TCC Podcast #275: How to Increase Your Focus Using Neuroscience, Trigger a Flow State, and Be More Productive with Dan Clark

On the 275th episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast, we’re joined by Dan Clark. Dan is the CEO of Brain.FM, science-first functional music technology that supports focus, meditation, and sleep. In this episode, we uncover how neuroscience and music can work together to improve your productivity and trigger your flow state for maximum concentration. Having a moment of realization that makes you shift your focus to finding your purpose. Why it’s a good idea to try new (and impossible) things to build confidence and break through your comfort zone. How “no” will always be your answer if you never ask for what you want. How does functional music work to bring you to your flow state? The difference between functional music and Art music. The science behind getting into your flow state within 5 minutes. Can functional music help with ADHD and neurodiversity? Breaking down 3D sound and how it supports focus. Is it possible to train your brain to go from night owl to morning person? The differences in the focus, relaxation, and sleep modes of Brain.FM. Energy management as a business owner and CEO. How to make the most out of time with specific habits. Psychological triggers that help bring your brain into flow state. How to utilize your surroundings to enhance productivity. Creating a blueprint to help more people and driving your business forward by working backward. How to stay focused on one thing at a time when you have a multitude of visions. The importance of creating intentional space to move the needle toward specific goals. Why hiring support from experts, coaches, and consultants will save you time. If you’ve ever wondered how music (or sounds) has the power to help with concentration and how you can take it a step further, be sure to listen in on this episode or check out the transcript below. The people and stuff we mentioned on the show: Kira’s website Rob’s website The Copywriter Club In Real Life Event The Copywriter Club Facebook Group The Copywriter Underground Brain.FM 30 day free trial Episode 237 Episode 178 Episode 68 Chanti's episode Chanti's website  Full Transcript: Rob Marsh:   Discipline, focus, mindset, getting things done, these are the topics that Kira and I both find ourselves coming back to again and again, and they're the things that we're trying to practice from day to day, and we're not alone. Lately, it feels like we're hearing from a lot of copywriters who are struggling with their own focus. Some are even dealing with things like attention deficit disorder, and none of this is new. There have always been distractions in the workplace. It's just that now that so many of us are working from home, we're easily distracted by family members, virtual school, spouses, partners, pets, any number of things that keep us away from the work that we do. If that sounds familiar to you, you're going to like this episode of The Copywriter Club Podcast. Our guest is Dan Clark, the CEO of Brain.fm. That's a music service that provides functional music designed to help you focus, sleep, and relax better. You might call it a Spotify for your brain. Dan talks about the science behind this unique music and how it relates to focus and flow state, neurodiversity, productivity, and managing your energy, but before we get to our interview with Dan, let me introduce my co-host for today's episode. It's Chanti Zak. Welcome back, Chanti. Chanti Zak:   Thank you so much. I am very excited to be here and talk about one of my favorite things. Rob Marsh:   Yeah. This is going to be fun. So longtime listeners are going to remember your name partly because it's been mentioned by so many people who've been on the podcast, but also because we interviewed you way back in episode 54, where we talked about building quiz funnels. Chanti, you're a growth strategist. You're known as the queen of quizzes. You're the founder of Empathy Marketing Ecosystem Agency. You're the chief evangelists at Interact. You're doing so many things that weren't even in your mind the last time we talked on the podcast. So I'm really stoked to have you back. Chanti Zak:   Yeah, it's been a minute and I am stoked to be back. Rob Marsh:   Plus, you've had a couple of kids, three kids, and yeah, you're doing awesome, awesome stuff. I'm thrilled to have you here. So we also need to make sure that you know that this week's sponsor is The Copywriter Club in Real Life. That's our annual event for copywriters. This year, it's scheduled from March 28th through the 30th in Nashville, Tennessee. It's not your average event. You'll hear from copywriters who should be familiar to you if you've listened to the podcast for a while, people like Mike Kim, and Brigitte Lyons, and Aly Goulet, and Jude Charles, but it's not just presenters. We know what it's like to show up at an event as an introvert… (I'm an introvert. Kira's an introvert.) and not actually know anyone. So we've structured the events so that you can't leave without making a few friends, and among the 200 other copywriters that will be there, there's tons of opportunities to do that, to have people who will support you in your copywriting business. I promise you'll leave with a notebook full of actionable ideas that you can use to grow your own business and improve your processes. If you're interested in that, go to thecopywriterclub.com/tccirl-2022 to purchase a ticket now. You can find that link in our show notes. Chanti, you actually, well, the first time you and I met in person was at the very first TCCIRL. Chanti Zak:   Yeah. You know what? I was fidgeting with my fidget cube the other day that I won during the scavenger hunt that we did in New York City. Rob Marsh:   That's right. Chanti Zak:   I was just thinking back to that time and how much fun it was. I got to serenade Ry Schwartz with Bohemian Rhapsody. We laughed so much. It definitely stands out in my brain as one of the most magical experiences. I mean, both of the live or have I been to three? I can't even keep track anymore. Rob Marsh:   You've come to three because you were in San Diego, too, because you had your baby in San Diego, and you spoke on stage when we were in Brooklyn and gave this amazing talk where you had paddles and we had to walk across the room. People were going from one side of the room to the other. It was hilarious, and it was a ton of fun. Chanti Zak:   A quiz from stage, yeah. Rob Marsh:   Exactly. It was great. Chanti Zak:   Oh, my gosh! Rob Marsh:   It was so fun. Anyway, well, like I said, I'm thrilled that you're here to talk about some of this stuff. So let's get into our interview with Dan Clark and learn a little bit more about how he came to be involved with Brain.fm. Dan Clark:   So, to really start from the beginning, when I was younger, I was bullied mercilessly. My parents signed me up for martial arts, ended up getting my black belt, and then teaching other kids on how to be more confident and transformed kids from being shy to leaders. I was doing that for a while. I ended up getting involved in technology. I made my first website when I was 13, and I made the academy's first website. They went from getting 20 leads a month to 120 leads a month. Before long, I had a little business making these martial arts websites to getting lead generation. I went from helping people transform and using martial arts as a vehicle to do that to let's just figure out what I can do with technology, and I really started optimizing for financial success. I kept doing more complicated things, selling and buying businesses, getting parts of businesses that I would help grow the next level. It wasn't until I was a digital director of a company and selling TV and radio ads, which I actually realized that I wasn't really happy. So on the outside looking in, I was making really good money. I was doing all the things. I was pretty young at the time. I was 23 selling million dollar contracts, and I just felt like I wasn't doing my purpose, so to speak. Then, I had a near life-or-death situation. I actually had a gun pointed at my face with one of my clients. Kira Hug:   A what? Dan Clark:   Long story there. Yeah. So what happened was I used to sell TV and radio. A lot of that I had to go to clubs and different kinds of things. We were leaving a club once and I actually had someone point a gun at me and it made me ... I actually thought I was going to die. I didn't, spoiler alert, but it made me really realize that my life got off track to what I really wanted to do, which is help people be the best version of themselves. So I actually three days later quit my job up to the chagrin of my parents and people around me and walked away from everything, and I said, "How can I actually use technology and help people?" I was looking around for three months, and I remember trying Brain.fm for the first time. I was always very interested in tuning my focus, so to speak. I used to work from 10:00 PM to 4:00 AM because I found that there was that magic moment where I could find this state where everything was effortless, and I could just go. Now, both of you and listeners may be familiar with now it's called flow state, right? So I could find my flow state in that magic zone. I've tried everything. So I tried nutrition. I tried neutropics, which are different kinds of vitamins you can take. I've tried binaural beats and all these other kinds of things. I remember seeing Brain.fm and I was like, "Oh, well, this is probably binaural beats and this isn't going to really work for me, but I'll try it anyway." It was probably around the afternoon, like 10:00 AM or 12:00 PM, and I remember putting it on and listening to it, taking my headphones out for an hour later and being like, "Holy crap! This is going to change the world. I just want to be part of this thing."