Remaining Productive During Uncertain Times

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.

Learn more at www.Matt-East.com

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Remaining Productive During Uncertain Times

Podcast Transcription

Welcome to the Goal Achievement podcast, my name is Matt East, I'm your host, and thank you so much for joining me, I hope you're all doing really well, I hope your families are all healthy and everybody's doing OK out there, let's get right into the episode. 

So first thing I wanted to apologize because I hadn't posted many episodes recently because I had uploaded my book and I saw that they were being downloaded and listened to, but I just went in and listen to one myself and it sounded terrible. You know, those were recorded outside of, I guess, the program that I import my podcasts into to distribute it, and when I put those podcasts into GarageBand, they just sounded terrible and I didn't know it. 

So one, I'm mad at you guys for somebody not letting me know, like Matt, they sound horrendous and we can't listen to them... Rerecord them. So, one, you should have reached out and let me know because I've seen that, I mean, thousands of people listen to those recordings and they were terrible, so I'm going to repost them, the actual recordings for the book are great, they sound really, really good, and the feedback has all been really good on them. 

You can find the actual files without there being like any weirdness or echo or like corrupted data or whatever happened there. 

You can find those on my website at Matt-East.com/VIP. 

And you can listen to each chapter there, they... they sound good, and I'm so sorry about that I feel terrible that you guys listen to those, they were horrendous. I'm guessing most of you were like, this sounds terrible and his podcast sounds pretty decent, so what's going on here? But yeah... 

So, you know, I that file is, you know, going to be on audible and all that, so it has to be really good, solid recording, so it actually sounds pretty good on the file that I didn't share through the podcast, so sorry about that, I have removed those podcasts, the last four podcasts where the book was shared because I mean, it sounds so bad, I don't know why anyone would want to listen to that. 

So I will repost them and you'll be all set but in the meantime, just go listen to them at my website that's the best spot, I'm not going to post them like today or tomorrow because I don't want to cover up this new episode because people are going to think it's still just the previous four bad sounding episodes when they pull up their feed, their podcast feed. So I want to show that, hey, there's this new episode, so I'll get those up but yeah, I'm so sorry about that, they sounded terrible, I can't believe you guys listen to them. I, I don't know you should've emailed me or let me know, totally my fault, but I felt terrible. 

So anyway, moving on, second thing you may have noticed, there is a new cover to this website or to this podcast, so I changed it up a little bit for just some branding reasons, and I hope you like it, nothing major, I am going to start recording a little more frequently and I'm just going to keep it super casual, like super, super casual. My podcasts have always been very casual with almost zero, almost zero editing, but I'm just going to continue to make it like really casual, so that's the plan, if they're casual, I'll record, way more episodes, because I'm not worried about it being overly amazing or whatever. So that's it, that's it for my updates. 

But how are you doing? Are you guys hanging in there or are you staying productive? Are you remaining focused? 

I just noticed today I was sending a note out to many of my clients, letting them know that it's the 20 I think it's the 21st. week of the year right now, so, you know, 21 weeks in, are you still focusing on your goals and what you wanted to achieve with your year? 

Obviously, you may have had to make some tweaks and adjustments based off covid-19, but don't let it just end your goals and your dreams and your aspirations for the year, make some... make some adjustments, pivot a little bit and let's stay productive. 

I have been sharing 9 tips for remaining productive on my website. 

There's a guide and it's I shared a little bit of it on a podcast, I think four or five of them a month or two ago. But I wanted to share all 9 tips today and kind of chat through each one. 

So the first tip to remaining productive right now as we're, you know, all either cooped up or just now starting to have a little more flexibility and, you know, if you're one of those people that's trying to remain productive and stay focused and you're kind of cooped up in your house, you're not somebody that's been out and about. 

And, man, thank you so much to the people that have been still working and serving in the front line delivery people, the nurses, the doctors. I mean, how amazing is the work that those people are doing, the mailman, anybody, anybody that's continued to work through this, you are so amazing that is just, that is just incredible, so thank you so much. That's... I don't know what else to say, it's just awesome, you are awesome if you've been working through this in and out and about. 

I've been really what do you call it, quarantined up, so Rachel and I have just been on lockdown pretty much, and I shouldn't say pretty much. We've been, you know, just staying at home and getting outside for some walks and stuff, we have a little cabin, too, that we've been able to get down to, which is nice for a few days. 

But yeah, let's talk through nine tips for remaining productive right now and these are so important to me and they are so, so important. 

The first one is: Are you influencing your mindset by controlling what you do first thing in the morning? 

So immediately upon waking, are you kind of joining the chaos and the drama? And we're proactively taking steps to get centered and to begin your day with intention and, you know, getting into the rhythm of your day and setting the tone for your day proactively. So I just encourage you to, you know, try to be very mindful of how you are approaching those first few minutes of your day and what you're consuming you know, I would challenge you to do a little meditation or focus breathing or yoga or even exercise. I've been trying to get up and... and go for a quick run first thing in the morning, and it's been amazing, so definitely encourage you to influence your mindset any way that you can by controlling what you do first thing in the morning. 

The next step is to: Set the emotional tone for your family, friends, and colleagues and to just reflect on the energy that you're projecting to those people. 

You know, the energy you're projecting right now to the world is impacting those around you and that energy that you're projecting is something that you can control. So I just want to encourage you to think through that, think through the energy that you're projecting to others and, you know, that is either going to reassure people or it's going to escalate the situation. So just be really intentional or I would encourage you to be really intentional to set the emotional tone for those around you right now. 

The third item is to: Determine what you want to spend your time and energy towards each day. 

So this is sort of my bread and butter for I know a lot of the people I coach listen to this podcast and this is what we do is kind of in the coaching relationship, as I have my clients share with me how they are going to spend their time and their energy each day. So we basically work through setting their priorities and then there's some accountability on the backend because I follow up with them and see how they did. 

You know, performing at your peak requires clarity about what you are spending your time, focus, and energy on each day and I think that during a time like this, it's more important than ever to begin each day with clear priorities and I know a lot of you know, here in the United States, a lot of states are even here in Indiana are you know, people are getting out and about again. But, you know, it's still going to be a little crazy for a while so all of these things still... still apply. 

And I would say determining what you want to spend your time on every day, that should be done when things are, you know, going awesome. This is a trait of, you know, the world's most successful people have clear priorities about what they want to do with their time each day so, you know, priorities include projects you're focusing on at work or home or activities that you want to do or relationships that you want to nurture. 

And I just challenge you to begin each day with clarity by identifying those top priorities, you start with three just identified three top priorities for your day and trying to block some time to complete each one of those. 

All right, the fourth tip is: Limit or end consumption of news or social media. 

So, you know, it's one thing to stay informed, but it's another to allow news and social media to just consume significant amounts of your attention and your energy each day so, you know, whatever you're consuming, you're also thinking about whatever you're thinking about is affecting you. So really being intentional about limiting your news and social media consumption can go a long way, I'm trying to spend, I mean, virtually no time on news and under five minutes a day on social media, and if anything changes news-wise, you know, a loved one will call or text me and I'll know about it nearly at the same time as everyone else. 

So I would just challenge you, you know, to limit your news and your social consumption to under a few minutes a day or under five minutes a day or just, you know, be intentional about it, you know, I guess you're sure you can do whatever you want. I think that it's... it's very important and just to be, you know, very aware of all of that consumption is something that's, I don't know, very positive, so just be aware of it. 

Number five is: Consume positive content that leads to growth. 

I don't have to worry about you guys with this, if you're listening to this podcast, you obviously like positivity and like learning and like trying to improve yourself, so I commend you for that and that's incredible. But, yeah, not only is it important to limit or end your news and social media consumption, that's not helping you out, but it's crucial to actually consume positive content right now. 

So I would challenge you to, you know, consume more positive content through books by reading or listening or podcast or, you know, even learning a new skill or something like that through a course or something that's going to grow your knowledge and your skills and your ability. So definitely challenge you to consume positive content right now. 

The sixth tip is to: Try to use this time to create, write or learn something new. 

So you guys know, with these less, less face-to-face commitments due to the social distancing means, you know, our calendars have really freed up, at least mine has. So are there ways that you can leverage that time to make substantial progress towards personal or professional goal? 

You know, I have a ton of clients who have mentioned to me that they want to build a sustainable, like online business or create a secondary income stream online, and man it's a perfect time for that I mean, absolutely perfect, it's an ideal time to take action on something like that. 

So you can use this, use this time where your social distancing to create something that would have positive impact on you and your family for a long time, I've been working a ton the last few months on improving my SEO and starting to create some content for an online course. And those things, you know, those are things that I'm going to benefit from for a long, long time. 

So I would just challenge you to do the same build, create, write or learn something new right now and it'll pay off for a long time. 

Number seven is: Compartmentalize your thoughts and own your responsibilities. 

Man, this is a huge one, so we're all in unchartered territory right now but that's not permission to neglect your responsibilities there's zero benefit to adding fuel to an already tense situation rather than focusing on your daily responsibilities, you know. Personally, I need to spend my time creating, thinking, and building positive things, not obsessing about a pandemic that I have little control over, so there is just no upside to getting distracted and not executing on what needs to be done right now for your family and colleagues. 

So really challenge you to execute on your responsibilities at the highest level and, you know, that includes taking exceptional care of yourself and your family right now, so I would challenge you to do that. 

Number eight is: Move and exercise every day. 

So are you exercising? We all know exercise triggers a surge of healthy chemicals in our brain, those are endorphins, so and they make you feel great, so extra blood flow can really help your brain function at a higher level and that can lead you to feeling more focused you know, you get that runner's high. 

So I would just encourage you to exercise, and if you're unable to go outside, you know, doesn't mean you can't do a YouTube video inside or something with just a little movement. I've done a lot of those YouTube type videos recently, and they always look so easy and they're like impossible, so major props to those people that do those, all right. 

Number eight* (nine) is: Communicate with your parents and loved ones. 

So this is just a no-brainer, call your... call your loved ones and, you know, there's it's important to nurture these relationships. And I would just challenge you to call your loved ones and stay in touch with them. So... So, guys, I hope you're doing those things. 

And we have some listener questions next that I want to get to before we dive into the listener questions, I do want to say I have had a lot of listener questions like very covid related over the last few months, and I have been answering those just in one or one emails to try to connect one on one with the person and I've thought about it, and at the time, I thought I was doing a really nice thing, but, you know, I should have probably been answering them also on the podcast so other people could hear them if they wanted. 

So I'm going to try to focus on answering all listener questions, when people ask me something unless it's super personal, I'm going to and I'll never share any names on here so don't worry about that. But if you ask me a question, I'm going to try to answer it on the podcast always so, yeah, I'm going to really try to be focused on recording some of these episodes in the next few weeks. And yeah, I'll be answering questions on here versus the email it's so easy just to, like, respond via email to answer somebody's question real quick, but I need to record the podcast and share with everyone. 

So here we go, let's dig in. 

The first question is, and this is a long question, Matt, thank you for your book, I'm a solo producer and it's helped me a ton, here's my question. 

I love oh I love tech but whenever I don't understand how something works and it starts sucking up my time and blocking my creative flow, it makes me angry, I also find it humiliating not to be able to figure out what seems to be super simple for many people, this is one of the very few situations where I can lose my calm and positivity, I try to outsource and ask for help as much as, as much and early as it happens as possible, but part of me thinks I have to get it done on my own, hence the struggle and the down moments. 

OK, so this person is a solopreneur and they are struggling with when they are working on something that's like technology-related and it starts sucking up their time and it's taking a lot longer than they think they should and they get frustrated, seems pretty normal. OK, yeah, let's chat through this a little bit. 

So I've tried to do all the tech stuff for the most part on my own for my business, although I'm getting much better outsourcing to like on places like Upwork, but for a long time I did 100 percent of my tech stuff and I've definitely felt frustrated and overwhelmed at times, and here are a few ideas that would maybe help you or just encourage you. 

So here we go, let's say I got five things. 

So number one is: If I'm doing something technical for the first time and this is crazy, so if I'm doing something technical for the first time, I've started to block at least like five times the amount of time that I anticipate that I'll take in my head, does that make sense? 

So, like, if I think something's going to take ten minutes, I block like 15 minutes to an hour for doing it. If it's tech, like technical, and I've never done it before, if I don't know how long it's going to take, because it always... technical stuff, just like if you're doing it for the first time man it just takes longer for me, maybe not for everybody, but I've noticed for me it just takes I mean, it doesn't take like five more minutes, it takes significantly more time. 

So, you know, I've noticed that, I've recognized that over the years and I now just try to block plenty of time and it relieves a lot of pressure and I... You know, that seems to really like dial down my frustration. 

Sorry if you guys can hear that, my I have a neighbor that is mowing or blowing leaves or blowing something, so sorry about that, if you can hear that, but yeah. 

So that's what I would say is one thing is block plenty of time because that relieves so much pressure and, you know, my book talks a lot about the planning fallacy, which if you've read the book, which this person has, you're aware of. But people, in general, are just very optimistic about what they can get done in a day. And being aware of that means that you can, you know, properly try to schedule yourself and have a realistic approach to your priorities. 

So number one, I would say, block massive time for technical stuff if you're struggling with this. 

Number two, when I run into this issue: I try to reassure myself with positive self-talk that the issue was as expected and is OK. 

So I might say, of course, I have to overcome some hiccups you know, along the way, I've never done this type of technical skill before, this is my first time and it would be foolish to think anybody could do this without any issues. So, you know, and then you Google what you're trying to fix and you try to learn it so, you know, I know this, that's ... it sounds like, of course, you do that, but, you know, it can be tough in the moment. 

So prior to starting, you know, a technical skill, but you've never done before trying to think through that to try to think through this, hey, I've never done this before, there's going to be some hiccups. If somebody else has ever done this before, then I'm going to be able to do it, it just may take me a little longer and...and would definitely just approach it that way of being kind to yourself. 

The third recommendation is: If it's a real struggle, you know, just sometimes I will just remove all time restraints. 

You know, realizing most of my deadlines are self-imposed anyway and 100 percent, I'll judge my effort on actually taking action and the process of doing what I'm trying to do versus the result of creating. So I just remind myself, if anyone in the world has ever been able to do this, I'm going to be able to eventually do it and it may take longer than expected, but I'm going to try and enjoy the process along the way and I just reassure myself that I'll be able to... to try to do it, so that's a good strategy. 

The fourth suggestion is: I rely on friends and coaches and courses and like I said, on Upwork consultants. 

And, you know, I... I'm not hesitant at all to hire somebody at this point if I feel like they can do something faster than me and if it's, you know, if it's something that I would really benefit from learning because it's something I'm going to do over and over and over or in my business, it's going to be done over and over and over and I want to know how to do it so I can either train somebody to do it for cheap or and I understand it or I just want to know the skill or whatever I mean, I will just take the time to try to learn it versus hiring it out. 

Whereas, you know, for like my book cover, I hired somebody to do that for all the formatting and signed my book, I hired somebody to do that for all the engineering of my book audio, I hired somebody to do all that because I wanted an expert, but yeah. So don't be afraid to rely on somebody with that may be able to walk you through that, walk you through your technical problem. 

And the last thing last suggestion is. Oh, this is a good one:

I try to embrace that it's hard and that I understand that most people will stop doing it because it's difficult. 

So if I can remain persistent and see through it, you know, from a competition standpoint, from a business standpoint, when I'm working, usually dealing with, like technical challenges, I just realize that it's a competitive advantage if I can figure it out or pay somebody to figure it out. 

And those are the five things, so I hope some of the... one of those ideas helps you and yeah, just try to be patient, give yourself plenty of time, don't be afraid to hire some help or have somebody walk you through it and remove time constraints if that's something that you're really fighting with, embrace that, it's difficult and those are all things that I would do. 

Let's see here we have one or two more questions, we have two more questions, oK. Matt hope you and Rachel are well, for you don't know Rachel's my wife. 

How can I better prepare my mindset right now at the beginning of my week for my week ahead? 

Yeah, that's a great question and, you know, I always... I suggest my clients to reflect on a few questions and I change up the questions, you know, frequently because I'll send out like a group Sunday message with some questions, but I recently sent out these questions to give you an idea of what I would suggest thinking through beginning your week to prepare your mindset and to get in the right frame of mind to have a productive and strong week. 

So the first question is: How can I be a leader for those around me? That's a good question. How can I be a leader for those around me this week? Just kind of think through that. 

The next question is: What kind of mood and tone do I want to set for myself this week? 

The third thing is: What can I do to progress towards my goals, my annual goals and my quarterly targets? And what actions do I need to take to work closer to those? So how can you do that? 

The fourth thing is: I like to think about, you know, one of my most excited and enthusiastic about heading into this week, it's a good one.

And another good one is what's the number one thing I need to accomplish with my time this week? 

That's a great one, another one is:

What kind of energy do I want to bring to my work this week and what kind of energy do I want to bring to my family this week? 

And I like to think through who needs me on my A-game right now so I can always be an important or an impactful question. 

So those are some questions I like to think through heading into my week, not just... not just like to build it to do list, but to think about kind of looking at it from a bigger picture, like who needs me to be on my A-game? 

Because then sometimes that will influence what I work on and what I dedicate my energy and my effort towards. So like, you know, throughout this time I will say, my clientele hasn't really dropped off, I've been just like super dedicated to my clients through the last couple months and obviously it's kind of shown here, I haven't recorded a bunch of new podcast episodes. I've just been like all in on my clients, you know, just really trying to help them out and be present and there for them and, yeah, I don't know it's been awesome. 

So, yeah, I like those questions, maybe those are helpful if you know if... What did I give you? One, two, three, four or five, six, seven, eight, nine questions you know, maybe you like half of those. So I think that's an important skill is just to pick and choose, pick one or two of those things, pick one or two or things from a book and pull it out and implement it in your life. You don't have to you know, you don't have to, I don't know how to say it... What's the right word? Embrace like every idea from a book you know. 

If I listen and read one or two books or a week and I'm just trying to pull one, maybe two things from each one, and if you pull if you like one of those questions a lot, just work that into your Sunday routine and think through that before heading into your week each week. 

So, all right, last question, I mean, this has been a long episode, last question, Matt. 

How have you remained so positive throughout our current situation? 

That's a funny question, this is from a client, that's funny so, yeah, I mean, the answer is simple, I guess it is:

One, I trust myself to figure things out and I'd say, more importantly, I trust in your ability like humankind and people that listen to this kind of stuff, like I trust in your ability to figure things out, you know, I'd say it's probably true that you've had to overcome a lot of stuff to get to where you are today and, you know. 

I would also suggest that you knew like going into this and I knew going into this like it was never going to be an easy process, pursuing my goals or pursuing your goals or writing a book, you know, building a business, trying to get fit, creating meaningful relationships. You know, all those things, you know, when you have good goals and big goals, you know, shit's hard. 

So I just, I don't know, I never thought it was going to be easy, and... and I've always trusted my ability to figure things out and I've always a trusted, trusted, you know, my client's abilities to figure thing out... Our client's ability to figure things out so you know that's it, that's why my outlook and my attitude is positive because I believe that our ability to figure out things is, I don't know, I just feel like our ability to figure out things is something that we're good at as humans. 

And I think that we will figure this out, and I think that we're resilient, and I think that if we're focused and we take ownership and continue to function during this time, you know, we're going to come out on the other side and be OK and... and not only that, I think, you know, I feel like a lot of people are going to be in a better position coming out of this situation than they were heading into it. 

So keep at it guys, keep leaning in, your hard work will pay off, that's it, that's all I have, thank you so much for listening, I haven't recorded an episode in so long my like throat or so... not somewhere in that way guys that was bad, this is bad timing to say my throat is soared, I feel fine my throat is dry. 

So that's it, hope you guys enjoyed this, it's a little late in the day so my energy wasn't too high. Maybe I need to record this earlier, but you guys are awesome, thank you so much for listening, let me know if you need anything I am here to help you out and you guys make it a great day, and please don't hesitate to reach out if you need anything. 

Don't forget to go to Matt-East, so Matt and then a little dash East .com. Just Google Matt East that'll do better, just Google Matt East it'll pop right up, and then go to /VIP on my website and you can listen to the book and it's dope and it sounds great, and I'm so sorry that I posted that bad episode on here. 

So that's it guys, bye-bye. 

Matt East