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SNM183: How to overcome the usual boring excuses on the path to success with Scott Allan

• Jonathan Green : Bestselling Author, Tropical Island Entrepreneur, 7-Figure Blogger

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Self-published bestseller author Scot Allan says that, yes, it can be done, and today he will give you some guidelines on how to stop making excuses set your professional passion on fire!

A Job Just For You

It might take time until you figure out what exactly you want to do. For Scott it has always been writing, so he decided that he needed to focus on his dream, and that's exactly what you need to do. Maybe one of the reasons why you haven't done the same is because you are stuck in a mindset that tells you that you don't have time to focus on your passion right now. But, to walk on the path of success, you need to overcome the usual excuses that stop you from being successful and remain focused on the task ahead.

How to use writing as a lever to escape 9-5? 

So, today we're talking about how to stop making excuses and take responsibility.

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The post SNM183: How to overcome the usual boring excuses on the path to success with Scott Allan appeared first on Serve No Master: Be Your Own Boss - Live Free 

Connect with Jonathan Green

Setting your passion on fire with special guest Scott Allen, on today's episode. Today's episode is brought to you by ProWritingAid. Save thousands of dollars on an editor by using the best tool in the business, the servicemaster.com/pro writing aid. Are you tired of dealing with your boss? Do you feel underpaid and underappreciated?If you want to make it online, fire your boss and start living your retirement dreams now. Then you've come to the right place. Welcome to serve no master podcast where you learn how to open new revenue streams and make money while you sleep. Presented live from a tropical Island in the South Pacific by bestselling author, Jonathan Green. Now here's your host. I really enjoy. My interview has got out and I can't wait to share it with you in just a moment. If you look closely, maybe you'll figure out which movie star he looks like to me. It's something about his voice that's so hypnotic. It's just so relaxing and so soothing, you can see why people love listening to him and I was so excited to have him as a guest for today's episode. He's going to teach us strategies for figuring out what you truly want and what you should do. Had to take over life and time management and develop those skills, which is so important because there's such a challenge for those of us who transitioned from working part time to full time. Suddenly we have so much time. It's hard to fill that time efficiently and how to use writing as a lever or a mechanism to escape the nine to five lifestyle. Scott's an amazing expert. We were really, really lucky to get him for today's episode and I know you're going to love everything he has to say right now. Everyone. I'm so excited here to have Scott Allen. He's an amazing bestselling author of nine books, including “Relaunch your life”, “Do it scared”, and “Drive your destiny”. She's on a mission to help people break down mental barriers and the limitations that keep them stuck so they can finally take some action. It starts to do the work they love. It's something I'm very excited by, is also a dedicated, a great amount of his time to learning all the necessary techniques and strategies to design an abundance and a thriving lifestyle. And in his books and blog posts. He shares those strategies and his goal, of course, is to work together as his followers designed a life that's fun, challenging, and beans. There's something more to life than working beyond the Monday nine to five. Thank you so much for being here right now. Scott, we're really excited to have you as part of this event, and I know we've got some really great stuff to talk about and I'd love to start, maybe you could tell us a little bit about the overall theme of your books.So the theme of my books I cover, uh, topics. Uh, that helps people to get over rejection, overcome fear, and to live a thriving lifestyle and do what they do best, do what they love to do.How can people figure out what they want to do best? Sometimes people, they like, Oh, I have 10 hobbies. I'm going to show what I want to do. It's like when we were kids. It's so easy to know what we love to do. We just want to play all the time. But when we're adults, sometimes I am, we get so caught up in the grind, we're not even sure what we want to do.Yeah. So what I've found is that working with people is that they tend to be very disorganized in the way that they, they feel like the thing that they should be doing is what they feel most passionate about. But when they really dive into it, it's not so much the passion, but it's that, uh, that driving force that, uh, they have to tap into this driving force. That's really, it's been there the whole time, you know, since they were kids. So when I work with people one-on-one, we try to discover what that thing is or what it was, and to bring it back out into the, uh, you know, into their, their, their presence so that they can, uh, use the strategies that I have in my books to, um, you know, to better, to expand on that and focus on the one thing that they really love to do the most. So, you know, like you said, people have like five, 10, 20 hobbies. They're not sure what it is that they want to do. Um, you can't master everything. And. You know, you can do a few things really well, that you can do one thing exceptionally well. So we narrow in on that one thing that they've always been exceptional at doing. And, uh, we get them onto a track where they can take, um, action-based steps that gets them moving forward to make that progress.So, so with this passion for helping people, which is amazing, I love what you're talking about because to long timeframe out what I want to do with my life, I spent 10 years in the wrong career. How did you translate you transition from that to becoming a writer and decide on the theme of your books? How did that process start? Um. I guess for the last 20 years or so, and, um, yeah, I've always been a writer, um, at heart, and I wrote my first book when I was probably 14 or 15, and then I, you know, I gave it up when, I don't know. Lot stuff just got in the way and like yourself, I ended up in the series of careers that I wouldn't say that they were the wrong things, that I was doing the wrong things, but, um, it wasn't what I really wanted to do, you know? Um, but all of those, uh, all of those jobs, the things that I was doing eventually led into the writing because I had the, you know, sometimes you have to do the things you don't want to do before you start doing the things that you'd love to do. So, um, I'd always talked about writing books and, um, one day I just got so tired of talking about it. I thought, I'm just going to finally start doing it again. So, um, and that was it. I just sat down with pen and paper, brainstormed, um, my goals for that, um, ideas for the books, and, um, it started from there. Um. There was the, I was actually a fiction author. And then I started to create the nonfiction, a series of books that I have now by drafting those out one by one. And, um, you know, it was really hard. And then again, because I still had a full time job and I had to go to that every day. I had small kids, and a lot of people that I work with are in a similar situation where they're so busy, they don't have time to work on their dreams. So, um, but what I discovered is that, uh, you know, we all have that same amount of time in a day, and you just, I have to carve it out, whether it's an hour a day, 30 minutes a day, um, but you have to commit to something. Um, in order to, uh, you know, to work on that, uh, to, to work on your thing. And like you were saying, you know, you have to also know what that is. So, um, again, for me, I did a lot of meditation on it. I mean, I still meditate, but I did a lot of meditation on it this way. Visualization. I knew what it was that I wanted to accomplish, which was a question of how am I, how was I going to do this thing. So, so you mentioned, this is interesting to me, that you started on fiction and then transitioned to nonfiction. What was that like? What's the difference for you in those two processes? Like how do you find it different?Yeah. For either the, um, I don't know, fiction was a, it just felt like it was something that I had to do at that time and it still is. Um, I felt compelled to write it, although I had already written a couple of, uh, fiction books. I did not publish them. I showed them, and they will be published at a later date, but I just felt like there was a, uh, a calling for me to put out these, uh, this will, at the time I was working on one fiction novel. And, um. Or, sorry, a nonfiction. I was working on a fiction book show that Iwent to work on the nonfiction book and, um, um, I just felt driven to, to, to, to get this thing done. Um, so, and that was what I did. I committed three years to actually took me three years to write it. And then I, so I've published it probably three or four years after the, you know, from the date that I'd started it. So there was a long process there. Cause when I, um, started writing again, uh, self publishing still wasn't around. And then, you know, maybe when I actually published it in 2011, I think Amazon was, you know. Probably getting going, you know, and then people were getting kind of jumping on board and that, but other work, like a lot of courses or any courses at that time, um, on how to do it. So I just learned from Steve. Scott was a good mentor for me and learned a lot from him. You know, other books that I picked up. But, um, it was a big learning curve, but I think it just came down to this one thing is not. Whatever it takes, you know? So when people ask me, well, what does it take for me to get it? Well, my answer is always, well, whatever it takes, that's what you have to do. Uh, whether it's finding that time, um, you know, I'm skipping your lunch hours to work on your thing, staying up late at night. It's just, that's what it takes for you to, uh, to find your success. Then, you know, you have to, you have to commit to, um, getting it done that way. So. That's a really good point because I find a lot of people, when I say, Oh, well, you have to, did you want to have your, whatever it is, you have to give something up, whether it's going out at night, you know, or if you want to lose weight, you have to stop drinking and stop eating cake or something like that. We've had three birthday parties here this week. That's my cakes on my mind. It's like every day temptation and my kids eat it as fast as you can. Sit down. He doesn't eat it or, but we always have these. The excuse like, Oh, I want to learn this, but I don't want to stop watching TV. I don't want to do that. How can people overcome that barrier? well, what if you stopped. But what if you just didn't watch commercials? You'd get two or three hours back a week. But, so I guess it's that process. How do people identify where their opportunity is to invest time and then how do they create that motivation? Because first it's identifying what they're like, bad habit is whatever, or where they're spending time without realizing a lot of people that have no time, and I say, well, how much TV do you watch every week? And they're like, Oh, 20 hours. And you go, yeah, exactly. Yeah, that was the challenge that I've faced. Um, it still is. I mean, cause I'm very easily distracted and you know, like everybody else, you know, love to watch my Netflix and those are the things. But, uh, back then when I had even less time. Um, yeah, I was probably putting in like, you know, I was always talking about writing a book and this and that, but I never had the time for it, and yet I was putting in probably an hour to two hours a day watching TV, playing games, et cetera, everything else, but writing, you know. So, um, I do identify what those, uh, top two or three things were, or at least the top number one thing that was stealing my time per day, um, and eliminate it. And that meant unplugging, plugging the television, not completely, but I would. I would just not watching any TV during the week. And I'm still kinda like that. Not as much, but I definitely cut down on it by 90%. And, um, the video game console was out the door. There was no question about that. So, um, you know, those are the two big time-wasters for me also. Um. Identifying what, uh, what my distractions were so that I would keep, uh, you know, keep a note of these things in front of me. Um, sticky notes on the wall. I have a little sticky note. Um, I still keep on my computer. Says, what are you doing now? Because when I get sidetracked on something, I need to bring my focus back. Um, and then the next thing is identifying, now that you've gotten those things taken care of, identifying the times of day where now that you're not doing this, you know, what will you be doing for this time block? So I'm really big on time blocking. Um, for example, my writing time, I time blocked that in every day. It's not the same time every day, but it is that one hour or two hours per day that I put in for writing. And, um, then again, you know, maybe you're not a writer, you're, you're building your, your online course, your business, whatever it is. Um, you know, what gets scheduled gets done. So I've got a time, block that in and then protecting that time no matter what. And of course we have family and other commitments that we have to work around because not everybody is just going to drop everything when we suddenly become busy with our lives. Passion. Um. So sometimes that time log was late at night, and other times it's, you know, early in the morning. So, um, that's the strategy that I started using the beginning. And it's, uh, you know, it's still working to this day. That's really interesting because sometimes I notice that if I don't have a plan, I sit at the computer, I've done something for two hours, then go, I don't know what I did. And it's like, we have all these alerts, like I have so many different chat programs, so that's why I even started our call. I had to like close five of them because everyone uses a different one that I work with. It's like Skype and Facebook messenger, and my team uses a rocket chat. We have all these different things that are pinging at us and then email as well, like, I can't, I don't know about you, but I get hundreds of emails a day, and I spent actually every week, just a few hours making new rules into my email inbox saying, push this into the fluff folder. This goes into the spam folder. This goes into alerts. This goes into never going to look at it. And then like today when I turned on my email, it goes it looks like a ton that I click on the inbox and social account. He goes, you have three emails, and we don't realize how much of the email is junk. So I wonder. What's a proc, what's the best process people can use to use their time efficiently to not get distracted. Cause our computers have stopped being work tools and now they're like entertainment tools as well. So how can people be a little more focused in and figure out what's the best use of their time? Like what is the biggest ROI, the biggest return on investment or the biggest, most efficient use of their small blocks of time. Yeah, I felt like, um, focuses, uh, is definitely a challenge. It still is. Um, and similar to yourself. You know, I have Slack and HubSpot and all these other, uh, you know, so I'm getting pings and messages and I just had to, um, um, so what I do in my daily work is I scheduled time for those things as well, but I have to turn them off when I'm on my computer. Like, I'll, I'll take the apps, I'll, I'll basically. Yeah. Take the apps, you know. Disengage that they're off. Like they're not, they're not even turned on. Cause if they are, um, in my phone as well, like that's, that's another thing, I've, phones are great. They can do amazing things, but they're pinging and buzzing and jumping around. When you get a message and it's just like that instant gratification, you want to go check to see. Who's contacted you? So there is an app that I was using, sorry, I can't remember the name of it, but it was actually it, uh, it eliminates all of that and it just folk, it just uses a timer. And that timer is what I use when I'm working. I've got my cell phone, like a 25 minute timer. So, um, the other option is just to turn the phone off, get rid of the apps. And I've got the probably the tomato timer, um, that works really well and it does 25 minutes, five minute break. And, um, I've been using that for like the last like year or so. And it's just been amazingly good because it's the only thing that I'm actually watching as I'm working and I can check to see how much time I've got until the timer ticks down. So, but you know, that ROI, that's, um, that's the thing that I've, you know, I've talked to about with a lot of people because when you start out on something and even if you're really passionate about it, um, you're not really sure, like, well, what if I invest eight year or two or three years into this, say, writing a book, starting a business, whatever it may be. You don't know. At the end of it, if, uh, you know, you're going to get your money's worth, you, maybe you've just invested 10 or $20,000 into this. You know, scheme or, or, or grand plan, and at the end of it's, um, you know, it just, it didn't work. So that is part of the risk. Um, but, um, you know, that's why I always believe that if you want to get, uh, you want to become successful with something, then first of all, you have to know, like, why you really want it. Like, how important is this thing to you? Um. Are you sure that it's you that really wants it or is it somebody else? Right. And, uh, the third thing is, um, you have to have a plan to get there. Um, and also understand like, um. Like when you do reach that goal, uh, you know, what does that look like? You know, are you, are you going to be free of your job?Like is if your end goal is to like, eventually quit your job and, um, you know, go work for yourself full time doing something that you love to do, then, you know, what are you going to have to give up along the way and what's it going to look like at the end? Um, after you have achieved that goal now as far as like a guarantee of success? Well, nobody can guarantee that, but I always believed that, you know, if I'm, if I'm doing the thing that is just driving me, something's driving me to get this thing done, then, um, I just feel like, uh, I'm just going to follow that. Like that was the, that's the best advice I can give is to just like, I don't want this nigga sound cheesy, like follow your heart and all that. But it was really like investing in something that I totally believed in and you know, it doesn't work out well. I didn't lose anything to begin with. Hopefully not too much. But if it does, well, I mean it could change everything. So I find that sometimes, like when I'm talking with a coaching client in my own, throughout my career, that all the different careers I've had, sometimes I say to someone, well, what's your goal? And then they say, well, it's this like, Oh, I want to quit my job. And it's like, well, what does that like? Or what do you actually want? Or sometimes they go, Oh, I want to write a book. I'm like, well, what if you write a book and no one ever reads it? Is it, would you be satisfied with that goal? And then they go, Oh no, well actually I want this. And they go, you know, and so sometimes it's hard for people to, um, elicit or actually say what their real goal is cause they, they say what they think they're supposed to say. They go, Oh, I just want to write because I love the art. But it's like, no, you want to make money from your book and those things. So how can people kind of get to that through that actual process to figure out what their goal really is? Because sometimes people achieve what they wrote down, their initial goal was, and then they're not happy because they incorrectly predicted what they want to do achieve. Yeah. So I spent a lot of time, um, you know, doing goal planning, writing things out, um, trying to figure out like, what's, uh, what's the best approach? Like, what's the best, what's, what's my number one thing that I'm shooting for? Um, cause I've got five or 10, you know, master goals that I've got outlined for the next, say, 10 years. Right. But, um. Uh, when I start to focus on all of those things, I get, you know, very overwhelmed, first of all. Um, secondly, I'm probably working on more things than just say, writing a book or creating a course. And third, when that happens, um, you get frustrated and you give up, and then you go back to either the drawing board or you just. Give up completely, go back to doing what you're doing before. So I was, um, I suggest to people to, um, and this was something that worked really well for me. Um, I, I'm really into, I'm really big into mind mapping and I started mind mapping, um, my top three goals that I wanted to achieve in the next say five years. And then I took that number one goal and made that the number one thing. And I had my maps, like all, like, I probably had three big mind maps in my room. Um, visual boards is what I call them, you know, they're called visual boards. And that's where I would map out, you know, the, like the big dream because I needed to, I needed it to look real.I mean, I needed to feel it. I needed to, I needed to believe in it. And so I needed something visual that I could, uh, come to every day. And it was, it was on my wall so I could actually add things to it. And, um, it was just great because it kept me, um. Moving in, I think it was, I was moving in the right direction, but I knew that because I'm next to that, I had a list of tasks, like daily tasks of things that I had to do to lead up to, uh, you know, accomplishing this thing was like. Hundreds of tasks, but it was broken up over like months or like, or a year. So it's really like this, that long term commitment as well. I work with a lot of, um, you know, authors to say, you know, they want to write full time and, and, you know, make money from their book, like you said, but, um, so we know it's not that easy to make money from a book and it's a longterm commitment. And um, you know, there's a lot of noise out there about how you can make a money overnight. If you write a, you know, a 30 page report and dah, dah, dah, and make $10,000 and all that, but it's not true. And I tell people like, if you really want to do this, it's going to be a longterm commitment and you've got to have a plan to get there. Um, you know, it's not going to be a perfect plan, but be prepared to be flexible and, um, you know, be prepared for big changes along the way. And the change thing kind of scares people because they're thinking that the big change is going to come at the end when they achieved their goal and there's going to be this big transformation, but actually transformation is going to happen along the way. Um, not everyone's going to like what you're doing, but if you stay 100% committed to it, in the end, they're going to understand it. So, um, you know, I tend to, I work with people on, you know, creating a vision for that and then stick making a decision that they're going to, they're going to, you know, um, accomplish what they set out to do no matter what. And then again, doing whatever it takes to get there and, um, uh, you know, tweaking, you know, making whatever tweaks they need to make along the way. And eventually, like, you know, if you stick with it, whether it's, you know, if you, if you want to be a full time author, this is what it takes. Not this, not the one book or the two books, but when I show people like the actual blueprint of what it really takes. Uh, they get really intimidated because it's a lot of work. But again, it's, um, if you want to, if you really want to do this thing, then you've either got a plan a, which is just short term focused, and you might make a few dollars, or you might, you know, but you're not going to be able to, you know, you're going to be quitting your job overnight. But if you go over here, maybe you can accomplish this in the next five to 10 years, and yes, you can achieve your goals. So I try to make it, I have to make it realistic. It has to be grounded in reality. Um, you know, no. Um, no fluffy dreams of like overnight success. You know, you probably know overnight success takes five to 10 years at least to, you know, to accomplish.Anyway. So that's really interesting because I know so many people, they're like, Oh, I want to build an entire business in 30 days. I'm like, I would love to do that too. I, I've been doing this for a decade now and I'm still building to where I want to get to. So I like that you talk about having a longterm plan this year.I'm all about. Process process, process of constantly writing down going, how can we be more efficient? What's the right process to do that so that. I know that it's consistent action over time is a lot more valuable than a big action for a week and then quitting and running out of energy. So I'm all about kind of that marathon mindset. And I know that you talk about five-year plans, and most people don't think that far to the future. They're like, I'm just thinking five days into the future. So could you tell us a little bit about what do our five year plan is going forward from the level you're at now or where you're going in the future. Your plan is, I'm working on building a community of people who are dedicated to, uh, making massive change, like not just in their lives, but in the lives of others as well. But, um, a lot of the people that, like, for example, um, readers who are reading my books, you know, I get emails all the time from them saying, you know, this is like, this is what I'm trying to accomplish, or this is what I want to achieve. Um, can you help me do this? Um, they're looking for the best strategies now that's gonna be able to move them forward. So. I'm gathering all of this information. Actually this year, like I'm in a similar situation as you are where I'm very business focused this year on, uh, you know, there's the creative side and then there's the business side. We're very focused on that and building out a system in order that in order for me to be able to achieve that five year plan, but number one is building a very, a community that's very committed to, uh, um, you know, helping them, helping themselves and helping other people. Um, next is, uh. Uh, the books that I'm, you know, I've been writing, I've got to think I'll be really seen the 15th one at the end of March. And you know, they've had, up until now, they've been covering a lot of different, uh, topics, but I'm narrowing things down so that it's more specific on, like, each book's more specific on one strategy moving forward. So, um, another part of the five year plan is, um, creating a, a, not just a community, but like, it's like an ops center for where people can opt in and then they can have the, uh, you know, they can choose to take a, you know, if this is what you want to do, you're going to, to taking direction A, B, or C. So I'm still working out the, the logistics summit, um, because last year, actually, I, you know, I did quit my full time job and now I'm writing full time and also doing coaching. Um, and so, um, a lot of my time is spent either writing or as focusing on the, uh, the aspects of the business, which is, um, you know. Getting people more, getting more people onto the, um, into email funnel, but also, um, giving them the direction that they need. Like once they, once they opt in, you know, like, I want to know exactly who they are and what it is that they want to achieve. And then I want to build out the strategies to help them achieve.And what are some of the challenges you've faced along this process and some of the ones you see going forward and building out this amazing ops center, this place where people can have an amazing community to improve their lives. Well, everyone's got a different goal, and I say 30 to 40% of the people, maybe they're overhearing in group a and the other third are here, and I have a 30 here. So it becomes a little more complicated because, uh, if you create three things, it's almost like running three different businesses, right? Whereas if you've got that one thing, um, then you know, you've got something where you can just funnel people into this one direction. But that's the challenge. And that's something where we're still working on. Um, because, um, you know, um, I'm sure that might work if a, you know, you're Tony Robbins and you've got 40 different companies and you can take people and put them into those different funnels, but I'm not quite at that level yet. And I'm not sure if I will be where I want to be, but, uh, right now it's just figuring out, um, what is the best direction that, um, like, what is the, what can I help people achieve and how can I help them to achieve it? And what do I need to build out to, to, uh, to help them, you know, it's not just about accomplishing goals too. It's, uh, you know, it's a lot of people are just, um. They don't have any goals at all. They just want to become, um, you know, less anxious in their current job, or they want to overcome, um, you know, a certain fears that they can start dating again or, you know, things like that. So, um, but, uh, yeah, it's just a knowing, knowing what it is that they want. I'm creating content that's going to help them to do it. And then, um, being able to follow up with them after that to see if they've actually, you know, accomplished what they set out to do. So, like, I guess, you know, did I, did I help them or not? Just in the end, that's what I want to know. And if I did, fantastic, I want to know how that happened. And if I didn't, I also want to know what happened. So, which is, uh, you know, gathering that data and getting feedback from people. What would you say is the number one reason you found success with your books over the past 10 years?I think the reason for that, like one of the reasons is, um, well, first of all, I was very, I don't wanna use the word passion, but I mean, I was very driven to, uh, write the certain books that I did. And, um. I think I put a lot of heart into them as most people do when they write their books. But, um, um, I was very specific about what I wanted in the book as well, so I didn't just sit down and start. Sounding out a bunch of words only I did in the beginning, but eventually I started, uh, being very systematic and mind mapping the content, having a very solid outline, changing that as I went. Um, I would give 'em several chapters to people and get feedback. You know, I don't, I still do that to this day, but, um, in the beginning it was very important for people to go through each chapter and give me feedback on that. And, um, also the, um, targeting, like, uh, I do target a, uh, you know, my books are more like for a general audience. So, um, I to say, like, you know, it's not for everybody, but if you're looking to, uh, you know, overcome rejection well, which is, it turns out most people are, although they want admitted right out, um, this is the book that you need. So I was writing books that I knew could help the majority of the people, and also branding, uh, no branding it, uh, too, so that I could, um, uh, I was, I was branding the books basically like, so that, uh, you know, I could help them overcome the obstacles that they were facing. And, um, these are strategies that I would, uh, I would come up with.


Sometimes they would adapt them from other resources, but, um, uh, when I put them into the put them into my book, I would break it down into a system so that you're, you know, if you're feeling this way, you have to go through and, you know, go through, like, here's step one, step two, step three. So I had a systematic approach to, um, uh, the material.

Okay. Building on that, what's the number one piece of advice or strategy you'd give to people that are trying to change the way they're living? What's the first thing that they, they can do to start feeling or experiencing some change? 

Yeah. So, um, probably like the number one thing that, um, worked for me in the beginning and it still works now is, um, um, I wake up super early, usually around 5:00 AM sometimes 4:35 AM and, um. One of the things that I was doing for the longest time that was very unproductive was I'd wake up and start checking my emails, seeing who contacted me, and then I'd start doing that for sitting in the morning. So if that's what you're doing, um, first of all, stop doing that. Secondly, have something that you can work on, um, like wake up, wake up really early. It's, I think it's a great way to start the day. And especially if you have, you know. Um, family you need to take care of. And they usually get up like really early as well. So I got up early. I had a plan for when I woke up, I was going to work on like, you know, maybe this one thing or a couple of things. And, um, before I went to bed at night, I would have a plan of what that looked like. So, every night before going to bed I map out my, um, you know, I map out the day and that way when I wake up, I know exactly what I'm doing. So very being very systematic about that. Um, also, um, spend them, spend at least a, you know, one hour a week, I usually do this on a Sunday night where I'll spent one, maybe two hours on that day, mapping out what my week looks like. You know? So aside from the full time job I have to go to and you know, taking care of family or whatever it is that you have to do, um, I would map out my week and then plan my, the tasks that I am focused on for that week, I would plan it into my week. So knowing what it is that you have to do ahead of time, you're not just showing up. Lost and you're not like, you know, it's like showing up to write a book and you don't know what to write about cause you didn't plan anything out to begin with. So, okay, that's really, really valuable because I think so many people get stuck in that idea. Well, first challenge, right? Is to be able to use that one to two hours a day. We have, or we're not at our main jobs and we finally quit that daytime job. So we have all this free time and we don't know what to do with it. So how do you stay productive now that you've. I got over that transition. Now that you're, this business you're building is the main thing that you're doing and suddenly you have, yeah. You and how to be official with small blocks of time in any of these massive blocks of time. How do you stay the course? That was really tough in the beginning and a year later. Deal with my, probably my number one obstacle, and I think it was a duet at penn state too.I think it probably took her, what, a year or two to actually get into the rhythm of that when she left her full time job. So, um, first of all, I need to be aware of when I'm wasting time, which I'm, yesterday, for example, I was sitting down for two hours and after two hours I realized I hadn't actually gotten anything done. And I just realized it like two hours later and I actually backtrack to see what it was that I was working on. I started checking the history of my computer and I was like, one minute I was writing and expanded. I was off chasing something on Amazon. Um, so it just happens like that. It's having that awareness like, um, that, um, you know. You're actually doing something that you shouldn't be doing. And that's why I've got these little, um, messages around like, what are you doing now? I've got a timer set for 25 minutes that goes off when it goes off. I'm either doing the thing that I should have been doing or I'm not doing it. Right? So I found that if I've got like a four hour window in the afternoon, four hours is a long time to focus on one thing. So you really do have to break it up into, you know, well, maybe you are that kind of person who can focus like that. Um, I'm not, so it has to be in 30 minutes segments, or it can be in one hour, like can be 30 minutes, one hour, whatever works for you. Um, I did find though that once you really get into something, you're really super focused on that you can stay there for, you know, two or three hours. But it is good to the other challenges of course, sitting, you know, if you're sitting at a desk all day, I've got standing desks, of course, a sitting desk, standing desk. I need to move around and um, you know, get your exercise in. A lot of stretching helps as well. Stretching is fantastic for blood circulation. Um, I've been doing that as well, and that's just had a huge impact. So, um, but, uh, but anyway, yeah. Was like, um, if you are, I think working from home, it, um, it sounds like the dream job, but, uh, it can also go very wrong for a lot of people because you're used to maybe being in that office, maybe that's not where you want it to be, but, um, when you're working from home and suddenly you've got all this quiet time and. It seems like free time when you're actually supposed to be working. So I found that changing up the environment as well. I have to leave home in the daytime to go, um, you know, to a coffee shop to actually to get the writing done. Cause that's, I can, um, I'm more productive there when, when I switched my environment. So that's amazing that you've given us so much great knowledge. Thank you for spending so much time with us. I know that people are loving all of this content and they can't wait to learn more about you. So thank you so much, Scott, for spending time with us and I can't  wait to see all the amazing feedback we're going to get for this awesome presentation. So thank you a lot for being here and I know everyone else appreciates. It was really, really great. I know I learned a lot. All right. Thank you. Thanks for having me here. Thank you so much for listening today's episode, you can find out more about Scott at Scott Allen, author.com the link will be in the show notes and it's S C O T TA L L A N author.com. Thank you, rooster from next door, letting you guys know that, of course, I'm still in the garden recording these beginnings and endings, these intros and exits. We're really excited to have amazing content like this as part of the authorship series. Please show Scott some love. Throw a thumbs up below this video so he knows how much you appreciate his  amazing tactics. Thank you for listening to this week's episode of serve. No master. Make sure you subscribe so you never miss another episode. We'll be back next Tuesday with more tips and tactics on how to escape that rat race. Head over to serve no master.com forward slash podcast now for your chance to win a free copy of Jonathan's bestseller Serve No Master.All you have to do is leave a five star review of this podcast. See you Tuesday.Ready to turn your book into a bestseller? Find out what other authors don't want you to know at servicemaster.com/secrets.