Rabiah (Host):

This is More Than Work, the podcast reminding you that your self worth

Rabiah (Host):

is made up of more than your job title.

Rabiah (Host):

Each week I'll talk to a guest about how they discovered that for themselves.

Rabiah (Host):

You'll hear about what they did, what they're doing, and who they are.

Rabiah (Host):

I'm your host, Rabiah.

Rabiah (Host):

I work in IT, perform standup comedy, write, volunteer, and of course, podcast.

Rabiah (Host):

Thank you for listening.

Rabiah (Host):

Here we go.

Rabiah (Host):

Hey everyone.

Rabiah (Host):

So today I have a guest who I have known for 20 years because my first job

Rabiah (Host):

outta college is where we met, which was yeah, back in San Diego at ProFlowers.

Rabiah (Host):

We both moved on from there and we both moved on from that city as well.

Rabiah (Host):

It's Patrick Alcoke.

Rabiah (Host):

He's he's the co-founder at Find Your Steady.

Rabiah (Host):

Thanks for being on Patrick.

Patrick Alcoke:

Yeah.

Patrick Alcoke:

Thanks for having me, Rabiah.

Rabiah (Host):

So where am I talking to you

Patrick Alcoke:

from?

Patrick Alcoke:

Uh, Yeah.

Patrick Alcoke:

So I am here in Maryland right outside of Baltimore.

Rabiah (Host):

Nice.

Rabiah (Host):

Nice.

Rabiah (Host):

And so you've been in Maryland how long?

Patrick Alcoke:

We moved here from San Diego about seven years ago

Patrick Alcoke:

when our first daughter was born.

Rabiah (Host):

And I've been outta San Diego and then I went back, so I guess

Rabiah (Host):

I was there more recently, but it's a lot different on the East coast I guess.

Patrick Alcoke:

It It is, it's, it's one of those things where we probably

Patrick Alcoke:

talk about moving back to San Diego, my wife and I, 30 times a year, and

Patrick Alcoke:

then we'll go out there ,and then once we come back for the next three

Patrick Alcoke:

months, we're trying to plan it.

Patrick Alcoke:

And then life kicks back in, and then we're still here in Maryland.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, no, I get it.

Rabiah (Host):

I I've faced that similar thing of like I went home last winter or for the holidays

Rabiah (Host):

and I was like, Oh, I miss being home.

Rabiah (Host):

But then I got back here and I'm like, miss my life here too.

Rabiah (Host):

So, yeah, it's totally understandable.

Rabiah (Host):

So let's just get right into Find Your Steady.

Rabiah (Host):

So you wanna talk a little bit about what the company is and what you do there?

Patrick Alcoke:

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Patrick Alcoke:

So Find Your Steady was started by me and my business partner, Brian who

Patrick Alcoke:

is another really long time friend.

Patrick Alcoke:

I met him at college in Virginia Tech.

Patrick Alcoke:

We actually played in a band together back then.

Patrick Alcoke:

But it's, it's us.

Patrick Alcoke:

He's here in Maryland too.

Patrick Alcoke:

And we rekindled our friendship when I got back and have always

Patrick Alcoke:

been throwing ideas around.

Patrick Alcoke:

But when the pandemic hit, we were kind of approaching keeping our mental

Patrick Alcoke:

health in check, trying to just stay ahead of everything in different ways.

Patrick Alcoke:

And I've been.

Patrick Alcoke:

Avid meditator and journaler for going on 10 years now.

Patrick Alcoke:

And he actually makes candles and that's kind of his therapeutic activity.

Patrick Alcoke:

And we were talking one day and he was showing me his candles and, you

Patrick Alcoke:

know, I was like, These are legit.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, when he first told me about 'em, I thought he was gonna show me

Patrick Alcoke:

like, you know, like a mason jar filled with like melted crowns or something.

Patrick Alcoke:

But no, it

Rabiah (Host):

Ha.

Patrick Alcoke:

it was a really legit candle.

Patrick Alcoke:

And we started hashing it out and I was like, Yeah, you

Patrick Alcoke:

know, Businesses in the past.

Patrick Alcoke:

I said, I'd love to help you bring it to market.

Patrick Alcoke:

And we kind of started looking around and, you know, there's a ton of candle

Patrick Alcoke:

companies out there and it, so it kind of got to how do we differentiate ourselves?

Patrick Alcoke:

And something that I've always I'll say worked on, and, and sometimes

Patrick Alcoke:

that means I'm working well, sometimes that means I'm struggling,

Patrick Alcoke:

to keep my levels of stress down.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, I get pretty stressed out being a parent and entrepreneur and, you know,

Patrick Alcoke:

person living through the past few years.

Patrick Alcoke:

Candles have always to me been linked to like de-stress and you come in, you

Patrick Alcoke:

light a candle, it kind of sets the mood, whatever mood you're going for.

Patrick Alcoke:

I was like, what if we try to figure out a way to help people

Patrick Alcoke:

reduce stress, but we tie it to a physical product being a candle.

Patrick Alcoke:

And since then we've actually came out with the journal as well.

Patrick Alcoke:

So that's really where all of this started.

Patrick Alcoke:

We.

Patrick Alcoke:

A web app built that has different tools people can use on a daily

Patrick Alcoke:

basis or on a weekly basis to just kind of find their study.

Patrick Alcoke:

That's the best way to describe it.

Patrick Alcoke:

Like find that medium place where you're not totally stress free.

Patrick Alcoke:

Cause I don't think that's possible, but you're going through your

Patrick Alcoke:

day, you gotta smile on your face.

Patrick Alcoke:

You can handle the challenges that come your way.

Patrick Alcoke:

Yeah, that's, that's kind of what we're setting out to do.

Patrick Alcoke:

We're setting out to help.

Patrick Alcoke:

Do the things they need to do to better manage stress.

Patrick Alcoke:

We just do it with a candle, as funky as that

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, well, and so just looking at your site and knowing a bit

Rabiah (Host):

about your background with work, I mean, it's a very, the website's very clean and

Rabiah (Host):

simple and you have basically, I guess two products bundled in different ways, right?

Rabiah (Host):

Is that fair?

Rabiah (Host):

Like you have candles and the journal and then the different candles.

Rabiah (Host):

And so what I've noticed is a lot of people will say, Oh, I'm doing a

Rabiah (Host):

company that does X and then they'll do Y, Z, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, And so

Rabiah (Host):

how has that been for you to make the conscious decision to stay in your lane?

Rabiah (Host):

So to speak.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's really hard.

Patrick Alcoke:

Like I, I totally get it when people start a company and then there's,

Patrick Alcoke:

there's 15 things they're offering.

Patrick Alcoke:

When you're starting, like when you're small and you're starting this company,

Patrick Alcoke:

you get feedback from one person and that's a good amount of feedback.

Patrick Alcoke:

So, you know, if one person says, Oh, I like this, but you should try

Patrick Alcoke:

this, and you know, when we're first starting, we're not selling very much.

Patrick Alcoke:

So like, oh my gosh, that's a great point.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, we should go do this and this and this.

Patrick Alcoke:

So you're trying to appease everyone that gives you feedback.

Patrick Alcoke:

And what we've really had to do is we set our mission and that

Patrick Alcoke:

was we're gonna help people.

Patrick Alcoke:

De-stress, right?

Patrick Alcoke:

Reduce stress.

Patrick Alcoke:

Manage stress.

Patrick Alcoke:

And I don't know about you, but for me, when I am the most stressed out is what

Patrick Alcoke:

I'm trying to manage a bunch of stuff.

Patrick Alcoke:

There's just clutter.

Patrick Alcoke:

I have 15 different things going on.

Patrick Alcoke:

So our whole approach was, let's keep it as simple as possible.

Patrick Alcoke:

It started off just the candle, right?

Patrick Alcoke:

And a candle.

Patrick Alcoke:

if you scan it with a QR code and it brings up our web app.

Patrick Alcoke:

On our web app, there's a a three minute breathing exercise.

Patrick Alcoke:

There's we call 'em a de-stress activity that's updated daily.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, go out, take a walk.

Patrick Alcoke:

Drink enough water.

Patrick Alcoke:

There's a journaling prompt that changes daily and then there's a playlist.

Patrick Alcoke:

Started off just like that.

Patrick Alcoke:

And what we found is people are using the journal prompts a lot.

Patrick Alcoke:

So we actually came out with a journal to compliment the candle, but then we said,

Patrick Alcoke:

you know, let's prove that this works.

Patrick Alcoke:

And so we have all these different ideas and it really is just about saying, does

Patrick Alcoke:

this help someone reduce their stress?

Patrick Alcoke:

No.

Patrick Alcoke:

Put it on the back burner.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, we have a big list.

Patrick Alcoke:

I don't think things is audio, so a big one.

Patrick Alcoke:

I'm, I'm using my hands to show really big um, of things we could do and we'd like

Patrick Alcoke:

to do, but it's just not the right time.

Patrick Alcoke:

So we really want to focus on what we know works from personal

Patrick Alcoke:

experience, and from feedback we're getting and then build it from there.

Rabiah (Host):

Awesome.

Rabiah (Host):

And were the candles being sold somewhere before this or was

Rabiah (Host):

it just like hobby slash gift?

Patrick Alcoke:

Yep.

Patrick Alcoke:

Exactly.

Patrick Alcoke:

It was it was my partner Brian's hobby, Like, it was, it was, it was really,

Patrick Alcoke:

it was his, his therapy, you know?

Patrick Alcoke:

One of the things that I'm fortunate enough to have found out.

Patrick Alcoke:

Brian is fortunate to found out you with comedy I'm sure have found this

Patrick Alcoke:

out, is that if you find something you really love doing, a lot of times it

Patrick Alcoke:

provides you that therapeutic outlet.

Patrick Alcoke:

And it doesn't have to be anything crazy.

Patrick Alcoke:

It could be something as simple as exercise, making candles.

Patrick Alcoke:

I do a lot of woodworking.

Patrick Alcoke:

This was Brian's therapeutic thing that helped him just clear his

Patrick Alcoke:

head, Focus on one thing, let all the complicated parts of life kind

Patrick Alcoke:

of fade away for an amount of time.

Patrick Alcoke:

So, hadn't been launched.

Patrick Alcoke:

That was kind of how we got it started.

Patrick Alcoke:

But then it started to build into something a lot bigger where you know,

Patrick Alcoke:

candles are great, but I think with what we're doing, we can actually

Patrick Alcoke:

make an impact in people's lives.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, it Well, and it's interesting with those,

Rabiah (Host):

those hobbies that can, can help.

Rabiah (Host):

And sometimes, I mean, and I was talking to you before we came on, like

Rabiah (Host):

I canceled a gig this week because though being on stage is something that

Rabiah (Host):

I really love doing if I'm not doing it.

Rabiah (Host):

Maybe with the right people or for the right purpose, then it takes

Rabiah (Host):

it away and I, I almost think like any hobby is like that, right?

Rabiah (Host):

If it becomes too much of a burden, then it's like, forget it, basically.

Patrick Alcoke:

And I think also we, we were talking about expectations earlier.

Patrick Alcoke:

I think that that's a big player in that as well because I think when

Patrick Alcoke:

you have something you love doing, you know, you hear a lot of people

Patrick Alcoke:

say, "Find your passion and you'll never work another day in your life."

Patrick Alcoke:

And I think people's expectations get wrapped around that.

Patrick Alcoke:

And what they find is they, they have something they love, but the reason

Patrick Alcoke:

they love it is because it's not work.

Patrick Alcoke:

And then when they turn it into work, now it is work.

Patrick Alcoke:

And so no matter what you're doing there, there are good parts and bad parts

Patrick Alcoke:

and frustrating parts of everything.

Patrick Alcoke:

So I definitely know what you mean because I've had things, I mean, I did

Patrick Alcoke:

music for years and once I went after that and tried to make that an actual

Patrick Alcoke:

profession, that's when stress came.

Patrick Alcoke:

That's when, you know, you're on the road and you don't know how you're gonna get

Patrick Alcoke:

to your next show and don't have enough money to eat and you're like, Ah, I really

Patrick Alcoke:

like doing this, but is it worth it?

Patrick Alcoke:

You know?

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah.

Patrick Alcoke:

you have those right expectations, I think, I

Patrick Alcoke:

think you can get through anything.

Rabiah (Host):

that's true.

Rabiah (Host):

And what's your relationship with music now?

Rabiah (Host):

And can you talk a little bit about how your music career went

Rabiah (Host):

and then we'll go back to Find Your Steady a little bit more.

Patrick Alcoke:

Yeah, absolutely.

Patrick Alcoke:

I mean, honestly, my music, my relationship to music right now is I write

Patrick Alcoke:

songs still and I play 'em for my kids.

Patrick Alcoke:

That's about it.

Patrick Alcoke:

Which is, and you know, completely a 180 from, from what it was.

Patrick Alcoke:

I started playing guitar when I was 10.

Patrick Alcoke:

I always thought it would cool to be, would be cool to be a rock star, you

Patrick Alcoke:

know, That was, that was the dream.

Patrick Alcoke:

Be a rock star.

Patrick Alcoke:

And so that, that brought me out to California after college.

Patrick Alcoke:

And I played in a band out there for I think seven years.

Patrick Alcoke:

We didn't make it big or anything, you know, we went on

Patrick Alcoke:

some tours around the country.

Patrick Alcoke:

So that was cool.

Patrick Alcoke:

That was, that was kind of the goal I'd set, you know, at least want to do that.

Patrick Alcoke:

And then, like I talked about the the work side of it came in.

Patrick Alcoke:

Like if you're an independent band and you're booking shows across the country

Patrick Alcoke:

where absolutely nobody knows who you are it can get, it can get really stressful.

Patrick Alcoke:

And, you know, the people that make it, you know, I, I

Patrick Alcoke:

have so much respect for 'em.

Patrick Alcoke:

Cause they're the, the ones who can just keep going and going and

Patrick Alcoke:

going and they hold onto that goal.

Patrick Alcoke:

I was going and going and going and realized that I didn't, I didn't

Patrick Alcoke:

think it was what I thought it would be and kind of reevaluated

Patrick Alcoke:

my priorities and stuff like that.

Patrick Alcoke:

So still play, still love it.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, I, I write more than anything these days.

Patrick Alcoke:

I was playing with a band and then the pandemic hit, so that

Patrick Alcoke:

kind of, I took that as a sign.

Patrick Alcoke:

So we're, we're not doing that anymore.

Patrick Alcoke:

But yeah.

Patrick Alcoke:

I think I played bands from the time I was 15 until I was 27.

Patrick Alcoke:

So that was a big part of my life, and it helps, you know, when you're, when you're

Patrick Alcoke:

starting a business, if you can convince someone to let your band come play a show

Patrick Alcoke:

that maybe two people show up to and pay you a hundred dollars in gas money to do

Patrick Alcoke:

that, i, I think you can sell anything.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, that's true.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, that's a good point.

Rabiah (Host):

Well, and then looking at your other work experience, I mean,

Rabiah (Host):

we worked together for a while.

Rabiah (Host):

So we were at ProFlowers, so that was the e-commerce, early

Rabiah (Host):

e-commerce, really, back then.

Rabiah (Host):

And then you went into other businesses, into real estate and stuff.

Rabiah (Host):

So how do you look at the career you've had up till now and how it

Rabiah (Host):

prepared you to start your own business and kind of decisions you make now?

Patrick Alcoke:

Yeah, absolutely.

Patrick Alcoke:

I I've, I've started a handful of businesses.

Patrick Alcoke:

I've got, I've got the weirdest work experience ever.

Patrick Alcoke:

So I did, we were at ProFlowers.

Patrick Alcoke:

I worked at a guitar shop before that.

Patrick Alcoke:

I did a stint with Enterprise Rent-A-Car before that.

Patrick Alcoke:

That was, that was fun.

Patrick Alcoke:

And then I did music full time.

Patrick Alcoke:

And then once I kind of hit that point I actually started a beer cheese business.

Patrick Alcoke:

So my grandfather grew up in Kentucky, here in the United States.

Patrick Alcoke:

And beer cheese is a big thing, so anyone from Kentucky will know what that is.

Patrick Alcoke:

And I was out in California where there was like this big,

Patrick Alcoke:

you know, microbrew scene.

Patrick Alcoke:

So I asked my grandfather if I could use his recipe and I started

Patrick Alcoke:

making it with craft beers.

Patrick Alcoke:

And again, it was one of those things where I didn't know what I was doing.

Patrick Alcoke:

I had to go to, I made it, I went to Farmer's Market.

Patrick Alcoke:

I had to be in front of people.

Patrick Alcoke:

So, that really taught me just being outta my comfort zone.

Patrick Alcoke:

And if you want something, there are gonna be things you have to do.

Patrick Alcoke:

Are not in your, your kind of existing tool belt, but you

Patrick Alcoke:

gotta go figure it out anyways.

Patrick Alcoke:

After that I started a business called Easily with a buddy of mine

Patrick Alcoke:

from San Diego that was early drag and drop graphic design online.

Patrick Alcoke:

So it was like all based around infographics.

Patrick Alcoke:

And again, same thing, you know, we're pitching to VCs and trying to raise money

Patrick Alcoke:

and building something from scratch, convincing people to go use it and that,

Patrick Alcoke:

again, got me way outta my comfort zone.

Patrick Alcoke:

I had no idea what I was doing, anything, you know, with online

Patrick Alcoke:

or tech or anything like that.

Patrick Alcoke:

And then went into a sales job and that led me into real estate.

Patrick Alcoke:

And I had a real estate investing company for four years.

Patrick Alcoke:

Where again, I had to learn on my feet.

Patrick Alcoke:

And I think to, to kind of bring it full circle, it all prepared me to

Patrick Alcoke:

get outta my comfort zone with what I'm doing now, because I do know how

Patrick Alcoke:

to, you know, I know how to meditate.

Patrick Alcoke:

I know how to journal, I know how to coach people through that stuff.

Patrick Alcoke:

But there's a difference between knowing how to do something and

Patrick Alcoke:

then convincing people to go try it.

Patrick Alcoke:

And that is, you know, like, well outside of my comfort zone, like the whole,

Patrick Alcoke:

you know, online marketing thing is not something I have a lot of experience with.

Patrick Alcoke:

So that's, what my heavy focus is on right now is just convincing people

Patrick Alcoke:

to give it a try and educate 'em and, you know, Who's gonna, who's gonna

Patrick Alcoke:

automatically think, Oh, here's a candle.

Patrick Alcoke:

I should go de-stress with it.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know?

Patrick Alcoke:

So I think realistically what, what all of that does it, it

Patrick Alcoke:

taught me how to get uncomfortable.

Patrick Alcoke:

It taught me how to be okay with failing as long as I learn something from it.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, you hear all the fail fast, but I don't think enough people say,

Patrick Alcoke:

make sure you learn something from it.

Patrick Alcoke:

And that kind of got me to where I am today and got me comfortable with being

Patrick Alcoke:

uncomfortable and willing to take some risks, and, y ou know, a big part of

Patrick Alcoke:

that also is understanding that even if it doesn't go well, I can figure

Patrick Alcoke:

it out and I can land on my feet.

Patrick Alcoke:

I think that's something that a lot of people who start businesses is one of

Patrick Alcoke:

the things that they can be confident in is like, even if this goes completely

Patrick Alcoke:

wrong, I've done it enough times to know I can get back up on my feet.

Rabiah (Host):

Hmm.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah (Host):

It's that resilience and and belief that, yeah, that you can do that.

Rabiah (Host):

It's not saying everything will work out in the end, though that's part

Rabiah (Host):

of it, but it's also that you can be active in getting back on your feet.

Patrick Alcoke:

Absolutely.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's, it's, it's asking, it's asking yourself, "is there a

Patrick Alcoke:

chance that this could work out?"

Patrick Alcoke:

and "is that chance worth the work it takes to put in?"

Patrick Alcoke:

If it is, go do it.

Patrick Alcoke:

If it's not, don't.

Patrick Alcoke:

There are plenty of great ideas that people didn't go after because they

Patrick Alcoke:

would've, you know, wasted their time.

Patrick Alcoke:

But as long as you, you truly feel like there is even the most minute

Patrick Alcoke:

chance and you feel like it's worth it, if you can accomplish what you're

Patrick Alcoke:

looking to accomplish to go out and put the work in, then go for it.

Patrick Alcoke:

I mean, I look at what you're doing now.

Patrick Alcoke:

I, I, I love watching your comedy and, you know, knowing from when we

Patrick Alcoke:

first met, and I always thought you had one of the best senses of humor.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's so dry and the fact that you're in England right now, I think's just perfect

Patrick Alcoke:

because I think of like dry humor and the original Office and stuff like that.

Patrick Alcoke:

I'm like, Oh God, she's gotta be killing it.

Patrick Alcoke:

But like I look at that and if I was like, I wanna be a comedian, I

Patrick Alcoke:

would immediately think, Is there a chance this could succeed for myself?

Patrick Alcoke:

And the answer being no.

Patrick Alcoke:

So that would answer that first question.

Patrick Alcoke:

And then the second part would be, is it worth the work that I've seen you put in?

Patrick Alcoke:

I'm like, No, that chance is so small for me and I'm not that funny.

Patrick Alcoke:

So no, it wouldn't, but

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah.

Patrick Alcoke:

there is a chance I could help people better deal with stress,

Patrick Alcoke:

especially right now, everyone's stressed.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, well, and just listening to you talk about, and thank

Rabiah (Host):

you by the way, and I appreciate that and I kind of recently have had that.

Rabiah (Host):

I didn't ask myself that question of if I could possibly succeed until a while

Rabiah (Host):

into it because I didn't have the belief in myself other than, I just had more,

Rabiah (Host):

like this was my goal is to get on stage.

Rabiah (Host):

It wasn't having a belief in myself.

Rabiah (Host):

And recently that's changed a little bit, which has made it even more difficult

Rabiah (Host):

in a way, but in a good way, right?

Rabiah (Host):

It's just kind of like, Oh, I, there's a purpose to what I'm doing.

Rabiah (Host):

And it's not the one I thought it was, you know.

Rabiah (Host):

But, so for you with Find Your Steady and just in listening to you talk,

Rabiah (Host):

I mean, one thing you touched on is that you do meditate and you do know

Rabiah (Host):

how to journal and, and so you're writing all the blogs for this company

Rabiah (Host):

and you're handling probably the text in the app and stuff like that.

Rabiah (Host):

And so is that a shift for you in, in a different kind of purpose around

Rabiah (Host):

what you're doing business wise, which is now he like seeking to help people

Rabiah (Host):

versus maybe what you did before?

Patrick Alcoke:

Yeah.

Patrick Alcoke:

I've always tried to find some sense that everything I did help people.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, I, I worked for a company that that sold education product and

Patrick Alcoke:

y ou could look at it either way.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, some people would look at it and say, that's a waste of money, and

Patrick Alcoke:

you're, you know, it doesn't help anyone.

Patrick Alcoke:

And then I saw plenty of people, like, I still keep in touch with someone that

Patrick Alcoke:

bought something from me, who there's three guys and they went on and they built

Patrick Alcoke:

a very successful business out of it.

Patrick Alcoke:

So, you know, helping people and serving people in some ways has always been

Patrick Alcoke:

kind of an underlying principle of mine.

Patrick Alcoke:

Very principled, very idealistic, to a fault even.

Patrick Alcoke:

With the writing with the journaling prompts, I've, I've always been into that.

Patrick Alcoke:

I've always liked doing it.

Patrick Alcoke:

I haven't necessarily done it in this capacity, but I do do some coaching.

Patrick Alcoke:

I've done it for years on the side where you know, I work with people who are

Patrick Alcoke:

looking to accomplish different goals.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's never necessarily been anything I've done in this business.

Patrick Alcoke:

I just love doing it.

Patrick Alcoke:

And so what I found is that the experience I get from that coaching

Patrick Alcoke:

side of things has helped write some of the articles has helped me come up

Patrick Alcoke:

with, you know, the daily journaling prompts or things that I've asked myself

Patrick Alcoke:

in the past questions that have helped me and that I really wanted to answer.

Patrick Alcoke:

And you know, even like with, with our de-stress activities, it's things that

Patrick Alcoke:

I constantly have to remind myself, like sometimes, you know, every now and then

Patrick Alcoke:

it'll, it'll like, it'll legitimately.

Patrick Alcoke:

The daily de-stress activity is go outside and go for a walk.

Patrick Alcoke:

Like the simplest thing anyone can do, but there is so much research that is shown

Patrick Alcoke:

by going for a walk for 10 or 15 minutes can drastically reduce your stress levels.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's insane.

Patrick Alcoke:

And so that, that is something that I've, I've really wanted to, to put out

Patrick Alcoke:

there and communicate with people and help people better understand, and you

Patrick Alcoke:

know, a lot of it comes from also habits.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, I, I've meditated for 10 years now, not because I want to, or

Patrick Alcoke:

I'm trying to achieve, you know, Zen or Nirvana or anything like that.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's just cause I'm literally stressed out.

Patrick Alcoke:

I get anxiety and I have to do it.

Patrick Alcoke:

But it didn't come easily at first, but now that I've done it for this

Patrick Alcoke:

long, it, it, it's ingrained in me.

Patrick Alcoke:

So, you know, part of what we're looking to do also is help people build

Patrick Alcoke:

these habits of, you know, whether you wanna call it meditation or taking

Patrick Alcoke:

a few moments to breathe every day.

Patrick Alcoke:

Whether you wanna call it journaling or writing down some thoughts

Patrick Alcoke:

in the morning or before you go to bed, like getting stuff outta

Patrick Alcoke:

your head is an amazing medicine.

Patrick Alcoke:

Things like drinking enough water every day, like I had to, I literally

Patrick Alcoke:

had to build a habit to where now I drink about a hundred ounces of water

Patrick Alcoke:

a day and I thought I was drinking.

Patrick Alcoke:

In reality, I was drinking maybe half of that and I was always dehydrated.

Patrick Alcoke:

That made me tired.

Patrick Alcoke:

So, that was a very long way to answer your question.

Patrick Alcoke:

But all of these things combined allow me to go write an article

Patrick Alcoke:

on why you should drink water.

Patrick Alcoke:

Or.

Patrick Alcoke:

The most recent one, why you should just pause before you react to anything.

Patrick Alcoke:

Or, why journaling or taking a walk or taking five minutes or

Patrick Alcoke:

three minutes to breathe every day can drastically change your life.

Patrick Alcoke:

All of that is kind of full circle on helping.

Patrick Alcoke:

Understand that there are small things you can do to find that

Patrick Alcoke:

equilibrium within stress.

Patrick Alcoke:

Again, you're never gonna get rid of stress and you don't want to, You know,

Patrick Alcoke:

there's good and bad stress, but if you can do little things one at a time,

Patrick Alcoke:

build 'em into habits, then you really can go from say an eight to a six.

Patrick Alcoke:

If you go from an eight to a six on a daily basis, your life is

Patrick Alcoke:

gonna be drastically better, and that's what we wanna help people do.

Rabiah (Host):

Hm.

Rabiah (Host):

That's great.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, and so just people can basically go on buy candle, they can buy the

Rabiah (Host):

bundle with the journal if they wanna try the journaling, or they can just

Rabiah (Host):

get the candle and do the app and

Rabiah (Host):

and see what it does or send it to someone basically.

Patrick Alcoke:

Yep.

Patrick Alcoke:

I've, I've I've sent it to quite a few people just because, you know, this

Patrick Alcoke:

isn't something especially, you know, like, I hate to say it, but there are

Patrick Alcoke:

a lot of, a lot of guys that could benefit from something like this.

Patrick Alcoke:

That I know won't you know, whatever, whether it's a machismo

Patrick Alcoke:

thing or not into it or just the whole, you know, candles thing.

Patrick Alcoke:

But it, it, if you're, if you're listening and you know, this isn't to sell a

Patrick Alcoke:

product cuz there's a lot of other things you could get somebody to help 'em out.

Patrick Alcoke:

There's, there's some amazing apps, There's, you know, programs

Patrick Alcoke:

out, there's a lot of good stuff.

Patrick Alcoke:

But if there's someone, you know, who, who is stressed out or, you

Patrick Alcoke:

know, struggling for mental health issues or something, you know,

Patrick Alcoke:

sending them something thoughtful by.

Patrick Alcoke:

Helps immensely.

Patrick Alcoke:

But making that thing something they can actually utilize to help in the

Patrick Alcoke:

littlest way is, is a huge thing.

Patrick Alcoke:

So we definitely, we always recommend people, even if you don't think

Patrick Alcoke:

this is for you, if there's someone you think could benefit from it,

Patrick Alcoke:

you know, definitely send it.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah (Host):

Well that's great.

Rabiah (Host):

So as far as, I mean we've talked quite a bit and you talked about your

Rabiah (Host):

practices and stuff, but is there any advice or mantra that you wanna

Rabiah (Host):

share that just, you kind of think it's something that's important for

Rabiah (Host):

everybody to remember than what you've

Patrick Alcoke:

Yeah, absolutely.

Patrick Alcoke:

And I'm gonna reiterate a couple things.

Patrick Alcoke:

If, if, if you take nothing else from, from, you know, this interview or this

Patrick Alcoke:

podcast, There are, there are a few little things if you do daily, you will, dr.

Patrick Alcoke:

You'll see drastic difference.

Patrick Alcoke:

One go to bed, just people go, go to sleep, get sleep.

Patrick Alcoke:

Like everyone these days is, you know, I'll sleep and I'm dead.

Patrick Alcoke:

Or five, five hours of sleep is not enough.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, try and get seven, eight hours a night.

Patrick Alcoke:

I know I'm preaching here, but it's, it, it drastically changed my life.

Patrick Alcoke:

Especially if you can, if you can get in a routine where most of the

Patrick Alcoke:

time you're going to bed at the same time and you're getting up at

Patrick Alcoke:

the same time, it's a life changer.

Patrick Alcoke:

The other thing is try and find a few moments a day to breathe.

Patrick Alcoke:

If you can just sit in a quiet space, breathe in, and just focus

Patrick Alcoke:

on your breath and breathe out.

Patrick Alcoke:

Breathe in for three, hold it for three seconds, Breathe out for three.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's, it's a game changer.

Patrick Alcoke:

Takes a minute, two minutes, five minutes, however long you wanna.

Patrick Alcoke:

And then, like I said, drink more water.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's, it's one of the things that I never would've thought would've

Patrick Alcoke:

contributed to stress like it has for me.

Patrick Alcoke:

But I found that when I drink enough water I am not as tired.

Patrick Alcoke:

I'm not as worn out, I'm not as cranky.

Patrick Alcoke:

And they say minimum you should be drinking about half your body weight and

Patrick Alcoke:

ounces of water a day and up from there.

Patrick Alcoke:

So that's, that's, if, that's what I want people to take away from this

Patrick Alcoke:

call, if nothing else, and, and hope.

Rabiah (Host):

Nice.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, that's great.

Rabiah (Host):

And it's funny, I've had this, I didn't do it this time, but every time you

Rabiah (Host):

say "Drink water," I drink water.

Rabiah (Host):

It's like a Pavlovian response.

Rabiah (Host):

So we should just record your voice saying that every hour I should hear it and I'll

Patrick Alcoke:

I'm gonna do that.

Patrick Alcoke:

I'm going to do a, a drink water meditation where someone just sits

Patrick Alcoke:

there for three minutes and it's just me saying drink water every five seconds.

Rabiah (Host):

Perfect.

Rabiah (Host):

And then, and then they'll be really mad at you about 25, 30 minutes from, from

Patrick Alcoke:

True.

Patrick Alcoke:

But then, you know, a day later they'd be like, Oh gosh, that

Patrick Alcoke:

guy Patrick, he's so swell.

Rabiah (Host):

Great.

Rabiah (Host):

All right.

Rabiah (Host):

So now I just have the last set of questions are called the Fun five, and

Rabiah (Host):

they're questions I just ask everybody.

Rabiah (Host):

So the first one what's the oldest T-shirt you have and still wear?

Patrick Alcoke:

I have a t-shirt, so I'm 39 years old now, I have a t-shirt that

Patrick Alcoke:

I got when I was 16 at a Goodwill store.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's a DARE shirt.

Patrick Alcoke:

I don't remember what it stands for.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah.

Patrick Alcoke:

drug.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, it was, Yeah, I know what you mean.

Rabiah (Host):

It was the dare, like dare to keep kds off drugs

Patrick Alcoke:

Yeah, exactly.

Patrick Alcoke:

So it's like neon.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's a black T-shirt

Patrick Alcoke:

and it's neon.

Patrick Alcoke:

When I bought it when I was 16, what was that, 23 years ago?

Patrick Alcoke:

It was probably 20 years old at that point.

Patrick Alcoke:

So it's like, it's one of those you like, you can tell when it came out

Patrick Alcoke:

it was one of those like beefy tees, Incredibly uncomfortable, doesn't

Patrick Alcoke:

fit well, but it literally just like the most comfortable shirt I own.

Patrick Alcoke:

And I love people, everyone like every time I see it, people

Patrick Alcoke:

are like, Oh, I remember dear.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's cool.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah (Host):

Nice.

Rabiah (Host):

That's cool.

Rabiah (Host):

And then if every day was really Groundhog's Day, like it used to feel

Rabiah (Host):

like during the pandemic and sometimes now what song would you have your

Rabiah (Host):

alarm clock set to play every morning?

Patrick Alcoke:

Oh man.

Patrick Alcoke:

There's a song that I don't, I don't know when it came out, but a buddy of mine from

Patrick Alcoke:

high school sent it to me last summer.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's by a band named Koala and it's called Ticket to Ride.

Patrick Alcoke:

I call it my summer song, and it is one of these songs where you can't not

Patrick Alcoke:

a, be in a better mood when during and after listening to it and start dancing.

Patrick Alcoke:

So yeah, that, that would definitely be one of those,

Patrick Alcoke:

I can't get tired of it songs

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah.

Patrick Alcoke:

drink water.

Rabiah (Host):

I was, I thought you were gonna talk more, so I, I did.

Rabiah (Host):

I drank water.

Rabiah (Host):

All right.

Rabiah (Host):

Coffee or tea or neither?

Patrick Alcoke:

Uh, both.

Patrick Alcoke:

So, coffee in the morning and then there's a tea.

Patrick Alcoke:

I actually just drank some now and that's why I'm talking so fast too.

Patrick Alcoke:

What is it called?

Patrick Alcoke:

Goyo.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's like a, they call it, they, they, I'm a total marketers dream.

Patrick Alcoke:

They sold it as like Amazonian Warrior Tea that they've been drinking for centuries.

Patrick Alcoke:

And I'm like, All right, sign me up.

Patrick Alcoke:

So I do do coffee in the.

Patrick Alcoke:

One, one and a half cups.

Patrick Alcoke:

And then tea.

Patrick Alcoke:

If I need to pick me up, I'll do tea, but nothing after 2:00 PM or I can't sleep.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, that makes sense.

Rabiah (Host):

I know, and I had coffee late, but I I just reheated it, you know, and

Rabiah (Host):

it'll, if I have it late enough, it won't get me until later.

Rabiah (Host):

So I, I get to sleep and then I wake up and edit podcasts in the

Rabiah (Host):

middle of the night or something.

Patrick Alcoke:

You should just drink water next time you wake up.

Patrick Alcoke:

It'll help.

Rabiah (Host):

I know I should drink wa I'll just have it in my head, drink water.

Rabiah (Host):

All right.

Rabiah (Host):

And can you think of something that just like cracks you up or like last

Rabiah (Host):

time you like laughed so hard you cried?

Patrick Alcoke:

So I have two, I have two daughters, one of them's seven, one

Patrick Alcoke:

of them's three and a half, and they've gotten really into the the Sing 2.

Patrick Alcoke:

There's a movie called Sing 2.

Patrick Alcoke:

It's a kids movie.

Patrick Alcoke:

Yep.

Patrick Alcoke:

And Lately they've learned the songs.

Patrick Alcoke:

But they don't know all the lyrics, but they keep singing 'em

Patrick Alcoke:

and just make 'em up as they go.

Patrick Alcoke:

So that, that I almost crashed our car cause I was laughing so hard.

Patrick Alcoke:

Which is terrible to say, but I, I, I, it was, it was one of the

Patrick Alcoke:

funniest things I'd ever heard.

Patrick Alcoke:

The, I forget what song were we listening to?

Patrick Alcoke:

I don't remember the song that was from, it was from the soundtrack, but the name

Patrick Alcoke:

Steve was in it, the name Roger was in it.

Rabiah (Host):

Mm-hmm.

Patrick Alcoke:

It has nothing to do with the song, but it's one of those things

Patrick Alcoke:

that, like my kids, kids are so funny.

Patrick Alcoke:

Like that whole kids say the darnest things like when you have a kids

Patrick Alcoke:

these age they can be like the most frustrating people in the world.

Patrick Alcoke:

But the gold, like if we had a recording at all times, not at all times, but like

Patrick Alcoke:

around them, I, we'd be millionaires.

Patrick Alcoke:

They'd just say the funnies.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rabiah (Host):

No, they're, they're great.

Rabiah (Host):

And I mean, just the misunderstood song lyrics are funny anyway, but kids do

Rabiah (Host):

come up with, with wild ones, you know?

Rabiah (Host):

For sure.

Rabiah (Host):

That's awesome.

Rabiah (Host):

Okay.

Rabiah (Host):

And then who inspires you right now?

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, that was a, that was a journaling prompt the other day.

Patrick Alcoke:

Man, you ever get those questions where, It's you, you,

Patrick Alcoke:

it's hard to think about it.

Patrick Alcoke:

And so it seems like you don't have anyone, but really you're trying to like

Patrick Alcoke:

go through all these people in your head.

Rabiah (Host):

Well, and I purposely did right now versus like ever

Rabiah (Host):

cuz like sometimes, Yeah, it.

Rabiah (Host):

But I'm inspired by someone today that maybe a month ago I didn't

Rabiah (Host):

even know them or something.

Rabiah (Host):

You know what I mean?

Rabiah (Host):

It could be, yeah.

Rabiah (Host):

person.

Rabiah (Host):

You can say whatever you want.

Patrick Alcoke:

So there's, I just read this book, it's called Stolen Focus.

Patrick Alcoke:

And it's by a guy named, I hope I don't mispronounce his name.

Patrick Alcoke:

Johann Hari.

Patrick Alcoke:

Johann.

Patrick Alcoke:

Or Johann Hari.

Patrick Alcoke:

I just finished it and it talks about how how as a society, our

Patrick Alcoke:

focus has really diminished.

Patrick Alcoke:

And it starts off him taking this trip for three months to somewhere in Cape Cod.

Patrick Alcoke:

And he leaves his phone and his internet, his computer that has internet behind,

Patrick Alcoke:

and he only has a, he's a journalist.

Patrick Alcoke:

He has this laptop, does this whole thing.

Patrick Alcoke:

He starts to get his focus back and starts to notice things, stuff like that.

Patrick Alcoke:

And so it sends him on this kind of journey.

Patrick Alcoke:

Better understand what's causing our attention.

Patrick Alcoke:

And, and it really comes back to the idea that we can only do so much as

Patrick Alcoke:

individuals to get our attention back because there are kind of external forces

Patrick Alcoke:

at play that have a lot of money and are very smart at taking our attention.

Patrick Alcoke:

And then it started to talk about how kids are affected by that.

Patrick Alcoke:

It, it kind of had me look at, you know, how my kids interact with

Patrick Alcoke:

technology and stuff like that.

Patrick Alcoke:

. I would say him because that book could have gone a completely different direction

Patrick Alcoke:

and the stuff he was writing is not gonna be a popular id popular idea, but it

Patrick Alcoke:

seems like he hit the nail on the head.

Patrick Alcoke:

So I like, I'm always inspired by people who go out on a limb to do what's right.

Patrick Alcoke:

And I think that's what he did with that book.

Patrick Alcoke:

So if we're saying right now, say it's him.

Rabiah (Host):

Amazing.

Rabiah (Host):

Cool.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah, I'll have to check that out.

Rabiah (Host):

I think it's, it's interesting when people kind of are looking at the impact

Rabiah (Host):

of stuff on kids too, because I think from the pandemic and then technology

Rabiah (Host):

and everything it's not gonna be really known for another 10 or 20 years.

Rabiah (Host):

And then it's gonna be kind of, we would wish we would've done

Rabiah (Host):

something, probably is my guess.

Patrick Alcoke:

Yep.

Patrick Alcoke:

He, he, he did a really cool job cuz he also presented like if

Patrick Alcoke:

there was if there's contradictory evidence to the point he was

Patrick Alcoke:

making, he, he was transparent.

Patrick Alcoke:

He said, look, this is this, but there's also other people within

Patrick Alcoke:

the body of science who disagree with this and here's what they say.

Patrick Alcoke:

I, I thought that was really cool.

Patrick Alcoke:

Cuz you know, most of these books you read, it's, it's very one sided and

Patrick Alcoke:

they like give you these facts, but they don't tell you that there are 10

Patrick Alcoke:

other facts along with this one that say something else and let you as the, the

Patrick Alcoke:

reader, the consumer, make up your mind.

Rabiah (Host):

No, that's great.

Rabiah (Host):

Cool.

Rabiah (Host):

And then if people wanna find you, Patrick, where should they go?

Patrick Alcoke:

Honestly, Find Your Steady.

Patrick Alcoke:

I, I'm completely off social media by choice for about three years now.

Patrick Alcoke:

When it comes to stress, I um, I found that when I was on

Patrick Alcoke:

Facebook, it got very divisive.

Patrick Alcoke:

Instagram took all my time.

Patrick Alcoke:

I just there and, you know, was, I mean, maybe I was

Patrick Alcoke:

addicted to it, I have no idea.

Patrick Alcoke:

But three years ago I made the choice to completely get off that.

Patrick Alcoke:

So I mean, really, if they wanna find me, follow me through Find Your Steady.

Patrick Alcoke:

You know, I'm writing all the articles.

Patrick Alcoke:

I'm running a lot of the social media we do through those

Patrick Alcoke:

sites, but that's, kind of it.

Patrick Alcoke:

I want be able to know me for the work instead of me.

Rabiah (Host):

Yeah.

Rabiah (Host):

No, that's great.

Rabiah (Host):

Cool.

Rabiah (Host):

Thanks Patrick.

Rabiah (Host):

I really appreciate you being on More Than Work and it's nice to catch up.

Patrick Alcoke:

really appreciate you having me.

Rabiah (Host):

Thanks for listening.

Rabiah (Host):

You can learn more about the guest and what was talked about in the show notes.

Rabiah (Host):

Joe Maffia created the music you're listening to.

Rabiah (Host):

You can find him on Spotify at Joe M A F F I A.

Rabiah (Host):

Rob Metke does all the design for which I am so grateful.

Rabiah (Host):

You can find him online by.

Rabiah (Host):

Searching Rob M E T K E.

Rabiah (Host):

Please leave a review if you like to show and get in touch

Rabiah (Host):

with feedback or guest ideas.

Rabiah (Host):

The pod is on all the social channels at at More Than Work Pod

Rabiah (Host):

(@morethanworkpod) or at Rabiah Comedy (@rabiahcomedy) on TikTok.

Rabiah (Host):

And the website is more than work pod dot com (morethanworkpod.com).

Rabiah (Host):

While being kind to others, don't forget to be kind to yourself.