5 Productivity Hacks to Work Less & Achieve More
Transcript of the episode recording:
Hey, big fucking dreamers. Welcome back. This is I don't know what episode this is. this. Actually, I've just recorded two episodes back to back and this happened during the last episode. I'm like, I have no idea what episode this is. I think this is episode nine or 10. And I've heard a stat that might be wrong. It's like 70 % of podcasts don't make it to episode three and then 90 % or 95 % don't make it past episode 21.
But that is not this podcast, my little dream babies. I am committed to this because this has been such a goal of mine and a dream of mine to be a podcast host for years now. And I'm so, I'm so happy that I just actually took the leap and that I did it. And it was just thinking, you know, there was, I was going to wait. I kept on putting it off, putting it off and thinking, no, am I engaging in self -sabotage by taking something else on and there was a lot of analysis behind it. But sometimes you just have to take action.
And I think that that is, mean, today we're talking about productivity hacks, which will be definitely juicy. I love a hack episode. So that's why I'm doing this because I absolutely, I see an episode like productivity hacks, I'm like, ooh, what's going on there? But it's just been really good to actually just take that leap. So personal update of the week is I am knee deep in writing my novel it is really harrowing. This is some dark content. Like it's a really dark topics and has some really gritty things. It's so raw. And I can't wait to share it with the world. The story is pretty intense, but it's a story that I feel like needs to be shared and that I'm really proud of. And I guess, you know, it's I've been writing this novel for about four years and it has been really intense at times. I've not worked on it for months. I just went on a period of not working it for two months. But I will say that no matter what, I've just kept going like I've always kept picking it back up. And I've made a commitment to myself that I am finishing it to the point where I will definitely be submitting it to agents and publishers. I know hopefully that will be within the next year. I'm happy with where it's at. It still needs a lot of editing. It still needs a lot of rewrites, but I'm moving forward.
And I guess that that is really the theme of today's episode is how do you use these things to move forward? So I'm going to give five productivity hacks. And when I was planning this episode, I was just thinking, I am a new Taylor Swift fan. I saw her in concert and I was like, oh my God, this woman is amazing. The amount of cardio that that concert took and she's doing it like 160 times. I was like, wow, she should be on here giving productivity hacks. Taylor Swift, if you listened to this episode, you are welcome on my podcast. So let me know if you'd like to be a guest. Just slide into my DMs and I'm here for you.
But Taylor Swift's new song, I Can Do It With A Broken Heart on her new album. There's a part in it where she says like, I cry a lot, but I'm so productive. It's an art. I can't believe I just sang. I'm a really bad singer, but I love that because I cry all the time, but I am very productive and I do think that it's an art.
So today is all about productivity and you don't need to cry in order to be productive. But if you do, you're also welcome here, just so you know. And so I'm going to go into five hacks. I'm actually gonna give you six hacks. I'm gonna give you a little bonus, which would be really fun.
So let's just get into alright, hack one. So I don't speak French. This is a French word. If you speak French, good for you. But this is, it's called mise en place. I have no idea how to say it. But it is a cooking term. And if you're a cook, I'm also not a cook. I wish I was a cook, but I hate cooking. And I've always said to Chris, when I can do it, the thing I wanna out would love to outsource most in the world is having a private chef. And I feel like people think that that's really a luxury, but I actually don't think that it's as expensive as people think it is. So that's on my vision board. I will let you guys know when I achieve that, I definitely will, but there will be time in my life where I have a chef cooking all my meals. But anyway, I'm not a chef.
But this is a term mise en place. So basically the term means that a chef should have all their ingredients and supplies prepared and organized before they begin cooking. So everything's chopped, all the ingredients are there. That way when they go to cook everything, this is actually not how I cook, which is why I am not a cook, because I'm like doing 50 things at once. And I'm like, oh my God, I didn't know that you needed to like chop an onion and you need it right now, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, but the way I do this in work is that I have everything prepped before I'm ready to go. And this is a new thing in my life. And I actually heard this on Jenna Kutcher's podcast, Gold Digger. So if you're an entrepreneur, that is a great podcast to listen to. So many juicy tips. And she said that she did this.
So the way that this works, say for example, this morning I'm recording two podcast episodes. I had every single thing planned before. I had all of my notes written out. I had the structure written out. A lot does go into behind the scenes. I don't just walk on the pod knowing what to say. I then open my laptop, have Riverside, my recording document open or my recording software open. I have the podcast notes for the two episodes that I recording. So it is all ready to go. So say, for example, this is like total prep work.
So if you have, if you're in back to back client meetings, let's say, let's say you have a day full of back to back client meetings or presenting. It would be having your slides ready to go. be opening your laptop. You're not frantically rushing. You do everything the night before. So what I used to do is when in one of my group coaching cohorts to life and work transformation, I used to at 8 a .m., it would start at nine and I of course would have everything prepared before, but at 8 a .m. I was still looking through client homework. I was refreshing the slides, was making sure everything was there and then I was like, that's causing like such unneeded stress. So now in the second cohort, what I've done, everything is ready to go. The night before, my slides are done. They're perfect. They're ready to go. Zoom's already open. So that way in the morning, I take Apollo, my little crazy cavoodle. I take him for a walk in the morning. I come back at 8 .30. I make my smoothie. I'm on by nine and I'm just ready to fucking go. I'm calm. I'm relaxed.It's having everything prepared before you're actually ready to do it.
So preparing it all the night before it's made a huge difference. I'm like absolutely loving this hack. It's something I'm going to continue to do and it's made me so much calmer and more relaxed than just kind of running around frantically, which is what I try to avoid at all fucking costs. I hate frantic energy. I hate things that are not planned. I'm a highly planned and organized person. I really pride myself on that. And this habit has really helped fulfill that.
To hack number two, which is deep work. So this is a theory by Cal Newport. I'm a big fan of Cal's. But he's also a prolific writer. He has so many books. His latest book, Slow Productivity is really great. He also is known for his work on deep work. So hack number two is actually looking at deep work. So this is expanding on Cal Newport's theory and it is when you are doing something.
So say for example, right now I am recording this podcast. I am not doing anything else for this hour and a half. I don't have any tabs on, I don't have any notifications on, my phone is outside my room, and it's really just engaging in one activity at a time. And so rather than having LinkedIn open, responding to emails in between, responding to texts, responding to WhatsApp, it's just completely taking that out. And so it's really looking at just doing one thing at a time.
So say for example, on Mondays, I do all of my content, I do all of my marketing. That is the only thing that I'm doing. And this just reduces so much friction in my life because I know that for this period of time, I'm focused on that one thing, that one thing does get done. That's how I am able to produce so much content. That's how I'm able to deliver so many client sessions and my group programs and do speaking engagements, blah, blah, blah. Like I do a fucking lot of work, but it is because I am able to do this in a timely manner. And I just do the one thing that's set aside.
So something that I also love in this is the Pomodoro method. So that's setting a timer for 25 minutes. You're just doing one specific thing. So sometimes if I do find that I get distracted and I'm opening new tabs and blah, blah, blah, I actually just put my phone, I will bring my phone in and then I'll just put the timer on my phone, a 25 minute timer. And seeing that is a visual reminder of, okay, no, right now you are doing this client prep work or right now you are preparing to give this talk or making this thing or writing this podcast, this podcast outline. So that has really helped me and I absolutely love deep work. Like it's a tactic that I've used for years now.
I do this with writing as well. So at night I do, I work on my novel, like I just said, and again, I have my phone removed. Right now, right now I'm editing my novel in a hard copy. So I actually have a physical manuscript and then I'm just taking notes. I'm doing more of a structural edit. So I'm looking at big plot issues. I'm looking at character development. I don't need my laptop for that and I don't need my phone. So when I'm doing that, I just have the manuscript with me and I just have a notepad with me. I set a timer for 45 minutes. I do that at night. And so it's, know that that's my time. There's no distraction.That is deep work. Absolutely love that method.
So hack number three is sparkly heart stickers. And this is also don't break the chain. This is something from James Clear's Atomic Habits. And I'm not sure, James Clear probably didn't invent this. Maybe he did. I don't know. That bro has some good ideas. I also love, he's just got these like total zingers.I am definitely more of a long form person as you can see. I love to fucking talk. I love to write long things, but James Clear, really admire him because he's just got these like one or two really punchy one liners. That's not my style. I wish it was, but anyway, I digress.
So this is my sparkly heart sticker track hack. It is don't break the chain.The way that I use this, and I would say this is really good for visual learners. This is really good if you want to do some gamification. So say for example, it is actually just marking down on a diary or marking down somewhere where you have a visual representation that you've done something. So I have a little calendar. If you're on YouTube, let me just grab, okay, if you're in YouTube, you're in for a treat. You're going to see all my sparkly heart stickers. So I have a little calendar. This is January and all my heart stickers, they're all like falling out. This actually didn't go as planned every time I write, every time I work on my novel, I then put a sparkly heart sticker on that date with the calendar. And it really is a motivator because I really want that sparkly heart sticker. So it can be anything. It can be an X, you can be crossing something out. It can be in a Google doc. It can be in your Google calendar.
But I find that having that visual representation where you don't wanna break the chain, if you know, okay, I want to get three heart stickers per week and I really want that. It's just a way to gamify. And I actually have found that it's really helped increase my productivity. And one time, one of my coaches, she was trying to write a book and I said to her, and she was like, I just can't get it done. And I was like, well, do you know about sparkly heart stickers? And she was like, maybe this is it. This is what's actually missing in my life. And so I said, yeah, it probably is.
So if you really, if you want to work out, this is what I see a lot. A lot of people come to me and they're super high performers, but they don't have a consistent workout schedule. They're really finding it hard to do it. So something like this. So don't break the chain of visual representation. See if you can get something physical. I mean, I like working with an physical diary and planner. Like that's where I write my non -negotiables. If I've meditated twice a day, if I've worked out. So I do in a physical way, but if you wanna do this on your Google Calendar, but if you are a visual learner, try and there is a habit that you want to increase, whether that's meal prep, whether that's working out, whether that's even like intimacy with your partner or even deep conversations with your partner, just jotting that down.
So hack four is joining groups. If you really want to change your life, transformation is so much faster in community. And you want to be in groups where people have the desired outcome that you want. So say for example, if you want career transformation, so if you want better health, if you want to find purpose and meaning in your career, if you're lost and you're rudderless and you want to be around people who motivate you, if you want to work out more, if you want to feel better naked, then join my program, the Life and Work Transformation. There's a group of people all doing this together and it's so much easier, especially if let's say you don't, you have family and friends who aren't necessarily inclined to wanna change their life, then finding a group like that, finding a group coaching program where you are around people that also have the same desired outcome or that already have the desired outcome.
When I wanted to become a writer, I didn't know any writers. I only know people who worked in tech. I come from a family of lawyers. I literally knew no one who was writing. I didn't know anyone who wanted to be a writer. And I was just this like lone little fish, like swimming along saying like, someone please publish my work. So what I needed to do and what I did was that I started taking writing courses. So initially I started taking writing courses at the Australian Writer's Centre. I took courses with Faber Writing Academy online. Eventually I went and enrolled in a master's program, Master's of Creative Writing at UTS. And all of a sudden everyone around me also wanted to be a writer. Everyone around me was also submitting to publications. Everyone around me was also working on their manuscript.
And so being around people who actually want to do things like that you want, they have the life and career that you want. And I was just thinking this morning, it actually came to me that haven't taken a writing class in about a year. I've been so focused on my business, but I do want to get back into that world. And I think I am going to take like a four week or an eight week, just a short writing class to really get around writers again. And because I really want to pick up that momentum with my novel.So this is, I mean, I've used this in multiple places.
So for example, getting sober, I go to 12 step. So it's same thing with starting my own business. I'm in a mastermind for entrepreneurs. I knew no entrepreneurs before, non VC backed entrepreneurs. So I am in a group of people who all have a similar outcome. And again, I work from home. I don't have a team around me. I don't have a team yet that I've hired. And so that group coaching program really gives me that community that I need so I don't feel so alone. So I feel like, okay, these other people are on this journey together with me. They have the transformation that I want, or they're also undergoing the transformation that I want. So that is hack four, joining groups.
Hack five, and this is like one of the most challenging ones for me, and not scheduling dead time. So that means scheduling time where you are not working, where you're away from your phone, where you're not being productive. And this could be engaging in play is time where you have breaks throughout the day where it's just for you. So, for example, I have been incorporating this a lot more. I went to an acupuncturist recently and he was like, what are you doing when you're eating lunch? Are you on your phone? Are you listening to podcasts? I was listening to podcasts like business podcasts during lunch and he just said, don't do that.
So it was now I go into the garden, Apollo's always chewing on a stick, sniffing the flowers, and we just sit out outside in the sunshine, and it's really dead time just away from all distractions. I've also started taking my, or not taking my phone on walks in the morning when I walk Apollo. So it's giving your brain actual time where you're not thinking, where you're not being productive.
So if you are a podcast listener, if you're constantly taking information, I am a learning addict. I fucking love learning. That's all I wanna do is learn. I wish I could be in university forever. All I wanna do is take courses. I mean, I just spoke about how I was taking another course, but that is I can take in so much information. I'm always reading five books at one time. I am just, I love learning, but sometimes my brain feels like it is on overdrive.
And so your brain needs downtime. It needs to relax. It needs time to process. So actually scheduling in that downtime away from the phone. And sometimes I still do think through problems, but giving me that time and on weekends, it's like not working on weekends, really being strict with that unless I need to, if I'm in a launch or something like that. But it is actually stopping listening to podcasts.
I realize irony here. I've been doing.I don't schedule things back to back, so I always have time in between. After coaching calls, I like to do a little walk around the block, again, with no distractions, just to clear, you know, if there was a lot of energy that someone was bringing to the session, then I need to clear that. So I would say, you know, this has been something like one of the most challenging things for me,I love coaching, love entrepreneurship, but I really want to be, you know, I want to be doing this for a really long time. And so I need to schedule dead time. I need to schedule back to back. And when I do that more often, then I actually have more energy than I can actually, you know, move forward faster.
So, and I'm going to give you a bonus hack right here. So I said it was five, but I'm going to give you hack six, which is pay people. And this is probably the best hack, but I realize sometimes it is limiting, but paying people who have the desired outcome that you want. And this is, I would say this is the quickest way to transform. So whether this be a coach, whether this be a course, whether this be whatever skill that you're working on, if you can just pay people to teach you that exact skill, that is going to get you there quickest.
So say for example, recently I really wanted to get better at presenting on webinars. And I really wanted to make my webinars more effective. wanted people to then, I wanted to invite them to join my courses after my webinars, but I wanted to make sure I was delivering an amazing experience regardless of someone joined my program or not. I knew that people were giving up time. They were giving up, they were coming, they were hoping to learn something. So I really wanted to make it as effective as possible. So I bought a specific course for coaches to present on webinars. It was how to structure. I actually ended up using that structure in other presentations of mine. I even used the structure on my podcast. So it was saying, okay, I want the desired outcome is being a better presenter, giving people more information in a very digestible way, making sure I had a lot of impact to whoever came into my world. So what did I do? I found someone super specific.
So again, if you can pay people, if you have the means, that is one of the quickest ways. So if you can... If you want to change your life, if you want to change your career, then if you want to change your relationships, then join my program. Like that is going to be one of the quickest ways to do that. So paying people, outsourcing this, having people do the work for you so that you don't need to do all the research. Like I didn't want to go to a million fucking people or blah, blah, blah. Having someone tell me this is a way that coaches, if you are a coach, this is a way to more effectively present on webinars. Cool, great, done. It was a couple grand. I was like, fine, money well spent. This is so great. This is so targeted to me. So that is one of the quickest things. And just to recap here, so going over the six things, you know why these are important. And I would say I don't really love, used to, my tune on productivity has changed. I used to just like be a productivity and a efficiency like fucking nerd like anything I you know they used to call me rule book at linkedin like or I like love a spreadsheet I love a process I love being productive I really do but I would say that my ethos my philosophy on this is like I want to be productive so that I can really enjoy my life so that I can spend my life doing the things that I actually like absolutely love and I do really love work but I also love writing I also love walking my dog I also love seeing my friends and being with my partner.
I don't really view like I wanna be so productive so I can just be more productive. Like I view, okay, this is all to get your time back so that you can build a life that you don't need to escape from so that you can build a life where you feel good. You can build a life where you feel joyous and where you feel free. That's really what I want in my life. So it's like when I'm working, how can I work most effectively and most efficiently? So then when I'm just out there living my life, I don't have to always be constantly stressing and thinking about work, which has been, you know, I would say I'm definitely not perfect at that. That is a work in progress, but that is really the why behind all of this.
So let me know if this resonated with you, my big fucking dreamers. I hope it did. I'd love to hear from you. I'd love for you to share this with a friend. That is how this grows. I would love this to grow so I can get some really juicy guests on here for you guys. So please share this with a friend, share it on your story. I think I'm actually going to be doing... some sort of challenge or giveaway just for my podcast listeners in the upcoming months. So definitely take note on that. And if you felt like the Life and Work Transformation is for you, that is my signature program. I will put a booking link in the show notes and love you guys so much. Have a great week and keep dreaming big.