Welcome back to another episode of the Jasmine star show where we talk about life business and lemniscus. Yeah, I just combined the two words like life business luffas Cygnus there you go. You're welcome.
Speaker 2[inaudible]
Speaker 1I am so thankful you are listening today and I am very excited to cover this topic today because it's all about productivity. Okay, so I get it. The word sounds so promising but at the same time it makes most of us feel like we're less than as entrepreneurs we feel like we are constantly surrounded by other business owners that are planning, executing and of course making time for rest with the perfect work life balance and they are doing all of that. Before we finished our first cup of coffee. Now while seeing other people's lives on Instagram, it's tempting to think that some people can just do more. Well others just can't, but this could not be further from the truth. And here's why. I'm going to introduce you to my sister Bianca. For those of you who don't know, I am a fraternal twin and Bianca is my sister and she's just a really amazing human being. Like she growing up, she was known as the nice twin. She's the kind of person that walks into a room and immediately makes everybody, her best friend. And I am the person who walks into the room, hides in a corner, sips on some wine and then casually determines when or if I'm actually going to start engaging and interacting with human beings. We are literally ying and yang. She is day in I am night and she is X and I am Y. I mean we couldn't be more different. We often joke if she says she has this terrible joke that drives me crazy. She's like, I want to introduce you to my wound . Meet womb, w O M B womb mate. I'm telling you, even as an adult, she does this and it drives me crazy. So here I am using her joke. This is Bianca, my womb mate . Okay. So as I'm painting this picture of Bianca, she's kind, she's amazing. You know, she is literally the kind of person who like hangs out with orphans and saves people from human trafficking. No, I'm not making that up. She's so rad. So you could just imagine when my sister approached me and in a real conversation said, I am so over WellMed she told me, Jasmine, I have so many things to do and I just feel like I look at you and you're getting stuff done and I'm trying to do stuff and I'm not getting it done in the capacity that I want. Now I don't know about you, but I have felt the same as Bianca and then I created a system to help me get to, I wanted to go and what she was inadvertently not so inadvertently asking was, can you help me figure this out? Because Bianca has two children. She travels multiple times of month. Her and her husband Matthew are starting a church. She writes books. She speaking in female prisons about the love of God. Like y'all think I'm making this up. Obama sister, she just , she's just nice. Like you just want to hug her so anytime she asks me for a favor I will always show up for her because I really am like, listen, you're the Holy twin. I'm the hood twin. You're just going to have to pray me into heaven. So I do a lot of nice stuff for her because I'm like one step closer to Bianca is like two steps closer to God. You know what I'm saying? Oh my God. Is there like a lightning bolt that's going to come out of the sky and strike me down for saying this stuff? He there way I said, Hey, come over to my house and I said, if you give me three hours, we can map out your entire year. Like I don't know if I should say that again, like three hours to map out her entire year. Now maybe you don't have three hours right now to plan out your year. Okay, I get it. But what if I could explain how to map out your next three months in less than 30 minutes? Ah, yeah. Now we're talking. Okay, so a quarterly productivity map is something, I swear by now a quarter is made up of three months. And so maybe it's because I want it to be a pirate as a kid, but a map just makes life more exciting. Yes, I get excited to make personal and business plans because we can create a clear path to getting to where we want to go. And this is where all the collective pirates in church say are an amen y'all. I can't even plan for these jokes. They just come to me. I, I help me out here with that joke. Funny or was it not funny? Should I keep my day job? Maybe. So now I want you to get back to this idea of creating a map because I want you to be clear and I want to let you know that I'm about to share my exact process beginning with eight quarter. So we will plan with a quarter that's three months out of the year. And then I'm gonna talk about how I build out a month plan a week planned in a day plan. Now in case you're driving, working out, walking the dog or cooking as you're listening to this podcast, don't worry about taking notes. I have created a free productivity planner that you can download@jasminestar.com forward slash. Productivity. The link is also in the episode description from wherever you are tuning in today. Now you can sit back, relax and enjoy this conversation knowing you have the resources to plan on your own. So now that we've laid the foundation, it's time to let yourself dream. No rules, no restrictions. I want you to yourself, what is the one thing you've been wanting to do but just haven't found the time to make it happen? Well, maybe if I cue up some really emotional inspirational music here, it'll get you thinking more about what you really want. Just kidding. Oh, come on. There is no need to get emo here folks. I just want you to pick a project now. I should probably take a pause and address something that could be bubbling up for you. I understand that we, myself included, have a hard time identifying a project because we can tell ourselves a story. I've tried it before in the past, it didn't work or I've tried so many things and I can't seem to pull it off or I've expressed this idea to my wife and she just thinks it's really stupid. Like, I understand there's a lot of emotions that surround picking a project, but as we have this conversation, I just want you to pick something you've been wanting to do for a while without worrying what people have to say or what people think or judging your ability to do it right. Like as you pick your project, just let your mind be free. Take a deep breath and say this is the project. It could be launching your website training for a marathon. It could be creating a new product. Literally the project could be anything. Now that you have your project in the front of your mind, it's time to build your quarterly productivity map. For the sake of this conversation, I am going to use a personal example because I want to be real with you. I want to walk you through the good, the bad and the, Oh, so fog Lee . Okay, so for years I am talking about years I wanted to launch a podcast. It was something I knew I needed to do, but I just couldn't get over the fear doubt. I don't know how to do this necklace . You know, like all that stuff that kept on rising up to the top, but the minute I chose the podcast to be my quarterly project, it was time to cut the excuses and get to work before I started a new project, I take five things into consideration and I'm going to share those with you right now. Number one, do I have the capacity? Number two, I set a date. Number three, I figure out how. Number four, I create a timeline and number five, I create tasks. For the sake of clarity, I will answer these questions to walk you through how I chose launching a podcast as my quarterly project. So let's walk you through the exact same questions to put you in my head. Space question number one, do I have the capacity? Now the answer for me is yes, I was dying for something new as a creative expression. It was something that I felt like I wanted to connect deeper with people and I was ready for it. Now if you enter this question, no, I don't have the capacity for the project I want to do now, then your answer has to come in the form of one of two things. It's time for you to take something off your plate so that you can do this project or you can give yourself grace and say, you know what? I need to wait to do this project until I have the capacity for it and friend, that is totally fine. For the sake of this conversation, if you realize you don't have the capacity for the project that you want to do now, why don't you choose a simpler project where you can say, yes, I have the capacity. Number two, it was time for me to set a date. I chose October 8th, 2019 to launch a podcast. Number three, I had to figure out how, now this will look different for each project and each person, but to give you insight into what I needed to figure out. Here's a sneak peek into a very long list. No, we ain't got the time to go through the list, right? I mean, the list is like Santo's list. Basically it rolls out over three continents. I'm going to share a few things. Now I'm sharing them and it feels a little vulnerable because I'm like, ah , I don't want you to judge at how basic I am, but when I made a list of how to figure it out, it included things like how to record a podcast. What do I need to buy to record a podcast, how to upload podcasts ? What's the name of my podcast? What is my podcast about? Right? Like you're listening to this list and you're like, Jasmine, that's so basic. And I say, I know, but what happens is we become easily intimidated by doing projects when we don't know the how. But once we literally have a brain dump, write down everything you need to know. It's no longer scary of the unknown. You have a framework to figure out how that's going into consideration. Number four, and that was to create a timeline. Now, this is the most important part. Creating a timeline is key when it comes to planning for productivity, because I hadn't launched a podcast before, my timeline was based on estimates. Now you will be creating very similar estimates for your project, but the key here is to add extra time. Sometimes you'll use that extra time and sometimes you won't, but the key is to plan for that extra time. Now, once you have understood if you have the capacity, once you have set a date, once you figured out how and once you created a timeline based on the things you have to figure out for the how now it leads us to consideration number five and that is to create tasks for over a decade. I ran my business by myself. I was the only person responsible for every task and I want to tell you that it's totally possible for to do every task in a project. In fact, I think there's a beauty to creating everything from the ground up on your own. Some of my most successful projects are things that I did entirely on my own. Now. I say that because for this podcast launch, this project, I assembled a team to get it off the ground and tasks were assigned to each of us and then we set out to do the work. Now, what I just explained to you right now is the framework for a quarterly project and I'm sitting here thinking like, wow, isn't it amazing that it doesn't feel impossible to tackle a big goal like what I just walked you through is a five step approach to a quarterly project. Perfect. Now it's time to focus on our monthly plan. This means I break out one of the three months and focus on what needs to get done specifically. Yes, that is right. I list everything that needs to get done in the month to ensure that project stays on track. Now, once I view all my tasks for the month, I break them into weekly assignments. Yeah, Mike , I literally know what tasks need to get done each week and this helps me from feeling overwhelmed. Friends right here. This is if there's one thing you take away from this podcast, it's this. We have a very hard time moving past the point of overwhelm because we say, I don't see the end. I don't have the path. It is not clear. Therefore I cannot move on. Well, once you get all your tasks and you break them into the month, then you break it into a week. Instead of looking at a list of all the things I need to do, I can just focus on a small list of things that I can actually accomplish. I want to use a real example of mine to explain what I mean. In the month of September, the month before we launched the podcast, I had a list of things that needed to get done. Each week I had around 20 tasks related to the podcast launch. Now when I looked at the list of 20 things, I was like, Oh my gosh, how will I ever get this done? But then once we divided them out each day, it was just four to five tasks that needed to get done. Things like record episode one or choose podcast graphic designs or send a thank you gift to podcast guest. Okay. Like they were really doable on a daily basis , doing just a few things each day for the podcast was fun and it was exciting and totally relieved the overwhelm I was feeling and the hives that broke out every time I looked at the quarterly map, right? Like when do you look at your quarterly project plan? You're like, sweet baby Jesus, take the wheel. But when you look at your weekly and then your daily plan, you're like, I can do this. And friends, that is what a productivity plan does. It shows you the path and gives you hope that the project you've been wanting to do for so long can actually happen. And this is where I want to take a second to pause and I want to breathe. Now I know I sound totally crazy because I am one of those weird California Yogi drunkies who drinks green smoothies 18 times a day. I get it, but breathing is soulful. Breathing is grounding and breathing oxygenates the brain. So if you have brain overload on this project that you're just chomping at the bit to do. What I want you to do right now at the gym, in the car, walking the dog cooking dinner, is can you take a deep breath in for three seconds and out for three seconds. And just in case you think I'm totally weird, I'm actually going to walk you through this because friend, your brain needs some oxygen. So I want you to inhale one, two, three, and exhale. One, two, three. I mean, let's be real sure. I'm here talking about productivity, but can we be real? Like I'm going to say something that might rub you the wrong way, but you all know me. I speak my truth. I speak to thousands of business owners each week. I hear people lament, Oh , that their goal didn't happen or there wasn't enough time. And like I , I get you. I get that struggle and that struggle is real. But I also want to remind you and me and us that goals don't just happen. You make the goals happen. And I'm going to say something even more crazy. If you're not hitting your goals, it's not because you're not good or you're not talented or you're not lucky enough. Nine times out of 10 it's likely because you didn't have a solid plan in place. You didn't hit your goal because you didn't have a plan, so let that soak in for a minute. It's not about your ability to succeed. This is about whether you are disciplined enough to create a plan . Dang it. Let that soak in for a minute. It's not about your ability to succeed. This is about whether you are disciplined enough to create a plan around productivity, but friend, this is what it takes to move big things in your life and business. My question to you is, are you ready? Are you willing to create a productivity plan for a project? And I get it. Maybe this feels like a giant first step. Perhaps you might be feeling really overwhelmed at the idea of a big plan, and I get that too, but let me challenge you with something a little bit smaller. Can you make a plan to show up every day on social media to build your business? Sure. You might have this goal, but do you have a plan to put it into place? If you don't have a plan, I am begging you to make it. It'll create a massive shift in your life in business and in case you don't know where to start with making a plan for social media. This is my personal invitation to have you join myself and the team on the inside of social curator where we host a productivity power hour. Yeah, like y'all, like it's exactly what it sounds. We are productive for an hour or one hour. We sit together and we plan all our social content for the week and you are doing it with a group of business owners who are ready to take their efforts, commitment and dedication to the next level. And this is where the pirates say are an amen. Yes. I use that joke again, don't hate, don't hate the fact that if I found a really what I think is a funny joke, I will use it again and again. Well actually let's play a game. If you are listening to the podcast, hit me up on DM on Instagram and put R and amen. I'm gonna start my own dang hashtag. That's how funny I think this joke is. Anyway. Anyway, I'm literally I this will probably get edited out of the podcast and you want to know well, I'll care. Okay, so we started this productivity conversation around the idea that we have the ability to take our dreams and make them come to life if we have a plan. So I am asking and inviting you to download my free productivity planner to get you started and you can find that@jasminestar.com forward slash productivity and they are also linked in the show notes. I hope you can take nuggets of information and apply them to your life today. If this was helpful for you, please pass this episode along to someone who might need it, but or yet send it to someone with a note saying you believe in their dreams and you cannot wait to pursue your goals together. Y'all. I can't wait to connect with you on a future episode of the podcast, and until then, y'all shine on
Speaker 2[inaudible] .