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Map Out Your Next 3 Months in Less Than 30 Minutes · The Jasmine Star Show

• 0:13
  Welcome back to another episode of the Jasmine Star Show, where we talk about life, business, and today we are going to be talking about productivity.
• 0:22
  I'm so thankful you are listening today, and I'm very excited to cover this topic all about maximizing your time and actually hitting your goals. Yes, the word actually is in there because I have actually seen it happen, and people have actually done this before, and I'm so excited for you to get actual results. Okay, so I get it. Whenever you hear the word productivity, it sounds really promising, but at the same time, it makes a lot of us feel less than. So as entrepreneurs, we feel like we're constantly surrounded by other business owners who are planning and executing, and then of course, they're making plenty of time for rest and the perfect balance, and they have their essential oils and take long hot baths and do red light treatments and a sauna. And don't forget the cold plunge. And I'm like, uh, I'm just trying to get a cup of coffee every morning. Okay?
• 1:16
  So while seeing other people's lives on Instagram, it is tempting to think that some people can just do more well, other people can't, and I don't think that this is true, and here's why.
• 1:27
  So I have an annual tradition with my twin sister, Bianca.
• 1:30
  She's been on the podcast before. You might be a little bit familiar with her.
• 1:33
  She's what we like to refer to as, I hate to admit it, the funnier twin.
• 1:38
  I am a heck of a lot more strategic and linear, and I kind of just, I like creating systems, kinda, I'm at least better at creating systems than my sister, but hey, we work together and we make each other better. So it's very common.
• 1:53
  When we first started this, my sister was really overwhelmed, so Bianca and her husband Matt, they are starting a church.
• 1:59
  So in addition to starting a church, she travels a lot. She speaks a lot. She, you know, helps build women's programs out in prison.
• 2:09
  She is an advocate for people against human trafficking. I mean, there's so much that she does. I don't know how she handles it all, uh, but she did admit that she was feeling overwhelmed.
• 2:20
  She had a lot of things to do in addition to all those other things.
• 2:23
  She was like publishing a book. She travels a lot, she's building a church, she's speaking in prisons. I've said all of this stuff. Well, I invited her over for three hours to map out her entire year, and I feel like, uh, should I say that again? Three hours an entire year.
• 2:40
  And it's something that I felt confident I could do because it's what I did and it's what I do. So maybe you don't have three hours to plan your year. Okay, I get it. Three hours is a lot.
• 2:51
  But what if I could explain to you how to map out your next three months in less than 30 minutes? Okay, now we attacking a quarterly productivity map is something that I swear by. Maybe it's because I wanted to be a pirate as a kid, but like a map just makes life more exciting.
• 3:11
  Are you excited? Okay, , anybody are, are you excited? Okay, listen, listen. I like to talk pirate, y'all. I like to talk pirate.
• 3:23
  If you are about this episode and you are about creating a productivity map, you could send me a little pirate emoji.
• 3:31
  It's a little black flag with the skeleton on it.
• 3:34
  You can send that to me an Instagram, and then I'm gonna know, oh, you a podcast insider. So let me get back to my mom jokes.
• 3:40
  Are you excited?
• 3:40
  Yes.
• 3:43
  I get excited to make personal and business plans because we get to create a clear path to getting where we wanna go. Now, I wanna be clear and let you know that I'm about to share my exact process beginning with a quarter. So this means three months out of the year, and then I'm gonna break it down to a month, a week and a day.
• 4:00
  So in case you're driving or you're working out walking your dog or cooking, don't worry about taking notes.
• 4:05
  I have created a free productivity planner that you can download at jasmine start.com/productivity.
• 4:11
  And the link is inside the episode description from wherever you're tuning in today. So we wanna just keep it easy. I want you to sit back, relax, and enjoy the conversation, knowing that you're gonna have resources to plan on your own. Why?
• 4:23
  I don't want you learning more, and I don't want you hearing more.
• 4:26
  I want you doing more. Let's go. So now that we've laid the foundation, it is time to let yourself dream. This is a key thing.
• 4:35
  Y'all dream, no rules, no restrictions.
• 4:35
  I want you to ask yourself, what is one thing you've been wanting to do but just haven't found time to make it happen?
• 4:45
  Maybe if I cue up some really emotional inspirational music here, I'll get you thinking about what it is you really want.
• 4:54
  A just kidding, okay? We do not need to get emo here, okay?
• 4:59
  All I want you to do is just pick a project. Now, I understand that the idea of picking a project, it brings up less of a logical ideation process and more of an emotional process.
• 5:15
  And I'm going to talk about that now because we need to squash that because emotions are feelings. That's it. They're not reality.
• 5:24
  And sometimes emotions are connected to past experiences.
• 5:29
  If you have tried to do something in the past and it didn't work, or if you tried to put something out and nobody bought, if you tried to put something out and just couldn't take it to the finish line, if you like to start a lot of things because you're passionate about them, and then it kind of just fizzles out, or perhaps you're the kind of person that will list everything that could go wrong, and then all of a sudden you're like, you know what? Whew.
• 5:49
  So glad I talked myself out of that.
• 5:51
  I just avoided a big painstaking opportunity. And I'm like, okay, that is the past.
• 5:58
  And what I am asking you to do to have a highly effective productivity map, is to let go of the past and not allow the past to dictate the future.
• 6:08
  We will not let yesterday's emotion affect tomorrow's possibility, because in order for you and I to get on the same page, you and I have to agree that anything is possible.
• 6:23
  Anything is possible. Now, what happens is people get caught up with, but is it likely, I, I'm not asking for the likely baby right now.
• 6:32
  I am asking if it is possible, if it is possible for you to do what now?
• 6:40
  It could be launching your website training for a marathon.
• 6:43
  It could be creating a new product, anything. Okay?
• 6:47
  So what we're going to do is we're gonna think of a project. Now, just let yourself dream here.
• 6:50
  Do not talk yourself out of it.
• 6:52
  There is something that you've been wanting to do and you're like, oh, but oh, but oh, but no, no, no, baby, they ain't got time for butts today. Today is, and could I do what I am doing?
• 7:03
  And so this could be anything.
• 7:06
  So now that you have the project in the front of your mind, it's time to build your quarterly productivity map.
• 7:11
  So for the sake of this conversation, I'm going to use a personal example because I wanna keep it real, and I wanna walk through the good, the bad, and the yo so ugly for years.
• 7:20
  And I am talking about for years I wanted to launch a podcast.
• 7:25
  It was something I knew I needed to do, but I really just couldn't get over the fear and the doubt, and the, I don't know how to do this ness, okay? But the minute I chose the podcast as my quarterly project, it was time to cut the excuses and get to work.
• 7:41
  We launched this podcast, the one you're listening to right now, the Jasmine Star Show in October, 2019.
• 7:47
  I was nervous and I had no idea what to expect. But here's the truth.
• 7:52
  I didn't care about hitting top charts and I didn't care about download numbers.
• 7:56
  That was not how I defined success of this podcast.
• 8:01
  Podcast. Success for me, not for anybody else.
• 8:04
  And I'm not saying this should be for anybody else, but podcast success for me was doing something that scared me, inspired me, and gave me the chance to meet amazing guests and then get a front row seat to learning. I love learning.
• 8:20
  I used to say I love educating, I love teaching, and I actually, that's not the truth.
• 8:26
  What I love is learning and then sharing what I know.
• 8:31
  And the podcast was a platform for me to do that. And then guess what?
• 8:35
  In less than five months, the podcast hit a million downloads and we have grown faster since then. The point isn't the downloads, nor was it then, nor is it today.
• 8:48
  I actually create this podcast knowing that some podcast, some episodes, they just won't do well.
• 8:54
  And you wanna know what the point is.
• 8:58
  Setting a goal that feels crazy and overwhelming because the possibility of blowing your mind, like the possibility of it blowing your mind is absolutely exciting. And to me, that is what makes life purposeful.
• 9:12
  I get to do something that scared me, share it with others, and hopefully inspire them to do something else that helps them find their lives purpose. So before I start a new project, I take five things into consideration.
• 9:27
  And I'm going to also follow up this with an example as we did for the podcast.
• 9:30
  So the five things I take into consideration. Number Number two, I set a date. Number three, I figure out how Number four, I create a timeline.
• 9:44
  And number five, I create tasks.
• 9:44
  So for the sake of clarity, I'm gonna answer these questions to walk you through how I chose launching a podcast as my quarterly project.
• 9:54
  And I want you to pay special attention so that you can start applying it to the project that you wanna create.
• 9:58
  So question number one, when it came to starting the podcast as an example, do I have capacity?
• 10:07
  If the answer is yes, you're gonna move to question number two. Now, if you ask yourself, do I have capacity?
• 10:12
  And then the answer is like, no, I really don't have capacity right now to add on this project, then you have one of two options.
• 10:18
  You must take something off of your plate.
• 10:23
  You must outsource, you must cut away, you must delegate, or you have to wait for a later time to do that project.
• 10:31
  And that's totally okay.
• 10:31
  That is totally okay.
• 10:36
  It is okay to say, I like this project, I'm gonna push it off to another time and perhaps replace it with a project for something I have capacity with right now. So when I answer that question, did I have capacity for adding a podcast? The answer was yes, and I was kind of dying to do something as a new creative expression.
• 10:55
  Now let's move on to question number two. To set a date, I set the podcast launch date as October 8th, 2019.
• 11:02
  Now it leads us to question number three, and that was to figure out how, now, figuring out how it's gonna look different for each project, and it's going to look different for each person. But to give you insight in what I needed to figure out here is a sneak peek of a very, very long list. Well, I had to figure out how to record a podcast.
• 11:23
  What do I need to buy to record the podcast?
• 11:26
  How to upload podcast to listening platforms like iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher.
• 11:31
  What was the name of my podcast? What was my podcast going to be about?
• 11:36
  Those are just a few examples, but as you figure out how, I always start with a bunch of questions I ask, and I might note of every question I have, like, how do I record?
• 11:48
  What do I need to buy? How do I upload?
• 11:50
  I ask all of these questions because the questions will then turn into action items. But before you get there, it gets to question number four, and that's to create a timeline. Now, I believe this is the most important part, creating a timeline is key when it comes to planning for productivity, because I had never launched a podcast before. My timeline was based on estimates, and the key here when you are creating estimates is to add extra time.
• 12:20
  Now, sometimes you'll use that extra time for these tasks and timelines, and then sometimes you won't.
• 12:24
  But what I'm gonna caution you, because I made this mistake so many times, is I assumed that the best case scenario would always happen.
• 12:36
  And what I learned is that the best case scenario hardly ever happens.
• 12:41
  I would venture to say, when I hope for the best case scenario, it never happens. So when you hope for the best case scenario, but you plan for not the best case scenario, you are well ahead of being where you are.
• 12:55
  So that leads us to point number five, and that then to deploy on your project would be point number five, create tasks. So for over a decade, I ran my business by myself. I was the only person responsible for every single task, and I wanna tell you that it is absolutely possible for you to do every task.
• 13:16
  In fact, there is a beauty to creating everything from the ground up on your own.
• 13:21
  Some of my most successful projects I have done entirely on my own soup to nuts. However, for the podcast launch, I assembled a really great team to get it off the ground, and tasks were assigned to each of us, and then we set out to do the work.
• 13:38
  I am telling you, you do not need a team to build out a project.
• 13:42
  If you are at a point that you can afford a team and have a strategy, well then go right ahead because you're gonna get that project done even faster.
• 13:50
  Now, this is the framework for the quarterly project Mac. Like, wow, we just literally framed work, how to tackle a big goal.
• 13:57
  So as you're starting this year, you're gonna think of your big goal, and then you're gonna go through those five questions, and at the end of that, you're going to have, huh, a really big goal outlined. Now, what it's time to do is to focus on the monthly plan.
• 14:12
  This means from the quarter, the big goal, I'm gonna break it down.
• 14:16
  I'm gonna break out one of three months to focus on what needs to get done. So I'm gonna be looking at a quarter, each quarter has three months, and then I'm gonna be looking at each month specifically.
• 14:29
  So I'm gonna list everything that needs to get done in the month to ensure that the project stays on track. So once I view all of my tasks for the month, I break them into weekly assignments. Hmm, hmm.
• 14:43
  I know what tasks need to get done each week, and this is what helps me from feeling overwhelmed. Instead of looking at this really long list of all the things I need to do, oh, I could just focus on a small list of things that I can actually accomplish.
• 15:00
  Oftentimes what I see with business owners is when we look at a mountain of things to do before we actually accomplishment, we get tired, we get overwhelmed, we feel like we're not moving fast enough.
• 15:10
  But what if we just weren't nice to ourselves? Like, what if we just said, you are human and you have just a few hours every single day to do this?
• 15:18
  What can you get done this week? Now, I wanna use a real example of mine to explain what I mean.
• 15:23
  So in the month of September, the month before we launched the podcast, I had a list of things that needed to get done.
• 15:31
  Each week I had around 20 tasks related to the podcast, but when they were divided out each day, it was just like four or five tasks that needed to get done. Things like record podcast one or choose podcast graphic designs, or send a thank you gift to a podcast. Okay?
• 15:50
  Doing just a few of those things each day for the podcast was really fun.
• 15:53
  It was exciting, and it relieved the overwhelm I was feeling, and like the hives that broke out every time I looked at a quarterly map. Okay?
• 16:01
  I'm gonna tell you that yes, I love talking about productivity, but it is overwhelming when you look at a quarterly map. Uh, when you distill it, then we see not just the quarter we see a month, and even looking in a month, it can get overwhelming.
• 16:19
  But then we see a week and we're like, oh, 15 to 20 things this week, and then, oh, four things a day. Okay? That is what a productivity plan does.
• 16:27
  It shows you the path and it gives you hope that the project you've been wanting to do for so long can actually happen.
• 16:32
  And this is where I wanna take a second to pause and I wanna breathe. I mean, sure, I'm here talking about productivity, but can we be real?
• 16:46
  Like I'm gonna say something that might rub you the wrong way, but y'all know I speak my truth.
• 16:52
  I speak to thousands of business owners each week.
• 16:55
  I hear people really lament.
• 16:58
  They get so bummed that their goal didn't happen or that there wasn't enough time. And I get that struggle.
• 17:06
  That struggle is real. But I also want to remind you, I wanna remind me, I wanna remind us that goals don't just happen. You make goals happen.
• 17:21
  And I'm gonna say something even more crazy. If you are not hitting your goals, it's not because you're not good or talented or lucky enough, I'm gonna say for my experience, nine times outta 10, it's likely because you didn't have a solid plan in place.
• 17:38
  Ooh, let that soak in for a minute.
• 17:41
  It's not about your ability to succeed.
• 17:44
  This is about whether or not you are disciplined enough to create a plan around productivity and then stick to it, my friend.
• 17:52
  This is what it takes to move things in your business and in your life.
• 17:57
  So my question to you is, are you ready?
• 18:00
  Are you ready to create a productivity plan for a project? And I get it.
• 18:05
  Maybe this feels like a giant first step.
• 18:08
  Perhaps you might be feeling overwhelmed at the idea of a big plan. I get it.
• 18:13
  But let me challenge you. Let me invite you, in fact, into an alternative.
• 18:19
  Everyone looks at how long a project will take, how much sacrifice it will require, or how much it will cost, but nobody looks at the cost of being in the same place one year from now.
• 18:31
  What is the cost of not doing a new project or a new business venture? Mm.
• 18:38
  When we started this productivity conversation ability to take our dreams and then make them come to life, well, we did that if it was contingent, if we had a plan.
• 18:51
  So please feel free to download my free productivity planner to get you started, and you could find it at jasmine star.com/productivity.
• 18:59
  We have also linked it here in the show notes, and I hope that you can take nuggets of information and apply them to your life today. And we are providing it for free because I really believe that there is something in you that the world needs to see. If this was helpful for you, please pass on this episode to someone who might need it. Better yet, send it to somebody with a note saying you believe in their dreams and you can't wait for them to pursue their goals so that y'all can pursue your goals together.