My Year in Grind: Alan Philips

Alan Philips is redefining the idea of the hustling family man one day at a time. The rewards of the hard work he is putting in are paying off—his success in his daily grind and other endeavors are paving the way for him to become a superstar entrepreneur to watch out for.

While he's the Chief Brand Officer of Turnberry in Miami, Alan was able to carve out time to write his second book. In October 2018, he debuted The Age of Ideas: How to Unlock Your Creative Potential. 

The book became a critically-acclaimed must-read, shedding light on the way brands and personalities are tapping into their creative potential, and why that matters more than ever in our society. Part of his motivation was his wife, handbag designer Gelareh Mizrahi. Philips was able to witness the hustle and grind his wife put into building a global fashion brand. And it inspired him to help others do the same.

As the year comes to an end, Alan was able to talk to ONE37pm about the success of his book, as well as the grind he put in during 2018.

What did travel and vacation mean to you in 2018?

Figuring out opportunities to integrate my work and my life. Really anytime I traveled in 2018, I was doing something with my family but also doing something to help with my purpose and my wife's purpose. For me, it was my book and helping people and companies manifest their dreams. For my wife, it's her fashion design and building her company. So if we went to LA, New York or Tokyo or wherever we went, it was usually aligning when some other opportunity that we had. And so that was traveling in 2018. Vacation in 2018 was really spending time with my kids and my family connecting on a deeper level.

What inspired you to use the backstory of some of pop culture's significant moments in your book The Age of Ideas: How to Unlock Your Creative Potential? 

At the core of what it is I'm interested in and write about and what I want to achieve in my life is a balance in between personal fulfillment and professional achievement. And, I find that very often that that is a difficult thing to find and even more difficult to realize. The reason I chose those companies that I use as examples in my book, I feel they have achieved significant levels of professional success without compromising their values and what made them truly special to begin with. Easy to say, I want to be in finance. I want to make a lot of money. That's a very specific goal. But to have both is the holy grail, it is rare and beautiful. Great examples are James Jebbia founded Supreme or the guys from A24 who took something they deeply believed in and weren't able to turn that into both way to make money and the way to serve.

If you can compare a chapter of your book to your own hustle in 2018—which one will it be and why?

Part three of the book is all about self-discovery, you know, for me that's very much an ongoing process. So that was definitely part of my life in 2018. And then I think manifesting my magic—turning my idea into a physical product that can shared, which was the book. My focus was to take everything I learned and believed and to turn them into something that could be a vehicle for my future.

In the art of the daily grind, you have major victories and major upsets. What were some of your wins and losses you can carry over to develop a bigger momentum heading into 2019?

I think my biggest win in 2018 was finally getting my book out and starting regularly attending Barry's Bootcamp; discovering an exercise community that I feel can really support me in achieving my physical goals which will serve all my other goals. I think those would be the two positives. 

I don’t have any major losses other than time.  But I would like to put more focus on manifesting in bigger and more meaningful ways. Taking the message of the book and reaching a lot more people. 

It is also a constant thing for me to live in the moment.  I spend a lot of time thinking about where things are going, instead of enjoying that specific moment in time.  I just want to cultivate more of an appreciation to living in now and enjoying life.

What is your favorite piece of content you wrote for ONE37pm and why?

I think "Why Simplifying Your Life and Pursuits Is So Important" is my favorite piece I wrote it for ONE37pm because it's a first principle truth, and I think the idea of "Telic vs. Atelic Pursuits" is a simple change that gives someone the opportunity to be tremendously more fulfilled. If you could shift from that activity that's telic, an activity that has a clear end and is project based, to an activity that is atelic, something that is endless like learning to play the guitar or backgammon, you will be much more fulfilled. If you do things that are atelic they continue to give back to you and that I will make you much more fulfilled and more productive. That's a very important lesson someone can learn and apply to their life easily.  Simple hacks like that can make a huge impact.