Overcoming Procrastination & Embracing Change With Scott Allan (Episode 13)

Frank Hereda (00:01.774) What's up everybody? It's your favorite business coach, Frank Harita, and another episode of Focused Free Fit. And today we have Scott Allen. I'm very excited to talk with Scott. Scott, welcome. And why don't we get started with you telling us a little bit about yourself. I always like to start with your upbringing. I always like to understand a little bit about people from the very, very beginning. So where you grew up, which we just talked about for a minute or two, but I'd love to go deeper. So where you grew up, family, how that kind of impacted you, and then just kind of we'll go from there. Scott Allan (00:40.218) Absolutely. Sure. So yes, my name is Scott Allen. I am an author, motivational speaker, and I love creating content. So a content creator as well. And as we were just discussing before we started here, I just got back from Canada probably about 12 hours ago. And that is where I'm from. I'm from Halifax, Nova Scotia originally. And just growing up. So I'll just circle back to a few things that's going to lead into probably eventually how I got into books and the whole business. But as I was visiting with my mother last week, you know, your mothers or your parents love to tell stories and remind you of things you used to do when you were growing up. And one of the things she still talks about is when I was little or younger, I was always building things. So and that's the thing is like, I remember when we had a... a house back in the day out in the middle of the forest, I was building, I built like a three or four story fort, you know, with all this wood that I just got from Bisson Pieces. I remember going around with my friends, I collect all these, you know, the materials, bring them back. And within a few months, we had this fort in the back of our yard. So I was always putting things together. kind of leading the other kids into what goes where. And I would even be making blueprints for these things. And I was like eight years old. So I always just loved being creative and building something. And there's still something in me that continues to just want to put more out there, whether it's creating videos, creating books, creating content. It's just something that really drives me. But. You know, growing up, I was always influenced by movies. So I love movies. Grew up with, you know, Spielberg and Lucas and Star Wars and Indy Jones and all those movies. And one of the things that... Scott Allan (02:24.634) again, that my mother would remind me that I used to do is I would go and watch these movies and then I would come home and I'd try to act out the characters. So for example, if I watched Indiana Jones, I come home and try to like, you know, I'd make my own bullwhip. And if I, if I watched some movie, I try to reenact everything. So I always wanted to get into something that had to do with, you know, acting or directing, or eventually got into writing because that was really, I love books. So I was always reading books and then coming up with stories. You know, and I still do that. Although my published works is for the most part, nonfiction self -help personal development. I actually started out as a fiction author and I will be publishing those books eventually because I'm just driven by, you know, telling stories as well. So again, so there's a lot of, a lot of the things in my past was about building things, reenacting. You know scenes in movies and just trying to do something different all the time I just love to experience life, so I'm always looking for you know a new experience I do get a little bit bored and restless easily and when I do it's like okay I don't need to change my whole life, but it's a it's a signal to me that I need to change something I need to I need to stir things up a little bit and I do something new so I just love trying new things Frank Hereda (03:40.302) I think you and I share that in common. I'm very much like that. So I can relate. So, okay, so early life, Nova Scotia, when did you make the transition away to where you are? What age were you in Nova Scotia till and how did that transition take place? Scott Allan (03:59.322) wow. Okay. I'll go back a little ways because I'm 54 now. So I came to Japan when I was 28. So I've been here for almost half my life. Just before I get into that though, just going back a little ways, when I was in Nova Scotia, after I finished university, there weren't that many jobs around. And so I had a couple of choices. I could just stay living at home with mom and dad, which is what I was doing. I was on my own for a couple of years before that. I just went out into the world, worked a few jobs and I realized, hmm, you probably, you know, need a better education to get a better job. So I went back to school and got certified as an electrical engineer. And then after that, like I said, there weren't that many jobs around. So my friend was out in Vancouver and, or Victoria city, which is Vancouver Island. And he said, why don't you come out here? There's a big boom going on. You know, you'll probably find a job. And I thought, well, never really left home before, you know, I'm leaving mom and dad's nest and, you know, and I am 22, maybe it's time for that. So to be honest, something inside me just said, yeah, that's what I'm going to do. And it was a bit of a scary move, but it was, it was just something inside me just said, you have to go out there and find out what's out there in the world. Because by staying, you know, in my comfy little zone with like staying at mom and dad's house in a small little town, you know, had a great life. Don't get me wrong. Lots of friends and everything. But I realized like I had to make a a change, right? So I did. And I told mom and dad, I'm moving out to the West. And I did. And I just got on an airplane, had like, you know, a hundred bucks in a suitcase. And I went out there and found a couple of jobs in a week or two. And fast forwarding a little bit, the reason that that's an important story is because I went out there with nothing and I managed to, you know, build a pretty good life for myself. So I had the proof that I could do this again. So years later, I would say. there's kind of, there's a few things to the story as well. Like I, I was really heavy into partying and drinking and that got really out of control. And so I had to either stop that or it was going to, you know, probably put me in the ground. So, and that's what the doctors told me is like, if you come back here one more time, you know, it may be the last time. And that didn't scare me. It's just that I realized like, I wanted to lead a better life than I was living. Scott Allan (06:11.546) And again, like I always, I always had a lot of energy too, right? So a lot of my, you know, what I was putting into drinking and partying when actually got that under control and I shifted that energy into doing better things with my life, like helping people and creating something like that, that creativity part of me like came back, you know, and I was able to focus that energy. So how we ended up in Japan though, is I think an interesting story. So as I was going through recovery and working with, I had a sponsor and I had a mentor and a coach and they were always pushing me to go to my next level, whichever that was. And I didn't even really have a vision for what that was. I was just trying to get my mind clear, which at the time it just needed a really good cleaning. And so one day I was in the bookstore and I came across Tony Robbins book, Awaken the Giant Within, which is, I was written like 30 years ago, still very relevant book, an amazing book. And when I started going through it, Tony started talking about, you know, building out your goals and having a vision board and a vision for your life. I thought, yeah, like that's that just resonated with me, right? Because I'm I'm really I'm a visual learner. Very I'm always thinking about stories and things like that. And so when I started to put this vision together of what a life could look like, I suddenly realized, like. what I want to do. It was like, I want to, I wanted to do actually, well, there's two things I really wanted to do. One was I wanted to be a writer. And that was something since I was a kid, when I was putting stories together, I was writing way back then. And even though I had given it up for a very long time, that dream was still sitting inside of me, you know, like a little spark and it was still there. So that was on my, my vision board and my goal list. And the second thing is I wanted to travel the world. Now, again, I hadn't been around that much. I hadn't gone to that many countries. To be honest, I'd never really traveled at all. But something said, you've got to get out there and find out like what's what to you know, what exists in other cultures? What are other people doing? You know, let's let's go to Bangkok and find out. And suddenly I just had these ideas of all these places I want to go to. And with it, you know, I remember staying up all night and just putting together in a journal all the things that I was going to do. And the next day I woke up, started building this vision board. Scott Allan (08:27.642) I had made a decision, maybe it was overnight, I don't know, in my dreams, like, I'm going to go to the other side of the world, start a new life, and I'm going to give myself a year to get there. And it's just like a definitive decision. I had never, did not change my mind after making that decision. And I just call it the pivotal point of your life where like you decide something and there's no going back. So I did. I even had the date in mind, it was like March 26, which would have been like back in 98. So anyway, I had a plan now, right? And, you know, and I'd given up the drinking and I was getting back on track, getting some health, getting clarity around what I really wanted to do. And the clarity was the key, right? Because there's nothing like knowing exactly what you want to do. And also not knowing how you're going to get it, just knowing you want to get it. And that somehow it's going to work itself out. And that's actually what happened is cause when I made that decision, things started happening. I started meeting people that had traveled before to these places. And what would happen too, is like to. to make this dream a reality, I had to actually start living it now. So I went to the library, because this was even like before we had internet really. So I remember going to the library, getting all these books on how to speak Vietnamese. And I go to the bookstore and buy these books on these places I want to travel to. And just I'd be home, you know, practicing Thai and Vietnamese. And my roommates would come home and they're like. you doing? You know, they just went out for the night. They come back the next morning, you know, and I'm up early and I'm on the floor with all these books and they're like, yeah, this is interesting. You know, we don't know what he's going to be doing with all this stuff. But I just hit them like, you know, I won't be here in a year from now. So anything you want to say to me, say it now, you know, but I was just like that determined, right? So anyway, what happened is that, yeah, I'm sorry, go ahead then. Yeah. Yeah. Frank Hereda (09:50.958) Yeah. Frank Hereda (10:05.102) Yeah. Frank Hereda (10:11.374) That's no, no, no, I was gonna say that's really interesting. And, and before you continue, there's like eight questions or comments I have on all you've said so much stuff. It's amazing. So I think about the entrepreneurs or the small business or large business individuals that are on that are going to listen to this. And I feel like, and even the people that want to get into business or just want more for their life, right? Scott Allan (10:29.658) Mmm. Frank Hereda (10:41.39) and they just know, you know, there's something I talk to my clients about and that is the law of diminishing intent. I believe that's what it's called and I heard this once years ago and I thought it was really interesting. I think it was Jim Rohn that said it, but it was, you know, if you have an idea or something you're passionate about and then you don't take action right away, every day you wait, there's less likely of a chance that you actually go forward with that thing. And so what I can appreciate about what you said was, Scott Allan (10:47.962) Hmm. Frank Hereda (11:11.438) And I seem– this seems to be a pattern and I'm the same way as when you have an idea or you have something, you have to take action. And that I feel like is what you did. You said, hey, I feel a calling to go this way or I feel this. Don't let others– don't let the, here's what I can't do get in your way. It's, okay, I'm gonna do it. I made a declaration and then I acted on it and I started taking action. And I feel like how big of a deal do you think that was to play a part in the next part of your journey? Scott Allan (11:39.418) Absolutely. So here's the thing, like, I know a lot of people talk about the things that they want to do, and I've done that too before, like before I started actually sitting down and writing books. I was talking about it for a year or two, like, you know, and that was one of those things that I was always going to do someday. And the thing is, is like, yeah, the more you say it, what, and then you don't do anything about it. You're actually proving to yourself that, you know, I'm just talking about it. And I don't really plan on doing this thing, even though you probably want to. And I think that when it comes to like the law of diminishing intent is like, yeah, I intend to do it, but it's going to be one of those things on my bucket list. When I have more time, when I have more money, when I have more resources. And like Tony Robbins said, it's not resources you're lacking. It's. resourcefulness. It's like you already have everything you need. And the thing is, I mean, I started my business even when I published my first book. I didn't have any money for it. I had time, but I didn't have a lot of time because I had a young family with kids and pets and everything that demanded my attention and a full -time job at the time. So there was always like, you know, when we look at these things as obstacles, and I guess they are, But we let them hold us back too, because it's like, well, I'm going to do these things when I have more time and money and this. And the thing is, we never have enough time. We never have enough money. We never have enough resources. Those are the things that we build as we start to move forward. And the action, I mean, you don't have to go out and spend $20 ,000 on expensive pieces of software to do something. You know, you can, I've seen people build a business for 500 bucks, right? You know, but you just have to, you have to start with something. And for me, it was like, okay, I don't know how I'm going to start this business, but I know like, you know, I don't need to know where I'm going to be five years from now. I mean, I do believe in planning and having a five year goal or plan, but think about the most plans is that they don't work out the way you think they're going to anyway, you know? And I've always said like, you know, I failed at many things, but the things that I failed at the most were the things that I didn't do. So. Frank Hereda (13:36.782) Sure. What do you feel like, you know, you mentioned something and I thought this was interesting. I thought of the book, Think and Grow Rich. Have you ever read that book? So in that book, there's a part of it that talks about how for individuals in their 40s, right, they're not doing the things that take up time, the drinking, the partying. And so most... Scott Allan (13:45.018) Mmm, yeah, yeah. Frank Hereda (13:59.31) people that are successful, it happens after 40, because they have this time now, right? And they're putting their investing in it. And when you said, hey, I put my energy into these other areas, that's what I thought about. And so that's what popped up in my mind. And I feel like, you know, the vision board piece, how, so what do you feel? So you sat down, you did a vision board, you said I'm– you made a declaration, you made a vision board. I see all these patterns here of– of– of books that I've read and I'm sure you've read and– and what success looks like. And then how did it come true when you put on your vision board and you took action? How much of it actually became a reality for you? I hear that all the time. It's a common theme. I did these things and then before long, I didn't know how it was gonna come. I thought it was gonna come this way. It didn't. It came this other way but it ended up coming. Did that happen for you? Scott Allan (14:40.25) Yeah, yeah. Mm -hmm. Frank Hereda (14:49.838) Because usually it does. Scott Allan (14:51.834) It did. I'll tell you a quick story about that. So once I put the vision board together, a few months later, my roommate came home with the newspaper and I've never read a newspaper in my life. I still don't. I just opened it to the, you know, the entertainment section. And this particular day I opened up the newspaper and there was an ad right there that said, teach English in Japan, apply now. Right now I wasn't planning on going to Japan. I was planning on going to Thailand and just hanging out and starting from there. I don't know what's going to happen after that. But when I saw this in the, in the paper, somebody said, I'm doing that. I'm just going to apply. I don't know what's going to happen. I spent the day building out a resume and a cover letter and sent it off and ended up getting the job here, which brought me over here. And where this story is going is that on my vision board, I did have a picture of Japan, which again, I wasn't intending to go there, but I also had a picture of like the golden Buddha in Thailand that's lying down and sleeping. It's like a lot of people see that when they go there. two years later after I came here and then, you know, this was always my home base and I had a great job and everything. So I would just take vacations to Thailand. And one day I was there. I was there for like my, I think I was there my first or second time. I've been there a few times, but I was standing in front of this golden statue one day, this big Buddha in Bangkok. And it suddenly occurred to me that I was staring at the same exact picture that was on my vision board, which was like two or three years before, right? When I went to Vietnam, it was the same thing. I had a picture of some place on Vietnam, like a temple. That was on my vision board too. Now, whether or not the vision board led me to those places, I can't say, but what I do know is when I had this up on my wall every day, I was building a mental blueprint of the things that I really wanted to have. Except my current job, I knew I didn't want to be in that job. I looked at the people that I ran. I didn't want to end up like, you know, 50 or 60 years old, really burned out and having no money. I wanted something bigger. Frank Hereda (16:30.158) Mm -hmm. Scott Allan (16:38.266) So that's why the vision board was just really powerful. Now I'm not saying you have to have a vision board to succeed, you know, you can, but you do have to have a, like, you have to have a plan, you have to have clarity on what you really want. And then you have just have to keep working towards the next step. You do have to have that vision though, in your, your head, which is probably the most powerful place where it can exist. And that was just something, that's when I got into meditation too, just spending 10 or 15 minutes, you know, sitting down, meditating, thinking about like dreaming about what it could, what the potential is, you know. And that just excited me. Like I could feel the energy just coursing through me. And I recently, I did a new vision board as well. So I still, I still build them because, you know, even after like that old vision board was, you know, got me to where I wanted to be. But, after that, like you didn't have another one. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You know, so they do work. Yeah. Frank Hereda (17:15.854) Yeah. Frank Hereda (17:21.87) You do another one. You do another one. Where do you want to go next? That's amazing. That's really cool. Yeah. I think, and that's a, I hope everyone that's listening to this is taking note of it's the take action. It's come up with goals, be specific, have a vision board of what you want. It sounds cheesy and very fluffy, but it works. And it's, it's also I've found has got to be up in visual, right? I mean, they call it a vision board, but so many people. They put it someplace they don't see it 24 seven. And so I tell a lot of my clients, I'm like, look, you got to have your goals up in visual what you're trying to shoot for. And I think that, that's so important. That's really amazing. I love hearing this. Okay. So you're in Japan, you get this, I think is where we left off. So you're in Japan and you apply for this job. How did that go and what went from there? Scott Allan (18:14.01) Yeah. So the thing is I actually got the job before I came here. So the great thing is the company hired us while I was still in Vancouver, brought us over, flew us over, set up a homestay, gave us a car. I suddenly like just went from, you know, like in Canada, I had like a small one bedroom apartment, everything. And that was great. But then I came over here and I had, I think I doubled my salary. I had, I was living in a great home and, and all these things. And I thought, This is like, this is more than I actually imagined. Like this, I wasn't even visualizing any of this. And I knew right away, like I was in all the way. So, the other people, I came over with a few other people too, and they eventually, they stayed for like six months or a year and went back home. I knew like, if I go back, I'm going to get into the same thing I was doing before. And it just didn't seem right. It seemed like, like, this is part of the journey. This is the beginning of a new journey. And I just wanted to see how far I could go with it. So what I ended up doing is working in a company eventually that, you know, they would send me out to companies like Toyota, Panasonic, bigger companies to, you know, teach business English, actually, which was really interesting. I ended up working with like a lot of CEOs and business executives. And what they would do is they went overseas to negotiate. and sell products and all these things and I was training them to go over and just you know how to I don't know blend into the culture so it's really like not just the teaching them about the language but it was how to teach them about the culture as well so they can adapt better so and Frank Hereda (19:37.614) And so you, you know, you, you wanted to be a writer. Clearly you've written multiple books. and we're going to talk about that. I want to get into, you know, the book you wrote or some of the books you wrote, but the number one that we talked about before this was doing the hard thing first, I think, but you know, let's talk about that, but the other books as well. And, and also how did culture in Japan affect what you did once you got there? Did that. Do you think that had anything to do, when you compare it to America or Canada, you know, how did that change anything for you or no, it was just you got there, you blended in and you just did your normal thing? Or do you think that had any impact on the success or anything that you did, like your drive and that kind of sort of thing? Scott Allan (20:25.338) Yeah, certainly did. Cause one of the things that taught me is that, you know, blending into this culture is not an easy thing. And maybe that's for any foreign culture, I think. But, I had a lot of friends who, I mean, they were friends, but people I met who came here and, they didn't adapt very well. They complained all the time about why their culture isn't like this and that. And I was always just like, well, you're not back home. This is the way things are here. So either if you don't adapt, you're going to end up just going home and complaining about how bad Japan is. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Frank Hereda (20:51.278) Great lesson right there, adapt or die. Scott Allan (20:54.394) And to me, I've always been very adaptable to very adverse conditions. So, you know, if you put me in the middle of the Arctic and you gave me some clothes and a little bit of food, I could probably survive. I haven't had that experience yet. I'm just saying I probably could if I had to. But, you know, so and that's the same thing here. Like I was always looking for, you know, if I were traveling to Kyoto or like always looking for these experiences in these very exotic places where you like. Frank Hereda (21:10.126) Yeah. Scott Allan (21:21.946) looking for the things that nobody had ever discovered before. Right. And to me, that's part of the adaptability, but also like learning the language. I have friends who have been here for like as long as I ever longer and they still, you know, can't order coffee in Japanese maybe. But I was just, I was right into it. As soon as I got here, I got into the lessons. I started learning about the culture, but the language as well, which really is the culture. And what that did is that actually opened up a lot of opportunities for me for other jobs. relationships, communication, all those things. Like you can speak the language, even if you're not totally fluent, right? And if you know enough, just to get by, you start with something and you just continue to build. And so if I had to go to the bank actually to negotiate a loan or something, most people would hire a translator to go there and do that for them. I would actually learn the language I needed to go in there to have that discussion. And I prepared for it before I went in. And sure, I didn't do it very well, but then I go in again and again, and I just kept doing these things again and again until I refined it. You know, and it's not about perfectionism. It's about getting things like making things better by just doing them repeatedly, trying these things over and over and again. So, so for me, I mean, I think I had a lot of success here just because of that adaptability. And now because I think I've proven that I can probably, you know, go through most experiences. when I'm scared. And that's the key too, is like, I did most of the things when I was scared, when I was feeling the fear and doing it anyway. And I've just always been, I mean, sure. Yeah. I've been held back by procrastination and hold it, but we can get into that later too. But I realized like, if I don't do this thing, I'm not going to get that thing that I really want. And that just always, that bothers me. You know, like I just don't want to get to the end of my life or like 20, 30 years from now. It's like, you know, I could have had that thing, but I didn't actually take action to get it. So, you know, now I've got to regret and we may have some regrets at the end, but to me, the only regrets, the only regrets that I'm really going to have are the regrets for the things that I didn't do that I know I could have when I had the chance. Frank Hereda (23:30.318) So there's so many lessons in this podcast today. It's kind of crazy. I love that you said be flexible and adaptable. That's everything. I think the person that wins is always the person that's most able to adapt to change. Change is the only constant, right? And so I love that. And then I love when you said, you know, it didn't work the first time, but then I went back a second time and it was better. And then the third time and the fourth time, and that comes down to persistence in my opinion. And that is probably my number one, you know, Scott Allan (23:45.69) Hmm. Frank Hereda (23:59.566) Attribute that I'll tell people made the most the biggest difference in my life and usually when I find someone who has done something they want to do But let's so let's go to The book so tell me about the book and and what made you write that book and And then let's talk about I I would love to know what you think but I find when I'm talking with individuals coaching You know businesses what I find is that they're when they can't get past something Scott Allan (24:11.77) Mm -hmm. Frank Hereda (24:29.262) It's either a limiting belief, it's a fear, a limiting belief of fear or the procrastination like you said. So let's talk about why you wrote the book and the title and then how do those three relate and how do you help people with that? Scott Allan (24:46.394) Sure, yeah. So just going back a little ways too. So Do the Hard Things First was published in 2021 and there's probably, I don't remember what number it was, but I think it was like book 15 or 14. So it wasn't the first book I put out there, but it's probably the most successful. And to be honest, I don't even think it was the best book I've written, right? So, but it was the book that took off. Yeah. Yeah. Frank Hereda (24:51.757) Okay. Frank Hereda (24:59.374) Gotcha. Frank Hereda (25:06.894) What book do you think, just so people know, I mean there's 15, but the one that you think is the best, just before we go into do the hard thing first, what was the one you think is the best? Scott Allan (25:16.666) The one that I think is the best and probably the one that I like the most is relaunch your life. I actually have two of them relaunch your life and fail big. Now relaunch your life was I think the third, maybe it was the fourth book, but the thing is that a lot of people don't know is like when they look at the, you know, they, I guess like, yeah, I've written a small library of books, but my first few books that I put out there, if we were to look at them as failures, they actually were because if they didn't sell and to be honest, I didn't know anything about marketing and. I didn't really care if they sold it. That's not true. I did want them to sell, but my goal was really just to publish a book and have my name on it. And then I was like, okay, you know, like what's the next thing, you know, but, something inside of me just said, no, we can't stop at this. And so what I did with those first few books is I actually just repackaged them, got better editors. So I guess what I'm saying is the first few books I put out there were really just tests, you know, I did self -publish them back in 2013 when Amazon first launched their platform. Frank Hereda (25:55.63) Mm -hmm. Scott Allan (26:15.706) This was back when like nobody really knew much about self -publishing at all. And I just like, again, like I had already been, I'd spent years before that writing these books. So I was going to pitch them to a publisher actually, which I was already doing. Got a few rejection letters, which was good for rejection. But then when the self -publishing thing came around, I thought, well, why not just do that? My goal is just to publish the book. Maybe it'll get picked up later, maybe not. And so I just put them out there. They were well -written. I think I had them edited and I had covers on from Fiverr, which were not great. And, but. My point though is like, I actually did end up taking those books off and relaunching them so that they were better products. And I think that's the whole thing with product development too, is like what holds a lot of people back is they don't want to put out that product that's flawed or something. And sure, some products shouldn't be flawed, especially if it comes to do with like driving a car or something. But I mean, a lot of these products like, you know, like Seth Rooden always says, like, you know, you just got to put it out there and then you got to, you know, revise it over time. And that's anybody who's, building products like knows that like they're going to launch the first version, the second version, the third version. So anyway, Do the Hard Things First came way later. But the thing is, is like it's just the book that really took off, I think. Now, relaunch your life. The reason that's my favorite book is it was probably book number four. It was the book that actually started selling again. I had no plans for this. I had no expectations. I wrote the book because it was a book for my father. He just passed away, actually. And I was writing the book because he knew I was writing this book like I had this concept for this book I wanted to put together. I told him about it. He's like, yeah, that sounds great. You've got to write it. So I really wrote it for him and I wrote it after he passed away. So it kind of has an emotional attachment to it, but it also resonated with a lot of people. It's just how to break through tough barriers and obstacles and, you know, to lead a better life actually. Right. I probably didn't sum it up very well there, but people can check it out online. But the thing is like the book still sells really well today. It's in a few languages. Yes. And this was actually when... I went from being really broke to actually having some money in the bank, because now I was getting paid like, yeah, I went from getting a few dollars a month to getting a few thousand dollars from Amazon, which was like, wow, you know, if I keep going, I might actually surpass my monthly income with my real job. And to be honest, up to that point, the writing was just a hobby. And here's the thing, I always told people, yeah, you know, yeah, I publish books, but it's just a hobby. I'm not really looking to become a, and that was, you know, I was saying that that was not the truth inside. Frank Hereda (28:40.078) Yeah. Scott Allan (28:41.114) I wanted to be a business owner. I wanted to create something really big, but I wasn't going to tell people about that, you know, because the imposter syndrome, which is actually the other thing that holds a lot of people back, was telling me like, you know, just go with the hobby story because that's actually, you know, even if you fail at it, nobody's going to care, you know, so, but when you start making some money at something and you realize like, wow, what if I put out another book? And I did, and I got really aggressive and I put out another book within 60 days, maybe. And, that did really well too. Frank Hereda (28:51.406) Yes. Frank Hereda (28:57.454) Mm -hmm. Scott Allan (29:09.338) And I thought, okay, maybe there's something to this. And I just, that was when I felt like, I went from, kind of having like the self doubt actually started to turn into a belief and the belief turned into, I think later it turned into, I'm not going to say a passion and obsession and obsession. Whereas like, now I'm going to make this thing work. Just like when I, before I had the obsession to travel around the world, now I had an obsession to create something from these books. And so later on, do the hard things first. That actually was written. coming out of COVID. And I'm jumping around a little bit. What happened during COVID is that I've been publishing for quite a few years, had, you know, 15 books out or so. And, and I, you know, I've been, I was doing coaching and things like that around book publishing and everything. So had a good little business going. And then I decided to leave my full -time job in 2019, which was, I wouldn't say it was a big decision. I just realized one day, you know what? I'm done with this. And I went in and gave my, gave my resignation for a company I've been with for like 20 years. But the thing is though, it was like, I knew it was time, you know, and I did that, but then COVID hit and everybody knows what happened with that. You know, everybody has their own story with that. And during that year, I went from, you know, when I was working in an office with a lot of other people and I had a team that I was leading and now suddenly I was at home living the dream, doing, being a full -time writer, which we'll talk about what that means later. I found out it wasn't actually like typing eight hours a day. Now I was... Frank Hereda (30:35.982) Ha! Scott Allan (30:37.274) I was home alone, kind of a strange for my family because my wife and I were getting separated and divorced and I was living in a room with three dogs and trying to build this publishing empire. And so this is the story that I actually haven't really talked about very much is that part of it. You know, so, you're kind of getting first dibs on this, but yeah, it's kind of interesting way. Yeah. Yeah. Frank Hereda (30:55.086) Well, I think that's actually great because not my intention, but I want to help. I think it's really important for you to maybe tell that story because the people that are going to be listening to this are either want to start a business or are in a business. And these stories are really helpful, I think. Scott Allan (31:11.13) Yeah, yeah, that's good to know. So what happened after that, you know, left my full time job, you know, a year later. No, I wasn't even that. I was probably about six. Yeah, maybe a year later. Yeah, COVID hit. And then something just like working from home full time and all that. Like it's it does sound exciting to a lot of people. And don't get me wrong. I think it's a good thing that if you can actually do that. And that is what I do now. But I mean, I'm loving it way more than I did way back then. But if you're if you're somebody who's used to being like surrounding yourself with a lot of people and. Your communication is one of your strengths, which it is for me. And you just love being surrounded by people. Sometimes working from home by yourself, we all this, like a lot of us found this out during COVID, it's like, it's not the most healthy thing. And I ended up in the psych hospital a couple of times when I had deep regret for quitting my full -time job and thinking, what did I do? My books business started crashing because I wasn't publishing anything and I wasn't marketing anything. And inside of me, I think I felt like something was just looking for a way out. Like I wanted to give up actually, you know? And so went through that year of just basically surviving. And in 2021, I had this, I don't really remember when the idea came for putting this book together, but it was just there one day. And to be honest, this is how a lot of my book ideas come. It's not like I sit down and just think, you know, what can this, what can the next project be? I get most of my ideas when I'm at the gym working out. Like whatever it is, like I'm on a bench press and suddenly I get an idea for a book and I'll finish my set and I have to go and write down this idea. Like that's just how things happen. And that may have been how this happened actually. But I wrote the book with the theme of like how to overcome procrastination because chronic procrastination was pretty much a business killer for me. Like it was... really devastating. I mean, I think I call it chronic procrastination. There's probably a lot of, you know, there's the psychology of it though, it was just, it was a lot. Like I nearly destroyed my business and my health from basically putting everything off, especially if it had to do with finances or looking at the numbers or, and all those things, by the way, entrepreneurs need to know, you know, knowing your numbers and all these things. Those are all the things I didn't want to do because they were not fun. And, Scott Allan (33:28.41) You know, I'd always worked in a company that did my taxes for me. Suddenly I had to do my own taxes and that meant organization. And organization is not my strong point. It still isn't. But now at least I have an accountant and somebody else who, a partner who takes care of those things for me because, you know, I realized like there are, I want to be an entrepreneur and build a business, but there are certain things that I just really, really struggle with. And I realized like, I don't have to get good at these things. but at least I need to find people and hire people that are good at them to help me with these things. So anyway, the Do the Hard Things First book, I wrote it in about 60 days, published it. Again, I had no expectations. I just wanted to write another book that I really like, I felt, I'll call it passionate, but I just felt like really strongly that this book could really help people because it's actually, selfishly speaking, I wrote it for myself because I had to, you know, to get myself out of a hole. And it just, as it turns out, a lot of other people, resonated with the topic. And so a year or two, three years, I think we're coming up on the three year anniversary where I just published the second edition of it. It is so cleaned up and everything like that. But it's been picked up by 16 publishers since then. So international publishers outside of the USA in 16 different languages. Now, again, I didn't plan for any of that, but what it's shown me is like, you know, came out of COVID, things were really bad. And I realized like I had... I say I had two choices either maybe try to go back and get my old job back or build a different career or something like that. And I didn't want to do that because I was very invested in this. And I just felt like, you know, I just went through a very bad time and where, you know, emotionally and spiritually, I do, I did believe though, that I could come back from this. Right. So the good thing about the book is that putting this book out there and just watching it, it didn't like take off on ahead of the launch. I just published it really. And just, you know, yeah, it sold a few copies, but. It took time for it to get out there, but I just, I got back into my productivity funnel, you know, was now like, it was just, I just felt completely different. And some of the things that really helped with this, by the way, getting back into listening to online mentors and coaches, Tom Bilyeu who runs Impact Theory, Ed Millett, like some of these influencers that I was just discovering for the first time, I started really listening to their material. Scott Allan (35:49.85) And, every day I just, I would put in two or three hours of listening to people's podcasts. I got back into reading books. I'd really gotten away from the whole, like, you know, I'm going to make myself great theme. Like I was, you know, cause I was just trying to survive, not become, not, not, you know, scale up the greatness. Right. But when I started like connecting with these other people, even though they were just online and, but I was watching their videos and I started to resonate with a lot of the things that they were talking with, like their struggles, you know, and I realized like, Frank Hereda (36:04.43) Yeah. Scott Allan (36:18.778) their struggles were a lot worse than mine. And if they made it and they're in, and they would be telling you how to get through these things and I would apply these things and they really worked, you know, so we really have to have to listen to what other people are teaching you because there's, you know, the information is out there. The knowledge is out there. The help is out there, you know, but you just have to. Frank Hereda (36:35.95) It's never been, it's never been easier for that to be out there. Right. I mean, with the, with technology, there's, there's pros and cons, but I mean, now it's never been easier to find the things that you want and learn the things you want the contents out there. Do you feel like, so does. So go into more of the detail of that book. and, and under, so people can understand the premise. I mean, I think we understand because of the title, but, but I want to sell it short. Scott Allan (36:46.01) Hmm. Yeah. Scott Allan (37:02.698) Yeah. So the book's about how to overcome procrastination, but here's the thing is like, and that's not a new concept of course. I mean, there's research and it's been done to death, I think. Right. But I mean, I wrote it from my perspective. I have a little framework that goes with it, but what the book really is about. And the more I started to talk about it with the people, I realized like that book's actually about learning to trust yourself again. Right. And that was really like, that's, that's when it comes to procrastination. The reason that I would put everything off is because I didn't trust myself enough to actually follow through to get this thing done. And this is anything like filling out an application form for something that I really needed for my business. I wouldn't fill out the application form because forums just like scared me. It's like filling out a form, right? Because what if I fill out the form and send it in and it gets rejected, right? So there it is like I started to discover what my real fears were. My fears about getting rejected, my fears of failure, like all these fears started coming back and these were the things that were holding me back. And that's why I would procrastinate. I had an issue with a credit card bill where I've always paid my bills and all this and I've never had my credit cards canceled, but this one bill in particular, I didn't pay for like three months because I'd only used the card one time, forgot about it. They were sending me, they sent me reminders all the time and. For whatever reason, I was just like, for me to pay this bill, I had to drive across town. It was a big pain. It would have taken me a half my afternoon. And I just kept putting it off. And then one day I got a bill saying, we canceled your credit card and all the others as well. So now I had no credit. And I realized when that happened, it was like, this procrastination thing actually is not working out very well. I just killed my credit. I can't hire anybody online. I need to hire people. in the virtual space because that's the only place where I really exist. And suddenly I couldn't do that without credit. So I just, you know, like it's real damage to your business, not to mention, you know, you just, you know, I just killed the trust I had with myself and I had it at all. So the book actually is about that, right? It's like, cause if you can overcome, you know, some people call it the habit of procrastination. I really have to just think it's a, it's just a negative behavior. And sometimes it's a good thing though, right? I mean, procrastination can be a good thing. Scott Allan (39:18.97) But I didn't write the book around, you know, how great it is. I actually wrote it from the perspective of somebody who really suffered through it because every time something difficult came up, I would look for a way to not do it. And these are the little triggers too. Like I started noticing the triggers. So when, you know, my accountant asked me for something to say, Hey, we need to have this, you know, the receipts in by Friday, whatever. Or he asked me to go in and give him something today. You know, if they asked me for something that had to be done today or tomorrow, I'll be like, yeah. I'll get it to you later, you know, I'll do it tomorrow. There are all these little triggers that I would set myself up for failure by, you know, pushing it off to the next day. And I realized it was like an ingrained, like the behavior was just already there, you know, and I just kept buying into it and feeding into it all the time. And that's where I think it goes from being a habit to something where it was actually a chronic problem. And I still struggle with it too, right? You know, but at least now I have, I actually have a, you know, a coach where he like, he notices when I'm doing this, he's like, you just push that off to, you know, next week when actually you could have it done today. If you just put in, if you just did worked on it for 20 or 30 minutes. So people call me out on this. Right. And you have to keep catching these things because that's really what the books around is built around is like a little system of teaching you how to catch those triggers so that you can stop procrastinating. Not completely. I think we always will always, you know, for me anyway, like all. I'll always feed into that behavior to some degree, but at least now I can see it. And the last thing too is like labeling is really important. So this goes back into, I think this comes back to when I was making plans to come to Japan. I used to identify myself as somebody who's a world traveler and adventurer. I always started calling myself these things because that's what I wanted to become. Now, when it comes to negative behaviors, right, I would always call myself a procrastinator. And you hear people say this all the time. I am a, you know, fill in the word, you know, I am a procrastinator. I am a whatever. You start to live out that label. You start to live out that identity. And I just love the concept of identity because here's the thing, you can build a new identity for yourself. So I realized like, okay, I'm not a procrastinator. It's just something I do, right? You know. Scott Allan (41:43.45) I'm actually an action taker. So what I did is I would just, I stopped saying procrastinator. I replaced it with action taker. I spend five or 10 minutes every morning in front of the mirror, feeding myself these labels like, you know, today I'm going to do this, this, and this because I'm an action taker. And I had to actually have this conversation with myself in front of the mirror, mirroring what Mel Robbins probably says in her books, The Five Second Rule. It's like, you know, get in front of the mirror and talk to yourself. And I mean, it really does work. It's uncomfortable. but this was the thing is like changing the labels that I was putting on myself and anybody can do this. I mean, this is, this, these are not new concepts. It's just that, you know, when, when we're stuck in negative behaviors, that just tends to be our identity. And that's why a lot of people don't change is because they're just stuck in that and they believe like, this is who I am. So this is what I'm going to do, but it doesn't have to be that way. So, mm hmm. Frank Hereda (42:37.038) It's a choice. It's a choice every day. And I have those conversations with my clients all the time. It's a choice and it's something we all have to remember. Self -talk is huge. So how important do you think, you mentioned imposter syndrome. And I agree with you, that is a number one, that's one of the top issues that I see people battle with. Scott Allan (43:02.778) Mm -hmm. Frank Hereda (43:02.926) How big of an issue is imposter syndrome with integrity? Meaning like, I feel like the self -talk and the integrity you have for yourself is kind of linked to imposter syndrome. Or is that, am I off? Scott Allan (43:08.218) Mm -hmm. Scott Allan (43:17.402) So I think, so imposter syndrome, I think that it's, it's kind of taken the wrong way, I think in a lot. Like we think imposter syndrome is a bad thing, right? So again, like that, and that does hold people back when they actually don't take action. But here's the thing is that if you're trying to do something new, you're trying to create something that you've never created before, whether it's write a book or build a business, you're going to have imposter syndrome, right? Like I said, I had it for years because when people ask me, about my books and stuff like that, that I always said like it was a hobby because my imposter syndrome told me I'm not actually good enough to become a full -time author so I'm not going to take that risk and you know it hold me back that way. But here's the thing is like a lot of people will not move forward with something because they think that they're not worthy of having that thing that they really want so imposter syndrome holds them back. But you're always going to feel like an imposter. until you actually prove to yourself that, this really is who I am. Now, maybe for me, I had to publish 10 or 15 books before I really started to take it seriously, but that doesn't mean it has to be that way. I could have, you know, like my imposter syndrome was there from day one and I wasn't ignoring it, but I wasn't allowing it to hold me back either. Yeah. And I think integrity is a great thing too. Like the integrity part of that is like, I felt like I owed it to myself to, you know, if I, I've come this far, right? So my con, my, I think the thing that I love to say is like, I didn't come this far just to come this far, which means that no matter what, moving forward is the only way to go. Because if you're not moving forward, you're either standing still. And what that really means is you're sliding back and you're, you're going to go back into old behaviors and then time is going to go by because it does. It just, it's not going to, it doesn't wait for anybody. So whether you're in, here's the thing too, like a lot of people when they hit their forties, fifties and older, yeah, we have less time. The thing is like that can be an excuse as well. Well, you know, if I was going to do this thing, I would have done it when I was back when I was in my twenties and my thirties. And yes, that is true for certain things. I mean, I'm not going to be playing for the NBA or anything like that, you know, but, you know, so it really, I think time does matter or age does matter, but don't let that hold you back as an excuse because it's never too late until you, you actually make a decision that it is too late. And like you said, the choice is that that is it. We have choices. Scott Allan (45:34.65) for most of the things. And, you know, like somebody is waking up every day and they hate their job. And I get that when they have to pay their bills. But remember, like, I think Tom Beale used to wear our t -shirts. You know, I used to be in this mastermind community. He always had his t -shirt that said, it's all my fault. And when we asked him about that, he said, well, he like, if you can accept that everything is your fault, that's great. Like now you have nobody else to blame. You have a choice in everything. And the only thing to decide now is like, now what am I going to do? You know, like what's next? Now what? So I think that that's a very simple concept, but it keeps me moving forward because it's when I'm stuck, it's like, OK, well, I can't stay here. You know, you're in the middle of the ocean. You got to keep swimming. Right. So like now what? You know, you're going to like what's the next plan? What's the next move? You know, just like what's the next small thing you can do? And this comes back to the do the hard things first is like, what's the next hard thing I have to do just to move myself forward on one step, one notch, you know, and. the imposter syndrome, whatever that may be. I mean, that's just going to come along with you for the ride, you know, because I love imposter syndrome because it's like, to me, that's like my dark little shadow. Right. And again, I had it many times, but whenever I got to the point where I was feeling like, okay, you know, I made it, like, you know, I've, yeah, I put on enough books. I don't feel like I have an imposter syndrome when it comes to writing, but now I've got a new goal where I want to be. this kind of person and suddenly the imposter syndrome is back because imposter syndrome goes, whoa, like, you know, that you're really sure like that's a really big goal. And that's really that's not where that's not you, you know, and you start to get the self doubt and the fears and everything like that comes back. But I guess what I'm saying is like your imposter syndrome is something that is I think it's a good thing. I think it's a motivator. Right. And you don't you know, yeah, you don't. Frank Hereda (47:13.198) That's it. Frank Hereda (47:20.174) That's a really interesting point that you have. I mean, really, technically, it's kind of like I had a conversation with someone yesterday and I said, you know, everybody, it was from someone who's doing something new. And I said, everybody's new at something they've never done before. Scott Allan (47:38.17) Mmm. Frank Hereda (47:38.254) So everybody's a newbie, right? So it's, and that's kind of where the imposter syndrome comes in. And you're right. It's like, if you can power through that, you no longer are a newbie. As soon as you do it once, you're not a newbie. And it's like, okay, you're on your way, but you'll always have that feeling. So I can, I get that. That makes sense. Scott Allan (47:53.722) Yeah, I'll tell you a little something. So a few months ago, you probably would not have gotten me onto an interview because I love public speaking. It's just that I've done quite a bit of it in the past. But when I did, whether I was on stage or in front of a camera, I was terrified. Like I didn't show it. And sometimes I did. But sometimes I would get asked a question. I would just freeze, you know, because I always thought like, if I'm on stage, it's like, you know, everybody's looking at me. They're judging me. And then, you know, like, who am I to be up here? Who are, who are they to listen to me? And, and all of these fears would just come up. So I think back in February or March, I just made the decision that I want to get over that fear because my next goal was to, you know, go from, okay, writer guy, publishing books to, you know, world -class motivational speaker and keynote speaker and all that. And that's like the big goal. Right. And I realized while it's to get to there, you know, you know, you've got to go through. pain, you've got to go through the growing pains. And so I started doing more and more interviews and the more I did, the more comfortable that I got talking to people about my past, about, you know, who Scott really is, which is something to be honest, I did not really talk about very much in most of my books, actually, until people started saying, you know, this is really good book, but there's not much of you in it. And I realized, like, I was holding back these things intentionally, because I didn't want to get too vulnerable. And I realized that Frank Hereda (49:13.742) Haha. Frank Hereda (49:18.862) Mm -hmm. Scott Allan (49:20.058) people actually want that. In fact, they probably appreciate it because then they realize, well, like if he's talking about that, maybe I could talk about my thing too. And, you know, and I think like it just shows people like, vulnerability is a good thing as well. But again, that's something else I can, you know, the fear of being vulnerable is going to hold you back from doing the thing that you really want to do. Yeah. So, that may be a lot to unpack, but yeah. Yeah. Frank Hereda (49:42.894) Really interesting. Yeah, no, it's really interesting and that's really good stuff. Talk to me about a little bit, has habits played a large role? I feel like they have and that's kind of what you were touching on a little bit. And how does someone that's trying to break a habit or like procrastination, right? So what's the, you said you have a. Scott Allan (49:55.546) Hmm. Frank Hereda (50:08.174) like a process like what what if I'm procrastinating? What if I'm doing things that don't serve me? You know, you I know you talked a little bit about mindset. What is the process that someone goes through to say, Okay, I've got to break this chain. What do I do? Scott Allan (50:16.378) Hmm. Scott Allan (50:20.634) Mm -hmm. Yeah. So what really helped me is to identify all of the things that were unfinished in my space, my virtual space where I have, you know, tons of files like most people, my physical space where I have stuff all over the place that's just unfinished, right? So this could be a room that has been in, you know, I have not decluttered my room for years, you know, for example, or. You know, my files are all over the computer, stuff like that. So I just had, I went through and I made a long list of all the things that had to be done that I was putting off because they were just not priorities. But what happens with all these, even the small little things, which, you know, one of my mentors called them little pebbles that get into your, like your, your 80 20 and you've got all these things that are, you know, vying for your attention. I had to identify what everything was. So once I had this long list of all this stuff that. needed to be finished, I would just pick one thing every day. Now it wasn't necessarily the hardest thing on the list, right? Because the concept of do the hard things first doesn't mean you have to do the hardest thing, but you do have to do something that you're putting off, right? So what I do actually, and I still do this practice to this day is the night before I go to bed, I write down the three things that I want to get done the day before. Now I might only get one of those things out of three on like finished and that's okay. The other two things will carry over to the next day. But just having that one thing done for the day is momentum. Because if you're doing one thing a day, within a year, you've got 360 things that you've finished. Now take a look at that and then look back over the year at all the things you've gotten done and you realize, okay, so I'm actually, this procrastination thing actually isn't really holding me back. I just wasn't doing anything. Or I was doing a lot of the things that were just like, you know, like checking email 20 times a day and things like that. That made me feel really busy. Cause by the way, that's just one of those, you know, we'll call it a distraction, but here's the thing is like my mind is always looking for, you know, the road, not the road less traveled, but the road, like the road that everybody else is taking where they're getting distracted and doing all these things. I was always looking for, you know, the path of least resistance. Right. Frank Hereda (52:13.134) Yep. Frank Hereda (52:16.878) Yeah. Scott Allan (52:39.194) And I realized like, okay, that may always be there. However, I'm going to take the road less travel because I just love that. And by the road, by that, I mean, you know, I'm going to do the things that, you know, my mind is telling me like, okay, you, you have to do these things because these are the most important things that are moving you towards your goals. And to me, that's really what everything is about. And so what I also did is on that list, I had a list of all the things that had to be done. And over here on the other side, I had a list of my most important goals. So. everything that I'm working on has to be related to my goals. And I have a lot of goals, but I'd identify like three of the top goals, right? So what I do throughout the day is actually monitor my time. Now I try to do this every day if I can. And I'll have like a, I have a two hour time block every day where I built it in, where's my content creation time. Because if I'm getting that time in and dedicating that time to in time blocking is not a new concept. I know, but here's the thing is like, we know about these things. but are we practicing them, right? You know, I thought, yeah, I've always known about time blocking. And I even talked about it a lot in the past, but I wasn't actually doing it, you know, which is the reason why procrastination and distraction were just taking over my day really. So when I actually got intentional with putting something in my calendar and saying, I'm going to show up for that, just like a dentist appointment, I started showing up for it. And then I started to get more things done, but you have to have clarity with like, what exactly is it that you're working towards? Frank Hereda (53:40.622) That's right. That's right. Scott Allan (54:08.858) because if you're working towards this thing and you're doing all these other things, which is what I was doing, then you're not going to get to your goal. And again, time going to go by five or 10 years. There's going to go, are you going to look back and go, I still didn't do that thing that I really wanted to. And now I'm 10 years older and you know, like, you know, it always comes back to like, now what, you know, I can't get that time back. So. Yeah. Frank Hereda (54:34.99) Yeah. Okay. That's interesting. and I, and I find that that, is helpful. It's kind of like, you know, we know we need to use a calendar and we put it on the calendar, but if you don't look at the calendar every day and make it part of your routine, then it doesn't matter. Right. And I think that's kind of along the lines of what you're saying. Scott Allan (54:45.21) Hmm. Scott Allan (54:55.066) Yeah, I think though, like, I mean, fear does have a lot to play with it. Like when it comes to procrastination, there's certainly because yeah, like everything that I procrastinated on when I looked at it, I did it because I was afraid of doing that thing. And it was something really silly, like paying the credit card bill, for example, if I take it an hour or two, just out of my day to drive across town and get it straightened up with the bank, I wouldn't have had ended up with bad credit for a year, you know. So later on, you have to think about the consequences of that as well. Here's the other thing is like having a getting back to the vision board, having a vision board is important. But how about the anti vision? So I also have an anti vision for what's going to happen if I don't do this thing, right? So if I don't take care of this thing, this, you know, hard thing, whatever that may be, then what's going to be the result of that? What's going to be the consequences of that? And I will build an anti vision around. something that actually scares me. Like I don't want that to happen. So I'm going to work on this thing because now I'm actually pushing myself forward, driven by my fear because I don't want to have to deal with the consequences of a failed business or a failed relationship or whatever it be. So having the anti -vision to me, that was actually more of a motivator than having the vision itself. Frank Hereda (56:17.614) Interesting. On the on the topic of goals, switching a little bit, what do you feel like? You know, you can be doing the hard things and you can be, you know, OK, here's where I want to go. How far out do you find? You know, I do. There's two ways to do this. I find that one to three year three years is probably like the most. It's still realistic when you're looking three years out. But then I also have. Scott Allan (56:39.482) Mm -hmm. Scott Allan (56:43.354) Hmm. Frank Hereda (56:44.622) 20 -year letter that I write to myself that I say, okay, this is what I envision in 20 years my life looks like, here's what's going on. Do you find that either one of those is helpful more than the other, one not very helpful? I'm just curious to know what your thoughts are. Scott Allan (56:58.714) Yeah. So I've done the 10 years, the 20 year goal. I found that, and this might be case by case, but I found that having a vision that was like way down the line, like it didn't really, something about it just didn't really excite me enough. Yeah. The gap was just too big. And I think the reason for that is because I realized like five, 10, 20 years from now, so much changes that you can't predict it, right? Yeah. Yeah. Frank Hereda (57:12.366) The gap's too big. Frank Hereda (57:21.39) It's so true. It's so true. Every year change. Are you kidding me? I mean, when you have any kind of goals, it's like, my gosh. Scott Allan (57:29.53) Yeah. So I have like a, we'll say like the big vision, right? Now for me, it's a, you know, like, okay, being in a bigger house, driving a nicer car, these things, they don't really motivate me kind of, but I mean, I think that's, you know, that's what comes after you've already reached your goal and now you've got the stuff, right? But for me, like, yeah, like the, having a one year goal, like I can actually, you know, I can see that because one year goes by really quickly. And so, Frank Hereda (57:45.71) They're short -lived. Scott Allan (57:57.85) If I actually take my 10 year plan, squeeze that into one year, and then I convince myself, well, I may not have 10 years. So I don't want to make a plan that's 10 or 20 years from now. Let's just say, you know, let's play a game. Let's say you have one year to make this happen. How are you going to make it happen? And I think that just takes everything like instead of me stretching out all my plans for 10 years and, you know, fooling myself and I think I have all this time. I actually go with the one year plan and then I just do as much as I can in that one year. Right. And I, and I find that I just get a lot more done. So, yeah. Frank Hereda (58:30.51) I love that. That's kind of like, yeah, no, I love that. That's kind of, I don't know if you've ever read the 12 week year, but the 12 week, yeah, that's kind of my strategy is, you know, do a year's worth in a quarter. And so you have four years in an actual year, you know, in those quarters. So I think that's kind of what you're talking about. I love that. I love that idea, condensing it. Scott Allan (58:38.138) I love that book. I do. I have it. Yeah. Scott Allan (58:44.442) Mm -hmm. Scott Allan (58:52.538) Yeah. Yeah. And I think the reason because, so I'll have, like my one year plan and then I'll have it broken down into quarters. And then, you know, the quarter's broken down into the weekly and the daily. But the thing is like, if I'm showing up and I'm working on these daily tasks, they have to be connected to that one year plan. And a lot of the times what I find is like, I get, I wouldn't call it distracted, but I get really busy. Like everybody we, we, we get into our work and we start working on these things and weeks goes by and I realized like, wow, I am actually not working towards my goal. Like that's why you have to have the one year plan to look at it and go, okay, I've been working on this thing here and actually it has nothing to do with my goal. I just got really busy working on another project. That's the thing too. I mean, maybe this is a little bit ADHD, which is something else that I struggle with, but I'll start a new project just completely out of the blue because as a creator and entrepreneur, I always want to be building something. So I'll start something new because that's exciting. Frank Hereda (59:50.062) Mm -hmm. Scott Allan (59:50.618) When this other project over here gets really difficult, I'll have a tendency to, you know, just push it to the, put it up on the shelf a little, a little bit and just leave it over there. And, you know, with the intention of going back and doing it later, because I want to make this new thing. And then we get into shiny object syndrome because now I've just started chasing a new shiny object that looks and feels really good. And so that does happen. And I think it's just important for people to recognize that if you're working on something and it gets really hard, that's a good thing. You just may need to mix things up a little bit and figure out what's the best, how can I get this thing done really? So what it comes down to is the other one of my favorite books is like who not how, right? Because as an entrepreneur, we start working on everything ourselves. Like I always would try and do everything by myself. And I realized like, well, my goal is to get this thing done. Doesn't mean I have to be the one doing all these things. So I think outsourcing things and hiring other people, Frank Hereda (01:00:31.118) Mm -hmm. Scott Allan (01:00:49.69) just whether you're hiring them on Fiverr or Upwork or, you know, bring them on part time, like buying back your time is critical. And again, this comes back to the goal setting because, or, you know, like having goals, because if you're doing all of these things, you're going to have a really hard time getting to your goal. Like you're probably going to end up burning out, which happened to me a couple of times. So I do recommend just looking at how can I get this thing done the fastest and who can I hire to help me with it? So. Frank Hereda (01:01:18.766) Really, really good advice. so true. So true. so we've, we've covered a lot of ground today and, and I love your story and I appreciate you telling it. Where can, people find you? Where, where can they go if they have questions or they want to find your books? We'll put links to anything down below in the show notes, but where can they find you and what would you like them to go to? Scott Allan (01:01:44.57) Sure, yeah. So they can check out the website at scottallanpublishing .com and we have a Shopify store at scottallanbooks .com where we're selling everything directly now. And of course they can always go to Amazon and you know, they sell a lot of things on there and I'm sure they can find the books on there as well. Frank Hereda (01:02:01.006) Interesting. Okay, great. Well, I appreciate you. And you know, hey, maybe maybe after the next 10, we'll have you on again. And we'll talk about the next 10 successful books that you have. Really amazing what you're doing. And I appreciate you sharing everything. And if anybody has any questions, feel free to reach out. They know they can go to Frankarita .com. And I appreciate everybody. Thanks for listening to another episode and we'll catch you on the next one. Take care. Scott Allan (01:02:26.81) Thank you.