Small Changes Create Big Impact
The Goal Achievement Podcast, hosted by Matt East, is all about helping you find clarity, design a plan, and most importantly achieve your goals.
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Small Changes Create Big Impact
Podcast transcription
Hey guys, it's Matt. Hope you're all doing really well. On today's episode, we are going to talk about how making even a small tweak or adjustment or change in your life can have a massive impact for you.
It has been too long since I have recorded a new episode. I apologize. I've been focused on a few other projects and Rachel and I have been traveling, which has meant that the podcast was not prioritized for a while. We've been focusing on other stuff and, man, it's been a crazy year.
But I'm planning to record; it's Monday, and I am planning to record an episode Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday this week. So I'm home and I've got the bandwidth to record an episode each day. So that's the plan. The plan is all five days this week, which would be fun.
So, how are you guys? It's been forever. I get to chat with a lot of you guys ‘cause you email me, which is great. And a lot of you, a lot of my clients are listeners of the podcast, and my digital clients I communicate with every single day. So a lot of you guys I still touch base with every day. With that said, you know, Rachel and I were super bummed with the coronavirus situation, like most of the world. I mean, obviously it's been a crazy, crazy situation, but for us, we had a bunch of trips planned when we sat down to do our 2020 goals. So we sit down every year to create some goals and think about what want to focus on. And one of our big things this year was... you know, we've worked our butts off for years and 2020 was gonna kind of be the year of travel for us.
We had booked our first trip to Aruba; we had never been to Aruba, Rachel and I both like to dive and we were going to dive, and we were going to really take some serious time there. I was going to continue to work, she was going to continue to work a little bit, and we were going to take some serious chunk of time. I forget exactly how long the trip was booked for, but it was a good, long trip. And we had an Airbnb... And the Rona killed those plans.
So, obviously, can't be too disappointed, because our health is still good. And everybody in our family has been good. You know, some people have been affected by it, but nothing too tragic. So yeah, kind of killed our travel plans, just because we didn't want to get in and out of planes and hotels and then come back here. And we each have our parents, we didn't want to expose them, and we wouldn't have been able to really see them much if we were getting in and out of planes and all that. We just wanted to be really careful.
So we actually bought a camper, and we have just returned from a really big trip we did out to Wyoming. We got a kinda small... it's a 15-foot Geo Pro Pull behind trailer or RV, or I don't know what you'd call it, just a trailer. It's amazing. It's great. And, it's kind of off-road. We've got a pretty big Jeep Cherokee that we're able to pull it with and we're able to go off-road quite a bit. It's got these big old tires. It's not really like a typical trailer, so we're able to stay a lot in National force. We were able to go out to the sea, the Grand Tetons and Yellowstone National Park. And it was just amazing. If Yellowstone's on your bucket list and you haven't done it yet, I would encourage you to visit. It's like another planet with all the thermal features. You can just google Yellowstone and man, the images are amazing. So, that was very cool.
So, yeah, like I said, many of you have emailed since I last recorded. And I talk with so many of you who are clients, we communicate daily. So, you know, I feel a little disconnected from the audience, but with so many of you we've continued to stay in touch, which is good; but, man, it feels really good to record a new episode.
So let's dig right in. I want to kick this episode off with something that I found very interesting, and that I learned when we traveled to Africa for a vacation last year, around this time. And kind of based on what I want to share with you, I'm going to have a challenge for you.
My phone, and I don't know if your phone does this, but my phone... you know, I take a lot of pictures on it, and it will tell me like, “Hey, one year ago today, here are your pictures from today.” Or, “Hey, three months ago here are pictures,” or whatever. So if I'm taking a lot of pictures at a time, it kind of marks that. And then it notifies me. I randomly wake up and on my phone, it'll say like, “One year ago, here's what you were doing.”
So it did that. ‘Cause one year ago we were taking all kinds of pictures, because we were traveling in Africa, we were on a Safari, and it’s just amazing to go back and look at those pictures. You know, Rachel took a really nice camera and I did everything on my phone. My phone takes amazing pictures, and it's fun to go back and look at those pictures.
So I was doing that. I was just kind of scrolling through them and enjoying them and, you know, enjoying the memories and sipping on coffee or something. And taking in the experience again. And I saw a picture I had took of a giraffe eating off of an acacia tree, and it made me remember something that's really interesting about that relationship.
So there's something crazy about those trees. First, the acacia trees out there have huge thorns to protect their leaves from large... I guess it's herbivores, so animals don't come and eat all their leaves. But like I mentioned, the giraffe continues to, it can still eat from the tree despite the huge thorn.
So the thorns don't protect it from the giraffe because the giraffe has this massive tongue and mouth and it can just work its way in there. It's amazing.
And that's not scientific. That's just, I think that because I watched giraffes eat off that tree and that's kind of how they did it. So maybe there's another way. And if you're a scientist or whatever, you can let me know, but the trees actually have another way to combat against the giraffe. And it's crazy. So when the giraffe starts to eat the leaves from the acacia tree, the tree actually notices that it's being injured and eaten, and it emits a distressing null in the form of... I think it's gas, like ethylene gas; and that gas that it's emitting, you know, it's coming through its leaves.
The compounds in that gas are actually potent enough that it could kill a giraffe. So it lets off a poison once it knows that the giraffe is snacking on it. And what's crazy is not only does the tree that's being eaten release that gas so that it protects itself but it actually releases the gas and the other neighboring acacia trees in the area can detect that there's a stress signal. Through their leaves, they can tell that one of their buddy trees is having trouble and it's in distress. And it essentially is warning the other trees to fill up its leaves with toxins to protect themselves. So the trees are bizarrely communicating with each other and protecting one another.
So, first off, pause. How cool is that trees are communicating? It's like the coolest thing ever. I did do a little research on this just because our guide had told us this; he told us this and he explained, “This is what's going on.” And those guides are amazing. So our guide, George, told us this, and I thought it was like the coolest thing that these trees are actually communicating to one another. That kind of blows your mind. But what's even crazier is the giraffe has a way to still eat from the acacia tree.
So they've come up with the game plan to actually still feed from the tree. Giraffes are aware of the poison and realize, you know, some form of communication is happening between the trees, since the giraffe and the acacia essentially evolved together. They have figured out a way around this little issue, and that is that they are able to eat from these trees as long as it is from tree to tree into the wind.
The warning gas doesn't reach the trees around it if they're not up wind, right? So as the giraffes go tree to tree, they just go against the wind, they go into the wind and they're able to snack on a tree for a little bit, and then it starts to release its poison, and then they move on to the next one. But when they move on to the next one, they move the way that the wind is, into the wind, so that they're not, going downstream where the trees have already released their poisons. So they just make that small adjustment: into the wind versus with the wind. And they're able to feed for a little bit and move on to the next tree, which is just amazing.
If there's no wind, a giraffe will typically just walk a hundred yards or so, far enough that that ethylene gas isn't traveling in the air, before feeding on the next tree.
The giraffe has really thought through this and they go against the wind in order to still eat and survive and snack on the trees.
So that's an interesting story. Hopefully you find that interesting. Just reflecting on it, about the acacias and the small tweak that that giraffe makes to thrive and be able to eat versus getting poisoned got me thinking about how important and how critical the impact of just a very small tweak can be in our lives.
And one of the small tweaks that I work with people every day on, particularly my clients, and when I'm recording these episodes... I try to help people make a small tweak and take their life and their feelings of being unfocused and confused and overwhelmed to feeling focused and confident and in control of their goals and their priorities. And we do that with just a very simple, almost boring... When I talk through it, even my clients are somewhat disappointed when I tell them how we're going to start off the coaching, because as simple and as boring as it sounds to make a small change, like setting your priorities, that's how I typically try to help my clients.
Just a very small change, “Hey, in order to stay focused and to spend more time on the projects and activities and relationships that are most important and meaningful to you.” I encourage my clients, as we kick off coaching, to share their top three priorities with me each morning. And it's just that small change that can have such a massive impact if you've never prioritized your time. Or if maybe you did at one point, but you stopped doing it and you stopped writing down what you're going to do and then marking it off as you made progress and as you executed.
You know, so many people want to try and make a massive overhaul on their life. And maybe they do it for a little while, but they think they should have like 30 priorities a day or 50 or something like that. And three seems a little underwhelming.
But just like eating into the wind versus downwind is a very small tweak, determining what you actually want to do and what is your top three things can have such a massive impact and it's so, so doable. And once you start to see some success and you've found that clarity with your top three, it can really start to create some confidence and some momentum for you, which is great.
I probably get at least one question a day from people who've read my book, or from podcast listeners, or from clients about how I determined my priorities and about how someone should determine them. There's a lot of clients who share their top three and want to ask me, “Hey, am I doing this right?” So I get questions all the time about priorities, how to prioritize and all that good stuff.
I'm going to take this week—and I've done this in the past, but I just haven't done it for a long time—this week I'm just going to record all five days, Monday through Friday. I'm going to share my top three each day here on the podcast, just to give you guys a feel for what a top three looks like and sounds like, and kind of how I think through it. I would definitely challenge you to set your top three. So for this week, set your top three, write them down. And then, most importantly, execute on them.
As I'm sure you're aware, priorities are simply areas of your life that are important and meaningful to you. So, you know, if you're unsure what a priority is, that's it, it's just something that is important and meaningful to you. Priorities are typically projects you're focusing on at work or home or activities you want to do, or even relationships that you want to nurture.
11 guiding questions in my book to help you determine your priorities.
And I'm going to share those right now; but these questions are intended to just help you generate ideas. There's no need to answer each one of these every morning. They're just designed to help get some blood flow into your head to help you come up with your top three.
And after you've done this, after you've been prioritizing for like a week and referencing these questions, you really don't have to reference these every day. These are just kind of to help you get going if you've never prioritized your time, but, like, I don't reference these questions every single day.
The questions are, number one: If I could only achieve one thing today, what would that be? So that's a great place to start. If I could only achieve one thing today, what would that be?
Number two: What's the second most important thing I need to accomplish? So that's a good one. What's the second most important thing I need to accomplish.
The third question is: What's the third most important thing? That gets you through three things that are just important.
Number four: What else needs to be done?
Number five: What could I complete today that would make me happy when reflecting on my day? So, what could you do today that at the end of the day, when you reflect on your day, it would make you happy.
Number six: What can I do that will move me closer to achieving my goal? So is there something that you need to do? That's maybe not something that has to be done immediately, like an urgent item, but it's important. It's something that would move you just a little closer to your goals.
Number seven: Are there projects or tasks that others own, but I should follow up on? So is there something you should just follow up on today and see how it's going?
Number eight: What key relationships in my life need my energy today? Is there a person you should prioritize? Is there a relationship that you need to prioritize? Maybe someone at work or somebody within your family?
Number nine: What can I do to remove stress from my life? Sometimes, you know, something can just be stressful ‘cause you think about it. You gotta knock it out and sometimes; something may just be kind of hanging over you and you need to knock that thing out in order to remove some stress. So what can I do to remove stress from my life today?
Number ten: What tasks can I delegate to someone else? Is there something that needs to be done, but you don't need to do it? Somebody from your team or someone else, somebody in your family can help you do it.
Number eleven: Is there a task I'm avoiding that I should complete today? So, if there's something you think about all the time, but you don't move forward on it. Is there a task I'm avoiding that I should complete today?
Those are the questions I like to use to help my clients start to establish their top three. It usually just helps them, like I said, kind of get them thinking outside the box a little bit. And those questions are in my book, The purposeful planning method. That book is available on Audible and Amazon, and just about anywhere books are sold, but it's also a hundred percent free. The digital version is a hundred percent free on my website and the audio version is on my website too, for free. You can just go to matt-east.com to grab that if you're interested. It's free. It's full of stuff like that. It's super practical, it's short, and if you're trying to become more productive, that is the book for you.
So, my top three today... I want to do my top three. I'm gonna share my top three every day this week. So, number one, I'm going to spend two and a half hours... I'm going to block that on my schedule for creating a presentation that I'm giving on Wednesday to a group of startup founders; it's for a local, Techstars chapter. And the presentation is about how to conduct discovery calls and create a sales process. And I'm just going to spend two and a half hours today building that out and kind of getting started on it. I have a good idea where I want to take it, but I haven't sat down and got into the PowerPoint yet. So I'm going to spend almost three hours doing that. I'll block 2.5 hours on my calendar for that.
My second priority is to create and publish this podcast. So that's what doing now. I've blocked time for this.
And number three is to communicate with each of my productivity coaching clients. Reach out to them or respond. Many of them have already sent me a message this morning and I need to respond to each of them.
So that's my top three. And if you've read my book—and I know a lot of you guys have—if you've read my book, you understand that the top three is part of my fluid layer. And that's getting a little complicated if you haven't read the book. But my top three is part of my fluid layer, and there's another layer. We call it the habit layer, which is essentially your morning and your evening habits and routine. So this morning, prior to me doing my top three, and prior to me recording this, I ran and I did a little yoga and did some stretching for about an hour. And that exercise routine is just a part of my morning habit layer. That’s why I don't list that in my top three. That's something that I do more habitually and less like as a one-off for the day where it's like spending 2.5 hours creating a presentation. I virtually never do that. I had to prioritize that or it will never get done. So, just kind of wanted to mention that. I don't didn't list running an exercise on my top three, but I already did it today.
Go and check out my book if you want to learn more about the two layers, the fluid layer and the habit layer, and how they work together. Like I said, that book is free. Just go get it on my website, or if you've already joined my email list, you should be able to just access it no problem if you just go back and reference the emails that I've sent you.
Or you can just google “productivity coaching” and I should be the first; if you're in America, at least, I should be the first option that pops right up.
That's my top three for today. I challenge you to get your top three together and execute, take action on it. And I know so many of you... It's so funny. So many people kind of roll their eyes at the top three. They're like, you know, they think they have like 25 things to do and they can't just imagine knocking it down to three, but then half the time... Those people, they're like frustrated they're only gonna get to do three, and I'm like, “Yeah, let's just do three. Let's just get started with three,” because we're trying to really build momentum, that’s what we're trying to do here. And we're trying to knock out the things that we say we're going to do, which builds a little confidence.
And so often people will give me their top three and then they want to do like 20 things, but then they end up just doing like one of the three. It's harder than you think, stuff takes longer than you think. Today, recording this podcast, I had all kinds of trouble with a garage band and that's what I use to record. And, uh, my microphone wasn't synching or something. This thing should have taken 35 minutes to do, and it's taken an hour and a half. So stuff takes longer than you think, be aware of that.
But, yeah, you know, we've talked so much on this podcast about how fundamental principles drive high performance and productivity, much more than we think. And this type of very simple planning and thinking through what you actually want to do is a great example of that, super simple. But it does work, and it does drive high performance and it will help drive your productivity. So, give it a shot. If you've never tried to prioritize your top three, let's do it!
Let's approach every day of this week with clarity and with focus, and then let's execute and take action on those top three at the highest level possible.
So that's it, guys. Thanks so much for listening. I'm going to record tomorrow, and if you have any specific questions, hit me up, you can email me at matt@matt-east.com. If you email me I’ll respond, so hit me up. I'd love to hear from you guys. Let's make it a great week. Get clear on your top three and let's execute!
