Self-Performance Strategies Podcast

Welcome to the SPS Podcast.

Episode 58 Performance Origins Deep Dive with Dakota Robertson

Dakota is a successful ghostwriter and runs a ghostwriting cohort.

In this deep dive...we discuss his performance journey. How he struggled with confidence as a young man and how he overcame that to become a successful business owner.

His goal now is to help other people thrive online and build an educational brand online.

Check out his links here:

Dakota Robertson:

Twitter: WrongsToWrite

LinkedIn: Dakota Robertson

Instagram/Threads: Yodakota

Ghostwriting: Growth Ghost

Stephen links:

PRO-Accelerator, select a time here:
https://www.stephentimoney.com/pro-accelerator

Visit the website:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/

Follow me here:

Twitter

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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How to always loop forward in life. Welcome to the SPS Podcast.

In this episode: I want to discuss the mental model behind my coaching program.

I call it the Loop Of Performance

"I think it's very important to have a feedback loop, where you're constantly thinking about what you've done and how you could be doing it better. I think that's the single best piece of advice: constantly think about how you could be doing things better and questioning yourself."

Elon Musk

What is the loop?

It's a series of steps and exercises I used to myself to go from broke and lost to a 6-figure solopreneur over the last 12 years. They helped me loop forward and win at higher levels.

For the last 2 years running my coaching business…

I have helped dozens of business owners and solopreneurs with these ideas and mental models:
• Save over 10 hours a week
• Spend more time with their families
• Make large increases in their revenue

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟏: 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐏𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐲𝐥𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫

Learn: The 3 steps you use to Close open loops and vanquish Energy Vampires.

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟐: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐃𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭

Learn: The process that will change your life direction in under an hour and create your ultimate scenario.

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟑: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡 𝐑𝐎𝐈 𝟑𝐱 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐁𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩

Learn: How the top performers use productivity zones.

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟒: 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐄𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐄𝐦𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐫𝐬

Learn: To stop worrying about change and learn the best mental model to use to embrace it.

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟓: 𝐋𝐢𝐟𝐞 𝐎𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐒𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦

Learn: The systems you need to use between deep work to keep your energy high.

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝟔: 𝟗𝟎-𝐃𝐚𝐲 𝐒𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦

Learn:

• The secrets to getting more done in 12 weeks than most do in 12 months

Stephen links:

Join the Loop Of Performance Program here:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/loop-of-performance-program

PRO-Accelerator, select a time here:
https://www.stephentimoney.com/pro-accelerator

Visit the website:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/

Follow me here:

Twitter

Big Love,
ST
A fan of the Loop Of Performance.

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Welcome to the SPS Podcast.

Episode 56 Performance Origins Deep Dive with Tobi Emonts-Holley

Tobi is a husband and father of 6...CEO of a non-profit in the care sector in Scotland and a hybrid athlete

In this deep dive...we discuss his performance journey. How he struggled with his Ph.D. and became internet infamous for a post that was miss-interrupted by many.

His goal now is to help other people thrive with their health and mindset.

Check out his links here:

Tobi Emonts-Holley Twitter: Tobi Emonts-Holley

Website: https://forgingbalance.com/

Stephen links:

PRO-Accelerator, select a time here:
https://www.stephentimoney.com/pro-accelerator

Visit the website:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/

Follow me here:

Twitter

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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Let's discuss Peak results coming from peak recovery Welcome to the SPS podcast:

“Stress + rest = growth. This equation holds true regardless of what it is that you are trying to grow.”

― Brad Stulberg

I believe peak results come from peak recovery.

Knowing how to recharge your batteries is essential if you want to be a successful business owner.

And there are 6 areas you need to recover from daily.

Most business owners get these wrong and it's killing their performance:

Recover from work:

I have over-committed before...so have you.

You think you can do more daily. You underestimate how long a task will take. You find it difficult to unplug because your mind races.

The only solution to this...
Block time off and detach from your work daily.

Recover from technology:

I used to disconnect rarely.
Now I spend hrs daily disconnected.

Ask yourself this:
Does your phone travel with you into every room?

Because overuse of Smartphones and Social Media makes you more impulsive.

Learn to get away from technology daily.

Recover from people:

As an introvert...who acts like an extrovert when around others.

I need time away from people to recover.

Time alone is essential.
Even if it's only 1 hour a day.

Create space in your days.

Those hours alone allow BIG ideas to appear in your mind.

Recovery from food and drink:

I used to get hangovers from drinking.
Now I get hangovers from the wrong foods.

Feeling sluggish each morning kills your mental performance.

This is why I don't eat 2 to 3 hrs before I sleep

I am not an expert in this area but it works.

Recover from working out:

Hear me out...this has affected me.

Working out too hard at night and not being able to sleep. Or too hard in the morning and losing focus.

I work out in the afternoon for this reason.

Find the right time that works for you and recover well.

Recover from being awake:

Are you sleeping enough?

You know the benefits of sleep. 7 to 8 hours of sleep gives you superpowers compared to those who sleep less.

A lack of sleep WILL affect your business in negative ways.

I love my sleep and go out of my way to protect it.

Conclusion.

If you want to have a successful business...you need peak recovery.

You need to recover from:
• Food
• Work
• People
• Technology
• Working out
• Being awake

If you don't recover...
You’ll always be tired, distracted, stressed, and unhealthy.

Stephen links:

PRO-Accelerator, select a time here:
https://www.stephentimoney.com/pro-accelerator

Visit the website:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/

Follow me here:

Twitter

Big Love,

Fan of peal recovery.

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Let's discuss The 10 golden rules I use to do less but create a lot more results. Welcome to the SPS podcast:

These rules have... Saved me over 10 hours a week. Removed frustration. And helped me enhance my business performance.

I used to work 12-hour days.

I would struggle to make progress in life and grow my business.

But then I discovered 10 rules that changed my life.

As Robert Heinlein said:

"Progress isn't made by early risers. It's made by lazy men trying to find easier ways to do something."

Rule 1: I developed systems:

All successful people have systems.

This rule helps me structure my days.

Making me focus on high-value and high-dollar activities.

If it's important to you...You need to create systems to help get it done.

Make your work automatic.

Rule 2: I Devoted time to meditation:

For many successful people...Meditation is a key part of the day.

Why?

It improves your focus and thinking.

This rule helps me observe what's happening around me.

It helps clear my mind and focus on the right thoughts. Essential habit.

Rule 3: I do less:

This isn't about being lazy.

It's about being selective with what you choose to do.

This rule helps me do the right amount of tasks at the right time helping me succeed.

Stop beating yourself up mentally...Thinking you must do 100 things for 12hrs a day.

Rule 4: I do one thing at a time:

This is a simple focus rule...When you're doing something focus only on it.

This rule helps me...Focus on one task until done.

As the Zen proverb says: "When walking, walk. When eating, eat."

Rule 5: I do things with intention:

Don't rush... Keep things simple and take your time.

This rule helps me make my actions deliberate. I no longer feel rushed or make random choices.

As they say... Slow is smooth and smooth is fast.

Rule 6: I finish what I start:

Too often...you get close to finishing.

Then distraction puts new shiny ideas in front of you.

Creating a problem...It rewires your brain to focus on new and different.

This rule helps me ignore shiny distractions and get sh*t done.

Rule 7: I create space between tasks:

Don't schedule things so close together.

Give yourself time to unwind.

Relax with intention and use your time well.

This rule helps me reflect on what I'm doing and why.

Frustration is waiting in the wings if you don't create space daily.

Rule 8: I designate time:
Two thoughts here...

Creating specific days and times for tasks mean they get done often.
Your brain works differently at different times of the day. You do more when you do things at the right time.
This rule helps get more sh*t done daily.

Rule 9: I work with others:
Many successful people spend part of their day working with-coaching- or mentoring others.
You need a network.
This rule helps remind me that...Working with others keeps you focused and motivated.
Peer accountability is a win-win situation.

Rule 10: I make gratitude part of my day:
You can't be grateful and frustrated at the same time.
Try it...it's impossible.
This rule reminds me...when you are in a state of gratitude...
You will find it easier to focus on the important activities in your life and business.

Stephen links:

PRO-Accelerator, select a time here:
https://www.stephentimoney.com/pro-accelerator

Visit the website:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/

Follow me here:

Twitter

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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Episode 34: Performance Origins with Alex Mathers Welcome to the SPS Podcast.

Alex is a writer and coach who helps you develop a free, powerful and alive mind. In this deep dive we discuss his performance journey, how to produce content consistently, and why having a personal brand is essential.

Check out his links here:

Alex: Twitter

Website: alexmathers.net

All links: alexonline.carrd.co

Stephen links:

PRO-Accelerator, select a time here:
https://www.stephentimoney.com/pro-accelerator

Visit the website:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/

Follow me here:

Twitter

TikTok

Instagram

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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Being frustrated is a positive Let's talk about frustration being positive.

Welcome to the Self-Performance-Strategies (S-P-S) Podcast

"Frustration is fuel that can lead to the development of an innovative and useful idea."

- Marley Dias

I fought frustration and lost.

For parts of my adult life, I was frustrated.

Why?

Because I always thought there was a better way to do things.

In the environments I used to work before starting my own business

I would push back, fight, and get frustrated.

My frustrations, while valid, did not help the situation.

I would often feel like the one complaining or being grumpy.

Now, I believe in change, and we must move things forward.

I got frustrated because the changes I saw didn't go far enough or were shallow ideas to cover deeper cultural issues.

I fell into this trap of being frustrated and then feeling like I couldn't do anything to change or influence the outcome.

Looking back, I now know I could have come at things with a more positive or supportive tone.

It can be hard to stay upbeat when you see the same mistakes being repeated.

But that is a different story for another newsletter.

When I finally left the corporate world, I thought I would be less frustrated.

Well, I was wrong.

For the 1st 3-6 months, I fought frustration but didn't do much to change.

Maybe I worked a little harder, but I complained and felt uncomfortable.

I had become a victim of frustration.

I had forgotten I have the power to use frustration positively.

I had seen what frustrated me and froze.

I repeated the same mistakes.

I repeated the same actions.

I expected it to get better.

It didn't

Then it hit me hard.

I was fighting frustration with frustration.

I was not using frustration as a compass.

I drank and partied a lot in my late 20s and early 30s.

I was frustrated with my life.

But at that point, I saw frustration as a guide.

It told me, "Steve, you are not happy with your life, do something."

So, I did.

The corporate world had tricked me into feeling I could only do so much when it came to my frustration.

There are "limitations" to the changes you can make. (or so I was told)

But in your life, frustration is a tool, a compass, a map.

And the only limitations we have are the ones we set on ourselves.

I sat down and asked myself:

What was I frustrated with?

Once I got that answer, I asked.

What can I do to improve this frustration?

Once I got that answer, I took action.

Positive results began to stack, and I felt much happier and more satisfied with myself.

I now ask myself weekly, what is the largest struggle and frustration you faced last week?

And I use frustration as a positive point to make my life go smoother and travel faster toward my goals.

Frustration is now my friend again.

It whispers weekly in my ear and tells me how I can improve.

Fall in love with frustration.

99% of business owners see frustration as a negative.

But 99% of them are wrong.

Frustration is a positive.

Let's see why:

Frustrated with frustration?

You probably have lost count of the times you have experienced frustration.

You might have spent years feeling it daily.

You felt its presence and assumed it was negative to feel like this.

You would fight it, push back; you were wrong to do that.

Frustration is healthy:

It's a sign of progress; it's a sign you want to improve, despite the accompanying negative emotions.

As you get closer to your goals, you must understand that frustration is part of inner growth.

Without frustration, life would be incredibly dull.

A common mistake:

99% of the clients I speak to use the word frustration in our 1st conversations.

Often, people give up when frustration appears, believing the goal is now unachievable.

But frustration is a sign you want a change in life.

Frustration is a positive feeling.

Explore frustration:

It is trying to tell you that you want to change.

Sit with the frustration, lean into it, and let the emotion wash over you. How does it feel?

Where do you feel it?

What does it look like?

What are you frustrated with?

Pinpoint the pain 1st, then fix it.

Organize your sh*t:

Now you've felt the frustration; tapped into the part of you who wants to improve.

It's time to get organized.

Remove the frustration by dropping projects and the parts of you holding you back.

Create new targets, develop new plans, and act on the change.

Frustration is the compass to your next level:

In your life, the area you are frustrated with is the exact area you need to improve.

You are frustrated because you are stuck; you want to do better.

You are telling yourself exactly how to level up.

That is a huge positive.

Frustration drives success:

Every client I speak with is frustrated with something:

• Overwhelm

• Procrastination

• Lack of direction

• Lack of motivation

• Lack of positive results

What do you think we fix 1st?

Yes, the frustration.

It is the way to success.

Stop fighting frustration:

Frustration is a positive part of your journey. From personal experience, I know the bigger the goal, the greater the frustration.

Because big goals demand big changes mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Don't fight frustration; you will lose.

Stephen links:

30-Day Accelerator, select a time here:
https://www.stephentimoney.com/pro-accelerator

Visit the website:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/

Follow me here:

Twitter

TikTok

Instagram

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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Let's talk about changing your behaviour 1st.

Welcome to the Self-Performance-Strategies (S-P-S) Podcast

"Behaviour is the mirror in which everyone shows their image."

- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Groundhog day.

Once upon a time, I used to repeat the same mistakes repeatedly.

No, Stephen, not you.

Yes, sadly, it would take several punches to the face before I would learn the lesson.

I would expect life to get better, but not do anything to make that happen.

I was the type of person who set New Year's resolutions that were more like wishes.

This year will be different, I would think.

But by Jan 5th, I would be walking the same path I walked the previous 5 years.

One day in around 2012, I heard Gary Vee (he has his moments)

Saying that you can start resolutions or a New year any day you want.

I know it sounds pretty obvious.

But it hit me hard.

I had recently got a new visa to stay in Canada and was changing careers.

It was one of the moments I said to myself…

Not again; I won't let this stop-start up-down life keep derailing me.

And that Gary Vee quote framed my emotions and thoughts.

But how did I do it?
What made the change?

I stopped doing dumb shit.

Now, it has taken me years to realize this.

But I didn't start my new life by adding new habits.

I changed it by stopping habits or replacing bad ones with not-so-bad ones.

I swapped drinking and parting for TV shows and video games.

Years later, I would swap TV and games for books and action.

But that's another story.

I didn't read 20 personal development books to figure that out; it made sense.

Less dumb shit = better life.

Because of that, I made huge behaviour and life shifts.

1st I made good money working luxury sales.

Then made a big career shift making 6-figures in the corporate world.

Before shifting again last year to running my own coaching business.

All this happened under 10 years from my Gary Vee platitude quote moment.

The funny thing is the previous 10 years had been the same year repeated 10 times.

It's amazing what can happen when you change your behaviour.

You're stuck because you use technical solutions and hacks from problems that need a change in behaviour or emotional repair.

We all go through it:

You have hit a wall, your life has plateaued, and you keep reading books, doing courses, and trying strategies to get out of your rut.

But it never works.

You get little spikes up, but they never last.

Shallow work is easy:

You do this because it is easier to use tricks, strategies and random ideas pulled from courses to improve your business than it is to work deeply on yourself.

You ride this shallow wave of small wins followed by the usual frustration.

The brick wall:

You will hit a wall at some point, but you can avoid that wall by looking past shallow actions.

When you do take time to reflect and ask yourself why this cycle happens, you will start to find the real answers.

You need to adapt your behaviour and emotions.

All progress starts by telling the truth:

80% of what you are doing today, mentally, emotionally, and physically, is holding you back from your next level.

Now I can't answer what that is for you, but it can fall into two areas:

Dropping habits
Improving your deserve level

You are the constraint:

When you start looking internally for the solution, your growth will start to build again.

The change can be rather quick, but the internal work will take focus and effort.

When you figure it out, you can't believe you didn't see the issues earlier.

In the zone:

Nothing happens, and then everything happens at once.

That is what a breakthrough does for you.

Success comes quickly.

You spend weeks and months searching for your problems externally, only to find out your next leap always comes from within.

This will repeat:

I have seen this in my own life and in many of my client's lives.

This external chase for solutions happens as we hit new highs.

We all assume we have done the internal work and don't need to do it again.

But we have to keep doing it over and over again.

The upside:

When you understand this cycle and if you feel yourself getting stuck again.

You will spend less time chasing the external and automatically go to the internal work.

This will shorten the time you spend on plateaus and in ruts.

Making success inevitable.

Stephen links:

30-Day Accelerator, select a time here:
https://www.stephentimoney.com/pro-accelerator

Visit the website:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/

Follow me here:

Twitter

TikTok

Instagram

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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Your ego is not the enemy.

Welcome to the Self-Performance-Strategies (S-P-S) Podcast

The main Quote:

Check your ego at the door. The ego can be the great success inhibitor. It can kill opportunities, and it can kill success.

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson

The main takeaways: Your ego is not letting you grow.

Do you get overwhelmed, stuck, and frustrated quickly?

Let's fix this.

Your past is clashing with your future:

Your ego loves all your bad or comfortable habits.

From your thought patterns to wasting hours on social media.

When you try to change, your ego says no.

But often, the ego voice is hard to hear.

Why can't I hear my ego?

You overwhelm yourself with worry, busy work, and distraction.

The ego is playing 4D chess, and you're playing Hungry Hippos, snapping up any form of distraction that comes your way.

You need to become the Bobby Fischer of your mind.

Learn to play mental chess:

Spending more time alone is the biggest shift you can make to allow yourself to grow.

Simple, yes, very hard to build a habit.

Why?

Because your ego doesn't want you to reflect, think, and be with your inner source.

Your ego is good at this game.

You will see improvements quickly:

Even a couple of minutes alone in the morning before your work will make a significant difference.

Instead of jumping straight into overwhelm and distraction for the day. Your 1st chess move is intentional.

One move at a time is how you win.

Momentum will build:

You start stacking your wins.

You start seeing how your ego was pulling you into overwhelm and distraction.

You had some underlying emotional fears and doubts about your new direction.

You can see how the ego was moving you away from these emotions.

You make your moves:

You now understand why the ego distracted you with busy work and bad habits.

You face your fears and doubts, and you make some key moves to improve your deserve levels in life.

Because YOU deserve SUCCESS.

Don't let the ego tell you otherwise.

Checkmate:

Using the power of reflection, planning, and intention.

You defeat the ego, and you leave overwhelm and distraction behind you. You and your business start to grow again.

You won.

But… It's time now, time to face the next ego grandmaster.

Get ready to move.

7 ways to defeat your ego at mental chess.

The ego is a tool to be used and controlled, not an enemy to fight.

Lead yourself and lead your ego to help you succeed in your business.

Stop getting offended:

The behaviour of others isn't a reason to get upset.

If you let things offend you, it only weakens your energy.

As Christopher Hitchenssays,

"Those who are determined to be 'offended' will discover a provocation somewhere."

Your ego is convincing you that the world should be how you want it to be; it doesn't work like that.

Please stop it.

You don't need to win all the time:

Your ego loves to divide the world into winners and losers, but this is not true.

Because ultimately, winning is impossible all the time.

Someone out there right now is faster, younger, healthier, and smarter than you.

Does that make you a loser?

Of course not.

So don't let your ego make you feel worthless or insignificant.

Because you are not.

Let go of needing to win by not agreeing that the opposite of winning is losing.

That is your ego's fear, not yours.

You are not right all the time:

Your ego is the source of a lot of conflict and disagreement.

Because it wants you to be right, making other people wrong.

Letting go of your need to be right is very powerful.

Even letting people win, even when you know they are wrong.

Is it a big issue?

Will it matter in 5 mins?

No, then back down and move on.

If you are open to being wrong sometimes, you can flex your humility and grow; your ego no longer blocks your path.

You save yourself so much energy and can focus on more important things.

Don't be superior:

Authenticity isn't about being better than someone else.

It's about being better than YOU used to be.

Stay focused on your growth, be humble, and help others.

With success, your ego will want to tell you that you are better than everyone.

While you might be more successful than others, there is no need to start acting like a d*ck.

Empathy > Ego

Know when to stop:

The ego is never satisfied.

No matter how much you achieve or acquire, your ego will want more. You'll find yourself in a perpetual state of striving and reaching for a new end goal.

Making it so you never truly arrive at any of your goals.

The thing is, you've already arrived and succeeded.

When you detach from the need for the goal.

You may even find it easier to get to.

Also, you become more grateful because you realize how little you need to be satisfied in life.

You are not your reputation or achievements:

Hear me out; it is impressive to have accomplishments.

But be grateful for them.

The less you need to take credit for your accomplishments or have people recognize them.

The more you are free to achieve in life.

When your ego attaches who you are to those achievements, and you believe your own hype.

People might not want to work with you again.

You also start to build a bias towards your way based on past experiences.

Be open, be cool, be helpful.

Let go of control:

The ego wants to control and micromanage everything.

As my good friend, Epictetus tells me: "

There is only one way to happiness, and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power or our will."

It helps if you regularly remind yourself and your ego of what is in your control and what is not.

It sounds simple, but it is not easy.

Your ego will always want to come 1st.

You have to control it and move it around your mental chess board to succeed in life.

Stephen links:

PRO-Accelerator, select a time here:
https://www.stephentimoney.com/pro-accelerator

Visit the website:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/

Follow me here:

Twitter

TikTok

Instagram

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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Episode 30: Performance Origins with Save Your Sons, aka Harrison.

Welcome to the SPS Podcast.

Save Your Sons, aka Harrison, is a business coach that helps busy dads grow and monetize a following so they can escape the 9-5 and create more freedoms for their family.

Check out SYS links here:

SYS: Twitter

SYS: Instagram

Website: saveyousons.com

Stephen links:

PRO-Accelerator, select a time here:
https://www.stephentimoney.com/pro-accelerator

Visit the website:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/

Follow me here:

Twitter

TikTok

Instagram

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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Do you believe in yourself? Let's ask; Do you believe in yourself?

Welcome to the Self-Performance-Strategies Podcast (S-P-S)

The Quote:

"If you don't look back at yourself and think, "Wow, how stupid I was a year ago," then you must not have learned much in the last year."

- Ray Dalio

The main takeaways:

You need to believe in yourself.

There was a time I lacked self-belief.

While I was cocky and a little arrogant, underneath, I was not the same.

I lacked confidence in my abilities and would often play the fool.

Or I would look to fun and parties to ease the pain of not having the confidence or clarity to chase my dreams.

The lack of self-belief would come out during pressure situations.

In my 20s, as I avoided building belief in myself, I would end up blowing up in key moments.

On several occasions, I self-sabotaged in interviews for better roles in the organizations I worked in.

I just crumbled under a bit of pressure or would make a joke at a moment when it was not the time to joke.

I would then go out and party to ease my pain and blame it on others.

You can see the cycle I was in.

One day I had enough.

My life had stayed very similar for most of my 20s

If you are not looking back and cringing at who you were 6 months ago, you are not growing.

I could look back over the years, and I felt the same.

In a bold leap, I moved to Canada.

I knew I needed to change my environments.

I knew I needed to get out of this low self-belief, self-sabotaging cycle.

The distance I got from my old life helped me see my miss steps.

I was able to see my past from a more positive viewpoint.

Now, I was able to see the skills I had and the growth I had gone through.

The decision to move to Canada from the UK gave me the space I needed to change my thinking about myself.

It was the BIG domino in my late 20s that changed my life.

In the space of a few years, I went from $12 an hour jobs to 6-figure sales roles, believing in myself had a large updside.

You don't need to move 7000 km or 4500 miles to start believing in yourself.

Now, I use journaling, meditation, long walks, and setting quarterly goals to help me believe in myself.

I am constantly reviewing my weeks and months and calling out the wins.

What this does is build self-belief.

Maybe if I had worked that out in the UK, I would still be there.

But I love my new life in Vancouver.

It all worked out in the end.

Unchecked, low self-belief is a never-ending spiral that will affect your business and life.

Here are 5 areas you can fix today, helping you build back your self-belief.

Those who believe in themselves tend to rise higher than those who are talented.

They get knocked down but get up again.

They figure it out whatever the situation.

But how do you build bulletproof self-belief?

If you're feeling stuck; fixing these 5 areas will help:

Your environments:

What kind of people and attitudes are you subjecting yourself to daily?
Have positive workplaces or groups of friends now turned toxic?

You can change your environments, take the best leave the rest.

Negative environments constantly dent your self-belief.

Your experiences:

Everyone has taken hits.

From failed businesses to projects that flopped hard.

You have also been lucky at times.

What you experience shapes you.

You can let it all dent your self-belief, or you can not be a victim and see it all as growth.

Your inputs:

When you listen, read, and talk about the negatives in life.

It will dent your self-belief and affect how you see the world.

But this works in reverse as well.

Go talk, read, or listen to people doing bigger things than you and see your possibilities expand.

Your hobbies:

You can stack wins in areas of your life away from your business.

Your self-belief is low because you are not creating those wins.

Go to the gym, go for a hike, and find ways to stack wins.

Winning is contagious.

Feeling good in one area of life spreads to others.

Your attention:

What pulls you?

Where do you put your attention?

Do you focus on the 100 good things in your business, or do you let one bad thing derail your days and weeks?

Self-belief is hard to build when you always have your negative glasses on.

Take them off today.

This is the tip of the iceberg.

There is much more to self-belief than these 5 points, but they stand out as the most common and the simplest to fix.

Where can you make quick shifts to build your self-belief?

You need it if you want your business to succeed.

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Let's ask; What if this was easy?

Episode 28 of the Self-Performance-Strategies (S-P-S) Podcast

All things are difficult before they are easy.

- Thomas Fuller

Main Takeaways:

If this was easy, what would it look like?

Not going to lie; this is one of my favourite questions to ask myself.

There was a time not so long ago I would get frustrated quickly.

While I still get frustrated.

It doesn't happen as often.

But it was a struggle to overcome.

Small things would piss me off.

From technology not working to having a bad day playing sports.

Something would not go my way; I would get worked up, and then more things would again not go my way.

You've been there.

You hit a spiral and slide down it fast.

One day I was listening to Tim Ferriss, and he talked about using a simple 9-word question to frame how he would approach things:

If this was easy, what would it look like?

For some reason, I was in the right mind frame.

That question hit right in the brain box.

The old cogs started to turn, and I thought.

"Could this work"

"Could this pull me out of frustration?"

Later that week, I played a reasonably competitive football game (soccer).

A few things went wrong early on, my touch was off, and I felt tired and slow.

I took a second and asked myself:

"What if this was easy?"

I instantly thought:

I would be playing with a smile on my face.

I would be light on my feet.

I would control and release the ball quickly.

I would know what space to be in.

It worked.

It pulled me out of the frustration spiral.

Over the coming days and weeks, it became a mantra.

As frustration started to boil up, I would ask myself the question. From meetings, writing content, sales calls, or doing chores it became a framing.

Can I make this easier?

It eventually developed into a personal belief that there is always an easier way.

It's not always easy to find, but there is an easier way.

Thinking like this has helped me improve my results in many areas of my life.

It's a question that could help you do less and increase your results.

Ask yourself today:

If this was easy, what would it look like?

5 simple strategies highly productive business owners use to make their days easier

Are you busy all the time but never seem to produce results?

Creating success doesn't need to be an uphill battle.

Most people fail because they're working harder, not smarter.

They look at email and check notifications when they should be doing high $$$ work.

You will make success in life and business easier if you use the following frameworks daily:

Know your best hours:

You do your best work when you feel most energized.

It could be early in the morning or late at night.

Your best hour for one type of work may not be the best hour for another kind.

E.g. I do focus work in the morning and creative work at night.

Allocate your energy:

You have limited energy daily.

Don't waste your high energy on low-value work:

• Emails

• Chores

• Worrying

• Notifications

Do your most important work first to get the most important results. Put important in front of urgent.

Avoid choice overload:

Too many options lead to procrastination.

Indecisiveness is a serious time and energy killer.

Each day have:

• 3 key priorities

• Plenty of slack

• Time built-in for rest and reflection

You do more by doing less.

Remove distractions:

Drop the dumb shit you do that derails your days.

They say it takes 15 minutes to get back into the zone after a disruption.

When was the last day you went undisrupted for a few hours?

If you can't remember, you have work to do.

Create a runway to flow:

Flow is essential if you want to produce high-quality work.

Have a process that allows flow to happen daily.

You can use:

• Music

• Meditation

• Journaling

• Breathing techniques

For me, it's a short journal session, music on and then go.

Simple shifts; big impact.

You can make life easier for yourself.

If you take a step back and spend time creating systems and processes that allow you to do more work in less time.

A little work upfront will save your hours and help produce better results.

Go make life easier.

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Welcome to the SPS Podcast: Episode 27: 7 reasons why reading philosophy will improve your self-performance To frame this episode, I wanted to start with these quotes:

"The object of studying philosophy is to know one's own mind, not other peoples."
- William Ralph Inge

"To study philosophy is nothing but to prepare one's self to die."
- Cicero

Main Takeaways:

Better thinking

The basics of philosophy teach us Logic, with this:

You will be able to recognize an argument
You'll know what fallacies are and be able to spot them
You'll see what a fact or an assumption is

Philosophy gives you many systems to think with.

Values

You will be able to articulate what your values are and why you believe what you believe

You will also have sound reasons on why and what you care about

Philosophy brings clarity to life's foundations.

Your worldview

Like values, you will be able to articulate your beliefs and ideas about what kind of world this is

And most importantly, you will know what is of greatest value to you in life and what type of life is worth pursuing.

The art of study

Philosophy is best read with a journal close by and a highlighter in hand

As you read and complete books, you gain a sense of accomplishment

Because to understand all the ideas in philosophy, philosophy forces you to become a better learner.

Keeps your mindset sharp

Philosophy has intellectual challenges everywhere, from Plato to Kant

You will come across ideas that challenge your thinking and makes you see the world from different angles

Through challenges, we grow, and philosophy will offer you much growth

Predicts the future

Philosophy is as old as we are; you could argue that there was only philosophy to study people's nature before social sciences

Humans have a talent for repeating past mistakes and, like history, philosophy can help you see your blind spots.

Memento Mori

Our days will end, and the clock is ticking

We don't know when but nothing entitles you to a given number of days

Philosophy and, in particular, Stoicism helps you realize this

You need to make each day count

Philosophy is the love of wisdom and life.

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Welcome to the SPS Podcast: Episode 26: The 4 Effective Behaviours Separating Successful Leaders From Average Ones A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say: we did it ourselves.

Lao Tzu.

I have a question for you 1st…

Do you want to improve how you lead?

Yes, good.

I want to take you through a 4-step process that I created after working in leadership roles for 15+ years; you can use it in any work or project situation to help you become a better leader in your business.

The process I am about to set out can also create benefits outside of work in your day-to-day life, so read to the end to see how.

What is this process?

Well, it’s called S.I.M.S.

Simplify
Inspire
Move
Support

Before we dive into these, I want to share a quote that exemplifies what leadership is.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader”

John Quincy Adams.

This quote doesn’t portray leadership as leading or giving directions; it’s about taking action in your own life.

It’s your actions and what you do that make you a leader.

Anytime you enter a new work environment, you want to use S.I.M.S. (which I realize is the name of a PC game), life is a game, and if you can use different models, acronyms, and methods to be a better leader, I am all for it.

Let’s dive into the components.

1) Simplify: “If you can’t explain it to a 6-year-old, you don’t understand it yourself”

Albert Einstein.

Leaders in corporate settings and the entrepreneurial world need to learn this number one activity.

Simplify the directions you give to the people above, below, and around you.

There are only ever really three-five vital activities that are moving your business forward.

If you use the Pietro Principle, the 80/20 philosophy, you will find that 20% of your activities give you 80% of your results.

The goal is to then simply what you focus on so you can drop or reduce the effort in the rest.

You may think, no way, I’ve got so many things to do, but when you boil it down, most of those activities you or your team are doing aren’t affecting your results, revenue, or growth.

Do you ever finish a day or week and can’t remember what you did?

The reason for this is that you spent your week doing low-value busy work, shallow work that is easily forgettable and has no impact.

You should focus on the key drivers and then simplify, simplify, simplify so that everyone understands what they need to do.

2) Inspire: “There are only two ways to influence human behaviour: you can manipulate it, or you can inspire it.”

Simon Sinek.

You may have heard of Simon Sinek; he’s a managerial expert and has written several books on the subject.

His lessons can apply to both corporate and entrepreneurial environments.

This quote illuminates a couple of things: you don’t manipulate or force people to do something, and you don’t manage people and processes.

You inspire people to work.

Managers manage people; leaders inspire people.

Leaders motivate people by giving them a vision and taking them on a journey.

They help their people grow, helping them transform and then transcend the role they hold.

If most of your people are not moving on to something bigger and better in their lives, professionally or personally, can you call yourself their leader?

When looking after a team or a process, many managers focus too narrowly on data and forget about the people.

If you can help inspire people, you will get the work done and make it enjoyable while you’re doing it.

Once you have simplified your message, you want to inspire people by creating a vision that motivates them.

You want to motivate them to not only do the work but to get better and eventually leave their role for something more challenging, more lucrative, or follow a passionate pursuit.

3) Move “Don’t tell people how to do things; tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results.”

George S. Patton.

M is for Move out of the way.

Give your team instructions, and then let them do the work.

I can’t even count how many managers ( I don’t use the word leader here) I have worked under or have seen give directions and then constantly follow up and remain hyper-involved in the process, effectively micromanaging.

Micromanaging is the curse of modern-day leadership.

Managers get involved because they think they can do it better or because an employee doesn’t have the skills, knowledge, or ability to do it the way they want it done.

So they do it themselves.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is the overloading manager:

They give you a project or a task, and then when something else comes down the pipeline, they don’t know how to simplify, so they pile it on to you instead of evaluating what needs to be done and when.

They constantly create bottlenecks with poor workflow, another curse of modern-day leadership.

When an employee is overloaded, they are much less likely to complete any project in the manner necessary.

Sick days, more extended lunches, and a negative culture will grow like a disease; people will start leaving for greener pastures.

When you give your team activities to do, you’ve got to move out of the way.

I know this can be especially hard for entrepreneurs and leaders who used to be subject matter experts, but you must let your team do the work.

If they fail, they will learn.

If you do the work, you will continue always to have to do the work.

You become the constraint for the growth of your team and business.

4) Support

“A good objective of leadership is to help those who are doing poorly to do well and to help those who are doing well to do even better”

Jim Rohn.

Support your team and support your partners when they need you.

Don’t over-support them, and don’t undersupport them.

Often, managers can get bogged down, focusing on the underperformers and even ignoring their high performers.

Higher performers can then end up feeling neglected, and underperformers feel micromanaged.

You know they talk on their lunch breaks and outside of working hours?

Acting like this unbalances your team.

Even if you do everything else, simplify, inspire, and move out of the way, you can still fail because you must also support your staff mentally and emotionally when needed.

Bening there for them in the right way is how they will remember you.

It’s also why they will work longer and stand beside you in pressure moments.

One of the best models to help you understand this concept is Situational Leadership:

Also, being supportive is much more than having an open-door policy.

Sitting behind your big desk with two large monitors and no direct eye line shows your team your door might be open, but you don’t want them in your office.

Make it easy for them to speak to you when they need it while projecting your time.

It is a delicate balance.

But you have to get out there and show that you are available.

Seek people out, take them for coffee, organize fun activities, and make people feel good about being at work.

By making your team and work partners feel comfortable, you are increasing their autonomy, allowing them to focus better on their work, and creating the opportunity for mastering their craft.

You are preparing them to move on and up, perhaps even to replace you when you move on, and that gives them purpose because they see a future in the organization.

This way, they can set goals and work towards those goals when they are supported.

Quick Bonus Ideas: Using S.I.M.S. in your life: “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”

Sir Edmund Hillary

Simplify: Simplify your life as much as you can. Do not take on too much; focus on three to five activities or habits you want to work on.

Inspire: Inspire yourself. Read good books, listen to podcasts, and avoid consuming too much “junk” media.

Move: Move out of your own way. You are often the block to your own success. You will talk yourself out of many ideas before starting to work on them. Just do it.

Support: Support yourself, look after yourself, eat healthily, sleep well, exercise, and reduce negative self-talk.

I hope you find S.I.M.S. useful.

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Episode 25: How to improve your performance by thinking about death Welcome to the SPS Podcast: Main Takeaways:

“You could leave life right now. Let that determine what you do and say and think.”

Marcus Aurelius

How do you use death to make you perform better? Well, by thinking about Memento Mori.

Essentially, you do more, live life to its fullest, and take strategic risks because you know you will die.

But wait, what is Memento Mori?

Well, it is a large part of Stoic philosophy.

It’s the practice of contemplating your mortality and remembering that one day you will die.

In English, it translates to “remember you must die”

Sounds morbid, right?

I know, but you need this concept in your life; it pushes you to take the right actions and not sit on the sidelines in life.

To get a philosophical viewpoint, we can look to the Stoic masters. In his letters, Seneca explains the benefit of meditating on death:

“Let us prepare our minds as if we’d come to the very end of life. Let us postpone nothing.

Let us balance life’s books each day…The one who puts the finishing touches on their life each day is never short of time. “

Marcus Aurelius had thoughts on this idea as well:

“Brief is man’s life and small the nook of the Earth where he lives; brief, too, is the longest posthumous fame, buoyed only by a succession of poor human beings who will very soon die and who know little of themselves, much less of someone who died long ago.”

Finally, Epictetus reminds us:

“I cannot escape death, but at least I can escape the fear of it.”

The Stoics believed that we must care for others while accepting death is out of our control.

There is a juxtaposition of thought between caring deeply for life while fully embracing and accepting death, which will come for us all.

This idea of thinking about death can seem very strange to many people in western cultures, as we have developed a habit of ignoring death.

Many live in the moment, think time is abundant, and never think they will die or have regrets in the future.

But in reality, death is one of the few things we all have in common with everyone else, along with regrets, for some.

Why think about death, then? One of my core beliefs about Stoicism is that it teaches us to do the right thing.

“Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter. Cold or warm. Tired or well-rested.”

Marcus Aurelius

When you appreciate each moment more and recognize that your time is limited, you learn to do the right thing by living in the now, which, for me, is one of the most Stoic actions you can take.

Thinking about death makes you grateful for every moment with loved ones and friends.

I want to celebrate the lives of those important to me while they are alive.

I want to do the activities that matter most to me.

Thinking about Memento Morimakes me want to be closer to those who are important in my life.

When they do pass, I will be sad, as you should, but I will look to the good times and the joy of knowing these people with this idea in mind.

Memento Mori takes something destructive like death and turns it into a beautiful part of our daily lives, even something to embrace, not fear.

But how does it improve your performance? Memento Mori helps you prioritize what matters while reminding you that time is finite.

Each day you know that sitting on the sidelines of life is not the right thing to do.

You start to see time differently.

You want to do more with your time.
You see less value in things that don’t serve you.
You see less value in wasting months and years drifting.

It gives you the courage to take on bigger challenges, as you know time is not on your side.

Many people say they need the motivation to be more productive.

When I 1st start thinking about this concept daily, I can tell you it certainly puts things into perspective.

What is more motivating than understanding that your own personal clock is constantly ticking down?

Use Memento Mori each day to help you improve.

Take time to realize that everyone around you will die, and your time is finite.

Then take action to use your time well today and every day.

You won’t regret it.

Think about Memento Mori today. “Hurry up and live.”

Seneca

Think of how you can remind yourself that your time is short.

I carry a $1 coin that was minted the year I was born.

I know each time I look at that coin, it will probably still be around many years after I am gone; that brings a smile to my face and reminds me to love and take action today.

This has helped shift my mindset immensely — I hope you, too, will find this idea useful in your life.

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Episode 24: 12 Rules for creating great days

Welcome to the SPS Podcast.

How do you have good days? 12 guidelines that will increase the effectiveness of your days.

Main Quote:

The Stoic philosopher Epictetus said, “God laid down this law, saying: If you want some good, get it from yourself.”

Main Takeaways:

For many years, I have pulled together a list of life rules or guidelines to help me daily.

I have 12 of them that I update every year.

They are systems I lean on and key reminders for me.

To stay anchored to who I want to be.

You can use my 12 to help build your own.

1) Find space and time daily to meditate, breathe, and say thank you for my life.

2) Avoid confrontations – look for ways around – by stepping back or asking good questions, a good question can always defuse a misunderstanding.

3) Find room each day to move – from walks to full workouts; each day needs a release of energy to create more energy.

4) Everything that happens to you, Good or Bad, is your personal responsibility, 100%; there is no other way.

5) Look for, follow, and find momentum in your life. Action creates more action; follow that flow.

6) Protect your growth mindset (live in gratitude). Every situation provides you with a chance to grow, learn, and adapt.

7) Read, learn, and grow each day. Just don't leave your growth to life experience; find good sources of knowledge to consume daily.

8) Talking with yourself in a journal can improve your day. Even if it is just a sentence, write something down daily.

9) You don’t always need your phone to be on or with you. Disconnect daily; your brain will thank you.

10) Always look for ways to give back and share; all boats rise from the incoming tide.

11) Live from the heart – think with the head but trust your gut. Listen to your intuition; you can tap into this more by following rules 1, 3, 7 and 8

12) Protect your morning routine, evening routine, and your sleep. Sleep is your number one asset; protect it and your energy by having strong routines before and after it.

When you look at your 12 rules daily, you frame your mind for the day.

You take actions aligned with your best version of who you want.

Kickstart your days and improve your chances of success by creating your own list of 10 to 12 life rules.

You won't regret it.

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Episode 23: Performance Origins with The Art of Purpose.

Welcome to the SPS Podcast.

The Art of Purpose is a former public school teacher of 20 years turned millionaire turned full-time business owner. On Twitter, he has 150K followers and a successful content creation community called Masterclass.

You can follow AOP here on Twitter

You can check out his growth guide here: Create 24/7: The Blueprint to Build a 6-Figure Twitter Business.

You can check out his community here: Masterclass 24/7 - A Mastermind Community for Social Media Entrepreneurs.

Stephen's links:

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Welcome to the SPS Podcast:

This week we are talking about Using Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to define your business and career

Main quote:

Maslow's hierarchy of needs applied to your modern working life:

"Musicians must make music; artists must paint; poets must write if they are to be ultimately at peace with themselves. What human beings can be, they must be. They must be true to their own nature. This need we may call self-actualization."
- Abraham Maslow

Main Takeaways:

There are 5 levels to Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Survival
Security
Belonging
Importance
Self-Actualization

But what do each of these 5 levels look like in your day-to-day work life

How would you show up in general at each of these levels

Let's find out...

1) Survival

You are barely getting by

You work purely because you have to, might even have a few jobs

You leave work as soon as you; you watch the clock constantly

You find work frustrating; you are not satisfied with life.

2) Security

You have become a hamster on a wheel.

You will work overtime; you never take your sick days

You accept poor working conditions or feel you have to

You dislike your manager, team, and job, but you get on with it.

3) Belonging

You feel connected, but you also feel stuck

You enjoy what you do 60/70% of the time

You know you are part of something larger than yourself

You are proud you have a good job, but you would still leave for career and life development

You often ask, is there more?

4) Importance

You work mainly in your groove and feel a vital part of the team.

You also feel your work is helping people and is important

You are known as an achiever

You are busy and possibly stressed often

You have a deep feeling you are being called to do more in life.

5) Self-Actualization

You now work for yourself

You want to help others and inspire them to do their best

You love what you do and would do it for free, but you get paid well

You have time, location, and financial freedom

You have the ability to explore who you are and grow exponentially.

To truly self-actualize in the modern world, you need to create your own wealth.

You need to be in control of your calendar and be able to decide who you work with.

To do this, you create time, location, and financial freedom; based on your unique abilities.

Two famous quotes that support this idea:

"As long as you're working for someone else you will never be living entirely true to yourself and your passion."

Gary Vaynerchuk

"Turning your passion into your job is easier than finding a job that matches your passion."

Seth Godin

The way I look at it, you help yourself self-actualize when you help others do the same.

When you help improve the consciousness of those around you, you improve the world around you.

And that is part of my mission with the SPS Podcast.

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Welcome to the SPS Podcast.

Let's talk about Avoiding Distractions.

Main quote:

"You can always find a distraction if you're looking for one."

-Tom Kite.

Main takeaways:

The best defence from distractions is a strong sense of purpose.

You love distractions.

You love the dopamine hit they give you, but that hit of dopamine is a productivity killer.

It's rewiring your brain to always focus on new exciting things.

You need to have clear goals and a clear direction in life.

Also...

You need to find a way to have your favourite distractions locked away.

The tip here is to write out your top 5 distractions and plan to avoid them.

If you don't, you fall into the Distraction Spiral.

How to stop the Distraction Spiral.

Sorry, you are a distraction addict, and you're hooked on that sh*t.

Certain mental triggers make you check your phone, start thinking about the past, and get frustrated with situations.

You let your mind spiral and repeat negative actions, thoughts, and patterns that distract you from maintaining focus.

As Will Durrant said:

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit."

You have let these triggers become habits.

And this is why you spiral then, doom scroll, Netflix binge, or spend hours procrastinating when you know it's work time, not relax time.

But how do you avoid the Distraction Spiral?

Take 10 mins and write down anything you think triggers the distraction spiral.

Examples:

What thoughts lead you to stop working and get distracted when you read something that triggers you?

When you pause working, what thought patterns make you reach for your phone or open a new tab?

What memories or feelings come up as you try to work?

Journal for 5 minutes about the whole process: how the spiral starts and where it goes.

Bring awareness to this process.With a better understanding of this, you will identify the thought triggers as they happen.

Now you have identified the triggers, you need a system or plan to help you stay focused.

The system that works for me:

As you feel the spiral starting, you can take a few deep breaths, identify it, even journal quickly and then let the spiral pass and not get sucked into it.

Now, this does take practice, and you have to take the time to journal out the thought process and patterns that occur.

How do you go from working on something to sitting on the sofa scrolling on Instagram?

You need to find your triggers and build systems to stop the spiral.

If you can do this, you will find a handful of emotional and underlying issues that commonly trigger you.

Once you have awareness around these patterns and triggers, it gives you perspective to see it happening as it happens.

A powerful process if used correctly.

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Welcome to the SPS Podcast

This week we are talking about creating an effortless life by doing less dumb stuff.

Main Quote:

“It takes a lot of effort to make something look effortless.”

― Ben Mitchell

Main Takeaways:

The steps 1st of an effortless life

Your results start becoming more powerfully when you stop suppressing your energy with:

Overeating
Netflix binges
Weekends of no sleep
Overuse of sugar and stimulants.

The healthier you get, the more effortless success and life become.

Every success journey starts somewhere, and to master the art of results; you need to review where your energy is being depleted.

Take 5 minutes and ask yourself: Which actions do I take each day that deplete my energy?

Then take another 10 minutes and plan to remove these actions over the coming weeks.

What I learned from reading Effortless by Greg Mckeown.

The idea of having an effortless life sounds very appealing.

But to have an effortless life, you must understand how to create one.

Effortless is split into 3 parts; I have pulled out my favourite concept from each section with an outline of that chapter.

Part 1: Effortless State

You experience this state when you are physically rested, emotionally unburdened, and mentally energized.

You are completely aware, present, and focused on what’s essential at the moment.

You can focus on what matters most with ease.

Big takeaway: REST

Discover the art of doing nothing.

Do not do more today than you can completely recover from by tomorrow.

You do this by breaking down essential daily work into 3 sessions of no more than ninety minutes each.

Set your days up so your next is effortless.

Part 2: Effortless Action

You accomplish more by trying less. (very Yoda like)

This helps you stop procrastinating as you focus on the obvious next step.

You make progress by pacing yourself rather than powering through.

You then overachieve without overexerting.

Big takeaway: DEFINE

When you start a project, first define what done looks like.

Establish clear conditions for success; when you get there, stop.

Use this idea daily; take 60 seconds to write a done-for-the-day list.

Male this list achievable and create effortless days.

Part 3: Effortless Results

As you work in an Effortless State and take Effortless Actions, you achieve the results you want more easily.

But you want results to flow to you with as little additional effort as possible.

You now create systems for Effortless Results.

Big takeaway: LEARN

You have to learn the principles, not just facts and methods.

Understand the key principles deeply and then apply them repeatedly.

Don’t reinvent the wheel; use the principles, then develop your unique style, which will create endless opportunities.

Bonus big takeaway: INVERT

Don’t ask, “Why is this so hard?” Invert the question and ask, “What if this could be easy?”

When you frame things as hard, you try to solve the whole puzzle at once.

When you ask, “how can this be easier,” you start thinking in specific steps.

Now go and make your life more effective and effortless.

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Are you on the Hedonic Treadmill?

Welcome to the SPS Podcast.

Main Quote:

"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need."

― Chuck Palahniuk

Main Takeaways:

Buying more stuff you don't need is procrastination.

Many fall into the trap of keeping up with their social group, thinking they need that new car, clothes, or toys.

But all of this is a distraction and a form of procrastination that does not help your long-term happiness.

Hedonic Treadmill states: "You will always return to your base level of happiness, whether something positive or negative happens."

If you get that new car, you experience a spike in happiness; then, eventually, you will return to your original happiness level.

Quick note: This works on the negative side as well.

If you have a terrible breakup, lose money, or lose a job.

There will be a low period, but you will return to your normal happiness levels.

You might even buy shit you don't need to speed that bounce back up.

Let's focus on the procrastination trap of the Hedonic Treadmill.

You buy the shit you feel you need to make yourself happy.

But it does not bring you the fulfillment you imagined it would.

You go out and buy more shit.

Making yourself addicted to "new stuff = happiness spike."

This is a loop a lot of society is on.

Looking for the new and exciting from external sources to fill a void in their lives.

This loop helps you avoid the pain of not chasing your dreams and meaningful goals.

Which makes this whole process a giant form of procrastination.

The goal is to find what you really want in life.

To grow, you need to lose the necessity to 'show off' or keep up with others.

Your happiness will continue to spike up/down if you don't.

Returning to a mediocre baseline because you never do anything meaningful.

The spike of happiness from new stuff is not sustainable; you will constantly feel you're chasing a horizon you never reach.

The only way to escape this procrastination trap is to invest your time and energy into figuring out who you are and improving your baseline of happiness.

To improve your baseline of happiness there are key areas to focus on:

-Fitness

-Journaling

-Meditation

-Eating healthy foods

-Figuring out your why

-Having goals and a life vision

-Saving money and investments

-Reading books on self-actualization

Knowing who you are and what you want from life will help you break free of the Hedonic Treadmill.

It will help you avoid this giant form of procrastination that most of society has fallen for.

You will start making smart choices that create meaningful results in your life.

However, don't feel bad about treating yourself to things; if you need a new laptop or car, get one.

But recognize that you are not your clothes, toys, or car.

You are a person who is capable of massive growth and can achieve many great things during your life.

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This week we are talking about Using Stoicism In Real Life.

Welcome to the SPS - Self-Performance Strategies Podcast

Main Quote

When I first read the Stoic master Epictetus say:

"Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it."

I instantly realized

I needed to start talking less about my goals

And start delivering more results.

Main Takeaways:

What Is Stoicism? (my thoughts)

"Doing the right thing in every situation to the best of your skills, knowledge, and abilities."
- Me

At every turn, you have an opportunity

To take a step back

Observe, reflect and then act

If you rush in or ignore signs

You will not be operating at your best levels

And not be able to do the right thing

Let's talk about making better decisions using Stoicism.

What does that even mean?

Stoicism is an emotion-processing tool and way of thinking.

It can help you make better decisions.

Regulate your emotions, and plan for the future.

And deal with the ups and downs of life.

Here are three quotes that support my points.

"If you live in harmony with nature you will never be poor; if you live according to what others think, you will never be rich."

―Seneca

Seneca tells us to live in harmony with our current environments

And ignore the often distracting noises in society.

"It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

― Epictetus

It is essential only to control what you can control.

And that's your thoughts, actions, and words.

It sounds simple, but with practice, this idea can lead to stronger decisions more regularly.

"If it is not right, do not do it; if it is not true, do not say it."

― Marcus Aurelius

Pretty straightforward this one.

If it's not right, why would you do it?

If it's not true, why would you say it?

If that does not help you make decisions, you might be lost.

Life goes by fast.

You can get dragged along making decisions that you may not be aware that you're making.

However, if you sit down and think about Stoicism and these quotes, they can help you make better decisions.

To live in harmony with your environments.
To control what you can control.
To not say things that aren't true.

Building this resilience can be challenging.

It takes many hours of mental training in the gym of life.

Keep doing the reps to build your resilience.

Because Stoicism tells you to slow down, think about what's right, and think about your decisions.

And that is part of my mission with the SPS Podto help you do that.

Want to chat 1-1, select a time here:
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Make it a great one,

Stephen

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Are you stuck?

Welcome to the Self-Performance Strategies Podcast.

Main quote:

Growth is painful. Change is painful. But, nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you do not belong.

- R. Narayana Murthy

Main Takeaways:

Frustration sucks

You've been there, grinding away but feeling like you are standing still as life moves past you.

It often happens when you let the wrong activities deplete your energy.

The good news is a few changes can make an incredible difference in your life.

Life is simple; no one said it was easy.

The concepts that will help you are always the fundamentals.

The simple repetitive habits you do daily are what matters.

Complex ideas and systems don't help you grow.

Find a few habits you can do daily.

Stick with them for months.

You WILL see change and escape frustration.

Your results aren't growing because you're not growing.

6 reasons why you feel stuck:

Not regulating your mood:

You don't feel good, and your emotions affect your performance.

You need systems like journaling and meditation that allow you to focus on your wins and vision for life.

The right daily systems produce the energy you need and help improve your mood.

Not being consistent:

You don't stick with what matters.

You jump from idea to idea.

You miss out on the magic of compounding.

You need to show up often to move your needle forward.

Focus on 3 key pillars in life daily, and you will quickly tap into the power of consistency.

Not learning:

Your results don't improve because you don't reflect on your actions.

Get out in front of your mistakes.

Failure is only failure if you learn nothing.

No freedom to focus:

You love distractions.

You can never find the energy to push yourself to get the work done.

You often find yourself procrastinating and then punishing yourself mentally.

Defeat this by finding space early each day to do deep work on your important tasks.

No momentum:

Your life is set up to feel like you are starting and stopping.

You constantly feel frustrated and behind on your work.

Momentum happens when you focus on high-value and high-$$$ activities.

No fun:

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy.

Having fun is 100% different than being distracted.

When you focus on having a fun day once a week, your brain can relax.

A performance strategy that many people miss:

Your time away is as important as your deep work.

Want to chat 1-1? Select a time here:
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Welcome to Self-Performance Strategies Podcast.

Our first longer form session:

Performance Origins with Clint Murphy

Performance Origins episodes are deep dive conversations exploring how successful business owners, executives, and leaders used their self-performances to create the life and business they have.

Clint is is a husband and father to two young boys. By day, he's a chief financial officer, and in the evenings, he reads, invests, writes a fantasy novel series and hosts the Pursuit of Learning Podcast.

In this episode, we have a deep conversation about Clint's journey from being overweight and on the sofa to completing Ironman's and exploding on Twitter with over 135K followers.

Check Clint out here:
https://twitter.com/IAmClintMurphy

Clint's website:
thegrowth.guide

Want to chat 1-1with me?
Select a time here: https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

See you the next episode.

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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How to execute at pace.

Welcome to the Self-Performance Strategies Podcast.

Main quote:

"Ideas are easy. It's the execution of ideas that really separates the sheep from the goats."

-Sue Grafton

Main takeaways:

Something that takes many people a long time to learn

(me included)

Is that you've got to execute at pace.

You've got to execute at pace because it allows you to get feedback much faster.

You can pivot

You can adjust

You can go again

Way too many people have made up excuses in their minds why things won't work and never validate them.

But I've got to ask you this quick question...

When's the last time an idea in your mind paid your bills?

Test-Learn-Adapt

How do you execute at pace?

It is helpful to have several mental models that help you take action.

The one I have found extremely helpful in life is:

Test-Learn-Adapt

A simple three-step loop you use to keep executing and creating results.

Test:

"Everything is a test."

-Terry Pratchett

One of the most critical parts of a success journey is seeing everything as a test.

Your pride or ego might take failure and defeat more personally when first starting out.

It is key to get over this quickly and see everything as one giant feedback loop.

Learn:

"It is not that I'm so smart. But I stay with the questions much longer."

-Albert Einstein

Never stop learning when you put content out, do work, or complete a project.

Look for the wins; look for the areas you could improve.

Working like this gives you ideas and fuel for your next test.

You tap into the power of continuous improvement and momentum.

Adapt:

"Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything."

-George Bernard Shaw

The final part of this model is adaptation.

Take what you have learned from your test and pivot with what you think will be an improvement.

You won't always get positive results.

But you will get results, and with this model, results are all that matter.

Now go out and test-learn-adapt yourself to success.

Want to chat 1-1? Select a time here: https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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Episode 14: Are you fulfilling your potential?

Welcome to the Self-Performance Strategies Podcast

This week we are talking about fulfilling your potential

Main quote:

"The potential of the average person is like a huge ocean unsailed, a

new continent unexplored, a world of possibilities waiting to be

released and channelled toward some great good."

― Brian Tracy

Main takeaways:

Help yourself fulfill your potential

You have the ability to tell others how capable they are and help them tap into their potential.

But you often lack the perspective or ability to see your potential.

This is why it is vital to have big goals and journal daily; you need to tap into your potential daily.

A useful weekly exercise is to ask yourself:

What was the most significant struggle I faced last week?

Then ask

How would I advise a friend dealing with this struggle?

Questions like this will help you gain perspective quickly and help you on the path to your potential.

What happens when you don't take action to fulfill your potential?

Life can be a spiral. Sometimes you travel up it, and other times slide down it.

When you work to fulfill your potential, you spend most of your time travelling up it.

You can continuously slide into trouble when you don't.

When spiralling down, you will experience these traps:

Lack of motivation

When you are not moving towards goals that align with your potential, you find it hard to get work done.

This is why you dislike busywork as a business owner or a corporate employee; it doesn't move you towards tangible results. There is no joy in the work.

Increased stress

It slowly builds chronic stress when you are constantly working on projects you have no interest in.

Like the death of thousand paper cuts, it will build over time until you snap.

You don't notice it on day one, but you will by day one thousand.

Cheap dopamine

In response to the stress and the lack of motivation from not working towards your potential, you will look for cheap dopamine TV, social media, movies, porn, etc.

You distract yourself with "fun" activities to suppress your pain, one of the worst traps to be in.

Addictions

Addictions don't happen overnight; they come from unresolved pain in life.

The more you suppress the pain, the worse the addictions can get. Porn, drugs, drinking, and abusive behaviour can become coping mechanisms to avoid the pain of unused potential in life.

Relationship trouble

When you don't fulfill your potential, have no direction in life, and seek cheap dopamine leading to coping mechanisms, You will push loved ones away and find it hard to develop loving and meaningful relationships.

Not a fun place to be.

Anger

You become angry at the world, but you are mad at yourself; the only way to overcome the anger of not moving towards your potential is to take 100% responsibility for your life.

This is the moment you suck it up and realize it's all in your hands. Control what you can.

Depression

It's hard to admit, but if you have spent months or years dealing with any of the above, you may have some level of depression.

But, with awareness comes the ability to do something about it, and you can pull yourself out with help and work towards your potential.

Summary:

As a Business Owner or Leader improving your personal performance is how you fulfill your potential while defeating procrastination and creating impactful results.

Want to chat 1-1? Select a time here: https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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Let's talk about Tactical Laziness.

Welcome to the **Self-Pefromnace-Strategies (S-P-S) Podcast

Main quote:

"I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it."

**― Bill Gates

Main takeaways:

I love making things simpler.

Finding ways to do less work while improving results.

It is an art and a skill.

I often use the 3 D's to help when work comes my way.

Do, Drop, or Delegate.

I have talked about this system before

But it is essential to use to stay focused on high-dollar and high-value activities daily.

Many of the business owners I speak with struggle with this.

They spend their days drowning in low-value work.

It causes a lot of frustration and stress.

Lazy systems can help you feel less frustrated and stressed.

Have you ever asked yourself this question:

Where can I do less work but improve my results?

If you have, you may already be Tactically lazy.

Here are 6 of the best "lazy" systems to help you do more in less time:

1. The Getting Things Done (GTD) Method

The GTD overview is based on five principles:

Capture
Clarify
Organize
Reflect
Engage

By clarifying your work and using the GTD pipeline, you can effectively prioritize your tasks and keep track of how you're spending time.

2. The Pomodoro Technique

You know this one, right?

You work in 25-minute bursts, spaced by 5-minute breaks.

On the 5th pass, you have a 15-30 minute rest.

You can alter the bursts.

I like going for 30 mins and doing 3 passes.

Sprint - rest - sprint works like magic.

3. Task Batching

This process is effective because you use single-tasking, not multitasking.

Your brain loves to work like this.

When you use task batching, you group similar tasks and eliminate the strain on your brain.

Maximize your productivity and keep your brain happy.

4. Eat the Frog

Eat the Frog is getting the most challenging task done as soon as possible.

While the task is usually the most important, it doesn't have to be; the main point is that it's the task you dread most.

Start big and build momentum.

5. Most Important Tasks (MITs)

A Most Important Task (MIT) is a single task that will take no more than one day to complete.

Now, I use this system when I focus on one project all day.

A daily sprint helping me complete a project or piece of work in under 24 hours.

6. Journaling

Journaling done well is a superpower.

Use your journal to plan your week, review days, and build plans.

Spending an hour on Sunday planning your week can save you hours, and it gives direction.

For me, it is the ultimate "lazy" system.

Need help with becoming tactically lazy?

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Big love.

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Stephen

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Productivity Hacks Suck.

Welcome to the Self-performance Strategies Podcast.

Main quote:

High performers don't need fancy productivity hacks; they have a clear vision, are driven by a powerful why, and just get shit done.
- Stephen Timoney

Key Takeaways:

Emotions are keyIn the end, it is emotion, not hacks or repetition, that creates habits.

What you do has to make you feel good, and what you do has to make you feel successful.

If what you are doing is not making you happy, stop doing it and start doing what does.

A quick exercise you can do is ask yourself these 3 questions:

Is what I am doing aligned with my life vision?

Is what I am doing helping me grow and contribute?

Is what I am doing fulfilling me?

If you get a NO for one or all these questions, you should find ways to stop doing those things.

What do you mean hacks suck?

When I talk about productivity hacks, I mean common hacks like:

Timeboxing
To-do lists
Intrinsic motivation
Productivity zones
Batching 80/20 principle

These work and are useful, and you may have used them, had some success but then fallen back into your typical ways.

You have to get much deeper than hacks and systems to make significant, lasting changes.

For example, if you work in corporate, these types of hacks work because you have a structure where you have daily tasks and deadlines.

Remove this structure, and they become just ideas.

You need to connect to your vision and why.

Your emotional framework needs to be developed.

Even if you're not an entrepreneur, you have to get deeper than surface-level strategies.

Have a good look at all your emotional anchors if you want to improve your performance.

Listen to parts of you that you have not heard from in years, the stories you have been looping for decades.

Without fixing these issues and building a new, more robust framework, you will feel depressed, overwhelmed, unmotivated, or limited.

Because you are anchored to your broken parts, no productivity hack or fancy new system will fix that.

You have to go and do the inner work; you need to break free.

If you want to have the life you always dreamed of, you need to do it and keep doing it.

You will always tell yourself stories, and over time, you will even adopt new anchors.

This is a rinse and repeat process.

So before you go and read James Clear's Atomic Habits or Cal Newport's Deep Work for the 6th time, go address your emotional anchors first.

Taking the time to do this in my life has changed me forever, and I hope never to forget this lesson again.

Need help with your vision and why?

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Big love.
Make it a great one,

Stephen

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Open loops are killing your success.

Welcome to the Self-Performance Strategies Podcast.

Main Quote:

"Anything that does not belong where it is is an "Open-Loop" pulling on your attention."

-David Allen

Main takeaways:

What is an Open Loop?

Psychologist and psychiatrist Bluma Zeigarnik first discovered the Open Loop process.

She discovered what is now known as the Zeigarnik Effect (Open Loop), the tendency of our brain to remember and focus on incomplete tasks more than it does on completed tasks.

This unfortunate predisposition was taken further and applied to the concept of productivity by management consultant David Allen.

In his best-selling book, Getting Things Done, Allen explains a direct link between our ability to switch off and relax and our productivity.

The basic message is that you will never reach your creative potential and be in danger of burnout unless you allow yourself proper rest by closing loops.

Closing Open Loops.

Solving the problem 99% of business owners and leaders struggle with.

To further explain, an Open Loop is anything pulling at your attention stopping you from reaching states of flow or deep work.

They are also the list that appears in your mind as you drift off to sleep.

You never close the loop, so your subconscious likes to think about it.

Open Loops can include:

-Bills not paid

-Money owed

-Books unread

-Taxes not done

-Projects started

-Emails not responded to

-Invitations not answered

-Boxes in rooms left for years

-Unresolved relationship issues

Anything you have left unclosed or undone in your life.

You need to free your mind.

You consider all of your Open Loops important.

Like a tab on your computer, you devote a portion of memory to them, and it drains your CPU.

But doing this can make you feel paralyzed and frustrated because you have too many tasks to tackle, so you tackle none.

How do you close loops?

With a simple 2 step process, you can quickly close 99% of your loops.

First, create an Open Loop list.

Set a timer for 30 minutes and brain dump every Open Loop you can think of.

Anything that is not complete, from projects to old relationships.

Now you Do, Drop, Delegate

If you have done the 1st part right, you will laugh a little at the amount of shit on your mind.

You know 80% of the list can be dropped.

The following 20% you should delegate or do within the next 7 days.

It will take work, but it needs to be done.

Do a monthly audit.

Life is crazy; you are constantly opening new loops daily.

Relationship loops will be harder to close, but the emotional freedom you will feel once they are is worth it.

Sit down at the end of each month, close loops, and see your mental performance improve.

Don't let Open Loops stop you.

I have not met a person who has this 100% under control.

If you feel overwhelmed and stressed right now, take the time to do the exercise, and you will instantly feel more focused and mentally clear.

Close loops so you can open up success.

Need help with closing loops?

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Stephen

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7 key rules of productivity

Welcome to the Self-Performance Strategies Podcast

Main quote:

"Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist."

― Pablo Picasso

Key episode takeways:

My 7 key rules of productivity.

To help myself perform at high levels daily with my productivity, I developed these 7 rules and guidelines.

You can perform at a high level:

If you don't think you can be productive, you won't be

If you don't think you can succeed, you won't

High performance comes from abundant self-belief.

Start finding ways daily to build that belief and stack those wins.

Leading yourself is key to performance:

You can read, learn, and attempt to use all the productivity systems in the world.

But if you don't know how to lead yourself or have no self-discipline, no system will work.

Start building your discipline and show up every day.

Master your inner game:

You will hit a barrier with your productivity and performance at a certain point.

The hacks and systems can't help get past deep emotional anchors.

You have to face these emotional issues, defeat them, or be aware of them if you want to succeed.

Link your performance to your strengths:

A trap many fall into is trying to get good at their weakness; this does not improve your performance.

You should be working to improve your strengths, find out what you are good at or what works for you and double down on them.

Focus on what you want, not what you want to avoid:

People avoid the negative but forget to move towards the positive.

You should know what you want to achieve with your increased productivity.

Not being specific on a positive end goal is a pointless waste of energy.

Creativity needs organization:

The more organized you are, the easier it is to be productive.

When you are organized mentally, emotionally, and physically deep work and high-performance flow are much easier to tap into.

This takes planning, but the end results are worth it.

Rest, recharge, refocus:

Hustle culture has infected some people with the idea that to be productive, you must work 24/7. This is bullshit.

Your downtime has to be elite if you want to have elite performance levels. This is a work of art.

Great rest = Great results.

Productivity is about mindset 1st.

Use these 7 rules to give you the right mental structures needed to win.

You will find it much easier to get your work done if you can get them right.

Before using another hack or optimizing your life, make sure you have your foundations.

Need help with your rules?

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Make it a good one,

Stephen

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Do you learn with purpose?

Welcome to the Self-Performance Strategies Podcast.

The main quote:

"Learning is not attained by chance; it must be sought for with ardour and attended to with diligence."

― Abigail Adams

The main takeaways:

The learning Loop:

If you understand how to learn new skills, you will acquire them faster.

10% Of learning comes from courses, books, podcasts etc.

20% Discussing ideas with people.

70% Comes from doing it.

Now, look at the skills you are currently learning and ask, are you in the 30% or the 70%?

The whole process is essential, but many get trapped in the early stages.

Knowledge + Action = Skills:

As Albert Einstein (TV show version) said:

"Any fool can know. The point is to understand."

To avoid procrastination, overwhelm, and frustration, you must learn and take action as quickly as possible.

While learning can be fun, it can also be a trap.

Learning is not action.

You're probably working constantly on getting better if you're like me.

This means you spend a lot of time:

Reading books
Listening to podcasts
Doing online courses

Trying to consume and absorb as much information as you can.

However, this can quickly turn into just learning for the sake of learning.

You end up reading books, listening to podcasts, attending webinars, workshops, and doing courses.

Even though you know the content is not relevant to your current situation.

You may find yourself overwhelmed.

You might even snap and decide success is not for you.

This is why you need to consume with purpose.

So what does this look like?

It means ensuring that the books you read, the podcasts you listen to, and the courses you complete link to an issue or roadblock you face in life, in your side hustle, career, or business.

You no longer just read the next bestseller on Amazon for business, marketing, or personal development.
You no longer listened to every episode of the same podcasts.
You stop going to workshops just because they are on.
You start buying the right courses at the right time.

You need to slow down and start to dissect what is currently going on:
- In your life
- In your work
- In your projects
- Or in any other area you are improving

Then find the resources that address these questions.

This will help you reach your goals more efficiently.

Sound's simple, but consuming with a purpose is a huge mental breakthrough many don't achieve in life.

When you have a focus on your learning, you focus on the right knowledge.

This, in turn, helps you take daily action in the right areas of your life.

This strategy makes consuming more enjoyable.

Since you can onboard new information, take something away from it, and start implementing and improving right away.

Always remember that:

Knowledge + Action = Skills

Consume with a purpose and see your life change.

When have you got lost learning with no purpose?

Need help with getting out of your way?

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Make it a good one,

Stephen

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Are you stopping you from success?

Welcome to the Self-Performance Strategies Podcast.

Main Quote from the episode:

"It is an acknowledged fact that we perceive errors in the work of others more readily than in our own."

― Leonardo da Vinci

Main takeaways from the episode:

7 cognitive biases you need to understand if you want to grow your business, make better decisions, and win more often:

Bandwagon Effect:

The bandwagon describes the tendency for you to adopt certain behaviours or ideas because others are doing so.

You see people succeeding with specific strategies, and you switch from one to another before giving them time to work.

Stop it.

Dunning-Kruger Effect:

You think new ideas and strategies will be easy to use.

But with low ability in these new ideas, you are prone to overestimate your ability.

We are not good at objectively evaluating our competency levels.

Give yourself more slack with new projects.

Plan Continuation Bias:

You love a good plan; who doesn't?

But we tend to continue with an original plan even if all our data points to it no longer being viable.

Sticking to your plan at all costs will cost you.

Be more flexible.

Egocentric Bias:

You might not be as smart as you think.

We have the tendency to rely too heavily on our perspective, and we have a higher opinion of ourselves than we should.

The ego can trick us.

Maybe have a few slices of humble pie and start asking for help.

Confirmation Bias:

You're not being objective.

We tend to see and interpret information in a way that supports previously held beliefs.

You attribute good results to your work, plan, or content.

But attribute bad results to external factors, digital algorithms, or the news.

The Gambler's Fallacy:

Your ideas failing the last 5 times don't mean they will work on the 6th. This fallacy says that we tend to believe that random past events affect future outcomes.

If the game hasn't changed and you haven't changed, results will stay the same.

Pygmalion Effect:

You are not using this one, and it shows.

The Pygmalion effect, also known as the Rosenthal effect, states that high expectations improve performance in a given area.

The lower they are, the worse the result.

Go out and set higher expectations.

Cognitive biases are sneaky:

They can negatively affect our thinking and decision-making and lead us to make mistakes we could have avoided.

Sit down today and ask yourself, are any of these 7 biases keeping you back from levelling up in life.

Need help with getting out of your way?

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Make it a good one,

Stephen

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Let's talk about success leading to failure.

Welcome to the Self-Performance-Strategies (S-P-S) Podcast.

Main quote:

"Knowing where the trap is—that's the first step in evading it."

― Frank Herbert, Dune

Main takeaways:

Are you confused about why you are stuck after succeeding?

Did you assume it would be easier?

It happens to the best:

History is littered with examples of companies mishandling their success.

One key example is Apple in the late 90s. Luckily, they recovered.

But what happened and how did you get stuck?

Let's dive in...

Part 1: Your success:

At some point, your self-performance was on point.

You had:

Clear goals

Clear targets

Clear vision

And you acted each day to make them all come true.

You created success, but…

Part 2: Opportunities:

Success leads to opportunities.

This is can be a good thing.

But you often lose sight of your original plans and goals with too many options.

You take on opportunities that don't fully align with you.

Not all opportunities are good opportunities.

Part 3: Stretched thin:

Too many options and opportunities lead to your efforts and energy being stretched thin.

You end up wondering where it all went wrong.

You have so much on you are not sure of which direction to take.

Often, you procrastinate and take no action.

Part 4: Stuck and failing:

Your confused efforts undermine the clarity that led to our success in the first place.

Leaving you stuck, failing, and overwhelmed.

Lost in a sea of confusing you realize you have to take action before your ship hits rocks and sinks.

The way out:

Remember Steve Jobs?

When he came back to Apple in 1997, he cut over 70% of the company's product line.

They were stretched too thin.

You need to do the same.

You need to get back to the clarity you had.

You need to align with your big vision for your business.

Need help with avoiding the success trap?

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

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Are you in the Sh*t Zone?

Welcome to the Self-Performance Strategies Podcast.

Key quote from the show:

"Focus does not mean saying yes; it means saying no."

- Steve Jobs

Key Episode Takeaways:

What is the Sht Zone:
*

Do you ever do one thing, but your mind is on another thing?

You're in the Sh*t Zone

When you're in the Sh*t Zone.

Your work is sh*t
Your mood is sh*t
Your results are sh*t
Your productivity is sh*t

The best way to get out of this mess?

Follow the advice of Steve Jobs.

Say no to the Sh*t Zone by only thinking about one thing.

3 Strategies to get out of the Sht Zone:*

🔹 Clear targets:

You get in the Sh*t Zone daily because you don't know what to focus on.

What are your key pillars in life?

What are the activities that move your life forward?

When you get clear, you get focused.

🔹 Manage your bandwidth:

You can only do a certain number of tasks daily.

You also can only have a certain number of projects on the go.

When you over-commit, you overload your schedule, ending up in the Sh*t Zone.

Reduce your workload.

🔹 Intention:

You don't do anything intentionally.

You go from fire to fire daily with your attention stretched.

Stop, step back and breathe.

Then fully commit to the task at hand.

At work, be at work

With your family, be with your family.

Be intentional.

People spend a lifetime in the Sh*t Zone.

Always letting their mind be in two places at once.

Then they wonder why they feel tired, stressed and stretched to the limit.

Don't let that happen to you; use these 3 strategies and spend more time zoned in on one thing.

Need help getting out of the sh*t zone?

Let's talk:

https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

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Let's talk about How to close your integrity gap

Welcome to the Self-Pefromnace-Strategies (S-P-S) Podcast

Quote:

"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry.

Core takeaway

How you show up vs. how you want to show up

You set high expectations for yourself, and when you don't meet those expectations, it hurts.

This is the daily mental and emotional weight you put on yourself daily.

You have this idea that you must be hitting personal bests daily to win in life.

Questions for you:

How many personal bests does Usain Bolt have in the 100 metres dash?

He has ONE

Yes, he has a lot of days that come close to that, but at any point, he only has one personal best.

So how do top athletes and entrepreneurs succeed?

They focus on removing anything that stops them from succeeding.

It is easier to close your Integrity Gap by removing all the dumb sh*t, energy vampires, and time-wasting activities from your day.

You don't have to show up and break personal bests daily.

You only need to focus on not dipping down into the activities that derail your day and energy.

How to close your Integrity Gap and stop self-sabotaging your results

The biggest blockage in your business is your self-performance.

Let me show you how to get out of your way.

Gurus get it wrong

Yes, I said that.

Over 90% of productivity coaches will tell you to raise your bar.

Be better, create frameworks, or have an optimized daily schedule.

These "gurus" are way off, in my opinion.

The way to close your Integrity Gap and improve results is by doing less dumb sh*t.

Let me walk you through 4 key areas that help you do less dumb sht and close your Integrity Gap.*

Fear of trying:

There are areas in life right now where you fear change.

You are stuck doing what you are used to, and it no longer serves you.

Mentally and emotionally, you get attached to bad habits and routines that slow you down.

I have a client that knew they needed to drop or delegate low-value work.

But each day, they didn't.

Then each day went the same way.

Frustration, overwhelm, and stress.

They expected hiring help would cause more stress.

They were wrong.

It helped immensely.

Your hedonistic parts:

You all have them.

You all do some amount of dumb sh*t each day.

From too much TV, social media, or overeating.

I have a client that thought it was okay to unwind every night with a few beers.

He would stay up later than planned, affecting his sleep.

What do you think happened when he stopped doing that every night?

His sleep got better

He was fresher each day

He ended up being more focused

Trust me when I say:

You are doing something dumb in your life that is slowing you down.

Repeating your actions:

You have all done this, repeating the same actions over and over again.

Hoping this time they will work, but it doesn't.

A client continually over-scheduled his days and weeks.

He was constantly beating himself for not staying on track.

He always thought he just needed more discipline.

He expected he should be able to work 12 hours a day and still have time for his family.

He had a to-do list each day longer than his arm.

We cut that list down to 3 things a day, and he started stacking wins.

Having a massive to-do list is dumb.

Not going all-in:

Going 100% in on 1 thing is easier than 80% on 3 things.

Most of the clients I help struggle with procrastination because they dabble with several ideas at a time.

They get overwhelmed and don't know their next step, so they do dumb sh*t instead.

With one client, we got explicitly clear on their key pillars in life.

Then he wrote all the activities they did each day that had nothing to do with those pillars.

Over the coming weeks, he dropped or delegated a huge list of tasks, most of which were low-value or dumb sh*t.

Close your integrity gap

I am sure you can now see how you are doing several activities daily that are keeping you back.

You are stopping you from becoming the person you want to be.

And it's not because you haven't raised your bar.

It's because you are doing dumb sh*t.

Harsh but true.

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Make it a good one,

Stephen

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Let's talk about Raising your floor.

Welcome to the Self-Performance-Strategies (S-P-S) Podcast

Quote:

"We do not rise to the level of our expectations. We fall to the level of our training."

- Archilochus

Core takeaways:

Are you frustrated with the highs followed by deep lows?

Here is how you turn old ceilings into new floors and continuously improve...

How most people live their lives:

• Boom and bust

• Stop and start

• Drama and distraction

• Derailed by self-sabotaging habits

Big wins followed by deep painful lows are not the way to live your life. But you can change it by improving your self-performance.

Win or lose, reflect:

When you win, reflect on what stopped you from going even further. When you hit rock bottom, reflect on how you got there, mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Most business owners who seek my help don't do this.

You have to find the root cause of performance issues:

Examine the process of how you go from on course and winning to crashing into a ditch and losing control.

You have to find out why your performance is up and down like a pump and dump crypto coin.

Why does boom and bust happen?

It happens because you never raised your floor.

You still rely on old patterns and habits to overcome barriers.

• You drink or party to relax

• You overeat to de-stress

• You distract yourself with TV or games

All to avoid challenges in life.

Take me for an example:

• I used to party hard

• I used to watch all the TV shows

• I used to game for hundreds of hours

I did most of that to avoid negative feelings of facing the reality of my life.

During this time, habits like reading, journaling, and meditation were a joke to me.

They were done by boring people who had no social life.

Now they are the foundations of my days.

They are the habits I use to keep myself on course and overcome struggles.

An honest reflection of my reality today:

My new floor is distraction and time-wasting, getting lost scrolling or doing low-value work.

But…

Think how far that is from partying for two days in a row and barely getting by in life.

In the 1st weeks of my 90-day Accelerator Program, I show my clients key habits on how to raise their floor.

Here are 5 key areas:

• Meditation and reflection

• Reading and learning

• Planning and vision

• Working out and being healthy

• Know your High value and high-dollar activities.

Let's dive in deeper...

Meditation and reflection:

If you don't like meditation then reflect daily.

One common trait with all my clients when I 1st speak to them is they didn't have any type of reflection process for their business.

A simple solution of journaling daily can have a significant impact.

Reading and learning:

Most people have stopped learning or they don't make enough time for it. Both are not ideal if you want to raise your floor.

In business, you need to constantly develop your skills.

In life, you need to constantly have positive inputs.

Planning and vision:

Common traits of everyone who procrastinates and is overwhelmed:

• No planning

• No short-term vision

• No long-term vision

Over 97% of people in life don't regularly write out or review their goals, how can you grow without targets and goals?

Working out and being healthy:

Most people drop these when life gets tough or they are celebrating.

The drinking starts, the binge eating increases and the gym no longer makes the schedule.

You cause your downfall because you break from routine.

Remember...peak results need peak health

Know your High value and High-dollar activities:

Most of your days should be filled with these activities.

Most people I speak to only spend 1-2 hours a day in these zones.

It should be 4-6 hours if not more.

And when you hit your negative floor you don't do these at all.

Don't focus only on your ceilings

Success is fun. We all love BIG wins.

But too many only focus on the big wins and forget to upgrade their foundations.

Raising your floor and improving your foundations is a pathway to more significant success you can't ignore.

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Make it a good one,

Stephen

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Is there fun in your days?

Welcome to the Self-performance Strategies Podcast.

Quote:

"In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun. You find the fun, and - SNAP - the job's a game!"

- Marry Poppins

Core takeaways:

Would you like to play a game?

Of course, you do.

You may be in a rut, bored of the daily grind, feeling frustrated and overwhelmed.

It's time you spiced things up.

Simple games can create smart ways for you to increase your output of work and make your days fun again.

Create a race:

Whether racing against the clock or yourself, you can create moments when you sprint towards a finish line.

One of my favourite tricks is using the top of the hour to get a certain amount of work done.

If the clock says 2:23 pm; I go hard until 3 pm.

Why is this useful?

Over time this will help you figure out exactly how long it takes you to do certain tasks.

You will instinctively know what takes you 30, 60, or 90 minutes to do.

Allowing you plan your days more effectively.

You get more out of your time.

Create a scorecard:

Who doesn't love a rating system?

As a society, you see them everywhere, from hotels to movies.

You should have one for your days.

Score yourself out of 10 each day, but you can't use 7.

It will help you know the difference between good and great days.

Why is this useful?

What gets reviewed gets improved.

When you rate a good day, you ask why it was not great or vice-versa.

Soon you start to see positive patterns, pitfalls, and opportunities.

Over time you will know how you create great days and great days help you get paid.

Create a reward system:

Be the best boss you ever had and give yourself healthy bonuses.

The employee of the month award goes to...you again.

If you celebrate your wins or stack them to get to a milestone, you will increase your motivation and energy.

Life is an energy game.

Why is this useful?

Dopamine baby, you are training your brain to want more wins.

What you enjoy, you want more off.

I love working in 90 sprints, rewarding myself with fun meals or short breaks away as I hit milestones during and at the end of each 1/4 of the year.

It works.

Create challenges:

Agree to write 1000 words a day with an accountability partner.

Join a community of other people in your field and set targets for work completion.

Place a bet with others to see who can complete a project 1st.

External motivation can go a long way.

Why is this useful?

Studies show you are 65% more likely to meet a goal if you commit to it with another person.

It's also fun to win or lose (not as fun) bets with your friends, and who doesn't like fun?

Healthy competition is good for you and will increase your output.

Play more games:

Gamification can help you get more done in less time.

And it can help you have fun while you're doing it.

The grind doesn't have to be boring.

In fact, you are more likely to increase your income when you are having fun.

Start playing smart games today.

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Make it a good one,

Stephen

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How to use the 80/20 rule.

Welcome to the Self-Performance Strategies Podcast.

Main Quote for the show:

"The way to create something great is to create something simple."

― Richard Koch

Core takeaways from the show:

You are misusing the 80/20 rule, and it's affecting your results.

Many people talk about it and say they use it.

However, they tend to reference the idea as 80/20 at a high level but don't know how to use it effectively.

I have even caught consultants using it as a buzz term without understanding the layers.

There are layers? Yes, there are

Typically 3 Layers.

Say you are working in your business, and you have 100 tasks, products, or actions to complete or focus on.

You might be feeling overwhelmed.

If you use the rule stopping at the 1st 80/20, You would have 20 big tasks or items left.

20 tasks or actions are still a lot of tasks or actions, right?

To use the rule effectively, you would now 80/20 the 20.

Identify the most critical or high-value tasks or actions from your top 20. Leaving you with 4 large tasks or high-value actions left to focus on.

Now, can you get 4 large tasks or actions done in a day?

Maybe not, but in a week, sure, no problem.

But what do you focus on today?

Well, you 80/20 the 4 tasks or actions and prioritize them.

Now I know if 80/20 4 that leaves you 0.8

But you are in the world of numbers here; you will round that up to 1.

You have gone from the overwhelm of 100 tasks or actions to focusing on 1 in minutes.

The real power of the 80/20 rule.

Be careful how you use this magic.

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Make it a good one,

Stephen

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Life and success are all about energy.

Welcome to the Self-performance Strategies Podcast.

Main quote for the episode: "When you activate the heart by calling up elevated emotions, you are not only broadcasting that energy to every cell; you are also radiating those feelings out into space." — Joe Dispenza.

Core Ideas from the episode:

5 reasons why developing your inner game will 10x your energy.

Inner development is key.

Self-help and personal development advice is everywhere.

But most of it focuses on the external or it is surface level.

Start this habit, use this system, and eat this food.

Your real growth happens when you look inside and fix your emotions.

Emotions are what drive us.

You have to learn how to regulate them to achieve more significant results in your life.

Honing your inner game is what will take you to the top.

It's not easy, but it is worth it.

Here are 5 reasons why developing your inner game is essential:

More energy:

When you accept responsibility for your emotions, you gain the power and energy to create the life you want.

Life will not always work in your favour, but you will have the ability to deal with what gets thrown at you.

High energy is key to success.

More confidence:

When you believe in yourself, it helps you make decisions that create positive results.

When you don't regulate your emotions, you often act out of fear and scarcity.

Your self-worth often reflects your net worth. Confidence creates success.

Less Stress:

When you resist your emotions, you create stress.

You invite overwhelm, frustration and procrastination into your life when you ignore your inner game work.

Letting go of negative emotions consciously and subconsciously will lessen stress in your life.

Better relationships:

When you have a deep relationship with yourself, you find it easier to have deep relationships with others.

Life is all about connection; the better you connect, the further you get in life.

When your inner game is off, your outer world will be off.

Better results:

Get the other points on this list right; you will consistently improve your results.

Your results are based on the actions you take.

Those actions are based on the decisions you make.

Your decisions and actions will be better if your inner game is on point.

Our thoughts are our inner game.

If you can learn to master your thoughts and emotions, you can master your life.

By regulating your emotions, you will attract more positivity into your life. It does take time, deep work and constant effort, but the upside is well worth it.

Big love.

Make it a great one,

Let's chat:https://www.stephentimoney.com/coaching

Make it a good one,

Stephen

Self-Performance Strategies Podcast: Recent Episodes

Stephen Timoney