In this episode I talk about the top 10 things which will help you to simplify your life to be more productive. I talk about how to make things simpler to make space in your life and mind, allowing you to be more productive. Simple things such as unsubscribing from e-mail newsletters, decluttering, planning your meals, stop multi-tasking and a few more. I give honest examples of how I have managed these and sometimes have completely failed!

1.     Unsubscribe from things unroll.me

2.     Limit options have less stuff 

3.     Basic meal plan 

4.     Make the things you use most more obvious 

5.     Say no

6.     Create a uniform 

7.     Forget the multi-tasking 

8.     Recognise the season you are in

9.     Simplify your to do list 

10.   Turn off social media notifications

Your competition might be the local sports team, the person next to you on the racetrack or even a colleague. But I am not a competitive person, but I have come to realise for many of us our competitor is time. In this podcast I talk about how we are constantly rushing to achieve things on our bucket list. This bucket list of achievements is all too common with long unobtainable things to study, travel, visit, grow and do. Are they healthy or should I just calm down?

In this episode Emily speaks to Helen Clarke, a Managing the juggle listener and secondary school English teacher who was at risk of burnout. She excelled up the career ladder and was on track to achieve even more. But the loss of a close family member changed her mindset completely. Through tragedy she discovered something which she’d never considered before and found she had a passion for it! She juggled her full-time job with re-training and took the brave move to step down the career ladder in her teaching career and follow her new passion. 

She has now found a heathy work life balance whilst continuing with her hard worked career but also discovering new opportunities and passions. Helen shares her story and gives some tips on how you can find a healthy work life balance as well. 

If you would like to be on the podcast and share your story, please go to https://emilycordwell.com/podcast/and click apply.

This week I am talking about motivation, I investigate the different types of motivation and how by understanding motivation you can apply it to your life and find motivation when you really need it. Are you extrinsically or intrinsically motivated? I share what keeps me motivated and how I am more productive because of this motivation. I also look into some tools which will help you to find motivation to stay productive.  

I am currently doing my master’s thesis in Student Motivation, so this podcast is killing to birds (as the saying goes). I realised what I was reading applies to everybody’s lives, so I share some theories behind motivation and tips and tricks to keep you motivated. 

I talk to Jo Green the Health and Mind Coach about anxiety and burnout. We talk about the difference between chronic anxiety and burn out and how to make time to reflect within our busy schedule. Jo gives us some excellent strategies on how to manage negative thoughts and shows us some great tools to support us during challenging times. She even gives us an activity we can do when we’re struggling with overwhelm and moments of anxiety.

You can join Jo’s supportive Facebook group here: facebook.com/groups/720743675376609

Find out more about Jo, her workshops and website freebies here: thehealthandmindcoach.co.nz

As discussed on the podcast:

If I wanted to I could……..

Questions to ask yourself when you’re having negative thoughts:

Is it True?

Is it absolutely true?

Is it useful?

Is it helpful? 

In this podcast I talk about some really simple hacks which will help you in your day to day life to be more organisation and forward planning. Really simple things like planning ahead for long weekends, to putting the dishwasher on the night before! 

This is a well know saying and talks about planning your future and reaping the rewards. Often this is referred to as long term in the future investing in yourself, examples such as studying to invest in your future. But I talk about it more simply, what areas in your day to day to life can you help yourself by investing in your future and thanking your past self.

This weeks podcast is a book summary of the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. 

An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

In this podcast I summarise the book and talk about how you can use your good habits to improve your productivity and time management. With some easy to follow techniques this book gives clear guidance on how to form good habits and remove the bad.

You might think that perfectionists are extremely organised and very good at managing their time. However, the reality is, those with a tendency towards perfectionism are actually more likely to struggle with time management.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with paying attention to detail and wanting to do a good job, but there’s a time and a place for perfectionism and trying to be too good when it is really not required can actually negatively affect your productivity and your relationship with others.

In this podcast, I ask, are you a perfectionist? Discussing the traits and I talk about the 3 Ps; Perfectionism, Procrastination and Paralysis.

I give 6 top tips on how to manage your time better if you're a perfectionist.

"Don’t let perfection become the enemy of the good." Voltaire

In podcast 11 I talked about the book Working Hard Hardly Working by Grace Beverley. The first half was about how to be productive and achieve more. This second half is about how to relax and take that time away, achieve that balance, prevent burnout, but still have it all. 

I critique the book and give practical recommendations for how to manage the juggle. Initially redefine productivity looking at it with different eyes from the point of view of Generation Z. Then I go on to talk about how to have it all, manage the juggle and then once you do create that time to do nothing, how do you do it? What should you do.

Not everybody enjoys relaxing in a bath, their version of relaxing might be a 20km hike, I discuss the art of doing nothing and how this works for different people. 

I previously talked about the book Working Hard, Hardly Working and this list stems from this book. There are some good lists in this book, and I thought this deserved a podcast of its own. These are things which I talk about a lot and have read in other productivity books and articles.  In this podcast I give examples and go through this list of how it relates to myself and how it could help you. 
 
1.     Be aware of how long tasks actually take you 
2.     Take breaks 
3.     Take weekends
4.     Make your own deadlines 
5.     Tidy your work space
6.     The 2 minute rule 
7.     Hold and engage in effective meetings 
8.     Use focus enhancing apps 
9.     Turn off notifications 
10. Commit to a task 
11. Listen to your honest self
12. Set intentions for the day
13.  Strengthen your strengthens 
14. Say no 
15. Tasks vs time 
16. Advanced to do tables 
17. Use your commute
18. Exercise 
19. Eat well and stay hydrated 
20. Just start!