Super U Podcast | Pursuing Less in Order to Achieve More from The Answers Network Podcast with Allen Cardoza

Today we’re sharing an interview between Equalman and Allen Cardoza on The Answers Network Podcast. The Answers Network is a nationally-recognized radio program featuring interviews with best-selling authors and other well-known experts in the fields of psychology, treatment, education, humanities, health and a range of general issues affecting youth and their families. In this episode, Erik offers practical advice on doing the important things instead of the busy things. According to Qualman, successful and happy people understand it’s not about getting more things done, it’s about getting more of the big things done.

Fun-fact about the host: Allen Cardoza is a licensed private investigator with 30 years of experience working with families dealing with “at-risk” youth. Having escorted thousands of teens to specialized schools and programs, returned hundreds of runaways, and retrieved many abducted children, Allen has a unique outlook on what our kids are going through and what can be done to help them thrive!

5x #1 Bestselling Author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman has performed in over 55 countries and reached over 50 million people this past decade. He was voted the 2nd Most Likable Author in the World behind Harry Potter’s J.K. Rowling. Qualman is also the inventor of the bestselling board game Kittycorn. 

Need a sneak peek? Below are the main takeaways from the episode.

Super U Podcast | Pursuing Less in Order to Achieve More from The Answers Network Podcast with Allen Cardoza

Episode Preview:

Allen: So one of the things that you touch on in the book that I think that we can all feel is you talk about how we’ve just all gotten stretched, too thin. You know, share how you feel we got to this point, and what we can do about it?

“So the book, The Focus Project, which you mentioned, thank you, it was a project because I was sitting here for those listeners that don’t know me. I primarily I’ve written six books, but I started off on the tech side of business. So for 20 years, I was on the tech side of things. I was at Yahoo back when they were kind of the Facebook of the day, I was the head of marketing at Travelzoo and took that company from private to public, and our team did it. So I was always on the tech side of business. And then I wrote a book called Socialnomics. That’s my first book. And so then I fell into this world of public speaking. So go around the world, helping to entertain, educate and empower people to their best life. But it started off from a tech standpoint, and then eventually evolved into more motivational, more life pieces.

And so I owned my own company for 12 years, and each night I’d get home and my hair was completely on fire. And I’d sit there and pause there [thinking] this isn’t sustainable. I’m not enjoying this. What have I created, that I’m running like a hamster on a wheel and it feels like I’m not getting anywhere that I’m running a million miles an hour, and tomorrow I’m gonna run harder. In my mindset, running harder, that’ll solve it. It wasn’t solving. In fact, it was making it worse. So I paused, hit the pause button, and just started to dream. I was like, man, there’s so much I have to do for all these different businesses. But what would life look like if this month I just focused on sales? If I just focused on the selling part of business, that’d be so liberating. What would that do for the business? And then I started to think about my personal life, what a month look like if I got to spend the whole month just organizing the house just not only organizing it but the stuff that needed to be fixed. The honey to-do lists. The 20 things that I had to do to call those contractors. So I started to get really excited about man, that would look great. And then I started to think, “Well, I can do it.” I mean, I own the company, I don’t have my own boss. And then I started reflecting, wait, if I’m having problems with this, where I control my own time, everyone must be also.

So I started to talk to school teachers, and principals, and students, and CEOs, and they all have the same issue that they’re running a million miles an hour, the hair is on fire, rinse, wash, repeat each day. So that’s why I took I was planning to take a year or I’m taking two years because it’s so hard that I wanted to test this wasn’t a new concept, right? The new thing was, it was just a little more challenging in a hyper-connected world. But as you look back history rhymes, and so it doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme. And so when he looked at it, even back in the Greeks, they’re struggling with focus. So I started with the stoics. And I started to really unpack everything that’s been out there, both from a research perspective. So I call that you know, the institutional science that wanted to marry that with the street science, me actually being that proverbial guinea pig. And so the first year I had five false starts because I go, okay, if I’m gonna have the luxury, the luxury of doing this, I’ve got to make sure that we get enough sales for us as me speaking on stage, so that there’s a lot of stuff we do, but that’s really the catalyst for most things.

So I said, alright, if I have the luxury to do this project, for a year, I’ve got a focus, the first one has to be on sales. So that first month, I gotta look, let’s be realistic, let’s just carve out 30 minutes a day to focus on sales, 30 minutes a day. So that’d be a good start. And I failed five times, like the first time I did it, I spent 18 minutes, not per day, 18 minutes for the month on sales. And so it was really hard. That’s why I learned, but then after five false starts, the following year, I was able to do it and take on one thing per month. But most importantly, for your listeners out there. It’s really about progress over perfection. But by just focusing 30 minutes a day on sales, we had a record sales month, and then also it set the record sales for the year actually, within that month, we already achieved it for the year. So that’s how powerful this stuff is. Even to this day, the gravitational pull, and I’ve written the book, and so I’m not perfect at this, but it means I’ve just gotten better, the gravitational pull is still pulling me to do “the busy.” So I fall into that trap this week, this day, it happens all the time. So it’s really about being intentional.”

Connect with Allen Cardoza:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/allen-cardoza-6034a31

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The Super U Podcast is hosted by #1 bestselling author and Motivational Speaker Erik Qualman.