December 18, 2025 • 28 mins
Want a year that actually changes your life? We break down a practical system to stop chasing busywork and start stacking wins that matter. It starts with a guilt-free brain dump to pull every idea, project, and half-finished goal out of your head so you can judge them by outcome, not overwhelm. From there, we introduce the Damn Matrix, a four-quadrant method that ranks your work by impact and effort. High impact, low effort goes first. High impact, high effort gets planned next. Low impact items wait their turn. The real twist: we score by the value of starting, not the fantasy of finishing, so momentum arrives early and fuels the bigger climbs.
Curveballs still happen, and we name them: rabid squirrels. Instead of letting emergencies swallow your day, we use the Daily Domination board to label, log, and move them through Done, then review weekly to spot patterns. When the same sources trigger fire drills, you design guardrails—clear expectations, calendar buffers, and ready-made responses. We also get honest about what overcommitment costs: sleep, exercise, and nutrition. The fix is counterintuitive and effective—shrink the number of daily targets so you stay calm, kind, and focused, even when plans shift.
All of this lives inside a self-first framework: plan, commit, execute. We plan across a year, then break it into thirds and months to see where impact compounds. We commit on the calendar to protect deep work and life habits. We execute daily with a simple workflow that tracks progress and interruptions without guilt. You’ll leave with a repeatable way to prioritize for impact, start sooner, and sustain energy so results stack without burning you out.
If this helps, share it with a friend who’s drowning in to-dos, hit follow for more practical tools, and leave a review telling us one high-impact, low-effort move you’ll start this week. Your next breakthrough begins with what you choose to start today.
Set the stage for an amazing new year with the Self First Framework.
https://calendly.com/jesse04/self-first-webinar
Download a PDF copy of Becoming the Promise You are Intended to Be
https://www.depthbuilder.com/books
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
What's going on, folks?
I want you to make next yearlike your super duper ultimate
breakthrough year.
So we're going to talk about thedamn matrix.
And it is the tool that I use tomaximize momentum in like all
the things that we do.
If you were here on the lastcall, we did the first wave of
(00:24):
guilt-free future planning.
And this is the second wave.
And so if you need a reminder,we'll do a little refresher here
in a second.
But I want to make sure youunderstand that the Dam Matrix
is the tool that I use and Iwant to help you use or
introduce you to so that you canprioritize for impact.
Because you know, some of ushave been in some situations,
(00:47):
maybe had a year or two, ormaybe a string of years where
doing the things just kind ofwasn't enough or didn't get to
the point that we wanted it tobe.
All right.
So I threatened you.
I said we are going toprioritize for impact.
And why impact?
Because there's a lot of thingsI can do that are super, super
(01:09):
easy, right?
I could like if I have a 15-20list thing to do today or this
month or for the year, uh, it'svery easy for me to attack the
things that are that are easy tocheck off.
Now, some people that helps themwith momentum.
That does not help me withmomentum.
It just exhausts me because Ionly have a certain amount of
(01:30):
energy and I need to give it tothe most impactful things.
If I give it to like wishy-washystuff, that's an easy, you know,
my PPC, my percent complete isgonna be high, but the impact I
had is low.
That's no weno for me.
It's not sustainable.
And particularly when it comesto long-term planning.
And when I'm talking aboutlong-term planning, for me, that
(01:51):
time horizon has expanded.
And it has expanded throughreps, repetition.
There was a time where long-termplanning for me was more than a
week, and then it was two weeks.
I couldn't, if you ask me whatmy five-year plan was, I had no
damn answer because I was justtrying to make sure I had money
for gas and food next week.
And so over the years, I've beenable to like expand what that
(02:15):
time horizon is and whatlong-term planning means to me.
And so for me, when I'm talkingabout long-term planning, it's
very simple, especially at theend of the year, because we've
got a brand new year coming outin front of us.
And if we don't want to repeatuh the same experience, we got
to do something a little bitdifferent.
And so on December, which is mybirthday in December, is when I
(02:38):
do my long-term planning.
And I think about the entireyear.
After I do that, then I go backto that plan and I look at it in
quarters.
Okay, what do I want?
Well, actually, I look at it inthirds now.
It's you know, four months at atime.
There's a bunch of weirdnessabout that.
And if you're interested, hit meup, or maybe we'll talk about it
on the after party.
But I think of my years inthirds now, and then I do
(03:01):
monthly, right?
And so what we talked about atour last live stream was the
first phase of long-termplanning.
So the first phase of long-termplanning or guilt-free future
planning, this is a quick reviewin case you missed it, is simply
to get all the stuff out of yourhead.
(03:21):
The big, giant, importantthings, the ideas, the goals,
the projects, the skills thatyou want to build, all of the
things that never really happenbecause tomorrow, because I'm
busy, because I have all theseother things.
It's really just about gettingthem out of your head, right?
If you haven't started them, ormore importantly, if you started
them but haven't finished themand they've just kind of been
(03:42):
dying on the vine there, gettingthem out of your head in terms
of whether they're business orprofessional, personal growth,
or like relationships andmaintaining connection with
important human beings, whateverthat is, or building new
connections, getting them out ofyour head so that you can see
them.
The reason that is super, superimportant is because when we
(04:02):
keep it all in our head, theykind of get all distorted and
they're bigger and heavier thanwhat they actually are.
And then we just pile more andpile more and pile more, and it
creates this stress or thisstatic in our mind that kind of
handcuffs us and keeps us frommaking decisions to actually
make progress on the thing.
(04:23):
So, phase one, if you want towatch the replay, I'll put a
link in the thing so you canwatch the replay from the last
live stream, is just gettingthat out of your head so that
you can see all the things thatyou have.
And I promise, well, I have adouble promise.
The first part of that promiseis when you start getting them
out of your head, you're gonnafeel a little bit of like, oh my
god, there's all these things,there's so many things I'm never
(04:44):
gonna finish.
That's okay.
Take a breath.
It's not the end of the worldbecause guess what?
If you haven't started them yet,nobody cares, nobody's gonna
judge you, nobody's gonna bedisappointed in you.
This is all you, and then afteryou get it out of your head,
then you can say, Oh, thesethings aren't that big.
Like, they don't all have thesame massive weight that they
used to when they're in my head.
(05:05):
Now, there are some that aremore impactful or more urgent,
more important, and then there'ssome that are kind of like, man,
that's not as big as I thoughtit was.
It was trying to like a littlechihuahua.
There's a whole lot of bark, butnot much bite to it.
Unless they bite you, then it'sa different thing.
So the idea is get it out ofhead so you can visually see the
things.
Now, once you've done that, dundun dun, that's where the damn
(05:27):
matrix comes into play.
And why do I why am I calling itthe damn matrix?
Because it's about doing thedamn thing.
You all have goals, we all haveobjectives, and it really just
comes down to doing the damnthing.
And what keeps us that myassertion, my whole theory
(05:48):
philosophy about this stuff isthe number one thing that keeps
me and you from getting the damnthing done is between your ears.
It's the things between yourears, the thoughts, the way you
look at things, the way youvisualize things, and the way
you prioritize your don't.
(06:08):
So that's why the self-firstframework is designed and it's a
hundred percent focused on youand how you think about time and
how you manage yourself towardsexecuting stuff.
So I'm gonna stop, I'm gonnastop preaching here a little
bit.
Looks like we got a commentcoming in.
Oh, Miss Heather's got a heavyone.
So Miss Heather says, Okay,serious questions.
(06:29):
How do you deal with the rabidsquirrels?
Not regular squirrels, rabidsquirrels.
That's what I call the squirrelsthat come up that are actually
necessary to handle immediately.
They can't be put on the backburner or delayed.
I've been dealing with the wholepack of rabbit squirrels lately.
Oh my goodness.
All right, Miss Heather, this isum a gifted and talented
(06:52):
question.
Super, super precise question.
And I appreciate you likecoloring it for me because the
way I handle um the rabbitsquirrels and the way I
recommend everybody handle therabbit squirrels is by using the
daily domination uh framework ortemplate, actually.
Template's probably the betterword.
(07:14):
Um, and if you want the dailydomination template, drop double
D in the comments or scan the QRcode, and it'll get you put
whatever you need to do to signup and get the thing, and you'll
get a lot of extra cool stuff.
But, anyways, back to yourquestion, Miss Heather.
The question is how do you dealwith the rabbit squirrels?
Those rabbit squirrels are thethings that pop up that like
(07:35):
unplanned, unanticipated, andthey have to be addressed right
away.
So the way I handle them isdoing them right, get them out
of the way, get them done.
Like that's they just have to bedone.
But in the daily dominationboard, I create a card and I
identify it as a curveball.
You could change the label on myon my board.
(07:56):
I have it as a curveball.
You could change the label torabid squirrels, and what I do
is that's okay.
So it's gonna have that label,it's gonna have that particular
color, and then I'll assign aname because there's always it's
always coming from somebody,even me sometimes.
So I'll type their little namein there, and then I'll kind of
(08:17):
describe what the thing wasbecause it wasn't planned, but
it had to get done, and it tooksome of my energy and maybe got
me off my flow a little bit, andI will continue to track those
the rabid squirrels, because atthe end of the week, so once
I've put it in my Todo column,rabid squirrel, whatever the
thing is, and I put it in mydone column at the end of the
week, or whatever frequency isappropriate, when I reflect and
(08:40):
review like how many curveballsor rabid squirrels came in and
bit me, where did they comefrom?
That's the key for me, isbecause I track it and at the
end of the week, or for me, I doit at the end of the week.
For you, it's your call.
I can see what from a broadertime horizon instead of just in
the moment, from a broader timehorizon from a weak perspective,
(09:02):
I can see how many people orwhere those rabbit squirrels are
coming from.
And what I've found over many,many years, they seem to come
from the same people.
And so then that gives me someinsight.
Like, okay, if this person, thisindividual in these
circumstances, they are verylikely to call me with the damn
emergency, their hair's on fire,and I got to take care of it
(09:24):
right away.
Um, then I can come up with aplan to mitigate that.
So if that helped, Ms.
Heather, let me know.
It is the way that is exactlyhow I handle the rabbit
squirrels.
And and I, you know what?
I may be stealing that andintegrating the rabid squirrel
idea into the next uh workshop.
So thank you for that question.
That was super good.
(09:46):
Um, oh wait, she's got to comeback.
She says, okay, that's how Ihandle them too.
There have just been so manylately that doing those end up
meaning other important thingshave to get dropped a hundred
percent.
Let's not talk about how long myto-do list has included making
time for regular yoga, practicewith no movement because of
curveballs, rabbit swirls.
(10:07):
And that's that's the reality ofit, right?
Is when things come andinterrupt and disrupt our flow,
something's gotta fall, right?
I and my thinking is like, okay,which ball am I dropping today?
Because something's got to give.
What I typically do that I don'trecommend is I just sacrifice
sleep.
So it's sleep, exercise,nutrition almost in that order
(10:31):
of what I will sacrifice when mylife is full of rabid squirrels.
But I'm telling you, tracking itand like coming up with a
mitigation plan after the facthelp me manage that better so
that I'm focused on sleep, myexercise, and my nutrition.
Again, I'm not hopefully thatdidn't come across like I'm
telling, oh yeah, how do youhandle it?
Just don't eat, just eatfreaking mountains of fast food
(10:53):
and don't sleep because that'snot what I'm saying.
So thank you again for thequestion, folks.
If you got them, drop them.
I'm happy, more than happy toanswer them.
And again, if you want to getthe daily domination board, hit
that QR code or drop double D inthe comments.
I'll hook you up with the link.
We even have a testimonial herefrom a user, Mr.
(11:13):
Jake Jones says, even betterthan just a list is to use the
double D trello board to lineeverything out so that I have a
record.
Absolutely, man.
Um, thank you, Jake.
I appreciate it.
Not just using it, uh, but like,I mean, not just talking about
it, but actually using the damnthing.
That's the whole freaking point.
(11:34):
All right, so here we go.
We are gonna go back to the damnmatrix.
Again, this is aboutprioritizing for impact.
Okay, impact over effort wins inJesse Land all the time, because
for me, the fulfillment I getfrom having major impact is what
(11:55):
keeps me alive, it's what keepsme focused.
Uh, um, and I promise you, ifyou haven't, if like your
prioritization style is justabout getting things done and
responding to the loudest uh crybaby out there, I understand
I've lived that life, but it'snot like reinforcing, it doesn't
build momentum or energy, notfor me, anyways.
And so, if like you're tired ofthat, I got some fire for you.
(12:19):
So the damn matrix, again, wetalked about on the last call,
we went over like getting allthe stuff, our big projects, our
big ideas, our unstarted, ourunfinished dreams, getting them
out of our head so we can seethem.
And so now what we're gonna dois we're gonna give weight to
them.
We're not prioritizing yet,we're giving weight to them, and
we're giving them weight basedon impact and effort.
(12:42):
Because I said a bunch of timesalready, the damn matrix is
designed to help us understandwhere we can have the greatest
impact.
Why?
Because we have all been blessedwith gifts and talents, and
sharing those gifts and talentswith the world is the whole
freaking reason that we're here.
So, what you would do is youwould you'll go if you've
already if you did your homeworkand you know you've done the
(13:03):
thing, you would go to yourbuckets, right?
And those ideas, goals,aspirations, projects, all of
the above, and you would startpulling them one at a time, and
you would weight them based onimpact and effort.
So if you did it, and and and Iwant to be clear, there's a
there's a trip hazard here.
Some people get kind of wrappedaround.
I want you to think about it interms of starting, not
(13:27):
completing, because I know themost impactful things that I
want to do or have done, themfreaking things are gigantic.
And it some of them are gonnatake me years to complete, some
of them are gonna take me monthsor weeks.
Um, but the most impactfulstuff, there's a path, there's a
journey, there's a ton oflearning.
So don't think about it in termsof like if I finish it, it'll be
(13:49):
impactful.
It's if I start it, okay?
And the other thing, back tolike the guilt-free part, this
is from your perspective.
It's not, I want you to thinkabout it from terms of how what
would bring you the mostfulfillment, what would bring
you the most happiness, not whatother people expect from you,
not what other people want fromyou, not what you think they're
(14:11):
expecting, what you want.
And I won't tell anybody, Ipromise, I'm not gonna tell
anybody that you were beingselfish.
I'm I'm wiping all the guiltaway from you.
So, anyways, with that from thatcontext, if you can do that, the
next thing you do is drag thosethings, whatever those tasks
are, and weigh them based onimpact and effort.
(14:33):
So you can see these little um,I don't know what you call them.
Uh shoot, there's a math termfor it.
Anyway, on axis.
So on this axis, up and down,you have high impact and low
impact, right?
So the top left quadrant isgonna be high impact things that
are low effort, right?
Meaning they're they're notgonna take a lot of uh a lot of
(14:56):
effort, a lot of ghana, right?
You just gotta do the thing, butthey're gonna be very impactful.
You would put those in the topleft quadrant.
(15:52):
Now, the next one, that so thosewould are the ones that you do
first, right?
You start making plans for themand taking action on things.
The next one is on the top rightquadrant, they're still high
impact, but they're gonna behigher effort, so you're gonna
take a little more effort, youknow, maybe resources, research,
who knows?
You know, because they're yourmagic things.
(16:13):
And so on the right quadrant,what we're gonna do is we're
gonna weigh those, any of thoseideas, project things that you
have out there that are veryimpactful, but they're gonna
take a lot of effort, and youmight need to get a
certification or you know,whatever it is.
Put those in the top rightquadrant.
After that, we go down to thebottom left quadrant, which is
(16:36):
M, maybe next, right?
Now, these ideas, projects,whatever they are, they're gonna
have you know, kind of moderateimpact in on you, on your mental
wellness, on your family, onyour community.
And they're not gonna havegigantic impact, but they're
gonna have some, but they havelow effort.
So that's good, right?
(16:56):
Because they're gonna be easy tolike to just do them and get
them out, get them rolling,introduce them into the world.
Those kinds of ideas andprojects, you're gonna put them
on the bottom left quadrant.
And then lastly, we have theones that are super high effort,
very, very low impact.
Those go on the bottom rightquadrant.
Why?
(17:16):
Because those, I mean, it's inmy brain, it's super simple.
If it's gonna take a lot of damntime and a lot of energy and a
lot of resources for me to dosomething, but that something is
gonna have like marginal impact,why would I do it?
And and I'm gonna tell you,like, I'm not I'm not
recommending this so that likeyou could stop doing it.
(17:39):
I am recommending this um sothat you can like really get
clear what what has happenedwhen I get these things out of
my head and then I put them, runthem through the damn matrix and
weigh them based on impact andeffort.
What has happened every year,every single year, is the stuff
that's high impact ends uptaking up so much time and
(18:02):
having the impact I want it tohave, that the stuff that's on
the bottom, I don't even touchthem because like they're not
gonna be as impactful.
The ideas, the great, beautifulprojects that that are that
well, at least from myperspective, they end up taking
so much damn time.
I don't have the time,resources, or energy to do the
other things.
(18:22):
And so, what does that mean?
That means there's some thingsthat I was imagining I could do
that I'm actually not doinganymore.
I don't care about them as muchanymore.
But it also means all of thethings that were super
impactful, I have actually takenaction on.
And that brings me tremendousfulfillment.
(18:43):
And it's the fulfillment thatkeeps me going forward, right?
Like I'm a little bit selfish,not a little bit, I'm a lot of
bit selfish, because I serveothers because of the
fulfillment it gives me.
I share my gifts and talentsbecause of the fulfillment it
brings me.
And so, sure, I'm a little bitselfless, right?
I'm a servant, I want to serveothers, I want to support and
(19:05):
contribute to your path as muchas you will allow me to, but I
do it because it brings mefulfillment.
So that is that's that's why I'ma selfish dude.
Anyways, let's go to thecomments.
We got a comment coming in.
Ah, we got Mr.
Abbas.
What's going on, my brother?
Fierce supporter, um, coming infrom the other side of the
(19:25):
world.
Oh, look at Heather, she'sconfessing.
She says, Yes, Jake Jones, Ihave the double D trello board
and it's been unruly late.
You know what, Heather, here'sanother thing to think about.
When one rabbit swirl disruptsmy entire day or even multiple
days, it's likely because I'mattempting to do too much in one
(19:51):
day.
I know, I know you're super,super high achiever, and that
that math don't math in ourhead.
What do you mean trying to dotoo much?
And so what I would suggestconsider evaluating.
Like if you're if you're usingthe daily domination board, you
know.
When you list out your tasks forthe day, how many tasks per day
(20:15):
are you creating?
Like at when you when you'replanning for the day, how many
tasks are you targeting?
If you don't know that number,start paying attention to that
and find out what that numberis.
And then get intentional aboutwhat an appropriate actionable
number should be.
And and quick example, I've saidthis a bunch of times, but if
(20:38):
you're new here, I want to makesure you hear it.
I used to have like 15 to 20things on my list every day.
And this was back when I hadlike a real job, not today.
Um And what I found was I'm I'mcompetitive and I'm gonna get
all my stuff done.
But what that meant was ifanything didn't go per plan, if
there was anything, an unplannedcall, man, I was like, what do
(20:58):
you need?
What do you want?
I got to go like hurry, hurry,get to the point.
So people didn't really like me.
Um, and if I was travelingsomewhere and I didn't get all
the green lights, it was the endof the world.
I was stressed, I was, I waslike this all the time.
And so what I started doing wasshrinking that.
And actually, I set a target 15.
I was still kind of rude andmean to people.
I got it down to 10, and 10 waslike, okay, 10 targets, action
(21:22):
items for the day gave me enoughspace to be nice and also
challenged me to get all myfreaking work done.
So, anyways, Heather, back toyou on the rabbit squirrels.
It's possible, I don't know, butit is possible that you're
you're fighting off a biggerchunk than is reasonable.
Because here's the thing if it'scutting into your yoga and your
(21:44):
sleep and your food and yourmeditating and all those other
things, what it's acting like,it's no big deal.
You know, I won't do yoga today.
I'll only do five minutesinstead of 10 minutes of
meditation.
I get it.
I've done that.
I'll only sleep six hoursinstead of or three hours
instead of seven hours.
Like I do that, I get it.
The problem with that is whenyou're doing that, you are
(22:08):
degrading like your amazingnessbecause it's those things that
make you amazing.
It's those things that providethe experience to the people
that you're serving that theyappreciate and look forward to.
And so the practice or thediscipline is to guard that.
My technique to do that is likeset a limit on how many things
that I'm taking on so that I canmake sure that I'm, you know,
(22:30):
getting my exercise in,sleeping, nutrition, doing all
the magical things.
All right, folks.
So I'm gonna do a quick review,super, super high level.
We talked about on the last livestream getting all the big ideas
out of your head.
And why am I like hammering thislong-term planning?
Because that's our new year, theend of the year is it's we're in
it.
(22:50):
We got two months left.
You ain't gotta wait tillDecember 31st and come up with
your resolution that I don'tknow about you, but resolutions
I was never like that wasineffective for me.
This is what's effective for me.
So get all the things, ideas,projects, dreams, goals,
aspirations, get them all out ofyour head so that you can see
them, right?
You may not have this chartthing that that were that I'm
(23:12):
flashing up on the screen.
You can get it.
If and all you got to do again,drop double D in the comments or
check out this super fancy QRcode here, and that'll give you
access to to the dailydomination template, and then
there's an email sequence, sothen you'll you'll start getting
other downloads that you can putinto practice, or you can use a
damn piece of paper, like it'snot that complicated.
(23:34):
So, anyways, get it all your outof your head so you can see it,
and then run it through the damnmatrix, which is just a four-box
framework, right?
Impact and effort, weigh thething, the idea, the hope that
you want to have or bring intothe world, and weigh it in terms
of how much impact it's gonnahave and how much effort it's
(23:57):
gonna take.
Anything that falls in the topleft quadrant in the D in the D
box, do those first becausethey're gonna have i high impact
and it's not gonna take a lot ofeffort, energy, resources, etc.
Anything that falls in the topright quadrant, the A box, don't
(24:19):
mess around with those untilafter you did the ones in the
first box, right?
Just get those done becauseimpact and impact is amazing.
It's it's addictive and fueling,it's magical.
After you get those rolling, Idon't mean complete, but once
you get them started, then youwant to look at the stuff that's
okay, it's it's high impact,it's gonna take a little more
(24:39):
effort, but you got momentum,man.
You're grooving, and neurons aregonna start connecting, and
that'll help you like executeand deploy the other things that
are in the other box.
Uh, and then in terms ofsequence, the idea would be
anything that is low impact, butlow effort, maybe consider them,
but don't mess with them untilyou've done the D box and the A
(25:03):
box.
And then finally, after you'vedone all of those, then you
start looking at the N box.
You need to evaluate thosebecause those are going to be
very high effort with low,moderate to almost no impact,
right?
So anything there, don't throwit away.
Just don't touch it yet untilyou've deployed and taken action
(25:26):
on all the other stuff.
That's the damn matrix, that'sthe framework.
If you want more about like allof this super nerdy time
management, self-managementstuff.
I've got a batch of self-firstframework workshops coming up.
Uh, let me know, like for real,for real.
The framework it goes from plan,commit, execute, right?
(25:50):
Plan, long-term planning, longvision plan.
That's what we've been talkingabout here.
Then we get into commitment,meaning making space in our
schedule for the things.
And then we get into dailyexecution, which are three
different ways of thinking.
And that I think that's themagical part.
At least for me, it's been supermagical.
And I don't know, we've had over50 some odd people go through
(26:11):
the workshop.
Just that simple delineation ofplanning and having a specific
tool and framework to do theplanning, sketch or committing
and having a specific tool orframework for scheduling and
committing, and then dailyexecution seems to help a bunch
of people because what typicallyhappens is we co-mingle all of
(26:31):
it, and then our brain getsstuck, and then we get
handcuffed and we don't make anyprogress.
So you want to like know whatthat experience is about, and
more importantly, get the toolsand mental models to help you
freaking kick butt in 2026.
Hit me up because I've got theseworkshops coming and they're
fun.
Like, even even other peoplehave fun, not just me.
(26:52):
Look, Miss Yudie says, Yes,please, girl.
I got you.
I'll send you a link.
So I appreciate y'all very much.
Be kind to yourself, be cool,and we'll talk at you next time.
Peace.
What's going on, folks?
I want you to make next yearlike your super duper ultimate
breakthrough year.
So we're going to talk about thedamn matrix.
And it is the tool that I use tomaximize momentum in like all
the things that we do.
If you were here on the lastcall, we did the first wave of
(00:24):
guilt-free future planning.
And this is the second wave.
And so if you need a reminder,we'll do a little refresher here
in a second.
But I want to make sure youunderstand that the Dam Matrix
is the tool that I use and Iwant to help you use or
introduce you to so that you canprioritize for impact.
Because you know, some of ushave been in some situations,
(00:47):
maybe had a year or two, ormaybe a string of years where
doing the things just kind ofwasn't enough or didn't get to
the point that we wanted it tobe.
All right.
So I threatened you.
I said we are going toprioritize for impact.
And why impact?
Because there's a lot of thingsI can do that are super, super
(01:09):
easy, right?
I could like if I have a 15-20list thing to do today or this
month or for the year, uh, it'svery easy for me to attack the
things that are that are easy tocheck off.
Now, some people that helps themwith momentum.
That does not help me withmomentum.
It just exhausts me because Ionly have a certain amount of
(01:30):
energy and I need to give it tothe most impactful things.
If I give it to like wishy-washystuff, that's an easy, you know,
my PPC, my percent complete isgonna be high, but the impact I
had is low.
That's no weno for me.
It's not sustainable.
And particularly when it comesto long-term planning.
And when I'm talking aboutlong-term planning, for me, that
(01:51):
time horizon has expanded.
And it has expanded throughreps, repetition.
There was a time where long-termplanning for me was more than a
week, and then it was two weeks.
I couldn't, if you ask me whatmy five-year plan was, I had no
damn answer because I was justtrying to make sure I had money
for gas and food next week.
And so over the years, I've beenable to like expand what that
(02:15):
time horizon is and whatlong-term planning means to me.
And so for me, when I'm talkingabout long-term planning, it's
very simple, especially at theend of the year, because we've
got a brand new year coming outin front of us.
And if we don't want to repeatuh the same experience, we got
to do something a little bitdifferent.
And so on December, which is mybirthday in December, is when I
(02:38):
do my long-term planning.
And I think about the entireyear.
After I do that, then I go backto that plan and I look at it in
quarters.
Okay, what do I want?
Well, actually, I look at it inthirds now.
It's you know, four months at atime.
There's a bunch of weirdnessabout that.
And if you're interested, hit meup, or maybe we'll talk about it
on the after party.
But I think of my years inthirds now, and then I do
(03:01):
monthly, right?
And so what we talked about atour last live stream was the
first phase of long-termplanning.
So the first phase of long-termplanning or guilt-free future
planning, this is a quick reviewin case you missed it, is simply
to get all the stuff out of yourhead.
(03:21):
The big, giant, importantthings, the ideas, the goals,
the projects, the skills thatyou want to build, all of the
things that never really happenbecause tomorrow, because I'm
busy, because I have all theseother things.
It's really just about gettingthem out of your head, right?
If you haven't started them, ormore importantly, if you started
them but haven't finished themand they've just kind of been
(03:42):
dying on the vine there, gettingthem out of your head in terms
of whether they're business orprofessional, personal growth,
or like relationships andmaintaining connection with
important human beings, whateverthat is, or building new
connections, getting them out ofyour head so that you can see
them.
The reason that is super, superimportant is because when we
(04:02):
keep it all in our head, theykind of get all distorted and
they're bigger and heavier thanwhat they actually are.
And then we just pile more andpile more and pile more, and it
creates this stress or thisstatic in our mind that kind of
handcuffs us and keeps us frommaking decisions to actually
make progress on the thing.
(04:23):
So, phase one, if you want towatch the replay, I'll put a
link in the thing so you canwatch the replay from the last
live stream, is just gettingthat out of your head so that
you can see all the things thatyou have.
And I promise, well, I have adouble promise.
The first part of that promiseis when you start getting them
out of your head, you're gonnafeel a little bit of like, oh my
god, there's all these things,there's so many things I'm never
(04:44):
gonna finish.
That's okay.
Take a breath.
It's not the end of the worldbecause guess what?
If you haven't started them yet,nobody cares, nobody's gonna
judge you, nobody's gonna bedisappointed in you.
This is all you, and then afteryou get it out of your head,
then you can say, Oh, thesethings aren't that big.
Like, they don't all have thesame massive weight that they
used to when they're in my head.
(05:05):
Now, there are some that aremore impactful or more urgent,
more important, and then there'ssome that are kind of like, man,
that's not as big as I thoughtit was.
It was trying to like a littlechihuahua.
There's a whole lot of bark, butnot much bite to it.
Unless they bite you, then it'sa different thing.
So the idea is get it out ofhead so you can visually see the
things.
Now, once you've done that, dundun dun, that's where the damn
(05:27):
matrix comes into play.
And why do I why am I calling itthe damn matrix?
Because it's about doing thedamn thing.
You all have goals, we all haveobjectives, and it really just
comes down to doing the damnthing.
And what keeps us that myassertion, my whole theory
(05:48):
philosophy about this stuff isthe number one thing that keeps
me and you from getting the damnthing done is between your ears.
It's the things between yourears, the thoughts, the way you
look at things, the way youvisualize things, and the way
you prioritize your don't.
(06:08):
So that's why the self-firstframework is designed and it's a
hundred percent focused on youand how you think about time and
how you manage yourself towardsexecuting stuff.
So I'm gonna stop, I'm gonnastop preaching here a little
bit.
Looks like we got a commentcoming in.
Oh, Miss Heather's got a heavyone.
So Miss Heather says, Okay,serious questions.
(06:29):
How do you deal with the rabidsquirrels?
Not regular squirrels, rabidsquirrels.
That's what I call the squirrelsthat come up that are actually
necessary to handle immediately.
They can't be put on the backburner or delayed.
I've been dealing with the wholepack of rabbit squirrels lately.
Oh my goodness.
All right, Miss Heather, this isum a gifted and talented
(06:52):
question.
Super, super precise question.
And I appreciate you likecoloring it for me because the
way I handle um the rabbitsquirrels and the way I
recommend everybody handle therabbit squirrels is by using the
daily domination uh framework ortemplate, actually.
Template's probably the betterword.
(07:14):
Um, and if you want the dailydomination template, drop double
D in the comments or scan the QRcode, and it'll get you put
whatever you need to do to signup and get the thing, and you'll
get a lot of extra cool stuff.
But, anyways, back to yourquestion, Miss Heather.
The question is how do you dealwith the rabbit squirrels?
Those rabbit squirrels are thethings that pop up that like
(07:35):
unplanned, unanticipated, andthey have to be addressed right
away.
So the way I handle them isdoing them right, get them out
of the way, get them done.
Like that's they just have to bedone.
But in the daily dominationboard, I create a card and I
identify it as a curveball.
You could change the label on myon my board.
(07:56):
I have it as a curveball.
You could change the label torabid squirrels, and what I do
is that's okay.
So it's gonna have that label,it's gonna have that particular
color, and then I'll assign aname because there's always it's
always coming from somebody,even me sometimes.
So I'll type their little namein there, and then I'll kind of
(08:17):
describe what the thing wasbecause it wasn't planned, but
it had to get done, and it tooksome of my energy and maybe got
me off my flow a little bit, andI will continue to track those
the rabid squirrels, because atthe end of the week, so once
I've put it in my Todo column,rabid squirrel, whatever the
thing is, and I put it in mydone column at the end of the
week, or whatever frequency isappropriate, when I reflect and
(08:40):
review like how many curveballsor rabid squirrels came in and
bit me, where did they comefrom?
That's the key for me, isbecause I track it and at the
end of the week, or for me, I doit at the end of the week.
For you, it's your call.
I can see what from a broadertime horizon instead of just in
the moment, from a broader timehorizon from a weak perspective,
(09:02):
I can see how many people orwhere those rabbit squirrels are
coming from.
And what I've found over many,many years, they seem to come
from the same people.
And so then that gives me someinsight.
Like, okay, if this person, thisindividual in these
circumstances, they are verylikely to call me with the damn
emergency, their hair's on fire,and I got to take care of it
(09:24):
right away.
Um, then I can come up with aplan to mitigate that.
So if that helped, Ms.
Heather, let me know.
It is the way that is exactlyhow I handle the rabbit
squirrels.
And and I, you know what?
I may be stealing that andintegrating the rabid squirrel
idea into the next uh workshop.
So thank you for that question.
That was super good.
(09:46):
Um, oh wait, she's got to comeback.
She says, okay, that's how Ihandle them too.
There have just been so manylately that doing those end up
meaning other important thingshave to get dropped a hundred
percent.
Let's not talk about how long myto-do list has included making
time for regular yoga, practicewith no movement because of
curveballs, rabbit swirls.
(10:07):
And that's that's the reality ofit, right?
Is when things come andinterrupt and disrupt our flow,
something's gotta fall, right?
I and my thinking is like, okay,which ball am I dropping today?
Because something's got to give.
What I typically do that I don'trecommend is I just sacrifice
sleep.
So it's sleep, exercise,nutrition almost in that order
(10:31):
of what I will sacrifice when mylife is full of rabid squirrels.
But I'm telling you, tracking itand like coming up with a
mitigation plan after the facthelp me manage that better so
that I'm focused on sleep, myexercise, and my nutrition.
Again, I'm not hopefully thatdidn't come across like I'm
telling, oh yeah, how do youhandle it?
Just don't eat, just eatfreaking mountains of fast food
(10:53):
and don't sleep because that'snot what I'm saying.
So thank you again for thequestion, folks.
If you got them, drop them.
I'm happy, more than happy toanswer them.
And again, if you want to getthe daily domination board, hit
that QR code or drop double D inthe comments.
I'll hook you up with the link.
We even have a testimonial herefrom a user, Mr.
(11:13):
Jake Jones says, even betterthan just a list is to use the
double D trello board to lineeverything out so that I have a
record.
Absolutely, man.
Um, thank you, Jake.
I appreciate it.
Not just using it, uh, but like,I mean, not just talking about
it, but actually using the damnthing.
That's the whole freaking point.
(11:34):
All right, so here we go.
We are gonna go back to the damnmatrix.
Again, this is aboutprioritizing for impact.
Okay, impact over effort wins inJesse Land all the time, because
for me, the fulfillment I getfrom having major impact is what
(11:55):
keeps me alive, it's what keepsme focused.
Uh, um, and I promise you, ifyou haven't, if like your
prioritization style is justabout getting things done and
responding to the loudest uh crybaby out there, I understand
I've lived that life, but it'snot like reinforcing, it doesn't
build momentum or energy, notfor me, anyways.
And so, if like you're tired ofthat, I got some fire for you.
(12:19):
So the damn matrix, again, wetalked about on the last call,
we went over like getting allthe stuff, our big projects, our
big ideas, our unstarted, ourunfinished dreams, getting them
out of our head so we can seethem.
And so now what we're gonna dois we're gonna give weight to
them.
We're not prioritizing yet,we're giving weight to them, and
we're giving them weight basedon impact and effort.
(12:42):
Because I said a bunch of timesalready, the damn matrix is
designed to help us understandwhere we can have the greatest
impact.
Why?
Because we have all been blessedwith gifts and talents, and
sharing those gifts and talentswith the world is the whole
freaking reason that we're here.
So, what you would do is youwould you'll go if you've
already if you did your homeworkand you know you've done the
(13:03):
thing, you would go to yourbuckets, right?
And those ideas, goals,aspirations, projects, all of
the above, and you would startpulling them one at a time, and
you would weight them based onimpact and effort.
So if you did it, and and and Iwant to be clear, there's a
there's a trip hazard here.
Some people get kind of wrappedaround.
I want you to think about it interms of starting, not
(13:27):
completing, because I know themost impactful things that I
want to do or have done, themfreaking things are gigantic.
And it some of them are gonnatake me years to complete, some
of them are gonna take me monthsor weeks.
Um, but the most impactfulstuff, there's a path, there's a
journey, there's a ton oflearning.
So don't think about it in termsof like if I finish it, it'll be
(13:49):
impactful.
It's if I start it, okay?
And the other thing, back tolike the guilt-free part, this
is from your perspective.
It's not, I want you to thinkabout it from terms of how what
would bring you the mostfulfillment, what would bring
you the most happiness, not whatother people expect from you,
not what other people want fromyou, not what you think they're
(14:11):
expecting, what you want.
And I won't tell anybody, Ipromise, I'm not gonna tell
anybody that you were beingselfish.
I'm I'm wiping all the guiltaway from you.
So, anyways, with that from thatcontext, if you can do that, the
next thing you do is drag thosethings, whatever those tasks
are, and weigh them based onimpact and effort.
(14:33):
So you can see these little um,I don't know what you call them.
Uh shoot, there's a math termfor it.
Anyway, on axis.
So on this axis, up and down,you have high impact and low
impact, right?
So the top left quadrant isgonna be high impact things that
are low effort, right?
Meaning they're they're notgonna take a lot of uh a lot of
(14:56):
effort, a lot of ghana, right?
You just gotta do the thing, butthey're gonna be very impactful.
You would put those in the topleft quadrant.
(15:52):
Now, the next one, that so thosewould are the ones that you do
first, right?
You start making plans for themand taking action on things.
The next one is on the top rightquadrant, they're still high
impact, but they're gonna behigher effort, so you're gonna
take a little more effort, youknow, maybe resources, research,
who knows?
You know, because they're yourmagic things.
(16:13):
And so on the right quadrant,what we're gonna do is we're
gonna weigh those, any of thoseideas, project things that you
have out there that are veryimpactful, but they're gonna
take a lot of effort, and youmight need to get a
certification or you know,whatever it is.
Put those in the top rightquadrant.
After that, we go down to thebottom left quadrant, which is
(16:36):
M, maybe next, right?
Now, these ideas, projects,whatever they are, they're gonna
have you know, kind of moderateimpact in on you, on your mental
wellness, on your family, onyour community.
And they're not gonna havegigantic impact, but they're
gonna have some, but they havelow effort.
So that's good, right?
(16:56):
Because they're gonna be easy tolike to just do them and get
them out, get them rolling,introduce them into the world.
Those kinds of ideas andprojects, you're gonna put them
on the bottom left quadrant.
And then lastly, we have theones that are super high effort,
very, very low impact.
Those go on the bottom rightquadrant.
Why?
(17:16):
Because those, I mean, it's inmy brain, it's super simple.
If it's gonna take a lot of damntime and a lot of energy and a
lot of resources for me to dosomething, but that something is
gonna have like marginal impact,why would I do it?
And and I'm gonna tell you,like, I'm not I'm not
recommending this so that likeyou could stop doing it.
(17:39):
I am recommending this um sothat you can like really get
clear what what has happenedwhen I get these things out of
my head and then I put them, runthem through the damn matrix and
weigh them based on impact andeffort.
What has happened every year,every single year, is the stuff
that's high impact ends uptaking up so much time and
(18:02):
having the impact I want it tohave, that the stuff that's on
the bottom, I don't even touchthem because like they're not
gonna be as impactful.
The ideas, the great, beautifulprojects that that are that
well, at least from myperspective, they end up taking
so much damn time.
I don't have the time,resources, or energy to do the
other things.
(18:22):
And so, what does that mean?
That means there's some thingsthat I was imagining I could do
that I'm actually not doinganymore.
I don't care about them as muchanymore.
But it also means all of thethings that were super
impactful, I have actually takenaction on.
And that brings me tremendousfulfillment.
(18:43):
And it's the fulfillment thatkeeps me going forward, right?
Like I'm a little bit selfish,not a little bit, I'm a lot of
bit selfish, because I serveothers because of the
fulfillment it gives me.
I share my gifts and talentsbecause of the fulfillment it
brings me.
And so, sure, I'm a little bitselfless, right?
I'm a servant, I want to serveothers, I want to support and
(19:05):
contribute to your path as muchas you will allow me to, but I
do it because it brings mefulfillment.
So that is that's that's why I'ma selfish dude.
Anyways, let's go to thecomments.
We got a comment coming in.
Ah, we got Mr.
Abbas.
What's going on, my brother?
Fierce supporter, um, coming infrom the other side of the
(19:25):
world.
Oh, look at Heather, she'sconfessing.
She says, Yes, Jake Jones, Ihave the double D trello board
and it's been unruly late.
You know what, Heather, here'sanother thing to think about.
When one rabbit swirl disruptsmy entire day or even multiple
days, it's likely because I'mattempting to do too much in one
(19:51):
day.
I know, I know you're super,super high achiever, and that
that math don't math in ourhead.
What do you mean trying to dotoo much?
And so what I would suggestconsider evaluating.
Like if you're if you're usingthe daily domination board, you
know.
When you list out your tasks forthe day, how many tasks per day
(20:15):
are you creating?
Like at when you when you'replanning for the day, how many
tasks are you targeting?
If you don't know that number,start paying attention to that
and find out what that numberis.
And then get intentional aboutwhat an appropriate actionable
number should be.
And and quick example, I've saidthis a bunch of times, but if
(20:38):
you're new here, I want to makesure you hear it.
I used to have like 15 to 20things on my list every day.
And this was back when I hadlike a real job, not today.
Um And what I found was I'm I'mcompetitive and I'm gonna get
all my stuff done.
But what that meant was ifanything didn't go per plan, if
there was anything, an unplannedcall, man, I was like, what do
(20:58):
you need?
What do you want?
I got to go like hurry, hurry,get to the point.
So people didn't really like me.
Um, and if I was travelingsomewhere and I didn't get all
the green lights, it was the endof the world.
I was stressed, I was, I waslike this all the time.
And so what I started doing wasshrinking that.
And actually, I set a target 15.
I was still kind of rude andmean to people.
I got it down to 10, and 10 waslike, okay, 10 targets, action
(21:22):
items for the day gave me enoughspace to be nice and also
challenged me to get all myfreaking work done.
So, anyways, Heather, back toyou on the rabbit squirrels.
It's possible, I don't know, butit is possible that you're
you're fighting off a biggerchunk than is reasonable.
Because here's the thing if it'scutting into your yoga and your
(21:44):
sleep and your food and yourmeditating and all those other
things, what it's acting like,it's no big deal.
You know, I won't do yoga today.
I'll only do five minutesinstead of 10 minutes of
meditation.
I get it.
I've done that.
I'll only sleep six hoursinstead of or three hours
instead of seven hours.
Like I do that, I get it.
The problem with that is whenyou're doing that, you are
(22:08):
degrading like your amazingnessbecause it's those things that
make you amazing.
It's those things that providethe experience to the people
that you're serving that theyappreciate and look forward to.
And so the practice or thediscipline is to guard that.
My technique to do that is likeset a limit on how many things
that I'm taking on so that I canmake sure that I'm, you know,
(22:30):
getting my exercise in,sleeping, nutrition, doing all
the magical things.
All right, folks.
So I'm gonna do a quick review,super, super high level.
We talked about on the last livestream getting all the big ideas
out of your head.
And why am I like hammering thislong-term planning?
Because that's our new year, theend of the year is it's we're in
it.
(22:50):
We got two months left.
You ain't gotta wait tillDecember 31st and come up with
your resolution that I don'tknow about you, but resolutions
I was never like that wasineffective for me.
This is what's effective for me.
So get all the things, ideas,projects, dreams, goals,
aspirations, get them all out ofyour head so that you can see
them, right?
You may not have this chartthing that that were that I'm
(23:12):
flashing up on the screen.
You can get it.
If and all you got to do again,drop double D in the comments or
check out this super fancy QRcode here, and that'll give you
access to to the dailydomination template, and then
there's an email sequence, sothen you'll you'll start getting
other downloads that you can putinto practice, or you can use a
damn piece of paper, like it'snot that complicated.
(23:34):
So, anyways, get it all your outof your head so you can see it,
and then run it through the damnmatrix, which is just a four-box
framework, right?
Impact and effort, weigh thething, the idea, the hope that
you want to have or bring intothe world, and weigh it in terms
of how much impact it's gonnahave and how much effort it's
(23:57):
gonna take.
Anything that falls in the topleft quadrant in the D in the D
box, do those first becausethey're gonna have i high impact
and it's not gonna take a lot ofeffort, energy, resources, etc.
Anything that falls in the topright quadrant, the A box, don't
(24:19):
mess around with those untilafter you did the ones in the
first box, right?
Just get those done becauseimpact and impact is amazing.
It's it's addictive and fueling,it's magical.
After you get those rolling, Idon't mean complete, but once
you get them started, then youwant to look at the stuff that's
okay, it's it's high impact,it's gonna take a little more
(24:39):
effort, but you got momentum,man.
You're grooving, and neurons aregonna start connecting, and
that'll help you like executeand deploy the other things that
are in the other box.
Uh, and then in terms ofsequence, the idea would be
anything that is low impact, butlow effort, maybe consider them,
but don't mess with them untilyou've done the D box and the A
(25:03):
box.
And then finally, after you'vedone all of those, then you
start looking at the N box.
You need to evaluate thosebecause those are going to be
very high effort with low,moderate to almost no impact,
right?
So anything there, don't throwit away.
Just don't touch it yet untilyou've deployed and taken action
(25:26):
on all the other stuff.
That's the damn matrix, that'sthe framework.
If you want more about like allof this super nerdy time
management, self-managementstuff.
I've got a batch of self-firstframework workshops coming up.
Uh, let me know, like for real,for real.
The framework it goes from plan,commit, execute, right?
(25:50):
Plan, long-term planning, longvision plan.
That's what we've been talkingabout here.
Then we get into commitment,meaning making space in our
schedule for the things.
And then we get into dailyexecution, which are three
different ways of thinking.
And that I think that's themagical part.
At least for me, it's been supermagical.
And I don't know, we've had over50 some odd people go through
(26:11):
the workshop.
Just that simple delineation ofplanning and having a specific
tool and framework to do theplanning, sketch or committing
and having a specific tool orframework for scheduling and
committing, and then dailyexecution seems to help a bunch
of people because what typicallyhappens is we co-mingle all of
(26:31):
it, and then our brain getsstuck, and then we get
handcuffed and we don't make anyprogress.
So you want to like know whatthat experience is about, and
more importantly, get the toolsand mental models to help you
freaking kick butt in 2026.
Hit me up because I've got theseworkshops coming and they're
fun.
Like, even even other peoplehave fun, not just me.
(26:52):
Look, Miss Yudie says, Yes,please, girl.
I got you.
I'll send you a link.
So I appreciate y'all very much.
Be kind to yourself, be cool,and we'll talk at you next time.
Peace.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Betrayal: Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a brand new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-4 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.