Stefan Georgi is considered one of the top direct response copywriters in the world and his words have grossed over $700MM via 50+ direct response marketing pieces. This includes numerous direct response pieces that are actively grossing over $10MM a month for both Stefan and his clients. A serial entrepreneur with multiple multimillion dollar companies under his belt, Stefan mentors numerous entrepreneurs and freelancers and through his copywriting programs, Copy Accelerator and RMBC, and his call center business, Turtle Peak. Today we’re talking about how he uses his ADHD and hyper focus to his benefit, every day. Enjoy! 

***CORONA VIRUS EDITION***

In this episode Peter & Stefan Georgi discuss:

1:52-  Intro and welcome Stefan! 

2:45-  So.. how goes the parenting while working form home going during this pandemic?

4:00-  On the deep zone of focus/work zone- how do you get back into it when interrupted?

5:00-  The daily routine

7:58-  On freedom through discipline 

9:18-  What do you suggest when it comes to staying active and staying at it, in this environment?

10:20-  ADHD in the winter and being diagnosed for a second time 

12:38-  What are some even more basic things you can do that help, say, if you don’t have a pool, etc?

13:34-  How are you thriving in this environment and how are you preventing distraction(s)? Ref:  Pomodoro Technique 

16:06-  How can people find you?  Via his website: www.stefanpaulgeorgi.com and @StefanPaulGeorgi on Facebook  @StefanGeorgi on Twitter  INSTA  Medium and LinkedIN

17:00-  Thank you Stefan! And thank YOU for subscribing, reviewing and listening. Your reviews are working! Even if you’ve reviewed us before, would you please write even a short one for this episode? Each review that you post helps to ensure that word will continue to spread, and that we will all be able to reach & help more people! You can always reach me via peter@shankman.com or @petershankman on all of the socials. You can also find us at @FasterThanNormal on all of the socials.

STAY HEALTHY - STAY SAFE - PLEASE WEAR YOUR MASK.. until next time!

17:33-  Faster Than Normal Podcast info & credits

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TRANSCRIPT: 

Hey guys, Peter, Shankman welcome to another episode of Faster Than Normal. Thrilled that you're here. As I always am hope you're doing well in this glorious actually kind of rainy looking out the window. It's going to pour pretty soon, but you know what? Hey, still better than the alternative. So glad to have you here, guys. I want to introduce you to Stefan. I am going to screw it up. He just told me five seconds ago, how to pronounce his name and I already forgot. Say say your name- Georgi. I was, I was close guys. Welcome to Stefan. Welcome to step under dry. He is without a doubt. Pretty impressive. He's a father who has ADHD, right. He faces his own battles being, working dad during quarantine, but it's pretty impressive what he's managed to do, you know, I mean, look, we've all, we've all gotten screwed over the past eight months, right? I mean, I remember when this y'all a couple of weeks, hang out my daughter, yay it will be fun. And it quickly turned into- imagined Morgan Freeman saying; but in fact, it was not fun and it became sort of eight months of, of, of nonstop, constant. everything, right? I can, I was multiple interviews interrupted, dad, how do I get onto zoom or whatever the case would be. And it's, it's been, it's been a struggle, but you know what? We figured it out. And an entrepreneur and CEO is fun. He's a father who has ADHD. He's faced his own battles, being a working dad during quarantine. So he's even talked to us about sort of how he managed to navigate this time. And more importantly, what you can do to do the same. So welcome to the podcast. Good to have you, man. 

Yeah, thank you. It's really great to be here.

So you sent me a bunch of stuff about, uh, what's things. I mean, I should mention also that, you know, in your, in your other life, when you're not being a dad dealing with all this, you're one of the top direct response copywriters in the world. And the words you put on paper grossed, it was $700 million. Um, by a 50 direct response marketing pieces. How are you from me? Um, you've done God. I mean, numerous response because they're actually actively grossing over 10 million a month for both you and your clients. You got several multimillion dollar companies under your belt. You're a serial entrepreneur like I am, uh, pretty impressive. And you have a call center business, have a copy accelerators, not bad, man. So, but let's get back to what we're talking about. None of that matters, right? When you're dealing with, uh, uh, for me a seven year old kid, who's you know, who can't figure out why. Why her laptops off and like, well, cause remember I told you to plug it in and you didn't, that would be why, you know, all that stuff, everything I've done on TV, nothing really matters. What matters is the kid can turn on a laptop. Right. So you've been in that mode. 

Yeah, I haven't, yeah, my daughter's two and a half. And, um, so it's interesting cause she doesn't fully understand, you know, what's going on with the lockdown and, and it's kind of like a blessing in a way, uh, to be able to spend so much time at home and to see her so often. But, uh, you know, the whole, like daddy's working thing is, um, can only go so far. She, she actually. Yeah, bless her heart is now she's getting closer to three. She'll kind of go, you know, daddy's working and give me a big hug and a kiss. And, um, Kind of walk away, but, but even, you know, today I was trying to do kind of deep focused work writing copy for a client. And she keeps coming to the doors of my office and coming in and then wanting to like, look at pictures and like, you know, I love her more than anything else in this world. So like, I'm, you know, I want her to do that, but, uh, you know, it can be disruptive when you're trying to put your attention into something and then your kids coming in kind of disrupting that and trying to take your attention regularly. So that can definitely be a challenge. 

Well, I mean, from an ADHD perspective, you do you get into the zone. You're in deep work zone. You're you're, you're crushing it. And then something pulls you out of that. Getting back into it's a bitch. 

Yeah, exactly. Um, it's, it's, it's tough. And especially I think happening like once is bad enough, but when it happens sometimes like, you know, three or four times over a half, an hour or 45 minute period, it's it gets very frustrating as, as I'm sure you're, you know, you're very much aware as well. So let's, let's start with that.

I mean, you're looking at, you know, this isn't going away, right? I mean, my kid is in her second day back in, in real school, there she's actually in classroom, but you know who the hell knows how long that's going to last. Right. So I'm predicting two weeks and they're back. So, you know, what do you do? Yeah, for me, some of the things that I've been stretching strategies up into kind of like employing one is I like I'm an early riser and I like to wake up early anyway. And so really embracing that and in the kind of the first couple of hours of the morning, I'll wake up at between five 30 and 6:30 AM. And then right now, at least my daughter. And my wife both don't really wake up until like around 8:00 AM and then they may be up with they're kind of laying around and, and my daughter is again, very lucky. She's a pretty good sleeper and we kind of had our sleep schedule early. So, you know, if I wake up at five 30, uh, I'll have a cup of coffee or in the morning right away. But, uh, kind of actually jumping right into the most important stuff that I have to do for the day. Like focusing on that, uh, like kind of deep work is the term I use. I didn't talk about that term, but, um, the book by the way, Yeah. Yeah. I think I count Newport. Um, but yeah, it is. It's true. So, so cause, cause when I've previously, I would still have that morning time, but it's like, I'd go on Facebook and you would talk about, um, like an add or ADHD, like Wonderland, uh, going on Facebook and these notifications and things are popping up and it's like, the stimulus is great, but I think it kind of overstimulates you, uh, so I've kind of made this thing where I don't go on Facebook until like noon or one, even though a lot of my business, stuff, things I do for business are on Facebook. Uh, but so kind of minimizing that as a distraction. But again, having that, that morning, uh, deep time or deep work time has been really valuable. So that's one kind of really actionable thing that I've personally been doing, uh, is to jump right into kind of the big tasks for the day, like right away when I wake up.

You know, it's funny. Um, the trait of early risers is, is very common to those who are, are like you. And I, I actually start my day on 4:00 AM. Um, and I get you, I get on the bike for an hour and I lift for an hour or whatever. And, you know, the, the difference in who I am, uh, between the times on the days that I do work out versus the days I don't. Palpable. And I don't even have a noticeable, like my daughter now has no daddy, did you get on your bike this morning? You know, they know, I know you're not as happy. You know, it's, it's, it's dopamine thing, you know, that, that whatever we do that morning sets the tone for the day. And if it's about giving us that extra dope, man, you know, it's an entirely different world.

Yeah, a hundred percent. And I do, um, I do like a morning walk almost every morning, which is about like three miles. Uh, and then like I'll lift once or twice a week too. But, um, but yeah, so th and that's for me, the, the sleep schedule is actually so important because like, even right now, I'm, I'm from San Diego. Originally, the Padres are in the playoffs and they won a play off series for the first time since 1998. Uh, and so the games are kind of like the, I think the game ended at like 10 45 last night. So I went to bed at 11 and I woke up. At like 6:45 today, which is, if you think it's not a huge difference and my day has been fine, but it just taking, eating into those couple of hours is actually a huge difference. 

I think one of the things about us is that it also lends itself to a negative, um, uh, chain of events. You know, you do it once. It's a lot easier to do it twice or three times or two weeks or four weeks. Next thing you know, it's a month later. I haven't exercised. You're, you're, you're severely lacking in dopamine or gain 10 pounds, you know, it's not just, it's not a good place to you. Can't let it start. 

Right. Yeah. So I've really embraced. Uh, but you know, like freedom through discipline type thing. I really try to be pretty disciplined and, um, you know, to the sugar of even my wife sometimes, cause it's like, well, why don't you want to stay out longer and do this? And, and, um, I'm the, I'm not trying to be like no fun. And I, I think I do have lots of fun, but yeah. I just know when I stay on a routine and a schedule, I'm just not only am I more effective, but I'm significantly happier. I'm just like, I'm like a better person to your point. Right? When I wake up at five or 5:15, and I do my morning walk and then I go work on whatever big project I have and I have that time to sort of like, uh, feel like I'm really in control of my day. It just makes a huge difference versus sleeping in until 6:45 or 7. And then I know my daughter's getting up in an hour and there's pressing things. It's just a totally different, um, like those couple of hours, like can, can make your day feel twice as long in a good way. Um, it's, it's amazing, right? It's like two hours, but it's like an exponential increase in the amount of time it feels like you have in each day. 

I mean, talk about, uh, let's, let's reach out to this staying active, right? So, you know, my gym has finally reopened. I mean, they basically moved the entire gym outside to a vacant lot and it's it's to be able to get there is great, but I spend my time in, in quarantine and lockdown, you know, on, on FaceTime with my, with my trainer and being able to, um, you know, to, uh, to 22 pound kettlebells. Right. And that's it. Um, what do you suggest when it comes to staying active and staying at it? It's obvious that, you know, you stand up every couple minutes every, every hour or so for a few minutes and it vastly changes how your brain works. Right. But when all of a sudden we're surrounded by, you know, our living room as opposed to an office, whatever. 

Yeah. I mean, we were. I'm lucky that for our house in Las Vegas has like a pool and we're on a golf course. So, um, even in the height of lockdown, I was still doing the walks every single day. Cause you were still allowed to go walk outside. Uh, then we were swimming like pretty much every single day. So I'd work until maybe four or 4:30 and then it was full-time time for an hour, hour and a half. Uh, and then for a while you could go off. So I was trying to get on golf and you couldn't anymore, but we could still go out onto the golf course and then it was closed down. And I don't know if we probably weren't supposed to, but we did. And then there was like, um, like Roadrunners and quail and the different animals. So, you know, going with my daughter and like looking at animals and watching her chase bunnies around, uh, things like that helped a lot. Um, and, and, you know, fortunately the lockdown is not as bad now. I generally find from myself personally, I dunno if you're the same way that, uh, in summer, uh, it’s.. inactivity is less of an issue or a worry but as you start getting to the fall onto the winter, that's where I've had more issues. So for example, when I most recently got kind of redialed, I was diagnosed with ADHD when I was like, I don't know, 10 and, and kind of was like on, off medication and then in my early twenties and that kind of like stopped, you know, forgot about it for a couple of years. And, um, then I, I w I thought, I thought I was having like seasonal affective disorder because in the winter I start getting kind of like depressed and mood swings and things like that. And I went to see like a really good kinda therapist and he kind of asked me, he's like, all right, well, like, you know, during the summer. What does your routine look like? You know, you, you stop working at four 30 or five, like, what are you doing? And I'm like, well, you know, maybe I'll play golf or get with my family and go get dinner or go see friends, or we'll swim or we'll do this. And he's like, all right, cool. And like in the winter, when it's four 30 or five, what do you do? And I'm like, well, it's already dark. So I just go home and I sit on the couch and I want to have like a drink and I start getting kind of depressed and he's like, okay. So like your activity level is basically cut in half. During, like the winter months when the days are shorter. Um, and I was like, yeah. And he's like, and by the way, have you been like, diagnosed with ADHD before? And like, Oh yeah, several times. He's like, yeah, basically you're not being at all active in the winter. And then like, you know, that that's stressing you out and, um, it manifesting in these ways. And so, uh, just as a coping mechanism, For, um, for myself and staying active during the winter months, uh, trying to go out more. I mean, I know like, as an entrepreneur, we're able to go out and eat dinner out a lot. Um, you know, it's not always, I mean, we try to eat pretty healthy, but, but even like, like I know it can be kind of costly, but for us it's something where it's like, it's being able to leave the house and go out and do that activity or whatever um, really helps, but if you can't do that, you can do like a night walk or depending on the climate, but I'm pre-lockdown go see a movie, whatever it is, but really trying to be extra out. I have to kind of force myself to be extra active, uh, during the kind of the late fall and into the winter, but it makes a huge difference. And as soon as I started doing that, like the kind of mood swings and seasonal depression stuff went from like, get like an eight or a nine on the scale to like a two or three, it was a huge, huge difference. 

Yeah, no question about it. Um, what do you suggest? I mean, even like basic stuff, you know, for not, everyone's lucky enough to live in Vegas now pool. Um, I had to pull.. and I was all like, I've got a pool and of course they shut it down. And has it been, uh, what else can we do? How else, how else do we get through? 

I mean, even stuff like getting up, you know, getting up every, every, every hour is walking around your apartment. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a huge one. I mean, I think physical movement, uh, it changing your environment even in like an apartment, right. If you can. Work in your bedroom, some of the time and work in the kitchen, some of the time and work in like your, you know, family room area, like stuff, area. I think even just changing your, your, even within the same, like an apartment, like changing the place where you are, things like that, I think can make a big difference cause, um, at least for me, uh, the same environment over time can kind of make me grow bored. So, um, so even just little things like that, like changing up your environment, um, and where you're working from, or that can be really valuable too. 

How do you, uh, how are you working in this environment and how are you preventing distraction?

Um, yeah, it's a great question. And it's funny because that this house in Vegas, which I love my office has like, um, like a glass door. So it's completely see-through and it's right by the front door of the house. So like whenever somebody comes in, um, you know, like I see it. And then for my daughter, she comes up. It's not like she comes in and even knocks on the door, it’s like, she literally just sees me as she walks by, um, So, you know, the, but the biggest thing for me is one of the communication, like with my wife, I mean, she kind of, she knows like when I'm working and when I'm doing deep work to kind of not, uh, I don't wanna say bother me cause it's never bothersome cause she's my wife and I love her, but, um, to kind of leave me be in that I'll take breaks and I'll come out and I'll find her. And then. If we need to catch up on anything, we can do it at that point. Um, you know, the other thing would be like with my daughter, just like having her doing different activities, having her, so she's not sitting around bored and trying to just go to the office all the time and ask what, you know, what's dad doing, um, and then I use like noise canceling headphones. You know, I, I use, um, those Bose noise-cancelling headphones I've been doing that for years, uh, before I kind of realized that it was ADHD related. Cause I, I would, I always thought I was crazy, but I'd be like, you know, man, if I could just work in like a vacuum chamber, with no sound. I'm like, that would be my perfect environment. Like some people like to listen to music and they do and stuff like that. I want just as quiet as possible. Um, so I don't have extra like stimulus kind of like assaulting me. Um, so going something like that wearing noise canceling headphones can be good. And then one of the things I've been really working on and, and using is a technique called Pomodoros, which I'm not sure if you're familiar with that or not 50 on 10 off or yeah. [The Pomodoro Technique] Yeah. I do like 25 on five off and, um, and then just while I'm doing that, like really minimizing things. Like, I don't keep email up. I don't have any like, like I never do desktop notifications, like out of like, we use Slack for some of my businesses and they're constantly trying to get you to enable desktop notifications. 

Noope. Never, never, never. 

It's like, that is just my nightmare. Um, so you know, the Pomodoros are nice. So if the 25 minutes on five minutes off, cause it's like, normally. I can get 25 minutes, right. Normally. And so it's a, more of like a micro-commitment than being like, I need to spend the next two or three hours, uh, without any distractions. Um, speaking of that, my daughter is now actually up here calling for me, but, um, yeah, 

Well it's okay. It's been about almost 20 minutes, so we'll wrap it up anyway, wants to make sure you get back to your daughter, but, um, tell us about how, how can people find you?

Yeah, I think if you want to go to my, um, my website, which is, uh, www.StefanPaulGeorgi.com. Uh, if you want to get my email list it's you can just go StefanPaulGeorgi.com/subscribe I do like a daily email, um, as part of my routine that, um, is like me talking about entrepreneurship, um, copywriting, freelancing. And then even a lot of personal stuff too with my family, or I've talked about my ADHD and it was just cool because it turns out a lot of entrepreneurs have it. 

Right. Totally, I write about that stuff all the time. 

Yeah, exactly. And so people have found that it's been rewarding for me to share that. And then more people. Uh, you know, kind of reach out with their own stories as well. So yeah, if you'll get my email list, it's not, I don't sell you that much stuff often. It's more of just kind of like me building relationships with people. Um, but I’m happy to share that stuff. 

So we'd love for anyone who wants to join it. It's like it's like sharing a brain with someone's hysterical. You say the exact same things. I said, it's very funny. Awesome guys. Thank you so much for taking the time to join un on Faster Than Normal. I truly appreciate it. I know, I know how busy your schedule is. I give the floor to your daughter, you have to go hang up, hang up with me on and deal with, but thank you so much. 

Yeah, man. It's my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. 

Awesome guys. You listened as always best to normal. Like what you hear?? Drop a review. Leave us a note. Shoot me a note. Uh, you got any good people you thinking should be on? Leave me a note as well. We've got a huge list of people who we're we're slowly filtering through, but we're always looking for more! :-) We'll see you next week. ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Neuro-diversity is a gift, not a curse. Stay happy, stay safe. Wear the mask! Talk to you guys soon.

Credits: You've been listening to the Faster Than Normal podcast. We're available on iTunes, Stitcher and Google play and of course at www.FasterThanNormal.com I'm your host, Peter Shankman and you can find me at petershankman.com and @petershankman on all of the socials. If you like what you've heard, why not head over to your favorite podcast platform of choice and leave us a review, come more people who leave positive reviews, the more the podcast has shown, and the more people we can help understand that ADHD is a gift, not a curse. Opening and closing themes were performed by byrom.squarespace.com/musix">Steven Byrom and the opening introduction was recorded by Bernie Wagenblast. Thank you so much for listening. We'll see you next week.