Episode Details

You have something meaningful to do before you die.The question isn’t whether that’s true. It’s whether you’re going to do it.

Or whether you’ll end up at 80, still scrolling, still talking about what you could have done, with your song still unsung inside you.

In this Beyond the Boost conversation, Shawn Michael sits down with Steven Puri. former senior executive at major motion picture studios, venture-backed founder with one successful exit and two instructive failures, and creator of the Sukha Company. a productivity platform built around a single insight: focus isn’t about doing more. It’s about being ahead of your day so you can actually show up for your life.

What starts as a conversation about productivity goes somewhere more important. The tools, the techniques, the flow states. none of it matters until you’ve answered the foundational question. Do you believe you have something meaningful to contribute? Because if you do, everything changes. If you don’t, no app will save you.

This is a conversation about what it actually takes to get your great thing out of you. Before time runs out.

In This Episode

* Why productivity is meaningless without a reason, and what that reason has to look like before the tools matter

* The difference between pressure and focus. one pushes, the other pulls, and knowing which is which changes how you work

* How trillion-dollar companies have deployed behavioral economists and casino designers to steal your life, and what to do about it

* The flow state research that changes how you structure your day. 15 to 23 minutes to get in, and one interruption to lose it all

* What Steven learned from two startup failures that he still reviews every few months to make sure he hasn’t forgotten

* Why the most important productivity move isn’t a technique. it’s deciding in advance what is non-negotiable

* How to tell the difference between deep work and the busy treadmill that feels productive but moves you nowhere

✦ Reflection Prompts

* If you had to name the one thing you are meant to contribute before you die, could you say it in one sentence? What stops you?

* Where in your life are you running on the busy treadmill? Moving fast, feeling productive, but not getting closer to the thing that actually matters?

* What is currently stealing your attention that you’ve been calling something else?

* What is the one non-negotiable in your day that, like Shawn’s bedtime routine with his son, is a straight no regardless of the opportunity?

* What would you write down about your most recent failure while the wound is still fresh? What are you actually learning vs. what are you waiting to forget?

✦ The Boost (Action Step)

Steven’s takeaway, and it’s a simple one worth sitting with.

Before you start scrolling. Before breakfast. Before the day gets loud.

Identify the one thing you can do today that moves your life forward.

Not five things, the week’s plan, or the month’s goals.

The one thing that lets you go to sleep tonight and say: I did this. My life moved forward.

Then do it again tomorrow.

✦ About Steven Puri

Steven Puri is a former VP at major motion picture studios turned serial entrepreneur. He has raised over $20 million in venture capital, built three startups including one successful exit, and founded the Sukha Company. a mindful productivity platform designed to help people protect their focus, access flow states, and do the work that actually matters. He speaks on focus, flow, and sustainable high performance.

Check out the Sukha app, designed for remote workers who need to focus. In particular, this app helps with overwhelm ("where to begin?") in the morning, distractions during the day, and "where did the day go?" at the end of the day - Try it fo