Latest / All Figured Out with Andrea Barr: Figuring Out Work, Life and Parenting / 33. Figuring out how to wrangle your to-do list with the founders of BYWD
Transcript
- 0:00I find as long as I'm living my values, I'm having fun.
- 0:02Oh, I love that you're listening to the All Figured Out podcast.
- 0:06I'm your host, Andrea Barr. Today we have another podcast.
- 0:10First, I'm interviewing 2 guest experts at once.
- 0:14The founders of Beyond Your Wildest Dreams, Natasha and
- 0:17Allegra, are joining me on the mic today.
- 0:20And they specialize in one of my favorite topics, helping moms
- 0:24and caregivers prioritize themselves to save time and
- 0:28accomplish their goals. They have two books and three
- 0:31courses where they educate in a way that's super actionable,
- 0:34really accessible, and love this rooted in neuroscience.
- 0:39In this episode we're diving into to do lists and how you can
- 0:42manage and be more in control of your never ending list of to
- 0:45Do's. So you can be all about managing
- 0:47your tasks and not having your tasks be managing you.
- 0:50This is something I feel so strongly sometimes I feel so
- 0:52beholden to my To Do List, but I'm like this is A to do list
- 0:55that I created, so how can I become in charge of my To Do
- 0:59List versus my To Do List feeling like it's always running
- 1:01my show? Super interesting conversation
- 1:03we have and they've got some great tips on this.
- 1:05So we talk about the list itself, the science behind task
- 1:08management, and the hot topic of using timers to get stuff done.
- 1:12There's a lot in this episode that you'll walk away with and
- 1:15that you can start actually implementing today, So let's
- 1:18dive in. You're listening to the All
- 1:21Figured Out podcast. I'm your host, Andrea Barr, as a
- 1:27career coach for parents. A mom and entrepreneur and
- 1:30someone who spent 10 plus years in the corporate world.
- 1:32I still don't have it all figured out, and maybe you don't
- 1:36either. In this podcast I'll share tools
- 1:38and strategies that I use as my clients and in the many areas
- 1:42where I don't have things figured out.
- 1:43I'll be bringing you some amazing guest experts to help us
- 1:46fill in the gaps. So TuneIn each week as we
- 1:49explore how to make career and life decisions that truly work
- 1:52for you, your family, and your big goals.
- 1:56Let's make moves. Natasha Corrigan and Allegra
- 2:02Ramos, thank you so much for joining me on the All Figured
- 2:05Out podcast today. I'm so pleased to have both of
- 2:08you here. My first time interviewing 2
- 2:09people at once. I was just saying to you got to
- 2:11really rain myself in. I have a million questions I
- 2:14could ask both of you. So you both have just incredible
- 2:20paths in how you got into the work that you're doing now,
- 2:23which I don't want to spoil too much.
- 2:25But you are specifically experts and folks who have been teaching
- 2:29people how to be better organized and managing their to
- 2:31do lists and being time savers. But what I love about what you
- 2:34do in your company is also actually helping people
- 2:37accomplish their goals. Not just setting the goals,
- 2:39helping them accomplish them. So I would love for each of you
- 2:42to introduce yourself and share your really cool career journeys
- 2:46that got you into this niche. Oh.
- 2:48My gosh. Who wants to start?
- 2:50I know, Allegra, you're laughing.
- 2:53Well, let's just set how we got to hear.
- 2:56That's a big answer so I will give it to you and if it's too
- 3:03long, I can always do more concise version right?
- 3:06So Long story short, I've been an entrepreneur for about 25
- 3:09years. I have my MB A I owned a one
- 3:13stop green shop for a long time called Green and Greener.
- 3:17It was a physical and brick and mortar.
- 3:19I'm very passionate about sustainability.
- 3:22But one of the challenges about sustainability is that it's not
- 3:26a topic people necessarily want to hear about.
- 3:30So when I opened my store, Amazon only sold books and there
- 3:34was no such thing as a smartphone.
- 3:36When I closed my store, people were walking in with their
- 3:38smartphone saying, can you beat the price on Amazon?
- 3:41And at the time, I had a 2 year old.
- 3:43And so between those factors and then one of my closest friends
- 3:48had a tragedy in her family and I wanted to be there for her.
- 3:51And I said, you know, the stores become my golden cage.
- 3:54I'm not able to be the friend, wife, mother, sister that I want
- 3:58to be because of the store. And I also felt like the writing
- 4:01was on the wall for small brick and mortar retail.
- 4:04So within six months I had closed the store down after 10
- 4:07years. And for a little while I had a 2
- 4:10year old and was just kind of, you know, posting on social
- 4:14media. I come from a long line of food
- 4:15entrepreneurs. I had invented a food product
- 4:17while I had the store, and that was by far my most profitable
- 4:22business. People would buy dozens of
- 4:25bottles for me at a time. It was it was like it was
- 4:28amazing business. However, I realized that I
- 4:31didn't want to be stuck in a commercial kitchen with a
- 4:34hairnet for 8 to 10 hours a day. You know, I once was interviewed
- 4:38by American Express for what's my top tip for a small business
- 4:42for someone who wants to go into business.
- 4:44And my top tip is to date your business before you marry it.
- 4:47And the beauty of starting small with my food product was that I
- 4:51dated it for five years and I realized I didn't want to marry
- 4:55it. And so I'm giving people a
- 4:58delicious meal. That's not very exciting for me.
- 5:01It made, it made good money. But I'm more driven by helping
- 5:05people live better lives and live the lives that they want to
- 5:08live. And so during that time, I also
- 5:12was doing a lot of public speaking.
- 5:14I had spoken a lot when I owned Green and Greener and gazpacho
- 5:17shots. That was the name of my food.
- 5:19Product was in person, lots of tasting, so I was quite
- 5:23accomplished public speaker. I participated in the World
- 5:26Championship of public speaking, blah blah blah.
- 5:28Super cool. So I had actually when I went
- 5:33back to my MB, A program and the alumni organization.
- 5:37Sort of gave the JFK speech, like ask not what your
- 5:40university can do for you, that's what you can do for your
- 5:43university. And I thought, well, public
- 5:46speaking is probably the best thing that I can do for you all.
- 5:49I did a bunch of webinars for them.
- 5:51I was doing events for them and inevitably people started asking
- 5:54me to coach them. And so you will not really find
- 5:58anything about my public speaking coaching because it's
- 6:01not what I want. My it's not what I want my
- 6:03legacy to be. I enjoy amplifying the voices of
- 6:06people who have messages that I think are important, but I'm
- 6:10never going to write a well, never say never, right?
- 6:12But I never plan on writing a book.
- 6:14People keep asking when's your public speaking book coming out?
- 6:17And I keep saying. Never.
- 6:19You're like, so here's my Amazon shop with the books that I do
- 6:21have out, which are on sale on Amazon.com.
- 6:24Right, exactly. And so, you know, I also
- 6:28homeschool my child. So people were saying to me, I
- 6:31don't understand how you get all these things done.
- 6:34And my answer was always planning and planners.
- 6:36And I had actually developed my own planner that I used for
- 6:39about 5 years just for me, because I hadn't found the
- 6:42perfect planner. And what I realized from that
- 6:44exercise was that there is no perfect planner.
- 6:46There is a philosophy about planning that you need to rock.
- 6:52Right. That's a scifi word about when
- 6:54you understand so something so much, it's like you've drunken
- 6:56in, right? So you need to grok the practice
- 6:59of planning. So much so that when things get
- 7:02thrown at you that are unexpected because they always
- 7:04do, things are the one constant is things are always changing,
- 7:07right? You need to be able to pivot.
- 7:10And I started casually coaching, informally coaching friends and
- 7:14family on my philosophy about planning.
- 7:17And Natasha and I would just geek out about it.
- 7:20And like, have you read this article?
- 7:21Have you read this article? Check out this book.
- 7:24And I said, you know, I think we could actually.
- 7:27Systematize this philosophy and teach people the the skill of
- 7:32planning that is how Beyond Your Wildest Dreams was born from my
- 7:37side of the story. Oh, I love it.
- 7:39Thanks for sharing that. And OK, back to the grok.
- 7:41Can you explain that a bit more? I actually, I don't know what
- 7:43you're talking. About oh, so there's a famous
- 7:45science fiction book. It's pretty old.
- 7:47It's, I think from the 60s or 70s.
- 7:49It's called. Stranger in a Strange Land by
- 7:51Michael Heinlein. I read it when I was like 13
- 7:53years old. And the word is grok.
- 7:56And it's when you understand something so much it's like
- 7:58you've drunk it in. So I think in educational
- 8:02parlance, we would call it acquisition, right?
- 8:04You acquire your first language, all other subsequent languages.
- 8:08If you're at past a certain age, you might learn them, but you
- 8:11don't acquire it the same way after a certain age.
- 8:15And. That's up for debate, but let's
- 8:17just use that as an example, right?
- 8:18So when you grok something, when you know something so well
- 8:21within your heart that it's a part of you, and that's what you
- 8:25know, what we hope to teach people with practice and
- 8:28implementation of our philosophy, You can grok
- 8:31planning to the point where you can say okay.
- 8:34Here's this unexpected thing life throughout me, but because
- 8:37I've taken the BYWD course, I know how to, you know, pivot.
- 8:42Or adjust for a short period so that I can absorb this change.
- 8:46That is so cool. I love that.
- 8:48I've actually get to hear that. And that's, oh, I'm.
- 8:51I'm really going to think about that.
- 8:52Like, I think that's a really interesting thing for people to
- 8:54just consider within themselves, like, what have you grokked?
- 8:56Can I use it in that? What if I grok?
- 8:59Like what's inside of me that I know so deeply, especially when
- 9:02we're talking about career pivots or changes or things like
- 9:04that. That's so neat.
- 9:06OK Oh, gosh, I've, you know, of course, a million questions.
- 9:09But Natasha, I want to hear your story.
- 9:11It is different. Went from Allegra, which is so
- 9:14cool. Very different in a lot of ways.
- 9:17But then yeah, she talked about where we intersect.
- 9:19Yeah. I my career started in
- 9:21entertainment and performing and singing from a very young age
- 9:25and you know, performing out right outside of college and
- 9:28mostly on stage, some films on television but mostly on stage,
- 9:32and performing a singer-songwriter when I
- 9:34realized that my art depended so much on other people.
- 9:37Granting me the access to be on stage or in front of the camera.
- 9:41I just started writing my own songs because I was just, I was
- 9:44also a singer too. And I was just like, you know
- 9:45what? I got really frustrated with it
- 9:47being all, you know, depending on whether or not somebody else
- 9:50decided I should be able to do something right.
- 9:52So I started writing my own music.
- 9:54And that eventually did this whole singer-songwriter thing.
- 9:57Eventually had a fan started recording going ahead locally,
- 10:00touring here in LA and in some other places as well.
- 10:02But when I got pregnant with my first son, all of that shifted,
- 10:05because not only was I doing things to make money, right?
- 10:09And then also run my business as a singer-songwriter bandleader.
- 10:13Those two things together is like 80 hour a week job, you
- 10:16know, essentially. So I think when I was just
- 10:19listening to I like her share her story, which I've heard
- 10:21before and I love hearing it so concisely because really what I
- 10:24was thinking as she was saying all this, I'm like this just
- 10:26became a a discovery over and over again about what comes to
- 10:30light as your values, right. So she's talking about dating
- 10:33it. I absolutely love performing.
- 10:36What I didn't love was the business side of the business
- 10:39that had to be 100% generated by me and just one other like
- 10:43manager. Type thing.
- 10:44And it was a lot, a lot of work, which I enjoyed the performing
- 10:47part, right. It was the, it was the rest of
- 10:49the like promoting and get people to come and all that kind
- 10:52of stuff, which is just that was not my thing, right.
- 10:54So when I pregnant with my son and became clear that like, oh,
- 10:57OK, I'm going to have to take a break from the live music thing,
- 10:59I became aware of the fact I'm like, oh wow, this is maybe not
- 11:02really my path, right? So I shifted into teaching.
- 11:06And became a vocal teacher, which I absolutely love.
- 11:08People for years have been like, hey, do you take, do you know,
- 11:11do you do you give lessons and that kind of thing?
- 11:12I want to learn how to sing. And I had just kept saying, no,
- 11:15no, no, this is not really. I don't, I don't do that.
- 11:16But I work with a very specific method.
- 11:19And so I wound up going ahead and getting certified that
- 11:21method so that I could teach it because this is, that's the way
- 11:24I sang. And so if I'm going to teach it,
- 11:25I'm going to teach this particular method.
- 11:27So I pivoted from being a performer to teaching and
- 11:30initially. I didn't think that that was
- 11:32something that I would be interested, really in.
- 11:33And just being an educator and watching people grok things is
- 11:37like one of the best. Honestly, one of the best
- 11:39feelings ever is when a student really gets what you've been
- 11:44communicating to them, and it's. I was joking about this with my
- 11:47students. I'm like it's it's harder
- 11:48because you know their instrument is on the inside and
- 11:50I can't like, you know, open up their mouth and see what's going
- 11:53on in there. Yeah, I know.
- 11:55Where you're just like hey, your fingers in the wrong spot, you
- 11:57know. So it takes a lot of like
- 11:59feedback and and me finding ways to explain things to people from
- 12:03multiple different facets, which the the byproduct of that is
- 12:06that and I've personally became a better singer.
- 12:08But of course it helps me with my skill of teaching of being
- 12:11able to look at things from many different angles.
- 12:13You know I had a. This guy who was a bodybuilder,
- 12:16he did not get down with like my think of a fairy, you know what
- 12:20I mean? Like the the kind of metaphors I
- 12:22was using with some of my younger female.
- 12:25Students, you know what? I.
- 12:26Mean. So I was like, all right, this
- 12:27guy's not, he's not jiving with that metaphor, you know.
- 12:29And so it helped me become better teacher, which and helped
- 12:32me become a better singer as well, so.
- 12:35I felt like that really helped me understand how to convey
- 12:39information and things that I really understood deeply.
- 12:42That skill set is something that I bring over and Allegra to with
- 12:46being an educator, you bring over into BYWD.
- 12:49And the thing was, and I became one of those people that came to
- 12:52to Allegra was like, how do you do it all, girl?
- 12:54Talk to me because yes, I have this thriving home studio and a
- 12:59stay at home mom, work from home mom.
- 13:01But I have lots of other ideas of things that I wanted to do,
- 13:03but none of those things were attached to specifically my
- 13:05family or anyone else. It was all just something I
- 13:08wanted to do. And so therefore, and maybe many
- 13:11of your parents can relate to this.
- 13:13I just kept backburnering those ideas, backburnering those
- 13:16dreams, even things that like. Some of it was just, you know,
- 13:19for my own gratification di DIY projects.
- 13:21Some of it is we're money making ideas, right?
- 13:23Things that I could even potentially have as a passive
- 13:26income stream. But I just never ever
- 13:27prioritized it, never got around to it.
- 13:30Had that conversation with Allegra and she hits me to the
- 13:33planner she'd been using. We talked about this philosophy.
- 13:35And she and I checked in with each other and, you know, she
- 13:38started asking me, well, how are you using it this way?
- 13:39Have you have you tried it this way?
- 13:41This is what I do through these conversations, as Allegra said,
- 13:44is how Beyond your wildest Dreams was born.
- 13:47And you know, there is a part of it in those conversations.
- 13:49I was like, we can't give this information to ourselves.
- 13:52We have to get it out. But there's other families and
- 13:56parents, moms, dads, caregivers. Who have the same experience
- 14:01that I did, which was just like, wow, I just continuously just
- 14:04let the things that pop up in my life take precedent over the big
- 14:08picture stuff and definitely was not prioritizing myself.
- 14:12I'm getting better at prioritizing myself.
- 14:14I'm realizing that that is like that too is a skill.
- 14:17So learning to plan as a skill that you eventually just it
- 14:21becomes part of what you do. Prioritizing myself is getting
- 14:24easier and easier. I'm not great at it yet, but
- 14:28it's getting easier and easier. Wow.
- 14:30Oh, I love both of your stories. I love how you both bring such
- 14:33different perspectives to it but have the same values and
- 14:36mission. You know, that's obviously the
- 14:38tenants of a great company. And the fact that you were doing
- 14:41this for yourselves first, like you were filling a gap that just
- 14:44existed within yourselves, and then you're like, OK, let's put
- 14:46this out there in the world. OK, So what is the method?
- 14:49What would you say is the secret sauce of Beyond your Wildest
- 14:52Dreams? How is it different from, you
- 14:54know, like the Bullet Journals or the people like the Tim
- 14:56Ferriss 4 hour work week style? Walk me through it.
- 14:59Oh my goodness. I think it all comes back to,
- 15:03and this sounds like a simple thing, but we found that it's
- 15:06one of those a minute to learn a lifetime to master kind of ideas
- 15:09is aligning your goals with your values and then breaking it down
- 15:16into all the. Steps that are needed to
- 15:18accomplish it, but at the most basic, the daily or almost daily
- 15:23activity that you're going to take in order to accomplish that
- 15:26thing, because big goals require sustained, regular activity.
- 15:31So let's say you want to write a book, or start a business, or
- 15:35move to another state, whatever it is, or move to another
- 15:38country, whatever it is, there is something that you can do on
- 15:41the daily or almost daily to move that goal forward.
- 15:45So if you want to write a book. We would say, you know, choose a
- 15:48word count and write 500 to 1000 words a day most days.
- 15:53If you write 500 to 1000 words a day, five days a week, you're
- 15:56going to get to a book length manuscript in three months or
- 16:00less, right? If you are thinking about
- 16:01moving, investigate the cities, look at the demographic
- 16:05information, look at the jobs that are available, look at the
- 16:07cost of living, and then plan once a month maybe to go visit
- 16:11one of those places you know, on a weekend.
- 16:13If you are looking to change your job, set aside 10 minutes.
- 16:17To look at job listings on an almost daily basis.
- 16:21And that's The thing is people think about these goals and they
- 16:24just kind of put them up on their vision board.
- 16:26We don't, we do a vision boarding exercise with our
- 16:28students, but we call it an action board because the brain
- 16:31science shows that you get a little squirt of dopamine when
- 16:34you look at your vision board. And unfortunately that dopamine
- 16:36can be counterproductive because then you're like, oh, I don't
- 16:39actually have to do anything because this just makes me feel
- 16:41so good the way it is. So, you know, people think about
- 16:44these huge goals, but they don't think about the activity, the
- 16:47regular activity that they need to do to move those goals
- 16:49forward. And sometimes people have goals
- 16:52that have been given to them by their families or society or
- 16:56even by themselves. For instance, I had planned on
- 16:59writing a cookbook for years, right?
- 17:01I had this food product people. I was doing classes on, cooking
- 17:05demonstrations that Whole Foods people like.
- 17:07Where's the cookbook? At some point, I said to myself.
- 17:10Clearly I do not want to write a cookbook.
- 17:13So why am I shooting on myself? What You should write a
- 17:16cookbook. You have a food product.
- 17:18You should write a cookbook. Why am I shooting on myself
- 17:21about this? Right.
- 17:22So we give people permission to let go of those goals that are
- 17:25not really either they've outgrown them or they want
- 17:28really theirs to begin with. And when you live with your
- 17:30values, that for me, that is where I have found true
- 17:34happiness. And The funny thing is, is you
- 17:36can be doing stuff that other people would consider totally
- 17:38boring. But I.
- 17:40Find that if you're living your values, it's fun.
- 17:42For instance, I want to spend an evening sorting screws and nails
- 17:46because I have a value around conservation of material, human
- 17:49and capital resources. And we've lived in our house 20
- 17:52years, so we've tons of nails and screws lying around in the
- 17:55junk drawer in the cabinet up there in the garage.
- 17:59And so I got one of those little organizers with the little
- 18:01acrylic drawers, and I made myself some tea.
- 18:04I put on an audio book and I sorted screws.
- 18:07It didn't even take that long. Maybe it took two hours.
- 18:10It has paid me over in time and money saved multiple times
- 18:14already. And I can honestly tell you I
- 18:16was having fun the whole time I was doing it.
- 18:19I even told Natasha about it. I was like I was having fun
- 18:22sorting screws and I think it's because I was living my values
- 18:25and I find as long as I'm living my values, I'm having fun.
- 18:28Oh, I love that. I love that.
- 18:30Natasha, how does it show up for you that living your values and
- 18:33how is that, how did that transform like when you kind of
- 18:34met Allegra and you were in that phase where you're like?
- 18:38I need something to shift here. You know how does that show up
- 18:41for you? Allegra.
- 18:42Absolutely covered. You know like what is the secret
- 18:44sauce with BYWD? And the thing that I would
- 18:45distill it down to is exactly that is getting really clear
- 18:48about what your values are. Because of course I feel like if
- 18:51you stopped anyone on the street and just like what are your
- 18:53values, they would be able to come up with you know maybe 3-4
- 18:57words that encapsulate what their values are.
- 19:00And those are probably accurate. Part of what we really encourage
- 19:03people to do is just to do a deep dive into what those values
- 19:06are and. Be super clear about it.
- 19:09Or at the very least be really earnest in your inquiry about
- 19:12it. It as opposed to just like, oh,
- 19:13my value is, you know, honesty or whatever.
- 19:15And not to say that that's not true or real, it absolutely can
- 19:18be. But part of that first step is
- 19:20like and so once you're very, very clear about what those are,
- 19:24it helps in so many different ways.
- 19:26And This is why you know me back burnering my dreams and those
- 19:29things that I was wanting to do but was allowing life to just
- 19:32come in in front of everything and just kind of.
- 19:35Blow up whatever was going on that day and continuously
- 19:38putting things in the back burner.
- 19:39When I have those values in the forefront, that helps me make
- 19:43choices about what it is that I'm choosing to do.
- 19:46I I feel like for me and some people can maybe relate, I have.
- 19:50I definitely get decision fatigue.
- 19:52I definitely get easily stopped by the choices I have life
- 19:56offered. I've been very lucky and life
- 19:58has offered me a lot of different choices and
- 19:59opportunities in different ways and I want to say yes to
- 20:02everything, which is. Impossible, right?
- 20:05And so driving myself absolutely bad trying to get over here, do
- 20:09everything. Plus, you know, the mom guilt
- 20:10thing where it's like this kid has a birthday party and that
- 20:13kid has another birthday party happening at the same time or
- 20:15around the same time. Plus you also really want to go
- 20:17to that workshop for yourself. What do you do right?
- 20:20You know, like, how do you make that happen?
- 20:21Well, when you have your priorities prioritized or your
- 20:25values prioritized rather, it helps you decide.
- 20:28OKI have a value of. You know, XY or Z, whatever it
- 20:33might be. Like we, you know, as a family,
- 20:35we want to enjoy nature. So you know what?
- 20:36We're going to go and go on this hike and we're going to maybe
- 20:39turn down this, this opportunity to, you know, somebody's,
- 20:42somebody's, I don't know, birthday party.
- 20:44Hold on, how much my kids would freak out?
- 20:45Probably. In fact, like we're going to
- 20:47have birthday party. You know, that's not the best
- 20:50example, but but that's the idea.
- 20:51The idea really is, you know, like if you have your values.
- 20:55You know, forefront in your mind and Allegra and I are going to
- 20:58have another book coming up pretty pretty soon about family
- 21:00mission statement which helps get everybody on board with this
- 21:03idea. But just for you individually,
- 21:05if it's forefront of your mind, it makes your decision making
- 21:08that much clearer and that has been huge.
- 21:11I feel like having that guiding light, everything else falls
- 21:14into place behind that. I mean I don't make it sound
- 21:16like it's easy or it's just, but having that as far as like
- 21:20understanding where you're you know.
- 21:22Where you're headed. But why?
- 21:23That value is the why behind it. And that makes that puts the gas
- 21:27in our tanks, you know, and we don't refill it.
- 21:30We get, you know, fatigued. Yeah, it makes prioritization so
- 21:33easy, but it also makes boundaries.
- 21:37Easy. You know, I I hear I've heard a
- 21:39story years ago about Richard Branson and he spoke to the CE
- 21:43O's. And one of the CE O's was so
- 21:44moved by what he said he invited him to speak at his company and
- 21:47Richard Branson's people said no.
- 21:49And so the guy said I'll pay $100,000 for two-minute
- 21:52whatever. And Richard Branson's people
- 21:54said no. And he said okay blank, check.
- 21:56What will it take? And they said, oh, sorry, we
- 21:58didn't explain. Richard has four priorities he's
- 22:01working on. And if something doesn't fill
- 22:05one of those priorities, it's an automatic no.
- 22:07And I had thought to myself, Oh my gosh, to have that kind of
- 22:11clarity around your boundaries and your priorities is so
- 22:15amazing. And I find that the values,
- 22:19which is not a Richard Branson thing, the values thing actually
- 22:21is a Ben Franklin story, which I can tell, but the values is what
- 22:25keeps the priorities really clear and the boundaries really
- 22:28clear. Okay in that example, it's kind
- 22:31of cool because imagine. That person, if that person was
- 22:34smart who went to Richard Branson, was like, you know,
- 22:36come speak for us or whatever. If they were like, oh, those are
- 22:40the four priorities. We actually could support you in
- 22:43that endeavor and just build a relationship.
- 22:45Like, wouldn't that have been cool?
- 22:46Right, right. If they could have, like you
- 22:48know, supported it that way. Right.
- 22:51Yeah. Yeah.
- 22:52Oh, yeah. Yeah.
- 22:53I dovetail that in there. Yeah, yeah, we can do that.
- 22:55We can do that for sure. Yeah.
- 22:56Yeah. You know what I love about
- 22:58you're saying is when we get to like the top to the topic of A
- 23:01to do list, it sounds like you're you're kind of being able
- 23:04to filter things before they even get onto the list.
- 23:08Because I think that can be really hard, especially as
- 23:10parents. And what I hear a lot and what I
- 23:12feel a lot is the. The To Do List that's too long.
- 23:15And then that feeling of crossing something out, not
- 23:18because you've done it, but because you're like, OK, no, I'm
- 23:21actually going to say no to this.
- 23:22It doesn't always feel great, but if you just don't even have
- 23:24to put it on the list to begin with and you've got this list
- 23:27that is just so coveted. I was just seeing this visual in
- 23:30my mind as you were both explaining that I was like, that
- 23:32sounds good, that sounds really good.
- 23:34And they're all values aligned. And then when things do come up,
- 23:37you've got this little filter. I'm picturing like a little
- 23:39machine, too. That's like and it's like, OK,
- 23:43it goes into the values machine and it kind of analyzes it and
- 23:46it's like Nope, yes, Nope. Yes.
- 23:49I mean, I I very rarely in my life have, you know, quote, UN
- 23:54quote, gone out the way people go out, right.
- 23:57Like I'm, I don't drink, you know, I like to dance, but I
- 24:00like to do specific types of dancing, you know, I don't like
- 24:03loud places. So because I've known that
- 24:06that's not a value of mine, I've been able to focus that time
- 24:10that I would spend doing that stuff on things that actually
- 24:12mattered to me. Yeah.
- 24:14And yeah, you're right. The little machine, like, no,
- 24:16not my thing. And eventually people stop
- 24:18inviting you to things, right, Because they know that that's
- 24:20not you. You never say yes.
- 24:21So as I got older, I didn't have to say no.
- 24:25It's so good. It's so good.
- 24:28OK. So Elekra, I want to know, so
- 24:30you work with, you know, CEO's or executives or you know people
- 24:34who are, we'll call them high performing.
- 24:37What would you say is something that you've noticed with them
- 24:39and their management of their tasks?
- 24:41I don't need to say to do lists. Everyone has a different way of
- 24:44kind of tackling their their tasks that they have to get
- 24:46done. What would you say is something
- 24:48with that population, those high performers that is quite common
- 24:52amongst them? They're readers.
- 24:55Yeah. I can't say that there's much
- 24:57else in common with them because, you know, for instance,
- 25:01the personality that makes so and so really good at a
- 25:03engineering type of business is very different than the person
- 25:08who really thrives in a more human focused management sort of
- 25:13business. But they're all readers and I'm.
- 25:18And I find too, that with people who are readers, like I'm
- 25:21recommending books to them, they're recommending books to
- 25:23me. We talk about those books.
- 25:25So I would definitely say they're readers.
- 25:27Cool. Is there an element of planning
- 25:29that they have wrangled in some capacity where like you've
- 25:33you've both spoken about planning being a really big
- 25:36tenant of beyond your wildest dreams, your company?
- 25:39And do these people have either innately or a learned skill of
- 25:44being able to plan or they've also?
- 25:47Learned how to outsource that and have other people support
- 25:50them in this in kind of managing.
- 25:52I'm picturing like the entrepreneurial mind too, which
- 25:55may be similar to a parent's mind if there's a lot going on
- 25:59all the time. Right.
- 26:01Well, it's interesting because I coach both entrepreneurs and
- 26:05C-Suite people who may or may not be entrepreneurs, right?
- 26:08And so it's interesting because they're people that I coach
- 26:12longterm. So I have like annual retainers
- 26:15with and then there are people that I coach for a specific
- 26:18reason, like they have a specific speech that they're
- 26:20working on. And so I would say that the one
- 26:24thing that they all are all good at is prioritizing me when it's
- 26:30in their shortterm interests, right?
- 26:32So they will give up time for other things because they know
- 26:35that I'm going to help them show up as their best self.
- 26:38But it's for a short period of time, right?
- 26:40And I think that's an important thing to remember.
- 26:43Especially for parents and caregivers, is life throws these
- 26:47unexpected things at us. And you know, if you're in a
- 26:50traditional relationship, a lot of times it's the main primary
- 26:54caregiver right who's forced to absorb those unexpected things.
- 26:58Like when my father had passed away, right?
- 27:00I was the one who helped to clean out all of his things,
- 27:04right when my motherinlaw had a stroke, right?
- 27:08I had to make sure that she was getting groceries and stuff like
- 27:11that. But I knew it was a shortterm
- 27:13thing. I knew I wasn't going to have to
- 27:15do that thing forever. And so I was able to pivot and
- 27:19be flexible and work that shortterm thing into my life
- 27:22because it was a priority. But I knew that eventually I'd
- 27:25get to get back to my normal life, right, quote UN quote
- 27:29normal life, and I would get to work on my things again.
- 27:32So I think that's probably the other common thing, is that
- 27:34they're able to fit in something that needs priority for a short
- 27:38period of time because they know that it's what they need to do.
- 27:42Sounds like there's a lot of agency in that and in a
- 27:45situation where, and I'm sorry to hear about passing for your
- 27:48father and you know this circumstances in life that just
- 27:50pop. Up.
- 27:51They just happen. They happen and and you know
- 27:54what it sounds like by having this backbone of having like a
- 27:58really dialed, you know, planning side of you and really
- 28:01focused goals, it's almost like you're okay.
- 28:04It sounds like you're okay with putting that to the side for a
- 28:06second, pivoting like you said. But then was there comfort in
- 28:10being able to come back to that, coming back to that plan and
- 28:13that those goals and being like, ah, there's something, this is
- 28:16short term, I can do this and I know what I get to go back to.
- 28:19It is, it is. And you know, part of showing up
- 28:23for those people in that way is related to my values.
- 28:26Like I. So I have my value cards right
- 28:27here. I know people can't see, but I
- 28:29have 8 value cards and they're higher, hierarchically ordered.
- 28:32And my very first value is personal and professional
- 28:35excellence, to show up as my best self in all areas of life
- 28:37because that's who I want to be. And so for me, showing up for my
- 28:42family in that way is part of my first value.
- 28:45So obviously that takes precedence.
- 28:47And I put personal excellence before professional, right.
- 28:49That takes precedence over the things that I'm working on.
- 28:52But then it is comforting to know that I can always plug back
- 28:55into because I have my daily activities that I need to do
- 28:58right. Like right now I'm working on
- 29:00Rock Your Purpose, our next book.
- 29:02And so I need to be writing a little bit every day.
- 29:04So if I said okay, I need to take my mind off, you know, this
- 29:07grief or whatever, you know, what can I do?
- 29:11And you know what? You also have to give yourself
- 29:13grace because the first three months of after my father
- 29:15passed, he's he passed three years ago now the, the OR almost
- 29:19three, 2 1/2. So the first three months, you
- 29:22know, I would just randomly cry for no reason and you just have
- 29:25to let it. You just have to go through that
- 29:27process. You know you can't store.
- 29:29All of that grief in your body you got, you have to let it out.
- 29:33And you know The funny thing about grief too?
- 29:35I don't know if other people have experienced this, but it
- 29:37makes the good things sweeter and it makes the bitter things
- 29:41land. I guess I'm a food person, as
- 29:44you can see. Like why?
- 29:46Why have some food analogy? I like that's a really cool way
- 29:50of putting it. Yeah.
- 29:52Oh my goodness, that's such a. That's such a.
- 29:54It's so true. I've, you know, experienced
- 29:56different. Versions of grief in my life and
- 29:59it's it's so true that they put things into perspective.
- 30:01Every one of those like pivots we can learn something from and
- 30:06and you're right and just let yourself cry, Let yourself cry.
- 30:10That could also be another pillar pivoting back over.
- 30:14I want to hear a bit more about 321 Done which is a book that
- 30:17you have available on Amazon. And what can somebody expect
- 30:21from that book? Natasha and Allegra's flashing
- 30:25it. It's beautiful.
- 30:26It's beautiful. Yeah, I want it.
- 30:29How do you, like, talk me through?
- 30:31I want, I want nuts and bolts. I want super granular details,
- 30:35like how do you go 321 and then get something done?
- 30:38Sometimes I find it so hard and overwhelming.
- 30:41Sure, absolutely. That's and and the book itself
- 30:44is available as a workshop as well, a one hour workshop.
- 30:47And the book is also itself a workbook.
- 30:50And we're big believers in putting pens and paper and
- 30:53getting an action right because it's just theory and when we
- 30:57read it right. So that's one of the best ways
- 30:59to grok something is to just start doing it right and
- 31:04imperfectly too so. The the book itself is about the
- 31:08three common mistakes people make, and I 100% made all three
- 31:12of these mistakes on the regular.
- 31:15Oh, I'm nervous. Don't leave you hanging.
- 31:18We do also then give you 3 you know pro tips we call them to
- 31:22combat those three mistakes and. And you just asked a question
- 31:26earlier about you know like what we you know like well you
- 31:29basically said like it doesn't even go on your To Do List and
- 31:31that is essentially the the the very first thing is that we
- 31:34typically and I'll say this speak for myself, I was
- 31:37absolutely like a brain dump kind of.
- 31:40To To Do List creator, right. It was just like, if it crossed
- 31:43my mind to something that I have to do, it went on this list, but
- 31:45then it quickly becomes overwhelming.
- 31:48And then you also talked about crossing things off or having
- 31:50them not even show up on that list.
- 31:52And that's, and that's really the first thing around all of it
- 31:56is just if it's going to take you 2 minutes or if it's
- 31:58something you're already doing because I was so into like,
- 32:03brush my teeth, which I'm going to do anyway, right?
- 32:07So. Good to like you know get over
- 32:09there and cross it off or check it off or however and you know
- 32:13if half my list is things I'm already doing or already going
- 32:16to do or if it you know, then I'm I'm I'm feel like I'm just
- 32:20rocking through this list. And we talked a moment ago
- 32:23Allegra mentioned like the the dopamine paradox where yes we do
- 32:27something and we get that shot of dopamine.
- 32:28It feels so good but it can be counter.
- 32:31Productive in that if I put down, brush my teeth, walk the
- 32:35dog, you know, and put down all these things that I'm going to
- 32:37do anyway today, and then here I go like, wow, look, I got to
- 32:40have my list done. Dopamine, dopamine, dopamine.
- 32:42I don't feel motivated. I don't have that motivation to
- 32:46go ahead and get to the things on the list that are.
- 32:48Critical that have to do with prioritizing myself that have to
- 32:51do with those daily habits that Liger was talking about that
- 32:53bring me closer to my my goals and so forth.
- 32:56And so that's probably one of the biggest nuts and bolts
- 32:59things around me having to shift from brain dump, which by the
- 33:04way, we're not saying you can't do a brain dump because often
- 33:07I'm with a client and all of a sudden it'll pop into my head, I
- 33:09go, Oh my goodness, I have to e-mail that person back and I'll
- 33:11write that down, right. Even though that's, you know,
- 33:14something that would take me at the other part of this.
- 33:16Not only do you not write down things that are recurring, but
- 33:18something is going to take you 2 minutes or less just do it.
- 33:21But if I'm going to win with a client, obviously I can't in the
- 33:24middle of that, you know go off and write this this e-mail
- 33:26that's going to take me a minute to write.
- 33:28So in those kind of cases, yeah obviously you would just you
- 33:31would still I would still write that down just so that I don't
- 33:33so doesn't leave my my brain but it has cut down so much on that
- 33:38overwhelmed scenario and. You know, getting through half
- 33:42of my list and feeling like, wow, I'm totally rocking it
- 33:44today and I and I don't get to the things that are going to be
- 33:48critical, you know. And so that's probably the the
- 33:51biggest thing. I feel like that initially.
- 33:53And then we have of course other mistakes that people are common
- 33:57that they make as well. But that's one of the biggest
- 33:59things is like don't even write it down if you're already doing
- 34:02it or if it takes you as you know, 30 seconds to write that.
- 34:06A text message to your hair stylist is Create an appointment
- 34:09for your hairstyle and for your haircut.
- 34:11Do it. Do it right now.
- 34:12Do it. Just do it.
- 34:13Boom, it's done. Don't even put it on the list.
- 34:15Oh my. Gosh, on my To Do List this
- 34:17morning I have there's like 2 emails that I wrote down on my
- 34:20To Do List that I need to send. Why didn't I just reply to the
- 34:25like? These are not big emails, these
- 34:26are like yes. 10:00 AM exactly. Exactly, right.
- 34:31So now it's still taking up space in your in your brain.
- 34:34It's taking up space on your To Do List.
- 34:36And yeah, it could be just A and you know, I mean my Gmail is
- 34:39always like it kind of guesses what I want to say back and
- 34:41great. See you then seconds to reply in
- 34:47those cases. Yeah.
- 34:47So sometimes I have to compose a sentence or two, right.
- 34:50But still less than a 2 minute job.
- 34:52Not even worth putting down, right.
- 34:54And it's it's already done, you know?
- 34:56And that's the other thing that I'd love to say this is we do
- 34:59mention this in the book and this is like one of our little
- 35:01side tips. Allegra and I are huge
- 35:04proponents of highlighting things once you finish them, and
- 35:08that has made a huge shift. As opposed if we cross something
- 35:11out, that just means it's just never happens.
- 35:14Not going to happen. It's not something I have to do
- 35:16anymore. Like think circumstances change.
- 35:18I don't. You know, have to bring the dog
- 35:19to the dog groomer anymore. My husband did it, blah blah,
- 35:21cross it off, right? But if I did it, the goal there
- 35:24is to make the whole paper yellow or pink or whatever color
- 35:27your highlighter is. And it feels like a little bit
- 35:29of a celebration. And it also really just kind of
- 35:31signifies like, oh, this is something that was done as
- 35:34opposed to something to cross out, which is just something
- 35:36that. Doesn't need to get done anymore
- 35:37right? So and it just, it has a little
- 35:39bit of a different flavor to it. But if you're a check mark
- 35:42person or whatever, so be it for forever.
- 35:44My husband was like, he's like I love to cross it off and you
- 35:47know just cross it out of existence.
- 35:49Kill it. Kill that cup.
- 35:51You know, and lately he's like, well, I've been using that
- 35:53highlighter thing that you you mentioned, you know, and he's
- 35:56like it does, it's pretty cool. Like it does feel like it does.
- 36:00It does feel a little bit different.
- 36:01It's almost like a little celebration.
- 36:02It's more kind of like a little like, huh?
- 36:04Look at me. That's done, you know.
- 36:06Okay. That's all.
- 36:08I love that I do the check Marks and but they're to the side,
- 36:13they're to the left. So if I'm like kind of
- 36:15disregarding the check marks down the left hand side, then it
- 36:19just it still just looks like a huge list, like there's yeah, it
- 36:22doesn't change. Right.
- 36:24Makes it easier. Cuz those ones that are not
- 36:26highlighted, it's really quick to be like, OK, those are the
- 36:28things that are still left. You know what I.
- 36:30Mean. It's much more scannable.
- 36:31Yes, yes. OK, so we so a person's got
- 36:35their To Do List dialed. I love that idea around taking
- 36:38up the routine things. And if you're somebody who
- 36:40really does need, like, you know, with kids, if you're
- 36:42somebody who needs the routine, maybe you make a little card.
- 36:44Here's my morning routine. And like, that can just be like
- 36:47your daily ritual, if you like, that's.
- 36:49That's our other. That's our other book.
- 36:52Is Rock your morning? Yes, the.
- 36:54Oh right, yes. Rock your morning, Yeah.
- 36:56Not creating a morning ritual, you know.
- 36:59And so, yeah, my morning ritual stuff does not go on my To Do
- 37:02List, you know, And that's a whole another.
- 37:05But. Yeah, absolutely.
- 37:06Right. So.
- 37:07Yeah and we another probably talk about this, but like we
- 37:11another one of the pro tips is you know not just going ahead
- 37:14and making that To Do List, but finding places in your schedule
- 37:17to schedule those things and that's another that's another
- 37:20pro tip. You know one of our one of the
- 37:22mistakes people make is like we make this To Do List, but then
- 37:25you actually don't make time to do the things that you say you
- 37:30want. Okay so.
- 37:32Yeah. So it's on there.
- 37:33It's like, well, maybe I'll get to that, right at some point.
- 37:35I'll get to that when I have time.
- 37:37And it's a reverse, It's like I'm going to make time for it.
- 37:39I'm going to find the place on my schedule to go ahead and and
- 37:43tackle that thing because otherwise it just gets pushed
- 37:47off to the next To Do List and the next To Do List, right
- 37:50personal thing where if it is, if one of if one item has made
- 37:53it to the third To Do List, it doesn't go to a fourth To Do
- 37:56List. It's just something I'm never
- 37:57going to do. Right.
- 37:59I'm just never going to do it. Like either a I'm just never
- 38:01going to do it or like this is it.
- 38:02This is like, you know, I don't, you know, sometimes you transfer
- 38:04something because it's like it's not that it's not super urgent,
- 38:07you know, But then after a while just going to say Nope, it's not
- 38:10going. I'm not transferring it to the
- 38:114th To Do List. I give myself three chances.
- 38:14And then that's I like that that.
- 38:17I'm feeling that at my core. That's like making me feel
- 38:19uncomfortable because I'm like, Yep, there's a couple things on
- 38:21my list right now that are like that.
- 38:24So you're alluding to what I believe is called time blocking.
- 38:27Correct. I have two sides in my brain
- 38:31about this. Where I've In some seasons of
- 38:33life, time blocking has worked really well.
- 38:35In other seasons I've felt like more intuitive and I want to
- 38:37kind of go a bit more with like Kate.
- 38:39I'm going to do this today and I'm just going to figure out
- 38:41what needs to happen, but I want to be challenged.
- 38:43So Allegra, it sounds like you you've got thoughts on this.
- 38:46Probably some science. I feel like you guys are both
- 38:49very well researched. Talk to me about time blocking.
- 38:52Well, I mean I do want to say one one thing that Natasha and I
- 38:55always say to our students is take what speaks to you and
- 38:57leave the rest, right. Because we're giving you a lot
- 39:00of tips and it's not going to work really well for you.
- 39:04If you if you feel overwhelmed by them then just take one start
- 39:08with the first one that we just mentioned and you know the not
- 39:12writing down things that take less than two minutes, you know.
- 39:15Ritualizing the things that you're going to do anyway on a
- 39:17regular basis. Using a highlighter.
- 39:20Sorry, using a highlighter, right?
- 39:21Start there and build up to it. Like, I just want to add as an
- 39:25anecdote, Natasha and I have been in relationships with the
- 39:29same men. Not the same men, not sister,
- 39:32we. Sound so funny?
- 39:37Yeah, me with my guy, her with hers for multiple decades at
- 39:42this point, right? Natasha and I are turning 49
- 39:45this year. And.
- 39:47Way. Yeah, yeah, we're turning 49.
- 39:51Love it. And and fierce and and so it's
- 39:55interesting because neither of our husbands are planners.
- 40:00And they have both, I guess through osmosis or because they
- 40:05see it works for us or whatever. They have both come a far away
- 40:10on their own planning and morning ritual.
- 40:14My husband has his own morning ritual journeys.
- 40:17So it's it's really interesting what you can sort of teach
- 40:21through right leading by doing sort of thing.
- 40:25Like my daughter is already a better planner than my husband
- 40:28because. You know, she sees me doing it
- 40:30and I coach her on it, but. Ended our first like in person
- 40:35workshop. We usually do them online and
- 40:37she was so great she went, she went and did all the exercises.
- 40:41Yeah, I have it right here, her little.
- 40:43Like passing a? Handout her.
- 40:45Little handouts. She she right in.
- 40:48She was so helpful in handing out the handouts and pens for
- 40:51everybody and stuff. I mean, she was so cute and
- 40:55she's. 12 so for. Everyone.
- 40:57I was like Allegra. We have an intern this.
- 41:02Is and she's like legally allowed to work at, so perfect
- 41:05to intern on. Right.
- 41:06She's an intern, right. So I just want to point out that
- 41:10you know, we're we're we're not just focusing on moms and
- 41:14caregivers because we are moms and caregivers, although that's
- 41:17a big part of it. But also a big part of it is
- 41:20because we know that by teaching this to moms and caregivers
- 41:22they're going to pass it on to the rest of their family and.
- 41:27Philosophically, I really believe that the best culture
- 41:30change and the fastest culture change comes through being a
- 41:33parent. So you know, this is much more
- 41:36aligned with sort of going back to your very first question
- 41:39BYWDI realized was aligned with my what I want my legacy to be
- 41:45versus the other things. So OK, so tip #2 for your To Do
- 41:51List for people who have decided that they're really going to
- 41:54master their To Do List. Because of this podcast, tip #2
- 41:58is to not tackle your To Do List in the random order that you
- 42:02tend to write them in. Right?
- 42:04So we tend to write these To Do List right.
- 42:07I will, I will give you an example.
- 42:10Pick up my contact lenses, buy a gift for so and so.
- 42:13Write a thank you note for so and so.
- 42:16Buy dog insurance, Schedule haircut, write a newsletter,
- 42:19repot a plant, work on automations, paint cabinets.
- 42:22Right. Very random.
- 42:23All today. All Monday.
- 42:25Right, right now. All done by now.
- 42:28And some people have a tendency to take lists very literally, as
- 42:33though they're written in hierarchical and in the order
- 42:36that they should be done right. But if you go from writing thank
- 42:39you note to painting cabinets to picking up contact lenses, your
- 42:42day's going to look crazy. And so tip #2 is to do a little
- 42:48bit of thinking about whether or not that that act that you have
- 42:52to do is. Requires deep attention or
- 42:54shallow attention. And deep and shallow attention
- 42:58were first written about by one specific author who I'm not
- 43:00going to quote because I don't want to get her wrong with the
- 43:03name of his book. But we interpret it slightly
- 43:06differently, which is that something that requires deep
- 43:08attention is something that is challenging for you to do.
- 43:12Requires you to be really focused and or time sensitive
- 43:16and we consider something that's shallow is something that is
- 43:19easy for you to do or maybe even enjoyable.
- 43:22Like repotting a plant for me is an enjoyable task.
- 43:25It's something that doesn't require full attention and
- 43:28actually you could include creative brainstorming in that
- 43:31because the brain science shows that you're most creative when
- 43:34you have a little bit of soft focus right around your thinking
- 43:38and or is not time sensitive. So if you look at your To Do
- 43:42List and then write down deep shallow deep shallow deep
- 43:46shallow it, I find it very calming.
- 43:49Process because you realize how much of that is easy stuff
- 43:54right? That To Do List I read off to
- 43:55you that's a sample To Do List of things that I needed to get
- 43:58done in like a 10 day period and only two of them were deep the
- 44:02other eight or nine were shallow and so that's just a big like.
- 44:07Okay, it's not so bad, yeah. That's so stressful.
- 44:12Yeah, and then you know who you are.
- 44:14Like, you know if you're. Quote UN quote a morning person
- 44:16and you're more productive in the morning or you've got your
- 44:19sharper focus in the morning, you know, that helps you
- 44:21understand where to go ahead and figure out where to put those
- 44:25those things. And then of course things that
- 44:27are, you know, folding laundry like that doesn't take a lot.
- 44:30I can listen to a podcast while I'm folding laundry and.
- 44:34That I can, you know, shove in after the boys have been to bed.
- 44:37Gone to bed. I used to try to do my work
- 44:39after my kids went to bed. Guess what?
- 44:41My brain was mush. And something that could take
- 44:43me, probably should have taken me 30 minutes, would take like 3
- 44:46nights in a row because I'd be at the computer, like, you know,
- 44:48just trying to keep my eyes open, you know, but recognizing
- 44:52that instead of taking it and shoving it where I might have
- 44:54time. Being aware of this is actually
- 44:57going to take a little brain power.
- 44:58It doesn't take very long, but you have to be alert, you know,
- 45:01going okay. I have to carve this out and put
- 45:03this in some other spot on my day that.
- 45:05Makes so much more sense. And then you're probably, I
- 45:07imagine if say with Allegra, the example you gave with 10 days
- 45:11over 10 days, why would you put two of those deep tasks on the
- 45:14same day? Or why would you stack them side
- 45:17by side? If you know it's going to take a
- 45:18lot out of you, okay no go get your contact lenses after you.
- 45:23Write for three hours of your book that you're writing?
- 45:26Exactly. Nice.
- 45:27Go listen to a podcast drive to get your contact lenses.
- 45:29Like, exactly. That's really unique.
- 45:31I've listened. To repot a Fern, right?
- 45:33Repot the plant. Like after your brain is mushed
- 45:35and you're like, I need a break, I need to be outside.
- 45:38Yeah, I know you can think about your day much more strategically
- 45:41and things, you know, we recommend as people are learning
- 45:45this to actually go through the process, right?
- 45:47If you have A to do list that you write regularly, erase the
- 45:50things or cross out the things that are reoccurring.
- 45:53Write 2 minute next to things are two-minute and then do them.
- 45:56Write deep and shallow and then you know time block it.
- 45:59Pick a time, consider how much time you need and then put that
- 46:02into your calendar into into an actual place.
- 46:05We recommend going through the whole process as you're learning
- 46:08it. I have.
- 46:09I will tell you that after years of doing this, I have
- 46:12internalized that process so I don't write down 2 minute things
- 46:17unless as Natasha Natasha's a great example, right?
- 46:20If she's. Coaching a student and she
- 46:23thinks of a 2 minute thing. Obviously she has to write it
- 46:25down because she can't just do it.
- 46:27Because you're you're in bed, you know that moment where
- 46:31you're drifting off to sleep or just about to and you're like I
- 46:34got to do that thing right. So but so like a leg or just
- 46:38this deep, shallow. And then this of course just
- 46:40dovetails nicely into the idea of the time blocking which you
- 46:42mentioned and that is that that is the third tip of the the and.
- 46:48Are the third mistake that we've identified in our book is that
- 46:50people don't make time for the things they say they're going to
- 46:53do. They just put it down and
- 46:53they're just like, I'll get to it when I get to it.
- 46:55Well, This is why things wind up going from list to list 3-4
- 46:58times in a row because you didn't make the time for it.
- 47:01And and you mentioned like sometimes you want to be in flow
- 47:04and just see how kind of how it goes and sometimes you want to
- 47:07time block it. And I find for me, sometimes I
- 47:10feel that same way. Like sometimes it's maybe a
- 47:12little bit difficult even though I have a schedule, my schedule's
- 47:15very random because of. Pick ups and drop off from
- 47:18school clients availability. It's not like I work 9:00 to
- 47:215:00 with my clients. It's you know piece meal
- 47:23throughout the week and then something cancels and somebody
- 47:26moves and that kind of thing. So for me to time block my whole
- 47:29week sometimes it doesn't really quite make sense but but I'll
- 47:33give an example like this past weekend my my husband took the
- 47:36boys they went they went away for the weekend and I'll even
- 47:39I'll time block the days that I have.
- 47:41To myself aside for I spent Saturday just vegging and and
- 47:45binge watching Netflix. OK, so I did all that.
- 47:47I was like, all right, Sunday is gonna be my productive day.
- 47:49And because I went ahead and time blocked that Sunday and
- 47:52believe me I time blocked in a lot of also just kind of chill
- 47:55time as well. But there was I can get so much
- 47:57more done when they're not here. And so I always feel like that a
- 47:59day at home alone is like a gift, right.
- 48:01And I don't want to just. Go ahead and and throw it away
- 48:05like I will time block a day, a day like that so that I just
- 48:08kind of make sure I get to everything I want to get to give
- 48:11myself a reasonable amount of time to do it and that kind of
- 48:13thing. So I I enjoy maybe in in a case
- 48:16like that going ahead and time blocking that one day and then
- 48:19I'll often just you know take a look at the week it's sometimes
- 48:22it's loosey, goosey as far as like where the time block goes
- 48:25but but like I'll make sure that today is time blocked and maybe
- 48:28tomorrow I might not do the whole week or for sure.
- 48:32Penciling it in, You know what I mean?
- 48:35So then it exists. We talk about this a lot in the
- 48:37book too, in our workshop. Like the list is for it to exist
- 48:41outside of your head. And the the time blocking is for
- 48:45it to exist. So it's so it exists in space
- 48:47and then the time blocking is so that it exists in time.
- 48:50So we just go ahead and put it into actual.
- 48:52So we put it in time and space. We make space in our brain so we
- 48:56don't have to carry that time that To Do List in our head and
- 48:59then we put it in time so that it'll it'll come into full
- 49:03existence. Oh my gosh, That is really,
- 49:06that's a really cool way of putting it.
- 49:07I love that. I love.
- 49:08So getting it out of your head, that's a big, that's a huge
- 49:11piece, especially for parents, parents of young children,
- 49:14parents of adult children, doesn't matter.
- 49:16But and are humans in general, of course, but that that really
- 49:20resonates with me and Natasha. I know that you have dabbled
- 49:24with timers. Or you have a relationship with
- 49:27timers. Tell me about your take.
- 49:28It's something I get asked about all the time.
- 49:30I can only share my experience, but I wanna hear what your
- 49:32experience is with timers. I mean, they're critical for me.
- 49:37One, you know, and this is, it's not necessarily revolutionary,
- 49:41right. You've heard probably about the
- 49:43Pomodoro method, right? Where you know, you give
- 49:45yourself, you know, you go ahead and time something I personally
- 49:48need to. The even things that are
- 49:50recurring, like picking my kids up from school, I have to set
- 49:54timers because I get very either I'm in with a client or I just,
- 49:58I'm, I'm on a task that I'm really enjoying or just getting
- 50:02rolling and stuff. I have to have timers to go
- 50:04ahead and remind myself, OK, you know, close the, close the
- 50:07laptop, it's time to go put your shoes on and go grab the kids
- 50:10and that kind of thing. And I have to have multiple
- 50:12timers because just. Having Alexa in the kitchen tell
- 50:15me not enough. I've got to have all the Alexas
- 50:18tell me plus my phone, you know, because I just need to have
- 50:22multiple. That's just the way that my
- 50:24brain works, is that like, I can easily block that out if like
- 50:26I'm focused on what I'm doing. I'm just like that that doesn't
- 50:29doesn't register for me. But I will Also just so this
- 50:32this idea yesterday with the time blocking, like I knew I
- 50:35wanted to get to some other things that were really
- 50:36important to me yesterday that are a little bit more creative
- 50:39and I love DIY stuff, right? But.
- 50:42The kitchen was a mess, so I just set a 30 minute timer.
- 50:44I'm going to get done as much as I possibly can get done in the
- 50:47next 30 minutes and then I'm moving on.
- 50:50And that also just keeps me motivated as opposed to, you
- 50:52know, like kind of like. Getting through it like
- 50:55lackadaisically, right. So because I know, Oh yeah, I'm
- 50:58going to go ahead and do this fun little creative thing in in
- 51:00in 30 minutes because I've gone ahead and then I can rip through
- 51:04that sink of dishes and and wipe everything down and get things
- 51:08like well organized because I'm give myself that little Crucible
- 51:12of this time. Like I kind of create this fake
- 51:16little circumstance for myself. This is something that I talk
- 51:20about in our, in our, in our signature course harness the
- 51:22power of planning like. Know what type of planner you
- 51:26are. Know things about yourself and
- 51:28know what motivates you. I have to often create external
- 51:32deadlines, let's say, or external pressure for me to go
- 51:36ahead and barrel through something.
- 51:38You know, if I just say, oh, I'm going to clean the kitchen, you
- 51:40know, sure, it'll eventually get done.
- 51:43I'll probably get distracted with something else.
- 51:44It won't, you know. But if I say okay, I have to do
- 51:46I have 30 minutes to do this. And there's nobody enforcing
- 51:49that for me except for me. You know, it's funny because I
- 51:53really started using this one. I would take my kids when they
- 51:56were younger to the playground and I'd be like, all right guys,
- 51:58we have to leave in 5 minutes and they would never listen to
- 52:00me. But if I put the the timer on my
- 52:02phone, 5 minutes, I'm like the phone's beeping.
- 52:05Guys, we have to go. The phone says, you know.
- 52:09Yeah, sorry. Oh.
- 52:10Shoot, I don't find the brain. I guess I have a child of the
- 52:13brain that wants to listen to. To the to the timer that that
- 52:16motivate me, I'm like because in 30 minutes once that thing goes
- 52:19off, that's it, you know, as they say in like those cooking
- 52:22shows, like, you know, storms down.
- 52:26Yeah, well then you're probably not going to tackle the oven.
- 52:30It's like if you just give yourself this infinite amount of
- 52:32time. You're listening to a great
- 52:33podcast episode like this one. You're you're in the flow, like
- 52:38you could be cleaning the kitchen for an hour and a half.
- 52:40And then you're doing these things that are like, sure,
- 52:42they're nice, but they're not the must do's.
- 52:44And then you're going to bed and you're like, oh man, I never got
- 52:46my creative time. Like I never got to do my DIY
- 52:48and I'm and that's a value of mine and I don't feel fulfilled
- 52:50today. That's a really good point.
- 52:53I mean my life a lot of the time until Allegra and I really kind
- 52:57of like buckled down and you know, got clear.
- 53:00I got clear about what my values are and.
- 53:04And you know what I found too is that because my husband has this
- 53:07personality where when he gets into something, he just wants to
- 53:10finish it and he'll spend 8 hours doing something, but then
- 53:15he's so annoyed at all the things that didn't happen.
- 53:19And he's just like that just takes too long.
- 53:21And I said it takes too long because you're trying to do
- 53:24something that should be done over a long period of time.
- 53:28In one or two days and then you make it a painful experience for
- 53:31yourself, but it's actually an activity you enjoy.
- 53:35I said you just need to break it up, just do an hour and he's
- 53:38like, but I just get into it. I said yes, but then you hate it
- 53:40afterwards. So you know you have total
- 53:44control over how you do this task.
- 53:45You can do it in one to two hour chunks and still in have enjoyed
- 53:50it or you can kill yourself doing it in one and two days and
- 53:53you hate it and then you don't want to do it again for years.
- 53:57Sometimes I said, look, it's just a philosophical choice, but
- 54:01you can make this enjoyable for yourself or you can make it
- 54:03painful. Oh my gosh, I feel so seen.
- 54:06I just want to like do I wish there was a we were like in
- 54:09person and we could do a poll for anyone listening.
- 54:11It's like do you feel seen and very uncomfortable right now
- 54:14right. That is so true.
- 54:18And it Oh my gosh. And I think we've all been
- 54:21there. You know whether that's like our
- 54:22our pattern all the time or just.
- 54:25It's so incredibly true and it's funny because I think sometimes
- 54:29we're like, no, no, you got to like you got to batch it.
- 54:31Like you know, as an entrepreneur I love listening to
- 54:33entrepreneurial podcast and they're like you got to batch
- 54:36all your social media at once. I'm like, I don't love social
- 54:39media personally. So this is like it's not an 8
- 54:42hour day of doing social media things.
- 54:44I'm like I can't think of anything worse, right?
- 54:48And but then I do actually like there is a creative element to
- 54:51it and I'm creative and so. Not to make this all about me,
- 54:54but I'm like, yeah, that there's something there where like, I
- 54:56actually like it in small chunks.
- 54:57And if I can have like a little bit of creative time with it, it
- 55:00actually is fun. But eight hours of it kills it
- 55:02for me. And then you're right, I don't
- 55:04know. But the last time I did actually
- 55:05post on Instagram, like, and so it just doesn't happen.
- 55:08And that's wow, that's a really interesting way of looking at
- 55:11it. Well, and I just, you know, I
- 55:13want to say that the brains like if you make it painful for
- 55:17yourself, your brain is going to stop you from doing it like
- 55:21that's. Like, listen to that, I I
- 55:24actually think it's interesting because people talk a lot about,
- 55:26like, no regrets, no regrets, no regrets, right?
- 55:30The I'm not going to, I'm not going to stereotype it, that
- 55:34kind of advice. But I've read the books, I've
- 55:37taken the $2000 productivity seminars, blah, blah, blah.
- 55:42When I became a a caregiver, none of a lot of that stuff
- 55:46didn't work for me anymore, OK? So that's part of why BYWD was
- 55:50so necessary, was because I need to figure out ways to make
- 55:54things work for me for my new life.
- 55:57And if you don't like something, your brain's going to be like, I
- 56:01don't. I'm not producing any chemicals.
- 56:04And there's a reason why it's because this is not sustainable.
- 56:07You're going to run yourself into the ground shooting on
- 56:09yourself. I should batch blah blah blah
- 56:12blah blah. It's like, no, When you make
- 56:15things enjoyable, that's how they become a habit and that's
- 56:18how it actually becomes easier. So if you prefer to just say,
- 56:22like, I'm going to do a few marketing things for 30 minutes
- 56:25every night, and that includes putting up two posts, you're
- 56:30much more likely to sustain that in the long term.
- 56:33Yeah, knowing yourself is one of the, you know, I alluded to our
- 56:37our signature course harness the power planning and that is.
- 56:40Part of like exploring your values and prioritizing them and
- 56:43that kind of thing. Another part of it is we ask all
- 56:46of our students to take some of these planning personality
- 56:49quizzes. Because the more information you
- 56:50have about like what your leanings are and you know what
- 56:54what it is that you know potentially you're you know,
- 56:57you're you're just more likely to do, then you can play into
- 57:01those strengths. Instead of being like I should
- 57:03batch for 8 hours, I should. This is what entrepreneurs do,
- 57:06you know, and you know if it's just not sustainable.
- 57:10Then what's the point? You know, like the.
- 57:12So it really is important to know what you're interested in.
- 57:16Know what your values are, helps you with your with your
- 57:19boundaries as Allegra said before and will help you
- 57:23ultimately make it some. Make a plan that works for you.
- 57:25We do. We really do love to say take
- 57:27what you like and leave the rest, right.
- 57:29You know figure you know what works for you, what doesn't work
- 57:31for you, and. Allegra and I.
- 57:32We both we have you know this is the the the core philosophy on
- 57:36how to plan and. Our main course is about life
- 57:39planning. But this, this, this mini course
- 57:41or this workshop for 321 done. We're we're we're different
- 57:47people. We, we, we look at these things
- 57:49differently. She and I use them slightly
- 57:51differently, right? We relate to it slightly
- 57:53differently because what works for me doesn't work for Allegra
- 57:56and vice versa in some in some aspects.
- 57:59You know there's some things about it that are just.
- 58:01They're just core and we just do it the way that we do it.
- 58:03But you know, there's different ways in which we approach
- 58:05things, so. Yes.
- 58:06Oh, and I could continue to ask you all of this, but I know a
- 58:10lot of this exists already in your books and on your courses.
- 58:13So please let me know what are the first steps that somebody
- 58:16could take if they want to learn more from you and just kind of
- 58:18dip their toes into this. Or if they're already master
- 58:21productivity people, I want to call this out.
- 58:23They're actually super, super productive, say, in their
- 58:25career. Boom.
- 58:27Become a parent. Things shift and now they're
- 58:29like Ki need to relearn this from a different lens.
- 58:31Where would where would you suggest that somebody starts
- 58:33with your programs, books, all that?
- 58:36Well, everything's available at our website bywdreams.com and we
- 58:40like to think of our offerings as if there's three of them
- 58:45right now. And so basically we like to
- 58:47think, you know, do you, do you hear us talking about goals and
- 58:50say goals? I don't even, I don't even take
- 58:52a shower today. I don't have a spare moment to
- 58:56do. Anything, let alone work on a
- 58:58goal. Well then start with Create your
- 59:02Rock Your Morning and Rock Your Morning is available as a book,
- 59:05but it's also a freebie video series. 2 minute videos.
- 59:10You get three of them. It's one day, so three days in a
- 59:13row you'll get one video. And so that is just like super
- 59:16itty bitty bites. Natasha's a huge fan.
- 59:20I mean, I'm a fan too, but Natasha usually talks about the
- 59:21Kaizen method, which is, you know, the.
- 59:25Where you what you do, you talk about it.
- 59:28Is this Japanese philosophy where if you know, if you want
- 59:30to start a new thing just give yourself a this a tiny little
- 59:34increment of time to do it which is so stretching.
- 59:37I'll give that example all. All of my family were super
- 59:40inflexible, right? And so we have we have one
- 59:44minute in the morning where we do a forward bend as a family
- 59:47right now it's been up and down. The boys have not been as into
- 59:50it as they used to be, so but just.
- 59:53Going ahead and putting in that one minute stretch and then
- 59:57hopefully eventually that's going to dovetail into like 90
- 1:00:01seconds, 2 minutes stretch, you know.
- 1:00:03So if you, if you want to start working out so you know, get up
- 1:00:06during the 30 seconds commercial, 60 seconds, 90
- 1:00:08seconds of commercials or whatever, and walk in place or
- 1:00:11do you know these tiny little things where you just start
- 1:00:13wedging it in there, you know? And don't think that like I'm
- 1:00:16going to start working out seven days a week, hour long every day
- 1:00:19in the gym like. That's not sustainable.
- 1:00:21You're not going to do it, but if you start.
- 1:00:22Until I vomit, yeah. Exactly.
- 1:00:25Start with these small wedges. You just kind of like shove it
- 1:00:28in there. Next thing you know, oh, I'm.
- 1:00:30I'm feeling better. It's easier for me to touch my
- 1:00:32toes. It feels great.
- 1:00:32Maybe I'll hang out in this stretch a little bit longer, you
- 1:00:35know, next thing you know you go from 60 to 90 to 2 minutes to 5
- 1:00:38minutes, you know, and and then and so forth.
- 1:00:40So there is a, it's there's a book called The Kaisen Way.
- 1:00:43It's the little book explains all of the philosophy behind
- 1:00:46that and all the success stories they use us a lot in.
- 1:00:50In the Japanese corporate worlds several decades ago, it was
- 1:00:53really when it kind of came about and they found that it's
- 1:00:56it made huge changes in people's overall habit forming.
- 1:01:01And by the way, I want to recommend the Kaisen Way really
- 1:01:05just as a philosophy because for instance, I in last month I took
- 1:01:11a 10 day girls trip and people like, whoa, how did you do that?
- 1:01:17And I said, well when I was two, when my daughter was 2.
- 1:01:20I told my husband I needed to take two days for myself to go
- 1:01:25to a yoga retreat. And so I this is the first time
- 1:01:28I took ten days away, right? But basically I just kind of
- 1:01:32like every other year I add a day sort of thing.
- 1:01:36And so it's really the Kaisen way.
- 1:01:39Like you can't just say to someone and taking off for a
- 1:01:41month and you've never done that before or done anything like
- 1:01:44that before and expect them to be like, OK, how can I support
- 1:01:47that? Right?
- 1:01:48You have to. Wedge it in and see and and help
- 1:01:52them out and to get so that you can open up that space for the
- 1:01:56things that you want to do in always.
- 1:02:01Is helping you to develop a morning routine or evening
- 1:02:04routine or both. And so yeah, so if goal setting
- 1:02:08and life design sounds just crazy out of reach.
- 1:02:11Start there and then the second offering is what we've mostly
- 1:02:14been talking about today is 321 done.
- 1:02:17So if you're looking to be more productive, find ways to
- 1:02:19prioritize yourself really rock that To Do List that comes in
- 1:02:24book form as we said also our long workshop which is a, you
- 1:02:27know, a virtual workshop that's available on demand and then.
- 1:02:32Were you as you're saying you're saying that that person who
- 1:02:34already already has a lot of goals or very good with goal
- 1:02:37setting and maybe in the corporate world and now is
- 1:02:39pivoting into like parenting and so forth, we it, we would
- 1:02:42recommend I think for sure that harness the power of planning.
- 1:02:46Because this is really this is a way to help you not fall into
- 1:02:51that parent trap that I fell into because yes you have a
- 1:02:54human being now that's that's gonna that this new this human
- 1:02:57being is going to take up a lot of your time and a lot of
- 1:02:59obviously you know and the the immediate demands of taking care
- 1:03:03of another human being will usurp.
- 1:03:06Whatever else that you've got going on, and there's like
- 1:03:08Allegra and I like talking about this.
- 1:03:09There's seasons. We're in a different season of
- 1:03:11life than a brand new parent, you know?
- 1:03:13But it's maybe also a good when you come up for air after that
- 1:03:15first initial few months where you know everything's completely
- 1:03:19new and you're able to maybe go ahead and focus on what your
- 1:03:23values are, what those priorities are, and making sure
- 1:03:26that you don't, like, lose yourself inside of, you know,
- 1:03:29just feeling like because I for sure, that is for sure why how I
- 1:03:32felt when I reached out to Allegra.
- 1:03:34You know I saw her rocking. I was just like keeping my head
- 1:03:37above water. I was running my business and
- 1:03:39you know, but like I was easily, I was definitely dipping below
- 1:03:42that water line in regards to you know me feeling like myself
- 1:03:48my my goals and and things shifted a ton you know, but not
- 1:03:53but not really but always just kind of feeling like I was just
- 1:03:55kind of catching up right As opposed to really being more you
- 1:03:58know in the at the cause of things happening as opposed to
- 1:04:02just kind of like playing catch up.
- 1:04:04It's pretty amazing too because we we first taught the course
- 1:04:07two years ago, so now we have alumni that we've that had took
- 1:04:10it two years ago and people's lives have totally changed
- 1:04:17because of the course. Because it's not, you know it's
- 1:04:19a 2 day virtual course. So you can take the beta
- 1:04:22recorded version now for only $47.
- 1:04:25You can sign up to be on our wait list for when we teach it
- 1:04:27next live. The beta thing is a shortterm
- 1:04:31thing, so take advantage of it while it lasts.
- 1:04:34But this is a philosophy that will grow with you for the rest
- 1:04:39of your life. And we also hold monthly, we
- 1:04:42call them monthly course corrects because even when
- 1:04:45you're on the right path, you need to course correct.
- 1:04:48And so we hold monthly course corrects for our alumni to say
- 1:04:51okay, what what went well, what would you could you do better
- 1:04:55etcetera to to keep thinking about and growing with this
- 1:04:59philosophy and these tools. And skills.
- 1:05:05I love that. That's so cool.
- 1:05:07And in an effort to wrangle the episode and wrangle the million
- 1:05:11more questions, I continue to say that I could continue to ask
- 1:05:14you, but we all have to continue on with our To Do List today.
- 1:05:18If we were to keep this into like one sentence, I want to
- 1:05:20hear from each of you. What's one thing in this realm?
- 1:05:23Because I'm so curious as like the teachers of this.
- 1:05:25What's the one thing that you're that you would say in this
- 1:05:27moment you're working on and working to figure out for
- 1:05:30yourself? Natasha.
- 1:05:32You go first. My, I'm learning more and more
- 1:05:36about the way in which I approach things and so finding,
- 1:05:43like I said a moment ago with the the timer thing has been
- 1:05:45like game changing for me and that kind of thing.
- 1:05:47So the way in which to keep these important things forefront
- 1:05:52for me is the thing that I'm working on currently, right?
- 1:05:57So. Being really aware of my values
- 1:05:59and and having that motivate things for me.
- 1:06:02Allegra knows that recently I came up with this idea of like
- 1:06:05because I'm always like oh if I can squeeze it in right.
- 1:06:07If I think the word squeeze it's an automatic no.
- 1:06:09So like finding some more of these like little shortcuts for
- 1:06:12me because I can get easily go down a a road that doesn't bring
- 1:06:16me close to the end of my goals because for a moment interest my
- 1:06:20it sparks my interest you know and that kind of thing and just.
- 1:06:24Keeping on the keeping on that path.
- 1:06:25This is why the monthly course corrects.
- 1:06:26We had one yesterday. We usually do the last Sunday of
- 1:06:29every month with our alumni group.
- 1:06:32The monthly course corrects which I talked to Allegra last
- 1:06:35night. I was like they shifted from me
- 1:06:36being like Oh my God, that course correct.
- 1:06:39You know to to something like oh wow yay.
- 1:06:42We're getting to do a course correct and and by the end of
- 1:06:44that course correct. Not only have I gone ahead and
- 1:06:47seen all the things that I accomplished that month that
- 1:06:49maybe I wouldn't have really acknowledged for myself but also
- 1:06:52I can really see like oh this really area I keep.
- 1:06:54Saying I want to do this but I haven't.
- 1:06:56It didn't even dawn on me that I hadn't been make I hadn't I've
- 1:06:59been made that big mistake I didn't make time for it you know
- 1:07:02and so that's that's the thing that I'm mostly challenged right
- 1:07:05now is just to continue to keep those things that are important
- 1:07:08forefront, continuing to use values as my North Star.
- 1:07:12You know I allow myself to get distracted and so being able to
- 1:07:16keep that forefront is my personal challenge that I'm
- 1:07:19working on. I love it.
- 1:07:21And Allegra? How about you?
- 1:07:22What are you working on figuring out still?
- 1:07:25Meditation. So and I just want to tell
- 1:07:29people the difference between someone who accomplishes their
- 1:07:33goal and someone who doesn't is just that they have fallen off
- 1:07:36the wagon just as many times as you have, but they got back up
- 1:07:39one more time and I have fallen off the meditation I have.
- 1:07:43I have had a goal of being a daily or almost daily meditator.
- 1:07:49Or, I mean, we're going on 3 decades at this point.
- 1:07:52I have taken, I have taken 8 hour long classes.
- 1:07:56I have done retreats. I've even, I've read so many
- 1:08:00books about it. I've even gone a solid six
- 1:08:04months where I was meditating almost daily.
- 1:08:07I did it and this was last year, the six month I was like, Oh my
- 1:08:10God, I'm finally on the wagon. I'm finally on the wagon.
- 1:08:14But having developed many habits in my life, I know that
- 1:08:17something's truly a habit when I don't have to remind myself to
- 1:08:20do it, because it's just easy. It's harder to stop myself than
- 1:08:25it is to just do the thing. And I could tell it wasn't a
- 1:08:28habit. And so I I hit like six months,
- 1:08:31and then the holidays happen. And then I went on this trip,
- 1:08:34and then I had this huge business thing that just took up
- 1:08:37a lot of time and mental and emotional energy, and I fell off
- 1:08:42the wagon. And I have not been able to get
- 1:08:46back on in the same way to. I meditated today, I meditated
- 1:08:50yesterday, but it's still not a habit.
- 1:08:53I am signed up for another 8 hour course in two weeks.
- 1:08:57So I just keep getting back on the frickin wagon and I just
- 1:09:01want to tell people that there's probably always going to be
- 1:09:04something that you're getting back on the wagon for because we
- 1:09:08are imperfect and we're here to learn and just become our best
- 1:09:10selves. And just because someone looks
- 1:09:13like they have it all together in one part of their life, I
- 1:09:15guarantee you there's one part of their life that bothers the
- 1:09:18heck out of them. And someday I will be a
- 1:09:21meditator. Everyone's got their junk
- 1:09:25drawer, their, their messy closet, and.
- 1:09:28Everyone has their thing. Yeah.
- 1:09:33Oh my gosh, this was so inspiring.
- 1:09:35I. Okay, I'm I'm not kidding.
- 1:09:38I'm about to walk out of this room here, go get a highlighter.
- 1:09:42And I'm starting with the highlighter.
- 1:09:45I think it might still check because there is a little box in
- 1:09:47my planner, so I'm still going to check it, but I'm going to
- 1:09:49highlight it too. Why not?
- 1:09:51And take your favorite color or highlighter.
- 1:09:54Love it. It does feel like a new
- 1:09:56celebration. It will be a game changer.
- 1:09:58Not kidding. It's I've been doing it for like
- 1:10:00for a long time, several decades now, and it's like, it's it.
- 1:10:03It still feels good to. Yeah, And in a short while, when
- 1:10:07I have a second newborn baby, it's probably going to be, I
- 1:10:12think I might have to put on the brush your teeth, right?
- 1:10:15Some of those things actually might have to.
- 1:10:17Those might have to go on. Yeah, no judgment, right?
- 1:10:22No, man. Those first three months, man,
- 1:10:25Just give yourself lots of grace.
- 1:10:27Lots and lots. That's the luck to you.
- 1:10:30For real on that. That's it's congratulations.
- 1:10:34It's. Going to be.
- 1:10:36Thank you so much. Thank you so much again for
- 1:10:38joining. This was such a pleasure.
- 1:10:40I feel like there's gonna have to be a follow up.
- 1:10:42So hope to stay in touch post baby and maybe I'll pick your
- 1:10:45brain. Maybe that'll be our next
- 1:10:46episode together. If you'll if you'll come back.
- 1:10:49Absolutely, 100% happy to pleasure.
- 1:10:54Thank you for listening. You can access all resources
- 1:10:57mentioned in this episode via my website, andreabar.com/podcast.
- 1:11:01And let's chat on Instagram. I'm at Andrea Barr Coaching and
- 1:11:04I reply to every DM I get. If you love this episode, don't
- 1:11:08forget to quickly hit that button on your podcast app to
- 1:11:11give me a 5 star rating and drop in a review.
- 1:11:13It would truly mean the world. And if you're like me and love
- 1:11:17to share things that you love, send this episode to a friend
- 1:11:20who you think would appreciate this topic.
- 1:11:23Thanks again for listening and I'll chat with you next week.