“You chase two rabbits, both will get away” -Stuart Ralph (stolen from someone far more wise and philosophical)
Stuart blogs on OCD and mental health issues. He is the founder of The OCD Stories, which he created to guide people towards recovery. In 2014, he released his debut book Challenge Yourself, I Dare You. When he is not trying to change the world, you can find him on the basketball court.
Stuart is a very close friend of mine. We lived together during and after University and we have both helped one another to develop as human beings and as novice entrepreneurs.
You will love this podcast if you are interested in one or more of the following:
- You are a new entrepreneur and you want to understand how to use social media, platforms, and other tactics to grow your business and brand.
- You want to learn how to effectively balance your full-time job, business (side-hustle), relationship(s), family, social life, etc.
- You want to learn how to prevent OCD and mental illness from stifling your drive and productivity.
About Stuart:
About The OCD Stories:
Download How to Attract Great Personal Trainers PDF
- Listen on iTunes.
- Stream by clicking here.
- Download as an MP3 by right-clicking here and choosing “save as”.
This episode is sponsored by Hituni.com, the best online courses in high intensity strength training. I recently completed their personal trainer course to increase my knowledge and become certified in HIT. HITuni offer DIY courses to help you get better results from your training and personal training courses to help you start and grow your HIT Business. Visit HITuni.com and use the code “HIB10” to get 10% OFF.
Show Notes
- How does Stuart introduce himself at parties? [3:10]
- How does Stuart prevent his entrepreneurial work from causing conflict with his employer? [6:00]
- What is The OCD Stories and what is the aim? [8:55]
- How does Stuart manage his full-time job and side-hustle (business)? [17:15]
- How does Stuart make time for everything in his life that’s important? [21:20]
- What are the biggest mistakes that first-time entrepreneurs make? [25:15]
- How does Stuart structure his day for maximum productivity? [28:15]
- What are Stuart’s goals and how is he going to achieve them? [34:15]
- Is the type-A, over-achiever, “constantly working” personality-type derived from nurture or nature? [44:25]
- 4 Hour Work Week vs 100 Hour Work Week [48:00]
- Why did it take Stuart and I a while (4-5 years) to land on a brand/business that stuck? [52:15]
- Why has The OCD Stories podcast grown so quickly? [56:15]
- Where did Stuart get his website theme for Theocdstories.com? [1:18:00]
- What tools does Stuart use on a day-to-day basis to run his business? [1:20:55]
- How does Stuart cultivate his idea generating machine? [1:26:20]
- How important are personal brands? [1:31:20]
- How does Stuart engage with his email subscribers? [1:34:40]
- What are the most effective methods to prevent OCD from stifling productivity? [1:39:20]
- Stuart’s thoughts on High Intensity Strength Training [1:49:25]
- Who has been the biggest positive influence on Stuart? [1:57:55]
- Who are Stuart’s mentors? [1:59:10]
- What has Stuart changed his mind about in the last year? [2:01:00]
- When has Stuart felt the most successful in the last 5 years? [2:09:05]
- What advice would Stuart give his 20-year-old self? [2:10:50]
- What is Stuart not very good at? [2:11:20]
- Best advice Stuart has ever received? [2:13:20]
- What books does Stuart most recommend to new entrepreneurs? [2:14:35]
Selected Links from the Episode
- IFTTT (If This Then That)
- Corporate Warrior Facebook Page
- OCD
- World Health Organisation
- OCD Stories on YouTube
- Beat Relationship OCD (rOCD) And Obsessive Thinking!
- Decision fatigue
- The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- TheSpiritualLibrary (Alan Watts on YouTube)
- Absolute Motivation (YouTube)
- The Pomodoro Technique
- Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-free Productivity by David Allen (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- My Interview with David Allen (author of Getting Things Done)
- Nerd Fitness
- What is HIT?
- The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Centre Point (homeless charity)
- Over app
- N.E.T Time
- Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World by Gary Vaynerchuk (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- iTunes
- Stitcher
- Theme Forest
- GoDaddy
- Morally Marketed
- I AM NOT MY OCD Wristbands
- Moleskin notebook (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Mood Map app
- Uber
- Google Drive
- Google Analytics
- AWeber (email software)
- Podcasts
- Overcast
- Evernote
- Sumome
- The Worry Trap: How to Free Yourself from Worry & Anxiety using Acceptance and Commitment Therapy by Chad LeJeune PhD (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
- Headspace
- Primer for a Proven Resistance Training Program by Chuck Bixby (crash course in HIT)
- Do-it-yourself: HIT for Health
- Be Your Own Life Coach: How to Take Control of Your Life and Achieve Your Wildest Dreams by Fioan Harrold (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Psychological flexibility: How love turns pain into purpose | Steven Hayes | TEDxUniversityofNevada
- Man’s Search For Meaning: The classic tribute to hope from the Holocaust by Viktor E Frankl (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Golden State Warriors
- 80/20 Rule
- Thích Nhất Hạnh
- Anything You Want: 40 Lessons for a New Kind of Entrepreneur by Derek Sivers (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Get Out Of Your Mind And Into Your Life: The New Acceptance and Commitment Therapy by Spencer Smith & Steven Hayes (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- The Wisdom of Insecurity: A Message for an Age of Anxiety by Alan Watts (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- Meditations by Marcus Aurelius (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of a “Course in Miracles” by Marianne Williamson (Amazon US / Amazon UK)
- My 10 Favorite Purchases in 10 Months by Tim Ferriss
67 – How To Become The Best Version Of You
322 – Mike Petrella – How To Effectively Explain HIT To Your Clients Without Alienating Them
346 – Josh Jarrett – How a Former CMO/SVP in Consumer Marketing thinks about Marketing a Strength Training Business
Lot of valuable content on this one!
Thanks Andrew. Glad you liked it. Any specific moments that really stood out?
Hi Lawrence, generally it provided a lot of jumping off points for further thinking. I’m in a phase of refining my focus in several possible revenue sources at the moment and it got me really thinking about optimising my aims, focus and productivity (also enjoying some of your other productivity/business episodes recently). The theme around cultivating a positive mindset and good mental health introduced a real “feel good” motivating factor that’s sometimes missing here, a little more gentle than the usual bicep flexing tough guy attitude that can sometimes crop up, lol!
Awesome! Really glad you’re enjoying and finding value in those episodes. They aren’t as popular among most of my HIT listeners and readers but I LOVE producing them and I believe that they will grow in popularity over time. So in short, I will be creating more!
In an ideal world it’d be great to see you have a couple of guests that deal with motivation, acceptance and positive thinking with the caveat that they come from a rationalist (center/left) secular space (sorry I have no suggestions atm). I’m not sure how that would fit with your usual themes though.
I’ll add this to my feedback sheet :D. I certainly am happy to cover it. I may re-vert my theme back to “health, business and time optimisation” because if I’m honest, I LOVE writing about and interviewing guests on productivity in all fields. I love talking about HIT too and obviously business/HIT business but I am not going to sacrifice my interests or even launch a second site to cater for this. So watch this space.