[00:01] Katie: Welcome to the Focus B show where Katie Stoddart high performance coach interviews experts around the world in performance and mindfulness. Now here's your host. Katie.

[00:31] Katie: Welcome to a brand new episode of The focusBY Show. Today I'm here with Katie Jordan. Katie is an international public speaker and consultant, a social media marketing expert, and has been featured in Forbes. But more than anything else, Katie is a natural connector. Thank you so much for joining the show today, Katie.

[00:53] Cadi: Thank you so much for having me. Katie.

[00:56] Katie: Yes, our names are so similar, it's confusing as a natural connector. I'm wondering, what do you feel that our connections impact our performance so how do you feel that our social connections impact our performance in business and in life?

[01:16] Cadi: Oh, absolutely. I think that our connections are very impactful in business and in life because when we're not connected in the right places for us specifically, then our performance really tanks, actually. But when we are connected to the right people, the right resources, then we can really flourish.

[01:40] Katie: Yes, I would totally agree with you on that. Apart from anything else, I think that they give us a lot of energy. And what do you recommend to people that maybe, especially now in the current times, are struggling with maybe online connections in comparison with face to Face, for.

[01:56] Cadi: Instance, in leveraging the power of connection for online in this season and offline, it's really challenging depending on where someone's at. And so what I recommend is to just really be careful. You get to curate your feed when you're online, you get to choose who to follow. You have that power so.

[02:21] Katie: You could.

[02:22] Cadi: Conmari your feed if you wanted to. I just saw that from Ariana Huffington the other day on my LinkedIn feed. Just like unfollow those that are not serving your purpose, not sharing the quality content that you want, and just really be mindful. You have to be very mindful of who you're following online and what content you're taking in.

[02:45] Katie: Absolutely. I love what you just said about being mindful. In general, it's super important, but also when we're on social media to not get sucked up into everything everyone is saying and to actually choose which information we choose to see. I was just listening this morning to one of the podcast episodes by Jay Shetty on purpose, and he mentions how important it is to pay attention to what we read and what we see and who we speak to.

[03:11] Cadi: Really important. It's really important that we're not just reading things online as well. It's important that we're being mindful of what books we choose. And it's important to be choosing books, I believe too, choosing something that isn't an online medium.

[03:26] Katie: And what sort of social media do you prefer to use? I know we're both connected on LinkedIn and we're very active on LinkedIn. Do you use other forms of social media? Which one do you enjoy most?

[03:36] Cadi: I actually enjoy Twitter for connecting, I always have. It's how I've grown my business organically with very little paid media over the years. Paid advertising and LinkedIn is also a favorite of mine. I've had my business for twelve years now and so being established in that way allows for more dark social is what we call it. And just leveraging the power of connections in that way without needing to spread yourself too thin across various platforms. I also do recommend I love Facebook groups and being choosy about which ones you're in and how you spend your time there as well. Really that allows for a little bit more intimate connection depending on the size of the group and it allows you to have that social sharing as well. That social sharing and conversations that matter that you might not be having in real life, especially in this season.

[04:33] Katie: That's true. That's a really good .1 of the first things that came to my mind when I saw you were connectopreneur. I love that term, I'd never seen it before. One of the first things that crossed my mind was how does Katie manage her time and her performance? Because being on social media and talking to everyone and connecting people is great fun but it's also really time consuming. So I'm curious, how do you manage to juggle all of this?

[05:01] Cadi: Well for me I actually did really pare down over the last couple of years. I really did pare down what platforms that I'm on. I haven't leveraged or used my business page. I have been in process of a rebrand as well so I haven't used my Facebook business page or my Instagram in quite some time. I do peek in on Instagram still and of course recommend it for clients. But as far as time management goes, it's really about time blocking. It's also about when I'm feeling like I'm leveraging the power of connections. I'm a very divergent thinker. Some people might say it's a little bit loopy, but I definitely am a divergent thinker. And so even just after having our conversation today, later I might have something come to mind where I say oh, Katie really needs to meet this person and that could be via voice clip even on LinkedIn because the voice is faster than typing out a message. So even just leveraging the tools in that way. Also managing my time on social media. So I work with Lately which is an AI powered social media dashboard tool and we've just relaunched the website over there and it's a fantastic tool for really pulling everything in together all in one place and being able to schedule your social media out and create the content for you from podcasts and webinars like this. And so that really does help with saving time.

[06:34] Katie: Nice, that's really good. Having fantastic tools can help. And also time blocking. I'm also curious when you do your time blocking, do you have a specific objective in mind because you said you were quite a divergent thinker so I know that when we're sort of more creative, we don't always necessarily have a fixed objective in mind.

[06:54] Cadi: It's true. Right now I have one child home doing remote learning, so it's a little bit different for me when they're both at school. I can have more of a fixed objective. I try not to beat myself up and be gentle to myself in this season. And so usually I try to pick like the top three things that need to be done and then move on to the rest. As far as time blocking goes, I also kind of build in some spaces for brain breaks, so to speak. Try to build in even if it's just five or ten minutes, to make sure I get that cup of water or another cup of coffee if I need it. So I try to just kind of build that into the day. And I also, for right now too, having worked from home for twelve years or wherever we get to travel. What I do also do is not beat myself up if I have a chunk of the day that requires something else of me, which is also flexibility as an entrepreneur. But also maybe I spend an hour in the evening working on something.

[08:01] Katie: That's exactly the sort of thing I do. I feel that having that flexibility is part of the advantages of being an entrepreneur and it's almost like having an agreement with yourself, okay, I'll take this afternoon off to do whatever it is that needs to be done and therefore I'll catch up on the rest the next morning, evening, whenever. It's the sort of flexibility that some people in a fixed employees job don't always understand, but I can totally see that. I also loved what you said about taking breaks. I think that's really important. Aside from drinking water and coffee, is there any other sort of energizing practices that you do sometimes during breaks?

[08:40] Cadi: Well, movement breaks, so I might walk the dog, for example, depending on the weather.

[08:49] Katie: Nice. That makes sense. I'm also curious, you mentioned when you wrote to me about your Led to listen framework. Could you tell us a bit about this? You don't have to cover it all, but I'm curious, what is it that it entails?

[09:04] Cadi: Well, it's just kind of been built out over this last season for me, our family had some health challenges and I had to take a step back from my own marketing while taking care of my family and just servicing my clients. And so that really led to the Led to Listen framework, which is just about where are you led to listen in your life and business. Because sometimes when something's out whack in another spot that affects your business, or if something's not in right order in your business, it can affect your stressors with your family life or personal life with friends and things like that. So it's really a formulation of just figuring out where things fall into place and bringing things into right order that makes sense.

[09:48] Katie: Having that right order can help. Could you tell us a little bit more how you do this more precisely?

[09:55] Cadi: I do this more precisely through I have systematic questions that I ask during our intake session and really what I do is I start with a discovery session just to see where people are at and be able to pull those pieces out. Often that can lead to pulling out other revenue streams for people as well in their business and can help kind of shift the path of where they're going. So it's actually quite exciting to see and I've done quite a few sessions in the last month, I would say since Christmas that are very specific to that. So it's really exciting to see people and just the light bulb go off and get excited about being able to pull some other parts of their business out for revenue streams and so they can help and service more people too and be of service.

[10:44] Katie: That's amazing. I'm wondering, out of all the people you connected with, who was one of your greatest inspiration in the past year? Because I know that you're such a connectorpreneur, you connect with so many different people, you must learn and see so many fascinating things. I'm wondering is there one person that can be more than one that sort of strikes you as having had a tremendous impact on your life in the last year?

[11:12] Cadi: In the last year specifically? I have a couple, actually, I have a couple for sure, I have to mention brian Kramer is a longtime friend and mentor really. But in this past season, he too has been making a shift far before the pandemic. And it's just been really encouraging to see the work that he's been doing shifting from being I mean, he's still a marketing master as far as I'm concerned, but he's really shifted into that place of leadership and coaching in what he does. And so that's been a huge, tremendous blessing to just kind of follow along his journey and have points of connection with him in various groups. And some of the calls that we've got to have this past year. So sending Brian a virtual hug and as well in this season, pedro Adeo is in California and his movement is called the 100 X Movement. He's done a lot of work, he's done a challenge framework which is a really big boost for business. So I myself have been developing my challenge and I've also been helping some of my clients develop challenges as well that are just a really great way for connecting in business and serving people in a way that helps them take actionable steps depending what your challenge format is and what your topic of your challenge is. So Pedro has been hugely inspirational. And the community that he's created is also about leveraging the power of connection as well. So I've met some amazing people in 2020, and I actually don't have a lot of bad stuff to say about 2020 other than it has been amazing. Like, I've been truly blessed.

[12:57] Katie: That's amazing. I'd love to hear a bit more about this challenge. I'm all about actionable steps. I think it's so important to actually take action in your life, to take ownership and responsibility. Obviously, as a coach, we all use the same vocabulary. I remember once I was in a meetup talking and he said, oh, I knew you were a coach. So I don't know. I think we all end up using terms like take responsibility and ownership for your life, but still, it's important and take actionable steps and be proactive. Also, Stephen Covey first habit of highly effective people. All these things are important. Anyway, to come back to what you were saying, I'd love to hear a bit more about what type of challenges, for example?

[13:40] Cadi: Well, for example, it could be around marketing and taking actionable steps in your business. So the challenge framework really is about right now. Pedro is doing a 31 Days of Wisdom challenge. It is based on a biblical study of proverbs. And that's quite amazing and remarkable because it ties into so many pieces in life right now, especially and where's our source of wisdom coming from. And then a marketing challenge might be a five or a ten day challenge with actionable steps in the group that you just have people take action. A big part of the taking action is having people go live after the video of the day that you do in the group and just share your actionable takeaways. And so there's more accountability around that framework. Some people choose not to go live, but I recommend it because it puts yourself out there and depending on the size of your group and how you're doing that. So the idea with the challenge format, too, is at the end. I mean, you could just do it as a service, obviously, you could use it to grow your list, but obviously towards the middle or end of the challenge, depending how long it is, then you can lead that into some other offer of your work that you have. So it's just a very effective framework. I've participated in other colleagues'challenges over this past year and it's just been really amazing to see how it works. And it is really because of that power of connection.

[15:16] Katie: It's really well put, and I think I've seen that several times with Tony Robbins. Tony Robbins five day challenge, for instance.

[15:24] Cadi: And they also worked with Tony Robbins, worked with Murray Forleo and Brenda Bouchard.

[15:30] Katie: Well, that's amazing. That's really cool.

[15:31] Cadi: Yeah, it's really taken off. The challenge framework is really taken off.

[15:35] Katie: They're all doing it. So for any coach or consultant out there, follow the challenge framework, because if they're all doing it, then clearly it's something. There's a lot of value in there. So that's fantastic. I like to come back to our earlier topic around productivity. So to come back at how you manage your time, because I feel that productivity is not the only one, but is an essential pillar of a high performance and high performance business. And I'm wondering what sort of productivity challenges have you had? So you mentioned already a few techniques you had, such as time slots and taking breaks. But what sort of challenges have you had as you've grown your business?

[16:12] Cadi: I think challenges with productivity have been to know when, because of the nature of my business, I don't need a staff person, really. And that's kind of why I created my business. But I do believe in outsourcing what you need to, and so that's sometimes been a challenge, is knowing when to have a contractor do ABC. For me, specifically, it's quite funny because you can help your client understand that sometimes more than yourself. Right. So I just know that when I free up my time, then things go a lot smoother. And time is actually my love language. I don't know if you've heard of that book by Gary Chapman, but time is huge for me. I enjoy spending time with people like yourself, even having these conversations that makes my heart happy before gifts or money. And of course I like money and I'm a business owner and I want money. But time is actually time is just my biggest thing. I love spending time as far as productivity goes, though. Yeah, definitely. Just being mindful and knowing what to outsource and when. And I do have regular contractors that I work with for certain things.

[17:34] Katie: That's amazing. It sounds like you're on top of everything. I love what you said about outsourcing and also what you mentioned right now about time in some ways being more valuable to you than money. And the five languages of love that include for those that are listening and that don't know, there's touching, as in like feeling, touching, hugging, oxytocin. Oxytocin. There's quality time, which I'm like you KD. I really enjoy quality time. There's also language of appreciation. So telling people how we feel about them, that's also extremely valuable. Then there's acts of services. So you're helping people in different ways, and that's another way of expressing your love or your care. And I've forgotten one. So there's touching language, quality time, gifts and gifts. Yes. Interesting. The one I forget, obviously it's not my highest, and I'm with you. Quality time for me is the highest way of proving love, friendship and appreciation for someone. So those are the five languages of love for those of you who are listening, a brief note on this, because it is important that people give and receive in different ways. And so it's important in a relationship to check what is their language of love. It's for them it's gifts and if for you it's quality time then you need to find a compromise. Anyway, it was just a brief note because there are entire relationships that are saved simply on realizing that they have different ways of communicating their love. So I just thought it was important to mention it totally, absolutely nice. So you sound to be totally on top of things in terms of productivity. So how about energy levels? Because that's another pillar that I love in terms of high performance, how do you manage your energy throughout the day?

[19:23] Cadi: Well, that's why I try to be mindful of building in those little breaks because I find when I get the rest then I am more productive. In this season it is hard to know if I'm working away, if I might be interrupted by a remote learner in their school day. So things like that can be like ping pong balls coming at you and then sometimes it's hard to well, we know scientifically that if you are interrupted in some way it's hard to get your focus back and it takes a little longer to get back on track. So those are things that can obviously be a struggle and a challenge as well. But yeah, building in those breaks and exercise is key. On the days I don't get as much, that doesn't help very much either. Everybody has blurred days but if I don't build those in then I burn out because my brain is also a little faster than normal too. Then I am trying to watch out for that kind of thing and I think many entrepreneurs are wired that way so I really do try to at least take one day on the weekend that is really for nothing. I know recently you took a break and stayed offline over the holidays and such, and I tried to do some of that as well, so I definitely got a rest. But on the weekends, really also trying to just work that in and not even be on there for social purposes versus work, but just leave the computer off for one of those days.

[20:58] Katie: Specifically yes, I love the digital detox way of functioning. I think it's healthy to take a break. We're not supposed to be sitting and on screens all day. Also love what you mentioned about exercising and also what you said earlier about how if we're interrupted it breaks our focus and then it's harder to regain our focus as people who are listening probably know. My brand is the Focus B. I'm super passionate about focus and one of the reasons is because I firmly believe that our focus is a huge part of what contributes to our greatest results in life. And like Tony Robbins says, where focus goes, energy flows and you want your energy to flow in a certain direction. So that's a wonderful way of putting it. Just a quick question. I'm really curious. When you mentioned your exercise, what sort of time of day do you tend to exercise?

[21:49] Cadi: Do you know what? It really because of the kids and the way that learning is set up for our family right now, at least that can be a challenge. So sometimes I do that first thing in the morning. Sometimes it ends up being later in the day. The morning or the middle of the day are definitely better for me because of that energy boost that you get. Some people can exercise at night and still go to bed and have a wonderful sleep. If I exercise at night, I am so energized I could stay up for quite a few more hours. So I would get a lot done if I want to utilize that time well because it has happened. But definitely in the morning or even as a break in the middle of the day is far more helpful for me and I think that varies for everyone too. That kind of connects me to you may know him or be connected or I've possibly connected you already. But Mike Vardy is a good friend of mine as well. He's the Productivityist and some of his work I followed for years now because we live in the same province and have spoken at some of the same events as well as shifting focus and keeping focus with Mirael's book Indistractable that came out last year as well. So really a lot of great information in there that, again, I'm not perfect, but just pulling in the pieces that you're learning from really good resources like that.

[23:11] Katie: Absolutely. Yes, my brother, you connected us. Thank you for that. You also connected me with Brian Kammer and with Kate from lately. So several people that you mentioned in today's episode and the important point that you also mentioned about NIA Al's book Indistractable that's also brilliant in terms of managing our time. I think a lot of the time we actually struggle with implementation more than with theoretical knowledge. Most of us know we need to take breaks or sleep or exercise. But it's great to see that you're putting it in practice, because a lot of what I'm trying to convey with this podcast is to show that people like yourself are exercising, are taking breaks, are doing all of these things so that it works and they feel good and they're getting results. Because sometimes for some people, it seems counterproductive to take breaks. I know that a lot of people are reluctant to this, so I'm always sort of hammering and take breaks. You need it for your focus. You can't work nonstop. So it's great to see that you're doing this.

[24:11] Cadi: Yes, absolutely. Thank you. And yes, that is a key phrase that Brian Kramer actually uses a lot is slow down to speed.

[24:21] Katie: Nice, nice. Wonderfully put. We're approaching the end of the episode already. Time has just flown by. Is there anything regarding the different topics we mentioned around high performance or connecting people or social media. We've touched on a lot of different topics today. Is there anything that you would like to add or share as a concluding note?

[24:44] Cadi: I think it really just comes down to managing your time and what works for you. And it is about taking the time to be mindful and you can kind of pull from these different topics and areas that we've talked about today and take even just one of those areas and take one of them and just see what is something you can work on. And what's one thing that you can action today after listening to this episode? What's one thing you can do today?

[25:19] Katie: Amazing. I love this direct implementation. I should finish all my episodes with this. What one key takeaway that you could do about today? Fantastic. Thank you so much for being here, Katie. Where can people find you?

[25:31] Cadi: They can find me@katyjordan.com. It's Cadijordan.com. And also on all those socials I'm just my name.

[25:41] Katie: Wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing all of this. And thank you for joining the show today, Katie. It was a real pleasure to have you here.

[25:47] Cadi: Thank you very much for having me. It a pleasure to be here. Thank you.

[25:53] Katie: Thank you for listening to the Focus B show. We would love to hear your feedback. Let us know in a review how this episode inspired you. Keep buzzing.