Struggling to stay focused, stop procrastinating, or finish what you start? Former Hollywood exec Steven Puri reveals the surprising connection between creativity, neuroscience, and flow states—and how his burnout led to building The Sukha App, a productivity tool that helps you beat distractions and finally do your best work.
In this episode of What The Nell!?, we've got the antidote to burnout, distraction, and "what-if" regret. From Hollywood film sets to launching a productivity and flow-state platform, Steven shares wild behind-the-scenes stories from DreamWorks and Fox Studios, why he left film for startups, and how yoga, burnout, and failure sparked the creation of The Sukha App—a tool designed to help you reclaim your time and attention.
If you've ever felt stuck in scroll mode, this episode is for you.
Register for the FREE Media Mondays Virtual Open Office Hour on 11/10 at 12pm EST here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/media-monday-open-office-hours-with-nell-tice-tickets-1733928740539?aff=oddtdtcreator
Chapters:
00:00 Register for the FREE Media Mondays Virtual Open Office Hour!
00:48 Meet the Guest: Steven Puri
01:22 Insights into the Film Industry
05:54 The Business Side of Hollywood
11:11 Transition to The Sukha App
11:52 From Engineering to Film
14:07 The Journey to Independence Day
17:07 Failures and Lessons Learned
19:55 The Birth of The Sukha Company
21:03 The Creative Process and Neuroscience
26:19 Shower Ideas!
27:22 Flow State Experience on a Flight
29:36 Understanding Flow States
32:50 Creating the Sukha App
45:33 The Name 'Sukha' and Its Origin
50:02 Wrapping Up and Final Thoughts
Connect with Steven:
Steven is the Founder and CEO of The Sukha Company with the mission to help millions of people find their focus, achieve more and have a healthy work life.
Steven's career started as a newscaster/interviewer for the #1 youth news show in the DC/Baltimore market (on WTTG-TV) and then as a junior software engineer & Thomas J. Watson Scholar at IBM. After attending USC in Los Angeles, he began working in film production and produced computer-generated visual effects for 14 movies including Independence Day which won the Academy Award for Visual Effects.
Steven’s first tech company was Centropolis Effects that produced those CGI effects, and he eventually sold it to the German media conglomerate Das Werk when he was 28. Steven then produced some indie films and eventually went studio-side to develop and produce live-action features as a VP of Development & Production at 20th Century Fox (running the Die
Hard and Wolverine franchises) and an EVP at DreamWorks Pictures for Kurtzman-Orci Productions where he worked on Star Trek, Transformers and more.
After Fox, Steven returned to building tech companies and founded The Sukha Company - ‘sukha’ means ‘happiness from self-fulfillment’ in Sanskrit. The Sukha is a focus app that bundles all the tools necessary to have a focused experience and a healthy, productive workday.
Steven lives in Austin, TX now.
Sign up for your FREE trial: https://www.thesukha.co
Email: [email protected]
Connect with us:
What the Nell!? Podcast Website
Join the What the Nell!? Podcast Facebook group HERE!
Grab a copy of Nell's #1 Bestseller, Curvature of the Career, HERE!
Connect with Nell on Social Media:
Facebook
Instagram
Produced by enTICEing Media, LLC
