May 1, 2025 • 23 mins
🎧 Ep. 162 Time Poverty: Achieve More by Doing Less with Peggy Sullivan (Part 2)
In this continuation, TEDx speaker Peggy Sullivan reveals the remaining two steps of her Busy Busting Process and shares how workplace transformations occur when we shift from busyness to intentionality.
We explore:
- The four core values that drive fulfillment: Energy Management, Human Connection, Growth, and Authenticity
- Why "less is more" creates higher performance and deeper satisfaction
- How micro-changes in email and meeting habits can reclaim 8+ hours weekly
- The unexpected connection between happiness rituals and workplace metrics
🔑 Key takeaways:
- The ripple effect of busyness extends beyond you to everyone in your orbit
- Distinguish between micro-stresses (temporary) and macro-stresses (significant)
- The human brain cannot stay deeply engaged for more than 90 minutes without breaks
- Workplace happiness rituals can improve metrics by over 30% in weeks
- True leadership requires moving beyond transactional relationships
💡 Quotes to remember: "It's got this ripple effect... you've just really got to start to think about how you can be more effective and what is most important." - Peggy Sullivan
Connect with Peggy:
Website: https://www.peggysullivanspeaker.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peggyasullivan/
TEDx: "Eliminating Time Poverty by Doing Less" (2024)
Book: "Beyond Busyness: How to Achieve More by Doing Less" https://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Busyness-Achieve-Doing-Less%EF%BB%BF/dp/B0DGMPZTBG
A rising tide raises all ships, and I invite you along on this journey to Evoke Greatness!
Check out my website: www.evokegreatness.com
Follow me on:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonnie-linebarger-899b9a52/
https://www.instagram.com/evoke.greatness/
https://www.tiktok.com/@evoke.greatness
http://www.youtube.com/@evokegreatness
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Evoke Greatness.
We are officially entering yearthree of this podcast and I am
filled with so much gratitudefor each and every one of you
who've joined me on thisincredible journey of growth and
self-discovery.
I'm Sunny, your host and fellowtraveler on this path of
personal evolution.
This podcast is a sanctuary forthe curious, the ambitious and
(00:23):
the introspective.
It's for those of you who, likeme, are captivated by the
champion mindset and driven byan insatiable hunger for growth
and knowledge.
Whether you're just beginningyour journey or you're well
along your path, you're going tofind stories here that resonate
with your experiences andaspirations.
Over the last two years, we'veshared countless stories of
triumph and challenge, ofresilience and transformation.
(00:43):
We've laughed.
We've shared countless storiesof triumph and challenge, of
resilience and transformation.
We've laughed, we've reflectedand we've grown together, and as
we've evolved, so too has thispodcast.
Remember, no matter whatchapter you're on in your own
story, you belong here.
This community we've builttogether is a place of support,
inspiration and shared growth.
Where intention goes, energyflows, and the energy you bring
(01:08):
to this space elevates us all.
So, whether you're listeningwhile commuting, working out or
enjoying your morning coffee,perhaps from one of those
motivational mugs.
I'm so fond of know that you'rea part of something special.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for your curiosity,your openness and your
commitment to personal growth.
As we embark on year three, Iinvite you to lean in, to listen
(01:31):
deeply and to let these storiesresonate with your soul.
I believe that a rising tideraises all ships, and I invite
you along in this journey toevoke greatness.
All right, welcome back to parttwo of Time Poverty Achieve
(02:02):
More by Doing Less.
With my guest, peggy Sullivan.
If you haven't yet, make sureto go back and listen to last
week's episode, which was partone, where we explore the
shocking truth about timepoverty and why 94% of
professionals feel trapped bybusyness, how the average person
wastes one third of their dayon low value activities, the
(02:22):
three-step busy busting processthat's transforming workplaces
worldwide.
And why micro steps createsustainable change when massive
overhauls fail.
Okay, let's hop into part two.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
One of them is what I call energy management, which
is really mastering the innervoice inside you, making sure
you're stepping into self-caresleep.
You know managing your energy,basically spiritual, mentally,
socially.
And then the second one ishuman connection, and it's so
(02:58):
easy I mean, especially afterCOVID to you know, not connect
with people, but to do all onemail or social media and stuff,
and so you know, connectingwith a human.
There's nothing better thanthat.
The third one is growing andgrowth, and my dad always used
to say what's a day withoutlearning something new is a lost
(03:23):
opportunity.
And I got to thinking thatgrowth is how we learn how to
pivot and be resilient and dohard things.
And when we're constantlyflexing our brain muscle, our
resiliency muscle, we getconfidence that we can do hard
things, and so that's why thatone is really important.
(03:44):
And then the fourth value isauthenticity, but actually in a
different way than you wouldthink.
It's not about being true toyourself and standing up for
yourself yes, that is soimportant, but it's remembering
you have two ears and one mouthfor a reason and that listening
(04:06):
and being open-minded todifferent beliefs, different
ways, different suggestions.
We're just so much bettertogether, and you know.
I just encourage people to,instead of being in a me way, be
in a we way, because we'rebetter together.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, absolutely, and it's interesting you have a lot
of.
I, too, am a research and kindof statistic and data nerd, and
so I love it.
Your research shows that 95% ofpeople don't have a schedule
that allows them to completetheir work, which just seems
like we're putting our ownobstacle directly in our way.
That is going to negativelyimpact our outcomes, right?
(04:47):
What systemic factors do youthink have created this type of
crisis in our workplaces?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
You know, let's be really frank and really
authentic and say life is hardright now.
There's a lot going on, there'sa lot of inflation, a lot of
challenges, and so life is hardand I think we don't draw enough
boundaries.
I was coaching somebody who wasa dean of a university and she
(05:16):
was telling me how she lovedlistening to NPR and it was
really great.
And she told me about sixmonths ago that NPR really
depressed her, now that sheheard all this bad stuff and it
just depressed her.
I said so turn off the TV, stoplooking at the TV.
How much time do you spend onthe TV?
(05:37):
I always watch it for an hourand a half at night.
So stop doing that and itreally gets back to you.
Know who controls your schedule?
Ultimately you do, and it'sokay to go to somebody and say
I'd love to go to your meeting,but my primary responsibility is
(05:57):
X, y, z and I need to focus onthat for the next couple of
months and I need to find sometime in my schedule to do it.
So send me a recap or, you know, maybe I'll go to every other
meeting and usually people arevery kind and they care about
the greater good and they'relike OK, that's fine.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting.
We recently on my team did abit of an exercise or an
experiment with our calendars.
I meet once a week with ourexecutive assistant and kind of
review the next week and take alook, and we had one really
important executive meeting thatwe were looking to reschedule
and she happened to have herscreen showing to say I just
can't find time in everybody'sschedule that is open to be able
(06:43):
to put this somewhere.
And I said, okay, wait a second.
Is that what I'm looking at?
That rainbow of colors, that'severybody's schedule.
And she said, yeah, now you cansee like I don't have a slot
where I can put this in.
I said, okay, number one, it'sthat important that we need to
make a slot.
So that's the first thing Isaid.
Second thing is I want you totake a screenshot and I want you
to send that to me.
And then I would like you to gothrough each of our calendars
(07:06):
and just send me an email thatsays Sunny has this many
meetings this week.
You know, so-and-so has thismany.
And through the whole team Isaid I'm going to get on a call
on our executive call and I wantto be really intentional about
how we're looking at ourschedules because right now this
is crazy.
No wonder we're going back toback to back, to back to back
and we can't find space.
(07:31):
And so, in trying to send thismessage out with a lot of real
intentionality and in anillustrative way, I started
looking for some videos to showthem, to really give them the
impact of how each of us show up.
And what I found was a FormulaOne pit stop in slow motion, and
it was shown from the overheadview.
And what it was is you had,like these 15 people that inside
of three seconds, have to bepositioned exactly where they
(07:54):
are.
No hands can overlap, no feetcan overlap, and they know
exactly where they're supposedto be.
If they were, if they had handsoverlapping, like our schedules
are overlapping, if they were,if they had hands overlapping,
like our schedules areoverlapping, that driver
wouldn't leave the pit stop safe.
And so I wanted to give themthis visual of why it's so
important that we're intentionalin even our calendars, because
(08:15):
that overlap can cause.
You know, we think we'recommunicating with everyone, but
things still get dropped.
And so how can we pare back ourschedules to improve our
community and our communicationand our interactions?
And so it's funny to seeeveryone go.
Oh my gosh, that's what all ofour schedules look like Great,
(08:35):
great story.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I couldn't agree with you more.
And then I think the otherthing is, most people don't
realize that the human braincannot go straight deeply
engrossed for more than 90minutes.
It needs a couple of seconds tobe able to just breeze along.
Even if it's three or fourminutes, it makes a difference.
(08:58):
And so, you know, people thinkthey don't have time in their
day.
Or, you know, I'm a writer and Iwrite a lot of blogs and I make
all these commitments to myself.
Like I'm going to write sixblogs.
You know a week and I get tothe end of the week and I've
written three and I'm like, ok,well, so I'm not going to be my
own worst enemy and torturemyself.
(09:19):
I wrote three blogs, I don'tneed to write six, right?
You know, I think sometimes weneed to be the ones that give
ourselves permission.
And you know there's I hesitateto say this, but I'm going to
say it anyways it was a funnything that somebody once said to
(09:42):
me when I was in the height ofmy busyness, and that was is the
screwing you're getting worththe screwing you're getting?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Makes you sit back and think about that.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Oh, yeah, yeah, and I apologize to anyone who may
have found that a littleoffensive, but you know, it's
just.
I think sometimes that we justcan't see the big picture
because we're hamsters on wheelsand we just keep on doing and
(10:10):
we don't take a pause and saythis is not working, I'm tired,
I'm exhausted.
You know, I don't have time formy partner, I don't have time
to go to my kids' games, andthere's always a solution.
One of my favorite people thatI coached was a vice president
of an international bank and hehad, oh my God, I think like
(10:33):
6,700 people reporting to himand he had a really big job and
he had this beautiful family.
She had two daughters, a lovingwife, and from the outside he
was like he's got the storybooklife going on, but on the inside
he was exhausted, overwhelmed,stressed, in a deep state of
(10:54):
time poverty.
And he came to me and he saidyou know my daughter Lily.
She asked me if I could coachher soccer team and I told her
I'd let her know.
And I've been thinking about itand I'm like how in the world
can I leave work at 3.30, threedays a week for three months?
How am I going to do that.
And then I'm like, well, it's abonding moment with your
(11:23):
daughter, Like you've got tofigure this out, You've got to
find a way.
And what we realized with thisguy was that he was caught in
the email rabbit hole and hespent way too much time on email
and that when interruptionscame and people were knocking on
his door, he said yes insteadof can we schedule something
later.
Those two changes two changesgave him eight hours back in his
(11:46):
work week, Micro steps.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yeah Well, and I know I've certainly been guilty of
this and I know you've workedwith people who have been guilty
of this, but wearing thatbusyness like a badge of honor,
right Like this, is just part ofwhat I do when you work with
people that have thatperspective.
What is your approach toshifting this mindset without
triggering either resistance orkind of like an identity crisis
(12:11):
or kind of?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
like an identity crisis.
Yeah, I mean, I love to showthem how busyness, how it
affects quality relationships.
Look at the data.
But I also like to remindpeople that when you're busy, it
has this tidal wave effect oneveryone around you.
So you're super busy and thenyou don't have time for your
(12:34):
family, you don't have time foryour friends, you don't have
time to advise your colleaguesproperly, you don't have time to
do strategic work.
You know it's got this rippleeffect.
So you know you've just reallygot to start to think about you
(12:54):
know how you can be moreeffective and what is most
important and that's why a lotof it is about getting to this
way of thinking that you knowless is more and I can achieve
more by doing less.
And try it.
If you don't believe me, try it.
(13:15):
Subtract a couple of low valuethings and see how you feel.
Chances are you're going tofeel great, great, and you know
there are some times where lifeis hard and you just need to.
You know, pour it on.
I've got a very, very sicksister.
I'm in the midst of writing anew book, I'm speaking a lot, so
(13:36):
you know I've got a lot on andso you know I realized that this
is going to pass and it's notforever.
And, you know, I just kind oflet myself go through it a
little bit and then I'm like,okay, I've had enough.
You know this is, I don't wantto continue.
You know, I got through theheartache of what's going on
(13:58):
with my sister and the sadnessand all those emotions that were
draining me and I just said,okay, well, you know, what can I
do to find good in thissituation?
And I realized you know whatI'm talking to my sister every
day.
We were never close.
All of a sudden we're besties.
Like this is the something good?
(14:19):
And so so many times, I thinkyou know, we look at stress and
we don't differentiate is it amicro stress or a macro stress?
And micro stresses you get over, they're done, they're gone,
they don't matter the next day.
So when you think about what'sstressing you out and you feel
(14:39):
yourself getting stressed, tojust think about that is really
important.
But then the other thing islike, well, what good is there
in this situation?
Many times you think there isno good, but there's always some
good, always some good to befound.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah completely agree .
You know, as we look at thefuture of work and organizations
looking to maybe redesign theirculture or give it a bit of a
facelift, get rid of the old andkind of bring in some new, how
can number one, what role doesleadership play in that
transformation and how can weencourage organizations to shift
(15:18):
that culture away from busynessand more into intentionality
and impact?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Well, I get back to the facts and the data.
And the problem is that mostorganizations don't know how.
They have lofty goals, loftythings.
They want to get done.
So they're looking for tools,actionable, easy-to-use tools.
And so I can't tell you howmany organizations I've walked
(15:46):
in where I've met with theleadership team and we've gone
through the subtraction, mojomaking and value vibing.
They get it down, they trickleit down to their employees and
all of a sudden it just getsgood.
And you know, one of the thingsthat is going on is loss of
engagement and burnout and ouryounger employees feeling like
(16:12):
what they're doing isn'tmeaningful.
So you know, getting back tovalues in the work, I mean it
lights people up.
So there's just, we just haveto be a little bit different and
try things a little differently.
But the reality is and I'lltell you one last little story,
I'm such a storyteller I had afriend of mine.
(16:36):
He worked and he headed up BlueCross Blue Shield Marketing
Department very large statewideBlue Cross Blue Shield
organization and he had a bigproposal coming in and he
thought he could get to it andhe didn't.
And one night he's just likeokay, I need help.
So he asked for help.
(16:57):
He brought everybody into theconference room and they started
working at like 4.45 and atlike six o'clock they hear this
knock, knock, knock at the doorand it's the security guard
basically saying there's awhiteout travel ban.
Nobody's going anywhere.
I know there are no windows,but that's the way it is.
(17:19):
And so, you know, my friendRandy is like, yes, this is
great, we'll get this projectdone Right.
And so he looks around the roomand he sees how exhausted his
team is.
But he also realizes that hisrelationships have become so
transactional.
They doesn't know whatmotivates them.
(17:40):
He doesn't know what'simportant to them, what's
meaningful, what they love, whatthey don't like, you know,
inside of work, outside of work.
So they spent six hours justtalking and it was really crazy
because he said it was one ofthe best times he's ever had at
work and his employees allcommented on what an amazing use
(18:02):
of time it was.
So four and a half, five monthslater, the employee engagement
study comes along and Randy'sdepartment was always like in
the bottom rung.
And all of a sudden Randy'sdepartment was in the top rung
and the only thing he diddifferently was was human
connection, you know, gettinghis team to become a well-oiled
(18:28):
machine, because they openlytalked about what was working,
what's not working, what do youvalue, and they wanted to
support each other and set eachother up for success.
So you know, busy it's just notbetter.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yeah, if there's one thing that I have learned over
the course of my career, it isthat people want to be a part of
something bigger thanthemselves, something
purpose-filled, somethingmeaningful, and when they can
come in and it doesn't matterwhat you do, you can find
purpose and meaning in justabout anything.
If you're willing to seethrough that lens, that's when
(19:04):
you have high engagement rates,that's when you have job
satisfaction and that's whereyou have great connection
amongst the team as well.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, I mean happiness rituals.
You know people think thatthey're just for individuals,
but I introduced workplacehappiness rituals when I worked
at United Healthcare and Imanaged a couple thousand
customer service team thehardest job in the world working
in health care and working incustomer service.
I was like, what am I going todo to improve their metrics?
(19:35):
We're really doing a horriblejob in resolving first call
resolution.
And so I thought, you know,let's try these happiness
rituals at work.
What if we, 10 minutes a day, wecollectively got on a Zoom and
we did these happiness ritualsfor three or four minutes, you
know, and the team decided danceparties in the morning were
(19:58):
what end of the day?
We'd celebrate you know a lotof birthdays, or sometimes we'd
tell jokes, look at Seinfeldtapes, whatever it was, you know
.
It was really amazing.
(20:19):
And people came to me and theywere like, oh my God, I'm
leaving work not exhausted,exhausted.
And their first call resolutionmetric, which is impossible to
improve, went up 33% in sixweeks.
So if you're a leader and youwant to improve engagement and
performance, they're not theintuitive things you think you
(20:44):
need to be doing.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
That's awesome.
Well, peggy, as we wrap up, mylast question often takes people
by surprise.
So if it were your last day onearth and of all you've learned
and all you've researched andall you've written about, you
could only impart one piece ofadvice or guidance on the world,
what would that be?
Add value?
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Always add value, always add value and never get
involved in anything where youdon't get value or add value.
And that's the way I lead mylife.
If I don't add value or getvalue, then I don't belong there
.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I love that, and there's a lot of self-awareness
in that too.
Well, I will have all of thisin the show notes, but I would
love for you to share.
Peggy, where can people findyou?
Find your book?
Learn more about your methods.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, I mean I encourage people just to reach
out to me via email or PeggySullivan's speaker on LinkedIn.
I have a website,peggysullivanspeakercom, that's
got a reach out to Peggy sectionand you can get my book just by
(21:55):
going on Amazon and searchingPeggy Sullivan.
Beyond Busyness and I love tohear from people.
I love changing that paradigm.
For most of us that busy is notbetter, I say anybody who needs
help to figure out the how,give me a buzz because it seems
to be working.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Well, this is a topic that I think needs some serious
tackling and I think can deeplyresonate, and so people are
paying attention, I am sure, tothis conversation.
So thank you, peggy, forbringing your knowledge and your
wisdom and all that you'velearned and researched around
this to my audience.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Well, you are quite welcome and thank you for
everything you do in teachingthe world how to evoke greatness
.
It's important.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Thank you so much for listening and for being here on
this journey with me.
I hope you'll stick around Ifyou liked this episode.
It would mean the world for meif you would rate and review the
podcast or share it withsomeone you know may need to
hear this message.
I love to hear from you all andwant you to know that you can
leave me a voicemail directly.
If you go to my website,evokegreatnesscom, and go to the
contact me tab, you'll just hitthe big old orange button and
(23:17):
record your message.
I love the feedback andcomments that I've been getting,
so please keep them coming.
I'll leave you with the wisewords of author Robin Sharma
Greatness comes by doing a fewsmall and smart things each and
every day.
It comes from taking littlesteps consistently.
It comes from making a fewsmall chips against everything
(23:40):
in your professional andpersonal life that is ordinary.
No-transcript.
Welcome to Evoke Greatness.
We are officially entering yearthree of this podcast and I am
filled with so much gratitudefor each and every one of you
who've joined me on thisincredible journey of growth and
self-discovery.
I'm Sunny, your host and fellowtraveler on this path of
personal evolution.
This podcast is a sanctuary forthe curious, the ambitious and
(00:23):
the introspective.
It's for those of you who, likeme, are captivated by the
champion mindset and driven byan insatiable hunger for growth
and knowledge.
Whether you're just beginningyour journey or you're well
along your path, you're going tofind stories here that resonate
with your experiences andaspirations.
Over the last two years, we'veshared countless stories of
triumph and challenge, ofresilience and transformation.
(00:43):
We've laughed.
We've shared countless storiesof triumph and challenge, of
resilience and transformation.
We've laughed, we've reflectedand we've grown together, and as
we've evolved, so too has thispodcast.
Remember, no matter whatchapter you're on in your own
story, you belong here.
This community we've builttogether is a place of support,
inspiration and shared growth.
Where intention goes, energyflows, and the energy you bring
(01:08):
to this space elevates us all.
So, whether you're listeningwhile commuting, working out or
enjoying your morning coffee,perhaps from one of those
motivational mugs.
I'm so fond of know that you'rea part of something special.
Thank you for being here.
Thank you for your curiosity,your openness and your
commitment to personal growth.
As we embark on year three, Iinvite you to lean in, to listen
(01:31):
deeply and to let these storiesresonate with your soul.
I believe that a rising tideraises all ships, and I invite
you along in this journey toevoke greatness.
All right, welcome back to parttwo of Time Poverty Achieve
(02:02):
More by Doing Less.
With my guest, peggy Sullivan.
If you haven't yet, make sureto go back and listen to last
week's episode, which was partone, where we explore the
shocking truth about timepoverty and why 94% of
professionals feel trapped bybusyness, how the average person
wastes one third of their dayon low value activities, the
(02:22):
three-step busy busting processthat's transforming workplaces
worldwide.
And why micro steps createsustainable change when massive
overhauls fail.
Okay, let's hop into part two.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
One of them is what I call energy management, which
is really mastering the innervoice inside you, making sure
you're stepping into self-caresleep.
You know managing your energy,basically spiritual, mentally,
socially.
And then the second one ishuman connection, and it's so
(02:58):
easy I mean, especially afterCOVID to you know, not connect
with people, but to do all onemail or social media and stuff,
and so you know, connectingwith a human.
There's nothing better thanthat.
The third one is growing andgrowth, and my dad always used
to say what's a day withoutlearning something new is a lost
(03:23):
opportunity.
And I got to thinking thatgrowth is how we learn how to
pivot and be resilient and dohard things.
And when we're constantlyflexing our brain muscle, our
resiliency muscle, we getconfidence that we can do hard
things, and so that's why thatone is really important.
(03:44):
And then the fourth value isauthenticity, but actually in a
different way than you wouldthink.
It's not about being true toyourself and standing up for
yourself yes, that is soimportant, but it's remembering
you have two ears and one mouthfor a reason and that listening
(04:06):
and being open-minded todifferent beliefs, different
ways, different suggestions.
We're just so much bettertogether, and you know.
I just encourage people to,instead of being in a me way, be
in a we way, because we'rebetter together.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, absolutely, and it's interesting you have a lot
of.
I, too, am a research and kindof statistic and data nerd, and
so I love it.
Your research shows that 95% ofpeople don't have a schedule
that allows them to completetheir work, which just seems
like we're putting our ownobstacle directly in our way.
That is going to negativelyimpact our outcomes, right?
(04:47):
What systemic factors do youthink have created this type of
crisis in our workplaces?
Speaker 2 (04:52):
You know, let's be really frank and really
authentic and say life is hardright now.
There's a lot going on, there'sa lot of inflation, a lot of
challenges, and so life is hardand I think we don't draw enough
boundaries.
I was coaching somebody who wasa dean of a university and she
(05:16):
was telling me how she lovedlistening to NPR and it was
really great.
And she told me about sixmonths ago that NPR really
depressed her, now that sheheard all this bad stuff and it
just depressed her.
I said so turn off the TV, stoplooking at the TV.
How much time do you spend onthe TV?
(05:37):
I always watch it for an hourand a half at night.
So stop doing that and itreally gets back to you.
Know who controls your schedule?
Ultimately you do, and it'sokay to go to somebody and say
I'd love to go to your meeting,but my primary responsibility is
(05:57):
X, y, z and I need to focus onthat for the next couple of
months and I need to find sometime in my schedule to do it.
So send me a recap or, you know, maybe I'll go to every other
meeting and usually people arevery kind and they care about
the greater good and they'relike OK, that's fine.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
Yeah, yeah, it's interesting.
We recently on my team did abit of an exercise or an
experiment with our calendars.
I meet once a week with ourexecutive assistant and kind of
review the next week and take alook, and we had one really
important executive meeting thatwe were looking to reschedule
and she happened to have herscreen showing to say I just
can't find time in everybody'sschedule that is open to be able
(06:43):
to put this somewhere.
And I said, okay, wait a second.
Is that what I'm looking at?
That rainbow of colors, that'severybody's schedule.
And she said, yeah, now you cansee like I don't have a slot
where I can put this in.
I said, okay, number one, it'sthat important that we need to
make a slot.
So that's the first thing Isaid.
Second thing is I want you totake a screenshot and I want you
to send that to me.
And then I would like you to gothrough each of our calendars
(07:06):
and just send me an email thatsays Sunny has this many
meetings this week.
You know, so-and-so has thismany.
And through the whole team Isaid I'm going to get on a call
on our executive call and I wantto be really intentional about
how we're looking at ourschedules because right now this
is crazy.
No wonder we're going back toback to back, to back to back
and we can't find space.
(07:31):
And so, in trying to send thismessage out with a lot of real
intentionality and in anillustrative way, I started
looking for some videos to showthem, to really give them the
impact of how each of us show up.
And what I found was a FormulaOne pit stop in slow motion, and
it was shown from the overheadview.
And what it was is you had,like these 15 people that inside
of three seconds, have to bepositioned exactly where they
(07:54):
are.
No hands can overlap, no feetcan overlap, and they know
exactly where they're supposedto be.
If they were, if they had handsoverlapping, like our schedules
are overlapping, if they were,if they had hands overlapping,
like our schedules areoverlapping, that driver
wouldn't leave the pit stop safe.
And so I wanted to give themthis visual of why it's so
important that we're intentionalin even our calendars, because
(08:15):
that overlap can cause.
You know, we think we'recommunicating with everyone, but
things still get dropped.
And so how can we pare back ourschedules to improve our
community and our communicationand our interactions?
And so it's funny to seeeveryone go.
Oh my gosh, that's what all ofour schedules look like Great,
(08:35):
great story.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
I couldn't agree with you more.
And then I think the otherthing is, most people don't
realize that the human braincannot go straight deeply
engrossed for more than 90minutes.
It needs a couple of seconds tobe able to just breeze along.
Even if it's three or fourminutes, it makes a difference.
(08:58):
And so, you know, people thinkthey don't have time in their
day.
Or, you know, I'm a writer and Iwrite a lot of blogs and I make
all these commitments to myself.
Like I'm going to write sixblogs.
You know a week and I get tothe end of the week and I've
written three and I'm like, ok,well, so I'm not going to be my
own worst enemy and torturemyself.
(09:19):
I wrote three blogs, I don'tneed to write six, right?
You know, I think sometimes weneed to be the ones that give
ourselves permission.
And you know there's I hesitateto say this, but I'm going to
say it anyways it was a funnything that somebody once said to
(09:42):
me when I was in the height ofmy busyness, and that was is the
screwing you're getting worththe screwing you're getting?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (09:47):
Makes you sit back and think about that.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
Oh, yeah, yeah, and I apologize to anyone who may
have found that a littleoffensive, but you know, it's
just.
I think sometimes that we justcan't see the big picture
because we're hamsters on wheelsand we just keep on doing and
(10:10):
we don't take a pause and saythis is not working, I'm tired,
I'm exhausted.
You know, I don't have time formy partner, I don't have time
to go to my kids' games, andthere's always a solution.
One of my favorite people thatI coached was a vice president
of an international bank and hehad, oh my God, I think like
(10:33):
6,700 people reporting to himand he had a really big job and
he had this beautiful family.
She had two daughters, a lovingwife, and from the outside he
was like he's got the storybooklife going on, but on the inside
he was exhausted, overwhelmed,stressed, in a deep state of
(10:54):
time poverty.
And he came to me and he saidyou know my daughter Lily.
She asked me if I could coachher soccer team and I told her
I'd let her know.
And I've been thinking about itand I'm like how in the world
can I leave work at 3.30, threedays a week for three months?
How am I going to do that.
And then I'm like, well, it's abonding moment with your
(11:23):
daughter, Like you've got tofigure this out, You've got to
find a way.
And what we realized with thisguy was that he was caught in
the email rabbit hole and hespent way too much time on email
and that when interruptionscame and people were knocking on
his door, he said yes insteadof can we schedule something
later.
Those two changes two changesgave him eight hours back in his
(11:46):
work week, Micro steps.
Speaker 1 (11:49):
Yeah Well, and I know I've certainly been guilty of
this and I know you've workedwith people who have been guilty
of this, but wearing thatbusyness like a badge of honor,
right Like this, is just part ofwhat I do when you work with
people that have thatperspective.
What is your approach toshifting this mindset without
triggering either resistance orkind of like an identity crisis
(12:11):
or kind of?
Speaker 2 (12:11):
like an identity crisis.
Yeah, I mean, I love to showthem how busyness, how it
affects quality relationships.
Look at the data.
But I also like to remindpeople that when you're busy, it
has this tidal wave effect oneveryone around you.
So you're super busy and thenyou don't have time for your
(12:34):
family, you don't have time foryour friends, you don't have
time to advise your colleaguesproperly, you don't have time to
do strategic work.
You know it's got this rippleeffect.
So you know you've just reallygot to start to think about you
(12:54):
know how you can be moreeffective and what is most
important and that's why a lotof it is about getting to this
way of thinking that you knowless is more and I can achieve
more by doing less.
And try it.
If you don't believe me, try it.
(13:15):
Subtract a couple of low valuethings and see how you feel.
Chances are you're going tofeel great, great, and you know
there are some times where lifeis hard and you just need to.
You know, pour it on.
I've got a very, very sicksister.
I'm in the midst of writing anew book, I'm speaking a lot, so
(13:36):
you know I've got a lot on andso you know I realized that this
is going to pass and it's notforever.
And, you know, I just kind oflet myself go through it a
little bit and then I'm like,okay, I've had enough.
You know this is, I don't wantto continue.
You know, I got through theheartache of what's going on
(13:58):
with my sister and the sadnessand all those emotions that were
draining me and I just said,okay, well, you know, what can I
do to find good in thissituation?
And I realized you know whatI'm talking to my sister every
day.
We were never close.
All of a sudden we're besties.
Like this is the something good?
(14:19):
And so so many times, I thinkyou know, we look at stress and
we don't differentiate is it amicro stress or a macro stress?
And micro stresses you get over, they're done, they're gone,
they don't matter the next day.
So when you think about what'sstressing you out and you feel
(14:39):
yourself getting stressed, tojust think about that is really
important.
But then the other thing islike, well, what good is there
in this situation?
Many times you think there isno good, but there's always some
good, always some good to befound.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Yeah completely agree .
You know, as we look at thefuture of work and organizations
looking to maybe redesign theirculture or give it a bit of a
facelift, get rid of the old andkind of bring in some new, how
can number one, what role doesleadership play in that
transformation and how can weencourage organizations to shift
(15:18):
that culture away from busynessand more into intentionality
and impact?
Speaker 2 (15:25):
Well, I get back to the facts and the data.
And the problem is that mostorganizations don't know how.
They have lofty goals, loftythings.
They want to get done.
So they're looking for tools,actionable, easy-to-use tools.
And so I can't tell you howmany organizations I've walked
(15:46):
in where I've met with theleadership team and we've gone
through the subtraction, mojomaking and value vibing.
They get it down, they trickleit down to their employees and
all of a sudden it just getsgood.
And you know, one of the thingsthat is going on is loss of
engagement and burnout and ouryounger employees feeling like
(16:12):
what they're doing isn'tmeaningful.
So you know, getting back tovalues in the work, I mean it
lights people up.
So there's just, we just haveto be a little bit different and
try things a little differently.
But the reality is and I'lltell you one last little story,
I'm such a storyteller I had afriend of mine.
(16:36):
He worked and he headed up BlueCross Blue Shield Marketing
Department very large statewideBlue Cross Blue Shield
organization and he had a bigproposal coming in and he
thought he could get to it andhe didn't.
And one night he's just likeokay, I need help.
So he asked for help.
(16:57):
He brought everybody into theconference room and they started
working at like 4.45 and atlike six o'clock they hear this
knock, knock, knock at the doorand it's the security guard
basically saying there's awhiteout travel ban.
Nobody's going anywhere.
I know there are no windows,but that's the way it is.
(17:19):
And so, you know, my friendRandy is like, yes, this is
great, we'll get this projectdone Right.
And so he looks around the roomand he sees how exhausted his
team is.
But he also realizes that hisrelationships have become so
transactional.
They doesn't know whatmotivates them.
(17:40):
He doesn't know what'simportant to them, what's
meaningful, what they love, whatthey don't like, you know,
inside of work, outside of work.
So they spent six hours justtalking and it was really crazy
because he said it was one ofthe best times he's ever had at
work and his employees allcommented on what an amazing use
(18:02):
of time it was.
So four and a half, five monthslater, the employee engagement
study comes along and Randy'sdepartment was always like in
the bottom rung.
And all of a sudden Randy'sdepartment was in the top rung
and the only thing he diddifferently was was human
connection, you know, gettinghis team to become a well-oiled
(18:28):
machine, because they openlytalked about what was working,
what's not working, what do youvalue, and they wanted to
support each other and set eachother up for success.
So you know, busy it's just notbetter.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Yeah, if there's one thing that I have learned over
the course of my career, it isthat people want to be a part of
something bigger thanthemselves, something
purpose-filled, somethingmeaningful, and when they can
come in and it doesn't matterwhat you do, you can find
purpose and meaning in justabout anything.
If you're willing to seethrough that lens, that's when
(19:04):
you have high engagement rates,that's when you have job
satisfaction and that's whereyou have great connection
amongst the team as well.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
Yeah, I mean happiness rituals.
You know people think thatthey're just for individuals,
but I introduced workplacehappiness rituals when I worked
at United Healthcare and Imanaged a couple thousand
customer service team thehardest job in the world working
in health care and working incustomer service.
I was like, what am I going todo to improve their metrics?
(19:35):
We're really doing a horriblejob in resolving first call
resolution.
And so I thought, you know,let's try these happiness
rituals at work.
What if we, 10 minutes a day, wecollectively got on a Zoom and
we did these happiness ritualsfor three or four minutes, you
know, and the team decided danceparties in the morning were
(19:58):
what end of the day?
We'd celebrate you know a lotof birthdays, or sometimes we'd
tell jokes, look at Seinfeldtapes, whatever it was, you know
.
It was really amazing.
(20:19):
And people came to me and theywere like, oh my God, I'm
leaving work not exhausted,exhausted.
And their first call resolutionmetric, which is impossible to
improve, went up 33% in sixweeks.
So if you're a leader and youwant to improve engagement and
performance, they're not theintuitive things you think you
(20:44):
need to be doing.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
That's awesome.
Well, peggy, as we wrap up, mylast question often takes people
by surprise.
So if it were your last day onearth and of all you've learned
and all you've researched andall you've written about, you
could only impart one piece ofadvice or guidance on the world,
what would that be?
Add value?
Speaker 2 (21:06):
Always add value, always add value and never get
involved in anything where youdon't get value or add value.
And that's the way I lead mylife.
If I don't add value or getvalue, then I don't belong there
.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I love that, and there's a lot of self-awareness
in that too.
Well, I will have all of thisin the show notes, but I would
love for you to share.
Peggy, where can people findyou?
Find your book?
Learn more about your methods.
Speaker 2 (21:35):
Yeah, I mean I encourage people just to reach
out to me via email or PeggySullivan's speaker on LinkedIn.
I have a website,peggysullivanspeakercom, that's
got a reach out to Peggy sectionand you can get my book just by
(21:55):
going on Amazon and searchingPeggy Sullivan.
Beyond Busyness and I love tohear from people.
I love changing that paradigm.
For most of us that busy is notbetter, I say anybody who needs
help to figure out the how,give me a buzz because it seems
to be working.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Well, this is a topic that I think needs some serious
tackling and I think can deeplyresonate, and so people are
paying attention, I am sure, tothis conversation.
So thank you, peggy, forbringing your knowledge and your
wisdom and all that you'velearned and researched around
this to my audience.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Well, you are quite welcome and thank you for
everything you do in teachingthe world how to evoke greatness
.
It's important.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Thank you so much for listening and for being here on
this journey with me.
I hope you'll stick around Ifyou liked this episode.
It would mean the world for meif you would rate and review the
podcast or share it withsomeone you know may need to
hear this message.
I love to hear from you all andwant you to know that you can
leave me a voicemail directly.
If you go to my website,evokegreatnesscom, and go to the
contact me tab, you'll just hitthe big old orange button and
(23:17):
record your message.
I love the feedback andcomments that I've been getting,
so please keep them coming.
I'll leave you with the wisewords of author Robin Sharma
Greatness comes by doing a fewsmall and smart things each and
every day.
It comes from taking littlesteps consistently.
It comes from making a fewsmall chips against everything
(23:40):
in your professional andpersonal life that is ordinary.
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