The Goal Achievement Podcast, hosted by Productivity Expert Matt East, is all about helping you find clarity, design a plan, and most importantly achieve your goals.

Matt shares four questions to help effectively reflect on your day and shares more of his new book, The Purposeful Planning Method: How to Plan Your Day, Beat Procrastination, and Regain Control of Your Time.

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Why The Purposeful Planning Method Works So Effectively

Podcast Transcription

Hey, guys, what's up? Welcome to the Goal Achievement podcast. 

I hope you're all doing really, really well. On today's episode, I'm going to share another chapter from my book, so most of you guys know you guys have done an incredible job supporting this book and buying the book, and I'm so thankful for that. 

But my book has come out, it's called The Purposeful Planning Method: How to Plan Your Day, Beat Procrastination and Regain Control of Your Time. 

So today I'm going to share the third chapter from the audiobook, so if you haven't listened to the previous episode, the previous podcast episode, go dig into that, stop this, go back and listen to the previous episode and then come back to this one. That way you can listen to the introduction and chapter one and chapter two of the audiobook and the previous episode or else this episode is not going to make any sense. 

So I'll share Chapter three in a moment, but I figured first we could talk a little bit about how this year is going so far, so only a couple full days left in February. How crazy is that? Insane time just flies and it's a good reminder for everyone this far into the year and I shared this with my coaching clients today. 

So much of high performance and being ultra-productive is about the fundamentals and half the battle is just taking the time to reflect and notice what's working and what's not working for you. And then, of course, figuring out how to amplify what... what you're doing well and stopping or tweaking what's not going well in this seems really basic and it is, but we all forget to reflect as often as we should. 

So just remember to take some time at some point during your day or towards the end of your day just to reflect on what's working well for you and what's not working. 

And I have four guiding questions to help you with this process. So let's dig through those real fast. 

Number one, what is working well for me and my career or business? And would it be beneficial to do more of this? 

It's question number one. 

Question number two, what is working well for me in my relationships? Would it be helpful to do more of this? 

Number three, what's not working well for me in my career or business, is there a way to stop this or would it be beneficial to adjust how I'm approaching something? 

And number four, what's not working well for me in my relationships? And is there a way to stop this or would it be helpful to adjust how I'm approaching something? 

So there's, those are four guiding questions to help you just kind of stop and reflect and just kind of evaluate what's going well and what's working for you and what's not going well, what's not working for you. 

Keep in mind, there are still think it's 308 days left in 2020 as I'm recording this, which is plenty of time to achieve what you're looking to do this year. But, you know, we have to take the right actions each day, which is why it's so important to reflect on am I taking those right actions, what's working, what's not working, and there's plenty of time to still lean in and make 2020 the year you want it to be. 

So I have 2 digital coaching spots open currently, and I know in the past a lot of podcast listeners have tried to sign up on coach.me and it wouldn't allow you to sign up because I was full essentially, so I stopped taking clients once I hit a certain threshold. But right now I am accepting new clients I have two spots open and those will get filled really quickly after this podcast goes out, so if you want one, jump on those. 

Digital coaching starts at 86 bucks a month and we interact every day, so it's all digital, it's all through an app, but essentially you and I will be texting about your performance and about your productivity, and if you want to try digital coaching with me for free for 7 days, you can do that it's 100 percent free, it's amazing, I would highly recommend you try it for free before you… before you just sign up. 

So there's a promo code for that, and that is MattEastWeek, so it's M a t t E a s t W e e k, and I know there are a ton of global listeners of this podcast, I have a ton of global clients, only about half of my clients are from the United States so don't be afraid to jump on there I have clients from everywhere, I mean, literally, like everywhere, so try it use the promo code if you want to try digital coaching. 

I think I think you'd love it if you like this podcast you're gonna love actually interacting with me one on one and I message you every single day so it's pretty amazing, it's... it's very helpful and as you guys all know, I use a coach myself I use Chris Powers for my writing and he's amazing and it's on the same platform and I love it. 

So that's it all right, let's dig into Chapter three of The Purposeful Planning Method remember, you can buy this book on Amazon it's available digitally or you can buy the physical book and it will be available on Audible any day now. So it's still not available as of like right now I just checked, it has not gone live yet, but it will soon, will very soon. 

So I hope you guys love this it's another chapter so that gets you a good chunk into the book, and I got a ton of really good feedback on the intro in Chapter one and Chapter two. So let me know what you think about this and if you would, please share this with a friend and share the previous episode with a friend if you think it could help them, and let me know if you guys have any questions, so here you go the third chapter of The Purposeful Planning Method, enjoy. 

Chapter three, why does this method work so effectively? 

"The greatest happiness is to transform one's feelings into action" Madame De Stael. 

The Purposeful Planning Method relies on two time tested and straightforward concepts to ensure you plan each day effectively

First, prioritizing what you want to focus on each day is critical to your success and. 

Two, embracing positive habits into your daily routine is the most effective way to ensure you achieve what you want. 

These two concepts are the backbone of everything we'll discuss in this book. Let's touch on why each is so important. 

Prioritizing is critical to our success because it helps ensure we intentionally focus on our most important projects, activities, and relationships throughout the day. Having clarity about our priorities is one way to ensure we're thoughtful and effective with our time. And, behavioral scientists suggest our habits consume 40 percent of our day. This means being intentional about our habits can help ensure we use our time as purposefully, meaningfully, and productively as possible. 

Of course, you didn't need to read this book to learn how prioritizing your time and creating good habits will help you be more productive. Although we know each of these is critical to our success, it can be a challenge to actually do them. And that's why this book is vital to your success. It provides a method to follow each morning to ensure you start each day with clear priorities and intentional habits. 

I mentioned earlier the intent of this book isn't to convince you how important it is to plan your day. After all, you already chose to read a book titled, The Purposeful Planning Method. This means you recognize planning is essential to your success. However, as you adopt this method, you may still interact with colleagues, friends, and family members who might try to minimize how necessary planning is. Be cautious about accepting advice from these people. If you encounter anyone who downplays the importance of planning, consider the level of success they have attained in their life before taking their advice. The truth is, planning and prioritizing is key for anyone who is looking to maximize their potential. I strongly encourage you to speak with as many successful people as you can to discover how they plan their time. Connecting with these high performers, these high achievers, will only reinforce how critical planning and prioritizing is to your success. 

Most people reading this book already understand how planning can help them be more productive at work. And it can definitely do that. But its benefits reach far beyond work. Remember, the purpose of using this method is not to do more stuff just for the sake of doing more. It's the opposite. The aim is to help you identify what's most important to you each day so you can plan how you want to use your time and your energy beyond work. 

Use this method to: Reach your peak level of health and fitness. Dedicate more time to your meditative and spiritual practice. Get out of debt and create financial abundance in your life. Spend more time and be more present with your family. Nurture valuable relationships and friendships. Relax and enjoy your leisure time more, and. Have a thriving marriage or relationship. 

Or use it for any activity you choose to focus on. There are zero limitations. This method uses a proven scheduling technique called time blocking. Time blocking allows you to proactively assign blocks of time to complete tasks throughout the day. 

The world's most successful people have practiced time blocking for centuries.

Ben Franklin, an entrepreneur, author, and signer of both the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution, used a block schedule to structure his day. Franklin shared his block schedule in his autobiography and said "Every part of my business should have its allotted time". 

You can view Franklin's block schedule and image number 1. Listeners can find this in the accompanying PDF within the Audible app, or you can easily find these examples online on my website at www.matt-east.com/book. You can see all of these images there. 

In addition to using the proven practice of time blocking, The Purposeful Planning Method leverages habit creation and routine development to perform at your peak. By embracing these techniques, you'll be using the same daily practices as the most successful people in the history of the world. 

Examples include: 

Richard Branson, the founder of Virgin and a self-made billionaire, provides a great example of time blocking. Branson blocks time on his calendar to ensure he exercises daily. He says, "I play a very hard game of singles tennis every morning at 6 a.m."

The media icon and philanthropist Oprah follows the same daily routine upon waking. "First thing in the morning, I brush my teeth and take the dogs out", she says. Then she completes "a series of spiritual exercises that I do every day. Then I meditate."

According to Walter Isaacson, author of the biography, Steve Jobs, he says "Steve had an evening routine where he would come home and sit at a nice long wooden table in the kitchen of his house in Palo Alto to eat dinner every night with his kids and his great wife."

In the book The Open Road: The Global Journey of the 14th Dalai Lama, the author shares, "By nine a.m. the Dalai Lama himself had already been up for more than five hours, awakening, as he always does, at three-thirty a.m., to spend his first four hours of the day meditating." 

Other successful people known for relying on their daily routines to create an extraordinary body of work include: 

Best-selling authors: Maya Angelou, Haruki Murakami, Kurt Vonnegut, Ernest Hemingway, E.B. White, and Stephen King. They're all known for their commitment to their routines. Stephen King famously writes every day of the year, without exception beginning work between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. 

Championship athletes: Usain Bolt, Messi, Michael Jordan, Novak Djokovic, Carli Lloyd, and Tom Brady all use or were known for using their game-day rituals and daily habits to perform at their peak. In his book, Brady shares the following, "To create stronger, faster connections in our brains, we need to practice a habit, skill, or behavior again and again. The more we practice that habit, skill or behavior, the more automatically our brains recognize it."

Beethoven, one of the greatest composers of all time, and Pablo Picasso, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, were both recognized for their commitment to process and routine to ensure their creativity. Picasso said, "Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There is no other route to success."

I particularly love this quote because there is a misconception that creative disciplines don't require structure and planning. However, in most cases, you'll find the world's greatest creators are reliant on habits and routines during their most prolific periods. Nelson Mandela, a beloved political leader and former president of South Africa, was well-known for his commitment to his daily workout throughout his life. 

In his autobiography, Nelson says, "I attended the gym for one and a half hours each evening from Monday through Thursday. We did an hour of exercise, some combination of roadwork, skipping rope, calisthenics, or shadow boxing, followed by 15 minutes of bodywork, some weightlifting, and then sparring.". 

These are just a few examples of extraordinary people who used routines and habits to achieve great things. The Purposeful Planning Method doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. It leverages the exact principles these leaders use to achieve incredible results. If there is a well-known person whose work you admire, I would really encourage you to learn more about their habits and their daily routine. A simple Google search will typically do the trick. 

I also asked clients for their feedback about why The Purposeful Planning Method works so effectively. And here are some of the feedback I receive from them:

"I love planning this way because it ensures I'm proactive instead of reactive with my time. It ensures I take action on what's most important to me." That's from Elise. 

"I've noticed by having a clear plan of attack for my day, I feel less overwhelmed. I have a plan for my day, but I also have a plan for when unexpected things pop up throughout the day. I feel in complete control of my time." That's for Mica. 

"Using this method has completely ended my tendency to procrastinate. Beginning my day with a plan and clarity about what I'm focusing on makes it much easier to take action throughout the day." Tobias. 

"This approach has allowed me to do activities around my energy pattern. This helps me align my peak energy with my daily riding and allows me to write more each day." That's from David. 

"Prioritizing leisure and time with my family has been a game-changer for me. I feel much more connected with my family, zero guilt when relaxing and I'm no longer burned out on my business." That's from Andrea. 

In the following chapters, you will learn exactly how to use The Purposeful Planning Method as you reflect on your schedule, I encourage you to approach it as a self-experiment. You will see positive results immediately after adopting this method, and you can use the 10-day challenge later in this book as a guide to get started. But I just want to say, enjoy the daily planning process, designing how you will spend your time each day should be a rewarding and pleasant experience. Embrace it and remove any pressure you've put on yourself. We're going to be striving for progress, not for perfection along the way, and particularly as we get started, as we begin. Remember, there is zero downside to planning your time more effectively. But the benefits are endless, so stick with this. It will positively impact every aspect of your life. And remember, anyone can successfully use this method. 

Chapter Recap. 

The Purposeful Planning Method relies on two time-tested and straightforward concepts to ensure you plan each day effectively:

First, prioritizing what you want to focus on each day is critical to your success and... 

Two, embracing positive habits into your daily routine is the most effective way to ensure you achieve what you want. 

Prioritizing is essential to our success because it ensures we intentionally focus on our most important projects, activities, and relationships throughout the day. Being intentional about our habits ensures we use our time as purposefully, meaningfully, and productively as possible. 

The Purposeful Planning Method leverages the same principles used by the most accomplished and successful people to ever live. 

Hey guys, it's Matt again, back on the podcast, and just want to say thanks so much for listening, hope you guys loved that. And if you haven't... grab a copy of that book, man, it's getting great feedback. It's sold way more copies than I ever expected and grab yourself a copy. 

And also, it would mean the world to me if you shared this episode with a friend, I'm trying to get The Purposeful Planning Method message out there, and if you could help do that, that would be amazing and would mean the world to me. 

So let me know if you guys need anything. 

Remember, there is coaching spots available as of when I go on this episode, so that could change quickly. So don't get mad at me if you try to sign up and you can't, but that's it, if you do try to sign up, feel free to email me in that way I'll know that you're trying to be coached and I'll let you know the next time a spot opens up. 

So that's it, guys. Hope you're all doing really, really well, and thanks a ton for listening. Make it a great week.