Unlocking Your Productivity Mindset with Emily Guerra

#265 - In this episode of Organized Chaos, I’m joined by my guest Emily Guerra, a productivity life coach for self-employed women. Emily helps women overcome mindset barriers so they can effectively boost their productivity and reach their fullest potential. Through her blogs (and freebies!), 1-1 coaching, online course, and public speaking, Emily unites lessons she's learned from therapy with the trials and errors of working for herself from home to offer realistic and sustainable ways to boost both productivity and a positive frame of mind. 

Today, we explore the intersection of productivity and mindset, emphasizing the importance of finding motivation, maintaining focus, and achieving flow. Emily shares her journey from event planning to becoming a productivity coach, highlighting the significance of mindset shifts and visualization in overcoming challenges. We discuss the mental load often faced by busy moms and entrepreneurs, offering practical advice on delegation and self-care. Together, we emphasize the power of setting a vision for the future and rekindling a sense of childlike curiosity. Emily's infectious energy and insightful tips make this conversation both enlightening and inspiring. 

To connect with Emily and learn more about her work, visit theproductivityflow.com or find her on social media platforms @theproductivityflow.

Connect with Teresa on: Instagram or Podcast Website

Transcript

Teresa Hildebrand 0:09

Hey, my name is Teresa Hildebrand and this is Organized Chaos. We take a deep dive into living with intentionality, focusing on what's important in our lives so we can truly feel our best. It may feel chaotic at times, but with a little organization, the right mindset and a ton of self-love, we can still thrive. Join me as we talk to other busy moms and experts who will share tips and strategies to help you reach your goals. Hope you enjoy this episode of Organized Chaos. Now on to the show. Hey friends, welcome back to another episode of Organized Chaos. If you're new here, welcome. I hope you really enjoy this episode.

Teresa Hildebrand 0:47

I actually have a guest today. Her name is Emily Guerra. So who is Emily? Emily is a productivity life coach and the creator of the Productivity Flow. Her mission is to help self-employed women to overcome mindset barriers so they can effectively boost their productivity and reach their fullest potential. Through her blogs and one-on-one coaching, online courses and public speaking, emily unites lessons she's learned from therapy with the trials and errors of working for herself from home to offer realistic and sustainable ways to both boost productivity and a positive frame of mind. Without further ado, here is Emily. I'm so excited to talk to you. Welcome.

Emily Guerra 1:27

Thank you so much, Teresa, for having me. I am so excited to talk. All things organized chaos.

Teresa Hildebrand 1:34

Awesome, yeah, and I knew I had to have you on because, like I said, you speak my language Totally. Productivity, efficiency, all of that good stuff. I knew that this was going to be an awesome conversation and I had to have you on. So, before we jump into what you do and your expertise and all of that good stuff, tell us a little bit more about you, your story and how you got to where you are today.

Emily Guerra 2:00

Totally so. My story is definitely a little bit of a windy road today. Totally so, my story is definitely a little bit of a windy road. I originally, back in the day, always did events and wedding planning. That was my internships, all throughout high school and college. And then 2020 hit and COVID hit, and that was also the year I graduated from college. So weddings were not happening, events were not happening and there was that summer lull where I just really had no idea what to do with my life. I wanted to make money. I just graduated college, but I didn't know if events were going to happen at the end of the summer, how long I had to wait for lockdown and we were all there, and so I just decided to start freelancing out social media services just to like make some money and feel like a little bit more independent.

Emily Guerra 2:48

And through that experience, I started helping all of my social media clients just boost their productivity and create better workflows, sops, systems and also talk a lot more about vision and mindset. And why are we even working together? What are you working towards? And uniting those two things with my clients was so fun and really just brought a lot of vibrancy into my life, and I kind of realized I think this is more what I want to do. I want to coach more about productivity and mindset and mesh those two together. And when one of my clients was like Emily, you have helped me so much with my productivity, my mental health, with work balance, you need to create a business out of this. And I was just like, well, if you say so, okay, let's do it, and the rest is history. I just started creating the productivity flow from there. I got certified officially as a productivity life coach and I've had a couple of clients and I've been building. I have an online course and it's just been so fun and so fulfilling.

Teresa Hildebrand 3:52

I love that and I I just have to say that your energy is so contagious, so amazing. Like we kind of met each other online through a coaching community and as soon as you jumped on it was like let's go, you're like your energy is just so amazing.

Teresa Hildebrand 4:18

I was like that's the type of person that you want to hang out with, because it's like you bring out the best in people, because you're like you're so like involved in like conversations and obviously you know you became a community leader in the community and it's so amazing and I'm so glad that you're here to talk to to me and to the audience, and I know that you're going to provide so much value I want to.

Emily Guerra 4:42

I'm like. I'm like exuding with gratitude right now, because that is just the kindest thing you could say to me. I am so grateful.

Teresa Hildebrand 4:49

Thank you for saying all that, oh of course, of course, and I mean, like that's the type of person that you are. You're so caring and you're so encouraging and everything, and of course, that's the type of people that you know you want to hang out with, right? I?

Emily Guerra 5:07

appreciate that so much because honestly it's, I feel like a couple of years ago I really wasn't this way. I felt like COVID and just my whole situation got really angry and I got really resentful towards kind of just like the world really resentful towards kind of just like the world and I've really been working on positivity and having a better outlook on situations and on things that I can't control, and I've felt more like myself ever since doing that and I've been really just trying to help people see the light at the end of the tunnel and that's kind of like my mission and the greater scheme of things. So I really do appreciate you saying that, because it means the world. It's something I've been really working on personally, so to see that other people are noticing it amazing. I am doing my mission.

Teresa Hildebrand 5:58

And it's amazing, because I would have never thought that that was the case. You just exude positivity. I thought well, because she's always been like this, right oh?

Emily Guerra 6:07

a lot of therapy has helped. I'm not going to lie. Yeah, I definitely do think I'm just a naturally bubbly person. It's just like who I am, and then I've really been working on like just my self-talk and then how I also exude that outwardly, like if I'm feeling negative, I know I will present a negative outlook and bring the energy down, whether it's a virtual space or an in-person space, and that's just not the person I want to be. I want to be the person who brings people up, who empowers other people, who encourages other people, because those are the people that always helps me in my life, and so I just want to provide that for others. So, yeah, that's really been my mission.

Teresa Hildebrand 6:46

Yeah, totally, and it's like it's good in good out, right yes. Yes, okay. So let's talk about productivity, and I want to start with what your definition of productivity is.

Emily Guerra 7:01

Great question. So I feel like the original like I don't know if original is the correct word, but the official definition in the dictionary really just does not Webster yeah, it does not satisfy me in any way, shape or form. So, according to Britannica, all productivity means is getting a lot done, and me that is missing a lot of pieces, because can't we get a lot of the wrong stuff done? And why do we have to do a lot to be productive? Can't we be productive within one workflow, within one task? One thing it doesn't have to be a lot to be productive.

Boosting Productivity Through Mindset Shifts

Emily Guerra 7:44

Plus, this definition doesn't even talk about how to act productively and what that looks like, and obviously it looks different for everybody, but we can all agree that it's about efficiency and effectiveness really at the end of the day, and so the way I look at productivity is more about how do we become efficient and how do we become effective, and to me there's three pillars that really just hone it all in together, and it also doubles, actually, as my formula for boosting your productivity too. So the first pillar, or first step, is motivation finding out why it is you're doing what you're doing.

Emily Guerra 8:23

And if you can't figure that out, oftentimes it's because it's someone else's priorities masking as your own, and then you need to assess if you're even working on your own priorities. So motivation is number one. And then number two is focus, and that really just means not giving your power away to distractions. We all naturally have innate internal focus within us, but self-talk, notifications, other things happening around us, clutter just really distracts us from focusing on the best way that we can. So honing that in is really really key. And then the third pillar is flow. So sustained, easy effort over time. Now, this doesn't mean that the task itself is easy. It just means that you feel a little bit easier going through the motions, and going through the motions is actually easier for you to do. So that's really how I define productivity it's motivation, focus and flow.

Teresa Hildebrand 9:22

Yeah, and see, this is what I mean about we speak the same language, because I don't have anything to add to that. Because I was like, yes, yes, exactly, efficiency right, because we can have a whole list of things to do and we may feel like just checking off the box is like being productive, but in reality, is that moving you forward, like, are those the right tasks for you for whatever goal you have? And efficiency is about doing the right things for you in that moment in time, right, and what you set out to do. So, yeah, I love that and I love that you gave like three basic pillars on that and how to boost productivity.

Teresa Hildebrand 10:06

So let's talk about mindset. Yes, Because it starts with mindset and your thoughts about productivity, your thoughts about like anything right. So what does your mindset have to do with productivity specifically?

Emily Guerra 10:23

Such a good question because it's not something we naturally link right.

Emily Guerra 10:27

Productivity and mindset is not two things that really go together, but as a productivity life coach, that's what I do I link the two, and so I think a great way to explain this is starting by explaining something called the rat model.

Emily Guerra 10:42

The rat model I learned about in a book titled Uncommon Accountability written by Brian Moran and Michael Lennington, and it's a fantastic book about accountability, obviously, but what they talk about also is this RAT model, and RAT is an acronym.

Emily Guerra 10:58

So R stands for results, a stands for action and T stands for thinking, and the model states that results come from your actions and your actions come from your thinking. So in reality, your results come from your thinking, and I think that describes the link between productivity and mindset so well, because if we are in a disempowered self-talk state, if we're not treating and talking to ourselves in an empowering way, we're going to act that way and we're not going to act in an empowering way and then we're not going to get the results that we set out to get because we didn't help ourselves in our thoughts and in our actions. So when it really starts is with the mindset and with the self-talk. It's so key to enter into a task and to maintain positivity and empowerment throughout the task, so that way you ensure that you are acting in the most productive way that you can.

Teresa Hildebrand 11:55

Yeah, and you're describing a lot of the methodology life coaches use to help people become aware of what they're like a story or a narrative that they have that is actually causing them to have the results that they're currently getting Right, and how they can actually reframe their thoughts on that, because it always starts with our thoughts and it's always triggered by some external source right Totally, and the beauty of it is is that you don't have to change the external sources. You can reframe your mind and reframe your thoughts so that you can actually manifest or get the results that you want to get Right.

Emily Guerra 12:39

Oh, my gosh, exactly. And a way I love to do that is kind of just work backwards, like, let's say, you get a result that you're not super happy with. Okay, so what actions led you to that result? Right, just analyze that and then, okay, what self-limiting beliefs led you to take those actions? Okay, you can pinpoint those self-limiting beliefs led you to take those actions. Okay, you can pinpoint those self-limiting beliefs that led you to those actions that led you to those negative results. Then that's where you can really start making some shifts, and some changes is with those self-limiting beliefs. So I love to work backwards with my clients in that way as well.

Teresa Hildebrand 13:15

Yeah, I love that there's so many different ways to go about it, and I think there's one key thing, and some of the things that I do with my clients as well is that there is a piece to this, a piece to that thought process that can really shift your actions, because it's like a feeling that you get right. So you have this thought and let's say the thought is well, I'm just not a productive person, right, yeah? Or I'm not a business, exactly, I'm not this, I'm not that, or I'm not, naturally, I'm not a morning person so many different thoughts that go through our minds and that'll generate a feeling.

Teresa Hildebrand 14:00

Right, it may generate a feeling of feeling like a failure or feeling like you're not good at what you do. So many different feelings that it could generate and then those particular feelings will drive your actions Totally. It really is like your thoughts drive your behavior, but that feeling sometimes is like an area where people will shift and just take actions that they don't really align with what they want to do. They're like that's where you take misaligned action.

Teresa Hildebrand 14:34

So, when it comes to productivity, I think that sometimes there's those actions that we take like procrastination or hey, let me go scroll social media because we're constantly trying to avoid that feeling of uncomfortableness or whatever that may be. So then we find ourselves doing unproductive actions and that's like it all kind of works together right, Like that's just how our brain works, because our brain is there to keep us safe and is there to automate and, like you know, like we're we're human, right, we all do this. But key thing is really becoming aware of what those thought patterns are for you and how you can start to make shifts.

Emily Guerra 15:21

Absolutely. I always say awareness is power because that's really where the change starts and where and I also think awareness is empowering because then you realize, oh, this is in my control. Wait, I can do something about it. I don't have to feel this way anymore, I don't have to act this way anymore and I don't have to be disappointed in myself anymore. I can actually do some minor shifts every single day to change my outcome. That, to me, is so empowering and I always love to see when that kind of clicks with my clients and realize like, oh wait, I have been growing, I am growing. It's such a cool thing to watch and to guide people to do. I think it's my favorite part of my job, honestly.

Teresa Hildebrand 16:10

Yeah, yeah, and it's about focus. It's shifting the focus right, absolutely. Oh, you've done this before. You've been productive before, right. So how do we, how do we, you know, redo it like what happened?

Emily Guerra 16:22

there like how, exactly what was the environment? Like what was your self-talk? Like what were you working on? Like, did you enjoy it? I know something that can prevent me from being productive a lot of the time and something that I feel like no one really talks about is dread like just not wanting to do a task, and so then we procrastinate it and then we, you know, hate ourselves later on because we procrastinated it, and now we feel rushed and like this whole thing, and so like how do we get over that feeling in the moment? How do we catch ourselves then and there, before we get into this cycle? You know, that's really what it's all about, and the way you do that is by having the awareness and just like how we were talking about. So it's always coming full circle.

Teresa Hildebrand 17:06

It is. It is and I want to talk about. A lot of the people who listen to this podcast are busy moms and mom entrepreneurs, and it's a lot. It can be a lot, and I think that there's this notion that they just have to do it all, yes, and they don't realize, like a lot of the like, the mindset shifts that can really help. What is your best advice when it comes to you know someone who is running a business or just doing a lot of things like super busy, right, what is your best advice for them so that they can start making those shifts and moving towards the path that they want to go?

Mindset Shift Towards Delegation

Emily Guerra 17:51

Great question, because I think it's kind of something we're all stuck in in a way, but particularly moms and particularly mom viewers, because not only do they run a business at home that is the family but then they run an actual business and there is a lot to juggle and oftentimes we can feel like, sure, other people can do it, but they can't do it my way or they can't do it the way I like I do it better, and so that's kind of another layer to this, and I find that asking yourself, do I actually have to do all of this Like, what can I delegate? What can I train someone else to do my way, the way that I like it done, but take it off my plate? And a lot of the time that can be at home with just help, like hiring a cleaning person or someone helping with laundry or someone helping with food and cooking. It can look a lot of different ways, but also in your business, getting a virtual assistant and having maybe social media taken off your plate or maybe having your newsletters taken off your plate, or just little smaller things that you can easily train someone to do your way but then release the pressure from you. Always start there. So then that way you still feel like you're getting a lot done, but it's not actually on you. That release of pressure, honestly, can be life-changing, because then you have room to breathe and you have room to actually enjoy life again a little bit.

Emily Guerra 19:19

And of course, this is a shift. You're not going to immediately start delegating everything at once. Start with the things that are a little bit easier, that you know won't cause a headache, in order for you to train anybody in. That's a great starting point right there. And then, as for the mindset part, ask yourself if it's really going to change the outcome, whether you do it or whether somebody else does it. Like, is the result actually going to change? What is going to change? And answering that question, you'll probably notice you'll answer well, I'll get more time back. Well, I'll feel a little bit better about X, y, z, or maybe I'll spend more time with my kids after work, or maybe. And then you'll start realizing, okay, these are the changes that I want, so I'm not going to stand in my way anymore. And then making that choice to no longer stand in your way, yeah, gosh, there was so much there yeah.

Teresa Hildebrand 20:14

No, no, no I love it, I love it yeah.

Emily Guerra 20:16

Yeah, no, no, no, I love it, I love it.

Teresa Hildebrand 20:19

I love it because it's really about that mental load, right, even that in and of itself is huge, because it's not just about, like, the things that are in our conscious mind right, oh, I have to do the laundry and I have to make this appointment and this and that there's so many things under the surface that we don't realize sometimes, that are putting pressure on us, and because we're doing all the things and there's this also a sense of control that we want to have sometimes, and sometimes even that like realizing, okay, I don't have to do it all, I can have somebody else do this and they're going to do it better than me, right?

Emily Guerra 21:02

They might enjoy it.

Teresa Hildebrand 21:04

Exactly, exactly. And there's I love the fact that you said, you know, just start, start small, basically Right, because of course, you can see a long list of things that you would eventually want to delegate, but start small and then what you'll find from personal experience, what you'll find is that once you do that, once you take that step, then you start looking at well, what else can I get rid of? Exactly, this is awesome. I just got 30 extra minutes on my calendar, like, even if it's me just relaxing and just like watching a show or whatever, amazing.

Teresa Hildebrand 21:43

The time, yeah, that time that you get, it's like, it's so amazing, even if it's for self-care, and I think that you know, most importantly for self-care, right, oh, absolutely, yeah, we tend to just kind of like put ourselves on the back burner because we feel like we need to take care of all of the things and we neglect ourselves in the process, which, of course, is not going to bring the best out of us, in us, and we're not. We're not going to produce, you know, work. That is the best and you know, just being there for your family and if you're just like a shell of a person, that's not going to be helpful for you?

Emily Guerra 22:21

No, I mean, it's a little ironic, right, that we always typically push self-care to the side, yet that's what we need in order to do everything else that we're trying to do effectively and efficiently, productively. So it's a little ironic that that's just naturally what we do.

Emily Guerra 22:38

But it's because we're so focused on others and we're so focused on the business, the family, everything around us, that we're not focusing on ourselves the way that we deserve in all honesty, because we deserve as much self-care as the next, as your children do, as your spouse does, and so you know, giving yourself that grace and giving yourself a little bit of patience to figure it out as you're beginning to delegate, but then also giving yourself just the ability to try it out and just test it out, see how it goes. You don't have to commit to it but just get curious and wonder will this change my life? Maybe let's find out. Turn it into experiment and have fun with it. That always can lighten the mood and just make every kind of mindset shift a little bit easier to do the shift.

Teresa Hildebrand 23:28

Yes, you said the word deserve. I think that that is really key is we deserve to give ourselves time, attention, and not because we're doing it for other people, for our family, for whoever, because we deserve to do it, just because we deserve to do it for ourselves. Absolutely we deserve to do it for ourselves Absolutely and and yeah, and it takes time to really process that and understand that that's really really what we need sometimes.

Emily Guerra 24:01

So so starting with the basics, I think, is just so. Really starting with the basics and starting small working out from there, that's really like the basis, I feel like, of any change that I work on with my clients. Yes, yes.

Teresa Hildebrand 24:16

So what haven't we just touched on that you would want to bring up, that you think would be helpful for the audience?

Emily Guerra 24:24

Well, since we were talking about a lot of change and, you know, starting to delegate, I think a great habit that honestly changed my life and changed the way I view my business and I view my personal life is visualization and having a vision for the future. So let's say you do feel really overwhelmed right now and like you're doing it all and like you just need a helping hand and you want to grow your business XYZ and your kids are growing up. So create a vision for one year into the future. It doesn't need to be five years, it doesn't need to be 10.

Emily Guerra 24:57

One year is realistic and it's pretty soon, so it can get you very excited about it. And then you can work backwards from there and figure out each quarter what you got to do in order to achieve that one year vision. And so redoing that every year is what I personally do to set my yearly goals, to set my trajectory for the next upcoming year and to just like get so excited about where I'm going and to drive that intrinsic motivation that sparks productivity. So having a vision is such a underutilized tool that I preach about day and night because it's really a dress rehearsal for your brain and it makes moving forward that much easier.

Teresa Hildebrand 25:38

Yeah, we keep ourselves from like dreaming because, for whatever reason, like we've tried it before and it didn't work out, and it feels daunting. But I agree, having that picture of what you want and then starting to work towards that, working your way back, reverse engineering and things like that really can get you excited and start to pull that energy that sometimes we need to work towards what we want.

Emily Guerra 26:14

And it's also just so fun to dream again. I think growing up we really lose that childlike curiosity and that's probably for a lot of reasons. I think growing up we run into trials and errors. We kind of learn that the dreams don't always work out. And then we're also told, you know, in high school, like, figure out a realistic college to apply to figure out a realistic career you can do. Want to be an astronaut? Okay, like what else? What's your backup plan? Like you know, and it's kind of dulls, us at. Dulls are dulls, are dreaming and we need to spark that again in order to just feel alive, feel excited about what we're doing and to just act like a kid again, like in the most, in the best way possible. So I think it's also just so fun and such a lively way to go about goal setting and productivity and delegation and all the things that we talked about in this conversation.

Teresa Hildebrand 27:15

Yeah, and you're so right. I mean, when we're five years old and we tell our parents or teachers that we want to be whatever an ice skater, an astronaut and they're like, oh, absolutely Right, yes, go for it, you can do it and it. And then yeah, and then it's like reality kicks in in a sense, and people are like well, you know, do you really think that that's a good idea?

Teresa Hildebrand 27:43

yeah, exactly. And then it's not just external voices, but then it's the internal voices, exactly, that are like well, you know, you're not really good at that, and then it's like this thing, and then we kind of end up somewhere where we have to kind of pivot if we become that, okay, this isn't really where I want to be, let me do something different. So I yeah. I this is awesome, Emily, and I know that I will want to have you back if you'll come back Anytime, every time.

Emily Guerra 28:14

Oh my gosh, my English today. I got so excited I couldn't speak.

Teresa Hildebrand 28:20

You're amazing, emily, and this was an awesome conversation. People want to connect with you, which I know 100% people will. How can they find you and check you out?

Emily Guerra 28:33

Well, thank you so much. This was such a fun conversation. I had a blast. I will totally love to come back one day. And to find me you can go to theproductivityflowcom. I am also theproductivityflow on both Instagram, tiktok, and Pinterest and LinkedIn. So same words all around, which is easy to find.

Teresa Hildebrand 28:56

Perfect, and I will put that in the show notes so that people can just click on it. But again, emily, thank you so much.

Emily Guerra 29:04

Thank you so much. I will chat with you soon.