Claudia Azula Altucher: Become an Idea Machine, the Power of No and a Universal Message for Women (#21)

Our Guest Today: Claudia Azula Altucher

I am absolutely thrilled to welcome Claudia Azula Altucher to the Feisworld Podcast. Claudia is a writer, podcaster, and teacher of yoga. She is the co-author of the Wall Street Journal bestselling book “The Power Of No” (HayHouse 2014) and author of “21 Things To Know Before Starting An Ashtanga Yoga Practice“.

Most recently on January 8th 2015, Claudia released her new book called Become an Idea Machine: Because ideas are the currency of the 21st Century. This book has become a favorite read of mine and also part of my daily routine.

Also in January 2015, Claudia created a new podcast series called The Yoga Podcast after co-hosting a favorite podcast of mine Ask Altucher (with 206 episodes released as of Feb 8th, 2015).

During our interview, Claudia opened up about a number of topics that had always fascinated me: What is it like to be producing content all day, everyday, across social channels and engaging with your audience? How does Claudia energize and sustain her creative power while working as a multi-disciplined entrepreneur? (To put things in perspective, Claudia now has over 54,000 fans on Facebook, nearly 7,000 followers on Twitter and over 2.6 million views to her blog ClaudiaYoga.com since inception. She is also very active on Quora and Clarity.fm)

“Money can run out but ideas cannot. When you constantly generate ideas, you become unstoppable.” – Claudia Azula Altucher

After reading The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Maria Kondo just a few weeks ago, Claudia and her husband James threw away 25 years worth of personal belongings. She recalled, “We threw away 60 enormous garbage bags and the living room has been clean every since. It has a profound effect on the mind and everything you do. You gain a new way of seeing things.”

One immediate connection I found between Claudia and me is the practice of yoga. ClaudiaYoga.com is her official yoga portal where she discusses teaching, retreat and she encourages anyone to “ask away“.

To untangle the benefits and hype surrounding yoga today, Claudia is most interested in making yoga practical and accessible to people.  She believes that it is a responsibility for those who practice and teach yoga to get it down to what is useful.

Little did I know that some elements in The Power of No are based on the seven levels of yoga starting from the most basic light energy. This book helps you understand what is a compassionate no, how to say no to news coming from the outside, and eventually “you’ll be freed to say a truly powerful Yes in your life—one that opens the door to opportunities, abundance, and love.”

The most difficult thing to do is saying no without explanation. Become an Idea Machine is a great follow-up. Claudia’s new book helps exercise and motivate people (individually and as a team) to gather and become creative problem solvers.

“Monkey mind doesn’t have an off switch” and so it is important to channel our energy into something positive. Life begins to change and transform by itself when we become atomic idea generators.

My favorite and also the most unforgettable moment during our interview is Claudia’s advice, a universal message for women:

“We are at a point in history that we have to stop pretending we are not brilliant beings. We, as women, need to become idea machines, pronto. The power that comes through it, is a responsibility we owe to the world. We have to own our talent and admit that we have something to bring the table. We are in a magnificent position to affect change in the world in a feminine way (as well as a masculine way). There’s no winning in playing small anymore.”

Claudia Azula Altucher

Show Notes (Times Are Approximate):

• Why yoga can be a great compliment to martial art and other muscular training? [3:45]
• Why Claudia and her husband James threw away 25 years of stuff? [5:45]
• Claudia talks about her new book: The Idea Machine [10:45]
• Claudia’s approach to yoga – “get it down to what’s useful and make it accessible to anyone, anywhere” [13:00]
• Co-authoring and collaborating with husband James Altucher on the WSJ’s Best Seller The Power of No [17:00]
• On facilitating idea generation for creative agencies [21:45]
• How does Claudia consistently generate ideas and content across channels? [23:45]
• Why is Richard Branson an atomic idea generator? [25:45]
• A universal message for women [29:30]

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