Latest / Smart Business Growth with Nicky Miklós / Breaking Free from the Busy Trap: Prioritising Life for Success

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Breaking Free from the Busy Trap: Prioritising Life for Success · Smart Business Growth with Nicky Miklós

• 0:04
  Nicky: Welcome to Thrive in Business Together with Nicky and Ness.
• 0:11
  Ness: We would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of country, the Yagara and Bunarong people of Brisbane and Melbourne, respectively, where Nicky and I both work and live.
• 0:26
  Ness: When I think about business owners and leaders who feel stuck in the busy trap, who feel like they're on juggle street, they're being everything to everyone and it's really reactive day in, day out what I see is that they all have one thing in common, and that thing is failing to set aside time to do the planning.
• 0:49
  Ness: So when it comes time to being proactive, to being able to determine what it is that you want to focus on in order to help you achieve your goals, it actually takes time away from the busyness, away from other people, and really being able to focus on what matters the most.
• 1:09
  Ness: The second aspect that I would add to that would be not just planning for the business, but planning for yourself.
• 1:17
  Ness: We call it prioritised life, and it's about these KPIs, if you want to call them, that are just as important as those in the business.
• 1:25
  Ness: It's about the things that you want to achieve outside of work and making sure that you are placing a priority on them so that you either leave work on time or earlier, whatever it is, or you're doing things to help you to avoid burnout.
• 1:41
  Ness: So what do you think, Nicky, is the biggest challenge or the block that people have to taking that time out to be able to prioritise what they want to do with their time, to be able to plan their time.
• 1:55
  Nicky: Great question, ness.
• 1:56
  Nicky: I think there's a couple of things.
• 1:58
  Nicky: Initially, one is it's so easy to get caught up in the whirlwind, so we talk about the whirlwind of the day.
• 2:05
  Nicky: In other words, you're stuck in that busy trap and it's really hard to get out.
• 2:10
  Nicky: I want you to think about listeners, I want you to think about, or watchers.
• 2:15
  Nicky: Anytime you've achieved something in life, something worthwhile, whether it was in the business, whether it was a marathon, whether it was a hobby or learning, an instrument, did it happen on a whim?
• 2:26
  Nicky: Did it happen on a whim where you were like, oh, I forgot to?
• 2:30
  Nicky: I just woke up and thought, yeah, I'm going to do this thing today and all of a sudden, you had the space, you had the time, you had the plan, you had the strategy on how you were going to achieve it.
• 2:38
  Nicky: And I can see Ness shaking her head no, it just doesn't happen like that.
• 2:42
  Nicky: And so, yes, we get stuck in the whirlwind, we get stuck in the busy trap.
• 2:46
  Nicky: That's one of the main things that stop us, and therefore, it's really hard to think how the heck am I going to get out of here?
• 2:53
  Nicky: I don't have time to yada, yada, yada.
• 2:56
  Nicky: Therefore, you're probably putting everybody first and maybe even resenting it a little bit.
• 3:00
  Nicky: It's not that you want to necessarily, but you have to, and one of the main reasons for that is because you haven't planned how you're going to prioritize your life.
• 3:10
  Nicky: And if you think about your strategy around anything that you've achieved and have been successful in chances, are you thought about a prior to it happening?
• 3:18
  Nicky: You thought, okay, what action do I need to take?
• 3:21
  Nicky: What kind of mindset do I need to bring?
• 3:23
  Nicky: What are the potential barriers that could come in my way?
• 3:26
  Nicky: How will I overcome it?
• 3:28
  Nicky: For those of you with families, you're planning what you're.
• 3:31
  Nicky: How are you looking after your children?
• 3:32
  Nicky: I hear that's a thing.
• 3:33
  Nicky: I don't know Apparently.
• 3:34
  Nicky: That's a thing, right, ness, good to think it's a thing.
• 3:37
  Nicky: So I think that's the thing that we have to really consider here.
• 3:41
  Nicky: The barrier is we're stuck in it, and the solution to get unstuck is to look at prioritizing your life the same as you would anything else in business and those of you that are listening, whether you're leaders or business owners, you have successful businesses, you're smart people, you want to win, you want to succeed, you want to make an impact.
• 4:00
  Nicky: We know that about you and what we're saying now and what we want to introduce.
• 4:04
  Nicky: The idea of today is what, if you took that same approach to the aspect of prioritized life, ness?
• 4:09
  Nicky: I think it would be really worthwhile to get actually really clear, like, when we're talking about prioritising life, what do we mean by that?
• 4:16
  Nicky: Because we know nothing has meaning except the meaning we give it.
• 4:19
  Nicky: So what are examples?
• 4:20
  Nicky: What does prioritised life look like?
• 4:23
  Ness: For me, prioritised life looks like making sure that the things that are important to me are planned in.
• 4:29
  Ness: So it could be as boring as dentist and doctor's appointments, but making sure that they get booked.
• 4:35
  Ness: I remember one of our previous clients saying that she wasn't even booking those appointments in because her mindset was and I should be in the business, should be doing things.
• 4:45
  Ness: I can't take time out to go get my hair cut, things like that.
• 4:48
  Ness: So it's things that keep us going, that are preventative, almost, that make us feel good.
• 4:56
  Ness: All of the things that fall into those categories.
• 4:58
  Ness: And also for me it's about we started doing days off, every second Friday, alternating, and for me then it can be about what I'm planning for that long weekend who I want to see, who I want to get, what do I want to?
• 5:11
  Ness: I need to put the restaurant or the accommodation or whatever it is that I'm doing on those weekends.
• 5:16
  Ness: So quite often things are shut on weekends to be able to do that in.
• 5:20
  Ness: So having the ability to think about all the work things that need to get done, but also throwing in a few extra things in there that allow to set up for having this lifestyle outside of work, to having the kind of experiences that I want to choose to have, because it's a balance between running a business but also that business.
• 5:42
  Ness: That comes back to what we've talked about in the past.
• 5:45
  Ness: The vision for the business has to link to the vision for life.
• 5:47
  Ness: Our business, or even our career, needs to be providing a positive impact on how we want to experience things.
• 5:55
  Ness: And what I think and see is for those that are so stuck in that busy trap and so far down Juggle Street and everything feels chaotic.
• 6:04
  Ness: It's like treading water but going under and coming back up for air, and going under and coming back up for air, and there's no sense of being able to even think about how can I get to that point?
• 6:17
  Ness: How can I take a moment out of my day to step back and do the things?
• 6:21
  Ness: I?
• 6:21
  Ness: Everyone knows instinctively that this is what's needed, but there's a barrier and I think the BS belief that gets in the way is I don't have time.
• 6:32
  Ness: I don't have time to prioritize my life.
• 6:34
  Ness: I don't, and that is not what we want.
• 6:37
  Ness: We want to experience life outside of work.
• 6:40
  Ness: I don't know anyone who has started a business to work 80 hours a week and feel amazing about that.
• 6:46
  Nicky: Yeah, and the business is really a vehicle for us to create the lifestyle that we want.
• 6:52
  Nicky: Or even if you're a leader, your job is a vehicle to create the lifestyle.
• 6:56
  Nicky: That doesn't mean you can't get purpose and joy out of what you do, but when it's the only thing we've talked before in previous episodes about core needs and a primary vehicle is something that fulfills all of our six core needs.
• 7:10
  Nicky: And if our business or our career is the only thing that is a primary vehicle, we're in trouble because things change.
• 7:17
  Nicky: And I think what I'm hearing in that is prioritizing life.
• 7:20
  Nicky: It's the little things and the big things.
• 7:22
  Nicky: It's like that whole piece around.
• 7:24
  Nicky: I can't take a three week holiday so I'm just going to get stuck in the weeds of work.
• 7:30
  Nicky: You can do micro moments, you can do weekends off, you could try a three day weekend.
• 7:34
  Nicky: What can you do within your realm of control right now to help prioritize some of those things that bring you joy outside of work or just to take care of you?
• 7:42
  Nicky: It's that combination we've talked before self-care, the dentist, the doctors, the exercise, the movement, the water drinking.
• 7:49
  Nicky: That's like the basic level of self-care.
• 7:52
  Nicky: And then to get optimal energy, for me it's camping on the weekends or I'm going down to see my mom in a hotel.
• 7:58
  Nicky: It's one of the things that then also bring that next level of joy.
• 8:02
  Nicky: And so I'm wondering and I'm curiousness about what your thoughts are around.
• 8:07
  Nicky: We have a process where we have business strategy planning in our clients' businesses.
• 8:14
  Nicky: It's a combination of our business growth, because we've got to grow the business, yeah girl.
• 8:19
  Nicky: We've also got to look at managing money because it has to be profitable.
• 8:22
  Nicky: It's not just about vanity numbers and sales and revenue, making sure that it's a profitable business and we can create wealth and we equally prioritize life in that planning.
• 8:31
  Nicky: And so what I'm curious to get your thoughts on Ness is this just for the business owner?
• 8:35
  Nicky: Is it for the leaders?
• 8:36
  Nicky: How deep do we go in the business?
• 8:39
  Nicky: How do you suggest that our listeners go?
• 8:41
  Nicky: Okay, if I was going to do business planning or business strategy incorporating these three areas, is it just for me as a business owner?
• 8:48
  Nicky: Do I loop my leader into it?
• 8:50
  Nicky: How do I do?
• 8:50
  Ness: this.
• 8:51
  Ness: That's such a great question, and I just think about one particular client comes to mind, where the business owner and the leader in the business do this together and there are so many benefits to this.
• 9:03
  Ness: So this the leader is new in the role and the business owner is looking to have more time freedom, and so to do that, the process that we work on with our clients is having that overview, that the plan on a page, where we're looking at our vision, we're looking at what our goals are financially profit margin, that kind of thing and then we're saying what are the really big, audacious goals that we have and what are the things it's a wildly important goal that we want to achieve in the next six months.
• 9:33
  Ness: Now this is where they align.
• 9:35
  Ness: So if I'm the business owner and you're my leader, nick, we have the same wig or outcome for the business, right?
• 9:42
  Ness: We want to hit these particular markers and personally, we want to achieve something.
• 9:47
  Ness: So it could be running a marathon, it could be being able to spend time with the family or taking the family on a holiday.
• 9:53
  Ness: So whatever it is to you individually, it's just as important as the rest of the markers on our wildly important goals.
• 10:01
  Ness: And then, once we start to break that down, where I see the benefit of the business owner and the leader doing that and this could apply in any sort of structure in a business is having that person determine what their milestones need to be in order to hit that big goal, and so this is where that personal ownership comes into play.
• 10:23
  Ness: So we often talk about stepping back from micromanaging and empowering our team.
• 10:28
  Ness: What I see happening through watching other businesses that do this process our clients who do this process is that the owner has an oversight of what it is that person is focused on and has input into that, and that manager or leader has the opportunity then to say these are my priorities and goals and the things that I need to do in order to achieve that, and here's what I want to achieve outside of work.
• 10:55
  Ness: So you've got that ability to be able to support each other, to be able to have an eye over each other and understand what it is that each of you are focused on and prioritized on, and that allows the opportunity for support, it allows the opportunity for accountability, it allows the opportunity to feel empowered to go about doing what you're doing and to actually the beautiful thing of this is to get to the end of that month, that quarter, whatever the marketing time is, and look back and see what you've actually achieved.
• 11:23
  Ness: Because, with a focus on it, with that mentality, if I just take one small step today, if I just do one thing this week towards the goal, whatever that small thing could be, it moves you in the direction of achieving that goal, and so it then becomes a celebration or a reward for everything that you've been able to achieve, or it starts to show what are the roadblocks to achieving that.
• 11:45
  Ness: If this thing continues, this particular task continues to sit on my monthly list or my weekly list and I never get it done.
• 11:53
  Ness: What's really going on here?
• 11:55
  Ness: Does it matter?
• 11:55
  Ness: Is it important still?
• 11:57
  Ness: Is something else more important, or is there a block or a barrier that I need removing before I can progress forward with that?
• 12:04
  Ness: So there's just so many benefits to it that when you sit down and start to break it down through that lens and see the connection between being able to empower your team, being able to achieve the goals that you set, being able to have an overview and understanding of what your team are working on, how could you not find time for that?
• 12:24
  Nicky: Are you stuck in the busy trap or on Juggle Street being all things to all people despite having a team, or perhaps your business is feeling chaotic?
• 12:33
  Nicky: Do the mini-business health check to get 10 strategies in under 10 minutes so you can get time, freedom back, experience, peak performance and finally leverage smart growth in your business.
• 12:44
  Nicky: Head over to b2businesstogethercomau.
• 12:48
  Nicky: Forward slash health check and, if you're ready for us to help in a more hands-on way, email us at hello at businesstogethercom today.
• 12:56
  Nicky: You and we'll set up a time to chat.
• 12:59
  Nicky: We know that burnout statistics arrive.
• 13:01
  Nicky: We know that big impacts to things like stress and burnout in the workplace are things like lack of clarity, lack of expectations, lack of support, high expectations on work hours and workloads.
• 13:13
  Nicky: So this formula, this structure, really allows the transparency and the support to be able to ensure that the team as leaders, business owners, don't move in that way, because we have to expand this conversation.
• 13:27
  Nicky: We talk a lot to our business owner friends and our leader friends, but it's a collective, it's the entire business, and so much of what we talk about is relevant for every person in that business, in that team, and so I think that this is a really refreshing way to approach.
• 13:43
  Nicky: We're saying that business aspects of planning and business growth prioritise.
• 13:48
  Nicky: Life is just as important.
• 13:49
  Nicky: How amazing is that?
• 13:50
  Nicky: For a leader to actually have your business, your boss say what are you going to do to take care of yourself, and not only what are you going to do to take care of yourself and bring joy and all of that to your life, but let's actually put it down on paper and you're going to keep me updated on that.
• 14:05
  Nicky: Now this is.
• 14:06
  Ness: Yep, oh, it's just that it's really interesting.
• 14:08
  Ness: My son started a new job recently and they have part of their process of planning.
• 14:14
  Ness: Is they need to talk at their weekly meetings what their personal goal is as well as their business goal?
• 14:19
  Nicky: I love that.
• 14:20
  Ness: I know it's so good.
• 14:21
  Ness: And he was saying there was one of the girls had go to the gym as her personal goal and then she's got three meetings in and hadn't been and was feeling a bit and the boss just out of his own pocket, went I'm just going to buy you eight sessions at the gym.
• 14:34
  Ness: So now you've got some more accountability off your cover.
• 14:37
  Ness: Wow, because he knew that was important to her but there was some barrier stopping her from getting there and that just sounds like an amazing environment for him to be in in a workplace because he's blown away by working for a business that actually helps people prioritize life goals because they can see the value, and in their team His second week in the business, is sitting there telling his mentor what his personal goals are.
• 15:04
  Ness: This is just so bizarre.
• 15:06
  Ness: But the level of engagement that he has and commitment to that business and the desire to want to do well is exceptional compared to the environment he was in previous to that, which was very stick related you haven't done this and you haven't done that and you need to get better at this and the whole thing around.
• 15:26
  Ness: How do you engage your team?
• 15:28
  Ness: It goes right down to the team member there, this new kid on the block.
• 15:32
  Ness: How do you engage people?
• 15:33
  Ness: How do you create a culture that says we want you to succeed in business and in life and we talk about the whole thing around attracting great talent, getting peak performance out of your team?
• 15:45
  Ness: If you can create a culture that people want to work in, that love it, that feel like it's contributing to them being a better person and them having a better experience of life, then you're on a golden wicket there.
• 15:59
  Ness: So again I come back to I challenge anyone who says they don't have time for this, because when you start to explore the ripple effect of taking that time, of being the role model in the business before that, the benefits are just so far outweigh this lack of time.
• 16:17
  Ness: And I just can't see now that we run our system, which has evolved over time, and I've definitely had the Goldilocks experience of trying on so many different things this diary and that effective, and so sometimes I do it and sometimes I wouldn't, and sometimes I do it, but I get into this position where it lands and what you're working with works and for us and our clients, the method we use works brilliant.
• 16:45
  Ness: I just cannot imagine not doing it now.
• 16:47
  Nicky: Yeah, and I think the engagement piece you touched on there is really important.
• 16:51
  Nicky: Imagine your people feeling like you care about them.
• 16:55
  Ness: That is what most good business owners and leaders want.
• 16:58
  Nicky: Now I also want to just touch on what you said there around the like.
• 17:01
  Nicky: I don't have time.
• 17:03
  Nicky: The thing about these frameworks and these processes is that again, you might be listening going, oh, it does sound like it's going to take a lot of time, but when you use a framework like this, it actually saves you time.
• 17:14
  Nicky: It takes a little bit to start the process or to use the template or to carve out that time, but actually once everybody has that clarity of expectation, they know what they need to do to set up.
• 17:27
  Nicky: We do this every quarter with our clients.
• 17:29
  Nicky: So every quarter the leaders, the team, business owners and you can some of our clients also do this with team members on varying levels.
• 17:36
  Nicky: So they know what they're going into every quarter and the more you do it, the less time it takes.
• 17:41
  Nicky: Also, think about cost savings.
• 17:43
  Nicky: So having a high turnover of staff, which I know is one of the biggest challenges as a people leader.
• 17:50
  Nicky: One of the most common challenges the business owners have is hiring and keeping good people.
• 17:55
  Nicky: So again, tines's point, it's not about not having time, it's about how do I make the time and how do I do it in a really time effective way.
• 18:05
  Nicky: So I'd love for you to shift the question from I don't have time or where do I find the time to how can I do this in a really time effective way, because you will save money in the business, you will get higher engagement from your team, you'll get better results and, in fact, you'll be able to step back from your business.
• 18:22
  Nicky: The other thing I wanted to share here quickly is when we want to come back to so we call this framework.
• 18:28
  Nicky: We've talked a bit about the framework and we have a one page of business strategy, but the actual framework or model that this is based on is what we call our true North wheel, and I mentioned a little bit of it before.
• 18:40
  Nicky: But I just want to highlight to you again the importance.
• 18:43
  Nicky: If you're focusing only on business growth and you're not managing your money, you fall into this place that we call cash flow chaos, cash flow chaosness.
• 18:53
  Nicky: Any little tidbits to add?
• 18:55
  Nicky: about what cash flow chaos?
• 18:56
  Nicky: About cash flow chaos.
• 18:58
  Ness: If any business owner has experienced the cash flow highs and lows, they'll be sitting there shuddering away listening to this, having that PTSD about it.
• 19:08
  Ness: It really is one of those things where you can feel like you're just giving so much to your business but you're not getting rewarded financially for that.
• 19:15
  Ness: Where you've got the responsibility of everyone else, all of your team, and you're the last person who gets looked after.
• 19:21
  Ness: Where you're not even paying attention to the profit of the business and how you're spending your money and all of that.
• 19:29
  Ness: So that focus really needs to be on how do I make the most out of my business, how do I get the most profit out of my business and what do I do to make sure that it's not chaotic through planning, and we have the cash flow planner that we look at 12 months in advance.
• 19:43
  Ness: So we're constantly looking to check in those areas where maybe there's not as much cash flow coming in, how we managed to cover that.
• 19:50
  Ness: Have we got the money in the bank for that?
• 19:52
  Ness: Yeah, it's definitely a key priority for every business owner.
• 19:55
  Nicky: And this is where, when you're looking at business growth and manage money, you might loop in certain leaders around this as well.
• 20:01
  Nicky: When we're talking about sharing the approach of a plan and strategy, your leadership team are absolutely involved in the managing money aspect.
• 20:11
  Nicky: Now, they might not know all of the behind the scenes detail, but your ops manager, for example, is going to help with profitability in the business through different systems and processes, your sales leaders and sales managers At that level of leadership.
• 20:24
  Nicky: So, whilst you yourself are looking at business growth and manage money in all its entirety, you can absolutely get your leadership team on board with at least some of those managed money aspects so you don't fall into cash flow chaos.
• 20:37
  Nicky: Now, if you are focusing on business growth, you are focusing on managing money and you're not focusing on prioritizing life.
• 20:44
  Nicky: That's where business burnout, or burnout and the busy trap comes into play, which we've talked about a little bit already.
• 20:50
  Nicky: So this is why it's so important to focus on those three key areas to make sure that you can get out of cash flow chaos.
• 20:59
  Nicky: You can have that place of cash flow come, you can feel empowered in terms of time freedom, which ultimately is choice and your business is savvy.
• 21:07
  Nicky: You're leveraging smart growth.
• 21:09
  Nicky: That's what's really key here.
• 21:11
  Nicky: So challenge to you, my friends that are listening Again, there's a lot that we covered in here in a few different angles.
• 21:18
  Nicky: Ness.
• 21:19
  Nicky: What do we think is a good one action that our listeners can take, knowing that we've talked about this Trinoth model.
• 21:25
  Nicky: We've talked about the importance of incorporating the three areas business growth, managed money, prioritized life into planning and strategy.
• 21:32
  Nicky: We've talked about the importance of getting your leaders, at a minimum, involved in that planning and strategy process.
• 21:39
  Nicky: We've talked about a lot.
• 21:40
  Nicky: What's one action that our listeners can take?
• 21:44
  Ness: How do we simplify this to bring it down to something that is going to be actionable over the next 24 hours?
• 21:51
  Ness: I believe the first question that has to be asked, and the honest answer is how am I going with this?
• 21:59
  Ness: Do I have a process or a structure in place for me to be able to map out and start planning?
• 22:06
  Ness: So that's got to be the reality.
• 22:08
  Ness: Check around where you're at, I think, is the very first part.
• 22:11
  Ness: If you're already doing planning, maybe you're not including your leaders in it, maybe that's your next step, but my challenge to every single person out there, whether you are a business owner or a leader, is to find an activity that helps you prioritise your life and focus on that for the next week.
• 22:29
  Ness: So set some time aside in the next 24 hours to map out what it is you're going to be doing to prioritise life, and I think everybody can benefit from something on their list that is for them.
• 22:43
  Nicky: So I'm going to add to that as well.
• 22:45
  Nicky: Do that for yourself and ask your team members what they're going to do.
• 22:48
  Nicky: So ask them what's something that you're going to do whether you use the terminology prioritised life or not what's something you're going to do for fun this week, or to take care of you, or self-care, or to prioritise life.
• 22:59
  Nicky: So, yeah, I love that.
• 23:00
  Nicky: Do it for yourself and ask your team members leaders and team members.
• 23:04
  Nicky: That's important because I think about your story with Cam and how important that is.
• 23:08
  Nicky: Yeah, it doesn't take a long time this and, of course, if you need a hand with anything, you know where to find us, absolutely.
• 23:17
  Nicky: Thank you so much, everybody.
• 23:18
  Nicky: We'll catch you next time.
• 23:19
  Nicky: Thanks for listening to today's EPP.
• 23:21
  Nicky: If you loved what you heard, find us on LinkedIn and let us know what you enjoyed.
• 23:25
  Nicky: Also, don't forget to rate and review and, of course, share this episode with your bizvesties.
• 23:32
  Nicky: Ness and I are obsessed with helping you break through your business and life barriers to get you to your next frontier of growth.
• 23:41
  Nicky: We bring two business minds and two perspectives into your business.
• 23:45
  Nicky: As the magician, I help connect the dots, see the possibilities and the hidden potential, and as the architect, ness turns those possibilities into practice, implementing plans and frameworks.
• 23:57
  Nicky: Because, let's face it, every vision needs a practical pathway to success.
• 24:03
  Nicky: We offer business health checks, taking you from chaos to clarity in just 30 days.
• 24:09
  Nicky: Are you curious to find out more?
• 24:11
  Nicky: Send us an email or go old school and give us a call.
• 24:14
  Nicky: All our details are in the show notes and on our website.
• 24:18
  Nicky: Until next time, happy listening and here's to thriving in business and life.