The Sam Ovens Podcast

In this episode, I share my workstation setup. I get paid nothing from these companies, it's what I use. If you want to watch it: https://www.consulting.com/channel/my-workstation-setup-for-productivity

I'm back. Here's what I've been up to for the past 2-years.

Sacrificing things, and doing less, is not sexy. Sacrifice is tricky thing to get right, most entrepreneurs get it wrong. Rather watch it? https://www.consulting.com/channel/sacrifice-yield-and-asymmetric-returns

Here's a quick sneak-peek into the Consulting.com Quantum Mastermind event! Listen to Sam as he answers some burning questions. Note: We were using a throw mic and that has resulted in some inaudible questions (whoopsie). But Sam's audio is perfectly audible throughout the session. Happy listening. Rather watch it? Sure: https://www.consulting.com/channel/how-to-use-metrics

Scaling a business is an awesome topic, cleaning up the mess and paying back the debt from scaling is not. This is a tricky thing to balance. Most entrepreneurs get it wrong. If you don't grow fast, a competitor might overtake you —but— grow too fast and you'll make a mess and accumulate too much debt for the company to get out of. Finding the perfect balance between these two extremes is an art-form that lies at the core of an entrepreneur's ability. This podcast teaches you how to think about three things: scale, mess, debt, and how they're all parts of the same "growth cycle". I share practical tips to handle these issues in your business today + share personal stories of the rollercoaster ride I've been on to date. Full blog post here: https://www.consulting.com/channel/scale-mess-and-debt

3 Good books in 8 minutes. Need I say more.   The books are: 1. Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don't by Jim Collins — https://amzn.to/2LqVKZh 2. Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days by Jessica Livingston — https://amzn.to/2LtuQzS 3. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown — https://amzn.to/2NakjMa Full blog post here: https://www.consulting.com/channel/3-good-books-in-8-mins

This is part two of the "Sleep To Win" mini-series, today we cover the software required to take your sleep to the next level. Rather want to watch it? Click here: https://youtu.be/zoUm_OP9R6A Didn't see part 1 about hardware?. No problem! Click here to watch it: https://youtu.be/FyYMtatUpTE Full blog post here: https://www.consulting.com/channel/sleep-to-win-part-two-software

Want to be smarter? Happier? Less stressed, more intelligent, more creative, less anxious, more focused, rational, and calm? If you want these things — get some SLEEP! (seriously...). This video shows you how to hack your sleep for high performance. Full blog post here: https://www.consulting.com/channel/sleep-to-win-part-one-hardware

Do you get distracted by shiny objects? Always looking for something new to replace the thing that was new yesterday? (yes, you're crazy). At its core, shiny object syndrome (SOS) is a disease of distraction, and it affects entrepreneurs specifically because of the qualities that make them unique: High motivation, crave new technology, new developments, and no fear of starting new things. It's called shiny object syndrome because it's the entrepreneurial equivalent of a small child chasing after shiny objects. Once they get there and see what the object is, they immediately lose interest and start chasing the next thing. For entrepreneurs, rather than literal shiny objects. Shiny objects may be business objectives, marketing strategies, clients or even other business ventures. In today's podcast, I show you how to BEAT the shiny object syndrome by implementing 9 practical steps you can take immediately. Full blog post here: https://www.consulting.com/channel/shiny-object-syndrome-the-cure

Are you indecisive? Struggle to make fast decisions? History of poor choices? Put things off? Resort to "other peoples thinking" or following the crowd? We are the sum of our choices. Where you are in life right now, your current situation, it's nobodies doing but your own. It's the sum total of every decision you've ever made. We are our choices. This podcast shows you how to free up time and energy to make better decisions, how to think critically about your decisions, as well as practical mental models you can use immediately to improve your life. Full blog post here: https://www.consulting.com/channel/how-to-make-decisions

Do you get confused? Trouble thinking clearly? Overwhelmed by complexity? Paralyzed by decisions? Emotions contradicting logic? The brain is humankind's greatest gift and a curse — it depends whether you control it, or it controls you. In the world of entrepreneurship and business, it's more about mastering your brain, not mastering the tactics of business. This podcast shows you how to get your thinking clean, and by doing so, win at life and business. Enjoy!

Do you procrastinate? Problems with consistency and discipline? And... Do you have a hard time actually wanting to do the work?  This podcast explains WHY gravity is pulling against your will and how to fix it (with practical instructions). Give it a listen. Rather watch it and check out the resources mentioned in the podcast? --> https://www.consulting.com/channel/why-you-cant-do-the-work

You might have noticed I've been quiet recently...  No weekly blog videos, no daily emails, no social posts, no live-stream Q&A's, no nothing... Just silence... For 90+ days... The question is: What have I been doing? Give this a listen.

Until you make the unknown known, it will dictate your life and you will call it "fate". We live in a world of complexity and chaos — you either drown in it, or you understand it. How do you understand the complexity and chaos? Through the use of mental models. Mental models are how we understand the world. Not only do they shape what we think and how we understand but they shape the connections and opportunities that we see. Mental models are how we simplify complexity, why we consider some things more relevant than others, and how we reason. A mental model is simply a representation of how something works. We cannot keep all of the details of the world in our brains, so we use models to simplify the complex into understandable and organizable chunks. Today's podcast is the first of a new "mental model mini-series". I plan to release new content weekly that covers different mental models I use to understand the world and make decisions. Today's mental model is "Chaos Theory", understanding the 4 universal laws from which infinite complexity emerges. This is a biggy! One podcast you seriously don't want to miss!

What are the "ingredients" of success, Intelligence, and skill? What are the constituent parts? The source materials? Most people believe success, intelligence and skill are natural things you're either born with or without and there's nothing you can do to change it. They're wrong. Success, intelligence and skill, like everything else in the universe, has "ingredients". The same way a chemical compound is made up of elements, success is made up of a different breed of elements. There's always building blocks, you've just got to know where to look! In this podcast, I share with you how to find them, in everything! If you've ever wondered why some people are considered successful, intelligent and skilled, while others aren't — this podcast will show you how to reverse engineer it back to its constituent parts. (this is a  valuable skill you can use for life!).

Normal people believe in one true "right" and "wrong". Geniuses, billionaires, and scientific revolutionaries believe in "contradiction". Normal people see what everybody else is thinking/doing, and then they adopt that as their own belief of what to think/do. They never think for themselves, they never agitate the crowd, they blindly obey. This isn't a problem if you're ok with losing. But, if you want to win, you need to think differently. You need to learn how to transcend binary logic and play with both sides of the spectrum. You need to become idiosyncratic. Isaac Newton, Einstein, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Steve Jobs, Michael Jordan, Mike Tyson, Schumacher — they're all idiosyncratic. They all defied the "sacred conventions", upset the orthodox, and changed the rules of the game.  If you've ever wondered why some people change the world and others just live in it, this video will show you how it starts by fundamentally changing the way you think. In this podcast, I show you how to play with fire!

What you see depends not only on WHAT you look at but also on WHERE you look from. This video shares how I use distance to think clearly + 7 important things I've been thinking about on my recent Salt Lake City vacation. These 7 things are recurring worries, thoughts, observations, and strategies that are currently on my mind. If you're an entrepreneur starting or growing a business, you'll probably find them interesting, and useful.  From market inversion to the constituent parts of value, product development, recruiting intelligent unorthodox athletes, David VS Goliath asymmetric warfare, playing Moneyball to win an unfair game, Egypt pyramids, and the next stage of my evolution.

What problem are you solving? For who? With what solution? What makes your solution different? And most importantly: What would the perfect solution look like? These are the things you should be spending most of your time thinking about as an entrepreneur. NOT taking photos of your food, Gucci duffle bag, and shitty snakeskin loafers to get social media followers to think you're rich, and maybe buy your stuff. Right now the entrepreneur market is in a state of mass confusion. Why? I believe most people's targets and goals are vague undefined entities. And when you build a mind, business, and strategy based upon vagueness, you build nothing of value and cause confusion. This is why you need to think: What does perfection look like? Defining the perfect solution your customers would dream of in a world unconstrained with today's reality will open your eyes to what they really want. Your goal should be to make progress towards it. Innovation begins here!

Chances are your mind looks like this... It's full of "weeds", there probably is a plant somewhere in there, but you've mistaken the weeds for the plant itself. I talk to entrepreneurs every day, and a recurring pattern I see with all of them is that they've mistaken the distractions for the main thing. The weeds have taken over the garden of their minds. Today's podcast shows you how to identify the weeds and eliminate them -- so you can focus on the main thing.

I decided to become an entrepreneur when I was 20 years old, now I'm 30. I've made a lot of mistakes and learned important lessons. This video shares 9 things I wish I knew when I was getting started. If I knew these things back then, my journey would have been less painful and more productive. I would be much further ahead. My hope is that by sharing this content, others can learn from my mistakes and avoid the potholes that lie on the road ahead.