March 10, 2026 • 27 mins
With his books published in 12 languages and over 500,000 copies sold worldwide, Scott Allan is on a mission to transform human potential. Scott is the bestselling author of self help books such as Fail Big, Relaunch Your Life, and Do the Hard Things First. As a former corporate business trainer in Japan and Transformational Success Strategist, he has invested over 10,000 hours in Self development to practice and research into the areas of confidence development and mindset mastery training. Scott's website: https://scottallanbooks.com/ Show notes: https://successgrid.net/sg260/ If you love this show, please leave a review. Go to https://ratethispodcast.com/successgrid Join AI Marketers Club: https://www.successgridacademy.com/3a30d0c6
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hallo, I welcome to the Success Great Podcast with also Santali.
I am excited to introduce you to a series of
conversations with some of the most successful and sparing individuals
from various industries. My aim is to dive into their
stories behind their success and explore the knowledge, strategiest, habits, mindsets,
and wisdom that have propelled their success. Each hybishude of
(00:21):
the Success Great Podcast will feature a different guest who
will share their unique journey, the challenges they faced, and
the reasons they have learned along the way. I would
also be covering topics from entrepreneurship and innovation to leadership
and personal development. Whether you are inspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned
business profession, or just someone looking to improve your life,
(00:41):
the Success Great Podcast is for you. My goal is
to bring you valuable insights and inspiration that will help
you achieve your own success in business and life. So
get ready to learn and be inspired. The Success Great
Podcast starts now. In this episode, we are going to
be speaking about how to invent your life, how to
implement change in your life that includes framework to habit, formation,
(01:04):
time management, and breaking down goals into actionable steps. With
his books published in twelve languages. Scott is one on
his own missione to transform human potential. Scott is the
best selling author of self filed books such as Fail
Big Airliance to Life, and Do the Hard Things First.
As a former corporate business trainer in Japan and transformation
(01:26):
success strategist, invested in ten thousand hours and self development
to practice and research into the areas of confidence development
and mindset mastery training. Scott, Welcome to this episode of
The Success Great Podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
What it's great to be here. Thanks for having me
on the show.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I'm glad you are joining me for thistribisude of the podcast.
So Scott, first of all, because this is the success
a Great podcast and you all have worked a lot
in personal development and self growth and these areas, and
we all talk about that we all should strive to
be a better tell every day and every minute of
our lives.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
What the success means to you?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
And how do you see other people that you work
with or you train, define success as and you see
things that you agree with or some certain type of
misconceptions around it.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, great question. Well, I think success has to be
defined by the individuals, so it means something different to everybody,
we tend to think success is about, you know, getting
a lot of riches and money and things, and it
can do those things, but I think that is more
the result of your efforts. So for me, success is
(02:37):
about progress. And by that I mean if I'm working
towards something and I'm feeling that I'm growing from working
on this thing, especially working on myself, then to me,
success is the ability to overcome one's personal obstacles, because
our obstacles are really the things that are holding us
(02:58):
back from the success to begin with. So whenever I
conquer something or conquer myself, I should say, I feel
as if I am moving towards you know, our framework
of success. So success is something that you know, you
just have to frame that up for whatever it is,
whatever that does mean for you, then you need to
(03:18):
create a logical pathway in order to achieve that level
of success. And well, let's take success and just call
it a goal. Right, So if you're moving towards your goal,
then you know, once you've reached that goal, you're going
to experience a sense of fulfillment. And that's what we
call progress. So I think, for to quote Tony Robbins,
(03:39):
he said, the only measure of fulfillment is really progress
or success to se quote it, and I do agree
with that, but then again people have to frame it
up for you know, whatever however it is that works
for them.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
So we should be in a place of making progress
every day, like as you mentioned, because when we think
of a goal and we achieve that goal, we would
star have to achieve another one, and if we don't
achieve that goal, we call ourselves failures. It's actually a
progress like you mentioned. So it's like this kind of
a framework of things that we have to put actions
(04:13):
into things to achieve them. So now all of these
things they're talking about, these kind of things, the first
thing comes to mind, what is the most important thing
in achieving our success or having this progress or achieving
our goal? Is it in our mindset? Is this the
best thing or the first thing that we should put
place in and then go to action.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Well, certainly is the mindset. You have to have the
right mindset in order to know what it is that
you want to do. So what I mean by that
is clarity is key. So you have to have clarity
on what it is that you want before you set
out to go after it. You know, just like you
set out on a trip, you have to know where
you know, what's your destination. And think, what happens with
(04:57):
a lot of people is they think they want something,
they start working towards something, and they realize, maybe you know,
three six months, one year into their plan, that they're
actually working towards the wrong thing, you know, the ladders
against the wrong side of the wall, so to speak.
So you have to have clarity on what it is
that you want, because without clarity, you are just wandering
(05:20):
around aimlessly working on you know, working I think, doing
half of this, half of that, and not really achieving anything.
And then you get frustrated and burned out. And that's
when people start to give up and you know, they
go they default back to the life that they used
to have, and that's the one that's the life that
they're probably trying to escape from in the first place.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
So this is.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
The issue, Like when we face our first obstacle in
whatever that we are doing, we start thinking to ourselves like,
this is not going to happen. So what do you
think the solution. Let's say, all the kind of framework
to resolve this thing is in the back of or head.
And also this will have to be in a way
(06:06):
that we have to invet ourselves to go to achieve
our goal at the end of it. And also when
I say a goal, it's not something that we are
when we see a goal, it's not something that we
always kind of do and we really do. Like we
talk about goal something that's completely new to us, we
have never achieved before, right, correct.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, So I think too, just to define what a
goal is, a goal is something that's moving you towards
the vision of the person that you want to be
or a vision of the life that you want to create.
That's really what goals are. You know, they're intended to
be used as goal posts really milestones on the journey.
So you're right, like, once you reach one goal, it's
(06:46):
just the human condition is, yeah, we want to go
after the next one and the next one, the next one,
and that's okay. I think what's important is that it's
not what you get by you know, moving towards that
goal is who you are becomning. So whenever I've set
a goal for myself, I have goals in business, goals
and you know for physical exercise and goals for personal growth,
(07:09):
but my passion really or obsession is who am I
going to become by achieving this goal? And that's really
I think that's what we call the you know, the
pathway for personal growth is you know, based on that.
So people can get confused thinking that they're you know,
they're working towards the goal because they want to achieve
(07:30):
a financial outcome. Now that is a goal as well.
If you know you have you should have goals for
your finances, and that's fine, but you have to become
the kind of person that once you get the money,
for example, you have to become the kind of person
who can actually manage the money, you know, because if
you have a scarcity mindset and you end up getting
(07:52):
a lot of money from the results of your hard work,
you will be able to manage it. You'll probably end
up losing it or wasting it. So and we could
say the same thing for a lot of other things
as well. You know, you have a personal goal, maybe
you want to run a marathon, for example, and you know,
if you've never run a marathon before, you have to
break it down into smaller steps. I think you mentioned
(08:15):
something that was important is that you know, people get
overwhelmed actually with you know, a lot of things in
life in general. They start doing too many things, or
again they're not clear on what it is they want
to achieve, so they become very overwhelmed. And then they
will actually, you know, actually give up or start working
(08:38):
on a new project instead of the project that they're
working towards because the goal that they're working towards became difficult,
and then start something new, and they start something new,
so they never actually accomplish anything, and that kills their confidence.
And then after that, you know, they just start, you know,
we all start spinning our wheels and not really achieving anything.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So the point that you mentioned there, sometimes we think
we do multiple things and we think that we are progressing,
but we think that we are outworking everybody else, but
actually we are kind of a vicious circle that we
keep going or running around without actually achieving what should
be achieved or what should be done or what.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
We are should be.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
So do you think that this is a way of
people thinking that, yeah, I'm doing multiple things because I
am seeing myself doing more than other people, or do
you think this is the way I see it? It
could be not the way to go because at.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
The end of the day, at the end of the year,
or at the end of.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
The month, we will not achieve our goal whatever it
is done. Something very important you mentioned whatever the let's
see the end goal for ourselves, it's financial goal or whatever.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Like.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
We should think about how things or how our success
or progress also, as you mentioned, changes us as human
This is.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Very important, right, yeah, no, definitely, Yeah. So I think
what happens with a lot of people is that, you know,
we start to multitask. And I do this all the
time myself. I layer on many different projects and responsibilities
and I start to, you know, try to work on everything,
not at the same time, but I'll do multiple things
(10:22):
throughout the day. And I get it. I mean, people
are very busy, so we try to do everything because
we're impatient and we want everything at the same time.
You know, we want to achieve success tomorrow, not five
years from now. But the thing is, and I'm a
big fan of focus, by the way, I think that
focus is the key, and we can really only focus
(10:44):
on one thing at a time. So having that singular
focus towards one specific thing and working on that one
thing until it's finished, now that's easier, said than done.
Because when we're working on multiple projects, or we have
multiple passions and things that we want to pursue, we
can get pulled off course.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
So if I'm working towards maybe I'm working towards building
my coaching program, and then I get pulled away towards
building my website and then writing a book and all
these things, you end up scattering everything you know, to
the wind and basically just burning yourself out. Again, what
happens is we become overwhelmed, and then after that we
(11:29):
start to shut down, you know, and then you know,
the default is to actually escape from the work. You know,
we'll start to look for other things that we can
work on. But yeah, the multitasking doesn't I don't think
it's ever worked. I mean, some people can handle it
very well. I can tell you it doesn't work very
well for me. So having said that, I was just
(11:49):
gonna say yeah, But having said that, I still find
myself locked into that trap day after day. So it
really is a it's a struggle, you know. But the
thing is is that remember, like it does come back
to the clarity, But clarity is actually knowing what your
priorities are. So this is the thing that I've had
to train myself on again and again and again is
(12:11):
knowing what my priorities are. My priority goal, we'll call
that the goal, but then the priority action steps that
I need to work on every day moving towards that.
Because your priorities will define your actions.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
The broisers are very important.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
And I relate to our conversation here before I hit
the record button, which was that we are going to
be about self management time management, but you mentioned it's
not time management, it is self management. This clarity, I
think it relates very much to self management because time
we cannot manage time. Time is like we have twenty
(12:47):
four hours in a day with our you are, whatever you.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Are in the world does not matter.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
It's we have like around, for example, eight hours of night,
ten hours of day or whatever.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
So it's kind of the same.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
But how we do through these hours of the day
can determine what we are going to do or achieve.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Time management is a great topic, so I'm just going
to break something down with that. Let's say that you're
into time blocking, which I think time blocking is a
great way to get things done, and you time block
in two hours per day to work on. Maybe you're
working on yourself, maybe you're working out, or you're reading
a book or whatever it is. But time blocking in
(13:29):
and of itself is just it's a frame a time.
So let's just say it's two hours. During that two hours, however,
you become distracted, you start working on other things, and
you get bored, and you get restless. You know, you're
in the kitchen looking for something, whatever it may be.
So even though you time blocked something in which is
time management, because you are struggling to manage yourself during
(13:52):
that time, you don't actually get anything done during that time.
And that has happened to me many times, you know,
and I've seen it happen to many other people. So
for me, again, it comes down to staying focused within
that frame of time management. But you also have to
be you know, clear on what your priorities are as well.
So self management is really like again, it just comes
(14:13):
back to having clarity on what it is that you
want and then you know, defining what the priorities are
and you know, if you are very clear on what
that is, the so called time management piece takes care
of itself, because like you said, we you know, time
is just time, it's passing one way or the other,
it doesn't matter. You know, we're not really managing anything there.
(14:35):
I think we can only manage ourselves during a specific
time and you know if you can, and I think
this is a daily reprieve, like there's something that we
always have to be working towards because you're never going
to have a perfect day when you feel like you know,
well you might, but I mean, you know, I think
they're rare for me where I feel like everything just
went really smoothly and I was able to you know,
(14:58):
block in my time for working reading. Of course, there's
you know, we have to probably go to work. A
lot of people have a job as well, so there's
eight to ten hours there where our time is managed
by a company or why somebody else. But outside of that,
you have to be aware of, you know, what is
the time that you have that you can manage for yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
That's very important talking about clarity and focus, this is
something very important for us to have self management in
our time.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So that's very important to have.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Let's say, I don't want to say shortcut, but it
reduces the time to resetting goal, right, But does that
relate also to when we talk about out working, somebody
else does working hard or working smart?
Speaker 3 (15:43):
A lot of people talk about these too.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Is there are they like a positive or a negative
force to each other? Working smart versus working hard? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I think working smart again, that that comes back, you know,
So I think we have to define what that actually
means as well, you know, because working smart is again
I think that means you're working towards something that means
a lot to you, you know. So for me, like
smart working or working really smart towards something means again
that means time management. But that also comes back to,
(16:13):
you know, focusing on something that's moving you forward. And
remember the name of the game is progress. And I
always have to keep bringing myself back to that very
simple concept is that if this thing that I'm working
on or focusing on is not moving me forward, then
I have to question should I be doing this thing.
I'll give you an example. Actually, so everybody watches TV.
(16:34):
We love to watch Netflix and you know, other shows
and stuff, and I think that's great. I love to
do that as well. But if I'm watching too much TV,
and I know I should be working on something because
I do all my work from home, basically. So it's
it's easy to just suddenly, you know, be in another
room doing something else completely different, and I have to
(16:54):
ask myself, like the hour or two that I'm investing
in this active is this going to be you know,
moving me forward? Or should I be working on something else?
So again it comes back to self management as well,
you know, but I think the one thing you mentioned
there is that, you know, if people are distracted by
(17:16):
something that's you know, not conditioned to their well being,
then that's something that they have to be aware of.
So the self consciousness is very powerful and self awareness,
So we have to be very self aware of you know,
what it is that you know is blocking us, you know,
what's in your way. And more importantly, if you can
(17:38):
identify the thing that's blocking you, then you can identify
the one action you can take towards removing that obstacle
or roadblock.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Something very important do you mentioned tiary is self awareness?
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Can you also expand doing this? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So self awareness is really self consciousness. So it's being
very self aware of what it is that you really
want in life, especially being self aware of your own
thoughts too, you know. So yeah, our thoughts actually manage
our mind, but our mindset is think of that as
the overall you know, everything that's controlling everything. I think.
(18:12):
So if you have a bad mindset around something, and
to define a bad mindset, it's not just negative thinking,
it's how you think, act, and feel about yourself. So
for me, when I'm focused on a healthy mindset, then
I become more self aware of myself, Like how am
(18:33):
I acting in this moment? You know, am I breathing?
So I love breathing, by the way, and I mean
like focusing on deep breaths and just working on that
throughout the day. That's one of the ways that I
become very self aware. And also meditation too, And with meditation,
you don't just have to be sitting on a pillow
meditating for twenty thirty minutes or an hour. You can
(18:56):
actually be practicing walking meditation. And the reason I bring
this up is because it's important just to be self
aware throughout the day of not just what you're doing.
It's not just about productivity, but who you are, because
who you are is your identity, you know, And this
is really for me, like being productive for example, or
(19:17):
you know, achieving a goal or you know, having success.
This all actually adds up to your identity, and identity
is the key because your identity is how you see
yourself and I think at the end of the day,
what really matters is how you feel about yourself. You know,
so if you feel very comfortable with who you are
(19:37):
and you're happy with who you are, but you want
to of course, you know, move forward and become that
greatest version of yourself, and the identity is the key.
But the identity is also linked to your mindset around
you know, certain things. So for example, having a healthy
mindset around how you feel about communicating with people, for example,
(19:59):
or how you feel about money, or how you feel
about you know, your work. Right, you have to have
a mindset that's built for success, and it takes time
to build this thing, which you have to be intentional
with it and taking intentional action. And by taking intentional
action would be you know, learning as much as you
can about yourself and that's what builds self awareness.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
That's very impressive and very important to be self aware
of our things or thoughts or actions or even our movement,
which is it could be hard for some, but it's
eventually I think maybe comes down to habits starting noticing
our habits.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Bet by bet we'll start seeing.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
The bad things that we do or the good things,
and we can more remove the bad things and tell
them into good and positive habits. But in regards to that,
like each of us every day has certain tasks to
do to achieve their goal whatever or even their routines
or habits. Do you think in general from your opinion,
and you also wrote a book about this, should we
(20:59):
go and tackle the small, easy things first or go
after the hard tough things first and get them done
before the easy ones.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
So they have a practice every day where I'll write
down three of the hard things that I've been avoiding.
And you don't have to do all three things or
five or ten things. But I think it's important to
do one hard thing every day. Now this one hard thing. Again,
people have to define what this is for them, but
it may be going to the gym, for example, that
(21:31):
is a hard thing. Actually, what I find though, is
that the hardest thing for me about going to the
gym is actually going to the gym getting to the gym,
because leading up to that point, I will procrastinate on
going most days, come up with excuses why I shouldn't go.
And then once I actually get there and get moving,
(21:52):
it's fine, you know, but you have to define you know,
what point does the task become difficult? And for most
people it's actually starting it, right, So there are a
few layers here to unpack. First of all is identifying
what the hard thing is, identifying the resistance point, like,
at what point are you actually does this actually become
(22:14):
a hard thing? So I think for a lot of
people it's starting it, or you know, going to the gym,
or you know, if it's an application form, the hardest
thing is maybe just filling in the first line. So
the key is to set yourself up for success. So
give you an example of going to the gym. Actually,
how I break through that resistance is I always have
my workout bag sitting by the door, because as a
(22:35):
reminder that it's sitting there, it's ready. I don't have
to prepare anything. I can just pick it up and go.
And then I'll just break things down into small steps,
so you know, getting into the car, or walk into
the gym, or however it is that you're moving towards there,
just break everything down into smaller steps. So you can
use this practice for anything, just using that as an example,
(22:56):
but starting, you know, the practice of that hard thing
is the key, and then you can just put yourself
on a timer for five minutes or ten minutes. So
you know, I have a certain project that I'm working
on that's been really difficult, and I have resistance every
(23:16):
time I sit down to work on this project. But
the hardest thing for me on with the project is
actually sitting down and starting it every day. So once
I'm into it for five or ten minutes, it starts
to get easier because I've I've gotten some momentum, you know,
I'm building some energy around the project, and then I
can continue to work on it for probably thirty forty
five or you know, sixty minutes.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
So yeah, that's very important that you mentioned that. It's
always like I could feel it. Sometimes I'm excited to
go to the gym. It's great, but sometimes you're not.
But it is kind of true, like the thing that
we don't want to do is like to go there.
But once you are there, once you change and you're
in the locker room and changing close I start working out,
(23:59):
you are really motivated to do the work. But the
thing is, it's keep tribating the same day. So we
need to reach a point where it's like what you
are doing having this gym bag in front of you
all day basically or when you kind of it's time
to go. So that's very important and your business or career.
(24:19):
What is the worst advice that you have ever received?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Probably the worst advice I've ever seen. I don't know
if it's the worst advice, but it was advice, and
I think it was. You know, if you want to
succeed in business, you should be everywhere doing everything and
being seen by everyone. What that means is, you know,
I should be on all the social media platforms, creating
a whole bunch of content and putting a whole bunch
of stuff out there. And although I do think that
(24:46):
there's some truth to that, because if you're looking for
visibility in your business, I'm just using business as an example. Again,
you know, that leads to a lot of overwhelmed because
first of all, you can be everywhere doing everything trying
to meet everybody. If you are, you you need to
ask for help for that too, you know, So for me,
I'd rather just you know, that wasn't good advice for me,
(25:07):
because again that leads to overwhelmed. Overwhelmed leads to procrastination
because now I don't want to do any of these things,
so I start looking for roots to escape from, you know,
you know, taking that advice and being everywhere, doing everything
and meeting everyone right, So that just wasn't good advice
for me. But again because that leads back to multiple
(25:29):
layers of multitasking, and that's just something that I'd rather,
you know, not practice in my own life.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
So that's very important.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Like speaking of when we talk about focus and clarity,
someone commanding you to be for example and all over
social media takes more time and we'll have you like
not focused in a certain place, which is not a
good thing. You have to be focused in what devolity
is that you're doing, especially for example, in general, if
you want to grow on social media, have to focus
(25:57):
on one platform then go to other places. It's like
everything you want a good dealth, you will need to
eat right, have good habits, and it's extra bonus also
if you go to the gym. So these kind of
things add up, like also you mentioned, and small pieces
over time and they need focused discipline and cularity for them. Scott,
(26:19):
where can people learn more about you and see what
you do.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Sure got allenbooks dot com. Yeah, they can also go
to Amazon, of course, and there's I think I have
about thirty five to forty books published on there. So
depending on the skill that you want to learn or
you know, if you have an obstacle to overcome, you
can certainly pick up a book on there and I
think it will help you. And there is a course
(26:42):
platform launching in a few months, so that's just another
way that people can engage with the content.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Awesome, amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Thank you very much Scott for being today with me
on this episode of the success At podcast. Great insights
and analogy provide us here. Always take it step by
step and don't trust things. People I want to achieve
their goals yesterday, which is how to do? You have
to play it easy, focus and determine with small habits
every day and after a while, surely you will reach
(27:12):
your goal steadily.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Absolutely. Yeah, So good luck everybody. You've got this
Hallo, I welcome to the Success Great Podcast with also Santali.
I am excited to introduce you to a series of
conversations with some of the most successful and sparing individuals
from various industries. My aim is to dive into their
stories behind their success and explore the knowledge, strategiest, habits, mindsets,
and wisdom that have propelled their success. Each hybishude of
(00:21):
the Success Great Podcast will feature a different guest who
will share their unique journey, the challenges they faced, and
the reasons they have learned along the way. I would
also be covering topics from entrepreneurship and innovation to leadership
and personal development. Whether you are inspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned
business profession, or just someone looking to improve your life,
(00:41):
the Success Great Podcast is for you. My goal is
to bring you valuable insights and inspiration that will help
you achieve your own success in business and life. So
get ready to learn and be inspired. The Success Great
Podcast starts now. In this episode, we are going to
be speaking about how to invent your life, how to
implement change in your life that includes framework to habit, formation,
(01:04):
time management, and breaking down goals into actionable steps. With
his books published in twelve languages. Scott is one on
his own missione to transform human potential. Scott is the
best selling author of self filed books such as Fail
Big Airliance to Life, and Do the Hard Things First.
As a former corporate business trainer in Japan and transformation
(01:26):
success strategist, invested in ten thousand hours and self development
to practice and research into the areas of confidence development
and mindset mastery training. Scott, Welcome to this episode of
The Success Great Podcast.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
What it's great to be here. Thanks for having me
on the show.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I'm glad you are joining me for thistribisude of the podcast.
So Scott, first of all, because this is the success
a Great podcast and you all have worked a lot
in personal development and self growth and these areas, and
we all talk about that we all should strive to
be a better tell every day and every minute of
our lives.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
What the success means to you?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
And how do you see other people that you work
with or you train, define success as and you see
things that you agree with or some certain type of
misconceptions around it.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, great question. Well, I think success has to be
defined by the individuals, so it means something different to everybody,
we tend to think success is about, you know, getting
a lot of riches and money and things, and it
can do those things, but I think that is more
the result of your efforts. So for me, success is
(02:37):
about progress. And by that I mean if I'm working
towards something and I'm feeling that I'm growing from working
on this thing, especially working on myself, then to me,
success is the ability to overcome one's personal obstacles, because
our obstacles are really the things that are holding us
(02:58):
back from the success to begin with. So whenever I
conquer something or conquer myself, I should say, I feel
as if I am moving towards you know, our framework
of success. So success is something that you know, you
just have to frame that up for whatever it is,
whatever that does mean for you, then you need to
(03:18):
create a logical pathway in order to achieve that level
of success. And well, let's take success and just call
it a goal. Right, So if you're moving towards your goal,
then you know, once you've reached that goal, you're going
to experience a sense of fulfillment. And that's what we
call progress. So I think, for to quote Tony Robbins,
(03:39):
he said, the only measure of fulfillment is really progress
or success to se quote it, and I do agree
with that, but then again people have to frame it
up for you know, whatever however it is that works
for them.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
So we should be in a place of making progress
every day, like as you mentioned, because when we think
of a goal and we achieve that goal, we would
star have to achieve another one, and if we don't
achieve that goal, we call ourselves failures. It's actually a
progress like you mentioned. So it's like this kind of
a framework of things that we have to put actions
(04:13):
into things to achieve them. So now all of these
things they're talking about, these kind of things, the first
thing comes to mind, what is the most important thing
in achieving our success or having this progress or achieving
our goal? Is it in our mindset? Is this the
best thing or the first thing that we should put
place in and then go to action.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
Well, certainly is the mindset. You have to have the
right mindset in order to know what it is that
you want to do. So what I mean by that
is clarity is key. So you have to have clarity
on what it is that you want before you set
out to go after it. You know, just like you
set out on a trip, you have to know where
you know, what's your destination. And think, what happens with
(04:57):
a lot of people is they think they want something,
they start working towards something, and they realize, maybe you know,
three six months, one year into their plan, that they're
actually working towards the wrong thing, you know, the ladders
against the wrong side of the wall, so to speak.
So you have to have clarity on what it is
that you want, because without clarity, you are just wandering
(05:20):
around aimlessly working on you know, working I think, doing
half of this, half of that, and not really achieving anything.
And then you get frustrated and burned out. And that's
when people start to give up and you know, they
go they default back to the life that they used
to have, and that's the one that's the life that
they're probably trying to escape from in the first place.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
So this is.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
The issue, Like when we face our first obstacle in
whatever that we are doing, we start thinking to ourselves like,
this is not going to happen. So what do you
think the solution. Let's say, all the kind of framework
to resolve this thing is in the back of or head.
And also this will have to be in a way
(06:06):
that we have to invet ourselves to go to achieve
our goal at the end of it. And also when
I say a goal, it's not something that we are
when we see a goal, it's not something that we
always kind of do and we really do. Like we
talk about goal something that's completely new to us, we
have never achieved before, right, correct.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Yeah, So I think too, just to define what a
goal is, a goal is something that's moving you towards
the vision of the person that you want to be
or a vision of the life that you want to create.
That's really what goals are. You know, they're intended to
be used as goal posts really milestones on the journey.
So you're right, like, once you reach one goal, it's
(06:46):
just the human condition is, yeah, we want to go
after the next one and the next one, the next one,
and that's okay. I think what's important is that it's
not what you get by you know, moving towards that
goal is who you are becomning. So whenever I've set
a goal for myself, I have goals in business, goals
and you know for physical exercise and goals for personal growth,
(07:09):
but my passion really or obsession is who am I
going to become by achieving this goal? And that's really
I think that's what we call the you know, the
pathway for personal growth is you know, based on that.
So people can get confused thinking that they're you know,
they're working towards the goal because they want to achieve
(07:30):
a financial outcome. Now that is a goal as well.
If you know you have you should have goals for
your finances, and that's fine, but you have to become
the kind of person that once you get the money,
for example, you have to become the kind of person
who can actually manage the money, you know, because if
you have a scarcity mindset and you end up getting
(07:52):
a lot of money from the results of your hard work,
you will be able to manage it. You'll probably end
up losing it or wasting it. So and we could
say the same thing for a lot of other things
as well. You know, you have a personal goal, maybe
you want to run a marathon, for example, and you know,
if you've never run a marathon before, you have to
break it down into smaller steps. I think you mentioned
(08:15):
something that was important is that you know, people get
overwhelmed actually with you know, a lot of things in
life in general. They start doing too many things, or
again they're not clear on what it is they want
to achieve, so they become very overwhelmed. And then they
will actually, you know, actually give up or start working
(08:38):
on a new project instead of the project that they're
working towards because the goal that they're working towards became difficult,
and then start something new, and they start something new,
so they never actually accomplish anything, and that kills their confidence.
And then after that, you know, they just start, you know,
we all start spinning our wheels and not really achieving anything.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
So the point that you mentioned there, sometimes we think
we do multiple things and we think that we are progressing,
but we think that we are outworking everybody else, but
actually we are kind of a vicious circle that we
keep going or running around without actually achieving what should
be achieved or what should be done or what.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
We are should be.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
So do you think that this is a way of
people thinking that, yeah, I'm doing multiple things because I
am seeing myself doing more than other people, or do
you think this is the way I see it? It
could be not the way to go because at.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
The end of the day, at the end of the year,
or at the end of.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
The month, we will not achieve our goal whatever it
is done. Something very important you mentioned whatever the let's
see the end goal for ourselves, it's financial goal or whatever.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
Like.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
We should think about how things or how our success
or progress also, as you mentioned, changes us as human
This is.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Very important, right, yeah, no, definitely, Yeah. So I think
what happens with a lot of people is that, you know,
we start to multitask. And I do this all the
time myself. I layer on many different projects and responsibilities
and I start to, you know, try to work on everything,
not at the same time, but I'll do multiple things
(10:22):
throughout the day. And I get it. I mean, people
are very busy, so we try to do everything because
we're impatient and we want everything at the same time.
You know, we want to achieve success tomorrow, not five
years from now. But the thing is, and I'm a
big fan of focus, by the way, I think that
focus is the key, and we can really only focus
(10:44):
on one thing at a time. So having that singular
focus towards one specific thing and working on that one
thing until it's finished, now that's easier, said than done.
Because when we're working on multiple projects, or we have
multiple passions and things that we want to pursue, we
can get pulled off course.
Speaker 1 (11:05):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
So if I'm working towards maybe I'm working towards building
my coaching program, and then I get pulled away towards
building my website and then writing a book and all
these things, you end up scattering everything you know, to
the wind and basically just burning yourself out. Again, what
happens is we become overwhelmed, and then after that we
(11:29):
start to shut down, you know, and then you know,
the default is to actually escape from the work. You know,
we'll start to look for other things that we can
work on. But yeah, the multitasking doesn't I don't think
it's ever worked. I mean, some people can handle it
very well. I can tell you it doesn't work very
well for me. So having said that, I was just
(11:49):
gonna say yeah, But having said that, I still find
myself locked into that trap day after day. So it
really is a it's a struggle, you know. But the
thing is is that remember, like it does come back
to the clarity, But clarity is actually knowing what your
priorities are. So this is the thing that I've had
to train myself on again and again and again is
(12:11):
knowing what my priorities are. My priority goal, we'll call
that the goal, but then the priority action steps that
I need to work on every day moving towards that.
Because your priorities will define your actions.
Speaker 3 (12:25):
The broisers are very important.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
And I relate to our conversation here before I hit
the record button, which was that we are going to
be about self management time management, but you mentioned it's
not time management, it is self management. This clarity, I
think it relates very much to self management because time
we cannot manage time. Time is like we have twenty
(12:47):
four hours in a day with our you are, whatever you.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Are in the world does not matter.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
It's we have like around, for example, eight hours of night,
ten hours of day or whatever.
Speaker 3 (12:58):
So it's kind of the same.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
But how we do through these hours of the day
can determine what we are going to do or achieve.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Time management is a great topic, so I'm just going
to break something down with that. Let's say that you're
into time blocking, which I think time blocking is a
great way to get things done, and you time block
in two hours per day to work on. Maybe you're
working on yourself, maybe you're working out, or you're reading
a book or whatever it is. But time blocking in
(13:29):
and of itself is just it's a frame a time.
So let's just say it's two hours. During that two hours, however,
you become distracted, you start working on other things, and
you get bored, and you get restless. You know, you're
in the kitchen looking for something, whatever it may be.
So even though you time blocked something in which is
time management, because you are struggling to manage yourself during
(13:52):
that time, you don't actually get anything done during that time.
And that has happened to me many times, you know,
and I've seen it happen to many other people. So
for me, again, it comes down to staying focused within
that frame of time management. But you also have to
be you know, clear on what your priorities are as well.
So self management is really like again, it just comes
(14:13):
back to having clarity on what it is that you
want and then you know, defining what the priorities are
and you know, if you are very clear on what
that is, the so called time management piece takes care
of itself, because like you said, we you know, time
is just time, it's passing one way or the other,
it doesn't matter. You know, we're not really managing anything there.
(14:35):
I think we can only manage ourselves during a specific
time and you know if you can, and I think
this is a daily reprieve, like there's something that we
always have to be working towards because you're never going
to have a perfect day when you feel like you know,
well you might, but I mean, you know, I think
they're rare for me where I feel like everything just
went really smoothly and I was able to you know,
(14:58):
block in my time for working reading. Of course, there's
you know, we have to probably go to work. A
lot of people have a job as well, so there's
eight to ten hours there where our time is managed
by a company or why somebody else. But outside of that,
you have to be aware of, you know, what is
the time that you have that you can manage for yourself.
Speaker 1 (15:18):
That's very important talking about clarity and focus, this is
something very important for us to have self management in
our time.
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So that's very important to have.
Speaker 1 (15:28):
Let's say, I don't want to say shortcut, but it
reduces the time to resetting goal, right, But does that
relate also to when we talk about out working, somebody
else does working hard or working smart?
Speaker 3 (15:43):
A lot of people talk about these too.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
Is there are they like a positive or a negative
force to each other? Working smart versus working hard? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I think working smart again, that that comes back, you know,
So I think we have to define what that actually
means as well, you know, because working smart is again
I think that means you're working towards something that means
a lot to you, you know. So for me, like
smart working or working really smart towards something means again
that means time management. But that also comes back to,
(16:13):
you know, focusing on something that's moving you forward. And
remember the name of the game is progress. And I
always have to keep bringing myself back to that very
simple concept is that if this thing that I'm working
on or focusing on is not moving me forward, then
I have to question should I be doing this thing.
I'll give you an example. Actually, so everybody watches TV.
(16:34):
We love to watch Netflix and you know, other shows
and stuff, and I think that's great. I love to
do that as well. But if I'm watching too much TV,
and I know I should be working on something because
I do all my work from home, basically. So it's
it's easy to just suddenly, you know, be in another
room doing something else completely different, and I have to
(16:54):
ask myself, like the hour or two that I'm investing
in this active is this going to be you know,
moving me forward? Or should I be working on something else?
So again it comes back to self management as well,
you know, but I think the one thing you mentioned
there is that, you know, if people are distracted by
(17:16):
something that's you know, not conditioned to their well being,
then that's something that they have to be aware of.
So the self consciousness is very powerful and self awareness,
So we have to be very self aware of you know,
what it is that you know is blocking us, you know,
what's in your way. And more importantly, if you can
(17:38):
identify the thing that's blocking you, then you can identify
the one action you can take towards removing that obstacle
or roadblock.
Speaker 1 (17:48):
Something very important do you mentioned tiary is self awareness?
Speaker 3 (17:51):
Can you also expand doing this? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (17:52):
So self awareness is really self consciousness. So it's being
very self aware of what it is that you really
want in life, especially being self aware of your own
thoughts too, you know. So yeah, our thoughts actually manage
our mind, but our mindset is think of that as
the overall you know, everything that's controlling everything. I think.
(18:12):
So if you have a bad mindset around something, and
to define a bad mindset, it's not just negative thinking,
it's how you think, act, and feel about yourself. So
for me, when I'm focused on a healthy mindset, then
I become more self aware of myself, Like how am
(18:33):
I acting in this moment? You know, am I breathing?
So I love breathing, by the way, and I mean
like focusing on deep breaths and just working on that
throughout the day. That's one of the ways that I
become very self aware. And also meditation too, And with meditation,
you don't just have to be sitting on a pillow
meditating for twenty thirty minutes or an hour. You can
(18:56):
actually be practicing walking meditation. And the reason I bring
this up is because it's important just to be self
aware throughout the day of not just what you're doing.
It's not just about productivity, but who you are, because
who you are is your identity, you know, And this
is really for me, like being productive for example, or
(19:17):
you know, achieving a goal or you know, having success.
This all actually adds up to your identity, and identity
is the key because your identity is how you see
yourself and I think at the end of the day,
what really matters is how you feel about yourself. You know,
so if you feel very comfortable with who you are
(19:37):
and you're happy with who you are, but you want
to of course, you know, move forward and become that
greatest version of yourself, and the identity is the key.
But the identity is also linked to your mindset around
you know, certain things. So for example, having a healthy
mindset around how you feel about communicating with people, for example,
(19:59):
or how you feel about money, or how you feel
about you know, your work. Right, you have to have
a mindset that's built for success, and it takes time
to build this thing, which you have to be intentional
with it and taking intentional action. And by taking intentional
action would be you know, learning as much as you
can about yourself and that's what builds self awareness.
Speaker 1 (20:21):
That's very impressive and very important to be self aware
of our things or thoughts or actions or even our movement,
which is it could be hard for some, but it's
eventually I think maybe comes down to habits starting noticing
our habits.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
Bet by bet we'll start seeing.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
The bad things that we do or the good things,
and we can more remove the bad things and tell
them into good and positive habits. But in regards to that,
like each of us every day has certain tasks to
do to achieve their goal whatever or even their routines
or habits. Do you think in general from your opinion,
and you also wrote a book about this, should we
(20:59):
go and tackle the small, easy things first or go
after the hard tough things first and get them done
before the easy ones.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
So they have a practice every day where I'll write
down three of the hard things that I've been avoiding.
And you don't have to do all three things or
five or ten things. But I think it's important to
do one hard thing every day. Now this one hard thing. Again,
people have to define what this is for them, but
it may be going to the gym, for example, that
(21:31):
is a hard thing. Actually, what I find though, is
that the hardest thing for me about going to the
gym is actually going to the gym getting to the gym,
because leading up to that point, I will procrastinate on
going most days, come up with excuses why I shouldn't go.
And then once I actually get there and get moving,
(21:52):
it's fine, you know, but you have to define you know,
what point does the task become difficult? And for most
people it's actually starting it, right, So there are a
few layers here to unpack. First of all is identifying
what the hard thing is, identifying the resistance point, like,
at what point are you actually does this actually become
(22:14):
a hard thing? So I think for a lot of
people it's starting it, or you know, going to the gym,
or you know, if it's an application form, the hardest
thing is maybe just filling in the first line. So
the key is to set yourself up for success. So
give you an example of going to the gym. Actually,
how I break through that resistance is I always have
my workout bag sitting by the door, because as a
(22:35):
reminder that it's sitting there, it's ready. I don't have
to prepare anything. I can just pick it up and go.
And then I'll just break things down into small steps,
so you know, getting into the car, or walk into
the gym, or however it is that you're moving towards there,
just break everything down into smaller steps. So you can
use this practice for anything, just using that as an example,
(22:56):
but starting, you know, the practice of that hard thing
is the key, and then you can just put yourself
on a timer for five minutes or ten minutes. So
you know, I have a certain project that I'm working
on that's been really difficult, and I have resistance every
(23:16):
time I sit down to work on this project. But
the hardest thing for me on with the project is
actually sitting down and starting it every day. So once
I'm into it for five or ten minutes, it starts
to get easier because I've I've gotten some momentum, you know,
I'm building some energy around the project, and then I
can continue to work on it for probably thirty forty
five or you know, sixty minutes.
Speaker 1 (23:38):
So yeah, that's very important that you mentioned that. It's
always like I could feel it. Sometimes I'm excited to
go to the gym. It's great, but sometimes you're not.
But it is kind of true, like the thing that
we don't want to do is like to go there.
But once you are there, once you change and you're
in the locker room and changing close I start working out,
(23:59):
you are really motivated to do the work. But the
thing is, it's keep tribating the same day. So we
need to reach a point where it's like what you
are doing having this gym bag in front of you
all day basically or when you kind of it's time
to go. So that's very important and your business or career.
(24:19):
What is the worst advice that you have ever received?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Probably the worst advice I've ever seen. I don't know
if it's the worst advice, but it was advice, and
I think it was. You know, if you want to
succeed in business, you should be everywhere doing everything and
being seen by everyone. What that means is, you know,
I should be on all the social media platforms, creating
a whole bunch of content and putting a whole bunch
of stuff out there. And although I do think that
(24:46):
there's some truth to that, because if you're looking for
visibility in your business, I'm just using business as an example. Again,
you know, that leads to a lot of overwhelmed because
first of all, you can be everywhere doing everything trying
to meet everybody. If you are, you you need to
ask for help for that too, you know, So for me,
I'd rather just you know, that wasn't good advice for me,
(25:07):
because again that leads to overwhelmed. Overwhelmed leads to procrastination
because now I don't want to do any of these things,
so I start looking for roots to escape from, you know,
you know, taking that advice and being everywhere, doing everything
and meeting everyone right, So that just wasn't good advice
for me. But again because that leads back to multiple
(25:29):
layers of multitasking, and that's just something that I'd rather,
you know, not practice in my own life.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
So that's very important.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Like speaking of when we talk about focus and clarity,
someone commanding you to be for example and all over
social media takes more time and we'll have you like
not focused in a certain place, which is not a
good thing. You have to be focused in what devolity
is that you're doing, especially for example, in general, if
you want to grow on social media, have to focus
(25:57):
on one platform then go to other places. It's like
everything you want a good dealth, you will need to
eat right, have good habits, and it's extra bonus also
if you go to the gym. So these kind of
things add up, like also you mentioned, and small pieces
over time and they need focused discipline and cularity for them. Scott,
(26:19):
where can people learn more about you and see what
you do.
Speaker 2 (26:22):
Sure got allenbooks dot com. Yeah, they can also go
to Amazon, of course, and there's I think I have
about thirty five to forty books published on there. So
depending on the skill that you want to learn or
you know, if you have an obstacle to overcome, you
can certainly pick up a book on there and I
think it will help you. And there is a course
(26:42):
platform launching in a few months, so that's just another
way that people can engage with the content.
Speaker 3 (26:48):
Awesome, amazing.
Speaker 1 (26:49):
Thank you very much Scott for being today with me
on this episode of the success At podcast. Great insights
and analogy provide us here. Always take it step by
step and don't trust things. People I want to achieve
their goals yesterday, which is how to do? You have
to play it easy, focus and determine with small habits
every day and after a while, surely you will reach
(27:12):
your goal steadily.
Speaker 2 (27:13):
Absolutely. Yeah, So good luck everybody. You've got this
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Kingdom of Fraud
It’s the unlikeliest of criminal partnerships: a devout polygamist from an insular Utah sect joining forces with a shadowy Armenian tycoon from LA. The result - a billion dollar fraud conspiracy. In Kingdom of Fraud, investigative reporter Michele McPhee traces the origins of the extraordinary alliance between Jacob Kingston and Levon Termendzhyan. Together, the two men trigger the largest tax investigation in American history and weave around themselves a web of dirty cops, influential political relationships and transnational money laundering. All this is set against the backdrop of Jacob Kingston’s clan – The Order. A powerful and secretive polygamist organization in Salt Lake City. To whom Jacob is desperate to prove his worth. Kingdom of Fraud is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/. You can listen to new episodes of Kingdom of Fraud completely ad-free and 1 week early with an iHeart True Crime+ subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “iHeart True Crime+, and subscribe today!