Have you ever wanted to figure out
really how to manage yourself through
chaos? Well we have five steps to help
you manage that chaos.
You got chaos? Well, we've got some
answers. Oh you know what? You got
problems with your projects because
they've been sitting around for a long
time? Too long! Your office is probably
struggling, you might have a schedule
that's struggling and you have a garage
that's struggling. Yeah but you know what?
Chaos does not have to stay but you need
to know what to do to be able to get
through chaos. So that's what we're here
to do today is talk about what it is
that you got to do to be able to get
through your chaos. Now one of the first
things that Kim and I like to call it, we
call it "our wish". And what's a stand for?
What- I - See - Happening. And so what I see
happening, let's put... Let's
pick the garage. So when I have
chaos, sometimes it's really easy to like
walk out to the garage and go - "oh my God, this is a disaster! What am I going to do?"
I get overwhelmed and I get kind of
stressed out because I'm like looking at
this messy garage or bedroom or kitchen
or it doesn't really matter what it is.
It's just that overwhelm like holy cow!
This is a huge project. I know it else
you do. I know what else do you think.
When is Kirk going to clean this up? It's
somebody else's problem and when
it's overwhelming, what do we
usually do? We avoid it. Yeah I want... Defer it
or avoid it and then...
Then you know how you drive around your
neighborhood in people's garages are
open and you wonder how they put a car
in there because they have so much stuff
right? Oh! well they are missing step one.
Step one is the way what I see happening.
So imagine that your garage is clean and
and organized and you can pull your
vehicles in there and the garage doors
can shut? Totally fine. And this
isn't just about chaos in the garage
though. This applies to everything.
We're just using garage as an example
that we could probably all relate on but
number one - you have to have an image in
your mind or a visualization of like
what does this look like when it's
finished. When it's finished.
Because motivation drops when the vision
drops. Yes, when you can't see it, you can't
have motivation. Exactly! Well you're
not going to feel like you want to go clean
it when you have no idea how it's going
to look in the end. So pick what you want.
How you want to see it happening of
that garage or that project being able
to be put together. So what I see happening.
And it's okay if you don't do anything
right now with it just but you create
the imagery because we lived in a house
for - how long was our garage that way?
Probably a good year and a half. You know
when it was like totally jammed? Boxes
clear to the ceiling. Like we moved in
and we moved actually... But we didn't move
in. We moved into the garage. You move
into the garage and was so. All of our stuff are staying in the garage forever! I
would stand in the garage and I look
around I go - you know, a car really could
fit in here and I could see these boxes
all put away and they're all been sorted
through and got rid of all the things
you don't use. And so remember practicing
that going - I want to have a garage that
I can pull into and I can open the door
in my vehicle and it doesn't hit
something. Like it... You got space to get
out of your car - yeah. And remember, this
isn't about cleaning the garage. This is
about the principles of chaos in life. So
you got to imagine and really
practice that imagery over and over and
over again without getting frustrated,
without being disappointed or without
being irritated with people around you.
Because what what people do is they go yeah
I imagine my garage but it's not that
way so it really disappoints me now
you're not going to disappoint me. You're
not going to frustration. This is
something you got to change. Stop going
to disappointment, stop going to.. what did
you say? Irritation and frustration. You
have to just practice seeing it the way
you wish it would be. Now the second step
is super important is now to take that
idea and you got to break it down into
least three phases. At least three phases.
So like when I'm working on a project,
and it's big project like a big chaotic
project. If I walk out and look at that
whole entire project and think one phase
of from start to finish like in one
one phase, I don't want to start.
But if I can break it down to okay, first
of all I'm going to start with this and
then I'm going to and then I'm going to do
this and then I'm going to do that, that
helps me to feel like I can actually do
it. The mistake that people make is they
think - "okay, we need to clean the
whole garage this weekend." And so they
tell the family it's a one-time, one-shot,
get it all done in one day and then mom
and dad and the kids start working on
the garage and they went into it with
one face. Get in, get it done, get out. And
so then when you hear at the
end of the day of that particular you
know maybe it's all that not even the
other day, but by the time you get the lunchtime -
that's true - and you said yeah, how many
times have we've seen this happen. You sit
down at lunchtime. You eat your
sandwiches and then you start talking
you go - you know what? how about we go out for lunch?
Let's go to a movie. Let's don't do this.
Plus the only idea they had was do the
whole thing and that's the only picture
they had on their mind. So its... And
then you know not only do you not want
to finish the project but then you're
bummed out and discouraged because you
didn't finished the project. This is... Here's
the three phases. Imagine a hundred
percent, the first phase is you're going to
attack this project and you're going to do
20% of it. Second phase is the other 30%,
third phase is the other 50%. So you do
20% of the project then you do 30 more
percent of projects then you do 50
percent of the project. Because... You've
built some momentum and you have you can
start seeing it. That's not the word. Like
you're excited. That's the word. That's
the word - momentum. You don't... You know if
you're going to run, you don't start running
and you go from zero to full blast just
like that. You start out and you build up
speed and then you're up to your top
speed. And just like a vehicle, it doesn't
go 0 to 101 burst even though
everybody wants that to happen, right? But
it works its way up. But so when
we approach chaos in our life and we
approach it like we're going to handle it
at a 100 in one move, we
won't make it. And it's discouraging and
then you...
Won't make it. You look at the project and then you
move on and you don't even finish it. You
don't even start it because you're
disappointed. Yeah, and we have
family and friends who keep asking us.
How do you guys keep making so much
progress? How come your yard looks good?
How come your garage is clean? How come
your offices are clean? How can you do
these things? It's because we're doing
these small percentages. Yeah and we... 20%.
We see even just that small percentage
and that is when I get that 20% done,
that's time for celebration. And listen
to this, what if I went to my kids and I
said, "hey kids we're going to clean the
garage but we're only going to do 20% today.
Well first I might go- "hey, we're going to
clean the garage." The kids would go - "noooo! I
don't want to do that." And then I come up
with - "well we're going to do 20% of it."
huh? Alright and here's the 20% and
then we're done. Oh my gosh! Okay, I could
do that. See? Even kids understand this
principle. If it's a 100% in
one time in one moment, you're going to burn
your team out. Burn your support system out.
What I find in this type of situation is
you know when you have this the idea in
your mind that you have to complete the
entire project and you know one day or
one week if it's a really a really big
project, the whole experience is so
overwhelming that it actually you don't
go very quickly. But if you go into the
project knowing - "okay, I'm going to do this
20% and it's done, you actually can work
faster. You work faster and more
efficiently because you know that you
only are doing that 20% and then you get
that 20% done you feel good, you
celebrate and then you make the plan for
the next phase. You got to let go of the
all-or-nothing experience because you're
probably sitting in the nothing zone and
you got these chaos moments and chaos
situations going on around you. But if
you could, think to yourself. You know
what? Whatever is happening here, I'm
going to really dive into this
and I'm going to make 20%
progress on this. That you can do and
that you can start soon and that you can
enroll people to join in and help you. So
that's why you can build a support team.
Build a support system like people
believe in you they're like
you could do that or you could actually
have people help you. But if you don't
know how it's going to look in the end and
you don't break it down into least three
phases you're going to lose your support
system and you're going to lose your team.
Which is number 3. When you do have
when you're organized with your... When
you're organized with your
chaos, that's really what you're doing is
you're taking chaos and you're
organizing how you're going to approach it.
So when you have a system and you have a
plan and then you involve the people
around you, there are so much more
willing to actually be a part of the
project. So you gain that support and
then you actually gain a team it is
willing to be involved and work with you
on that project. Okay, now suggestion
number 4 is to have a start at an end
time. Because if you pick the day and you
pick the start time, then everybody knows
that you're literally being
organized like Kim said. You're being
organized and how you're approaching
your chaos. When you have a start...So Saturday, 8
o'clock and when you're going to end. If you
want efficiency, you need to choose an
ending time. So people pick up the pace.
But if you go - "you know we're going to work
on the garage" And your kids go - "well, when are
we done?" Well, we'll be done when I
decide we're done. Those kids are not
going to go - wow! that sounds fun. Dad's going to
wear us all out until we all die and
then we're done? But if you go - "hey, we're
going to attack 20% of the garage. We're
going to start at 8:00, we're going to end at
noon and we're going to just conquer 20% of
it. And then you're actually... That's more.
Because you have that deadline that that
8 o'clock till noon, you actually
and you know you want to get that 20%
done, you've actually worked so much more
quickly and more efficiently. Everybody's
got a target - yeah. They've got a target
for it. It makes a huge difference and
then this is the big one, number five is
feeling it because when you go to step
into chaos, whatever it is and you're
stepping into the chaotic moment, the
chaotic garage whatever it is, you're
surrounded by disorder- the chaos. And it's
got an overwhelming feeling to it because
it's big and strong and it's unorganized.
And that's what you're seeing on your
mind.
That visual is so powerful
because that is what you're seeing and
that
chaos is what you're seeing, so it's so
important to stay connected with how
it's going to feel when is finished. Well,
you need to check-in and know that when
you step into your big mess that you're
going to work on, is that you're going to
feel like you don't have what it takes
to do it.
The only way you can get past that is
you keep talking yourself through that
feeling of going - "well, when this is done,
it's going to feel amazing. When this is
finished, I'm going to like being able to
park my car in here. When this is
organized, oh! I'm going to feel so free and
it's going to be done out, I don't need to worry about it
anymore." But you've got to walk yourself
through that because the chaos has been
there for a while and the reason why you
haven't approached it is because the
chaos is bigger than you. So you break it
out into three, you see it how you want
it to be when it's done. You have a team,
you have support system, you have a start
date, you have an end date. You're going to
do 20%, 30%, 50%, then when you step into
it, because you know this. When we step
into a big project, you know how you go -
"oh my goodness!" Because you start pulling
stuff apart to put it together and
you're like - "is this ever going to end? Is it
ever going to end, right? That's where you
have to jump in and you feel it finished.
Meaning, you go - you see it and you feel
it. See it and feel it- finished. But you've got to
coach yourself all the way through it
and when you fill that overwhelm, you go
no! we got this. Yeah.
This is how it's going to be. That's how
we're going to do things. Now you can turn
your chaos into levels of order. Have we
not lived these principles like over and
over and over again? Had a lot of chaos
and we've created a lot of order in it.
And I remember our garage doors open
when the time and and some neighbors were,
walking by and our neighbor across the
street they had their garage open too.
And their garage was packed full of
stuff. You know just tons of stuff and
you couldn't pull it there's you can
even put a bike in their garage. And I
remember these neighbors were walking
down the street, just like on a Friday
night stroll and and they stopped and
they looked at our garage and they went
"hey, how did you do that?" Because they're
looking around going there's a lot of
neighbors with jam-packed garages. That
goes "how'd you do that?" And we're just
standing there
like - "we got this figured out." It felt so
good! So got this figured out. You don't
attack it with 100%. You give yourself
chunks and remember the first phase has
to be simple and doable. That's why it's
20%. That's why you do just a little bit
because you want to get a little...Builds momentum. You want to get a little
bit success under your belt...Yes because
then you start realizing - "oh, I can do
this."
I can accomplish this
and I can get to a finish line. Even if
it's not the 100% finish line,
it's the 20% finish line. And
the project is - we're going to finish 20
% of this and it's going feel
great and then you do 30% which
inches.you a little bit further but
that's building momentum and you when
you start to complete a chaos situation
and and conquer it, you'll see that you
can move on to another one and on to
another one. Break it up into phases. That
make a big difference.
Good job in getting yourself organized - oh yeah.
Okay, it's your turn. Get yourself
organized. So what do you think? I thought
it was awesome because it... Man, it works in
our life. You know what? I know you
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you. Speaking of great videos, we've got
another video that's called the 3
steps to effective time management. Kind
of fits into that you know chaos situation. Check
that one out. Check that video out. You'll
like it. You'll love it.