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 Welcome to the never been promoted podcast and YouTube channel. I'm on a mission to help you cut the tide into all the things that are holding you back so you can unleash your entrepreneurial. Welcome back to Never Been Promoted. I'm Thomas Helfrich, your lovely host. And I smell wonderful today, not that anybody cares. But, hey, guys. Thank you so much for watching. Never Been Promoted is all about helping entrepreneurs get better at entrepreneurship. My mission to make more entrepreneurs in the world, specifically in the US, is a massive advantage for our country to have a strong entrepreneurial presence. Everything about it's important. And, I believe entrepreneurship does actually help you find better balance in your own personal wellness and life, specifically that's deep inside you. And I think, the conversation we'll have today with Ryan Foy, 4 time best selling author. He he's a professional coach for people who are trying to write nonfiction books on this and beyond and also to you know, he's spoken all over the world with the topic of wellness and leadership. Before we get going, please, you know, check out never been promoted.com if you wanna join our community. There's a lot of resources on there, way, way, way more coming. So I I encourage you to go check that out. And, if you like the show, even just a little bit, go to youtube.com/at never been promoted and give us subscribe and notifications. Enough shameless plugs. Let's let's get out of that. Let's, go ahead and, bring in mister Ryan. Ryan, how are you doing today?
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Good, Thomas. Thanks for having me on here today. For everyone tuning in, thanks for spending part of your day with us. This is gonna be a fun episode together.
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I appreciate that. You know, I I if it wasn't gonna be fun, I was gonna have to cut it short. And now that you said that, I don't have to. It's like, you know what? Like, someone in your family, maybe you're married to them, maybe it's somebody else, and they say, hey. You know, don't don't drop that glass. And you're like, you know, I was gonna drop it, but now they're just gonna
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Yeah. Absolutely.
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Yeah. It might is that I mean, I'm just getting close to home here. Thank you, by the way, for coming on today. You four time best selling offer. Your your last name is pronounced Foy, though it's f a h e y. I'll assume that is not uncommon. You're in Canada. So explain that to me how that comes about from just logistics because I I would have definitely blown that if you had helped me.
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Yeah. It's interesting. I was actually as a kid, I played a baseball tournament down in Boston, and, I actually ran into someone that was Ryan Fahey, spelled the exact same, Faye. They say Faye in New England. So for anyone New England listeners, it's probably Faye. You know, a Faye somewhere in New England, but somewhere along the line up in Canada, we changed it to Foy even though it's spelled the same. So that's about all I got for you, Thomas. I'm sorry. You know, Canadians just do it differently. What part of Canada are you in? Yeah. So I'm in Eastern Canada in the smallest province called Prince Edward Island. So it's kinda like the Rhode Island of Canada, I guess. So, yeah, it's super small, lots of beaches, great this time of year. Brutal winters, but lovely, lovely place.
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Is that the area? And and I because I was in Montreal recently. So it's, like, maybe 5 hour drive east of that. What's a small city there? It's a oh my god. I just heard of a tradition if you go there about clams or something like they make you eat a clam or something, and now you're
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like, I Yeah. One of the city. Do you know what I'm talking about this tree? Yeah. Yeah. It's like I think it's like oysters or something you get oystered in or something. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. There's, like, a drink, and then you can, like, take the raw oyster. And then in Newfoundland, if you go even further
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Yes. There's the kiss the cod. That's the whole thing there. Absolutely. I'm sorry. It was kiss the cod. So that it was like it was like these people are on their own. You have to and my understanding was most people are like, that is a weird place, but it's just something that we know happens there. Like, you go there to kiss the god. Yeah. Yeah. There's some pretty thick accents up there. So if you ever get a podcast guest from up there, it'll be, like, down by the bay.
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Like, it'll be it'll be pretty thick, but, they're they're all about a good time up in Newfoundland.
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Before we kind of get going on this idea of wellness and, you know, finding the balance actually between this and leadership, and and other things too. Right? Because, you know, too much of anything is doesn't is not productive in any positive way. You know, too much beach time is bad. Right? Too much work time, also bad. Do you wanna set up your credentials, kinda how you got there, and and just kind of, you know, you know, set set up stage for us just a bit?
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Yeah. Absolutely. Thanks, Thomas. So I guess this kinda goes back to, I mean, way back to when I was a teenager. And I'll be quick with this story. But essentially, when I was 12 years old, I was diagnosed with chronic migraines. And at the time, I was, you know, I was doing everything I could to to not have these migraines. And turns out I was able to be a part of the study through a local university where, what I discovered through active journaling, was that the days I was physically active, I ate better, I slept better, and I was less likely to get these migraines. And so as a teenager or preteen, it kinda set me on this different trajectory where, you know, I I understood that wellness was just gonna be a big part of my life. So if I if I wanna live well, if I wanna feel well, I wanna feel good, then, you know, I have to be active. Right? So that kinda set that up to be successful for me, and, I've been able to make a career to that. You know, I work, full time, supporting wellness in schools, and then as a business owner talking about wellness, in my speaking and coaching. And then authorship writing writing about it, writing about the importance of balance, the importance of, routines, the importance of, you know, rest and support in in in sorry. Doing the things that you need to support your own well-being as you kinda go and navigate through life. So, it's not always easy and it's different and unique to every every person, but, I've been blessed I guess to kinda make a career out of something that was a really bad diagnosis at one point in my life. So I guess that's where it kind of all started with me is is being able to seek the balance throughout my life and,
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so far so good. Yeah. You know, you I mean, you're having migraines. I've had 1, and I don't I I think it was by food triggered because I've only had one ever. And it was like a 7 hour ordeal total where I was like, I'm not kidding. And a legitimate thought came in my head. If I drill a hole in my head, I should feel better. Like and I was like, I can imagine people who get these and it's such a different perspective that I've heard people get in. You're kinda like, whatever. It's just a headache. It is not. It is like it's a whole different experience. And so I I have a tiny bit of empathy, but enough to know that that's a legit crippling thing. There's no way I could have driven, worked. I couldn't even sleep. That's probably the worst part is you just, it makes it 10 to it probably facilitates a cycle. So the idea that the reason you're in wellness is, and I think this is, you know, I always try to find these entrepreneurial lessons, right? If you didn't pick that, you would have missed a critical opportunity to really do something great because you have such a perspective on it that you could speak to those who have it or those who have loved ones that do. Yeah. 100%. I mean, maybe dive into that a bit because you you you identified it. And I don't know if you got lucky or you just saw it or that's later, like, this is all I can do because but talk to me about that because that that right there is something that most entrepreneurs miss is some of their own life experiences to figure out what they can go do next.
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Yeah. Absolutely. It's kind of that classic story of, you know, making lemonade out of lemons. Right? And, you know, I was really fortunate after kind of the diagnosis and after we kinda figured this out, you know, I was able I was already a big fan of sports, things like baseball and running and whatnot, but I was able to kinda get into that a little bit more and, I guess, like, I just kinda fell into it. You know, it started with running and spending a lot of time running, and then running teaches you so many critical lessons and allows you to develop self awareness about, you know, where your boundaries at. What do you need? What does your body need to run well, feel good? You know, from there, going through university. Right? I I did a degree in sports science, human human movement medicine. So, you know, I was able to build on that knowledge and, again, classic story of knowledge is power. You you learn more, you do better, and so I was able to kind of refine some of those pieces that I needed. But then at the same time, the very first business that I opened was when I was doing, when I was studying my, kinesiology degree, and it was a personal training business. And that that's how I started. I was a solopreneur running, you know, training a few clients on the side while I was in school. And that's where the love for entrepreneurship really took off where I remember, you know, getting my first, kind of paycheck, I guess, from a client and thinking, I can actually do this. Like, I have actually taken something that, you know, is quite detrimental early on in my life, made something out of it, and now I can potentially make a career out of this. And and so it started with that, and it's morphed obviously into books and and speaking and other things now. But, really just need to kinda see, you know, if you follow those bread crumbs in your life and you listen and you're, mindful and you're self aware, really good things can happen. Right?
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I mean, you know, the the notion, the metaphor of of cut the tie. Right? You know, a lot of times, a big part of what people you know, there's fears, there's excuses, senses of entitlement you may have to get through. But there's also people in your life you have to get through. And and for me personally, the one person I had to cut the tie to was my former self. And so when you're when you're in your own world and you're you've gone through just this like, oh my gosh, you know, you could have gone victim mentality forever and just said, I'm going to fold it up and drink on the couch and take pills. And I'm not saying you don't have to do that sometimes to get through things, like the Medicaid or whatever else. It's not that. It's it's do you stay there? Do you do you let it cripple you or do you do you get rid of the excuses of, you know, hey. You're eating, you know, candy 4 times a week. Maybe stop the sugar intake or or you you know, whatever it is. Making I have no idea what triggers it, honestly. But the point is, you're gonna pop Excedrin the rest of your life, or you're gonna, like, you know, go try to get a walk and get some endorphins released to which will help or something. And the point being is you you have to cut that idea. And and maybe you could talk you may introduce the idea of this balance of wellness. It is it's not just leadership of others. It's of your own being. Mhmm. And and that's where it starts. Is is that fair to way to kinda give you the floor to set up where you're going next?
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Yeah. Absolutely, Thomas. You know, one of the biggest things I've said recently is, you know, leadership starts in the home. And when you lead well, you you can be well. And I think, you know, it's just being it's the basics. What do what do you need? What does your family need? What do your kids need? What do you need to maintain kind of harmony in your home, peace in your home? And I actually you know, another author, a very popular author, James Clear, just, sent some messages out about this the other day about the importance of that built environment supporting our our our well-being and our habits. And, I think that's absolutely critical, and I think it's a matter too of also listening to your body and listening to, listening to the rhythm of life too. Right? Because you're gonna go through times, especially as an entrepreneur, where it's crazy. Like, things are happening. Invoices are flying and clients are calling, and it's great. But then you're gonna have those times where maybe it's not going so great. Right? And and the same thing happens with something like running or physical activity or just living a healthy lifestyle. Some days it's easy. Some days it just feels like you're unstoppable. But then there's other days where, you know, I call them the no hero days. Like, I'm just showing up. Like, I this there's nothing heroic about this. The heroics piece is the act of what I'm doing, and it's not it's not great. But I'm doing it. And, and that's the life of an entrepreneur. Right? You're you're kinda in it sometimes, and, and you just gotta push through.
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When you're when you're in your own journey and you're and you're writing a book, and and if somebody's, you know, in the final stages of of writing a book, which 90% of book writing is procrastination. A 100%. Yeah. At least for the first one, maybe after that you figure it out. But, you know, there's senses of fears and things like that. But, also capabilities, just to be clear. I'm I'm an auto buyer. I realized even if I had a 100% head time into this thing, I don't have the capabilities to make the story I want. I might be able to talk through it, but I can't write it. And so I had to find the right ghostwriter to work with me to anyway, the point is there's a journey with that. And there's been plenty of times even in my own journey where I'm like, do I have what it takes? Why am I writing this? Why am I leading this? Talk about maybe how you've even influenced your own speeches and writing as you just got scrubbed self doubt, you know, that comes through it. I I how how have you dealt with that, and how has that influenced your own journey?
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Yeah. Yeah. Great question, Thomas. So I'll go back a little bit. So when I I had a blog back in 2011 because I've always loved writing, and I love wellness. So I was like, oh, I'll write about it, and it was a terrible blog. It was called Wellness Network blog. And for listeners that remember Blogspot, it was that old platform, so super clunky. But I thought it was great. You know, I had certain 1,000 or thousands of views. I thought it was lovely. But long story short, I stepped away from blogging for a few years and then came back to a platform called Medium. And, Medium is great for freelance writers out there that wanna share ideas, great for entrepreneurs as well. But started writing on there in 2017, and I ended up writing for some of the largest publications, at the time on Medium with some popular authors like Ryan Fahey as an example. And that was a moment for me, Thomas, where I I realized I actually remember this. I was running on a treadmill, and I remember saying to myself, if I can get published in the number one publication on the Internet at the time, you know, maybe I can write my book. Because I was new. I thought, you know, I was new. I'm gonna write something. I just thought maybe it'd be later in life or I have to look like Socrates and be super old before I can write something. But it was that moment where I guess I kinda had a tipping point in my life to say, you know, okay. I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna pursue this and and get it done. And so even after that point, it still took me some time. I was definitely terrified when I hit send, and it's a super vulnerable thing writing a book as you're as you know going through it yourself there, Thomas. But, you just roll with it and you put it out there and you add value to the world and the market will reward the value. Right? Yeah. I mean, part of it too is, you know, you when you write a book or you're you're trying to find let me,
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extrapolate that to make your entrepreneurial pieces. It is part of our kind of personal brand strategy, marketing strategy. I have ties it. Like, you know, I want kids to understand how hard it is in your brain as I'm doing this. And they're, you know, they're seeing me build a company, and they see the fun of it of a 1000000 subscribers. And they see sometimes you you know, whatever. They they see the they don't see the inside of your head of what you're doing when you're, like, distracted talking to them, not really there. And but you still you know, you're like, this is shit you're gonna face yourself, and you you're gonna feel terrible that you're not fully present at times. And here's why mommy and I fight and how we're trying to work through. Like, all the things that go through entrepreneurship that maybe people don't talk about as much as what I'm trying to write. And the point is the idea that that's vulnerable is extended to even when you go out and you you start a services business or a coaching business of something you know, you still feel that like, man, am I am I going to be perceived as a fraud? Am I going to be perceived as someone who really doesn't know what the hell they're talking about? I actually think that, you know, the idea of imposter syndrome is a great thing. It tells me that I've stepped out of my comfort zone, and now I get a I'm reinventing myself to some degree. In your own journey, right, and you've you have these speakings, how many times have you felt like, oh my god. I cannot believe I'm on stage talking about this right now, and they're expecting me to do that. And you're like, what have I done? And you're like, now on the stage, Ryan Fahey. You're like, shit. I just. So tell me about, like, where you've experienced this Because in Italian back to the theme, the wellness and leadership balance, these are these are ebb and flows of areas of growth, which makes you feel not well, which for you could trigger a migraine. Right? Stress followed by I've learned from it. Now I can teach others. So tell me about your own maybe made a representative example. I'm assuming you have one. I cannot imagine.
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Yeah. Yeah. No. That that's really great, Thomas. So, you know, it's funny. It's it's almost like if you've ever competed in anything, whether it's, as a musician, an artist, writer, runner, whatever, you know, there's a there's practice. Right? You practice it. Right? And and there's lead up to it. And, you know, I've I I I started my speaking journey speaking in the school space, in the education and well-being space. So, I always have, like, morning routines and routines that kinda keep me keep me dialed in, before I get on a stage. And, and it's funny because those moments will creep in. Right? I'll be at the hotel, and I wake up that morning, and I'm like, oh, man. Like, I'm going live here this morning, and I gotta get people excited, and I gotta get them fired up with this topic, and I gotta know my stuff. But then when you go through those processes, when you kinda set yourself up for for success, you take care of the things that you need to take care of it, put yourself in that optimal state, you can deliver, and it's an amazing feeling. High pressure situation, but, you know, pressure makes diamonds. Right? And I think, yeah, you just you you build systems around you so that you can set yourself up for success. It's not easy. Right? Because it's easy to just pull the sheets back over and go back to bed. But, you know, trusting the process, doing the things you need to do to be in that optimal state, that's been critical for me and my speaking journey. Absolutely.
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Yeah. Well, what and, you know, and and okay. So let's dive into that. So so someone who had, you know, at times a touch of the entrepreneurial ADD, so I absolutely love the idea of a process. It's something I have to follow. At the same time, I know whenever I come off of a daily routine, the wheels come off. So, and they can go they can go pretty quickly. Talk to me though of as someone who clearly does not have a touch of the Ancillary ADD, I feel like you you're focused, you're in there. How do you how do you do that? Like, how does someone develop the right process? Because there's so many of us who wouldn't know what that would look like.
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Yeah. That's a great point. The first key is developing that self awareness. Right? We are so busy. And as entrepreneurs, wearing so many different hats, we're working on the business, working in the business, maybe running multiple businesses. So it's a matter of stepping back for a moment and just gaining some self awareness. So where am I at? Where is my energy at? Where is it going? What's filling me? What's taking away from me? So I call that the kind of the energy audit. So doing that first. And then from there, kind of looking back. Okay. What what days or what times or what at what moments with clients was I the best? Okay. And then following those breadcrumbs. Okay? So maybe that day, you bite to the meeting, instead of driving. Maybe that day, you walked for 30 minutes that morning instead of just getting up and answering emails. So you start to kinda pull those breadcrumbs out that made you really successful in those moments and then start replicating them. Right? Okay. So maybe if I do a walk again or I bike to the next meeting or have that specific smoothie in the morning, that's gonna kinda do it for me. And for me, it's funny. My thing is smart water. I have no idea. There's absolutely no research around this. But whenever I speak, I have to have a bottle of smart water. And I don't know if it's just because it says it's smart water. It makes me feel smart. But if I don't have smart water, I'm a wreck. I gotta get it. Right? So, you gotta figure out, like, what are those things you need, with that self awareness? And then put those pieces together to make it work. And I've encouraged folks, yeah, just to explore that for themselves. It takes time, but, but, you know, it's the little things and just piecing them together.
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I think the idea of piecing it together is true and also understand you can't take your foot off the gas. So in your life, entrepreneurs aside, like let's just extrapolate a little higher. You you often sometimes feel like you can't take your foot off the gas and some stuff. And from an entrepreneur standpoint, I know the 1st 3 years I felt like I, I, I will get it to a state where I can work out later and never worked out. You know? Like and so what I found was, you know what? I I need to take control of this. So I just started blocking every one of my days between 8:10. And the reason being is it's after kids are dropped off. It's before I've touched an email if I can if I choose not to do that, and I can go lift in a non busy gym, which I I don't like busy gyms. It's just stressful and it's kind of like you can't it just takes forever. And so I found a spot. And what I found was the thing I was worried about taking the foot off actually freed more hours every day for me to kind of come into the day better because I was in a better mindset. I'd already lifted it. I didn't have any guilt for not doing and and it didn't hurt anything. Actually, anything improved. And the I guess the point being that routine, as simple as that sounds, is one that I I absolutely try to follow For me, I have to honestly do it Saturday Sunday because any day I break a routine is a day that could disrupt the rest of the week. So Yeah. Absolutely. The identify, like, I don't like skipping days because so I think when you do your own teams, it's it's like really identify if you get off a day and that messes you up, then then try not to get off that day. So, I mean, maybe you could speak to the, the the other side of that where are you doing the routine too much, or is it just better to have a good routine than threaten it? I mean, because because I got I have no idea what that like, I'd like to take Saturday Sunday off, but if I do, I'm kinda like, oh, man.
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Yeah. No. That's a really good, really good example, Thomas. I love that you figured that out. That's ex you you put it into into such a great picture for listeners. Right? Like, okay. I don't like a noisy gym. I like a quiet gym. Okay. When are when is the gym quiet? I need I wanna do this workout. It's good for my wife. It's gonna make you like, you figure all that out. It's such such a high level of self awareness. So kudos to you. That that's phenomenal. Yeah. One of the things I write about in the, the book around, you know, thriving in a remote and hybrid working environment is I talk about routine is not one thing. Routine is everything. And each one of us, you know, we can get online and do our own research. We can listen to influencers. We can listen to coaches, but we need to figure out what works best for each one of us. And if that's a 7 day a week routine, absolutely. If it's getting up at 4 AM and running every day of the week because you got kids that are up at 6 AM, then that works for you. Right? So for me, I guess, I'm less prescriptive in that sense. I think it's just a matter of, you know, figuring out what works for you. For for me as an example, I kinda have the same routine 6 days a week, and then I break the routine once. So Sundays for us in our home is kind of a rest day, together day. You know, maybe we we don't we're not I'm not doing a run or something like that. I'm not answering emails, stuff like that. And that that flow, that rhythm works for us. Now if my business was bigger or I was in a real, time of scaling, I may have to shift those routines, but right now that works for us. So I guess for listeners out there, just figuring that out kind of for yourself and where where your business is at, where your responsibilities are at. And then, you know, what do you need to to function at at best in all of those. Right?
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It's funny. So I was just in a, on, The Blocks, which is an entrepreneurial reality show. So me and a 100 of the contestants and, one of the guys who come in here, Dan, I believe was on there with me. And and Dan and Dan's, hello, Dan. Thanks for listening today. But the the idea being is, we all we as you you break out and you meet these other other a 100 entrepreneurs that are all over the place. Right? Personalities, location, revenue, idea stage, where you are in the business. But every one of them, I you know, they face this idea of I have so much to do. I how do I focus? How do I do the routines? And some people are better than others at it. And I and what you see is also the more scattered someone was, the less well you could tell they were in their business. Like, a 100% the correlation. I'm really struggling, and then they describe what they're doing, and they're just it's like they're all over. How did maybe you could talk how did someone start? Like, I know you talked about this a little bit with identify, but, you know, you're an entrepreneur. You're you know, you know, talk up again how you start, but also what's gonna happen immediately next. Like, this and I what I'm what I what I've seen for me at least is there's a tendency to to oh, it's working, and then you ignore it, And then you stop because it was working. And and so what happens right after you start that you gotta watch? And I'm I'm hinting at it. I'm guessing there's more to it. But Yeah. What is that pitfall that you're gonna you're gonna smack that run into right away?
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Yeah. Yeah. No. It's a great question, Thomas. So, a shameless plug here that I I do lay this out in, the book, how to thrive in remote work environments. I call it my 5 step energy amplifier blueprint. So if I were to start, how do I start setting myself up in a way that I'm thriving? Right? Whether I'm at home, whether I'm hybrid in the office. It's funny. Even though it's built for remote workers, it can work for anyone. But the idea is that it's a series. I I break down the day into distinct periods of time. And then within those periods of time, I ask a series of questions, and then I provide a series of recommendations. And the idea here is that anybody can take that blueprint and make it their own. Okay? So, they may ask themselves these questions. They may come up with, different answers, different recommendations. But at the end of the day, they're figuring out what works best for them to thrive, day out day in and day out. And then I encourage the reader to do that for 21 days because we know that habit formations, can typically take take, root within that 21 day kinda time frame. So that would be the first place I would start if folks are are really looking at, at figuring that out. From there, the really, it's just about tweaking it. Like, I've been doing the same thing for years, and sometimes it gets a little boring. So, you know, you wanna change it up or you wanna tweak it. Sometimes, you know, kids come along. You move to a new community. Now you're running 2 businesses. So things do change, and you wanna look at it. But sometimes it's not big swing. Sometimes it's just tweaking this thing or tweaking this thing over here or adding in another rest day or something. So, again, yeah, I I would encourage folks to start there if they were to start at ground 0.
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I'm looking for validation of the following thing I do. So and I encourage people to do this. This might be a bit extreme, but that's how I roll. So, you know, anything worth doing is worth overdoing. Right? Is I make sure every Wednesday is clear. I take the middle of the week as a break point to go learn, to go work on maybe the thing like, no meetings unless it's absolutely critical or, it it's just like, you know, it it's the exception to the rule. But and it's not even like to go play golf or go fish or go do anything else. It's literally just to work on the business on myself. Like, you know, 8 hours of Facebook meta ads training, which is not enough people. You need like freaking a decade to figure this stuff out. But anyway, the point is that's the balance I needed. I need a midweek, which means I'm really busting ass Mondays Tuesdays on customers on this stuff and to and to and Thursdays Fridays. But then I take Wednesdays. And I you know, from a leadership standpoint, we do 4 day work weeks. So I took that and said, hey. That's not it wouldn't be fair to my team. So I've also said 4 day work weeks. You don't measure hours. You measure results. I I think that's a good thing. I don't know if it's enough. I don't know if it's too little, but it's what we came up with. Maybe comparatively, can you can you extrapolate that to how you could take something like this idea of wellness and leadership and implement in your business? Because that's how we did it. You know, I encourage side hustles as long as they're not, you know, competitive. I want you to have do what you work from anywhere. Big fan of that. But but talk about that from implementing it beyond just you, I guess, is what I'm asking there. Yeah. Yeah. No. I think that's great. And and up here in Canada, we're starting to see some
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municipalities, some regions pilot the 4 day work week. I personally think it's the way to go. I think, we're starting to see some early research come out from some of these initial, you know, pilots or the with companies or municipalities around it. So, productivity is is still there, if not enhanced. And I think it does add that extra layer of of well-being to to your staff, to have that extra day. So we've even noticed, like, my my wife, as example, she sometimes has 4 day work weeks, and she says a significant difference coming off of a 4 day work week going into a Monday, just because she's had that extra day to kinda rest and rejuvenate, which is which is really important. One of the things we do, as well with my team is we do kinda similar to what you were saying, Thomas. No Zoom Fridays. Now let's move to Wednesdays, but it was no Zoom Fridays, especially at the height of pan the pandemic when it seemed like there's meetings nonstop, webinars nonstop, information coming at us all the time. You know, in order to get into that that state of deep work, especially as a creator, as a knowledge, creator or broker, you know, you really need that uninterrupted time. And I would encourage listeners to check out a book by Cal Newport called Slow Productivity, and he's a really big fan of, of, kind of that uninterrupted time. And one of the things that he's he talks about, which I'm curious to try. I haven't tried this yet. He talks about how it's like a 3 to 1 ratio or a 7 to 1 ratio in terms of if he has one meeting, he then schedules 7 hours of uninterrupted work post meeting. So you can imagine it's quite hard to get a hold of Cal, But the idea there is that it gives that time to decompress. It gives that time to mobilize what can what comes out of that meeting. And it also gives you the space you need for that creation. Right? So one of the things that I've talked about is sometimes my best ideas come when I'm at the airport. Sometimes they come when I'm in the shower. Right? So it's not necessarily being, you know, sitting at a desk, answering your emails, plugged in where your best ideas come forward, can be in your day to day life, right, where it's, you know, the the plates are already moving in our head. Right? And it's just a matter of kinda pulling that one plate out and be like, Interesting. I see something there. And then, you know, recording that. So, I guess, yeah, to kinda summarize, I think that the movement towards well-being, and and the importance of taking care of our teams is is happening. There is something that I share in my latest book on that in more detail around some research coming out on that. But, but, yeah, I would say the movement there is good, and I think we're gonna continue to move in that good direction.
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I agree. I mean, once you have a 4 day work week, right, that becomes the relative norm. And then I was like, what about a 3 d? It's like 7 minute abs. What about 6 minute abs? Right? Right? It's that whole it's relativity. But I think the idea is, my idea of entrepreneurship is pick something you love to do, and you're not working anymore. Right? Like, that's been you said before lots of times. But even if you do work for somebody, having the ability to have some free time to think, organize your life, not cram everything into a weekend, you know, it is it's if you could be very productive in 4 days. And and and I think, that that's incredibly important for longevity of an employee, as long as that relative market exists. If everyone does 4 day work weeks, you have no advantage by doing it anymore. You're just a jerk if you don't. So good for Canada. Not surprised you guys are going to 4 day work week because as Americans, we look at you guys going, can they get any lazier? That's all we're thinking. I'm not that's not true. We we know you guys are lazy. We don't have to. It's so not true. Do you see what I'm doing here? I'm just throwing some turds and curveballs at you. You didn't take it. By the way, I think you did a touch of the entrepreneurial ADD. You described getting ideas in random places. Yeah. And you that that means you've handled it. You've you've you've tamed that beast. Good for you. Good for you. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. Your phone in the shower so you can be like, let me write that down.
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No. But I have to keep a journal by the bed because I find just when I'm going to sleep, I get, like, great ideas. And I have to write them down or I'll lose them in the morning. So that's something too I would advise people. Like, you may work out a problem, like, just before you fall asleep,
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and just get that I will tell you. I I will I'll flip this on you. You should be replicating that experience more often with the some meditation and reflective journaling because, apparently, your brain is hyperactively on. And when it's about to turn off, it finally gets to think.
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Yep. Yeah. I agree. A 100%. There's a lot coming at us, a lot coming to me.
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Yeah. You're right. That's a good recommendation, Thomas. Have you ever caused a fight in your bedroom? You're like, oh god. Where's he going with this? You're like, honey, I'm so tired. I don't want to. I don't wanna watch this or do anything else you may have recommended. And all of a sudden, she sees you, like, frantically writing your book, and she's like, the fuck? Like, you just said you're tired. I'm like, well, I got an idea.
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Yeah. No. I I've actually never had that. Sometimes though, like, in the morning. Like, I'll be up early in the morning, and my wife would be like, man, you're up, like, really early. And it's because I I got up early, and I was I was like you know, I dialed in. Like, an idea came to me first thing in the morning or something that I was like, oh, yeah. I need I've been putting this off. I need to do it. So she's more like, where did he go? And, you know, I'm usually in the office or on the back deck working away or writing in the journal. But, yeah, that's that's usually when that happens. That only can happen, like, for 6 weeks total of the year, just to be clear, back deck. Otherwise, you're freezing your ass off there. Like, let's just Yeah. Yeah. I'll send you a picture of winters up here, Thomas, because it, it gets pretty wild. But I mean, that's what, I mean, that's what, you know, Game of Thrones is based on, which is your area of the world. Like, this is what it looks like every every September to March. Yeah. What is that? The wall? What was that place?
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The Winterfell? Yeah. That's pretty much Canada. Yeah. That was definitely it was like the fjords of Canada Canada up there a little bit more. You know, you know, I I I I'd let you have so much stuff going on. I you know, we'll put some of your stuff how to get ahold of you here in a minute, but, I I feel like, you know, I I've kind of asked a lot about what what's one question I probably should should ask you and I didn't?
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Yeah. I mean, I guess some of the learnings, as an author are are really interesting. So I, you know, I mentioned earlier that when I was right when I started my writing journey, I thought maybe I need to be like Socrates, before I can publish something. And I remember publishing actually my second book. I went through a an indie publishing house in Western Canada. The publishing house was shocked at the time when I was 29. They're like, oh, you're really young. I was like, what does that mean? Like, you know, do do I have to be old to get ideas? Like, do I have to be old to share experiences and tell stories? Like, I don't I don't quite understand that. So, you know, I mean, just encourage people, I guess. You know, if you're thinking about writing a book, just do it. You don't need anybody to really tell you one way or another. Like, we need more books, and we need more ideas. And even if it's not a book, just write that LinkedIn post. Write that blog article. Tell that story on a podcast like this podcast. You know, don't let anybody kinda put you in a box there because, you know, for me, I I I thought maybe I, you know, I I was even more terrified to hit send because I thought I was too young. But in reality, it was just time to get it out. So, I guess that's probably just one thing I would mention there on on some of the early lessons I learned as a writer. Yeah.
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Yeah. That's I mean, you you're you're right. So sometimes, you know, it's it comes back to stepping out your comfort zone. I think what happens when you get older to, you know, somebody's 48, not old old, but I'm certainly past the midpoint of of any reality, the, you should take an amount of time if I don't do it now. And so at this point, I'm not any less comfortable. But then again, I care less what people think of me, but I've always wanted to do this, so I'm doing it. And I and I'll say, I think that's the difference. I don't think people change that much from the insecurities. They just stop carrying or they're like, I'm gonna die and not do this and be pissed. And, so, anyway, I think just assume you're gonna die, I guess, is my advice to young people. You have no time left. Write it now. Get it out. And then if you do live, then you could be you have a longer time to enjoy or be embarrassed by it. It's up to you. It's only a print. It just lasts forever. Okay?
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Yeah. You're right. You're right, Thomas. Another thing too, and I, you know, I was so scared early on that, like, you know, what if someone judges this? What if I offend someone? And, you know, I read recently with Seth Godin's work around, like, you know, don't be mayor of Vanilla Town and, like, live on the edge, cause a ruckus. You know? And so you'll if anybody reads all my books, you'll notice that. Like, as as I continue writing and publishing, they get more and more outside of vanillatown, because, you know, we wanna be on the edge. Right? And and that's the case whether we have developed products, services, you know, being in the middle can be boring. Right? We need to be different. We need to be bold and and be kind of audacious with ideas and and concepts. So, again, something I just wish I learned earlier and and kinda actioned earlier, but, yeah, it's it's important.
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Maybe my last question, right, is when your company end is matters almost more than what you're doing or who who you are. So if you're early, if you're kind of in the middle of it, you're you've hit the growth curve, whatever it is. Right? You're, maybe you're endlessly struggling. Does it change the balance needed to truly be successful?
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Yeah. I mean, I think one of the things that I talk about, quite a bit are, you know, what we call the fallow seasons. And, you know, the fallow season in in analogy of a farm, if you drive by a farm, is there'll be a certain point in the year where you drive by that farm, and it doesn't look like anything's happening. You're like, oh, it's just a field of dirt. Right? Right. But there is growth happening. It's just happening underground. So it's it's it's unseeable to the naked eye when we drive by. And then all of a sudden, this time, you ever drive by, and it's full. Right? And we're gonna go through those seasons where we feel like we're just kinda grinding in a way, and we're not getting the results we want. You're right. Like, those are the seasons, Thomas. Sometimes they're longer. Sometimes they're shorter where the balance might feel off, and you might feel at a rhythm. But I guess recognizing it and then going back to that self awareness, like, this is just a season, and I will grow out of this. The business will grow out of this. You know? Yeah. My life will grow out of this. I think that's important. Hard to do when you're in it. Right? Hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but, you know, surrounding yourself with people to help you see that too, with mentors and whatnot can really help you too, I think. Yeah. I mean, you're a great analogy on that because, you know, you're standing in the field hungry
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going, I gotta find something to eat. I'm gonna leave this field. And you're like, just start a little longer. Just Yeah. Maybe ask somebody for some food, help out, but, you know, in a few weeks, just stuff's gonna stop popping up around here. So, anyway or another thing is learn how to grow crops of a different type in the winter, which is the second business. Being able to put one we can get into that, there's a lot about it before we can go there. Ryan, who should get ahold of you, and how do you want them to do that?
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Yeah. Absolutely. So, definitely LinkedIn. You can just search Ryan Fahey on LinkedIn. Love to follow you. Connect on there. And And then my website as well, just faheyconsulting.org. You can just Google Ryan Fahey, and and I should be the first person that pops up there. But, yeah, let's keep the conversations going. Happy to help. Happy to chat more, and, keep tuning into this this show. This was great. And and, yeah, just an awesome conversation here today.
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I appreciate it. And my light colors change randomly, which I have questions in what remote control and what part of this house and why it was pressed and who did it. There might be a ghost. No one cares. No one noticed. I'm I'm I'm gonna look into that. And if the ghost gets me, I'm glad my book never get out because then I'll never be Hey. Just I I want the tie I want the tie, so tell the ghost not to take the tie. You get a tie. So any guest who gets actually air, who gets a tie, and you get invited into a community called Cut the Tie, which is where entrepreneurs come together to actually get help or give help. Yeah. So I can tell you about that a little bit. You know, you get the invite for that for sure. That gets launched. Tonight is actually our 100th episode. We're gonna do it live. And so you're, you'll probably be the episode on the podcast of, like, 200 and something, but for the, you know, the actual 100th podcast episode is gonna go tonight, so it's gonna be kind of fun. I'm excited for that. You do get a tie. Answer your question. Thank you, by the way. Alright. So, Ryan, I'm gonna say it in English terms. Fahey, pronounced Foy, f a h e y. That's how you get ahold of him, and that's, I'll put the banner here on one second here one more time for you. And that's, faheyconsulting.org His .com was taken. We can discuss that marketing. That's my other company. We'll get into that later.
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Thanks, Ryan. I appreciate coming on. Yeah. Thanks for having me, Thomas. And for everyone listening in today, thank you. Be well. Keep doing great work. Add value to the market. We'll chat soon. Absolutely. Get all of them on LinkedIn, by the way. Just search search for Ryan,
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Foy, f a h e y, and you'll, I'm sure you'll have a conversation with him risk free for 30 minutes. That'd be great. Thanks, Ryan. I'll put you in the periwinkle room. I'll have you back on here just in a second. Everybody who's listening and got to this point, once again, you rock. This show's grown to a top 10% global podcast in less than a year because of listeners, because of guests, because the mission is really clear to help entrepreneurships get better at entrepreneurship through by cutting the tide, all that shit holding you back. Excuses, fears, people, probably the person you need to cut the tide to the most is yourself, your old self. Make some space for yourself, grow, and get out there. Go unleash an entrepreneur. Thanks for listening.