How to focus and avoid distraction. EP #252 - Den Lennie

Hey, everyone. On today's video, I'm going to share with you exactly how I plan my week. Had a couple of people ask, you know, how can you avoid procrastination? How can you get more done? How can you be more effective? And so I think that leading on from last week's video about how I make my vision board, I thought it would just be helpful if I showed you exactly how I plan my week. I am a creative. I used to be very inefficient, and I used to find myself working all hours, all days, and having no social life and spending no time with my family. But I'm now extremely effective. I work probably three and a half days a week, and I get more done in that time than I think most people would do in a fortnight. And this is exactly how I do. So let me just go over to the computer and show you exactly how I do it. Okay, guys, so this week I want to share what I think is going to be a really helpful presentation to help you become more effective with your execution. Now, this is actually taking from one of our trainings inside the vba, and I don't have time to go through everything today, but the bit that I really want to focus on is this notion of effective execution. The idea being if you can save just 10 minutes every single day over the course of a year, that adds up to a full business week per year, which is quite a significant amount of time. So, you know, how much more time could you save in a year if you became a more effective executor of strategic tasks? You know, too often we do things because we think we should be doing them rather than strategically prioritizing what is essential. And what I want to share with you today is a simple technique to manage your diary in a way that protects all of your time. So first thing I want to look at is email. So I very much run to a zero inbox policy, which means emails come in that one there, not important, delete. This is something that I need to follow up with. So I want to follow up with this follow up. Today I move everything into a folder.

So that I don't get distracted. But the part that I'm really interested in is my calendar. I run my day through my calendar. So let me give you an example of what happens here. So I. I use vet in the first instance. I use Evernote to plan my. I'll just minimize this for a second. So I use Evernotes to plan my week, to plan my day. So every week has a Numbers. This is week 10, 28th of February. So this is this week. Um, I, I have some sort of prompts that I like to read. You know, searching for shortcuts will shortchange you. And if this were easy, what would it look like? And that's a quote from Tim Ferriss. Now, I have intentions for the quarter. I plan my year and my quarter and all of my members inside the VBA do exactly the same. So my objectives and key results are we want to reach 40 members of the VBA Elite Mastermind this quarter. We want to add five members a month to the VBA UP Level program. And to give you an idea of the distinction, if you're doing 20,000amonth or more, then you qualify for the VBA Elite Mastermind. And that is a program that we have that enables you to get from the 20 grand a month up to 80 or 100 grand a month. We've got clients doing high six and seven figures, a lot of clients in the mid six figures range. And we typically can help people double their business in about eight months. But if you're at a different stage of your journey and you are in the 5-10k a month and you want to just put some marketing processes in place and focus on getting consistency with your customers, then the up level program is going to be more appropriate. It's an eight week program, whereas the VBA Elite is a 12 month mastermind. And in the Mastermind we focus typically on more strategic approaches, systemization, team culture and growth that consistently can happen without you. So that's our two goals there. We want to launch a rebrand of the VBA UP Level and VBA Elite. We've just modified the names and repositioned it slightly and we're adding four live events to our Elite program around the world. They're going to be in the Gold coast in Australia, they're going to be in Edinburgh, they're going to be in Los Angeles and Melbourne over the course of the next year. And so I've got to plan some travel and look at the 12 month schedule for that as my intentions for the quarter and get that launched. So personal is daily meditation routine with three times per week at gym. My top goals for the week are to complete the new 202223 vision board and create the new VB ALA landing page, create content planner and systems review funnel steps and simplify survey. That is something that we want to do and that's actually been done so we can click that off already. Last week we ticked off A few different things and we didn't get that launched. So what happens, anything that doesn't happen last week, we just push into this week and again, same thing here, create and launch the VBA up level landing page. So that, that didn't happen last week. So what I wanted to share with you here in the, you know, in the spirit of true transparency is like you don't get through things every week, you just don't. The vision board's been on there for a little while and, and you would have seen my video from last week about vision boards. I'm just taking some time to, to take my time because, because I know these work so well that I have to think big enough so I have to be in the right frame of mind. So I'm just sitting there with a blank page, letting it kind of flow. So when we get into each week, these are my strategic goals for the week ahead and we're breaking them down into tasks. So on Monday we had a review of some school modules that we just uploaded. We had a new copywriting seminar going there. We email follow up with a few clients. We set up the Elite Mastermind dates and started working on them and discussing them with our members. We updated new call times on Zoom. We were planning content for the week ahead that's not happened yet. So what happens is that would then be moved.

To here. So anything you don't achieve in one day, you move to the next day. This build the VBA landing page that's been in progress for a few days now. So you've got a little asterisk next to that. And we have a coaching call on a Monday that gets done on Tuesday. We have a coaching call. I decided implement calendly instead of schedule once and so we've been implementing that this week. I recorded a podcast shorty plan for the content for the week ahead that still hasn't happened. So we move that again to Wednesday. So you see, we just drop things down that don't get completed on a given day. The landing page for the BB Elite, that was actually, that's, that's just about done. So I probably put a second asterisk against that. That's certainly work in progress. And then today it's Wednesday. Today we've set the VB Mastermind dates. They are pretty much locked in now and make YouTube video that is happening now. I've got a call with Chris that I had a call with Kayla, barely got a call with Chris shortly.

And then we'll duplicate and make a new landing Page for up level. That's not yet done. That's probably not going to happen today. So, so I'll push that into Thursday.

Set next. Neon Extraction, that's a client we're working with our team, we're working on a program of systemization for some of our clients. We actually offer a full systemization process for clients. So that'll happen today. And content for the week ahead, that's still not happened. And this, this happens where great plans don't happen. But you'll notice what I've got here is I.

That'S been done. So I can get rid of that. That was from last week. So what I do is I leave white space as the week goes on. So as the week starts, I plan clearly what our intentions are. And then what we do is we front, front load the week. But as things slip, as you can see, as stuff gets in the way, things move. And so that, that, that will become a next week task now. But on Friday, I generally have not much since I've got Brandon Pedro from Neon Cloud there on an extraction session.

And then, you know, I've got to review a web page for something. I've got to call Qantas about a flight credit, some other bits and pieces. So that's really what, what I do. And that, that is how my week runs every week. Now the real magic here is in how I integrate that.

As soon as an email comes in, I can delete that. So I get into the habit of deleting everything. So what you'll see here is my calendar is integrated. You can see it's all color coded. Now to make this easier for you to understand, I'm going to show you in my main calendar. Now it might look like a lot, but let me explain to you what's going on. And we'll actually start with Monday.

Get rid of that and we'll go by day. So what I do is I have.

Things in my calendar which are locked in every single day. So what's going to help you get more done, what's going to help you with the discipline of ensuring that you are executing on strategic priorities and not getting caught up in the weeds is, you know, I get up at 5am, get up, meditate, walk on the beach, and you'll see here I've got a label then content day. So the way that I organize my week is I have certain days where I do certain things. So Monday is a content day.

So we walk on the beach 5 to 6:30, get a coffee, take the dogs out and then between 7 and 8, it's really free time where Sam and I will hang out, maybe watch a bit of YouTube together, have a chat. And then from 8 till 9, I have what I call thinking time. And thinking time is a concept that I learned from a book called the Road Less Stupid by Keith J. Cunningham. And the principle is that if you were to spend 45 minutes a day thinking about the biggest challenge you've got in your life, that day, you'll come up with 20 or 30 different solutions and you'll have a much better idea of executing them. And the idea was that if you could reverse a financial decision you've made in your life, what would that difference be if you had more time to think about it back then instead of making snap decisions? So what I've learned is that to make great decisions, you want to spend time thinking about all the possible outcomes before you implement. Then we've got, you can see white space there. I leave a lot of white space so that I've got space to breathe and if things run over. Weekly team meeting we have every Monday at 9:30 and I'll just have a little drink if you bear with me.

And then what I'm doing is I'm taking my.

Plans for the week. Let me just share this, make this a bit smaller.

And what I do is I'm transferring.

All of the data from my plan into the calendar. So you can see on Monday.

There was review modules in school. I think I must have done that just in a bit of white space. Email follow ups is scheduled for here.

Set.

VBA Elite Mastermind dates. That was in here and here. Sorry, and again here and here. So I worked on that quite a bit that day because we were trying to coordinate four events in four countries over the next 12 months and try and make sure it would work for everyone involved. So that's quite, quite a kind of big heavy session. We did that over two sessions. Then we've got Build VBA Elite landing page. So we started that there. I have lunch locked in at one o' clock every day. My wife and I, we eat basically once a day. We have our main meal at one till two and maybe a little bit of a snack later on. And we sort of subscribe to the, the fast, intermittent fasting way of living. So it's, you know, one big meal, maybe two, but in short sort of close succession so you can allow your body to fast for the rest of the time. And there's some, some great information on that from a guy called Dr. Berg on, on YouTube we find it really works for us. And one of the most amazing things about only having one main meal a day is you have a lot more time. You don't eat breakfast, you have a very light dinner, mostly a salad or something. So you have a lot more time to be constructive. So that day looks a bit like that. So I have thinking time then I have a weekly team meeting from 9:30 till 10 and then that's on his runs over. So we then have from 10:30 to 11.

Set some mastermind dates. 11:30 till 12:30. I worked on some email follow ups and email follow ups are, you know, anything that goes in there to follow up today posts. So I allow myself time to do that. And then we've got lunch and then we've built the VBA Elite landing page and then I have white space and that generally fills up with extra work. Always want the dogs at 5 o' clock and the reason for that is our two dogs are like clockwork. They will start kicking off and you wouldn't think it. I'll just show you a little picture of them because they're pretty cool and they are.

Terrorists, little terrorists. That's Hudson and that's Sully. We named them after Captain Sully in the Hudson River. They look like butter wouldn't melt. But by five o' clock they want to go for a walk and they're scratching the place down. So what we do is we factor that in and we make sure that the dogs are walked every day at 5 o'. Clock. Now I do a coaching call into my UK clients at 7 o' clock till 8:30, which is 9am Monday morning in London and that. So I give myself a bit of space there to just kind of chill, have a shower, meditate. So that's how I do it every day. And then and each day is sort of run the same way. So if you look at Tuesday.

You'Ll see there on a Tuesday I go to the gym, I get up at 4:45, I'm at the gym by 5:30, I'm back home from the gym by 7 having picked up coffee and you'll see there Tuesday is my community coaching day. So that's a day when I spend time with my clients. I record content and create and modify content in any of our programs. So you can see that the VBA call to Australia and US, that happens from 7:30 till 9pm I then add in thinking time. Then you can see I've got a meeting there from 10 till 10:30 and at 10:30 I recorded the podcast Shorty. I moved on to building more of the VBA elite landing page and then had lunch and then did a podcast recording with Ben Amos as a guest from Engage Video Marketing. And then I carried on building the landing page and we walked the dogs at 5 and then the rest of the evening as my own. So we move to today. You'll see that today is there was a Q and A coaching call from a mastermind that I'm a member of from 4am till 6am I didn't make that today, but I was at the gym by 5:15 and, and until 7 o', clock, 7:20 by the time we got back today is marketing and VBA one to one. So I have calls with my VBA clients as part of our elite program. We have quarterly check ins, we look at numbers, we look at the strategic plan. And so I have calls with my clients. Had a call with Caleb and this morning at 10:00 I then worked some more on the VBA mastermind dates, which is what's in the calendar here. And then that actually carried on a bit longer but you know, that just kind of extends so you know, kind of what you come and had lunch and then had a bit of white space where I was really doing some thinking about what I wanted to do on the episode today.

And then I have another call with Chris, one of my clients at 15:30, walk the dogs. And then I've got, I'm in a band and we're rehearsing tonight from half past five to half past seven. So I love to do things that I enjoy and I love playing the drums. And so I'm in this band with a bunch of other entrepreneurs and we play in a shed, hence the name of the shed band. So this is what, what we do and, and this is something that we actually do in our, in our mastermind. So I'll give you a quick look. This is, this is inside of our mast and this is called school. And you can see here that this is where the community and the classroom is. And we've got calendar with events and then leaderboards for all the members in the group who are, you know, contributing a lot to the community. But you'll see here every week we have what's called weekly goals. And we say follow the process. It works. Remember, your weekly goals should be a subset of your quarterly tops and not just busy tasks. Be consistent posting, you'll create a new habit.

And your outcomes will happen more easily. Post your strategic priorities in the thread below by Monday, 10am so we have a kind of mandatory.

Set of priorities for our members, which is.

They all post their strategic goals for the week and that is how we know that they're going to achieve those results. So basically what I'm sharing with you here is exactly what we get our clients to do inside the VBA elite Mastermind. And so it's really important that you plan your week so that you know what's happening. And I, and I can see, you know, tomorrow. I've got certain things locked in. So for example, the gym from 4:55 to 7:05.

And then I've got a call with the VBA up level. So we have a call every week for an hour with the up level guys. And so that thinking time would be moved to here on that occasion, just this event. And you'll see there's nothing in there yet because depending on what happens today.

And how far I get through, I've actually got some thinking time here and some space rather. So after I finish this and put this together, I'll probably edit the.

I'll probably edit the YouTube video and publish it today or I'll set it to publish for tomorrow morning so it goes out kind of at a reasonable time around the world. And, and that is my process.

How I manage my time in a way that is very, very predictable and I'm very, very efficient. So guys, I hope that you found that helpful. This is a discipline that is really worth focusing on because the more you can plan how you're going to spend your day, you will work in uninterrupted blocks of time. And one thing I'd just add is make sure all your alerts are turned off when you're working on focused work. It's the kind of thing that will make an enormous to your output. Now, if this was helpful, please hit the like button. If it wasn't helpful, hit the Unlike button. And please make sure and hit subscribe so you can keep up to date with this. We're going to be putting videos out like this every single week and thanks for watching.