Listen, the number of reasons to listen to an interview with J.B. Adams is countless, but I can boil it down to 365. That is the number of chapters in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables, and that’s the number of Facebook posts that J.B. committed himself to writing about the book in 2014.
One every day on his interpretation of what Hugo was trying to convey in each chapter (spoiler alert, he did it and they’re great). The why isn’t as important as the how. Dedication, discipline, humor, humility, and the accountability of doing it publicly on a social media platform.
Luckily for me, he not only shared the experience, he also put up with my questions, comments, quizzes and conceits with the grace and wit you would expect of someone whose life has been changed by his year with Victor.
0:00 – Introducing J.B. Adams! Somehow, David Lee Roth comes up almost immediately.
3:34 – “Pool baths. LONG PAUSE. Excuse me?”
10:21 – “Except for the hiking trip part, I love everything about that sentiment.”
16:41 – “You know, no one ever asked me. Are you inviting me to go to Mars?”
21:07 – We dig into J.B.’s year with Victor. Victor Hugo. The author.
26:01 – “I had this question in my head. ‘What can I do that will last a year and require discipline?’”
29:27 – “I would start every morning by asking myself, ‘Victor Hugo, what are you trying to teach us today?’”
37:44 – Pop culture and current event quiz. Which Disney World attraction closed recently?
43:08 – “The Main Street Electrical Parade, what do you think of? Robot uprising.”
45:14 – It’s time, once again, for Bad Business Ideas®. Pitching a lot of startups this week.
46:50 – “What comes to mind when I say mood pants?”
49:16 – “Garage Bail. We take the stuff you don’t want, go to other people’s’ garage sales, and leave it there.”
52:18 – “Is it my mission to provide schadenfreude to others?”
55:03 – “Alcoholic pop rocks are not good for the kids.”
58:18 – “I just think it would be a really cool thing if you’re at a party with a bunch of strangers. You don’t have to go up and say, ‘Hey, how are you doing today?’ I could just go up and say, ‘I can tell by your pants, you’re doing great.’”
1:02:12 – Talking movies. Just like real people!
1:07:19 – “For the first 20 minutes, you still don’t know what you’re going to get.”
1:11:42 – “What I think I get out of that one is that no one has seen it, so I have something special that no one else has.”
