WEBVTT 00:00:08.240 --> 00:00:11.900 Welcome to the business abundance podcast providing 00:00:11.900 --> 00:00:14.380 the tools and knowledge to help small business 00:00:14.380 --> 00:00:17.640 owners succeed for additional resources visit 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:24.320 www .businessabundance .online Hello and welcome 00:00:24.320 --> 00:00:28.670 back to the business abundance podcast Today, 00:00:28.670 --> 00:00:31.690 we're going to be chatting about freeing up time. 00:00:32.170 --> 00:00:35.310 And so this is just focusing on best practices 00:00:35.310 --> 00:00:39.810 for your business so that you can focus on business 00:00:39.810 --> 00:00:43.649 growth. Time. We don't have it. We can make it. 00:00:43.710 --> 00:00:48.149 Cool. If you think it's a priority, then time 00:00:48.149 --> 00:00:51.890 for you to focus on it. But we've talked about 00:00:51.890 --> 00:00:54.850 micromanaging in a number of different podcasts. 00:00:55.210 --> 00:00:58.570 So if you want to focus more on, if you're a 00:00:58.570 --> 00:01:02.369 micro manager, go listen to those. But here we're 00:01:02.369 --> 00:01:04.049 going to be talking about just best practices 00:01:04.049 --> 00:01:06.489 when it comes to your systems or your processes, 00:01:06.930 --> 00:01:09.969 what your team's doing, tasks you can get rid 00:01:09.969 --> 00:01:14.170 of. So like payroll, you can pass that on to 00:01:14.170 --> 00:01:16.969 the people in charge of your finances or graphic 00:01:16.969 --> 00:01:22.560 design can be passed on to a freelancer or. not 00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:27.159 paid advertisement, but Upwork or Fiverr, those 00:01:27.159 --> 00:01:29.299 things you don't have to do, or you can find 00:01:29.299 --> 00:01:31.620 a faster way to do it by getting a template. 00:01:32.280 --> 00:01:33.980 But yeah, there's a lot of different things that 00:01:33.980 --> 00:01:35.959 you can do to free up your time at the moment. 00:01:36.319 --> 00:01:39.019 And there's a lot of resources. Some people might 00:01:39.019 --> 00:01:41.640 be opposed to AI, but AI does make things a bit 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:45.000 faster if you use it correctly. Yeah, in saying 00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:47.340 that, don't just get it to write everything for 00:01:47.340 --> 00:01:50.859 you. Do use your brain, but that's a good way 00:01:50.859 --> 00:01:54.040 to... Oh dear. Make things a bit faster. If you 00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:56.319 don't want American spelling on all of your advertising. 00:01:56.819 --> 00:02:00.980 Yes, that's true. But it does say on, I use AI 00:02:00.980 --> 00:02:05.060 to get a framework sometimes if I put in the 00:02:05.060 --> 00:02:07.120 prompts and be like, create a framework. And 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.360 I remember when we're testing it out and we're 00:02:09.360 --> 00:02:13.060 doing social media posts and it was just producing. 00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:16.400 Like a sales pitch, like a really nasty sales 00:02:16.400 --> 00:02:19.460 pitch. Lots of emoticons. Lots of emojis. Emojis 00:02:19.460 --> 00:02:21.719 are good though, I like the emojis. Yeah. Posts 00:02:21.719 --> 00:02:23.259 with emojis are way better than posts without. 00:02:23.719 --> 00:02:25.919 Those look good. That's interesting. See, I never 00:02:25.919 --> 00:02:27.939 trust a post with an emoji. Yeah, but because 00:02:27.939 --> 00:02:30.180 you know where they're coming from now. But if 00:02:30.180 --> 00:02:32.099 you just have a post that's playing with nothing, 00:02:32.219 --> 00:02:34.919 no photo, it's like, it's just too text heavy. 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:38.419 I don't know what the data says. Well, since 00:02:38.419 --> 00:02:40.039 this is an AI, I would say it says it performs 00:02:40.039 --> 00:02:43.770 better. Yep. If you ask ChatGPT if it's true, 00:02:43.770 --> 00:02:47.530 it will tell you if it's not. Anyway, getting 00:02:47.530 --> 00:02:49.370 more free time. Why would we want to get more 00:02:49.370 --> 00:02:51.409 free time? How would you know like you actually 00:02:51.409 --> 00:02:53.830 need more free time? If you're missing meetings, 00:02:53.909 --> 00:02:56.289 if you're late for meetings, if you're always 00:02:56.289 --> 00:02:58.030 late for things, you're not prepared for things, 00:02:58.689 --> 00:03:02.229 you miss meals, cancel engagements with friends 00:03:02.229 --> 00:03:04.830 and stuff. Not making time for family. Yeah, 00:03:04.830 --> 00:03:07.229 can't get to the things you want to get to. Keep 00:03:07.229 --> 00:03:09.069 experiencing the same problems. One of those 00:03:09.069 --> 00:03:11.030 words that you used in the intro, priorities. 00:03:13.029 --> 00:03:14.830 Something my grandmother used to say to me is 00:03:14.830 --> 00:03:16.530 you've always got time for what's important to 00:03:16.530 --> 00:03:18.509 you. That's what I was trying to say. That's 00:03:18.509 --> 00:03:20.430 exactly what I was trying to say. You don't feel 00:03:20.430 --> 00:03:21.849 like you've got time for what's important to 00:03:21.849 --> 00:03:24.389 you. Well, then re -prioritise. You need help 00:03:24.389 --> 00:03:27.150 with time and getting more free time. Yep. That's 00:03:27.150 --> 00:03:28.590 right. We've all got the same amount of hours 00:03:28.590 --> 00:03:31.909 in a week. Whether we're a billionaire or we're 00:03:31.909 --> 00:03:34.969 on the poverty line in the soup kitchen. Same 00:03:34.969 --> 00:03:38.129 amount of time. So how do you use it? What are 00:03:38.129 --> 00:03:42.129 some tips on freeing up your time. I've mentioned 00:03:42.129 --> 00:03:45.990 payroll and graphic design and social media and 00:03:45.990 --> 00:03:48.129 those sort of things. Can you think of any others? 00:03:48.409 --> 00:03:50.830 What's your role in the business? So are you 00:03:50.830 --> 00:03:52.689 doing the things that are specifically your role 00:03:52.689 --> 00:03:54.729 in the business? And are they generate, if you're 00:03:54.729 --> 00:03:57.969 the owner of the business, for instance, is that 00:03:57.969 --> 00:04:01.069 generating income would be one of the first things 00:04:01.069 --> 00:04:03.330 I would look at as a small business owner, sole 00:04:03.330 --> 00:04:05.830 trader type person. If I'm over here fluffing 00:04:05.830 --> 00:04:08.870 about on Farmville when I should be putting quotes 00:04:08.870 --> 00:04:11.879 out. Um, is Farmville still with this? Spark 00:04:11.879 --> 00:04:13.840 Juve Alley, I don't know. Star Juve Alley. Star 00:04:13.840 --> 00:04:17.339 Juve Alley. Young whippersnappers with the new 00:04:17.339 --> 00:04:19.459 internet games. Don't start playing because you 00:04:19.459 --> 00:04:21.879 won't have any free time. But sometimes that 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:24.720 can be a valuable thing to do as well is to decompress 00:04:24.720 --> 00:04:26.819 and just turn your brain off and get your dopamine 00:04:26.819 --> 00:04:29.139 hit and make you more productive for the next 00:04:29.139 --> 00:04:32.660 day. Everyone's different. That's probably my 00:04:32.660 --> 00:04:35.980 point. I think, um, probably the number one thing 00:04:35.980 --> 00:04:38.399 to start with is make a not to do list. So just. 00:04:38.589 --> 00:04:40.629 all this stuff that most people do that just 00:04:40.629 --> 00:04:42.389 don't really need to be done. Like if you refer 00:04:42.389 --> 00:04:44.189 to the last podcast, we're talking about data 00:04:44.189 --> 00:04:47.449 driven stuff. Um, but you know, doing the things 00:04:47.449 --> 00:04:49.689 that actually make sense and some things probably 00:04:49.689 --> 00:04:52.810 don't have much of an outcome. So just make a 00:04:52.810 --> 00:04:54.769 list of stuff to stop doing. And then you'll 00:04:54.769 --> 00:04:57.050 probably find you can stop doing heaps of things. 00:04:57.050 --> 00:04:58.949 And that doesn't really matter that much. Maybe 00:04:58.949 --> 00:05:01.189 it has an impact, but not that much. So go through 00:05:01.189 --> 00:05:02.529 things that you are doing that you don't need 00:05:02.529 --> 00:05:04.699 to do and just stop doing them. It's a good way 00:05:04.699 --> 00:05:07.180 to get a bit of time back. Yeah. I, um, I was 00:05:07.180 --> 00:05:09.959 thinking about this when it came to, uh, some 00:05:09.959 --> 00:05:12.620 examples that I've worked with. And when it comes 00:05:12.620 --> 00:05:16.160 to processes, you see things like handle customer 00:05:16.160 --> 00:05:18.560 complaints and you pass that onto the admin team 00:05:18.560 --> 00:05:21.060 and you go, there we go. Just handle the customer 00:05:21.060 --> 00:05:24.300 complaints and they go, well, I don't really 00:05:24.300 --> 00:05:28.300 know what that looks like. Um, and instead you 00:05:28.300 --> 00:05:31.920 want to actually like define. what needs to be 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:34.819 done so that you're not then dealing with the 00:05:34.819 --> 00:05:36.839 flow on effects. So for example, handle customer 00:05:36.839 --> 00:05:38.360 complaints, they might think they're doing the 00:05:38.360 --> 00:05:40.579 right thing and it takes five days for them to 00:05:40.579 --> 00:05:42.139 get in contact and those sort of things. And 00:05:42.139 --> 00:05:44.540 it drags on and it's in the back of their mind. 00:05:44.639 --> 00:05:46.699 It's taking up head space. But if you have on 00:05:46.699 --> 00:05:50.279 that process to follow up within 24 hours and 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:53.379 that's done, dealt with, and they can carry on. 00:05:53.879 --> 00:05:56.399 So there is, I guess, mental space that comes 00:05:56.399 --> 00:05:59.220 with all the tasks you have to do if you make 00:05:59.220 --> 00:06:02.160 that don't do list. then you know you don't have 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:04.399 to worry about it and you can do the most important 00:06:04.399 --> 00:06:08.959 tasks first. Another thing with doing this is 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:11.600 just maybe make a piece of paper, sit in it for 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:13.899 next year for a week and just have things, just 00:06:13.899 --> 00:06:15.439 write down everything that you do. And then you 00:06:15.439 --> 00:06:18.339 can put it into columns and say, do we stop doing 00:06:18.339 --> 00:06:20.860 it? Do we delegate it to someone? Do we outsource 00:06:20.860 --> 00:06:24.490 it somewhere? Or should I do it? And then. you'll 00:06:24.490 --> 00:06:26.389 have a list of things that you can get exactly 00:06:26.389 --> 00:06:28.290 what you say, get a process together for a little 00:06:28.290 --> 00:06:30.110 bit of training for someone, pass it off and 00:06:30.110 --> 00:06:34.110 get them away from you. I've had someone I worked 00:06:34.110 --> 00:06:37.370 with where I recommended doing that and their 00:06:37.370 --> 00:06:39.050 response was, that's just another thing I need 00:06:39.050 --> 00:06:41.949 to do, which was interesting. Your own worst 00:06:41.949 --> 00:06:44.410 enemy. Yeah. I was like, well, if we're going 00:06:44.410 --> 00:06:46.750 to look at the long -term benefits of this, then 00:06:46.750 --> 00:06:50.050 it's absolutely something you need to do. But 00:06:50.050 --> 00:06:52.920 I feel like when you become swamped with a lot 00:06:52.920 --> 00:06:55.800 of work and a lot of unnecessary things and you 00:06:55.800 --> 00:06:58.560 haven't started outsourcing, then you become 00:06:58.560 --> 00:07:00.480 really focused on what you need to do in order 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:03.639 to survive that day and not the hamster wheel. 00:07:03.639 --> 00:07:06.279 Yeah. So you're on the faster it goes. Yep. And 00:07:06.279 --> 00:07:09.360 another pushback is, well, then if I'm going 00:07:09.360 --> 00:07:11.339 to employ new people, then I have to train those 00:07:11.339 --> 00:07:14.779 new people, um, which then takes months of their 00:07:14.779 --> 00:07:19.120 time. But if you think in a year's time, uh, 00:07:19.220 --> 00:07:22.910 what the benefit would be of actually focusing 00:07:22.910 --> 00:07:25.329 on those tasks and employing that new people, 00:07:25.550 --> 00:07:27.930 then. The big thing there is if you always do 00:07:27.930 --> 00:07:29.569 what you've always done, you always get the same 00:07:29.569 --> 00:07:32.769 result. So you've got to have, you've got to 00:07:32.769 --> 00:07:34.490 want to change, I guess. So if you don't have 00:07:34.490 --> 00:07:36.709 much time, you've got to think, do I just like 00:07:36.709 --> 00:07:38.670 being busy? Is this making me feel great? Because 00:07:38.670 --> 00:07:40.269 some people are like that. They literally don't 00:07:40.269 --> 00:07:41.730 want to go home and they want to be busy. They 00:07:41.730 --> 00:07:44.310 want to be busier than their friends and just, 00:07:44.470 --> 00:07:47.230 oh, it's 20 hours today. They actually like it. 00:07:47.350 --> 00:07:49.110 So if you're one of those people, just don't 00:07:49.110 --> 00:07:52.660 listen to this episode. Keep doing what you're 00:07:52.660 --> 00:07:54.220 doing. You're doing great. That's the cliche. 00:07:54.379 --> 00:07:56.060 That's the difference between rich and wealthy 00:07:56.060 --> 00:07:58.240 is rich. You've got heaps of money, but wealthy, 00:07:58.339 --> 00:08:00.959 you've got time to do what you want. What is 00:08:00.959 --> 00:08:03.699 your priority? Again, I always equate time to 00:08:03.699 --> 00:08:07.779 priorities. So if you feel like you haven't got 00:08:07.779 --> 00:08:10.399 time, the making the list of what's important 00:08:10.399 --> 00:08:13.019 to you, whether it's the, I don't want to be 00:08:13.019 --> 00:08:15.819 doing these tasks. I don't want to, I don't want 00:08:15.819 --> 00:08:17.639 to be dealing with data today because that's 00:08:17.639 --> 00:08:20.720 not what I'm strong with. I'd rather be over 00:08:20.720 --> 00:08:22.480 here drawing pretty pictures and sending them 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:25.579 to clients. And that's me every single day. It's 00:08:25.579 --> 00:08:27.660 pretty much okay. I just want to do this. I don't 00:08:27.660 --> 00:08:29.379 want to look at that website and then it's two 00:08:29.379 --> 00:08:31.819 days before the deadline. Now I've got to look 00:08:31.819 --> 00:08:35.000 at that website and I hate websites. So now I 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:36.740 feel like I'm time poor because I've let it build 00:08:36.740 --> 00:08:39.860 up and I've procrastinated. And then you become 00:08:39.860 --> 00:08:42.179 less effective anyway. Exactly. Which is an interesting 00:08:42.179 --> 00:08:45.090 point. People that have no time generally get 00:08:45.090 --> 00:08:48.570 a bit stressed. Um, and people say they're stressed 00:08:48.570 --> 00:08:50.149 and people say they're not stressed, but fundamentally, 00:08:50.190 --> 00:08:52.070 if you're too busy, you'll have stress on you. 00:08:52.090 --> 00:08:54.450 Um, and it's, it's only ever an effect when there's 00:08:54.450 --> 00:08:57.490 straw that breaks camel's back comes along. Um, 00:08:57.889 --> 00:08:59.429 but you find if you're doing too many things, 00:08:59.649 --> 00:09:02.659 you'll, you'll. become less able to make decisions, 00:09:02.940 --> 00:09:04.720 you'll be way less effective in what you do. 00:09:05.100 --> 00:09:07.600 So sometimes it makes more sense to do a lot 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:09.600 less and then you can do a lot more. So I always 00:09:09.600 --> 00:09:11.919 say to people, take time out to do things with 00:09:11.919 --> 00:09:14.000 the family or have your weekend off or finish 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:16.320 work at five or go to the gym in the morning 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:18.820 or whatever it is you need to do. Go take up 00:09:18.820 --> 00:09:20.659 a hobby and spend eight hours a week doing it. 00:09:20.860 --> 00:09:24.220 And you'll find the rest of things sort of take 00:09:24.220 --> 00:09:25.519 care of themselves a lot better than what they 00:09:25.519 --> 00:09:28.139 were doing before. Your mindset's better. Yeah, 00:09:28.179 --> 00:09:30.320 your health gets better, the stress goes down, 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:33.720 things improve quite a lot. Less of a scarcity 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:36.220 mindset as well. Yeah. If you feel like you've 00:09:36.220 --> 00:09:38.879 rushed and you haven't got enough time. And then 00:09:38.879 --> 00:09:40.480 when you finish a job, you haven't really put 00:09:40.480 --> 00:09:42.779 the effort into finding the next job. And then 00:09:42.779 --> 00:09:44.460 it's like, oh my God, where's the next dollar 00:09:44.460 --> 00:09:47.940 coming from? I really need to, and then that 00:09:47.940 --> 00:09:51.299 creates a vicious cycle of negative mindset, 00:09:51.360 --> 00:09:53.919 which can very, very quickly spiral you down 00:09:53.919 --> 00:09:57.360 into depression. As a business owner. And a lot 00:09:57.360 --> 00:09:59.399 of people are like, oh, we can't just drop things 00:09:59.399 --> 00:10:02.480 and leave it like the world will collapse. The 00:10:02.480 --> 00:10:07.120 sky will fall. And that's partially true. If 00:10:07.120 --> 00:10:08.720 you've got some employees, I think it's just 00:10:08.720 --> 00:10:12.240 making sure that they have the ability or the 00:10:12.240 --> 00:10:14.240 knowledge that they can make the decision and 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:18.450 what they do generally will be okay. Um, and 00:10:18.450 --> 00:10:20.509 we've had cases where people are like, we can't 00:10:20.509 --> 00:10:22.309 go on holidays, but then they've had to go for 00:10:22.309 --> 00:10:24.129 three weeks because someone's sick or something 00:10:24.129 --> 00:10:26.169 like that. Um, and they go away and then they 00:10:26.169 --> 00:10:28.509 come back and they're like, Oh, actually. There's 00:10:28.509 --> 00:10:31.610 all this stuff's mucked up, but it's still working. 00:10:32.070 --> 00:10:34.809 And what has generally happened is that the teams 00:10:34.809 --> 00:10:37.230 got better as well. So, and then the challenge 00:10:37.230 --> 00:10:39.450 for them is like, Hey, well, well, don't take 00:10:39.450 --> 00:10:41.850 things back over. Well, let's do a few corrections 00:10:41.850 --> 00:10:44.330 and fix our training and our systems and processes. 00:10:44.649 --> 00:10:47.799 But if you take it back over. then you're back 00:10:47.799 --> 00:10:49.940 to where you were. So people that have been stuck 00:10:49.940 --> 00:10:51.879 doing too much work have then gone away thinking 00:10:51.879 --> 00:10:53.639 they couldn't. And when they come back, suddenly 00:10:53.639 --> 00:10:56.980 they have more time, just naturally. We had somebody 00:10:56.980 --> 00:10:58.700 who took over a business and half of the employees 00:10:58.700 --> 00:11:00.919 left, which was apparently under resourced to 00:11:00.919 --> 00:11:03.279 start with. And it turned out that just with 00:11:03.279 --> 00:11:06.019 all those people going, everyone had to start 00:11:06.019 --> 00:11:08.809 doing things themselves, not relying on. people 00:11:08.809 --> 00:11:10.789 in certain roles and everyone just got better. 00:11:11.149 --> 00:11:12.370 And so there was a lot more time for everyone 00:11:12.370 --> 00:11:14.929 it turned out to be. So sometimes just stopping 00:11:14.929 --> 00:11:17.870 doing things has the result you want. Would that 00:11:17.870 --> 00:11:20.230 be an element of trust there? So trust your team? 00:11:20.950 --> 00:11:23.370 Yeah, but it's probably not trust. It's more 00:11:23.370 --> 00:11:25.169 just let people do their jobs or give them the 00:11:25.169 --> 00:11:27.070 chance to do their jobs. So it's sink or swim. 00:11:27.690 --> 00:11:29.870 Yeah. Obviously the better processes and systems 00:11:29.870 --> 00:11:31.850 training you have, that's more success. But if 00:11:31.850 --> 00:11:34.750 people want to roll, they need to get themselves 00:11:34.750 --> 00:11:35.929 there. Trust that they're going to be able to 00:11:35.929 --> 00:11:38.480 do the job. Sorry, I was going to say Amazon 00:11:38.480 --> 00:11:40.519 had the two pizza rule. That was a good one. 00:11:41.120 --> 00:11:44.340 Where your team shouldn't be more than what it 00:11:44.340 --> 00:11:49.539 takes to feed with two pizzas. And so then that 00:11:49.539 --> 00:11:51.700 means it's a high trust little network of people 00:11:51.700 --> 00:11:55.720 that can do their jobs and the decision -making 00:11:55.720 --> 00:11:58.879 is decentralised and it's up to them to get the 00:11:58.879 --> 00:12:01.529 job done. That seemed to work for Amazon. It's 00:12:01.529 --> 00:12:03.350 an extension of what I've talked about with the 00:12:03.350 --> 00:12:05.649 Pareto principle before with five seems to be 00:12:05.649 --> 00:12:09.789 the magic number for a team because 80 -20, when 00:12:09.789 --> 00:12:11.529 you've got five in a team, it still works out 00:12:11.529 --> 00:12:14.490 to half of doing most of the work. So you can 00:12:14.490 --> 00:12:16.289 start getting bigger than two pizzas. I love 00:12:16.289 --> 00:12:18.870 that. I've never heard that. Yeah. Yeah. So that's 00:12:18.870 --> 00:12:21.889 interesting. Um, but yeah, if you find time for 00:12:21.889 --> 00:12:24.210 your hobbies and, and take up things to reduce 00:12:24.210 --> 00:12:26.149 the stress or just do things that you enjoy, 00:12:26.210 --> 00:12:28.169 you'll find you have a bit more time. Um, but 00:12:28.169 --> 00:12:30.519 then the other things that sort of. clog up headspace, 00:12:30.720 --> 00:12:32.759 which is probably the main reason people have 00:12:32.759 --> 00:12:36.240 no time, just procrastination and feeling overwhelmed, 00:12:36.440 --> 00:12:38.419 slowing them down. Um, whether they think so 00:12:38.419 --> 00:12:42.000 or not is just having a good, uh, to -do list 00:12:42.000 --> 00:12:44.379 or, you know, project management, something to 00:12:44.379 --> 00:12:46.299 keep track of all the tasks, um, and reminders 00:12:46.299 --> 00:12:49.559 and who's doing what. So, so what do you do if 00:12:49.559 --> 00:12:51.879 you find yourself doing all the tasks you hate 00:12:51.879 --> 00:12:54.279 doing in your business? Can we talk about the 00:12:54.279 --> 00:12:57.730 system first? Well, yeah, I suppose so. Well, 00:12:58.029 --> 00:13:00.570 if you define yourself doing all the tasks that 00:13:00.570 --> 00:13:02.769 you don't like doing, then just you need to work 00:13:02.769 --> 00:13:04.429 out a plan to stop doing them and give them to 00:13:04.429 --> 00:13:09.250 someone else or get another job, either or. That's 00:13:09.250 --> 00:13:11.149 pretty straightforward. That's kind of why I 00:13:11.149 --> 00:13:13.690 asked the question is because asking you questions, 00:13:13.769 --> 00:13:15.830 we get the simple response and sometimes it's 00:13:15.830 --> 00:13:18.190 the response that you're like, oh, yeah, well, 00:13:18.269 --> 00:13:20.570 that's not what I wanted to hear. There's no, 00:13:20.570 --> 00:13:21.990 there's no point doing something you don't like. 00:13:22.669 --> 00:13:24.330 Yeah. Um, so yeah, but you'd always just go get 00:13:24.330 --> 00:13:25.789 another job if that's the case. And you're not 00:13:25.789 --> 00:13:27.490 going to be productive at it if you're not enjoying 00:13:27.490 --> 00:13:29.610 it anyway. Yeah. Yeah. I'm going to progress 00:13:29.610 --> 00:13:31.909 tonight. Um, but anyway, going back to like to 00:13:31.909 --> 00:13:34.120 do this and actually having. processes. So, okay, 00:13:34.220 --> 00:13:36.080 my team has to do these five things. So then 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:37.820 that's in a system that, that everyone can see 00:13:37.820 --> 00:13:39.840 and it's assigned to someone and there's instructions 00:13:39.840 --> 00:13:41.580 underneath it of what needs to happen. And there's 00:13:41.580 --> 00:13:43.500 notes and updates going through. So if you, you 00:13:43.500 --> 00:13:45.159 know, you find yourself, Oh gee, where is that 00:13:45.159 --> 00:13:46.539 at? You can actually just go, look, you don't 00:13:46.539 --> 00:13:48.559 have to go quiz someone and interrupt their day. 00:13:48.820 --> 00:13:50.679 And you can know that it's on track or not, or 00:13:50.679 --> 00:13:52.320 you can put something in there and say, Hey, 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:53.779 blah, blah, or there's some more information 00:13:53.779 --> 00:13:56.889 or where's this at. Um, but then, you know, simple 00:13:56.889 --> 00:14:00.090 things like, um, you've got Microsoft to do, 00:14:00.090 --> 00:14:03.690 um, or I think Google, Google notes, tasks, I 00:14:03.690 --> 00:14:04.950 can't remember what it's called now. I keep changing 00:14:04.950 --> 00:14:08.210 both of them. Oh, and tasks. Yeah. To do tasks, 00:14:08.409 --> 00:14:10.750 the same thing. It's just complicated, but, um, 00:14:10.750 --> 00:14:12.250 you know, on my phone, I just have the swipe 00:14:12.250 --> 00:14:14.509 down and then there's add new task and it goes 00:14:14.509 --> 00:14:16.429 into my Microsoft list, which is in my Outlook. 00:14:16.570 --> 00:14:18.289 Um, and it's on my phone. It's all the same thing. 00:14:18.509 --> 00:14:20.809 And I can just put in there, um, call Z back 00:14:20.809 --> 00:14:23.899 or I need to do a budget for someone. So. And 00:14:23.899 --> 00:14:25.879 that thing goes on my list without a date or 00:14:25.879 --> 00:14:27.659 any other notes. But then when I'm next back 00:14:27.659 --> 00:14:28.940 at the computer, it's there and I can add to 00:14:28.940 --> 00:14:31.220 it and I can schedule it for somewhere. And what 00:14:31.220 --> 00:14:33.840 that means is that pretty much when I have meetings 00:14:33.840 --> 00:14:36.320 with people, I can put all my tasks in. It takes 00:14:36.320 --> 00:14:38.220 me two minutes. It doesn't take very long. And 00:14:38.220 --> 00:14:41.039 then I can't forget about them. And then when 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:43.539 I get an email that I want to go back to later, 00:14:43.600 --> 00:14:46.559 instead of deleting all my emails and make sure 00:14:46.559 --> 00:14:48.240 my inbox is not even tidy, I can just literally 00:14:48.240 --> 00:14:49.980 flag it on the side. There's a little flag button 00:14:49.980 --> 00:14:53.490 and that goes through my to -do list too. Say 00:14:53.490 --> 00:14:55.590 it's done, it's gone. So I don't see it anymore. 00:14:56.090 --> 00:14:57.909 But what that means is I'm not worrying at night 00:14:57.909 --> 00:15:00.169 going, gee, what have I not done? Oh gee, I need 00:15:00.169 --> 00:15:02.970 to do that. Yeah. Which most people find themselves 00:15:02.970 --> 00:15:04.629 doing. I just need to rock up in the morning 00:15:04.629 --> 00:15:06.669 and go, what am I doing? Yep. Um, that's what 00:15:06.669 --> 00:15:08.350 I'm doing. Well, I can't do that today. Okay. 00:15:08.429 --> 00:15:10.210 I'll send them a message and, and say, sorry, 00:15:10.289 --> 00:15:12.909 I'm going to be late. And that management, a 00:15:12.909 --> 00:15:14.190 little bit of work, probably five, 10 minutes 00:15:14.190 --> 00:15:17.259 a day. saves me so much of just worrying about 00:15:17.259 --> 00:15:19.039 things on the weekend or doing this or doing 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:20.759 that, or just not getting things done, which 00:15:20.759 --> 00:15:22.879 then is inefficient as well. So then when you 00:15:22.879 --> 00:15:25.539 do take that time for family or friends or sport 00:15:25.539 --> 00:15:28.039 or hobbies or whatever, you can actually be present. 00:15:28.799 --> 00:15:30.559 Yeah. And if you think of something when you're 00:15:30.559 --> 00:15:32.279 out and about, it's like, oh gee, I forgot that. 00:15:32.620 --> 00:15:34.279 Just chuck it in your phone and it's there for 00:15:34.279 --> 00:15:36.620 Monday. This is one of the beautiful things about 00:15:36.620 --> 00:15:40.399 having a phone with notes, even just your simple 00:15:40.399 --> 00:15:43.960 notepad. I find because I work in a creative 00:15:43.960 --> 00:15:46.730 realm, There are times in the middle of the night 00:15:46.730 --> 00:15:48.129 where you wake up and you're like, that's a really 00:15:48.129 --> 00:15:51.669 good idea. I need to, I'll remember that in the 00:15:51.669 --> 00:15:53.649 morning. It's all good. And then you wake up 00:15:53.649 --> 00:15:56.690 in the morning. Huh? Yeah, I had a good idea. 00:15:56.769 --> 00:15:58.610 I don't remember what that was. Whereas now we've 00:15:58.610 --> 00:16:01.490 got the technology. You could have easily put 00:16:01.490 --> 00:16:04.590 a pen and paper beside your bed and no one ever 00:16:04.590 --> 00:16:07.370 does. And I never did. But having the phone right 00:16:07.370 --> 00:16:09.730 there, just go bang, take a quick note out of 00:16:09.730 --> 00:16:12.019 sight, out of mind. Read back the night and go, 00:16:12.100 --> 00:16:13.899 well, was I even thinking that's a terrible idea 00:16:13.899 --> 00:16:18.779 or let's expand that. More time management, just 00:16:18.779 --> 00:16:21.759 tips and tricks. So talking about priorities, 00:16:21.980 --> 00:16:23.620 time as a resource, you know, so much of it. 00:16:23.820 --> 00:16:25.139 So it's doing the things that matter the most, 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:27.960 but do the big things first. So make sure you 00:16:27.960 --> 00:16:29.799 know what the big things are for the day that 00:16:29.799 --> 00:16:31.519 you do need to get done that will have an impact 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:34.000 and will cause trouble or have an outcome and 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:36.960 do those first. Um, because if you start doing 00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:38.720 all the small things in the morning, you'll have 00:16:38.720 --> 00:16:41.120 small things all day, but you'll never end. But 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:42.980 if you've got three big things, get those done, 00:16:43.580 --> 00:16:44.700 work through that. And then you'll have time 00:16:44.700 --> 00:16:46.299 for the little things around it. No problem at 00:16:46.299 --> 00:16:49.000 all. And I think there's a story with the jar, 00:16:49.019 --> 00:16:52.679 the stories. With the rocks and then you put 00:16:52.679 --> 00:16:54.600 the sand around it. Yeah. So, you know, if you 00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:56.440 fill a jar with big rocks, it's full, right? 00:16:56.539 --> 00:16:58.700 No. You put some gravel in there and then it's 00:16:58.700 --> 00:17:01.600 full. You put sand in there. Then it's full and 00:17:01.600 --> 00:17:03.139 then you could, you know, you pour coffee in 00:17:03.139 --> 00:17:04.380 there because there's always time for coffee 00:17:04.380 --> 00:17:07.420 with bread. Um, but that's the point. Like you 00:17:07.420 --> 00:17:08.920 can keep filling up with little things, but if 00:17:08.920 --> 00:17:10.880 you just pour the coffee in first, um, you don't 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:13.180 have room, um, you know, chuck a big rock in 00:17:13.180 --> 00:17:15.680 all the coffee pours out. So coffee can fill 00:17:15.680 --> 00:17:17.980 it up, um, with a small task pretty quick. The 00:17:17.980 --> 00:17:19.700 last thing you want is a big task getting in 00:17:19.700 --> 00:17:21.380 the way of the coffee. Yeah. And at the end of 00:17:21.380 --> 00:17:22.859 the day, when you've done a couple of big tasks 00:17:22.859 --> 00:17:25.339 that, you know, sometimes I'm glad my wife, she 00:17:25.339 --> 00:17:26.839 asked me, Oh, how was your day? I'm like, no 00:17:26.839 --> 00:17:28.940 good. How was it? Did you get things done? I'm 00:17:28.940 --> 00:17:30.059 like, I got a lot of stuff done, but it's not 00:17:30.059 --> 00:17:32.119 a matter. And, you know, I'm really happy if 00:17:32.119 --> 00:17:33.759 I do one thing that has good outcome and I'll 00:17:33.759 --> 00:17:35.819 do nothing else that day. That's great. Um, but 00:17:35.819 --> 00:17:37.359 if you do a hundred things, it just didn't really 00:17:37.359 --> 00:17:39.799 matter that you had to do anyway. Well, it's 00:17:39.799 --> 00:17:42.660 doesn't feel good. It's not good. Um, so I think 00:17:42.660 --> 00:17:44.539 making sure, you know, what the priorities for 00:17:44.539 --> 00:17:46.039 the day, the big stuff and getting those done, 00:17:46.140 --> 00:17:47.720 you'll just, you'll feel better. You'll get the 00:17:47.720 --> 00:17:50.039 dopamine of, yeah, I did something and you'll 00:17:50.039 --> 00:17:54.200 be rearing to go the next day. So while the initial, 00:17:54.200 --> 00:17:58.160 uh, process of trying to free up your time might 00:17:58.160 --> 00:18:01.339 actually take more time, ironically. Unless you 00:18:01.339 --> 00:18:03.119 just stop doing stuff. Unless you stop doing 00:18:03.119 --> 00:18:06.420 stuff. Or just hand it off. Like if you're listening 00:18:06.420 --> 00:18:08.339 to this and you realise that you don't actually 00:18:08.339 --> 00:18:10.339 need to be doing payroll and you don't need to 00:18:10.339 --> 00:18:12.380 be doing the graphic design and you're just going 00:18:12.380 --> 00:18:14.119 to hire someone this afternoon, then you don't 00:18:14.119 --> 00:18:16.980 have to worry about it next week. Next week's 00:18:16.980 --> 00:18:20.460 going to be a lot easier for you. So, but if 00:18:20.460 --> 00:18:22.180 it comes to actually expanding your team and 00:18:22.180 --> 00:18:24.039 you need to hire new people because you don't 00:18:24.039 --> 00:18:27.150 have time, then. That is going to take time, 00:18:27.210 --> 00:18:30.569 but think about what the long -term benefits 00:18:30.569 --> 00:18:33.410 are next year. This time next year, you'll be 00:18:33.410 --> 00:18:35.269 a lot freer and you might be able to just take 00:18:35.269 --> 00:18:38.670 a massive holiday with your family. Um, but yeah, 00:18:38.849 --> 00:18:41.329 just make sure you take the time to figure out 00:18:41.329 --> 00:18:45.170 what is sapping your energy and hopefully this 00:18:45.170 --> 00:18:47.609 time next week, you'll be feeling a lot freer. 00:18:47.609 --> 00:18:49.910 And if in doubt, just remember time's a madman 00:18:49.910 --> 00:18:52.490 construct. So it doesn't actually exist. And 00:18:52.490 --> 00:18:56.210 on that philosophical note, we'll see you next 00:18:56.210 --> 00:18:56.490 time.