Interview with Adam Ashton on Attitude

On this episode of Changing Minds, I interview Adam Ashton, co-host of the podcast “What You Will Learn.” We talk about the book he co-authored with Adam Jones, “The Shit They Never Taught You,” and their new book, “Attitude.”

Life is unpredictable and full of things we can’t control.

The only thing we can truly have power over is our attitude.

We don’t always have a choice in what happens to us, but we always get to choose how we respond. Adam and Adam have extracted the most valuable insights about attitude from some of the greatest minds on the topic and distilled them into five simple lessons: Vision, Change, Learning, Fear, and Boldness.

About Adam Ashton

Adam is co-host of the ‘What You Will Learn’ podcast with Adam Jones, where they read a new book each week and share the biggest lessons and best takeaways. They’ve climbed as high as #6 on the Apple Podcasts Business charts and have interviewed the likes of Seth Godin, Robert Greene, Daniel Kahneman, Dan Pink, Gretchen Rubin, Dan Ariely, Robert Cialdini, Janine Allis and Naomi Simson from Shark Tank Australia, The Barefoot Investor, Dr Karl, Annie Duke, Dan Heath, Kevin Kelly, and many many more! Their brilliant book ‘The Sh*t they never taught you’ is also a terrific read.

“Attitude” by Adam Ashton and Adam Jones

This book is a deep dive into all things Attitude. They took the best books on this topic and combined the best ideas to pull out five lessons – with one meta-conclusion.

Here’s what you can expect from the book:

Vision: The first step in getting to where you want to go is knowing where you want to go in the first place. Over the next few years, you’re going to get somewhere… but unless you set a bit of a vision for yourself, the place you end up in may not be the place you wanted to go.

Change: Having crafted your vision, you might realize that there’s a little bit of a gap between where you are now and where you want to be. Or perhaps more than a little bit of a gap… In order to close that gap, to move closer towards the person you want to be, you’re going to need to change. Change can be scary. It means moving into unknown territories. It means moving outside your comfort zone, outside of the warm and safe place you know. But if you want to improve, change is going to be an inevitable part of the journey.

Learning: As you’re working toward your vision and making changes in your life, you are going to have to try new things. Things you’ve never done before, things you never thought you could do, but things that are vital to achieving your goals. There are times when we must learn new things (a new course, a new job, new software), but most of us don’t have an intentional approach to learning. Instead, this lesson offers new frameworks for learning and new mindsets you can apply to the struggle it takes to get from being sh*t to holy sh*t.

Fear: Everything so far might sound pretty exciting. But it might also sound a little scary. Thinking about your future is scary, change is scary, trying new things is scary. Lesson 4 provides new ways to reframe fear into something that will help propel you forward rather than hold you back.

Boldness: The last piece of the Attitude puzzle is that little bit of grunt, that little bit of scrappiness, that brash confidence to just get out there and have a crack. In spite of fears, in spite of not knowing exactly what to do or how to do it, a little bit of boldness might be the last thing you need to get you off the sidelines and into the arena.

Recommended Books: