’s on the other side of choosing herself through Billie. Her story is one of the profound embodiments of an authentic woman who took courage to come home to herself and finally be free from societal mold imposed on w

So much can go unnoticed, unappreciated and unacknowledged when we lack the tools to say what we truly mean. Isn’t it ironic how we can talk with others but may never feel heard or truly listen?  In every word left unsaid, every sentence misunderstood, or a conversation flow left unmatched, we are not only losing a chance to connect but also opportunities to grow deeper into knowing others better.  In this episode of Habits & Hustle, I break down the most common habits that silently kill connection and the strategies we can practice in our future conversations to be heard the way we hope and

Did you know that the molecule behind the pink color of salmon and the red of flamingos is also one of the most potent antioxidants ever studied?  It has 4,000 peer reviewed papers behind it. Based on studies, it extended lifespan by 12% in the most rigorous government funded study ever conducted. But almost nobody has heard of it. Astaxanthin is not a trend or a buzzword but a potent natural antioxidant waiting to be discovered by many. It is a marine-derived substance that is thousands of times more potent than vitamin C, crosses the blood brain barrier, and does what no other antioxidant

People love talking about ideas. But ideas are cheap. The real difference between people who build things and people who stay stuck is simple: execution. In this Habits & Hustle episode, my foil Shani and I break down why execution always beats ideas, why overthinking keeps people stuck, and how ridiculous products like the Pet Rock and Chia Pet still turned into massive businesses because someone actually launched them. If you’ve been sitting on an idea, waiting until everything is perfect, or telling yourself you need more time to figure it out, tune in and start executing. What’s Discuss

Most leaders think complexity is a sign of sophistication. Jon McNeill, former president of Tesla and CEO of Lyft, thinks it's the number one reason businesses stall. Every hour spent on complexity, unnecessary processes, and misallocated resources is an hour taken away from what actually drives growth. We tend to overcomplicate and add more (more products, more people, more strategy) over what the business really needs. We dive deeper into this in the latest episode of Habits and Hustle with Jen Cohen. We also discuss why the most successful companies are built on radical simplicity, how to

Have you heard about the potency of Shilajit or ORMUS? Most people haven't but these two ancient substances have been used for thousands of years by indigenous communities, royal families and healers across the Himalayas and the Dead Sea. And the science behind why they work is something the modern health world is only beginning to catch up to. David Reid spent five years traveling the Himalayas, Peru, Egypt and the Dead Sea looking for answers. What he found led him to create Manna Vitality, a product built not in a lab but through years of living alongside the people and places that never

Protein is everywhere. But the part of protein that actually does the work for muscle, recovery, metabolism, and staying lean is something most people rarely talk about: essential amino acids. We dive deeper into this in the Habits & Hustle podcast with Angelo Keely. We also chat about why amino acids outperform protein powder for muscle synthesis, why muscle loss quietly begins after 30, and how essential amino acids help preserve muscle during fat loss, fasting, and intense training. Angelo Keely is the co-founder and CEO of Kion, an active lifestyle supplement and functional food company.

At a certain level of success, dating stops feeling simple. When you are disciplined and used to leading in every room you walk into, attraction is no longer just chemistry. It becomes about polarity, power, and whether you genuinely respect and admire the person you are with. This Habits & Hustle episode breaks down the psychology behind dominance and attraction, and why some driven women lose interest the moment they feel like they are making every decision and carrying the mental load. We also get into the idea that equal doesn’t always create desire and why many high-performing women are

Modern dating feels harder than it should. With more access, more options, and more ways to connect than ever before, commitment feels rarer, and follow through drops the minute effort is required. We dive deeper into this in the Habits & Hustle podcast with Patti Stanger. We also chat about commitment behavior, power dynamics in modern relationships, and the difference between high standards and self-sabotage. Patti Stanger is the star and executive producer of Bravo’s hit docu-series The Millionaire Matchmaker®. She is a third-generation matchmaker and founder of The Millionaire’s Club, la

Confidence is everywhere right now. It’s in affirmations, vision boards, therapy sessions, and motivational quotes. But none of that means anything if you haven’t built proof that you can actually do hard things. In this Habits & Hustle episode, we get into why confidence can’t be affirmed, it has to be earned, and why fitness builds confidence faster than therapy. I break down how real self-belief is built through reps, discipline, and physical evidence, not just positive self-talk. We also talk about why boring is what actually works and the power of “do it anyway” when motivation disappea

Longevity science is shifting fast. New discoveries are revealing that aging may be influenced not just by genetics or lifestyle, but by specific nutrients that regulate cellular health. In this episode of Habits & Hustle, I sit down with Dr. Stephanie Venn-Watson to explore the discovery of C15, a fatty acid that emerged from decades of research studying Navy dolphins. Her work suggests that declining C15 levels may weaken cell membranes, accelerate aging, and increase vulnerability to metabolic disease. We break down how this molecule works, why not all saturated fats are the same, and how

Most people say they want change, but their behavior tells a different story. Over time, repetition hardens into identity, and once something feels like who you are, the brain works to preserve it. We dive deeper into this in the latest Habits & Hustle episode.  We also chat about why comfort is more addictive than failure, how social circles punish growth, and why waiting to feel ready keeps you stuck in the same loop. If you’re serious about high performance and behavioral change, this episode forces you to look at the patterns you keep protecting. What’s Discussed: (06:19) Why chang

Midlife is not subtle. You’re disciplined, productive, training harder than ever, and still waking up at 4AM wired, gaining belly fat, and realizing the formula that used to work no longer does. In this Habits & Hustle episode, I’m joined by Dr. Amy Shah to break down why cortisol is the real driver behind stubborn weight gain and 3AM wakeups and how too much intensity can backfire after 40.  We also unpack her 30-30-3 Method and 4-3-2-1 Movement Framework so women can start a practical reset in just three days. Dr. Amy Shah is a Double Board-Certified MD, Nutritionist, and New York Times B

Endless scrolling doesn’t sharpen your thinking. You probably can’t remember 95% of what you just consumed, yet it still takes your time, attention, and even your money. In this solo episode of Habits & Hustle, I share why I created The Habits & Hustle Book Club and what pushed me to build something that encourages completion instead of constant consumption.  We break down how a clear deadline builds accountability, why finishing a book strengthens follow-through in other areas of your life, and how using those spare 10 to 20 minutes to read instead of scroll can improve your focus over time

We’ve been conditioned to believe that saying less is safer. But playing it safe costs trust, influence, stronger negotiations, and deeper relationships because the line between “too much” and meaningful connection is further out than we think. In the latest episode of Habits & Hustle, I’m joined by author Leslie John to break down the exact tipping point where leader vulnerability backfires, why holding your cards close in negotiation weakens your leverage, and how pushing slightly past your comfort zone builds real authority. Leslie John is the James E. Burke Professor of Business Administ

Success at the highest level often hides a harder truth: discipline, sacrifice, and relentless pressure can coexist with loneliness, self doubt, and burnout. When winning becomes routine and falling is inevitable, mental toughness is no longer optional, it is survival. We dive deeper into this in the Habits & Hustle with Lindsey Vonn. We also chat about building resilience through failure, the real cost of elite performance, and redefining identity after retirement. Lindsey Vonn is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer on the US Ski Team. She won four World Cup overall championships

Success isn’t built by playing it safe or trying to do everything at once. This episode breaks down why obsession, discipline, and committing fully to one craft are often the real difference between stalled ideas and lasting success. We dive deeper into this in the Habits & Hustle with Anastasia Soare. We also talk about why balance is overrated, how discipline beats talent, and what it actually takes to build a category from nothing. Anastasia Soare is the founder and CEO of Anastasia Beverly Hills. She is a self-made entrepreneur known globally as the Queen of Eyebrows and built her career

Are you watching the Winter Olympics right now? Because if you are, then you’ve probably witnessed real-time examples of resilience, and it forces a bigger question: do you really know how resilient you are until you’re tested? In this Habits & Hustle episode, I am joined by one of my dearest, closest friends Shani to talk about resilience in its greatest form, the Winter Olympics, and to give a big shout out to Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn, who has been here on the podcast before. We get into what it takes to compete at 41 years old, tear your ACL ten days before competition day and still

You can sleep eight hours, follow all the usual tips, and still feel foggy and sore. If recovery isn’t improving, the problem usually is the environment you’re ignoring at bedtime. In this episode of Habits & Hustle, I sit down with certified sleep coach Jack Dell’Accio to break down why “cooling” mattresses backfire, what actually drives REM and deep sleep, and how toxins and EMFs keep the nervous system stuck in survival mode. Jack Dell’Accio is a Certified Sleep Coach with over 20 years of experience studying restorative rest and sleep environments. He is the Founder and CEO of Essentia,

Lifting heavier, training to exhaustion, and pushing through pain are often labeled as discipline, yet they are some of the fastest ways to stall progress and get injured. The real problem is misunderstanding how intensity and reps actually drive results over time. In this Fitness Friday episode we get into why pushing past your limits is not discipline, what rep ranges actually drive results, and how fitness is increasingly shaping behavior, consistency, and social connection. Liron Kayvan founded BFLA in 2019. He’s a NASM Certified Group Fitness Instructor, Personal Trainer, and Transforma

Aging gets sold as this quiet slide into joint pain, low energy, and moving less because “that’s just how it goes.” The truth is far more uncomfortable: loss of strength and muscle, not age, is what actually limits people long before it needs to. We dive deeper into this in the latest Habits & Hustle episode with Dr. Vonda Wright. We also get into why running doesn’t ruin your knees, why the body’s critical decade sits between mid-thirties and mid-forties, and why muscle isn’t about looking a certain way, it’s about staying capable. Dr. Vonda Wright is a board-certified orthopedic sports sur

Every January starts with big fitness intentions, and it usually ends the same way, routines quietly fall apart once motivation wears off. The real issue is well known: building habits around feelings and calendar dates instead of non-negotiable standards. In this Fitness Friday episode, we break down the New Year fitness cycle with Liron Kayvan and talk about how to approach it in a way that actually sticks. We get into why walking is the most underrated habit in fitness, how non-negotiables put discipline on autopilot, and what truly separates people who stay consistent from those who fall

Weight loss has become a race to get smaller, even when the body is clearly breaking down in the process. The surprise is that a lot of people lose weight and end up more fatigued, under muscled, and metabolically worse off than when they started. We dive deeper into this topic in the latest Habits & Hustle episode with Ashley Koff. We also chat about why GLP-1s make people skinny but not necessarily healthy, why weight often comes back after stopping GLP-1s, and why not eating enough while on these medications is one of the biggest mistakes people make. Ashley Koff, RD is a registered dieti

Relentless drive isn’t the problem for most high performers. The real breakdown happens when self-belief collapses after early success and hustle turns into motion without direction. This episode is part of The Best of Habits & Hustle, a series where we revisit some of the most impactful conversations we’ve shared. In this one, I’m joined by Rob Dyrdek to challenge the idea that working harder fixes everything and explore why success stalls when it isn’t intentionally designed.  We also talk about rebuilding belief after hitting bottom, mastering time as a strategic advantage, and designing

Self-doubt is often mislabeled as a confidence problem, which causes people to hesitate instead of act. The real cost is momentum, because confidence is built through action, not something you wait to feel before moving. We dive deeper into this in the Habits & Hustle with Dr. Shadé Zahrai. We also chat about why high performers still experience self-doubt, the ping pong ball vs golf ball analogy for detaching from doubt, and why self-image drives behavior more than motivation. Dr. Shadé Zahrai is a behavioral researcher and peak performance educator with a PhD in organizational behavior. Sh

Most high performers don’t struggle because they lack discipline. They struggle because they’re trying to do everything at once and calling it balance. We dive deeper into this in the Habits & Hustle with Touré Roberts. We also chat about why balance is becoming whole instead of splitting yourself into percentages, the difference between losing and being a loser, and why you can’t scale without stretching. Touré Roberts is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, investor, and producer. He is the founder of ONE, a multidimensional community based in Los Angeles, and has built one of the most enga

Success is often attributed to confidence or charisma, yet many capable people still misread situations, misjudge authority, and lose leverage under pressure. The real disadvantage is not lack of effort, but relying on false assumptions about how people and systems behave. We dive deeper into this in the latest Habits & Hustle Podcast episode with Andrew Bustamante. We also chat about predicting human behavior, controlling emotional responses in high-stakes moments, and using leverage ethically in business and leadership. Andrew Bustamante is a former clandestine CIA intelligence officer and

What if the reason you’re not moving forward isn’t what you’re missing, but what you keep holding on to? Change doesn’t happen because you add more to your life. It happens when you finally remove the habits that drain your time, your energy and your momentum.  In this solo episode, I break down the seven patterns that stop high performers from moving forward, even when they think they’re doing everything right. These questions come up constantly, and the truth behind them is the same. Waiting is a trap, negative energy slows you down, comfort blocks growth, complaining keeps you stuck in p

Cutting off family and chronic therapy have become normalized, yet people feel more disconnected than ever. What’s labeled as healing often rewards avoidance and quietly erodes emotional resilience. We dive deeper into this in the latest Habits & Hustle with Tania Khazaal. We also chat about why therapy can keep people stuck instead of healing, how “protecting your peace” often protects pain, and why most people quit in the valley of despair right before real growth begins. Tania Khazaal is an emotional healing expert with a background in herbal practice and extensive study in psychology, ne

This episode is part of The Best of Habits & Hustle, a series where we revisit some of the most impactful conversations we’ve shared. In this one, I sit down with Vanessa Van Edwards to unpack what charisma really is and why so many smart, capable people are quietly misread. We get into how trust and credibility are formed in seconds, why competence without warmth backfires, and how subtle cues shape whether people believe you, listen to you, or overlook you entirely. She breaks down what happens when people try to be neutral or unreadable, why under-signaling on online meetings makes you se

Do you ever feel like you are doing everything “right,” and your kid still seems anxious, dysregulated, or shut down? This conversation made me rethink what we have been told about parenting, work, and what kids actually need to feel safe. In this episode of Habits & Hustle, I sit down with psychoanalyst and parent guidance expert Erica Komisar to break down what kids actually need to build emotional resilience, why “quality time” alone isn’t enough, and how parental presence shapes brain development, stress tolerance, and long-term mental health. We talk about how stress shows up as fightin

This episode is part of The Best of Habits & Hustle, a series where I revisit some of the most impactful conversations we’ve shared. In this one, I sit down with Dr. Mary Claire Haver to break down what’s happening during perimenopause and menopause and why so many women are left confused and guessing. We get into why estrogen matters far beyond hot flashes, how muscle loss and belly fat accelerate in midlife, and why strength training becomes non-negotiable as women age.  She cuts through the fear and misinformation around hormone therapy, who it’s really for, and why women deserve better c

What actually makes a brand break through and stay relevant long after the hype fades? I wanted to explore that question with someone who sees behind the scenes of real growth, not just what looks good online. In this episode, I sit down with Emily Hickey to talk about what performance marketing really means, why specificity matters more than volume, and how the smartest brands focus on what is already working instead of chasing every new idea. We get into product positioning, influencer strategy, why hero products matter, and how marketing decisions connect directly to identity and behavior.

How do you rebuild your life when everyone thinks they already know your story? How do you stay sharp and influential when every move you make is judged and dissected? In this episode of Habits & Hustle, I sit down with Jordan Belfort, the real-life inspiration behind Martin Scorsese’s acclaimed film The Wolf of Wall Street based on his bestselling autobiography. We get into the mindset behind high-stakes decisions, the psychology of influence, and how he built a system that turns underdogs into top performers. Jordan talks about rebuilding credibility, the habits that keep him steady now, a

What if the confusion around fasting and hormones isn’t because the science is complicated, but because most people are using the wrong tools for the wrong goals? In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Mindy Pelz to get clear about what fasting actually does, when it helps, and when it backfires. This is a conversation about taking ownership of your metabolism instead of chasing trends that don’t match your life. We talk about the viral moment from her Stephen Bartlett interview, how misinformation spreads, and what she learned from being at the center of it. Mindy breaks down her six core fast

Ever wondered which diet actually works? Or if artificial sweeteners are as dangerous as the internet makes them sound? In this Fitness Friday episode, I sat down with nutrition expert Dr. Layne Norton to cut through the diet noise. We break down why personalization beats every trend, what the research really says about diet soda and sweeteners, and why the “best diet” looks different for every person. If you want straight answers, not fear-based headlines, this conversation will challenge a lot of what you think you know. Dr. Layne Norton is the founder of BioLayne, a company built on scie