September 2, 2024 • 18 mins
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@thesoftlifeceo
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www.thesoftlifeceo.com/society
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www.thesoftlifeceo.com/free-training-optin
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www.relationshiprestored.com
@breannaaponte
@thesoftlifeceo
Website:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com
Community:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com/society
Free Training:
www.thesoftlifeceo.com/free-training-optin
YouTube:
@thesoftlifeceo
Relationship Restored:
www.relationshiprestored.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
While it's great to be productive, knowing when to take
a break is vital. Studies show that taking breaks between
meetings and task allow the brand to reset, which lowers
your levels of stress. Hey, I'm Brianna Aponte, your host
of the Self Life CEO podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I dropped out of college at the age.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Of nineteen to start my first business. I worked seven
days a week, wore way too many hats, and was
the true definition of a hustler. Years later, I'm finally
living the dream that I worked so hard to make
my reality. I've transitioned from a hustler to a soft
life CEO, working only two days a week to maintain
and run a high earning business that gives me the
freedom to live a life I love. Now it's my
(00:37):
mission to help as many entrepreneurs as I can elevate
the brand, increase their income, and reclaim their time. Join
me and guest experts as we share our transparent journeys,
work smart, not hard, strategies, and the behind the scenes
of running a successful brand in business. You're tuned in
to the Self Life CEO This is for you if
you know that you could manage your time better, If
you're ready to get back your time and live a
(00:59):
more productive life. If you're an entrepreneur who needs to
work more effectively and feel confident about your schedule and workflow,
or if you're ready to commit to the life that
you want. What we're going to be covering is why
time management is essential for entrepreneurs. Planning your day, prioritizing
and limiting distractions, delegating and retiring from multitasking, time management
(01:20):
tools and time blocking strategies, time saving scientific methods and hacks,
and methods for supercharging your productivity. Let's first talk about
why time management is so essential for entrepreneurs. The benefits
are that you do more and less time. It helps
take advantage of your most productive time so that you
can do your best work. It makes you less stressed
(01:40):
and more in control in life and in business. You're
able to meet deadlines more consistently, you won't feel stuck
as often, you won't be distracted by low value tasks
that add no value to your work or life, and
you have more energy so that you don't feel burnout
as often. So I want to first jump into the
time saving hacks because these have been game changers for me.
(02:02):
Number one is the text replacement feature. So ah, I
love this, my team loves this, my husband loves this.
It saves all of us so much time. So here's
what you do. And this is specifically for iPhone users.
I'm not sure what the setup is for any Android users,
but for my iPhone people, I got you. So you
want to go into Settings, click on General, then Keyboard,
(02:25):
then text replacement, click on the plus sign and then
paste your phrase where it says phrase and then you're
going to create a shortcut in the shortcut space. So
here's my example. When I type commm, and the reason
why it's three ms is because you want to choose
words that don't actually fit into other words, because then
(02:45):
every time you type that, or type that on your
computer or text that on your phone, it's going to
pop up that shortcut. So there's never an instance in
where I would ever be spelling a word with three.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Ms, because that's that's no way to spell a word.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So this stands for community for me, so my brain
knows that if I need to send something out to
someone regarding the community, I type commm and then this.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Phrase pops up.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Super excited that you're interested in joining my community. Click
the link to learn more and start a thirty day
free trial, and then it has the link provided. So
instead of having to have all these multiple conversations and
to send things via email or in text message, I
literally just hit four simple buttons and I'm done.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It is a game changer.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
You can do this for any of your frequently asked questions,
any links that you need to send out often that
you don't want to have to go and copy and paste.
But it'll definitely save you a lot of time. Anytime
I do something more than once, I then create a
shortcut for it in the text replacement feature. Second is
Gmail Templates, create on brand templates for all of the
(03:47):
repetitive emails that you send out to clients, potential partners,
podcast guests, you name it. Not only will this save
you time, but it will save your team time and
if your team saves time, you save money. So here
are two examples that I use for podcasting. So whenever
we have a guest that confirms that they would like
to move forward, we have in my Monday board where
(04:08):
I just add the person's email name and then my
producer is notified that hey, we have a new booking
and all that she needs to do is go in
pull their information and then confirm the date that we're
going to be shooting with them. So instead of having
to draft and create this email each time, she comes
right here to this template on the left, and all
she has to do is type in their name after
(04:29):
the word hey, and then right where you see the
line where it says Thursday blank at seven pm, she
just adds the actual month and date, so it would
say like March seventh at seven pm. So there's two
things that she comes in, the name and the date,
and then she sends that off and we're good to go. Secondly,
when it's time to send the interview brief, this is
(04:51):
what the client needs to understand how to set up
their podcasts and to know what questions we're going to
be asking. So Danielle comes in here, she copies and
pastes the link for their interview brief right here in
this button as their name, and sends it off. So
we have this for every single process and stuff that
we do with guests and with clients. So if you
look here, there's literally these two places that have to
(05:12):
be customized to the actual individual, but outside of that,
all of the information is the same. So it saves
us so much time. Next is the dubsado features. If
you have a service based business or work with clients,
I highly encourage to look at dubsado as ACRM. It
provides time saving hacks for contracts, proposals, invoices, payments, emails, appointments, deadlines, reminders, forms,
(05:34):
and client communication. It is bomb dot com. That's all
I'm going to say. Go check it out. Next is
monday dot com features. If you want to personally manage
your projects, or if you have a team who works
on projects for you, I suggest using Monday dot com
as a project management tool. It provides time saving hacks
for tasks, processes, team communication, and reminders.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It is literally so awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I've been able to build in emails in simple buttons
to where instead of my team having to send correspondence
back and forth, they're able to just click a button
and it'll let the person know, Hey, this thing has
been done, need to have you look at it for confirmation,
and then that person is able to review and then
confirm that it's good to go, all with simple clicks
of buttons, so it's really awesome. Then we have many
(06:19):
chat automation. It is a tool that you can connect
to your social media profiles. You create triggers such as keywords,
and then create an automated message or messages to follow.
It's great for building your email lists, promoting a lead magnet,
giving immediate responses to potential clients, and building relationships through
your comments and your dms. Next is chat GBT, which
(06:40):
is a simply which is simply using AI. The chat
GBT can save you time by generating your captions, blog posts, emails, webcopy,
promotional material, you name it. Now we're going to jump
into effective time management strategies that you can start to
incorporate today. Strategy one is to plan your day. Studies
have shown that spending ten to twelve minutes planning out
(07:03):
your day in the morning will save you two hours
each day. The simplest way to do this is by
creating a to do list. You can use a physical
paper list or a digital app, but make sure to
cross off or check off the items each time you've
completed it for a sense of accomplishment. This is how
we wire our brain to be motivated and to want
to do the things that we're setting out to do.
Another way is to schedule your task in your calendar,
(07:24):
either physical or digital. I personally don't like scheduling things
in my calendar because my calendar for me is more
like what is my schedule, But the things that I
need to get done that day, I like to have
written down so I can cross it off.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It feels so rewarding when I do.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Number two is to prioritize your task. Now that you
actually have a to do list, it's time to prioritize
your task in order of importance and urgency. Another way
is to sort tasks into three different groups based on
their importance, high, medium, and low. If you want to
go ahead, you can also do this daily, weekly, and
even monthly. And that's how I create my schedule. Each month,
(08:01):
I have my overall to do list for the month
and the high, medium, and low priority items, and then
that is in how I determine how to schedule my
weeks and my days. Get my free training from Hustler
to self Life CEO, which includes my untold Entrepreneurial Journey,
the soft Life CEO Roadmap, and my winning recipe for
elevating your brand, increasing your income, and reclaiming your time.
(08:23):
Head over to the soft Life ceo dot com backslash
free training. And here's my tip, invest in a physical
planner specifically.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
For your daily task.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
I have this amazing planner from CB two.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
It is so great.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
It has the calendar view, the daily view, the weekly view,
and then a space specifically to check off to does
and then a note section, so I absolutely love it.
Strategy three is to limit distractions. Distractions include text messages,
phone calls, emails, social media, television, and even getting distracted
by doing tedious tasks that can be outsourced or placed
(08:58):
on the back burner to get priority to the task
that really deserve it. Here's a few ways to limit
your distractions. Put your phone on silent or do not disturb.
During the week, when I am working, my phone is
on do not disturb. The only person who can get
through to me is my mom and my husband. Secondly,
turn off notifications on everything. The things that are important
(09:19):
will be checked when necessary. Obviously, you can make exceptions
as needed for work, but there's no reason that you
should be getting notified every time every single application on
your phone has something going on. It is just ridiculous.
I have all my notifications turned off. The only notifications
I actually get are my email alerts and even those
I silence when I'm working because it's just not something
(09:40):
that you need to be paying attention to every second
of the day. If that was the case, you're going
to spend all day being distracted. So for a week,
I want you to just try turning off all your
notifications and just seeing how it feels, because, honey, I
will never go back. Three is to work in a
productive space that promotes a healthy work environment. It is
hard for you to be motivated if your space isn't
clean and type, and if you don't have all the
(10:01):
things that you need, if it's not bright. You should
be working in a space that has windows where you
can look outside and.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Feel like you're a part of nature.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
So make sure that you're creating a space that really
allows you to give your best work. Strategy four is
to avoid multitasking. Contrary to popular belief, multitasking doesn't help
you get things done quicker. In fact, it is the opposite.
Research has found that those who multitask engage in something
called task switching, which places more demands on your brain
(10:29):
that slows you down and it makes.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
You less efficient.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Do one thing at a time to maintain focus and
you'll be more productive. So start one task and finish
it before doing anything else. And this is a habit
that you're going to have to train yourself to do,
because I know it's easy to be working on something
and then to also answer that email and to also
respond to that text, and to also talk to whoever
is physically in front of you. But you have to
(10:54):
find a way to stop the multitasking and really hone
in on focusing. Strategy five is to delegate your task.
Is there something that you need to do but don't
have the time or skill for Is there someone who
can do it better than you. If so, you want
to delegate it to them. Delegation frees up some time
for you to handle tasks that truly need your input,
and usually.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
The cost is worth it.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Now, of course, you have to make sure that you're
not micromanaging. That defeats the whole purpose of delegation and
adds more to your plate, which is the last thing
that you want.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Strategy six is to use tools.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
There are a lot of time management tools out there
that can save you time and make you more productive.
They're roughly divided into four different categories. Time trackers, productivity apps,
task managers and project management tools. Time trackers allow you
to see how you spend your time, as well as
the time that it takes for you to complete any
given task. Productivity apps limit distractions to help you break
(11:46):
time wasting habits, and they usually block access to unproductive
things like your social media. Task managers help you organize
your time more productively and include features like to do lists, planners,
and calendars. And project management allows you to manage entire
projects in one place. And as I mentioned before, my
favorite project management tool is Monday dot Com. Strategy seven
(12:08):
is to take time to recharge. While it's great to
be productive, knowing when to take a break is vital.
Studies show that taking breaks between meetings and tasks allow
the brain to reset, which lowers your levels of stress.
There are six types of rests other than sleep that
are perfect for recharging. The six types of rest is physical, mental, social, sensory, spiritual,
(12:29):
and emotional.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
For physical rests, yes, sleep.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Is one of those things, but also stillness, meditation, massages,
physical therapy, breathing techniques, those are all forms of physical rests.
For mental rest, these are regular breaks throughout your workday,
listening to music, sitting, in silence, journaling, self affirmation, reading.
Social rest is nurturing authentic relationships with family, friends, and coworkers,
(12:53):
attending social outings and networking. Sensory rest is turning off
devices and lights, just literally being a in darkness. Spiritual
rests prayer, gratitude, fellowship and community, and then emotional rest
therapy expressing emotion, setting boundaries and saying no. So making
sure that you are getting all these forms of rest,
not just focusing on how much sleep you're actually getting. Now,
(13:15):
let's talk about scientific methods to supercharge your productivity. Method
one is time blocking. Time blocking does exactly as it says.
You carve out blocks of time and assign certain tasks
to that spot in your schedule. It's a bit like
being at school, where everything is planned for you, including
when and how long your lunch break is, except this
time you're the one doing the planning. It's up to
(13:36):
you to be disciplined as well as time how long
your tasks typically takes, so that you're choosing the appropriate
amount of time. Method two is the Pomadero technique. Francisco
Silero created the Pomadero technique and says that the ideal
unit of work is twenty five minutes followed by a
two to five minute break.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Pick something you want to do.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Let's say you want to get some writing done. Use
a timer, set it for twenty five minutes, do your
writing during that twenty five minute time for and then
when the timer beeps, set it to two to five
minutes and just take a break. Whatever that looks like
for you. It could be watching something on TV, listening
to a podcast, journaling, writing, just laying there. Whatever works,
but make sure you're doing the twenty five and the
(14:13):
two to five minute break as you go along. You
can play with the timing of task. For me personally,
the twenty five minutes does not work. I do forty
five minutes and then five to ten minute breaks. It
is a good way to schedule breaks so that you
don't burn yourself out, and then when you jump right
back into the task, you have a new sense of motivation.
Method three is the eighty twenty rule. This method says
(14:34):
that eighty percent of your results comes from twenty percents
of your efforts. Created by Italian economists and let me
try to get his name right, vill Friedo a Perrito
says that the goal of The eighty twenty rule is
to get you to prioritize work with the highest impact
on your workday instead of time wasters.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Here's how to do it.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Write down a list of tasks that you want to
do on any given day, week, or month. Start with
a day for now, and then look at your written
task and determine which ones have the most significant impact.
Method four is the Eisenhower Matrix. Dwight Eisenhower's matrix separates
tasks into four quadrants in order of importance and urgency.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Here's how to do it. You have these four spaces.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
You have in the left hand top corner is the
doom and the right hand top corner is decide, bottom
right hand is delete, and bottom left hand is delegate.
You then want to create the not important, important, urgent,
and not urgent spaces. And what you do is you
think of your task and then you decide is it
important or not important, and then is it urgent or
(15:37):
not urgent. And this is how you place all the
different things in the different quadrants. After you place all
of your tasks into the four different quadrants, you have
a very clear to do list of what to do,
what to decide, what to delegate and then what to delete.
So I've actually tried this and although I did like it, it
was a bit of a process and I think if
you are aware of what things are specifically for you,
(15:59):
what's for your team, and what things can just like
sit on the back burner, then you don't need this,
but it is a really good place to start if
you are not in a space where you're already doing
this in your day.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
To day life and business.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Method five is the Rapid Planning Method. Motivational speaker Tony
Robbins created RPM to redirect your energies towards outcomes that
you care about the most. First, you'll have to determine
the result that you want to achieve, and then ask yourself,
why do you want to achieve that result? Why is
it so important? Because that is the driving force behind
your actions. Write down the list of all of the
(16:31):
actions you need to take to achieve that result, and
then group similar task into smaller chunks. I like to
call this batching, and work on each task one chunk
at a time. It's much easier for your mind to
digest and it makes it easier for you to get
started as well. Key takeaway number one don't wait until
you're burned out to make time management a priority. The
sooner that you master smart time management strategies, the sooner
(16:55):
you will see a dramatic change in your level of
productivity and the amount of freedom that you have. Number two,
If you master resetting the room, you'll have more productive days.
This is a great habit to have because you'll always
start each day in the best space, which results in
being in a good space and in a good mood.
If you haven't seen a masterclass where I talk about
resetting the room, it is a simple method of just
(17:17):
making sure that your space is set so that when
you wake up in the morning, you are in the
most productive space possible. So I talk about different hacks
where if you want to make sure you go and
work out at the gym, there's little things like having
to find the workout clothes, grabbing your shoes, getting your water,
grabbing your headphones, and so get rid of all of
those tedious tasks and before you go to sleep, set
(17:38):
all those things out right at the foot of your
bed or in your bathroom so that it makes it
super easy to wake up, remind yourself of the goal
that you have and just start and do it. Number
three is to give yourself permission to rest at the
end of each day. Create your to do list for
tomorrow at the end of the day so that you
give yourself permission to rest now knowing that it will
still be there tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in to Soft
(18:01):
Life CEO. I hope that today's episode gets you a
little bit closer to achieving your definition of a soft life.
If you're ready to start the journey from hustler to
soft life CEO, go to the Soft Life ceo dot
com backslash Society for a thirty day free trial in
my coaching community. If you found this episode helpful, share
it with a friend, leave a review, and don't forget
to subscribe.
While it's great to be productive, knowing when to take
a break is vital. Studies show that taking breaks between
meetings and task allow the brand to reset, which lowers
your levels of stress. Hey, I'm Brianna Aponte, your host
of the Self Life CEO podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
I dropped out of college at the age.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
Of nineteen to start my first business. I worked seven
days a week, wore way too many hats, and was
the true definition of a hustler. Years later, I'm finally
living the dream that I worked so hard to make
my reality. I've transitioned from a hustler to a soft
life CEO, working only two days a week to maintain
and run a high earning business that gives me the
freedom to live a life I love. Now it's my
(00:37):
mission to help as many entrepreneurs as I can elevate
the brand, increase their income, and reclaim their time. Join
me and guest experts as we share our transparent journeys,
work smart, not hard, strategies, and the behind the scenes
of running a successful brand in business. You're tuned in
to the Self Life CEO This is for you if
you know that you could manage your time better, If
you're ready to get back your time and live a
(00:59):
more productive life. If you're an entrepreneur who needs to
work more effectively and feel confident about your schedule and workflow,
or if you're ready to commit to the life that
you want. What we're going to be covering is why
time management is essential for entrepreneurs. Planning your day, prioritizing
and limiting distractions, delegating and retiring from multitasking, time management
(01:20):
tools and time blocking strategies, time saving scientific methods and hacks,
and methods for supercharging your productivity. Let's first talk about
why time management is so essential for entrepreneurs. The benefits
are that you do more and less time. It helps
take advantage of your most productive time so that you
can do your best work. It makes you less stressed
(01:40):
and more in control in life and in business. You're
able to meet deadlines more consistently, you won't feel stuck
as often, you won't be distracted by low value tasks
that add no value to your work or life, and
you have more energy so that you don't feel burnout
as often. So I want to first jump into the
time saving hacks because these have been game changers for me.
(02:02):
Number one is the text replacement feature. So ah, I
love this, my team loves this, my husband loves this.
It saves all of us so much time. So here's
what you do. And this is specifically for iPhone users.
I'm not sure what the setup is for any Android users,
but for my iPhone people, I got you. So you
want to go into Settings, click on General, then Keyboard,
(02:25):
then text replacement, click on the plus sign and then
paste your phrase where it says phrase and then you're
going to create a shortcut in the shortcut space. So
here's my example. When I type commm, and the reason
why it's three ms is because you want to choose
words that don't actually fit into other words, because then
(02:45):
every time you type that, or type that on your
computer or text that on your phone, it's going to
pop up that shortcut. So there's never an instance in
where I would ever be spelling a word with three.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
Ms, because that's that's no way to spell a word.
Speaker 1 (02:57):
So this stands for community for me, so my brain
knows that if I need to send something out to
someone regarding the community, I type commm and then this.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Phrase pops up.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
Super excited that you're interested in joining my community. Click
the link to learn more and start a thirty day
free trial, and then it has the link provided. So
instead of having to have all these multiple conversations and
to send things via email or in text message, I
literally just hit four simple buttons and I'm done.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
It is a game changer.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
You can do this for any of your frequently asked questions,
any links that you need to send out often that
you don't want to have to go and copy and paste.
But it'll definitely save you a lot of time. Anytime
I do something more than once, I then create a
shortcut for it in the text replacement feature. Second is
Gmail Templates, create on brand templates for all of the
(03:47):
repetitive emails that you send out to clients, potential partners,
podcast guests, you name it. Not only will this save
you time, but it will save your team time and
if your team saves time, you save money. So here
are two examples that I use for podcasting. So whenever
we have a guest that confirms that they would like
to move forward, we have in my Monday board where
(04:08):
I just add the person's email name and then my
producer is notified that hey, we have a new booking
and all that she needs to do is go in
pull their information and then confirm the date that we're
going to be shooting with them. So instead of having
to draft and create this email each time, she comes
right here to this template on the left, and all
she has to do is type in their name after
(04:29):
the word hey, and then right where you see the
line where it says Thursday blank at seven pm, she
just adds the actual month and date, so it would
say like March seventh at seven pm. So there's two
things that she comes in, the name and the date,
and then she sends that off and we're good to go. Secondly,
when it's time to send the interview brief, this is
(04:51):
what the client needs to understand how to set up
their podcasts and to know what questions we're going to
be asking. So Danielle comes in here, she copies and
pastes the link for their interview brief right here in
this button as their name, and sends it off. So
we have this for every single process and stuff that
we do with guests and with clients. So if you
look here, there's literally these two places that have to
(05:12):
be customized to the actual individual, but outside of that,
all of the information is the same. So it saves
us so much time. Next is the dubsado features. If
you have a service based business or work with clients,
I highly encourage to look at dubsado as ACRM. It
provides time saving hacks for contracts, proposals, invoices, payments, emails, appointments, deadlines, reminders, forms,
(05:34):
and client communication. It is bomb dot com. That's all
I'm going to say. Go check it out. Next is
monday dot com features. If you want to personally manage
your projects, or if you have a team who works
on projects for you, I suggest using Monday dot com
as a project management tool. It provides time saving hacks
for tasks, processes, team communication, and reminders.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
It is literally so awesome.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
I've been able to build in emails in simple buttons
to where instead of my team having to send correspondence
back and forth, they're able to just click a button
and it'll let the person know, Hey, this thing has
been done, need to have you look at it for confirmation,
and then that person is able to review and then
confirm that it's good to go, all with simple clicks
of buttons, so it's really awesome. Then we have many
(06:19):
chat automation. It is a tool that you can connect
to your social media profiles. You create triggers such as keywords,
and then create an automated message or messages to follow.
It's great for building your email lists, promoting a lead magnet,
giving immediate responses to potential clients, and building relationships through
your comments and your dms. Next is chat GBT, which
(06:40):
is a simply which is simply using AI. The chat
GBT can save you time by generating your captions, blog posts, emails, webcopy,
promotional material, you name it. Now we're going to jump
into effective time management strategies that you can start to
incorporate today. Strategy one is to plan your day. Studies
have shown that spending ten to twelve minutes planning out
(07:03):
your day in the morning will save you two hours
each day. The simplest way to do this is by
creating a to do list. You can use a physical
paper list or a digital app, but make sure to
cross off or check off the items each time you've
completed it for a sense of accomplishment. This is how
we wire our brain to be motivated and to want
to do the things that we're setting out to do.
Another way is to schedule your task in your calendar,
(07:24):
either physical or digital. I personally don't like scheduling things
in my calendar because my calendar for me is more
like what is my schedule, But the things that I
need to get done that day, I like to have
written down so I can cross it off.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
It feels so rewarding when I do.
Speaker 1 (07:40):
Number two is to prioritize your task. Now that you
actually have a to do list, it's time to prioritize
your task in order of importance and urgency. Another way
is to sort tasks into three different groups based on
their importance, high, medium, and low. If you want to
go ahead, you can also do this daily, weekly, and
even monthly. And that's how I create my schedule. Each month,
(08:01):
I have my overall to do list for the month
and the high, medium, and low priority items, and then
that is in how I determine how to schedule my
weeks and my days. Get my free training from Hustler
to self Life CEO, which includes my untold Entrepreneurial Journey,
the soft Life CEO Roadmap, and my winning recipe for
elevating your brand, increasing your income, and reclaiming your time.
(08:23):
Head over to the soft Life ceo dot com backslash
free training. And here's my tip, invest in a physical
planner specifically.
Speaker 2 (08:29):
For your daily task.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
I have this amazing planner from CB two.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
It is so great.
Speaker 1 (08:37):
It has the calendar view, the daily view, the weekly view,
and then a space specifically to check off to does
and then a note section, so I absolutely love it.
Strategy three is to limit distractions. Distractions include text messages,
phone calls, emails, social media, television, and even getting distracted
by doing tedious tasks that can be outsourced or placed
(08:58):
on the back burner to get priority to the task
that really deserve it. Here's a few ways to limit
your distractions. Put your phone on silent or do not disturb.
During the week, when I am working, my phone is
on do not disturb. The only person who can get
through to me is my mom and my husband. Secondly,
turn off notifications on everything. The things that are important
(09:19):
will be checked when necessary. Obviously, you can make exceptions
as needed for work, but there's no reason that you
should be getting notified every time every single application on
your phone has something going on. It is just ridiculous.
I have all my notifications turned off. The only notifications
I actually get are my email alerts and even those
I silence when I'm working because it's just not something
(09:40):
that you need to be paying attention to every second
of the day. If that was the case, you're going
to spend all day being distracted. So for a week,
I want you to just try turning off all your
notifications and just seeing how it feels, because, honey, I
will never go back. Three is to work in a
productive space that promotes a healthy work environment. It is
hard for you to be motivated if your space isn't
clean and type, and if you don't have all the
(10:01):
things that you need, if it's not bright. You should
be working in a space that has windows where you
can look outside and.
Speaker 2 (10:06):
Feel like you're a part of nature.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
So make sure that you're creating a space that really
allows you to give your best work. Strategy four is
to avoid multitasking. Contrary to popular belief, multitasking doesn't help
you get things done quicker. In fact, it is the opposite.
Research has found that those who multitask engage in something
called task switching, which places more demands on your brain
(10:29):
that slows you down and it makes.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
You less efficient.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Do one thing at a time to maintain focus and
you'll be more productive. So start one task and finish
it before doing anything else. And this is a habit
that you're going to have to train yourself to do,
because I know it's easy to be working on something
and then to also answer that email and to also
respond to that text, and to also talk to whoever
is physically in front of you. But you have to
(10:54):
find a way to stop the multitasking and really hone
in on focusing. Strategy five is to delegate your task.
Is there something that you need to do but don't
have the time or skill for Is there someone who
can do it better than you. If so, you want
to delegate it to them. Delegation frees up some time
for you to handle tasks that truly need your input,
and usually.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
The cost is worth it.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Now, of course, you have to make sure that you're
not micromanaging. That defeats the whole purpose of delegation and
adds more to your plate, which is the last thing
that you want.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Strategy six is to use tools.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
There are a lot of time management tools out there
that can save you time and make you more productive.
They're roughly divided into four different categories. Time trackers, productivity apps,
task managers and project management tools. Time trackers allow you
to see how you spend your time, as well as
the time that it takes for you to complete any
given task. Productivity apps limit distractions to help you break
(11:46):
time wasting habits, and they usually block access to unproductive
things like your social media. Task managers help you organize
your time more productively and include features like to do lists, planners,
and calendars. And project management allows you to manage entire
projects in one place. And as I mentioned before, my
favorite project management tool is Monday dot Com. Strategy seven
(12:08):
is to take time to recharge. While it's great to
be productive, knowing when to take a break is vital.
Studies show that taking breaks between meetings and tasks allow
the brain to reset, which lowers your levels of stress.
There are six types of rests other than sleep that
are perfect for recharging. The six types of rest is physical, mental, social, sensory, spiritual,
(12:29):
and emotional.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
For physical rests, yes, sleep.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Is one of those things, but also stillness, meditation, massages,
physical therapy, breathing techniques, those are all forms of physical rests.
For mental rest, these are regular breaks throughout your workday,
listening to music, sitting, in silence, journaling, self affirmation, reading.
Social rest is nurturing authentic relationships with family, friends, and coworkers,
(12:53):
attending social outings and networking. Sensory rest is turning off
devices and lights, just literally being a in darkness. Spiritual
rests prayer, gratitude, fellowship and community, and then emotional rest
therapy expressing emotion, setting boundaries and saying no. So making
sure that you are getting all these forms of rest,
not just focusing on how much sleep you're actually getting. Now,
(13:15):
let's talk about scientific methods to supercharge your productivity. Method
one is time blocking. Time blocking does exactly as it says.
You carve out blocks of time and assign certain tasks
to that spot in your schedule. It's a bit like
being at school, where everything is planned for you, including
when and how long your lunch break is, except this
time you're the one doing the planning. It's up to
(13:36):
you to be disciplined as well as time how long
your tasks typically takes, so that you're choosing the appropriate
amount of time. Method two is the Pomadero technique. Francisco
Silero created the Pomadero technique and says that the ideal
unit of work is twenty five minutes followed by a
two to five minute break.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Pick something you want to do.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Let's say you want to get some writing done. Use
a timer, set it for twenty five minutes, do your
writing during that twenty five minute time for and then
when the timer beeps, set it to two to five
minutes and just take a break. Whatever that looks like
for you. It could be watching something on TV, listening
to a podcast, journaling, writing, just laying there. Whatever works,
but make sure you're doing the twenty five and the
(14:13):
two to five minute break as you go along. You
can play with the timing of task. For me personally,
the twenty five minutes does not work. I do forty
five minutes and then five to ten minute breaks. It
is a good way to schedule breaks so that you
don't burn yourself out, and then when you jump right
back into the task, you have a new sense of motivation.
Method three is the eighty twenty rule. This method says
(14:34):
that eighty percent of your results comes from twenty percents
of your efforts. Created by Italian economists and let me
try to get his name right, vill Friedo a Perrito
says that the goal of The eighty twenty rule is
to get you to prioritize work with the highest impact
on your workday instead of time wasters.
Speaker 2 (14:53):
Here's how to do it.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Write down a list of tasks that you want to
do on any given day, week, or month. Start with
a day for now, and then look at your written
task and determine which ones have the most significant impact.
Method four is the Eisenhower Matrix. Dwight Eisenhower's matrix separates
tasks into four quadrants in order of importance and urgency.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Here's how to do it. You have these four spaces.
Speaker 1 (15:17):
You have in the left hand top corner is the
doom and the right hand top corner is decide, bottom
right hand is delete, and bottom left hand is delegate.
You then want to create the not important, important, urgent,
and not urgent spaces. And what you do is you
think of your task and then you decide is it
important or not important, and then is it urgent or
(15:37):
not urgent. And this is how you place all the
different things in the different quadrants. After you place all
of your tasks into the four different quadrants, you have
a very clear to do list of what to do,
what to decide, what to delegate and then what to delete.
So I've actually tried this and although I did like it, it
was a bit of a process and I think if
you are aware of what things are specifically for you,
(15:59):
what's for your team, and what things can just like
sit on the back burner, then you don't need this,
but it is a really good place to start if
you are not in a space where you're already doing
this in your day.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
To day life and business.
Speaker 1 (16:10):
Method five is the Rapid Planning Method. Motivational speaker Tony
Robbins created RPM to redirect your energies towards outcomes that
you care about the most. First, you'll have to determine
the result that you want to achieve, and then ask yourself,
why do you want to achieve that result? Why is
it so important? Because that is the driving force behind
your actions. Write down the list of all of the
(16:31):
actions you need to take to achieve that result, and
then group similar task into smaller chunks. I like to
call this batching, and work on each task one chunk
at a time. It's much easier for your mind to
digest and it makes it easier for you to get
started as well. Key takeaway number one don't wait until
you're burned out to make time management a priority. The
sooner that you master smart time management strategies, the sooner
(16:55):
you will see a dramatic change in your level of
productivity and the amount of freedom that you have. Number two,
If you master resetting the room, you'll have more productive days.
This is a great habit to have because you'll always
start each day in the best space, which results in
being in a good space and in a good mood.
If you haven't seen a masterclass where I talk about
resetting the room, it is a simple method of just
(17:17):
making sure that your space is set so that when
you wake up in the morning, you are in the
most productive space possible. So I talk about different hacks
where if you want to make sure you go and
work out at the gym, there's little things like having
to find the workout clothes, grabbing your shoes, getting your water,
grabbing your headphones, and so get rid of all of
those tedious tasks and before you go to sleep, set
(17:38):
all those things out right at the foot of your
bed or in your bathroom so that it makes it
super easy to wake up, remind yourself of the goal
that you have and just start and do it. Number
three is to give yourself permission to rest at the
end of each day. Create your to do list for
tomorrow at the end of the day so that you
give yourself permission to rest now knowing that it will
still be there tomorrow. Thanks for tuning in to Soft
(18:01):
Life CEO. I hope that today's episode gets you a
little bit closer to achieving your definition of a soft life.
If you're ready to start the journey from hustler to
soft life CEO, go to the Soft Life ceo dot
com backslash Society for a thirty day free trial in
my coaching community. If you found this episode helpful, share
it with a friend, leave a review, and don't forget
to subscribe.
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