Mastering the Flow State: Moving from Inertia to Peak Performance
In this episode, we talk about how to overcome micro-moments of resistance and transform into a flow state.
The differentiation between consistency and flow, highlighting the importance of having a strong reason or vision to achieve flow.
Personal examples, including experiences with fitness and entrepreneurship, illustrate how emotional states and identity leveling contribute to achieving flow.
Key elements such as novelty, defined goals, and immediate feedback are essential for maintaining flow states.
The episode also emphasizes the importance of reducing distractions, developing rituals, and adjusting according to one's productivity patterns.
The speaker encourages listeners to reflect on tasks they are procrastinating on, understanding their bigger vision, and leveraging curiosity and purpose to break inertia. References to thought leaders like Stephen Kotler and James Clear are included to support the concepts discussed.
00:00 Introduction to Overcoming Resistance
00:20 Defining Flow vs. Consistency
00:45 Examples of Inertia and Emotional States
04:36 Understanding Flow Theory
08:03 Achieving Flow in Practice
18:59 Motivation and Mastery
21:06 Conclusion and Call to Action
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Episode Transcript
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(00:28):
how to overcome micro moments ofresistance, or what I call
periods of inertia intotransforming yourself into a
flow state, which is essentiallywhat I have done multiple times
over the last couple of yearswithout necessarily needing to
be visible all of the time.
(00:49):
But before I launch into flowtheory and how to get into flow
I felt like maybe I should firstquantify what flow is not, and
what flow is versus consistency.
'cause I think that people get.
Confused between consistency andflow.
And they are, related, butthey're not necessarily the
(01:11):
same.
I have several examples to provethat.
The saying that I used to hearall of the time, this was when a
period of time when I was reallywanted to get fit and be at the
gym and all the rest was asaying was that, um, it's easier
to stay fit than get fit Andwow, I really wish I had taken
that on a really long time agoand taken that advice a long
(01:32):
time ago.
But the issue with, uh, whatI've noticed is.
It noticed with that was thatthe excuses crept in.
I made all of the excuses forwhy I couldn't go to the gym.
I didn't have enough time.
I didn't like driving.
I couldn't wake up in themorning.
Anything and everything that youcan think of I had an excuse
for.
And then.
I started thinking more recentlyafter having experienced flow on
(01:57):
what were the factors, and thiswas something that I'd noticed
that a lot of my clients havekind of mentioned as well.
I really want to be, you know, Ijust want to flow and I just
want it to flow and for it to beeasy and to achieve that flow
and ease.
I feel like there's somethingthat really needs to be talked
about, which is firstly ouremotional state that affects
(02:20):
inertia in the first place.
But if I was to compare it withthe gym example, the reason why
I didn't go to the gym wasbecause I didn't have a strong
enough reason to go to the gym.
Meaning that I didn't have someof the integral conditions that
are necessary for me to be in aflow state with my consistency
at the gym because.
A really big part of, um, ofgoing to the gym was because I
(02:44):
was looking at it as a taskrather than something that was
actually an integral part of thevision that I was actually
optimizing towards or wanting toachieve.
So I'm not gonna sort of go downtoo much into the gym example,
but it's really just to kind ofplace that as one of the, you
know, one of the linked examplesfrom, consistency versus.
(03:06):
Flow and then follow through.
So flow versus follow throughand what you know, because you
achieve flow through the processof follow through.
And you'll only follow throughif you are pulled towards the
following through which isguided by an overarching vision
of some sort, whatever thatmight be.
Uh, whether that's an integralreason why you want to be in
(03:30):
flow.
Uh, versus like, followingthrough on the process, words
flow or towards consistency.
So that is one example.
And then the second example is,uh, that of inertia and
emotional states.
Now.
I have transversed through manyemotional states over the last
(03:51):
couple of years in particular,and I have noticed that each
time I have been in a dip I havemanaged to come out of the dip.
Only to cycle back and circleback into the dip again.
And a really big part of thathas been an identity leveling
up.
So what I mean is because I'm amission-driven founder towards
(04:11):
wanting to help people withfinding their voice and really
optimizing towards their truestand highest version of
themselves, what I find is thatwith every iteration and with
every.
Uh, cycle that I go through,it's me actually taking the time
to level up.
And the leveling up means that Idip, and during my dip I
(04:35):
recalibrate and I decide on whatmy next move is going to be.
And to prepare myself for themove, I actually have to almost
prepare myself mentally as wellas physically to make that move,
uh, and to get into the nextflow state.
But there needs to come a pointwhere.
I feel like I can have a certainlevel of consistency to the flow
(05:00):
once I have created theconditions to, for that flow to
actually remain.
And so, I just wanted to touchon, which is, what is flow
theory?
And so I just want us to imaginea scenario or a situation which
is you are in an emotionalstate, which is in a dip, and
you know you have to do X numberof things.
(05:22):
In order to even get to theflow, and sometimes that
climbing up the hill feels likeit's really uphill.
So you've gotta exert all ofthat energy to push, push, push,
push all the way up, and thatexertion of energy, which is
when the plane's taking off, andit's actually requiring all of
that fuel and energy to propelitself forward.
It needs to have, in a humancontext, in a flow context.
(05:45):
There need to be.
And this is what flow theorysuggests is that there need to
be a few elements, there are fewingredients to put into this,
mix and for flow to be created.
And so if I think about theemotional state, and I think
about all of the things that youhave to do, and most of those
(06:06):
things that you have to dosometimes are in the mundane
category.
So for example, if you'rewanting to be visible and you're
putting yourself out there,well, you can put yourself out
there and you can talk and speakand present.
But if there's nothing for youto act for, nothing for people
to actually do on the backend,whether it's listening to a
podcast, whether it'sdownloading your freebie,
whether it's.
(06:27):
You know, inviting to aconsultation, whether it's
inspiring people to potentiallybuild your brand online in some
way, shape or form, so that youcould be invited to speak, for
example, or, invited intosomebody's podcast or whatever
the case might be.
Whatever the ultimate aim or theof the actual visibility you are
(06:49):
gonna need to have.
Some systems on the backend,which is what the systems always
come up as being the point ofthe category of mundane, uh,
whether that be design, whetherthat be the thing that you
actually are not skilled at anddon't really want to do, and you
wanna optimize towards the thingthat you absolutely are good at
(07:11):
doing and want to optimizetowards what, whatever that
might be.
You've gotta go through this.
Feeling of inertia.
And this inertia is somethingthat I have observed in myself,
but broken through in it beingin flow and for short sprints of
time.
Now, I remember my, my, uh,physical ed teacher in school
(07:32):
had said to me, Ika, you are asprinter.
And you're, made, like anathlete who's a sprinter.
Well, through the journey of.
This entrepreneurship, what I'verealized is that it's okay to be
a sprinter, but what you reallyneed is to be a marathon runner
because the journey ofentrepreneurship is more like a
(07:52):
marathon than it is an actualsprint.
And sprint will only get you sofar, but it's the marathon, it's
the long-term vision, the pull,the long term goals, the long
term habits, and, and all of thelong-term things that need to be
in place for there to besustainability.
Otherwise, we just end upspinning our wheels and going
nowhere.
(08:13):
So with that being said, whatdid I notice, uh, is that there
needs to be certain number ofsprints that you need to do in
order to gain momentum.
Just like the plane needs acertain amount of actual sheer
force for it to even take offbefore it can get to cruising
altitude and then just cruise.
So if you are in a season whereyou are wanting to have your
(08:38):
voice out and you're wanting tobe visible.
Whether it be online or whetherit be offline, or whether it be
that you're starting out orwhether you are wanting to
create your brand voice in a waythat people come into your world
through, uh, maybe an ad thatyou wanted to create online so
that people can find you.
The thing that you will need tocommit to doing is firstly the
(09:01):
investing in the mundane, butyou won't invest in the mundane
unless you have certain thingsin place.
For flow to take effect.
Now, one of those things is thatthere needs to be an element of
novelty.
So having a goal in mind that isvision led, that is mission led,
that is new, so, but draws onyour own existing capabilities,
(09:24):
whatever that it is that youmight be doing, and then.
But just enough to be outside ofyour comfort zone.
So if the, if the gap or thestretch is too high, you'll feel
frustrated and demotivated byit.
But if the gap is just enough,then you're more likely to want
to do it.
But without there being adefined goal or an objective.
(09:47):
On what it is that you're doingit for, you're not likely to
want to carry through with it.
Uh, the third thing that needsto be in place is that there
needs to be a timely orimmediate feedback on something
that you're doing so that youfeel like the efforts that
you're putting in are actuallygonna start paying off and
following through.
So those three things need toreally be in place.
(10:10):
And now if I think about, uh,the series that.
I've run at least three timesnow, which is a three day event,
which was really brought aboutthrough the creation from my
soul, from the things that I'dobserved from giving people the
exact amount of insight into theissues that they were feeling.
(10:33):
So for example, one of theevents that I ran was to give
people an exact roadmap on thevisibility steps that they need
to take based on their.
Now based on that score, theyfound out, that this was the
roadmap and this is what theyneeded to do.
And it was a very successfulevent and I really enjoyed it
because I was in flow fromhaving been in inertia.
(10:56):
So my very first, thing that Italked about was actually
inertia and the concept of beingin inertia and then going into
flow.
Uh, I talked about what thatlooked like, and then each week
built on that towards the salesevent.
And I've done this now threetimes.
And so each time I've had.
(11:17):
A period of inertia and thenneeded flow.
And I realized that all threethings just happened to be in
place.
And I didn't realize that at thetime.
But now since having been inflow and having had people ask
me how you can get in flow, Iknow that those three things
were actually present in therecipe that I had created for me
(11:39):
with using my own voiceterritories towards visibility.
So if I look at breaking down.
The most recent event that Idid, which was, uh, in May,
2025, and the event was new.
The content was new, uh, it wasvery topical.
It addressed an issue thatpeople already were feeling.
(12:00):
And so it had topicality andrelevance.
But it also had ingredients likeit was new to me, which means
that there was an element ofnovelty.
I had done it before, so I knewwhat format that this was going
to run in.
Uh, so I didn't have to exertquite as much pressure on the
actual.
(12:20):
The logistics of the three daysbecause I had the systems that
I'd already built from likehaving done it a couple of
times.
And so I had, I knew what I wasin for.
I was a bit more organized thistime as well.
In fact, I was quite a lot moreorganized this time and my
backend, and so the mundane hadbeen taken care of for nearly
four or five months in the leadup to.
(12:43):
The actual thing because, and sothe push and the drive that I
had was because I knew that Ihad a goal in mind.
I, did shift my goal on when Iwas going to launch about a
couple of times during thatperiod because I realized that I
needed more time to actually,prepare for the three day event,
but it kept channeling me andpushing me or pulling me forward
(13:03):
because I knew that there was amessage that I wanted to get out
there.
And.
Uh, that was really somethingthat was motivating for me.
And then the third thing wasimmediate feedback, because when
I was doing the three day, threeday event, I knew that I was
going to get a result based offof previous events that I'd run
where my events were successful.
So it was.
(13:25):
Immediate feedback based on whatI have done in the past, as well
as better preparation in thelead up.
So when I think about my dip nowand what I'm optimizing towards,
or how the flow will take placenext in relation to my
visibility, this is not aboutbeing visible all of the time
using this concept ofconsistency in like a negative
(13:49):
way, but using consistency.
To first deliver the result thatyou want so that you can take
the best off.
The learnings that you have intocreating something that will
then eventually give youconsistency.
So, um, so this is flow theoryin essence and how flow has
(14:09):
worked for me personally and howyou can get past that inertia
that you might be feeling intothose, achieving those flow
states and into peak performwhere you feel like everything
around you pretty much comes toa standstill or almost gets
negated because you're so.
In the rhythm of it and you're,you are feeling it, that you
(14:30):
just completely lose track oftime and, and time basically
condenses down and becomes one.
And you really don't mind beingin that flow and doing the work
because to you that is actuallyfun.
Just like, to me it was fun.
And so I didn't feel like I hadthat.
I think the, the conditionsthough that need, you know, that
(14:51):
need to be in place in terms of.
Achieving flow is also importantto discuss because if you might,
be thinking, well, I've gotyoung children, or, I've got
caring responsibilities and allof that.
So you really have to look atwhat your current situation is
and determine, okay, is thisgoing to be.
(15:12):
Something that you can do rightnow.
You know, like for example, inthe, in the case of the three
day event, you know, it requiresa whole lot of planning.
It requires a lot more time.
It's a bit more advanced thansay if you are starting out.
And so if you are starting out,pick something small that you
can do that you know is going tobe outside of your comfort zone,
(15:34):
but it's also gonna give you achallenge.
And also think about, you know,the enabling factors.
So what can you do to eliminatedistractions?
Can you do the workout when saysomeone isn't around?
Can you create, inject a ritualwithin it, which is maybe, the
ritual of having a cup of teabefore you do the actual thing.
(15:56):
Now this is an example that,James Clear and his book Atomic
Habits talks about as well, isactually having a ritual around
the thing that you have to do,because the thing that you have
to do until it becomes a habitis a task.
And then once you start doingenough of it, it starts becoming
part of your identity.
So, just like content creation,if you start to see the results
(16:18):
of creating content, you're morelikely to want to carry on with
it because you know that therisk of not creating content is
actually.
Greater than the risk of,creating content because one
negates out the other.
So in, in from a visibilitylens, and then look at your peak
productive times, your peakproductivity times are times
when you feel like you canoperate at your best.
(16:40):
For me, that happens to bemid-afternoon.
So sometime between three andfive 30 or six o'clock is when I
feel like I'm at my productivebest, even though that seems to
be a lot of the a time when mostpeople kind of feel the slump.
I've noticed that a lot ofpeople feel the slump mornings
are great for me to thinkideate.
Write all of that, so, reallybuilding those rituals in for
(17:03):
yourself.
So that you're doing the thingsthat you love to do by achieving
the things that you have to doand ticking off the things that
you have to do.
So just as we are coming near tothe end of the episode, I wanted
to ask you, uh, which is.
Think about the task at hand,which you're really avoiding
right now, procrastinatingabout, and ask yourself why
(17:26):
you're procrastinating aboutthat task.
Is that a task that is achi thatis aligned to a bigger vision?
Or are you struggling with thattask because you're, you are
struggling to define what yourbigger vision actually is?
That is going to be in serviceof the highest and best.
Use for you so that you know,fulfilling, uh, something that
(17:49):
is off the highest achievementfor you personally.
Because theory suggests, again,this is a research done Stephen
Coler, in the book The Art ofthe Impossible, which is he
states that.
We mostly pay attention to thetask at hand when the challenge
of the task slightly exceeds ourskillset.
And when you feel like you aregood at, being comfortable with
(18:15):
the uncomfortable, which feelslike a stretch rather than a
snap.
And so if you're thinking aboutthat, with that quote in mind.
Ask yourself if that stretchtask that you've got is
something that can actually bedone by somebody else if you are
so bogged down that you actuallycannot, even if it's stopping
(18:35):
you from getting started.
In other words, is that a taskthat can be given out to
somebody else?
Bearing in mind that yourvisibility is not something that
you can outsource.
Your visibility is yourresponsibility, and this is
especially true if you're not amassive company.
And you are the founder and youare wanting to set yourself up
with a point of differenceonline or offline.
(18:56):
And so it's your responsibilityfor your visibility.
But some of the backend stuffwhich might be stopping you,
could you give that out tosomebody even if it is for one
or two hours a week.
You know, something for you tothink about as you are thinking
about, um, your emotional stateleading you into inertia, which
then causes.
Lag and then stops you frombeing in flow.
(19:18):
So you've gotta really start toidentify the tasks that can free
you up to be more of who you areso that you can get into those
flow states.
And then if I think about themotivation to get going and the
things that have enabled me toget motivated enough to actually
keep going.
Then I want you to also askyourself about that specific
(19:42):
task.
You know, what is gonna motivateyou to get onto that task?
Say if it's a task that's, uh,that's sitting with you, not
with somebody else.
Because motivation will need.
A level of curiosity to seewhat's actually going to happen
at the end for you to test andhave a testing mindset when you
go into,, breaking that inertia.
(20:04):
And that's gonna be critical foryou to unlock and break the
pattern of sitting still anddoing nothing, uh, and with the
view to actually doingsomething.
So approach it with a level ofcuriosity, which is what is this
going to lead me to?
Driven by purpose, which is,keep asking yourself why you're
(20:25):
doing what you're doing.
I think it's really importantas.
Founders to keep remindingourselves about the reason why
we are doing what we are doing.
Each one of us has a deepanswer, uh, within us, uh, as to
what drives us to do the thingswe do, despite the difficulties.
And then the third is mastery ofthe skills to pursue that
passion or purpose.
(20:45):
Do you actually have a drive toachieve mastery in something so
that you can achieve?
Your ultimate goal.
Uh, and so here are five thingsthat I want you to take away
from, again, from Steven Kotlow,which is the reference that I
had for this and the inspirationfor flow states as I was, as I
(21:07):
was, um, looking into it a bitmore, was that motivation is
what gets you in the game.
Learning is what allows you tocontinue to play.
Creativity is how you steer.
So what you come out of thatonce you have unlocked your
visibility.
And lastly, flow is how youamplify all of the results
(21:28):
beyond reasonable expectationsbecause you have suddenly
created what people otherwisereferred to as the flywheel.
So with that being said, I hopeyou've enjoyed this episode.
If you have loved it, I wouldlove to get a review from you.
So that more people can findthis podcast and help amplify
the reach to more people whoneed to hear this.
how to overcome micro moments ofresistance, or what I call
periods of inertia intotransforming yourself into a
flow state, which is essentiallywhat I have done multiple times
over the last couple of yearswithout necessarily needing to
be visible all of the time.
(00:49):
But before I launch into flowtheory and how to get into flow
I felt like maybe I should firstquantify what flow is not, and
what flow is versus consistency.
'cause I think that people get.
Confused between consistency andflow.
And they are, related, butthey're not necessarily the
(01:11):
same.
I have several examples to provethat.
The saying that I used to hearall of the time, this was when a
period of time when I was reallywanted to get fit and be at the
gym and all the rest was asaying was that, um, it's easier
to stay fit than get fit Andwow, I really wish I had taken
that on a really long time agoand taken that advice a long
(01:32):
time ago.
But the issue with, uh, whatI've noticed is.
It noticed with that was thatthe excuses crept in.
I made all of the excuses forwhy I couldn't go to the gym.
I didn't have enough time.
I didn't like driving.
I couldn't wake up in themorning.
Anything and everything that youcan think of I had an excuse
for.
And then.
I started thinking more recentlyafter having experienced flow on
(01:57):
what were the factors, and thiswas something that I'd noticed
that a lot of my clients havekind of mentioned as well.
I really want to be, you know, Ijust want to flow and I just
want it to flow and for it to beeasy and to achieve that flow
and ease.
I feel like there's somethingthat really needs to be talked
about, which is firstly ouremotional state that affects
(02:20):
inertia in the first place.
But if I was to compare it withthe gym example, the reason why
I didn't go to the gym wasbecause I didn't have a strong
enough reason to go to the gym.
Meaning that I didn't have someof the integral conditions that
are necessary for me to be in aflow state with my consistency
at the gym because.
A really big part of, um, ofgoing to the gym was because I
(02:44):
was looking at it as a taskrather than something that was
actually an integral part of thevision that I was actually
optimizing towards or wanting toachieve.
So I'm not gonna sort of go downtoo much into the gym example,
but it's really just to kind ofplace that as one of the, you
know, one of the linked examplesfrom, consistency versus.
(03:06):
Flow and then follow through.
So flow versus follow throughand what you know, because you
achieve flow through the processof follow through.
And you'll only follow throughif you are pulled towards the
following through which isguided by an overarching vision
of some sort, whatever thatmight be.
Uh, whether that's an integralreason why you want to be in
(03:30):
flow.
Uh, versus like, followingthrough on the process, words
flow or towards consistency.
So that is one example.
And then the second example is,uh, that of inertia and
emotional states.
Now.
I have transversed through manyemotional states over the last
(03:51):
couple of years in particular,and I have noticed that each
time I have been in a dip I havemanaged to come out of the dip.
Only to cycle back and circleback into the dip again.
And a really big part of thathas been an identity leveling
up.
So what I mean is because I'm amission-driven founder towards
(04:11):
wanting to help people withfinding their voice and really
optimizing towards their truestand highest version of
themselves, what I find is thatwith every iteration and with
every.
Uh, cycle that I go through,it's me actually taking the time
to level up.
And the leveling up means that Idip, and during my dip I
(04:35):
recalibrate and I decide on whatmy next move is going to be.
And to prepare myself for themove, I actually have to almost
prepare myself mentally as wellas physically to make that move,
uh, and to get into the nextflow state.
But there needs to come a pointwhere.
I feel like I can have a certainlevel of consistency to the flow
(05:00):
once I have created theconditions to, for that flow to
actually remain.
And so, I just wanted to touchon, which is, what is flow
theory?
And so I just want us to imaginea scenario or a situation which
is you are in an emotionalstate, which is in a dip, and
you know you have to do X numberof things.
(05:22):
In order to even get to theflow, and sometimes that
climbing up the hill feels likeit's really uphill.
So you've gotta exert all ofthat energy to push, push, push,
push all the way up, and thatexertion of energy, which is
when the plane's taking off, andit's actually requiring all of
that fuel and energy to propelitself forward.
It needs to have, in a humancontext, in a flow context.
(05:45):
There need to be.
And this is what flow theorysuggests is that there need to
be a few elements, there are fewingredients to put into this,
mix and for flow to be created.
And so if I think about theemotional state, and I think
about all of the things that youhave to do, and most of those
(06:06):
things that you have to dosometimes are in the mundane
category.
So for example, if you'rewanting to be visible and you're
putting yourself out there,well, you can put yourself out
there and you can talk and speakand present.
But if there's nothing for youto act for, nothing for people
to actually do on the backend,whether it's listening to a
podcast, whether it'sdownloading your freebie,
whether it's.
(06:27):
You know, inviting to aconsultation, whether it's
inspiring people to potentiallybuild your brand online in some
way, shape or form, so that youcould be invited to speak, for
example, or, invited intosomebody's podcast or whatever
the case might be.
Whatever the ultimate aim or theof the actual visibility you are
(06:49):
gonna need to have.
Some systems on the backend,which is what the systems always
come up as being the point ofthe category of mundane, uh,
whether that be design, whetherthat be the thing that you
actually are not skilled at anddon't really want to do, and you
wanna optimize towards the thingthat you absolutely are good at
(07:11):
doing and want to optimizetowards what, whatever that
might be.
You've gotta go through this.
Feeling of inertia.
And this inertia is somethingthat I have observed in myself,
but broken through in it beingin flow and for short sprints of
time.
Now, I remember my, my, uh,physical ed teacher in school
(07:32):
had said to me, Ika, you are asprinter.
And you're, made, like anathlete who's a sprinter.
Well, through the journey of.
This entrepreneurship, what I'verealized is that it's okay to be
a sprinter, but what you reallyneed is to be a marathon runner
because the journey ofentrepreneurship is more like a
(07:52):
marathon than it is an actualsprint.
And sprint will only get you sofar, but it's the marathon, it's
the long-term vision, the pull,the long term goals, the long
term habits, and, and all of thelong-term things that need to be
in place for there to besustainability.
Otherwise, we just end upspinning our wheels and going
nowhere.
(08:13):
So with that being said, whatdid I notice, uh, is that there
needs to be certain number ofsprints that you need to do in
order to gain momentum.
Just like the plane needs acertain amount of actual sheer
force for it to even take offbefore it can get to cruising
altitude and then just cruise.
So if you are in a season whereyou are wanting to have your
(08:38):
voice out and you're wanting tobe visible.
Whether it be online or whetherit be offline, or whether it be
that you're starting out orwhether you are wanting to
create your brand voice in a waythat people come into your world
through, uh, maybe an ad thatyou wanted to create online so
that people can find you.
The thing that you will need tocommit to doing is firstly the
(09:01):
investing in the mundane, butyou won't invest in the mundane
unless you have certain thingsin place.
For flow to take effect.
Now, one of those things is thatthere needs to be an element of
novelty.
So having a goal in mind that isvision led, that is mission led,
that is new, so, but draws onyour own existing capabilities,
(09:24):
whatever that it is that youmight be doing, and then.
But just enough to be outside ofyour comfort zone.
So if the, if the gap or thestretch is too high, you'll feel
frustrated and demotivated byit.
But if the gap is just enough,then you're more likely to want
to do it.
But without there being adefined goal or an objective.
(09:47):
On what it is that you're doingit for, you're not likely to
want to carry through with it.
Uh, the third thing that needsto be in place is that there
needs to be a timely orimmediate feedback on something
that you're doing so that youfeel like the efforts that
you're putting in are actuallygonna start paying off and
following through.
So those three things need toreally be in place.
(10:10):
And now if I think about, uh,the series that.
I've run at least three timesnow, which is a three day event,
which was really brought aboutthrough the creation from my
soul, from the things that I'dobserved from giving people the
exact amount of insight into theissues that they were feeling.
(10:33):
So for example, one of theevents that I ran was to give
people an exact roadmap on thevisibility steps that they need
to take based on their.
Now based on that score, theyfound out, that this was the
roadmap and this is what theyneeded to do.
And it was a very successfulevent and I really enjoyed it
because I was in flow fromhaving been in inertia.
(10:56):
So my very first, thing that Italked about was actually
inertia and the concept of beingin inertia and then going into
flow.
Uh, I talked about what thatlooked like, and then each week
built on that towards the salesevent.
And I've done this now threetimes.
And so each time I've had.
(11:17):
A period of inertia and thenneeded flow.
And I realized that all threethings just happened to be in
place.
And I didn't realize that at thetime.
But now since having been inflow and having had people ask
me how you can get in flow, Iknow that those three things
were actually present in therecipe that I had created for me
(11:39):
with using my own voiceterritories towards visibility.
So if I look at breaking down.
The most recent event that Idid, which was, uh, in May,
2025, and the event was new.
The content was new, uh, it wasvery topical.
It addressed an issue thatpeople already were feeling.
(12:00):
And so it had topicality andrelevance.
But it also had ingredients likeit was new to me, which means
that there was an element ofnovelty.
I had done it before, so I knewwhat format that this was going
to run in.
Uh, so I didn't have to exertquite as much pressure on the
actual.
(12:20):
The logistics of the three daysbecause I had the systems that
I'd already built from likehaving done it a couple of
times.
And so I had, I knew what I wasin for.
I was a bit more organized thistime as well.
In fact, I was quite a lot moreorganized this time and my
backend, and so the mundane hadbeen taken care of for nearly
four or five months in the leadup to.
(12:43):
The actual thing because, and sothe push and the drive that I
had was because I knew that Ihad a goal in mind.
I, did shift my goal on when Iwas going to launch about a
couple of times during thatperiod because I realized that I
needed more time to actually,prepare for the three day event,
but it kept channeling me andpushing me or pulling me forward
(13:03):
because I knew that there was amessage that I wanted to get out
there.
And.
Uh, that was really somethingthat was motivating for me.
And then the third thing wasimmediate feedback, because when
I was doing the three day, threeday event, I knew that I was
going to get a result based offof previous events that I'd run
where my events were successful.
So it was.
(13:25):
Immediate feedback based on whatI have done in the past, as well
as better preparation in thelead up.
So when I think about my dip nowand what I'm optimizing towards,
or how the flow will take placenext in relation to my
visibility, this is not aboutbeing visible all of the time
using this concept ofconsistency in like a negative
(13:49):
way, but using consistency.
To first deliver the result thatyou want so that you can take
the best off.
The learnings that you have intocreating something that will
then eventually give youconsistency.
So, um, so this is flow theoryin essence and how flow has
(14:09):
worked for me personally and howyou can get past that inertia
that you might be feeling intothose, achieving those flow
states and into peak performwhere you feel like everything
around you pretty much comes toa standstill or almost gets
negated because you're so.
In the rhythm of it and you're,you are feeling it, that you
(14:30):
just completely lose track oftime and, and time basically
condenses down and becomes one.
And you really don't mind beingin that flow and doing the work
because to you that is actuallyfun.
Just like, to me it was fun.
And so I didn't feel like I hadthat.
I think the, the conditionsthough that need, you know, that
(14:51):
need to be in place in terms of.
Achieving flow is also importantto discuss because if you might,
be thinking, well, I've gotyoung children, or, I've got
caring responsibilities and allof that.
So you really have to look atwhat your current situation is
and determine, okay, is thisgoing to be.
(15:12):
Something that you can do rightnow.
You know, like for example, inthe, in the case of the three
day event, you know, it requiresa whole lot of planning.
It requires a lot more time.
It's a bit more advanced thansay if you are starting out.
And so if you are starting out,pick something small that you
can do that you know is going tobe outside of your comfort zone,
(15:34):
but it's also gonna give you achallenge.
And also think about, you know,the enabling factors.
So what can you do to eliminatedistractions?
Can you do the workout when saysomeone isn't around?
Can you create, inject a ritualwithin it, which is maybe, the
ritual of having a cup of teabefore you do the actual thing.
(15:56):
Now this is an example that,James Clear and his book Atomic
Habits talks about as well, isactually having a ritual around
the thing that you have to do,because the thing that you have
to do until it becomes a habitis a task.
And then once you start doingenough of it, it starts becoming
part of your identity.
So, just like content creation,if you start to see the results
(16:18):
of creating content, you're morelikely to want to carry on with
it because you know that therisk of not creating content is
actually.
Greater than the risk of,creating content because one
negates out the other.
So in, in from a visibilitylens, and then look at your peak
productive times, your peakproductivity times are times
when you feel like you canoperate at your best.
(16:40):
For me, that happens to bemid-afternoon.
So sometime between three andfive 30 or six o'clock is when I
feel like I'm at my productivebest, even though that seems to
be a lot of the a time when mostpeople kind of feel the slump.
I've noticed that a lot ofpeople feel the slump mornings
are great for me to thinkideate.
Write all of that, so, reallybuilding those rituals in for
(17:03):
yourself.
So that you're doing the thingsthat you love to do by achieving
the things that you have to doand ticking off the things that
you have to do.
So just as we are coming near tothe end of the episode, I wanted
to ask you, uh, which is.
Think about the task at hand,which you're really avoiding
right now, procrastinatingabout, and ask yourself why
(17:26):
you're procrastinating aboutthat task.
Is that a task that is achi thatis aligned to a bigger vision?
Or are you struggling with thattask because you're, you are
struggling to define what yourbigger vision actually is?
That is going to be in serviceof the highest and best.
Use for you so that you know,fulfilling, uh, something that
(17:49):
is off the highest achievementfor you personally.
Because theory suggests, again,this is a research done Stephen
Coler, in the book The Art ofthe Impossible, which is he
states that.
We mostly pay attention to thetask at hand when the challenge
of the task slightly exceeds ourskillset.
And when you feel like you aregood at, being comfortable with
(18:15):
the uncomfortable, which feelslike a stretch rather than a
snap.
And so if you're thinking aboutthat, with that quote in mind.
Ask yourself if that stretchtask that you've got is
something that can actually bedone by somebody else if you are
so bogged down that you actuallycannot, even if it's stopping
(18:35):
you from getting started.
In other words, is that a taskthat can be given out to
somebody else?
Bearing in mind that yourvisibility is not something that
you can outsource.
Your visibility is yourresponsibility, and this is
especially true if you're not amassive company.
And you are the founder and youare wanting to set yourself up
with a point of differenceonline or offline.
(18:56):
And so it's your responsibilityfor your visibility.
But some of the backend stuffwhich might be stopping you,
could you give that out tosomebody even if it is for one
or two hours a week.
You know, something for you tothink about as you are thinking
about, um, your emotional stateleading you into inertia, which
then causes.
Lag and then stops you frombeing in flow.
(19:18):
So you've gotta really start toidentify the tasks that can free
you up to be more of who you areso that you can get into those
flow states.
And then if I think about themotivation to get going and the
things that have enabled me toget motivated enough to actually
keep going.
Then I want you to also askyourself about that specific
(19:42):
task.
You know, what is gonna motivateyou to get onto that task?
Say if it's a task that's, uh,that's sitting with you, not
with somebody else.
Because motivation will need.
A level of curiosity to seewhat's actually going to happen
at the end for you to test andhave a testing mindset when you
go into,, breaking that inertia.
(20:04):
And that's gonna be critical foryou to unlock and break the
pattern of sitting still anddoing nothing, uh, and with the
view to actually doingsomething.
So approach it with a level ofcuriosity, which is what is this
going to lead me to?
Driven by purpose, which is,keep asking yourself why you're
(20:25):
doing what you're doing.
I think it's really importantas.
Founders to keep remindingourselves about the reason why
we are doing what we are doing.
Each one of us has a deepanswer, uh, within us, uh, as to
what drives us to do the thingswe do, despite the difficulties.
And then the third is mastery ofthe skills to pursue that
passion or purpose.
(20:45):
Do you actually have a drive toachieve mastery in something so
that you can achieve?
Your ultimate goal.
Uh, and so here are five thingsthat I want you to take away
from, again, from Steven Kotlow,which is the reference that I
had for this and the inspirationfor flow states as I was, as I
(21:07):
was, um, looking into it a bitmore, was that motivation is
what gets you in the game.
Learning is what allows you tocontinue to play.
Creativity is how you steer.
So what you come out of thatonce you have unlocked your
visibility.
And lastly, flow is how youamplify all of the results
(21:28):
beyond reasonable expectationsbecause you have suddenly
created what people otherwisereferred to as the flywheel.
So with that being said, I hopeyou've enjoyed this episode.
If you have loved it, I wouldlove to get a review from you.
So that more people can findthis podcast and help amplify
the reach to more people whoneed to hear this.
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