• Stop chasing more time and start budgeting attention by deciding where your energy actually goes each day, not just your hours, so your schedule reflects what truly matters.
• Identify when you are watching in immersion mode versus palette cleansing mode and match your viewing habits accordingly.
• Accept that everything essential will not fit on your four plates. Let go of the rest even if they still feel important.

Useful Resource:

The Disciplined Pursuit of Less | with Greg McKeown

How to Avoid Burnout and Live a More ‘Effortless’ Life | with Greg McKeown

Steven Covey’s Big Rocks

Why Optimization Isn’t the Answer (and How to Make the Most of the Four Thousand Weeks We Have) | with Oliver Burkeman

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• Acknowledge their feedback and move on instead of proving yourself harder, because pushing back keeps you stuck while shifting approach opens a new conversation.
• Study their social deeply and identify gaps in engagement, conversion, or narrative so you can speak directly to problems they actually care about solving.
• Lead with service-based mindset and curiosity by offering thoughtful insights, not criticism, so your feedback feels helpful rather than threatening or dismissive.

Useful Resource:

How to ‘Get In the Room’ and Work with Producers Who Will Value & Respect You | with Matt Nix

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• Be ready to not be ready. It’s part of the fun that builds resilience in times of real-life adversities.
• Hydrate aggressively so your muscles, blood, and tissues are fully supported before race day.
• Use magnesium and consider topical options (spray) to target tight calves directly.
• Have a clear sense of how you want to run the race and define what success looks like so you can decide how you approach each obstacle.

⚠️ DISCLAIMER ⚠️

This recording and any related discussion are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. I am not a licensed healthcare provider, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical or mental health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding any medical or health-related concerns.

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• Turn your vision into a concrete milestone over the next year or two, such that it gets you closer to having financial stability and making things that you love.
• Have more specific goals (minimum viable product) that you can check that will define the success of your broader goal of launching a business.
• Set boundaries by protecting what is essential to your goal and treating everything else as either an opportunity or a distraction.
• Focus on who you are working with over what you are doing, and explore new paths without labeling them as deviations, and test whether they are actually the path forward.
• Use open ended questions during the interview for them to tell the truth rather than telling what you want to hear, so you can evaluate if the opportunity aligns with your path without revealing your preference.

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• Mass rejection of AI reveals deeper frustration with artificial experiences and signals what people truly value.
• Reframe generative AI as a new creative medium, like a new canvas or paintbrush, instead of a tool meant to replace human storytelling or existing formats.

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• Give yourself stronger boundaries, and define clear guardrails that protect your time, energy and value instead of saying yes to everything.
• Identify where your skills, interests, and experiences overlap to uncover your asymmetric advantage and focus on becoming a specialized generalist who solves a specific problem with range.
• Pay attention to what you are excited to learn versus what feels like an obligation and use that signal to guide what skills to deepen and what paths to ignore.
• Go through the first modules of Design Your Dream Career, specifically the Triple Tornado Technique that might give you new insights.
• Face it until you make it. Develop the courage to fail and learn things, but still fail towards success.

Useful Resources:

Design Your Dream Career

Todd Herman’s Book The Alter Ego Effect

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• Reframe “is this worth doing” into “is this an opportunity or a distraction” so you can clearly see what moves you toward your goals versus away from them
• In the exploratory phase, it’s hard to know exactly what is an opportunity vs a distraction. When clarity is low, you err on the side of yes to opportunities that do not consume excessive time or exploit your expertise.
• Define a simple starting goal or at least paint a picture of your vision given your values, the impact you want to have, the work you want to do and how you want to help people.
• Choose the scarier path that aligns with meaning and impact, not the safer path that risks success without fulfillment.
• Go back to the basic foundation of the GO FAR framework. Whenever you’re struggling on where to focus or put your attention, go upstream and have clarity on your goal and your obstacle.
• At the very least, have clarity on what you want to achieve by the end of the year and why, then reverse engineer what you would do on a day-to-day basis.

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• Start with the audience. Understand who is listening and why, then shape your stories so they solve their problems instead of showcasing yourself.
• Speak as a peer who’s slightly ahead. Offer what has worked for you without pretending to have everything figured out.
• Connect with the audience with authenticity and vulnerability where you can frame your expertise. Focus on insights that help others navigate similar challenges and make personal stories relatable so listeners see themselves in your journey.
• Position yourself as the guide, not the hero. Share experiences through their lens so listeners feel seen, understood, and supported in their own journey.
• Drop the need to sell and focus on being useful. The more value you provide, the more people will want to engage further and build relationships with you that may naturally lead to opportunities.

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My team and I are reorganizing our podcast content to make it easier for you to find exactly the conversations you need next based on your goals and obstacles.

→ Here is my proposed Podcast TOC. What did I miss?

🤔 The Weekly Discussion

• ❓Are you using AI to network? If so, how? If not, would you like to be?

🥳 The Weekly Win

• Congrats to Rob Tovey who has had SIX new projects come to him in the last 2 months! This is a testament to the power of building relationships and playing chess rather than checkers with his networking efforts. → Congratulate Rob!

💪 The Weekly Workout

• Come join us this SATURDAY, 9am SHARP at Brand Library in Glendale to climb literal mountains so you can develop the resilience to climb your metaphorical mountains!

📆 Weekly Events

• 💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!
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• 📧 Outreach Power Hour!
• Schedule your next Study Hall session and send the outreach that could open brand new doors for you
• Fridays, 8am-12pm PT

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• Shift your mindset early. What you do matters less than who you do it with. Use this role to get proximity, exposure, and real insight into how teams actually collaborate.
• Prepare for character-based hiring. Show you are organized, reliable, proactive, and detail-oriented. Prove you can anticipate needs and follow through without being told twice.
• Redefine “basic tasks” as value creation. Ordering lunch becomes delivering precision, timing, and awareness so the team stays in flow without interruption.
• Open strong with intention. Replace “tell me about yourself” with why you are excited about this role and how you can solve their problems immediately.
• When asked, “tell me about yourself,” answer it with this question in mind: “why are you excited to work with us, and how can you be valuable to us?”
• Take control of the conversation. Ask what concerns they have about hiring the right PA and position yourself as the solution to those specific concerns.

Useful Resource:

How to Become a Production Assistant (and Keep Getting Hired) | with Aaron Schmidt

Office Hours Archive - Interview Prep

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• Define the simplest version of the agreement so you know exactly what you are delivering and what they are expecting before negotiating anything else.
• Gather external insight from experienced peers or communities to strengthen your confidence before entering negotiations you are not fully certain about.
• Make sure that what you're getting paid, however that's structured, is in alignment with what you’re spending and the value that you're delivering. 
• Separate conversations, handling compensation and expectations privately with the decision maker before addressing logistics with the broader group.
• Use conditional language like “If I am understanding this correctly,” to create the right tone and right reception of your message.
• Clearly state what would change under the new scope so it becomes obvious that a new agreement is required before moving forward.
• Tie logistical challenges directly to narrative goals so creative direction and execution constraints are solved together.
• Position the conversation as a shared problem to solve so it feels like collaboration instead of confrontational.

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• Have a clear goal set first when struggling where to focus your time and attention. Define a clear vision for day one back at work.
• Use that vision as your lens to decide what deserves your time and what quietly drains your energy.
• Build strength while expanding mobility, and prioritize a few genuine and meaningful relationships that will help you to be calm for day one of your ultramarathon.
• Choose events based on alignment, asking if they foster real connection, protect your energy, and support your bigger vision.
• Trust your own approach over generic advice by filtering everything through your lived experience.

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• Start the conversation with curiosity. Ask about their challenges where you could be helpful.
• Transition from curiosity to confidence when the problem is clearly defined and you know that you are the solution. Tell it confidently and show how you can deliver.
• Never have a conversation about cost. Have a conversation about value. Reframe every conversation toward value by uncovering what it is costing them to leave the problem unsolved.
• People make decisions emotionally before they make them logically. Tap on the emotional level of what it feels like for their problems to be solved.
• Paint a vivid picture of results. Help them feel what success looks like with clarity, speed, confidence, and better outcomes.

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• Focus on what not to do first, because clarity comes from eliminating distractions that drain you without guaranteed results.
• Anchor yourself in certainty: you already have the ultramarathon ahead, so stop chasing extra work and protect your energy for what truly matters.
• Trust your numbers and your runway so fear doesn’t hijack your decisions and push you back into survival mode.
• Keep habits that ground you, like service and community, because they reduce stress and create deeper connections than transactions.

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• Use a connector to advocate for you. Ask for a mutual introduction or forward your message. Increase urgency and response by leveraging trusted relationships.
• Do not wait after an introduction. The ball is in your court. As soon as you see the email, initiate the conversation immediately.
• Define your ask. If there is no question mark, it is not done. Make it clear how they can be useful to you.
• Identify their goals and obstacles. Position them as the hero by showing how you understand what they want and what is in the way.
• Lean towards the expert approach, making the conversation more about you. Share how you’d love to be part of telling meaningful stories specifically in the conservation movement.
• Create a hybrid narrative of expert and gatekeeper by aligning your shared goals and showing how you can help each other without pitching yourself.

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• Stop searching for the right way. Define the right version for you and commit to it without comparing it with others.
• Anchor everything to identity-based goals. Decide who you want to become, then let goals reinforce that identity.
• Turn small goals into stepping stones toward a bigger vision that excites you emotionally and logically so you know where your work is leading.
• Set a scary goal that makes you hesitate but pulls you forward on the vision that you want to create.
• Reframe paycheck work as fuel. Let it finance and support the meaningful work you actually care about.

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• Get curious about the 70-30 decision and ask why he leans toward editing himself and what fears exist on both sides.
• Ask specific questions to uncover fears, workload concerns, and blind spots that open the door for a mutually beneficial collaboration.
• Share relevant stories of similar directors who had the same fears and found success bringing in an editor.
• Clarify vague questions like the editing approach by asking what specific part they want to understand.
• Define your voice instead of forcing a fixed style, adapting to the director, while being clear about what process helps you do your best work instead of being overly flexible just to get the job.

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• Get clear on your approach (peer, expert, mentor, advocate or gatekeeper) before every interaction so you know whose goals and obstacles you are serving and how you show up in that moment.
• When using the expert approach, make sure that you are the hero of the story, with them as your guide that can help you with your goals and obstacles.
• Provide value that will genuinely allow the person to be useful to you.
• Be clear on telling where you are now, where you want to go next, and what is stopping you.
• Share your very specific goals and obstacles so they can point you to the right people where it will be mutually beneficial to the three parties.

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1.  Add your thoughts to → The Weekly Discussion
2. Share a quick win (big or small) here in → The Wins Channel
3. RSVP for Sunday Funday at → Brand Library in Glendale

🤔 The Weekly Discussion

• ❓Where do you currently use AI in your creative process?

🥳 The Weekly Win

• Congrats to Monica Leon who was so inspired by her recent Hot Seat discussing her SCARY goal that she has consistently strung together an entire month of weekend workouts! → Click here to congratulate Monica

💪 The Weekly Workout

• Come join us Sunday, 9am SHARP at Brand Library in Glendale to climb literal mountains so you can develop the resilience to climb your metaphorical mountains!

📆 Weekly Events

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tue, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thu, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

📧 Outreach Power Hour!

• Schedule your next Study Hall session and send the outreach that could open brand new doors for you
• Fridays, 8am-12pm PT

❓ Still Learning Your Way Around The Academy?

🧭 Here's how to Navigate the Academy

💻 Here's How Office Hours Works

❓ Click here for Student Support

• Stop assuming you have no time and ask how you’re choosing to spend it, because your priorities reveal what you actually want and what you’re avoiding.
• Be clear on the things that you want, what you don’t want, and who you want to become so you’ll know what to prioritize.
• Flip the question from “what does this cost me” to “what is it costing me not to do this” and uncover hidden losses like anxiety, lack of focus, and lost creative energy.
• Get away from your space and take a 30-minute walk, and see what comes up. Great ideas and epiphanies might come out.
• Decide the role you want to play in your work, whether problem solver, button pusher, or hybrid, so you can filter opportunities.
• Your work doesn't have to be your calling. Your work can fuel your calling.

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• Let yourself sit in discomfort, because discomfort might be the signal you are growing into something new.
• Allow yourself to be in the phase of where you are, and consciously choose to let it go of the old version of yourself to make space for what is next.
• Recognize when something still works but no longer serves you, and give yourself permission to outgrow it without guilt.
• Shift your focus from what you are doing to who you are becoming, and notice how one question can completely redirect your decisions.

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• Take a slightly different approach given the game has changed. Be a part of their team in spirit, where they’ll remember and appreciate your enthusiasm and insights. 
• Lead with value first by creating something thoughtful, unexpected, and aligned with what they already care about, then let curiosity pull them toward you.
• Repeat your strategy of building relationships with the other two editors using your interaction with that one editor and having him as your advocate. 
• Make sure that the mutual connection would be valuable to all three parties – ensuring value for you, value for them, and value for the person making the connection.
• Follow-up on forwarding the story behind making the trailer video, knowing how Markiplier would appreciate that as he mentioned on his livestream.
• Strike while the iron is hot without crossing the line of asking too much too quickly Gauge his enthusiasm in helping you by asking one small favor at a time.

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• Reduce the dread and fear by reframing the stakes of the conversation. You’re understanding the problem, clarifying the real disconnect, and exploring what success could look like together.
• Define the problem first. Make sure you’re both talking about the same communication gap before offering ideas or solutions.
• Focus on the end result, not solutions. Ask what it looks like when this works so you can reverse engineer meaningful ways to help and offer solutions.
• Shift from fear to service. You’re not selling yourself, you’re asking how you can help after everything they’ve already built.
• Anchor in genuine appreciation. You share how their work impacted your life and career to build trust and connection.

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• Choose challenge or choose confidence, you don’t get both, so embrace hard things knowing you will lose confidence and gain growth through mistakes, failure, and learning.
• With a growth mindset, give yourself space for learning mode where you ask questions, fail openly, and actually improve instead of hiding and feeding imposter syndrome.
• Assess opportunities by asking if you know enough to not get fired by Friday and if the environment allows learning, not just immediate performance.
• Face it until you make it. Use fear of gaps in skills as fuel to learn faster and prove to yourself you can figure things out.
• Stop speculating stories about why you weren’t chosen. Without evidence, you’re feeding imposter syndrome instead of focusing on what you can control and improve.
• Separate fixed mindset from growth mindset, you’re not “not good enough,” you simply lack skills right now, which means you know exactly what to learn next.
• Check your financial runway to confirm if you really need to take the job for the money or might have the option to take something that is in alignment with your creative needs.
• Leverage your generalist skills as your advantage, solving random problems and adapting makes you more valuable than specialists in uncertain, evolving environments.
• You can only control the path that you choose. Reduce overwhelm by focusing on what you have to do next instead of defining your entire career.
• Embrace the imposter syndrome if you want challenge and growth. Reframe failure as fast feedback, the faster you fail the faster you learn, making you more valuable instead of making failure mean you are the problem.

Useful Resources:

The Performance Paradox – How Only Focusing On Performance Leads to Performing Worse | with Eduardo Briceño

Managing Limiting Beliefs, Imposter Syndrome, and all the “Chatter” In Our Heads | with Ethan Kross

How We are “Wired to Create”, What It Means to Be a “Creative”, and How We Can Leverage Our Unique Gifts | with Scott Barry Kaufman

Carol Dweck’s Book: Mindset

Eduardo Briceño’s Book: The Performance Paradox

Adam Grant’s Book: Hidden Potential

Ethan Kross’ Book: Chatter

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• Approach conversations differently based on context, whether peer, expert, mentor, advocate, or gatekeeper, and frame every interaction by asking who is the hero of the story, then shift your approach so you guide their goals and solve their obstacles
• Use the VSA formula centered on them being the hero of the story with the gatekeeper (or advocate) approach:
• Value - Lead with value by making their work feel seen and meaningful. 
• Story - Transition into a story that centers them by understanding where they are now, where they are going next, and what is getting in their way.
• Ask - Ask focused questions that uncover real challenges where your experience can clearly help, instead of broad questions that lead to generic answers.
• Position yourself as the solution to their problems by aligning your strengths with their gaps, especially where others lack experience or perspective.
• Use the service-based mindset, where your goal is to help them win first, knowing your opportunities grow from their success.

Useful Resource:

Office Hours Archive: Meeting Prep

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1.  Add your thoughts to → The Weekly Discussion
2. Share a quick win (big or small) here in → The Wins Channel
3. RSVP for our Sunday Workout at → Serrania Park in Woodland Hills

🤔 The Weekly Discussion

• ❓Frustrated, fumbling, or f*cked? Where would you be left if the Internet (specifically AI) disappeared tomorrow?

🥳 The Weekly Win

• Congrats to Alice Airoldi for delivering an editor's cut a day early (is that even possible???) despite her tendency to procrastinate, and despite managing burnout. And she got great feedback from her director, too! → Click here to congratulate Alice

💪 The Weekly Workout

• Come join us Sunday, 9am SHARP at Serrania Park in Woodland Hills to increase mobility, functional strength, and do some fun team-building exercises!

📆 Weekly Events

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tue, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thu, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

📧 Outreach Power Hour!

• Schedule your next Study Hall session and send the outreach that could open brand new doors for you
• Fridays, 8am-12pm PT

❓ Still Learning Your Way Around The Academy?

• 🧭 Here's how to Navigate the Academy
• 💻 Here's How Office Hours Works
• ❓ Click here for Student Support

• Get brutally clear about why you are doing the task. Without an emotional connection to the outcome, your brain will argue its way out of finishing anything boring.
• Create external accountability so someone else expects the result. Announce the deadline, schedule the workshop, or tell the group so now you must follow through.
• Recognize that creative or neurodivergent brains crave novelty. When a task becomes simple or repetitive, dopamine disappears and the work suddenly feels painful.
• Instead of asking how to make the task easier, ask how to make it harder or more challenging so your brain stays engaged.
• Use time blocks as a challenge, not just a schedule. Beat the clock so the boring task stops blocking the work you actually want to do.
• Accept that some tasks simply suck. Develop coping mechanisms rather than waiting for the struggle to disappear.
• Batch process and eliminate as many meaningless tasks as possible so your energy goes toward work that actually matters.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Recognize the transition between success and meaning. You worked hard to reach the next level, but now you ask a harder question: What is the point of all this effort?
• Accept that this stage feels messy. When you climb one mountain and see another ahead, doubt appears. You may even wonder if you climbed the right mountain in the first place.
• Reframe the journey instead of calling it wasted time. The mountain strengthened you. You gained skills, perspective, and experience that now travel with you to the next climb.
• If your living expenses were covered, how would you spend your time each day? Your answer reveals clues about your deeper motivations.
• Reconnect with that thing that does get you out of the bed in the morning by creating the conditions to help you rediscover that.
• Stop assuming your passion must be monetized. Some passions exist simply to fill your soul and give your work a deeper why.
• Create intentional space between gigs. Without space, your life becomes two seasons only: working and looking for work.
• Practice choosing the harder option when facing uncertainty. Easy choices often lead to a harder life. Hard choices create growth and a clearer path forward.
• Rediscover your interests through deliberate reflection. Write freely on paper and explore three prompts: what you want, what you do not want, and what you refuse to sacrifice.

Useful Resource:

Mark Manson’s The Four Stages of Life

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• Define your value first. Choose a clear standard rate, use it as the foundation, then adjust based on budget, timelines, context, and scope.
• Understand that circumstances change rates. Urgent one-day problems may pay more than long-term commitments.
• State your value based on the job context. Begin with your standard rate before discussing discounts or special arrangements.
• Avoid flat pricing when scope varies and create guardrails for agreements. Define scope, revisions, complexity limits, and conditions that trigger renegotiation.
• Negotiate toward mutual discomfort. The best deals leave both parties slightly dissatisfied but still willing to move forward.
• Estimate the time to make the videos to get a better sense of your base rate. Ask what it requires, what assets exist, and what the final outcome should be.

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• Recognize you don’t lack passion, mission, or purpose. You lack focus. Choose one priority domino that moves everything forward instead of chasing many ambitions at once.
• Start the opening game with curiosity in mind. Reconnect personally, reference shared memories, and rebuild warmth to start the conversation.
• Define checkmate before outreach. Map the entire customer journey from first message to paid engagement. Visualize every step and list the tools, assets, and information required along the way.
• Sequence your dominoes by urgency and importance. If someone wants to learn more about you, make sure the next logical step actually exists and works.
• Launch in stages instead of waiting for perfection. Publish a simple written case study first, then upgrade it later with a polished video once conversations begin.

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• Start by clarifying the basics. Confirm the agreement , the pari-passu structure, the kit fee, and the remaining three days so everyone shares the same expectations before discussing any new direction.
• Break everything down to micro commitments to guide the conversation. Ask simple questions that lead to clear yes answers so everyone agrees step by step on what was promised and what remains.
• Decide your conditions before negotiating. Know what must change such as funding, timeline, or agreement terms if they want you to continue after the final three days.
• Present clear options whether to continue under expanded terms, renegotiate the arrangement, or step aside if the new direction is not the right fit for you.
• Strike first instead of waiting. Initiate the conversation early so expectations are clear and the team can make better decisions before assumptions form.
• After the conversation, send a follow up email summarizing agreements and decisions so everyone shares the same written understanding.

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• Start with your scary goal. Remind yourself the real vision is becoming a psychologist. When the day feels chaotic, reconnect every task to that single long term outcome.
• Accept the messy middle. When meaningful goals get real, complexity increases. Hard does not mean wrong. It often means you are finally on the right path. 
• Anything you're doing that's working towards your goal is an effective use of your time.
• Determine the gap between what you know now and what you need to confidently pass the test to know what your next steps are.
• Have someone to assess your current abilities that can help you fill that gap.

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• Ask whether this opportunity solves more problems than it creates. Weigh financial stability, creative freedom, workload, and learning opportunities before committing your time and energy.
• Clarify your next dream job before saying yes. If the opportunity does not move you closer to meaningful work with substance and purpose, recognize it may solve short term money problems but create long term misalignment.
• Find out what kind of stress does the job create. Distinguish the fine line between a good stress that helps you grow and the bad stress that destroys you.  
• Have a clear conversation about expectations considering it is a full time job that might require long term commitment. You might risk burning bridges if you plan to leave early.
• Ask what full time actually means including hours, overtime, creative control, and whether you will simply show up and make the donuts.

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• Define a clear goal that moves you toward your bigger vision. When the goal is vague, your focus becomes scattered and the next step always feels overwhelming.
• Separate vision from goals. Your vision stays consistent over years, while short term goals change often and guide what you focus on right now.
• Set a concrete goal with a deadline and outcome. For example, secure two regular clients by year end so your LLC can operate and hire someone.
• Turn scarcity thinking into a growth mindset. Replace “all clients are taken” with “you currently lack the knowledge of which clients are available.”
• Use if then thinking to regain control. If you lack knowledge about potential clients, then research companies, attend business events, and connect with owners who might need your services.
• Focus your energy on actions you can control. You cannot control whether clients exist, but you can research, meet people, and discover opportunities that may lead to work.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

1.  Add your thoughts to → The Weekly Discussion
2. Congratulate Adam Moffat for his → Win of the week!
3. RSVP for our Sunday Workout at → Sandy Dune in Malibu

🤔 The Weekly Discussion

• ❓Where are you the most concerned about outsourcing our humanity to the robots?

🥳 The Weekly Win

• Congrats to Adam Moffat whose first feature film (as an editor) was finally released for the world to see on Amazon Prime! → Click here to congratulate Adam

💪 The Weekly Workout

• Come join us Sunday, 9am SHARP at Sandy Dune in Malibu for a workout that is equal parts intense but also GORGEOUS! This is an Academy favorite and an experience you will not regret, trust me!

📆 Weekly Events

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tue, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thu, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

📧 Outreach Power Hour!

• Schedule your next Study Hall session and send the outreach that could open brand new doors for you
• Fridays, 8am-12pm PT

• Approach them as an expert first, not a mentor. Mentorship grows naturally after trust, value, and relevance are established.
• With you as the hero, briefly share where you are now, where you’re going next and what are the obstacles.
• Keep the first interaction short and thoughtful focused on their why. Then, ask permission to continue the conversation later rather than asking for help immediately.
• Follow up quickly through a channel they choose. Remind them who you are with one memorable detail from your conversation so they can easily recall the interaction.
• Do your homework before the event so you understand their work, mission, and why it matters to you.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• When the goals and obstacles are shared, treat the conversation like peers navigating the same challenges.
• Lead with curiosity. Let them speak more than half the time so they feel heard and naturally want another conversation.
• Help people feel seen, not just heard. Recognize the real impact of their work and how their contributions changed the landscape.
• When their obstacle appears something that you can solve, shift the conversation. Move from shared curiosity to exploring their problem more deeply.
• Sell with confidence only after you understand their goals and obstacles. Confidence comes from knowing you can genuinely be useful.
• Face it until you make it. Face the fear and show up authentically while still moving the conversation forward.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• If you feel stuck on routines or time blocks, revisit goals and obstacles first. Lack of clarity here usually causes confusion about what to focus on next.
• Separate goals from systems and choose an aspirational outcome that lights you up. Picture yourself completing a challenging weekend hike and notice how excitement creates natural motivation to build the habits.
• Test your goal using the SCARY framework. Make sure it is strategic, challenging, aspirational, relevant, and connected to your deeper why.
• Gather knowledge from people who have already done what you want. Ask how they trained and what to expect so your routine becomes more intentional.
• Use both humans and AI to fill knowledge gaps, but keep doing the work yourself. Learn, experiment, and build habits while gathering feedback along the way.
• Start with simple wins to build momentum. Ten minutes of strength training, walking, or yoga creates progress and lowers the resistance to starting.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Stop waiting for the perfect writing schedule. Build a simple system you can start immediately so you can fail fast, gather data, and quickly discover what actually works for your writing habit.
• Start with manageable writing blocks instead of assuming you can run a full cognitive marathon with six hours of writing in one day.
• Break writing into layers. 
• At 30,000 feet overview, you are spinning the writing plate. 
• At 10,000 feet overview, you are learning, researching, networking, and writing. 
• On the ground you schedule specific tasks.
• Build a weekly attention budget for writing. Spend time on admin, learning the craft, mentorship, and writing words on the page so the system supports your long term writing habit.
• Protect your highest energy hours for real writing. Put words on the page when your focus is strongest and move learning or conversations into lower energy parts of the day.
• Treat failure as system feedback, not identity failure. The faster you get feedback, the faster you can iterate and find something that works for you.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Think and ponder on the following:
• How do you define success at the end of this event?
• What are you hoping to get out of it? 
• What are you hoping to give to it?

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Refuse to start resentful. Negotiate until you feel valued and respected. If it is not in writing, it does not protect you. Do not sign until the terms match your guardrails.
• Get ready to say no. If you are not willing to walk away, you are not negotiating. 
• Decide which problems you would rather live with before you commit.
• Look at the role and offer from their perspective. They are paying for this job, not your entire resume. Choose yes or no based on the actual duties and rate.
• Give them the benefit of the doubt on day one. Show up, do great work, and control what you can control. If you are wrong, make sure you are protected.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Get the most clear information and expectations you do have and define the problem that it creates for you.
• Use the same two tools you have always had, YES and NO. Fewer opportunities just mean you need more runway so you can be deliberate about what earns your commitment.
• Ensure reciprocating commitment and loyalty. Have a clear understanding of the expectations so you can set specific boundaries.
• Decide in advance what makes you jump ship. A union show, guaranteed long term employment, or significantly better pay becomes an obvious yes they would understand.
• Communicate early and honestly about real possibilities. Let them know conversations are happening before they become emergencies that burn bridges.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Define what success looks like before the event. Picture the drive home and know exactly what makes this retreat a win for you.
• Look for the best opportunities to walk away with new relationships and be the most helpful voice in the room. Give thoughtful, specific feedback so others see you as generous, insightful, and worth staying connected to.
• Treat the host as your super connector. Build a real relationship so future introductions happen naturally without pressure.
• Focus on quality over quantity. Build a few genuine relationships instead of chasing surface-level connections with everyone in the room.
• Ask better questions to get better notes. Avoid “what did you think” and instead target flow, clarity, emotional impact, and trailer interest.
• Get them to talk about themselves to learn on their career paths. Ask where they are now, how they got there, where they’re going next and what’s stopping them.
• Balance intention with enjoyment. Be deliberate about outcomes, then give yourself permission to relax, connect, and have fun.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

❓What is the most important project you want to either start or complete this month? And why?

📆 Upcoming Live Events

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tue, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thu, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

📧 Outreach Power Hour!

• Schedule your next Study Hall session and send the outreach that could open brand new doors for you
• Fridays, 8am-12pm PT

🌲 Community Hike

• Saturday, Mar 7th - 9am - 11am PT - Malibu Creek

• Stop spinning five creative projects and choose less but better, reducing everything to what is both important and urgent.
• Move projects from someday to eventually, giving yourself permission to deprioritize without quitting.
• If everything is important, focus on the thing that's the most urgent. Filter every task through important and urgent, and if it fails either test, you do not work on it today.
• Focus on one project between now and tomorrow, closing every other tab, dock, and shiny object that tempts your rebel brain.
• Figure out your version of cruise control. Design the right kind of difficult, creating enough urgency to move, but not so much that you burn out at 150 miles an hour. 
• Build stronger guardrails around your week, assigning specific days for growth, exploration, or execution, and refusing to pull random threads.

Useful Resource:

Eisenhower Matrix

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Lead with genuine appreciation on your value, but elevate the tone, so you sound like a seasoned professional connecting with a peer.
• Move your why to the top. Make the fight against disinformation the emotional hook that earns their attention and signals shared mission.
• Align your goal with their mission. Focus on wanting to tell truth-seeking stories, not escaping shows you no longer want to work on.
• Use the expert approach and make yourself the hero seeking guidance. Tell a clear story: where you are now, where you want to go, and what is stopping you. 
• Establish credibility fast. Briefly name your 20 years in post-production and notable networks or credits so they make safe assumptions you play at a high level.
• Ask the right expert the right question. Position them as uniquely qualified to explain how they made the transition you want to make.
• Do deeper research before rewriting. Understand their background so your story and ask feel tailored, and intentional.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Use AI to fill knowledge gaps fast, but do not outsource your creative process. Let it save you hours of research while you still lift the heavy weights.
• Surround yourself with experts that are already doing what you want to do next. They will reveal what you do not know you do not know.
• Redefine entrepreneurs on your own terms. Build a small autonomous venture rooted in storytelling and real world connection.
• Find the right way to be able to sell yourself, to reduce the friction of being an entrepreneur.
• Ask better questions in better rooms. A niche gear group may solve technical issues, but trend level questions require bigger conversations.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• When mapping your attention, make sure to account for every single 15-minute block of your entire 7-day week and decide which plate you’re spinning.
• Focus on system-based goals rather than outcome-based goals and find the right kind of difficulty or challenge that is sustainable to build your cognitive fitness.
• Manage your energy such that everything flows smoothly throughout your day and week with your ultradian rhythm in mind.
• Three things to consider when looking at your time blocks:
• Is this the right time of day for me to be managing my energy?
• Is it the best configuration that manages your emotion?
• Is it going to be sustainable to do this every single day, 7 days a week?

Useful Resources:

Dr. John Raty’s Book - ADHD 2.0

Circadian Rhtymn

Ultradian Rhytmn

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Ignore advice that stops you from getting a master’s degree at a later age. But clarify what you want so you can decide if a degree supports that goal or just delays it.
• Getting a master’s degree can speed up your learning curve and you’ll be surrounded by peers with similar goals and obstacles. But it may not be necessary for the path you’re taking plus the cost of getting one would be significant.
• Surround yourself with people already doing what you want next so you learn funding, manufacturing, and launch pathways from real experience.
• Protect your autonomy by researching funding paths like bootstrapping before committing to VC that limits your flexibility.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Challenge the irrational fear directly. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by reaching out.
• Prioritize insider outreach first, because the photographer clarifies permits, logistics, and hidden opportunities before you risk creating unnecessary obstacles.
• Use outreach to uncover what you do not know you do not know, because insiders reveal subcultures, angles, and access you would never discover alone.
• Reframe outreach as identity practice, because each message chips away at insecurity and strengthens your confidence in calling yourself a photographer.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

🤔 Weekly Reflection & Discussion

❓Is it possible to de-enshittify the internet and our relationship to it?

📆 Upcoming Live Events

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tue, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thu, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

📧 Outreach Power Hour!

• Schedule your next Study Hall session and send the outreach that could open brand new doors for you
• Fridays, 8am-12pm PT

💪 Sunday Funday Workout

• Sunday 9am-12am PT at → College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita

• Create a reason to reach out that feels genuine and grounded in the value that you can provide.
• Stay on their mind by reconnecting when you notice something specific about their work that resonates with you. Study their catalog deeply so you can speak to their tone, style, music choices, and editorial approach with real insight.
• Share thoughtful observations that show you are already preparing to be a better collaborator for them.
• Ditch rigid calendar reminders and trust intuition so your outreach feels human, not automated.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Define your guardrails and boundaries. Protect a strong boundary and claim two focused hours in the evening to have ten hours a week of realistic assistant editor capacity.
• Accept that even a game changing opportunity can be a distraction if it violates your values, priorities, and current commitments.
• Focus on existing relationships and referrals. Opportunities that fit ten hours a week will almost always come from people who already know your value.
• Recognize the market reality. Lower budgets often mean more work for less pay, so your boundaries may limit new opportunities even further.
• Treat assistant editing as a hobby or side hustle for now, something that feeds your creative soul.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Break down attention mapping into 3 levels:
• 30,000 ft. overview - Define the four plates that are the most important domains of your life, that if 1 dropped, everything else falls apart.
• 10,000 ft. overview - Categorize each plate with general items under it
• Boots on the ground - List the specific activity or action that you’re doing
• Create four calendars in four different colors that are named after your four plates and block every hour of your week based on those four.
• Build multiple maps for different seasons. Freelance week and full time week are different stories. Revisit and iterate instead of chasing one perfect calendar.
• Stop catching a case of the “shoulds.” Design the story of your week so it flows and makes sense for you, not the version you think you are supposed to live.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Clarify the values underneath your goals so you know who you want to become, not just what you want to achieve in 3 months, 6 months, or a year.
• Accept there will be compromise when closing the gap and use your values to decide what is a yes with compromise versus a non negotiable no.
• Don’t expect every paycheck job to fulfill your soul and feed your passion. Use autonomy, authentic connection, advocacy, and spiritual alignment as a filter to spot opportunities versus distractions.
• Reframe commercial or UGC work as skill building if you value learning new languages and expanding your toolbox.
• Ask what they truly need on day one so you can align expectations instead of fueling imposter syndrome.
• Gauge how they see their content and notice if their enthusiasm matches your need for authenticity.
• After all the analysis, listen to your intuition and trust your gut when something feels off.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Change the story of your outreach depending on who the hero of the story is based on your these five different approaches in networking:
• Peer to Peer - you share similar goals, obstacles and experience.
• Expert - somebody who’s doing now what you want to do next, or has already overcome the problems and obstacles that you have.
• Mentor - extension of expert approach where you’re continuously seeking guidance and expertise.
• Advocate - somebody who can connect you with a gatekeeper
• Gatekeeper - someone who will directly hire you to solve their  problems.
• Appeal to them as human beings first by tapping into burning pains they already feel and inviting a short conversation around solving that specific frustration.
• Stop making assumptions about their pain and instead observe their experience as a customer so you can empathize with their frustrations and uncover what is actually driving them crazy.
• Start with one-on-one conversations and focus on being effective before being efficient so you build the human skill of understanding real problems before scaling anything.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• As you get the things that you’ve been working towards, expect things to get harder and more complicated.
• Focus on what you can control, by showing up, doing the best creative work, and not worrying about the larger dynamics.
• Be the bigger person early, lean into collaboration, and choose the workflow that reduces friction while expanding your skill set.
• Set them up for success regardless of the friction that the politics at work might create.
• Refuse to reduce your creativity to avoid outshining someone, and commit to doing amazing work regardless of how others react.

Useful Resource:

Breaking Through Your Upper Limits and Living In Your Zone of Genius | with Gay Hendricks

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

1. Contribute your thoughts to this week's discussion question
2. Share a win in the Wins Channel
3. Join us this Sunday for another 💪 Sunday Funday group workout!

🤔 Weekly Reflection & Discussion

 ❓Is this the future of film & TV? Or the death of it?

📆 Upcoming Live Events

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tue, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thu, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

📧 Outreach Power Hour!

• Schedule your next Study Hall session and send the outreach that could open brand new doors for you
• Fridays, 8am-12pm PT

💪 Sunday Funday Workout

• Sunday 9am-12am PT at → Caballero Canyon in Encino

• Turn watching shows into fuel by researching and reaching out to people who made them, and surround yourself with creative peers to reconnect with your passion.
• Reframe networking as building real relationships with peers, not chasing gatekeepers or asking for job leads.
• Shrink the 3-hour block into 60 minutes and focus only on surrounding yourself with creative peers making work you genuinely love.
• Stop asking what you are supposed to be doing and start asking who you want to become and what you value right now.
• Revisit the Day 2 of the 5-Day Focus Challenge and answer the Goal prompts.
• Let go of sunk cost guilt and choose alignment over proving you did not waste time or money and consider booking time with your editing mentor to share your doubts and see if he's got any advice.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• If you struggle on the Focus question, move upstream from the GO FAR framework and define your Goal by the end of the year.
• Consider having an Exploratory Goal: Having clarity and structure so you can both have financial stability and meaningful creative work.
• Stop treating your business and creative work as mutually exclusive. Look for overlap. Build relationships that generate income and expand your creative network at the same time.
• Create space to explore. Block time with no rigid agenda so bigger ideas can surface and you can think about who you are becoming, not just what you are producing.
• Segment and theme your days so you can compartmentalize specific tasks, to protect your focus and intentions.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Think of your outreach as building relationships rather than completing a transaction. Build up the relationship as an expert before progressing to having them as mentor or advocate.
• Let her feel useful. When she helps you move forward, she becomes invested in your success.
• Clarify where you are now and where you are going next. Then clearly name what is stopping you so she can empathize with the gap.
• Do the research on her first publishing journey. Find one moment, setback, or decision point you can reference. Get her to tell her story, that’s relevant to where you're stuck.

Useful Resource:

Q&A: Where do you draw the line between reaching out to somebody versus being a pest to them?

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Build your next chapter around what exists now while pursuing things and projects that are meaningful to you. But accept that it’s also going to be different.
• With your set goal, identify the real obstacle before scheduling anything and ask what is truly stopping you.
• Decide consciously and practice strategic imbalance. Choose which plate gets more time whether it’s meaningful writing or spontaneous experiences.
• Create an attention map for one ideal week. Decide in advance where your energy goes from morning to night on a normal day.
• Manage your attention, energy and emotion before going deep with time management.

Useful Resource:

5-day Focus Challenge

Overcoming the Grief of “Invisible Losses” (Including Losing Your Job), and Getting Out of “Survival Mode” | with Christina Rasmussen

Hot Seat with David Feinberg: Translating your vision into big goals and actionable time blocks

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Define exactly whose problems you solve and speak clearly to one primary audience instead of trying to appeal to everyone.
• Identify the common thread across your work. Look beyond genre and format and articulate the consistent experience clients get when they hire you, not just the services you provide.
• Reframe your copy so that it speaks directly to your audience instead of them reading between the lines.
• Ask trusted collaborators what you uniquely brought to projects, and look for overlapping language in their responses and use that pattern to shape a positioning statement.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Narrow your specific goal for the year into something that is hard enough but realistically attainable.
• Define your ideal client using real criteria from your recent success. Look for reputable companies with a long history, an in-house department, and outdated workflows, where you can mutually be valuable.
• Who you know gets you in the door, what you know keeps you in the door. You just need to create the conditions where you're creating these new connections.
• Build a dream list of avatar companies that mirror your best client and map overlapping circles with your existing network. 
• Put the cart before the horse. Lead with outreach before perfecting your website that forces you to create good problems to work on.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Write down everything out of your head into one capture system and determine the things that are urgent.
• Ask a simpler question if you haven’t got clear goals yet: “What do you want?”
• Define your SCARY goals both for work and life that are Strategic, Challenging, Attainable, Relevant, and in alignment with your deeper Y (Why).
• Define the goals that are in alignment to the things that you value.
• Have a realistic time on when to achieve that goal.
• Treat time management as:
• Time Management - Ask how long a specific task will take
• Energy Management - Where you should be putting it in your calendar
• Attention Management - Identify the tasks that are aligned with your goals and values to have effective use of your time
• Find your ultradian rhythm or your rhythm throughout the day where you have the most and least amount of energy to be creative or do a specific task.
• Break scary goals into tiny, simple, easy steps using the Effort-Complexity Matrix. Move from hard and complex to small and doable.
• Have a clear language in your calendar where each time block can be completed by the end of each block, that will look simple and easy.
• Turn “calendar task” to “event” to add travel time and have distinction with other tasks.
• Check out tasks when it’s done to have visual representation of its completion, otherwise it will automatically be placed on top of the next day’s bucket.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

❓What can I help you with next?

Want to get involved this week and connect with the community?

1. Contribute your thoughts to this week's reflection question
2. Share a win from last week in the Wins Channel
3. Join us this Sunday for a 💪 Functional Fitness Workout (all levels are welcome!)

🤔 Your Weekly Reflection

 ❓If you could connect with anyone, who would you reach out to? And why?

📆 Upcoming Live Events

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tue, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thu, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

📧 Outreach Power Hour!

• Schedule your next Study Hall session and send the outreach that could open brand new doors for you
• Fridays, 8am-12pm PT

💪 Sunday Workout

• Sunday 9am-12am PT at Serrania Park in Woodland Hills

🎉 Student Wins of the Week!

A solid outreach win for Brandon Holmes that shows the power of sending thoughtful follow-up! After workshopping his follow-up with Zack in the Office Hours Hot Seat last Tuesday, Brandon received a warm reply, and his pitch will be shared at an upcoming editorial meeting!

• Define clear rules to be intentional in using Instagram instead of just pacifying your attention.
• Set boundaries and guardrails. Think of boundaries as a guide to the path you want to take (but doesn’t stop you), while guardrails stop you from actually crossing the edge.
• Remove addictive apps from your phone and create friction by using bookmarked web versions instead.
• Use guardrails to access applications only for a specific and limited time, and lock out after.

Useful Resources:

Algorithms are the new cigarettes. Is it possible to quit cold turkey?

You don't need a flip phone. You need a philosophy.

When guardrails aren't enough to keep you from picking up your phone, you might need this.

Becoming a ‘Digital Minimalist’ | with Cal Newport

Freedom.to

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Name the real choice instead of pretending there’s a good option because clarity reduces paralysis even when both paths feel bad.
• Use your leverage to sign the contract only when they provide you with the work schedule and be ready to say no so you can negotiate and find a middle ground.
• Weigh in the progress that you made for your health that will impede and eventually cost you a lot.
• Separate feelings from facts by checking the math and your runway before letting fear decide for you.
• Find out if they truly value you and find a way to make things work for you.
• Trust your ability to figure things out because you’ve survived harder uncertainty before.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Dig into the emotional level on why you are making the wrong choice of food and get radically honest about what food is solving for you.
• Start building safety nets like water in hand,and look at the healthiest version of a crunchy food that can help alleviate or reduce anxiety.
• Have a better understanding of what are the alternatives that you can use to solve problems that the food is solving.
• Focus on the awareness by taking a few minutes to write down your thoughts before making the offending choices, and think how you can alleviate the anxiety or missing out on shared experience.
• Change one thing at a time instead of eliminating everything from your diet.
• Protect your future self by controlling environments like using Instacart instead of going to the grocery store.

Useful Resource:

How to Use ‘Intuitive Eating’ To Change Your Relationship With Food | with Melissa Costello

Using ‘The Four Tendencies’ to Better Understand Yourself (and Others) | with Gretchen Rubin

⚠️ DISCLAIMER ⚠️

This recording and any related discussion are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. I am not a licensed healthcare provider, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical or mental health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding any medical or health-related concerns.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Name the real problem you are solving before calling something an opportunity, especially when exhaustion is driving the decision more than long-term alignment.
• Compare problems solved versus problems created, and consider which costs quietly compound over time like distance from family and community
• Pitch a middle-ground where you can be helpful to them remotely.
• Explore all other opportunities and treat relocation as the extreme option.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Name the real source of overwhelm instead of everything at once, especially how uncertainty, messy planning, and shifting demands quietly drain energy faster than the work itself.
• Acknowledge that what’s currently happening is a management problem where you are thrown into solving more problems for more people.
• Pay attention to early burnout signals instead of pushing through them, especially when your body wants to escape and your mind keeps spinning after work.
• Write down what needs to change for this job to be worth the cost and determine which of those are within your control, and those that need to be communicated.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Raise your yes and no standards, shifting from gun-for-hire toward being an artist, and let alignment, curiosity, and meaning filter collaborations.
• Explore the creator economy and find the overlaps on being an artist that focus on storytelling, education, and emotional transfer rather than algorithms.
• Our ability to feel and create emotions through our human ability to have empathy makes us irreplaceable by AI.
• Content creation is nothing more than a transfer of emotion. Treat vertical video as an emerging medium that still conveys the same emotion.
• Stay in exploratory mode, follow rabbit holes, test small experiments, and define what an artist actually means to you before locking into rigid next steps.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Add a brief, genuine emotional hook so your message doesn’t sound like every other AI-polished pitch.
• The more human effort and uniqueness that we put on our message, the more it's going to stand out
• Research enough to feel something real. Name why it mattered to you and connect it to why they do their work.
• Make sure to start with why you reached out, that this is a follow up. Then add a bit of value before going right back to the pitch.
• Always end with a clear, simple question. Create an easy yes or no response and an open loop worth closing.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Ask first if there is mutual exchange of value: “Can I be helpful to them and can they be helpful to me?”
• Don’t assume a step back means overqualified. Determine first the most important skills and knowledge to do the job and if you meet those.
• In the next two weeks, send a follow up email to start the conversation to know the workflows to better gauge if you are the right fit for this job.
• Figure out where they are in the process and how much room for error exists because learning slowly versus hitting the ground yesterday changes everything.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

1.  Contribute your thoughts to this week's reflection question
2. Share a win from last week in the Wins Channel
3. Come join us this Sunday for a community hike!

🤔 Your Weekly Reflection

Given we're already into February (how did that happen?!), that means we have a better sense of what's working well so far with our 2026 goals and what might need to change.

❓MONTHLY REVIEW: What's working well in 2026? And what needs to change?

📆 Upcoming Live Events

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tue, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thu, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

📧 Outreach Power Hour!

• Schedule your next Study Hall session and send the outreach that could open brand new doors for you
• Fridays, 8am-12pm PT

🌲 Community Hike!

• Sunday 9am-11am PT in Tarzana, CA at the Greenbriar Trailhead

🎉 Student Wins of the Week!

Eric Brodeur met Diego Perez through the Arnold Academy Mastermind program, and that connection turned into an exceptional sound mix completed last week. Diego’s craftsmanship and dedication meant the mix was nailed with very few notes and included time on Sony’s Burt Lancaster mix stage. I love it when this community brings creative minds together!

• Calendar rebellion may be caused by too much complexity, and fear of what’s on your calendar that you should be doing.
• Simplify your tasks to have the confidence on things that you should be working on and be clear on the goals that you are working towards.
• Go through the 5-Day Focus Challenge to gain more clarity on your goals.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Unless your finances moves you toward a specific goal and does not deviate you from what you should be doing, then it is a distraction.
• There’s nothing more valuable than your time. Use the calendar as a mirror of how you spend your time.
• Accept that avoiding calendars often hides fear about wasted time, identity loss, or past goals.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Separate intention from execution by using plates as an attention budget, not a daily schedule.
• Use one default calendar for commitments and one ACT calendar for real actions, so you always see what you’re actually doing for the day.
• Create optional granular calendars like admin, errands, or workouts to instantly see where your energy and attention are really going.
• Read your calendar like sheet music by color and spacing, watching patterns reveal overload, misalignment, or too much busywork.
• See time management as two separate systems:
• The four plates where you budget your attention
• The actual calendar where you break down all the things in your life
• Create your tasks with Apple reminder, map it on your calendar, and turn it into a blocked time.
• Break work into the smallest finishable actions so every block ends with done, not behind.
• Build margins and white space on purpose so your calendar supports recovery, focus, and flexibility.

Useful Resource:

BusyCal

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Follow up within two weeks since they asked for your materials and are shooting soon.
• Add a bit more value to your message with a very brief check-in to inquire on where they are in the process.
• Reflect on your value that you are already preparing for the job with the mindset of you already have the job, rather than just sitting and waiting.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Focus on effectiveness, not efficiency, because doing the right things matters more than doing more things.
• Set realistic expectations on things that you should get done to avoid the thought of not being productive enough.
• Manage your time and attention to avoid the fear of thinking where your time went by tracking everything on your calendar.
• Notice how small distractions quietly break flow and cost far more time than they seem.
• Accept you are never getting it all done so pressure drops and priorities sharpen.

Useful Resource:

Why Optimization Isn’t the Answer (and How to Make the Most of the Four Thousand Weeks We Have) | with Oliver Burkeman

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Switch to thinking about less is better, rather than thinking about how to do more. Shift from sledgehammer to scalpel and to get better on the fundamentals.
• Focus on mobility where you learn how your body works. 
• Add recovery where sleep and nutrition comes in, and consider having time off to have enough space for your body to recover.
• Write down everyday the answer to the following prompt: “What did I do well today?” to see your strengths rather than weaknesses.

Useful Resources:

Pain Relief & Mobility

The Disciplined Pursuit of Less | with Greg McKeown

⚠️ DISCLAIMER ⚠️

This recording and any related discussion are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. I am not a licensed healthcare provider, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical or mental health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding any medical or health-related concerns.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Reframe fear by anchoring to the process, not outcomes, knowing growth, learning, and connection still happen.
• Ask whether you are okay not trying, because that question shifts everything from doubt and paralysis into how you move forward.
• Separate “what am I doing” from “how am I doing it,” and notice confidence grows once you stop questioning purpose and start refining execution.
• Review and reflect by asking what worked, what didn’t, and what to change next, without deciding the work was pointless.
• When you start to be fearful, consider the alternative of not trying and regretting it later on.
• Think about the people on the other end of your finished product on how it will impact them.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Boundaries don’t scare people off, they filter for respect and seriousness.
• Walking away felt terrifying, but it exposed red flags early and turned desperation into leverage.
• Proactively adding creating value before the shoot increases your worth and shifts the relationship to partnership.
• Clear constraints around time and money created trust, momentum, and a deal that feels sustainable.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Start with the goal question (what do you want to achieve next):
• Secure a minimum of 2 additional months of freelance employment
• Define what’s stopping you from expanding your client base:
• Not enough having existing clients to fill the 2-month gap
• Lack of confidence in your ability to do cold outreach
• Reworking how to present yourself
• Focus on one warm contact first because one conversation could instantly close the two-month gap.
• Treat outreach as micro-commitments that explore fit and value before availability, details, or constraints.
• Share availability only when asked so curiosity and momentum grow instead of stalling too early.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Ask what this opportunity will cost my mental health, sleep, relationships, and creative energy before asking what it pays.
• Treat toxic jobs as temporary survival tools only if they still leave energy for outreach toward healthier environments.
• Let go of prestige chasing and party validation, since many celebrated projects hide miserable cultures and long-term regret.
• Stay open to lesser-known projects where skills grow, joy exists, and meaningful work can still become unexpectedly valuable.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Come to the HR meeting prepared. Go through all information available to you like an employee handbook so you’re already clear on the regulations.
• Ask what the test entails before agreeing to avoid possible exploitation.
• Treat red flag messages as data, and decide what cost you are willing to pay to live and breathe YouTube.
• If they're willing to pay you and respect you, then the test might actually be a good thing for you before you commit to working with them.
• Summarize past conversations clearly in follow ups, because people meet many faces, especially when alcohol is involved.
• Do not follow up with your resume unless he specifically asked for it during your conversation.
• Make your ask specific by naming where you are going next and what is stopping you, so others can actually help.
• Find a reason where people can be helpful to you, help you answer specific questions and overcome specific obstacles
• Use rejection as a roadmap by asking what would need to change to become a better fit, then turning feedback into goals.
• Enjoy the vacation and be present, because emails and anxiety will wait.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Accept the reality that legacy Hollywood has reached equilibrium and will not pick up again.
• Go beyond chasing Marvel or Star Wars credits and broaden what excites you about them, like mythology, world building, and new creative problems to solve.
• Shift from deliberate goals to exploratory goals and allow curiosity to guide where narrative scripted experience can be built right now.
• Explore emerging creator ecosystems on YouTube and beyond where good people are making meaningful long-form narrative work.
• Accumulate narrative scripted experience anywhere it exists, because dailies, turnovers, and problem solving all count regardless of platform.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Define the real opportunity first. Decide if this is about the short itself or building a long-term relationship with a producer who can send future work your way.
• Given that shorts are flat-rate with endless notes and no real deadline, be clear on their expectations and be very clear on your own boundaries and guardrails as well.
• Whatever they say as far as what they're looking for and how long they think it will take, at a minimum, double it.
• Have a better understanding of the material, the creative challenges, and the problems that you need to solve for them to see if it is an opportunity or a distraction.
• Set logistical boundaries before creative ones. Limit days, hours, or weeks so the project cannot quietly expand into forever.
• Request the latest cut, not just footage to have a better idea of what you are getting into beyond the creative.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

If you're even a little Accelerator-curious, this is the week to reach out to schedule a quick Zoom chat so we can catch up and see if this program can help you clarify where to prioritize your attention this year.

👉 Learn more about The Focus Accelerator Program

📆 Upcoming Live Events

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tue, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thu, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

Focus Accelerator Enrollment

• Enrollment is now open!
• Accelerator Meet & Greet Q&A is Mon, Feb 2nd - 8:30am PT
• Enrollment will close next Mon, Feb 2nd at 9pm PT

• Picture the vision of your next phase of work and like over the next few years. Then look if working for season 2 brings you closer or further away from it.
• Focus on building a relationship with the showrunner for the next three months and be clear on your intentions to see if it opens creative opportunities.
• The more you build this relationship, the more this person might be an advocate and protect you.
• Use this opportunity to strengthen your ability to set clear boundaries. When people call you difficult to work with, that usually means you're difficult to take advantage of.
• If you're in a really tough situation where you feel you're being taken advantage of, you either have to quit on them, or you have to quit on you.

Useful Resource:

How to Know (Without a Doubt) If It’s Time to Quit | with Annie Duke

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Approach everything with a mindset of, “I am designing my work around my life.” Not the other way around.
• When sending a thank you message, remind them in one or two sentences where you believe you can provide value to them.
• Have something short and memorable that can allow them to remember you when they look at your follow-up.
• Follow-up on a Friday morning to give a friendly nudge before you go off-grid. You are not bothering as long as you provide more value, and they might even be thankful for it.
• Always set clear boundaries even early in your career. 
• Get a sense first of what they think and if you can start in March, then remind them of your unavailability after.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Avoid broad questions and instead ask narrow, specific questions that are easier to answer honestly.
• Start by checking alignment on interpretation of how things went before diving into mistakes or improvements.
• Ease into deeper questions only if the initial responses show capacity for nuance and reflection.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Draft a value paragraph to start a new conversation and build a relationship that goes beyond one project.
• Explore and watch what they have worked on to get a better sense of who they are and why they do what they do.
• Five different approaches in relationship building (based on context):
• Peer-to-peer: somebody who share similar goals and/or obstacles
• Expert: somebody who’s doing now what you want to do next, or has overcome obstacles where you’re currently stuck.
• Mentor: an extension of the expert approach where you continue going for guidance, mentorship or expertise.
• Advocate: someone who can open doors and facilitate introductions or recommendations to opportunities.
• Gatekeeper: the person making the decision to hire you.
• Consider using the expert approach and be very clear on how they can help you.
• When considering step back roles, address overqualification directly and clearly explain why you are committed beyond just filling a short term gap.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Start before certainty by defining an exploratory goal that gives permission to create, ask questions, and discover the story through doing, not overthinking the outcome.
• Lead with clear value by explicitly recognizing the organization’s mission and impact, not listing facts they already know about themselves.
• Restructure the message to flow from shared values to your “story” to a clear, visible “ask” that ends with a direct question.
• Go right to the point of why you are reaching out to them so they immediately understand how they can help and why it aligns with their purpose.
• Attach your why to their why so helping you feels like advancing their mission, not doing you a favor.
• Figure out who’s your best super connector, like an organization that receives people from different organizations as an alternate strategy.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Lead with value by sharing how working on the project previously has been valuable to you (and to them), focusing on the impact that it provides. 
• Tapping on their “why,” can get you so much further than any links, skills or experience.
• Be more explicit on framing the story about them, using this framework: 
• “Given these are your goals, and these might be some of the obstacles, let me tell you more about these relevant skills or experiences that I have, and how they can help you with this next project.”
• Replace implied interest with a clear, confident ask that invites a next step and makes it easy to say yes to a conversation.
• Follow up politely, patiently, and persistently by adding new value, deepening understanding of their slate, and aligning timing with their hiring timeline.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• There isn't one formula on how to build a more sustainable living doing creative work. Everybody else is figuring it out, but they’re just micro steps ahead.
• Explore the idea of earning from providing workshops for post workflows and structures, and part-time content creation.
• Get a better sense of what you want and don’t want, who you want to become in the  process, and what you’re not willing to sacrifice as part of the Exploratory Phase.
• Consider your values (storytelling, autonomy and connection), to evaluate every opportunity if it aligns or pulls you away from your goals.
• Weigh-in on the values that might work against each other and find out which is a priority and which needs to be compromised.
• Narrow your focus on who you’re connecting with and get a better sense of what might work for you (using ChatGPT).
• Identify where your past experience makes you uniquely valuable in a new context, turning ordinary skills into rare expertise depending on the room you are in.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

Our main focus in The Arnold Academy this week will be our 5-day Focus Challenge (very meta, I know). All members of the Academy may participate free of charge and join at any point during the week.

👉 Click here to access the 5-Day Focus Challenge

Yes, we will still be conducting regular Office Hours this week as well. And 5-day challenge questions are welcome!

📆 Upcoming Live Events

🎯 The 5-day Focus Challenge

• Daily challenge content will release each day at 8:30am PT
• You may participate at any point, no live attendance is required

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tue, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thu, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

Focus Accelerator Enrollment

• Enrollment will open for The Focus Accelerator this Friday afternoon
• Enrollment will close next Friday, Jan 30th
• New student orientation will be Mon, Feb 2nd

• Use the “I get it follow-up” to be polite, patient and persistent, on your email that does not get a response, then step back and revisit in 6 months to a year.
• Recognize the direct link between never setting goals and drifting into the existential vacuum of lost meaning and purpose.
• You are where you need to be. Accept that this discomfort is not a deviation from the path but the actual path between the phases of life.
• If you’re stuck at answering what you want and don’t want, as what you are not willing to sacrifice.
• Explore broadly without committing by researching content you already love and asking where your skills could fit.
• Redefine pride in work beyond prestige brands and studio logos toward stories you are excited to talk about.
• Reach out to people you admire with lifestyle curiosity not advice requests by asking them to tell their story.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Break down your year-long goal to short term goals for each season.
• Treat outreach, networking, and portfolio updates as systems that serve one concrete outcome.
• Find reliable freelance clients, where you can get consistent work, but not tied down to being full-time.
• Focus your attention on research and outreach for specific companies that are in your area as well as in-person networking.
• Update your portfolio just enough to build confidence to put yourself out there.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• The basic foundation of a job interview should answer both questions: “Is this the right fit for me?” and “Am I the right fit for them?”
• Treat the interview as an exploratory conversation focused on understanding the project, their needs, and where you can genuinely be most valuable as both an assistant editor and a bilingual collaborator.
• Ask direct questions about language, workflow, responsibilities, and challenges to clarify whether the project is English, Chinese, or a hybrid and how your skills truly apply.
• Run your race and set yourself apart by focusing on their needs where you can be helpful.
• Be honest about strengths and gaps, knowing transparency builds trust, creates better alignment, and can open unexpected opportunities to learn and grow on the job.
• Separate self worth from the outcome by focusing on fit, qualifications, timing, and needs rather than whether getting hired validates your value.
• Define your own non negotiables around pay, hours, duration, growth, and opportunity cost so you can assess whether the role supports your long term goals.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• When reaching out cold, earn the conversation by leading with value, asking better questions, and letting them invite the call instead of chasing their time.
• Flip the script and plan work around life by clarifying non-negotiables before committing to timelines or opportunities.
• When approaching an important decision with a sense of urgency, ask yourself, “Will this matter in 5 years?”
• Consider this as a relatively low stakes opportunity for you to practice the art of scheduling your work around your life.
• Reiterate your excitement and provide more value, but confidently state your boundaries and constraints, and let them choose how to proceed.
• Define success for your trip, whether getting most of the experience or having some work lined up, but allow yourself to disconnect first and see how it feels.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Do not bring up the location problem first. Focus on how you can be valuable to them.
• Give them exactly what they asked for, then add context that proves you solve their specific problems.
• Guide them to the most relevant examples that mirror their project rather than sending them to your homepage.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Treat this as the mentor approach, and remind them about the previous interaction, the value that you got out of it, and how it's led you to where you are now.
• Shift the value paragraph to highlight how his guidance changed your actions, decisions, outreach, and trajectory over the last two years.
• Make the ask warmer and more specific by anchoring it to previous impact, then introduce a new, nuanced problem that naturally invites a deeper conversation.
• Aim for the sweet spot question that is too complex for email but perfect for a call, making it easy and exciting for him to help again.
• Keep future updates shorter and more frequent to maintain relationships warm, reinforce progress, and turn every interaction into a virtuous cycle of mentorship.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Separate feelings from facts by recognizing this is negotiation, not betrayal, and respond with a clear counter-proposal instead of emotional reactions.
• Define your absolute minimum terms upfront so you can negotiate confidently and walk away without resentment if they cannot meet them.
• Price the value of your time and expertise, not your current financial anxiety, and use clear boundaries and written agreements to prevent exploitation and endless timelines.
• Consider a hybrid deal of flat rate with a hard end date with weekly rates beyond, to meet them in the middle and create urgency while protecting your time.
• Have very clear expectations upfront that everybody agrees to before day one so you can always point to those expectations.
• Lay out the minimum parameters that make this an opportunity rather than a distraction to the goals that you want to achieve.
• Protect yourself, your mental health and your relationships. Don’t let it go to waste because you don’t feel like having a difficult conversation with them.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Start every meeting with mindset first by deciding the approach and defining success before you walk in.
• Blend expert and gatekeeper approaches by sharing your journey, strengths, and curiosity while steering toward where your skills can solve their real problems.
• Focus on unknown blind spots rather than obvious gaps by asking what short form editors don’t know that they don’t know when transitioning into long form scripted work.
• Translate transferable skills into specific value by connecting trailer instincts, pacing, and storytelling to concrete challenges scripted teams struggle to solve.
• Frame questions around their needs by asking where someone with your background is uniquely positioned to help.
• Treat the meeting as exploratory jazz with a loose roadmap that allows curiosity, learning, and mutual fit without pressure to pitch or force outcomes.
• Define success as being likable and helpful first so the door stays open for guidance, advocacy, and future opportunities.
• End with a clear next step by asking for one specific introduction to someone who has successfully made the same transition.

Useful Resource:

Office Hours Archives (Meeting Prep)

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Follow up confidently after the holidays when enough time has passed and the new year has settled.
• Add a tiny piece of genuine value to the one facilitating the connection then shift the tone from asking for a favor to thanking them for the offer they already made. 
• Remind them also of the value that you can bring to the other person.
• Use a full court press by reaching multiple inboxes at the same time for a higher likelihood of getting somebody's attention and increased perceived importance.
• Make your cold outreach shorter and lead with value of  why the story or project compelled you.
• Focus the first message on the connection to have that one advocate, then dig deep on your story once you’re connected to the right person.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

✍️ Your Weekly Reflection

❓What are your SCARY goals for work and life in 2026?

📣 Weekly Announcements

• We're launching our FREE 5-day Focus Challenge next Monday the 19th!
• Check out our new Academy Chat channel!

📆 Upcoming Live Events

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tue, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thu, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

✉️ Outreach Power Hour during Study Hall

• Fridays, 8am-12pm PT
• Get that outreach polished and out into the world!

• Focus on your skills, not your lack of experience, and frame everything around the problems you can help them solve.
• Reach out to Jill Calhoun in case you are talking about the same company to know what their needs are.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• The timing of the previous message before the holidays and the new year with all the chaos might delay her response.
• Give it a little bit of time, but there will come a time relatively soon when we’re going to send another nudge

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Replace binary outreach with conversation starters that invite response even when they are not actively hiring.
• It absolutely matters what you say, but it doesn't guarantee you're gonna get the opportunities.
• Be confident and start asserting why you are useful to this specific project right now.
• Make the other person the hero of the story and frame your experience as potential solutions to their problems. Then ask if those solutions are valuable to them.
• Do not assume what they need. Show what you believe is relevant and explicitly ask if it helps or if a quick catch-up makes sense.
• Always end with a question to leave them with an open loop of what you want to talk about next or what you need them to respond to.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Use the gatekeeper approach intentionally to start relationships, and recognize every response is pushing you toward either “keep in mind” or “please keep in touch.”
• Always give exactly what they ask for first, then subtly steer the conversation by adding focused value that makes their work and story feel genuinely seen.
• Find something personal either in the work that they’re associated with, or it could even be about their own journey.
• Focus on building the relationship rather than completing a transaction.
• Start a conversation on similarities on your journey. Pivot from gatekeeper approach to expert approach, potentially leading to mentor approach.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Stop treating time management as the starting point. Manage attention, energy, expectations, then emotions so outreach fits real life instead of fighting it.
• Look into realistic expectations and strategic imbalance. Push outreach harder between projects, ease off during intense work, and rebuild momentum before the end to avoid panic.
• Budget attention first. Map where outreach actually lives in your week, then break outreach into tiny steps: research who to contact, research their work, watch intentionally, draft, revise, get feedback, revise again, then schedule sending.
• Reverse engineer from the goal. Start with when the message sends, then work backward so nothing feels rushed or overwhelming.
• Use urgency to beat perfectionism. Schedule the hot seat early so accountability forces action instead of waiting for the perfect message.
• Match outreach to your next dream job, not the ultimate one. Lower emotional resistance by aiming where you already feel valuable and ready.
• Explore specific people to add to your spreadsheet with the new goal of connecting to experts for your next dream job.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Start with the mentality that you are already a small business. You are the CEO deciding roles, projects, timelines, and strategy based on where you want to create value.
• Drop urgency and envy about age or titles. The only reason you're going to get the opportunities you want are because you're the solution to somebody else's problems.
• Dig into the “cool kids” to know where they would see value in you and your abilities.
• Identify your next thing and what resonates with you and surround yourself with people building around those values.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Shift from I hate asking for money to learning mode and practice assertiveness as a skill, using this real world obstacle to build confidence with very low stakes.
• Reframe worst case scenarios by comparing short term discomfort of assertiveness to long term cost of being taken advantage of.
• You're not wired to feel guilty if you stand up for yourself and set a boundary. These issues were developed through life experiences.
• Push yourself outside of your comfort zone to the hardest version of what you can do in this situation.
• Separate emotion from facts by clearly restating what was agreed upon. Recognize that this is 100% a “them” problem.There's nothing about this that is your problem to solve.

Useful Resource:

How We are “Wired to Create”, What It Means to Be a “Creative”, and How We Can Leverage Our Unique Gifts | with Scott Barry Kaufman

Dear Hollywood: We're Not "Lucky to Be Here"...You're Lucky to Have Us

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Separate vision from goal. Have a clear goal that can be based on your identity: “To do work with meaning and purpose, and to empower others against oppressive systems.”
• Remove overwhelm by focusing on closing a 25 percent income gap before chasing dream projects. 
• Reconnect with your existing network and see if they can refer you to other people on their network who are doing now what you want to be doing next.
• Use the expert approach and ask how they overcome their financial obstacles and sustainably generate creative income.
• Broaden beyond one role and lean into being a generalist in a changing creative economy.

Useful Resource:

Overcoming Limiting Beliefs (and Lack of Experience) to Break Into Scripted Television | with Marcella Garcia

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Look into their website’s About Page to know why they do what they do and if it resonates with you.
• Don’t start the conversation on the potential opportunity to invest. Build the foundation of your relationship on your shared goals.
• Lead with value and take the peer to peer approach to learn more of their goals and obstacles where you can potentially be valuable.
• Give them a better understanding of who you are and where you are going next.

Useful Resource:

Simon Sinek’s Book: Start with Why

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

I'd like to welcome everyone in The Arnold Academy back from the holidays. I hope all of you were able to get some much deserved rest and have the time to review and reflect on 2025. I have lots of plans for 2026 to make this community an even better resource for you, and I hope to see you at our Academy Town Hall this Friday morning! (more info below)

✍️ Your Weekly Reflection

❓What is your one-word theme for 2026?

📣 Weekly Announcements

• Come join our Academy Town Hall - Friday, Jan 9th 8:30am PT
• Whether you are able to attend or not, please use our Suggestion Box to share any changes or additions you'd like to see us address in 2026

📆 Upcoming Live Events

💻 Come join us for live Office Hours this week!

• WORK Office Hours - Tues, 8:30am - 10:30am PT
• LIFE Office Hours - Thurs, 8:30am - 10:30am PT

⛪️ Academy Town Hall

• Friday, Jan 9th - 8:30am-10:30am PT

💪 Come join us for a Spartan-style workout!

• Sunday, 9am SHARP at Brand Library in Glendale

• Focus on integrative approaches instead of traditional doctors who treat symptoms rather than root causes for wellness and nutrition.
• Track food intake and identify triggers with an elimination diet to see what truly affects migraines and digestion.
• Prioritize high-protein, simple foods like canned fish to fuel training without overeating or digestive upset.
• Learn from certified nutritionists, trainers, or integrative medicine experts who understand active lifestyles and real-world dietary needs.

Useful Resource:

Integrative Medicine Podcasts

⚠️ DISCLAIMER ⚠️

This recording and any related discussion are for educational and informational purposes only and do not constitute medical, psychological, or therapeutic advice. I am not a licensed healthcare provider, and nothing shared here is intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any medical or mental health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional regarding any medical or health-related concerns. 

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Clarify how an opportunity directly moves you closer to your goals for this year and next year.
• Identify urgent and relevant problems in your business that this program actually solves and evaluate if time spent here risks spinning your wheels without generating stable income.
• Make a strong, informed argument for enrolling before committing your time and energy.
• Recognize if your motivation is fear of unstable income rather than a clear growth opportunity.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Start with the Goals question to focus attention before diving into tactical outreach.
• Know your weekly budget and time to pursue goals without sacrificing what matters to you. 
• Assess your real available time to reconnect with warm contacts, build new relationships, and refine your offer.
• Focus on clarifying your offer first; this determines who to reach out to and how to pitch effectively.
• Connect broadly and share knowledge through lunch and learn to discover real problems your offer can solve.
• Avoid advice from those only seeking free sessions; structure your offer based on those willing to invest.
• Show prospects that their current approach costs more time and money than paying for the solution that you offer.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Remember the Plateau of Latent Potential when nothing seems to change. Keep raising the heat, keep adding energy, and if you’re moving in the right direction, the ice cube will melt.
• Be extremely careful how you establish your value. If you do free or low pay work, you must first define what your real value actually is.
• When you’re not clear with where to focus on, work upstream from the Go Far Framework and start with your Goal.
• Ask the Goals questions clearly. 
• What do you want to achieve and why? 
• Who do you want to become? 
• What are you not willing to sacrifice?
• Define the sub goals required to reach your 2026 goal of moving into your own place.
• Know your number to the dollar so you can reliably live in your own place and make educated decisions.
• Your next milestone is part time work paying X dollars per week for Y hours, giving stability and a safety net to pursue freelance momentum.
• Sit down with pen and paper and no distractions for at least 30 minutes and answer what is stopping you from landing consistent part time income.

Useful Resource:

James Clear’s Book: Atomic Habits

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Set at least one bold, exciting goal in both work and life to drive focus and motivation.
• Redefine success by celebrating small wins, like landing an interview, as stepping stones toward bigger goals.
• Focus on what you can control: build connections, identify the right opportunities, and refine your interview approach.
• Recognize that missed opportunities often reflect circumstances, not your skills or abilities.
• In job interviews, position the employer as the hero, with you as their guide:
• Reframe your experience to highlight relevance and value, showing how past work solves their current challenges.
• Make it clear you understand their problems and can make their work easier, even without exact experience.
• Shift your mindset to focus on the employer’s needs, illustrating past successes that align with their goals.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Get radically clear on who you want to serve next, the problems you solve, and the results they will pay for before touching design or platform.
• Stop anchoring your story to dates, trends, or industry panic and focus on timeless human psychology that drives hiring decisions.
• Design your website around audience needs, not your full history, credits, or everything you are capable of doing.
• Embrace hyper-specialization by telling a sharply defined story for each ideal client type instead of one vague, general pitch.
• Build a modular website structure that lets you quickly shift emphasis without rebuilding everything from scratch.
• Separate platform and tools decisions from storytelling so technology never dictates clarity or positioning.
• Replace “I’m good to work with” messaging with precise proof that you do exactly what gatekeepers need next.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Decide what amount of your life you are willing to exchange, knowing the film’s risks, creative challenges, and uncertain future, before negotiating money, timelines, or scope.
• Get crystal clear on what the director actually wants versus what he needs, then anchor every boundary to two questions: “What do you want from me?,” and “When do you need it?”
• Use budget as leverage to define scope, hours, and availability, tying pay directly to output, pace, and expectations rather than vague promises of going all in.
• Set non negotiables around time, workload, and duration so a rough cut, assembly, or editor’s edit aligns with what you are paid, not with guilt or fear.
• Recognize that helping raise money strategically can increase your leverage, credibility, and future rate, while still protecting your energy and long term sustainability.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Do not overreact to open notifications; busy people scan emails instantly, not deeply, and urgency in your head should not dictate your follow-up timing.
• A solid, personal message can still fail because of timing; quality outreach loses power during holidays and seasonal slowdowns.
• Ignore tracking tools when planning follow-ups; stick to a patient, predictable nudge strategy instead of reacting emotionally to data.
• Adjust follow-up timing to the recipient’s calendar and culture; January urgency differs by country, season, and work rhythms.
• Delay friendly nudges until inboxes calm down; late-week follow-ups outperform first-day-of-work messages after breaks.
• Separate message quality from response timing; silence often reflects workload, not lack of interest.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Define clear goals so every offer becomes a decision filter that separates real opportunities from clever distractions based on learning, credibility, money, time, and alignment with your next move.
• Treat low pay work as an opportunity only when it intentionally buys skills, relationships, credibility, and leverage while preserving enough time and energy to pursue higher income paths.
• Limit active pursuits to two focused paths at a time so diversification builds momentum instead of scattering attention, energy, identity, and narrative across too many directions.
• Design your portfolio and story for the specific audience you want next so your work instantly communicates what you do, who it is for, and why you are the obvious choice.
• Schedule boredom to surface intuition, values, and excitement because clarity about what you actually want only emerges when you stop filling every gap with noise.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Be clear on who your audience is and the problems that they are willing to pay for you to help them solve.
• Reach out to peers who are on a similar path as yours.
• Walk through the Build Your Dream Network to help you become much clearer on who is the person that you want to connect with using the expert approach.
• Go through The Way of the Networking Ninja workshop to help you better understand the formula to reach out and build relationships with your experts.
• When reaching out to an expert or mentor, you are the hero, they are the guide. You're seeking guidance and expertise so you can achieve your goals, and you can overcome your obstacles along the way.
• Use the gatekeeper approach only when you're confident that you know their problems and you're confident that you are the solution to them.
• Define your one customer that struggles in AI automation who you can have a conversation with, and have an exploratory mindset to better understand what they really need and avoid creating solutions where they don't have problems.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• The Arnold Academy will be taking a holiday break from Monday Dec 22nd through Saturday, January 3rd. Click here for full holiday break details.
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📅 Upcoming Events

💻 Come join us live during Office Hours this Tuesday & Thursday!

• WORK Hot Seats, Tues 8:30am-10:30am PT
• LIFE Hot Seats, Thurs 8:30am-10:30am PT

• Treat the silence as timing, not rejection, and let the message sit until the New Year.
• Send another message in January as a nudge rather than wait and hope for a reply.
• Don’t overthink the lack of response. Given the relationship that you have, it's just about timing. 

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Go to the Office Hours Archives and check under hot seats under the warm outreach tag.
• A “Mic-drop” email (100% value, no story and no ask) is a quick way to re-warm the conversation.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• I would not recommend actually sending your messages until the new year, but I want you to be doing something so you feel that sense of motivation.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Keep “saleswoman Kalika” locked away by using curiosity-driven questions while avoiding any energy that could feel transactional or uncomfortable.
• Shift your approach from gatekeeper or advocate outreach to an expert-led ask that invites insight, and sparks collaboration.
• Lean into your proven success training in-house teams by shaping it into a replicable offer that highlights impactful, and time-saving workflows.
• If they are not looking for in-house training, you can still get the knowledge that you are looking for.
• Use timing to your advantage by preparing powerful outreach now and launching new conversations when people return with clarity and open bandwidth after the New Year.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• The more sleep you get, the better it's going to be for every other aspect of your life. 
• Redefine what a win looks like so motivation grows from small, attainable actions that create momentum and spark new confidence in your next moves.
• Shift from chasing online applications to building human connections that energize you, open doors, and create wins through genuine conversations.
• Revisit your outreach wins to reignite belief in your ability to spark conversations, provide value and create opportunities.
• Get back to your Build Your Dream network materials and make a list of people who you want to connect with.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Notice how walking in circles without a clear landmark mirrors your creative life and use this awareness to identify WHO you want to be, not just what you want to do.
• Recognize that work-life balance felt stable but created apathy and use this insight to explore where fulfillment lives when balance and meaning stop aligning.
• Understand what you are seeking or trying to avoid when you have work-life balance and you started to fill it with work.
• Examine how choosing financially safe, creatively risk-free work protects you from fear while quietly numbing the parts of you craving purpose, growth, and courage.
• Do things that you enjoy and excites you that are simple and easy (has very few steps and requires little effort).
• Create space for boredom to access the default network of your brain, and list all the things that you used to do and enjoy that you don’t do anymore.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Give yourself 4-5 weeks to provide a rough cut, given specific scopes and expectations based on what you can deliver.
• Use the low pay as leverage by framing the timeline as fast, cheap or good so you anchor the negotiation around what makes the project sustainable for you.
• Define the minimum amount you need to feel valued for weeks of intense editing so you avoid accepting exposure bucks disguised as opportunity.
• Decide if saying yes to this opportunity helps you move from zero to one feature credit and gives you at least two strong scenes for your reel that signal you can handle complexity.
• One of the best boot camps in learning how to be a great film editor is to cut absolute garbage because you are forced to solve all the problems.
• When working in a low budget film, define your weekly rate in case the project extends. Otherwise,  be clear on your boundaries and expectations if the rate is all-in.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Sift it out the advice that you don’t need to pay attention to. It is told through their lens but it is not the only way to do it. The only process that’s right is the one that works for you.
• Notice how the quality of your question shapes the quality of the advice you get, and use this to cut through overwhelming creative opinions with clarity and intentionality.
• Ask for someone’s process instead of what you “should do” to unlock more useful, less prescriptive guidance that actually helps you grow your own creative voice.
• When reaching out for guidance or mentorship, ask questions that lead to you being able to take action, and report those results to further and deepen the relationship.
• Think of your purpose for cutting a specific trailer. It will dictate the film that you choose (but do not pick recognizable movies as much as possible).
• Step back and focus on your real goal to help clarify your next steps and where to focus your attention.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Use the concentric circles of your network to turn a cold outreach into a warm, high-leverage introduction that instantly increases response.
• Make everyone feel the exchange is valuable. Provide value by making people feel seen through specific, meaningful insights about their story, work, and journey that resonates with you.
• Don’t dismiss the idea that people won’t connect you because they’re busy. Provide so much value that they’d still facilitate the introduction.
• Craft a story that clearly shows where you are now, where you're going, and what’s stopping you, so your ask becomes relevant, attainable, and worth answering.
• Ask questions rooted in the early steps of their journey to uncover how they built a portfolio that earned credibility with high-end brands before reaching the top tier.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Reframe “I’m becoming stupid” into “I’m currently struggling” so your brain stops hitting a fixed-mindset wall and you can actually move again.
• Cognitive fitness is like Spartan training; you’re not weak, you’re just detrained and need structured reps of focus, boredom, and longer thinking blocks.
• Treat boredom like a skill and protect space where nothing stimulates you so ideas can finally surface instead of getting drowned in dopamine withdrawals.
• Discern collaborators by asking whether they support your authenticity or push you into misalignment so you avoid building something that annoys you.
• Build cognitive fitness by choosing the hardest doable amount of quiet thinking time with only a pen and notebook and sitting in the discomfort.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

❓Why do you think you most often reach for your phone?

📣 WEEKLY ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The Arnold Academy will be taking a holiday break from Monday Dec 22nd through Saturday, January 3rd. Click here for full holiday break details.

📅 Upcoming Events

💻 Come join us live during Office Hours this Tuesday & Thursday!

• WORK Hot Seats, Tues 8:30am-10:30am PT
• LIFE Hot Seats, Thurs 8:30am-10:30am PT

💪 Come join us for a Spartan-style workout!

• Sunday, 9am SHARP at Sandy Dune in Malibu

🥳 Win of the Week

🎉 Big congrats to Monica Daniel once again for inspiring a multigenerational Spartan adventure! Monica will be racing alongside her 65-year-old mom and her teenage daughter, and together they’ll tackle the Stadion at Dodger Stadium in February—a celebration of resilience, connection, and shared courage.

→ See all the community wins from last week

• It probably went too far based on the nature of the relationship but it is worth a shot to follow up.
• Start a new thread that is shorter and tighter with a bit of value, story and ask. 
• Given the time of the year, you can just send a mic drop message: 100% value, 0% ask.



👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Follow up now with fresh value that gently reminds her of her offer while keeping tone friendly and appreciative.
• Frame it as something to revisit in the new year so there’s clarity without pressure or awkward urgency.
• Hold people to their commitments kindly but consistently because follow-through matters when navigating Hollywood’s empty promises.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Using the revised Andy Dufresne technique, send a friendly nudge at the two-week mark that acknowledges timing, adds a tiny bit of value, and feels personal enough to spark a fast response.
• You don't add more story, you don't add another question, you just leave the value, you drop the mic, and you walk away.
• Research something human or relatable they care about so your nudge demonstrates awareness beyond your ask.
• Track whether emails are opened to guide smarter channels and timing rather than spiraling into doubt or guessing.
• Be ready with your follow up email because friendly nudge elicits a very quick response.

Useful Resource:

Mailsuite - email tracker to know if emails you sent are opened.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Frame your value using their work: reflect why it resonates with you and how its simplicity and accessibility inspire your creative path.
• Structure outreach through story: where you are, where you want to go, what stops you, then ask questions that unlock insight rather than advice.
• Seek homework, not opportunity. Ask the criteria industry leaders use to decide when someone is Vogue-ready and build steps to meet that threshold.
• Trust your proven outreach system, avoid overthinking and repeat what already works

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Reframe identity first: if you want them to see you as senior-level, you must assert it before the interview, not during.
• Clarify confusion early with a respectful phone call to the trusted lead editor so tone lands warmly and creates alignment before you’re boxed into the wrong role.
• Recognize this interview is either opportunity or distraction; choose based on alignment with long-term vision, not scarcity mindset.
• Assert politely: if this is a true entry-level animatic role, decline early to protect career direction and emotional bandwidth. 
• Set boundaries kindly: “I don’t want to waste your time if this isn’t aligned,” communicates clarity without aggression.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Make your homepage instantly communicate value so visitors grasp what this space offers before scrolling, triggering curiosity and deeper exploration.
• Define the audience of your website: Creatives that want a place to escape all the distractions, so they can work in a focused, purpose-driven, relaxing environment.
• Clarify whether your site is a mood board, pitch deck, or retreat sales page so collaborators understand how to engage with you meaningfully.
• You are creating a challenge network: a place to share your ideas, bring people in to challenge your ideas and value their feedback. Make it clear by having a separate page to get feedback rather than a contact page.
• Rewrite your principles into simple, relatable statements with enough context so they resonate instead of reading as poetic word salad.
• Celebrate the fact that publishing a rough draft publicly accelerates clarity, iteration, and feedback.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Fit all of your copy on the Branding Framework: Problem, Process, Solution, Result.
• Clarify audience psychology by choosing one primary buyer segment to speak to, so your copy feels specific and relevant rather than vague and obvious.
• Differentiate Solution from Result: Solution is the inverse of the Problem, whereas the Result is something that is measurable.
• Shift messaging toward Results people pay for: increased revenue, reduced costs, and performance gains, so clients see measurable reasons to hire you fast.
• Lean toward companies and content creators that work on a professional level but don’t know how to navigate building their systems, maximize revenue and minimize expenses using AI, because they’re using it aimlessly.
• Have conversations with your clients to learn their actual problems and fears that you can use for your copy.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Question whether you really want to build a profitable video agency and explore why this matters before deciding if any course is a fit.
• Beware online course hype; results shown are often the 1% while most students never achieve those outcomes, so learn to question testimonials and sales pages.
• Sales pages that feel vague, unclear, or rush you to book calls signal skepticism. Look for specifics before investing time or money.
• Start small by testing lighter, cheaper resources or webinars to see if building a video agency genuinely excites you before diving into coaching or communities.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Narrow down everything into four plates that represent the main domains of your life that you refuse to crumble to the ground.
• Identify plates versus dominoes to avoid overwhelm and choose where your time truly matters. Use the domino for the projects or goals that you can focus on.
• Separate career plate from business plate so you can budget attention, energy and identity with intention.
• Build an attention map to expose where your time really goes from those four plates and what must change.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Start with simplicity. Ask your boss about the job posting, state your intention.
• Lead with gratitude on your value paragraph and reflect how they made you feel and accommodate your needs.
• Focus your story on how you can solve their problems, and why this opportunity is mutually beneficial.
• Have a conversation with your boss to know what they are looking for and to get more details on the job posting.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

What would it look like to run THROUGH the finish line for 2025?

Upcoming Events

Come join us live during Office Hours this Tuesday & Thursday!

• WORK Hot Seats, Tues 8:30am-10:30am PT
• LIFE Hot Seats, Thurs 8:30am-10:30am PT

Come join us for a Spartan-style workout!

• Sunday, 9am SHARP at College of the Canyons in Santa Clarita

Win of the Week

A HUGE congratulations to Monica Daniel for achieving a lifelong dream and taking the stage for her first live aerial performance!

After starting training at 39 and preparing intensely over the last seven weeks, she finally fulfilled a dream she’s carried for years. Despite exhaustion, single parenting, and a full-time job, she kept showing up for every training session.

• Verify first if the data you are getting are real and not bot clicks (company AI security systems that checks every link in an email.)
• Look for a metric that separates real people from bot security system.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• The VSA formula applies to any industry. Know the right approach to take to understand who the hero of the story is for your outreach.
• Take the gatekeeper approach if you are aware that there is an opportunity and you have enough confidence to solve their problems.
• Consider using the expert approach by sharing your goal, obstacles, and figure out their real problems so you understand what a photographer actually solves
• Build relationships slowly by reaching out intentionally to dream companies without limiting yourself while avoiding blanket cold pitches.
• Reach out, seeking guidance and expertise to better understand what are the things that you need to learn and the skills that you need to develop, so you could be valuable to a company like theirs in the future.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Treat lunch as your golden window, positioning yourself close enough for real conversation without forcing it, letting curiosity and authenticity guide the moment.
• Show up significantly early, re-introduce yourself naturally, and spark a low-pressure opening that shows you’re someone they’d genuinely want to talk with again.
• Reverse-engineer your “checkmate” by believing you can someday cut their films, because that belief shapes your presence, your questions, and the impression you leave.
• Ask thoughtful questions that make them talk about themselves and show you understand their creative world without slipping into fanboy or film-bro mode.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Spot unsolicited praise in real conversations and capture it instantly so it becomes an authentic, story-driven testimonial.
• Never ask for a testimonial. Ask for brief stories and specific questions so people naturally reveal the emotional truth of what it was like to work with you:
• Where were you before we collaborated and why do you need to work with me?
• How has my work or service become valuable to you?
• What result did you get by working with me?
• Draft the testimonial based on their responses and write it in a way that your potential client sees themselves in those testimonials.
• When time has passed, reconnect through a short conversation so you can revive the feelings, details, and results that make a testimonial resonate.
• Lead with context by saying you’re updating your website and want to share real stories, then shape their answers into a clear narrative and send it back for approval.
• Focus on emotion and transformation so future clients feel something, recognize their own struggles, and instantly think “this is me” before they ever evaluate your skills.

Useful Resource:

Kalika’s Previous Hot Seat on Testimonials

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Ground yourself in the reality that delayed replies rarely reflect your value and often mirror timing, priorities and holiday chaos rather than mistakes or missteps.
• Use AI only to question assumptions and tighten clarity while keeping your own voice, emotional intent and human connection as the driving force of every outreach message.
• Clarify the value you bring by exploring their challenges, goals and upcoming needs so the conversation becomes about helping them and not just seeking opportunities.
• Draft follow-ups before sending outreach so you can reply quickly, confidently and clearly whenever they respond. 
• Prepare conversations that explore how teams are structured, how roles operate and where your skills could be valuable rather than asking directly if they’re hiring.
• Shape your questions with clear intentions so the advocate becomes the hero who connects you with people who benefit from your strengths.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Accept you will never get it all done, then choose what truly matters so you can stop chasing work-life balance and start practicing deliberate, strategic imbalance that aligns with your goals and values.
• Get clear about your big goals: what you want to achieve, who you want to become, and why, so prioritization stops feeling impossible and starts feeling intentional.
• Identify what you are absolutely not willing to sacrifice so you can confidently say no to opportunities that don’t support the next chapter you actually want.
• Break your goals into clear actions, then decide what gets imbalanced this month, this season, or this year so every plate keeps spinning just enough.
• Find your question from the GO FAR Framework and work upstream.
• Goals: What do I want to achieve? Who do I want to become, and why?
• Obstacles: What's stopping me?
• Focus: what do I need to prioritize next, and what's the one thing such that by doing it, everything else becomes easier?
• Act: What are the next actions that lead me closer to my goals?
• Review & Reflect: How did it go? What's working well? What needs to change?

Useful Resources

Why Optimization Isn’t the Answer (and How to Make the Most of the Four Thousand Weeks We Have) | with Oliver Burkeman

Oliver’s Book: Four Thousand Weeks

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

What are you grateful for? And how have you helped others?

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• OFFICE HOURS IS CANCELLED THIS THURSDAY

Upcoming Events

Come join us live during Office Hours this Tuesday!

• WORK & LIFE Hot Seats, Tues 8:30am-10:30am PT

Come join us for a Spartan-style workout!

• Sunday, 9am SHARP at Serrania Park in Woodland Hills

Win of the Week

A huge congratulations to Julie Fahrbach for taking the bold step to reclaim her time and deactivate her social media accounts!

After reading my Substack article “Algorithms are the new cigarettes,” Julie realized she was spending 3.5 hours a week on platforms that gave her little in return. By removing meaningless connection, she’s creating space for genuine relationships. She can already feel the pull of social media addiction, but she’s choosing temporary discomfort now over future regret, and she explores growing her business without relying on what she calls “a literal toilet” during her Hot Seat.

• Understand that shrinking crews and fewer jobs are caused by outsourcing and a collapsing legacy business model.
• AI removes repetitive tasks but creates more complex work. Focus on skills that require judgment, creativity, and problem-solving instead of narrow, repeatable tasks.
• Study where the actual audience attention is moving, so you can align your creative work with platforms that still have growth and revenue.
• Explore new hybrid career paths that connect legacy Hollywood strengths in marketing and distribution with creator-driven platforms.
• Reframe the idea that “my ship has sailed” into choosing a new ship so you can move forward with intention instead of feeling stuck.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Practice strategic imbalance by committing to four plates between your work and life so your attention stays on what matters while keeping each plate spinning.
• Lay out your calendar in week view so you see 24 hours across seven days and build four color coded calendars labeled according to your four plates.
• Draft your ideal normal week so your calendar becomes the story of who you are becoming, and create alternate versions so you can adapt when there are disruptions.
• Start with sleep as the immovable anchor so your entire week is built on sustainable energy and clarity.
• The most important skill as a creative is mastering your calendar, both understanding the story of it and knowing how to use it as a tool. 
• Fill every 15 minute block for seven days so you reveal what your fully intentional ideal week would look like within reality.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Shift from “I want to be you” to “How did you become you” to spark deeper conversations. Break their story into actions they actually took by asking better questions
• Get more specific by sharing your hero’s journey, your next step and your obstacle so they can help you solve the exact problem you’re facing now.
• Create value by acknowledging their work, showing how it impacted you and giving them a meaningful chance to contribute to your progress.
• Use the Benjamin Franklin effect by asking for a small favor or insight, opening tension-free conversation and giving them the opportunity to feel thanked and appreciated.
• Ask questions specific enough that they feel they can be truly useful, which delivers real value to them while giving you better guidance.
• Follow the cycle of mentorship: ask a question, take action, report results, then ask your next sharper question.
• Accept that your job doesn’t have to be your calling; it can simply support the creative work or purpose that lights you up.
• Sit down with a blank page titled What lights me up and write freely to uncover the creative forces that energize and guide your next moves.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Get clear about who you are in life mode by naming the specific things you want to work toward so your free time stops feeling empty and starts feeling purposeful.
• Ask what your challenge actually represents and why the reaction feels so intense so you can work with the emotional meaning instead of only the logical part.
• Recognize when everything leads back to analysis paralysis and use that awareness as your cue to shrink the problem into something your brain can actually choose.
• Break everything into pieces so you are not dealing with the whole problem at once but only the next tiny task that moves you forward.
• Work with someone who can help you break things down into fundamentals so you learn the basic building blocks before trying to handle the entire structure.
• Clarify your goals so the focus question becomes easier to answer and you know exactly where your attention belongs.
• Take off the overthinking cap by reviewing your calendar and deciding where to create space and time to be around the kinds of people who support the life you want.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Utilize separate profiles: public for professional contact and private for personal interests.
• View Facebook Messenger as a text app by having a separate app to avoid the newsfeed.
• Actively turn off all notifications to avoid the addictive "red bubble" and the system's design to increase engagement.
• Remain intentional by asking if your social media use is providing genuine value to yourself and others, or if you're working for the attention factory.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• While there’s no harm in using WhatsApp to connect with people, establish boundaries to ensure it’s not pulling your attention or taking much of your time.
• Build relationships with direct messages and phone calls rather than relying on passive comments.
• Ask if the value that you’re getting from social media is worth the cost (time and attention).
• Create a bookmark folder of specific profiles on platforms like Instagram to check posts and avoid the addictive newsfeed.
• Build healthier replacement habits that satisfy the same impulse but redirect it toward something intentional and energizing.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Time your outreach. Avoid Thanksgiving week and choose moments when messages won’t get lost.
• Plant seeds now by sending light, thoughtful outreach that sets the expectation of reconnecting in January while still keeping the relationship warm.
• Stay open to surprising opportunities because some people actually have more space now and may welcome casual coffees or quick catch-ups.
• Offer both options by saying you’re available if they have time now, but you’re equally happy to reconnect in January so the decision feels natural and unpressured.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Treat this phase as your Los Angeles rite of passage and use it to decide where you want to settle and what opportunities fit the future you’re building.
• Keep doing what you’re doing because you’re already building real connections fast and proving you can get work even during a slow season.
• Lean into this end-of-year slowdown by positioning yourself for fill-in opportunities that appear when others leave for the holidays.
• Continue nurturing your three key relationships by checking in, offering help, and staying visible.
• Set expectations that long-term work likely won’t appear until January or February, so you don’t take the slowdown personally and can stay focused on what you can control.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Start with the expert approach as your opening game that may lead to mentorship and eventually to gatekeeper.
• Lead with value by reminding her why you appreciate her work and how you naturally align with her human-first storytelling.
• Take the less is more approach. Begin a conversation that you can have at a later time.
• Create a feeling of what it’s like talking with you that will have an emotional association with your name that will make them more responsive.
• Think of ways in which you are both peers, sharing the same goals and obstacles, which will bring you to the same level.
• Use the brief interaction to set up the next step by reiterating the challenges you’d love to talk about and asking if she’s open to continuing the conversation another day.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Ensure these platforms are your servants, not your masters. Develop a personal "philosophy of usage" for social media with clear rules, guidelines, and boundaries to extract the specific value that you need.
• Implement forcing functions. Create scenarios where you must find alternative solutions, leading to innovative ideas you wouldn't have considered otherwise.
• Utilize third-party tools (like Hootsuite) to promote your business and content without ever having to open the social media app/website or engaging with its ecosystem.
• Do not derive your internal validation, self-worth, or personal identity from engagement metrics from digital strangers.
• Manage your attention, energy and emotion first before focusing on time management. Know your core values and goals to guide your attention toward a meaningful vision.
• The true cost of social media is not just the time spent scrolling, but the "enragement tax" which is the hidden time and energy lost due to the distraction, anxiety, anger, or lack of focus caused by the content.
• Understand that the addictive nature of social media is a feature, not a bug. It is designed precisely to maximize your engagement.

Useful Resource:

Algorithms are the new cigarettes. Is it possible to quit cold turkey?

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

What do you care about? What DON'T you care about?

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• No Spartan workout this Sunday
•  Arnold Academy Office Hours are now available as a podcast!

Upcoming Events

Come join us live during Office Hours this week!

• WORK Hot Seats, Tues 8:30am-10:30am PT
• LIFE Hot Seats, Thurs 8:30am-10:30am PT

Use Outreach Power Hour to polish and send that outreach!

• Fridays 8am-12pm PT

Win of the Week

Congratulations David Spragg for officially becoming a paid voiceover professional!

After a year of sporadic focus, he finally earned his first payment for voice work, marking a meaningful milestone. It may have been a small amount, but it proves someone sees real value in his narration and fuels his drive to keep practicing and growing his network.

• Define your value first, then negotiate from there.
• Clarify your value in conversations, showing what your work delivers, not just the hours you spend.
• Observe feedback. If multiple people think your rate is low, it’s time to raise it.
• Start with higher rates, while leaving room to make it work for both of you.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Send a “mic drop” every two weeks offering 100% value, with no asks, to stay memorable and persistent.
• Look more at his work – what can you learn from it, how is it contributing to you, and how is it inspiring you?

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Restructure the value paragraph to make it shorter but retains the feeling that you want to convey.
• Build a clear connective sentence in the beginning of your story paragraph that explains why you’re reaching out.
• Move culture-focused lines toward the end of your story paragraph to show how your goals connect with the environments they help create.
• Make the value and and ask skimmable that makes the whole message worth reading.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• There's a real danger in assigning our identity to our job titles.
• Shift your mindset about your identity, from “This violates my identity”, to “This is directly aligned with who I am. I'm the kind of person that helps people better tell their stories.”
• The most successful people in any field are the ones that genuinely believe that their product or service can help other people.
• Have a growth mindset rather than a fixed mindset: See the value that you can bring through a sales perspective, and acquire the skills and knowledge to be better at it if it’s aligned with your identity and purpose.
• Think how your current identity is in alignment with sales, and how can sales actually enforce that identity, to see where you can provide value in this new role.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Have a landmark or a “North Star” where you move towards, to know where you’re supposed to be doing with your time, energy, and attention. 
• Think broadly about work and life – the kind of person that you want to become, and the kind of life that you want to lead.
• Understand the difference between your vision and your goals:
• Vision is more exploratory, and about something that you can see and feel.
• Goals are something that you can track and can work towards. 
• Vision will help you answer the following question: 
• Is this thing in front of me an opportunity or a distraction? 
• Is this an opportunity to move closer to my vision, or is this taking me further away from it?
• Have a clear SCARY Goal based on your vision and have a realistic timeline.
• S - Strategic. Does this goal move me closer to the vision for work and life? 
• C - Challenging. Is there any part of this that sounds easy and more than doable?
• A - Aspirational. Is this something that you really aspire and inspire you?
• R - Relevant. Is it meaningful to you and within your skill sets and abilities?
• Y - “Why.” Does this align with the deeper “why” for the vision for work and life, why you do the work that you do, and you feel a sense of meaning and purpose behind it?
• Have a certain level of control on a goal that you can literally write a timeblock on your calendar.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• While building a long game of building relating, know your endgame and go through the 5 different outreach approaches is best suited for your meeting:
• Peer approach: you share the same goals or you share the same obstacles.
• Expert approach: they are doing now what you want to be doing next, or they’ve achieved the goals that you want to achieve next.
• Mentor approach: an extension of the expert approach over time.
• Advocate approach: the person isn't the direct gatekeeper, but they can open doors and facilitate introductions.
• Gatekeeper approach: the person is directly in between you and the opportunities that you're looking for.
• Take the gatekeeper approach if you know his problems that you can solve, and can potentially make their life easier.
• Make the meeting about them even if you play the long game: learn more about their goals and obstacles and share your stories that are relevant to them.
• Build comfort and trust by having conversations (apart from work) to see if you share the same interest and speak the same language.
• Make sure to make them talk more and make him feel that he is leading the conversation around your general theme.
• Face it until you make it: Believe that you can do the job and make their show better even if you are not ready; you just have to push through it.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

Arnold Academy Office Hours are now available as a podcast!

Upcoming Events

Come join us live during Office Hours this week!

• WORK Hot Seats, Tues 8:30am-10:30am PT
• LIFE Hot Seats, Thurs 8:30am-10:30am PT

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

Use Outreach Power Hour to polish and send that outreach!

• Fridays 8am-12pm PT

Come join us for a Spartan Sunday workout!

• This Sunday, 9am at Brand Library (Glendale)
• You are welcome to try the first workout 100% FREE

Win of the Week

Huge congratulations, Kalika Sharma, on the incredible comeback and growth of her YouTube channel!

She jumped back in and grew her subscribers after years of being stuck. With her weekly posts on design, animation, and editing tutorials fueling the momentum, she’s well on her way to hitting 1,000 by the end of the year!

• Replacements of editors are common for “fresh eyes,” not always lack of skill.
• The director’s vision may be different from the editor’s cut, don’t take it personally.
• Consider moving on and focus on things that align with your values or priorities.
• Maintain professionalism and grace to keep future opportunities open.
• Moving forward (given the time and space), create two versions of your cut: one faithful to what they wrote, and one your own version, to show both intention and creative solutions.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Using the mental time-travelling exercise, ask:
• What would you tell your struggling self back then knowing what you know now?
• What would your future self tell your current self now?
• Organize the three core components of your life (nutrition, fitness and sleep) like a domino to knock down the easiest that will create momentum for the harder ones.
• Think of a better, more productive and sustainable evening routine. 
• Find fitness classes that you can take that don't require driving and redefine “lost time” on the road by making it intentional. Listen, learn, or think aloud your next big move. 

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Recognize what’s inspiring about his career journey and use that as the thread that connects your story to his.
• Before following up, research his transitions to understand his path and where your timeline overlaps. 
• Find the exact moment in his journey where he’d think, “I remember what it feels like to be you.”
• Ask a simple, specific question that’s easy to answer and clearly tied to your next step.
• Deepen your follow-up by showing what you’ve learned and what still intrigues you about how he made his pivot to have a more compelling conversation.
• The Zeigarnik Effect: once you start something, your brain craves completion. But some loops are worth keeping open, especially the ones that excite you.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Give yourself permission to pursue developing your own documentary projects outside of work.
• Be conscious of your specific budget for time, energy and attention considering the “work” as an immovable object. It’s going to be more difficult, but it’s doable.
• Keep the documentary plate spinning, knowing it’s meaningful to you and you have a clear purpose behind telling stories and being a documentary filmmaker.
• Develop a growth mindset: “I cannot be a full-time documentary filmmaker right now, but I could be in the future.” Rather than a fixed mindset of accepting things as it is.
• Have clear expectations where you can still pursue the path that you want, but with constraints. It's just going to take longer with a full-time job.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Confirm if the day-to-day job is conducive and aligns with your pace and personality.
• The earlier you are in your path, it’s more important WHERE and WHO you work with, and less important on WHAT you do.
• While the WORK side of things is exciting, the LIFE side may be a step back considering how long you extricate yourself from that same work environment. A bad experience can distort the path that you want.
• Consider roles that's much more conducive to your needs that still gets you the exposure to the job and to a company like this.
• Still explore the opportunity to confirm if it is a good fit considering your boundaries and concerns. Otherwise it is still a good opportunity to build relationships.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Clarify the offer to distinguish if it’s an opportunity or distraction, then determine the general timeline to understand the cost of your time.
• Ask yourself what makes this an opportunity based on the goals and visions that you have, and what makes it a distraction.
• Weigh the benefit vs cost from your intuition considering the risk of taking the project.
• If you take the opportunity to expand your network, make sure that the agreement does not bar you from pitching your own projects.
• Rather than raising funds for their project, consider having potential investors on your own project instead by providing them enough value. 

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

How would you spend your time if you didn't need to make money?

ANNOUNCEMENTS

We just had Daylight Savings Time end here in the US. Set your clocks for classes and Office Hours accordingly!

Upcoming Events

Come join us live during Office Hours this week!

• WORK Hot Seats, Tues 8:30am-10:30am PT
• LIFE Hot Seats, Thurs 8:30am-10:30am PT

Use Outreach Power Hour to polish and send that outreach!

• Fridays 8am-12pm PT

Come join us for a Spartan Sunday workout!

• This Sunday, 9am at Caballero Canyon in Encino
• You are welcome to try the first workout 100% FREE

Win of the Week

A big win for Josh Neufeld who wrote a cold outreach email that got him a quick response...and the recipient asked HIM for a call!

Getting a response from an Emmy-winning editor who wants to have a call speaks volumes about the strength of your message. You wasted no time preparing and even scheduled a Hot Seat to make the most of the opportunity.

• Going in with low expectations will get very little in return. Instead, shift your mindset to confidently providing value.
• Focus on long-term relationships and approach the meeting as a chance to humbly remind them why you are awesome.
• Have the abundance mentality with the uncertainties and challenges.
• Focus on finding the right opportunities that fits your needs and the life that you want to build.
• Three questions to ask yourself:
• What do you want more in your life?
• What do you want less in your life?
• Who and what do you value the most?

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Turn your phone into a pure utility by removing anything that’s not a true tool.
• Use only applications that serve as a tool and have separate ones for distraction that you can track.
• Create friction between you and your diversions and define strong boundaries.

Useful Resources:

Oliver Burkeman’s Book: Four thousand Weeks

Why Optimization Isn’t the Answer (and How to Make the Most of the Four Thousand Weeks We Have) | with Oliver Burkeman

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• When reaching for guidance and support, meet them where they are to make it easy for them to say yes.
• Clearly convey the purpose of your conversation starting with your story (where are you now, where you’re going next and what’s stopping you from getting there).
• Define a bigger endgame with the mindset of a possible future collaboration beyond mentorship.
• Key components of a hero’s journey:
• Clarify where they can be helpful.
• Ask questions that only they can answer.
• Ensure their answers will be genuinely useful to you.
• Make sure they talk more than you do.
• Review your questions based on these components to identify which ones can be eliminated or need rephrasing.
• Instead of asking for the best place to network, ask where they connect with people who become members of their team.
• Plan for a short conversation by narrowing it down to the most important question you need to address.
• Overprepare: study their work, know their projects, and show genuine curiosity. Preparation shows respect and earns future opportunities.
• Ask if you can follow up so you can share how their advice helped you. Then continue the cycle of mentorship by asking another thoughtful question.
• Define the success of the conversation as learning what makes a great assistant for them, so that when the opportunity comes, you’re ready.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Shift from scheduled check-ins to intuition-driven connections that bring new value every time.
• There is no expiration date on providing value. Continue to provide value as long as you have reason to. 
• Build a cycle of mentorship by asking useful questions, acting on their advice, and reporting the results. Then continue the cycle by asking another useful question.
• Use real-life triggers such as articles, milestones, or shared experiences to reconnect authentically.
• Prioritize effectiveness over efficiency; warm outreach grows through meaningful engagement.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Shift from asking for what you want to offering what helps them most in the moment.
• Be excited to send your message rather than being scared, given that you are making their lives easier.
• Set clear boundaries that protect your energy and sustain your ability to provide value.
• Reiterate your willingness to help while planting seeds for the roles or shifts you prefer.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Lead with relevance by referencing current studio developments that show you’re informed and still in the game.
• Focus on being the most recent name in their mind, not just the most experienced or qualified.
• Show genuine engagement with what’s happening in the industry to signal readiness and awareness.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• When reaching out to an advocate, they’re not the hero nor the guide. It’s the gatekeeper that they’re going to connect you with, with you as their guide.
• Consolidate your value into one paragraph and have more “you”and less “I.”
• Convey in your story where you are now that is relevant and valuable to your advocate. Share not only the game that you play but the level of the game that you play and write it in 1-2 sentences only.
• Given the lukewarm connection, highlight relevant things that you’ve been up to since you last connected.
• Use your “ask” to gather information to get a better understanding of Netflix’s projects or current challenges where you might be valuable: “Given these are your goals (or obstacles), would this be worth chatting about further?”
• With the solid value and the right story, you’ll get a “Please keep in touch” as a worst case response.
• I’ll keep you in mind = I'm not going to keep you in mind.
• Please keep in touch = This could be a good fit but the timing is bad. Keep reaching out and maintain the relationship over time.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

What app do you need to delete from your life? And why?

Upcoming Events

Come join us live during Office Hours this week!

• WORK Hot Seats, Tues 8:30am-10:30am PT
• LIFE Hot Seats, Thurs 8:30am-10:30am PT

Use Outreach Power Hour to polish and send that outreach!

• Fridays 8am-12pm PT

Come join us for a Spartan Sunday workout!

• This Sunday, 9am at The Nike Missile Silo in Encino
• You are welcome to try the first workout 100% FREE

Win of the Week

Congratulations to CJ Powers for crafting the ideal press release that made a global impact for his client!

Using his new four-quadrant calendar inspired by Zack's "Four Plates" Framework, CJ refined his calendar workflow and created a powerful press release for his client that was featured by 600 media outlets, including Google News, reaching millions worldwide.

• Recognize that executive function struggles often stem from digital distractions stealing focus and energy. Define your biggest offender so you can start reclaiming control.
• Realize your Facebook feed is mostly algorithmic noise, not genuine connection. Decide if that trade-off still serves your goals.
• Social media’s intermittent rewards mimic slot machines, designed to hook your attention, not connect you with friends. It is “the new cigarettes” that are detrimental to your health, together with “second hand screens.” 
• Ask yourself: “Would deleting your social media account reduce the quality of your social life?” Recognize that high quality relationships don't require social media connection to get updated.
• Reconnect offline instead of dopamine-driven feeds. Text small friend groups, plan meetups, or use direct updates 
• Be intentional in building rules, boundaries and guardrails. 
• Rule: Use Facebook for only 30 minutes at a specific time of your day.
• Boundary: Bookmark specific groups and events instead of defaulting to your news feed.
• Guardrail: Use Freedom to schedule specific windows to use apps on different devices.
• Shift from being a worker in the “attention factory” for free to consciously choosing where your time and attention go.

Useful Resources:

Freedom App

Cal Newport’s Book: Digital Minimalism

Becoming a ‘Digital Minimalist’ | with Cal Newport

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Recognize that lower back pain often stems from sitting too long and being sedentary. You have to strengthen your core and glutes.
• Lower back pain isn’t fixed by rest but by movement and consistent maintenance routines that retrain your body to fire properly.
• Focus on small, daily “movement snacks” that activate core, hips, and glutes rather than high-impact workouts that wreck recovery and increase injury risk.
• Build strength and community; real growth and resilience come from shared experiences that push and support you beyond what you’d reach alone.

Useful Resources:

Christopher McDougall’ Book: Born to Run

Nutritious Movement

Katy Bowman’s Book: Move Your DNA

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Run your own race. Set your level of expectation and stop comparing your performance to others.’ 
• Don’t overwhelm yourself with training for perfection. Remind yourself that showing up already inspires other people. You are there to learn, and you have to be ok with failing.
• Shift from work-life balance to strategic imbalance. Intentionally prioritize what matters most in each season.
• Find a sustainable way to manage different kinds of training that does not lead to over-training.
• Manage your attention and energy along with your emotion first before managing your time.
• Do simple, non-strenuous routines on Mondays as an active recovery mode to manage your energy.
• Simplify your “one thing” habit. Build easy wins like nightly mobility or foam rolling to sustain long-term goals.

Useful Resources:

Pain Relief & Mobility

Office Stretching & Yoga

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Focus on being effective, not productive. Align your time, energy, and attention toward meaningful goals that move you forward.
• Track your rhythm. Identify when you’re most focused, tired, or creative, then plan high-impact work for those window
• Use repetitive, low-focus tasks like organizing sound effects as active recovery between intense creative sprints.
• Work in 60–90 minute bursts, then switch to something lighter that doesn’t demand deep focus.
• Treat monotony as a margin that gives your brain space to recharge.
• Experiment with interspersing deep and shallow work to stay effective and sustain creativity longer.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Wait two weeks before following up to respect her time and workload.
• Be politely persistent by thanking her and gently reminding her of her offer to connect you.
• Reference the original offer directly so she recalls her commitment without pressure.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Stop assuming lack of immediate response means rejection. Work on patience and your follow-up strategy.
• Be clear and specific enough on your challenges where he can specifically help you. Raise the empathy factor by relating your obstacle with his journey.
• Wait for 2 weeks for your follow up with a bit more value and clarity on your opening approach. Start with the expert approach that may lead to mentorship and eventually an advocate or gatekeeper.
• Add emotion to your value paragraph that highlights his character. Spot what makes his story remarkable and reflect how it inspired your own journey. 
• Make your follow-up a “Value-drop and Nudge:” 95% value and 5% nudge.

Useful Resources:

The Hemstreet Approach on Building Relationships with Recruiters (Pt. 1)

The Hemstreet Approach on Building Relationships with Recruiters (Pt. 2)

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Identify your outreach approach:
• Peer to peer - sharing the same goal and problems
• Expert - person who’s doing now what you want to do next
• Mentor - ongoing relationship with expert
• Advocate - person who can vouch for you
• Gatekeeper - decision maker to get an opportunity
• When taking the advocate approach, the hero of the story should be about the gatekeeper whom you can be valuable to. Research their needs where you can provide solutions.
• Ensure that the introduction will be mutually beneficial to all 3 parties (you, your advocate and the gatekeeper).
• Build a genuine relationship with your advocate that will eventually lead to them as your super connector. 
• Make them feel something from the message of your first paragraph (value) to get a response. Provide value that connects with their “why” and makes them seen.
• Once you’re clear on your goal and obstacles, be specific and strategic on who you’re going to reach out to and why. 

Useful Resource:

Josh Waitzkin’s Book: The Art of Learning

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Convey confidence in your ask. The question should hang by itself on its own paragraph with a question mark and nothing after it. 
• Make sure to lead with value and relevant and a clear story.
• Have a consistent narrative thread: Go deeper with your value by the personal impact of their transition in their career and connect it to your story that will lead to your ask.
• Raise the empathy factor where they remember being in the same position of where you are now.
• Make it clear how somebody can be helpful: “It is not that people don't want to help you, it's that people don't know how to help you.”
• If you provide new value, you always have an opportunity to continue the conversation.
• Ask only one or two clear, simple questions that’s specific enough to answer easily.
• Have an accountability partner to see your message before you send it. Surround yourself with peers whom you can share the same fears and challenges with.

Useful Resources:

Hot Seat with Paul Hemstreet on Building Relationships (Pt. 1)

Hot Seat with Paul Hemstreet on Building Relationships (Pt. 2)

Hot Seat with Jason Roberts on Asking a Question or Two

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Recognize that the film industry you knew is gone and a new, unrecognizable version is emerging.
• Reframe your resume story. It’s not about what you’ve done, but how you solve the needs of those hiring, especially outside film.
• Highlight only the most relevant credits that demonstrate your high level of experience.
• Build a Skills and Abilities section on your resume. Bullet out the teaching, mentoring, and leadership experiences that define your real value.
• Align your resume and cover letter into one voice. Both should tell the same story of the value you bring.
• Make it clear that being a mentor is a core part of your identity and back it up with your mentees’ success stories.
• Focus more on the story your resume tells than on templates or design.

Useful Resources:

Office Hours Archives: Resume Hot Seat Topics

The Vault: Before and After Resume Transformations

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Eliminate the doubt if he’s willing to help or not. Focus on how they can help.
• Start every connection by clarifying your goals and obstacles to give a clear way to support you meaningfully.
• Follow up by sharing your progress and what you’ve learned to build trust and keep relationships alive.
• Focus on creating value both ways to turn mentorship into an ongoing exchange of growth, gratitude, and collaboration.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Anchor your message in your value and its impact. Add a small but powerful detail that says “I see you.”
• Give relevant experience on your story that can be valuable and useful to them.
• Keep it simple and broad. Invite discovery rather than making assumptions of their needs.
• Continue reaching out and exploring opportunities knowing you can be valuable to them in the future.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Reach out to people whenever you have new value that will make them feel good, with no expectation of a response in return.
• Continue the cycle of mentorship by reporting back the result or insights from their advice.
• Know your audience’s expectation for a resume format.
• Lead with skills and character and make it easy to find, considering your work doesn’t speak for itself. Have your core skills under your summary and have your character before your experience. 
• Combine both professional experience and additional experience into one section.
• Every piece of information on your resume should answer “why should they care?”

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Clearly communicate your needs so people can support you and help you thrive. Frame new requests as opportunities to be more helpful, not demands.
• Start with gratitude. Show that their flexibility improved your rhythm and value to the team.
• Frame working on weekends as a question and confirmation that it could be a shared benefit.
• Communicate your preferences so they’ll keep it in mind when they handle your schedules.
• Keep your boss in the loop, but offer to handle scheduling directly to show initiative and respect.

Useful Resource:

Season 1 of Severance: to explore the psychological separation of work identity and life identity

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Separate logic from emotion. Revisit real evidence of your strengths, like recommendation letters, to reframe your self-story.
• Identify the inner critic’s voice; it’s not yours but a learned echo from others. Name that voice (like “Bob”) to detach and disarm its influence during self-talk.
• Replace “I suck” thoughts with third-person reflections to create distance and objectivity.
• Trace where the negative voice began; awareness weakens its control.
• Listen to Ethan Kross’s Chatter podcast for tools to quiet mental noise and his actual book.
• Pair it with Alex Weber’s episode to deepen self-confidence through reframing and self-awareness.

Useful Resources:

Managing Limiting Beliefs, Imposter Syndrome, and all the “Chatter” In Our Heads | with Ethan Kross

Ethan Kross’ Book: Chatter

Why Becoming a Failure is Essential to Success | with Alex Weber, ANW

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Start with mindset and resetting expectations. Shift from performance mode to learning mode. Focus on curiosity, iteration, and progress over perfection.
• Create space to fail safely and turn mistakes into data that sharpens your skill.
• Always align expectations before you say yes. Ask clarifying questions and give yourself space to confirm what’s realistic so you can deliver with confidence instead of panic.
• Gather evidence that you can adapt and thrive in an uncertain, high-pressure environment to chip away at imposter syndrome and strengthen your belief that you can handle hard things.
• Expect setbacks, not perfection. Prepare for things to go wrong, but trust your ability to figure them out.
• Ask for feedback after every project. It shows initiative, invites mentorship, and turns temporary work into long-term relationships and reputation growth.

Useful Resources:

The Performance Paradox – How Only Focusing On Performance Leads to Performing Worse | with Eduardo Briceño

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Always look for things that you are grateful for when getting mired in our own despair and hopelessness
• Accept that “Hollywood” as you knew it is gone. The new ecosystem rewards adaptability, and we have time to figure things out. 
• Reframe work around the lifestyle you want. Build your work around your “why” and from values outward, not industry expectations inward.
• Find the middle ground between stability and passion. Look for work that covers your basic needs but still gives you time to explore and serve your creativity.
• Keep multiple plates spinning for both work and life that is in alignment with your values and vision. Then budget your attention and focus based on the goals that you set.
• Write down what the next phase looks like for your vision, and who you want to become in the process.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Use the Freedom App to set guardrails, not boundaries. Stop your “future self” from falling into distractions that derail focus and productivity.
• Build an intentional relationship with technology. Ask: Does this screen time serve me, or distract me?
• Treat your phone as a utility, not an entertainment device. Remove anything with a newsfeed; keep only what supports your purpose.
• Define your information diet. Allow short, intentional news windows, then disconnect and return to creating.
• Recognize the cost of constant engagement. Your “phone check” is rewiring your focus and fuels anxiety.
• Reframe digital restraint as creative liberation; boredom and stillness are where your best ideas resurface.
• Protect your attention as fiercely as your health; tech distraction is the new addiction.

Useful Resources:

Freedom App

Becoming a ‘Digital Minimalist’ | with Cal Newport

Cal Newport’s Book: Digital Minimalism

Henry David Thoreau’s Book: Walden

How We are “Wired to Create”, What It Means to Be a “Creative”, and How We Can Leverage Our Unique Gifts | with Scott Barry Kaufman

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Consider the response as a win for knowing exactly where they are in the process and knowing that the opportunity isn’t there.
• Shift to advocate approach to see if he can forward a 100% mic drop message to Markiplier on your behalf.
• Frame your spec trailer as a value rather than asking for feedback, and wove any story about you that's relevant into value.
• Just put yourself in the position that when an opportunity arises, you exist.
• Provide value without sounding like another fanboy:
• Write a more sophisticated value.
• Write with the tone as if you are peers.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• To understand if the opportunity is a distraction or not, have a clear picture of what you’re working towards and where you want to go next.
• What makes this an opportunity is that you still enjoy the craft of visual effects editing, it has interesting new challenges, and there's room to also do creative picture editing.
• Reach out using the gatekeeper approach given the context that he has goals and problems, and you can potentially help achieve and overcome those.
• Make it feel like a peer-to-peer conversation but approach the story with him as the hero and you as a guide.
• Frame your experience depending on your knowledge of what their problems are. Otherwise, have an open-ended exploratory conversation to find out where you can be useful.
• Keep the LinkedIn message concise and just enough to spark a reply, and try to move the conversation to email unless that’s what they prefer.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• There are 5 different approaches in relationship building: Peer-to-Peer, Expert, Mentor, Advocate, Gatekeeper. When you connect to her as a mentor, you are the hero of the story.
• Use the same formula in outreach for in-person meetings: 
• Lead with value by making others seen
• Clearly tell your story of where you are, where you’re going, and what’s stopping you
• Ask how she can specifically help you.
• Set the stage of your story that supports your ask of how you can represent yourself with your various skills so you can attract the right opportunities.
• Define what “success” looks like before the meeting:
• Have clarity of where you’re going next and a clear idea of who and how you can connect to the right people.
• Know the the things that you need to learn and how to present yourself on LinkedIn.
• Get in touch more with genuine curiosity about her work and subtle offers to help.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Social media rewires your brain, making focus and deep reading feel harder than ever before.
• Addiction isn’t a glitch, it’s the design. Your attention is the currency, and you are the product.
• Screens are the new cigarettes, eroding presence, relationships, and civil discourse in daily life.
• Fear and outrage fuel algorithms, keeping you hooked while weakening real-world connection.
• Protecting your inputs. What you watch, read, and follow shapes your creative and emotional outputs.
• Create intentional guardrails with tech and social media to reclaim focus and presence.

Useful Resources:

Book: Stolen Focus | Johann Hari

Book: The Anxious Generation | Jonathan Haidt

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Clarify your role before quoting rates to avoid being undervalued or overextended.
• Set clear expectations and deadlines to prevent scope creep on low-budget projects.
• Use industry peers, forums, and community groups to benchmark realistic indie project rates.
• Define the bare minimum compensation that makes the project an opportunity, not a distraction. 
• Remind yourself that the “past you” would be amazed at today’s progress. You’ve built momentum, gained clients, and created opportunities that once felt impossible.
• Recognize imposter syndrome as normal. It signals you care and fuels growth.
• Imposter syndrome grows with success, but courage comes from facing it, not waiting for it to vanish.
• Creative work will always feel imperfect to you. High standards mean your “bad” is still valuable.

Useful Resources:

Managing Limiting Beliefs, Imposter Syndrome, and all the “Chatter” In Our Heads | with Ethan Kross

Brene Brown

Why Optimization Isn’t the Answer (and How to Make the Most of the Four Thousand Weeks We Have) | with Oliver Burkeman

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Acknowledge that he took the time to respond and reflect his feedback with a bit of depth.
• Ask directly the current stage of the film and whether they are looking for a trailer editor.
• Focus on reconnaissance but don’t push for introductions.
• If you don’t get a response, just have a friendly nudge where you can provide additional value.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Refine outreach so it keeps passion alive while respecting Dan’s advice. Show obsession with tennis upfront and why Dan is connecting you.
• Be clear with your intention of working for the Tennis Channel without overselling.
• Keep the message short while adding heart back in.
• Have specific asks and frame it so they highlight expertise and invite useful responses.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Ask yourself: “What is the next phase of work and life?” Avoid designing life around your work, but design your work around your life.
• Define your “sleep easy number” to create financial stability and freedom for bigger pursuits.
• Reorganize your calendar and rates for bodywork such that your basic needs are met with a predictable and reliable income.
• Set ruthless boundaries so you don’t allow yourself to do more than necessary.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Clarify your website’s true purpose: not just showcasing skills, but compelling the right person to contact you for an interview.
• Provide clear “Call-to-action” to lead your audience how to contact you and where to take them next. Make sure you have a compelling reason for them to click that button.
• Highlight credibility with concise proof points such as major projects, awards, or festivals, that instantly show you’re playing at their level.
• Lead portfolio with your most relevant, high-impact projects, and share specific problems solved and value delivered beyond basic responsibilities

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Gather evidence from past wins to quiet doubts and silence inner voices.
• Authenticity and vulnerability will set us apart and make it easier to connect with others.
• Continue to build courage to face fears with small progressions.
• Apply the mindset from Spartan training to outreach and networking: Find the scariest version of the fear that you have, that you already overcome.

👉 Click here to schedule your own Hot Seat

• Frame follow-ups with context: share what you know, where you’re stuck, and what you want to learn next.
• Treat distant replies as openings that let you earn trust over time. 
• Use the Go Far framework to determine where you are currently stuck and work upstream. Clarify your goals before chasing skills or opportunities.
• Face it until you make it. Lean into fear while setting yourself up for success.
• Listen to the podcast with Marcella Garcia on overcoming limiting beliefs.
• Give space to know what goal you want to work towards:
• Deliberate Goals - knowing what you want and have clear action steps to get there
• Exploratory Goals - seeing intuitively what feels right.
• Use exploratory outreach to learn how others work and sense what excites you most. 

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• It comes from early email conventions (like CC and BCC from carbon copy). RE: means reply and shows the message is part of an ongoing thread.
• Keep RE: if the conversation is continuous, even when you change the subject line. It signals this is still part of the same thread.
• Never start a cold email with RE: to trick someone into opening. That’s manipulative, spammy, and instantly destroys trust.

Leonardo Oliviera: What’s the follow-up strategy if I didn’t get a reply after someone forwards my email?

• In a forwarded email, you get one shot. You don’t have the opportunity to send follow ups.
• Clarify in a couple of weeks if your message was actually forwarded.
• Provide gratitude and value when checking in to make follow-ups more natural.

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• Use your proven value as a small leverage that can be used to set soft boundaries.
• Share your ideal schedule, then find a middle ground that meets their needs and keeps you valuable.
• Start reaching out with your direct supervisor, and confirm who’s the best person that can help you.

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• Start with the expert approach before reaching out with the advocate approach.
• Bridge story with what’s stopping you to make the ask more relevant.
• Focus on these two story points to have more useful conversation:
• Your true passion for the Tennis Channel’s human-interest and ancillary content, not just matches. 
• Your resume doesn’t clearly show transferable skills for this type of work, and you’re unsure how to position your editing experience as valuable in that space.

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• Clarify the difference between expert and gatekeeper approaches so your outreach lands with the right framing.
• Avoid overwhelming contacts with too many questions; instead, spark one focused conversation.
• Give confident yet self-aware nudges to reframe follow-ups and make replies easier.
• Use the search option in Circle to find more resources on gatekeeper outreach

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• Lead with context to instantly remind them of your last connection and why you’re following up now.
• Continue standing out from others by sharing new value, highlighting their latest work and how it resonates with you.
• Keep your story short but show progress through new skills, projects, or experiences relevant to their needs.
• Have the same subject line if it provides value and reply in the same thread, using RE to show continuity and trigger recognition.

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• The magic is in the follow-up, where you lead with value and build relationship.
• Show up early and be consistent.
• Reiterate what you want to get out from the meeting that will make him helpful.
• Use the VSA formula from cold outreach with more specificity.
• Make sure that what you ask is his expertise, and be more clear how he can help you.
• Gather more information to make a more educated decision for your next steps.

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• Lead with value that makes the recipient feel seen and personally recognized.
• Craft a clear story that flows logically instead of scattering unrelated details.
• Using the gatekeeper approach, share relevant information about you that can help him achieve his goals and overcome his obstacles.
• Research what truly matters to their role to avoid assumptions about their obstacles.
• Succinctly summarize the valuable portions of your initial outreach for your follow-up and send it after 2 weeks.

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• Send a mic drop message but add a unique value beyond generic congratulations.
• Differentiate yourself by also congratulating the assistant editor, since few will think to reach out.
• Avoid urgent asks for now; focus on planting seeds with positive, no-ask touchpoints.
• Use every outreach as a rep to build communication and relationship skills transferable beyond entertainment.

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• Reconnect by sharing the advice he gave that you took action and the result regardless of how favorable they turned out.
• Frame your next question: what skills matter most for second assistant editors?
• Raise the level of empathy by highlighting how his unique career path mirrors your own, specifically to his transition from 2nd assistant to 1st assistant in one season.
• Invite deeper conversation by asking nuanced, forward-looking questions to gauge his interest in being your “Obi-wan.”
• Build credibility by referencing your outreach to people in his network.

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• Break down the discussion into micro commitments and understanding of the details such as packages, deliverables and pricing.
• Define success by asking what a “home run” looks like for you and for them.
• Frame the meeting as collaboration and partnering with them to achieve their vision, not just delivering assets.
• Use nervous energy as proof you care, and channel it into confidence rather than self-doubt.
• Be ready to invest in or rent essential tools like a gimbal or memory card once you secure the job.

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• Dig deeper on the opportunities then be more specific on your starting point of why you are excited about working with them.
• Ask more questions about specifics of their upcoming projects, initiatives, goals, challenges where you can position yourself as the solution. 
• Treat conversations as explorations, not pitches—tease ideas lightly to spark curiosity.
• Do some research and due diligence to know who are the people that would be at the epicenter of where you can be the most valuable.
• If you don't know a specific person, ask them who could be the best person to talk to given the specific value that you can bring.

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• Lead with curiosity by asking engaging questions that uncover hopes, dreams, and challenges instead of defaulting to small talk. Then direct things that could potentially be related to areas where you can be valuable to them in return.
• Gather questions that get people to talk about themselves, things they're excited about or their problems.
• Don’t start your question with “What are you working on?” as it can make them feel bad. The feeling that you give them when you first interact is how they're gonna judge that interaction.
• Use memorable, lighthearted anecdotes when introducing yourself to create positive, lasting impressions.

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• Acknowledge the huge win of acquiring the skill and experience of confronting manipulation by setting clear boundaries that protect your value.
• Dive deeper on the Design Your Dream Career workshop.
• Lean on the direction that you are interested in: To be part of telling relevant stories that matters where there’s a lot of creative collaboration. Then, focus on the skills that make you valuable in those worlds.
• In your follow up outreach, always provide one or two sentences of additional value that will make their day better before including a nudge.

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• Evaluate if the process of a 2-year master’s excites you enough to commit time, energy, and finances.
• Focus on the process (not just outcomes), such as growth, structure, learning, and networking.
• Check the program career listings and test if they align with jobs you’d actually pursue.
• Reach out to recent graduates or a guidance counselor to learn more on the process and confirm real-world results in today’s market.

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• Organize your ideal calendar with the goal of integration to have “strategic imbalance.” 
• Set realistic expectations on your ideal week given that you are prone to distractions (manageable) and interruptions (outside of your control).
• Manage interruptions with proper communication and setting boundaries.
• Block digital temptations like YouTube or Instagram with apps or notification settings to create easy wins. Explore freedom.to to help block applications during your focus time.
• Push through the uncomfortable first minutes of creative work to unlock deeper focus and flow.

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• Lead your introduction with excitement and enthusiasm before telling anything about yourself.
• Share relatable personal moments, like attending their art show, to build familiarity and cultural fit.
• Have a general theme and story points in your Act 1 to be prepared for any question that will be thrown to have more freedom and confidence.
• Provide more details when framing your transferable skills by tying past projects directly to their current content and creative needs.
• Transition to Act 2 by asking thoughtful, specific questions about upcoming projects and where you can help.

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• Give yourself space to have more than one question and have conversation that is focused in terms of theme and takeaway. 
• Use the expert approach where you present your story as a hero and them being the guide.
• Frame the lunch conversation like a cold outreach where you begin with value then, present where you are now, where you’re going next and what’s stopping you from getting there.
• Make sure that they're the expert for you in relation to their specific story and experience that will be useful for you.
• Reflect on the following prompts on your journal (specific to visual effects): 
• What do I know that I know?
• What do I know that I don't know?

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• Boundaries aren’t just with others. Learn to set them with yourself to avoid doing it all.
• Every yes is a no. Clarify what you gain and what you sacrifice before committing.
• Get honest and clear to what you are saying no to. Saying yes without letting go will lead to overwhelm and loss of clarity.
• Shiny opportunities can be distractions. Use your intuition and the sway test to confirm alignment.

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• Reiterate your original question but give more clarity on the specific technical skills that you need to stand out.
• Frame your learning process as leveling up existing skills to be faster and more proficient, so your positioning feels confident.
• Reach out to other experts who can help you translate your Avid knowledge to Premiere.
• Continuously follow up and connect on your progress. The goal is to be the most recent person on their mind that they would want to work with, who’s proficient enough to do the job. 
• Go through Chapter 9, Page 115 of Adobe Premiere Pro Best Practices & Workflow Guide for turnovers in Premiere as advised by Itai Lavin.

Jacob Wells: I’ve been given an extra month of work while my boss leans on me for ideas he’s pitching, but I’m wary of being taken advantage of like others before me. How do I position myself so I’m adding value without being exploited or giving too little?

• Protect your time and ideas by defining boundaries and requiring mutual exchange of value before giving away energy, creativity, or skills.
• Identify when opportunity is really just unpaid exploitation
• Use your leverage and set the terms instead of letting them dictate it for you. 
• Ensure that there is a mutual exchange of value, where the value doesn't have to be money.

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• Create a space to think about a plan. Ask yourself, “What's the one thing you know you should be doing that you're just not doing?”
• Consider having a more structured exercise schedule that can help reduce worry and bring a bit more calm.
• Find the simplest easy win that gives 1% more clarity and build momentum towards building your exercise routine.
• Schedule a meditation session and use the study hall for your external accountability.
• Start with subtraction before addition. Remove one habit, worry, or distraction to create space for something that creates calm.

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• Anchor your credibility with specifics: highlight companies, distributors, or projects you’ve worked with so your audience knows you’re playing the same game at their level.
• Layer in just 10–20% more “about you” content, strategically placed, to frame your experiences that are relevant to them.
• Emphasize adaptability: show you can cut across wildly different genres, tones, and budgets, delivering quality trailers within the timeline.

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• Keep the Salesperson You chained, then just let the Friendly You start the conversation but quickly build on being the Curious You that guides the conversation.
• Ask more about their challenges, goals, and needs to uncover where you can provide real value. Lead with these questions:
• What are you guys working on right now?
• What are some of the challenges that you're facing with that?
• Skip the small talk and get to meaningful conversation faster and show genuine curiosity.
• Position yourself as a “help one” by confidently offering support only when you see a genuine opportunity where you can be the solution.

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• Capture every story point on your long initial draft, then trim down to ensure flow and clarity.
• Take out a sentence on your value then transition it to the part of your story where you see a problem that you can provide a solution.
• Frame the message around their problem, then reveal how your skills solve it.
• Cut redundancy, combine ideas, and aim for 15–20% fewer words.
• Use a PS for intriguing extras that spark curiosity without cluttering the main message.
• Keep subject lines strong since forwarded emails depend on them to get opened and send the forwardable email separately with a short thank-you note to the connector.