In this episode, Dave is excited to welcome a guest that was at the top of his list when started the Misfit Entrepreneur, Craig Ballantyne. Craig is the owner and head editor of Early to Rise, arguably the most popular daily source for bettering your health, wealth, self-improvement, and lifestyle. Dave has followed ETR for almost 15 years and says that the Misfit Entrepreneur would not exist without many of the great tips picked up from reading it each morning. It’s a staple in his personal growth routine.
Outside Early to Rise, Craig is known as a top Productivity & Success Transformation Coach and the author of The Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life.
He has been a contributor to Men's Health magazine since 2000, and his articles have also appeared in Women’s Health, Oxygen, GQ, Maxim, Men’s Fitness, Muscle and Fitness, and many others.
In 2001, Craig created the popular home workout program, Turbulence Training, and in 2013 he created the Home Workout Revolution Bodyweight Exercise Program. Over 100,000 men and women have used his 6 Minutes to Skinny weight loss system since 2014.
Craig’s online success has led him to create books and a coaching program to show others how to take their ideas and help thousands of people. He holds seminars around the world, and he teaches at the annual Sovereign Academy camp every summer in Lithuania.
But it wasn’t always easy, Craig had to overcome many obstacles on his journey to success, and his toughest battle was fighting crippling anxiety attacks. He finally discovered how to beat them with his 5 Pillars of Transformation, and today Craig shows men and women how to use the 5 Pillars to lose 10 to 75 pounds, get a raise and make more money, find the love of their life, and overcome really any obstacle in the way of their success.
Craig grew up in Canada and went to college to be a strength and conditioning coach for hockey teams. In college, wrote a newsletter to Men’s Health and got put into the magazine showing how just taking action can pay off. Craig, started helping people of all walks of life and came out with Turbulence training in 2001. In 2011, he bought Early to Rise. But it wasn’t easy, in 2006, Craig started to get very bad anxiety attacks including mental and physical issues. He couldn’t do anything at 100%. He couldn’t exercise. He couldn’t think at optimum levels. It really consumed his life.
Through learning to control his body and using meditation techniques, Craig was able to overcome his anxiety after many months of practice. He took the lessons and tactics from this to create a system to really help people overcome obstacles in their live and grow themselves.
One of the ways that Craig overcame his anxiety was through what he calls the 5 Pillars of Transformation:
These can be used for all areas of your life from changing the way you feel to reaching a goal or any kind.
At the 8:30 mark, Craig walks through how he used the 5 Pillars to change his life and give examples for each one.
Pay close attention at the 11:40 mark as we explore how Craig came up with his 12 rules for living and how you can use this technique to help you in your life. As Craig, says, “Everyone has rules for their live, but don’t necessarily call them rule…or write them down, but they have them whether they are conscious to it or not.” These rules provide the structure to make it easier to do the things you want to become more successful.
At 16:40, Craig gives the template of the 5 rules that everyone should have in their life:
At the 22:30 mark, we talk about one of the most powerful techniques of the most successful and Craig’s recommendation of how to do it.
Craig also discusses and expands on his “3 C Formula:”
Craig took this and applied to his day. He notes that we have more control over our mornings (when we get up, the first things we work on, etc.).
Craig also shares his sometimes controversial, 10, 3, 2, 1, 0 Formula and how it’s helped him achieve more and succeed further:
• 10 hours before bed, stop drinking caffeine
• 3 hours before bed, stop having heavy meals and alcohol
• 2 hours before bed, stop work
• 1 hour before bed, get away from all electronic light (phones, tablets, etc.)
• 0 is the number of times you hit the snooze button in the morning
We also discuss Craig's thoughts on business and some of his best decisions in business, advice on starting an online business, his challenges now and how he is overcoming them, and who his mentors are.
Best Quote: "There are two types of people. There's proactive people that succeed and reactive people that struggle."
Craig’s Misfit 3