Ask Me Anything: How Do You Get More Done In A Day & Still Have Balance In Your Life

Welcome to Captivate and Close. I'm Kinsey Machos, business consultant and marketing strategist. And I'm going to show you how to attract and enroll high-paying clients using my breakthrough online marketing strategies, all without having to rely on complicated funnels, disingenuous clickbait, or spammy sales tactics. These are the messaging marketing and selling secrets that virtually no one is talking about. So let's dive in. Yo, welcome back to the podcast, I am freaking on fire. I'm like, I'm gonna have to be really careful not to come with too much energy, because I'm like busting out of the sea. Yesterday, I was feeling so tired. We had back to back coaching calls, we had to adjust my schedule a little bit this week, to account for a two day virtual, like implementation mastermind we're doing for our female founders or clients. And so we moved a lot of our coaching calls on Monday. And this was like back to back. And it reminded me of those corporate days when you basically just sit in meetings all day, and then you're supposed to somehow actually get work done. Anyway, so I definitely took a nosedive towards the afternoon yesterday, and then just feel so refreshed today and just got off a coaching call with our Lunch Like A Queen clients. And just this energy is just so vibrant. And I just love it. But I want to do a Ask Me Anything series. So as you know, we are rolling out with this asked me anything series where you want to ask me a question. And I wanted to find a way to connect a little bit more deeply with some of you. And also just get more granular on the types of things I talked about based on literally the specific questions that you have. So I did a Facebook poll in our Category Queen Community and got some good, they're still flowing in. So we'll clean we'll link up so you can even talk my energy. So high, will link up in the show notes how you can submit your question because the intent is also to highlight you because I want to bring more eyeballs to you. Right? So the benefit of this podcast isn't for you to just learn but like we'd love to showcase you. So this is my second Ask Me Anything series. I don't know how long we'll run this. But just something that came to me and I was like, I want to do this. But this question is from John Franklin. John is actually a client of ours, she just drained launch like a queen. And Jen is a health coach. And she actually works with women, after they have gone through cancer treatment. And she helps them rebuild their bodies and their minds in their environment so that they can prevent cancer from coming back. Which is like the coolest niche ever. I'll link up where you can find her on her social where she hangs out and where you can find more information on her. But what a cool niche. I'm like, how this is what totally rubs me up. Because when I think about all of you and the impact you are making and what you do, it's like I want to get you in front of more people like that feels so amazing. And so it just like really helps me get out of bed every day. So Jen asked how do you fit a multitude of tasks into your day when working toward a deadline and still have balance in your day and downtime? And this is really related to time management. I get this question a lot, especially because I am severely ADHD more add. And I am very, very high distractible, if that's even a word. And it's really, really hard for me to get things done if the pressure or the passion isn't there. So I know as I've studied, add in my own brain, I know that one of the things that is this is why like people like me, if you have a brain like me, you will delay things to the end of time you will procrastinate on things that don't feel exciting to you. Or you don't have somebody waiting on you for it. And this has become this is a down foul of mine. Especially because there's nobody telling me what to do. And so I realized that when it was just me like a VA like I could get away with this for a while. But as my team grows as my company grows, like there are more people relying on me. And so the deadlines have been a big thing. And when we think about doing a lot of things, our brains are not wired for that. And I hate that question of like, are you good at multitasking? I think this is like a question they asked you in an interview or

it's something that we kind of like boastfully say like I'm a really good multitasker. We are not designed to multitask. And for add people like add people for brains like ours, we have to be really careful about context switching, or anytime we are switching tasks, knowing that there's an energy depletion that goes into that. And so when I started taking this more seriously, I started to really look at my overall time management system. And realize I had a lot of opportunity. For a while, I thought it was the system that wasn't working. I've tried all the things, all the little hacks and all the time management hacks, what I realized the problem was, was that it was me. I was not following through on the system. It's sort of like a journal. Like, it's like, people asked, like, what is the best journal out there? Or like the planner? What's the best planner out there? And people think, yeah, like, there's some better ones over the other ones. But ultimately, like, the only planner that's going to work for you is the planner that you actually use. And so this is the same as systems and time management. And so when we think about completing more, or several tasks a day, when working towards a deadline, we have to build the space for that. So first of all, what I have to do going into each day, I have to know what my priorities are. If I sit down, which I do, there are still times that I come unprepared, and I hate myself. But if I sit down without a focus, I will literally find myself in like on the other planet by the end of the day. And I'm like, What did I even do today, because as your business grows, there's always going to be things and people that need your attention. And you can easily start to believe that it's important or it's a priority. But it's not it like everything is a priority, but you have to be the one that says this is highest priority, and you have to know what that is going into each day. If you're like me, you will underestimate how long something will take you. So I still do this. And I don't know why. But I still think that I can complete five to 10 things a day. Never Max is like three. Now, of course, there's like little things here and there. But if I'm thinking about completing three big tasks a day, that's all I have ever capacity for our brains are just not wired to really be reasonable about the time that it takes. So first of all, what I have to be committed to doing is having a plan for each day knowing what my tasks are and what the priorities are. Because like I said, there will always be things that you can find time being busy in, you know, Slack channels blowing up from your clients or your team. Maybe you're getting, you know, you can respond to DMS or somebody call your friend calls. And you're like, I haven't talked to her in a while this sounds good, right? I'm telling you all these little things, you will notice this more and more as you become more aware of how you manage your time. And all the distractions that are at play. When I have working time, I have gotten better at like removing my phone, turning it on focus, like removing the notifications off my computer, turning off my notifications on Slack. And I even tell my team, I am on work time right now. So I will not be responding to slack for the next you know, two hours or whatever. And that alone is so important because every time you context switch, basically it's like, let's say you're writing a piece of content, or let's say you're designing an opt in page for your upcoming launch event. And you notice that like you get an email, and you're like, Oh, I'm just gonna pop over here and read this email. Well, that email talks about maybe it's an email from a potential client, and they're like, I'm interested in learning more information. How? So you start Oh, okay, so you just opened a loop in your brain. Now you go down the rabbit hole of responding to that email, figuring out a time that works. And then you're like, oh, my gosh, is my website updated? I should probably update my website. So then you're on your website, like really looking at Oh, and you're like, oh, I need help here. I should probably reach out to somebody that can just help me with this one little website tech. So you go to Fiverr and you start looking for freelancers. And you could see how that goes down a rabbit hole. Now, that might sound a little exaggerated, but I would be willing to bet you could. There's parts of that that you can resonate with. It's just like when I go to put the syrup away, and I noticed that the milk is out. So then I actually don't put the syrup away I take a detour to the fridge I put the milk away. And as I open the fridge, I look at a packed lunch and I realized that I need to pack my toddler's lunch. So I start packing the lunch. Meanwhile, the syrup is still out the fridge doors open the milk didn't even get put away. I'm packing his lunch and then my child is like, asked me if I can get something for them in the bathroom. So I walked to the bathroom and I have a bazillion projects open. If you don't do this, I envy you. I know that this is not the norm for everybody. But what happens is we continuously open loops and we expend a lot of energy as we move from thing to thing. And so again, the examples are probably a little bit exaggerated, but I do this literally every day and I have to be more intentional and present in the moments so they can be really aware of like what's grabbing my attention versus where I need to be right now. And so having a plan and then committing to the plan. So if you have two hours of work time, and you committed to completing your opt in page and two pieces of content, that is what you commit to, it's not about like, I might do it, or I'm going to allow people to call me, or I'm going to take, you know, maybe a walk, and then maybe when I feel like it later, when I'm more creative, it's none of those things. What I find most people just like me, it's never really about having more time, it's about being committed and disciplined in the time that you have. And you'll start to notice this probably even by me mentioning, how much waste you have just by context switching, really removing, not removing the distractions, and allowing the day just take off without you. I always envied people that were like, so protective of their time, and they're like, they don't answer, you know, I was like, I would call a friend be like, Oh, I was in work time. And like, what you can answer my phone call? No, you I cannot. And my friends even know, like, I will not answer my phone, if I'm in work on my husband knows the same thing, I'll text him before I go into deep work and say, I'm going to deep work, I will not be answering my phone. But you know, you can call five times if there's an emergency. And I'm just kidding. But that's the level of discipline that I have to have in order for that to work. Because there are a lot of things, a lot of moving pieces in our business. And a lot of people rely on things. So there's always something that I could be giving my time and energy to. And even if your business isn't the size of mine, it's life, there's always something in life that's going to be pulling you, right? It's your kids teachers or the laundry in the other room, or the phone call or the dirty window, whatever, right? But you have to decide and commit that these are the priorities I'm working through. And I'm committed to finishing them, okay. And so, knowing that, like when you make those little shifts, I can't say it's easy, and I'm not perfect at this. But that's the intention I create. And that is ultimately what's going to help you create more, right and completing those deadlines. So when we think about that, in relation to like downtime, because John says here and still have balancing your day and downtime, this is the same concept. So if you don't schedule downtime, and you are not intentional with like, this is my evening, this is what I'm doing, I'm switching gears, you will again, everything else will take like will pull you. And so if I don't, and I used to do this, I was I used to be really bad at this, I would not close loops, because I subconsciously had this thought that I could finish it later. So I would have a task that I needed to complete. And I'm still I still catch myself doing this. And you know, when I was building a business, while working, I did a lot of my work after kids and husband went to bed. And there's still elements of that, especially during COVID. When my kids were home all day, I still had to find those pockets. And so there's still some of that. But also, there's still an element where I like to have a little bit of that flexibility, but it became a habit. And so I would tell myself, well, if I don't get this done, I always have later, or I always have tonight, not really consciously but subconsciously. And so a I didn't apply the pressure to myself to finish it right then and there. And then I started to really carry over into my downtime, and then my downtime was over scheduled, right. So we're protecting these elements with commitments and intention. And so if you look at my schedule, I have work time I have think time I have coaching time, I have team time. But the first thing that goes on my schedule, is my family time, my kids sports, right date night, things like that we schedule around it, what gets calendered is the thing that you will move through, right, if you don't schedule it, it will not happen. And even if it does happen, it's not going to feel as fluid as you would like it to. And so just like you schedule your work time, you have to be intentional with the thought because it helps mentally prepare for that I'm transitioning now, I'm transitioning from work to my personal life, right? And we're shutting off and now it's my downtime. Now it's family time.

And really following those rules, because nobody else is going to make you follow them. And that's the discipline you have to build. And that's still a discipline I build him. Like I said, I'm not perfect at this. And so when we think about balance in a day, this is a really great question because I think that's really good. It's going to depend on you what is balanced feel and look like I go in seasons. I'm in a sprint season right now. And so I really want to leverage this high octane, high Energy. So for me to sit at my desk, and work a full six hours with little like, I even used to be like, don't eat lunch at your desk, whenever you need to take a break. But like when I'm in high energy, and when I know that I don't have a full thirty to forty hours of work a week, like, I'm working much less, my family's so busy, I have less time. And so I'm making the most out of the time. So yeah, sometimes I eat lunch at my desk, but it's like, I'm really leveraging that high octane season, but I am still creating that time in the day where I'm like going for a walk, I schedule it. So it sounds very rigid. But I'm, and I'm not really type A. But I have to learn how to have more of those habits. I don't love the rigidity all the time. So I still like to have a little bit of fluidity and things of like my add likes a little bit of that. But where I thrive the most is within the confinement of what I know I need to be doing, and the boundaries around it. And so the balance is going to look very differently season to season, right? If you look at me a during the winter, I'm like, I'm not that high energy, I'm not super high octane, I'm taking the lunch breaks or whatever I'm like eating at my table, you know, I'm doing maybe more gym, gym walks or gym, time, things like that, I'm just slower. And that's the balance that I have in that season, I'm working more quote unquote, more, although I'm just telling the girlfriend like, I have worked less in the last, you know, four months, and probably ever since I was working full time in corporate, and I can definitely feel it. And like I have, I'm so grateful because I have a team. And it feels good to have a company that is like growing without needing a ton of me. But we do have to I have to learn how to make like, really, really make the most out of the time that I have. And it is a just a different level of discipline. And so I want you to really, I think it's a really good question to ask, like, what is balancing my day look like? Because sometimes we can get into the habit of adopting other people's beliefs about it. But if you can go straight for six hours, and you love that and you punch it out. And then you know, you can, you know, kind of shift, and you go into your personal life for the rest of the evening. And you don't again, it's kind of like it's very confined, and that works for you, then great, but your schedule is not going to like anybody else's, you get to define that your schedule might look different than mine. Because I have a family of five, I have a family of five, very busy life. It's chaos from sunup to sundown. And I have to create that rigidity anywhere I can, right. And so the balance sometimes is just me having the priorities come into the day and knowing that I complete those things. And some seasons again, I'm working a little bit more intentionally other seasons, I'm kind of backing off a little bit, the balance shifts. But you have to ask yourself that question, what does balance look like to you? And I think everybody's looking for the perfect time management system. But I want you to experiment. And it's not again, the system it's are you following through when you have a time blocked for a certain thing? Are you actually protecting it. So often, we'll come into it and be like, Well, I'm not creative right now or so and so needs to chat right now, or a client needs to meet right now. We break our own rules, you cannot do that. And so this is the secret to getting more done. And also still preserving time for what matters most right yourself, your family, your faith, whatever that looks like. You have to have those boundaries, and intentionally design it, which again, is something that I naturally reject. I don't like all the rules and the rigidity, I'm learning to love it because I know I thrive better. But my default is kind of to reject some of those things. And so I just want to honor you if that's you also. But that is what I do when it comes to working towards a deadline. If you do not give yourself a deadline, nobody else will. So how do you create that internal pressure to complete something. Because if nobody else is waiting on you, you will take all of your time, you will procrastinate as long as possible. Brahmas. So you have to think about how do I create that internal pressure to complete these things, and really work towards that. And it's really just following through on your word, that it's self-trust. It's that commitment, and it's the discipline. So I hope this was helpful Jen and for all of you. And if you find that this is if you have more questions about this, I would love to know I think it would be fun to talk more about my crazy add brain how I manage it, because as you probably have heard all these open loops they're on all the time. But if you love this, definitely take a snapshot, share it in your stories and tag me. I would love to see you. And I really appreciate your question, Jen. So good to see you. Hey, you, and thank you so much for listening. It's an honor to be able to pour into the hearts and minds of like-minded entrepreneurs all over the world. But my most favorite part is being able to connect with you in real life. If you love what you heard here, head over to the community where thousands of female CEOs just like you are changing the world one human at a time. We go deeper into the topics you discuss here and giveaway tangible roadmaps to help you crush your revenue goals to join this high caliber free community head over to kinseymachos.com/community. I’ll see you there