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#17 Marco Figueroa - High Performance Habits
4 Plays3 years ago
Marco Figueroa is a highly driven and meticulous cybersecurity professional & principal threat researcher focused on elevating his performance at all cost, through a wide variety of modalities, from bio-hacking to food, sleep, time and attention optimization. We get into specific techniques, tactics, habits, rituals and strategies to implement in your life to have you performing at your highest level. Marco is Puerto Rican and grew up in the Bronx, so you will get a feel for the gritty New York side of him mixed with the flare of his Puerto Rican heritage.
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Transcript
Introduction to Marco Figueroa
00:00:06
Speaker
Marco Figueroa is a security professional and incredible high performer.
Tactics for High Performance
00:00:11
Speaker
We go into tactics, techniques, habits, anything to up level your performance. We're all about 120. He goes into his New York Bronx story and the nitty-gritty-ness of just getting after it, doing anything that you can to up level. This is a fascinating conversation and a high energy one that I know you'll love.
00:00:33
Speaker
Marco freaking incredible to have you here and you're such a hard charger fired up person voice stuck with me and that keeps them coming up pretty much every day is your one word for this year. One fucking 20. Yep. Absolutely, buddy. And go ahead. It's about giving 120% every day. You know, are you are you really given
00:01:03
Speaker
It everything you got every minute even if it's Like people, you know chillaxin.
Self-love and Forgiveness
00:01:10
Speaker
Are you there? Are you present? Right? Is it structured? Is it scheduled? Is it that downtime that you want for yourself? And and is it intentional? So all of it counts everything counts give it 100 and fucking 20 percent It's
00:01:33
Speaker
And I'm going to start recording these because I've only recorded one and we did a drop in session right before. And you just said, I freaking needed that. Um, and just to get right to a real and raw, do you mind? You don't have to go into the details. Like what, what is it that, why did you need to connect to your heart and just to love yourself and forgive yourself right now and send someone else? Yeah, because I'm hard on myself. I'm my hardest credit. I push myself.
00:02:03
Speaker
And you know, at the end of the day, my thing is that I give it 120 today. And if I did it, why not? And then it's Am I better than yesterday's Marco? You know, and and sometimes I'm too hard on myself. So it was good to say, you know, pat myself on the back, say it's okay. Yeah, tomorrow's another day. Or
00:02:29
Speaker
I still have X amount of hours left in the day. So I think it brought me presence to like allow myself to forgive myself. And I always love myself. You know, I think for me, my confidence, I'm grateful to have confidence. But like I said, I'm very hard
Motivation and Values
00:02:51
Speaker
on myself. And I'm also
00:02:54
Speaker
hard on other people that I love that I know that are not giving it all and that they're not squeezing the towel. And it's not that I'm gun ho and I get upset. It's like you need a motivational speech. How many of these do you need to get going? Yeah.
00:03:16
Speaker
that is is how I forgive like what I just said I forgive like forgive someone and that's that's what it was you know because there's sometimes I'm like how many motivational speeches you need how many sit downs do you need and it's the same thing over and over so it's like do you give up on that person no you know you love that person you want them to grow you want them to take it to that next level but then that that
00:03:45
Speaker
that brings you to what do you need to understand from them, make them push themselves on another level. And a lot of times is I think, realizing what I've been going through is figuring out what is important to that person, and especially if they don't know, it's giving them questions to allow their brain and their subconscious to go ahead and start, you know, figuring that out.
Parental Influence and Lessons
00:04:15
Speaker
When you bring that up, I see that as I see that as love, because I when you have the ability to make someone realize their greatest potential or to when they grow, if you help them, that is the greatest satisfaction for someone else to feel it, but also when you're able to give it. I mean, that's just sensational. And it brings me back to my childhood of
00:04:42
Speaker
There's different ways of parenting and me being a parent myself and I know you're a parent too. It's a fine line of balancing. My mom was very open with, well, I'm going to give you the freedom to choose whatever you want. And if you want to do great in school, amazing. If not, then you can explore, but I'm expecting you to pass. Everything else is, it's up to your standard. And my reality shifted when I was 15 and I moved to my dad.
00:05:10
Speaker
And he was like, yeah, you were gonna get an A or an B, like there's no other option. And I'm like, wait, wait, what is this? And my dad, my mom comes from a very spiritual philosophical background. And my dad is highest up at a company running things. And he will not just the standards are completely different. And that is one of the greatest gifts he has ever given me. But it's also one of the
00:05:40
Speaker
the things that I've challenged with the most within my life and as forgiveness and is loving myself because I've not been able to achieve or produce enough. And I think from the shorter interactions that we've had so far, your awareness is there. Yeah. And it brings me to where did this come from for you? Where did this sensational drive come from for you?
00:06:06
Speaker
I, I want we're gonna go there. Yeah, but just a quick, quick thing. I'm like your dad. I A's and B's period. But I will allow you to get there yourself. And then if you don't, if you can't get there, what do you need? Let's let's recalibrate. Yes. Let's figure it out. You're not going to get in trouble.
00:06:32
Speaker
But in the household is like, if you get and bees, you're, you're winning. You get what you want. Because this is like, I treat the house like a corporation like ASM bees winners are performers and they get rewarded. Where if you're in the bottom of the barrel, okay.
00:06:51
Speaker
you know, you're going to get written up. But what do we need to push you to that next level? Is it laziness? Do you not want to go through the pain to get there? So I a hands off until I need to be hands on and then it's a recalibration of what you have been doing. And do we need help? Right? Do we need external help, a consultant like a tutor or whatever to get you where you need to be?
00:07:18
Speaker
Right. And I love that you use consulting. Yeah. So you bring them in and does that work? Now you asked the question, how did I get here? What did I do?
Baseball and Discipline
00:07:32
Speaker
So I wasn't a good student and I wasn't very smart. I know that. Right. But what I had. That's hard to believe. Yeah. What I had was I used to play baseball.
00:07:44
Speaker
And baseball was determined by, if you pass your classes, you were able to play, right? So throughout high school, I had to pass, get the minimum grades to play. That was super important. I did it. I had, you had a- And why baseball? It was, I was good at it. I think I found a drive, right? A habit.
00:08:11
Speaker
It's like you got to take X amount of ground ball. So I think I built my grit and understanding the process to get better through baseball throughout my, you know, use. So I found I started playing organized ball when I was 12. When I was 15, I went into high school and then I was like, Oh, you got to do good in school to play. There were there's no if and to buts.
00:08:36
Speaker
So that allowed me to say, I'm not going to be an F up. I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to do the bare minimum. And then I understood to get into a good school, you need better grades. So then, you know, I, that, that was the thing. I wasn't a good student. I just knew how to play the game. The game was you'd be friendly with the teacher.
00:09:01
Speaker
you know, hey, I'm trying to and don't get me wrong, I was born and raised in the Bronx, right? So just to give you a heads up on the high school I went to, I came in with around 2000 students freshman year, something something like that, maybe 1000 2000. When I graduated, I knew four people.
00:09:24
Speaker
Most of the people had either dropped out or attended another year of high school, whatever the case is, but it was a low graduation rate. They closed the school eventually. But what I did was I said, hey, this is how I'm going to get out of the Bronx, is baseball. I got a scholarship to play at a community college.
00:09:52
Speaker
And that went well for two years. Then I went to Temple University and I played there for one year. And then I understood I'm not going to be a, I'm not going to get drafted. I'm not going to be in the majors. All right. So then I was like, I was trying to figure out. So before the next step,
00:10:09
Speaker
Tell us what it was like to play baseball in Bronx. And I'll tell you, so my perception and my view, why I came to the United States was basketball was a big part. And in one mix tapes, I was, ooh.
00:10:24
Speaker
That was it. And that was, I mean, it's all New York or majority is New York. And I was just freaking fascinated and in love with it. I'm like, whoa, like nitty gritty, just people with their shirts off with concrete with fences. And it was just down and dirty. And it was passionate. It was real.
00:10:46
Speaker
There was just very much the opposite of this Swedish culture, which I grew up on an island part of my life and it was very low-key, very calm, a lot of farmers, people didn't really care about getting better and then I saw this. I'm like, whoa. And I heard DMX. I'm like, whoa.
00:11:06
Speaker
Yes. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. What happened? What was that like? Tell us like what was that like growing up in the Bronx? And when you say playing baseball there too? Yeah, it was when I tell you it's it's hard. Um, I always give this example. When I was 18. I was happy I was alive.
00:11:36
Speaker
Hmm. I was 21. I'm like, OMG, I'm like, I really I could I'm alive alive, like, I'm aware. And I wasn't a statistic, right? And then when I was 33, I was like, I made Jesus's age. I'm happy. Right? I could go from there. So it was hard. You're talking about baseball. One thing that comes to mind was we were in Katona Park, we were facing a rival
00:12:04
Speaker
And this rival initially played at our field and the catcher got into a brawl with one of the guys. So when we went over there after the game, we used to do some sprints, right? And when we went out to the outfield to talk and do sprints, they had this like many mob come into the field with bats.
00:12:30
Speaker
And like, go ham on our team. Like some dude got like kneecapped. Oh, yeah, it was it was. I've never seen anything like knives and stuff like that. And the guy they wanted. I don't know how to this day. I don't know how we slipped away, but he slipped away and ran away. And he got home without an issue. And then they like
00:12:53
Speaker
we were like, yeah, you got to leave because this was because of you. But it was, there was always something going on. And in the Bronx, you know, you can look up stuff on Instagram or even YouTube of how the Bronx is, right? It's, it's something where, you know, it is rough. It is, it is difficult, you know, on where I lived on Castle Hill. Shout out to Castle Hill. Um,
00:13:21
Speaker
you know, at night, there's three certain there's three streets that when you're walking home, you must be very aware, hyper aware of what's going on. Right. And in New York, you're either shark or prey. So something, you know, two years ago, I was there in the Bronx and I'm walking to a store and I made eye contact. Now, when you make eye contact with someone, the first one
00:13:51
Speaker
to break high contact is the prey, or especially if you look down. So if you look down, that's even worse. So you have to be aware of what's going on there. So it's something that I would say I'm used to now. I think I lost some of it.
00:14:14
Speaker
When I moved out and I moved to California, right? That shark is not a shark. Maybe it's a dolphin now.
00:14:23
Speaker
But yeah, it's it's I think it'll always be there the killer instinct. But for me, I think what transformed me after going to college and coming back to the Bronx, you know, I need to scratch something off of my first paycheck. So I have right on the right side of me, my first paycheck, when I came back to the Bronx, I worked at Home Depot. And I always keep it as a reminder
00:14:49
Speaker
where I came from and what it took to get
00:14:54
Speaker
to where I'm at today, like hard work. There's no substitution for it for you to get better. You have to put in the work. And, you know, when I when I was in New York, what I committed to myself is I got to get out the hood. I have to get out the hood. This is not my life. I got to get out the hood. And there's nothing wrong. I want you to know that I have a lot of friends and family that still live there.
00:15:24
Speaker
And there's nothing wrong with it. But what I knew is I want more for myself. I want to do bigger and better things. I want to push. I want to make things happen. But it starts with hard work. And what I did was I decided, and I have one friend that's seen it from day one,
00:15:45
Speaker
I started at Home Depot every single time I worked. At lunchtime, I was reading computer books, getting a certification so I can get the certifications I needed to get a job because I knew that was the route that I needed to go to make things happen. And then what I understood because I wasn't a strong reader,
00:16:11
Speaker
And I wasn't a my comprehension wasn't as good. I started to figure out, okay, let me set goals. Where I want to go. So you need that destination. And then what is going to take me to get there. And then
00:16:31
Speaker
I'm going to start just chipping away at it and be persistent. And you know, you get distracted by all these shiny things, but it's that every day pushing to that specific goal that you need to get to to achieve it. So.
00:16:51
Speaker
this fascination and to see where you are today this makes it even a greater story and i'm like all right i'm rooting you on as you're telling your story and um now you are in in my eyes a very technical position as a threat senior researcher at um well we won't disclose the name it doesn't matter really but um
00:17:17
Speaker
You're in cybersecurity and it's not it's not a job that was around they didn't even exist. I assume when you grew up. Yep.
Career Path into Cybersecurity
00:17:28
Speaker
How did you get into the line of work and why study computers?
00:17:32
Speaker
I knew from an early age that computers was the future. How did I get into security? I went to a conference, right? Security back in the day was a system administrator at a network, right? Basically you created and all this stuff.
00:17:48
Speaker
One of the things that I went to the hacker conference, DEF CON, and I was looking and there's something called a pen tester where they test your systems for vulnerabilities and they help you identify them. So I went to this conference and I'm like, first of all, there's not a industry, a security industry. Second of all, there's all these pen testers and there's no defenders.
00:18:17
Speaker
So I'm going to concentrate on reverse engineering that could give me offensive defensive capabilities, but I'm going to lean towards where all this malware and everything is created to understand how the malware works and to provide how to identify it on networks. And this was like, I carved out my niche back in 2006.
00:18:42
Speaker
for anyone that doesn't know how early that is. Yeah, it's knowing one, your passion and trying to like, you know, just throw darts at a dartboard and saying, okay, this is going to be my passion. And, you know, I think my first job was in 2004 as a desktop support. And what I said was,
00:19:05
Speaker
I mean, that's all I needed. I needed just one in, one foot in. I'm gonna take care of the rest and I'm just gonna fucking work. I'm going to put in my work day in and day out. And then it's very important to be around like-minded individuals because the one thing I say when you're around like-minded individuals, you guys are gonna work together.
00:19:30
Speaker
hard. You're going to push each other. You're going to love what you're doing. And you're going to hang out. And I still have relationships back from when I started from my first gig. So, you know, we don't stay in touch anymore. But both of us with desktop support guys and both of us are now in the security industry because he didn't stop either.
00:19:53
Speaker
So it's, it is amazing, you know, what this industry has done for me and I want to always give back.
00:20:03
Speaker
Mm-hmm. So I grew up on So it's an island called Gotland and I grew up with people from There's nothing comparable to Bronx Even I've been briefly to Bronx and there's nothing of that sort but it's still not the best neighborhoods and I grew up in a in a
00:20:26
Speaker
It's funny to say this, it's the biggest island of Sweden but rap culture, basketball, the whole thing, we were into that and we try to emulate the African American culture and we got all into it and won mixed types and all that. So I can relate to your background. I never know authentically what it was like.
00:20:44
Speaker
but I can relate to what it was like to take myself out of an area like this, not being completely just on the other side of the globe, because I did not want to become just an average person, just doing what everyone else was doing. And most recently, so I just opened up my Facebook account and Instagram account for first time in five years and I started posting.
00:21:13
Speaker
as I'm launching this new business. And there are a lot of things that are coming up from my past. And I'm realizing, whoa, because I'm now elevating myself to associate myself in a whole different genre of, you can say, people and waves of going about life. There are some people I truly admire for their loyalty, their kindness, their thoughtfulness.
00:21:41
Speaker
But some of them are still Let's say they have worked at a and if this if this brings them happiness Working at a grocery store that is okay But I think a lot of people just fall into it and that is just they do it for sometimes the rest of their lives
00:21:59
Speaker
What was, do you, when you mentioned relationships and that is a key thing, do you still keep in, I assume you still have some relationships left in, in New York and how do you, yeah, how do you, how do you deal with, and how do you upkeep those while not feeling like, okay, how do I still remain up high? And I know my, who I am in integrity, right? I think there's a lot of ways to do that, right? I think for me, I reach out, you know, holiday is the usual.
00:22:30
Speaker
But you're playing on a different level. They can't comprehend that they have to get off the rat wheel or the wheel where these squirrels go, right? Because it's an everlasting thing. And most of the time for me, I always tell my friends, man, stop acting to the day. The day is happening for you rather than creating your day.
00:22:59
Speaker
You know, if you're a Picasso and you have a blank slate, what are you creating? Are you willing to create that masterpiece and take time to understand where you're going? And a lot of people can wrap their heads around that. And that is one of the big things. And, you know, I never,
00:23:19
Speaker
I never ever try to, to, I'm not a put, I'm not that type of guy that puts down people. I'm the type of guy that lifts everything up. So the way I look at it, whether it's my social media, and I think I told you this, whether it's my social media and I'm in the middle and I have all my friends is how do I pull everyone up? Because if I pull everyone up, everyone's going to come up with me. And that's what I do. You know, my, my friend.
00:23:49
Speaker
I remember this in 2005, one of my best friends in the world. I still talk to him today. I was like, you're never gonna be a millionaire. I was like, you know what? That's your limitation. It's not my limitation. That's your limitation. I think I could be ex-multi-millionaire. I think I could be a billionaire one day.
00:24:15
Speaker
I think for me, it's not about the money. It's about the journey and the process and going through it. And this is what I always tell people. Don't chase the money. You're doing it wrong. Chase the love of what you're doing because you will get paid for it. It doesn't matter what it is.
00:24:41
Speaker
So if you love Transformers, you could be the expert on Transformers and have a podcast just on Transformers and a blog post, a forum where you have people that love Transformers, right? That's like your passion. And that's the thing, you could create a community that can do something. I'm not saying, you know, it's gonna make you X amount of money, but if you have love for it, you have passion for it,
00:25:12
Speaker
You know, so what you make 40, 50 grand or even 20, but can you live with that? Are you loving waking up? Are you happiness there? For me, it's, it's like for every, every day I wake up, I get to work in my, you know, field that I love and I have passion for. And if I hated it, I wouldn't be as good as it, because I'm just going through the motions.
00:25:41
Speaker
Yeah, and and that's one of the things I love is is every morning I'm Picasso was gonna tell me I'm not Picasso in my industry and my fear in my life. Blank slate right there. I paint my pictures the way I think they look like Picasso better, right? And this is just the mentality winning mentality is you wake up and you are proactive. I'm trying to win.
00:26:10
Speaker
I'm trying to win big. Winning big for me is what I decide winning is. Not you, not someone else, not my significant other, not my mom, not my brother. It's like, put these two fingers in your ear and listen to yourself and tell yourself or ask yourself, what is winning for you? What can you stop doing so you can win more? How do you win big or bigger?
00:26:40
Speaker
And these are the questions you ask yourself the right question, you will get the right answers from it. Period. It's like one thing that I always tell people is, do you know how to grind? Do you know what that is? Have you put in that work when you get to that pain threshold?
Productivity Techniques
00:26:59
Speaker
Do you know how to push through?
00:27:01
Speaker
Or do you know how to give yourself a break? Because it's like, your brain is like, you know, you're doing bicep curls when you when you're working, when you're using your brain, you got to let it release and you got another set coming, right? Use the palmadera technique, 25 minutes on, give that bicep a rest, give it five minutes.
00:27:22
Speaker
get back in at 25 and do four sets of that and take a 15 minute break. See what I'm saying? So there's a process. You got to search for these people that have nuggets that you think you may need. So you're bringing up in the beginning their love and passion and it's something I've been
00:27:49
Speaker
considering reflecting on quite a bit lately as stoicism is more and more prominent in my life as there is a scale you can say of how do you love and get passionate about something that you do but don't get swayed by the love and passion for it. That you get sometimes blinded because you are so fascinated or into what you're doing that you lose
00:28:16
Speaker
can say your values, your principles, relationships, I've certainly been there. And passion and love was something that drove me here to the United States too, because I wanted to experience a full range of emotions, not just
00:28:31
Speaker
being in a safe zone all the time in a status quo all the time. And now it's something and so my one of my best friends growing up, he's from Chile, a lot of passion in in that family and everything from the food to the dancing and I'm married to a woman who she's a half Ecuadorian so that still sticks with me to this day and expression of salsa.
00:28:58
Speaker
there's a lot of passion, a lot of love, a lot of emotion in it. And you I see strokes in you when you're saying painting your masterpiece, and you're the artist, like, I see strokes like that within you yourself. Like, do you mind going into where that comes from? Yeah, I think I think emotion creates motion. Right? If you are animated, and you love something,
00:29:28
Speaker
it's gonna give you that energy, that thing you want, right? That blood is gonna be moving, right? This is why when you feel like, when you do exercise, you feel a certain way. You feel like, oh, I feel fresh, right? Anytime you feel tired or you're not amped to do something, do 10 squats.
00:29:52
Speaker
dude, 15 jumping jacks. Let me see how you feel to do what it is. And then, you know, it's who I think as I grow up, it's like, I'm so passionate about things, not passionate as just being an asshole. It's just like excited where the opportunity, the opportunity of doing something that you've never done or having an experience that you're going to feel. And it's like,
00:30:21
Speaker
How do you take yourself to another level? And to me, it's that passion, that love, that emotion that you need to get you through something when you don't want to do it. And going to David Goggins, which I recommend that everyone read that book. In that book, he says, do something you don't like every day. I hate.
00:30:52
Speaker
I hate washing dishes. I don't think anyone that I know washes them like me though. But it's a passion but I force myself to wash the dishes like no one can. Like real fast and hard like I love it. Right. I hate
00:31:14
Speaker
to like, I literally like my neck cramps up when I'm folding clothes. I do not like to fold clothes at all. I like don't look forward to after this, I'm going to fold clothes because I watched earlier today. But all of my clothes that I fold are on point. Like if I was in the military. And it's just a process like I know I'm a beat you brain. I'm going to tell you what to do. Yeah, you might give me a feeling
00:31:46
Speaker
that you don't want to do it, but I control you. I control my body. If I want to read a hundred pages, I'm going to will myself to read those hundred pages.
00:31:57
Speaker
when it's too hard and there's pain, it's learning how to, you know, like he says, callus your mind. And I think, you know, I was doing that before, but now he gave me a way how to explain it, right? I was learning like, I got to do this. It's going to happen. And it's the same thing with the Pomodoro technique. It allows, okay, you're such in pain, here's your five minute break.
00:32:24
Speaker
Do what you need to do. Go outside, you know, swing your neck. Boom. And.
00:32:33
Speaker
You're going into concepts there that is getting me. I mean, you've mentioned two things and I'm realizing that it's sticking with me. And that's another thing that you brought up from David Goggins. And that's something that the Stoics talk about a lot too is do what's uncomfortable because you practice your mind to getting used to how you face difficulties in life. Difficulties will never go away. They will always be there.
00:33:01
Speaker
you will determine the quality of your life by how you face obstacles, by how you face difficulties. And the more you face them, the better you get at it. So you might as well face them on your accord in your like on your terms rather than than happening smack face in your yeah, just in you in your regular day to day or whenever they happen.
00:33:23
Speaker
So it's something that I want to make a practice and it's inspiring me too and what you said too, how you fold your clothes. You do it with the utmost integrity, like how you do anything is how you do everything. You're truly speaking like the diamond in the rough and I'm freaking, I'm very intrigued to hear about
00:33:46
Speaker
Was there anyone when growing up that really you looked up to or influenced you that you saw as, okay, wow. This is. I think one of the things that I literally have to call him because I've been wanting to call him for like a year and tell him this. So I used to have this friend in the Bronx where we grew up. We used to snap on each other. We used to, you know, do like just play games and everything.
00:34:16
Speaker
And I used to have this friend, his name is Alex Torres. He probably doesn't even know this, but it has stayed with me forever in a day and has given me the confidence where I don't care what people say. So he used to, we used to snap on him. He used to do stuff. And his thing would be, I don't give a fuck. I don't give a fuck. He'll say it 25 times and would not give a damn.
00:34:44
Speaker
And he would just say that over and over. So, and, and so what? I don't get fucked. That was his whole little pattern when we used to like go into these groups. It didn't matter what it was. He was like, so, and what? And it always stuck with me. And I think to this day, that's the attitude I feel about like when people are judging or talking and this, that, and the other.
00:35:12
Speaker
it is hard for me to give two shits what people say. You know, of course, you know, for me, it is important where it's like, I give a damn, but I really don't, right? It depends, of course, who's it coming from? Is it constructive criticism is different, right? Because you're trying to make me better. But if it's just criticism critiquing me for no reason, and I know it's just bull,
00:35:39
Speaker
And it doesn't it doesn't bother me. It doesn't matter. I go refer back to him. So that that right there, it brings me back to that. And you know, when it comes to my passion is having these discussions, I have a passion for it, right? One of the things is, I feel like your day is like a movie, right?
00:36:06
Speaker
And then you have a battery throughout that movie that you got to go to sleep. So it's like, how do you manage your energy? And it's really being self-aware. And I know I'm going to go on a tangent, but I need to get, we're going clouds to dirt now. If one day is a movie and you want to get the best out of it, that means you got to do everything right.
00:36:27
Speaker
What do I mean by do everything right? It's putting the right nutrients in, giving yourself the right vitamins, eating the right foods, exercising and performing. Even if it's playing with your children, it's having that energy to give them 120%, right? So it's like managing everything and not being anal retentive, but just like, all right,
00:36:57
Speaker
The way, so taking three steps back, the way you figure shit out is you have to measure it. Has to be measured, and then you gotta put metrics behind it. Like let's be technical now. You have to put metrics behind it. What does that mean? Let's say I have a ring here. That's an order ring. I have my Apple Watch.
00:37:23
Speaker
And every day I burn around, I think it's for me to like be good. I need to eat around 2000 calories, let's say, and I usually burn anywhere from 25, 26 when I go to the gym.
00:37:41
Speaker
So now, or including the gym, or a little less, 1,000, sorry, 1,000 calories I burn at the gym for an hour, I need to eat 2,000. So if you take that away, I really need to eat 3,000 or 2,500, depending on how much activity I got. So if I want to perform at a high level, I need to eat one, 2,400 calories, right? I got to drink one gallon.
00:38:09
Speaker
of water. That's to perform at the highest level that's giving your body the nutrients it needs to perform at a high level. This is all going somewhere. So now I wake up at five in the morning. Right? I skip I don't eat my first meal until after the gym. Take a shake. Okay, now it's time to be a mental athlete starting at 9am. From 9am to 12. I go hard.
00:38:38
Speaker
Take a break, eat, go hard again from one to five, in between maybe a snack or another shake at three, and then eat a meal at six.
Daily Routine and Structure
00:38:50
Speaker
So right there I gave you 13 hours of pure performance.
00:38:56
Speaker
Now, from six to seven, I might be doing something random, taking a quick break, spending time with my family. And then it's time to wind down starting at 7.38. I might read something productive, have magazines there. It all depends on the day. And then it's day in and day out, every day, what I just told you, five days a week.
00:39:26
Speaker
day in and day out, giving it 120, and making sure you're sleeping correctly, and this is why I have the ring. Because I want to see, I need metrics. How much REM am I getting? How much sleep am I getting? What time? What's the average time I go to sleep? How am I feeling when I wake up? Why is this happening? So these are questions that you need to ask yourself so you can perform at a high level.
00:39:56
Speaker
It's a must. People don't go that deep, but when you flip over every rock, every rock is unturned, and then you keep on asking questions, how can I get better? How can I do more? What can I do? These are the things that put you on that high level. A lot of people don't wanna go there. It's too hard for them. It's too much information. But when you wanna play at that level,
00:40:25
Speaker
You have to play and you have to get those metrics in and out, in and out, in and out. And they have to be measurable. You are going into, this is what I was doing at my prime, peak performance. And when I was, had the greatest output professionally and
00:40:51
Speaker
When what comes up and some might say this because it's glorified, especially in the United States. Well, Marco, you're only working nine to five and you're taking freaking breaks. Like I work freaking 12 hour days, especially New York guys, gals.
00:41:08
Speaker
And my father, who's made it very high up in the career world, he would always scoff at that and the Swedish way of doing things. Well, it doesn't matter really how many hours you put in doing it. It's how you do it.
00:41:25
Speaker
what do you do when you're on? It's not BSing around, talking, being on social. Like, can you go into what what is this? There's intentionality, for sure. How do you describe what you do when you okay, so I'm going to cations off. I'm going to go into that. But I want to answer a question before that. One of the things it your dad, people are right. There's times that I work maybe 16 hours a day.
00:41:55
Speaker
I'm putting in that work because that's what's required to get it done. And I think I always say this, my coworker, it could take him four hours where it might take me 10. And you have to be self-aware that everyone's different. So it could take you two hours.
00:42:17
Speaker
but it might take me 12 to 16. Everyone is different. So to me, we can't generalize the time, right? What is required is for you to bust your ass. What is required is for you to get it done. Now, how long it takes you is up to you. When you say it's done, it's done. Maybe I wanna work 16 hours, but tomorrow I'm not gonna work.
00:42:46
Speaker
it requires you to take 16 hours on a Monday so you don't have to work on a Tuesday or you want to take a day off on Friday and you know it needs for a specific task it needs 40 hours so maybe you got to work 12 hours a day you know or whatever the case is until you get it done so timing to me
00:43:08
Speaker
Everyone has 24 hours is what you do with is what you do with it. And sometimes you just got to walk away and say, this is enough for today. And sometimes there's deadlines and you got to push. So to me, when it comes to time and scheduling and doing what you need to do, everyone is different. If you only want to work six hours a day, you can. It's what you are expected to put out, right?
00:43:37
Speaker
So I wanted to answer your other question. Go ahead, do it. Which is, how do I get into the zone? What is it?
00:43:48
Speaker
What I would recommend is everyone to read Josh Watskins, The Art of Learning. And in The Art of Learning, I think it's chapter eight, he goes real in depth into how to develop a pattern to get in peak focus
00:44:08
Speaker
mindset, right? So he gave he gives an example where this guy to get into a peak performance, he has to have a catch with his kid. He needs to heal hear a Neil Diamond song and then he has to do like some sort of exercise and then he's there. And then that would take 30 minutes and it won't for him. He perfected it where it took him three minutes to get there. For me,
00:44:37
Speaker
It depends on the specific task. But for me, it is sent. I have sage or a scented candle. I have a specific headphones. And there is a specific playlist. There's my parent, Pomodoro. And then it's go time. This is what I want to do. And I'm not going to stop until I get it done. Period.
00:45:08
Speaker
Regardless, again, it could take me two hours. It could take me eight. Are you willing to go hard? I am. I am. So I think that is the mindset you got to have on
00:45:24
Speaker
doing stuff, right? If you write poems, if you're a writer, if you're a podcaster, if you're an editor, it doesn't matter what it is. There's tasks that need to be done, right? If you're a tutor, if you have a child that you need a tutor, guess what? We're using a Pomodoro technique
00:45:48
Speaker
25 minutes, we're going to go hard until you get it. And then we're going to stop, go, stop, go, stop, go. So you can do this with anything you want. You know, for me, I started getting infatuated with time. And I love it because guess what? Everybody has the same time. It's how you use it. So every time I used to clean, I used to time myself, how long this takes.
00:46:16
Speaker
So I can tell you how long my room takes to clean or the backyard take. Right. Or a cleaning my clothes. So I would like put that in my head. And one thing that I do as a, as a release for my brain is clean something, something random once a day, something I put in my schedule.
00:46:43
Speaker
because it gives me that release. So, like I said, for me, it's I go into this, okay, for me to clean this, I got 25 minutes. You gotta get it done in 25 minutes, Marco. Come on, don't let me down, you can't be. And it's just a game. Like, I don't like cleaning, but now it's a game. I just put a game in front of me. Can you get it done in 25 minutes? Yes. So, you know, it's, how do you talk to yourself is super important.
00:47:13
Speaker
You know, I, I love myself. Yes. I don't think no one loves me more than me, but for me, I like.
00:47:23
Speaker
want to be in a good space. I want to be happy. So cleaning doesn't make me happy. But if I make it a game, it's gonna make me happy. Right. And that's, to me, the mindset that makes you go ahead and challenge yourself. Like many people that aren't on that peak performance will laugh at you. And I'm like, keep on laughing. Hmm.
00:47:48
Speaker
It is, it is, you know, the way I live. And I tell you, if there's one thing that I would recommend everyone watching this, hearing this to walk away with is don't react to your day. Be proactive.
00:48:10
Speaker
Picasso, BP proactive, create your day from morning to night. And for me, if it's anything that I can do or anything like that, you could definitely reach out to me, but go ahead. Any other questions? I'm ready, I'm ready to fire. All my tips and tricks are ready to go. Being so dialed in, having everything planned out,
00:48:36
Speaker
shortens creativity at times. Google has this practice to where you are allowed a certain amount of time just to, this is your passion, project time, you go off and do whatever. And there is, I mean, evidence that this is where some of the best inventions have come about. Have you implemented something of that sort in your life?
00:49:01
Speaker
I always say on the weekends, sometimes I doodle, write things down, take a walk, try to, like I said, try to create, I think, I think really in the morning, you know, there's those to do's that I need to do. But I try to imagine like new things and cool things and how do I
00:49:25
Speaker
get those, like pull those strings so I can create and do more, right? I think it's important to take time out and be reflective. And how do you become creative? That's one thing I was working on two years ago. It's, you know, I think people be like, oh, it's natural talent. I'm like,
00:49:55
Speaker
I don't I don't believe I believe in natural talent. Yeah, like, you don't have to work at it as good but you become shitty I believe you need to put in the work so I was I put in the work so I could like be more creative. Right. I created this whole process I bought some books where I can doodle.
00:50:16
Speaker
um, create, think of problems that are out there that I'm having, or that, you know, I want to create in a certain space and be creative. Who said you can't be creative? I can be creative anytime, right? It's, it's the perspective you have on it, right? Of course, if I draw a stick figure, it's not going to be work of art, but guess what? It's all about perspective. It's a work of art to me.
00:50:44
Speaker
what I did is it's the work that I've put in and I think a lot of times it's like you look for other people so they can say you know this is a win you know and it's impact so it's also when you create something it's a win for you but how it becomes successful is other people need to need to like check off on it right
00:51:15
Speaker
You have a lot of structure and it's very thoroughly thought out what you do. I was on that path and what happened to me is I fell prey to the money. I fell prey to titles and not doing what I wanted, not the external circumstances affected me in a negative way. And I started going inward and I was so dialed in in my routines.
00:51:45
Speaker
And when all of a sudden the company was scaling and management switched things up, moved around teams, new leadership came in, I had to adapt. I had to switch and I struggled. Where I was, I hit a ceiling, I reached my goal and I'm like, and it's the classic. I didn't know what my next goal was.
00:52:07
Speaker
I knew in my head what it was, but I didn't have that feeling. I'm going to freaking do it. I have this. I'm going to show you. Part of that was a chip on my shoulder and it's always wanting to show my father that I'm worthy enough, but now that every time I reach that level, and it's this fallacy of not setting your next goal,
00:52:30
Speaker
There are many things that came up and I had such immense drive and eventually I fell on my own sword as I was so dialed in so often that I did not rest enough. I was running myself to the ground and I was so dialed in that I let go of my emotions.
00:52:49
Speaker
And I thought it was a distraction. My ego made it out to be in the way that, oh, well, you get this high when you get this sale or you get this promotion or you get this praise. But it was all superficial.
00:53:05
Speaker
I thought it was I thought it was emotions that I valued, but then slowly but surely, like my relationship started going downwards as the focus was what can I do for me? And how can I dial in my life? Not about others. And that eventually, for example, one mentor of mine committed suicide. And part of that,
00:53:33
Speaker
There are similar circumstances. When you put all your eggs in one basket, when you go so freaking hard and it's taken away from you, or you fail, or you crash and burn, external circumstances do something and you're a mess. I had to take quite a bit of time doing the extreme opposite and I had to just be. I had to do a lot of reflection. I had to do a lot of rebuilding.
00:53:59
Speaker
At one point I switched jobs and I had been in a startup go-getter chasing mentality always new shiny and 120% and then it went to well, we're gonna take it methodically and every day We'll see what we get done and I'm like oh
00:54:21
Speaker
I'm going insane. I need like, let's do this. And it was that was not the reality. And it was incredibly complicated. And it forced me to look inside of myself. And also, who are the people around me, then I realized it turned my attention to my family more and made me realize, okay, well, how
00:54:40
Speaker
How do I cultivate what's within?
Finding Happiness and Contentment
00:54:43
Speaker
How do I cultivate a relationship within myself where my own happiness where how I feel about myself is not dependent on what I do? Why? You know, for me, and this is just my opinion, I really don't believe in burnout.
00:55:03
Speaker
Hmm. I just don't. Because I don't. If I don't like something, I'm not going to do it. Right? If for me, to me, burnout is like you doing something and you don't like doing it. Like I don't want to wake up in the morning.
00:55:24
Speaker
I don't want to go to work. I don't want to that to me, that's burnout. And to me, it's like you have the wrong goal or something like that. Again, this is all my opinion. Because if you have a goal, and you're doing it every day, and you're feeling like you don't want to do it, then it's the wrong goal.
00:55:46
Speaker
Like, unless you have to me, to me, unless you have like some sort of chemical imbalance in your brain where, you know, you're feeling a certain way, I get that. I do. But to say I'm burnt out from this job, to me, it's just like, you don't have the right goal. You're at the wrong job. You're doing the wrong thing. And that's, that is just my opinion. Many people
00:56:16
Speaker
I've gone, they like, you're wrong, this, that. I'm like, okay, that's just, that's just, again, don't fault me. It's my opinion because every day I wake up, first thing I do is thank God, my heart didn't stop last night. Now let's fucking get it. Now let's go. Now let's give it 120 the way we need to do it. And that's, to me, that's it.
00:56:41
Speaker
How can you be burned out of something you love, that you have energy for, that you're grinding for? To me, it just honestly, it doesn't make, I don't understand that, right? Maybe someone else one day could like help me bring it because I'm always the opposite. Well, do you love it? Do you have energy?
00:57:03
Speaker
Do you have any chemical imbalances? No. Okay. So, so what's the issue? Maybe you need a break, go get a vacation, go to Maui, sip some my ties or pin you can lot or something like that. But I just love what I do. If I didn't do this, I would find something else that I love to do and try to be the best at it. And the best that I could be not the best at someone else.
00:57:31
Speaker
could be. And another thing is, you know, you refer to it like pointing to your pops. Like, did you want to be the best? Because you wanted to be the best? Or you just wanted to show him, yo, I could do it big. Right? So this is why I say I'm hard on me. Because I'm hard on me. And I'm not hard on anyone else. I'm not I'm not saying I want you to be proud of me. I don't give a fuck if you proud of me or not.
00:58:01
Speaker
I'm proud of myself. When I walk in, I can have my chin up, chest out because I know I've given it all I got from a good perspective, right? From love. But like for me, this isn't, it's not me like rah, rah, hippity. This is my thoughts, speaking to myself daily. I'm speaking to myself daily. This is what I say to myself.
00:58:30
Speaker
And it is what it is. It's great to have champagne moments. So one thing I do on my schedule is, what is your champagne moment today? Pop the bottle. What is that going to be? Create it. Create your champagne moment.
00:58:53
Speaker
And then try to predict the glass being broken. What event could that be? And then could you avoid it? See, these are games. These are amazing games you get to play in the morning when you're creating your schedule. I'm not faking it. What's your champagne moment? My champagne moment of the day is speaking to you. This is
00:59:17
Speaker
And that's, and that's what it is. Is there going to be a broken glass? I don't think so. I think at seven o'clock, seven PM, I'm going to the gym and I'm going to get my ass whooped. I was not going to be my champagne moment, but I know I'm going to get my ass whooped today. Cause I've seen the workout.
00:59:32
Speaker
But this is my champagne moment. And I think you have to celebrate every day. Like I did that. Pat yourself on the back. Right? Last Thursday, I was at the gym. Sorry, last Friday, I was at the gym. And I finished this whole workout, complete workout.
00:59:52
Speaker
and I patted the shit out of me like no tomorrow because it was a new gym and they're doing all these things and you know they have the COVID protections and everything but the workouts are like four like real athletes like and I and I finished the workout.
01:00:09
Speaker
We're talking crossing, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you know, not that you're going to hurt yourself. It's in between CrossFit and like, you know, normal movements, not the Hercinger stuff. But anyway. Yeah. Yeah. No, but I have a past in it. What gym? We might as well give a shout out. It's Savage gym. Savage gym in California. But so I gave myself next month.
01:00:36
Speaker
The goal was next month to complete an entire workout because it is that damn hard. Like today, I know I'm going to give it all she's got. The likelihood of me finishing.
01:00:49
Speaker
I don't know, but I'm going to give it all she got. I'm not going in the mindset as I'm not going to finish it. I know it's hard, right? But last Friday, I finished it. I was like, shit, I'm two weeks ahead. I gave myself all of February to finish one workout. So Pat, I smelt the roses.
01:01:08
Speaker
smelt the roses. I came home. It was 6am workout. I came home at 715. And I was kicking my heels here. Because it was my champagne moment that was unexpected. And I was like, glowing, happy. Because I hit my goal. Goals feel good. But you got to set more goals.
01:01:34
Speaker
Right. So when you achieve your your champagne moment, how quickly do you get back after and set your new goal? I think, you know, my new goal is for next month to neuro to workouts in a row, like these workouts are no joke. Right. And and my goal for for fitness is to go, you know, just two days, back to back.
01:01:59
Speaker
I work on Monday to Friday, just two days. It could be Friday and then the following Monday, but just two back-to-back workouts that I could complete. And it's those short steps. And then this is what I'm saying. If I don't complete it on February, guess what? I got March.
01:02:16
Speaker
Don't be too hard on yourself, but I got March, but my goal was that. And I think a lot of people, you know, when they set goals and they feel, they feel crushed. And I think, you know, it's okay not to hit your goals as long as you get back on the horse and you continue pushing is important. And then you have your accountability partners, right? The people that you trust that say, hold me accountable to this.
01:02:44
Speaker
own me to, you know, put my feet to the fire or something like that. And you need those. I call them consiglietes. I have many of them.
01:02:54
Speaker
and I have them in different fields. So my health guy is Ronald Edding, shout out to him. I go to him for advice and hey, this is what I'm doing, what do you think? Give me your recipes for cooking, certain meals, call him Ron, Chef Ron. For technical advice, I have someone for that. I have my doctor for my health.
01:03:22
Speaker
I have all of these people in my life that I can call life advice, relationship advice, health advice, you know, nutrition, it goes on and on. So you need a lot of, of mentors. You can't have a guru that just has covered everything. It's not going to, it's not a good look.
01:03:46
Speaker
few things come up the power of your inner circle of influence is freaking huge second one is
01:03:59
Speaker
pertaining to burnout, you do something very significant and this ties in with number three too. You set boundaries and you're very clear about your boundaries and you when you are on, you're on what it sounds like and present in what you're doing. You're not somewhere else. And I'll tell you what happened with me is
01:04:20
Speaker
I get so energetically charged with what I'm passionate or love doing that I have a hard time shutting off. Regardless, if I step into family time, I'm like, oh, my mind's like I have an inner visualization of what's happening and what I need to do because I'm so into it while I'm having a conversation and listening in the same time.
01:04:41
Speaker
And it doesn't matter sometimes if I work out or meditate, whatever it is, it still is there. If I'm that into it. What's wrong with that? Because I would love I love that. Because while I'm doing stuff, I'm counting numbers and doing things I'm going to do. And sometimes I'm not present. But it's because I don't want to be present.
01:05:03
Speaker
I might be talking to somebody. It's not good, a good thing, but the call or who I'm talking to is kind of like I'm weighing out what's more important. These numbers that I'm thinking about, I'm present, I'm hearing what you're saying, but I'm not 100% there because I have these cycles going. I don't think there's nothing wrong with that. I think it's, it's
01:05:24
Speaker
your passion drives you your passion weights you can you I mean, it's important if you have your significant other or your children and you and you can't let it go that that might be an issue. Right. But I mean, there's meditation shut shut your brain off. Try to try to hold it down for me. I love this is like hacking the brain.
01:05:56
Speaker
It's to me, this conversation is all about hacking the brain. And, and I love reading about the brain, how to have a manual, a manual for me that I've created to help me, to help me remember stuff, do stuff, be a high performer. And when that brain is going, let it flow. You ever wake up in the middle of the night, have a paper and a pad right by my desk.
01:06:27
Speaker
I mean, my nights then, because I wake up sometimes ready to jot down what's in my brain. You know, one, one thing that I learned is write down your dreams. People say, Oh, I don't, I don't remember it. You know how you do it. When you wake up, don't open your eyes, close it. Start training your brain, your mind to remember what you dream about.
01:06:54
Speaker
there's sometimes that I wake up and I don't write it down but during the day it's like oh I dreamt of that so you're aware of stuff this is like to me it's taught it's not natural right and and it goes along the line like everything matters everything matters man the conversations you have the things you do what you think of just your energy you're putting it out there it all matters
01:07:25
Speaker
So why not do it? And this is the thing, being kind, loving each other, but just taking it by like just doing your best. And for me, if you, if you, if we have a conversation off, it's still with that passion and love and people will know that, but I have so much love and compassion.
01:07:50
Speaker
for people in general, like, you know, I'm pretty sure, I mean, I hope that I'm sure my family members would be like, they'll say amazing things about my heart and who I am because I really care for other people and want the best for everyone. I never, I can't, I don't recall anyone in my, for me, anyone that I'm like, I wish bad on that person.
01:08:19
Speaker
I don't want that person to win. Never, never, ever, ever I want that person to win, even if it's a arrival. Right? Because even that rival that's going to get better, it's going to bring you up, you have to perform at that level. So, you know, you always want to you always want to put the positive vibes out there. And and want people to do good and, you know, don't feel sorry for people.
01:08:46
Speaker
You know, in certain contexts is what I'm saying. And I'm like, oh, this is hard and good. Good. Do more. Like push yourself to more. And a lot of people, you know, it's trust me when I tell you it's laziness because I used to be there. But then once you start under the understanding the late, the traits, like the definition of laziness,
01:09:17
Speaker
Like it's not laziness. It's just a word. It's like, why don't you want to work and you'd rather be on the couch watching TV? Like once you start, that's to me, lazy, right? Or I want to play video games and not do what I have to do to become a better human. That's laziness.
01:09:48
Speaker
dreams is something a lot of high performers do not speak of. Why does that play a factor in your life and explain how you integrate and learn from them? I think they are like a computer has sub task, some processes.
01:10:09
Speaker
And I think that is a open process when you're sleeping, where it allows you to create and work on problems. So like, again, people out there might be like, this guy's a little bit out there, but I don't give a fuck. So I tell my brain when I go to sleep, I want you to
01:10:34
Speaker
I want you to work on this for me. Good looking. I appreciate it when I wake up. I know you're going to have something for me, but I want you to dream about this. We're in there. Right. Most of the time, maybe not. Maybe it's just like running and doing stuff. And I certain that why was this person in my dream? And I haven't even, right.
01:10:55
Speaker
but I try to, to command what I dream of to help me out and figure out a problem. You know, why am I eating so much? Can you help me out there and figure out, figure out what's going on there? Is there something chemically wrong that that's going on? And I just tell my body sometimes heal, heal, heal, like I'm sore. My back has hurt and heal that, that place for me. I'm pushing all my energy.
01:11:26
Speaker
for there, or I might be working on a project and say, Hey, I'm having this issue, this error. Can you try to help me? So when I wake up, I could, you know, look at all angles. And, and that's what I do. You're going to dream anyway. You're going to hit REM sleep. If you're not hitting REM sleep, you're going to have a short life.
01:11:46
Speaker
And this is why I tell you, you know, damn, I wish I had my phone over here so I could give you the stats of last night, um, that I have on, on there. So, you know, you're, you're, you got to measure it. Everything is measurable and especially sleep because sleep impacts your performance. That's why I said everything matters. If I don't hit X amount of look,
01:12:12
Speaker
What I do know is I need six hours and 53 minutes to perform at my highest level. Six hours and 53 minutes of sleep to perform at my highest level. I need close to four hours at least of, or I don't get that high, maybe two and a half, sorry, two and a half, but I have the stats there, right? And this is, I rate it.
01:12:36
Speaker
Like in the mornings I document I slept X I did this I did that I feel like a freaking animal. I'm a lion.
01:12:45
Speaker
right so that's that's what I would say that's what I would say you know everything is measurable measure it be a metrics nerd and there's a lot of things out there for you to be a metric metrics nerd this or ring is a little expensive but it's so worth it because you're going to be on this planet for a long time and to other people short but you know you have you you're going to sleep
01:13:12
Speaker
I think it's I think it's a third of your life you're gonna sleep.
Importance of Sleep
01:13:16
Speaker
So I mean, you need the metrics, you need to perform at a high level. You're going into the area that was my downfall. And I was breaks and sleep. Because I had looked up to these people and the notion of, well, if you're gonna work, you don't need sleep.
01:13:40
Speaker
Who else is out there right now doing what you want to do? But they're taking that from you because you're not out there working Like sleep sleep when you're dead. It's kind of it's that notion. I'm like, okay Well hearing these people sleeping four hours six hours. I'm like, okay. Well, all right, let's get it and I started sleeping six hours and then had my daughter and I
01:14:04
Speaker
I was biking to work and I was listening to a podcast there. I was throughout breaks. I was doing what we did here. I mean, do hourly breathing sessions. I was having everything locked down. I was waking up. So I was waking up at 4.30 in the morning and I had my own time and I did visualizations. I did, um, I did, um,
01:14:30
Speaker
I had power moves. I had things that I said to myself. I got myself in state and then I just, I killed it. And then I was, I was listening to, um, I was going back on a train, reading a book and taking a bike up a big steep hill, listening to another podcast as I was working out, listening probably to a third podcast. And by the time I'm ready for dinner now, I'm cooking dinner. Um, I am, I'm very, very exhausted.
01:15:00
Speaker
Eventually, maybe after a year, I just stopped retaining information. I forgot things mid-sentence. I did not take vacations and I did not take breaks, but I was freaking loving what I was doing.
01:15:17
Speaker
And that is, you're going into that. And that's what I think is amazing about you. You set those boundaries, like you're saying. Well, if you're burnt out, take a break, like take a vacation, rediscover who you are. For me, it was a really damn long reset time period because I pushed myself for so long with such intensity. And what you're saying there with dreams,
01:15:42
Speaker
Having intention I think that spectacularly that you do to have heard that before from experts is Setting an intention. Hey, this is my question This is what I want answers to and being just saying it out loud or even saying it to yourself I think that's incredibly powerful and something that I want to start implementing now as well and that happens for example in meditations for me and
01:16:03
Speaker
And these things, like you said, subprocesses, these things, answers just start popping up. It's counterintuitive when we're always, when you hear you, you hear myself speak at times, always go, go, go, go, go. But then when you do take breaks, be intentional about it. We even know that, okay, well,
01:16:23
Speaker
I have made the intention to take a break near 1130, even though I'm in the zone and I want to freaking crush it and keep going. Leave it, have the discipline and the self love to leave it is usually what happens then freaking amazing answers and things that you didn't think of will come up during that break. But that that is my one of my greatest vices and that I struggle with to that discipline to stop at that point.
01:16:47
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, for me, one thing, I'm not an expert in sleeping, right? But there's some topics you need to do research in. Everyone sleeps, right? You need to research what type of person you are. I'm trying to find the book. I'll send it later. I read it a few years ago. I can't recall it. But it's like there was three type of people and what they need in terms of sleep.
01:17:18
Speaker
Right. One thing that I would say is you have to figure out what, what you need for sleep, right? Consistency is important. Waking up at the same time every day is super important.
01:17:34
Speaker
a half hour later, not before going to sleep at a certain time is super important. Yesterday, I dropped the ball, right? I was so exhausted during the day I took a nap and I couldn't go to sleep at the time I wanted to and I was pissed because I knew it was going to impact me. Luckily, I did not know there today was a holiday. So I didn't I like
01:18:01
Speaker
Kudos on me, I have more time to work and catch up on stuff, but I was like, all right, cool, right? I didn't want to, so this is what I say about knowing yourself, right? I woke up, looked at my phone, looked at the workout, and there was like, there's no way
01:18:17
Speaker
that if I do this workout at 6am, I'm going to perform from nine to five the way I need to perform. So I'm not going to go at six, I'm gonna go at seven at night. Because as soon as I'm done with that, I'm gonna go take shower and go to sleep because I'm going to be exhausted. So it's understanding your day planning your day out and doing it. And
01:18:39
Speaker
It involves, you know, going to sleep on time. Like I said, however it takes you to get something done. Look, someone expects you to work 10 hours. Why should I work 10 hours if I could get it done in eight? Right? Again, if you really want the job and you like it, and it takes you 14 hours, are you willing to put the work in? I am.
01:19:06
Speaker
I am. Like I said, there's been multiple times last October, November, I did 80 hour weeks. It was fun. You understand? It was fun. I could do 90. Right. And it's not about Oh, you're working too hard. You burn out. I think it's a combination. Are you getting your exercise? Are there relationships you have? If that's okay with them,
01:19:34
Speaker
And then are you eating correctly? And now you're performing. Where's the stress at? You're loving what you're doing. You got to put in the work. Yes, there's some stress because you're doing the work. But these are metrics you need everything you need. Right. So I always say the same thing.
01:19:55
Speaker
Give it out, if you need to take four hours, if you need to sleep four hours one day, okay, that's one day, if it becomes a habit, how is this affecting you in the long run? Because I know people that perform a four hours, they sleep four hours. Like naturally, they just, it is what it is, right? I know other people that need 10 hours and I'm like, okay, that's what you need, cool.
01:20:24
Speaker
So it's all, it's all everyone. It's not cookie cutter. You know what, what I do to get me in the zone. Hopefully you could get one of five things.
01:20:38
Speaker
So that's, that's what I would say, man. Everyone's different. I hope, you know, people are getting some sort of insight into, you know, high performance and what it takes. Right. This isn't overnight. Like people want this quick fix thing and it's patience, patience, patience,
01:21:00
Speaker
patients. And I think I learned that like, I learned the process. I learned to trust the process. And I learned patient because overnight, I'm not going to be this beast. Like my sleeping schedule suck when I was in my 20s. All of my 20s. It was terrible.
01:21:23
Speaker
So it is what it is. You grow, you move forward, you make things happen. And then you start evolving. And then when you're evolving, you're going to have people that's like, Oh, you're changing. It's okay. Change is good. It's having other people that don't want you to change because they want you to stay at the same spot. You just got to recognize it. Yeah. The, um, the most challenging thing
01:21:52
Speaker
professionally for me has been to embrace the what the eye can't see and integrating what the eye can't see and you're touching on part of it dreams as part of it meditation was part of it it's more embraced now especially in Silicon Valley and I'll give one example so people can understand a dream factor and how is that played
01:22:17
Speaker
so significant importance in my life lately was I had a dream and I was doing heroin in this dream and I had this incredible high and I was just going bouncing off the wall and I crashed and it was it was terrible and I woke up
01:22:39
Speaker
And I realized it's the coffee. It's caffeine. It's the caffeine that's doing this. And I've been asking myself this question, like, well, why am I feeling the way I am doing day in and day out? And I don't drink much coffee, but I'm a highly tuned person. I have a highly tuned in diet and this had a significant effect, the caffeine. So I would crash 334 when I end my work day.
01:23:08
Speaker
And I would have a lot of regret, a lot of anxiety, hard time letting go, and I would be just very, very destructive in my way of being and in my energy. Nice, your question. When was this? About a month ago. Let's get into this, because I'm a professional when it comes to this. A professional. Ask me your questions. Because I'll give you a rundown.
01:23:38
Speaker
back in my 20s, I would drink close to 12 cups a day. And I'm talking about ginormous cups like like these cups. Okay, like those cups. And then, you know, what I didn't know, let me this is going to be a long winded answer. But I want to when I talk about being a professional when it comes to coffee drinking, you're talking to the to the maestro. So
01:24:07
Speaker
throughout my, all of my twenties and in the beginning 31 32, I would go so hard. I'm talking about every hour, every two hours, a cup, a big cup with milk, half and half sugar, all this. And then I started like really gaining weight. I'm still, I'm still heavy. You know what I mean? But I was really gaining weight. So then I was like doing starting to count calories.
01:24:37
Speaker
And then I was like, holy shit. Each cup is close to like 300 to 400 calories, sugar and half and half.
01:24:50
Speaker
right? It's not maybe a little less. That's maybe rangy rangy. Like maybe throughout the day, I was drinking about 1200. Like 1200 calories and just coffee. That's that's ridiculous. That's not including meals. So I wasn't getting crashes. I was like, you need to just stop like going from 1200. And you need to start bringing that down.
01:25:18
Speaker
So I went from, I stood with everything, but then I was like, instead of half and half, I'm gonna go to, you know, 2%, 1% fat free, which was disgusting. Then I would go to lattes, almond milk. Now this is fast forward, right? I used to take four spoons or five spoons of sugar. I did four, three, two, one, zero. And it was half and half, 2%, 1% fat free almond milk.
01:25:49
Speaker
So I just, what I just did there, it took me around two years. So I really recall when it happened, it was 2013 when I realized it, but I was doing it for like, I think maybe 10 years. So then I started just changing that habit. And then in 2018,
01:26:12
Speaker
I was drinking a lot, a lot, a lot. And then I went back to New York, and I was used to Silicon Valley's gourmet coffee, pinky, the best beans in the world, best lattes in the world. And you go back to New York, and I had to go there for six months because
01:26:32
Speaker
a family member had a medical issue that needed me there for six months. And the coffee was absolutely terrible. So I could only drink black coffee and that black coffee was shitty. So that made me take eight cups of coffee into like, I was cutting down at the time to around four.
01:26:57
Speaker
And then when I came back, I think because I drank coffee so much throughout my life, I mean, literally my mom at five years old would give me a cup of coffee and say, go to school.
01:27:09
Speaker
Seriously, and then they thought I had a DD, you know, I had running through my veins at five years old. But what I'm saying is like what I decided I can't recall when I can't recall when it had to be in the last year, maybe two years is you have two cups of coffee in the day and it's before 12.
01:27:31
Speaker
all black, two shots of Express, I got this high end espresso machine, great beans and everything. And get your flavors in get get it up. So what happens? Two cups. If it's 1201, and you only have one is your fault. Because I told you to do that, right? Done. Look, this was my second cup of the day. It's still it's cold, but it's past 12. Yeah.
01:27:59
Speaker
So I there is for me, there there isn't any crash. And I think, you know, I would recommend anyone addicted to anything to like wean themselves off.
01:28:13
Speaker
You're going into concepts of micro progression, of having small goals, just achieving small goals. And I think that's, that's frickin key. Like don't go for it. Don't go for the elephant kill right off the bat. Yeah. Get yourself a bunny first. Like, yeah, it's like, it's like doing your bed when you wake up. You already won, right? But at the end of the day,
01:28:42
Speaker
any goal, whatever makes you feel good. Do it. So I just put myself look, you're not having it after 12. So I don't I don't have any crashes. But if you do have any crashes, how much water are you drinking? That's that's that's a question that I have for you. How much water do you drink before three?
Personal Routines and Hydration
01:29:02
Speaker
I function well on very little water. At least that's what I have to tell you tell please. Going into exact measurements. Everything is metrics. Remember, everything is metrics.
01:29:20
Speaker
Yeah, and this is something I used to be more dialed into. I drink. So right now fast in the morning, I used to do bulletproof coffee used to do butter, coffee, MCT oil or brain octane oil. And that was my my breakfast I did. But now I'm just all I do. I stopped eating at seven and my next meal is at 1130 next day for lunch without water before
01:29:46
Speaker
So I drink two cups of not cups it's slightly more maybe a cup and a half so it's equivalent of three cups in the morning of water and it's hot water and that's what I have. Do you do that when you wake up?
01:30:02
Speaker
Uh, it's like half an hour, 45 minutes in. Okay. And, um, uh, I've tried the salt and the lemon elixir that some people talk about and does not work for me. And so I go to that, but yeah, I, um, I usually drink water sometimes in afternoon. Um, and I need to pick that habit back up again. And.
01:30:27
Speaker
I don't drink with my meals. And then I go into working out probably I used to drink about almost I would say half a gallon when I worked out not anymore.
01:30:42
Speaker
But yeah, that's where usually my water drinking ends. And a big part of why I don't do this is I have a rather small bladder. I go to a bathroom so freaking much and it annoys me. It annoys the crap out of me. So it ruins flow.
01:31:00
Speaker
My opinion and if we're in it like say doing a podcast like this or doing a meeting if I have let's say a cup of water Before we would jump on this podcast. I probably need to go to a bathroom two or three times and I'm like, no, that's not worth it So I'll be beer
01:31:17
Speaker
But this is part of the habit too. So I admit the more I drink, the less I also need to start going to the bathroom. I'm aware and I'm curious to, I mean, obviously you know a thing about this because you're putting me on the spot here. You drink a gallon a day.
01:31:32
Speaker
I have attempted I've attempted to doing this. It's frickin nightmare. I lose my appetite. I go to a bathroom all the time. And I just have a very hard time just just drinking the water because I'm like, this is frickin hell. And I don't see any benefit from it. So I'll leave it at that. Right Marco. So there's a few things I'm gonna give you an example. I remember back in 20
01:31:56
Speaker
I was on a diet and I wanted to get into eating avocado. My family eats a lot of avocado. The problem is avocado for some reason gives me some horrible pains in my stomach. So what I did was I was like, really?
01:32:18
Speaker
Okay. This is when I was just like trying to mess with my brain. I was like, I'm gonna eat avocados every single day until there's no more pain. You're gonna get used to it. You're gonna have to get used to it.
01:32:32
Speaker
And guess what? For the first two weeks, every time I was curled up in my couch in pain and I was like, tomorrow's gonna happen again. I got my pillows here. I got a little thingy, a little cover. I'm ready because I believe you're gonna have to get used to this pain. Meaning body get used to eating avocados and whatever it does and figure it out.
01:33:02
Speaker
it figured out itself, whatever the case is not getting avocado, no problem. But for like those two weeks, and anytime I ate it before, it would just destroy like pain. I was just like, I'm gonna go ahead and do it. So what I would say is with the water thing, get over it.
01:33:24
Speaker
Get over it. Like do it and keep on taking pisses. And then people think I'm crazy. I'd be like, no, you're not going to the bathroom. Hold it until whatever I need to do is finished. Like chill. It's not. They say it's not healthy. But what I'm saying is, you know, who's who's control of this vessel? I am chill.
01:33:46
Speaker
Like, you know, if there's a trick, right? Let's say if you're in a podcast and you really got to go, you could smack your hand as hard as you can. And it, your brain shifts over to the pain instead of like you're going to the bathroom. Now that's extreme. The other thing is how extreme is this? Are you in a room?
01:34:06
Speaker
have a piss bucket like have a piss bucket but what I would recommend is as soon as you wake up what I do is shoot 32 ounces straight to the face before anything hydrate my body it can be hot medium cold whatever 32 ounces straight to the face and the day begins there hmm
01:34:32
Speaker
dropping bombs here Marco left. Yeah, you're calling me like I thought okay, being a former strength coach being a I would like to call myself a biohacker. You're freaking you're raising the bar like you're calling me out and I appreciate I got them appreciate it. So thank you. Absolutely. And I would say is, you know, they have these gallons where you you
01:34:56
Speaker
you know, sure. I'm not doing a bodybuilding style. But yes, I Yeah, yeah. What I would say is can you chug 32 ounces? Sure. I would say chug twice three times a day. Anytime you you want something have have one of these.
01:35:16
Speaker
Sure. I always have this around because I've given up everything. You're thirsty, you drink water, orange juice, no apple juice, no Pepsi, no nothing. I used to love I'm talking about love my my sparkling water. Hmm.
01:35:37
Speaker
And then someone challenged me when you when you challenge me, I is ready to go. So they challenge me, and it changed my habit. Now I'm just like, I'm good. Right. But the first thing I do this, this, you know, in terms of activity, 32 ounces of water off the rip, and I take a shot of
01:36:01
Speaker
this thing called Nutriburse Plus, which has all these vitamins and nutrients and it gets me where I need to go. Then I check on everyone. Then I get my coffee.
01:36:13
Speaker
I don't need it. I just want to enjoy it. You know, me and my mom have this ritual. I go and check on her, bring her a coffee. I have my coffee and let's chat and watch TV and see how shit is going. Right. So you have these, these habits, these rituals, and it is what it is, but I will challenge you to say at least minimum, try to get 95, 94,
01:36:42
Speaker
ounces of water in you and then push it push it up it it's not that difficult you forget because you're going on and on but you know metrics let's go back to metrics sure you want you want to go back after you take 32 ounces of water how long does it take for you to go to the bathroom is it an hour sit we're going back to we're going back to time sure right and and and
01:37:08
Speaker
the crashes, I believe, and this all revolves around your crash and your dream. Sure. Because I believe if you're hydrated, that will give you the energy you need. I re this is again, I'm not a pro. But my energy is is up. Because I'm mindful that we are performers.
01:37:33
Speaker
So when I say crash, I mean a mental crash of not energy. I'm
Time Management and Rituals
01:37:40
Speaker
not talking energy in the body, but a mental crash of my brain has been on just full lockdown mode. And I've been doing so much that I've not processed everything that I've done. And when I hit that time that I stop.
01:37:54
Speaker
And it's workout time. Now all this stuff starts coming up. I'm like, and there's anxiety usually because, and this is how I end my day. And this needs to be intentional. Focus on a good note or focus and on a good note every single day. You determine how you end every single day. If you, and that is because it will lead into everything else that rest of your day. It's like your champagne moment. Try to have the champagne moment for me at least.
01:38:20
Speaker
at the end of the day because it will follow me for the rest of the day and going into the next day too. So be very intentional, like plan things and they'll bring up your spirits and that's something I need to get to myself too. It's just how do I bring up my spirits and end on a good note that I know has a high success rate. So I'm happy. I feel like I've been there so many times.
01:38:49
Speaker
Like what you're saying, I'm like, man, this is this is like me. This is me. And these this is like research that I've done. So if you ever see me and I'm sitting down arm length away, I have one of these. Because at the end of the day, or I have one of these.
01:39:11
Speaker
So what I do at the end of the day, for those of you who are just listening to a pad and a paper right next to me. Sorry about that. What I do is at the end of the day, I write stuff down.
01:39:28
Speaker
Why? Because I would go hanging out with my boys. And remember, I was telling you my knobs returning. I started getting like, I don't want to say it's anxiety. It's like, this is a waste of time. Why am I here? This is a waste of my time. I don't want to be here. I need to I got these things on and have to do it.
01:39:48
Speaker
So what I would do is to get over that, is write the stuff that I need to do the next day. And I'm gonna show you and I'll let the listeners know this is just a task list of things that need to get done tomorrow. And then I put them into my day and I'm like, now you can shut those tabs from your browsers down. Shut them down.
01:40:18
Speaker
Don't don't don't let them stress you out because I got you. You're not going to forget they're all on the paper. And then if you, you know, get anxiety off of that, you have to put a number of how long it's going to take you to get things done. Because this is where we go with time again. Let's it's it's an infinity loop. So if you have eight hours tomorrow, and you got five tasks and each task
01:40:48
Speaker
is is going to take you two hours that means you can't stop today whenever your deadline is just means you can't stop today if you have a deadline tomorrow and you need to do something something needs to give but if those five tasks if their priority a is one hour and priority d let's say is a half hour and you don't really need to do it okay you can stop well no problem just circle that priority a
01:41:17
Speaker
that you have to do. And the other thing is I'm very task oriented, right? So I don't do task B unless A is done. That's hard when you got so many balls up in the air.
01:41:31
Speaker
Right. This is the these are so many different complex topics. Right. But they're, they're built on years and years of things that have happened to me that now they're second nature and I can react to it the way I react to it.
01:41:49
Speaker
And people just like, Oh, this, that and the other, but it's super important because these are things that have come up over the years. So now they're second nature. So people ask me, what do you do with this? And I'm like, here you go. Cause I did the research and I put in the work back then. So I understand it now. And, and it's over.
01:42:14
Speaker
So time is the, what I brought up on this call that we're on this mastermind called was vulnerability. And that is part of it. But time is really the word that I'm getting after the concepts, my relationship with it to it this year. And time in Greek, ancient Greek is Tima and it's honor.
01:42:39
Speaker
time is honor and I want to really get after the relationship that I have with time and honor how I treat their relationship because that is the greatest detriment in my life right now and I know because that has been I have a tendency to be late to things and it usually affects the people that I care about the most because I know they will love me regardless but it's something that is a self-destructive pattern if you go very deep
01:43:08
Speaker
It's something that I do it's self sabotaging because I know then I can push the envelope slightly more to do something else that we gain me slightly more satisfaction. But if you take it a layer deeper, it's self sabotage because I don't think I'm worthy of love. So I, I make myself late. There's there's so much to unpack there. I greatly appreciate you even sharing this. Because a lot of people will not share it.
01:43:36
Speaker
So there's a lot of things to break down there, right? So for instance, what is your relationship with time?
01:43:49
Speaker
It shifts depending on how I feel. And that is why stoicism has been significant and why I'm being going away from at times how I feel and just getting after what is right over what's fast, easy, or comfortable, or choosing courage over comfort, or practicing what I preach, practicing what I preach over just professing and talking about. Let's dig deep on this.
01:44:18
Speaker
So do you because it seems like you're not pinpointing time. Do you prior prioritize accomplishing a task over time? He rephrase them. So if you have 10 tasks, do you give a shit when it's done as long as the 10 tasks is done? You care what what time it's done in
01:44:46
Speaker
or do you care, you know, one, two, as long as they're done, they're done. In theory, I know, start with the most significant one, I don't do it. It's a relationship I'm trying to figure out part of and this is going deeper into what we what we spoke of. Growing up, it was a
01:45:10
Speaker
I always pushed, it was, I love to get involved into things where I lose focus of everything else because I'm so into what I'm doing. And I think that's one of the greatest state, you can call it flow. But that makes me lose track of time and I'll always think, oh, well, I'll remember time and I forget about time. Oh, well, let me squeeze in as much as possible. Just because I enjoy doing things, I enjoy doing a lot of things and it's a satisfaction that it brings.
01:45:38
Speaker
part of that, I don't know, I haven't, I haven't trained myself to be comfortable in stillness and with myself and the thoughts that come up. And how I think that the thoughts run me not the other way around is that is the thoughts distracting you?
01:45:57
Speaker
Okay, so here's the thing again. I like the things we talk about, I lived through them, because I wanted to be a peak performance. And I don't want people to think like, I know it all, I just been through this shit. Like, how do I be the best and be so mindful and write things down. So when you're working and shit pops up, have your notepad and write it down on the Pomodoro technique.
01:46:23
Speaker
After your 25 minutes, those five minutes, if they was that important, you should tackle it. But if it wasn't that important, you'd be like, why did my brain think of this? So so that distraction is going to happen. You can't control every thought that pops in, you know, notifications distract you, everything distract you. How do you limit everything to be focused?
01:46:49
Speaker
And this is what the top performers do. I read about these top performers because I want to be a top performer. I want to be at the top of my game. I want to be the Michael Jordan of me. That means the best of me, not the best in the game that I'm in. It's being the best of me. And I'm still so far away.
01:47:17
Speaker
But I feel like every day I'm going ahead and getting better. So, you know, the relationship with time is, here's the thing. Oprah is a billionaire. Jeff Bezos is a billionaire. The guy in the projects in Castle Hill from the Bronx, he's not a billionaire.
01:47:42
Speaker
But what we have all in common is 24 hours. And it's what you do with those 24 hours. And I figured this out 2016. I remember when I figured it out. So you know the difference between all the people I just mentioned? People that you know, that give you shortcuts to get to that next level.
01:48:06
Speaker
People like yourself putting out podcasts that maybe one person might, one person might get something out of it. And that's why for me, it's important to do something like this because it's important if one person gets it. And this only has one view. Who cares that one person got it. Kudos to you, Sebastian, for making this because you changed one person's life.
01:48:38
Speaker
And that's what I'm saying. It doesn't look, I don't know, you know, if you're doing this for money to help people, whatever the case is. But let's say for two years, you did this, and you only had one person a week listening to your podcast. You have one person that you're changing their lives.
01:49:04
Speaker
Everybody's like, oh, I want 4,000 and 8,000 and 100,000 people streaming. Think of just one over zero. You're changing one person's life. And the person that I'm speaking to that's listening to this, thank you. And you can always reach out to me because I always believe, can I change one person's life in any way? And these techniques,
01:49:33
Speaker
It's just years and years. And the question I had when I was at Home Depot is why I am here today because I was going through all these things and why am I distracted? And I have this, that, and the other. And I'm not sleeping well and I can't concentrate. And all of these things happen. It's people, most people just let it go. They don't want to ask those hard questions to then create
01:50:02
Speaker
they need to create. It's hard to change. It's hard to create a spreadsheet and have metrics on how much you sleep. Or it's just hard to understand the Pomodoro techniques and what you spend your time on. Shit, I spent my time on YouTube over 40 hours, but I loved it. But can I cut that down? Oh, wait,
01:50:29
Speaker
Maybe I could get a subscription to YouTube so I could get a premium and I don't get commercials anymore. And that saves me 10 hours. See how this works. It's asking those questions that makes sense because every single time I get time back, if I cut and make shortcuts, I get more time, more time, more time to do other things. That's why to me, I fall in love with like time.
01:50:58
Speaker
I have a healthy relationship with time. Because it doesn't give me anxiety. It's how can I do it better so I can have more time? How can I sleep harder, or faster, so I could perform better during the times I'm up? And I it's a game to me. It's a game to me. And I love it.
01:51:19
Speaker
So for me, when I hear the things that you're like struggling with, I'm like, dude, I could give you the time. I could give you the year. If you want, I could give you the month. Cause I remember when that happened. I remember when those things were there, when I was puzzled. I remember when in 2016, when I decided to move from Maryland to California, I wrote, I read hatching Twitter.
01:51:44
Speaker
If you read that book, it's going to make you want to come and tackle the gold rush of tech industry in the Valley. And that's what I did. And I caught the bug and I'm happy for it. I loved it. It was a great experience. I think
Productivity Tools and Techniques
01:52:04
Speaker
That's an incredible way of wrapping this up, too. Marco, there is plenty more in a tank, I can tell. And I think there will be more of this at a later time. We need a part two of this. Yes. You give me a part two. I think one of the things on the part two that we need to do is we'll have a separate call.
01:52:26
Speaker
And we'll go way more tactical and go into the weeds on certain things like give websites out. Here's, you know, this Chrome extension. Here's these tools like we'd even get into the help tools that the self help tools that you need to implement into your life to take it to that next level.
01:52:50
Speaker
Right. That's that's a whole part two is a whole different ballgame. When you start introducing software, and tools, and people and, you know, everything, dude, everything needs to be hitting firing at all cylinders. What happens when you're firing at all cylinders? You're like a freight train that can't be stopped.
01:53:11
Speaker
Hmm. What are a few things just to leave the listeners and watchers with a few top of mind tips and tricks of practical websites people? What comes to mind? Go off in a minute. Sure. I would say definitely be focused, which is a
01:53:34
Speaker
application for the Mac, for Windows, I would definitely, which I really love, is called Focus Commit, which is a Pomodoro technique that allows you to create like a cabana board.
01:53:50
Speaker
for your projects and things that you want. I love it. I think that might be my favorite because it lets you boost your productivity. It gives you those metrics that we've been talking about, statistics, because that's how you measure. You need to measure. Look, any goal you have if you're not measuring that goal of how you're going to get to that destination is just a pipe dream.
01:54:12
Speaker
I definitely would say Notion. Take some tutorials, watch Thomas Frank's YouTube, subscribe to him. He is also a productivity guru. Definitely get Spotify, create a playlist that gets you in the zone. You want to have conversations with colleagues, make sure you do it over Slack.
01:54:37
Speaker
you know, create a slack channel, invite people there. It's better than text. Because if you're, you know, everyone's in their home now. And you're in front of a computer slack is just better where you can query things that you probably said in the past. Make sure you know you have
01:55:01
Speaker
the right headphones, speakers, you know, whatever you need to to get yourself in a zone, put yourself in a good productivity environment. So for instance, when I'm in my office, which I'm in right now, it's about work. It's about going hard. When I go into my bedroom, it's about going to sleep.
01:55:30
Speaker
I'm not going in there to hang out. I'm not going in there to like turn on the TV. The TVs in the living room. You want to do that? Cool. I want to take a break. I got a little meditation room. I want to read. There's another area here. So what I do is segment all of certain things that I want to do certain activities that I need to do. And that's kind of what I've been doing over these last
01:56:00
Speaker
eight months, close to a year now on lockdown. I really wanna see how 10X myself over this last year. If you wanna go read about Sir Isaac Newton when he was, I think it was the Black Plague, when he created and invented the whole gravity thing, I think it was during lockdown. So, you know, why not you?
01:56:27
Speaker
create something, build something, take it to the next level. I think
Concluding Thoughts on Personal Growth
01:56:31
Speaker
people stress so much about, you know, everything being locked down. It's like, this is the time to be have those inner conversations.
01:56:43
Speaker
Boom. That's the way to end it right there. Marco, where can people find you? How can they reach out to you? Yeah, you could go on Twitter at Marco Figueroa at M-A-R-C-O-F-I-G-U-E-R-O-A. And on there, you have my LinkedIn profile that you could go and we could connect on LinkedIn as well. Sebastian, it was a pleasure. I mean, as I have
01:57:10
Speaker
said things over this course of time, it feels like I'm talking to a mirror. Like I need to, I always say when I speak, it's re implementing what I know. So it was a pleasure to be on here. And I tell you, I want to be on a part two, I want to be more strategic, I want to have a conference call about it.
01:57:32
Speaker
So we could take your users and give them tools to walk away. And maybe, you know, it could be not so long of a conversation, but a 30 minute hard hit. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10. Here's some actions. Here's some things to do. You know, we could break it down into sections, health, productivity, you know, all these things. And I know, you know, it'll be awesome episode and I'm looking forward to
01:58:01
Speaker
hearing the other people on your podcast. I can't wait. Marco, like I said earlier, your diamond in the rough, you might not have the millions of followers or the name that everyone recognizes. But the quality of what you have brought up today and the energy to enthusiasm, the passion is
01:58:22
Speaker
I mean up there with some of the biggest names out there you you freaking you showed up Marco and you delivered value that made me like wow I'm checked right now and I'm gonna get after it awesome awesome my like I said I'm happy to be your accountability partner and and you know we definitely over over slack I'll give you my number and we need to stay in touch because your energy and and
01:58:49
Speaker
some of the things that you think about, I'm not there, right? So I need to think on where you're at because I'm a freight train going. I'm on the left lane doing 160, not even 120.
01:59:05
Speaker
than 160. And I'm not trying to pull over to the shoulder, especially this year. So I am I am grateful. I definitely like I said, think of part two, and I want to do it soon. So people can walk away. It's early in 2021. Right? Maybe we do a special a special edition
01:59:24
Speaker
in some way, I definitely want to do that. And that's a task that I'm going to start doing, like a productivity list. So then the next time part two, we could just go quick 1520 minutes of who what we and why and why we're doing it and take it from there. Thank you so much.
01:59:44
Speaker
Um, and I'm, I'm still recording. We can cut it off if we want or not, but it's, um, why I'm, uh, I'm just going to keep it running. Um, now me, I mean, I mean it like it's you, uh, you're hitting on a lot of freaking points. Uh, it is hard to summarize this in such a captivating way that you did it with such energy and such poise and the way you do, you deliver it. And it's, uh, it.
02:00:13
Speaker
If you were to put something out there yourself, I would listen to it. And that's not to toot my own horn, but I've listened to a lot of self help stuff and I would listen to your stuff. Like that's how high quality it is. Like I and I have a very high bar for who I listen to. Like you you can put shit out there.
02:00:33
Speaker
on YouTube and podcasts. And I'm like, Yes, I would recommend Marco. Like, and I listened to and I pride myself on very being very pickery on the people and the closest circle. And Marco, you're freaking you're up there, man. Like you practice what you preach. Yeah. And, you know, just I'm happy recording because there's something, you know, we talked about grinding grit, right? Some of my colleagues, like, they, they're,
02:01:04
Speaker
well educated, right? Harvard, MIT, all these things. But I'll work them. This is why I am where I am. Because my grind and the things that I talked about today is the reason why I'm here. It's those questions that I had that I know
02:01:25
Speaker
These motherfuckers aren't thinking about this shit the way I'm thinking about it. I'm trusting the process. And they're home in their sweet couches with their wine and their pinkies up. And I am grinding. And I'm trying to figure it out, right? And I know they haven't figured it out. And I know not everybody. And maybe it's just in my mind that says this. I know you're not doing research and reading books and doing everything.
02:01:54
Speaker
the way you got to do it. I'm trying to cross all the T's and dot all the I's and don't take a shortcut. So that's that's what it is. That's Marco frickin amazing. I got another commitment. And yeah, I will get me in for part two, sir. Will do.
02:02:13
Speaker
and lock me in. And I want it soon. So the reason why is because it's early out in 2021. And if we help people out there, just these these tools and these things, you know, that we we've implemented in our lives, I know it can help one person and it's all about that. Thank you. Love it. Marco, have an amazing rest of the day. You too. Thank you.
02:02:39
Speaker
Woo! Marco really brought it. Talk about a dedicated high energy man. He brings me up on another level every time we talk. The motivation, the drive, and the poise. It's just out of this world. I am grateful to have him part of my circle.
02:02:59
Speaker
I'm thankful for you tuning in. If you want to connect with Marco, you can find all the links in the show notes, as well as Hack Chat, his podcast that he runs. You can find a link in the show notes there as well. Thank you for tuning in, and I'm sending you much love.