Latest / The Action Catalyst / REMASTERED: Protect Your Time, with Christy Wright (Business, Time Management, Success, Author)

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REMASTERED: Protect Your Time, with Christy Wright (Business, Time Management, Success, Author) · The Action Catalyst

• 0:00
  Host: I'm so excited to introduce to you Christy Wright.
• 0:37
  And she is inspiring and enthusiastic. She educates and
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  entertains audiences all across the country. She speaks at
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  business conferences, fortune 500 companies, some of America's
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  top universities. And so Christy, I'm so excited to have
• 0:52
  you thank you for being here.
• 0:54
  Christy Wright: Yeah. Thank you. Thanks for having me. I
• 0:55
  appreciate it.
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  Host: So, you know, when we talk about time management, why do
• 1:00
  you think that is so important today? Why is that whole
• 1:03
  conversation such a big deal?
• 1:05
  Christy Wright: Well, you know, it's interesting in the last few
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  years, and speaking on this topic, it's such a pain point
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  for people, it's just something that we're struggling with, in
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  every industry, every demographic, every age, every
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  generation, it doesn't matter, the gender, anything we're all
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  struggling with, how to deal with our time and how to manage
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  it. Because we never seem to have enough for everything that
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  we want to do. And I think one of the real challenges is that
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  we don't realize just how finite it is, you can get more of
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  anything in life that you want. Except time, you can earn more
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  money, you can gain more relationships, you can buy more
• 1:39
  stuff. But regardless of how much power or money or family
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  have in your lifetime, you cannot have a single minute more
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  than every other person has, which is exactly 24 hours in a
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  day. So when we think about just how finite our time there, you
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  start to realize how incredibly valuable I one thing we can't
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  get more of, so that it's more important that we really make
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  sure we're putting it in the best places the right prices,
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  and using it in a way that's gonna be the most effective for
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  what the results we want to get.
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  Host: If time is finite. And it's the one thing that we all
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  have the same amount of and you can't create more of them. Why
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  do you think some people accomplish more things and
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  influence more people? So what's the explanation for that?
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  Christy Wright: Well, I think how we manage it is definitely a
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  big differentiator for our success, we have to keep in mind
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  to everyone's version of success is very different. So someone
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  that is a high achiever will have different goals than
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  someone that is like, you know, who just wants to have a small
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  people live in a small town and not have accomplishments or
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  accolades, or they're, they value different things. And so,
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  our brothers and our success will really determine how we how
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  we handle our time, but because time is so finite, we all have
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  the same amount, then how we handle that really determines
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  our ability to be our version of successful. And so when you look
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  at it that way, you start thinking, okay, how can I manage
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  this in a way? That's going to get me to the results that I
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  want to get to you? And what's interesting is, there's a great
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  quote by Warren Buffett, where he says the difference between
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  successful people and very successful people, is that very
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  successful people say no, to almost everything. And I would
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  say to answer your question, what's the difference between
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  our ability to be successful with our time, it really comes
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  down to our ability to say no, because when we can't say no to
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  things that, you know, demands and opportunities and guilt sets
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  and things people have indicated to them, we live our lives for
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  other people. And we don't end up intentionally creating it on
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  purpose, creating a schedule on purpose proactively to get out
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  all we're achieving everyone else's results. And so I think
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  it comes down to the ability to say no, and whether or not we're
• 3:43
  going to use that time, in the way that we want to reach our
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  goals.
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  Host: So, when it comes to saying no, and I really think
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  about that, a lot of times we know, you know, we get asked to
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  do something, we really don't want to do it. And we feel this,
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  we feel this guilt, what would you say to somebody who
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  struggles with, you know, saying no, and, and the guilt or the
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  fear that they may be sealed to go, I really want to say no, but
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  I'm having a hard time doing it.
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  Christy Wright: I think the reality is that we have a kid or
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  a to believe that, you know, somehow we can prove everyone
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  and now that we intellectually understand that we can't, but we
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  decide to, and that's where that comes from wanting to say yes,
• 4:22
  and please that person versus do the right thing. And say no, but
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  it's not the lesson for you. But the reality is, if we can
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  understand that you will always disappoint people, because your
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  time, your money and your energy of finite, you're always gonna
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  have to make choices. And so leadership is really about
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  making the right choices. And when we realize that you're
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  going to disappoint people in leadership, you will disappoint
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  people that is a fact. But the key is just disappointing to
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  white people. And if you discern that to understand, I'm gonna
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  say yes to this situation, because this is the right
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  decision for me and for my business and while I'm doing my
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  goal, then you have a little bit more profit In order to say no
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  to that person, because you're focused more on here yet, this
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  is so that I can say yes to this thing versus just feeling the
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  guilt of saying no to this other person, or really, I mean, all
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  leaders, and everyone in general, we want, we want to
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  make people happy, we don't want to disappoint people. But I
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  think we realized that we're saying no, in order to say yes
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  to something better, and something will work for us and
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  get focused on the guests. And that makes it a little bit
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  easier to do that. You need to decide and leadership, do you
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  want to be popular? Or do you want to be effective? Because
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  you can speak and you can be popular to make everyone happy
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  to say, Yes, everyone is happy, everyone says, but you're not
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  going to be effective. And if you're gonna be effective,
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  sometimes that involves saying no, and doing the right thing
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  for the greater good of the business and the gold and the
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  copper, or yourself personally. But that leads to more effective
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  leader, possibly less popular at times, which is hard, but in the
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  long run, everyone will benefit when you're more effective.
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  Host: Yeah. So how do we avoid overcrowding the schedule?
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  Christy Wright: Well this is a problem for a lot of people
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  because it's just so normal our culture, as a culture, we are
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  maxed out, or maxed out, our credit cards were maxed out our
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  time and our commitment, we were burning the candle at both ends.
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  And this is just the normal day to day, or people stand around
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  the watercooler and talk about just how little sleep they got
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  that night before, almost like it's a badge of honor, and how
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  hard we work, how long we work, how much we have going on how
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  many errands etc. But the reality is, is that felt what
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  leads to a productive or even fulfilling life, because it's
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  not sustainable long term, you're not going to be as
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  effective or productive at work if you maintain that long term.
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  And so really, the idea of just to avoid overcrowding, your
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  schedule is to create margin. So you want to create pockets of
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  time. And it's not a prescription of it has to be
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  this amount of hours. But you need to have some margin and
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  some cushion in your time, just like we teach people with the
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  life account. You don't want to live paycheck to paycheck, you
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  need some cushion and savings and some margin to fall back on
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  with your energy. And that's true with your time. I wrote an
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  article on my blog about this a couple months ago. But what if
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  we just treated our schedule and our energy a little bit
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  differently, where we stopped before we were completely burnt
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  out exhausted, where we called out moments of time, whether
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  that's an hour or 20 minutes or an entire day, where we didn't
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  allow any commitments to come in. And then we're able to focus
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  on rest and recovery and hobbies, and their families. And
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  some of the things that time when we went back, we were
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  actually more productive and effective. But the way that we
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  operate right now, if I have five extra minutes that try to
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  crowbar something else in and write a blog real quick or catch
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  up with someone or make a call. It's like we don't have to
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  operate that way. And we'll actually be more effective if we
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  can create some space and margin. It doesn't make sense
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  logically, because we think, Oh, I could be getting more done.
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  But essentially, those pockets of time is what's going to
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  enable you to be more effective long term and be more
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  sustainable for the long haul and leadership, when the demands
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  are back continue to increase. You can't be creative, when
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  you're exhausted. There's no room for new possibilities.
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  There's no room for spontaneity, where you and your wife just
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  want to go off on a trip or hey, let's go to this new random
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  website. There's no room for so many wonderful things in life,
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  like creative creativity and rest and rejuvenation, and
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  recovery and new possibilities, innovation, all the things that
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  are in space, and stuff we never allow there to be unbelievable
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  or in or faith in, we're missing out on all those awesome things
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  in life that also enrich our business and ourselves
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  personally.
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  Host: So you talk about boundaries, what do you see is
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  the connection between boundaries and your calendar?
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  Christy Wright: I think when you set a boundary, and these, these
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  are absolutely its guidelines. But when you set a boundary, it
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  really helps you decide in advance. And when you make
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  decisions in advance, it takes away so much of the mental angst
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  of trying to decide in the moment, every single time an
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  opportunity, or a request comes up where you've got that pool of
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  water for No, but I feel like I need to say yes, and you've got
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  this mental anxiety going on. If you have a few boundaries that
• 9:00
  are in place, that you go ahead, and you have already decided in
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  advance that the pressure off of you where you can rely on that
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  boundary because it made the decision for you. So I'll give
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  you an example. Sunday night or night that my husband and I have
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  perfected since the beginning since we even date it and it's
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  just upon that we set aside and we said, with very few
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  exceptions. This is the night that we're gonna have together.
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  We don't do anything exciting. We do laundry and just get up
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  and hang out and get ready for the week. It's not a very
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  exciting time, but it's our time that has protected that time
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  that we can count on together. So anytime anyone asks me to do
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  anything on Sunday night, I don't even have to think about
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  it. Making that decision is effortless. I'm like oh no, I'm
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  sorry. That's That's awesome. My husband and I, and what Doug
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  later this really protects our priorities and it keeps life's
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  endless demands from chipping away at those because you have
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  this protected does. Now of course exceptions come up this
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  last week. I flew out on Sunday because I was going to
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  Connecticut to speak have been doing media and then go to
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  Philadelphia and We didn't have yesterday. So there's gonna be a
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  few exceptions, it's not rigid and absolute, but for the
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  majority of the time, that the time that he and I can tell him
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  and it's a great boundary that makes decision making effortless
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  on you, which is what you need when you're already in so high
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  demand, people get caught up in this idea of okay things as
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  being I'm gonna supposed to work 50% of the time and be at home
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  50% of the time, and no, that's not realistic. That's not the
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  world that we live in. It's not how we function. And so I tell
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  people, it's really not about a 5050 split, it's about being
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  100% present, when you're at work, work hard, be there be
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  focus, when you're at home, put the phone down, close the
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  computer and be present for the people and the moments and the
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  memories that are happening, right and five years. Life
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  Balance is not about giving everything an equal amount of
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  time. It's about giving the right things at the right time.
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  And so there's going to be seasons where you want more. So
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  it's good to have an ebb and a flow. But people get caught up
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  in this prescription of it have to have this equation that
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  equals balance. Well, it's really not that it's really just
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  carving out time for the right thing for you, and giving them
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  attention at the right time in your life, when that makes
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  sense.
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  Host: So, you know, one of the things that's just heartbreaking
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  for me is when people you know, they have kids, and they feel so
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  like helpless, like oh my gosh, how do I keep up with a spouse?
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  And my job and I have kids and all this sort of stuff? Do you
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  have? Have you seen any any sort of common characteristics or
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  traits of people that really do that effectively?
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  Christy Wright: Yeah, I think it comes back to kind of what we
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  were just saying, there's no one right? I have prescription for
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  it. But here's one of the things I have identified, the people
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  that are the most fulfilled and have that sense of balance,
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  meaning they just they feel he's looking self, if that equal
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  split of things, but they just feel pretty good about the way
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  that their life looks up. People spend all their time, or at
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  least the far majority of their time, on things that are
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  important to them. And they don't do things that unimportant
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  to them. Where the opposite is also true. The people that they
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  may have families, they have jobs and their federal maybe,
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  you know, they may manage their schedule well. But when they
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  spend their time on things that they don't care about, just like
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  you and I was saying they go to this place want to go to, they
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  take on projects they shouldn't take on, they take on other
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  people's problems and responsibilities are not there.
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  They quickly get stressed, quickly get exhausted and
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  anxious and frustrated, because they're doing things that are
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  not important to them. So your decision making paradigm is, do
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  they need me and can I do it, and you spend all of your time
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  for someone else, you will get stressed and frustrated and feel
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  Alabama out of balance, even if you have all the time in the
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  world. But you can be incredibly busy and incredibly productive
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  and you could have a lot of things on your plate. But if
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  those things are all important to you, then you have a little
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  bit more sense of balance because you're not wasting time
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  just trying to fill fill everyone else's needs and
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  pleasing other people. You know that what you're doing actually
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  gives you energy and joy because you chose our purpose versus
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  reacting to someone else. Someone else's demands of you.
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  Host: I love that. So Christy, thank you so much for being
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  here. We wish you the very best.
• 12:58
  Christy Wright: I appreciate it.