Episode 295: Stutz Film
In this episode, Fiona shares a Netflix documentary called "Stutz," made by Jonah Hill and his therapist, Phillip Stutz, which offers frameworks and teachings to help viewers navigate challenging parts of their lives and improve their mindsets. Learn how these frameworks can be useful for small business owners. Tune in!
Topics discussed in this episode:
Introduction
The importance of mindset in business
Netflix Documentary "Stutz" made by Jonah Hill and Phillip Stutz
The constant chatter happening in our minds and the framework of the maze
Trapped thinking and fixating on a particular situation without looking for solutions
Other helpful frameworks discussed in the documentary
Conclusion
Get in touch with My Daily Business Coach
Resources and Recommendations mentioned in this episode:
Welcome to episode 295 of my Daily Business Coach podcast. Today, it is a quick tip episode, and that's where I share a tip, tool, or tactic that you can implement immediately in your business. Today, it is a very enjoyable one. Might be a bit confronting at times, but I have found this to be one of the best things I have watched. I don't know how you describe it because it's a bit of both for a long time, and I wanted to share it with you today before I get stuck in, I wanted to acknowledge the traditional owners and custodians of the beautiful land on which we record this, and that is the Wurrung and Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation. And I pay my respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging, and acknowledge that sovereignty has never been ceded. Let's get into today's quick tip episode.
I feel like I'm one of those teachers that you wanted when you were in high school who was like, your homework is to watch this movie. Today I'm talking about a quick tip episode that involves a Netflix show, and who doesn't love just to be entertained, but also be educated at the same time? Today, the quick tip that I'm sharing with you is a tool. It is a Netflix documentary, and you may have watched it already, if you're on my Sunday email, you may have seen that I've, I've mentioned it a few times, and it's called Stutz. This is a documentary made by Jonah Hill, the American Hollywood actor, and his therapist. Phillip Stutz is a celebrity therapist. I mean, he's a therapist in his own right, but he works with many celebrities.
When I watched this with my husband, I have to say that I don't think either of us was in the right head space to watch it, and neither of us is a huge Jonah Hill fan. We're not anti-Jonah Hill. I was watching something with Meryl Streep, or I'm trying to think of another actor that I respect and think is awesome and would want to watch quite a bit about. We watched it and about five or 10 minutes in, my husband was like not feeling this are you? And I was like, “No.” We turned it off. I was feeling it may be a bit more, but I was like, “No, not gonna push it.” And then another friend, I'd been told about this film by a lovely friend. She mentioned it in a group coaching session, and that's why I thought we could watch it.
Then another friend mentioned it and I thought, “Okay, I'm gonna watch it by myself.” I watched it on the iPad and I loved it so much that I said to my husband, I think you need to give this a chance. If you are starting to watch it, do not be put off at the start, because at the start it feels a little Hollywoodish for one of better words. And basically, the idea of the film is that Jonah Hill has been seeing this therapist for many years, and he feels that a lot of people may not be able to access this therapist for cost, location, and all sorts of things. He wants to bring a lot of the teachings and frameworks that have helped him direct from his therapist's mouth into a film, into a documentary. That it's what it is, it's Jonah and his therapist, Phillip Stutz, talking about life and talking about particular frameworks that help you move through challenging parts of your life, and not just the challenging parts, but move through even personality traits that you may have.
I know because I work with so many small business owners, that mindset is a huge part of the business. When I first started my business, and I'm into my eighth year, I have to say that when I'd first hear stuff like, mindset, and I was quite interested in that stuff, but I put a block up like, that's like fluffy. The real stuff is the systems and the this and the that. If your mindset is not in the right place, it doesn't matter how financially successful you're being, it doesn't matter how seemingly easy things come to you in business, likewise, it doesn't matter how difficult things are. It's all hard if your mindset is not in the right place.
We all carry a lot of stuff all day long that's going on in our heads that other people are never privy to. Sometimes I have the incredible privilege of being privy to some of this stuff in one-on-one coaching sessions with people, sometimes even in group sessions when people are very vulnerable and share it. But a lot of the time we go about our business with a constant chatter happening in our minds that we don't relay to people. When I was watching this, a lot of the frameworks hit home. I think a lot of the frameworks hit home because they're universal to everybody. Some of the frameworks, for example, are things like, he calls it the maze where you can get stuck and fixated on a particular situation, a particular conversation, a particular experience that you've had that you just go round and round and round. You're kind of stuck in this maze of thinking.
I think in the business that can happen where people maybe took on a business partner and it didn't work out. They have this narrative that they're just sticking to about how bad how badly they were done by that partner, or how things might have worked out so differently if they hadn't taken that person on. Or how bitter they are about things even years later. And it's sort of questions like, how is that helping me? Likewise, it could have been maybe you should have put in maybe there was an investment that you could have made years ago and now you're seeing it's paying off for other people and you're like, I wish I'd done that for my business. And I didn't. It could be all sorts of things.
It could have been, I wish I'd pivoted earlier in the pandemic. With all of these things, we can get trapped into thinking about something over and over and fixating on it without actually looking for solutions or a way out of the maze. And there were so many other frameworks that he talks about that are just helpful. But the other thing that comes up in this, and I thought was it was impactful when I heard it, and it has been for everybody that I've talked about with this, with this particular film, is that he talks about that every single person in the world, no matter how successful they seem to be by whatever the metric of success is, will have to live and not just live with, but embrace three things which are pain, uncertainty, and constant work.
I think this is something that we try and avoid, particularly, I feel like we avoid it more in the West, where you have this concept that life should be happy and enjoyable all the time. That business should always be fun and creative and amazing all the time. And yes, for a large part of business, it can be fun and creative and interesting, but there are a lot of parts that are hard and chaotic. Some parts are challenging. Even in my book, when I put out the first book, Passion Purpose Profit in 2020, I wrote about how running a business is being both the psychologist and the person receiving therapy at the same time. Because you'll make decisions all day long and you'll question yourself and you'll be thinking, is this the way I should go?
If you've ever been to therapy, quite often a therapist will put that back on you and like, “Why do you think it is the way to go?” Or why do you think it's not the way to go? Business a lot of the time is literally like being in therapy with yourself and uncovering all these parts of yourself, but some of that is difficult and brings up all sorts of stories. I love that in Stutz they talked about this is universal and that every person will live with pain and uncertainty and constant work. They have to you just have to accept that. And I think I know I've talked about it before, I've had a lot of death in our family over the last few years. We've had a lot of other things going on, as everybody does.
Life is painful and uncertain, and life particularly as a small business owner is full of constant work. Sometimes that work is fun and enjoyable, but sometimes it's not so enjoyable. And I think in this film, he goes into detail about how to embrace that stuff like pain and uncertainty and constant work, but also how to work through your limitations and the narrative that you have running in your mind that can limit you. That can be an obstacle sometimes. I know there's a famous book as well, I think it's called The Obstacle is You, that's so much of the problem sometimes is us in our business. The reason we are not getting necessarily ahead or where we want to be is often because we are standing in our way or we are not doing what we need to be doing, or we are procrastinating or all sorts of things.
That's not to shame anyone or make them feel like, are you telling me to even hustle harder? I am so anti-hustle. But I think even in my own business, I know that certain things haven't been done because it's not because of anyone else that works in the business. It's because I am not getting through them or I'm putting them off, or I am I think that they're tedious. I'm procrastinating and, and avoiding stuff. In this film, he talks about lots of different frameworks to help you. He also just talks about the universal challenges that we all go through. I think as the film progresses Jonah Hill talks about how he got everything handed to him, not handed to him, but he got a lot of fame and adoration and money and all of this at a very young age and what that has meant.
I have met lots of business owners who have hit their five-year financial goal in the first 12 months or where they have done something that completely changed their life financially. And sometimes yes, it's exciting and it can be exciting for a few days and then sometimes that wears off and it's like, “Why don't I feel more fulfilled?” I just think the film in general is amazing. It's something I'm going to try and watch every six months, just almost as a reset for myself. I came away from it feeling like, I've got some great structured ways to approach things that have been challenging me in business and my personal life as well. I thought I would share it today. The film is called Stutz.
And I think it's just an important film for people to watch. Now, as I said at the start, don't let the first 10 minutes put you off. Keep going, keep persisting with it. It's worth it in the end. We'll link to that in the show notes and the show notes for today's episode. You'll be able to find it over at mydalybusinesscoach.com/podcast/295. If you have enjoyed Stutz after you read this, I'd love to hear from you, don't be a stranger. You can email us at hello@mydailybusinesscoach.com, or you can send us a DM @mydailybusinesscoach, or if you're on TikTok, @mydailybusinesscoach.
