Mimi Bishop: Productivity And Time-Management Coach

Welcome to the Business Blast Podcast. I'm your host, Tyler Wagner. This episode is brought to you by Authors Unite. Authors Unite provides you with all the resources you need to become a successful author. You can learn more about Authors Unite and join the free community at authorsunite.com. Now let's jump into the episode. All right everyone, welcome back to another episode of the Business Blast podcast. I'm your host Tyler Wagner, and today I have Mimi with us. She is a productivity and time management coach who works with busy, ambitious professionals and entrepreneurs who feel overwhelmed by everything that needs to get done. She helps them get organized, prioritized, set clear goals, and create a solid plan of Action. So welcome to the show.

Thank you. It's an honor to be here.

Of course. Grateful to have you here. We'll jump into the first one, Mimi. The first question I have for you is, what is the best story from your life that has an underlying valuable message?

Oh, that's a great question. Well, I was someone who used to work, you know, tons of hours and always running around, and I felt like there was just never enough time in my days at work started at 6:00 AM and sometimes didn't end until 10:00 PM. And then I had two unfortunate tragedies. My two younger siblings passed away suddenly. And even though it was a very difficult time and it's a sad story, it also really woke me up in that life is too short to be too busy. And that's really my motto. You know, it's about really having balance in your life and doing the things that you truly love and making the time for the right things. And so I see a lot of people running around and working so hard, and I get wanting to be ambitious and wanting to put in the time at your career, but not at the expense of your health or enjoying other pieces of your life.

Definitely. Thank you for sharing that with us. The next one I have for you then is, what is the most valuable piece of information we should know that's within your expertise or industry?

This will probably be very surprising, but I would say that overwhelm is a state of mind. And it's true that you can have a million things on your to-do list and deadlines and a lot of pressure, but we really start to get stressed when we are in our heads telling ourselves how busy we are. And the truth is you can only focus on one thing at a time and you have control over that feeling. So if you take a step back and try to stay present and then focus on that one thing at a time, it really shifts the energy around things and helps you to get things done in a way that's a lot less stressful. And you don't really hear that productivity advice a lot. No, no.

And you know, it reminds me actually, I don't know if you're familiar with this guy, Jordan Peterson. He's become pretty big lately. He's a pretty famous author, but he speaks about like shortening your timeframe. So meaning like, There's been mornings where I personally, I've woken up and I have almost 500 emails and I think about it as the 500 emails and it will give me anxiety. I'll start pacing around my place. I'm like, oh my God. And then, but really that's because I'm looking at it as a whole rather than if you shorten the timeframe and you just say, okay, well, yes, that is a lot of emails, but really it is just 500 1 emails, meaning like, let's just start with the first email.

Exactly.

So shortening the timeframe can reduce the anxiety and then help you to get started. And typically once you get started, it gets you into a flow state and then you can knock it all out.

So that's exactly right. Yes.

So, so then not to go towards kind of to make it overarching in all of business, like what's your best piece of overall business advice and feel free to share whatever you like, but maybe what could also be helpful is like, How did you become like a coach? You know, I think a lot of people were in an age where they're like working for corporations and stuff and they wanna branch out and do their own thing, but they don't know how. So maybe you'd wanna shed some light there as well.

Absolutely. I would say the first piece of business advice is never give up. You know, I was in corporate for 25 years. I did that for a long time and I never gave up on wanting to continue to grow and change and get promotions and then switch gears and then go into my own journey and become a coach. So I would say that even when you hit a roadblock, don't look at it as a block, look at it as an opportunity and then take the next step. So never give up. I think there's a Winston Churchill quote that says, "Never, never, never quit." And I love that.

Yes. And if you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would that be?

Don't worry so much. You know, I spent a lot of time in the beginning of my career getting really wound up on the next steps and what they would look like. I would say be present in the moment. And I know that might sound very, you know, new agey, coachy kind of talk, but it's really true. And I think when you're present and you really, you know, kind of elevate yourself, then the next step just kind of unfolds.

And I'm just curious if we could dive a little deeper there. And because I always love to hear people's tips for it, because a lot of my, I say like friends and also just like colleagues in general, I find myself to be fairly, unless I'm trying to think, fairly like thoughtless when I'm in the moment because I went through a big like personal development shift in my life for 3 years. And then like what popped out the other end was like presence, if you will. And I find it very hard to like teach or like tell someone this is how you become present. So I'm just curious, do you have like any tips or things that you do to like get into the present like state of being?

That's such a great question. I do. So I always recommend you use your senses. right? And so, you know, just cue into what's in front of you. What are you looking at? What are you feeling? You know, is it, is the room warm or is it cold? Or, you know, what's, what's the temperature at? What are you smelling? Do you smell something good? All that kind of stuff really brings you back into the present moment.

Got it. Okay. Yeah. That's actually really good advice because that's, then it gets us out of our mind in thinking about future or past, and it gets us to be like, what's happening right now, which then— got it. Okay. So zero in on your senses.

Yeah. I find that that really helps a lot.

And so maybe kind of leading into the next one, in your opinion, what is the key to happiness?

That's a great question. The key to happiness, laughing every day and not taking things too seriously. I think to have a good sense of humor about things. I think that's so important. And I think that's really the key to happiness.

And what is the best book that you've read? And what was the number one thing you learned from that?

I'm gonna have to give you two. So one is— very recently is The One Thing. I love that. And that's more of a productivity book. It's the whole idea of what's the one most important thing that you can do now that will kind of impact everything and just focusing on that. I think that's very powerful. And secondly, I would say Tim Ferriss' 4-Hour Workweek. I remember seeing that in the bookstore and I was like, what is that? And finally I picked it up and it really changed my life because I was not aware of all the opportunities that were out there and how the, and how the business landscape is really changing. And so that was a real game changer for me.

Yes, "The 4-Hour Workweek." Both of those books are amazing. "The 4-Hour Workweek" was an absolute life-changing book for me, so I highly recommend it.

Yeah, right? It changed your life too.

Yeah, yeah, it actually, literally, just to show you the significance of how much it did, I actually read that book and then within like a month after, I dropped out of school.

Wow.

That book like gave me the, like it empowered me and like showed me that I could do what I wanted on my own and I didn't need the degree to do it. So that book was actually the spark that got me drop out of school and start my own companies.

That's amazing. Pretty big thing for me too, because it just, like you said, it made me open my eyes to what the possibility was. And then it started me on a journey to Marie Forleo and, you know, a whole host of others that have really changed the way my career— yes, unfolded.

Absolutely. Yeah, no, that's awesome. It was very impactful for both of us, and it was one of like the first actual like I don't know. When I was younger, I didn't read much. I wasn't really into personal growth. I think it's something a lot of people stumble upon. But once I read that book, not only did it do that for me, but then I went down a path of Think and Grow Rich, reading all the business books. And then I went down Eckhart Tolle and personal development. So that book was the spark of kind of, I want to say, everything. So thanks, Tim.

Yeah. Oh, thanks, Tim. He's right.

So the next one I have for you is, what is your favorite quote and why?

It's a Diane von Furstenberg quote, and it's, "Life is too short. Insecurity is a waste of time." Mm, got it.

I love it. Thank you again so much for coming on. The last one I have for you, I'm sure everybody listening would like to know, 'cause we all need help with productivity, is where is the best place for people to find and/or connect with you online?

Absolutely. I would say my website, which is mimibishop.com. And I have a free download called 10 Simple Steps to Take Back Your Time.

Perfect. Thank you again for joining us. We appreciate it.

You're welcome. Thank you so much for having me on the show. The podcast you just heard was made using Anchor. Ever thought about making your own podcast? Anchor makes it really easy for anyone to get started. It's a one-stop shop for recording, hosting, and distributing podcasts. Best of all, it's 100% free. Sign up now at anchor.fm/new. That's anchor.fm/new to get started.