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Aug. 6, 2021

102. Summit 17 - Alex Sanfilippo - How to Continuously Make Progress in Your Life and Business

Simple and powerful strategies to help you think, act, and execute at a higher level.

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Many of us are stuck in a reactive cycle. In this session, Alex is going to give some tips and ways to begin living a productive life so you can continuously grow and progress in life and business.

 

As the host of a top-rated podcast and founder of a very successful SaaS software business, Alex will be teaching strategies he uses in his own business and life.

 

ABOUT ALEX

 

Alex Sanfilippo is the host of Creating a Brand, a top 20 entrepreneurship podcast where he interviews successful leaders and experts on topics that matter to entrepreneurs who want to grow faster both personally and professionally while saving time and money in the process.

 

He is also the co-founder of PodMatch, a software that uses AI to match podcast guests and ideal podcast hosts.

 

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Transcript

This is Alex's company, it's PodMatch, there's he also has a podcast that he has called Creating a Brand. I'll let him tell you more about himself. Bottom line, just the real deal, doing awesome things, growing a company way quicker than I knew was possible simply because he is willing to do the work. He's focused on helping and he listens with Katherine, talked about he ask questions and he listens. And so you're a little bit my junior in years, but I'm learning from you that because I don't always do that, because I've got such a great idea.

 

But but thank you for that. And I will turn the stage over to my friend Wade.

 

Thank you so much. Appreciate it. So real quick, everybody. My name is Alex Sanfilippo. I'm a podcast host and a SaaS founder. Fun fact about me. When I started my service based company, SaaS stands for software as a service. I had not the slightest clue what that meant was like, Oh, you're SaaS founder. And I was like, what founder? And I was like, think of the word sassy. I'm like, I'm not like, you know, I don't I don't have, like, a crazy personality.

 

Anyway, I Googled it. Thank God for Google. So, yes, I am a podcast host and a SaaS founder that I now know. So real quick, I want to say thank you again to Wade and the 3-Day Weekend Club for having me. It's an absolute honor to be here. Wade is a rock star. He's someone that has been with me since day one of launching PodMatch willing to just give me some great advice. You tell me some hard things I need to hear.

 

Right, and to also be there to encourage me the second that I need it. So Wade is a true friend and somebody that really is just a person of value. So I'm so thankful to him and the three 3-Day Weekend Club which one day I will be living that that lifestyle, which I'm really excited about, I'm going to keep on hanging out Wade because I know helped me to get there. So with that said, I'ma go ahead and jump in now to the topic.

 

I'm going to talk about how to continuously make progress in your life and business. Hello. Who doesn't want that? How to continuously make progress in your life and business. And so I'm going to start off with you sharing that. It really all comes down to this this one thing. We have to start embracing change by living a life that is proactive instead of reactive. This is the bottom line of what this is talking about. If we want to actually continuously make progress in our life, in our businesses, we have to start being proactive instead of reactive.

 

And if you're with me, I'm going to go ahead and jump straight into this and start sharing what that means and give you some practical examples along the way as well. So here we go. This is being reactive. It's when you change, when life forces you to. This is very common. Most people live this way. We change when something happens in our life. It forces us to do so. Now, of course, there's the variables.

 

There's things that happen in our world, pandemics and things like that that we all have to change. Right. We have to react to that so we can never not be flexible. But there's many things that happen in our lives that we didn't have to let it get there, if that makes sense. And I'll explain more that in a minute. But this is called being reactive. And the flip side, you have the OP, the other choice that you have, this is living a life that is.

 

So how do I explain this in a good way? Let me make sure I'm doing this the right way. Life is always going to be changing, right? Like it's inevitable. It's always going to happen. And we have to remember that we have just a couple of options here. So my slides got Labatt Order, which I'm sorry about, but I will I will circle back around to that point. So basically, when we are thinking about change, we have to implement voluntary change.

 

Now, that leads us closer to what we desire. This is being proactive. So that's where my slides got mixed up there. Sorry about that, guys. So we have to think about, OK, how can we begin doing this in our lives? How can we start living proactive? We have to voluntarily say, I'm willing to make these changes that closer to what it is that I want to do. This is not as common. And that's because I find that you experience a lot of friction initially when you do this.

 

So if you just go back to what I was just saying, so awful. Back over to this real quick. So if you are changing in life, force me to it's not a lot of friction there, because that's just kind of the way that things flow, right. So that's your first option there is to be reactive. And the next thing I mentioned is to be proactive. And this is when you're going to say, OK, I'm just going to go after it, I'm going to experience some friction, because that is not the way the world naturally goes.

 

But I have a desire for something. And ultimately it's going to lead you to freedom when you do this and go back to the last slide against are there at a at a place there. But life is always changing. It is inevitable. There is no way that your life is not going to change. So you basically have two options here that I'm going to share real quick. So with change being inevitable, you can decide that you want to change or you can let life change you again.

 

Those are those two options. I want to really make sure that we get this. And to give a quick example of that, health is a great way to look at this. So if you say I'm I don't want to change my lifestyle, so I'm just going to eat whatever one wants. I'm going to sit on the couch a lot. I'm not going to exercise at some point. Something's going to happen in your life down the line, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but at some point it's going to make you change.

 

You're going to have to be like, oh, no, now I have to eat healthy. Now I have to work out. Now, I can't be sitting in front of a TV all day because I've be I have to be careful because I'm heading down a path that I can't continue to go down and live my life right. The opposite side. That is the friction side where it's like, OK, I, I actually have to work out, you know, like I have to exercise.

 

I have to eat. Right. Now, so later on, it'll be worth it. Lead me to more freedom in my life long term. So that's kind of like an example. I think everybody always gives, like the the fun health examples, if you will. Right. Like in fitness. And I'm a guy who probably take advantage of that too much to do those things. But I'll quickly share a little about my story. So about five years ago, maybe closer to five and a half years, this point, I was working for a CEO in the aerospace industry.

 

So real quick disclaimer, I always have to give this way to certainly do this before I am not an astronaut. Never have been. I'm not a fighter pilot, not a sky diver. When I say I work in the aerospace industry, I ran a commercial operations division was the last kind of part of the job that did. But at one point I was actually director of sales and I was working for the CEO. It was so stressful because he was a person who came in, I'm not trying to be rude about anybody, but he didn't understand sales at all.

 

He had an H.R. background and he came in trying to micromanage the way I was leading the sales team that he had nothing about to know about. And I remember coming home to my wife one day and saying, I don't like this. Like I am stressed every single day. I'm working crazy hours doing things that don't matter. And that was my first realization. You know what? I don't want to do this job forever. I have been there for ten years at that point.

 

And again, this being five years ago, I was like, I don't want to do this forever. And for the next three years I struggled with that. Is nothing changed. I got promoted again. So that was nice, but nothing actually changed. I still was doing the same thing I said I didn't want to do. And I'll circle back to that story because the first three years of me making this decision that, hey, I want to get out, get out of this job, nothing change.

 

And I'll kind of jump into Y and a little bit here. So how we live a life that's proactive. This is this is how we can do this. We need to make sure that that we think about how we can be in control. So, again, you can't be in control of everything. Like I hate using the word cover these days, but like a global pandemic. Right. You're not in control of that. So how we live a life is proactive.

 

When we took control of what is happening, like how do we actually do this? How can we start living that proactive lifestyle? If you want to make that happen, you have to set goals. So if you want to live a productive life, you have to set goals. And I know many people are probably saying as soon as they hear me say goals or that that topic comes up at all, I'm actually to grab my wallet right now.

 

They say I'm not a good person or that's just not really me. So I'm going to have you do a little practice with me. I am pulling out my ID. If you're in front of your wallet, pull out your ID as well. And I want you to look on this thing. Everyone's going look a little different, right? Because it's own ideas. So mine says my name Alex James Sanfilippo, SaaS where I live as my date of birth on it says I'm a male.

 

It says my height is five six. I'm five eleven. But normally the right. But anyway. Oh, that's really funny. All in all, it's got all these information about me, right. It doesn't say anything about Alex Sanfilippo being a good person or not being a good person. But so many people I talk to, they're like, oh, that's just not really me. I don't like to do that. Now, I will admit that some people naturally, the way that they just design like that type A personality, they maybe have an easier time implementing goals.

 

But nonetheless, being a goal person is not a personality trait. It is a discipline. So if you want to implement goals in your life, it is just a discipline. And I want to quickly speak to the the creative individuals because they seem to be a bit more free thinkers. Right. And they don't necessarily do as well with this goal type of thing. But I can think two years back when I was doing some projects where I needed to work with people that were graphic designers and photographers, and every one of them I met was like, I just don't know how anyone has built a six figure business doing this.

 

Like, I'm making just a few thousand dollars a month right now. I don't understand. People are growing their creative studios and practices so much. And at first I was like, I don't know either. But then I figured it out. There are the creative people that really want to do this. But when I'm like, hey, I need this by this date, they're like, it's going to be about six to 20 weeks before I can have that done for you.

 

I'm like six to twenty. I'm like, is that a timeline? Like, what is that? And then 20 weeks later you're like, Hey, I need this. I'm like, oh, I'll probably start it next week, but I'm going on vacation and then maybe I'll do it later. And this was very common. I found this a lot. And then when I turned to the creatives that were making six figures and they said, I'll have it done on this date, this time this way, it wasn't that they were a type A personality.

 

In fact, they were just as creative as the other people. They just understood the need for discipline and to set goals along the way. They're making six figures, not because they're a better designer than somebody else, but because they decided, you know, what goals matter and what I'm doing. Timelines are important. So I wanted to I know I'm kind of like really hammering this point home that you have to set goals. But I want to make sure that everyone understands that there's a quote that I absolutely love along these lines.

 

It's an unspecific goals, lead to unspecific results on specific goals, lead to unspecific results. And that will bring you right back to a reactive lifestyle instead of being proactive again. So we need goals and I'm not going to leave you hanging here. I'm a sure for ways that you can begin setting in, achieving some goals. This is a simple framework. I'm not going to dove down into it. There's a lot of great material out there about this, and I have some resources for you at the end about that.

 

Now, first off, the most important thing is you have to know your why. You have to know why you're setting the goal. And there's some good and bad whys behind having a goal. First off, if you say I just don't wanna be in this job anymore, I don't want to do this or I want more money, I want this, that's not really a good enough goal. It has to get to the heart of why you're doing it.

 

You have to really get down to the heart of it. And when you can really do this and figure it out and this takes himself like some real likes, you have to really think about this. You have to sit down. You have to get alone. You have to learn who you are a little bit more. Well, when you start learning this, first off, write it down. There's a lot of stats will show you just by writing and go down.

 

You are X percentage of the Retention not going to say it because you know that. Seventy eight percent of stats are made up. So but you have a much higher percentage of actually achieving that goal if you write it down and way, way higher if you. Tell somebody about it, somebody that you trust, somebody you care about, so mention the gold to somebody that you have, so know your why and share that. Be like I'm going to do a gold based on this, because I know I know that I need to do this and I want to do this.

 

When you start sharing that and running it down, it makes it really real. Share it with somebody you care about, have a mastermind, have someone you trust. It's going to be really, really important with that. Number two, the next thing here is to set bigger goals. So many of us, we sell ourselves short. There's a quote that I'm not even sure who said it, but it's something along these lines of that we way overestimate what we can achieve in a single day and vastly underestimate what we can achieve in a year.

 

So we way overestimate like and one day I can get all this done and I'm like so guilty of this. It's like how on earth is going to day and like how on earth I got 10 percent of what I thought I could do in a day. Right. Well, look at a year. I sell myself really short because I'm like, oh, this is probably all I can do in a year. And that's can be tough to do.

 

But set bigger goals because I promise that you can achieve them. I'll really start sharing that a little bit here and you can do a lot more than you think. You really can make sure that in this next point year. So number three is complete daily tasks. This is where the magic really happens. That's what gets me really excited, because when we think goals, we think, OK, now I've got this big vision, my why? And here's my giant goal.

 

How on earth am I going to get from here to there? And I'll explain that more in a minute. But you're never you should never approach the goal itself, so you should never try to achieve the goal. What you should do is break it down to small tasks. What needs to be done today to get me closer to achieving that goal. So always be on that framework, not like how do I how to achieve like building a million dollar business?

 

What's the one thing you need to do today? Just one thing. Figure it out and complete that daily task. You can do two or three. Maybe you're like a high achiever that can just get things done. Do it, don't burn yourself out, make sure you set a good pace and think about how the little task you're doing day to day will eventually lead you to that goal and ultimately achieve that. Why so? No, for schedule reviews.

 

This one was tough for me. At first I didn't do this and here was my big problem or one of I have a lot of big problems, everybody spoiler alert. But this was one of my big problems was that I wouldn't schedule reviews and it's very easy to veer off path a little bit. Everyone's probably heard this as well. But if you're going to go to the moon and you're off by just small calculations, you could miss the moon by millions of miles.

 

Right. Like you could be often in stars. Right. But it's not unrealistic to say, you know, you're very, very close. You could still be off by a few hundred miles. Maybe when you're trying to go the moon. It's not any different with what we're doing. If we're doing these tasks every day, we have to sit down and revisit like, OK, is this still taking me closer to that goal? Is this still going to help me achieve the Y that I have?

 

So think about scheduling those reviews and put them in your calendar. Protect that time. It doesn't feel productive because you're not doing anything other than just reviewing. So someone who will just skip this, most people I know won't do this. I'm telling you, if you can you can revisit it. You can really get real with yourself again. Start the whole process over. It's really going help you a lot. So I'm gonna to give you an example of how I'm doing this in my life right now.

 

So right now, and I'm being transparent, by the way, every time I speak, I'm very transparent. I'm working sixty hours per week right now. Too much. It's not healthy. I want to get down to thirty five hours. Now, you tell me, does that sound like something that's difficult to do, that's almost cutting it in half. Right. Like if you're listen you're like, oh my gosh. Like that's a big task.

 

How are you going to do that. So what I realized back when I go back to to my aerospace story, what I was doing initially is I was thinking about how I wanted to leave that job with no plan. So it wasn't a goal that I had to leave. It was a dream. So we have to find a way to transition ourselves from these dreamers to actually someone who's going to achieve. And that takes a plan. It takes a goal.

 

And a goal is not a goal unless you've a task to get there. So I'm sure all that just to let you know that with with this current initiative that I'm doing to work down from sixty hours a week to thirty five, what I did is that by January twenty, twenty two I want to be working thirty five hours a week. What do I need to do from now till then to make that happen. And when I did the math all I have to do is cut off ten hours of work per day, increase that every week.

 

So this week instead of working. What does that. Ten hours a day. Yeah, ten hours a day. I am working nine hours and fifty minutes and I have that written down in a journal and I track that time actually clock in and out. Even though I'm my own boss I still clock in and out to check. OK, can I cut out those ten minutes every day this week and maybe the first day I couldn't and the next day I was able to get myself a full week to do it.

 

If I asked you to to cut off ten, ten minutes in a week, most of you are like, oh, that's simple. So that's why I'm doing this week and next week, guess what? I'm going to work nine hours and forty minutes and then nine hours and thirty minutes. It's forcing me to get better, but it's very small steps, very small changes that are going to lead to something amazing. I fully expect by January to be working thirty five hours a week and getting closer to where Wade where Wade that.

 

Right. Like I'm getting close to that three. That's 3-Day Weekend I'm working toward and this is going to help me do it. But if I just said I got to cut off all this time, I got to call for ten hours now and see what happens. I wouldn't be able to do it because I don't know how to effectively get my job done in that much time. But I'm being proactive by cutting off just a little bit and getting closer and closer to that goal.

 

So, again, those four points that I just shared there are your why set bigger goals, complete daily tasks and schedule reviews, these are so, so important. And I want to now share going back to that aerospace story, I keep on like hinting at this. But the last five years ago was when I decided that I wanted to to leave that organization first three. No change. The last two of that, though. So the first three years I was like, I don't know why nothing's changing.

 

It's because I wasn't doing anything. The last two, I put together a plan saying, you know what, in two years I can leave this job if I do these things. And this is what helped me go from that dream or to high achiever was that I said, you know what, I need to do small things every day to get me closer and closer. And I'm really happy to announce that on December 7th, twenty twenty, I left the corporate nine to five job after 15 years.

 

And for anyone, I have a feeling that someone that worked with me on that point will probably get to some point. It was bittersweet to leave. I end up really loving it. I love the journey of building my side-hustler on the side and having that great income and great job and at that point really great organization to be part of. But I was so happy to achieve that goal and it took me two years of small task every day to get there.

 

And there was a quote that regularly said to myself, from this time I'd say, Alex, I'm not there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. I'm not there yet, but I'm closer than I was yesterday. And remembering that really helped me to know, you know what? This isn't an overnight transition. This is a big adjustment to my life. I'm going to get there by small steps every single day. And just doing the most meaningful thing I can today is going to help.

 

So when the one thing I want to share here is that. Living a proactive lifestyle goal setting is going to require something from you and I say this really carefully because a lot of people like all this, sounds great. I have to set some goals. That sounds scary. Right? And here's what it is. You're going to be a little bit uncomfortable. You have to be self-discipline on the journey. You have to embrace discomfort along the way.

 

First you going to get that friction of like you're being proactive. Like, no, you're not following that. The the plan of life that's been set out for you. You're changing the course. Right. It's going to hurt a little bit. You have to be self-discipline to stay on that journey, to do these things that I talked about. And when you seek a life of discomfort for some time, it's actually been proven to be very healthy for you.

 

It's healthy for your mind. It's healthy for your body. But our bodies, our bodies and minds like you need to be comfortable in the world. Body says you need to be comfortable, but that gets us right back to that reactive lifestyle. And at some point it's really detrimental to our health. So we have to always be thinking, how can we be self-discipline? We have to just embrace that discomfort. And again, I say that really carefully because I know that that's a lot like I'm giving you a lot right now.

 

And the last thing that I really want to share on this point, though, is to take action today. Don't start this tomorrow. What I'm sharing, I'm really asking that you do this today. Think about your why. Think about the big goal that you can set around it and then start scheduling small task and then review it regularly. Maybe it's every week, every month, whatever it might be. But make sure that you're really thinking about how can I start this today?

 

There's a quote that I love and it's the best time to plant a tree with. Twenty five years ago, the second best time is today. So if you've been somewhere in life where you're saying, man, I want to live a more fulfilled, more meaningful life, I need to be proactive, don't wait any longer. This is something you can do right now. Today, it shouldn't take a lot of time. And here's exactly what I want you to ask yourself today.

 

I pulled this straight for my Twitter I posted today. Feel free to to engage with you there, if you'd like, or just for yourself. What is the one small yet supremely important task I can complete today to proactively get closer to achieving my most meaningful goal? That is a lot, right. But think about it. The one small task, just one thing, but of supreme importance. I use that word there intentionally because it's got to be the most important thing.

 

It can't be something that's like, oh, I could take out the trash today. That's meaningful, right? No, it's got to be one of the most importance around that proactive goal that you have. It's very meaningful for your life that you really want. So I want you to really think about this question. Ask ask yourself this question. Answer for yourself. Take action. Today, I believe, is really helpful. And now just to share three resources, I can't ever leave anyone by themselves.

 

These three people shared much better information on these topics than I could all three together. I learned a lot of information from them, that first one creating a brand dot com slash zero nine threes with Michael Hyatt. He talked about five principles for winning at life without failing at work. So he really helped us out there creating a brand dot com size zero seven eight is how to achieve your goals faster with Brandon Turner. He's the face behind bigger pockets of phenomenal organization and the last one creating a brand dot com slash zero seven three, achieving extraordinary results in your business with Jay Papasan.

 

He's one of the main guys behind the One Thing book and also at Keller Williams. So those three resources, I highly recommend diving deeper into it because it really help you do this. Always have education getting you're always getting poured in to through education because that's the only way you can really make these things happen. And for me, I wouldn't left my job without having the right people around me. And I really encourage you to do the same way.

 

Glad to glad to be able to share here today, man.

 

Dude, awesome. As always, I love that you keep things simple. I love you keep things real. And I love that you are such a student. There's been quite a few people on today that I see that. And I guess I guess I honor that so much because that's tough for me. Sometimes I want to come up with the answer and I love creativity and I value creativity. A lot of things you're saying about creative people, you know, that balance of feeling like we're doing something that's meaningful, that still drives our purpose, that's still part of our why, but that's still practical and tangible.

 

At a boss used to say Wade, sometimes you do really brilliant, creative things and sometimes you help the people in your organization you're supposed to help and sometimes you do both. It's like, OK, great. So sometimes you do creative stuff that really doesn't do a damn thing for us. So why are we I mean, it was a very polite way of saying that. Right. And I think that's you know, that's that's part of learning business.

 

I really am just impressed. I'm going to brag on you for a second. You know what you've done as far as growing your company in such a short period of time? If you'd asked certain people, they would have said it, it's not possible for you to ask me. I said, I don't know how to. I've been in the software business, a different type of SaaS business, but I've been in the software business 20 years and.

 

There is just to me, what you've continued to do is look for how can this be happen or how can I make this happen? Is it possible? And, you know, you stole my source. It really is that simple. Getting to from 60 hours or thirty five, it's math. Some people come up with the reason some people do need to do the giving themselves permission part. And that is one of the challenging parts. And I were talking about that earlier today when she brought up some stuff.

 

But you seem to be giving yourself permission. I think so much of that is you surround yourself with people that you interview, that you hang out with, you connect with that are doing that. So, yeah, and definitely the first three years out of the five shocker, you don't do anything. Nothing happens.

 

So, yeah, you know, it's weird though, because we all we all like people get frustrated about it. I have some friends in my life and they they still to this day, like, man, just nothing's changing. And I will ask, like, what are you doing? And then I was like, Alex, it's always so easy for you to say. But really, it's not like it's a learned skill. It's not just something that was naturally born with.

 

I mean, I was in the same job for 15 years, you know, but yeah, it's a matter of being proactive about it. And a lot of this that I shared and I learned a lot this from you like figure out how to get my time down was a presentation that you gave at a productivity con a couple of months ago. And that's how I learned to really cut down the hours and make it simple, because in my head I'm like, how am I ever going to same thing?

 

Like, I'm just repeating the same problem, right? I'm like, how am I ever going to get it back? Like, down to less hours? Oh, it's cut out a little bit every week and eventually it happens.

 

Or let me get this straight. You actually listen to one of the speakers said and then you you did it.

 

Yes.

 

Dude, that's that's I've not done that. So afraid if you think people in the audience, if you think I'm making fun of I've died, that's such a great idea. Let me not do that for a year. Come back, listen to somebody else. Say it a different way. And you know what? Seven sounds like a good number. The seventh time I hear that I'm going to do that. I'm not going to do the first again, just just stuff like that.

 

I think that's I think that's so awesome. And and one of the things that has been so cool, too, is just. And you and I both know you know, Chris with Podfest has helped model this for both you and I and brought us in on what they were doing, Podfest of just how you build an organization, how you attract people and how you. Get people that are wanting to interact and operate at a certain level to want to work with you, and that's something that I think is when you if you first do it, it seems like, oh, that's not possible.

 

But Catherine nailed it. There are so many talented and awesome people out there if you're out there. Even aspiring to do talented and awesome things, and in case people missed it, the thing that you said that was not only brilliant, but it's supported by so much research, the whole book for disciplines of execution by the organization is all about it is focus on your lead measures, not your life measures. Focus on the activities that are going to get you, focus on your set ups and your push ups and whatever.

 

It is, not the what I'm going to get on the stage of scale. And then magically the number is going to change or I'm going to magically have biceps or whatever it is. So I think that's just so awesome. It's so simple. Not too many people want to hear it. But there was something earlier that Holly McPeak said she was on earlier. She's a very successful one of the best Wade Galt beach volleyball players of all time. And she just mentioned that very quickly and very early.

 

She got that connection between what that hurt her actions, led to results. She was like. So I'm really excited to take action. Like, I can impact this. And once you make that, it's like, oh, she's like that's why that's why I love training, because I got the connection. And I think some people don't do that. So when you're talking to somebody and they don't know what to do to get closer to achieving a goal.

 

What should they be doing, how do they know what sort of task they should be doing? Where do they start with that?

 

Yeah, so basically you're saying if somebody, like, doesn't isn't sure like what to do next, right. Like they're not sure. OK, yeah, it's that's a really good question actually a really important one. And I find that it goes like the whole self discovery thing, like you have to get somewhere where you feel inspired because sometimes it just it's just not flowing. Like for me, this office is my office. I'm in right now. Like, I can roll this up behind me.

 

There's white boards and I can't think strategically in here. If I really need to think about like a year out of my life, I have trouble thinking past my inbox sometimes if I'm here. But for me, I'm inspired by the ocean. I live just a few minutes from the water. I'll go out there with pen and paper like this thing. My phone doesn't come with me. It's pen and paper and that's where I start thinking about OK, again, here's the goal.

 

And it's big enough, right? Like it's a big enough goal. Yes. And then I start think about, OK, like what has to be done. And for some reason that just brings me a lot of clarity by being where I feel inspired versus being just where I am all the time. And that's how I am able to do that. And the other thing is right alongside that is to seek wise counsel. Sometimes I still get stuck and that's when I'll call someone like Wade or someone in my life that just helps me out.

 

I'm like, hey, I just got a question like, how would you do this in a blow your mind? How simple some people like can just like roll with that. Like the thing that you're struggling with, there's someone that, you know, can be like, oh, just do this. And you're like, oh my gosh, how can I not think of that? But that's the importance of being transparent, bringing other people in on the journey, because I help you get unstuck with those two things together, really help you figure out that next thing that you should be doing, because you have two different forms of great perspective, your own internal perspective that you can't get when you're in the the hustle of it.

 

Right. And then the perspective from somebody else who has an outsider view, they can bring something in as well.

 

Awesome. And I think that that's so true. I love the ocean. I'm going to start doing that because I go to the beach to get to the beach. But you're right. I can't I can't think in my office big strategically. I literally I sometimes go a different part of the house. I'll go up by the pool. Yeah. But it's very difficult to do that. And I think that's something that it's so important. But again, to your point, too, there's so many people like the person who really knows something.

 

If you ask me something that's right in my line of expertize I've got a ten thousand one hundred thousand answer for you. If you ask me about brain surgery, I got none, you know, but in a very small area, I've got some really big dollar answers. And you and I both know most people, if they're even remotely friendly with you. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He'd just do that because you and I both know also the answer is easy.

 

The execution is what's the hardest part of the answer is everything. I got an idea. Yeah. Executed. That's that's that's a much bigger difference. A different situation. Yes. What if you have a goal. But you have no idea where to start because it's something it's so because. Hey, Alex, I'm motivated. I love it, dude. I want to do it. Where do you start if you're not sure what to do?

 

Yeah, if you have no idea at all. So it's like you have this that's when you have a dream, right. Because it's not a goal to have some task assigned to it. So it's just like a dream. And you're just like, I don't even know what to do. That's where that's where I recommend coaching, if you can afford it. If not, there's a lot of free right now options out there. Just find people that are doing what you want to be doing and ask them.

 

You be shocked. I mean, you talked about earlier that like there's a lot of nice people out there and you'd be shocked about how few people, like, think competitively, like, oh, I don't want you to do that unless it's like directly what they're doing. But find someone who's doing what you really like and just be like, hey, if you had to start over today, what would you be doing? And there's a lot of really cool stories and they're a little bit old school now because we live in a digital world.

 

But people used to, like, find the person. That's what they want to want to do. And they take them to dinner or to coffee just so they can figure out, like, I'll buy it for you. I just want to know how you did what you did. And that's still so valuable. If you can humble yourself and do that because you don't know what you don't know. And if you have this big goal, dream, if you will, it's it's hard to even have any clue without somebody else.

 

Bring it out, bring in someone else along. And so that's what I'd recommend with that is get around the right person that you're like this person is where I want to be or close to it. And that'll really help a lot.

 

Yeah, I've definitely my dad taught me the whole thing of asking people to lunch done that and something I love one of my mentors, Bowis and had mentioned he he was an NFL athlete. Then he started his own One-Man Broadway play. He did a lot of different things, jumped areas, but always performed at a very high level. And when he was in acting school after his NFL career finished in the acting school, he'd asked some of the different people, you know, who's the best person?

 

They said, you know, best best actor alive. What do you think it is? And everybody is like Al Pacino, hands down. OK, so he was somewhat famous. He was a professional athlete. He got in touch with Al Pacino, got to meet him, ask him some questions. They shot some boys. It was very surreal, very cool. But, you know, spent a few hours with him. And as he's leaving, he said that I was like, man, I bet you get people you're asking this all day long.

 

And I said, no, you're the first person to ever ask me this. Everybody asks me, can I put them in a movie? Can I do a favor for them? He said, You actually asked me, who are the teachers? Who are the instructors? What is it going to take? I just gave you a twenty year plan and you said awesome, thank you. Said so is like, dude, you know, I was just like so grateful to be able to share that with somebody as opposed to be thinking out.

 

Here's another person, another, you know, they're saying, oh, can you give me can you give me the keys without me having to do the work and not because the work, not because it's like, oh, I don't want you to get it. If I got it, I don't want to be. Not that it should be a harder task. And I want you to suffer because I suffered, but it just it's how it works.

 

It has to if if it was easy, everybody do it. And whatever is easy doesn't mean it's bad. Things are eating chocolate is easy and sometimes that's enjoyable, but it's not going to make you a millionaire or get you to your dreams, your passions. So I think that's something people miss. But yeah, I do. I love what you're doing. I loved your brain and the time piece. Final question. When you schedule regular reviews.

 

What is your full flow look like for this so that you can make it something that's beneficial?

 

So, yeah, the regular reviews, there's a lot of things that can help with this. So right now, I actually use Michael Hyatt's full focus planner. So I actually have something to help me have some direction. I've done it myself as well. I just find that some other getting different perspectives is great. So, like, right now I'm using full focus planner, but I also use Brendon Burchard. I've brain and turners and I've used like three or four others and I kind of like mix it up just to see, like what really works in different seasons.

 

Different things work, but that really helps provide like a framework for me instead of me putting that pressure on myself. So to give a simple answer, find a like an influencer that has some sort of journal that you that you really can, like, relate to. You know, you're like I really like the way this guy is like this or I'm very similar, this person like this. And chances are they've done the research in the work to build something really great.

 

So Michael Hyatt's is one I'm enjoying the most. But if you ask me who I was most similar to out of all these different people, it would be Michael Hyatt. Even if you look at like our Myers Briggs, like we have very similar personalities, like it's almost exactly the same. So it makes sense that when I open his journal, he design from his mind it would make sense for my reflection. So I'd recommend just looking around, find somebody, find with a journal and test it out.

 

Like I said, I've been through five or six of these things and it's really always been helpful.

 

Awesome, thank you, and I love Al Mega put in here in person do it, he says. I wanted to land an opportunity at a conference once I took the floor manager to dinner paid. And guess what? My team produced the content for the event coming up because of course, there's a Wepa.

 

That's great.

 

Awesome. Cool man. Thank you so much. Thank you for what you're doing. Thank you for the way you're leading. It's really cool to see somebody who's putting in the time. Doing the work is a happy human being, looking to serve others being successful. So congrats on your success. Look forward to whatever is our next thing. Definitely enjoying this. So congrats, man.

 

Thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks again for having me and everyone for for being here. Wade can't wait to hear you talk now.

 

Alex SanfilippoProfile Photo

Alex Sanfilippo

SaaS Founder @ PodMatch / Host of the Creating a Brand Podcast

Alex is the host of Creating a Brand, a top 20 entrepreneurship podcast where he interviews successful leaders and experts on topics that matter to entrepreneurs who want to grow faster both personally and professionally while saving time and money in the process.

He is also the co-founder of PodMatch, a software that uses AI to match podcast guests and ideal podcast hosts.