Ep. 181 - Jordan Harbinger: The Mindset We All Want

You can learn a lot from a sociopath. How to be charismatic, charming, convincing... They know how you think. “That’s the mindset we want,” Jordan Harbinger said. He was kidnapped twice. Once in Serbia. Once in Mexico. He talked his way out both times. “We knew there was a problem,” he said. “The cop gets in my face and says, ‘In your country, can you walk around with no identification and no passport? Tell me the Goddamn truth.’” Jordan was in Serbia teaching refugees English. “Yeah, we don’t need any form of identification at all,” he said. The cop turned to his friend and in Serbian said, “I guess they really are free over there. I had no idea.” They didn’t know Jordan spoke Serbian. He ended up in a basement. Pipes were sticking out of the wall. There was no water for miles. Wires were everywhere. And Jordan was tied to a chair. They threatened to burn his eyes with a cigarette. The guard had a club and rakia, a homebrewed liquor. Jordan talked his way out of going blind and into having a drink with his kidnapper. I always say advice is autobiography. Now Jordan’s made a career teaching ultimate survival skills through his podcast, “The Art of Charm.” I asked him, “How can I be more likable?” “I think you’re very likable…” Later he said I have “an un-punchable face.” And I agreed. When Jordan was single, he saw a girl texting on the train. There was no cell service. I tried guessing what he said to her, “‘I didn’t get your text, can you re-send it?’” “No, no that’s a great, pick-up line, but I wanted to disarm her. So I said something like, ‘Are you gonna write the whole book on your phone?’” I asked him the top 5 takeaways from his podcast. He said everyone’s decision-making process is different. “Everyone gets to the top differently.” Jordan’s interviewed world leaders like General Hayden, the former head of the NSA and CIA, Super Bowl MVP Hines Ward, and 500+ more. They all have stories. We all do. You could even self-publish yours. That’s what I did. My life changes every six months. Maybe yours will too. I even wrote a guide called “The Ultimate Checklist Before Self-Publishing.” You can get the checklist now (for free). Write a book. Sell it for 99 cents. And email me when you get your first sale. I’ll tell you even more about this on Saturday. I’m doing a special bonus podcast with Jordan. You’ll hear his two kidnapping stories and you’ll learn about the 20 steps I took to become a best selling author. (If you don’t want to miss it subscribe now.) But for now here’s Jordan’s top 5 takeaways from “The Art of Charm.” ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air! ------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com ------------ Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to “The James Altucher Show” wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotify Follow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn