The Breakthrough That Made Me The Most Money (And Took Me The Longest To Learn)

Alright, I'm going to tell you a lesson that has made me millions of dollars. It's probably been the most valuable lesson that I've ever learned and it was the hardest one for me to get. The strange thing about this lesson is that it's also the simplest one to get. In concept, this is the simplest idea, and in practice it can take years for it to sink in for you to really get it. Now, now when you get this, there's a huge world that opens up to you. And so if I can save you two years from learning this, from going through what it looks like to not have this lesson sink in, I'll probably make you a million dollars over the next couple of years. This is beautiful downtown Austin. It's a hot summer day here in what I say is the greatest city in the country. And just yesterday I was out there, okay, there's a nice lake out there that is Lake Austin. And here in Austin, there's a bunch of beautiful wilderness and outdoors activities, most of which I have never participated in. And so this week I decided to take advantage of some of the beautiful outdoors of Austin, Texas. And I was reminded of the lesson again when I did this, because I have put off just going out and enjoying the outdoors here in Austin, Texas for years. I've lived here for five, six years and spend most of the time at the office and here in this beautiful downtown apartment.

Now, why am I telling you this? I'm telling you this because while I was, while I was out, while I was in the sun, while I was in the water, while I was enjoying the sun, I wasn't getting any work done. None. Right today. I hung out with my beautiful daughter.

I didn't get any work done, wasn't working on anything. I went out to brunch with my daughter and her mom and I said something, I said, you know, on Sundays around 11am I get the best business ideas. I get probably my best insights on Sundays at 11am why is that? I'm drinking coffee, I'm not doing anything, I'm not working, I'm not trying. And then I start doing this. This is my journal. Challenges that have been plaguing me for months start pouring out in terms of solutions to these problems. Like, oh, yeah, this. And there's like this sharpness that starts to happen, like, yeah, this is who I need to connect with about this. Let me text that person right now. Oh, I just got a response. Oh, great, we're having brunch on Thursday. I start making like, reaching out to people that I want to connect with. And I'm in this place of feeling refreshed and jazzed and all of a sudden business deals start to come together. And I was reminded of the lesson that I learn every time I practice it, which is you do more and you make more when you do less. Now, I don't mean work less, I don't mean work less hard, I mean work on fewer things.

So often as entrepreneurs, we try to pack on things and pack on more. And when we're stressed, we pack on even more. And we think if there's just one more project or one more thing to do, if we hustle one more hour.

The solution is going to come to us. But our solutions rarely come when our brain is tense. There's actually three different parts to the brain. One is the one that is focused on survival. One, once it relaxes, starts to think about long term. And then the final part is where creativity comes in. And both need, need to be relaxed. Both first pieces of the brain need to be relaxed for creativity to come in.

And that's why things like meditation can bring so much insight going out into nature, being with people that you love can refuel you to create new solutions. They rarely come from the front of the brain. Now the front of the brain is great for focusing in on getting things done, but most of us stay stuck there. And the lesson that has taken me so long to learn is that if I don't create big long chunks of open ended time, I never get to that point where I'm creative enough to be productive. And instead I focus on things that don't matter. I have a mentor named Kevin. And Kevin said to me recently, the biggest thing that holds entrepreneurs back is, is that they're too busy to get breakthroughs. They're too busy to focus on what really matters. Somebody that I look up to, Dan Sullivan. He's coached me for a couple of years inside of his program, which is called Strategic Coach. Dan Sullivan says if you're stressed and you have too much to do, the first thing to getting it all done is to go on vacation. What? How does that make sense? You've got all these emails to check, you've got all this stuff to do. The reason is because you're probably in the mode in which a bunch of things feel like they're important, but they're actually not.

I made a list of my best opportunities. I've got them listed in my journal over here. I started to make a list. I was trying to figure out what they were like what am I going to be focusing on for the next year or so? And I created like this section that is, like, this is the best opportunity I have right now. And the funny thing is, it's the thing that gives me the most energy. It's the thing that jazzes me up the most. It's the thing that I'm most excited about. It's not the things that feel hard. And every time I go into the things that feel like a grind and feel like they're really hard, I stay in that front part of the brain that just drives me nuts, keeps me up at night, makes me worried. Whereas the things that when I'm really refreshed and I'm coming back from nature and I've had sun and I've spent time with family and I'm fully focused and jazzed, the things.

That I focus on are the things that actually matter. And all of the things that I'm stressing about seem to melt away. And the reason for this, the reason for this is because when we get stressed, we make stressful decisions. When we're stressed and when we're tense, we make short term stressful decisions to try and fix a problem that don't ultimately lead us to where we want to be. So if we really want to have breakthroughs, if we really want to build something great, if we really want to reach our greatest potential, part of our job is to stay in that zone where work feels easy. It's to stay in that zone where we're creative. It's to stay in that zone where we're focusing on the things that, that create the greatest impact. And we never do that if we're in that stressed out zone. So the lesson that has taken me the longest to learn is that I owe it to myself and my team and my partners to stay in that zone. And that requires me to work less.

And not always few hours, just on fewer things to stay out of that stressful mode. We call him Grumpy Ryan. That version of yourself that is just stretched at all the ends, that hasn't slept.

That has been busy hustling, grinding and grinding. By the way, like, hustle is one thing when it's from a place of energy, but when hustle or grinding is coming from a place of forcing yourself to do it, that is where the energy exits you rather than is created. When you are finding and doing things that energize you, that's when you have found your zone. And your biggest job as an entrepreneur is to stay in that zone. And Sometimes that means going out there, going into the water, being in nature. Sometimes that means for me, playing softball. Sometimes for you, that means turning off email. You know, we are so addicted to email and tech because we're getting things done when it is that very activity that keeps us in the stressful zone that forces us to do it even more. Now, if there's something that you're working on that you love, that's giving you energy, go for it. Go all in on it. But if you're in that place of tenseness, first thing you need to do is go put yourself back into the zone of creativity, because that is your job as an entrepreneur, to create. We are in the age of creation. My daughter will probably never have a job. It'll be outdated by then. She'll create a beat on GarageBand, upload it to Spotify, and make $800 a month on royalties. Right, because we're in the creation age. It's your job to be creating things. Whether that creation is the creation of offers. I just noticed, look at that. I got Texas horns. Whether your job is to create offers or it's to write things, or it's to podcast or. Or it's decode, being in the zone is your job because that is where you create value. That's your job as an entrepreneur. It's the lesson that has taken me the longest to learn, that when I come out of that zone and I go into stressful mode, I can't create, I can't do my job. And in order for me to get there, I have to do less. I have to get away for a while and then come back and I'm sharper and I'm smarter and. And I'm better and I'm wiser and I'm kinder and I'm more patient. And in that field, things just start to happen. They happen easy and they happen fast. And I make so much more money and people want to do more business with me, versus that mode of tenseness where I'm literally driving people away, I'm driving opportunities away. I'm focused on things that don't matter, that don't produce the highest roi. It's so interesting how this works, and it's the lesson that has taken me years to learn. And I'm inviting you to get the lesson faster than I did and to maintain that zone of always being in that place of creation. The way that I have maintained it the best is that I'm actively doing what I call the tribe. 5. You can Google Ryan Moran. Tribe 5 to find the podcast about it. My podcast is called Free Fast Lane and I do a podcast where I talk about the five things to focus on your time, relationships, income, body and expansion. And when those things are dialed in, I have an easier time being in that zone. But sometimes.

I just got to go out there and get away from email and texting and interruptions. And that's when you're free to create. And that's your job as an entrepreneur. That's what has made me the most money. Clearing out the stress and the noise. That you can focus on the 20% of activities that create the 80% of your results. If you focus on those 20%, that bullseye of activities, that's when a whole new world opens up to you. That's when your zone of genius becomes clear. That's when opportunities just seem to show up out of the ether. And it's your job to pursue that. That's the lesson that has made me the most money, but it's taken me the longest to learn.