Episode 68: Steve Grace

Focus and Chill - productivity tactics for AuDHDers and other neurodivergent folks

Welcome to episode #68. We’re thrilled to be joined by Steve Grace today.

Steve Grace is the CEO & Founder of The Nudge Group, empowering high-growth companies to thrive on a global stage with a unique fusion of recruitment expertise and powerful storytelling designed to expand your reach and impact worldwide.

He is also the Founder of Nudge Productions creating high-quality content to tell stories through every medium from creating & managing podcasts in both video & audio, newsletters production & management, photography, and documentary/filmmaking.

And lastly, he is the publisher of both Balance the Grind & Startup Life: Unscripted and host of both the Give it a Nudge and Daily Grind podcasts.

Welcome to the show Steve!

Questions

1. Can you tell us about your experience with neurodiversity? I could talk for hours about this, how it affected me mentally, etc and how it affects my work, why I do what I do, etc
   1. When did you realize that you weren’t neurotypical?
      1. About 13-14 years old
         1. Started with a diagnosis of an extreme form of dyslexia.
   2. What challenges did you face?
      1. Ridicule, stress, being different
      2. Accomplished siblings
   3. What is it like now?
      1. Love it, I will tell you why
      2. Still finds it difficult to read. Took a while to read
         1. Had to learn the shape of every word.
         2. Finds it difficult to read handwriting.
      3. Found recruitment because it was all speaking (a lot easier than writing).
   4. What neuro-exceptional strengths are you leaning into now?
      1. every single one I can
      2. Difficult to separate the neurotypical strengths from the idiosyncratic
      3. Short and sweet communication
2. What "work" projects are you concentrating on?
   1. Recruitment business
   2. Production Company
      1. Podcasts:
         1. Give It A Nudge: features startups
         2. Daily Grind: hacks to improve diet, exercise, career, sustainability
      2. Website
         1. Balance the grind: work-life balance
      3. Film making
         1. Filming war games for military startups
   3. The Pillars: private club
      1. Founders and family offices get together and build stuff
      2. The goal is to build 20 Canvas and 5 Atlassians
      3. Casual club: can wear a t-shirt; avoiding being stuffy. BYO kilt.
3. How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
   1. With my business Balance the Grind balance, is important to me
      1. Work-life balance looks different to different people.
   2. Teenagers occasionally want to spend time with him (at the ATM)
   3. Sport/exercise:
      1. Exercise 6 days per week
         1. Keystone habit
      2. I did a half ironman last year
      3. I love the ocean, live at Tamarama, learning to surf very late in life
   4. Media
   5. Travel (going away on a boat)
4. What do you do to optimise productivity during your working hours?
   1. Get up early (how early - callback on sleep question) - sleep makes a difference to clarity
   2. Read for 30 minutes (though sometimes gets lured in by phone)
   3. High performance coffee - “before you speak”
   4. Green juice (reviewing them for Balance the Grind)
   5. Breaks up the day with movement (e.g. walk to next meeting for 1hr and make phone calls)
   6. Don’t spend more than 45 minutes on one task
   7. Drinking water - gives him a lot of energy
   8. Planning which I hate,
   9. Some standard old-school ones like doing what I hate first
   10. Lo-Fi Beats I am trying
   11. Breathwork
   12. Turn email off + keep phone away
   13. Email yourself notes
       1. Use Siri to email
   14. 4 different notebooks
       1. Candidate interview notes
       2. Client requirements
       3. The Daily Grind: research guests beforehand
       4. Ideas book
   15. Accountability Meeting
       1. Monday morning check-in with team
       2. Not in trouble but feel embarrassed/fulfilled if you do it
   16. Measurement:
       1. Woop band
       2. CGM
5. What is some unhelpful productivity advice that doesn’t work for you?
   1. Focusing on one thing - everything is connected
   2. “Don’t make lists”
6. COMMERCIAL BREAK
7. What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time?
   1. Get up at 5.30 am (earlier in Summer than Winter)
   2. Solar-powered human (moved from UK to AU for the sun)
   3. Drink half a bottle of water
   4. Juice
   5. Coffee
   6. Wake up teenagers (x2)
   7. Read for 15-30 mins (print them out in A4)
   8. Shower, shave, contacts
   9. Gym (3x weights, 1x run, 1x swim)
   10. Protein shake
   11. Work - no meetings before 11 am
8. How is your sleep? How do you switch off at night?
   1. Goes home around 6 pm
   2. Check emails
   3. Work until 7ish
   4. Dinner
   5. Work until 9 pm
   6. Scrolling/bad TV/movies
   7. Go to bed at 11 pm
   8. Falls asleep quickly
   9. Can’t sleep past 7 hours
9. Where can people connect with you or find your work?
   1. Website: https://thenudgegroup.com/
   2. Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevegrace/
   3. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stevegraceg/
10. Do you have any final words or asks for our audience?
    1. Lofi music
    2. Reframe any limiting beliefs

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