Episode 32: Sacred Time And The 100/50/10 System

Welcome to the Create youe Laptop Life podcast, where entrepreneurs all around the world come to learn how to market and grow their online business right from their laptops, wherever they are. We don't have traditional nine to five jobs and we don't want them because financial and lifestyle security and freedom is too important to us. We know the world is changing for the better and that the freelance and entrepreneur economy is the cleaner, greener, smarter way to work for both families and businesses. My name is Julie, and this podcast will teach you everything you need to know about creating and growing your laptop life. Hey, everyone. Julie here. I am so excited that I am back to podcasting. I feel like I go through these, like, big, long breaks because of how busy my life gets. But I'm here and I have something I am so excited to share with you today. It's called Sacred time and the 15010 system. And this is something that has radically changed my life and my business, and I want to share it with you today. Today. Okay, a little backstory. So, as a young mom in my 20s with three small children, I remember nap time being terrifying. I would tuck my 4 year old, my 2 year old, my 1 year old into their beds and I'd shut the door and then I'd proceed to panic. I had 90 minutes a day to myself. 90 minutes. And the pressure that I felt trying to figure out what to do with that 90 minutes is where I birthed the concept of Sacred time and the 100 system. Because like every other mom on planet Earth, my to do list had items for days. And this was really before I was even big shot entrepreneur, right? And 90 minutes was barely enough time to get three things done on the list, never mind the hundred other things below it. And so I would calculate how many nap times I needed to finish the whole list, and then I would dissolve into tears and just everything felt hopeless. And guys, this is a true story. This was my life for an entire decade. There were days that I would take that 90 minutes and I would choose items on my list that after getting done, would make me feel amazing and they'd spark more creativity and productivity. And then there were other days when I would choose things that would leave me feeling scattered and paralyzed and unfulfilled. So eventually I figured out how to choose what to do on my to do list, and this became a massive aha for me. So, and you guys, I promise I'm going to wrap this around to business here soon, and it will change your life if you do, if you do this so at the time where I was a mom of three, let's say my list was like this. Pay bills, answer emails, clean out my desk, work out, do laundry, make a grocery list, clean out the fridge, plan the birthday party, call my sister, bake cupcakes for a school party, research vacation spots, write a blog post, finish my book for my book club, record video for a blog post, and I would scrutinize. I began to look at this list, and I would scrutinize every single item. And I would ask myself this one question. Can I do this with my kids awake or asleep? That was it. And what was I really asking? Right? Because some of you guys don't have kids. And you don't have to have kids, by the way, to do this, I was asking myself, really, I wanted to know if the task on my list really required 100% of my brain power and concentration, or was it possible to work it into a part of the day where I had the kids awake. That was the question I was asking. And for the particular day's list that I just read to you, really, the only things that I couldn't do with my kids awake, there were three. Pay bills, write a blog post, and record a video for a blog post. Everything else I could do with the kids, right? Things like bake cupcakes, make a grocery list, work out, do the laundry, all those things I could do with kids. And so I started to scrutinize and just like almost violently eliminate anything from the list that I could do with my kids awake, because I only had 90 minutes. And the three tasks on my list that I could not do with the kids awake were the bills, a blog post, and a video recording. So all of them required a quiet house or enough concentration that trying to do them without the kids would end in disaster. So I started writing a 100 next to these items, identifying them as 100 tasks. Tasks that truly require 100% of my brain power. And so everything else just kind of fell outside of that 90 minute precious window. And speaking of those 90 minutes, I started to call it my sacred time. It was the most sacred time of the day for me, every day. So I made a vow and a commitment to myself that I would only do 100 tasks in my sacred time, no matter what, no exceptions. And this may sound super easy and like, oh, that's no big deal, but you would be surprised how hard this was to do. It took so much practice, because even though it sounds easy in theory, actually living it was a whole different ball game. So I should probably tell you what I naturally wanted to do. And if you start to observe yourself, you'll see patterns too. So, like, when the kids would go to sleep, what would I do? I'd want to like, tidy up my space. It was almost like a compulsion, it seemed so harmless to like walk around, pick up the toys, throw a load of laundry in, wipe off my desk, and then start writing a blog post. However, this meant that technically I was allowing three extra non 100 tasks into my sacred time. Not only did it eat into the 90 minutes, but it also led to other mini tasks and distractions I saw along the way. Every single step that I took in my house was like allowing a room full of possible new distractions into my 90 minutes, right? Because what if you go to pick up a toy and then you grab that toy and underneath you see a big, you know, a squished Ritz cracker in the rug with 75 ants. Are you going to ignore it or are you going to now deal with the ants? Right? And so it sounds so ridiculous, but it is massively life changing when you become very, very protective over your sacred time. And so, you know, at first I would play games with myself. I would sneak in like non 100 tasks into my sacred time because I rationalized it made me feel good, right? To get those things done. And oh, by the way, I can't focus until they were done. But it never failed. Every single time I did that, I would lose momentum and time and I would never get my 100 tasks done. So eventually I began the practice of ignoring my instinct and my compulsion. And it was really hard. So hard, in fact, that I started adding in buffer time before my sacred time just so that my brain could handle these silly little games that I would play with myself so that I would. So that I would be committed to not using my sacred time for anything other than 100 tasks. Now, as the kids got older, I earned more sacred time slots in my day, right? And so it got easier, right, because it wasn't any. It wasn't 90 minutes anymore. Now it was two hours, right? So the funny thing is though, that as my time grew, my business grew, my to do list grew and the concept of sacred time and 100 tasks became even more important. So that is the backstory. And now I'm going to talk to you and I'm going to ask you to do this. So the first exercise for you in your business is I want you to identify what 100 tasks truly are. And this is very important. To understand. And I started this podcast by saying the 150 10. Because the reality is that I started to identify three different types of tasks. The 100 ones. 100% of your brain power. 50 means, yes, it does take some concentration, but if you get interrupted, it's not the end of the world. You can kind of like bounce back to it, right? It's not a big deal. And 10 tasks are really just mindless tasks that almost can become rote. You know how when you drive home and you don't remember driving home because it becomes almost like a rote thing that your like autopilot turns on. So that's what I would do. So if you struggle with focus, you might be tempted to identify everything as a 100, right? Like, oh, this takes 100% of my brain power. But here's a way to look at it. Just look and ask yourself when you are categorizing the task, if someone interrupted you, could you get back at it after the interruption was done? And if so, then it's a 50 task. So for example, working out, if you're lifting weights and the kids comes into the room and asks where the cereal is, you can answer and get back to working out. But what happens if that kid interrupts a podcast interview or a book writing session? Regaining concentration is a lot harder. So I would definitely identify those as 100 tasks. 10 tasks are things we do in life, like showering, driving, or waiting in line. And so this is would be an example of how I would identify in life and business both, right? Because as laptop lifers, you know, our life and our business always intersect. So things like live streaming, selling, teaching, executive meetings, podcast interviews, building curriculum, recording videos, writing books, doing tech, creative design, Those are all 100 tasks. There's also hundred tasks in life too, like date night sex, like you don't want to be interrupted in sex, right? Heart to heart talks with your kids, quality family time. Those would be 100 tasks as well. Then there are 50 tasks. Things like answering emails, planning, project management, cleaning, organizing, working out, hangout time, shopping and errands. And then there are things like water cooler talk, spying on your competitors, organizing files and folders, scrolling the news, you know, the news feed, showering, driving, waiting in line, Netflix. These are 10 tasks, right? There really should not eat up your sacred time under any circumstances whatsoever. Okay. And so once you have identified your 15010 tasks, the next thing is we are going to learn how to find and capture your sacred time. So some of you might be listening to me and you might be thinking one of the following things. Number one, finding sacred time is super easy. This is not rocket science. I am not sure why you're talking about this, Julie. The other half of you are going to be like, oh, my gosh, I am a mom of kids and I'm working from home and I have a business and a job and I have no sacred time. I am screwed. So no matter which end of the spectrum you're on, please stick with me in this, because I've implemented the system effectively with people who've thought exactly the same things. And I promise you, if you really work at this, it will change your life. So the first step here is to identify your sacred time slots. So take an average 24 hour workday, subtract the time that you're sleeping, and circle the slots that qualify as sacred time. And you are going to identify sacred time as the time you have in your day that you are 100% in control of. You can dictate 100% how you spend that time. So this means kids are asleep or with a nanny or with another parent. You've got an assistant who is answering your phone calls and emails, or you've turned all your notifications off. You have the power to ignore notifications and dings from your phone. You don't have animals begging you to take them for a walk. You have a door to your office that you can shut out coworkers and interruptions. Okay? So you will probably. I would love it if you could identify, if you are a work from home person, at least four hours a day of sacred time. Some of you are going to be lucky if you can get an hour. Okay? So just go through and identify that sacred time. Now, you might find some time where you're like, I'm not 100% in control of it, but I'm kind of in control of it, right? So I would look at those and sometimes I would call them half time. Right? And half time is like, technically I have control of those time periods in theory, but I don't really have total control because I could get interrupted pretty easily. Okay? So half time is time you control, but not fully. And so there may be another problem that comes up as you're identifying your sacred time slots. If your sacred time slot is between 12 midnight and 2am, it would be kind of misleading to label that as sacred time because you know that oftentimes you can't really get 100 tasks done because your brain doesn't really work at that time. So if you can find sacred time that you, number one, control 100%. And number two, your brain actually works at that time. You may find that you only have two hours a day, right? And you might be like, well, crap, like how am I supposed to run a business on two hours a day? But I'll tell you what, if you become absolutely militant about protecting your sacred time and only doing 100 tasks in that sacred time, only 100, you will see that you can get an incredible amount done. Okay? So you know, obviously if you don't have kids, if you have an easygoing spouse, you are going to have a lot of sacred time, right? And so it may become more about understanding your natural rhythm. So let's say you have like from 7am till 5pm sacred time, you're like, oh, I've got so much time. Which is not a very good thing to tell yourself. Because what happens, what happens is you start to like get lazy. But you know that your brain works best from the hours of 8am to 11am so really you have three hours of sacred time time a day. So those 100 tasks should be happening in that three hour time block. And then your 50 tasks and your 10 tasks can happen the rest of the day. Because very few people can really concentrate for more than four hours a day on a task and really be productive. So most of you really only have three to four hours a day, even if it appears like you have a lot. Now, if you guys listening, any of you are stay at home moms, you're trying to run a business and you're like, I have nothing, right? This may cause a little panic. Don't panic. You may have to wake up super early and not use that time for working out or morning routine. Gasp. I know I'm going totally against conventional wisdom here, but working out and making smoothies are things that are not 100 tasks. They just aren't. And so if you're using your only beautiful, quiet sacred time hour of the day for that you're using, you are missing out. You may need to hire a nanny. You may need to implement a more strict nap time, right? Even if the kids don't nap, maybe it's quiet time. It may mean asking your husband to take over dinner routine two days a week so that you can go be alone. So if you cannot come up with any sacred time in your life on a daily basis, this is going to identify to you. You have a quality of life problem. And so the question you need to ask yourself is, how can I get at least 90 minutes of sacred time in my day, every day. So the primary goal of the sacred time and the 15010 system is mainly to make sure that you are leveraging that time for the tasks that are going to take 100% of your brain power. Okay? And so like I said earlier, this is not as easy as it sounds. And some of you may do all of this and come to the unfortunate realization that one of your sacred time slots every day is five to seven and you are currently using that time to work out, make a smoothie, and take a shower. And none of those are 100 tasks. Not even close. And so we need to learn how to match our 100 tasks to your sacred time and then match your 50 tasks to your half time. Okay? So imagine what life would be like if you could sit down and write out your next book or course every day from 5 to 7 and then go do your workout and your smoothie and your shower during a 5050 block that's a little later in the morning. That's exactly how I wrote the Marketing Secrets black book for Russell in such a short amount of time. As a mom of four, as a business owner, as an employee, I never, ever, ever use 100 blocks of time for anything other than 100 tasks. So no exceptions. Go attempt to do this. See if you can get at least 90 minutes up to 4 hours of sacred time. Start identifying your 110 tasks and try to at least match your 100 tasks with your sacred time. And observe yourself. Watch yourself when you have that time that you're in control of and see what you're doing. Are you truly doing things that are one hundreds or are you doing like I did, cleaning up toys, throwing in a load of laundry, you know, making a smoothie. Because if you are, it's time to make some adjustments in your lifestyle. So guys, I hope that helps. If you like this, if you thought it was awesome, please leave a review and rating. Share my podcast. I would love it so much. As always, I appreciate you guys. Talk soon. If you're ready to create, grow, scale your online business, you can go to createyourlaptoplife.com podcast and get a free plan on how you can get started today.