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Episode 170: How to Focus on What Matters in Your Business
1.3k Plays2 years ago
Find It Quickly Here (in the episode):
0:00 Intro
1:55 How to organize planning for summer
4:50 How Greenhouse Coaching started
8:00 From engineering to the next phase
10:43 How did you start the business after corporate work
12:58 People want to help you
13:27 LinkedIn vs Facebook
15:40 Obstacles faced to necessitate coaching
16:40 Growth Hacks specific for businesses
19:20 Greenhouse method
21:15 Trello System - weekly planning rhythm
22:45 3 steps that actually matter
22:58 #1: Weekly recurring block
26:15 #2: What to do during the time block
34:34 #3: Deep work block
37:35 Why coaching is so effective
42:04 Quarterly revisit business and goals
43:25 Macro vs micro-thinking
For shownotes and other resources: https://daveyandkrista.com/focus-what-matters-business/
Recommended
Transcript
Maximizing Monday Productivity
00:00:05
Speaker
you end Monday feeling like you're already behind in the week. So I just think this is like you're starting off, you're just like you're ruining yourself before you even got started. And I think what happens is if Friday, if you can plan the week ahead, then you actually can rest easy on the weekend and enjoy your weekend more because you know what to focus on come Monday.
00:00:29
Speaker
You feel like ducks in a row. And then Monday morning, you can hit the ground running. And I promise you, this is real. You feel like you accomplish more in Monday than you usually do in an entire week.
Introduction to Productivity Podcast
00:00:45
Speaker
Welcome to the Brands at Book Show, where we help creative service-based businesses build their brands and find more clients. I'm your host, Davy Jones.
00:00:55
Speaker
Business coach Steve Perkins of Greenhouse Coaching joins me on the podcast today for a conversation about staying focused on what matters in your business. And he brings lots of practical tips to this episode, including his Trello productivity system, which is one of the most requested systems that CEOs ask him to teach.
00:01:13
Speaker
This episode will provide a practical method to stay focused and make times for the things in your business that will actually move the needle. And as someone who loves systems and productivity hacks, I really enjoyed this conversation. I'm hoping to get Steve back on the podcast in the future to chat about how to craft a vision and goals for one's business.
00:01:31
Speaker
Be sure to check out the show notes at DavianChrista.com for the resources that we mentioned during the episode, and we want to hear from you. Let us know what kind of content you'd like to see on the Branchette Book Podcast as we move forward. To leave your feedback, just send us a DM on Instagram, at DavianChrista.
Planning Summer Vacations and Role Clarity
00:01:46
Speaker
Now, on to the episode.
00:01:52
Speaker
How do you organize your time between, especially planning for the summer? How do you fit in the summer vacation? I feel like I've always really struggled with that.
00:02:02
Speaker
Me too. And it's funny, we were like very clear now on our roles in life at home because I'm a terrible planner, which is ironic given what we're about to talk about. But I'm a terrible planner. I think that's actually why I've gotten so good at it in business because I wasn't naturally good. I had to work really hard and study stuff and like figure out systems that work for someone as you know, incompetent at it as me. And my wife Ashley is like a natural born awesome planner. So she
00:02:32
Speaker
We've kind of just come to the point, you know, we've been married for, I don't know, 13 years now. We're like, all right, you plan stuff. And I, you know, like we each kind of have our and when it comes to summer, she just kind of like owns that because she's way better. If I touch it, I screw things up.
00:02:49
Speaker
So I don't know, but we haven't figured out the vacation thing because we're, yeah, we're in little kid zone and two businesses and it's like, okay, we try to plan vacations ahead. Like in January, we try to sit down and like map the year out, but.
00:03:05
Speaker
I mean, you know, it's just impossible. It's impossible. Especially with little kids and last year we were in, you know, Christa's pregnant mode. It was just kind of like everything is leading up to new baby. Then you're in newborn season and so we really didn't plan.
00:03:20
Speaker
I'd say Krista, like your wife, is the planner. And we're actually – so we put together this last-minute trip. So we're going on vacation later this month. We're actually going with mutual friends of ours, the Aikens, right?
Vacation Planning Styles and Strategies
00:03:33
Speaker
And Ryan is the planner, I feel like, of the two of them. And Krista and Ryan have like this – you know, they have their Google Docs and like things to do and stuff like that. I mean, it's just – That's amazing. Whereas, like, Krista's like, well, aren't you going to do this? I'm like, ah, we'll figure it out when we get there.
00:03:48
Speaker
Okay, can we just make this episode about throwing Ryan Aitkins under the bus? Yeah, you know, like me and him go way back as friends and neighbors and all kinds of intersections in life. And then we also till you guys serve us at greenhouse really well. And so Ryan and I and another friend, we have like an annual, like a standing annual kind of camping, hiking trip.
00:04:13
Speaker
Well, actually, just this morning, we were texting. And what happens is there's all these messages flying around about like ideas and when and we finally nailed on a date. And then we all just kind of like, it goes quiet. And we just wait for Ryan and his spreadsheets and his like data analysis to come through because it's not worth any of us trying to come up with anything. He's going to have like, he's going to find the best Airbnb at the best price, the best like all the logistics will be mapped out.
00:04:39
Speaker
He's going to tell you like what you can redeem using credit card points, you know, and it's just like, how do you fit all this into your brain?
Steve Perkins' Career Journey and Greenhouse Coaching
00:04:46
Speaker
So, but moving back to greenhouse here. So coaching, tell us a little bit about how you even got started with coaching in general and building greenhouse.
00:04:55
Speaker
Well, yeah. So, for anyone who doesn't know, Greenhouse is a coaching company. We help people figure out what's next and focus on what matters most. And we kind of use our unique coaching process called the Greenhouse Method. So, it involves a lot of helping people who are stuck and trying to figure out what's next, like their career sweet spot, making a transition into starting a business or a new job.
00:05:18
Speaker
but also lots of business coaching and leadership coaching. So we also work with companies. And our main thing is our membership community where we have like courses and coaching and it's, you know, people in it together, whatever kind of step of the greenhouse method they're working on. The funny thing is like this all came to be because I felt myself stuck for years.
00:05:39
Speaker
Like I was one of those kids thinking about like, what do I want to be when I grow up? I have no idea. I was so confused about that. And then fast forward to college. It's like, how are you supposed to pick a track? I don't know. And I went into engineering because my parents were like, you can make good money. And then fast forward to, you know, graduating career. And I'm like, what am I doing? Like, honestly, I had an awesome, cushy corporate job. It was great. A lot of people would love to have this job. But I would just leave every day feeling like,
00:06:09
Speaker
Man, I only used like 20% of what I feel like I am passionate about and could offer the world. And it's like, the job was fine, but it wasn't really using my strengths or skills. And it definitely wasn't fulfilling at all. Like, so I kind of had this. I'm nerdy. I counted this. I kept track of this. I had 12 years of being totally stuck with this idea. Like what?
00:06:35
Speaker
Do I want to be when I grow up? What's my like purpose or calling or whatever you want to call it? I was just so lost and confused about it and I got really frustrated that no one seemed to have a process out
Applying Insights from Conferences to Real Life
00:06:48
Speaker
there. It's like I love going to conferences and reading leadership books and listening to podcasts and I do all the things
00:06:56
Speaker
or you know the best one like personality tests and then you get done with it and you're like cool now what do I do with this? I just felt like you'd walk away from a conference and you'd be all stoked and then Monday it's just like back to old habits again nothing changes.
00:07:09
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, because you can learn so much from those different resources, but I think the hardest thing with those resources is all that you learn, right? I mean, like, it's then taking it, and then, okay, where do I fit into this, you know? And where do I even start? And I'm excited to get into that with you, because I think that at every stage of business, like, there's just seasons where that becomes true again. You know, whether even if you already have taken your business full-time, or you've taken a side hustle and turned it into a full-time job, there's just different seasons in business where you're like, okay, well,
00:07:38
Speaker
you know, what's next? What matters in my business? And I've definitely experienced those seasons in the past. And there are some great business books out there and conferences I feel like are some of the best resources for just getting in person with people and excited about stuff. But you know, like you said, on Monday morning, it's like, what's next? So how did you transition out of engineering to what's next? What did that
Transition from Engineering to Entrepreneurship
00:08:02
Speaker
look like?
00:08:02
Speaker
Yeah. Well, what you're talking about, it's like my search for, you know, what's my calling? What's my career purpose? Along with that passion for like leadership, productivity stuff. And it all kind of came together when I was working at Capital One, so kind of big Fortune 500. Really cool. I love that company. Cool. Really cool place to work.
00:08:22
Speaker
and feeling stuck and like I've always been entrepreneurial. So I knew I wanted to start a company someday, but what? What am I going to do? I tried some tech startups and all this stuff. And it finally came to a head when the company was like, we need to like I had left an engineering company with terrible culture. And I was like, I just want to find somewhere with good culture. That's how I ended up at Capital One. But then even internally there, they wanted to make like a culture shift.
00:08:47
Speaker
and get into some things like agile development and design thinking. And so long story short, I was stepped into that stuff and I started a team. I almost got to be like an entrepreneur and started a team within the company and our job was culture transformation.
00:09:03
Speaker
But like, I don't have any on paper experience with this. I've just always loved this stuff and studied it on my own. So build a team. We just start throwing spaghetti against the wall and trying things. And I meet these coaches and they're like executive coaches on staff and they're like, you should be a coach. I'm like, no, no, I'm not a therapist. I'm like an entrepreneur. No, thanks. You know?
00:09:26
Speaker
They pushed me and pushed me and finally like I went back to kind of executive coaching school, you know, for masters and they I'm like this stuff is amazing. This is what I've been searching for because I started bringing it into the company and doing it myself and I realized like this is the thing that actually makes change stick like all of the conferences and podcasts. That's all cool. But coaching has this built in like
00:09:49
Speaker
It's customized to you and your personality and your circumstances, and there's accountability because you're taking steps over time. And you know, the best of us, like, we botch our own plans, but when you have a coach, it's kind of like you're on the hook to keep taking those steps forward.
00:10:06
Speaker
So, you know, that's when it all clicked. I was like, all right, I'm going to leave corporate, start this company greenhouse and get into this coaching stuff. We work with companies, but really the membership is where people can dial in like how to be more intentional and have like a vision and goals and really like move forward with.
00:10:25
Speaker
what they're trying to do. Yeah.
Overcoming Business Obstacles
00:10:27
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I'm really interested in hearing about kind of what some of the biggest obstacles are that you come across or maybe not even biggest. Maybe that's not the best question. Maybe it's like consistently, what do you feel like are the obstacles that businesses are facing? Before that, just out of curiosity, how did you start the business? I guess, how did you find your first few clients after you left your corporate job?
00:10:45
Speaker
Yeah. And I share more of the backstory because I know your audience would like get and resonate with this. I hate when people, I feel like actually this is one of the pain points in business. I hate when people just share the success stories after the fact, you know, or even the failure stories after the fact. It's like, but what about all the detail along the way? So I want to say more here, but to give the short version, I think it's like the first thing was I was hesitant to tell anyone. I wanted to keep it all secret until I like launched and everything is perfect.
00:11:15
Speaker
And then through a number of leaders, like Cred goes to them, they were like, Steve, no, tell people, like tell your peers, tell your manager and your boss's boss. And I was so nervous. And I did. I was even nervous to tell like my family and my wife. I was like, they're all going to think I'm crazy. When I told more people, they like started helping me. And honestly, part of it was the company helped me make the exit. Like we all set things up. So it wasn't just going to be me ditching people and like,
00:11:45
Speaker
going out on nothing. So a lot of my first clients were like leaders and groups, teams from that company. And then of course friends, you know, I was like doing the hustle of like, hey, you know, emailing all my friends. I'm not trying to be annoying and salesy, but like, do you want coaching and just like slowly getting some individual clients?
00:12:06
Speaker
My wife's starting a business right now called House of Color and it's more of a franchise established thing, like color analysis stuff. And I'm so jealous because she's like she had a line of clients before she even hit go on the business. And I'm like, you have no idea. It took me years to get paying clients.
00:12:24
Speaker
You don't know what it feels like to grind. Yeah, that's funny. But it's also funny, I think we make up the story that it has to be more complicated than it is to find our first few clients because I've definitely experienced that too in different business starting where I'm like, I didn't tell anybody and then I'm wondering why like nobody knows about it, you know, why I don't have that line, right? But then like with Till Agency, and you know, I've shared this on the podcast before, but we emailed everybody we knew, you know, when we started Till Agency and
00:12:48
Speaker
All of a sudden, we had, you know, that business grew pretty quickly and I think as a result of just letting people know. Well, yeah, that's actually, that was my big aha moment. Even today, I'm still like, wow, people want to help people. Like, people want to help you because literally, I mean, it's like brain science. You know, you get this dopamine hit when you kind of help someone make a connection or whatever.
00:13:09
Speaker
I agree. I think if you just tell people, they naturally want to help you out if they have some kind of connection or
LinkedIn vs. Facebook: A Supportive Community?
00:13:16
Speaker
idea. But we're always scared so we don't want to bother them. Yeah, yeah. You know what's interesting or just as a side note too, what do you think about LinkedIn? Like in that respect, I feel like just vastly different than Facebook it feels like to me whereas I don't know. Facebook in a lot of ways especially nowadays feels like this negative place but LinkedIn
00:13:35
Speaker
kind of refreshing in terms of, you know, the kind of content that people post. And then also, you know, I mean, just people getting laid off and putting it on there and other people jumping in and sharing connections and sharing resources. I mean, it seems like LinkedIn is a new world for me. Well, it's funny you mentioned because that was like we were early on LinkedIn because yeah, it naturally curates our ideal audience.
00:13:59
Speaker
they have because they're trying to catch up and they're they didn't know like who they were for a long time. So their algorithm and their features are changing constantly and it's like they're trying to catch up with the world. But currently, I think two things. One is if you share
00:14:16
Speaker
just like very natural tone, real personal stuff. I'm actually trying to get better at this. I'm not great on it. But just sharing stories or like talking like a real human on it, it can spread like wildfire. I mean, my first post on LinkedIn, my first real post, I got like 10,000 views. And it's because they show it to like, when you log back in,
00:14:40
Speaker
it is at your top of your feed and it shows to all of your connections and it's like a natural spread. And the DMs like all the salesy stuff they've really cut down on. So that stuff that used to be big there isn't working anymore. I definitely still get a lot of you know, cold DMs on LinkedIn. But just in general, I've enjoyed being on that platform more than really anywhere else lately. And we've been experimenting with it more till two and you know, I mean, just
00:15:07
Speaker
Within 24 hours, one of my posts had over a thousand impressions and the same post on Facebook posted at the same time, 25.
00:15:16
Speaker
Oh, totally. Every day. Yeah. I have posts that got four views on Instagram and 4,000 on LinkedIn. And it's kind of like TikTok where how much of that is inflated because they want you to go over there, but it's real on LinkedIn. I think people are going with more pure intentions. Yeah, yeah. Well, anyways, getting back to focus and productivity, right? One of the things that I kind of want to know is what are the obstacles that you feel people consistently face when they come to you for coaching?
00:15:44
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, of course, all this stuff is stuff I've struggled with too. So when you asked me this question earlier, I thought there's probably two big things. One is just the comparison trap and the overwhelm. Like there's so much out there.
00:15:56
Speaker
you're constantly comparing yourself to other entrepreneurs or other whoever and all the stuff I'm supposed to be doing. I had a little bit of a meltdown this week myself of some people who were really crushing the going live on social media game and I'm like, oh, I should be doing that, I need to be doing that, I'm missing out. And I think that's huge now. Honestly, our membership, why would people buy information from us they could get for free?
00:16:24
Speaker
Well because we boil the ocean for them like we tell them the one step they should take versus like googling and seeing a thousand so I think that's big and then also for business owners I think the growth hack thing of like you only hear growth hacks from people who sell growth hacks.
00:16:44
Speaker
You know what I mean? I feel like we need to be talking about this more because I've tried them all, you know, I've bought like $5,000 courses and I did the exact step-by-step thing that this person did and it worked for them and they're making millions and I made like zero, you
Effective Growth Strategies
00:17:03
Speaker
know? And the thing I've realized over time is, well, because they're selling a growth hack that got them to you, so it's like,
00:17:12
Speaker
Of course I'm going to buy from them because I saw them being successful with it and I want to do the same thing. Whereas a lot of us are selling stuff that is not like a marketing growth hack. And you know, side note, this is actually why we love working with you until
00:17:27
Speaker
because you guys don't really subscribe to that. You kind of just do the things that consistently sustainably work. It's not just like this flash in the pan, you know, trend that worked for one person. So I think the growth hack stuff can also throw us off because we see all these people making millions off these things and then we feel like we got to try those things. And it's like, well, it might not work for your business though.
00:17:51
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So how do you, I guess, start distilling or focusing in on like kind of what the growth hack will be for that business that you're working with, you know, or how to achieve growth for because I assume on somebody always wants growth, right? They want to meet with you because you think they can get or you can get them to the next level, right? So how do you start figuring that out, you know?
00:18:14
Speaker
Yeah, this is really where I think the growth hacks or the productivity hacks, I mean, because also there's tons to
The Importance of Consistent Systems
00:18:21
Speaker
do every day, right? It's hard to know what to focus on. We tend to focus on the urgent stuff, like whatever is sitting in our inbox or yelling at us, we react to that. So all day long, we're reacting instead of getting the big important stuff done. And as you and I know, it's like really what moves the needle on a business is like
00:18:39
Speaker
the repeatable non-sexy tasks that like you have to consistently do over time, but you never feel like doing it or it's never like the urgent screaming in your face thing. So I think with all this stuff, it's just that like you got to have a system. The hacks aren't enough because they rely on your emotional state every day, which is all over the place. And I think you got to have a system that works for you when you're not at
00:19:06
Speaker
your best or when you're distracted and overwhelmed. So usually what I'm talking about with people and I can share it here is like what is a simple repeatable system that allows you to focus on what matters most over time and really like continue to move the needle.
Weekly Planning Systems for Beginners
00:19:22
Speaker
Yeah, awesome. Well, that's I think a great place to start with this system is, you know, so I come to you and I say, hey, listen, I need to get organized. I have a lot to do. You know, everybody has a lot to do. And I need some systems just to get focused. So where would you have me start?
00:19:37
Speaker
Well, so the greenhouse method I mentioned is kind of our overarching approach that has a few different steps. And really big picture, it's all about having a vision of where you want to go. That's about not just your business or like work goals, but also your life. Hopefully our business facilitates the life we want to have. And so this vision is like, where do I want to head? What do I care about down the line?
00:20:04
Speaker
And then from that vision, it informs the goals and intentions you have in the near term. And then from those, it kind of informs the priorities you should have every week. And so that's like our overall system that has, you know, more detailed steps, of course. But I think the irony is like, where does someone start? It's not like on paper, you start with the vision and work down.
00:20:28
Speaker
Like, when I write that book, that's the order. But really, in real life, we start from the bottom and go up. And it's kind of like most things. I mean, we got to start with like the here and now. So, usually it's like, all right, I like getting people on Trello in terms of a tool. We open up a Trello, we set up some boards, and we like get down to how do you have a weekly planning rhythm that sets and maintains your priorities every week. And then later we can kind of like do the goals and vision stuff.
00:20:57
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I think that's really helpful distinction though because I think sitting down to with a vision can feel a little overwhelming and sort of out there and Impractical, you know, so I like this idea I mean a few things one. I just love some systems, you know, like I just that's gets exciting for me So I'm excited to talk about your Trello system here because I know this is something that you teach on often and
00:21:19
Speaker
But I also just think that that distinction is worth mentioning again, like, or that nuance there, where in practicality, right, we typically start there with what's in front of us, what's practical, and then that can help us get to that vision. Because that can just see people trying to start with a vision and then getting really stuck and never moving on.
00:21:38
Speaker
Yeah, and that's why coaching is always so integral to this stuff. Like there's a certain amount you can do by yourself, but you kind of need the coach to either point things out you're not seeing or like get you over the hump. So yeah, like vision, goal setting, that stuff's really effective in coaching,
The Crucial Role of Planning Rhythms
00:21:53
Speaker
but you're right. Sometimes it's like, all right, let's start with setting up a weekly planning rhythm is what I call it.
00:21:59
Speaker
I don't know, David. We took a lot of time to talk about all the other stuff we just talked about. But I think that's important because it's like a weekly planning rhythm is not exciting to any entrepreneur. But we all know like it's really what matters because of all the stuff we just talked about. So I do think like this unsexy stuff is the meat and potatoes like the important stuff to make it successful. So anyway, the way that I like to structure it
00:22:26
Speaker
I've kind of tried everything out there. I've worked with solopreneurs all the way up to Fortune 500 executives and it's like all in between. There is a constant thread of we've tried all these systems, we've got all these hacks and all this stuff and they're just too much and it's like
00:22:43
Speaker
My big thing is let's boil the ocean to the three steps that actually work that actually matter and that you aren't going to be tiring to keep up with. You know, you got to make it simple. So the three steps are one, you need to have a weekly recurring block on your calendar and it's like 90 minutes or two hours. It's a good chunk of time. I think Friday is typically the best time.
00:23:10
Speaker
And there's some reasons for that. And then you block it out into the future so that nothing else can kind of like crowd it out. And it's a recurring thing that's always there and it's your most important meeting of the week. So we can dive into these if you want. I'd love to hear why Friday, why you said 90 minutes or so. So it needs to be a pretty substantial amount of time. So tell us a little bit about why, I guess.
00:23:37
Speaker
Okay, so I think most people's tendency, especially if you've ever worked in corporate or are transitioning out, Monday is kind of a natural time, like weekend's done, getting to work, and Monday is like when we plan things. Problem is, A, Monday, you are spending however much time trying to get organized and figure out what to do. And by the time you do, most of Monday's over, other stuff is like popping up because that's when everyone else is catching up with work.
00:24:06
Speaker
And now you end Monday feeling like you're already behind in the week. So I just think this is like you're starting off, you're just like you're ruining yourself before you even got started. And I think what happens is if Friday, if you can plan the week ahead, then you actually can rest easy on the weekend and enjoy your weekend more because you know what to focus on come Monday. You feel like ducks in a row. And then Monday morning, we'll talk about this in a minute,
00:24:35
Speaker
you can hit the ground running and I promise you this is real. You feel like you accomplish more in Monday than you usually do in an entire week.
00:24:45
Speaker
Yeah, I also find it Friday that I'm a bit tired. I'm not quite as productive as I am like earlier in the week. And so something like this sounds like it would just fit well, you know, where I can kind of think ahead. It's not like, I think there's probably a deep work aspect to it, you know, but not deep work in the same like this weekly recurring planning block is not deep work in the same as like writing a book or writing a blog post or creating content or whatnot.
00:25:10
Speaker
Right, and to your point, this allows you to do that deep work that you need more of your full, fresh energy for. It allows you to do that Monday when you have that energy versus spending the whole day planning when that's something you could knock out on Friday.
00:25:26
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's usually what I'm really pushing people to try is Friday if they can. And then also just schedule it at a time and in a place when you're least likely to be distracted. So, you know, for me, it's typically Friday morning.
00:25:42
Speaker
before other stuff pops up. I do this myself and then I do it with my team and we follow the same format every week and it's just like clockwork. So Friday at a time and place sometimes maybe especially if you're solopreneur like is there a coffee shop or is there somewhere in your house where you're less likely to get thrown off or you know someone bother you. Yeah, yeah. All right, so what's step two?
00:26:09
Speaker
So step two is during that block, what do you do? There's three things. First, you document your wins and learnings. It's really simple. It's like, hey, what was a win this week? What was something I learned this week? And all kinds of research and science behind this, but you're always trying to push forward. You're always trying to fix problems. It's important to take stock of what went well.
00:26:31
Speaker
And it's important to take stock of what you learned so you don't keep making the same mistakes over and over. And it's just crazy to me how much improvement we make subconsciously if we just simply write down what we learned each week. So it can be anything. It's like, hey, what was something you learned? And document that. The second thing is set your main thing for next week.
Focusing on Impactful Tasks
00:26:53
Speaker
And there's a whole great book on this called The One Thing. He actually came on our podcast, Career Sweet Spot, a while back. And we talked about this, like, what is the main thing that changes everything else? Like, what's the main thing that if everything else next week gets botched, this will move the needle. This will, like, matter. And that's where that vision and goals comes in because usually it's something tied to that. And so, you're gonna write down the one main thing. It can't be more than one. It's got to be one thing.
00:27:21
Speaker
And then the third step is setting your deep work block on Monday morning to work on that main thing.
00:27:27
Speaker
Yeah. So the funny thing about one main thing and writing down one thing is that initially, so I do that for each business each week. And I think initially I thought, you know, one thing's not enough. Like what do you mean I'm only going to do one thing next, but one thing is more than enough. You know, like one thing is one thing is plenty. So I think, you know, that's really interesting. But for anybody listening who's thinking really just one thing, no, seriously, keep it to one thing.
00:27:55
Speaker
And how does it work for you? Because if I write more than one, I don't get any of them done. Is that how it works for you?
00:28:03
Speaker
Yeah, that's basically how it works for me as well. I think part of it is I just don't have time to do more than one thing. And just over time, I found that one thing is enough. I also think when I get, it turns into a to-do list and it's not really meant to be a to-do list. Like obviously there might be one big, in a sense, it's one big to-do, but there's usually subtasks in getting there, you know, or getting that done. I typically have, you know, one big thing for the week and one big thing for the month.
00:28:31
Speaker
Can i get organized and the one big thing for the week typically rolls up into kind of what i really want to get done that month. But to you know just to your point about like what's gonna actually move the needle right i was the worst and sometimes i still fall back in this habit of putting things on my to do list just across off.
00:28:51
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? It's like get up in the morning. You know, so like this helps me immensely, I think. Talk to me about the deep work block though. So that goes Monday. Tell us a little bit about I guess what deep work is.
Scheduling Deep Work Sessions
00:29:04
Speaker
How long should that block be? Do you just schedule it for Monday or does that carry over into other days of the week too?
00:29:10
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. And just to comment on what you said because it's important and usually people ask like, but what about all the other stuff that has to get done? Yes, I know. There's a million things. But during your weekly planning block, you also sift through that, organize that, prioritize that stuff. But it's after you identify the main thing because that's the important part that gets missed is the big important stuff. So, absolutely.
00:29:34
Speaker
I can take things off my to-do list after I focus on, you know, like what the main thing is, right? So it kind of streamlines my to-do list. But that I don't treat. So I have a to-do list. I actually use a tool called Todo. It's awesome. Have you ever heard of this? I have, yeah. T-E-U-X, D-E-U-X for anybody out there listening.
00:29:54
Speaker
What do you like about it? I love how simple it is. You know, it's like you can't share it with other people. It's not this big tool, you know, that has a thousand features. It's just straight up. So like those other things, you know, that are like, maybe I got to pick up groceries or, you know, whatever it might be that can all go on there, but it doesn't take away from whatever that big task of the week is.
00:30:15
Speaker
I agree. That's the same thing I love about Trello. It doesn't have all the extra features, just what you need. And you can put like I have a separate list column for the main thing versus all the other to-do list and also column for like backlog. So stuff comes up during the week. I can put it in a place and my brain is like, all right, you don't have to think about it anymore. And I know I didn't lose it, but it's also not cluttering my focus for the week. Yeah. I might have to revisit Trello.
00:30:43
Speaker
Well, but with any of these apps, it's also good that like you can take a card or a to-do item and move it to like a done column and it clicks. And if you're on your phone, you actually feel the click. And that, I mean, there's real brain signs behind that, that it helps you get that dopamine hit, that motivation of like, I got something done. So yeah, even if I'm like struggling to get into the flow for working on the big main thing.
00:31:06
Speaker
I'm like you, sometimes I'll put a couple tiny things on there that'll take like one minute, check them off, and now I feel better like, okay, I'm making progress, here we go. So you get into the deep work block, and again, I like this to be Monday morning. If you're an entrepreneur, if you
00:31:23
Speaker
have control over your calendar, block freaking half day off. Like this needs to be a big block of time, not an hour. And you need to have it in a place where you can get into the flow. Because there's this, I mean, you know how it is with anything creative or strategic, it takes a while to like ramp up into the flow. And then if that ever gets broken, like you're back to square one again, you kind of need to be able to stay in the flow.
00:31:48
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I feel like, well, I'm excited to talk to you on your podcast because we're going to be talking personality type stuff. So I'm interested in getting your opinion on some of the stuff around. Like for me, podcast meetings, they take a lot out of me. So I can't do deep work on the same days usually. So Mondays I found is a really good day to try to limit my meetings, you know? And typically, if I'm going to take meetings, it's going to be like late morning, which is, you know, to a certain extent.
00:32:14
Speaker
towards the end of my day just because I start so early and then I really try to keep most of my meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
00:32:20
Speaker
Okay, I'm really similar. Yeah, we got to nerd out on our, like, compare calendars sometime. I'm really similar and it's like, I mean, the point is, for anyone listening, you know yourself, you know your best time. You might have other stipulations in terms of, like, kids and their schedules or other things, other jobs. The point is, when is the time that's going to work best for you? To your point, like, when you can be in a flow state for a while and you're not, like, already burned out from other things. And also,
00:32:49
Speaker
Like the earlier in the week, the better before other stuff pops up that takes precedent. So that's why I like Monday because I can do that. But some people, you know, it might need to be Tuesday night at midnight. I don't know. Yeah. Do you schedule deep work into your calendar for the rest of the week or is it just kind of as it comes then?
00:33:08
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there's a whole other layer to this in coaching, which is around protecting you from yourself. And so like my version of that is I have an administrative assistant who owns my calendar. I'm not allowed to touch my calendar because I'll mess it up. You know, I'll schedule over this because I'll be like, oh, Dave, you just wants to hang out. Sure. Monday's open. I can.
00:33:27
Speaker
No, like it is this person's primary job to protect me from myself and protect that space so nothing ever gets scheduled over it and it is the most important thing. There's other tricks sometimes people will like schedule that time with another entrepreneur, with another friend so there's accountability to show up. You know, it's kind of like if you can look at your personality type and guard against it, you can make this thing work.
00:33:55
Speaker
Well, I'm really excited for your episode then. So we have, number one, weekly recurring planning block. All right, scheduling that, you recommend Friday, 69 minutes. Then step two consists of three parts, documenting wins and learnings, coming up with the one main thing for the following week, and then scheduling a deep work block. And again, you recommend Monday mornings, early in the week, less demands have been put on your schedule. And so that's what you're doing during Friday's planning block is figuring out those three things.
00:34:25
Speaker
So what's our third step here? Yeah, so I guess we've kind of already gotten into all of it, but the weekly planning block, what you do during that block, and then the third thing really is just the deep work block.
00:34:37
Speaker
that you think about when it should be, where it should be, how you protect you from yourself and really set yourself up for success. I mean, don't open your email inbox before this session because you're going to get sucked into a bunch of things. If you need to knock out a few urgent things first, sure, but like time box yourself, you know, really making sure that you can get into the flow and stay there and hopefully get that whole main thing done.
00:35:04
Speaker
If it's something that requires back and forth with other people or whatnot, then you might need to work on
00:35:10
Speaker
chunking it down during your Friday planning, like chunk it down into a manageable sized task that you're able to complete. Sometimes people are like, oh, you know, I got to like redo my social strategy. That's my main thing next week. Well, you know, you can't get that done in two hours. So chunk it down to like, what's the step you can control that you can get done in that time? Because you're trying to trick your brain in all this and be like, yes, I was successful. Check it off the list. Feel the momentum and like move into your the rest of your week.
00:35:39
Speaker
with that kind of encouragement. Have you found that typically the people you coach are more successful with this type of stuff in the morning than in the evening? Yeah. And I mean, you and I are both grinning right now. Like I'm a night person. I have had to work hard to become more of a morning person. So I get it. The person who's out there objecting like, but I'm better at night. And I think there's something to that. Like sometimes I get suburban, it's late, there's no one bothering me and I can really like get focused.
00:36:07
Speaker
But I think in terms of like sustainability over time, how do you think Monday morning is better? Yeah, yeah, I swear by mornings, you know, I just think nobody else is up, you know, nobody else is placing demands on you. So you can usually get through, like I can get through my inbox a lot of times in 15 minutes in the morning. And then the rest of it is just, you know, whatever time I have time until my son jackets up.
00:36:30
Speaker
you know finish work but it's funny you know i feel like going back to ryan you just like you can knock some work out at night you know glass bourbon or scotch you know yeah and i think it's you know there's certain types of work that might be better in the night versus morning i was coaching a guy we're setting the system up for him the other day in his business and he realize
00:36:50
Speaker
I'm just not getting good sleep lately. I have a lot going on in life that's kind of making it hard to get eight hours. And so we're like, all right, give yourself some grace. Don't try to change the world overnight. Let's pick one day. And that is so for him, it was Monday morning is his deep work.
00:37:06
Speaker
So Sunday night, he's making a concerted effort to get eight hours of sleep. So he's got that fresh brain Monday morning and then like let himself off the hook the rest of the week to stay up late and eat nachos at 2 a.m. and like whatever so that he can not try to feel like he's, you know, failing. You know what I mean?
00:37:26
Speaker
Yeah, that's a good idea too, you know, for anybody who does struggle with, you know, especially getting up and being a morning person.
The Role of Coaching in Growth
00:37:32
Speaker
I do want to ask, I guess, why do you feel like coaching is so effective and I guess maybe such a crucial piece in all of this? Because like you said, I mean, to a certain extent, this sounds easy enough, right? You know, people at home, they can go through this.
00:37:45
Speaker
In my own experience, I found that my seasons of both personal and professional growth, so my greatest seasons and personally and professionally, at least in terms of growth, have always come with some sort of coach or mentor, some sort of setting like that. So I'm just curious, why do you think that is? What do you think makes the coaching piece so invaluable?
00:38:07
Speaker
Yeah, well, I'm the same as you. I practice what I preach. I also really value that type of help in my life and my leadership. And I think it's really what it comes down to is like we are in the weeds of our own life and our own mind every day. So we cannot see ourselves clearly, like we cannot see things clearly.
00:38:27
Speaker
But an outside person can. They can also unlock things that maybe we already know, but it's like buried deep down in. And I mean, let's flip it for a sec. You've been that for us. So you helped Greenhouse with our website recently.
00:38:43
Speaker
And one of the things that you was like a light bulb moment for us was we were so stuck in the weeds of communicating all our different package offerings and all these details. And you clearly said, we got on a meeting and you're like, listen, people don't want to buy your membership. People don't want to buy your courses and all this stuff.
00:39:00
Speaker
People want coaching, so let's talk about that. And it was so clarifying, because here we are trying to make sure we explain how it all works. And it was like, oh, duh. I mean, I already knew that, but I couldn't see it. But you, from the outside looking in, it was like the first thing you saw. So I think there's that element of, yeah, someone else can see more clearly, but they can also help you get in the right mindset.
00:39:29
Speaker
With all this productivity stuff, I think it's about prioritizing what's important over what's urgent. That's all mindset game. It's about shifting from a doer who does all these tasks to a leader who thinks big picture and is strategic. That's all mindset game. It's like, how do you be creative consistently? How do you have ideas? That's all mindset game. My passion for coaching is you can get all the answers out there. You can get different hacks and read the books.
00:39:59
Speaker
Yeah, implementing it is really hard to do on your own. Yeah, yeah. And I just love the built-in accountability there. When as entrepreneurs, oftentimes our accountability is to ourselves. We might have teams too. Of course, we should be accountable to them on some level.
00:40:15
Speaker
There is this, you know, I think especially if you're leading a company or you're building a company, you know, at the end of the day, like you're not really reporting to anybody but yourself. And so when a coach comes in and, you know, starting to poke and prod and make you think about things a little bit differently and you have to kind of show up for him or her, I think that makes a big difference.
00:40:30
Speaker
Yeah and let's just be honest like part of it too is just it's on your calendar and you got to show up. Yeah that's right. I mean there's so many things that yeah I procrastinate but if like if I've got that session and the coach is gonna like we're gonna spend an hour on this thing it'll happen and I feel like that's part of it too.
00:40:47
Speaker
Yeah, for sure. I just want to wrap up by asking how often we should revisit. One of the things that sticks out to this system is that it really works whenever. It doesn't really matter what season of life you're in. This is just going to work.
00:41:03
Speaker
So, you know, when we were originally talking, I was thinking that maybe it'd be more because I've revisited my schedule a bunch like how I actually organize my day and that looks differently, you know, pre kids and now post kids and just as the businesses go through different seasons and whatnot. Do you recommend I guess on some level like kind of revisiting some of these bigger vision and goal questions on a seasonal basis?
00:41:27
Speaker
Yeah, you kind of called it out. The reason the system works is because it's the one thing that makes everything else work.
Continuous Learning for Efficiency
00:41:35
Speaker
It's like that meta thing where, okay, the reason we talk about and document what I learned this week every time is because to your point, every week you learn a little more about how your schedule should be designed and what works and doesn't. And so by capturing the learning every week, I'm always like tweaking and dialing in my schedule.
00:41:56
Speaker
So the learning piece is like always doing that for you. But I think the vision and goals part of it is a quarterly thing. And I recommend, you know, if you're a business owner, like read it once a month just to keep it top of mind, but revisit it quarterly to add or subtract or maybe it needs to be reshaped. And that way you've done the hard thinking work once. So every day you don't have to rethink what matters. You're just kind of following along with that plan. That's my thought. I mean, what does it look like for you?
00:42:26
Speaker
Yeah, you know, I mean, in all honesty, I feel like I'm really good at getting into a rhythm. And I think one area where I really need to improve is building into my calendar, reexamining that, like, kind of the big picture, the goals and the, and the vision and, you know, so on the one hand that I think that's really good, you know, like getting to a rhythm and I can focus on like kind of one thing each month, but I think
00:42:47
Speaker
to your point about maybe taking a look at things quarterly, that's where I need to improve is stepping back and be like, okay, are my priorities still the same? You know, are we still heading in this direction? You know, I think sometimes I get in such a rhythm of putting one foot after the other, you know, that I lifted my hand. I'm like, actually, this is not exactly where I want to be right now. You know what I'm saying? So yeah, I mean, it's hard when you're the one in charge.
00:43:10
Speaker
You are juggling a hundred different things all the time and there's so many. I mean when you list them out it's kind of crazy. There's like so many things we have to be keeping track of and aware of. And so I had a great mentor and coach once he said Steve you got to switch between macro and micro as a business owner as an entrepreneur you have to
00:43:30
Speaker
have ways to intentionally go macro and look at the big picture and then go micro and be in the weeds, but never losing sight of either. And that was, I don't know why that always stuck for me. It was helpful because it's like, oh yeah, there are times where I spend a whole day stepping back and just like,
00:43:48
Speaker
reevaluate the big picture and you realize, oh man, we're doing all this activity that doesn't even matter or doesn't align or like huge things we're not doing that we should. But then like in the day to day, you're in the micro and it's impossible for your brain to think at that level. So I find that helpful.
00:44:06
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you so much for your time and coming on and sharing your expertise. I feel like there are about a thousand other things that we could talk about. And so maybe I'll have to have you come back on if you have time at some point to talk more about visions and goals, you know, and just kind of how you help people navigate that side of things too. But thanks. And where can people figure out or find out more about greenhouse and how they could work with you potentially if they are looking to figure out what's next?
00:44:32
Speaker
Yeah. Thanks for having me. This was fun. Greenhousecoaching.co. Greenhousecoaching.co. Everything is there. Most of our social is the same. And really, yeah, the membership is a great place where people can plug into coaching whenever they need it or they can just grab certain tools and courses. It's kind of like that's our one-stop shop for everything in the greenhouse method.
00:44:55
Speaker
We work with teams and leaders individually on a custom basis if they need that. But GreenhouseCoaching.co, that's kind of where everything lives. Awesome. And as always, that stuff will be in the show notes for anybody driving, running, whatever you're doing on the go. You can go to the show notes and find links to those resources and more. But Steve, thanks for your time. Yeah, thanks, Davey.
00:45:18
Speaker
Thanks for tuning into the Brands That Book Show. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider subscribing and leaving a review in iTunes. For show notes and other resources, head on over to dvandchrista.com.