Three mental hacks I use to force myself into flow and to perform at a higher level

Good morning friends from Koh Samui! 🌴

The last month has been a busy one for me, I’ve launched three new websites while traveling across the length of Thailand on a motorcycle. In a few weeks I’ll fly to Sicily to speak at the Italian Nomadfest and then co-host an AI summit in Dubai.

In 2026, I’ll be either launching a book, business, or large-scale event each month of the year.

Here’s three new “mental hacks” I’ve been using to force myself into flow states and get things done like a machine, no matter where I am.

These are almost like “illusions” that trick your mind to perform at a higher level. Hypnotherapists like Marisa Peer tell us that our minds often can’t tell what is real or vividly imagined so long as a thought and feeling influences our behavior and actions.

Moreover, Suzuki Shosan said, “mind your mind. Guard it resolutely. Since it is the mind that confuses the mind, don’t let your mind give into your mind.”

If left to its own devices, my mind would take me straight off the rails. The good news is that the mind is highly elastic, and malleable, and we can shape how it performs if we know how.

Here’s a few tricks and hacks I’ve been using to keep myself on track.

You can find hundreds of hacks like these in my new book, ‘UNLIMIT’ which just launched on Amazon. To make sure everyone can afford a copy, I’ve priced it at $0.99 (the lowest Amazon allows) for the first two weeks. To set the price this low, I’m actually taking a 35% royalty instead of 70%. All I ask is that if you enjoy the book, kindly leave a review : — )

Go pick up a copy, and use all the hacks throughout the book to upgrade your role in life from passenger to pilot. Now without further ado…

1. Imagine you are working alongside your hero

A couple of years ago I picked up the book “Make Your Life Great” by Richard Bandler. In the book, he suggests a mental exercise: imagine stepping into the shoes of your hero. See the way that they see, feel the way that they feel, move with the same level of excellence that they do. This is meant to boost your self-confidence and help you perform at a higher standard.

What I’ve also noticed is that we often have a strong desire to prove ourselves to other people and to please other people more than ourselves. So what if you took the person that you respected and admired the most (let’s say someone like Tony Robbins), and that person became your business partner?

That would suddenly be like a golden ticket in your career, right?

If you had the opportunity to work directly with someone like Tony, you wouldn’t want to mess up that chance. You would hustle and give everything you had into that opportunity so that you could prove yourself and finally make it on the grand stage on a deeper level. You would do whatever it takes and subtract anything in your life that would detract you from performing your very best.

Since I launched my Nomad Basecamp Summit in Nepal last August, I’ve connected (and partnered) with all kinds of influential entrepreneurs and speakers, and it’s motivated to be up my game like never before.

2. Religiously set time constraints.

Always find ways to add time constraints on yourself. Imagine that you’re sitting at your hotel working and you have to check out at noon, but it’s 11:15am. That means that you have to find a way to finish that three hour task in just 45 minutes! This forces you to focus on a deeper level and eliminate all distractions for 45 minutes of pure uninterrupted flow.

I have noticed that whenever I have to rush to a boarding or check in gate to catch an international flight, my focus intensifies. I don’t waste time. I make decisions quickly and move fast. It’s like I become a “super self.” This is a perfect example of the type of sense of urgency that I’m talking about. The condensed window of time forces us to perform at a higher level.

You don’t need to be in a rush to check out or to catch a flight to make this happen. It could be that you have a call in 30 minutes or a meeting. Or you could just pretend because the mind doesn’t always know the difference between imagination and reality. You could just look at the clock and say “oh f*ck! It’s 10:30am, I need to hurry up and get this done by 11:00.”

Over the long-term, this trains us to do things in sprints rather than marathons. We go in, do the work, get out. Every process we use — whether in work or in life — becomes more and more efficient. When I need to, I get 60-minute workouts in twenty minutes because I’ve made this process a habit.

A powerful example of the potent effects of time constraints comes to us from US President Ulysses Grant.

During his last days of his life, Grant was stricken with throat cancer and death was looming. But he was steadfast in his unwavering focus to complete his personal memoirs — which he completed just days before his death.

Grant was driven not only to leave a legacy, but also a sense of duty to provide financial security for his family after his passing. His strong personal mission filled him with the urgency and strength needed to complete the monumental task of writing his memoirs, even while battling terminal illness.

Through his friend, Mark Twain, Grant was able to secure a lucrative publishing deal that eventually ensured his family’s financial stability. Staring death in the face, with just days left alive, Grant finished the memoirs and saw things through to the end — considered one of the greatest historical writings of an American president.

3. Pretend that you only have $300 (or less) in your bank account

Recently here in Thailand I had to head to the Chumphon immigration office to extend my visa.

The office was outside of the city and in the countryside, there were no ATMs around, and they only accepted cash. So I drove to a 7-Eleven fifteen minutes away and took out money from the first ATM I could find.

This was an old ATM, with a faulty screen, and I couldn’t always tell what I was pressing. Upon examining the slip, I noticed that the ATM had hoodwinked me $33 for the withdrawal! I paid $415 and received only $382.

Then I saw something even more concerning: on the right, it said “A/C balance: 9,532 baht” ($305 USD).

Had my account been hacked in to? How could there only be 9,000 baht remaining when there should be around 9 million baht in the account?

Of course, everything was fine. But the next day I thought to myself: What if I really did have only $300 in my bank account? How would my life and work change?

I’d probably be a little less relaxed than I am right now 😂 but realistically, I would be forced to hustle hard! I would spend a lot less time doing things just to feel busy and prioritize only what is essential!

Don’t get me wrong: there is a ton of value in thinking strategically for the long-term and delaying gratification. Good things take time, and patience is essential. But there is also great value in creating a sense of urgency for yourself where the stakes are higher.

You can’t create a fire by rubbing two sticks together slowly.

Fyodor Dostoyevsky, the great literary giant and author of the book “Crime and Punishment,” had a rather unique ritual to get things done: whenever he became comfortable off of his professional success, he deliberately gambled away his money.

Suddenly, without all of the trappings of wealth, his true purpose once again materialized. He was forced into a position where he needed to produce or starve. Interestingly, Dostoyevsky wrote a novel called The Gambler in just 26 days to — you guessed it — pay off a gambling debt.

BONUS: The “Flow Sweet Spot”

These “hacks” I’ve listed here are engineered to raise your state of mental awareness and focus. The key is to find the “golden mean” or sweet spot, so that you perform at a higher level but don’t overdo it.

This is based on the Yerkes Dodsen principle, which observes that performance increases with appropriate levels stress/stimulation but only up to a point, after which performance decreases (and we may even shut down completely).

A little stress is good. Too much, and we crash and burn.

In closing, Tim Ferriss once said “Most ‘superheroes’ are nothing of the sort. They’re weird, neurotic creatures who do big things DESPITE lots of self-defeating habits and self-talk.”

But the good news is that we can consciously influence our minds. Be mindful of the information you consume, and only take in the best.

Hope you enjoy the new book! Go pick up a copy, and let me know your thoughts. It’s only 99 cents, and I hope you find it helpful in your journey 🙂