WEBVTT 00:00:03.024 --> 00:00:08.151 This is the Rebel HR podcast, the podcast about all things innovation in the people's space. 00:00:08.151 --> 00:00:09.614 I'm Kyle Rode. 00:00:09.614 --> 00:00:10.595 Let's start the show. 00:00:10.595 --> 00:00:16.961 All right, welcome back, rebel HR community. 00:00:16.961 --> 00:00:19.864 I am going to be extremely excited about this conversation. 00:00:19.864 --> 00:00:22.187 Today With us we have Peggy Sullivan. 00:00:22.187 --> 00:00:32.216 She is a busyness addict and author of the brand new book available now Beyond Busyness how to Achieve More by Doing Less. 00:00:32.216 --> 00:00:40.395 She is also a consultant and speaker, and we are going to talk all about how to achieve more by doing less today. 00:00:40.395 --> 00:00:42.508 Peggy, thank you so much for joining us. 00:00:43.700 --> 00:00:45.145 I'm excited to be here. 00:00:45.145 --> 00:00:47.170 New year, new possibilities. 00:00:48.982 --> 00:00:50.024 New year, new you. 00:00:50.024 --> 00:00:53.470 Everybody's saying that and it's funny, you know. 00:00:53.470 --> 00:00:57.204 I think the recording of this podcast is timed fairly appropriately. 00:00:57.204 --> 00:01:07.561 I have a feeling many of us are trying to find balance and that, in some way, shape or form, is some of the resolutions that we've made for 2025. 00:01:07.561 --> 00:01:32.391 Certainly, that's some of my goals, but I think so often we talk about that, we talk about, we throw around these terms like work-life balance, and we talk about terms like you know, focusing on what matters, but then we all fall back into these patterns of just doing what we're used to doing, the inertia of staying busy, and so that's why I think your book is really, really powerful and I want to dive into this topic today. 00:01:32.391 --> 00:01:44.614 So I want to start off with kind of the general question what motivated you to write a book about busyness and how to change our perspective on being busy? 00:01:47.510 --> 00:01:49.920 busyness and how to change our perspective on being busy. 00:01:49.920 --> 00:01:56.201 I started a nonprofit about 10 years ago. 00:01:56.201 --> 00:02:14.201 I worked in corporate America and worked for very large companies, had many, many successful jobs, traveled the world, made great money, and at the end of that I took care of my ailing father and I wanted to figure out, after he died, what I could do, what was my legacy, what was I going to do back to the world? 00:02:14.201 --> 00:02:22.004 And so I started off with market research, because I'm a research geek and that's where everything begins from my perspective. 00:02:22.004 --> 00:02:26.354 So I asked a couple of thousand people what's your biggest challenge? 00:02:26.354 --> 00:02:30.608 And it kept on coming back I don't have time for what's important. 00:02:30.608 --> 00:02:44.008 So it became very interesting to me that people were looking for a how-to guide, that they knew where they were at and what they were doing. 00:02:44.008 --> 00:02:46.789 Traditional time management wasn't working. 00:02:46.789 --> 00:03:01.332 And as I started writing the book, I started realizing that my whole life was a series of raise the bar, run hard, run fast, do more cha-ching success. 00:03:01.332 --> 00:03:06.435 Raise the bar, run hard, do fast, cha-ching, you know. 00:03:06.435 --> 00:03:10.405 And I wasn't really looking at the price tag that it would cost me. 00:03:10.405 --> 00:03:13.570 I wasn't looking at happiness. 00:03:13.570 --> 00:03:20.352 I wasn't looking at at you know, things that really lit me up the small things, the everyday things. 00:03:20.431 --> 00:03:31.616 So about 10 years ago I started off on this journey to really figure out how to not be so busy and how not to be a busyness addict. 00:03:31.616 --> 00:03:44.445 And I think the first thing is just getting right past the fact that busyness is an addiction, even though the American Medical Association does not acknowledge it. 00:03:44.445 --> 00:03:54.250 An addiction is anything that keeps you from doing what you should be doing, what you need to be doing, what you want to be doing, and for me it's an addiction. 00:03:54.250 --> 00:03:55.419 I can't help myself. 00:03:55.419 --> 00:04:00.729 You know it's like crossing a leg my left foot goes over my right every single time. 00:04:00.729 --> 00:04:08.500 I don't even know why I'm doing it single time. 00:04:08.500 --> 00:04:09.201 I don't even know why I'm doing it. 00:04:09.201 --> 00:04:10.705 So what I found out was that the addiction is complicated. 00:04:10.705 --> 00:04:30.665 But really there's a process that you can use to mitigate the addiction that works beautifully in the organizational environment as well as for individuals, and it's just as simple as one, two, three and you know, step number one in my busy busting process is about subtraction. 00:04:30.786 --> 00:04:36.074 We just don't spend too much time on low value activities. 00:04:36.074 --> 00:04:38.081 We just do. 00:04:38.081 --> 00:04:54.560 You know, whether it's looking at email for five minutes and that five minute turns into 10, or maybe we'll multi-casting, but it's actually taking us three times as much time, you know, or maybe we're letting interruptions in. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:59.072 The other day, my husband's like I was working on this budget, I'm so into it. 00:04:59.072 --> 00:05:00.701 My husband's like do you have a minute? 00:05:00.701 --> 00:05:04.571 And I knew, I knew that if I said yes, that would be the end. 00:05:04.571 --> 00:05:12.322 But sure enough, I said yes and that took me a half an hour to figure out what formula I was working on and where I left off. 00:05:12.322 --> 00:05:22.283 And so there are lots of reasons why we spend time on low value activities, but most of them are habitual. 00:05:22.283 --> 00:05:42.153 So I worked with dozens of HR people and some industrial psychologists to identify 21 areas in which we commit this type of self-sabotage, and I developed this tool that I call the busy browser and a test for all of these. 00:05:42.153 --> 00:05:50.526 And so, really, step one is, you know, getting rid of your low value activities so you have time for what's important. 00:05:51.187 --> 00:05:56.762 Step two in the process gets back to happiness and how. 00:05:56.762 --> 00:06:13.132 Happiness is a superpower, because when we're happy, our brain lights up, they send us endorphins and we actually focus more, we're clear-headed, we're healthier, we live longer, we're just in a better mood. 00:06:13.132 --> 00:06:17.649 So we tend to think oh, happiness is a definite thing. 00:06:17.649 --> 00:06:27.793 I'm going to be happy when I get the promotion, I'm going to be happy when I get married, when I have a baby, but we don't think about happiness as micro moments we create. 00:06:27.793 --> 00:06:45.829 So step two is about creating micro moments on frigging day long to just ignite your happiness muscle, and it could be something as small as I am a rock star, or it could be something that I do every day. 00:06:45.829 --> 00:06:58.343 At 11 am, I pop three pieces of dark chocolate into my mouth, I close my eyes and I moan with delight, and that is just a crazy thing I do, but it resets me. 00:06:59.144 --> 00:07:09.543 And then step three, which is probably the hardest stuff to do, is really using your values as a filter for every decision you make. 00:07:09.543 --> 00:07:14.315 So you really have to get in tune with one of your values. 00:07:14.315 --> 00:07:15.779 What's most important? 00:07:15.779 --> 00:07:38.963 And because I'm a research geek and I started talking a lot about values, every time I talk to a group asking people what are your values, they look at their neighbor or they Google that, and so I got curious about what are the values that equate to happiness and fulfillment, and what I learned is actually that there are four. 00:07:38.963 --> 00:07:49.492 One of them is energy management, then there's growth, then there's growth, then there's authenticity. 00:07:51.879 --> 00:07:58.350 And then the fourth value that it ignites is what did I say? 00:07:58.350 --> 00:08:00.274 Energy, human connection. 00:08:00.274 --> 00:08:02.343 How can I forget human connection? 00:08:02.343 --> 00:08:06.492 Because when we're busy we tend to put human connection on the back burner. 00:08:06.492 --> 00:08:16.115 And you know, like our Surgeon General said, you know there's loneliness epidemic. 00:08:16.115 --> 00:08:25.887 One in every 10 people are lonely on a weekly basis, one in every three on a daily basis, and it's equivalent to smoking 12 cigarettes a day. 00:08:25.887 --> 00:08:33.809 So you know, it's really for me as easy as one, two, three eliminate this low value stuff. 00:08:33.809 --> 00:08:40.549 Make sure you're doing things that make you happy, tiny little things that don't cost time or money. 00:08:40.549 --> 00:08:47.361 And then, three, get in touch with your values, really get in touch with them, and then keep yourself honest. 00:08:47.361 --> 00:08:53.374 I can go values report card and uh, you know I am not flowing. 00:08:53.374 --> 00:08:59.273 When there's a value I'm not flowing on, then I'll focus on it for the next couple of days. 00:09:00.480 --> 00:09:33.302 Yeah, yeah, I, I mean sound advice and I think, um, as I hear that it all makes so much sense, but just because it makes sense doesn't mean it's easy, right, or it sounds simple Like, yeah, I should connect with other people, but the actual practice is more difficult, and I think so many people struggle with this, and so I know that you did a significant amount of research as you were writing this book and just in general in your day-to-day practice. 00:09:33.302 --> 00:09:40.995 So can you share with us some of your findings and some of the research that you think would be particularly interesting for this group? 00:09:42.023 --> 00:09:56.333 I just crunched the numbers on last year's research, so this is all fresh out of the press, but 75% of individuals find self-care like giving a good night's sleep a challenge. 00:09:56.333 --> 00:10:02.734 79% of working individuals struggle to identify their priorities. 00:10:02.734 --> 00:10:09.484 80% of the population feels stressed, overwhelmed and struggles with mental health. 00:10:09.484 --> 00:10:14.594 79% have lost a sense of purpose. 00:10:14.594 --> 00:10:27.375 They're why 74% struggle to make meaningful connections and 83% of people-task is their core strategy to get their work done. 00:10:27.375 --> 00:10:31.105 So those are pretty startling. 00:10:31.205 --> 00:10:41.873 And I get back to this one, two, three, because you really need to eliminate low-value activities If you're going to find time for things that have more meaning. 00:10:41.873 --> 00:10:44.145 You have to eliminate the unimportant and you have to know what it is. 00:10:44.145 --> 00:10:50.405 You have to eliminate the unimportant and you have to know what it is and you have to set a plan. 00:10:50.405 --> 00:11:09.582 You know, I often, you know, tell a story about a friend of mine who was a single mother, lives down the street and raises three children all under 10 on her own and also is a CFO for a very large international company. 00:11:09.582 --> 00:11:13.410 So she's in the state of time poverty all the time. 00:11:13.410 --> 00:11:16.985 And she was like, oh my God, there's no time for self-care. 00:11:16.985 --> 00:11:19.269 And I'm like, okay, you know what? 00:11:19.269 --> 00:11:20.692 Let's start off small. 00:11:20.692 --> 00:11:23.205 Can you find 15 minutes a day? 00:11:23.205 --> 00:11:24.528 Just 15 minutes? 00:11:24.528 --> 00:11:25.769 Do one thing. 00:11:26.230 --> 00:11:33.392 So she started off by getting 15 minutes up earlier so that she could have some peace and quiet. 00:11:33.392 --> 00:11:36.684 She did that for a week and she found, okay, I have to do both. 00:11:36.684 --> 00:11:37.707 A micro step. 00:11:37.707 --> 00:11:44.265 And then the next week she decided wow, I'm going to take 15 minutes at work and I'm going to actually take a lunch. 00:11:44.265 --> 00:11:45.548 I always eat at my desk. 00:11:45.548 --> 00:11:48.613 I'm going to take a lunch and feel the sun on my face. 00:11:48.613 --> 00:11:49.313 She did that. 00:11:49.313 --> 00:11:51.825 She realized how much more productive she was. 00:11:51.825 --> 00:11:58.566 And then the thing that she did that helped her the most was the 15 minutes she did before she went to bed. 00:11:58.566 --> 00:12:05.669 Instead of doing her to-do list, which was her habit, she counted her blessings and what she was grateful for. 00:12:06.320 --> 00:12:11.700 So there are all these little micro steps that you can do that get you a little closer. 00:12:11.700 --> 00:12:13.788 And then you're like, yeah, this works. 00:12:13.788 --> 00:12:31.729 So I'm going to do it again, and for me it feels a lot better to be healthier, happier and productive than the alternative, that hamster wheel that I call busyness, and I fall back into it all the time. 00:12:31.729 --> 00:12:43.408 I mean, I get into time, I'm about to launch a frigging book and so there's lots to do and I stop myself and I remember the one, two, three. 00:12:43.408 --> 00:12:45.749 What's not important. 00:12:45.749 --> 00:12:54.493 You know, do these happiness rituals and you know what values are you ignoring and focus on them. 00:12:54.493 --> 00:13:00.952 And it really got to tell you anybody I've ever coached, every workshop I've ever walked into. 00:13:00.952 --> 00:13:05.756 Everybody says they're happier, healthier, but so much more important. 00:13:05.756 --> 00:13:11.952 They're more productive, they're getting more done in less time, and that's what really lights us up. 00:13:11.952 --> 00:13:21.826 Well, we can get good stuff done and feel good about it and aligns with who we are and what we want, and if a win for the organization, that's a win. 00:13:22.407 --> 00:13:24.590 Yeah, yeah, it's. 00:13:24.590 --> 00:13:45.168 You know I, first of all, I guess, maybe before I jump in, I have so many questions, yeah, and before we hit record, I mentioned like this is like so important for me, like this is literally like a book for me, um, and so you know I, I use that, but I use that excuse a lot I don't have time, I don't have time, I don't have time. 00:13:45.168 --> 00:13:56.480 I got CHRO, I got to do this stuff, I got three kids, I got all these things going on and trying to find five minutes to meditate, 20 minutes to meditate no way, right. 00:13:56.480 --> 00:13:57.842 But the reality is it's so. 00:13:57.842 --> 00:14:05.910 Much of this is about, you know, it's about prioritizing what actually matters and being aware of these patterns and habits. 00:14:05.910 --> 00:14:12.433 But I want to talk about the term that you used, because I like this term, this term time poverty. 00:14:12.433 --> 00:14:16.176 So what is time poverty and why do so many of us struggle with it? 00:14:17.821 --> 00:14:26.235 You know, I mean, normally, when we think about poverty, we think about, you know, lack of resources, you know, lack of wealth. 00:14:26.235 --> 00:14:37.037 But time is something that we all, 95% of people don't believe they have enough time in their day to get done what they want to get done. 00:14:37.037 --> 00:14:39.288 So that's a problem. 00:14:39.288 --> 00:14:53.972 And so, you know, just acknowledging that we're all in a state of time, poverty, we don't have enough time, and that busyness is a catalyst, because busyness, we're in a hustle society. 00:14:53.972 --> 00:14:58.447 You know, every time we get something down like that, a hit of adrenaline. 00:14:58.447 --> 00:15:02.254 You know, that doctor is so busy I can't see him for six months. 00:15:02.254 --> 00:15:03.364 He must be good. 00:15:03.845 --> 00:15:07.336 All of this mentality is like hustle, hustle, hustle. 00:15:07.336 --> 00:15:09.221 The more you hustle, the better you do. 00:15:09.221 --> 00:15:25.634 You know, and all the statistics show that it's not about the hustle, it's about focus and concentration, and so it's a very, it's a huge shift in our paradigm for people. 00:15:25.634 --> 00:15:27.503 I mean, we all love social media. 00:15:27.503 --> 00:15:28.485 It's so much fun. 00:15:28.485 --> 00:15:31.292 Go on social media, see what your friends are doing. 00:15:31.292 --> 00:15:37.481 Gosh, I looked last this morning and one of my best friends went to a bowling party and I started scrolling. 00:15:37.481 --> 00:15:40.067 It's like, oh my God, look who's there. 00:15:40.067 --> 00:15:45.791 And then, before I knew it, I'm like nope, this is a low value activity, this is not what I need to be doing today. 00:15:45.791 --> 00:15:52.852 Done, and it really becomes a discipline and it becomes a practice. 00:15:52.852 --> 00:16:02.894 And you know, that's why I do so many workshops with so many managers, so that it can, you know, they can learn how to do it. 00:16:02.894 --> 00:16:20.052 They all of a sudden see how well it's working and then they kind of really try to promote it within their teams and their groups, because what happens is productivity goes up all of a sudden. 00:16:20.240 --> 00:16:25.592 I mean, I tell this story about this guy I used to work with at Blue Cross and Blue Shield. 00:16:25.592 --> 00:16:52.427 His name was Randy and he was the biggest go-getter of all and he was CMO and he was always being promoted and he had this great, big, huge opportunity, so psyched to do it, going to definitely get it done, and time got away from him and he realized he had a deadline, so he pulled everybody in his, in his group, into a conference room and said we're gonna work until we get this sucker done. 00:16:52.427 --> 00:17:01.825 And it was the middle of winter in buffalo, new york, and about two hours later there's a knock on the door saying there's a snowstorm. 00:17:01.825 --> 00:17:11.530 You cannot see two inches in front of you there's a driving ban and Randy's like this is great, we're going to get this done, I'm so excited. 00:17:11.530 --> 00:17:29.246 But then he looked around the room and he realized how worried and exhausted his team was, and then he started to think about how important human connection was and he had this aha moment that we're not going to work on this project, we're just going to connect as human beings. 00:17:29.246 --> 00:17:33.534 I'm going to learn more about these people that are sitting across the table. 00:17:33.534 --> 00:17:47.137 So they all went around and they laughed and they cried and they told jokes and they hugged and, lo and behold, his departmental performance went up 11% in 31 days. 00:17:47.137 --> 00:17:51.106 11% their performance metrics. 00:17:51.106 --> 00:17:55.125 So you know, the metrics don't lie, the metrics tell the truth. 00:17:55.125 --> 00:17:59.351 And once you give it a whirl, you try, you see how the metrics work. 00:17:59.351 --> 00:18:02.173 It's like this makes sense. 00:18:02.334 --> 00:18:14.606 And I'm not a rocket scientist, I'm not the smartest of smart people, but for me, I need process, I need to like when I'm in the thick of it, I'm like okay, what can I eliminate? 00:18:14.606 --> 00:18:18.843 What happiness thing can I do right here, right now? 00:18:18.843 --> 00:18:26.569 You know, I just gave my first 10X and I got nervous and then I went right before I got up on scale. 00:18:26.569 --> 00:18:27.241 I was. 00:18:27.241 --> 00:18:28.686 I was crazy nervous. 00:18:28.686 --> 00:18:39.145 I got so nervous I I forgot my words and I freaked out and I thought to myself I gotta do something really fun right here, right now, get out of my own head. 00:18:39.145 --> 00:18:41.359 So I did a handstand. 00:18:41.359 --> 00:18:42.846 I love doing handstands. 00:18:42.846 --> 00:18:44.306 I love being upside down. 00:18:44.306 --> 00:18:45.665 I did a handstand. 00:18:45.665 --> 00:18:49.240 People are looking at me like what the heck is this woman doing? 00:18:50.284 --> 00:18:51.648 I get a morphine rush. 00:18:51.648 --> 00:18:53.425 All the nerves are gone. 00:18:53.425 --> 00:18:55.768 I walk up on stage and I have fun. 00:18:58.786 --> 00:18:59.146 I love it. 00:18:59.146 --> 00:19:25.548 Side note disclaimer to the podcast audience if you're not comfortable doing handstands, I don't recommend you do that on a regular basis, but Peggy is qualified evidently to me that we get into this hustle and bustle and you see these, you know like, you use social media. 00:19:25.548 --> 00:19:36.003 So it's a great example of this, right Like, you see these influencers and everybody looks like they're just going a million miles an hour and everybody's doing all these amazing things. 00:19:36.003 --> 00:19:48.791 But you get sucked in this trap of thinking that you have to be constantly on and running full, full speed and you forget to do the things that really matter to you. 00:19:48.791 --> 00:20:12.241 Right Like, connect with you, know you're, you're the people that you care about in your life, or you know, or, or protect your, your, your energy, or take care of yourself, or you know, go to the gym or have five minutes of peace and quiet, and so I think it's such a valuable framework and so easy for us to lose sight of. 00:20:12.241 --> 00:20:16.185 So you know, the statistics are startling. 00:20:16.185 --> 00:20:19.750 I mean, you know, what I heard is we're struggling. 00:20:19.750 --> 00:20:29.846 We are struggling as a society, as employees, and I also like. 00:20:29.846 --> 00:20:41.634 For me, this just makes perfect logical sense, and I've gone through a lot in my personal life, kind of an awakening that, hey, this busyness isn't the right thing for me. 00:20:41.634 --> 00:20:50.433 All the time it ruined my personal relationships and I was lonely as I could possibly be. 00:20:53.501 --> 00:21:01.154 And I'm curious what recommendations would you have for us who are in an HR profession? 00:21:01.154 --> 00:21:13.894 Our job is to help our companies and I think what I'm struggling with is I can't go to my company and be like everybody's got to stop working too much. 00:21:13.894 --> 00:21:19.671 We have, since the beginning of our careers, we've been coached to stay productive. 00:21:19.671 --> 00:21:22.846 You've got to stay focused all the time. 00:21:22.846 --> 00:21:24.641 Every minute's got to be accounted for, you know. 00:21:24.641 --> 00:21:26.587 You got to make sure that people are people. 00:21:26.587 --> 00:21:30.778 But what you're saying is essentially that that's not right. 00:21:30.778 --> 00:21:39.907 Right, that being too busy or being, you know, being so focused on filling the time actually makes us less productive. 00:21:39.907 --> 00:21:42.047 So what advice do you have for us that are? 00:21:42.047 --> 00:21:48.295 Maybe we understand this topic, it makes sense to us, but we've got to like convince others to be thinking in these terms. 00:21:48.295 --> 00:21:48.900 What would you tell us? 00:21:50.204 --> 00:21:58.907 What I love to do is I love to walk into a company and say take this busy barometer, find out what your employees are doing. 00:21:58.907 --> 00:22:02.669 What's the corporate culture, what are your low value activities? 00:22:02.669 --> 00:22:06.971 Let's run a workshop and let's eliminate those, a couple of things. 00:22:06.971 --> 00:22:15.827 And hey, you know, by the way, can we throw in a little bit about happiness, rituals and what I call values vibing? 00:22:15.827 --> 00:22:23.061 And they always say yes, so I go in there and we do this, and then I'm like at the end okay, so how do you measure success here? 00:22:23.061 --> 00:22:25.827 You know, in your department, what are your metrics? 00:22:25.827 --> 00:22:32.230 And we'll share the metrics and then I'll go back in a month or two and say, okay, how do your metrics look? 00:22:32.230 --> 00:22:34.161 And they'll be like crap. 00:22:34.161 --> 00:22:36.202 My metrics have improved. 00:22:36.584 --> 00:22:38.786 I'm like statistics don't lie. 00:22:38.786 --> 00:22:50.970 So you know, if people will just give me a little bit of time and kind of try something a little out there, and oh, by the way, we're going to have a ton of fun. 00:22:50.970 --> 00:23:03.311 Everybody in that room is going to be laughing and enjoying themselves and the paradigm of work and play and fun, it's just all. 00:23:03.311 --> 00:23:09.631 The boundaries are going to be crossed because this is your life and you're going to spend eight, nine, ten hours. 00:23:09.631 --> 00:23:13.585 You're going to be having fun and you'd better enjoy it, um. 00:23:13.585 --> 00:23:19.153 So I always say to people take the busy barometer. 00:23:19.153 --> 00:23:27.288 Um, and I give it to people free, but I don't give them all the answers on how to eliminate their busyness. 00:23:27.288 --> 00:23:43.702 But you know it starts with data and once you see that you are not, you are like everybody else and you know I go into corporations some of the improvement stats, they're startling, they're really startling, yeah. 00:23:44.463 --> 00:23:47.970 Yeah, yeah, I think it's. 00:23:47.970 --> 00:23:51.919 I know you used the term addiction earlier. 00:23:51.919 --> 00:23:55.190 It's almost a disease. 00:23:55.873 --> 00:24:39.829 As I see it, what I've observed, certainly and I've worked in the Fortune 500 organization actually a very similar kind of story to yours, organizations, similar, actually, very similar kind of story to yours, um, but, um, you know, you see these people and they it's almost, they almost look sick, right, they're, they're, they're sick with worry, they're, they're sick with, like, like, staying focused, like as an hr person, I I can, honestly, the minute I walk into a room, usually people who are, like, struggling with this get really nervous because they think I'm there to like audit how busy they are or audit productivity or judge them for how hard they appear to be working. 00:24:39.829 --> 00:24:43.155 But it's not really, it's like it's not helpful. 00:24:43.155 --> 00:25:09.712 And I you know my personal opinion and experience is as an HR professional or a senior leader in general to get people to slow down a little bit can actually help them make significantly better decisions and just get them to relax a little bit, like, hey, let's think about it. 00:25:09.712 --> 00:25:10.556 I love humor. 00:25:10.825 --> 00:25:14.674 I love to tell funny little stories to people, make them laugh. 00:25:14.955 --> 00:25:15.396 I love that. 00:25:16.288 --> 00:25:18.140 And kind of illustrate the point. 00:25:18.140 --> 00:25:21.315 I mean, I had a wake-up call one time. 00:25:21.315 --> 00:25:35.634 You know, I was working for a healthcare company in the Medicare field and they had changed a lot of regulations and I needed to redo absolutely everything I've been working on for the last 30 days and get it done in two weeks. 00:25:35.634 --> 00:25:37.866 So it was like holy cow. 00:25:37.866 --> 00:25:41.298 This is a really hard, hard, hard thing, right? 00:25:41.298 --> 00:25:43.103 So I'm working all the time. 00:25:43.103 --> 00:25:44.346 I'm a single mother. 00:25:44.346 --> 00:25:47.391 I come home from work and I am ravenous. 00:25:47.391 --> 00:25:48.772 I haven't eaten. 00:25:48.772 --> 00:26:04.596 So I go into the cupboard and find anything to eat and I find this stale bag of pistachio nuts and I chop them down and I feel this pulling on my leg and I look down as my cat dazzles, saying I haven't eaten in a couple hours either. 00:26:04.596 --> 00:26:16.409 So I throw him some kibbles and I go lie on the couch and I wake up and I hear this cat noise and I look up and it's my cat throwing up pistachio nuts. 00:26:16.409 --> 00:26:19.711 And I look down and I realize I just ate cat food for dinner. 00:26:20.385 --> 00:26:22.192 Oh no, I didn't even realize that. 00:26:22.753 --> 00:26:32.054 Oh, you know it's crazy the things that we do, because we're in this rainfall, this mindless haze. 00:26:32.054 --> 00:26:34.693 I mean, how many times have you forgotten where your car is? 00:26:34.693 --> 00:26:39.616 How many times have you forgotten where your glasses are, where your keys are? 00:26:39.616 --> 00:26:44.474 I lose my keys all the time and it's just a reminder that you're not focused. 00:26:44.474 --> 00:26:46.023 You know you need to be focused. 00:26:46.023 --> 00:26:56.270 So I think people need to begin to not feel shame and guilt about their busyness because, hey, it's a hustle society, it's what we're taught. 00:26:56.751 --> 00:27:03.654 Busyness is good, it's a status symbol, and really what we need is the tools. 00:27:03.654 --> 00:27:12.017 And your busyness is probably different than somebody else's busyness and that's why there isn't a one size fits all. 00:27:12.017 --> 00:27:28.626 That's why I really believe we roll up our sleeves and we find out what you're over the top busy on, make you aware of it, and then one micro step, one tiny little change, like my friend did with 15 minutes. 00:27:28.626 --> 00:27:39.271 She had no time for self-care and then you know, at the end of four months she's spending 45 minutes a day on herself, which was like unimaginable to her. 00:27:39.271 --> 00:27:44.159 But she's healthier, she's happier, and then she's like okay. 00:27:44.159 --> 00:27:51.425 Well, you know, she did that about six months ago and she's like okay, now I'm going to go for an hour a day for me, and what are we gonna do? 00:27:51.425 --> 00:27:53.590 Fun with that extra 15 minutes. 00:27:53.590 --> 00:28:01.773 And you start to see how magical it is and you're like this, this stuff, it's like fairy dust, it's like magic dust. 00:28:01.894 --> 00:28:12.309 It just you'll do it, it works, and then you'll do it again absolutely, and I think you know, I, I, you know, I I've had, I haven't eaten cat food. 00:28:12.309 --> 00:28:13.671 I'm going to put that out there. 00:28:13.671 --> 00:28:18.232 That's thankfully, but I don't have cats, so I haven't had the opportunity to eat cat. 00:28:18.232 --> 00:28:49.472 Of the more humanistic jobs, like we're paid to think and we're paid to help people, and if we aren't helping ourselves and we're not like having good decision-making capability, we're not taking care of, like our ability to connect, reflect, you know, have a little bit of fun. 00:28:49.472 --> 00:28:55.194 Oh my gosh, how dare us, you know, how dare we talk about having fun at work, like, like, what are we doing? 00:28:55.194 --> 00:28:55.916 You know what I mean. 00:28:55.916 --> 00:28:58.190 Like, like, like, what would you say you do here? 00:28:58.190 --> 00:29:08.955 Yeah, and, and so I, just, I, I love the, I, I love the framework, I love the, I love that you put this into tools and that it's not overwhelming, right, you know? 00:29:08.955 --> 00:29:29.644 Because, to go back to our conversation on time poverty, what you're really talking about just carving out a little bit, right, and starting to change habits, and that's really where, like all the research, that's where the change actually happens, right, it's these little kind of micro things that we do that eventually add up to a big change over time, right? 00:29:29.644 --> 00:29:35.178 And so one last call again to the listeners there. 00:29:35.265 --> 00:29:36.730 The book is available now. 00:29:36.730 --> 00:29:40.815 Go out, click into the podcast show notes. 00:29:40.815 --> 00:29:45.696 The book again is Beyond Busyness how to Achieve More by Doing Less. 00:29:45.696 --> 00:29:49.652 With that, we're going to shift into the Rebel HR flash round. 00:29:49.652 --> 00:29:50.053 Are you ready? 00:29:52.076 --> 00:29:52.416 Got it. 00:29:53.157 --> 00:29:53.880 All right, perfect. 00:29:53.880 --> 00:29:56.891 Question number one when do we need to rebel? 00:29:59.726 --> 00:30:02.836 Oh, I color outside the lines all the time. 00:30:02.836 --> 00:30:12.836 I think it's just really a fun thing to do, so I rebel in any way that feels comfortable for me. 00:30:12.836 --> 00:30:15.186 You know I'll eat ice cream for dinner. 00:30:15.186 --> 00:30:19.516 You know I'll be the one who stops drinking for three years. 00:30:19.516 --> 00:30:23.775 I, I, I just like doing new and different things and seeing how they feel. 00:30:23.775 --> 00:30:31.817 So you know, to me, coloring outside the lines is what makes my blood boil, which is a good thing. 00:30:33.786 --> 00:30:34.650 Well, I love it. 00:30:34.650 --> 00:30:35.353 I'm the same way. 00:30:35.353 --> 00:30:37.112 I'm like every once in a while I just get bored. 00:30:37.112 --> 00:30:39.534 I'm like I'm just going to try this weird random diet. 00:30:39.534 --> 00:30:40.851 Like I went vegetarian for a year. 00:30:40.851 --> 00:30:46.929 I'm like I'm just going to see if I can do it and see what it does, and then I stopped because I'm like okay, I'm bored with this now. 00:30:46.929 --> 00:30:51.678 So I think we're wired similarly in that regard. 00:30:55.224 --> 00:30:59.984 Question number two who should we be listening to? 00:30:59.984 --> 00:31:09.333 Well, I'm a big Mel Robbins fan, and she said a couple of things over the years that have stuck with me. 00:31:09.333 --> 00:31:14.291 And one of the things that she says is nobody's coming here to save you, you need to save yourself. 00:31:14.291 --> 00:31:29.130 And she said something on the Maria Shriver podcast I think it was two weeks ago that resonated with me so much and it was like I'm finally letting myself feel a sense of pride. 00:31:29.130 --> 00:31:32.594 I'm thinking to myself you're freaking, mel Robbins. 00:31:32.594 --> 00:31:33.816 What You're not proud. 00:31:33.816 --> 00:31:37.361 I mean, like you've been on Oprah, you've done all these. 00:31:37.361 --> 00:31:38.665 How can you? 00:31:38.665 --> 00:31:46.640 And it just made me realize that you know, the self-sabotage that we all do to ourselves is exactly that. 00:31:46.640 --> 00:31:52.894 So I'm a big Mel Robbins fan and oh yeah, by the way, she endorsed my book. 00:31:52.894 --> 00:31:59.244 I was the person that ran out in the middle of the street literally when I got her endorsement. 00:31:59.244 --> 00:32:01.489 It was like at one in the morning. 00:32:01.489 --> 00:32:06.078 And I'm like Mel, my blank Robbins, just endorsed my book. 00:32:07.488 --> 00:32:11.542 And like somebody turns on the lights and comes outside like what the heck is going on? 00:32:11.542 --> 00:32:14.569 And something on fire and I'm like, oh no, no. 00:32:14.569 --> 00:32:17.696 Mel robbins just endorsed my book I love it. 00:32:18.258 --> 00:32:20.109 I love it, yeah, and I, I'm a, I also. 00:32:20.109 --> 00:32:36.757 I follow mel robbins as well and just absolutely, you know wonderful content, yeah, and it's great, great point like, yeah, if mel robbins struggles with imposter syndrome from time to time or feeling accomplished, then my gosh, what a little old me you know doing. 00:32:36.757 --> 00:32:43.269 But I think, yeah, and congratulations, by the way, on that endorsement, that's amazing. 00:32:43.269 --> 00:32:53.256 And yeah, just really appreciate the time that you spent with us here, peggy, and appreciate you putting this content out there. 00:32:53.256 --> 00:33:00.939 Last question how can our listeners get their hands on the book and how can they connect with you to learn more about the work that you do? 00:33:02.365 --> 00:33:09.599 Yeah, I mean they can connect with me on LinkedIn or go right to my website, peggysullivanspeakercom. 00:33:09.599 --> 00:33:17.737 I love meeting new people, I love helping people, I love shifting the paradigm and making people look good. 00:33:17.737 --> 00:33:23.570 So if you give me a chance, I think you'll find that together we could do pretty amazing things. 00:33:23.570 --> 00:33:25.394 And it's about we. 00:33:25.394 --> 00:33:26.897 It's not the power of me. 00:33:26.897 --> 00:33:32.987 It's about igniting the possibility within ourselves, our teams, everybody around us. 00:33:34.670 --> 00:33:35.191 Absolutely. 00:33:35.191 --> 00:33:37.294 Couldn't agree more. 00:33:37.294 --> 00:33:39.858 Open up your podcast players. 00:33:39.858 --> 00:33:41.949 We will have all of those links in the show notes. 00:33:41.949 --> 00:33:46.057 Get your hands on the book and connect with Peggy Peggy. 00:33:46.057 --> 00:33:51.857 Thank you so much for joining me here today and thank you for the work that you do. 00:33:52.464 --> 00:33:53.811 You are quite welcome. 00:33:55.826 --> 00:33:59.036 All right, that does it for the Rebel HR podcast. 00:33:59.036 --> 00:34:01.011 Big thank you to our guests. 00:34:01.011 --> 00:34:13.264 Follow us on Facebook at Rebel HR podcast, twitter at Rebel HR guy, or see our website at RebelHumanResourcescom at RebelHRGuy, or see our website at RebelHumanResourcescom. 00:34:13.264 --> 00:34:19.998 The views and opinions expressed by Rebel HR Podcast are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any of the organizations that we represent. 00:34:19.998 --> 00:34:23.572 No animals were harmed during the filming of this podcast. 00:34:25.536 --> 00:34:25.858 Baby.