- Who's ready to get productive?
This is a strong start
(upbeat music)
Good morning, good life
Welcome back to Amy TV
where we come together to help you
go after the life you want.
And welcome back to another episode
of wine Wednesday.
Where we don't believe in complaining.
But if your gonna whine pour me some.
I'm very excited.
This is one of my fancy little birthday present
from Blake and Emily.
Blake works with us at Aftermarq
and I'm so obsessed it's so cute.
It's got a lid and everything
I have the container incase you care.
The brumate glitter rose gold flute
and there's all kinds of fancy BevGuard technlogy
Which so, we're very excited about this.
I'm using it indoors probably for no reason.
But supposedly this lid,
is meant to lock in carbonation.
So I know they bought this for me
because they know I'm a prosecco girl.
But today we are drinking Rosé
to match the cup of course.
And it's empathy today and man
have I had so much empathy lately so much.
This is my dear friend Gary Vaynerchuk.
Gary is the founder of my
speaking agent Vayner speakers.
So just kind of like a side plug, I guess.
But truthfully, I drink this all the time.
We are subscribed to empathy,
we get empathy boxes and boxes of wine.
So the Rosé is definitely ,
definitely my favorite of all of them.
And so it's that time of year
we do the Rosé so cheers.
Oh, productivity, productivity
is one of our favorite things
to have a love hate relationship with.
I fully recognize the fact
that people probably watch my videos
because they are frustrated with productivity.
But striving for it at the same time.
Kinda like a good looking guy.
I'm so fortunate I landed one of those.
So clearly, we're going to run
into problems along the way.
You can call them challenges,
but it doesn't start with a pr.
So today I'm calling it productivity problems.
Please forgive the fact that
I am fully enjoying sitting in my living room.
For wine Wednesday,
cause it makes me kind of like more relaxed,
but the lighting is gonna be crazy.
Okay, just is.
I don't care anymore.
So let's talk about some of the problems.
So we can also look at some of the solutions
that might be able to help us.
We want to keep the problems from tripping us up
as much as possible.
Heart of it means anticipating them
so let's dive in.
Problem number one, planning paralysis.
This one really resonated when I brought it up
in a fears training that I did
in The GATLUW Society,
which is my business membership program.
I totally get it
because we are so geeked
about all of the different ways
there are to plan.
All of the different strategies.
And we are super smart people
that are actively looking
for strategies all the time.
So that we can get excited
about following a blueprint.
To more productivity
or to whatever goal that we are seeking
If you identify with this issue,
it's very important to just recognize it.
Just recognize you know,
every time I see a new way of doing things
I wanna try it out.
And I will over plan and over plan and over plan
and I also think I'm not totally prepared.
So I will add steps and I will add research
and I will add commentary and I will ask too many
people their opinions.
And get the wrong answers
and start questioning myself.
All of these things happen
planning paralysis is natural.
But we know when we are self sabotaging
if we identify with this problem.
So to me, the best thing that you can do
to start to combat planning paralysis
as your productivity problem.
Is to just create the solution
of knowing and making an intention
of proceeding with one single step at a time.
Especially in that stage where you think
it's important to plan and you're not ready yet
because you haven't done enough.
If you're in that mindset,
then at least have one thing
and I tend to do it at night.
I will just write it down
on a notepad or on a sticky note
and I'll put it on my mirror
that I know I'm gonna look at the next day
when I'm doing morning pages.
This is the one step
that I'm going to do tomorrow.
That works toward the thing
I'm trying to plan but isn't so big
that I feel like I'm diving in
with two feet without planning enough.
What will typically happen
is that just by taking smaller steps,
you feel more productive
than you think you would.
We often make productivity a lot grander
than it needs to be.
Because it has such a grand name.
and it means so much to us.
But also by actually taking action,
you do a much better job of planning the process.
Because you run into more things,
more ideas and there might be something that
really gets in your head.
And makes you realize,
oh my gosh, this is gonna be so much
argh, but at the same time,
you may not have figured that out
if you wouldn't have taken those steps,
those small steps forward.
The second problem that you might have
with productivity is too many
tools available to you.
I feel like this goes really really well
hand in hand with planning paralysis
Is that we might be sitting there
on our computer going.
Okay, I'm gonna plan my big project.
What fancy software am I going to use?
And we get engrossed in that research.
And that's sort of like this preliminary step
of the planning process that doesn't actually
have to do with the project.
But it could be very useful
unless we spend too much time there.
Where we're searching all the web pages
of all the different things.
Here's what Evernote does
Here's what Notion does.
Here's what Trello does.
Here's what all these different platforms do.
Here's how much they cost.
Here's what they look like.
And then you just end up down
this rabbit hole of again
things that just don't matter enough
To me this is such a resonating factor.
I just yesterday and I've made a major
major, major commitment to Evernote,
even though it drives me crazy a lot.
There are a lot of things
I don't like about Evernote,
but there are too many pros for me to change it.
But I was watching a video
about something else yesterday
and somebody was using this other tool
And I was like, oh God, that's so pretty.
It's so pretty.
It's visually compelling,
I might love it.
But it's not as many pros,
that's just one really big one.
That is not gonna be my current Evernote system.
So at the end of the day,
you just have to be able to make a decision.
Based on what your best practices are.
I know for a fact that if I'm on any page
of the internet on my phone
or on my tablet or on whatever device I'm on.
I know I can have a quick send to Evernote button.
That is something I don't always feel
is as easy with others.
So that's been a big selling factor.
You make these decisions, right?
And they gradually get you to a final result.
But the true solution here
and that's just one example of it
Is what is your natural tendency to do?
Are you more likely to get a list of things done
that have been written down
on a legal pad with pencil?
Or is it in Trello,
with a bunch of check boxes and a bunch
of different sections with collaborators,
who are holding you accountable.
The reality is,
it's going to be very different for each of us.
So by getting distracted
by the tools process it's frustrating.
You've just gotta know
where you operate at your best.
And if it's you individually,
typically, you know,
in your heart of hearts what's best.
You know, if you love when I talk
about bullet journaling.
Or if you're like,
I can't relate to that whatsoever.
Well that might be an indication
of the power of the paper for you.
Power of the paper,
we gotta use that again in the future
that's a good one.
But regardless, you've just gotta cut
the conversation off.
Much like if you have a project
that you're planning,
you have a deadline.
There's only going to be so much time
you can spend making the decision
of what tool you're gonna use to stay on track.
And be productive with what you're doing.
Than if you were to waste all
the time in the world,
just picking the tool and organizing it
and then finding out after all this work
that you hated it.
Just start using something
and adjust as you go.
That might be one of your steps in the process.
That something that you chose
didn't work out.
That's okay, at least you know why.
And you're more compelled
to go to what you choose.
So don't let the tools
overwhelm world of the internet get to you,
especially if maybe you're not
as digitally driven as you thought.
And the third productivity problem
I wanna talk about today
is much more human people.
People are a productivity problem all the time.
I'm sure coming into this conversation
top of mind for you
was who was the last person to distract you?
And that person might have been
inside a television or inside your phone
or inside your head
And there's a lot of different people it could be
and we love to blame
other external people as well.
And I want everyone to go
in the comments right now and say,
Yep, that's me.
If you agree that you have a people problem
when it comes to productivity.
Because I also want you to see
that every one does every one, okay?
Knowing that we have to anticipate it,
we have to look for it before it hits us.
And we need to try to prevent it
instead of getting all huffy and puffy.
When somebody walks in the room
when we're trying to focus on something.
We know we gotta put this away.
If we're in the middle of focusing,
you gotta go do not disturb.
I'm making a video right now.
I don't care what's going on,
I'm not talking to you.
If children are a situation,
is it that you need to hire a babysitter?
Are they in daycare for certain hours
you can go that route,
they're in school during the day
or whatever the case may be.
It's summer now,
so obviously there's different things
that have to happen.
And we also have to grapple
with how much exposure to other people
that we're willing to have right now.
So it's a balance.
But at the end of the day,
if it just comes down
to the fact that you're not shutting a door.
Because you're afraid if you shut the door,
then the people on the other side of it,
something bad might happen.
Or then you might feel
like you're cutting them off,
or you might make them feel
a certain kind of way.
Then you're not willing to really communicate
what's needed on your end.
And what's needed on your end
is also very important.
Can you shut the door set a timer,
and that way, it's like,
I have to get this thing done
in this amount of time
And believe me,
no matter how much time that is,
we fill it and we use it up.
So we limit it to the best of our ability
get as much done in that time that we can.
Then we open that door back up
and we go back out into
the world we need to be in
We need to be able
to ask for help when we need help.
And sometimes depending on who
the people are around you.
Asking for help just might be
how do you set yourself up for success of focus?
Especially if you say,
listen, if I just had an hour game changer.
Versus I will get it done
in the midst of a million different things
during an eight hour period today.
Because I also have to be available
to absolutely everyone.
That's unreasonable.
The people problem always,
always comes down to communication.
And guess what?
They're still going to complain about it.
Cause they don't know that on wine Wednesday,
we don't believe in complaining do they?
Something to think about for you
if you would like to surround yourself
with more people who
are having an open conversation.
About what it means to be productive
leverage mornings to your advantage.
And just continue to get better at this
step by step little by little every day.
You might find you will like shine squad
it's my patreon group.
I do a short motivational podcast
every weekday for everyone.
And then depending on what level you are in,
there's additional perks over there as well.
We even have a coffee mug now.
So exciting but it's not coffee day is it?
Its wine Wednesday.
Sorry, I don't have the coffee mug
Question of the day.
What are some of the productivity problems
that you run into the most?
Let's talk about them down in the comments below.
Maybe there is a part two of this conversation.
Let me know that's all for today.
Thank you so much for tuning in
I appreciate it as always
Make sure you subscribe for good vibes
kiss the ones you love.
And go after the life you want.
Cheers
I gotta stop cutting my head off.
I know, but I don't want to I kinda like it.
Do not disturb
Oh the sun.
Oh, for crying out loud.
Oh, that was significant.
And I broke my blinds the last time I filmed .
Don't tell my husband.
Pretty sure they're broken.
I need more sun than that.
Oh, we need more sun than that.
(mumbles)
Okay, that's that did not help it all.
Okay, well shoot.
Oh, I know what I can do.
I could turn real lights on.
Wow, yeah, that's the ticket.
Okay.
Dang it, we have to do it all over again.
Oh my God
The sun just came back.
Oh now I have to shut this one.
Crap!
So that they can
let's dive in.
Can't keep track
Peanut gallery.
♪I just wanna ♪
There it is come on, come on
God knows how long this video actually is.
I have no idea.
It's all bloopers