Daily Content Machine

There’s a lot of really awesome content and advice out there. Consuming it can almost be a hobby in and of itself!

It feels good to listen to helpful information, new ideas, or tips and tricks that can improve your workflow or your life.

You can read tutorials all day, but you’ll only improve by doing. You might feel like you’re getting better by consuming, but you have to put things into practice!

You have to take action.

Why is taking action so hard? Why is that first step such a doozy? Can hustle be taught? What if you don’t have the time or money? What if you don’t do a good job? What if nobody cares?

You came to the right episode.

We tackle tons of questions about productivity and workflow in an episode that is guaranteed to give you a ton of ideas for optimizing your life.

It's easy to compare yourself to someone else with greater output, but we talk about why that's a bad idea. Everyone has different circumstances and you're not always going to have the same opportunities. If you look for excuses, you'll always find them, so we look at what to do instead.

How many hours is enough? Can you batch process too much? Does exercise help? When in your day should you exercise? What music do you listen to for different tasks? Can getting more sleep really make you tired?

I'll go ahead and answer that last one: sometimes. But only if you wake in the middle of a sleep cycle—you want to avoid that! Let's talk about this.

It's hard to say no. We often feel a sense of obligation and don't want to offend anyone, or maybe we just feel bad.

We don't want to disappoint people.

While no can be a hard word to say, it's the only tool we have for creating more time. Yes fills time. No makes time.

But it's not enough just to say no for the sake of saying no. In this episode, we look at the deeper reasons for saying yes. When we say no to one thing, we essentially give ourselves the credits to say yes to another.

What do you want to say yes to that you're not able to say yes to right now? What is it worth saying no to?

We discuss why we're afraid to say no, how to say no, when to say no, and what your yes is.

I used to think writing was boring. I thought writing was only something writers did.

So why did I write over half a million words in 2014?

I realized that everything I did started with writing. Blog posts, videos, courses, speaking engagements, podcasts—all the best pieces of content began with writing.

If it all starts with writing, why not begin my day with writing? 100 episodes ago, I talked about starting what I call Early Wake Daily Write.

This habit of daily writing a couple thousand words a day has drastically changed my life. Everything I’ve accomplished in the past year I owe to writing.

In this episode, I talk about why you need to write, why you don’t write, how to start writing, what to write about, where to use what you’ve written, and getting better at writing on purpose.

Isn't it crazy how one conversation can change the course of your life? If I had written a “Best of 2014” list on December 27th it would already be wrong.

Normally, I do mini sabbatical episodes. Normally, they are short. Normally, they are solo shows. Normally, they have me playing kalimba in the background. Normally, they're pre-recorded.

Nothing about what you're going to hear in this episode is normal.

2014 was an amazing year. More than a quarter of a million dollars from one product. Two new full-time employees. Over 100 podcast episodes. A daily video show. Redesigning my entire website. Live streaming a fully-produced, multi-DSLR video show multiple times a week. Starting Small Scale Sabbaticals. Launching and growing the Community to 3-figure membership and beyond.

But I haven't even told you the crazy part yet.

That's because the crazy part was one conversation over coffee just 2 days ago that changed the course of everything. You're about to hear a recap of this past year, but what the seanwes brand is, what it means, and what it will become in 2015...

...will all change.

I want to help you make a living with your passion. This is why I started working on a book in early 2014 called The Overlap Technique: it's a down-to-earth, practical guide to becoming an expert and making more money than your day job before you even quit.

I got about 20,000 words into it, and then had to put it on the back-burner. I continued teaching a lot of the principles in the podcast, but I put the writing on hold to work on my website and building the Community.

During the time that elapsed between starting the book and returning to it later in the year, I'd received hundreds of emails from people telling me their biggest struggles with pursuing their passions.

I decided to throw out the first 20,000 words and start from scratch.

The book will launch next year, but in the mean time, the tremendous feedback I've received has really shaped the book into being a direct answer to your most pressing questions. Giving the material some breathing room has really allowed me to refine the message.

It's been more than 80 episodes since I've last dedicated an episode to talking about The Overlap Technique and making the difficult transition from soul-sucking day job to doing what you love and sustaining yourself. In this episode, I give you a crash course on the refined concepts and the four core pillars of being able to keep your passion and have it sustain you long term.

It's the perfect episode for a first-time listener!

It’s about that time where we start reminiscing over the year that’s taken place and begin thinking about the new year to come.

We talk about setting goals when it’s hard to think long term. How far in advance should you set goals? Should your goals have a time frame? How do you account for changing factors?

I talk about the difference between timelines and time frames and how using the right words can help us when it comes to goals.

What if you set a time frame for a goal and realize you’re not going to make it? What’s the best way to approach that situation? Should you have short term goals? How far in the future should we plan specific actions?

We answer these and many other questions on goals, including whether or not they can serve as a tool to kickstart long-term thinking when it’s difficult.

As a followup to our recent episode on remote working, we discuss the challenges and benefits of working from home.

We talk about identifying workspace problems, creating focus time, eliminating distractions, why you need silence, and how interruptions are kryptonite. It's better to have 90 minutes of focus time than it is to have 4 hours of potential interruption time.

Though you work from home, how you dress actually has an impact on your productivity. You'll hear us share a tip that sounds harsh on the surface but actually enables you to be intentional with your family time.

We dive into the benefits of coworking and how it might be more of an option than you think. Not only does it require less commitment than you might imagine, but there are also digital opportunities to connect with people that are a great option for super-remote home workers or introverts.

Earlier this week, I shared a new video called Lambo Goal. I talk about my big dreams, my friend Matt and I share some huge aspirations, and we inspire you to set bigger goals than you’ve ever dared.

But that’s not the crazy part. I setup a website called LamboGoal.com and shared the video saying, “If you’re not inspired by this video, I’ll send you $5.” I’m dead serious.

There’s no joke about it. I honestly believe so strongly that this video will be life-changing, that I’m willing to pay real money to anyone who doesn’t believe in me.

It sounds crazy (probably because it is), but in this podcast episode I take you behind the scenes on why I’m doing it. I explain the 3 reasons I’m doing it from a marketing perspective as well as answer a bunch of questions about the Lambo Goal.

A lot of jobs want you to move to work there. They want you in the office. There are certainly a lot of benefits to being in person, but there are a lot of things you give up.

Technologically, we’re trending in a direction of remote working, but a lot of companies are still resistant to it. Can you really get work done when working remotely?

We have a special guest today who’s living proof that you can. Our very own Aaron Dowd joins us—The Podcast Dude! He edits the seanwes podcast as well as many other popular shows. He does all of his work from a laptop wherever he happens to be.

He, Ben, and I talk about the beauty of flexibility when it comes to work. Whether it’s the ability for Aaron to tour with his band, or the opportunity for Ben to spend time with his growing kids, or the chance for me to work from my home office and travel when I want to, having that freedom is something you just can’t put a price on.

People stereotype homeworkers: they say they sleep in, they don’t wear pants, they never get work done, or they’re unsocialized individuals who for some crazy reason are opposed to spending 2 hours of their lives commuting each day. It’s certainly not all fun and games, but we think it’s a very viable option and we discuss some of the challenges in this episode.