Upgrade My Classroom

Have you ever set out to start a routine and something derailed you? You had the intention set to workout first thing in the morning and an hour later you find yourself snoozing for the 5th time? More often than not, this has to do with the triggers we set in order to begin our routines. Today on the episode, we're going to dive into the concept of gateway action items. These are the very first ac...

Have you ever arrived somewhere and immediately got a weird feeling? Or maybe you stepped behind the wheel and automatically felt upset BEFORE anyone actually cut you off?! Or maybe you simply walked downstairs from your living room to your office and felt completely overwhelmed? Well today, we're going to teach you how to leverage location based triggers for the good. More so, we're also going to...

It's a part of human nature to let your emotions get the best of you.  Today on the show, I'm not only going to show you how to actually leverage emotional triggers for your benefit, but I'm going to teach you two other types of triggers that you may not have realized were running the show. These triggers might remind you of the cue presented to us in Charles Duhigg's book "The Power Of Habit". It...

If you're a parent, you're going to want to stick around for this one! Our guest today is Jessica Irwin from Rooted In Routine. Jessica is a pediatric occupational therapist, a childhood routine expert and most importantly, a mom (the proof is in the pudding)! She has worked to establish routines for toddlers in numerous disciplines ranging from daycares, preschools, elementary schools and private...

It's that time! The first quarter is up and this is an important time for a few reasons. Obviously it's the time to check in and see if you've accomplished your quarterly goals! Maybe more importantly, it's a great reminder of how time can play tricks on us. While one year seems like a long time, 3 months can often fly by in a blink of an eye. This is a problem for us over achievers. So if you're...

What is your philosophy behind your days off? Sometimes your days off are incredibly important in order to build the life you want instead of escaping the one you have. It's the only time you have to really dig into deep work and make progress on what you're working on. This is what's called a weekend warrior. I used to hear this many times through my career as a musician. Other times you may need...

Implementing a child's daily routine is fairly common practice for most parents and teachers. Considering I work with adults and distilling how Ritual Design can help upgrade their lives, I thought maybe we can learn something from a child's day. Most kids have such structure that it might be beneficial to dive deep into why this is the case. So today on the show I talk about the four ways we can...

Working with children is an entirely different animal. Especially when you realize that the brain of a high school and college level student has not technically finished forming! So I asked myself..."is it possible to teach some of the personal growth and productivity philosophies that I teach adults to teens"? Well today I brought on Keith Senzer in order to help my learn how he's been empowering...

Your PM Routine can be something of a silver bullet. Not only does it help maximize your evenings but it can help set up the next day for success. You may be reading this saying to yourself "after dinner I'm shot. There's no way I can be productive at that time of night". Well you don't have to! It all comes down to priorities. This is why Elon Musk has different priorities compared to the rest of...

The After Work Routine is often overlooked. Most people when wrapping up their work day are simply thinking about....being finished with work! They're ready to get home, kick up their feet and relax a bit (which is totally cool). But planning specifically when you'll spend time to relax is the strategy because otherwise we'll be left the outside influences. That never works. If you've ever told yo...

The Before Work Routine is one of the more difficult routines to implement. That is if we make it really challenging. Welcome back to the second episode in a four part series where we discuss the fundamental four of Ritual Design. The fundamental four are the four primary routines throughout the day. When we first wake up, before work, after work and before we go to bed. Today we're going to dive...

Creating a consistent morning ritual can be tricky. But it's worth it. Welcome to the first in a four part series where we discuss the fundamental four of Ritual Design. The fundamental four are the four primary routines throughout the day. When we first wake up, before work, after work and before we go to bed. What better place to start than your AM Routine! You've probably heard many people tout...

Learning How To Hit The Reset Button is different to many people. Sometimes it's a simple walk around the block and other times it's a week long retreat! We get to a point where we're trying to make progress and we're trying to instill healthy routines in our lives and just can't seem to get ahead. There's always something that is interrupting us or stealing our attention. There's always something...

Weekly planning is extremely powerful in addition to your daily Ritual Design. We have 13 weeks in a quarter and 52 weeks in a year....that's not a lot of week! While mapping out your day and designing a perfect system of daily rituals is a huge part of personal productivity, having your weeks mapped out is a close second. I often tell people that if they can only do one routine, the Keystone rout...

Goals vs. Domains… This might not be a burning question for you but it might have peaked your interest! What is a domain? How do I set goals? What is a smartER goal? Let me start by saying that I believe it's not a question of goals vs. domains. I think you should actually use both. Although if you're someone who is just starting out in the personal development world you may wish to take it slow a...

You see, this is the time of year that some people are beginning to take action on their goals. They feel motivated and ready to go by the turn of the calendar. But for some it's tricky. Some people may not know even what they want to achieve and what goals to set. Without a life vision, there is no hierarchy that dictates what goals you need in or to live congruent with a vision and purpose. So t...

This show speaks a lot about my system called Ritual Design but we haven't really gone deep into WHY it's so beneficial. I wanted to take some time today to speak about what it actually did for me, how it organically was born and hopefully what it can do for you. Like most good things, Ritual Design was born from the bad! I was in a bad place in my life and I had no idea where I was headed. I was...

Last week I recorded part 1 of the CDP framework teaching you how to realize the choices you have in order to make better decisions and develop positive patterns. This is a specific framework that really any productivity plan boils down to. We can have everything laid and planned to the T but if we're not taking action, nothing matters. So if you haven't listened to episode 60 , take a listen firs...

Choices, Decisions and Patterns sound like very important parts of an equation that can have serious impact. You're right! They are. But how they work together is even more important. The CDP framework is at the heart of every major or minor shift in your life. It's literally where the rubber meets the road. You can have the perfect ideal day laid out in front of you with every goal and domain set...

The 5:00 a.m. club is something of a cult like following. It's extremely attractive for high performers that want to instill a morning routine and get things accomplished before the rest of the world wakes up! I myself am a huge proponent of a morning routine but I'm not romantic about the time you decide to wake up. I myself only wake up at 6:30 and my AM routine consists of some reading, breathi...

Today we're going to do is we will they'll be talking about something called Fringe Minutes. We had our first baby 5 months ago and we're elated and so incredibly thrilled. Everyday is a new challenge because I'm while I work a full-time job, I'm also playing "Daddy Day Care" while running a business at night! So how and more importantly when do I get anything done? That's where Fringe Minutes com...

The holidays are coming up and we always, myself included, have setbacks around the holiday season. It starts with Halloween. We buy a huge bag of candy which about a quarter of it gets handed out so of course...we end up eating the whole damn thing! Next is Thanksgiving which is just a nightmare and might put us in a weird mindset! Lastly we have a busy December of parties, drinking and eating ou...

What happens when your plan starts to crumble? You've been waking up early for the past few months to implement a morning routine and then all of a sudden you start going off the rails. You're hitting the snooze button and saying F$%K IT! I made this episode for you today because for the first time in many years my own Ritual Design has begun to degrade! That might sound dramatic but when you have...

The beginning of July marks the heart of the summer...but it also means we're halfway through the year. This is a great time to conduct a mid year review.  What progress are you making on your annual goals? How effective is your Ritual Design? Are you happy with your current domains?   While there are many more things we can track and review at the halfway point, today on the podcast I breakdown m...

This concept is really important to anyone trying to make progress in their lives. Where we are today in our jobs, family, friendships, physical and mental health are primarily dictated by our subconscious mind. Our deep rooted belief patters tell us whether or not it's even worth trying!   Today on the show I dissect my simplified version of the belief wheel. This is nothing new to the world of p...