September 10, 2024 • 22 mins
In today's episode of Business for Humans, Jaime Gennaro, business coach and founder of Practica Consulting, dives deeper into the theme of focus. Building on last week's introduction, Jaime shares her personal strategies for working towards a specific goal and breaking it down into actionable tasks. She emphasizes the importance of discipline, maintaining routines and staying focused on your end goal.
Jaime also discusses how to keep your team aligned by setting clear expectations and tracking progress through manageable sprints. She shares her own goal and the steps she's taking to achieve it, offering valuable insights for business owners and team leaders alike.
Tune in to learn how to stay true to your priorities, manage your mind, and lead your team toward shared objectives. Whether you're a solo entrepreneur or managing a small team, this episode provides practical advice to help you stay focused and achieve your goals.
Registration for Fall coaching is open now. Sessions start in October. Set up a :20 discovery call with Jaime to learn more.
http://practica.consulting/contact
Jaime Bancroft Gennaro is a seasoned business consultant and coach with over 20 years of experience helping companies achieve sustainable growth and leadership success. She has held leadership roles in marketing and operational strategy across various industries, including tech startups and creative agencies. Jaime specializes in business coaching for entrepreneurs, guiding leaders in balancing personal and professional growth. She focuses on reducing burnout, achieving business clarity, and developing leadership strategies for long-term success.
Original Music by: Luca Gennaro
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I'm Jamie Gennaro, business coach and consultant and founder of Practica Consulting.
In today's episode, I dive deeper into the theme of focus, which I introduced last week.
I share how I'm working toward a specific goal and how I'm breaking it down into actionable tasks.
I talk about the importance of staying disciplined, maintaining routines like
exercise to avoid burnout and keeping your mind focused on the end goal.
(00:24):
I also talk about how to keep your team aligned by setting clear expectations
and tracking progress through short, manageable sprints. Enjoy.
Hello, everyone. Welcome, welcome.
Today is a little bit of a version two of last week.
So last week, I introduced this idea of focus and wanting to deep dive on some
(00:49):
themes with you and some content so that I'm not just always hopping around
in a million different directions.
So one thing I talked about last week was this idea of picking a goal that's
really nagging at you and then jotting down five tasks that you could do over
the next two weeks towards that goal. Well, here we are at week one.
(01:14):
And I told you I would let you know what my five things are and what my goal is.
And this might help you kind of further hone in your focus.
And what I'm going to expound on today day too is not just you keeping focused,
but how do you also keep people on your team focused, right?
(01:35):
Because if we're working even on a really tiny team or even your household team,
if you're all moving towards a goal together,
it's important that everyone has some level of momentum, right?
We have to keep everybody aligned to that goal.
And if you're a business owner, no matter how big or small your team is,
(01:58):
you have to keep that vision clear so that you can always be leading people back to it.
So that's my job as a coach. When I work with people, we do a long intake session.
I define their goals. And then it's my job to keep us laddering back to those
(02:19):
goals every time we meet.
Because it's really easy to set goals and then to start moving forward and then to kind of,
veer off on some side roads. And that's fine as long as you've completed that
first cycle of getting through those goals, right? That's the focused part.
We don't want to be so scattered and spread out.
(02:42):
It's just going to create overwhelm. And it's just going to make us feel like
our business is chaotic. It's not focused.
And all of that.
So I try to choose a goal that felt attainable. And also it's one of those goals that's nagging at me.
And you're not going to be surprised if you just listened to last week's episode,
(03:03):
you're not going to be surprised that it's really connected to one of the examples I used.
So most of the time my examples come from real life.
And for me, it's tax season.
And although I have my plan all sorted out and I'm not in any kind of scarcity trying to pay my taxes.
It's always just a little, it just hurts a little bit. I'm a total fan of taxes
(03:27):
and the reason behind taxes.
So I'm not questioning taxes or trying to get out of them.
I understand the benefit of taxes, but it's just a little bit,
it's like one lump sum at a certain point in the year and it just hurts a little
bit. It hurts on the cash flow.
So my goal that's really been kind of nagging at me, the one thing is that I'd
(03:49):
really like to bring in a surplus of about $20,000 in the next six weeks.
So to be totally transparent, because I think it's important for us as business
owners and for me as your coach, whether you're being coached just through these
podcasts or you're being coached by me in real life,
(04:10):
it's important to be transparent about money and so that you can kind of understand,
am I the right coach for you too?
Because if you're looking to make a million dollars, euros, pounds a month,
I'm not your coach. I'm not there.
And I don't think I'm ever going to be there to be quite honest.
I don't think that's the lifestyle I'm looking for in terms of workload and
(04:32):
team size and number of clients I would have to support at that level.
Right now, I'm bringing in about $20,000 a month.
And that's everybody. That's my COO-level clients. That's my private coaching clients.
That's my membership that I have. So all up, I'm about $20,000 a month regularly.
(04:54):
Of course, it's like up and down. But I would say on average, that's my goal.
I mean, that's really... And it's going to shift and it's going to be higher
soon. but I think I just, I don't like to set goals that are so much of a reach
that it feels just painful.
Like it's just one of those goals that you never get to and it doesn't work out.
(05:15):
So, so I'm really happy. Like that had been a goal for a while and that's pretty consistent.
So now I'm like, okay, so now I'm at 20K a month.
What would it take for me to get another 20K, which is basically my workload.
I mean, there's so many different ways to look at it, but it could be my workload
times two because I'm saying six weeks.
(05:35):
So that means I'm doing that work or anticipating that work,
which is about double of where I am.
One way to look at it, old-fashioned way.
Another way to look at it is could I do one thing that would bring in 20K?
Like could I do a course, right, where I don't have a lot more work?
(05:55):
I'm not meeting with like 10 people over time, but maybe a meeting once a week
with a group, right? Is that one thing?
I digress. If my goal, if that goal that's nagging at me is make 20K in six
weeks, I have to have a list of five things that I think are going to get me there.
(06:16):
Things that are going to be high impact items that won't get me spinning into
some side road rabbit hole.
Things that are going to keep me focused. So let me read you my list.
It's actually a little bit longer than five.
So teacher gets to cheat the rules a little bit.
But I want to explain why certain things are on my list. And you're going to
(06:39):
hear the coachy part of me as you hear some of the things that are on my list. Okay.
Exercise and morning ritual. Exercise is part of my morning ritual,
but those two things are on the list.
Reach out to past clients, contact companies, create content.
(07:00):
Here I am creating content.
Get organized, manage my mind.
And get disciplined. And those two are linked.
So why these things? Why do I feel like these are the highest impact things?
Okay. Exercise and morning ritual. Something I talked about last week too.
(07:22):
If I dropped that saying, I only have six weeks. I got to rush.
I have to hurry. I got to get these things done. This is my goal.
If I'm going to make 20K, I have to run, run, and run.
If I do that, I'm going to burn myself out. And by the time that work lands,
because I'm in sales mode, right?
By the time I have to do the work, I'm going to be too tired to do the work
(07:45):
because I stopped taking care of myself.
So this is why my list is a little longer than five.
But it's really imperative that as I go towards these six weeks and go towards
this big goal, that I don't lose that part because that's where I get my energy, right?
(08:05):
My morning ritual, my exercise routine, if I drop that, I'm going to lose energy.
I'm probably going to lose sleep.
I'm going to have extra stress. I'm going to be a pain in the ass to my family.
I don't want to go there. And in fact, when I told my husband,
like, I'm kind of on a sprint towards the end of the year, I have a lot of work.
(08:27):
He was like, I just hope that means you're not going to get all stressed out.
So imperative.
So now I have some actions also on my list that are the things that are going to move me forward.
If I don't do these things, I will not make extra money.
Reaching out to past clients and contacting companies. So what does that mean
(08:49):
in the scheme of my business?
Past clients, I have four years of past clients.
So it's always nice, you know, not even in a sales-y way, but just to like check in with them.
I love these people, right? We've had really like close relationships because
of the work that they're doing.
(09:10):
So no matter what, but I just want to reach out to them. It's just a good reminder.
And sometimes it's enough for me to just check in with someone and then they're
like, oh, so glad you checked in.
I've been thinking about you and actually I want to do something new with you.
Sometimes I don't even need to sell anything.
Sometimes I do because I want them to feel special. So sometimes I'm like,
(09:31):
listen, I want to cut you a deal and here's a special discount, things like that.
But ultimately, just checking in with them can be enough.
So that's one of those kind of momentum, acceleration, action points on my list
that I think could be a way to potentially bring in some revenue in the next six weeks.
(09:53):
It's also easy because I know these people. So it's not like a big onboarding situation.
Sometimes I can just put them right into my monthly maintenance plan.
And that's great. Like it's kind of low impact for me. It's easy for them.
It's Not, you know, a super high-end...
Package in terms of cost. So it's easier when you have relationships with people
(10:17):
to find a way to support one another than to be starting completely from scratch
trying to convince someone why they should work with you. Past clients.
Companies. So I work in this other capacity where I'm a little bit of,
I say a little bit because I'm not like a formal, formal fractional COO.
I am with one client, but sometimes I just pop in and I'll look at the organizational
(10:42):
structure of a company and I'll make recommendations.
I'll meet with the team. I'll do an audit.
So it's a pretty easy first step in the door for a company to say,
we're struggling a little bit.
We don't know how to staff up.
We don't know if we have the right staff. We need some help just looking at that from the outside.
(11:04):
So it's a little bit different than me working with private coaching clients.
So that's something I need to do is just reach out to some of the companies
I worked with in the past, and then some new companies where I feel like I could be a good fit.
And for me, my specific niche on that side is working with creative marketing
advertising agencies, because that's my background.
(11:26):
So when it comes to operational support, I know the work.
I know the team dynamics. I know how to get the work done in the most efficient way.
So that's my sweet spot. So I need to go in that direction.
Creating content, it just always needs to be on the list. Same thing as exercise.
I just can't drop off because that's how new people get to know me.
(11:51):
So I need to keep creating content on that list, even if I'm in a new push or
in a new like launch cycle, creating content can't drop off.
And then I have these three pieces at the bottom, which are get organized,
manage my mind, and get disciplined.
I feel like they're aligned. They're all sort of related.
(12:12):
It's on the list because I can't forget that I have thoughts that will propel
me into action or that will slow me down.
And I have to remember my coachy side of myself. I have to remember that if
I start to go into scarcity or doubt or insecurity or worry or all these places,
(12:34):
I need to manage myself through that.
I don't want to ignore it. I don't want to sweep it under the rug.
I don't want to put a lot of time and energy into those feelings because they're
not going to get me the result I want, which is 20,006 weeks.
Procrastination is what comes from worry and scarcity and doubt and insecurity.
(12:57):
And I don't want to go into that place. So I need to make sure I'm staying disciplined
about coaching myself and I'm staying organized.
Part of my ability to stay focused is really making lists, priority lists,
and keeping things on my calendar and keeping it clean.
(13:18):
That's how I stay focused. I don't have a lot of clutter.
I don't have a lot of clutter on my calendar either. It's like,
I know I have certain pockets of time.
I have to prioritize those pockets of time. I have to be efficient.
And that's what I need to make sure is still on the list that I'm not forgetting those things.
So we're in week one. And I can say I've reached out to, maybe this is like
(13:43):
slightly embarrassing, but I'm really busy.
But I've reached out to two past clients.
I have created content.
Of course, there's a sub list to that, but I have like kind of a new process
for creating content. I started on that this week. I'm really happy with that.
And I was looking to reach out to one company.
I did a bunch of research to try to figure out how to get in touch with them
(14:06):
and went down a rabbit hole.
I also reached out to some people.
So not exactly the same list, but I've been reaching out to people who have
scheduled calls with me that seemed really interested, but they didn't go the step further.
And so I reached out to all those people again, too. So I think in a week,
(14:26):
considering that I have a lot of client work right now, it's a busy season for me.
I feel really happy with that list.
What we don't want to do is beat ourselves up. We want to stay true to this list.
We want to do as many things towards that list as we can every week.
We have two weeks in this case, but we don't want to use it as a way to beat
(14:47):
ourselves up. Like, oh, look at me. See, I'm a failure.
I'm still bad at this. Look at me. I can't do anything right.
That's not the exercise. The exercise is stay focused on this list.
Don't go down rabbit holes. These are your priorities.
Stay true to these priorities for two weeks without getting distracted and see
where you are at the end of two weeks.
(15:08):
Gauge and judge. No different than exercise.
If you exercise every day for two weeks, you're going to start to see a change.
You're going to start to feel a change.
You're not going to feel it after one day, but after two weeks of being consistent
and just staying true to yourself and doing what you say you're going to do,
you're going to start to see change.
(15:29):
Two weeks is a good amount of time to calibrate and see where you are and see
what kind of progress you've made and how realistic you are with these things.
That's why I kept exercise on there and the managing my mind piece because I
don't want to drop those things no matter what.
I'm not going to put 25 things on the list. I cheated a little bit and I think
(15:53):
I can combine those last three. Maybe it's five or six.
We don't want to overburden ourselves with too many of those tasks.
So moving into how you keep your team on track, you want to sit down with them
the same way you're sitting down with yourself and you want to work on this list together.
With them. So all right, we have a combined goal of 20,006 weeks.
(16:19):
So how are you as part of my team? What can you do?
What are the five steps you can do to help ensure that this happens?
So depending on what they carry, maybe they're in client relationships and they can look at all the
(16:40):
client relationships and look at where there might be an opportunity to add
more value or add more support to that relationship.
Maybe they are doing marketing for you.
And so they can start to think of different ways to convert your audience into clients, right?
How else could they push on that side?
(17:02):
So sit down with them and create the list with them. Set an expectation.
Let them know like they're not going to get in trouble if we don't get to the 20,000.
But all the things, right? We're all in this together. We like to set stretch
goals so that we can see what's possible, right?
If we're taking action, let's see what's possible rather than like leaning back
(17:27):
or not knowing what our goals are.
As a leader, it's really helpful if you're defining that goal really clearly
with a timeline with your people and very clearly laying out what's for them
to take on instead of being vague, right?
Like, we're all going to work on this. Okay, everybody go.
It's like, no, let's sit down and really clearly define what are your five pieces.
(17:52):
Let's see what you can do in two weeks. And it's a little bit like the concept
of a sprint. If you've worked in software, it's like a two-week sprint.
What can we do in two weeks? We're going to choose these five things and we're
going to gauge our progress.
So check in with them after week one. Like, how are you feeling?
Does it feel like too much on your plate combined with all the other things on your plate?
(18:14):
Or does it feel like you're making progress? Do you want to maybe add one more thing, right?
So set those expectations really clearly. Set the goals really clearly.
But just try doing one at a time in a short sprint.
Like what's our goal in six weeks
what's our goal in three months try to
(18:35):
pare it down so we always have these big
dreamy lofty goals but we also need to ground them and so this is a nice way
to kind of get it focused on one goal that one that's kind of nagging sit down
with your teams define those five things they can do in the next two weeks and
then track it and don't get caught
(18:57):
up in like, we have trackers and we have spreadsheets and we have this and that.
I do like a good spreadsheet for this.
I do like listing those five things somewhere and then keeping track.
I think it's nice for people to have a place to go and then you're like, cool, complete.
Look at that. And then as you move, you're like, oh, five more, five more, five more.
Do you like that? But don't get caught up in like, how are we going to set this up?
(19:18):
What's the process? What's the plan? What's the software?
I think people get too stuck in that and it's really a way to procrastinate.
So just make a list on a Word document, make a list in a spreadsheet,
make a Google Doc, send an email, whatever it is, keep it really simple,
and then keep moving forward.
(19:39):
So I'm going to check in again next week. That'll be the end of this like two-week
cycle, this two-week sort of focus on focus, and we'll see where we're all at.
All right. And feel free to drop me a line too. It's jamieatpractica.consulting.
If you're like, hey, I need somebody to hold me accountable.
Here's my list. I'd love to hear it.
(20:01):
So I am going to leave it at that. Good luck. And I will talk to you next week.
Is September the time for you to get refocused and re-energized and moving forward
towards all of your 2024 goals, getting them all accomplished by the end of the quarter,
(20:22):
it's time for you to sign up for coaching.
Whether you're ready to launch a business or move into a new position,
scale a business that you've been running for a while, now's the time to get
focused on those actions that are going to propel you towards your goals.
Let's prioritize and make sure that you're you're focused on the right things.
(20:44):
So if you've been spiraling or spinning around the same patterns and cycles
for a while, coaching is the thing that can really break you out of those patterns.
If you're interested, coaching registration is open until mid-September,
and we're starting new coaching clients the beginning of October for our three-month coaching program.
(21:08):
So if you're interested, make sure to set up a call on the website site,
practica.consulting. Go to book a call and reserve your spot now.
Music.
I'm Jamie Gennaro, business coach and consultant and founder of Practica Consulting.
In today's episode, I dive deeper into the theme of focus, which I introduced last week.
I share how I'm working toward a specific goal and how I'm breaking it down into actionable tasks.
I talk about the importance of staying disciplined, maintaining routines like
exercise to avoid burnout and keeping your mind focused on the end goal.
(00:24):
I also talk about how to keep your team aligned by setting clear expectations
and tracking progress through short, manageable sprints. Enjoy.
Hello, everyone. Welcome, welcome.
Today is a little bit of a version two of last week.
So last week, I introduced this idea of focus and wanting to deep dive on some
(00:49):
themes with you and some content so that I'm not just always hopping around
in a million different directions.
So one thing I talked about last week was this idea of picking a goal that's
really nagging at you and then jotting down five tasks that you could do over
the next two weeks towards that goal. Well, here we are at week one.
(01:14):
And I told you I would let you know what my five things are and what my goal is.
And this might help you kind of further hone in your focus.
And what I'm going to expound on today day too is not just you keeping focused,
but how do you also keep people on your team focused, right?
(01:35):
Because if we're working even on a really tiny team or even your household team,
if you're all moving towards a goal together,
it's important that everyone has some level of momentum, right?
We have to keep everybody aligned to that goal.
And if you're a business owner, no matter how big or small your team is,
(01:58):
you have to keep that vision clear so that you can always be leading people back to it.
So that's my job as a coach. When I work with people, we do a long intake session.
I define their goals. And then it's my job to keep us laddering back to those
(02:19):
goals every time we meet.
Because it's really easy to set goals and then to start moving forward and then to kind of,
veer off on some side roads. And that's fine as long as you've completed that
first cycle of getting through those goals, right? That's the focused part.
We don't want to be so scattered and spread out.
(02:42):
It's just going to create overwhelm. And it's just going to make us feel like
our business is chaotic. It's not focused.
And all of that.
So I try to choose a goal that felt attainable. And also it's one of those goals that's nagging at me.
And you're not going to be surprised if you just listened to last week's episode,
(03:03):
you're not going to be surprised that it's really connected to one of the examples I used.
So most of the time my examples come from real life.
And for me, it's tax season.
And although I have my plan all sorted out and I'm not in any kind of scarcity trying to pay my taxes.
It's always just a little, it just hurts a little bit. I'm a total fan of taxes
(03:27):
and the reason behind taxes.
So I'm not questioning taxes or trying to get out of them.
I understand the benefit of taxes, but it's just a little bit,
it's like one lump sum at a certain point in the year and it just hurts a little
bit. It hurts on the cash flow.
So my goal that's really been kind of nagging at me, the one thing is that I'd
(03:49):
really like to bring in a surplus of about $20,000 in the next six weeks.
So to be totally transparent, because I think it's important for us as business
owners and for me as your coach, whether you're being coached just through these
podcasts or you're being coached by me in real life,
(04:10):
it's important to be transparent about money and so that you can kind of understand,
am I the right coach for you too?
Because if you're looking to make a million dollars, euros, pounds a month,
I'm not your coach. I'm not there.
And I don't think I'm ever going to be there to be quite honest.
I don't think that's the lifestyle I'm looking for in terms of workload and
(04:32):
team size and number of clients I would have to support at that level.
Right now, I'm bringing in about $20,000 a month.
And that's everybody. That's my COO-level clients. That's my private coaching clients.
That's my membership that I have. So all up, I'm about $20,000 a month regularly.
(04:54):
Of course, it's like up and down. But I would say on average, that's my goal.
I mean, that's really... And it's going to shift and it's going to be higher
soon. but I think I just, I don't like to set goals that are so much of a reach
that it feels just painful.
Like it's just one of those goals that you never get to and it doesn't work out.
(05:15):
So, so I'm really happy. Like that had been a goal for a while and that's pretty consistent.
So now I'm like, okay, so now I'm at 20K a month.
What would it take for me to get another 20K, which is basically my workload.
I mean, there's so many different ways to look at it, but it could be my workload
times two because I'm saying six weeks.
(05:35):
So that means I'm doing that work or anticipating that work,
which is about double of where I am.
One way to look at it, old-fashioned way.
Another way to look at it is could I do one thing that would bring in 20K?
Like could I do a course, right, where I don't have a lot more work?
(05:55):
I'm not meeting with like 10 people over time, but maybe a meeting once a week
with a group, right? Is that one thing?
I digress. If my goal, if that goal that's nagging at me is make 20K in six
weeks, I have to have a list of five things that I think are going to get me there.
(06:16):
Things that are going to be high impact items that won't get me spinning into
some side road rabbit hole.
Things that are going to keep me focused. So let me read you my list.
It's actually a little bit longer than five.
So teacher gets to cheat the rules a little bit.
But I want to explain why certain things are on my list. And you're going to
(06:39):
hear the coachy part of me as you hear some of the things that are on my list. Okay.
Exercise and morning ritual. Exercise is part of my morning ritual,
but those two things are on the list.
Reach out to past clients, contact companies, create content.
(07:00):
Here I am creating content.
Get organized, manage my mind.
And get disciplined. And those two are linked.
So why these things? Why do I feel like these are the highest impact things?
Okay. Exercise and morning ritual. Something I talked about last week too.
(07:22):
If I dropped that saying, I only have six weeks. I got to rush.
I have to hurry. I got to get these things done. This is my goal.
If I'm going to make 20K, I have to run, run, and run.
If I do that, I'm going to burn myself out. And by the time that work lands,
because I'm in sales mode, right?
By the time I have to do the work, I'm going to be too tired to do the work
(07:45):
because I stopped taking care of myself.
So this is why my list is a little longer than five.
But it's really imperative that as I go towards these six weeks and go towards
this big goal, that I don't lose that part because that's where I get my energy, right?
(08:05):
My morning ritual, my exercise routine, if I drop that, I'm going to lose energy.
I'm probably going to lose sleep.
I'm going to have extra stress. I'm going to be a pain in the ass to my family.
I don't want to go there. And in fact, when I told my husband,
like, I'm kind of on a sprint towards the end of the year, I have a lot of work.
(08:27):
He was like, I just hope that means you're not going to get all stressed out.
So imperative.
So now I have some actions also on my list that are the things that are going to move me forward.
If I don't do these things, I will not make extra money.
Reaching out to past clients and contacting companies. So what does that mean
(08:49):
in the scheme of my business?
Past clients, I have four years of past clients.
So it's always nice, you know, not even in a sales-y way, but just to like check in with them.
I love these people, right? We've had really like close relationships because
of the work that they're doing.
(09:10):
So no matter what, but I just want to reach out to them. It's just a good reminder.
And sometimes it's enough for me to just check in with someone and then they're
like, oh, so glad you checked in.
I've been thinking about you and actually I want to do something new with you.
Sometimes I don't even need to sell anything.
Sometimes I do because I want them to feel special. So sometimes I'm like,
(09:31):
listen, I want to cut you a deal and here's a special discount, things like that.
But ultimately, just checking in with them can be enough.
So that's one of those kind of momentum, acceleration, action points on my list
that I think could be a way to potentially bring in some revenue in the next six weeks.
(09:53):
It's also easy because I know these people. So it's not like a big onboarding situation.
Sometimes I can just put them right into my monthly maintenance plan.
And that's great. Like it's kind of low impact for me. It's easy for them.
It's Not, you know, a super high-end...
Package in terms of cost. So it's easier when you have relationships with people
(10:17):
to find a way to support one another than to be starting completely from scratch
trying to convince someone why they should work with you. Past clients.
Companies. So I work in this other capacity where I'm a little bit of,
I say a little bit because I'm not like a formal, formal fractional COO.
I am with one client, but sometimes I just pop in and I'll look at the organizational
(10:42):
structure of a company and I'll make recommendations.
I'll meet with the team. I'll do an audit.
So it's a pretty easy first step in the door for a company to say,
we're struggling a little bit.
We don't know how to staff up.
We don't know if we have the right staff. We need some help just looking at that from the outside.
(11:04):
So it's a little bit different than me working with private coaching clients.
So that's something I need to do is just reach out to some of the companies
I worked with in the past, and then some new companies where I feel like I could be a good fit.
And for me, my specific niche on that side is working with creative marketing
advertising agencies, because that's my background.
(11:26):
So when it comes to operational support, I know the work.
I know the team dynamics. I know how to get the work done in the most efficient way.
So that's my sweet spot. So I need to go in that direction.
Creating content, it just always needs to be on the list. Same thing as exercise.
I just can't drop off because that's how new people get to know me.
(11:51):
So I need to keep creating content on that list, even if I'm in a new push or
in a new like launch cycle, creating content can't drop off.
And then I have these three pieces at the bottom, which are get organized,
manage my mind, and get disciplined.
I feel like they're aligned. They're all sort of related.
(12:12):
It's on the list because I can't forget that I have thoughts that will propel
me into action or that will slow me down.
And I have to remember my coachy side of myself. I have to remember that if
I start to go into scarcity or doubt or insecurity or worry or all these places,
(12:34):
I need to manage myself through that.
I don't want to ignore it. I don't want to sweep it under the rug.
I don't want to put a lot of time and energy into those feelings because they're
not going to get me the result I want, which is 20,006 weeks.
Procrastination is what comes from worry and scarcity and doubt and insecurity.
(12:57):
And I don't want to go into that place. So I need to make sure I'm staying disciplined
about coaching myself and I'm staying organized.
Part of my ability to stay focused is really making lists, priority lists,
and keeping things on my calendar and keeping it clean.
(13:18):
That's how I stay focused. I don't have a lot of clutter.
I don't have a lot of clutter on my calendar either. It's like,
I know I have certain pockets of time.
I have to prioritize those pockets of time. I have to be efficient.
And that's what I need to make sure is still on the list that I'm not forgetting those things.
So we're in week one. And I can say I've reached out to, maybe this is like
(13:43):
slightly embarrassing, but I'm really busy.
But I've reached out to two past clients.
I have created content.
Of course, there's a sub list to that, but I have like kind of a new process
for creating content. I started on that this week. I'm really happy with that.
And I was looking to reach out to one company.
I did a bunch of research to try to figure out how to get in touch with them
(14:06):
and went down a rabbit hole.
I also reached out to some people.
So not exactly the same list, but I've been reaching out to people who have
scheduled calls with me that seemed really interested, but they didn't go the step further.
And so I reached out to all those people again, too. So I think in a week,
(14:26):
considering that I have a lot of client work right now, it's a busy season for me.
I feel really happy with that list.
What we don't want to do is beat ourselves up. We want to stay true to this list.
We want to do as many things towards that list as we can every week.
We have two weeks in this case, but we don't want to use it as a way to beat
(14:47):
ourselves up. Like, oh, look at me. See, I'm a failure.
I'm still bad at this. Look at me. I can't do anything right.
That's not the exercise. The exercise is stay focused on this list.
Don't go down rabbit holes. These are your priorities.
Stay true to these priorities for two weeks without getting distracted and see
where you are at the end of two weeks.
(15:08):
Gauge and judge. No different than exercise.
If you exercise every day for two weeks, you're going to start to see a change.
You're going to start to feel a change.
You're not going to feel it after one day, but after two weeks of being consistent
and just staying true to yourself and doing what you say you're going to do,
you're going to start to see change.
(15:29):
Two weeks is a good amount of time to calibrate and see where you are and see
what kind of progress you've made and how realistic you are with these things.
That's why I kept exercise on there and the managing my mind piece because I
don't want to drop those things no matter what.
I'm not going to put 25 things on the list. I cheated a little bit and I think
(15:53):
I can combine those last three. Maybe it's five or six.
We don't want to overburden ourselves with too many of those tasks.
So moving into how you keep your team on track, you want to sit down with them
the same way you're sitting down with yourself and you want to work on this list together.
With them. So all right, we have a combined goal of 20,006 weeks.
(16:19):
So how are you as part of my team? What can you do?
What are the five steps you can do to help ensure that this happens?
So depending on what they carry, maybe they're in client relationships and they can look at all the
(16:40):
client relationships and look at where there might be an opportunity to add
more value or add more support to that relationship.
Maybe they are doing marketing for you.
And so they can start to think of different ways to convert your audience into clients, right?
How else could they push on that side?
(17:02):
So sit down with them and create the list with them. Set an expectation.
Let them know like they're not going to get in trouble if we don't get to the 20,000.
But all the things, right? We're all in this together. We like to set stretch
goals so that we can see what's possible, right?
If we're taking action, let's see what's possible rather than like leaning back
(17:27):
or not knowing what our goals are.
As a leader, it's really helpful if you're defining that goal really clearly
with a timeline with your people and very clearly laying out what's for them
to take on instead of being vague, right?
Like, we're all going to work on this. Okay, everybody go.
It's like, no, let's sit down and really clearly define what are your five pieces.
(17:52):
Let's see what you can do in two weeks. And it's a little bit like the concept
of a sprint. If you've worked in software, it's like a two-week sprint.
What can we do in two weeks? We're going to choose these five things and we're
going to gauge our progress.
So check in with them after week one. Like, how are you feeling?
Does it feel like too much on your plate combined with all the other things on your plate?
(18:14):
Or does it feel like you're making progress? Do you want to maybe add one more thing, right?
So set those expectations really clearly. Set the goals really clearly.
But just try doing one at a time in a short sprint.
Like what's our goal in six weeks
what's our goal in three months try to
(18:35):
pare it down so we always have these big
dreamy lofty goals but we also need to ground them and so this is a nice way
to kind of get it focused on one goal that one that's kind of nagging sit down
with your teams define those five things they can do in the next two weeks and
then track it and don't get caught
(18:57):
up in like, we have trackers and we have spreadsheets and we have this and that.
I do like a good spreadsheet for this.
I do like listing those five things somewhere and then keeping track.
I think it's nice for people to have a place to go and then you're like, cool, complete.
Look at that. And then as you move, you're like, oh, five more, five more, five more.
Do you like that? But don't get caught up in like, how are we going to set this up?
(19:18):
What's the process? What's the plan? What's the software?
I think people get too stuck in that and it's really a way to procrastinate.
So just make a list on a Word document, make a list in a spreadsheet,
make a Google Doc, send an email, whatever it is, keep it really simple,
and then keep moving forward.
(19:39):
So I'm going to check in again next week. That'll be the end of this like two-week
cycle, this two-week sort of focus on focus, and we'll see where we're all at.
All right. And feel free to drop me a line too. It's jamieatpractica.consulting.
If you're like, hey, I need somebody to hold me accountable.
Here's my list. I'd love to hear it.
(20:01):
So I am going to leave it at that. Good luck. And I will talk to you next week.
Is September the time for you to get refocused and re-energized and moving forward
towards all of your 2024 goals, getting them all accomplished by the end of the quarter,
(20:22):
it's time for you to sign up for coaching.
Whether you're ready to launch a business or move into a new position,
scale a business that you've been running for a while, now's the time to get
focused on those actions that are going to propel you towards your goals.
Let's prioritize and make sure that you're you're focused on the right things.
(20:44):
So if you've been spiraling or spinning around the same patterns and cycles
for a while, coaching is the thing that can really break you out of those patterns.
If you're interested, coaching registration is open until mid-September,
and we're starting new coaching clients the beginning of October for our three-month coaching program.
(21:08):
So if you're interested, make sure to set up a call on the website site,
practica.consulting. Go to book a call and reserve your spot now.
Music.
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