NARROW your Focus to Grow your Business W/Dr. Priya Bains

Priya’s Website

https://vfcoaching.net/blog/

Priya’s IG

https://www.instagram.com/virtual_freedom/

1. Priya’s approach to creating ‘fast’ results
2. FAST
   1. Know what you're focused on. 
   2. Awareness, Self-awareness, or metacognition. 
   3. Self mastery 
   4. Time Mastery. 
3. What does ‘improvement’ mean?
   1. E.g improving by 1%
4. Bowen Therapy
   1. Light fascia manipulation
   2. What I found on the web
      1. Bowen is a holistic technique that works on the soft connective tissue (fascia) of the body.
      2. A Bowen treatment consists of sequences of small moves, each at a specific site on the body. It can be done through light clothing.
5. Morning routine
   1. Mindset work
   2. Goals, outcomes, to-do list
   3. Followed by workout
6. From - “The Science of Getting Rich”
   1. “Get as much done as possible without doing ‘more’ than what’s possible”
7. Priya likes seasonality in her efforts
   1. E.g. Toning the efforts down in winter
8. We discuss the danish tradition of “Hygge” 
   1. “ “hygge,” a Danish term defined as “a quality of cosiness and comfortable conviviality that engenders a feeling of contentment or well-being.” Pronounced “hoo-guh,” the word is said to have no direct translation in English, though “cozy” comes close. It derives from a sixteenth-century Norwegian term, hugga, meaning “to comfort” or “to console,” which is related to the English word “hug.” Associated with relaxation, indulgence, and gratitude, hygge has long been considered a part of the Danish national character
9. Productivity Hack
   1. Disconnect email from your phone when you are on vacation
   2. “I disconnected my email from my phone and said, when I'm gonna work, I'm gonna sit at my computer, I'm gonna sit at my laptop, I'm gonna sit at my desk, and I'm gonna action it one time.”
10. Priya doubled her whey protein in her morning berry smoothie and found it to be very beneficial
11. Training: Priya experimented w/Goggins style intensity and got injured.  She now focuses on HIIT style training and the quality of her training.
12. Priya coaches a sculptor on widening his business model in a way that brings him joy.
13. The downside of being a “Knowledge Whore”
    1. Something I struggle with
14. 
    

Instagram

https://sproutspout.com/

Transcript

Priya Bains

 [00:00:00] You know, this is, uh, this recording is truly. A Testament of my patients, um, I am. If it isn't completely apparent, I'm sick as a dog the day. 

And completely under the weather. I appreciate having a goal. To get out of bed and get something done in, which is that I wanted to deliver. You the audience, this episode. On a Friday morning. Uh, happy holidays, by the way, my Christmas gift to you. Um, however, These, uh, recording and editing today. 

It took an incredible amount of focus. Focus in patients because. I was just miserable. And when you know it like. This is my third take. Uh, of doing the intro because this train. Coming through the background and ruining the recording. So I felt like it was too annoying to [00:01:00] QI. Today's guest is Dr. Priya bane. Her website is in the show notes. It's VF coaching.net. 

And that stands for virtual freedom, by the way, her Instagram, if you just type in virtual freedom, you'll see her Instagram as well. She has a methodology called fast, which is completely in the show. Notes. We talk about it during the show. What Priya does what Dr. Bains does. And she helps creative and innovators who have a lot of ideas to focus on simplifying things that generate revenue. 

The best example I can think of is in. About two thirds of the way through this podcast episode, she tells a story about a sculptor that she works with, uh, who is impacted by COVID and kind of loses his, his focus. And she helps them not only get back on track, but how to grow his business in a way that brings him joy. 

, if you're in the background is in the quality field, the goal of Deming, [00:02:00] which is famous for coming up with the 14 points of quality was too. Return create joy for people's work in the way that he did that was removing parts of the process that felt wasteful. And when people weren't doing processes in their day to day lives. 

At far as far as at work. That, that they knew was a waste of time. They tended to feel more joyful about the work they were doing in the items that they were creating. And I think that's what pre it does. On a coaching level. 

I do apologize for the horrible narration today. Uh, not only in quality. Of my voice, but the quality of the content. However, the episode, fortunately, it was recorded. When I was good and well, and I hope that you enjoy it. Thank you so much for following chasing energy. Uh, the website is chasing.energy. If you want to check it out, has all the episode. 

all the show notes. Shout out to Romania. I'm now in the top 150 [00:03:00] of health and fitness podcast. In that region. I told my son that I wanted him to come on the air for our next episode and say a few things about those regions. Just as sort of a shout out. It's an honor for me. 

A few things about what we covered today. Priya has an acronym called fast that we cover. Uh she talks about Bowen therapy which after relistening to this episode i looked up there is actually a couple of practitioners in town that practice it. i may give it a try for some of the elements i've had Covers her morning routine and we talk a lot about seasonal productivity meaning having a season in which you are not lazy but just not trying to be at peak performance she prefers winters for that and by the way so do I. i think When the sun is very limited to when it's out Uh, I tend to be A little bit more about connecting in doing things inside the house focusing on my hobbies and time with the family Have a wonderful holiday season thank you for joining chasing energy and i look [00:04:00] forward to bringing you another episode soon 

daniel_lucas: Priya Bains. Welcome to Chasing Energy. So good to have you here today from Vancouver, Canada. How are you?

Track 1: I'm. 

daniel_lucas: Yeah, 

Track 1: Yeah thanks for having me.

daniel_lucas: So, um, we connected through a, a podcasting service.

We, we had a pre-call, gosh, it was almost two months ago. Uh,

so 

Track 1: it really.

daniel_lucas: like

it feels that way. I don't know when it was, uh, but uh, it's been a while. So I feel, I feel like I've looked through my notes and went back through some of the stuff that we talked about. We share a, we share a couple of, uh, traits professionally and, and probably personally as.

you overwhelmed innovators get out of their heads and into the business growth using coaching, uh, io psychology and business strategy. So that's one of your taglines. Here's my first question for you, Preem.

How do you

get out? How do you get out of your own

head [00:05:00] 

Track 1: I will say,

daniel_lucas: And you can give an example of something where you found yourself in the same type of cycle you found a client in and you had to use a particular technique or something.

Track 1: So, so I will say I, I, I call it fast, right? So focus,

so

you know what you're focused on. Awareness, self-awareness, um, or metacognition. self master. and Time Mastery. I always kind of think of that sort of acronym of how do you create fast results, focus, self-awareness, self-mastery, time mastery. And so I tend to go back to that every single time.

Um, it, every single time I want to create a change, create a transformation. And at this point in my life, I think I live by those.

daniel_lucas: Okay. So it's a methodology. , [00:06:00] you practice with your p Preach now. Gimme an example of how you used it on yourself.

Track 1: Um, oh my gosh. It's, it's, let me, I'm gonna have to sort of think about this. Oh, here's one. Okay. I'm, I was going to sort of bring this in later. I'll bring it now. I might figure out how to use it later. So,

daniel_lucas: to everything so 

Track 1: Um, so one thing, so exercising, right? So, um, You know, improving ourselves. So my tendency is to go, okay, what does improvement mean? And I'm like, can you go harder? Can you go harder? Can you do more? Can you run faster? So that's how I define improvement. And if you're using sort of the 1% improvement philosophy, for me to improve 1% means I need to do an extra wrap or add more weight every single time.

And then to really think about what that means and go, that's not it. It's the consistency. It's the improvement [00:07:00] through the repetition and the consistency in the process. So that would be an example of where I go ultra high achiever and I push myself beyond my limits. And I think last time we spoke, I threw out my back

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm that's

right.

Track 1: So that was me trying to go above and beyond and go, that's not what it means. 

daniel_lucas: Uhhuh 

Track 1: doesn't mean that you have to,

daniel_lucas: think that was an exercise in correlation and not causation that our conversation, cuz when we had the conversation, you're like, I haven't been hurting forever. And then you messaged me later that day, you're like, well, I'm hurt.

Um but

this is a good segue because actually I wanted to ask you about Bowen therapy.

mentioned that on the call. Can you give us a little bit about the benefits or.

Track 1: Well, so I absolutely love this therapy. So, um, funny how we're, we're, this is all flowing from one place to the next. Um, but when I threw out my back that day after not having done it for ages, it's kind of a thing I like to [00:08:00] do annually just for fun. Um, , 

daniel_lucas: keeps you humble Keeps you 

Track 1: keeps me humble. Yeah, it reminds me not to, to, to push my limits.

Um, but I use this treatment called Bowen Therapy, which is a very light fascia type manipulation where it almost feels like they're not even touching you. They might lift your leg, put your leg down, you know, wiggle your wrist or something like that. And it's about, you know, it's about a 45, 50 minute therapy.

You just lie on a table. They'll do like a tiny manipulation. They walk outta the room, they come. Uh, 15 minutes later you can YouTube this to see what it looks like if someone wants to look at it. But for me, it's literally one treatment and I can walk in with like a completely, like walking in at a 90 degree.

Okay. Maybe a 45 degree angle. I don't get that bad. Uh, kind of a 45 degree, a degree angle, and 50 minutes later I'm perfectly fine. Like, not even a tiny remnant of pain. It's, it's insane. I, uh, I, I [00:09:00] discovered it through a naturopath that I know about 10 years ago or something like that. I had a frozen shoulder.

Um, so I couldn't sit on a sofa, which had me working all the time because I was like, it's the least painful thing to do is to sit on a solid chair. If you're gonna sit on a solid chair, you can never really relax.

daniel_lucas: Yeah.

Track 1: Um, and so I had a frozen shoulder and I did the chiropractic and I did the massage, and it was like a whole year and.

I got this one treatment and then 24 hours later, this thing I couldn't get you rid of for an entire year was totally gone.

daniel_lucas: Well, if they ever had a testimonial I don't think they could have, you know, staged that any better than what you just said. I, I don't know if there's a practitioner in my area, but I'm certainly gonna give it a shot. I've got a, I got plenty of illness to try it out on, so.

Track 1: I also like it. I'm gonna tell you one more thing, and I don't get paid for this. I just really love it that much. It's, it's, uh, because of the way they do the treatment with a minor manipulation, walk into the room and come back in. You will, if you have a sports [00:10:00] injury or anything, highly, highly recommended, um, you feel like you're floating on a cloud, your body does these minor, minor adjustments and you're so relaxed.

So if you're into mindset visualization, on you get your back healed, you get your, you know, sore, hip healed, or elbow or shoulder or whatever it is. And then you can do some visualization while you're lying on the table cuz you're in the perfect energy for

it 

daniel_lucas: Wow. So it's a very coordinated, healing efforts. It's part, you know, focus and relaxation and mindset and it's part of what they do.

Track 1: Yeah. Well I just do the relaxation and mindset thing. Cause I'm like, well I feel really good right now. What else am I gonna do?

daniel_lucas: It's

a great practice regardless. Right.

Track 1: Mm-hmm.

daniel_lucas: Um, talk about how you create a professional edge by prioritizing your health. So you get up and train in the mornings, right?

Track 1: Yes, I have discovered, so some people like to train in the evenings, but for me, um, I have [00:11:00] discovered that. I've created this routine where I literally wake up in the morning and I do some mindset work. Um, you know, get ready to sort of get out there and I will do a workout in the morning. Uh,

daniel_lucas: me what you mean by mindset work. Gimme an idea.

Track 1: so focusing on goals, outcomes, I look at my to-do list.

I get really clear on what I'm trying to create for the day.

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm.

Track 1: Um, I'll even do some sort of like, uh, type of script.

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm.

Track 1: um, reading what I want to create. So it's really just connecting to my purpose, my why. I do that for about literally a, it ends up being about 45 minutes in the morning. Sounds crazy. Um, and then I go out there and I, uh, do my workout, would be waits or a run.

daniel_lucas: It's, it's funny you say that because I, I, uh, after one of my early interviews, uh, last year, uh, the, the guy, the gentleman told me, Hey, I get up at like, In the morning. I [00:12:00] was like, oh my gosh, that's nuts. And he does meditations and stuff. And so ever since then, I, I swear this is true. Ever since then, I've been getting up probably around five.

And he takes a cold shower every single morning. I, through this entire winter, I've taken cold showers. But he, his meditation, he's like, Daniel, that time in the morning you enter into the world, it's sacred. That's where your thoughts are. The purest. If I had been listening to someone else, say, I, I think I would've just been like, well, that's interesting.

I'll pass. But because it was my podcast, I was like, well, I've gotta try it

Track 1: Mm-hmm.

daniel_lucas: And

I have to say the, I, I find there's so much joy and benefit to that time and quiet peace in the morning. And I've, I've built my rituals. I I'm still refining them. I don't have 'em down like you. But specifically what you're talking about is, at least what it sounds like is you're, you're designing your.

and

what you want for, for me, I'll, I'll say [00:13:00] what do I want to feel at the end of the day? Is it, you know, how do I, everybody wants to feel fulfilled, but how do I get there what, what accomplishments would, would drive me to feel that I'm fulfilled? And it's, it's a form of manifestation. It's a form of goal setting.

It's a form of meditation all, and you kind of combined those. A productive circle. There's probably some, great acronym you can add onto that. Uh,

Track 1: Yeah, I don't have one at this point in time. It's, it's something that I've sort of evolved and developed, but I, I, at the end of the day, I think it's, I look at my day, I look at my quarter and I look at my year. So I kind of get a sense of what do I wanna create in the next 90 days? What do I wanna create throughout the end of the year?

And then what is gonna happen today? Um, there is. book, um, it is called, it's Wallace d Waddles, um, the Science of Getting Rich.

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm.

Track 1: It's one of those, uh, old, old books, really quite [00:14:00] popular. Um, but there's one sentence in there that that's always sort of struck me, where it's like you want to get as much done in your day as possible without doing more.

Than what's possible. And I think where creatives and innovators, and I think a lot of business owners in general get stuck, um, and trapped is they try to do more than what's possible in a day. Like they go beyond reasonable and then they burn out.

daniel_lucas: Yeah, I think you're actually highlighting something that, uh, is very relevant in the training field too, right? You find people who go, well, if I just trained harder than anybody else, then I'm gonna get better results. And that's not true.

Uh there's

there's, uh, when you have people who. , I'll, I'll pick on the people who say I'm gonna do the couch to 5K program.

They put in their headphones, they took per turn on Eye of the Tiger, and they take off running as hard as they can. know, after a week they're, they've got shin splints or whatever in, I always say intensity is not a substitute for consistency.

Track 1: [00:15:00] All right. Completely a hundred percent agree.

daniel_lucas: So, um, the other part of that is to say training, and in the business world too, it's, there's something to be said.

seasons as well, where you're like, okay, this is a development where I'm gonna learn these new skills. I'm gonna take on this big project. At the same time, you don't necessarily want to be in that all year round. So there still being consistent, but there are high stress times and then, and and whatnot.

And I'm not gonna preach on balance during this podcast, but it, it's certainly in the training field. I actually. Ryan Hall, who was the best American

Track 1: Mm-hmm.

daniel_lucas: in the half marathon and marathon. Uh, he still holds a lot of the records. Uh, he, he specifically said the number one reason runners don't get faster is because they don't throw cycles into their training where they train extra hard and train extra easy.

They try to train as hard [00:16:00] as they. or just about as hard as they can all the time if they don't factor in recovery. So they're not a ever able to push really hard when they need to push hard because they have that fatigue, right?

Track 1: Right. I, I completely agree. And I think that's like people do that with their fitness.

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm.

Track 1: They can do it with their diet, they can do it with business, it's people we run in cycles. One of the things I see with the creatives that I work with is in winter, I always feel like I don't, I don't know about you, but I kind of go into a hibernation type cycle in winter.

I am a little bit lazy. I don't work as hard as I do throughout the rest of the year. I still, I'm still consistent, but what I find with a lot of creatives and innovators, that, that period of time from my like, mm, the second week of December, right through to February, 

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm 

Track 1: just beating themselves up the entire time for not being productive, [00:17:00] and they can go into a state of depression versus just being like, this is normal.

daniel_lucas: Yeah.

Track 1: It's dark, it's raining.

daniel_lucas: yeah, I'm glad you brought that up. Uh,

the

the Happiest Nation in the world, I believe it's, it's, it's either Denmark or right in there, but I've read two or three books and they're all pretty much titled A Year of Living in the Heest Place on Earth, or, , uh, hookah is if, I'm saying it right, did I

say it right 

Track 1: Huga or something like that. Yeah. Right. Hug.

daniel_lucas: it's, where they just say, for the next two months, we're just gonna grab a bunch of books and shut the doors to our house and we're just gonna connect. I like in, in America, two days of that would drive people nuts. I let alone two months. But it's, it's this whole thing where you're like, I'm completely disconnected, so when I come back, I'm fresh, you're ready to go.

Track 1: Yeah, but I think there's an interesting element too, because we go, there's so, there's so much all or nothing to that like that we, why? It doesn't have to be complete [00:18:00] disconnection, but it can be a slowing down and accepting that we slow down. Just like you're saying with the running, it's like you don't run hard and then not run for a few months, cuz if then you have to start all over again.

daniel_lucas: Yeah. I think the hardest thing for Americans is to say, , don't check your work phone even though you're on So that's where they would go, well, I'm just jogging. I'm just checking some emails. And that's where the part where I go, right, two months is not gonna happen. We, we can forget. In my lifetime, that's not gonna happen here.

But

getting people to say, don't check that phone for at least on a work email for a. would be a tremendous benefit. And by the way, I'm including myself in all this. I struggle with this stuff. I've got, uh, my first real vacation in, I don't know how many years, many, many, many years is I've, I've been leveraging, uh, belief.

You talked about the stuff you do in the morning, belief, [00:19:00] goals manifesting. I was like, I really, I always come up with a reason why it's, I'm not gonna do it, but this year I'm gonna do it.

Track 1: Do you want a major productivity hack that can help you with that?

daniel_lucas: No. No. Why would I need a major

productivity hack 

Track 1: I used to work as a consultant, and what I did

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm.

Track 1: is I disconnected my phone from my email. 

daniel_lucas: Oh yeah 

Track 1: If you think about it, most of the time when you check your email on your phone, somebody wants a file, you've gotta check on something, and you can't do it on your phone. So all you end up doing is reading it on your phone, responding to say, I'll check on it later, or stressing about it, and then you go through the same process again.

So I saw myself, so this is, you were asking earlier, like what's a, what's a way you. Right. So I was like, well, what am I doing? I keep checking the same stuff twice. So I disconnected my email from my phone and said, when I'm gonna work, I'm gonna [00:20:00] sit at my computer, I'm gonna sit at my laptop, I'm gonna sit at my desk, and I'm gonna action it one time. And if I'm not gonna take action on it, if there's a chance, there's a file, I'm not gonna look at it.

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm.

Track 1: And that just solved the problem and it increased my productivity.

daniel_lucas: it.

does. You're

exactly right Being

able to step away and say, be here now is one of my favorite. statements is, you know, I'm here in this spot. I'm here in this moment. My, uh, my kids know good and well, that they don't have to compete with the phone when, when I'm on their time, I'm on their time.

So I, I really like that hack. Thank you so much for sharing that. Priya

Track 1: It's E, and if you wanna work on vacation, you take your laptop and then you work on your laptop when you're supposed to work on your laptop, which is usually when the rest of the family is getting.

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm.

Track 1: and then the rest of the time you don't look at your phone or there's nothing on it.

daniel_lucas: Well, I am, I am, uh, am learning, uh, Italian, day, every single day. So I, that's [00:21:00] another way that I'm going. I've invested in this language, so I really am gonna do this. So time will tell, time but I'm planning on making it happen. I want, I have a question.

What is the most beneficial change in your diet or training in the last. that, it doesn't have to be dramatic. It could have been, but the most beneficial change that you said, I tweaked this and I got good results.

Track 1: Oh, uh, , my friend got got me in on this. Um, I actually double, so I tend to make a protein shake in the morning and I doubled the amount of protein I put in. So it's typical one scoop. I became a two scooper.

daniel_lucas: And

this was the, this the

berry

almond milk you made Yeah See

I remember that one.

Yeah. 

Track 1: Yes.

daniel_lucas: So you double, what kind of protein do you use?

Track 1: I just use a regular, just kind of a WHE protein that's very clean. Yeah.

daniel_lucas: doubled it and what happened?

Track 1: Um, I just found that the energy increased, my appetite throughout the day decreased. Um, [00:22:00] all of those good things that you want to happen, and I'm pretty sure I put on some muscle since then and it's only been about two.

daniel_lucas: That's great.

These

some of these tips, you know, Priya are pretty darn handy. I just between the Bowen therapy and that. I think, I think this, this interview's a winner.

Track 1: Thank my friend for that tip.

daniel_lucas: the other question is for training. What does a change you made in your training?

Track 1: I

um, I have started to do. so I'm consistent. But um, so I think I was telling you when we connected earlier, I went through a David Goggins phase. So I was like, how far can you run? How hard can you run , 

daniel_lucas: yeah 

Track 1: which at the time served a purpose. It was a great mindset kind of a thing, which is why.

daniel_lucas: it

is. This is why I said seasons are good. It's good sometimes to say, Hey, I wanna see what my breaking point is.

Track 1: Uhhuh [00:23:00] and I found it when I think I kind of fractured my foot.

daniel_lucas: Oh wow. Yeah. You did find it?

Track 1: Yeah. Um, which, oh, there's an injury. I forgot about that one. Um, and, uh, but now what I find is, it's sort of part, so I think I probably prioritize mind if you look at things in terms of time, but what I've learned to do this year is I, I reduced my training time overall. but increase the intensity with this str so it's more hit training, more intense weights, uh, versus I used to get caught up in that sort of mentality of you have to work out, you know, an hour or it doesn't count.

daniel_lucas: Yeah.

It's, it's funny you should

say that cuz

I, I've actually been doing very much the same thing, Bria, which is. , I had this tendency to go, um, my, my problem, uh, and [00:24:00] probably ears too, is it is not, how do I get up the motivation to work out? It's how do I stop when I don't need to when enough And so my issue is I'll be, I lift about every other day or maybe three days a week or whatever. And on those days, I can do, I can do another set, I can do another set, I can do another set. And at some point I was like looking at it and I was going, it's not gonna serve you. And there, there was probably some sort of subliminal message there too that I've been hearing where it's like, you might want to leave a couple of sets of reps in the tank.

You only want to go to the well every, every so often. And I was a pretty extreme person. And I've actually found I, I recover better. I'm, I have more energy during the day cuz I'm not getting that burn throughout my body. And, and then also the offset of that is that I walk a lot. So that's the training where I go, this doesn't [00:25:00] have to be intense, but I'm just gonna be in motion and I look forward to that walk day I look forward to that walk. It's about 45. And I do journal, I do voice journaling and things like that during my walk. Listen to a lot of audiobooks. So, uh, that's an example where I've actually shortened the extreme training to be, to be more compact and to the point and precise. then with the other stuff, it's just, don't worry about intensity, just enjoy it.

But stay.

Track 1: Yeah, and I, I think that really applies like, cuz we were talking about, I think. , we were sort of talking about how does this connect to our work too? And I think there's that tendency, it's like also very ingrained in American culture more than other places I've seen, I think probably other places too.

But that'll become, yeah.

daniel_lucas: can stay the latest? Who can, who can pull the most overnighters? Yeah.

Track 1: Like that's like a badge of honor or something like that. But if you look [00:26:00] at, you know, when the creative process takes place, it does not happen. while you're sitting at your desk working. Most of us are creative when we're on a run, which is part of why I love running. Cause I'm like, wow, I just came up with like 1800 things to write about.

Um, or, you know, everyone knows you come up with those ideas in the shower. Like we, the, those creative moments happen in our downtime. And if we're in these, these corporate environments where there is no downtime, how much genius are we missing out on because we're not giving people down.

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm.

Track 1: I, I actually, I had a, um, this was the coolest thing ever when I was in university.

I had a moment. I, I had a sort of a job working in a lab and we were looking at expectation states and, and gender roles and women and whatnot. Um, and, uh, my professor at the time, she, she told me, she's like, I want you to charge. Whenever you're walking around campus. So I got [00:27:00] to get paid for walking around cuz she said, you come up with the best ideas for the lab, so I want you to charge me for walking around campus.

And I was like, that is awesome,

daniel_lucas: I

like 

Track 1: It's a big campus too.

daniel_lucas: Yeah. Well, in seven habits of highly effective People, Covey preaches that you can buy a man's hand, but you can't buy his heart.

And

when you people in the workplace, they'll, they'll give you their ideas that they come up with in the shower or on the walk or on their

drive

home.

And the second thing I want to add to that is, in general, now, a lot of people, Uh, certainly it, it varies from person to person, but in general, some of the most productive and creative time is those first few hours of the day and what I tend to do, woo.

Hear that saw wow That is loud

Nice.

Track 1: Yeah,

daniel_lucas: I [00:28:00] like to think that the bathroom is just gonna be so amazing when they're

Track 1: he's, they're being productive and creative with us 

daniel_lucas: yeah

You know, I heard something the other day, uh, I was reading a book, amazing book. I highly recommend it to you. Bria called Strength to Strength.

Track 1: Uh,

daniel_lucas: And, he was talking about the difference He was going through, one of the biggest Asian museums that, that, uh, that is in existence. And he said, you almost have to have a guide because there's so much art and the.

Gentleman who was given the tour. I'm gonna botch this cuz I haven't said it out loud before, but the gentleman who was given the tour was saying, when you see art, what do you see? And when you start a project, and he, he pointed out that we see a blank

canvas 

Track 1: Mm-hmm.

daniel_lucas: And

we can put on there whatever we want.

But he said Asian culture is designed that the art is already created. You just have to. [00:29:00] direct it to the canvas.

And it's this

whole different mindset of, we, we, we just talked about the bathroom, you know, where, uh, I think it was Michelangelo that said, oh, the, the beautiful statue of David was inside the marble.

I just had to free the marble to get outta the way. Right. So maybe there's some type of segue in there to be in your best self, but I didn't do a good job with it.

Track 1: I think there's kind of a, well, I think there's a layering, so I kind of, uh, so I'm gonna give you the segue. Possibly. I look. . I kind of say this sometimes as I paint people,

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm.

Track 1: And what I mean by that is there is something there with a creative person and, and the types of creatives I work with sometimes, uh, they can't clarify their ideas.

There's all these sort of different things that are happening and, and they come across, um, scattered, right? So I call 'em brilliantly scatterbrained individuals and I help them. [00:30:00] design, like that sculpture within them. So I think it's with us as well. It's this, this delaying that we have in becoming our authentic selves, defining what really drives us and really owning what drives us and erasing all those social expectations.

So it's sort of like the social expectations that shut us down are the stone. And as we carve away at it, we see the beautiful statue under. Or the blank canvas that we start with, cuz when you paint, even if you have an idea in your head and you know exactly what it's gonna look like or you start with a blank canvas, the end product is never exactly as you imagined it to be in your mind, but it's beautiful nonetheless.

daniel_lucas: That's exactly right. And if you ask any musical artist, I, I used to play music and they'll tell you, no album ever gets me completed. You just run out of time and money and

you have to have to put it out 

Track 1: Yeah.

daniel_lucas: So on that note, you may have [00:31:00] kind of answered this, but what tips do you provide your clients?

Creativity, innovation and divergent thinking

Track 1: Oh.

daniel_lucas: you, you kind of painted a picture there that they have, uh, segments of ideas and then you help to organize it.

Track 1: Yeah, so I don't, so like I said, it's like I paint them. So there isn't a tip that is going, they, they look for tips. They want tips, but it's an emergence and I can never predict where things will go with a client and what's going to happen with them. So they can start at point A. and want to get to point C and they end up at Point W and they're just like, this is way better.

daniel_lucas: Right?

But 

Track 1: I didn't see that coming

daniel_lucas: what how do

you start to refine their vision or, or lead them? Granted, you don't know what the outcome's gonna be,

Track 1: so.

daniel_lucas: How do you keep them on track, or how do you get them to remove the extraneous noise [00:32:00] from what they're trying to say? Anyway?

Track 1: Yeah. So it, it is a process of that sort of, they, they get really focused on what they want. They get better at articulating it, um, actually acknowledging it. So a lot of them won't even acknowledge what they want. So that is a big part of the challenge where they'll be like, oh, you. , I'm okay as I am. And I'm just like, well, no, you're, you're not.

Cuz you wouldn't be here in the first place if everything was fine. So first, getting them to acknowledge who they are and what they want out of life and without those societal expectations. So we all know this sort of story, um, and I think it crosses, uh, money. I think it crosses fitness. So there, you know, people will have this challenge, okay?

They wanna take care of their bodies, they wanna look good, they wanna be healthy, they wanna be energetic. , but they're not even allowed to say they wanna look good, cuz somebody will say, well, oh, you're so shallow. Why? Why do you need to look better than you already do? And it's like, well, no, it just makes me feel good.

[00:33:00] Like I just wanna do this for myself. So there's this kind of push and pull, or with money, it's sort of, you know, it's at one level, everybody wants money.

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm.

Track 1: but at another level they can't really admit it. Cuz if you want money, then you're quote bad person and you become, you know, one of those people. And so there's this sort of, this tug of war and I'm just using these two, there's a lot more that goes on, but these are kind of familiar examples to a lot of people.

So there's this sort of acknowledging what they really want. Then it's looking at all the sort of knowledge, experience, skillsets, everything that they. , it's connecting them to their intuition, and then through all of that there's a thread. So I don't know, is this gonna be recorded with video or without video or?

So behind me, if you see this picture, I, I think I've told you about it. Um, but it's, I, it's a, it's a phoenix. The phoenix rising through the ashes, right? But it's all these little dots, right? So that's all the [00:34:00] possibilities of all the things that they could be. And when I work with them, you can kind of see this sort of black.

That comes through the middle. It's like pulling that thread from all the dots and giving them their guidance so that they just fly and they take off and they do their thing. So I don't know if you were thinking that and you're like, remember the thing behind you,

daniel_lucas: Oh

no, I wasn't, but it's a beautiful painting.

That's the first

thing I thought.

Track 1: Yeah.

daniel_lucas: that you've added some context to it, so you consider yourself like the black thread in a lot of.

Track 1: I'm the person who helps him discover the.

daniel_lucas: Oh, okay.

Track 1: Yeah. I'm not the thread. They, I just, I guide them so they discover it on their own. And one of the things is I've, and I don't know how to describe it, but there is a moment when you hit on it and they just light up. They just absolutely light up because it's sort of, people are always nice, so they'll always say, you know, oh, yeah, yeah, I agree with that.

Yeah. Yeah, I, I agree with that. [00:35:00] Right. And you're like, no, you don't, Not yet. We haven't hit on it, but there's a moment. when you hit on this thing with them. And then just like things, just everything all of a sudden starts to fit together. So I have this, this sort of strange example of this artist I worked with.

He's a, he's a sculptor, um, and he did some fairly big projects and then Covid happened and, you know, went through a low and. , you know, he was, he was not happy. Like there was this period of time. He's like, I don't wanna work in my computer. I don't wanna post these things. I don't want to do these things. I just wanted be in my garden, be in my garden, be in my garden.

And then he was also a sculptor, so it was like, well, there's this gardening thing and then there's some like business work that you need to do. There's a sculpting thing. And it wasn't like it would just, like, it was separate pieces. So what ended up happening, and I couldn't have made this up until it, it came to fruition.

[00:36:00] He ended up building this very long table to have people gather all sorts of artists and chefs and musicians and architects gather at this very long table that he has in the garden that he's built. And then he's got his sculptures around there, and now people are starting to invite him to sculpt for their very luxurious gardens, right.

but he was like making sculptures for museums. So you're, the brain doesn't even make those connections naturally. And then it, it came out and then he's now able to find how everything flows together and he does it seasonally. So we were talking about that sort of seasonality. So he gets to fulfill all aspects of himself at, of himself at different times throughout the year, and they just make sense for him.

daniel_lucas: Oh,

Track 1: but I couldn't have made that up. Like I'm not, I'm not that good

daniel_lucas: So it sounds

like one of the approaches, and you can correct me here, one of the approaches that you do with both your [00:37:00] business partners and your, your, friends. You acknowledge the delta between, so you talked about, uh, they say everything's fine, everything's fine, and you say it's it. Or, or I wouldn't be here.

Um, acknowledging, sort of a safe zone to say we're not okay with the way things are going. Let's just go ahead and get that out there. As opposed to just doing the head nod and say, you know, everything's fine. We'll get to it, we'll double our efforts next week. And then you, some, uh, extent, you encourage a little bit of disagreement.

And then in, in the case of. Artist, you looked at the different streams of the, the phoenixes that were, you know, rising from the ashes and then going, what, what is it that brings it all together?

Track 1: Yeah. So it's, it's, it's kind of at, at one element, uh, and I'm sure you're familiar with the term, but extreme psychological safety, right? So, A lot of these, these creative, [00:38:00] innovative types, they're used to getting rejected. They're used to getting shut down. They're used to being too out there. They're used to like, that's not how we do things around here.

Like, we've gotta show the corporate line. You're gonna ch try and change things. Like, that's, that's not what we want. Even though that's what we do want. Cuz that's why you bring like why the creatives and innovators are brought into the organization and everyone's trying to get people who aren't naturally creative to become creative.

Right. So it's. , well, we want your creativity, but do it our way. And it's like, well, that's not how it works. . The essence of creativity is not doing it your way. Um, . So it's, it's, it's, it's an extreme sense of psychological safety, emotional safety testing, trying and allowing those opportunities and then, That's sort of my process, my kind of proprietary process is providing that sort of structure and an environment for all of that to evolve.

Yeah.

daniel_lucas: point. And if a hundred percent of your projects are successful, then [00:39:00] they're not very stretch oriented or growth projects,

Track 1: Yeah. And if there's no surprises, it's definitely not creative.

daniel_lucas: All right. So we've, we've covered a lot here. I wanna be respectful of your time. Can you talk, um, a little bit about where people can find you and, and engage with?

Track 1: Yeah, so, um, I'm under virtual freedom, so you can go to Instagram and it's virtual underscore. Freedom.

daniel_lucas: Mm-hmm.

Track 1: So you can find me there under Instagram. Um, I have a training there you can watch and you just have to go click the link in the bio. Um, I also have a group on Facebook called The Abundantly Creative Mind, and my website is VF as in virtual freedom coaching.net.

And that's really the idea of creatives are so free, but they're not entirely free. So it's like a virtual sense of freedom. And then we work in a virtual.

daniel_lucas: Okay. So in a nutshell, do you, do you tar, help creative [00:40:00] sort of focus on what it is they're trying to make or get outta their own way or what?

Track 1: Yeah. So they often show up with too many ideas. They're overwhelmed, they burnt out, overworked. Um, they're just driving, driving, driving. And they're going, well, I'm smart. Like I've got all these degrees, I've got all these certifications. They've got so many things cuz they're their, uh, knowledge. Can Yeah, they're, they're knowledge hos they like to take in a lot of information.

daniel_lucas: No I

I think that, that, I fall under that category, by the way, cuz I keep thinking whenever there's. , big thing I need to accomplish. I go and I will. But as soon as I read this next book, it's gonna give me that I need to, and I I've done this enough to know that's just an excuse.

Uh there, there's no substitute for action and discipline and routine and ritual.

So as much as I love to pretend it's one audio booker or article away generally, Yes,

Track 1: [00:41:00] Yeah. So, so it's, some of it is trusting that intuition, some of it is knowing when you need to gather information. And some of it is when knowing when to take action to start creating those results. And, um, there's some people who are creative and innovative, incredibly successful. You seem like one of them.

And there's some people who are like, I want to get to another level and I really feel stifled and I'm not getting there. And I. Overthinking everything. I'm trapped in my head. I've got insane amounts of knowledge and I'm not moving forward. And those are the ones that I work with.

daniel_lucas: Oh, okay. I think I fall into the latter

Track 1: Oh, okay.

daniel_lucas: Priya, this has been a true joy and thank you for sharing your message with us. And, uh, I, I look forward to connecting you again soon.

Track 1: you too. And thank you. It was uh, fun and we survived all the construction.

daniel_lucas: construction. Yeah, we did it.

Track 1: Yay,