[00:00:00] There are three habits that first got me to that six figure mark in photography a few years back. I'm not talking about ice baths or anything related to photography or even creative freelancing. We're not going to be talking about any of that. These are actually very simple habits that anyone can implement and see massive results from.
Even if you're not a photographer, these three habits will transform your life.
So I sat down and made a list of all the habits I do on a daily or weekly basis. And it was a very, very long list. But from that list, I was able to find three overarching themes that all the habits fall under how this episode is going to work is that I'll walk through these big three habits and then show you the many habits under each one.
Okay. So right off the bat, habit number one is to eliminate distractions. It's eliminating distractions is incredibly important when you want to get stuff done. Focused work on one task is going to yield huge results compared to distracted work or multitasking. Like I mentioned, these [00:01:00] three habits I talked about today are more like overarching principles that encompass the smaller habits that I do.
Don't worry, I'll tell you the specific actions you need podcast.
Welcome to the creative biz launch podcast, where we talk about how to grow your creative business and scale it to six figures, whether you're a photographer, filmmaker, or designer, you'll find something of value here. Eliminating distractions allows me to get into a flow state and work. If you've ever been in the state, you know, how much work you're able to crank out.
When you're in a flow state, flow allows your brain to devote all its energy to the one task at hand. But when your phone is buzzing on your desk, that eats away at your flow state. When your music stops on Spotify and you need to change it to a new album, a new playlist that takes you out of flow. When you see an email notification pop up on your computer, you start thinking about that client you need to follow up with, you guessed it.
That takes you out of that flow state, becoming focused and efficient at your work is going to be critical on your entrepreneurial journey. The more you can output during work, the more [00:02:00] money you'll make. It's simple. When you work the salary nine to five, you probably didn't care to be super efficient all the time because you were never rewarded for it now as your own boss.
Everything changes. How do we eliminate distractions? There are two main ways. The first thing to do is to eliminate things. You react to things like your phone buzzing with a notification,
put your phone and computer on, do not disturb mode so that people and apps don't eat up your attention. Constantly having notifications go off. We'll take you out of that flow state. We talked about second, you need to increase the activation energy for you to get distracted. What this means is you just have to make it harder to actually get distracted.
You need to make it hard for yourself to go on Instagram on your phone or go and check your email. The harder it is, the less likely you'll do it. And the more focused you can be at the task at hand. Personally, I usually have my phone in another room, so I can't check social media while I'm at my desk.
This is a systemized approach to not getting [00:03:00] distracted. This alone, it will transform your productivity. There are also loads of apps that you can download that will actually block distracting websites. What I use is an app called Freedom, but there are dozens of these apps out there. This app will be able to block your email, any websites that you may think are distracting,
and by doing so, it will restrict your ability to go on that website. If you want to shop on Amazon, This app can block you from doing so and blocking up websites like this. It might sound extreme, but it's very effective. It lets you focus on the task at hand and gets you into that flow state.
One thing I want to mention here is music. A lot of us love to listen to music while we work. And this is something I started doing a few years back. I Spotify to listen to individual artists or playlists. There's more distractions than you think that comes with this. Oftentimes singing along to songs you like.
Switching playlists when one ends and skipping bad songs. These are all [00:04:00] distractions that will take you out of that flow state. You could use things like Endel or Brain FM for continuous music or super long playlists on YouTube. That's what I've been doing recently. Finding these two or three hour EDM playlists with very little lyrics.
These help me focus and get into that flow state.
So eliminating distractions comes down to a few things. If you're going to do. Anything I talked about here today, just put your phone in another room while you work. This one will be huge on top of this enable. Do not disturb on your website, sorry, on your computer, and then download some sort of website blocker like freedom and find that long playlist on YouTube, or you seem something else to get music that doesn't have any lyrics and just continues on and on.
All right. So now we have focused attention. What do we actually do with this focus attention? Habit number two is eliminating the need to think of what to do next. When you're in that flow state and you finish a task, you should be able to [00:05:00] jump right into the next, next task with very little thinking here.
So how do we accomplish this? We need to get clear on what our big picture goals are. So let's say you want to grow a YouTube channel. This is a great goal to have. We need to break down that goal into smaller, digestible chunks, things you can do on a monthly basis, weekly basis, daily basis, and hourly basis.
If you sit down to work and see that your goal is grow my YouTube channel, that doesn't give you any action steps that you can do. It doesn't eliminate the need to think of what to do next. That's what we're after right now. So that big picture goal of growing my YouTube channel can be broken down into publish a video a week.
Okay. That's great, but we need to get more specific there. What does a video need? We need a script. Our task can be research a YouTube script, but that's still a little vague. When you sit down to do this, you still need to think of what exactly we need to write about what that script is going to be. If we get really specific about what our task will be, we can [00:06:00] have something like write a YouTube script for my three habits video.
All right, perfect. There we have the task that will take us a Let's break this test down even further here. So if we want to create a YouTube video for my three habits video, there's going to be a lot of subtasks here. We're going to have to create a title for this video, a thumbnail for this video, record the video, record any B roll, edit the video, watch the video and review it for mistakes.
And already we've got this long to do list. That's going to take us through most of an entire work day. And this is exactly what you want. You want to have a list like this so that you can jump from task to task without losing focus. If our task, if we only wrote one task that was like, right. A YouTube video, after you finish writing the script, it's going to take some energy for you to figure out what to do next.
Now, this may seem like a no brainer that you'll know what to do next. But for more complex tasks, you're not going to know what to do next. You're going to have to spend some time, spend some brain energy, thinking of what you have to do next. And that's going to take you out of that [00:07:00] focus state that we spent so much time getting into.
Now you might be saying, well, we still need to plan out all the tasks. When do we actually do that? That still takes time. Now planning your day the night for me. The night before is when your day actually starts staying organized and knowing what you need to do next will allow you to be the most efficient with your time.
By doing this type of planning the night before, at the end of your day, it lets you write down all the tasks that one, you weren't able to finish that day. And it takes any thoughts that you have in your head and puts them on paper on to do it onto a to do list so that you can have a clear head for the evening, relax.
Not have to think about things when you're falling asleep or trying to relax with loved ones. We want all our tasks to be either on paper and a to do app so that we don't have to actually have to think about them when we're trying to relax.
This also removes all the activation energy from actually getting to work the next day. When you wake up in the [00:08:00] morning. You can make some coffee and get right to that first task on your to do list. The work needs to get done. You don't need this two hour long morning routine. You just need to get some caffeine and start working.
A quick side note here, when you wake up in the morning, a bonus habit for you guys, never check your phone first thing. Give yourself at least an hour or two to wake up with your own thoughts, and not the world bombarding you with notifications from Instagram.
Okay, so now we know how to focus. We know what we have to do. How do we ensure that we actually keep doing this all day long and comes energy and motivation. So how do we ensure that our bodies and minds are at peak performance? It's going to come down to how you maximize your energy levels and find the motivation to work when you don't want to, you already know what tasks you need to do, and you've set up your, and you've set yourself up for success here by eliminating distractions.
Now it's time to actually do the work. Now there's a lot of different little things here. I'll try and touch on the important ones that I think helped [00:09:00] me the most. Number one, and most of you already know this already, it's good sleep. Get enough sleep every night, sleep in a dark, quiet room, get a good mattress, use a sleep tracker to figure out what habits help you fall asleep better, stay asleep, and stay rested so you feel better the next day.
After sleep, the next important thing is exercise. So for me, fitness has always been a really important part of my life. I've done everything from Olympic weightlifting to long distance triathlons, but recently I've scaled down the intensity. And as a result, I've had way higher energy levels. My goal is to work out.
So I actually gain energy. Rather than lose it. And for me, this is a 30 to 45 minute workout every single day. It's either lifting or running or biking. And I found that that 30 to 45 minutes sweet spot is the best for me. So I actually feel energized all day long. If you already exercise, you probably know this, but if you don't just try 10 minutes of physical physical activity a day and work your way up, your [00:10:00] business will thank you.
The exercise that you do here isn't important. What's important is that you stick with it consistently. You're able to do it every single day and it's something that you somewhat enjoy doing. So it energizes you and you just stay on top of that. Okay. We covered sleep. We covered exercise. You're probably going to be able to guess what I'm talking about next here.
The next thing on our list is diet. This works for me and it keeps my energy levels high throughout the day. Your mileage may vary, but this is what I do right now.
Okay. So this is what I do for diet every day. Um, What you do and what works for you may be different. I'm just telling you everything here so you can draw inspiration from it. All right. So first thing in the morning, I'll wake up and chug a green shake with some electrolytes. And this gets me going right away.
Along with this, I'll make some coffee, usually some cold brew, and this will power me for the first two hours. From there, I'll do my workout and post workout. I'll have a really big protein shake, uh, full of whey protein, collagen, all that good stuff. And I actually like. To [00:11:00] say like almost fasted most of the morning.
I feel like I get more energy doing it this way for lunch. I try and be super healthy. And I actually am currently eating a Brian Johnson's nutty pudding recipe. Uh, it's like macadamia nuts, walnuts, cocoa powder, a bunch of fruit, uh, pomegranate juice. It's really good. If you look up nutty pudding online, you'll probably find the recipe.
Um, and what this does actually gives me more energy in the afternoon. Which is really the only lunch I found that actually just energizes me. Um, and here is usually when my healthy streak dies, my dinners are whatever I want, really, whether that's Chipotle, a burger, whatever I'm feeling I'll have for dinner, uh, the reason why is.
I just like to have good meals and I don't really care if my energy dips after dinner. I know I should be better about this, but for now, this still works for me. Um, so that's my basic diet and I like it because my work day, I feel super energized because I'm eating very healthy and then dinner I'm enjoying.
I'm then just chilling on the couch [00:12:00] after that.
Now, diet is also about not doing certain things. So as far as alcohol goes, this stuff is terrible for getting work done. Uh, weeknights, I never drink. And if I want to unwind with a beer, I'll have a non alcoholic option, like athletic brewing, um, alcohol affects sleep and it's just not great for any productivity or energy or motivation here.
Um, so that's. Energy. Let's talk about motivation. So we've solved the distraction problem. We know what we have to do and we have the energy to do it. Now, how do we stay motivated to actually keep doing this stuff? Well, one thing I like to do is practice gratitude each day. This has been a huge motivator for me.
Each morning and evening, I'll write down three things I'm grateful for. I'm super fortunate to be where I am in life. I have a roof over my head with running water, a loving girlfriend, and I'm able to work towards my dreams every single day. And that's incredible.
Whenever I write what I'm grateful for, it usually sounds really simple on paper. Taking the time to think [00:13:00] through what we have really helps motivate me because it shifts my perspective and makes me realize how good things are. So when I don't feel like working, I shift my perspective and I realize how privileged I am to actually be doing this type of work.
I have goals I want to reach, so I Walk through my goals and realize I have to put in the work if I want to achieve these goals, gratitude and going through my vision, my goals. This is what motivates me
by practicing this and realizing that you're actually very grateful for each day and realizing every day is a gift and another chance to be the best version of you. You're going to be motivated to work. It's not guaranteed that we'll all wake up tomorrow. And while that may sound morbid, it's important to spend each day living a full life and doing what you want to do.
So we walked through a few different things in this video, uh, in this podcast episode, if you just implement one of these, please, it's going to help your business, it's going to help your personal life. It's going to really help transform a lot of things for you. [00:14:00] If you found value in this episode, please drop a rating on the show.
It really helps the show reach more and more creative entrepreneurs. And your rating may change someone else's life because they'll be able to discover this podcast. My name is Chris Pieta. That's all I got for today. I'll talk to you in the next one.
