How to Win the Day by Owning Your Schedule with the Producer of Warrior Soul and Terminal Lance Merch, Albert Carrasco

Chris Albert 00:00:00 (link to this point)

What is going on everybody? This is Chris Albert with the Warrior Soul podcast, and this is gonna be a little bit of an in between a so. I've got my bro Albert here. He is our head of production and head of fulfillment and my partner in Warrior Soul Apparel, fellow United States Marine. We're gonna be talking about winning the day.

Get setting up a daily schedule that's gonna set you up for success. We'll be talking about when in the morning, you know, getting a good morning routine, a good afternoon routine, a good evening routine, that's gonna help you to get the things done that you wanna get done, give you tons of energy, and allow you to get just just make your life absolutely awesome. And we're gonna make Albert's life absolutely awesome today, which is gonna be good for all of us because those of you who order t shirts, the more energy he has, the quicker your orders get out, the more on time they'll get to you. That kind of stuff. I've known Albert for quite a while.

We'll go into that story in a second. First, I wanna give you a note from our sponsors. We are sponsored by F Bomb Nutrition. F Bomb is an absolutely amazing company run by awesome people. They make portable, delicious packets of fat.

And what do I mean by fat? It's not like just fat in a packet. They've got some really awesome fuel packets like macadamia nut butter mixed with coconut oil. I'm always talking about the benefits of a ketogenic diet. This is an easy way to do it and these things are absolutely delicious.

I eat like two or three of them every single day. You can get them at www.fatismartfuel.com. If you use the code Warrior Soul, you're going to get 20% off of your first order. So definitely check them out. They're an awesome company that supports veterans.

So like I said before, I'm here with Albert from Warrior Soul. And not only is he responsible for Warrior Soul, he is also responsible for creating merchandise for numerous veteran oriented brands. I'll let him talk to you about that in a second. He's been my partner in this business for a few years now, and we've known each other since Albert was like a little kid. Met each other at the UCSB veteran services desk.

That's where he used to work. And since then, you know, he's gone on to open up his own t shirt creation and fulfillment company, print design and fulfillment company, and really, really successful guy. Awesome guy. Also, big into the weights. He likes pumping the iron.

So and like I said, served as a United States Marine. So, Albert, how are you doing today, my man? Your your audio is cutting in and out just a little bit, man. Let's see it. Watch the speaker on your phone.

So you might wanna hold your phone out. There you go.

Albert Carrasco 00:03:10 (link to this point)

Okay. So, yeah, I was just saying, can you hear you better now?

Chris Albert 00:03:14 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. I can hear you good now.

Albert Carrasco 00:03:16 (link to this point)

Cool. So, yeah, I was just saying, you know, today has been a busy day, but, you know, it's all part of the day's work. Usually, all the days are busy, so nothing out of the ordinary.

Chris Albert 00:03:25 (link to this point)

Tell tell everybody a little bit about what you do, man, because you do magic. It's awesome stuff.

Albert Carrasco 00:03:32 (link to this point)

Yeah. Well, I am currently director of sales and marketing at SPPRiner, which is the parent company for the fulfillment company that I had Fulfillment and T shirt company I created, when, you know, when we first started working together. And right now, for example, we make all of the different course packets for UC Santa Barbara. So I meet with professors, you know, and working with academia is obviously a lot different than our awesome brand that we get to make.

Chris Albert 00:04:04 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Albert Carrasco 00:04:04 (link to this point)

But that you know? So I do have to kinda whip it on and be a little different when I'm talking to a professor at a top 10 research institution. And but, yeah, I do photography as well. That keeps me busy. That's a lot of fun.

And like you said, I I've, in a lot of ways, inspired by you, definitely do enjoy lifting weights and currently actually training to hopefully compete. No. I am. I'll be competing in April 14. I pushed my debut date back.

It was gonna be December, but so that's the goal right now.

Chris Albert 00:04:38 (link to this point)

Outstanding. Yeah. I'm gonna have to come down and check that out. So big thing, you know, for today's episode is we wanna talk about creating a daily schedule that's gonna help you win the day. Right?

Albert Carrasco 00:04:51 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:04:51 (link to this point)

So and a lot of people underestimate this. You know, we tend to dive into our days. We tend to dive into what we do, and we don't go about it with any real plan. And a lot of times, you know, in a situation like yours, being up in in the office that you work in, things are pretty open. People can get access to you all the time.

People coming up to you asking you to approve different things all day long. You got people coming up to you asking you if things look right, and then you've gotta deal with customers and clients and things like that. So there could be a very big chance that you're going to get your day determined by other people.

Albert Carrasco 00:05:32 (link to this point)

Yeah, that is true.

Chris Albert 00:05:35 (link to this point)

Yeah, a lot of people get themselves into this situation where literally your day is being managed by everybody around you. You're not choosing what you do. You're not choosing what you're working on. You're not choosing what you're focusing on. And what I want to do in this episode, just for the benefit of our whole audience, is kind of go through your daily schedule. And Yeah. Let's talk about ways we can start to fix things so that you have a little bit more time on your hands to lift the weights, to ride the motorcycles. He's a big motorcycle guy too, and and do the photography. So so let's get into this, man.

So what what what is your typical day like? Let's go through it from, like, start to finish.

Albert Carrasco 00:06:18 (link to this point)

Okay. Like you said, I think well, before we start this, it's pretty exciting to look at this because I'm definitely somebody that always likes to look inward and figure out, well, what's broken here, and how can I make it better? And I have accepted that my days are so crazy that you making me do this is forcing me to say, hey. Your day is kinda fucked up, so let's let's optimize. And I'm just now getting really excited about it.

So let let's get started. My day, you know, I wake up in the morning, and, you know, it's funny because unlike when I was younger, for me, my morning is not as enthusiastic as it usually like, as it used to be. So but, you know, I wake up, and then more than anything, I'll, like, think, what didn't I get done that absolutely needed to get done before I go to work? And so most of the time, well, right now, it's fasted cardio first, but most of the time, you know, sometimes it'll be, like, editing some photos that I owe to clients or maybe some spreadsheets that have to get submitted to accounting. Sometimes, you know, personal, just personal admin issues that I put off a lot.

So, you know, it's not always the exact same. So I guess that's why, like, my morning has kind of turned into that. It's like my wild card. Like, what what is absolutely do right now? And then I'll come into the office.

Usually, anywhere between eight and ten in the morning is when I get to the office, depending on how long it took me to do the stuff that I said I needed to do first. And then, literally, as soon as I walk in, there's all it doesn't matter what time I get in. There's already, like, three or four or five things that verbally I'm getting assaulted with. Like, hey. This happened, and this person needs this, and this person needs that.

And I'm like, great. I'll deal with that. And then I'll sit down on my computer, and I'll look at my email. And, really, like, throughout my day, I probably get between 50 to 100 plus emails every day. And, usually, that ink that's, like, from UC Santa Barbara, which is, like, my biggest account.

And then, obviously, I'll, like, check-in with Raymond who's our production supervisor. He's the one who's, like, actually manning all of our machinery. And, you know, I'll I'll anything that came, like, from you or, you know, from Max at Terminal Lance or, you know, anything else, like, from our brand partners. Like, hey. These things need immediate attention, and then, like, they need to get done by this date, and, you know, he'll do it.

And then I'll ask him if there's anything, you know, really important to report. And if there's not, then I'll go leave him alone. And you you Raymond kicks ass. Like, I'm so happy that we have him. I'm sure, like, you probably pick some of that up from talking to him yourself.

I hope anyway.

Chris Albert 00:09:21 (link to this point)

Yeah. No. Absolutely. Absolutely. So so let's start with this morning segment here.

And and some something he mentioned there, I wanted to mention too. Yeah. Albert's Albert's a baller in in the veteran clothing world. Right? So not only does he help to coproduce Warrior Soul, he's also responsible for merchandise for Terminal Lance and and a couple other major brands out there.

So if if you're getting a shirt from one of these companies, it's pretty much likely that Albert's helped produce it. So really, really big things that Albert's got ahold of. And then on top of that, he's in charge of, you know, producing materials for a really big university. So he's got a lot thrown at him. So I wanna start with this.

Albert, what time are you waking up generally?

Albert Carrasco 00:10:14 (link to this point)

Usually, between six and seven right now is usually up. Because I I'm going to bed, which I really should change. I know that. I'm going to bed between midnight and one right now, and I'm up at seven.

Chris Albert 00:10:29 (link to this point)

Okay. And then what's the first thing you literally do the second you roll out of bed?

Albert Carrasco 00:10:36 (link to this point)

Go use the restroom.

Chris Albert 00:10:37 (link to this point)

Go use the restroom. Okay. And then after that, what's the first, like, real productive thing you do right after bed? Or what's what's the first thing what's your impulse to do right after you use the restroom?

Albert Carrasco 00:10:49 (link to this point)

You know, like, usually, as soon as I wake up, I already thought, like, oh, I I need to send this person this, and I'll already know I need to go and finish editing a set for some photos that are due or, you know, like, it's I have to submit these spreadsheets to our payroll department or, you know, our accountant needs what is it? You know, every month, I get things from our accountant or whatever that says, hey. These things maybe didn't get vouchered correctly. So what are they for? And then we have to do stuff like that.

So yeah. Like I said, I've kind of already identified that in my head, so it's usually whichever one is most pressing at that time.

Chris Albert 00:11:33 (link to this point)

Okay. So you're literally responding to fires from the time you wake up until, you know, you get to the office and then throughout the day. Right?

Albert Carrasco 00:11:41 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. That's literally a good way to describe it.

Chris Albert 00:11:44 (link to this point)

Okay. So let's let's get into this for a second. Now the the biggest urge that you might have, right, when you wake up is to respond to those fires. Right? But we wanna think about when you're gonna have the most energy in the day to do things that are gonna be really, really productive to help you grow, to build your business, to to to be creative.

Right? And Yeah. A lot of times, those things aren't necessarily responding to fires. Right? So if you're responding to fires all the time, you're kinda just treading water, and you're just keeping your head up above the water.

Right?

Albert Carrasco 00:12:20 (link to this point)

That is correct. Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:12:22 (link to this point)

And and you're basically just trying to keep yourself from being overwhelmed. But, you know, one of the things I really like to do and a big practice that I I keep in my life is that I don't look at email. I don't look at text. I don't look at Facebook, the news, anything for at least two hours when I start my day. Right?

Albert Carrasco 00:12:48 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:12:48 (link to this point)

And the reason why I don't do any of that is because the first thing I wanna do in my day is the thing that's gonna take the most energy, and that's normally gonna be something that's gonna be creative. So if I'm working on an article, if I'm working on a new video, if I'm working on a piece of content, I'm working on a new design, then that's gonna be the first thing I wanna do with my day. So you wanna start your day with the things that are gonna help you to move forward.

Albert Carrasco 00:13:18 (link to this point)

Yeah. That makes sense.

Chris Albert 00:13:21 (link to this point)

So let's think about that. You know, what what types of things are you currently doing or or currently trying to implement to to help you grow?

Albert Carrasco 00:13:31 (link to this point)

Well, I've definitely in terms of photography, I've I've really wanted to step up my game there and produce better images. So I actually took some workshops recently with some professional and or famous photographers. Some of you guys might know who they are. And so, know, some of that editing comes with practice. Like, you don't just learn the tools and all of a sudden you're a master.

So, you know, I would say, like, beauty retouching is really difficult. And, you know, especially when you're getting started, it's really easy to overdo it and make someone look fake as hell. So, you know, I'm I in the mornings, especially, some of the days when I I don't have something super urgent, I have found myself editing new stuff, new styles. So that's a cool thing. And I would say that's probably the most creative stuff I've been focusing on lately.

I I don't think

Chris Albert 00:14:27 (link to this point)

Right. So if you have, like, a photo project or something like that, you might wanna try to work on that before jumping into the emails and just responding on the to the fires. You work on it for for an hour. And then, you know, maybe you wake up at five rather than six. You work on that stuff for, an hour, and then you take a look at your emails, or you you take a look at at your at at some of the urgent stuff that's coming in.

One thing that that you everybody has to get into their minds is that urgent, there's a difference between urgent and important.

Albert Carrasco 00:15:06 (link to this point)

That's true. Yes.

Chris Albert 00:15:07 (link to this point)

Right? So urgent means that somebody else is trying to get you to put something above what you really wanna do on your agenda. Yes.

Albert Carrasco 00:15:19 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:15:19 (link to this point)

And and when we constantly do that, you're not living your own life. You're living your life for other people. You're living your life according to somebody else's schedule. So again, I think it's really important to find that time in your day where you could just be left without the emails, without the text, without the chats, without the news or anything like that, and just allow yourself to work on what you wanna work on. And it's best to do that at the beginning of the day.

Albert Carrasco 00:15:51 (link to this point)

Yeah. It's funny you say that because some of the days recently when I've edited photos at night, and I was tired, you know, after a workout, I'm I'm editing while I'm eating my post workout meal. I I have actually found that the next day after I woke up, I didn't like them. And I was like, what the hell? These colors look bad or something.

But then the stuff that I have edited in the morning, I'm usually pretty happy with it. So I think you're right. Maybe I'll just skip editing at night post workout and go to sleep.

Chris Albert 00:16:21 (link to this point)

Yeah. That's probably a better way to go. And and, you know, like I said, your testosterone's a lot higher in the morning when you first wake up. So focusing on projects like this, where it's gonna take a lot of your creative energy, and you have you've gotta be calm. Lot A of people associate testosterone with being, you know, super crazy or super, you know, berserk or or, you know, they associate it with athletic performance.

They associate it with being restless. But testosterone is actually what makes you calm. It puts you at ease. It keeps you in line with who you want to be rather than making you nervous. It's not until you hit work where your cortisol starts to go up.

That's what makes you nervous. Right? Estrogen is also something that'll make you a little bit nervous. So you wanna really make sure that that you're, you're maximizing your your hormonal potential by doing things when your testosterone is gonna be its highest.

Albert Carrasco 00:17:23 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. I like the sound of that too.

Chris Albert 00:17:26 (link to this point)

Awesome. Awesome. So let's talk about after that. Right? You're also you your fitness routine's really important to you.

And like you said, you're training for a bodybuilding competition. So you've got a bunch of different things going on meal wise. You're trying to get some fasted cardio in. After you do that creative work, it might be a good idea to try to get a little bit of fasted cardio in, right?

Albert Carrasco 00:17:52 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:17:52 (link to this point)

And so what you could do is, you know, and this is no commentary on what people should do with their normal fitness routines. This is specific to Albert, but just understand this, cardiovascular exercise is a really good way of calming yourself down and giving yourself some really good brain energy. There are so many things that are awakened in our bodies after we move. And so, before you get into the office during the day, it could be a good idea, even if you're not doing like an hour of cardio or anything like that, just getting outside and maybe doing some sprints, or maybe doing some kettlebell swings, maybe just going for a walk, you know, by getting a good bit of movement before you go on and tackle those other tasks and and have to be a a player in the in the in the in the business realm, it's it's a really good idea to do some movement.

Albert Carrasco 00:18:49 (link to this point)

Yeah. I definitely found that because I haven't been doing fast cardio the whole time, obviously. So but lately, I noticed that when I do it, I do feel like a high on the post.

Chris Albert 00:19:04 (link to this point)

Yeah.

And even even if you take your phone with you and while you're doing like, say you're getting on a machine or something like that, that could be a good opportunity to answer some emails or or or respond to to those, quote, unquote, urgent requests that people try and toss at you.

Albert Carrasco 00:19:24 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. That usually helps me because I have done that a few times when I've done, like, you know, just inclined treadmill. I if I do the StairMaster, I basically don't look at my phone because I can't do both. But if I do inclined treadmill, it's because, like, I know I'm gonna look at my email and see, alright.

Well, looks like when I get in the office, I'm doing this or doing that. So, yeah, I do like that.

Chris Albert 00:19:49 (link to this point)

Alright. Awesome. Awesome. So we got two things here. One, try to find an hour of you time before you do anything else in the day.

That's the most important thing. The things that you really wanna work on to move your life forward. Number two, getting some movement in before you dive into business. Alright? Now once you get over to work, right, and and you're in a you're in a leadership position in your office, you got people underneath you who are trying to to to figure things out, trying to put stuff in front of you all the time.

Yeah. What kind of systems do you have in place for them to send you a task or or for them to put something in front of you?

Albert Carrasco 00:20:28 (link to this point)

I basically have told my staff that any requests should come through email first as as, like, the primary method of getting in touch with me. Anything that is verbal can be assumed that if I'm too distracted because of the way that the day is, that I'm not gonna I'm not I'm not gonna register it the same way. So only come to me verbally if it's something that I have to do that moment or within the next, like, fifteen minutes.

Chris Albert 00:20:58 (link to this point)

Okay.

Awesome.

Now for for a leader, what it's gonna what's gonna be really important here is to define these things and to set a precedent. Right?

Albert Carrasco 00:21:08 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:21:09 (link to this point)

So number one thing as as a leader, you're really gonna have to give your the the people who are underneath you, you're really gonna have to give them some degree of freedom. Yeah. Right? Because the the worst time managers are the biggest micromanagers. Right?

Those are the people who are constantly trying to to monitor everything their people do. And what that comes down to in in in I'm not saying this is for you, Albert. I'm saying just in general. What that comes down to is training. Right? You you need to make sure that your people are properly trained, and you need to make sure that they understand that they're able to take initiative on certain things. And so this comes about by setting out good rules for when to take initiative, and what actions they should take in specific situations.

Albert Carrasco 00:22:05 (link to this point)

Right.

Chris Albert 00:22:06 (link to this point)

And for your case, it's gonna be really important to define what constitutes something urgent. Right?

Albert Carrasco 00:22:15 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:22:15 (link to this point)

So so that could be based on monetary decisions. It could be based on, you know, certain design decisions that you can create standard operating procedures around, but it's gonna be really important for them to understand what those are.

Albert Carrasco 00:22:30 (link to this point)

Yes. That that is correct.

Chris Albert 00:22:34 (link to this point)

Definitely. Definitely. And then, you know, as far as the emails go, what you really wanna do there is figure out a way to start trying to prioritize what what gets acted upon right now versus what can be acted upon later on. So if it's a an email, an internal email that's coming from somebody within your company, sets set certain precedents for what goes into the subject line. Right?

So there should be a standard subject line for things that are urgent, a standard subject line for things that can wait a couple of hours, or a standard subject line for things that can wait a couple of days.

Albert Carrasco 00:23:15 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Cool.

Chris Albert 00:23:17 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Albert Carrasco 00:23:17 (link to this point)

Currently, you know, for those listening, you know, great minds think alike. Luckily, I did, put that into effect here a couple you know, I I wanna say over a year ago now just because we had we didn't have a salesperson that was really horrible, and everything from that person was urgent. And then it's like, no. It's not. This is due in, like, two weeks.

That's not urgent. So, I basically had them start with, you know, due date. Like, you know, if it's due today, the it should say due today in brackets first before the subject line, due tomorrow, due this week. And then anything that's due more than a week, it was just like, you know, FYI production and then whatever the subject is. So well, I don't remember exactly all of them, but it is on everybody's, it's taped to everybody's desktop monitor.

So that that definitely helped because that one person looks really bad at it.

Chris Albert 00:24:18 (link to this point)

Outstanding. And then after emails, what what are the other things that you're you're spending the most time on while you're in the office?

Albert Carrasco 00:24:25 (link to this point)

Well, some you know, it varies really. Account management's big. So every day is a little different. You know, sometimes, I'll work on something for a professor or for you, for example. I know that, you know, for anybody who follows Terminal Lance, we had that Santa Claus sweater.

And that was actually a really complicated design, especially to print on a poly cotton sweater. So we're you know, me and I and I use that as a training opportunity, like you said, you know, empowering our staff, to explain to Raymond how the most efficient way to do that was where we're still gonna, like, maximize profits because, you know, with some with certain prints, and you and I have talked about this, it gets to the point where it's almost not worth printing it because how much labor and time it is. So, so I know that's kind of a cheap answer, but it's really hard to to say other than account management, and every account will be unique in their requirements.

Chris Albert 00:25:31 (link to this point)

Right. Right. So, you know, a big thing when it comes to account management or maintenance, one of the things that you really need to do is work on your weekly schedule. Right?

Albert Carrasco 00:25:45 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:25:45 (link to this point)

So so what should happen is that in your days, you you wanna have buckets for different days. Right? So so there should be a day where you're exclusively dealing with your university accounts and just taking care of all those. And then a day where you're exclusively dealing with your t shirt accounts or your brand accounts. And that'll help you to start to organize your thoughts a little bit centered around each one and each project.

And that way when things come in that are a little bit more longer term, what you can do is you can set up, say, a few different Evernotes on your on your computer where are you familiar with Evernote?

Albert?

Yo. Yeah. You're familiar with Evernote?

Albert Carrasco 00:26:44 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. I I like Evernote.

Chris Albert 00:26:46 (link to this point)

Yeah. So you know how how you can set up different notes on there?

Albert Carrasco 00:26:50 (link to this point)

Mhmm.

Chris Albert 00:26:50 (link to this point)

Well, you could set up an Evernote for each account that you have, and then or each type of account that you have. And then when something comes up that needs to be done for for something that's that's that needs to be done in a few days or if it's not urgent, that needs to be done, like, immediately, then you can stick just stick it in that Evernote and and and put it down that you have to do that. And then, you know, when the time comes to work on that bucket, you can work on that bucket. But otherwise, what happens is we our minds get clouded with everything we need to do. And this way, you just stick it in the bucket and you can forget about it until the time comes to work on it.

Albert Carrasco 00:27:34 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. I like that. I'll I'll have to expand those thoughts a little bit and see. Because I definitely could get more done if I dedicated blocks of time to certain accounts for sure. I really should do that.

Chris Albert 00:27:50 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Albert Carrasco 00:27:51 (link to this point)

Because I I have seen success in like, for example, I I used to be a workaholic. I mean, you know that I went through a phase of not being very physically active at all. And I used to say, no. I have to be at the office. I have to get this done.

And next thing you know, I'm leaving work at ten, eleven, didn't work out, didn't eat. And, anyway, so I found I've made all this progress because I make myself leave office so I can go to the gym every day. So now by, I guess, the same principle, I should force myself to not do a certain task to focus on one account or one account style. So I like that.

Chris Albert 00:28:29 (link to this point)

Yeah. Exactly. And then if you if you look at if you pull up, say, your your Google Calendar Yeah. And you you pull it up, you know, you have the the view of the week, what you can do is you can start to schedule in time to work on each bucket. And then rather than putting, like, a million different things in your calendar, you just have the bucket set up on your calendar so that you can work on each one.

Albert Carrasco 00:28:52 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. I really should. I I I should implement that pretty quickly for everybody for everybody's sake, including my own. Cool.

Chris Albert 00:29:03 (link to this point)

And you know what? The other thing you might wanna consider here too is that all those little tasks that people throw at you Yeah. You you might wanna save them for later in the day because they'll probably require less brainpower. It's probably you looking over something that somebody else has done, or you signing off on something. That's going to require a lot less brainpower than maybe following up with a client, or maybe doing a deal, or maybe working on a design.

So maybe working on the buckets earlier in the day and setting that setting it up to do that before lunch. And then after lunch, working on more of your administrative stuff, taking care of the odds and ends that come up in the office. Agreed.

Albert Carrasco 00:29:44 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. Sorry. I'm just, like, seriously right now. You like I said, at the beginning of the talk, I hadn't actually looked inward this way on my schedule, and it's just kind of cringeworthy right now thinking about how messy.

Chris Albert 00:29:58 (link to this point)

No, man. It's all good. It's all good. Nothing's cringeworthy here except for your hair. I'm just kidding.

Albert Carrasco 00:30:04 (link to this point)

Hey, I'll make it tomorrow. Alright.

Chris Albert 00:30:07 (link to this point)

It's all good, man. It's all good. So we got we have your your workday pretty much laid out. Right? So you got your your creative time in the morning.

You got your maker time. Right? Earlier in the day, we call that maker time. That's the time when you make business, you make money, where you you make designs. Right?

And then you got your admin time. That's when you take care of everybody else's requests in the afternoon. Right? When you when when your energy is a little bit lower, but you still got enough left in the tank to get everything completed.

Albert Carrasco 00:30:39 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:30:39 (link to this point)

Alright? Then from there, right, so you're starting to wrap up at work. What time you what time are you wrapping up at work?

Albert Carrasco 00:30:48 (link to this point)

I typically will leave the office between five and seven at the very latest.

Chris Albert 00:30:57 (link to this point)

Okay.

Albert Carrasco 00:30:58 (link to this point)

If I'm still at the office, like, it's, like, past seven, I won't break 9PM, but that's not often. That that's usually, like, we got some big stuff going on.

Chris Albert 00:31:09 (link to this point)

So around seven, 8PM, you're leaving the office?

Albert Carrasco 00:31:12 (link to this point)

Yeah. On an on a on a normal day, I would say I would be out by, like, 06:30.

Chris Albert 00:31:17 (link to this point)

Okay. And then and then what do you do next? What what's the first thing you do after you leave?

Albert Carrasco 00:31:23 (link to this point)

Well, I actually go home and get my like, I change clothes, and I know that I could pack clothes and go straight to the gym from here because it's close enough, but there's something about the drive home that I feel like I need. But, you know, now that I'm saying that out loud, I could just walk on the treadmill or do I don't know. I can figure out a different way than to drive and waste gas.

Chris Albert 00:31:50 (link to this point)

Yeah. And there's a few I mean, this is a big time waster that people do. Right? And it it's also for those of you who are just getting in your fitness routines and maybe you're not training for a bodybuilding competition, you know, anything that can come in between your your you and the gym, you're gonna let it eventually take its effect. Right?

So maybe if you're not as motivated as Albert is to drive home and then drive back to the gym, there might be a lot of you might end up just staying there, you know, and and that's that's the last thing we wanna wanna have happen.

So Yeah.

You know, I would definitely suggest packing your clothes. And then, you know, keep in mind, and this is this goes for Albert because he lives in a really beautiful, awesome place. You live in one of the most beautiful places in the world. There's a lot of places you can drive around

Albert Carrasco 00:32:42 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:32:43 (link to this point)

Kind of de stress. There's not a lot of traffic around those parts. He's in Santa Barbara, California, so he's living like right near the beach. There's beautiful mountains, water everywhere you go. So you can take a drive around and maybe take a circuitous route to the gym and just let yourself put yourself at ease. Maybe you just go for a walk around campus before you actually leave. That could be another thing that you do.

Albert Carrasco 00:33:16 (link to this point)

Way better.

Chris Albert 00:33:17 (link to this point)

Yeah. Or take a walk down by the water before you head out. Right? That could be an awesome thing as well. So maybe turn on your favorite podcast or turn on an audio book and and and learn for a half an hour before you before you head over to the gym.

So Yeah. There's a lot of different options you do there. Alright? Yeah.

Now when we're talking about heading into the gym, anything you do before then?

Albert Carrasco 00:33:47 (link to this point)

You know, now that I've been training seriously well, I'll backpedal. You know, I when we met way back when you said I was a little kid, I I was really young. But I was racing triathlon for UCSB. You know, I come from a pretty intense athletic background even if it wasn't bodybuilding. Mhmm.

And so I know how to get in the zone, and that's something that I sometimes take for granted because I I it it is not natural, like, for everyone. And so once, like, I decided I'm gonna be in the gym, like, it's even on my like, I would've had to have a really shitty day to not be in the zone. But so I'll just, like, throw on whatever music is my favorite. I actually did just finally invest in I mean, they're not they're a $100 headphones, but it's the most expensive headphones I've ever bought in my life. But the quality that I get out of it really even helps me get into a deeper level of my zone.

The earbuds in the ear, that sensation is actually distracting to me, found. And what is it? So sometimes if the music's not doing it, I actually created a motivation playlist on SoundCloud, and there's one that's, that I really like. It's a compilation of, like, Greg Plitt speaking. And then I have then I have, like, a couple other ones, like, it's called Lost But One.

So it's, you know, just like motivational speakers, and, that usually helps. And then later, I'll be like, alright. I don't need you guys anymore. I'll throw my music back on.

Chris Albert 00:35:21 (link to this point)

Awesome stuff. Yeah. It's it it that mental mindset that music can bring about, that speech can bring about, those are all really great things, and and they can really get you in the zone to to get to the gym. Are you using any stimulants before you go?

Albert Carrasco 00:35:37 (link to this point)

You know, I hadn't been until about two weeks ago. One of the guys at the vitamin shop was talking to me about it's it's actually doesn't have caffeine in it. It's a but it is, like, an NO product, and it has citrulline malate, I think. You you you're

Chris Albert 00:35:57 (link to this point)

Citrulline malate. It's a vasodilator. Yeah. Opens up the blood vessels so that the muscles can can get better flow. Yeah.

It it wouldn't have a real big effect on wakefulness. It is, however, a really great thing to get a pump. So it'll drive muscle pump blood into the muscles, and you'll feel it like crazy. Other Like,

Albert Carrasco 00:36:21 (link to this point)

I grow, like, two inches in my arms to taking that thing.

Chris Albert 00:36:24 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. And for those of you who who are taking stimulants, I definitely don't recommend taking a lot of caffeine before you hit the gym because it is a base it's a vasodilator, so it's gonna keep blood from actually getting to the muscles, helping them recover. A really good substitute that you could take is something called Cordyceps mushrooms, which actually it helps with your ATP cycle, your adenosine triphosphate cycle, and that's going to help your muscles to use glucose more effectively. So one product that's really good is Four Sigmatic.

They make these elixirs and they have a Cordyceps elixir that's fantastic if you're going in to do some intense exercise. I take it before I head to jiu-jitsu and really, really helps with muscular endurance. Really awesome stuff. So good. It it looks like you're good there.

Albert Carrasco 00:37:28 (link to this point)

You think I'll like that better than the citrulline malate I'm taking now?

Chris Albert 00:37:31 (link to this point)

No. The citrulline malate will help you with the pump. I'm saying you can do both if you wanted to.

Albert Carrasco 00:37:35 (link to this point)

Oh, okay.

Chris Albert 00:37:36 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Albert Carrasco 00:37:36 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, for me, at least I I don't like a lot of people like feeling cracked out on pre workout. I don't. I just like I I just want something that gives me a pump personally.

Chris Albert 00:37:46 (link to this point)

Yeah. It could it could it could actually take a lot out of your workout and, we're learning more and more about the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. And there's so many people whose adrenals start to get burned out by the time they're 30, 35. You know, you you really wanna avoid that. You're still you're still in your twenties.

Albert Carrasco 00:38:10 (link to this point)

Right, man? I'm gonna be 29 in July.

Chris Albert 00:38:13 (link to this point)

Yeah. So you're still young. And so once you start to get into your thirties, you start to feel it a little bit more. And so it's really, really important that we take care of this stuff because when your hormones start to dump and they start to dip, it has a huge impact on physical performance and not only physical performance, but mental performance. How you're performing at your job, how you treat your family, how you interact with other human beings. So Yeah. Alright. So so we're getting through the workout. After you're done with your workout, what what comes next? What's the first thing you do?

Albert Carrasco 00:38:55 (link to this point)

I'll drive home and eat food. And and usually, though, I won't just eat food. I'll, like like I said earlier, I'll heat up my food, and then I'll sit at my computer and edit photos. Or if there was something really pressing, I'll work on that. But most of the time, it's editing photos while I eat my food.

Chris Albert 00:39:17 (link to this point)

Okay. Yeah. And and so it sounds like a lot of that back work is what's keeping you up late, and I wanna address that in a second. But first, let's talk about those meals. How how are you prepping your meals?

Are you are you prepping them once a week? Are you prepping them every day? What's going on there?

Albert Carrasco 00:39:37 (link to this point)

No. I I usually prep once or twice a week depending on what I make. I one of the things that I will thank the Marine Corps for is, like, desensitization of food. So I I do love cooking, but, also, I understand it's just a fuel source. And I don't really give a shit if it's just for me, and right now, I'm kind of in that mode.

So I'll just throw a bunch of chicken and season it or marinate it in something and bake, you know, a few pounds of it in a baking sheet. And then I'll have a ton of chicken that's ready. Yeah. And then rice is easy. You know, I have a rice cooker, and that makes up really most of my food most of the time.

And sometimes I will save, like, some extra fats or carbs and, like, have something somewhere. I I'm not, like, firm believer in if it fits your macros, but I do also know that if I decide to eat certain things, I'm not just gonna gain not gonna kill me, you know, from doing

Chris Albert 00:40:37 (link to this point)

Yeah. And and this isn't about what's in the diet. It's really about managing the time around the diet to make because that's that's really important in staying consistent. Right? So managing the time so that it fits in your schedule.

One of the one of the bad for those for those of you who don't like eating chalky chicken Yeah. Every single day.

Albert Carrasco 00:40:59 (link to this point)

Make it my way. It's not chalky. It's juicy. I'm I like it.

Chris Albert 00:41:04 (link to this point)

One one of the things I discovered is slow cooker using a crock pot. And I have a rice rice maker that slash slow cooker that I use a whole lot. And what I'm able to do with that is I can make food that tastes absolutely awesome. It has a really good texture to it. I'll cook up a lot of roasts in there.

I'll cook up a lot of chicken in there. But basically, the cool part about that is that you put all the ingredients into the pot. You set it for eight to ten hours, and then it's ready when you come home.

Albert Carrasco 00:41:40 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:41:42 (link to this point)

So That's sad. Yeah. So just a little tip there. So let's get into this evening schedule that you got here because I think that this is this is gonna really be a game changer for you. You're you're doing a lot of your back work at home.

So you're editing photos. You're working on some of the stuff that you wanted to, you know, that that that you normally consider the stuff that you wanna work on. The stuff that's gonna push you forward, that's gonna push you forward in your photography, that's gonna push you forward in your business career. So you're doing this late at night, but one of the things we really wanna do in order to make sure that that we're productive, that we're on top of our game is really follow our circadian rhythm. Now a lot of people don't know this, but the light that's emitted from your computer, it's something called a blue light. And what happens there is that it's the same type of light. It tricks our brains into thinking it's daylight. So whether you get to sleep or not, right, what happens is that it'll actually block a lot of hormonal processes from your hypothalamus from your hypothalamus from actually, you know, secreting things like growth hormone and and or your pituitary from secreting things like growth hormone and your hypothalamus from responding.

So, you know, a lot of those hormonal processes that are important for you to go to sleep, they they get blocked by you looking at blue light. So really big policy that I try to, you know, really make in in my work is I try to turn the computer off at 07:30.

Albert Carrasco 00:43:32 (link to this point)

Wow.

Chris Albert 00:43:33 (link to this point)

And then I really try to limit my my phone gazing after that. But one thing you can do if you absolutely need to work late is you can get they call them blue light blocking glasses, and you can get them off of Amazon for, like, $10. And wearing these glasses will actually prevent that blue light from penetrating your eyeballs, and it will allow you to get to sleep much better.

Albert Carrasco 00:44:04 (link to this point)

Do you know if those glasses change the colors that you see?

Chris Albert 00:44:08 (link to this point)

No. They don't. They don't.

Albert Carrasco 00:44:10 (link to this point)

Oh, that is really cool one. Because, for example, if I you know, on my phone, if I use the night mode, it shifts everything yellow. So I can't if I'm doing photos, I mean, on my phone, I don't edit photos. But if I if I did something like that on the computer, that would ruin my workflow. But that's really good to know.

Chris Albert 00:44:27 (link to this point)

Mhmm.

Yeah. And and, you know, getting back to it, it just might be a really good idea for you in particular to to do that kinda work in the morning rather than doing it in the evening.

Albert Carrasco 00:44:37 (link to this point)

I'll try it. So But that's this week. I'll seriously I won't look at shit after my workout. Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:44:43 (link to this point)

So, that that'll that'll just be a good idea. And and this is a time that you can use to maybe read a book, you know, or or catch up on reading, Maybe even, you know, get into some other things that don't involve an electronic appliance, you know?

Albert Carrasco 00:44:59 (link to this point)

Yeah. You're you're right. I like that.

Chris Albert 00:45:04 (link to this point)

Okay. Now one final, like, quick nutrition tip here. Right before you go to bed, really great time to take magnesium. Magnesium is responsible for over 300 different processes in the body. It helps reduce inflammation, and it can really help you to get to sleep.

The other thing is it's really important to regulate the temperature in your sleeping environment. So you really want it to be pretty cold in the room before you get in the bed. Your bed should be warm, but the room itself should be a little bit cooler. And I'm talking like probably around 70 degrees rather than like 75, 76. Some people pump the heat up before they go to sleep.

That can really hurt your sleep. It's actually a really good idea to sleep in a cooler environment under warm blankets.

Albert Carrasco 00:45:59 (link to this point)

Yeah. I I'll look into that, and I'll probably figure something out to make that happen.

Chris Albert 00:46:07 (link to this point)

Cool, man. And also a cold shower prior to going to bed can really help with reducing inflammation and and help me to get us get to sleep a little bit easier.

Albert Carrasco 00:46:16 (link to this point)

So You know what? Something really quick that I did start doing this week actually, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. Hopefully, not a gimmick, but plus, you know, it's been working so far. I've been going to sleep with my headphones on listening to some alpha waves. And so, you know, I I was just I don't know.

I don't know anything about that.

Chris Albert 00:46:43 (link to this point)

Yeah.

Actually, there's a lot of studies that suggest that binaural beats can actually help you to sleep a lot better.

Albert Carrasco 00:46:50 (link to this point)

I've had some deep sleeps this week.

Chris Albert 00:46:53 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. And I'm not a spiritual hippie or anything like that, but also meditation has been scientifically demonstrated to help people calm down and to to to get more restful sleep. And, you know, the way I go about it, I don't, you know, chant or anything like that. I literally just close my eyes and I try to keep a monitor on my body. If I get a feeling or a thought, I'll just say that was a thought to myself. And then if I get a feeling, I'll say that was a feeling. And I'll do that for ten to twenty minutes, and it really makes all the difference in beginning to understand when I'm starting to freak out about something that my freak out is is not me. It's it's simply just something in my head that's causing me to freak out.

Albert Carrasco 00:47:45 (link to this point)

Yeah. Well, I I've never meditated, period.

Chris Albert 00:47:50 (link to this point)

We can get into that in in another show, but I do think it's it is a really helpful tool. And, actually, those binaural beats can actually help you to meditate as well.

Albert Carrasco 00:47:59 (link to this point)

Okay.

Chris Albert 00:48:01 (link to this point)

Alright. And then the only other thing about the binaural beats is that I would try to go for an app that allows you to do it without having your Wi Fi on. You really want your phone as far far as possible or, you know, those Wi Fi or any kind of electronic waves. You don't want those around you while you're sleeping because they can really interrupt you, they can really disrupt your brain, and they can, cause a really big negative effect.

Albert Carrasco 00:48:32 (link to this point)

Oh, okay. I definitely I feel like I've read in something that said like that, but I didn't really dig too deep into it.

Chris Albert 00:48:42 (link to this point)

Yeah.

So that's that's my analysis of your schedule, man. I I really hope that, you know, you're able to implement some of these things because, you know, I think it'll just be a lot better for you, especially while you're you're training for what you're training for.

Albert Carrasco 00:48:58 (link to this point)

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I'll give it a shot. You know? Like I said, I've looked up to your methods and all the things you've done for a long time, so I believe it if you tell me.

I'll I'll I'm probably not gonna edit anything else at night this whole week and see how it goes in the morning.

Chris Albert 00:49:16 (link to this point)

Cool. And, you know, that's that's all I've got for today on this. As far as things go, guys, we we just really put this episode together, wanted to throw it together just because Albert didn't really know what a podcast was, and I wanted to show him what a podcast was. So I wanted to familiarize him a little bit with what we do here. And I thought it'd be good to introduce Albert to the audience since he's such a big part of Warrior Soul.

Any any last words, Albert? Anything you wanna put out there to the masses?

Albert Carrasco 00:49:50 (link to this point)

No. I mean, well, yeah, I I said I spoke prematurely. Really, just that I'm really happy to be a part of it. You know, it was just never thought that you walk in there one day with your paperwork, I was gonna be working with you. And I'm excited for, you know, our site relaunch and all the good stuff that we have planned, and I'm I'm happy that you invited me to this because it makes sense now.

So I get it.

Chris Albert 00:50:20 (link to this point)

Yeah. Talk we've got a few new designs out now. We've we've had a couple come out within the last week or two. Talk to us about those.

Albert Carrasco 00:50:30 (link to this point)

Yeah. So, obviously, one of them is if you can't be peaceful, be lethal. And I really like that design. For example, obviously, most people that know me know that I'm like I am a very, you know, calm, composed, very caring person. But, you know, like like a lot of marines, once that once you can't do that, you have to be able to fuck shit up.

So that I I don't know. I I really like that shirt. And I figured some of my other friends, like, you rep you met Ryan when we had that shoot. Mhmm. Ryan, fucking love that guy.

He's he's very similar. You know? And so we have that shirt kind of inspired by that. Then we have, you know, never stop fighting. Live every day for your brothers.

And it's, especially here in Santa Barbara, there's not a lot of veterans. Hey. Did I lose you?

Chris Albert 00:51:28 (link to this point)

No, man. You're still there.

Albert Carrasco 00:51:30 (link to this point)

There's not a lot of veterans in this community, and it's funny because somehow, you know, we all find each other. And, you know, I have a couple buddies here in town, and, you know, we I don't drink too much anymore. You know, in the past, like, six months, I've only gone out, like, four times, but, of course, regressed to party Albert during those times. But, anyway, you know, we, me and some of those guys have talked about different things, and it's just, you know, we're there for each other. And, obviously, you know that I got your back.

And, basically, even through Instagram, I've met some really, really cool marines. You know, Jed, for example, he and I connected through Instagram. We became really close, and it's just like, we gotta watch each other's backs. It's something we've been harping on for over a year now. I mean, you know, the VA system is broken, and who else is gonna take care of each other but us?

It's you know, that that's all we need each other.

Chris Albert 00:52:29 (link to this point)

So Absolute absolutely. 100%.

I I you know, this company is founded on a single principle, and that is to help veterans live their best lives. Right? And and so what do we mean by that? We mean that in order for this country to get back on track, in order for veterans to to really live lives to their fullest, we've gotta take charge of ourselves. The government is not going to do it for us.

The VA isn't going to do it for us. When it comes to questions about our health, we've got to prevent those diseases, those chronic diseases that are plaguing our population, like diabetes. We've got to prevent those from happening. A quarter of all veterans in the VA system actually have chronic disease, actually have diabetes. Right?

All of us need to start taking charge of ourselves here. And, you know, we also have to display it to get rid of a lot of rumors. The rumor or a lot of myths, the myth of the uneducated veteran. Most of us have more education by the end of our four years in service than, you know, half the kids coming out of UCSB because and probably more more than half, probably 95% of the kids coming out of UCSB because those kids have never been exposed to the world. They've never been exposed to reality.

They don't know what they're doing. Veterans, on the other hand, have. They've seen the world. They've dealt with issues that most of those kids can't the other kids can't comprehend, and they are already coming into the world with a whole heck of a lot of experience. And so our cause is to advance the veteran community in this way.

We should be as as exclusive to have veteran on your resume as it should have a Harvard degree.

Albert Carrasco 00:54:34 (link to this point)

Yeah. I I I love all that, and that's why we're here.

Chris Albert 00:54:38 (link to this point)

Absolutely.

Albert Carrasco 00:54:39 (link to this point)

So Yeah.

Chris Albert 00:54:40 (link to this point)

Alright, man. Well, I'm gonna let you go, and we're gonna let our listeners go. And I hope you guys all found that informative. And to learn more about Warrior Soul, you can head over to our website, warriorsoulfitness.com for our T shirts, and then warriorsoulagoge.com. That's a g o g e for our content, and you can get to either site from both.

So with that, guys, we will talk to you all soon. Now get out there and live your best lives.