1 00:00:00,050 --> 00:00:08,450 Intro: Today's guest is Dominic Zilstra, founder of traverse.link, an app that helps professionals learn faster using science backed learning methods. 2 00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:14,779 He studied in the Netherlands, Germany, and Brazil, and holds a master's degree in engineering physics. 3 00:00:14,940 --> 00:00:22,570 Dominic has worked as a space systems engineer for Airbus and a data scientist before starting his entrepreneurial. 4 00:00:23,390 --> 00:00:31,040 His app has helped over 10,000 professionals learn skills like languages, programming, marketing, psychology, and more. 5 00:00:31,550 --> 00:00:35,390 Dominic also hosts the Super Learning Professionals Podcast. 6 00:00:35,870 --> 00:00:37,160 We hope you enjoy. 7 00:00:38,810 --> 00:00:39,980 Dan Moore: Hello everyone, this is Dan Moore. 8 00:00:39,980 --> 00:00:44,510 Welcome to the Action Catalyst, and I'm very excited that our guest is coming to us from the Netherlands. 9 00:00:44,540 --> 00:00:44,780 Mr. 10 00:00:44,785 --> 00:00:45,770 Dominic Zilstra. 11 00:00:46,070 --> 00:00:48,110 Dominic, you have an incredible background. 12 00:00:48,140 --> 00:00:49,160 We're gonna hear all about it. 13 00:00:49,160 --> 00:00:50,450 Welcome to the Action Catalyst. 14 00:00:50,720 --> 00:00:51,680 Dominic Zijlstra: Yeah, thanks then. 15 00:00:51,770 --> 00:00:52,760 Very excited to be here. 16 00:00:53,090 --> 00:00:55,310 Dan Moore: This gentleman has been a data scientist. 17 00:00:55,310 --> 00:00:56,990 He has been a rocket scientist. 18 00:00:57,050 --> 00:01:03,380 So for the people that say it doesn't take a rocket science to figure some things out, I think maybe it does take a rocket scientists to figure some things out. 19 00:01:03,925 --> 00:01:05,510 , and you have definitely done that with traverse. 20 00:01:05,825 --> 00:01:06,245 Anyway. 21 00:01:06,245 --> 00:01:14,825 If you don't mind, walk us back through some of the, the key moments in your past that led you to where now you have created this wonderful, wonderful learning system traverse. 22 00:01:15,634 --> 00:01:18,455 Dominic Zijlstra: I grew up, my grandfather, he had a farm in Germany. 23 00:01:18,455 --> 00:01:19,535 He built his own business there. 24 00:01:19,715 --> 00:01:22,905 So I went to Germany initially to study physics and um, and engineering. 25 00:01:22,955 --> 00:01:25,925 And, uh, I took some time to, to integrate. 26 00:01:25,929 --> 00:01:28,115 You know, people can be a bit close there. 27 00:01:28,115 --> 00:01:30,185 Uh, so I had to learn the language. 28 00:01:30,245 --> 00:01:33,545 Uh, eventually I made friends and I made very close friends there. 29 00:01:33,815 --> 00:01:36,935 And later on I went to, to Sweden on an exchange program. 30 00:01:36,935 --> 00:01:37,925 I met a lot of people. 31 00:01:38,545 --> 00:01:39,445 All over the world. 32 00:01:39,535 --> 00:01:45,475 And that's when I really started to feel like more than just citizen, more like a world, a world citizen almost. 33 00:01:46,225 --> 00:01:54,655 And at the end of that, I actually met a, a girl from, from Brazil and we started dating and I decided I wanted to go and graduate in. 34 00:01:54,655 --> 00:02:01,285 And I, I wrote my master Jesus there in, uh, in aerospace, as you already mentioned, not, not quite a rocket scientist. 35 00:02:01,495 --> 00:02:04,199 Definitely the era . Yeah. 36 00:02:04,199 --> 00:02:10,890 And then I came back to Europe and uh, that relationship ended and I got a job in, uh, in spacecraft engineering at Airbus. 37 00:02:11,460 --> 00:02:16,950 And I actually met my partner, my current wife at that um, point, and she's from, she's from China. 38 00:02:17,160 --> 00:02:20,310 That's when I, when I really kind of hit a roadblock was, cause whenever I. 39 00:02:20,605 --> 00:02:25,195 Went to China to visit her friends, her parents, uh, they couldn't speak in English. 40 00:02:25,195 --> 00:02:26,545 They could only speak Chinese. 41 00:02:26,545 --> 00:02:32,815 So I had tried to learn Chinese just like I had learned other languages before, but it just turned out to be impossible. 42 00:02:32,815 --> 00:02:34,075 It was, it was much harder. 43 00:02:34,195 --> 00:02:40,575 So that's when I really took a step back and I, I took a look at how I had approached learning in the past. 44 00:02:40,580 --> 00:02:43,335 So I had, I had learned several languages. 45 00:02:43,335 --> 00:02:43,945 I had learned. 46 00:02:44,045 --> 00:02:47,075 Physics, uh, rocket science, data science. 47 00:02:47,405 --> 00:02:50,645 But actually the method that I used were kind of weak. 48 00:02:50,645 --> 00:02:56,225 They were not, not effective enough, not effective enough to learn something as challenging as as Chinese. 49 00:02:56,645 --> 00:02:59,855 So that's what I really dove into the science behind learning. 50 00:02:59,860 --> 00:03:06,665 And I learned about meta learning, like effective memorization techniques like space repetition, active free call. 51 00:03:06,725 --> 00:03:09,565 And then I came up with a method that I. 52 00:03:10,070 --> 00:03:18,200 Used myself to learn Mandarin Chinese, and after that I discovered it's, it's much more broadly applicable so that I used it to learn other languages. 53 00:03:18,200 --> 00:03:21,500 I used it to, to learn programming skills. 54 00:03:21,830 --> 00:03:25,490 At that point, I was actually planning to move to China, to s. 55 00:03:25,555 --> 00:03:29,125 To, um, yeah, really get really fluent in Chinese, get a job there. 56 00:03:29,575 --> 00:03:31,735 Uh, but that was when, when Covid struck as well. 57 00:03:31,735 --> 00:03:38,815 So that was for me, another turning point where, where the universe was telling me, well, you're not supposed to go there and just be like, like a teacher, you know? 58 00:03:39,295 --> 00:03:43,075 Instead, you have to take this system and bring it out to the world. 59 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:45,565 So I, I turned into, into an app. 60 00:03:46,220 --> 00:03:52,340 That app is, is traverse.link and it yeah, incorporates a lot of the scientific method that I used to learn. 61 00:03:52,340 --> 00:04:02,540 And yeah, now people are using it to learn all kinds of things from languages to like medicine, to, um, skills like, like marketing, psychology. 62 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:05,900 And that's, and it has come full circle again. 63 00:04:05,900 --> 00:04:12,530 So I'm actually working with a, with an online Chinese course now they're, they're using the app as well, so yeah, now, now I've really been able. 64 00:04:13,379 --> 00:04:19,919 Turn my, my personal learning method into something that, uh, people from all over the world can use, uh, whatever they want to learn. 65 00:04:20,249 --> 00:04:21,809 Dan Moore: I think it's a phenomenal story. 66 00:04:21,959 --> 00:04:23,729 And you are a citizen of the world. 67 00:04:23,734 --> 00:04:24,090 Clearly. 68 00:04:24,090 --> 00:04:24,989 You've traveled so much. 69 00:04:24,989 --> 00:04:26,219 You've lived in various places. 70 00:04:26,460 --> 00:04:31,710 I'm also married to an international, my wife is Portuguese, Puerto Bay. 71 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:32,759 Dominic Zijlstra: Ah, follow up 72 00:04:33,960 --> 00:04:34,109 Dan Moore: Thumb. 73 00:04:34,979 --> 00:04:41,729 And I know that that ability to learn is such an important thing, but people have mental blocks about things they can learn and can't learn. 74 00:04:41,729 --> 00:04:41,939 Don't. 75 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:44,180 Dominic Zijlstra: Yeah, yeah, definitely. 76 00:04:44,180 --> 00:04:49,580 And I think a lot of those mental blocks are actually already, um, instilled by school. 77 00:04:49,760 --> 00:04:52,730 In school we kind of have to learn a fixed set of things. 78 00:04:52,735 --> 00:04:58,400 We have to learn the curriculum, um, we have to learn to pass a certain exam, and that's it. 79 00:04:58,405 --> 00:05:02,570 Then we move on to the next thing, and I think there is a couple of problems with that. 80 00:05:02,570 --> 00:05:03,380 So, so for. 81 00:05:03,794 --> 00:05:05,684 Kind of kills off our curiosity. 82 00:05:05,684 --> 00:05:12,824 Like if you, if you look at a child, he will explore and dive into, into something and find out everything he can, he can about it. 83 00:05:12,824 --> 00:05:14,205 And it's very, very curious. 84 00:05:14,294 --> 00:05:22,694 Um, but there's actually research that shows that our education system kind of reduces that, that natural curiosity over time. 85 00:05:23,099 --> 00:05:29,520 Another thing that it does, it's, uh, because we have those exam scores, people think that, oh, well I'm, I'm bad at like math. 86 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:31,590 I'll, I'll never learn, I'll never learn math. 87 00:05:31,650 --> 00:05:36,060 So it establishes this fixed mindset almost like this cannot be changed. 88 00:05:36,060 --> 00:05:39,330 I'm bad at math, but the reality is that our brains are. 89 00:05:40,430 --> 00:05:41,430 Incredibly flexible. 90 00:05:41,790 --> 00:05:48,960 The key to overcoming those roadblocks when, when getting stuck is adapting what's called like a growth, a growth mindset. 91 00:05:49,230 --> 00:05:49,409 Mm-hmm. 92 00:05:49,650 --> 00:06:01,890 . So we actually accept that by using, using the right methods, we can approach any subject, like no matter what level we are coming from, and start learning it, start getting better at, better at it. 93 00:06:01,890 --> 00:06:03,349 Like, like one step at a. 94 00:06:03,780 --> 00:06:07,679 As long as we are confident that we can actually do that, can actually achieve that. 95 00:06:07,710 --> 00:06:09,659 And that might take, might take a long time. 96 00:06:09,659 --> 00:06:12,569 And the key is building that a learning, learning habit. 97 00:06:12,569 --> 00:06:15,010 So even if we improve just 1% a. 98 00:06:15,515 --> 00:06:16,985 It accumulates over time. 99 00:06:16,985 --> 00:06:22,135 It adds up to, I think it's like 38 times in a year due to the power of compounding. 100 00:06:22,175 --> 00:06:29,555 So the key to overcoming those roadblocks is really establishing that, that growth mindset and building an open habit. 101 00:06:29,555 --> 00:06:33,095 And also not being, not being afraid of, of failure. 102 00:06:33,095 --> 00:06:39,425 Cause you will, you will feel it's, it's almost inevitable when we try new things in at the beginning, we are gonna be bad at it. 103 00:06:40,025 --> 00:06:42,965 Um, but accepting that we will fail and. 104 00:06:43,669 --> 00:06:47,269 Good to fail that we can, that failure actually strengthen us. 105 00:06:47,269 --> 00:06:47,629 Failure. 106 00:06:47,659 --> 00:06:49,009 Failure makes us better. 107 00:06:49,069 --> 00:06:52,459 And that's what, uh, will help us overcome those, those roadblocks. 108 00:06:52,519 --> 00:06:53,929 And, um, eventually, 109 00:06:54,289 --> 00:07:01,309 Dan Moore: well, it seems like we have two strikes against our current education system because the worst trade you can give in education is f, which means you failed. 110 00:07:01,510 --> 00:07:05,830 And also the fact that so many people are rated according to where they got the right answer. 111 00:07:05,919 --> 00:07:14,050 And there may be more than one right answer, but as long as we're training to get the right answer, it's gonna affect some people's confidence and certainly their creativity. 112 00:07:14,349 --> 00:07:14,919 Exactly. 113 00:07:15,070 --> 00:07:15,400 Yeah. 114 00:07:15,700 --> 00:07:19,570 Let's, let's dig in a little bit more to this, this growth mindset and how somebody could develop it. 115 00:07:20,140 --> 00:07:24,460 Let's say for example, that I've been a pretty good student in, in English and history and I love to. 116 00:07:25,019 --> 00:07:27,899 But again, mathematics is sort of like, no, get away from me. 117 00:07:27,899 --> 00:07:28,949 Math, math stuff. 118 00:07:29,159 --> 00:07:36,239 What are some things that I can do on a, on a daily basis to eliminate that negative belief that I've got and to build that growth mindset? 119 00:07:36,539 --> 00:07:36,929 Dominic Zijlstra: Yeah. 120 00:07:36,934 --> 00:07:45,299 So basically what I, what I've found when learning those different things, like yeah, learning languages, um, learning new fields like. 121 00:07:45,620 --> 00:07:53,630 Data science, which also involves a lot of math, is that every learning process can be, can be broken down in, in more or less the same steps. 122 00:07:53,780 --> 00:07:58,730 And if you follow those steps, you will still face challenges, but they will be manageable. 123 00:07:58,760 --> 00:08:01,520 They won't, they won't stop you from achieving what you want to learn. 124 00:08:01,520 --> 00:08:06,619 And, and the first step is basically drawing out a map of what you want to learn. 125 00:08:06,619 --> 00:08:13,700 So, uh, there's so much information out there, it's very easy to get overwhelmed, especially now in, in, in the digital age. 126 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:27,324 So the first step is, Throwing out a map and creating almost like a, a tree of knowledge where you separate the, the really important things from the, from the small details and really get it clear in your head. 127 00:08:27,594 --> 00:08:32,905 And once you've done that, you, you have identified basically the place to, to start. 128 00:08:32,905 --> 00:08:35,184 So basically the roots of learning. 129 00:08:35,544 --> 00:08:42,025 And from there you can then take, take the next step, which is building the initial understanding. 130 00:08:42,875 --> 00:08:47,375 A good way to build understandings is by writing and drawing in your own words. 131 00:08:47,375 --> 00:08:53,825 You, you, you can have a textbook full of math with intimidating equations, but you never gotta get anywhere unless you stop. 132 00:08:53,855 --> 00:08:55,565 You start doing it yourself. 133 00:08:55,565 --> 00:09:01,295 So take the simplest equation you can find, write it down, take an exercise from the book maybe, and just. 134 00:09:01,910 --> 00:09:04,520 Start doing it and start, start making it your own. 135 00:09:04,760 --> 00:09:08,450 And an important part of this process is also getting feedback. 136 00:09:08,630 --> 00:09:13,940 And that feedback can either come internally from yourself so you struggle to, to solve a problem. 137 00:09:13,940 --> 00:09:20,240 So that's feedback that, well, maybe you need to try another approach, or it can be feedback from other people who are ahead of you. 138 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:28,090 So maybe a teacher or a friend who's slightly better at math, uh, suggests well, you've, you've, you've taken this step to solve that equation. 139 00:09:28,670 --> 00:09:30,590 Let's try the other approach instead. 140 00:09:30,890 --> 00:09:33,710 And that kind of feedback improves our understanding. 141 00:09:33,770 --> 00:09:37,370 And then the, the third step after that is the, the memorization. 142 00:09:37,375 --> 00:09:43,220 So once we figured out the right principles, the right ways of doing things, We need to memorize those so that we can apply them next time. 143 00:09:43,310 --> 00:09:49,070 Next time we come across a similar problem, and there are several techniques for improving memorization. 144 00:09:49,130 --> 00:09:51,980 A very important one is, uh, called space repetition. 145 00:09:51,980 --> 00:09:57,440 It basically means that we don't do it all in one go, but we space out our practice over time. 146 00:09:57,440 --> 00:10:04,670 So maybe we do one or exercise the first day, another exercise the second day, and then, then we take it like an even bigger break. 147 00:10:04,940 --> 00:10:09,950 And during that break, our unconscious break keeps processing and then maybe we try it again on the fifth. 148 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:12,890 And we will suddenly notice, Hey, I, I got it. 149 00:10:12,890 --> 00:10:15,260 Like in the back of mind something happens and, and it just clicked. 150 00:10:15,380 --> 00:10:15,650 Right? 151 00:10:15,800 --> 00:10:20,450 So that's, uh, that's very important to really build the long term, long term memory. 152 00:10:20,510 --> 00:10:25,820 And then, yeah, the, the last final step is actually applying it, applying it in real life, cuz. 153 00:10:26,270 --> 00:10:34,340 When you, even, when you know how to solve a math equation, if it's, if it's not gonna be useful for you in real life, after a couple of months, you will probably have forgotten how to solve it. 154 00:10:34,340 --> 00:10:39,230 So you have to find some kind of exercise for you that leads you towards a goal you want to entertain. 155 00:10:39,230 --> 00:10:48,890 Maybe it's like you want to construct a shed next to your house and you need to do some, some math to figure out like how much, how much wood you want to, uh, you need to buy, for example. 156 00:10:48,890 --> 00:10:50,930 So, um, really apply it. 157 00:10:51,405 --> 00:10:59,475 Real life and find a practice, a deliberate practice that you can do periodically to practice that skill and drill, drill down on that skill. 158 00:10:59,564 --> 00:11:13,545 So those, those four steps, like first, uh, mapping it out, building the initial understanding solid, solidifying the memory, and finally like applying it in real life, following those speeds up the learning of, of any, of any skill or, um, or 159 00:11:13,545 --> 00:11:14,085 Dan Moore: subject. 160 00:11:14,615 --> 00:11:29,915 Dom Three days ago I downloaded the traverse.link onto my computer and began to create my own process here following what you suggested here, and I can share with our listeners that one of the beauties of the whole process is because it's our own words, we tend to believe ourselves more than we might believe someone else. 161 00:11:30,270 --> 00:11:34,310 The other thing that do does so well is he uses the ancient technique of a flashcard. 162 00:11:34,560 --> 00:11:40,830 And most of us remember learning our multiplication tables where the teacher would hold up the card and say, three times four is, and the class would yell it out. 163 00:11:40,980 --> 00:11:44,835 But because they're flashcards that we've created ourselves, it has terminology, even humor. 164 00:11:45,605 --> 00:11:47,855 It can help us remember something in, in a much better way. 165 00:11:48,095 --> 00:11:50,405 So I commend you on, on the program that you've created. 166 00:11:50,405 --> 00:11:51,665 It's very easy to use. 167 00:11:51,725 --> 00:11:55,055 I get an email from you every day asking how I'm doing, which is really nice. 168 00:11:55,265 --> 00:11:56,735 So that's part of the feedback too. 169 00:11:56,915 --> 00:11:57,575 Yeah, it's great. 170 00:11:57,575 --> 00:12:04,535 It's great to hear that and since I'm a real believer that our limiting beliefs hold us back in so many areas, this is very, very fruitful. 171 00:12:04,535 --> 00:12:06,155 I think it's a tremendous project. 172 00:12:06,155 --> 00:12:06,725 You back on. 173 00:12:07,300 --> 00:12:07,660 Yeah. 174 00:12:07,660 --> 00:12:26,635 Dominic Zijlstra: And I, I love what you mentioned, like really making it, uh, making it personal is so very, very helpful for, for learning, because very often when we learn from a textbook, it's abstract concepts, which are not very, very memorable, not very easy to understand, but instead, like humans, Are very good at learning by, by stories. 175 00:12:26,635 --> 00:12:32,665 Like tell us a particular story about a CEO that make it, make it made a particular mistake. 176 00:12:32,725 --> 00:12:40,225 Um, and the company fails and we will, we will remember that, oh, when I have to run a company, I need to do things in, in a way that avoids that particular mistake. 177 00:12:40,225 --> 00:12:42,235 So we will remember much better from stories. 178 00:12:42,235 --> 00:12:55,795 And this personalization that you mentioned, writing it in your own words, Adding humor, adding all kinds of weird personal details is really, um, helps so much to acquire, uh, new, new skills to learn new subjects, 179 00:12:56,155 --> 00:12:56,455 Dan Moore: right? 180 00:12:56,665 --> 00:12:59,905 And I love the space repetition, this layering of the learning. 181 00:13:00,145 --> 00:13:04,495 In fact, I was watching my almost three year old granddaughter the other day as she was putting a puzzle together. 182 00:13:04,815 --> 00:13:09,345 And she's done the puzzle probably 50 times and as soon as she finished it, guess what she wanted to do? 183 00:13:09,615 --> 00:13:13,605 She wanted to do it again because that repetition helped build her confidence. 184 00:13:13,695 --> 00:13:22,305 And then when she gets to a harder puzzle, she'll know she has the experience of doing puzzles and that space, repetition is a big part of that cuz it builds our internal confidence that we can do so much better. 185 00:13:22,555 --> 00:13:26,365 If we don't learn to add and subtract, it's really hard to do multiplication in division. 186 00:13:26,695 --> 00:13:29,305 But if we learn to add and subtract, then we can go to those next layers. 187 00:13:29,305 --> 00:13:32,095 Then we go to algebra, we go to geometry, trigonometry, et cetera. 188 00:13:32,275 --> 00:13:34,855 But it all builds, and I think that's such an important thing. 189 00:13:35,095 --> 00:13:40,945 It also occurs to me that when we're studying for an exam, To get the right answer because there's no application of it after that. 190 00:13:41,125 --> 00:13:43,585 That's why that in five minutes that answer can be gone. 191 00:13:43,885 --> 00:13:45,835 So really sound stuff you got going on here. 192 00:13:46,195 --> 00:13:46,765 Dominic Zijlstra: Yeah, exactly. 193 00:13:46,770 --> 00:13:57,955 And I love that your granddaughter actually figured out this, like the important of repetition and especially space repetition, um, herself and I think children are probably in some ways much better at that than we are. 194 00:13:57,955 --> 00:14:05,275 We have to unlearn some, some bad habits that we picked up in, in the education system first before, um, before getting to learn in an effective way. 195 00:14:06,015 --> 00:14:06,375 Building 196 00:14:06,375 --> 00:14:06,795 Dan Moore: blocks. 197 00:14:06,795 --> 00:14:07,395 Building blocks. 198 00:14:07,395 --> 00:14:07,995 So important. 199 00:14:08,385 --> 00:14:08,715 Yeah. 200 00:14:09,135 --> 00:14:11,355 Well, let's talk a little bit more about, about yourself for a second. 201 00:14:11,415 --> 00:14:12,675 Do you have a routine in the morning? 202 00:14:12,675 --> 00:14:13,905 How do, how do you start your day? 203 00:14:14,330 --> 00:14:14,810 Dominic Zijlstra: Yeah. 204 00:14:14,810 --> 00:14:27,050 Um, I picked up a, a new habit a few months ago, which, um, before going to bed, I will try to set my unconscious to think about a particular problem that I'm, that I'm wrestling with. 205 00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:39,800 And then when I wake up in the morning, I just sit down and meditate for, for 10, 15 minutes, and I have a little, um, notepad in my, in my hand, and I just write down everything that comes to mind. 206 00:14:39,800 --> 00:15:00,290 And so very often it turns out, Basically when I was sleeping, doing nothing, my unconscious has come up with some new approach or, or creative solution to the, the problem I was, I was struggling with, and I mean, our conscious unconscious does that all the time, but because our bad habits, like the first thing we do in the morning, we pick up our, our smartphone, right? 207 00:15:00,295 --> 00:15:01,160 And look at our emails. 208 00:15:01,165 --> 00:15:04,520 Basically all the work of our unconscious is, is gone. 209 00:15:05,245 --> 00:15:15,715 Taking that time to, to meditate and to reflect a bit in the morning helps us recover some of the, the power and the work that our unconscious is, is already doing. 210 00:15:15,715 --> 00:15:22,610 So I, I found that a very, very, Helpful habits and generally I like to take things quite slowly in the morning. 211 00:15:22,610 --> 00:15:29,930 So yeah, after the meditation I do some yoga exercises basically to get, get the blood flowing and slowly get started. 212 00:15:30,140 --> 00:15:34,730 And after that I will sit down again and, um, write down everything I've. 213 00:15:35,115 --> 00:15:36,615 Learned in the past day. 214 00:15:36,615 --> 00:15:43,695 Usually during the date, there's a couple of things I will just write a quick note off, but I won't have time to actually dive deeper into that. 215 00:15:44,115 --> 00:15:50,625 So then the next morning I will look at those few bullet points and come back and write in full sentences. 216 00:15:51,015 --> 00:15:53,835 What I've actually learned and what I still need to explore. 217 00:15:53,835 --> 00:15:55,665 So that's, that's basically how I learn my day. 218 00:15:55,665 --> 00:15:59,805 And then after that, of course, the actual to-do lists starts. 219 00:15:59,805 --> 00:16:03,015 And I usually try to have one, one item every day. 220 00:16:03,135 --> 00:16:05,505 Like that's the, the one thing that I need to do. 221 00:16:05,745 --> 00:16:12,375 Uh, and once I finish that, the day is good and the rest of the day I still have to finish, um, to finish less important tasks. 222 00:16:12,705 --> 00:16:15,585 Dan Moore: Those are like the bonus achievements if you get the most important one done. 223 00:16:15,825 --> 00:16:16,455 Exactly. 224 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:18,890 Well, let's, let's dig a little deeper into this. 225 00:16:18,890 --> 00:16:22,790 Um, how you get your mindset, your subconscious mind working on something during the night. 226 00:16:22,790 --> 00:16:26,600 How do, how do you do that without it keeping you awake as you worry about that problem? 227 00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:36,635 Dominic Zijlstra: This has actually been a tricky one, and I'm still trying to, to figure out, so I, what I do is in the evening I will, To a bit of focusing on the specific problem. 228 00:16:36,635 --> 00:16:40,625 So I, I will identify at least one problem that I want my unconscious to work on. 229 00:16:41,195 --> 00:16:45,545 But then of course, I don't want to to be awake because I'm thinking about it all the time. 230 00:16:45,550 --> 00:16:50,645 So after I focus, I will actually do another 10 minutes of meditation as well, just. 231 00:16:51,010 --> 00:16:53,199 Thinking about nothing, just focusing on the breathing. 232 00:16:53,350 --> 00:17:01,689 And I found that helps empty my mind while still keeping my unconscious focused on, on what I, what I wanted to think about during that. 233 00:17:01,689 --> 00:17:12,550 And, and it's not like a 100% guarantee that it will come up with creative solutions, but it does work well enough that every now and then I get like a surprising idea or a new approach that I hadn't thought of. 234 00:17:13,594 --> 00:17:20,134 Dan Moore: Somebody was described the way our minds work, they're like a sandbox in a children's playground that by the end of the day it is just a mess. 235 00:17:20,224 --> 00:17:25,384 It's uneven, there's holes in it, there's leaves and weeds, and maybe even occasional animal in there. 236 00:17:25,655 --> 00:17:35,524 But then during the night, somebody comes through and rakes the whole thing, cleans it out, smooths the sand, and if we can avoid tracking it in the next morning first thing, then we can find some really cool treasures in there. 237 00:17:35,884 --> 00:17:36,274 Dominic Zijlstra: Wow. 238 00:17:36,364 --> 00:17:37,834 I love that analogy. 239 00:17:37,925 --> 00:17:38,134 Yeah. 240 00:17:38,134 --> 00:17:40,874 I think it describes very well what I, what I try to do 241 00:17:40,874 --> 00:17:40,995 Dan Moore: as. 242 00:17:41,540 --> 00:17:46,670 You know, you've been an entrepreneur, you've started this business now, and I think it's a subscription model. 243 00:17:46,670 --> 00:17:47,180 Is that right? 244 00:17:47,180 --> 00:17:48,440 After an initial trial period? 245 00:17:48,740 --> 00:17:49,820 Dominic Zijlstra: Yeah, that's that's correct. 246 00:17:49,879 --> 00:17:50,090 Yeah. 247 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:55,129 Dan Moore: But I'm wondering what advice you might have for some of our listeners that are kind of stuck right now. 248 00:17:55,310 --> 00:17:56,750 They are discouraged. 249 00:17:57,080 --> 00:18:00,620 Any suggestions for those that are just not sure where to, where to go next? 250 00:18:01,415 --> 00:18:05,314 Dominic Zijlstra: Yeah, so I think it's very important and human nature. 251 00:18:05,314 --> 00:18:12,365 We always want to help people and when we help people, it not only makes the person we help feel better, it also makes, makes us feel better. 252 00:18:12,814 --> 00:18:16,294 And it doesn't really matter what the scale of helping is, if I can. 253 00:18:16,685 --> 00:18:35,045 Help just one person next door who, who's in need of something, and I can help them with a, even with a, with a kind word or something very small, that just improves my, my, my mindset and my, almost my, my belief in, in the world so much that it, that it empower, empowers you to, to do much, much bigger things. 254 00:18:35,045 --> 00:18:43,925 So I think even when we're overwhelmed with everything bad that's happening in the world, there's always something, even if it's very small, someone who, who we can help. 255 00:18:44,639 --> 00:18:48,539 Once we do that, we've discovered new ways of how we can help more people. 256 00:18:48,809 --> 00:18:54,269 Maybe that's by building a business that we can scale and we can reach a lot of people With that, we can help a lot of people. 257 00:18:54,479 --> 00:18:59,549 Maybe it's by writing, by starting a block, um, that that will be read by a lot of people. 258 00:18:59,554 --> 00:19:00,779 Can help, can help people. 259 00:19:01,139 --> 00:19:02,549 Or maybe it's something much smaller. 260 00:19:02,549 --> 00:19:03,959 Maybe it's in the local community. 261 00:19:03,959 --> 00:19:10,289 You can, maybe there are, there are refugees in, in, in your area and maybe you can help or find a place for those. 262 00:19:10,709 --> 00:19:12,870 There's always things we can, we can help. 263 00:19:12,870 --> 00:19:24,600 And I think, I think helping is the basis for, for most successful and like entrepreneurial endeavors, but it also is what's most empowering in our, the most empowering thing we can do in our daily life. 264 00:19:25,050 --> 00:19:32,280 So I would, I would say always focus on, not on yourself, but on who's out there, whom you can help right now and go from. 265 00:19:32,845 --> 00:19:33,655 Dan Moore: I love that, Dom. 266 00:19:33,985 --> 00:19:38,155 Well, you have got so much to offer, a very young person having a big impact on our world. 267 00:19:38,485 --> 00:19:40,585 So I wanna thank you for being a guest with us today. 268 00:19:41,035 --> 00:19:41,575 Dominic Zijlstra: Thanks, Dan. 269 00:19:41,575 --> 00:19:43,375 It was, it was really great to be here. 270 00:19:43,375 --> 00:19:49,435 And, uh, yeah, I think I've gotten at least as much, uh, as many new insights from you as I've been able to offer here. 271 00:19:49,435 --> 00:19:50,335 So thank you for that. 272 00:19:50,515 --> 00:19:55,375 And I just wanna mention it actually created on action Catalyst traverse.link. 273 00:19:55,555 --> 00:20:00,025 There's a little bonus for listeners that will, um, help you remember better what you'll read. 274 00:20:00,145 --> 00:20:01,465 So there's a little bonus. 275 00:20:02,340 --> 00:20:02,819 Dan Moore: Okay. 276 00:20:02,819 --> 00:20:03,629 That sounds great. 277 00:20:04,019 --> 00:20:05,879 Well, thank you so much, Dominic Donkey, BA 278 00:20:06,989 --> 00:20:07,469 . Dominic Zijlstra: Thank you. 279 00:20:07,475 --> 00:20:08,249 Thank you then. 280 00:20:08,249 --> 00:20:09,209 It was great to be here.