Make the Mark You're Here to Make

How to do it with less stress and more traction

My newest episode of my podcast was released on Saturday. I betcha didn’t even know I had a podcast. Well, it’s because it’s been on hiatus for 3 years. THREE. What happened? Well. I couldn’t manage my time efficiently and add the podcast on top of everything else I do to run my business AND be with my son when he’s with me and stay sane.

Fast forward and I’m a different person. I can do a weekly podcast, a weekly Substack, a weekly email to my email list, make art, market all of the things I do, create coaching offerings and programs, create sacred sabbaticals in Mallorca, get 5 new certifications in subconscious reprogramming modalities and go to 12 step meetings, do my 12 step work, take and do outreach calls for people in recovery, meet my Sponsor weekly, be present when Max is with me, post on social media, keep learning and growing around my health challenges, meditate, apply for grants, connect with potential art buyers, galleries, connect with friends, write my book, go grocery shopping and all the other things involved in keeping the house clean and all of that domestic bliss that comes with being an adult.

Ok, when I read all of that it makes me wanna take a nap. aka: it overwhelms me. And so that’s basically what happened. I actually don’t ever nap… that’s never been my thing. I love the light of day so much I want to soak it all up and watch how the light shifts and changes as the day rolls by. I’m obsessed.

Back to my story… I shifted in several ways that I want to share with you in case they could be helpful in helping you get out of your own way so you can make the mark you’re here to make….

BUT FIRST…

Here’s the podcast episode:

You can click on the photo above or click HERE to take a listen. Come back to read the insights and tips to further your journey toward massive efficiency, action, momentum, being on purpose, getting it done and doing it without falling apart.

Please note that there’s no wrong way to implement this list. It’s literally a comprehensive resource for you with all of the details on how to do each one of them for maximum results.… that said , put on your seatbelt Dorothy, because the messy overwhelm, stuckness and not knowing what to do next is going BYEBYE.

TOP TIPS FOR MASSIVE MOMENTUM

1. Stop trying to “figure it out” … and do this instead…

   1. Write a letter to your version of God about all the things you need help with. Then put it in a box ( a god box ) it can be a shoe box, a pretty jewelry box, or something in between the 2 that makes you happy because it’s pretty. THIS is a powerful action my friends and not to be taken lightly. THIS IS A SURRENDERING OF CONTROL AND AN ASKING FOR HELP. What that means is… You stop and ALLOW your version of God to actually help you instead of micro managing the shit out of everything and getting nowhere. You can take this action as a “dare” from me to you. I dare you to try this and see what happens. I dare you to drop the ego and so this “silly” woowoo activity and then start to watch how things show up unexpectedly. THIS REQUIRES TRUST. So anytime you find yourself in “figuring it out mode” take a breath, write down the pressure you’re feeling and what pressures you’d like removed and put it in the box. Remember that you did that. Go make some tea. Relax. Practice trusting that you’re not alone and that you’re safe to let go.

   2. Ask for help. This one might be more challenging then the Godbox. It requires picking up the 10,000 pound phone to reach out and connect with people that can help you. Write a list of friends, colleagues, mentors, family and see who might be able to take some of this load off your shoulders.

   3. If you’re finding that challenging then you can hire someone on Fiverr to pick up some of the admin “stuff” so you can focus on your zones of genius.

   4. Accountability Partner. Text them in the morning with the top actions you want to get done that day and they do the same. List without chatting. Just the list. 1. go to 12 step meeting. 2. Work on Website for 30 minutes. 3. Call Michelle about the coaching program I want to invite her to be a part of ( time chunk for 45 minutes ) 4. take a walk for 10 minutes 5. start writing the email for my email list ( time chunk for 30 minutes ). At the end of the day check in with the list of things accomplished and what didn’t get accomplished. Your action buddy can give 5 minute support calls if you want in the middle of the day. But time chunk that too.

   5. Bookending. Hav a difficult call to make? Text someone and tell them you’re needing to make a call that you don’t want to make and you’re going ot do it right now and then text them again once it’s done. Make that call. text them. It helps to have someone outside of yourself that gets it and can hold space without trying to “help” you. They don’t actually DO anything but know that you’re going to do it and they energetically support you in it. Do not get on the phone with your bookending buddy. That’s time debting and I’ll talk about that later.

   6. COWORKING. Set a time to jump on zoom with a friend or a group of friends and you all have things to get done so you check in but then you all put yourself on mute and work. It’s SO SO SO helpful to have other people around. I have one for writing my book. She’s writing hers so we meet on specific days on zoom and do time chunking to write the book. *I discuss time chunking below.

2. CLARITY. TIME. ORGANIZATION. FLEXIBILITY

   1. Write out all of the steps each project you do requires. You can write it in a word document and save it or in a google drive. This one step will help save you so much time down the road. You won’t have to think about each step or wonder what you did last time. You just follow the list and voila. Time saver. Clarity.

   2. Schedule it. A day for Making Art. A Day for writing the book. A Day for making the Podcast, A day for admin work. A day for handling household and health stuff. A Day for coaching sessions.

   3. TIME CHUNKING. This is a game changer. When you have a task you usually avoid schedule it for 10 minutes and set a timer. Do that thing for 10 minutes. If that feels like too much, just set it for 3-5 minutes. When the timer ends, you stop. Move on to the next thing. Time chunk that next thing. Taxes… Time chunk for 20 minutes. Next on the list, clean the living room Time chunk it for 20 minutes. Next up writing for my book. Go to a favorite cafe at a specific time and time chunk it for an hour. Need to take yourself on an artist’s date but it feels too hard to set aside time? TIME CHUNK IT. Even if you just give yourself 1 hour on Wednesdays for Artist dates with yourself to go to a favorite gallery, or book store, or to the beach to get inspiration for your project… If it stresses you out, TIME CHUNK IT. And remember to put any pressure you feel in the godbox and relax.

   4. TIME RECORD. Ok, let me tell you it’s EYE OPENING. Here’s the basic idea. You don’t have to BUY this it’s just a reference. You can use a spiral notebook and create the categories you see HERE. You can track yourself for just one day or for a week or every day all the time. Up to you. I recommend trying it for 1-3 days to get a rough overview of what you’re doing. Pay attention to every single thing you do and write down the time you start and finish. You might be stunned to see how much time you’re scrolling Instagram or watching tv. Texting friends. Compulsively shopping for new pair of boots that you all of a sudden need. Eating to avoid work. But even more interesting it to take it so that if you start a project but then you stop to respond to a text and then you go back to work… write that down. See how much you interrupt your own flow and waste time during your day.

   5. Turn the phone to do not disturb ALL DAY LONG. Turn the phone over. Or even better, put it on “do not disturb” and leave it plugged in in your bedroom far far away from you ( if you work at home ) or you TURN THE PHONE OFF when you’re working if you’re in an office or other work situation where you will need your phone, but you don’t “need” your phone. See if you can FOCUS. Also notice if you completely freak out without access to your phone. This happens to me. The addiction is REAL.

   6. BE FLEXIBLE. Rigidity sucks. If things in your day don’t go as planned… know that you’re going to have enough time to get it all done and LET GO OF PERFECTION. ( remember the God Box ).

   7. There’s no such thing as perfection. If you don’t get things done on the exact day you wanted to - notice why that happened - potentially change the overall schedule to accommodate and move on.

   8. CBB !!! THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE SAYINGS said by one of my favorite friends, Anne Samoilov who teaches people how to launch their products, coaching programs, ecourses etc out into the world with out fear. AKA Fearless Launching. Her motto is CBB “ Could Be Better “ DELIVER. This means. FUCK PERFECTIONISM ( see item g on the list ). Get the work done and out the door. I use this one as my daily motto for everything. Here’s an example. I don’t edit my podcast episodes. I don’t have transcripts up for my podcast episodes ( yet). I don’t have the latest podcast made with a slick video version to post on YouTube, so I’m going to post the Audio version this time. WHO CARES. I want the message to get out there to the person who needs it. I can figure out how to make the videos later. I want to set myself up for SUCCESS and right now having my fancy hair and make up and back drop and lighting all figured out every time I want to make a podcast episode trips me up. And just sitting down and talking into a mic is EASY for me. So I do what’s EASY. I set myself up for success. If people judge me for not being professional enough or high end enough or whatever … they aren’t my people. I jump in and learn as I go and become more and more masterful each time by DOING IT rather than THINKING about doing it PERFECTLY and then never launching. ( By the way - that’s partly why my podcast didn’t happen for 3 years )

   9. BATCHING. This goes back to Time Chunking, but even more efficient. Ready? On the day you allotted to work on your podcast, schedule it so you can record 4-5 of them that day. complete each one all the way to the end with all of the required tasks so it’s REALLY READY TO BE RELEASED. Each week on the same day BATCH 4 Episodes. If you interview people schedule them on that day and… Time batch the interviews. In one day you have a MONTH’S OF CONTENT. In 4 weeks you have 4 MONTHS of content. You can literally get the entire YEAR of the podcast recorded and ready to go inside THREE MONTHS. And of course there will be days that you can’t batch all 4 of them and it won’t even matter because you already have so many done. You have wiggle room. But if you stay on track with a Batching Schedule you’ll have a bunch of work up front which will give you FREEDOM for many months down the road to do other things. To prep for your podcast day what will you need to do? Will you need to know what your episodes will be that you’ll be recording? Do you need to figure out each topic and write out what you’re going to say or write up bullet points? Do you need to clear the space so it’s ready to record? Figure out what needs to get done before you show up for Podcast day and schedule out WHEN you’re doing those things some other specific time and day every week. You’ll be more focused when you show up to the microphone. You can do this with your emails as well. I tend to write mine right before they go out so they stay relevant to the specific things happening in my life or in my work that might be interesting for you. Still working on Batching…. but that leads me to PREP…
      
      PAID CONTENT FOR THE NEXT 9 STRATEGIES. PLUS AN ADDED GIFT. COME JOIN US!! SUBSCRIBE! SEE YOU THERE.