Episode 10: Thomas Beresford

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

1. What projects are you concentrating on during your focused hours?
   1. Baby takes away focus hours
   2. Wake up early 5am before baby wakes up
   3. 2hrs of power
      1. Journaling
      2. Read book
      3. Ice bath/exercise/breath work
      4. Business
   4. Life and business is his project
   5. Business
      1. Wellbeing
      2. WHM (Wim Hoff Method)
      3. Corporate consulting: employee experience
      4. Listening coaching
2. How about the rest of the time? What do you enjoy doing in your off time?
   1. Good boundaries,
      1. non negotiable around the sleep window
      2. Essential for recovery
   2. Tape mouth, minimise mouth breathing
   3. Old hobbies prior to being a father
      1. Used to DJ (old school)
      2. Used to play field hockey
   4. Reading (more recently)
   5. 
      
3. What does your morning routine look like and how has it evolved over time?
   1. Cat wakes him up at 5am
   2. What do we start with? Personal vs business
      1. Shower
      2. Cats
      3. Vitamins:
         1. Vitamin C
         2. Fish oil
      4. Reading: few pages
         1. Daily stoic, Holiday
         2. Daily Laws: Robert Green
      5. Business: marketing
      6. Baby wakes up
      7. Coffee for wife
   3. Great there is 1 priority: sleep
      1. Has it always been the case that 1 priority has been clear?
4. What do you do to optimise productivity during your working hours?
   1. Avoid Burn out:
      1. Historically burnt candle on both ends (chartered accountant study, full time job, training at gym)
      2. Developed heart condition
   2. Don’t “Think outside the box”
   3. Be contrarian, push back against defaults
   4. Shitstorming
   5. Looking at a sunset or anything panoramic
   6. Keeping elbows near rib cage and breathing through nose only
5. How do you switch off at night?
   1. Mouth taping improved oura readiness score?
      1. Better HRV
      2. Less peeing during the night
      3. Getting started
         1. Put a small piece over your mouth
            1. While you’re awake
   2. Nice dinner
      1. Home cooked meals
      2. Eat early
         1. >= 2hrs before falling asleep (latest at 7pm)
      3. Rest and digest
         1. Dim lights: himalayan salt lights
         2. Eat with baby + wife
         3. Don’t eat at your desk/standing up
   3. Sleep hygiene
      1. Reduce light
      2. Reading
      3. Hot bath
6. What habits do you want to remove from your life?
   1. netflix/TV forcibly removed by fatherhood
   2. Friend time
7. What resources (books, philosophies, apps) do you find most helpful for productivity and habit formation?

Number one recommendation: Allan Watts. “Allan Watts: if money was no object”

1. Jocko Willick Discipline = Freedom
2. Matthew Walker: “Why we sleep”
3. “Tools of Titans”
4. David Allen: “Getting Things Done”
5. James Nestor: “Breath”
6. Ian McGilchrist: “The master and his emissary”
7. Youtube/podcasts
   1. Huberman Lab podcast
   2. Kelly Starret: Mobility WOD
   3. 
      
8. Randolph Ness, Good reasons for bad feelings
9. Where can people connect with you or find your work?
   1. Breathspacewiththomas.com.au
   2. IG: breathspace_with_thomas
10. Do you have any final words or asks for our audience?
    1. “You’ve got more power and control than you realise”
    2. With the help of breathwork and other advisors, you can get yourself back on solid