Episode 15 Final
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[00:00:00] Welcome to theExtraordinary Life Podcast from the creator of the Extraordinary Life Tribe, Crystal Obregon, the self-development podcast propelling you forward toward your goals. Using science backed high performance habits. Reach the next level in your physical and mental health. See new Heights in your relationships.
[00:00:18] Gain clarity on your purpose and live your extraordinary life. Welcome your host writer, speaker and coach Crystal Obregon. Hi there. This is Crystal from Crystal Obregon coaching with episode number 15 of the extraordinary life podcast. In the past few weeks, I've talked about the first three of the six high-performance habits, the results of the research and surveys of the most successful people in the world by Brendon Burchard and the high performance academy.
[00:00:56] I promise these are still for [00:01:00] you, even if your goal is not to be the head of a fortune 500 company. So the first three were personal habits and those were seeking clarity, generating energy and raising necessity. Be sure to go back to my past few podcasts for more on those. This week. I am talking about the first of the three social habits, which is increasing productivity.
[00:01:32] This is the favorite of my coaching clients, and I'm sure most people would prefer to start here. If you aren't working on the first three habits, all you really get is more efficient so that you can fit more into your calendar and be more busy. This is productivity from a different angle. Productivity from this direction [00:02:00] is based on being clear on who you want to be and the goals that are the most important to you.
[00:02:07] And these are your goals. Not anyone else's don't get into comparisonitis. I don't think it's a real word, but it's a word that I've seen used a lot lately, because if you're in my audience, listening to this, there is a great probability that you are old enough to have a really good idea of who you want to be and who you don't want to be and what you want to be doing with your time and what you don't want to be doing with your time.
[00:02:37] So this productivity is based on generating enough physical, mental, and emotional energy to go after your goals. And last but not least, this productivity is also based on raising the necessity to be that person that achieves those goals and [00:03:00] takes those steps. It's really about doing the things that matter and skipping the rest where you can.
[00:03:10] So if it's really that easy, then why aren't most people feeling like they are productive enough? And why are they feeling so overwhelmed? Let's often two reasons. First, we feel like we have too much to do. And don't know how to prioritize it. And we get distracted today. I'm going to focus on that part of feeling like you have too much to do.
[00:03:42] And the overwhelm that goes along with it, I'll leave distraction. And some of the other parts that come in for another day, First, we're going to go back to your goals. I know I go on about goals, but they're really the [00:04:00] first step to increasing productivity at anyone time. I usually have only one major goal that I'm working on.
[00:04:09] This is usually a shorter term goal that supports when of my 10, 10 year dream. Any more than this and it can feel too scattered. Sometimes I have minor goals that don't require quite as much of my time, but really just one major goal at a time. If you're in a place where you can please go ahead and push, pause on this video slash podcast and write down journal.
[00:04:44] The one major goal that you have right now that you're working on that supports some of your big dreams for the future. And like I said, if you have one or two minor goals, write those down too. [00:05:00] All right next. What are three projects you're working on right now that support that major goal and perhaps the minor ones, two only three, be really brutal with yourself.
[00:05:18] If you need to and decide, which are your three most important projects. In support of your goal or goals, and remember just use three and then once you completely finished one of those three, then you can add another one in, but try and limit it to only three. It's really important to get to the finish line of a project before you move on and celebrate next.
[00:05:50] If there are only five major moves. To finish that project. What would they be for each of your three projects [00:06:00] list out what the big five steps would be to accomplish that project? Once you've done that for each one of them, then what I want you to do is list out the tasks for each of those major moves.
[00:06:17] For each project and just get really detailed because we do like to cross tasks off of lists. And while I'm not a big fan of the huge to-do lists that just, you never get to the end of this is a really good place to write down the tasks under each one and be really specific because you will feel like you're gaining momentum with it.
[00:06:46] And then once you've done that for each of your three projects, then. Schedule the time in to work on those projects. And that's a big deal. If I were your coach. [00:07:00] And I asked to look at your calendar, I should be able to look in your calendar and see that you've actually prioritized the time to work on your major goals, that support your, a big future dreams.
[00:07:17] Next step decide each week at the beginning of the week, decide on at least three of those tasks that you will finish by Friday, the most important three things to finish by Friday. And then you get bonus points. If you have an accountability partner that you do this with, so you could text each other on Monday morning, what your three things that you really wanted to finish by Friday.
[00:07:46] And then on Friday, you check back in with those three things, an accountability partner or a group that's where a mastermind group can be really helpful so that you have that [00:08:00] accountability. This is why productivity is under one of the social habits. You wouldn't think so, but it really is. And I know I've talked about this in the last few weeks.
[00:08:12] All right. I am going to give you two examples. Now when this business work-related and then the other is more personal. So first of all, I've had three major projects. , the past. I don't know, six or seven months that support my goal of inspiring more women to work towards their goals and their dreams.
[00:08:38] And then also specifically to have them join my extraordinary life tribe group coaching program, because then I really get to work with them more personally, and they get to be in a super supportive community. I have to admit, I didn't take my advice at the very beginning and tried to [00:09:00] work on a little bit more.
[00:09:02] Eventually I did narrow it down and got really focused on the three projects that would support my goal for this. The first of the three projects is my website redo. I want to more accurately reflect what I do, how I help people, my programs that I offer along with putting my blog in a slightly different format.
[00:09:28] So that has been a big project. The second project. Is I decided to make my design, your decade workshop and mini program so that people could go through it on their own. They didn't have to worry about the time zone difference or putting it into their calendar when I had time to offer the workshop. So that was the second project.
[00:09:55] And then the third project, it's my podcast. So [00:10:00] you're listening to it now. So clearly I've achieved it. It was on my someday list and jumped onto a now project because the platform that I host my soon to be website on and my online programs have been hosted on. They offered a new feature of hosting podcasts as well.
[00:10:23] I'm doing the videos already and the blogs. It seemed like a bit of a no brainer to do the podcast also. And I'm a big podcast listener. I like listening to podcasts while I do the dishes or make dinner or when I'm driving, I don't have to do too much of that anymore. I thought it would be a great opportunity to reach people in a different way.
[00:10:44] If it didn't support my main goal for this year, when that opportunity crept up, then I would have said no and tabled it for later, but it did. So I put it onto my list for each of those three projects. I [00:11:00] listed my five major moves to accomplish them along with the specific tasks for each. And I did this for all three of my projects.
[00:11:08] I'll give you an example of what I had to do for the podcast since. Clearly my second project done. So for the podcast to happen, my major moves were one being clear on the theme for the podcast and deciding how often I would publish an episode. The second thing is to write the outline, the side, what I'm talking about each week and record the episode.
[00:11:36] I actually did start that part right away because it goes along with my blog and my video. The next thing was to get an intro and outro made. That's the introduction and the summary at the end, I could have done that myself, but I knew that I would save a lot of time by having a professional do it. And I [00:12:00] also knew it would be better cause they do the music and everything.
[00:12:04] The fourth was to get the cover. Art made the fifth was to put all those things together, the intro and the outro and the episode, which thankfully my husband is a recording engineer, which also made it super easy for me. Basically. I have him put it together and then publish the first episode. So that it could get accepted on iTunes, Spotify, and Google podcast.
[00:12:31] That's an example of my five major moves for that project. And like I said, I did that for all three projects for the website and podcast. I look through those tasks and I prioritize those that I thought would take the longest, especially if I had to rely on others to accomplish them. For example, scheduling a photo shoot so that I would have current photos for both my [00:13:00] website and the cover art for the podcast.
[00:13:03] It's a task that didn't require too much effort on my part, but it did take about two months total from scheduling on to do that. So I knew that was one of the first things that I needed to do for both projects. So you get the idea? It probably sounds like a lot just verbal. Saying it, but because I clarified my major moves for each of those goals and then scheduled the time to work on them each week, I did not become overwhelmed most of the time.
[00:13:38] And then also when I sit down in the morning to plan my day and I told you, I use a planner every day, then I know that either I'm serving my current coaching clients in some way, and that's really the most important priority for me or I'm working on one of the tasks that I've listed. [00:14:00] The five major moves.
[00:14:02] Of course, there are other things that I do during my Workday, but I know that the majority of my time will be spent on the tasks that moved me forward toward my goals and my dreams. And that time will be scheduled into my. If something else comes up, that isn't in support of one of my projects, then I have a really long look at whether it's really necessary for me to do it, or if someone else could do it just as easily or even if it's important for it to be done at all.
[00:14:39] And I know I wrote a little bit about that on overcoming overwhelm a month or two ago. So that's the business work example. I have another personal example. That's both part of the process of deciding whether to add something into my life and then how I'll manage it. If it's a [00:15:00] yes, and you don't always have to have three projects, sometimes you can really complete one after another and then reevaluate what you're doing next.
[00:15:11] Okay. So my sample of that decision process and how I will add it into my life, if it is a yes, I've been asked to help coach my son's mountain bike team. And it's been in the back of my mind for a little bit, but I wasn't sure if he was going to participate this year after a few injuries. And it looks like he is, the coach asked me again and I haven't completely made up my mind.
[00:15:39] But the first thing I'll do is I'll consider whether it fits or whether it supports any of my 10 dreams, my 10 dreams for 10 years. Spending time with my son definitely fits into one of my 10 dreams. Probably a couple of them, even though I won't officially be [00:16:00] riding with him, I'll be riding with some of the slower writers.
[00:16:04] And it also fits as far as supporting women or in this case, young women, by being a role model, the head coach is a woman that I rode with over 20 years ago. And I've shared that I've gotten into watching bike racing again lately. I just watched this weekend, the first women's Perry Ruby road race. And it's the first women's race after 125 years of having the race.
[00:16:34] So it's a really big deal. And it also supports my goal slash dream of being fit and healthy because I'll be more motivated to ride my bike and to be fit on my bike. If I feel like others are depending on me, if I decide that it is a yes, then here would be my five major moves first. And this is really another step on the way to yes.
[00:16:59] Is [00:17:00] asking about what the time commitment would be for being a coach. The second move would be to sign up for the coaching clinics that I would need to do to be certified as a coach for mountain biking. The third is to schedule the time into my calendar to ride right now so that I do have a reasonable amount of fitness when the season starts in a few months.
[00:17:27] And then the fourth would be to schedule the time for the team rides into my calendar. Once the season starts, that could work well with me too, because then I will definitely stop my Workday to go ride at the end of the day, which is a good thing. And then the fifth, this one I just threw in is maintaining my bike or having my husband maintain it for me so that I don't get stuck out in the middle.
[00:17:56] Of the woods. And then I have good equipment to use. That was a [00:18:00] little bit more of a fun example I had when I was going to use a running a 10 K, which could be something that you might want to do. My knees don't like to run anymore. So I'm biking, but this one is more of a personal example of a project.
[00:18:17] It is adding something into your life and it could be considered a goal. I hope you've enjoyed this way of looking at productivity. It's really just a start, spend a lot of time in my coaching, working on productivity and all the clarity that gets you, that. Give this process a try and let me know how it goes, or if you have any questions.
[00:18:46] And then at some point in this podcast, I will talk more about distractions and other topics and increasing productivity, because I know that it is a big one. Until next week. [00:19:00] Be extraordinary. Bye for now. Thank you for listening to the extraordinary life podcast with Writer and coach crystal Obregon.
[00:19:09] We'd love to connect with you outside of the podcast, too, to find more helpful insights, show notes and more about crystal. Go to CrystalObregon.com that's O B R E G O N, where you will also find info for the Design Your Decade workshop. This workshop will help you to stop drifting and start creating until next time.
[00:19:29] Be extraordinary.
