Crushing the Clock

Being a parent has always been a challenging role. There’s always a never-ending question of whys and how-to. Moreover, parents often feel stuck and unproductive managing everything all at once – from work to house and vice versa. However, it's not an issue of why you're feeling less productive but looking into how you are doing things. With the right approach, you can get things done efficiently! All you need are the right tools to help you get started.

Hilary Kinney is a project manager at a Fortune 500 company and a proud mother. Her 17 years of experience are placed in a book to help parents improve their family relationships. Today, she joins the podcast to talk more about the advantages of these frameworks through her book, Project Management for Parents. Specifically to engage the family, build teamwork, and succeed together.

When people hear project management, they worry that it's all processes and frameworks and spreadsheets. However, in both professional and personal life, you'd want to use the minimum amount of process needed to get more organized and the work done. And as a family, we're so busy. We don't want to do spreadsheets for the sake of spreadsheets. You need to just put processes in place that support your family so that you can get the stuff done that you need to get done and have more fun and quality time together. Because that's what it's all about - that time together as a family is important.

Another beauty of agile is that the people are involved. And that's so important with families and kids. You involve the kids in the process, talk with them, and get their ideas. You talk about the planning and start building those planning skills for them. By involving them in these conversations and principles, you're helping them develop these skills that will also serve them later in life.

In project management, we always manage projects to constraints, whereas in our personal lives, we tend to manage and max everything out. It would help if you thought about your limits (i.e., time, money, resources, efforts, etc.) and thought of them as a stop sign. There are certain things that every family has some capability of what they can get done. So, think through what those capabilities are - what you can and cannot do, and then sit down and talk about it in these different areas, be incredibly realistic about what you can't do, and then commit to it and put it on a piece of paper. Avoid getting overwhelmed like a water balloon bursting because it would strain your relationship with your family or result in health issues. And there are also resources you can add to help you with things. Like grocery delivery, to decrease that workload, so add those support systems. There are different ways to manage it, but be aware of your limits, and manage to those instead of unlimited time and resources. 

You can use a Kanban board at home if you want. It's a board that has "to do", "doing", and "done". And you can move sticky notes down the board. Like if your kids have different assignments, chores or homework. So you can visually see if they need help. You could do it on a whiteboard, on a bulletin board, on a chalkboard, or there are apps you can use that do this for you. You can go from simple to complex. And again, keep it as easy as possible. It is also important to keep in mind the age of your kids. Think about what works well for them and what's their learning style. Are they real tactile learners? Would they prefer to have a little mason jar of what their chores are for the day, and then when they're done, they move it to the completed mason jar? There are lots of fun ways to engage with the kids so they can see and understand it. And then there's a...

Note-taking has been extremely important in the past. Even today, people still find themselves taking notes to keep track of almost everything. But with the world always evolving, jotting down everything could be time-consuming or worse – keep you more confused as you get buried in a pile of papers! But the onset of the information age has made this a lot easier as various digital tools are openly accessible to be utilized and keep track of your day-to-day activities.

Frank Buck is a certified Evernote consultant and productivity expert. He started his career in the early 80s when digital fashion was not a trend. He realized it's important to create a single place to handle everything for now – a system that works! Now, he joins the podcast to share more about accomplishing significant goals and understanding your ability to organize your time and surroundings through digital tools.

An old quote goes, "If you read the New York Times for a week, you're going to come across as much information as someone in Shakespeare's time came across in their entire life." Information is all around us, but your information is only as good as your ability to put your hands on it when needed. So, to date, with so much that digitally comes to us, it makes sense to keep things digital. The ability to trap that information in notes has always been important. And it will be much easier if you do it digitally because it's so easy to search for later. For example, the computer started as the center of information, but today Google/Microsoft servers took its place. This is because it provides everyone with the accessibility to their information using phones just as easily as they're getting it from the computer. The only caveat is to utilize software that works well from anywhere is important.

People would like to have the ability to get things in quickly, where you don't have to go from folder to folder to retrieve them. In other words, the search is very good, and you can easily share it with other people. The nice thing with digital notes is when you're thinking of something you're trying to find - not only do you find that easily. But you also find some other notes you had taken on the same subject that you forgot you even had. All those come up in the search quickly.

Evernote offers a free plan, so you can get it anytime in a few easy steps (1) Go to Evernote.com (2) Look and Download Evernote Web Clipper (3) Download the App to your phone.

The whole idea of Evernote is that you would be able to get your note wherever you are. All those little bits of information in small index cards and sticky notes scattered everywhere. With Evernote, you can create a little notebook to store your personal information, from insurance policy number, AARP number, driver's license, etc., in alphabetical order. You can also have a default inbox notebook with a.in front of it, so all incoming mail is sorted from the top of the list dot. So, when you check it later in the day, you can easily sort, review everything, clean, or add as necessary, which will be more helpful to you later.

David Allen was right on the money when he said, "where people mess up is when they start to try to do too much at the same time." For example, if you are in a meeting taking notes and it includes a few deadlines, you flip back to your to-do list and note them there. Essentially you are going back and forth between your to-do list and your calendar. But the principles taught there were, as you're taking notes when you have those two dues in those calendar appointments that come out of that meeting, go ahead and make it part of your...

Do you ever feel stuck? As if you can't seem to move forward despite doing what you have to do? Like there's an invisible wall you can't seem to cross? If so, you're not alone. Most people find themselves stuck in different aspects of their lives. It's nothing new! You can also get out of it, become more efficient, and see the progress you've always wanted.

ST Rappaport, a productivity coach. She coaches people, especially growing entrepreneurs, to rewire their brains and achieve results. Now, she joins the podcast to share more about the Feuerstein methods. Specifically, to take control of your lives, find focus and increase productivity professionally and personally.

If you have a cup inside and there are holes in your cup, whatever you pour inside the cup will come out of those holes. But as soon as you close those holes, pour any drink - it stays in the cup. Now, your brain is the same way. It has what's called cognitive deficiencies. And when you're trying all these hacks, tips, courses, reading books, or whatever you're doing to become more productive, improve a specific area of your life, or learn this new technique. And despite you putting in all the work and effort, it's just going right out of those holes. But when you close those holes and improve those cognitive functions, all those tips and hacks will now work for your brain.

The act of thinking is made up of what's called 28 cognitive functions. It means that there are 28 parts to this act of thinking. Now, we all have weaker and stronger ones. And different people have different areas. So when one of them is weak, it's like those holes. When one of them is weak, we have a hole in that aspect of our life, and things fall out. For example, if you're good at planning, you will eventually plan your day and organize everything to get things done. However, if you want everything to happen right now, let's say you need to go to the laundry today but know you'd also go there again tomorrow. You would still go to the laundry today because you want it to happen now even though there's no reason - but because it has to happen. Now your brain couldn't say, this has to go on the back burner for a while. It's fine if it goes to the cleaners tomorrow, so don't waste time going to the cleaners today and then going into the cleaners again tomorrow when there is no need for it now. But it won't because it's stupid. This cognitive function is called categorization, which is how your brain can categorize things. And that cognitive function in your brain is weak, and that's the hole in your brain. 

You want to work with your brain, not against your brain. Create a system to work together with your brain. For example, if you have a hole in your memory, you can think of a great idea but forget it after a while. You can have a piece of paper on your desk or notes on your phone. So as soon as you have an idea, something you know you have to do, it goes right down on that paper. And you could be in the middle of a session with a client, podcast recording, or anything. You have that paper, and you can write it down. Because that way, you don't forget it. However, every person's brain works differently. And you have to find the method that works for your brain. 

It doesn't happen overnight, it takes months, and you must create those new neural connections. But once they're there, they're forever because you created those new neural connections. Now, it's a bit difficult to say, to go and do this, instead of doing that, because that is almost like just giving you another hack, right? Specifically, it's harder because of those holes. So what you should do is a little bit less tangible, like go into this box - what's going to make the difference? You'll want to do it for the next couple of days, and it's going to take time, but you have to be conscious...

When it comes to decluttering, it’s usually a question of how to do it rather than why. People also find it almost impossible to accomplish, considering the other things they have to do. But it doesn't mean they don't want a clean home – and a smooth schedule, right? However, it's not impossible if you know the right steps to start. Using all those planners and attending online courses can help, but those are only tools - you need to learn how, when, and why to use those tools to be the most effective.

Gael Wood is a mother of two, and a former massage therapist turned entrepreneur and a certified Feng Shui consultant. She writes and coaches people on mindset and journaling strategies. Today, she joins the podcast to share how to re-evaluate your time and spend your energy on what matters to make positive changes.

It's a matter of figuring out how you can ignore other things that might feel pressing. And I think a lot of that depends on your personality. Like some people tend to like not to want to settle down to work if their house is messy. If they could straighten up their house and get everything clean, they'll be able to think better. If you have that stuff done, it won't distract you. So, it's a matter of having to learn to train yourself to set all of that aside and focus. The morning routine also really helps. Like getting up early, doing some basic things for your mindset, reading something motivational, and thinking about your goals and what you're working toward in a big picture way, which helps motivate you on the smaller things throughout the day. 

One of the biggest habits is to do a daily routine of prioritizing your tasks. So, that mindset of "if I only had two hours to work today, what would I need to get done?" What are the most important things? Because we all know, as entrepreneurs or as parents, that things can pop up throughout the day that can derail you. So, if you spent your whole morning answering emails and not writing your book or preparing for your class, it's really easy to get behind. So, make a daily most important tasks list and then, from there, prioritize it. It helps to get all that clutter out of your mind and onto paper.

Step one would be to figure out your 10 hours that could be made up of different 30-minute chunks here and there. So, start thinking about where your time is going. Because we always time. And you know, there are different things to think about with all of this, for example, is watching TV at night wasting time, or is that just relaxing? Is that just something that we should do or need to do? And of course, we all need to relax. And then take a look at all of these things you are spending time on to see if you could do less of that and maybe get some time there or do things in a new and different way. So, think about anything you're doing because there may be stuff that's just a holdover from another time in life. Start looking for more and more ways you could optimize your schedule.

One way is to do a challenge. Maybe if you want to get up earlier, put yourself on a 30-day get up the early challenge because that helps take some of the hardness out of it. You'll think that getting up earlier is a really hard thing to do. But getting up early for 30 days seems a lot easier. Because it's like, you'll do it for 30 days, and it's a challenge, it kind of puts fun energy to it. Because then, you can see the benefits by the time you're done with the 30 days. And it's not hard. 

Sometimes every day would go by, and you'd be like, you didn't find the time or the space to do it, or all these excuses come up. So, try the 10-minute thing. Like, find a way to make it not hard for yourself and start small. And you could do that with anything like writing a book. So, there...

Free Time Framework:

1. Align
2. Design
3. Assign

Specific takeaways:

• Energy
• Embrace imperfection
• Nonlinear breakthroughs
• Time block and bake in batches
• Automate what you repeat

Get the book: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business by Jenny Blake

You can try to have this perfect picture of how you want to spend your day, but have it blown up in seconds – and you’ll running all over the place. But you don’t have to operate this way. The path can be a bit tricky, especially for entrepreneurs and start-up CEOs, but not totally impossible!

Jenny Blake is a podcaster, host, speaker and author. She helps organizations and business owners – young or old- organize their plans through smarter systems. She joins the podcast to talk about managing time, Specifically establishing systems that would skyrocket your way to success while maintaining a work-life balance.

Founder time is time that's just for you, and it's protected. And whether you work for yourself currently or you work for someone else. It is the time to be strategic and creative about your life and your business about the projects you're working on. As Michael Gerber would say, work on the business, not in the business. Like really asking, what is the one thing you can work on in this block of time that will free up your time or move the business forward?

Start with creative ways of asking, how can I afford this? And not with, can I afford this? With that, you're asking how and not with something that ends with a yes or no kind of answer. And in doing that, you're generating creative ideas. For example, hiring a team that would free you most of your time so you can build more products and services in your business. It could be expensive, but the free time dashboard has earned you back the cost of hiring this team. It just came from a slightly different channel. 

The first thing you can do is create a delegation task tracker and observe over the next few weeks but have this open in front of you. You can use a pen and paper at your desk, and it could be the notes app on your phone. It doesn't have to be fancy. But the point is that as you work on a given day or week, it will give you the most information about what you could delegate, even if you don't know to whom yet or if you can afford it. 

Start by noticing what area of your life and work is creating the most friction right now? What area drains you the most or you don't like doing? Then delegate that first! Because it's going to relieve the most pressure. And you know, there are different ways to do that, and you can even run experiments, but picking an area that has a lot of friction, will make you more motivated to solve it and more motivated to pay for it. And you're going to benefit the most from freeing that zone to do more of your best work. For example, with admin stuff, there's a lot that you can automate more than you probably think there's a lot that you can eliminate. But even if you don't know who yet, or how you're going to delegate, write the process down. 

If you google connection nodes, you'll see that the complexity of communication increases dramatically once you get over about seven people. Research also shows that about seven is a sweet spot. Work with at least a triangle formation or a square. Because if you only have you and a VA, your business is still fragile. There's a saying that one is the most dangerous number in business. If you have one of anything, you have a single point of failure, including you, the business owner, and that's quite stressful. Everything grinds to a halt if you get sick, including your income. And that's scary! If you have a VA and they leave, or they get sick, or something happens, you're still left in the lurch and going to be stressed. So, a triangle would be delightful for a square that works,

New and veteran entrepreneurs alike may have a continual struggle with closing deals. Part of this reason is because we’re good at doing the work or making the widget more than we are at working the sales process. It can also be nearly impossible to build the right habits and routines with all other obligations. It's even harder when you're jumping from one time zone to another ~ which most business owners agree. But with the right mindset and proper training ~ it's not all that impossible! All it takes is sheer motivation and proper rhythm.

Desmond Dixon is a sales recruiter, trainer, and host of the Campfire Capitalism podcast. He helps business owners and entrepreneurs make more money in terms of revenue while traveling the world! He joins the podcast to talk about creating small micro habits that would help you get real results! Specifically, the ways to implement these habits and routines into revenue.

The name of the game is staying in the game. And becoming intentional with every interaction you're having. And not from a place of taking, but from giving. If you compound giving, you're also going to receive because you're allowing, and you're a person of value. Compounding can be something as small as reaching out to 10 people every day, and if you do that for 30 days, you're more likely to book calls. And then we layer on top of that. And then follow back with the people you connect with because those people are more likely to buy from you statistically and refer you because word of mouth is the most powerful thing in marketing. So, ten new people a day, 10 follows from people that you couldn't connect with and one touchback from someone that you've already enrolled or has already said no to you. Let people go who said yes or no, but always follow up and just check on them, not from a place of I want to sell you something, but be interested in what's going on in their life or their business. Those are some little things that compound over time.

The biggest paradigm is that the more people you talk to gives you more likelihood of closing a deal. But the real deal is going deeper, not wider. Understanding networking on a very high level will get you those big deals or the velocity behind the deals. The number one mistake salespeople make is falling apart. Having the resilience and the discipline to keep following up with people every day can help you gain billions of dollars as a salesman. It may take you 34567 touches over months to get that person on the phone. But that one deal can change your life, though. That's the crazy part about it. That one interaction could change your life because that person can introduce you to many people.

Networking with other people doesn't mean that you're selling something to them. But maybe they know the right people that have a problem that you can solve. They can make introductions for you, right? It's not about getting into three-dimensional chess here. But networking is something you can do and still create a win-win. Like supposed you introduce someone like a prospect. Don't be so consumed with selling your widget. Talk to them, and figure out what's going on in their life. And if you see a gap in solving their problem, maybe it's not your solution; maybe you need to introduce them to your friend or a guy you met a week ago, or the guy you talked to this morning, and create connections by making value to people. 

Let's reframe it from just talking to 10 people, right? Okay. It doesn't even need to be like, Hey, I have Joe Schmo, and I want to sell you something, or would you be interested in my...

Many people find it difficult to stay on track with their goals. A lot find it more challenging as task after task arises. However, it is not to say that you could overcome those. Several argue that it would always start with small steps. One lifesaver could be working on a to-do list. Though routines like this would demand consistency, which is another obstacle itself.

Nicki Conradt Eberlin, a certified life coach, whether happiness, money, relationships, health could be mental or physical health or career-wise. She joins the podcast to talk about how people can build better habits to reach their goals. Specifically, creating small habits to reach one's personal or professional goals.

The biggest benefit to starting small is you make it so easy that you can't say no. It's just a simple small habit, and that's easy. There's no pressure or strain for you to complete this, like a massive goal. But depending on the purpose of why you're building that small habit, which is produced in this aspect. It could improve your quality of life, lower your stress levels, help you focus more, have a greater sense of joy with what you do, and have more self-confidence. It is because when you're productive, you're focused, and you can take on different things.

People want instant gratification. And this is for some reason that smaller habits can be too simple. You don't have enough motivation or willpower to do just a small aspect. But that's where it starts. A perfect example of that is when people start a small habit or think of one, they think it's not that big of a deal, or it's not a big habit, so they start there. But then they don't take it seriously, so you push it off to the wayside. But if you started working with those small habits seriously, you could have started building better or bigger habits already.

The small habits that make the biggest impact are showing up in planning your weeks out for whatever goal that might be. You can start with small habits and figure out the trigger points, what's going on in your head, and take small parts of the day. And that could be like not spending five minutes in the morning to plan out your day to be more productive or saying no to that afternoon cocktail and doing something else. And there are so many variables and moving aspects depending on like what the goals that the individual has. But condensing it down from doing it once to twice a week, and if you're feeling really good, bump up to five as it takes time to get those things rolling. 

If you don't have time to do blank, what do you have time to do? Because essentially, all people have the same time of the day. And in reclaiming your schedule, you first have to find 30 minutes in your schedule, at least to show up for yourself once a week. And the biggest part is making that time to figure out how you can become more productive. And then you start gaining more time. So, if you want to show up for 30 minutes for yourself once a week, work out your schedule, read a book about time management, whatever it might be. Still, you have that 30-minute to better yourself to reclaim your schedule, and then you start finding other actionable items during that timeframe.

But if you are not good with your schedule, break it down into three days, 10 minutes a day where you can at least practice working on some productivity, some like efficiency in your schedule or learning something new during that timeframe. And those 10 minutes, three days a week, are going to be difficult for you, but know that it will get easier. You have to dedicate that time first. That's the biggest step.

There are a couple of different ideas, but one of them is to find a time that works for you. For

People spend a lot of time on a million different things every day. But the real question is, do all those things matter? Are we time-blocking stuff on the calendar because they are important? Are doing all of these to stay on track towards our goals? And the answer to all of these is probably a big YES. However, we can't deny that many times we are going around juggling the same thing repeatedly, but not really getting there.

Michelle Pince is a writer and motivational speaker who owns a publishing company. She also works with business owners, leaders, entrepreneurs, founders that helps get people's stories into paper and make a difference. She joins the podcast to talk about how to start getting things done. Specifically, delineating yourself from the concept of busyness and focusing on productivity, and maybe some tips to make some reset.

Juggling is not a good thing. But the question is, what do you do when you're juggling? It's like having all the balls are in the air, and you're touching a ball for just a second. Like in your family, career, physical health, and spiritual life, you're all of the different components of your lives, they're all up in the air, and you spend just a tiny bit of time on them. But you don't give it the attention it needs. And will you ever have perfect balance? No, probably not. But you definitely will be able to focus on the most important things right now and take the time rather than just throwing them up in the air and hoping they all get done.

The wheel of life is just a visual representation of who you are, and you're in the center of it. And it's like spokes of the wheel coming out. And each spoke is a part of who you are. So, you have a career life, a personal life, a family life, spiritual life, a physical life, and so on. And what you do is you take a look at that and see a snapshot of where are you right now. And you go around the whole wheel and mark where you are from 1 to 10, honestly, and then connect the dots because what it shows you is a picture of your wheel. And often, people experience ups and downs and a pretty bumpy ride, but that's where you should start.

The reality is we all have the same amount of time. But some people are so incredibly productive, and others are wasting it, which boils back down to the priorities. Some are even great believers of time blocking, but unless you know that you should be working on the important things and getting those in your calendar first, it's going to be hard to be fulfilled and happy and productive. Boundaries are also a key. And it could protect you from distractions, but it's also communicating what is important. But often, people are so busy because they don't say no, or they allow people to interrupt their time. It is why it's essential to set your boundaries. And it could be as simple as somebody comes into your office, asking you a quick question or a minute. And there's absolutely nothing wrong with saying, I'm happy to help; however, I'm working on something for the next 30 minutes. Can this wait? But many want to jump to help. And in doing so, yes, you may be helping others, but getting back in the groove of what you're working on will probably take ten times longer than if you focus for the next 30 minutes. And unless someone's bleeding or, you know, it's a huge emergency, most of the time, it can wait. Remember, people will respect you to the exact degree you respect yourself. And that goes with time too! So, if you're responding to emails at one o'clock in the morning, people are going to expect you to do that in the future. If you drop everything for them to answer a question, when you're...