Ep. #854: Alex Banayan on Unlocking the “Third Door” to Success

This episode of the podcast is a bit different. That's because in this podcast, I chat with Alex Banayan about his book The Third Door, the journey he went on in the process of writing it, and what he learned along the way. We’ll get into the details in the interview, but Alex went on a seven-year quest to interview some of the world’s brightest, most successful people in order to learn how they broke through in their respective fields. It all started with the common existential crisis of “what do I want to do with my life” and his research led him down a road filled with life-changing interviews with Bill Gates, Quincy Jones, Steve Wozniak, Lady Gaga, Warren Buffett, Maya Angelou, Steven Spielberg, Jane Goodall, Larry King, and more (and some wild stories). Now if you're wondering why I thought this was worthy of a podcast, many of my followers are entrepreneurs, people who want to succeed more in their careers, or people who want to improve themselves in general. So while this interview isn’t directly fitness-related, I think you’ll find it interesting and useful. In our discussion, Alex and I talk about . . . How he “hacked” The Price Is Right to raise funds for his book idea How he managed to secure big-time interviews The mindset commonalities he found among famous, successful people The difference between fearlessness and courage Social media and the importance and relativity of money And more . . . If you’re not familiar with Alex, The Third Door has made him the youngest bestselling business author in American history, and the book is a number one international bestseller. He’s been named to Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list and Business Insider’s “Most Powerful People Under 30,” and been featured in Fortune, CNBC, Businessweek, The Washington Post, MSNBC, Fox News, and NBC News. So if you want to hear some of Alex’s wild stories from his journey and what he learned on his quest to study success, definitely check out this interview! Timestamps: 0:00 - Pre-order my new fitness book now for a chance to win over $13,000 in splendid swag: https://www.muscleforlifebook.com/ 7:07 - What is the premise of the book? 13:01 - How Alex hacked The Price Is Right 15:21 - How did you get interviews with famous people? 17:16 - How successful people treat business 20:14 - The difference between fearlessness and courage 26:12 - What have you found fulfilling and is there anything you thought would be fulfilling that hasn't been? 31:50 - What you think you want and what you really want may not be the same 42:45 - Who is the third door for? 44:05 - Dealing with setbacks 51:48 - The opposite of success isn't failure 53:32 - What types of mistakes are acceptable to you? Mentioned on the Show: Pre-order my new fitness book now for a chance to win over $13,000 in splendid swag: https://www.muscleforlifebook.com/ The Third Door: https://www.amazon.com/Third-Door-Uncover-Successful-Launched/dp/0804136661/?tag=mflweb-20 Alex Banayan’s website: https://thirddoorbook.com/ Alex’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexbanayan/