CO-HOST | Make Money by Designing an Environment That Makes Success Inevitable

Summary

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Podcast Summary: Travis Makes Money

Episode: CO-HOST | Make Money by Designing an Environment That Makes Success Inevitable
Host: Travis Chappell
Co-Host/Guest: Eric
Date: July 31, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode dives deep into the idea that making more money—and achieving broader success—is rarely about raw willpower or motivation. Instead, Travis and co-host Eric explore how designing your environment makes success much more likely, referencing advice from bestselling author Mark Manson. The episode is light-hearted and humorous but delivers practical strategies for eliminating distractions and increasing productivity, with lessons that apply far beyond just making money.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Fun Banter, Social Media Comments, and Setting the Tone

• The episode opens with playful exchanges and talk about negative social media comments (“bozo” and “lacy panties”), setting a light, humorous tone.
• [02:01] Eric: “Permission to speak freely, sir?”
• [02:08] Eric: “They've been very liberally labeling me a bozo”—humorous reflection on not taking online criticism too seriously.

2. Video/Content Recommendations & the Zach Woods Clip

• The hosts discuss viral social media clips, especially a funny Zach Woods Instagram video, highlighting the importance of finding humor and creativity in daily life and online experiences.
• [04:23] Co-host: “He [Zach Woods] should—I think he has a future in this business.”

3. Introducing the Main Theme — Discipline Isn’t Everything

• The hosts set up a key segment: a Mark Manson clip about discipline and finishing big projects.
• [06:17] Travis: “Best-selling author for those who don't know.”
• Discussion about reading fiction vs. nonfiction and Mark Manson’s influence.

4. Mark Manson’s Key Insight — Environment > Willpower

• [11:03] Mark Manson Clip:
  • Mark tells the story of renting a remote cabin to finish his book with no distractions.
  • Both he and a friend forced themselves to stay until they hit their writing/page goal.
• [12:01] Mark Manson:

  “If we were disciplined, we wouldn't have to drive three hours into the woods and rent a fucking cabin to get any work done. There was nothing disciplined about this… There was no willpower, no motivation... The reason was simple: there was nothing else to do.”

Key Point:

• The illusion of “discipline” is often just lack of environmental temptation.
• [12:55] Mark Manson:

  “Blaming your phone for your inability to focus is like blaming your fork for making you fat... The real reason you are not disciplined is not that you have too many distractions. It is that you have too many options and you refuse to close off any of them. Let's call this optionality addiction.”

Optionality Addiction

• The tendency to keep as many options open as possible is framed as a modern “pathology.”
• [13:48] Co-host:

  “I've been thinking about this lately where it’s like, I'll have a good pattern… then it'll break and then I have to go back into this mode... And it really feels like that's the only thing that cures the... 'I'm struggling to get something done.'”

5. Debunking the Willpower 'Reserve Tank' Myth

• [15:15] Travis:

  “For a while, I think it was backed by different data, and now it's been overwhelmed by data that shows the opposite. That willpower was like a reserve tank... Essentially that's all B.S. There is no, you know, tank of willpower.”

• Willpower is reframed as a function of energy (sleep, stress, etc.), and productivity is primarily an environmental issue.

6. Environment as the Key to Success

• [16:00-18:00] The hosts discuss how powerful environment is:

  • Working from home is dangerous for productivity due to too many distractions/options.
  • Simple environmental tweaks—like leaving the house—can create focus.

• [17:45] Travis:

  “Yeah. Change the environment. Go somewhere where it is more likely that you actually do the thing than it is for you to not do the thing.”

  • Example strategies: Working at Starbucks, using timers, following writing routines from Stephen King or Ian Fleming.
  • Eric shares putting a 25-minute timer on at Starbucks and aiming for 1500+ words.

• [19:48] Co-host:

  “[Ian Fleming]...7:30am, get up with the birds...write 1500 words...1215, snorkel around the bay...couple of pink gins with lunch...write another 500 words...number the pages...have a couple of powerful drinks...he died very young, by the way.”

7. Customizing Environment to Yourself

• The hosts share their favorite places to work productively:

  • Travis: Cigar lounge.
  • Eric: Starbucks, bars (with a laugh about Hemingway’s “write drunk, edit sober” approach).

• Discussion about feeling awkward bringing laptops into different environments and strategies for handling it.

8. Overcoming Procrastination: Small, Consistent Sprints

• [24:01] Co-host:

  “It's very easy for me to go, like, I know I can do this in a very stressful sprint last minute, but it's like trying to trick my brain into going, why don't you just do smaller, less stressful sprints now?”

• The challenge isn’t capability but environmental sabotage and tendency to wait until the last possible moment.

• Importance of consistent effort over last-minute rushes.

9. Summary and Takeaway:

• [25:52] Travis:

  “Don't get distracted. Set up something for yourself where it's easier to get the work done than it is to not get it done.”

• Core message: Design your environment so it serves your goals, not your temptations. Make the “good choice” the default, not the heroic exception.

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Notable Quotes

• [12:01] Mark Manson:

  “If we were disciplined, we wouldn't have to drive three hours into the woods and rent a fucking cabin to get any work done.”

• [12:55] Mark Manson:

  “Blaming your phone for your inability to focus is like blaming your fork for making you fat... The real reason... is not that you have too many distractions. It is that you have too many options and you refuse to close off any of them.”

• [17:45] Travis:

  "Go somewhere where it is more likely that you actually do the thing than it is for you to not do the thing.”

• [23:34] Travis:

  "Don't shoot yourself in the foot just to see if you can walk. Like don't make it more difficult on yourself... just make it easier for yourself to do the thing."

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Key Timestamps

• 01:29: Episode starts; intro banter
• 04:31: Zach Woods Instagram clip and discussion
• 06:17: Introduction to Mark Manson’s advice
• 11:03: Mark Manson’s discipline/environment story
• 12:55: “Optionality addiction” defined
• 15:15: Debunking the willpower 'battery pack' myth
• 16:00-18:00: Environment as a tool for productivity
• 19:48: Ian Fleming and Stephen King writing routines
• 21:03: Where Travis & Eric go to focus
• 24:01: Overcoming procrastination
• 25:52: Final takeaway: design your environment for inevitable success

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Tone & Style

• Conversational, honest, and self-deprecating humor
• Practical, no-nonsense advice mixed with amusing personal anecdotes and literary references (Stephen King, Ian Fleming, Hemingway)
• Leverages pop culture and relatable scenarios

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Summary Takeaways

• Willpower is overrated—your environment is everything.
• Eliminate optionality: Closing off “other options” is critical to discipline.
• Make distraction-free work the default by literally leaving or adjusting your physical space.
• Consistency and environment, not heroics, make success possible.

If you want to make more money or hit any goal, start by making it easy for yourself—and hard to fail.

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Transcript

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

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[Travis]

You're listening to the Travis Makes Money podcast. What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Travis makes Money podcast, where it's our mission to help you make more money on this episode of the show. My producer Eric is in studio.

[Eric]

What's up, man?

[Co-host/Guest]

Bless God. It's good to be here, brother Travis.

[Travis]

Well, that's one way to say it. And like your shirt.

[Co-host/Guest]

Thank you. I knew you were gonna say, you know what, Can I. You know what?

[Travis]

Wait, I didn't even notice it until you hit record. Then I was like, I know.

[Co-host/Guest]

Because you're immediately like, how am I gonna fill time with this bozo? Yeah, can I, can I say this? Can I say something on the show? Permission to speak freely, sir?

[Travis]

Sure.

[Co-host/Guest]

People don't know that you have a rule. Every time I want to say something, I have to say permission to speak freely?

[Travis]

Yeah. Well, You've abused it in the past.

[Co-host/Guest]

So can I say something? What people lately, specifically one person has been commenting on a lot of my posts, and they've been very liberally labeling me a bozo. Isn't it amazing? I couldn't remember that I was gonna say that, but I was able to say liberally labeling me a bozo in one take without having to stutter over it.

[Travis]

Can I admit something?

[Co-host/Guest]

It was you. Your Alt account. That's so funny. Wow, what a predictable take on the joke. Yeah. He's been calling me a bozo. And I'm gonna be honest. It doesn't hurt the way I think he thinks it will. Cause, like, bozo feels soft for you

[Travis]

to be talking about it right now,

[Co-host/Guest]

but it's kind of like. Like honestly giving it a lot of power. Can I paint a visual picture of what happened when I read it?

[Eric]

Okay.

[Co-host/Guest]

I was laying in bed. Okay.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

As you do.

[Co-host/Guest]

And I was laying on my stomach and I had my feet kind of dangling up and down in the air like a girl at a sleepover. And I was reading it and I had my phone in front of me and I started going. And then I read it to you. Would not believe what they said.

[Travis]

Like a clown.

[Co-host/Guest]

Yeah, it was like a bozo.

[Travis]

So he's right.

[Co-host/Guest]

What was the other one I sent you today? Someone said. Someone said. Oh, here it is. I got it. Someone said, hey, Preacher boys podcast. Take preacher off that title. You're just boys boy. Singular, sir. You wouldn't know real preaching if it ran up and bit your lacy panties. That is insane.

[Travis]

It's also really graphic. Also the fact he's been really thinking about your relationship.

[Co-host/Guest]

Thinking about me and lacy panties. Oh, my God. Have you seen. Okay. And I apologize to all the viewers. We're going to get into. We're going to get into this topic where we watch a really great clip from Mark Manson in just a moment. But first, I need to show you this clip because it is relevant. You just mentioned lacy panties. And I did.

[Travis]

I think that was you.

[Co-host/Guest]

Whoever did. By proxy from Robert, Whoever mentioned lacy panties. Thank you. Because you just gave me a segue into a really great Instagram video I want to show you.

[Travis]

Okay.

[Co-host/Guest]

Which I understand that the way I just introduced this clip makes it sound really disturbed. But. And it kind of is. But I think it's really beautiful, to be honest. And I want you to watch it. So you know Zach woods from the office?

[Travis]

Yeah, he's great.

[Co-host/Guest]

He's so funny. His Instagram for people that don't know. He's very funny.

[Travis]

He's a great.

[Co-host/Guest]

He should. I think. I think he has a future in this business.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah, yeah.

[Co-host/Guest]

But he posted this video.

[Travis]

He's one of those people that you go like, oh, it's not all magic in the writer's room. That makes his character shine.

[Co-host/Guest]

No.

[Mark Manson (clip)]

You know what I mean?

[Co-host/Guest]

It's just brilliant.

[Travis]

Fantastic.

[Co-host/Guest]

So he posted this video five days ago and I actually saved it to show you in person. If I'm really tickled by video, I save them to show you and I can watch you watch them. But he put out this video and it's very good.

[Eric]

Rodrigo brought back the baby doll dress and you guys had a lot to say about it. And frankly, a lot of it was pretty damn disgusting. First of all, it's not even that revealing. Okay? I have bloomers on, you fucker. Second of all, if you're saying our outfits sexualize youth, how come nobody from the Epstein files has been arrested? And yet you're going to come at us, me and Olivia, the sisters. And it's just like. It just fucking sucks. We're not dressing for. Olivia and I dress for each other, capiche? And some predatory man perving off on our bodies is not our responsibility. You know, for me, I'm fine. I have the skin of an old.

[Co-host/Guest]

So yeah, he did that. Which I thought was great. And if you're listening, because podcasting in many ways has been labeled an audio medium. He is wearing a baby doll dress that's very short, shows a lot of his masculine thighs. Very masculine thighs. He has there a lot of hair and some nice bloomers.

[Travis]

That's how I describe Zach woods in general. He's just a masculine guy.

[Co-host/Guest]

A masculine guy. He stole the show. I watched that Glenn Powell film, How to make a Killing. Have you seen that?

[Travis]

I don't think so.

[Co-host/Guest]

Zach woods is so funny in that.

[Travis]

I was gonna say if it had Zach woods in it, then I don't think I saw that.

[Co-host/Guest]

You should go see it or at your home on streaming because it's not out. But he's really good at it. The movie overall is fine, but he's great. Worth it. Anyway. All that to say I've got a clip from Mark Manson here. I want to show you the first two.

[Travis]

Best selling author for those who don't know.

[Co-host/Guest]

Yeah. Thanks to us.

[Travis]

10 million copies of his books. Thanks to us worldwide.

[Co-host/Guest]

You know what's great is you said, hey, you should read his book. And I read both of his books and I said, hey, we should Read a book together and you haven't even started it.

[Travis]

Yeah, yeah.

[Co-host/Guest]

So anyway, so here's Mark Manson.

[Travis]

You know what? I'm going to commit to doing that right here, right now, because it's a fiction book and I've never read fiction, brother, outside of assigned reading and literature class.

[Co-host/Guest]

And, like, one could say you spent years of your life dedicated to a fictional book. I'm just kidding. I don't even feel comfortable saying that. Let's strike that from the record. So anyway, so Mark Manson is a bestselling author and he released a video about discipline. And I watched it because I wanted to know what I'm doing wrong. And here's what he said. You ready?

[Travis]

Yeah, I'm ready.

[Mark Manson (clip)]

Is far stranger and far more uncomfortable than anybody wants to admit. So back in 2019, I was desperately trying to finish my third book, and the deadline was closing in and I was behind badly. Now, a good friend of mine was in a.

[Co-host/Guest]

Every time I watch something like that, that's good at it with any author, I feel so good about myself. Like when I talk. Like when we talk to the author,

[Travis]

we talked to Jack Carr.

[Co-host/Guest]

When we talked to Jack Carr, the

[Travis]

guy who wrote the book that you're trying to get me to read.

[Co-host/Guest]

Yeah, when we talked to Jack Carr, which is good, by the way. And I paused reading it because you. I was like, I'm getting. I'm two chapters in. Two chapters, and they're long chapters, so 40 minutes a chapter on the audiobook.

[Eric]

Wow.

[Co-host/Guest]

So I'm pretty far in. Anyway, when I talked to him and he's like, you know, I said, do you have a process in this? And he's like, honestly, you just get to a point, you got to say, everyone, leave me alone, and you lock yourself in our room.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest]

And I was like, okay, good.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest]

Cause I feel like that's kind of been my trajectory so far is like,

[Travis]

from like prolific writers too.

[Co-host/Guest]

Right. And then Mark man's been like, I was struggling to finish my book.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest]

And.

[Travis]

And then you hear Jack, too, go like. Like, almost beat himself down a little bit. Like, you know, I wish I could be a two book a year type of guy. You know what I mean? It's like, bro, you've written like 12 books. I know, like, 700 page novels in the last, like seven years. I think you're. I think you're good.

[Co-host/Guest]

I think you're doing a good job. I'm sitting there, I'm like, I hope I can be a book in a year author.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest]

Because if I can single year. I'm not going to get any of my advance.

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[Travis]

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[Co-host/Guest]

So anyway, so here's this.

[Mark Manson (clip)]

And the deadline was closing in and I was behind badly. Now, a good friend of mine was in a similar situation with his PhD dissertation. So we did something drastic. We rented a cabin out in the middle of the woods. There was no cell service, the Internet was terrible. And the deal was simple. Neither of us was allowed to leave that cabin until we both wrote 100 pages. Now, for the next six days, we woke up, wrote all morning, ate lunch,

[Co-host/Guest]

went his hair is insane. Do you see this patch of hair above his head?

[Mark Manson (clip)]

For a walk.

[Co-host/Guest]

Wait.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Oh, wait.

[Mark Manson (clip)]

Took a break.

[Co-host/Guest]

Oh, it's cause of the circle.

[Travis]

Yeah, it's the.

[Co-host/Guest]

Sorry, Mark. Sorry, Mark. Your hair looks fine. It's just the edit.

[Mark Manson (clip)]

Ate lunch, went for a walk, wrote all afternoon, took a break, ate dinner, and then wrote late into the night. Then the next day, we did it again. And then again and again and again. Now, when I tell people this story, they will often say things like, wow,

[Travis]

you guys were so disciplined.

[Mark Manson (clip)]

To which I say, no, you stupid, we were not so disciplined. If we were disciplined, we wouldn't have to drive three hours into the woods and rent a fucking cabin to get any work done. There was nothing disciplined.

[Co-host/Guest]

And listen, hey, this is Mark Manson. So just language, warning, disciplined about this.

[Mark Manson (clip)]

There was no willpower, no motivation, no grit, no determination, no resolve. Yet we both got the best results that we had gotten all year. And the reason was simple. There was nothing else to do. And this is the biggest mistake that I see people make when they want to be disciplined and make a big change in their lives. They think it's about willpower or grit. They think they need a new protocol or a morning routine to, like, put creatine in their coffee or something. Fuck your creatine.

[Co-host/Guest]

Yeah, yeah, that. Specifically, I want you to hear such, like, a creatine guy all the time. I don't know.

[Mark Manson (clip)]

These days, whenever we can't focus, the first thing we all blame is our fucking phone. It's the phone's fault. It's social media. It's the algorithm, whatever. It's like your phone is a slot machine that can order burrito taxis and stalk your ex all in one device. So no wonder you can't pry it out of your fucking hands every night. But here's the thing. Blaming your phone for your inability to focus is like blaming your fork for making you fat. It's like blaming your TV for your football team losing it's like blaming the ATM machine in Vegas when you wake up surrounded by empty tequila bottles and cheap hookers and don't have enough money to get home. The real reason you are not disciplined is not that you have too many distractions. It is that you have too many options and you refuse to close off any of them. Let's call this optionality addiction. And in my opinion, it is the defining pathology of our time now.

[Co-host/Guest]

So. So he basically talks about in the rest of the video, which I'm not going to play the whole thing, although it would make making this episode a lot easier because we need 20 minutes to fill and this is a 20 minute video. We should just do that. We should just steal everybody's content, people's videos. But no, he goes on to say, like, we're addicted. Or we've made like keeping options open a virtue. And basically we saying. And I saw him in another video say the same thing. Like, if it's not a hell, yes, it's a hell. Like this idea that you don't need to always have some backup plan of something to do. You don't always need an extra distraction. You don't need to keep a door open to something. And I really appreciated. Cause I've been thinking about this lately where it's like, I'll have a good pattern of doing something and then it'll break and then I have to go back into this mode where it's like, okay, I'm turning off my phone or I'm going to go somewhere where I can't do anything else. And it really feels like that's like the only thing that cures the. Oh, I'm struggling to get something done. It's like it's because you have something else to do. And when he. When I watched this, I was like, oh, this is kind of validating. Ironically, I was watching this when I could have been doing the thing I knew I needed to be doing. But it's. Sometimes you need to do that. Like sometimes you need to take like, you know, ten minutes to go. I need Tim Grover to tell me, just do the thing. You don't need motivation. Or I need to go open Stephen King's book I'm writing and be like, go sit against the wall and start writing. Or this, like go to a cabin. So actually I'm leaving for a cabin in about five minutes.

[Travis]

Well, he touches on the willpower thing, which I think I actually picked this up from him as well. There's plenty of studies now, evidence that suggests because for a While I think. I think it was backed by different data, and now it's been overwhelmed by data that shows the opposite. That willpower was like a reserve tank. Like, you had a certain amount of willpower, and if you use that willpower throughout the day, then you don't have any willpower left. And so people would manage their willpower reserve. And essentially that's all B.S. like, there is no. There is no, you know, tank of willpower. You have energy, period. Like, that energy can be, you know, it can be more difficult to use energy to discipline yourself to do something you don't want to do.

[Co-host/Guest]

Yeah.

[Travis]

As you've depleted energy, if you're not getting enough sleep or it's been a long day or there's other things weighing on your mind or whatever. But willpower itself is not this, like, battery pack of. Of energy that exists for the sole purpose of allowing you to be disciplined. But that goes back into the thing that kept coming up over and over again. Because I, you know, I've been doing the solo shows recently, and I've been basically fed perplexity, like 200 transcripts of some of my best episodes. And one of the things that keeps coming up over and over again is environment, and how much environment impacts your ability to change or your ability to, quote, unquote, be disciplined. And that's essentially what he's talking about here, is just if you are noticing a pattern where you are not productive and you know there's something that needs to be done, but it's not getting done, then you have to change the environment in which you are trying to get that thing done, because the environment helps create the actions that you want. Which is exactly what he's talking about. Like, they did something drastic, which is rent a cabin in the middle of the woods where there's literally nothing else to do but write or read from

[Co-host/Guest]

the Necronomicon, which will unleash the terror of the Deadites. I'm sorry, I think Evil Dead reference.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

But, yeah.

[Travis]

So, you know, think about what environment you're in. Like, if there. If you're. That's the danger of working from home exclusively is that there's so many distractions. There's so much optionality when you're at home. Even just the, you know, impulse to go check the refrigerator for the 14th time, as if everything's gonna change the next time you open the door or go look in the pantry or turn on the TV or play a game or play with your kids or talk to your spous or like, there's so many other things to do.

[Co-host/Guest]

Your dog's like, all of a sudden I do need to go out.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Right?

[Co-host/Guest]

You know, so just.

[Travis]

Yeah. Change the environment. Go somewhere where. Go somewhere where it is more likely that you actually do the thing than it is for you to not do the thing. Instead of being somewhere where it's more likely that you're not going to do the thing and get distracted by everything else that you could possibly be doing at that time.

[Co-host/Guest]

Yeah, that's what I literally did the other day. Like, I went to Starbucks and I spent like two and a half hours just sitting there. Cause there's nothing to do at Starbucks except for sit there and do it. And watch out for, like, strange people that might come in here and there to try to, like, sleep on the.

[Travis]

Do you go like airplane mode or turn off?

[Co-host/Guest]

No, it's on the ground. I just go to the Starbucks. Like, they have a location that I go to.

[Travis]

They have like a. I hate you so much.

[Co-host/Guest]

They have like, they have like a ground.

[Travis]

I'm going to mute your track if you don't say something else.

[Co-host/Guest]

I didn't know they had an airplane version. It's different pay grade.

[Travis]

All right. Once you into a Starbucks at an airport.

[Co-host/Guest]

In an airport. Yes.

[Travis]

That's airplane mode.

[Co-host/Guest]

Okay. Okay. No, I like my restoration.

[Travis]

Restoration actually goes airplane mode.

[Co-host/Guest]

That's true. He gets on an airplane. But anyway, no, when I go, I just do my 25 minute timer. Well, actually, with writing lately, I've just been following the Stephen King and Ian Fleming advice I just found out recently, which is literally just like set your word goal, like 1500-2500 words and don't do anything until you're there. Like, just like, don't.

[Travis]

Don't judge the writing as you go. Like, just write, write, write.

[Co-host/Guest]

Basically, don't judge the writing. Yeah, yeah, don't. Because you will start and it's bad. But yeah, so it was like, super helpful. And I think even if you are working from home, like you mentioned, if you can eliminate some of those distractions in your immediate area. Like, you talk about this with dieting. Like, if you have pink box donuts on the counter, you're going to eat pink box donuts eventually. Like, I will eat all of it. It's the same thing. It's like, can I sit at my desk and clear my desk and not have anything there that's like dinging and flashing and vibrating and whatever, you know? But I was going to say I read. So a lot of the great Author advice that I read is literally just sit there and set that goal and just work until you're there. And do you want to know Ian Fleming's writing schedule? Because it sounds so chill.

[Travis]

Yes, I do.

[Co-host/Guest]

So it says to do. And Ian Fleming, of course, if you're listening, was the. The author of the James Bond series. His to do was 7.30am, get up with the birds and bathe in the ocean. Then back for breakfast, scrambled eggs and sit in the garden until 10am Just chilling big. Chilling.

[Travis]

Nice.

[Co-host/Guest]

10am Sit down and write 1500 words without looking back. 1215, snorkel around the bay looking for lobsters, then come back and have a couple of pink gins with lunch. Nice. I'm digging it. Yeah. 2:30 to 4, siesta, 4 o', clock, sit in the garden for an hour, then go for another swim. Five o', clock, write another 500 words, number the pages, put them in a folder, and have a couple of powerful drinks. He died very young, by the way.

[Travis]

That's real James bond esque.

[Co-host/Guest]

Yeah. 7:00pm dinner and scrabble with his wife Ann. 10:00pm to bed. It's nice.

[Travis]

That's a real chill smoke.

[Co-host/Guest]

But again, even with how chill that is, but also hyper productive, he was able to crank out a ton of And Stephen King's kind of the same, where it's like by noon he's crushing it, you know? So anyway, I thought that was interesting and relevant, but I think this applies beyond, obviously beyond writing. I think just work in general or projects or edits or whatever. The thing is, having those focus bursts without distraction is super helpful.

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest]

Where do you go when you want to get away from your home?

[Travis]

Cigar lounge.

[Co-host/Guest]

The cigar lounge.

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest]

The problem is sometimes there's distractions there because I start talking.

[Travis]

Well, you got to go to a different cigar lounge.

[Co-host/Guest]

No, I don't have a work lounge. No, I feel like. I'm just kidding.

[Travis]

I feel like if I'm trying to socialize, I'll go to a different lounge.

[Co-host/Guest]

But I'm going to be honest, though, I also like to just sit and work at the one I go to too. But then they occasionally get mad and say, why do you have your laptop? Do you ever feel like that when you go to certain places, the first time you bring your laptop, you're like, hey, is it cool? Do you ever ask?

[Travis]

Not really.

[Co-host/Guest]

I always ask.

[Travis]

I don't take it into places where it's not common.

[Eric]

Really?

[Travis]

Yeah. Like when I go to the cigar lounge, there's like a table with plug Ins. Yeah, you can sit in.

[Co-host/Guest]

But a bar feels different. Like I like. I don't. That's what I'm saying.

[Travis]

Sitting at a bar. Yeah, that feels a little different. But I don't really bring my laptop to bars.

[Co-host/Guest]

Oh, I do.

[Travis]

Okay, well then maybe in that case it's okay to just be like.

[Co-host/Guest]

Cause I like to follow Ernest Hemingway's advice.

[Travis]

Why don't you just sit in one of the chairs?

[Co-host/Guest]

I don't want to. I want a tabletop. You gotta follow Ernest Hemingway's writing advice.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

What's that?

[Co-host/Guest]

You got a right drunk, Edit. Sober.

[Travis]

Is that true?

[Co-host/Guest]

Yeah. He also died very young. That's another thing too, is like my liver is black now. Actually, I don't think Ernest Hemingway died young. Did he?

[Travis]

I don't know.

[Co-host/Guest]

What do you know of Ernest Hemingway?

[Travis]

I'm not well versed.

[Co-host/Guest]

I don't like how you just looked

[Travis]

at the clock, Hemingway.

[Co-host/Guest]

I don't like how you look 61.

[Travis]

I mean, that's pretty young.

[Co-host/Guest]

That's pretty young.

[Travis]

Okay, but I mean, probably for back then it wasn't super young.

[Co-host/Guest]

So cigar lounge for you?

[Eric]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest]

What do you do for Starbucks? How often do you find yourself leaving your home to go do something?

[Travis]

Not as much as I should be.

[Co-host/Guest]

Recently, like I turn to Sean Connery for a second.

[Travis]

The James Bond talk just got.

[Co-host/Guest]

That would kill. At a cigar lounge. Yeah, sure. Cigar. And get some work done.

[Mark Manson (clip)]

Yeah.

[Travis]

I lately have not been doing as much. I think it's probably because the kids are on summer break and we've been traveling a bunch and just been spending time with them and honestly, it's been cool. And probably a good reset.

[Co-host/Guest]

That's how you've been texting me. You keep saying, God, these kids.

[Travis]

That's what I got.

[Co-host/Guest]

This ball and chain I'm with all the time. Just kidding. Oh, wait, sorry. That was Jackie that texted me.

[Travis]

Ah, that makes sense.

[Co-host/Guest]

Just kidding.

[Travis]

Yeah. Eliminate the distractions and craft an environment where they don't exist. Like, don't.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

I know, I know.

[Travis]

You said. I say this phrase a bunch, so it's in my head now. But don't shoot yourself in the foot just to see if you can walk is what.

[Co-host/Guest]

Sorry, say it again. I was breathing in the mic.

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yeah.

[Travis]

Don't shoot yourself in the foot just to see if you can walk.

[Co-host/Guest]

Walk.

[Travis]

Like don't make it more difficult on yourself.

[Co-host/Guest]

Yeah.

[Travis]

For the sake of. Of what? Like bragging rights? I just don't. It doesn't make any sense. Like, just make it easier for yourself to do the thing, whatever the thing is, whether it's writing or going for a jog or eating better, just build the environment to eliminate the ability to make the bad decisions.

[Co-host/Guest]

Were you ever like a big procrastinator?

[Travis]

Yeah.

[Co-host/Guest]

Like in, like, were you just like in school?

[Travis]

For sure.

[Co-host/Guest]

Did you feel like you were capable of doing a really good job in the last minute?

[Sponsor/Ad Voice]

Yes.

[Travis]

Okay, well, it's not even just the last minute. It's that it was, it was what we're talking about. It's just that I didn't force myself to do it before.

[Co-host/Guest]

Like, you just knew. I can do it in this amount of time and I can wait. And sometimes that still gets hairy because something else pops up and then you're like, oh, shoot. Yeah, that's. That's honestly the biggest problem in like mental. It's the reason I watch this Mansonville is like, I feel like it's very easy for me to go. Like, I know I can do this in a very stressful sprint last minute, but it's like trying to trick my brain into going, why don't you just do smaller, less stressful sprints now? And there's something in my brain. And you always read stuff. It's like, this is a sign of an ADHD brain. I'm like, it might just be my brain, my dumb Eric brain, but I'm always like, I wish my body was like, hey, I don't want to do this stressful crunch.

[Travis]

Yeah, well, in school you always get the syllabus on day one. It's like, here's all of the projects that are due this semester. And then you look at it and go like, okay, cool, I can get started on that today. And then you don't.

[Co-host/Guest]

Yeah.

[Travis]

And then you're near the end and you gotta like, okay, I gotta put in this. I gotta basically pull an all nighter to do this project. My place in college was Denny's.

[Co-host/Guest]

Yeah. Oh, dude.

[Travis]

And just bust out work.

[Co-host/Guest]

Your keyboard is just so greasy. Yeah, no, yeah. Cause they did the math. I was like, if I want to finish my book by December 31st, my due date, if I write 130 words every day, then I'm there. But I was like, what if I wrote. Or I could write 1500 words in three days, right? Yeah. And so it's like you gotta trick your brain into one or the other. I know we went a little bit over, but you know what? It's okay to get distracted sometimes. Except for when you want to get stuff done. Then don't be distracted. That's the takeaway.

[Travis]

Don't get distracted. Set up something for yourself where it's easier to get the work done than it is to not get it done. But that's it for this episode show. If you want to dive deeper on this topic, Mark Manson does do a lot of really in depth research and analysis on these things, so I do recommend going and checking out some of his videos on this. But that's it for this episode of the show. Thanks so much for tuning in. Remember, money only solves your money problems, but it's easier to solve the rest of your problems when you got some money in the bank. So let's start there here on the Travis Makes Money podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Catch you next time.

[Mark Manson (clip)]

Peace.

[Travis]

This episode of the show is brought to you by Chime Chime is changing the way that people bank. They offer the most rewarding fee free banking built for you, not the 1%. Chime members can benefit from up to 1150 in annual rewards. Fee free direct deposit unlocks the most rewarding way to bank a chime. It's rated five stars by USA Today for customer service with real actual humans 24 7, which is enough to do the thing by itself. People, come on, you're not just switching banks, you're upgrading to America's number one choice for banking. With a Chime checking account you get 5% cash back on a Chime card and category of choice like gas or groceries you get Savings agreements grow faster with a 3.75% APY which is nine times higher than the national average. They also have Spot Me which lets you overdraft up to 200 fee free and you can even get up to 500 of your pay. When you say with something that they call my pay, I know my younger self would have benefited from this and you will too. Chime is not just smarter banking, it is the most rewarding way to bank. So join the millions who are already banking fee free today. Head to chime.com travis that's chime. Com travis only takes a few minutes to sign up.

[Chime Legal/Disclaimer Voice]

Chime is a fintech, not a bank. Banking services for MyPay and Chime card provided by Chime's bank partners. Optional products and services may have fees or charges, stated annual percentage yield and cash back for Chime prime only. No minimum balance required. Checking account ranking based on a J.D. power survey published October 2025. For more information on APY rates, MyPay, Spot Me and travel perks go to Chime. Com disclosures.