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IFH 277: My IFH Daily Routine & How It Can Help You to Your Goal

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My IFH Daily Routine & How It Can Help You to Your Goal

So many members of the IFH Tribe always ask me on what my daily routine looks like. I decided to not only share my daily routine but also give you tips on how to create your own daily routine. I found that once I created this routine my life started to change. I wanted to share with you what I do every day to make Indie Film Hustle and IFHTV going and growing.

  • 4:30 am – Wake up and get ready for the day
  • 4:45 am – Drink my protein shake and drink water
  • 5:00 am – Hit the Gym for 1-2 hours of working out (most days just one hour)
  • 6:30 am – 8:00 am: Help my wife with the morning routine
  • 8:00 am – 6:00 pm: Start my IFH day
    • Answer Emails
    • Prep for interviews
    • Interviews
    • Write Blogs
    • Create IFHTV Content
    • Social Media Marketing
  • Within the day I set aside 2 hours for meditation (extremely important)
  • 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm: Family Time
  • 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm: TV and Wife Time
  • 9:40 pm – Sleep

Tip: I drink over a gallon of water a day. This helps with so many things I can’t even tell you.

In this episode, I go into great detail on my routine and give you a bunch of tips on how to create a daily routine to help you achieve your dreams.

Thanks again for all the support and happy streaming!

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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Alex Ferrari 2:16
So guys, today, I wanted to talk to you about my schedule, my routine, my daily routine, because so many of the tribe have asked me when I see them at events at festivals, AFM or places like that, how I do what I do, I get called all the time about it, email message, and so forth. So I thought it'd be an interesting episode for you guys to understand what I do on a daily basis, and give you guys a little bit of guidance and tips on what you can do in your daily routine to help you succeed in whatever you're trying to do. So before I get into those tips, let's just go over what I do on a daily basis. Because I do a lot of work. I have, ah is a big thing to run. And I still create all the content myself. And now with ifH TV launching. It's added a tremendous amount of workload to me on a daily basis. So I really have to schedule my time and be very wise on how I use my time. So this is how I start my day. I wake up every morning at 430 in the morning. Yes, I know. 430 in the morning. I love it. It's fantastic. I I just love waking up so early. I truly do. It's, I'm an early bird, so I love it. And when I wake up in the morning, I go get ready and I head over to the gym, where I work out anywhere between an hour to two hours recently. But generally speaking about an hour is what I generally do. But now I'm a little bit doing a little bit more, because I am on a regimen right now to get myself into tip top shape, which I'll explain to you why in a little bit. So I'll do that then I'll come back home, get my girls ready for their school, help my wife in the morning routine, eat my breakfast, and, and then get the girls off to school. Once I dropped them off at school, I come back, settle in. And then I just start answering emails, scheduling, seeing what my schedule this for the day as far as consultations, meetings, you know, content that I'm creating. Every day, I have a different kind of little mini schedule. So it's like, in one day, I'm just doing podcast like today, another day, I'm going to be doing ifH TV content and getting that ready. Another day of the week, I'll go out and you know, looking for licensing and trying to get more content for ifH. TV, and so on. Just depending on my week, I have different things that are needed. But during that time of days where I am working on the tasks that I've set up in front of me for the day, so I work on ifH pretty much the entire day in very different capacities. But during the day, I find two hours to meditate. Now meditation is an extremely important part of my routine. It is ever since I started doing it heavily I I seen the difference and the changes in my life. And my focus in my ability to tackle problems to handle stress. All of it is because of my hours of meditation every day. So it is something a lot of big high performing. Guys do if you ask nine out of 10 of these billionaires and, and really successful business guys and entrepreneurs, nine out of 10 of them will be heavy meditators. So definitely look into it. If you guys really want me to one day talk more deeply about my meditation practice, I'll be more than happy to do a mini episode or something like that, where I can break down exactly what I do. But meditation very, very important. The other thing that I do, and I don't do it as much now because I'm so busy, but I did in my other earlier routines is I carve out one hour a day to educate myself to grow. So that would be reading a book listening to a book listening to a podcast, watching a documentary taking an hour of course that you have on ifH TV, or on on on an online course if something like that, every day I add an hour, a carve out an hour in my day to try to educate myself and grow as a artist as a person as a human being. And it really helps me add more tools to my toolbox. When I right before I launched indie film hustle. Three and a half years ago from census recording, I would literally just listen to every podcast, every audio book, watch every video, I could take every course I could, on a daily basis while I was still doing my other job, I would carve out an hour to two hours a day to do so. Because I was learning how to run an online business, how to market how to understand search engine optimization and all the other cool things that go on behind the scenes for indie film house when I was learning the game, I was learning the hustle if you will. But I was educating myself on a daily basis. You have to continue your education, you never stop learning. I learned something new every day. And by doing that, I grow and I become better I become stronger. So definitely carve out at least an hour in your day to educate yourself. Now, a lot of you like Alex and I work a nine to five it's really tough. You know what, you've got commutes, you've got standing in line at the grocery store. You've got mundane, you know, doctor's appointments and things like that. You can have your phone, you can have earbuds and you can have audio books ready or podcast ready for you to be listening to constantly do it while you work out if you have to. But carve out an hour at least a day where you are growing and educating yourself. Now before I continue I want to I want to address something that I hear a lot from people is that oh you know Alex, I can't really man I can't I can't exercise or I can't really meditate that long or I really can't, you know read a book or educate myself on what the the path that I'm trying to go down. Because I don't have enough time in the day I work a nine to five or this or that. That's fine, but there's 24 hours in a day. You have to dedicate yourself to what you're trying To accomplish, I want you to really understand what I'm saying. And listen to the voice that's coming through your speakers right now, if you continue to make excuses on why you can't achieve anything, or you can't get to the goal that you want to get to, you are right. Because if you believe that, that is exactly what's going to happen. Now, when I say there's 24 hours in a day, when you're sitting there at night watching Netflix verging on or you know, doing a, a marathon of Breaking Bad or Game of Thrones, that's an hour a day that you could be dedicating to something else, something that's going to move you forward, something that's going to take you to where you want to go, don't get me wrong, I watch TV, too, but I have a schedule, and I put things in priority. If I have to, I won't watch TV, I won't relax, I will keep pounding it and keep hustling every day, if you really want to you find the time you make it work, whether it's through a commute, whether it's sitting at home at night, you know, or going off to play basketball with the boys or, you know, hanging out with the girls at a bar, if you want to, you can cut things out of your life that are not moving you forward. And you have to think about it that way. In your daily routine, you must dedicate yourself to what your goal is, to what you want. How bad do you want it? Do you want to be that director? Do you want to be that screenwriter Do you want to, to get to that goal that you've been dying to do? If you do, then you've got to dedicate yourself, you've got to set yourself up for success. And that's what these daily routines do for you. Now, with that said, you have to understand the concept of balance. So a lot of people are surprised to learn that I have family time I carve out family time every day. You know, I work from 830 until around five or six. And that's it. After six o'clock, I'm off the clock and I go and I spend time with my family, I have dinner with them. I play with my girls, and I relax a little bit with my wife. And then sometimes I'll you know, while we're watching a show or something like that, I'll be working on my laptop, while I'm watching the show. You know doing content, creating blog posts, setting things up doing graphics on occasion. But generally speaking, I generally kind of I tried to lock it off lately, because of all the craziness with ifH. tv. And and everything else I'm doing. I've kind of pushed myself a little bit farther than I should. But you know what, that's what I want to do. Because I have a goal to make indie film, hustle and indie film, hustle TV, the best it can be. And that is only going to happen through my dedication through my hard work and through my hustle. So I push myself. And then at the end of the day, I go to bed around nine 930. And I'm out, I'm generally very tired. And my wife and I go to bed early because we both wake up early. And it works great. I get my six, seven hours sleep. But I was saying before, a lot of people are surprised that I just don't work, you know, 18 hour days to do what I do. I used to do that when I was much younger in my early 30s I would do that I would just pound it all day because I didn't have any balance. I didn't have any just balances the word. I didn't have any balance in my life. And you need to have balance. Because if you keep pounding, it's so hard. So continuously and not balanced your life in one way, shape or form where you just wake up in the morning, you work all day on the one task, and then you go to sleep and you keep doing that you will burn out you will do it. So many of my friends said when I launched that indie film hustle, they're like, dude, you can't keep this pace up. And I said, oh yes I can. Because of my routine because of my daily routine. I balance it with everything. I just don't pounded and pounded and pounded. But I pound it with with intention with a schedule with a routine that it's worked for me. And now I also want to talk to you a little bit about working out and about exercise because so many of us including myself, being an editor and post production guy for so long, our lazy asses, he you know, you sit around for 10 hours a day, you don't move and you're like yeah, it's all good. Well, let me tell you something. If you continue down that path and does this talk, this is a guy who's 44 and it has been around the block a few times. If you continue to do that you will continue you will start having health issues, you will start having problems and you will not be able to achieve the goals you're trying to achieve. If you want to be a director. If you want to be a cinematographer. If you want to be someone who's on set for eight or 10 hours a day. If you do not work out you will die You will not make it it will be very difficult for you to be thinking clearly to be creative on set. You know when you have $200 million movie, and you've got like a lazy boy on set like Peter Jackson did during Lord of the Rings, well, then you're rolling in a different place. But I guarantee you he did start working out because he was, it was hurting him too. So eventually, you're going to have to start figuring out how to exercise How to Make yourself healthy, how to make yourself clear minded, because that's how you're going to achieve what you're trying to do. I've told this to you guys, a million times this business is brutal. This business is so difficult, it's probably one of the most difficult businesses to deal with in the world. It really is. And, and as a creative and as a person who's trying to create art, you have to have your engine running at full throttle, man, you got to have that make sure that oil is in there, you got to make sure it's greased up and it's working. And it's really healthy and moving forward. Because the the healthier you are, the more physically fit you are, the more you can accomplish. And that is one of the reasons why I have started to work out much, much more because I have got a lot of work to do for the tribe. I've got a lot of work to do, building up indie film, hustle, building up indie film, hustle, TV, building up everything else that I'm trying to do, I need to be in tip top shape, and I'm not doing it just for me. I'm doing it for you guys. Because I know so many of you listening right now depend on me to create this content for you to create inspiration for you to create education for you to create opportunities that hopefully will guide you or help you on your filmmaking or screenwriting path. And I take that responsibility extremely seriously, when I meet people, or I meet parts of the tribe, out on the street, out at events. And I see that that look in their eyes, that thankfulness it humbles me. But I am making that kind of impact on people's lives. And I do not take it lightly. I am extremely serious about what I do. That's why I always tell people, you know, you might be more talented than me, you might have more opportunities than me, you even might have more connections than I do. But I promise you one thing, you'll never outwork me, you will never outwork me. And that's always my ace in my back pocket. Because I know I could always hustle harder than anybody in front of me that I promise you, I can do that. And I and I do on a daily basis, you really have to sit down, look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself what you're willing to do to get to your dream. What are you willing to sacrifice to get where you want to be? And those are difficult questions to have to answer. Because I know a lot of people, and I know a lot of filmmakers who talk a lot about making movies about doing this and doing that. And they blame other people, they blame the business, they blame studios, they blame everybody else. But they don't blame themselves. They don't look inside and go, why am I not getting to where I want to be? And they always like I'm not getting the opportunities. Well dammit, make your own opportunities, create your own path. Don't wait for permission to go out and do that. Do your thing. Okay, don't do it. It took me 20 years to figure that out. And the second I decided to not wait around for other people to give me permission to do what I want to do. That's when things all things changed for me. And I want that for you guys. So you got to look at yourself. Right now, as you're listening to this. Ask yourself the question, What am I willing to do to make my dream come true, whatever that dream might be. Okay, it is hard work to get to where you want to be. And that is the blessing of it all. Honestly, I love the grind. I love the daily getting up at 430 in the morning, hustling to go to the gym, working out, coming back, pounding it on ifH. And I have HTV all day. And I've been blessed. That bow This is my full time job. This is what I do for a living. Now, thanks to you guys, thanks to the support of the tribe. And I take it so seriously. Because I am I've been hungry. I've been to the place where I'm not working for a long time and having this opportunity to help you guys on your path. I take so to heart and so seriously, that I will do whatever I have to do physically mentally and spiritually to get to that place where I can provide that service to you, the community, the tribe, and to anyone who listens to what I i spout off on a daily basis and all the work that I'm trying to do with both if agent ifH TV. I really hope that this conversation kind of inspires you You, too, to go out and do what you need to do build up that daily routine. And whatever that daily routine is for you. There's a great book called The Miracle Morning that I read a long time ago. And I don't do everything he says. But he sets up six, seven steps to have a successful morning routine, and a routine that will help you get to where you want to go. One thing that he does say to do, and I do it now is writing you write every day, write something, write a journal, write a blog, post, write a script, do something every day, but write it write it down. And I used to do that when I was writing my book, which I will be talking about in a later episode in much, much more detail. But during all of this, I've been writing a book, that is going to be pretty insane when you guys hear what it's about. And it's not a technical book, it's not about how to how to, you know, market your film or anything like that. This is this is a nonfiction book. But we'll get into that later. But I was writing every day I would write 1000 words every day, for months, trying to get my book done. And that helped me so much, you have no idea. So find something to write journal yourself journal, what your thoughts are, if that's works for you, but you've got to write everyday, but that book is excellent. I'm gonna put a link in the show notes at indiefilmhustle.com/277 for the Miracle Morning, it's a great, great book. And it's a short book, and you you will be thankful you read it, trust me. So if you're feeling a little lost, like I don't know where to go, that's a great start to setting up your, your Miracle Morning or your routine, it is so important to create that routine for yourself to guide you, in those times where you're just tired or are lost and don't know where to go. In your path. Having that routine to hold on to to hang your hat on is super, super important, guys. Now I'm going to tell you a story that a friend of mine told me that it's just a wonderful story. And it's a story about a man who was a construction guy, he built houses for a living. And one day he was about to retire. And he was like a few, you know, a few weeks away from retiring. And his boss came in to his office like, Listen, I have one more job for you. And I need you to build this house. And it's going to be a very important house. So I want you know, because it's someone very special on the family, that we're building a house for sale, and you're the best. So I want you to do it. And inside outside, he said, Sure, I'll do it. But inside, he was so upset, so angry that they would do that to him. They're like, Oh my god, after so many years of working, I'm about a couple weeks away, you want me to start a house to build a house, or it was a couple months away or something like that. And so we started doing it. But what he started to do instead because he was so angry at his boss, that he would buy bad wood, he would buy rusted nails. And the structure wasn't you know, he was doing a half ass job on the inside. On the outside. It looked beautiful. It looks stunning. It was a beautiful house. And when it was all said and done, he walked up to his boss and said, boss, it's done. Here it goes. And the boss handed him an envelope. And in the envelope was a set of keys. And it goes What's this, it goes, that's the key to the house that you just built. It is our gift to you. And the moral of that story is this, no matter who's looking, no matter what is happening. do the best work you can even if no one's watching, because at the end of the day, the only person you're in a race with is yourself. You always have to do your best no matter what, no matter how small of a little job it is, no matter how insignificant it is. I promise you, I've done things that I was like, Well, you know, I'll do an interview for a podcast that might have 20 listeners. Okay. And I will do it because I agreed to do it. And I want to do it and I want to you know, get the word out on what we're doing. And you know, a lot of people will like why would you waste your time with that? acid? You know what, because one of those 20 people who are listening in might change their trajectory and might help them in one way, shape or form by listening to what I say, or introducing them to indie film hustle or indie film hustle TV and getting the word out on what I do. It doesn't matter if it's one person who's listening, or half a million people downloading it. It doesn't matter. You do the best you can. And a lot of times out of those really small podcasts that I'll do as a guest. A lot of great things come out of it. I make a new friend I make a new contact. Someone reaches out to me because of it and so on. There is amazing amounts of serendipity that happens when you go out there and do the best job you can even, and especially when no one is watching you. So I really hope this episode has helped you guys out. If you have questions about the routine, or helping yourself out with a routine again, Miracle Morning is a great book to get started with. And, you know, you've just got to hustle guys, I say it every day. How bad? Do you want it? Man? How bad? Do you want your dream to come true? Are you willing to sacrifice are willing not to buy? That thing that is going to is going to sit on your shelf? Or you know, just make you look cool for a minute or two? Are you willing to not spend the money on that and get a course online, buy a few books, sign up for a platform that will educate you or help you on your path? What is it worth to you? And are you serious? are really serious? Are you just a talker? You know, I hope that everyone listening gets that. And I'm trying to shake you up just a little bit. Because God knows I wish I would have had someone telling me this stuff. When I was in my my times of of darkness, if you will, of talking a lot and not hustling as hard as I should have been hustling. So just ask yourself that question guys. What am I willing to sacrifice to get to where I want to be? I hope this was a value to you guys. I wish you nothing but success on your daily routine. And on your journey down your path as a filmmaker, a screenwriter, an artist, or whatever your dream is. I wish you nothing but success for it and continue hustling no matter what guys are right? As always, keep that hustle going. Keep that dream alive. And I'll talk to you soon.



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