040: David Blutenthal - Hacking your habits to be who you were born to be
Coach and founder of Habit Hackers shares powerful insights
David is a serial entrepreneur onto his fourth company, Habit Hackers, where he leads a Denver-based team to host an annual summit, monthly workshops, and provide coaching in life transformation through habit training. He’s been coaching since April 2019 supporting entrepreneurs, creatives, music artists, and other coaches; so that they can design a life they love where anything is possible, workable, and achievable.
He holds an MBA with a concentration in Entrepreneurship from the F.W Olin School of Business at Babson College, and he believes that action trumps everything when it comes to seeking truth and manifesting your dreams. He lives his life on the court, and he strives to bring presence and possibility into every interaction. His goal with people everywhere is to leave them better than he found them.
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
LINKS
Eben Pagan , Serial Entrepreneur, Author of Opportunity (*affiliate link)
James Clear, Author of the New York Times best seller, Atomic Habits (*affiliate link)
Crash Course for phenomenal success | Marissa Peer on MindValley
Alex Wong (Nashville Music Artist, 11:11)
TRANSCRIPT
[0:00] You. I'm speaking to you.
[0:05] Are exactly where you're supposed to be right now and that anything that you say, he stands in your path between getting where you want to go on the outcomes that you wanna have.
That is your opportunity to reinvent how you relate to that thing, To lean into it, to take actions that bring you closer to it so you can smell it and taste it and play with it in different ways.
Because what is on the other side of that is everything you want.
[0:40] You're listening to the artful entrepreneur podcast, a show about living an inspired life filled with vitality, creativity and fulfillment.
My name is Gabe Ratliff, and I'll be your host is I interview fellow creative entrepreneurs from around the globe to hear their stories and learn more about their work so that you can tap into your creative purpose and live a life that's drawn, not traced.
[1:04] On the show.
We talk about things like the creative process, personal development, community equity and contributions, as well as the lessons learned along the way.
[1:15] All right, let's get to it.
[1:23] Hey, are fools. How are things? Are you taking care of yourself. I hope you are.
[1:31] I know things are crazy right now. Personally, I've been taking it one day at a time, doing things like yoga and exercise to keep my sanity and continue to check in with myself, reading and watching master class to learn and grow while I'm stuck inside.
[1:46] But I'm also baking to find my Zen and share love through food and watching shows like the newsroom with my family to be uplifted, laugh and cry.
Come on, it's Aaron Sorkin, and by the way, it helps Trust me.
I recommend two episodes a day for three seasons, and if that's not enough for you, feel free to dive right into some West Wing where it all began for me.
[2:12] Whatever it might be for you, I hope that you are being kind to yourself and each other, his artists and creatives.
We have a direct line to emotion and empathy and could be overwhelmed easily. I know I can.
So take it easy on yourself and use this time that the world has slowed down to reconnect with yourself and your loved ones.
[2:36] But also use this time to discover and develop as an artist, entrepreneur and human.
We're gonna get through this and you're not alone. And that's what we're gonna talk about on this episode with guest David Bluthenthal.
[2:51] David is founder of Habit Hackers and a certified high performance coach for motivated leaders and committed music artists.
He's a serial entrepreneur with this fourth company, Habit Hackers, where he leads a Denver based team to host an annual summit monthly workshops and provide coaching in life transformation through habit training.
[3:11] He also coaches music creators to become fully actualized so that their art can touch people's lives and change the world.
[3:19] Before that, David spent 15 years in the music business, shaping the careers of music artists,
building music, technology, startups, bringing mobile app, sta life directing, product creation, galvanizing communities around habit training and entrepreneurship, managing events and leading cross functional teams.
As people around the world hunker down during the outbreak of covert 19 there's a sense of fear and uncertainty permeating the world on and off the field.
Business owners, freelancers and creatives like you are questioning their place in the world relative to their career and the market.
[3:56] During our conversation, David shares some powerful insights on how you can come out of this situation even stronger by doing deep work, hacking your habits and developing your craft,
or simply creating one day at a time.
[4:12] All right, Let's get to it.
[4:25] David, Thank you so much for being on the show, man. I'm so excited to have you here. Thanks for having me game. I've been excited about doing this interview with you for a long time.
Yeah, me too. Man. I appreciate your patience as we were traveling over in Southeast Asia and as a travel yourself, I'm sure you understand.
[4:42] Yeah, indeed. I can imagine. It was, um it was challenging experience to be overseas.
As this Kobe situation is, you know, the wave is kinda cresting over the world, and you're watching what's happening back home.
You're not in the stable place where you have access to maybe your family or the health care you know you might need. And, um, man, what it experienced that that must be for you, too.
[5:10] Be traveling and have all this happening. And I just really I can feel that for you.
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, it was definitely experienced. I'm imagine I should probably do an episode where I just speak to that and share that with the audience.
Um, but we're here to talk about you, so we're gonna dive into your story.
[5:29] All right, so So where is the best place to begin your story?
The best place to begin? My story is with music.
You know, a lot of who I am. What I've done in the past gone on is rooted in a deep connection. Love an affinity for music.
You know, when I was an early teenager, I really discovered that I sound community and people who I connected with so deeply through the music that I loved.
I basically discovered fish in the Grateful Dead, just bands that had this community of fans who were just good people and out there looking to read really positive energy and love and support each other.
And we're fervently passionate about this thing. I've always been like the things I love. I just go really deep into I love things where there's lots of layers that you can peel away and pull back, and it's always like a new noggin underneath.
So, yeah, I found that in those two bands, as many people do who have fallen. Look, those bands.
Yeah, same here I found, you know, and some people have an issue with them, but I Similarly I found the dead and fish and was going to shows and fell in love with that same.
[6:43] Community. And then similarly, I was into a D is a deejay and electronic music and was falling in love with that.
That community is well because of the same the similarities across the 20 that's so great.
Probably there's an energy there. I'm sure why you and I connect.
So hell, you have any thought that Yeah, you know, And the thing about those bands that not only was big like connected tool for me,
finding myself in new ways, kind of seeing where I fit in the world, wanting to support artists and creative people and being able to.
[7:19] Do that kind of thing in four people because I'm an artist in my own way. But I'm not a musician.
And I was like, Wow, if I could be the guy that was somehow behind,
spreading all of this like his marketer managing the band like help nurture his talent and get it out there so that all these people can feel can get what I just got What? What a cool way that you go through life.
So I went to college. I studied psychology. I've always been really interested in people in the human mind and I just I love people and I didn't wantto go into the field directly like is a social worker.
But music was just the pulse underneath it.
So I found my way into music, marketing and publicity and then eventually into artist management's,
and started working with recording artists and singer songwriters and then bands who were at earlier nascent stages and.
[8:15] Who really had something to say and wanted to make an impact.
And we're creating from this pure, authentic place.
And I just was like, this felt this was such a privilege to be part of their journey and seeing the things early that may be only a handful of people saw, and we're gonna make this so everybody sees this.
That really got me into music, and I spent I spent 15 years so far working in the music industry.
I'm kind of adjacent to it right now, but I was a publicist and they started a little record label in Chicago, and I managed him in independent clients that I signed, and then.
[8:51] When worked with an artist management firm in New York with some really great artists and had all these interesting chapters with that.
So that's that's like my entrepreneurial path.
And it started in my early twenties, just jumping in and starting to take actions before I was ready before I knew what I was doing, you know, I read some books and I found a couple people for coffee meetings to kind of give me the lay of the land.
And then I just started taking actions and and seeing where, Let me, you know, I've become more refined and more strategic over over the years.
And at the core of it. What I'd attribute to my journey and looking back is knowing why I do what I do, feeling that sense of purpose around it,
not overthinking things, just knowing like the result that could be possible and start just taking actions towards that direction and see how it goes.
I love that I wanted to jump on that, that you just mentioned about your knowing why you do this.
What is that for? You like, How do you articulate that I am?
And I get to be a catalyst for other people to transform or to level up or toe, help them build a bridge that they can walk across, that they weren't able to walk across.
[10:08] You know, if I ever do another company again, is a founder's tech company or something like that.
I mean, really leading by example, leading with integrity, values and just being a catalyst for everybody on the team,
to be performing at their best, and for them to see the bridge that they need to walk across, and often that's that's that's a personal bridge that they need to walk across,
Duthie inner work in order to show up at the company, for the group and for the team in a way that is going to lead everybody forward.
I'm so familiar with that. Yeah, it's cool stuff yet. It's hard.
It's hard work, you know, It took me a long time to get to that place of really stepping back.
[10:51] And doing that hard, deep work and asked and asking some really difficult questions and then answering them.
I mean, I overthink two on things. When I noticed that I'm stuck where I'm re retooling or reviewing or perfecting, I anchor back and ask myself, What am I learning by being stuck in this loop and what was he and why am I even doing this?
I'm doing this thing. I'm launching this group or this website or this this M V p of a product or a new program.
I'm doing it toe have some sort of impact, and I'm doing it to learn some.
And if I'm spending too much science time without getting either of those results seeing the impact and we're learning something, then I know I'm stuck, and I need to just take the action right, like there's some sort of fear, like there's a payoff that I'm getting by.
I think I just perfected a little more a little bit more. Then I'll be ready.
[11:45] And then maybe if it fails, I can look back and say, Well, I perfected everything I possibly could. I spent three months on that thing.
I could have spent three days, but I spent three months and I did my best right versus It's better to ship something in perfect in three days and get data to know whether you're going the right direction than toe over design.
Overbilled over tool, do everything in a vacuum and then say OK, I'm now ready to present this to the world and then realize that you've been on the wrong path for three months.
[12:19] Entire cos I'm saying this from experience. I spent a couple of years on a music tech company that we did three different products in five years I loved.
[12:30] The intention of the products that we're building and what they did for people.
And there were some key assumptions that I didn't validate early on around the business model and scalability like they're just some big risks that if I got real with myself and our team and said Are we really?
Are we really willing to go down this road while these major assumption is or not are not validated?
And we were just so blindly passionate about the project and we were seeing the impact in people using these APS and saying how much they loved it, and I mean things were some innovative stuff.
But, you know, looking back I'm not extends to regret because I learned from this. I just would do something different next time.
It's almost like the opposite of what we're talking about. We were in so much action in motion that we that we were sweeping some of the important questions and the most important assumptions under the rock.
We're kind of de escalating their importance and just saying Just stick with the product.
Yeah, so there's there's a fine line right and there's always a balance in this.
If you go just blindly forward. You could be blindly taking action on the wrong path.
If you spend too much time in perfection or strategy and tooling design, you're not getting data, you're not learning and you're over preparing your hiding from something.
[13:52] So this is there's a middle road there. Well, let's do a little thought. Experiment there for a second. So So let's say the current version of David.
Coach David is here in the current iteration, and you're back talking to your younger self about like how you would handle the situation. What would you d'oh! It's an amazing question.
What I would say to my younger self that was maybe in a little too much action would be to seek clarity and ask yourself, What are the things that you believe to be true?
Or that you haven't tested that if you're wrong, you could end up a couple years down the line, either in the same spot or having this not work out because of that thing.
Like your business could fail in 23 years because you didn't answer today.
But if you just ask yourself the right questions and you get riel about it, that you need to find the answer to that today, and that's more important than anything else.
It's like you own a time machine and you can just fast forward Thio, age 32 instead of being an age 36.
When you realize this in summary, asking yourself great clarifying questions is like owning a time machine.
[15:03] Yeah, I love that we're days of futures past. Yeah, well, so let's take it to another level that's very current to today.
You know, it's a start up world right now. It's a gig economy.
There's tons of people as as we've seen. And I've seen this with contractors that work with me and my production company.
You know, there's a lot of work that's gone on pause, but because of that, people are also very scared.
And these businesses that say the the one you were just referring to your younger self was running.
Say, someone has a company like that and they come to you and they're like they cannot be that hurried and busy and active like they were.
What do you say to them? I would ask people to ask themselves how they can slow way down and think and listen.
Listen to what's going on in your market in how the tectonic plates are shifting.
Whether this gives your business or your pain that you're solving more weight and validity during this time or that makes it less necessary.
Your timing around a business launches everything. It's providing something when the market is ready for it and what's happening in the world right now. I think it's gonna be tremendous for entrepreneurs.
I think this is like the biggest opportunity we've had in many years.
[16:31] Where the board is being wiped clean right now and positions that were held really tightly and who,
who has control and who owns a certain sector, and it's like all shifting.
[16:48] So really, no matter what stage rapid, especially if you're early stage where you're able to turn your boat a lot easier because you only have, like a handful of people in the boat with you.
And it's a light boat that's different than a company that's a giant oil tanker, and they have to shift everything. Or like there.
[17:07] Business model doesn't work anymore because the supply chain is disrupted and right there's like all of these dependencies,
that happened, like smash into each other when there's a big change like this, so really distantly, Stop, look, listen,
and really ask yourself is what you're offering right now, more or less needed now than ever.
Does it make people's pain worse? Or somehow not as important.
What assumptions that you believe or believe before that you now need to validate or invalidate in order to know how to move forward.
Because if you keep doing exactly what you were doing, the chances are that you're gonna have a misstep somewhere in the sensitivity that you're communicating to your audience. Maybe just in the marketing messages or the actual service or product that you're putting out.
You know what a basic economic theory level. Just look at the elasticity of demand is what you're offering, something that weathers the storm, where people need it all the time, regardless of what's happening in their life. Or is.
Are you offering a luxury painkiller or a status up lifter or something, that when people are worried about how they're gonna pay their mortgage and put food in their kid's mouth, it just doesn't matter.
[18:23] And what other opportunity what other direction could you go? Oh, him that might even be more aligned with your purpose right now and who you want to be during this time and how you want to contribute to the world when they're going through such fear and doubt and uncertainty.
[18:38] You might find that there's a shift that is even more aligned, given what's going on right now that you could step into really powerful e who, Mike drop.
[18:51] I feel you man, because I'm on that same wavelength. I agree that this has forced people to slow down,
and to get riel about what is important to them, your business, your career and your livelihood.
You know how you're showing up in the world, and I think it's just fascinating to me how people are, how people are managing this.
And some people have really jumped into that line of thinking of like, Hey, what What is really important to me and is my is my product or service servicing people in the way that I really aligned within. And is it future proof?
I mean, that's the other big question.
Yeah, is that future proof?
[19:35] That's a good one, because I think what we come when we come out of the other end of this to your point, people are gonna really reassess.
[19:43] You know, the movie theater industry is a great example, right?
Because Netflix and YouTube and Amazon prime in all these people had to lower and degrade their streaming quality of video because so many people were watching video.
But the theaters were asking for relief because they that nobody can come.
How does that affect Hollywood? I mean, the ripple effect is massive. So I mean this this affect so many people.
I really do think that is a a wonderful comment on where we are today.
I did a block post on this a few weeks ago. Have you heard of this concept of a liminal space?
It sounds familiar, but enlighten me.
This is something that I learned from one of my mentors, Evan Pagan.
A liminal space is the space between two worlds or that blends emerges between two entities.
[20:43] I'm gonna give you an example. So a liminal spaces when you wake up, and you're sort of partly between your subconscious.
You're partly awake. You have images of your dreams and still kind of there and pulling, and you're kind of coming into alertness.
But you're just like between two worlds, and it's a little It's a little uncomfortable, like you're not at your full alertness performance, but you're also kind of not.
You're not sleeping or you're not resting and you're going from a transition from one to the next.
The water against the shore against the seashore, the water just coming up.
The point where the ocean ends in the land and sand begins is a liminal space.
So if you zoom back and you look at what we're going through in the world right now.
[21:30] Everybody is in this transition liminal space between the world and our lives as we knew it, and something else that's going to come on the other side of this once this wave has,
blown through and,
crashed it and then sort of normalized like we're goingto Accola, mate on the other side of this, and life is going to be different in some ways.
[21:58] And it's uncomfortable being in this space of not knowing and Wednesday can and is it gonna get worse?
Is gonna get a lot worse before it gets better.
What's the peak of being worse before it gets better?
[22:13] How does it impact all of these different things and me and my business, right?
And how long do I have to stay at home for? There's just so much uncertainty and it's temporary and we will acclamation on the other side of this and we'll look back.
And, you know, I think some of the greatest inventions that have ever happened, I hope, and I believe that a global consciousness level will be elevated because of this, in terms of,
how we treat our planet in terms of how we relate to each other in relationship and how we care for each other in terms of what we consider healthy and just general habits around health.
If you're a builder or a creator or a maker, this is really a time when you can take this uncertainty and take,
the things that you see people aren't getting or can't do right now, or or what they'll need on the other side of this, right? It's like that famous Wayne Gretzky quote.
But where's the puck going? If you're a creative, visionary type person, you could see this is I think the world is going to be going this direction after this.
Once this dust settles and we get to the other side, what are people really going to need then and start building for that time?
You're stepping up to help a lot of people and create massive, massive agreed. I've been doing the same thing.
I've just been watching behavior like, What is it people are doing here? That's why I mentioned the movie theaters and Netflix and things like, I've just been in the space where I'm trying to take advantage of this time and.
[23:42] Utilize it in a way to come out the other end Exactly how you're speaking to You know where?
Yeah, and looking at OK, what did this teach us?
There's so many different levels that this is, I think, sharing with us to your point.
[23:58] You mentioned habits that's very important to you.
What are some habits that you've been implementing since shelter in place has been implemented around the world?
Great question habits of something that I've been geeking out on and diving deep into for the past 22 years or so.
I really I love this idea. That goals and of themselves don't really matter.
We don't We don't rise to meet our goals.
[24:29] This might be a James clear quote. We don't rise to the level of our goals. We fall. It's a level of her habits.
Mmm. We fall to the level of our systems. And so it's It's the small, incremental doses every day.
Like if you have a bank account right and put a dollar in the day, it starts compounding over time.
And so the habits are like the compound interest of progress in your life and whatever you focus on and wherever you put your attention is whatever you're gonna make more of its whatever you're gonna make it.
So the habits right now in quarantine, I've been keeping my days very structured, and I'm not saying this is right.
There's no right way of doing this. But what works for me is when I'm home all the time and I have I've got a Michigan right now and I've got,
big dreams and goals set, and I want my habits to be aligned with being the kind of person who can achieve those things while,
there's so much other uncertainty around it. And when I'm at home.
Oh, so my morning starts with an hour long morning routine.
I used to do 1/2 hour morning routine, and now I've doubled. Have added more things because I'm noticing.
[25:41] How good I feel during the day, I noticed I'm a lot more productive.
And when something doesn't go well, I've got a lot more space to just reframe or be compassionate with myself instead of just kind of grinding away throughout the day.
I used to work kind of in this grinding struggle kind of thing. We're at the end of the day, I felt like I could put the badge on my lapel, so to speak, if I like. I work 12 hours today and I skipped lunch.
Go, Me? Yeah. You know, we're so stupid. I know.
Yeah, and that's not sustainable. I don't feel good afterwards, and I never do my best work when I'm in that state. So I spent an hour in the morning.
It starts with meditation and then gratitude Tze and then journaling.
And then I do I plan my day, and I planned the three most important things that I'm going to get done before. Want calling my m? I tease.
I get my am I tease done before one. So then after 1 p.m. the rest The day is great because most support stuff I don't check my email typically until after one o'clock. Maybe I'll do like 15 minutes.
Just look at it like a high level. Is there something I need to respond to this morning?
[26:59] Otherwise, I don't check my email to the afternoon. So I started a very proactive, not reactive.
So I do this kind of grounding, stuttering thing, and then I do a little bit of exercise. What I call it like my my minimal, effective dose is one minute.
I usually do two minutes, but one minute of exercise is enough.
Two, get your metabolism going to feel really good. So, like usually that's 20 push ups and then maybe like 10.
[27:28] Squats, just standing in place to spending down squats. Right? That takes one minute.
I actually do that like three or four times a day. Just whenever I take a break, I'll do 10 push ups and squats, and it's just it's like a total reset.
So I do a little bit of that in the morning, and then I make a healthy breakfast and I take vitamins. And by the time I'm ready to go like mind is clear. I've set the intentions.
I've really felt the things that I'm grateful for and the person that I want to be today and how I want to show up.
And that's like the container that I start the day and then I have most of my day planned on in my calendar. So it lives in space and time of what I'm going to be working on and for how long.
And I planned this in advance. So that includes, you know, you and I have our call and like that's time blocked.
And before this, I was on the coaching call, like Tuesday, Wednesday Thursdays.
I only do stuff related to coaching calls or interviews or connecting with people Monday is like my CEO Logistics Planning Organization, Day and Friday is creativity,
making content, creating like ideas for a new program, Blogging, doing social, media planning, stuff like that.
I've planned the structure, so it feels very freeing.
[28:46] And then around that structure, I also have big blocks of every time to say I'm gonna take it break or I'm gonna go running or I'm going to be with my fiance this evening and,
through an unstructured thing this evening, whatever we want to create, right, so I kind of find that balance of it. But I really got in tow.
This idea of, um, like freedom comes within structure.
[29:10] So that's what habits are for me. It's like structures so that I don't need toe, sit and think like alive is to do list of 164 things like, What am I gonna work on next?
[29:22] Like that doesn't work for most. For me and for most people, Yeah, I love what you just said about how there's there's freedom in structure, and I've heard that before somewhere else.
And I just I really connect with that because I understand it, and I'm still trying to find my own way with that.
That leads me to a question that I often run into my own roadblocks with, and I know so many people do. When we're working on goal setting.
Let's talk about that for a second. So when we're talking about goal setting, let's say maybe, like three years, one year and then down each month and then down by the week. Do you do that kind of gold setting?
And if so, how do you help people find that kind of place that works for them as they're establishing habits to reach those goals? Great questions.
So I do start further in the future with visioning, and it's I see it less once you're beyond three years.
[30:20] Less of goals, but it's more like paint me a picture or paint yourself a picture of what it's just.
If you were holding a paintbrush and there's no constraints, what could your life look like in 10 years?
What's the ultimate scenario of your life in 10 years if you get to decide how it how it plays out, actually have a coaching tool called the ultimate scenario? And I would walk people through this.
If you start with the end in mind, this is what 10 years looks like, and then you back reverse engineering, you say. Well, if that's what 10 years looks like, where might I? Generally we need to be in five years.
And then, if you want to go to three years, you can or you could just jump down to one on your Those are kind of the intervals I do. I usually do 10 5 and one, and it's not just what you want to achieve it.
[31:08] You know what? What do you want to feel like? Everything. Where do you want to live?
What do you want your energy to be like? Are you having kids?
You have more kids? Do you want to be living in another country whole thing, and then, if that's clear 10 years of five years, one year, you can start putting some measurable goals and saying, Here's what I would generally need to achieve in a year to be on track.
So, like some semblance of that vision if five years becoming inevitable, that's the word that I use.
It just makes it inevitable if you're setting it up and then from one year chunk down into 90 days at a time and do 90 day sprints on your life, there's a lot of research out there, says nobody can really predictably plan to,
have agency and control over their reality beyond the 90 day.
If you can say of all the goals that I want to achieve things, I wanna d'oh!
What's the 3 to 4 of them? 3 to 5 that I'm committed to focusing on for the next 90 days, being very specific about what those goals are having some sort of measurement.
So you know, when you have achieved it, how you know you got in there, how you achieved it, but something that actually has to be attainable are achievable within 90 days.
If it's not, chunk it down smaller.
[32:23] You've got an epic and you need to trunk it down smaller. This, like software, product management language. But like, you know, like you can't do an app picking one sprint.
You gotta break it down into something small and achievable.
Be sure that it's aligned with your y and your purpose and your values.
Why are you doing so? You're doing it because you think you should because someone else in your life wants you to do this because you think right? Or is this is this really a line for you?
Look at different strategies that you can try to know whether you're going the right direction.
Say, Well, I'm gonna try this for a little bit. And if that doesn't work, then I'll try that this doesn't try that.
And if you pretty much operate like that where you have got clear, measurable goals and a Hansel two or three strategies that you're going to try out,
towards each one and just focus on 90 days at a time, it's like you're a bricklayer and you're building these blocks that just make it inevitable that a house is gonna show up.
You know, you have to be measuring or or else you're just doing it blindly and be sure that, like, are you measuring right thing?
You know, for one goal, the measurement might be our people paying me for this value that I'm creating or you could be measuring How How much am I learning?
Looking backwards? How much have I learned in the last night?
And maybe the A whole intention of this sprint just to develop a new skill to skill up in that area? It's not about making money.
[33:46] Yeah, it's for it all Like I mean, I wanted to learn to play the drums in the next 90 days.
I'm not measuring it based on find a band and a retaliatory hat. It's a my.
[34:00] Do I have any competency as a drummer? And I'm having fun. What scale? One out of 10. Every time I get behind the kit like my, how fun is this? That's measure that.
And I think measuring weekly is really is it?
That's how I do it. So I have a weekly reflection tool that I, uh I look back at the weekend.
I reflect on and I say, based on my you know, my my k p I my performance, Mikey performance indicator.
Or what about the thing? I'm measuring one low 10 high? How did I do this week and what could make next week better or accelerate what I'm measuring?
So I'm like checking in with myself. Not all the time.
It would be maddening, but every week on Sunday night, so we're adjusting course more often and reflecting more often, kind of going back to the analogy.
Before you're in a boat, you can see the island in front of you, so you know your destination cause you can see it with your eyes and you can see it in your mind.
And then there's all these forces around you.
[35:06] There's waves that are kind of turning you off course, there's wind that could be turning you off course.
There might be some other physical thing blocking you that you have to figure out how to get around it like a rock in the middle of your you know, And the more often that you check Are you sailing in the right direction? Can you still see that you still see the islands?
And as long as you're going in, that direction doesn't really matter if your course changes a little bit, right?
If you try different things and why try going this way? But the head was were way too strong and so I moving forward. But I'm like moving in the different reaction. I'm going northwest instead of Northeast. But I'm still going north right on the island is north sort of.
I'll just keep going that way I'll eventually get there.
But if I just take a nap and two days later I go check the coordinates and way off course because I haven't been measuring and paying attention, and that island is nowhere in sight.
[35:59] Been invented. Lost it. See, let's do another thought experiment. So let's say I'm a client and you know, I come to you and I've been testing this thing and it's not making money. It's not doing well. It's just curious, You know, what is your lens on?
That kind of scenario? If you're trying something is not working. How do you kind of take that back and reassess?
And then and then, you know, check back into that compass that you were just referring to on the boat, like, How do you do that? What do you recommend to your clients if they're like I'm trying? This is not working.
How do you get them to kind of step back and reassess? Is there an exercise that you like to do our?
How would you kind of coach them through that what we're talking about is in the context of coverted is the pain that you are solving that you believe that you're solving for somebody.
Is that actually a pain point for the person you're speaking with, or that you're speaking to your marketing to, Or do you believe that that it's a problem that they actually don't have,
So there could be two things that could be wrong here.
One is that that particular segment or demographic or psychology of that person doesn't have that problem and you think they do.
So you're selling to the wrong. You're selling something valuable, but to somebody who doesn't need it, they're not looking for your solution.
[37:21] But maybe the people who are looking for your solution are out there. You're just not talking with them or you're selling something that actually isn't a problem.
It's not a value game or a must have or something that's cool matches the itch that someone else isn't scratching or something else, and there just isn't a market for it.
[37:43] And that's always the challenge. When you're starting something new and you're doing something innovative, you're not just replicating. I know this works and I can follow kind of amount that other people have done.
I guess I'll just set it for myself. I can't generalize it, but I think they're there.
They're entrepreneurs who build things to scratch the edge of their own problems. And then there's opportunist entrepreneurs who could just see a market out there or a pain that is not be solved for people.
And even if the Evade own experience it and they're not the market, they can see that needs to be built and they go organize. The resource is I'm the guy that needs to.
I need to feel the pain of my problem in order to be passionate enough to want to solve it and invest in the process of solving it for others and building the business of the infrastructure and all because it's a lot of work is the pain that I'm feeling.
Is this something that there's a big market for that a lot of other people are feeling, or is it actually just something that kind of is like a quirky niche thing for me, But a lot of people, it's not a people out didn't feel the pain in order to build the substantial business around this.
Some of these air like personal enquiries.
And then some of them are going out in talking to the market, talking to your customers who already are paying you or who stopped paying you, you know, like, were they paying you before covert and then missed off?
[39:05] Why is because in the context of things, they don't really value what you're offering right now because they're trying to pay the mortgage?
Or maybe they really do need you, but they just can't afford you right now.
[39:18] But they're feeling the pain because you're not, You know, they can't have what you're what you're giving right now.
[39:24] So then there's an opportunity to adjust the price to give people some more purchasing power when they don't have it.
And then when we get through this, you can kind of level off it at the value that works better.
It's really just a deep line of questioning, but, you know, I always default to customer Discovery Customer Discovery customer discovery go talk to the people.
They will tell you their problems. They will tell you they're pains. They won't tell you the solution.
They don't. People don't know the solution, or they would have figured it out themselves might have hacked in, built it for themselves. Some people have.
Those are great people to give you information like, yeah, this product doesn't exist. So I just, like, put these three home things together from my house and bought this thing in the Internet, and I made it right.
[40:12] If you can find that you know you're on the right track. But people will tell you what they're paying points, what's not working for that.
And and you can just say, Well, if I was able to solve that for you, what what would that do for your life? What would that mean for you?
But would that allow you to be or to do or have that you're not doing right now or be It's an art, but it's about listening to those responses and reading between the lines and saying is, Does the product that I built,
or that I'm contesting King of building fit what that person's telling me.
And better yet, if you have a prototype of the product, whether it's hand drawn sketch is or you know, an interactive like a design clickable prototype, like an app that's just,
screens linked together by tapping sections of it, there's no code behind it.
Or if you've actually gone and built something like, put this in people's hands and let them play with it, let them tell you, be courageous toe. Let people tell you that it doesn't work for them or they don't get it or that your baby's ugly.
You have to. You have to hear this stuff because if you're unwilling, Thio seek truth because you're you know you're scared that, like what if it doesn't work, you're our You've already failed.
[41:25] So that's that's part of the process as well. Then let's take it a little bit further because you support music artists.
Entertainment is something people are craving. I've seen DJs doing live sets on Facebook and people doing live concerts, virtual live concerts, and I've seen people doing things because people need it.
They're stuck at home. Those air great, cause they're free. But what what do you say to these creatives who are out there who are not necessarily filling a need with the products but provide this kind of entertainment or a service with their creative art,
and are feeling the same pain?
Yeah, great question. The themes that I'm talking about with artists right now is around.
[42:09] Clarity, courage and productivity.
What I'm finding is a lot of artists right now are not sure where to spend their time and attention.
If your music artists and touring is a big part of your revenue and how you connect with fans, that's on hold right now in person standing.
And as you said, there's there's lots of ways that you can share your music performed for others. Bring people into your world online.
You can host digital concerts. I have a dear friend and amazing producer, multi talented singer songwriter musician. Seems Alex Wong.
[42:53] Wolong is national guy. He's doing things things called 11 11 or every night at 11:11 p.m.
He's doing Instagram line for 10 minutes, and he has a special guest. And he's bringing like other artists and producers and people onto that and like that's getting this nice little buzz going because people no, they could depend on.
There's another episode of 11 11 happening tonight, so that's just like one thing, right?
Like you can just create from nothing you can turn your camera on and have Venmo a cow or face.
Clyde has a tip jar, and you can perform from place shows I've seen, you know, artists who are like the legit artist who would be threat to cancel their tourists.
Right now, they're doing virtual concerts in getting 30 40 50,000 people streaming and sharing and probably more people watching it. Then that would have been a that show because of the ability to share contact.
It's getting really clear on how you want it to be. Showing up is an artist during this time and that there are no boundaries when it comes to you being able to make money from your craft and share your art with people.
Yeah, people need you right now, so having a greater sense of stepping it up and showing up is really important.
[44:09] So Courage plays into this, and so they were people of it.
[44:13] You know what kind of techno phobic around some of this stuff don't like performing online or whatever stories is there? I can't connect as much.
I don't feel the audience and more self conscious. Whatever you say, that's your opportunity there.
It's still that's your opportunity to level up, because that's just a story. If you believe there's a barrier to connecting, there's a bear in the connecting.
I help people demonstrate more courage by identifying the things that is right on the edge of their comfort zone, and they're feeling that resistance and not doing it. I know I should be.
I should be. I'm shaming myself. I could be doing this, probably shaming myself that I'm not, and and I just hold them accountable that they will come up what's been next best thing that you could do right now that would do this for a little bit.
[44:59] It doesn't really matter how you feel about it, like it's great if you're scared. Fear means that you're ready.
Your body's just preparing you that you're ready to do something, you have a number, and then we'll talk about what what you learned from what happened. On the other side.
Learning is taking an action, seeing what happens, taking an action, seeing how the world reorganizes itself around what you've done, and that's it.
And you could just strip that of any other greater meaning.
And there's a lot of freedom in that so courage on that level and then productivity, right?
So if you're home and especially a lot of artists, creative people like to feel that that jolts of inspiration before doing what they do, and it's not always inspiring.
When you're sitting home every day in the world is shut town to like be in that energy and you know it's really about learning what your flavor of resistance is, becoming friends with it and sort of loving it into submission,
saying, You know, thanks for trying to protect me by not wanting to write that song today or get the easel in the canvas out and just paint.
How I've been feeling through all this and that, you know, that thing is is in there because it's it's doing a job. It's doing a divine and necessary to protect you against something.
[46:18] But that thing is actually not thinking. Blocking you is what's getting in your path to getting what you want.
So kind of like how I told you I plan my day. I help people.
[46:30] I'm helping artists get really productive and planning for productivity and saying, From 9 to 10 a.m.
I'm going to free right, I'm going, I'm going to write to versus for a new song or I'm going to make this piece like I'm gonna spend one hour on this piece of visual art.
It doesn't matter how good it is. The output doesn't matter. It's like.
[46:52] It's like going to the gym every day. It's just about selecting the muscle and showing up in showing yourself that you could be more accountable to to yourself and that you're like, Wow, I showed up every day for the last five days that resistance is melting away quickly.
[47:08] And then that could just be what you do that's just that becomes a habit is from 9 to 10. Am I right?
[47:15] Two verses for a song. So then what's the house? That it never will inevitably gets built?
You know, you're writing a song a week, and all of a sudden you have enough material for your next next album.
So building blocks it is a huge part of that.
So those were three big things that I'm coaching artists on, and then I see are really coming up for people.
When they're normal, routines have been thrown out of whack. They're not able to tour.
It's this kind of new way of connecting online, and I also starting to occur to people that like, Well, everyone's online doing this. I don't want to bombard them, are overwhelmed them and like that's also bullshit, like that's That's the story.
There's always room for one more authentic voice, and people need you like the best arctic that you might make in your whole life could come from this time.
If you just channel all of this stuff that you're feeling and experiencing in all your fears and your frustrations and the love and gratitude and the beautiful things you're seeing and channel that into what you do in tow.
Whatever formal art comes through you, what an amazing time to tap into that. Here, here.
[48:29] Well said, I love your comment about starting to become friends with your resistance, But I really love what you just said about this could be the time that you write your best work and that there's never too many,
people out there to not have space for one more authentic voice. Wow. Yeah.
[48:50] It's just true, I feel, and I'm sure you do the pain that a lot of creatives are going through right now.
That was one of things that felt was so great about having you on the show.
[49:02] At this time was to be able to speak to these ways that people in the creative arts, like music artists that you work with,
can make that extra little step forward follow up with you if this speaks to them and is aligned with where they're at and,
them being in a place where they're ready to work with someone like yourself, too,
move forward and use this as a time to grow and to come out on the other end with that masterpiece or whatever kind of work they want to do when we come out of the other end of this.
Yeah, and use a masterpiece.
Maybe the masterpiece that comes out of this is you.
If you look at it that way right, then what?
[49:52] Any art that the comes out of a version of you that is not blocked or encumbered by those limiting beliefs and those thoughts and whatever that flavor is for you.
[50:06] It'll help keep that channel open that allows you to do what you do best.
One other thing I want to say and related to this actually relates back to a Grateful Dead.
There's a quote that says they might not have been the best at what they did, but they were the only ones that didn't like, You know, they're not the best singers in the world, but, like there's only there's nothing like that, incomparable.
It's so purely authentic.
I think about this for myself, and I invite people to think about it. For them, be the only don't strive to be the best in the world at this thing.
Be the only one who doesn't like you do it because only you can, and that just speaks to art and authenticity and being yourself.
I mean, there are some people who.
[50:56] There are out liars who whose purpose is to be number one and be the best, right? The gold medalist of the Olympics.
And that's great. We need those people too, and they're inspiring in a different way.
And for most people who are just looking for how can I become more me and be more authentically me? Just know that you're already there.
I mean, just you're you're you're you're already here. You already want, So just be the only and speaker truth and everything else will start falling into place.
Yeah, that's one of the things that I remind people of including myself so often is that you are enough and that I am enough.
I have it in my my, uh, reminders app. Every day it pops up, you are enough.
And I tell my wife regularly that she is enough.
I saw a wonderful video on Mine Valley not too long ago that spoke to that exact thing. The whole talk was about it.
[52:01] And, like I can put the link in the show notes. But it was just such a beautiful piece,
filled with examples of people who that was that was the barrier for them to find joy and to find peace,
was that they never felt like there enough.
And that just really spoke to me. And I know it speaks to so many people out there, but that's essentially what you're speaking to is, well, you know, it's just remembering that were enough.
Like you said, there's not like this becoming that has toe happen. We're just a work in progress and it's just continuing to practice.
Totally. We're gonna die someday. A work in progress? Yeah.
And how cool is that? Like you're never fully done.
Yeah, because one you, once you've arrived, what's the point? What's on the other side of it, Right?
You can still celebrate milestones and celebrate how far you've come and who you are. But all we have is this moment and and his process like the process, is the deal.
[53:05] That's all there is, so we could just commit to being a certain way in a process, toe loving it to being compassionate about it.
Thio laughing Abbott Thio Taking advantage of it Whatever those words or flavors are that speak to you.
What are the obstacles you find so many people running into? And how do you help people navigate that?
The obstacles I find with people who are struggling to build good habits are that they don't have accountability.
But did it? They haven't put a system or a structure in place that allows them to be accountable, either with themselves or with other people, is easy for them to let themselves off the hook and not do it.
And then, just in the clarity around being very specific on what that have it is.
And what are the steps when you're going to do it?
[53:58] And what is like the trigger toe load to pre load, so that you're sure that you do it like an example? Is it?
You want to say I want to become a reader. I want to read what I want to read a book every two weeks, but I'm just not doing it.
I don't want right, so one is. You could look at your how you designed your environment to either support your habit or make it harder for you.
When I wanted to start reading more, I put the book I want to read or what? I'm currently ding on my pillow in the morning after I've made my bed.
So I make my that every morning. That's like Keystone. Have it forever. If you're listening, make your bed in the morning.
[54:34] You start today with a very small win and your train your brain that you could start doing something with progress and the momentum flows from there.
So after you make your bed, put the book that you want to read later on your pillow, because when you come back to it later in the evening, you will be forced to choose.
Am I going to read this? That's sitting right in front of me.
Where am I going to pick it up and consciously move it and put it aside and not do it the moment to have a choice?
They're like, That's the biggest thing with Habits is like habits or reactive, like we used there's some sort of trigger, and we just taken action and we're doing it kind of unconsciously.
But if you can put more space between the trigger or in the response so that you're able to support the habits that you want to dio and you and you can break the habits that you don't want to dio if you're a kind, I just want to stop binging Netflix. But I'm so tired and stressed.
I come home every night and watch the four episodes.
They fall asleep on the couch, so make it harder to turn your TV on. Unplug it.
[55:39] Better yet, put it in the closet when you're done with it so literally.
If you want to watch something that effort is gonna take to pull out of the closet, put the wires, they pull all the wires off the back on TV. So you actually figure out where things go and then you have to plug it in. And like.
[55:56] You know, even though that might only take five minutes to do, having all of those extra steps between the thing that you like.
No, that shouldn't be doing or don't want to. D'oh.
We'll make so that you won't do it and you could plan. Better to say, Hey, I haven't watched TV in three days.
I'm going to watch the next episode of that. Show them into you because I want you and I've earned it.
[56:19] So then you can go take it out of the closet, plug it and watch it.
So it's a lot of like mental trickery, right?
You kind of need the trick yourself so that the candy bar's not sitting right in front of you when you want to eat it or make it like a better pay off so that you'll do the thing that you say you want to do so that you eat that salad for lunch.
Sure, you read the book or you go exercising. I mean, if you put your exercise clothes in front of your front doors, you can't open the front door without it pushing your clothes, like dragging your clothes on the floor against the wall, Right.
But you can't get out the door unless you move your exercise clothes.
[56:58] It occurs to you differently that Oh, yeah, I put this there.
The smarter, wiser best version of myself put this here earlier in time so that when weaker, version tired version of me today wants to do it,
it was like I you know, I served it up on a platter so that I would do this.
You're collaborating with your future self in your past self to keep yourself accountable.
I just love that concept. I think it's really cool. And these things really work.
These little environmental design tricks work. So those are a couple things that I I work with people through. I love that.
So I want to ask you based on that, Yeah. What is like one habit that you've stopped doing that you're most proud of? Great question.
I'll tell a funny story on that.
There was a time where I went. I was working 12 hour days.
I was founder and CEO of a music Tech startup.
And man, I just had no balance in a,
It's not that I wasn't watching TV, but I wasn't designing outlets in my life to balance the scales.
And I was working really hard and was coming home and, like thoughts were racing.
[58:10] So I got into this weird habit of watching trailers on the apple trailers up.
Yes, I'm so glad you brought this up because I did this to I just think it's so funny.
So the story that I told myself was, I really wanted, just, like, watched on TV right now and get tired and just being someone else's story or someone else's world.
But I have to wake up early and put another powerhouse day tomorrow and, like suffer for 12 hours tomorrow.
So I don't have time to watch a 30 minute episode or an hour long episode.
But maybe if I just watch a couple trailers I can like I get, I get a taste right minimal, effective doves so I would start.
I watched the three trailers, then I go to bed. I would watch every movie trailer that's on the apple trailers,
and it's the worst possible thing that you could wash before going to bed because it's 2.5 minutes of fast action camera cutting, you know, explosion light pulsing in my eyes.
It's like there's nothing relaxing about it.
[59:20] And it's kind of got that like slot machine thing because you can keep stroke. Scrolling in them is like a new trailer that we loaded.
Oh my God, they're doing dumb and dumber. Three like on Uh So I just got this habit of like when I was resisting, going to bed or tired or like stressing,
that I would watch movie trailers just like, you know, a lot of people go on Pinterest or this girl that Mr Ramsey and that scratch the edge for a little bit.
And I just had the worst night sleep, and my friends would always joking. I hadn't seen movie nine months, but I've seen every single trailer.
[59:57] But then I had this creative idea. I'm not really the guy to do it because I'm not a professional, not a comedian.
I think I'm kind of funny, but I'm not. I know I'm funny, but I'm not a community anyway.
[1:00:09] Toe, have somebody dio like a blogged where you're reviewing.
[1:00:14] Movies on Lee from the trailer. Well, you were viewing the trailer like the quality of the trailer.
Yeah, here, these little microbe logs and be like sitting in bed with, like, a pint of ice cream on your belly and like, crumbs on like you, No one ever said You're shirtless and one you've got popcorn. And like, seriously, like reviewing the trailer.
Somebody, please. There's so much listening. Will someone do that?
Because that that would be hilarious for the right person to run with. And it just it wasn't me, but that's where it all started anyway. So I broke.
I broke that habit, and now I haven't evening routine before. I go to bed where I still in silent and I reflect on the day and I do a little reading or with my partner and we talk and go to bed.
And I have a much more rest ful state of mind than binge washing movie trailers before sleep.
[1:01:08] It's so funny because I read that and I was like, Oh my God, I am that same person because I have done that as well.
Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not alone. No, no, brother The funny thing is, so what?
What I've done to be more productive will say, And my wife makes fun of me about this constantly, I will curate our feed.
I'll curate our movies of, like, stuff to watch, so I'll curate.
You know, Netflix all like go through and I'll watch the trailers of those and be like, Oh, that'd be good to watch, you know?
And she's like, You just spent 90 minutes curating stuff for us. Tow watch later. I'm like, Yeah, but we don't to do that later.
[1:01:59] I did this for you. Now we just Well, anyway, on with curated list of how?
Yes. And then, you know, And then I've got stuff curated, an Amazon prime and iTunes or whatever.
Now I do a recommendation of, like, film and TV series every Friday.
[1:02:19] And, uh, right now I'm doing, like, inspiring movies. Just stuff that I think people you could help them in this, you know, kind of turbulent times.
So, you know, last week was perks of being a wallflower in the week before, that was we bought a zoo.
Next week's gonna be you gotta wait for it.
It comes out tomorrow, kids. You'll see what your curator, I am a curator, and you know, I'm a deejay, So I'm a curator of music, and I'm also curator of film.
Because I had so many friends that were like, Dude, you gotta you gotta share all these great films and TV shows that you know about And so I finally said, All right, fuck it, I'll do it.
[1:02:56] Ah, it's been great because I get to share things with people and like, you know, it gives people a place to do like what we're doing, right?
Talk about, like things that we weaken both appreciate or that many of us can appreciate, You know, like when I have posted perks of being a wallflower, people were like, we're jumping on and saying like, Oh, man, this is free on Netflix.
I love this movie, you know? And it just, like sparks inspiration because it comes to it goes to a similar place for us.
And it takes us to this place that can you help with healing or laughter or, you know, whatever it might be.
So now point being, I'm being productive because I have critical fandom every Friday. Yeah, I love it.
Yeah, Channel. You're channeling this into something productive? Yes, that's how I kind of turned mine.
[1:03:50] Into a positive from what I realized like yourself was a negative.
I just wanted to share that story with you because I read that it was just like, cracking up. I was like, Oh, my God, brother.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's still great. Thanks for sharing that. I want to come over to your house for movie night. You got everything perfectly cued up.
I don't have the juice to work.
That's that's really great. And you bring a you're making a great point, which is that whether you're on instagram or YouTube or trailers or whatever, like it's not, it's neither good or bad.
Inherently it's about Are you choosing it or is it choosing you?
And are you doing it with a purpose or are you just choosing? I mean, dude, I'm gonna need have a purpose. You gets out.
Hey, I'm gonna watch an episode tonight from 8 to 9, and then I'm going to stop and you get to say, vs.
[1:04:48] Being in reactive mode and it's just pulling you into this eventually, and you know that you're not.
There's a cost there like you're not getting something, you're sacrificing something or you're not dealing with something or looking at something because you're doing this thing over and over and over and over again in overtime was a cost.
That's that's kind of how I look at it. Nothing in of itself is inherently good or bad.
It just all depends on the context in which you relate to it.
Yeah, is it supporting you moving forward? Or is it you like you said, like you're resisting something and so it's filling. That's a distraction.
It's filling that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, It's a filling, a void, an extraction or is a Is it moving you forward? Is it making you feel more alive? Are you choosing it?
[1:05:38] That kind of thing. Your whole world, right? Or is it choosing you? Yeah, I hear you, brother.
We're hitting the end here when you've got to go. So I wanted Thio Go ahead and set the bar here for these wrap up questions that I've got.
These were fun and quick, and it's a really great segue way from what we were just talking about.
What is your favorite movie or documentary?
My favorite movie till this day is Pulp Fiction.
Yeah, years Quentin Tarantino fan.
I love the way that he tells stories from every which direction he starts in middlemen. He goes near the end of end of the beginning and just amazing character development.
And that also was a time in my life where i sw I saw that movie in a theater.
I was like, 14 and I think you had to be 16 to get into the theater.
But like we went to this one theatre that didn't really care and they weren't checking i d.
And it was the summer time. We just kept going back over and over.
I think I saw it 14 times in the theater just because we could get in and because I love the film. So I had just had this, like a time capsule. Funny memory of, like, a month long of one summer to seeing pulp fiction.
Um uh, and I just think it's like one of the most brilliant films ever made.
[1:06:51] Yeah. What is the book or books you've given most is a gift Or that you love? Great question.
I've given the obstacle Is the way by Ryan Holiday too good number of people.
You read it. I have not. But I love him. The obstacle is the way, actually, because I read that book is what got me from there I went and bought meditations by Mark. It's really us and Seneca.
And then I bought the audio book from Seneca.
That Tim Ferriss did is like a side collaboration.
I mean, some of it's dense philosophical reading, and it's like first snow leadership type lessons that.
[1:07:33] You know, I've been alive for hundreds and hundreds of years, and it's it's it's there's so much gold to dig in there.
I'm just philosophies. I'm waited way to be wayto live Show up it sze cool stuff, But the obstacle is the way is very. It's a it's an easy read.
And if you do that, if you're an audible guy, Ryan reads, it had a big impact on me and just seeing your You're exactly where you're supposed to be right now.
And whatever you think is your biggest challenge. What if you complain about what your griping on frustration like your obstacle, that is your path forward once you just really get that and you just lean into that and you get curious about it.
[1:08:13] And creative and compassionate and you figure out that this, this is my leveling up is changing my relationships about obstacle.
[1:08:22] And I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be right now.
[1:08:26] That is a powerful place to stand from moment to moment. I love that last couple of questions.
What is the number one thing that you'd like listeners to take away from this interview with?
Number One thing I would want anybody listening to take away Is that you.
[1:08:45] I'm speaking to You are exactly where you're supposed to be right now.
[1:08:52] And that anything that you say, he stands in your path between getting where you want to go on the outcomes that you wanna have.
That is your opportunity to reinvent how you relate to that thing, To lean into it, to take actions that bring you closer to it so you can smell it and taste it and play with it in different ways.
Because what is on the other side of that is everything that you want in your life.
[1:09:22] If you could just get that and remind yourself of that.
[1:09:26] You're gonna be doing really well. Anything else that you'd like to say, Or is there anything? Maybe we didn't hit cover or any last parting words like what? Water to records that you've been listening to you lately or an artist Are, you know, is something of music. Will this be inspiring you?
[1:09:42] I'll share a couple on my radar. I'd love to end on like some kind of musical notes.
Sure, I just kind of flipped out on you like that. No, that's great. Your show.
That's great. I'm happy to talk about it. I just put out a new mix called Marooned that I recorded while we were holed up in our room in Sri Lanka and he could do a beach and wow, I'm a huge fan.
I actually, just when I played and go, I played a bunch of music by its stay. Okay is the record label.
It's based out of Berlin, and the label owner is sold button and a huge fan of him and the label Nick Devin.
He just put out a new album, and I actually played on both mixes several of his tracks.
What? Stay OK is doing the ethereal techno that they're putting out. It's like I found home after, you know, a ce faras what I'm mixing out.
And so just a huge fan of what they're doing. Like I said, Nick Devin, soul button.
Those guys were just They just nail it for me.
But I just did that mix marooned and used a bunch of that stuff. So that's what I've been feeling a lot lately, ma'am. I want to hear that it's up on Soundcloud, actually. Yeah, I can send you the link.
Yeah, you could post that link in the show. Now it's too. I'm sure your listeners will look.
[1:11:08] Yes. Yes, I will post that.
[1:11:12] And this ties into what we were talking about earlier, right? Like you, you produce that as a Zaha.
A way of interpreting what you've been feeling and experiencing during this time like that.
That could not impossible without this coded situation. And where you wearing?
[1:11:32] What was going on for you on? And I'm just so like, I'm just excited to hear that in all of the other kinds of art that, you know, that comes out of that kind of thing And what's happening in the world.
What was yours? This is not not a brand new band, but they're definitely, uh, like on a rocket ship. Right? How s is can give in winter weather.
Have you heard of these guys? What have they called King Gizzard and the lizard wizard?
No, I haven't heard of them. This band is a monster.
[1:12:08] I mean, they're they're already big. They're gonna be We're gonna be here.
They're from Australia, and it's it's a rock band. But every album they put out has his own theme.
Like some of its kind of acid rock. Sam's garage rocker Psychedelic They have jazz album called sketches of Brunswick East. That's incredible. And in the latest record, things called Infest the rats or rest master something like that.
It's a metal out straight metal, and it's It's all them. It works, but they're musically or just so diverse.
They're playing two nights of Red Rocks That summer in Colorado sold out.
I saw them like six months ago in Mission Barroom. It was incredible.
And a lot of their lyrics, though, are about what's going on in the world. It's like they're predicting some of the shit.
Listen, too, especially this new metal album.
[1:13:07] We have a song called Planet B, and it's like there is no Planet B and they have songs about, like the environment, pollution and recycling. But it's this, like psychedelic rock song, but really listening room. Eriks.
It's about recycling it. Sze just They're so freaking cool.
That's awesome. Highly recommend checking them out in 2017 alone, they put out five l Peace.
Wow, complete LPs In one year they're all in Spotify like it's it's really impressive stuff.
So wow, how sweet! Yeah, thanks for the recommendation. Last question.
Where can people find you on the Interwebs? People confined me that david Bluthenthal dot com That's Bluthenthal with a T b L u T e N T h a.
L and I also have a site called Habit Hackers.
That's habit hackers, not C. O, where we host a KN annual summit in Denver on designing your life through designing your habits. And we have all kinds of speakers.
Last year who came James Clear, who wrote Atomic Habits and Evan Pagan and amazing entrepreneurs like Emily Shahm and um.
[1:14:21] We didn't do it this year, thankfully, actually, because that would have been canceled. But I'm I'm working on this continuing to become an annual events.
And I host of live workshops on helping people design their lives through their habits and visioning and stuff like that.
So a lot of like, the habit stuff was under there, and then my personal projects in the artist coaching anything related to music artists and coaching is on night, my own website, so you can find any other places. And if you pretty much google me or look for me on social media, there is only one.
I'm the only day igniting valuable feel funds last David Blumenthal.
So I'm easily findable and always looking to talk to people if you want to reach out.
Well, David, thank you so much for being on the show.
I really appreciate you being here, man. It's been so great to catch up with you again and to do some of these thought experiments that we were doing.
And thank you for the work that you're doing, man.
It's been my pleasure. Yeah, you're so welcome. This was a really fun conversation. Thank you.
[1:15:21] Well, That's it for this episode. This is your first time listening.
Thank you so much for being here. I really hope you enjoy the show.
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[1:15:57] Music.
