secret productivity tip

266. this is something i find hugely important to sustainable, big-picture productivity. in fact, i actually measure it as one of my success metrics. i want to tell you so bad, but you're gonna have to listen to the episode!

if you loved what i talked about in this episode, you're going to love working with me.

i can help you feel better and get more done when you work with me 1:1. i'll help you figure out a meaningful goal, we'll create an action plan and i'll help you get unstuck all along the way. you don't have to go it alone, and you don't have to burn yourself out!

 
want to see if we are a good fit for 1:1 coaching? go to https://showupsociety.com/coaching and schedule a free discovery call to see if we are a good fit and find out what it looks like to work together.

 
find me on instagram
join my newsletter for 1-2 times a week tips, fun links, and inside scoop.

Transcript

A Hidden Productivity Tip

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hey friend, I want to talk about sort of a secret productivity tip that I have. And I mean, I guess the punchline is to allow there to be some delight and joy, but I'm gonna give you a little bit of background. So uh this month I'm hosting a group coaching program called the Accountability Club. Uh we have 25 members inside of it, and uh this coming up week starts a three-week kind of challenge/slash game where um there are five teams with five people each on them. Every person on the team is going to come up with their own to-do list uh tasks that they want to do during those three weeks, and we assign points to them, and then we add up the points for each team, and it's a friendly competition. So uh I was just preparing for that and setting up the teams, and I was coming up with team names, and in the past I've done uh I think like elements like you know, wind, fire, air, stuff like that, or whatever, water. Um, and I think another year I did colors, and this year I was like, I don't really know what to do. And then I decided that I want to do like gemstone minerals, and so I searched for gemstone minerals that have to do with uh like clarity, decisiveness, creativity, focus, determination, courage, those kind of things, because that's what the accountability club is all about. And then I spent time looking up images of each one, looking up the meaning of each one, and then I made like I downloaded photos of each one, I made a graphic to put on the little heading inside of our um on the group platform where I'm using the platform called Circle. And so I made like, you know, a team hub for each team. I named them, I, you know, I made the graphic for them. I spent a lot of time when I could have just named it red, blue, yellow, green, purple, right? And just uh really, really basic headers. I don't even have to have an image in the header for all these hubs. I could have just had, you know, like I don't have to have an image at all. And so part of me was like, oh my gosh, this is taking so long. This is not useful, like, this is silly. I can make it so much simpler. And one of the productivity tips that I give a lot of times is how can you make this easier? How can you make this quicker? How can you make this a lighter lift? And here's the reason why this is a hidden productivity hack is sometimes I think it's really important to how can I make this more fun? And it was really fun for me to find the images of these gemstones, to find the meanings, so excited. I randomly assign them to the team. So now I'm like, you know, uh, for example, citrine is one of the minerals that I'm using, and that uh symbolizes creativity, clarity, and manifestation. So I'm like, oh my gosh, the people that are assigned to this randomly to citrine, I wonder if it's gonna like really be the exact kind of gemstone they need, and how cool is that? If the, you know, if this is a little woo, but like if the universe conspires with me and the person to give them the gemstone that they need. And there's something kind of delightful and um, I don't know, really fun about that. And so instead of continuing to beat myself up about like, why am I spending so much time on this? I could be doing other things. I'm like, you know what? No, I actually want to be doing this because I'm telling you right now, I'm logged into our online platform. I see the uh the group hub, the team hubs, I see the names and the gemstones looking so cool on there. And it makes me so happy. So every time I log into this site over the next three weeks to check in on people and to see how they're doing and how their tasks are coming along, I'm gonna get, I'm going to get this little jolt of a thrill, this little jolt of joy from spending this extra time ahead of time to do something joyous and delightful. And so I just wanted you to know you don't always have to be machine-like and emotionless and productive for the sake of productivity. Sometimes we can take a little longer on something because we just effing want to, because it just feels fun, because it might spark a little joy in us, right? Like I'm kind of thinking of like literally the next three weeks, the numb I can even count the number of times that I'm gonna get a jolt of, oh my gosh, this is so cool. A jolt of joy. It's uh immeasurable. And I think it is so worth it. And so if you find yourself kind of getting upset of like taking too long or doing it the long way or more detailed way or whatever, sometimes it's a really, really good thing if it brings you joy because it makes it more sustainable in the long run. And we're all about sustainability over the big picture over the long run. At least that's how I view productivity. I don't view it as like do the most you can't right now in this minute and then burn out and crash and have to recover for two months. What's the point of that? I'd rather have this slow burn where you are just keeping on going and keeping on going and keeping on going, right? So that's my little tip. If there is a way that you can throw in a little delight or a little joy or a little whisper of a thrill of enjoyment, then do that. Okay. We're not here to just be automatons getting shit done without any joy. Okay. Love you, friend.