- If I told you everything I got done this week
you would need a vacation and a mojito.
What's up socials, welcome back to Amy TV.
Today, I want to share my seven rules for a productive week,
because I had the most productive week ever,
and it's making me tired rethinking it.
But, there were definitely a lot of moving parts
that helped me get as much done as I did,
so, I thought I would share those with you today.
I could literally go through my calendar
and list off everything I did this week,
but I try not to put you to sleep,
so we're just not going to do that.
Before we jump in, make sure you subscribe to this channel.
I make new videos every week, and it would be weird
if I was here every week and you were not.
Is that what they call ghosted?
Maybe? Probably.
My first rule for a productive week
is to wake up before the sun.
We talked about this in the last video,
How to wake up at 5 a.m., even if you don't feel like it.
Check that out, if you're feeling the pressure
of not having enough time in the day,
and needing some of that me time back.
That's, personally, when I find that
I can just think about what's ahead of me.
How I need to prepare, maybe knock out a few things
that I'm not going to have time to do
when everybody else starts waking up,
and giving me their expectations and tasks,
and needing my attention, all that kind of thing.
Have to wake up before the sun,
or really I am going to be feeling very out of control,
and when you feel out of control,
you do not do a good job with anything you have to get done.
You feel like you're on the defense.
You feel like everybody's coming at you,
and you're not quite prepared for it,
and nobody needs that, nobody needs that.
I don't need that.
My second rule is to make time to work out.
Now, trust me.
The easiest task in the world to exit from your life
is the gym when you're feeling a little bit on overload,
and you have a lot to do.
But, I hate to break it to myself.
On a regular basis, I do feel better after I workout,
and I'm sure you feel the same.
When you exert some energy, when you get on the treadmill,
when you go for a walk, when you do anything,
when you're done, you not only feel
a little bit proud of yourself,
but you do have an energy boost.
It's very hard to ignore the fact that
that that is a fact at this point.
So, it has to be on the calendar,
and I have to stick with it,
because I know that I'm going to be better
at completing all of the rest of the things I have to do
if I have that instant energy boost
that happens with working out.
The other thing I figured out,
I'm more of a person that needs to take classes.
I don't do well with a personal trainer,
'cause I don't like when people tell me what to do.
I don't do well by myself,
because I just get bored and get on my phone.
So, I like to go to classes,
and I don't know if you've ever heard of Mind Body,
but it's a really great place to like find classes.
They're not a sponsor, I literally,
I'm just obsessed with Mind Body right now.
I will find my spin classes there,
I will find my yoga classes there.
I'll find any kind of class I want to take.
And, when you book it,
it can actually sync with your calendar.
So now, your gym classes are automatically on your calendar,
and I don't know about you, that sounds stupid,
but I nerd out over it.
Like, I need that future in my life.
I'm already adding enough stuff to my calendar,
I love it when an app does it for me,
especially when I can go back and give myself a gold star.
When I'm like,
"Oh look there's my work out."
It's there, you know I did it, because it's there.
My third rule is to block time to get work done.
So, there's all kinds of appointments.
There's calls, there's meeting people for coffee,
there's going to the dentist, all that kind of thing.
You know, the gym, those are your appointments.
But then, there's actually appointments
for getting work done.
If I didn't actually block out that time on my calendar,
I would not get as much done.
It would be too easy to get wrapped up
in what everybody else wants me to do.
So, I treat every task that I need to work on
like getting my master class done,
or preparing a presentation, just as importantly
as any other appointment on my calendar.
I've talked about this before in a video,
I will let you check it out, but you'll see
that there will be these huge blocks of time on my calendar
just to get something done,
and if not for that appointment setting,
I would not be anywhere near as productive as I am today.
My fourth rule is to stick with my appointment times.
It's very easy to get on a phone call with somebody
and allow them to sort of run the call,
and even though you scheduled 30 minutes for it,
they end up taking an hour, because they just keep on going.
And, that's not really good for you,
because if that's not a part of the plan,
then maybe you scheduled a task to happen after that call,
which is why you were like,
"Eh, I could stay on longer, it's okay,"
and then, that task doesn't have a time slot
to get done now.
So, if you're not rigid with people
about how you spend your time,
you're not going to be rigid with yourself,
and I do believe that there is a scale of rigidity,
that you should be on,
in order to make sure that you are being productive.
Maybe you don't have to be as strict as I might be,
but if you just let anyone else decide
how much time you're going to spend with them,
then, clearly, that shows that you are not valuing time
the same way that other people are,
and that you're as readily available whenever you want.
The thing that I make sure people know,
is I am not readily available whenever they want.
People call me on a regular basis,
and I will know who it is, and I will not answer the phone,
because if I am doing something else,
and I take a call from them,
I'm taking 15 minutes to 30 minutes out of what I was doing
to take a call with them,
and they just decided they were going to call.
I'm a millennial, I do not answer the phone.
So, stick with your appointment times.
If you know you have time dedicated
towards something that seems to be getting into your space,
like, it has to get done right this second,
you know you've made time for it later, it gets done later.
And, if you only scheduled 30 minutes for that call,
call's done, and you're gonna love my next tip.
The fifth rule is to have a plan when it gets awkward
that you're sticking with your appointment time
and you really need to tell somebody that
"Our time is up."
This happens to me quite frequently,
so, maybe somebody watching this is gonna be like,
"Hmm, Amy has said that to me before, now I know why."
If I schedule time for someone,
there is a very set amount of time.
With coaching clients,
I tend to talk to them for 60 minutes,
but I always make sure they have 90 on my calendar,
because I never want to be cutting them off too soon,
but for maybe other people in the world,
or even those people who get to that 90 minute mark,
and they're like,
"Oh, well, I have something else to talk about,"
I have the perfect thing for you, you must say,
"Unfortunately, I need to jump, but,"
and then, fill in the blank
with some way of summarizing where we're at.
So, let's say you got on a call with someone,
things are going great, maybe you need to meet again.
"Unfortunately, I've gotta jump from this call,
"but, I'm gonna send you an email
"so we can find a time to meet next week."
There you go, that's a really great way to set the tone for,
"Hey, I gotta go." and, I'm sure you do, too.
My sixth rule for a productive week
is to block similar appointments together.
This is something I started doing with my clients,
as there's a few dedicated days
that I will spend on client calls.
And, instead of them being able to schedule
whenever they want throughout an entire month,
and having me maybe running in from a coffee appointment,
sitting down to coach with them,
and then I'm off to work on a presentation,
and then I'm off, on a plane, to go somewhere.
I have found that I'm a lot more productive
if I have similar appointments chunked together,
so that I'm always in coaching mode,
or I'm always in some other kind of mode,
when that other appointment is happening.
And, last, but not least, number seven.
Make time for those you love.
Call you mom, spend time with your family.
Sit on the couch for a half hour
and watch TV with your husband,
that's the kind of thing I actually have to make sure
I program to build into my life,
because, I know it sounds crazy,
like, it's not natural for me to shut off.
I will keep working on things, I will keep filming videos,
I will keep doing work, work, work, work, work,
because it's the thing I know I have to do in front of me.
But, sometimes, if you don't take time
for yourself to recharge, and let the people know
in your life that you're doing this for a reason.
You're doing this so you can have
a little more flexibility to be with them.
Then, why are we doing this at all?
It's very easy to get caught up on the hamster wheel,
so, take that time, even if you have to schedule it.
Mom, I probably have put on the calendar to call you.
Okay, what are your rules for a productive week?
I want to hear them in the comments below,
because, I love to add new ones.
So, I'll be looking for those, leave a comment.
For those of you who are new,
I appreciate you for being here.
For those of you have been around for a long time,
I appreciate you for being here.
Maybe you noticed, last Sunday,
after the video posted, we hit 100,000 subscribers,
so thank you, very, very, very much
for helping me reach that milestone, I appreciate it.
But, business as usual.
Doesn't matter how many of you are here,
you are stuck with me,
we are going to just keep making videos, and making it good.
That's all for today, socials,
thank you so much for tuning in.
I appreciate it, as always.
Make sure you subscribe for good vibes,
and remember to continue to go after the life that you want.
Not someone else, not someone's Instagram account,
yours, the life you want.
Cheers.
Perfect moment for Lucy
to start chasing a squirrel in her sleep. (laughs)