It doesn’t matter how much you may love your job, there is always one aspect of your role that just isn’t enjoyable. Maybe it’s answering emails, sitting in on conference calls, or balancing the books. Perhaps it isn’t a work task that you dread, but something in your personal life like working out or managing the finances. Whatever your least favorite tasks are, here are five ways to make them just a little more enjoyable. [Read more…] about 5 Ways to Make Your Most Dreaded Tasks Fun
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052: Get More Done: Time Management Tips You Need Today with David and Shane
This podcast originally aired in May 2017
SUMMARY:
Welcome back to another episode of the Launch Youniversity Podcast!
Today, Shane and David are talking about the techniques they use to manage their day, take care of their to-do lists and achieve their goals. If you’ve ever thought about all the things you want to accomplish and thought “How will I ever get this done?” then this episode is for you.
LINKS AND RESOURCES:
- The Five Steps of the Launch Sequence
- Like Launch Youniversity on Facebook
- Tommy Newberry’s 1% Club
- Send us an email to let us know what you’d like to hear on the podcast!
THREE KEY TAKEAWAYS:
1. Calendar plan once per week.
Sundays are known as meal prep days for a lot of people, but what about calendar planning? Often, we look at our big picture goals, but we don’t do the work to break them down into realistic small goals. The way David combats this is with a weekly calendar planning ritual.
First, he looks at his goals for the quarter. Then. he breaks them down by week. Then, each Sunday, he sees what he needs to accomplish over the week and breaks it down into days. He puts those tasks on his calendar and blocks out the time to do it.
2. Do what only you can do.
Shane calls this “finding your genius.” It’s the place where passion and skill collide. For Shane, he wants to be the one in his family who takes care of the finances, but over time he’s found that he doesn’t really like doing it and that his wife is better at it. Instead, Shane’s gifting is goal-setting and encouragement, so that’s what he puts his focus on. When you’re operating in your genius and doing what only you can do, you’ll not only find personal fulfillment but it’s where you’ll make the biggest contributions to those around you.
3. Get rid of low payback activities.
Evaluate the activities in your life that offer little payback on getting you closer to the things you want to accomplish and either eliminate them or put boundaries on them. Social media is a prime example of how easy it is to get carried away in a low payback activity. There’s a bunch of apps you can download that help you track your social media time and put parameters on it. Or, you can choose 1 or 2 times a day where you give yourself a specific amount of time to check updates.
047: Make Your Idea Happen: Lessons and Best Practices From the Team
SUMMARY:
Having the right ideas is the fun (and easy!) part. Putting those into action is where the hard work starts. David, Jeff and Kevin are on the podcast today talking about the lessons and best practices that have helped them move their ideas and dreams into plans, and those plans into action.
Welcome to episode 47 of the podcast.
THREE KEY TAKEAWAYS:
1. You calendar can be more than your list of obligations. Let it be your plan.
Have you ever gotten to the end of the day and thought “I don’t even know what I did today?” Not because you weren’t busy, but because you didn’t have a plan. And because you didn’t have a plan, you went from obligation to obligation without being able to check anything meaningful off of your to-do list.
To solve this problem, every four weeks David does a deep-dive into his calendar. Yes, he blocks out things like vacation time and meetings, but what about the things that often get pushed aside when you get busy? Like working out, cooking dinner, or even spending time with your kids or spouse. When you make a plan for how you’re going to spend your time and schedule it, you have instant accountability to know what you need to be doing and when. It helps you prioritize the things you care about, see any gaps of free time and feel like you’re actually accomplishing what you want to.
2. Still no time? Determine where you’re overcommitting.
Make it mathematical. If you’re trying to base it on projects or causes you care about, you’ll always be overcommitted. Figure out how many hours you want to ideally be spending with family, on work, and in recreation. Then, based on those numbers, figure out how many extra hours of free time you have. If you find that you have 8 hours of free time per month, but are involved in your local chamber of commerce that eats up 25 hours a month… something has to give. Lay everything out on the table, make it mathematical, and then cut back.
3. Strategic Relationships
When we’re busy taking care of action steps, we can forget about the people. Who are the strategic people you need to focus on when you’re planning out our week or month? Spouse, child, co-worker, peer networking? Don’t forget about the people.
LINKS AND RESOURCES:
Making Ideas Happen: Overcoming the Obstacles Between Vision and Reality by Scott Belsky