The Only 4 Habits You Need To Build A Thriving Lifestyle Business (In Your PJs)
Make more money, grow as a person, and gain more influence (in less time)
When you wake up in the morning, you’re most likely determined to fulfill certain tasks
Get out of bed, make your bed, brush your teeth, drink your meds (if needed), etc.
This is how the human mind works, and its also called automatic processing
To automate something, you need to habitize it
In the 1990s, Psychologist John Bargh was a pioneer in the research on this
This phenomenon is discussed in the book called “The Happiness Hypothesis”
Habitizing (my term for it) something is turning a process into an automatic process, whereas something you need to make a conscious decision on, is called controlled processing
If you want to habitize something, you need to make the processing of it automatic
Think about it for a second.. If you’re not a runner, and you decide to go for a jog, its probably going to be a controlled process to a certain extent (its not a habit)
But if you wake up every single morning at 6 and go for a jog at 6:30, the entire jog becomes an automatic process
Now if you’re reading this you’ve already achieved this to a certain extent, sure
But there are some issues you are not paying close attention to
Stimulus plays a large role when it comes to forming a habit
That’s why the more stimulating something is, the easier it is to turn into a habit
This is a double edged sword, because it causes you to become dependent on stimulating things that might not be healthy habits
You ever mindlessly scroll social media, often wasting hours on something you could have replaced with something more productive?
You ever spend hours focusing on something that you later realize was just a waste of time?
“But Ian, that’s fine because I can spend time on these things to relax”
Not exactly. The more stimulating something is, the less is actually relaxes you
But you would only know this if you could access your subconscious mind
If you don’t master your habits, you are by extension, throwing away money, opportunities, biological health, and aging faster
Think about it for a second..
Say you spend 3 hours scrolling tiktok a day..
You could have spent those 3 hours marketing your newsletter to people
Hundreds to thousands of extra subscribers by the end of the month
What if you spent 3 hours reading a book on sales psychology?
More sales, and an increase in intelligence (science has proven this)
Your priorities are all mixed up (because you’re only human)
If something is stimulating in the short term, you are much more likely to turn it into a habit, because its so easy to do
But most instant gratification habits are self destructive
And as I just explained, you’re losing money, time, and health
But you’ll be happy to hear there is a way to fix this
I’m going to show you how to focus on the right habits, and cut out all the noise
Make more money, get opportunities, and drastically improve your health, in less time
A person’s existence is determined by their thought processing, so naturally you need to focus on that as well when it comes to habits
What I’m about to show you is the ONLY 4 habits you need to focus on to build your ideal mind, body, and bank account
Habit 1 - Writing
Every single thought you have was written in the lines of code that is your mind
Your mind is a super computer, and is how it calculates
Every thought, every decision, every choice, everything
Writing is the basis for everything you do and think
Not just online, but your entire consciousness is writing
So naturally I couldn’t leave it out
But its not as simple as turning writing into a habit
That’s way too vague an explanation
To habitize writing you need to create your own lines of code
Or in normal person’s terms, you need to identify the tasks that pushes the needle forward
Every single writing related task that can make you more money, increase your influence, and grow your mind, should be focused on
Right now you most likely have an idea, since you’re probably building a brand online
But in between the cracks there’s self destructive habits affecting your progress
The best way to fix this? Passion Determination
If you hate the writing process, then its really easy to get distracted
If you like the writing process, then you enter something I call “Post Flow”
Its similar to entering a state of absolute focus, but not wanting to get distracted
You can’t get distracted if you actually enjoy what you’re doing
Like getting lost in the pages of a good book, if your writing is part of who you are, you’re not going to stop writing
I don’t know how to induce the flow state (yet), but I know how to emulate a weaker version of it
If you’re building some kind of business online, and you actually enjoy the process of doing it, then you can enter Post Flow
One of my writing program students tells me their replies are slow, because they just enjoy the writing process so much
This is what you need to achieve
What this means, is finding the intersect between content validation and singular ideation
You CAN just write what you want to write about, but you also need to validate it
In the past I used to write articles I wanted to write, instead of picking already validated topics
Later I would realize that I enjoy writing about certain topics, so as long as my writing aligned with that topic, I was set
Quitting your corporate job for instance
A lot of people online see that as an ideal future, and its something I wanted to write about → The result is this article:
So remember:
Validate an idea by doing a short form post
See if it performs well
If it does perform well, write a long form about it
If you’re more experienced, then you can use data you’ve gathered over your entrepreneurial career to write about something you know people struggle with
Now you can write about something you want to write about, without worrying if people will actually be interested in reading it
Now you can enter Post Flow when you write, thereby minimizing self destructive habits that would normally fall through the gaps in your attention span
“But Ian, what do I write?”
These are the only things you need to focus on
Your newsletter
When it comes to writing a good newsletter, you have 3 options
Write a few times a week, write daily, or write weekly
If you’re regularly writing newsletters, you might want to use my ICIB writing framework
I - Intrigue the reader with an article headline
C - Challenge the reader’s current perspective on the problem
I - Inform them that you have a solution or better solution to the problem
B - Break down how they can solve the problem
(Extra Step) S - Sell them them the tools or instructional guide to pull it off
Its ideal for longform, but still works in short form when broken down with the P&P short form writing framework
3-5 Social Media Posts
When it comes to short form I use this framework
P&P stands for Pain & Process
Introduce the pain
Explain the process of solving the pain
Conclude the post
Like this:
Engage 8-15 times a day on other people’s posts
Don’t rephrase what the person said, engage with the post like a human being having a genuine conversation
Provide interesting feedback, share a personal related experience, or add something related to the post
Send at least 5 DMs to new people per day
Frameworks are great, but I don’t want to give you too many in this article
So instead do this:
If you spot an opportunity where they have a large problem they’ve been struggling with for a while, and you have solved it yourself, offer to solve it for them in exchange for payment → This is where the money is
I have a much more complex version of this I’ve used to close thousands of dollars in revenue using direct messages (this only scratches the surface), grab it here
This method works really well on Substack and X
If you do not need to write anything else, other than these 4 things, every day, on most platforms, you WILL grow influence, opportunities, and by extension your income
These are the only things you should be writing on a daily basis
You can use Notion to keep track of these things
The way to ensure you do this properly, is by dividing tasks into time windows of 30 min to 1 hour
Keep the alarm next to you so you’re constantly aware of it, and stick to the task the timer is for (if you get distracted, when you see the timer you’ll snap back to it)
Habit 2 - Learning
To make money you need to increase your intelligence
You increase your intelligence by studying the market, understanding current trends, consuming literature related to what you teach, while staying consistent
When I talk to someone on X, I already understand the current climate when it comes to building a business using the platform
I know who the leaders of results are, I know what markets are saturated, and I have a vast amount of knowledge on marketing based in years of experience
What this means is, when I start a conversation with someone, its very rare that I am not immediately seen as an authority
Being well informed is an art, and if you’re selling an idea, product or service..
It doesn’t matter
What matters is how you are perceived
The issue is, right now you either don’t have time for learning, or you’re getting distracted by things that are overstimulating
So to avoid that from happening, you need to stick to the timer method
Identify an activity that is ideal for learning:
Reading 30 pages of a book on marketing
Or listening to a 45 min podcast episode about your niche
Make sure you give yourself a timer, or a number
By deciding you’re going to read 30 pages, you are constantly reminded of those 30 pages when you stop reading for some reason
Since the podcast has an automatic timer of 45 min, you can pay attention
For Podcasts:
Keep a note document or book with you, and write down important bits of information you learn while listening
For Articles, Posts, Courses, and Books:
Highlight important bits of information, and if you can’t highlight, make notes in a book or separate document
Most courses and articles don’t have an NDA attached to them, so you don’t have to worry about getting in trouble
What you’re doing here is capturing important bits of information you can use in your educational content when posting to social media
Habit 3 - Fitness
Fitness is not just doing jumping jacks on a Monday morning
Its understanding that without this vital habit, you progress slower, but age faster
Pushing your body to its limit increases longevity over the long term
But I’m not about to give you an exercise routine, instead I’m going to break down the fundamentals of biological health, and what you should be focusing on with your habits
First of all, your cardiovascular health is imperative for a healthy body
So Get In Some Cardio Every Day
3 days of 30 min of cardio, and you can take a long walk (5000-10000 steps), the rest of the 4 days during the week
If you’re lifting weights, do 15 min to 30 min of cardio before you start lifting
The higher the heart rate when you start exercise, the more effective the exercise
Obviously not heart attack level heartrate though
Then something I should hammer on. Even if you don’t feel like running, do it anyway
Do it so much that you turn it into a habit (you have to stay consistent)
Only by consistently doing something, over and over, no matter how unnatural it feels, do you turn an activity into a habit
Do this, and automatic processing takes over, and the entire process becomes almost effortless (minus the muscle ache)
Maintain a Calorie Deficit
Always burn more than you consume (cardio helps with this)
Dedicate specific times of the day to eating high calorie foods or snacks, to ensure you don’t overconsume
You can do as much cardio as you want, but you’re not going lose weight or be healthy by consuming too many calories
My advice? Just eliminate snacks or pudding from your diet entirely
Either that, or you diligently count your calories, and avoid cravings, so you can eat something sweet now and then
Keep yummy food out of your reach, otherwise you won’t stop eating
A great way to do this is to trick your mind into thinking you ate a lot of food
Calculate your allowed calorie intake, find a food that makes you feel full but does not necessarily have a lot of calories in it, then eat that
Lift Weights
Studies have shown that lifting weights, or doing resistance training, increases cardiovascular health, and causes an increase in lifespan
Even if its just filled water bottles, spend 4-5 days a week lifting some weights
As it gets heavier, think about investing in some real weights, then increase sizes from there
Maintain a normal rep range, and increase weight as it becomes easier for you (don’t overdo the reps)
Train till failure (where you can’t keep good form due to muscle fatigue)
As you know, I’m very serious about self education, so I highly advise you to watch YouTube tutorials about this, and read books too
Diaphragm Breathing
Inhaling deep into your stomach through your nose, and long exhaling through your mouth, increases the amount of oxygen that’s present in your body at all times
You need to do this whenever you’re exercising
Not only does it drastically decrease muscle fatigue, it also ensures you don’t get winded remotely as easily
If you’re doing any type of exercise, you should do this exercise habit for 10 min before you start with the actual exercise
By the end of 10 min you’ll have oxygen flowing through your whole body, thereby making the process of exercise much more bearable
Keep in mind, due to the large amounts of air flowing through your nasal cavity, you’ll unclog a lot of mucus that might be trapped inside (this is normal, don’t worry)
Cold Water Exposure
I know what you’re thinking.. “Ian, I’m not climbing into the freezing cold water”
I get why you’re hesitant, but scientific studies have shown a drastic increase in neurotransmitter production, and reduction in inflammation (the leading cause in death for older folks)
In short, cold water exposure not only builds your will power and cold resistance, it also makes you live longer, and provides mental clarity you’ll have a very hard time finding elsewhere
If you struggle with inflammation of some kind, or psychological issues of some kind, cold water exposure can do wonders for your mind and body
Not only that, if you make it a habit to do cold water exposure when you don’t have these issues (14 minutes a week according to a study by brain scientist Andrew Huberman), you are less likely to pick them up later (did I mention you live longer)
Habit 4 - Relationships
From your lover, to your girlfriend, to your horse, to your barber, to your wingman, to your dog.. It doesn’t matter
These are all relationships, and you are actively either managing them properly, or not paying proper attention to them
So naturally, it would be better to manage them properly
Not only can managing these relationships bring you endless opportunities (dates, wedding invites, customers, clients etc.), it can also increase your long term happiness
Because people you build relationships with will play a vital role in your personal development, no matter how old you get
I have a very close friend, that I cannot see my life without, she is irreplaceable
And that’s what you need to be to other people
Every day, dedicate time to managing your relationships
As you age the amount of people you talk to increases, so make sure you curate the people you talk to, but be careful to exclude those who’ve always been there for you
Use a relationship management folder Notion template if you have to, and set aside a specific time to manage your relationships (or multiple time frames)
These rules count for clients too
The best clients will stick around for a very long time, or forever
Let’s go over what we discussed:
Write to market yourself on a daily basis = Sales & Clients
Dedicate time to learning every day = Higher Intelligence & Authority
Build your body using regular cardio, weights, and cold exposure = Longevity
Dedicate time every day to managing your relationships - Long-term Happiness
That’s it for today.
I hope you found this helpful, and enjoy the rest of your day
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Ian, out
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