558: How To Be More Productive Than 99% Of The Population

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You’re listening to the My Web Quitter Job podcast, the show where I cover all the latest strategies and current events related to e-commerce and online business. Today, Tony and I are diving deep into the topic of productivity. We’re going to explore proven techniques and strategies for staying focused, managing your time effectively, and maximizing your output without burning out. And we’ll share our own productivity hacks, tools we rely on daily, and the mindset shifts that help us do more in less time. But before we begin,

00:26
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and not some high level guys who are overseeing their companies at 50,000 feet. I personally hate large events, so the Seller Summit is always small and intimate. Every year we cut off ticket sales at around 200 people, so tickets sell out fast, and we’ve sold out every single year for the past nine years. Now if you’re an e-commerce entrepreneur making over $250,000 or $1 million per year, we also offer an exclusive Mastermind experience with other top sellers. The Seller Summit’s gonna be held in Fort Lauderdale, Florida from May 6th to May 8th.

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So go over to mywifecoderjob.com slash book, fill out the form and I’ll send you the bonuses right away. Now onto the show.

02:02
Welcome to the My Wife, or Job podcast. Today, what we’re going to talk about are productivity hacks and specifically productivity hacks that don’t require any software or any money on your part. And these are things that Tony and I do every single day that make ourselves more productive. I think it’s funny that we’re talking about this because you are in some ways the most productive person I know and in other ways the laziest person I know. So I’m interested to hear your

02:32
Your hacks. Yes. Well, I am lazy, but I think that’s what causes the productivity. Because you want to be lazy, so you’re super I want to do the minimum amount possible. Yes. I can sum this whole podcast up in 30 seconds. You’re not going to say write code? No, this is not involving software. made that clear in beginning. no. Here’s what I think. I’ve been listening to a lot of productivity podcasts lately.

03:00
So it’s his top of mind for me. But I think one of the best productivity hacks is to have a routine. And I think that’s one of the reasons why you’re so productive is because you literally have this routine and you never stray from it. it for most, you unless there’s an emergency, right? Or unless on vacation, which throws everything off. Yes. And then you turn into a fetal child in the fetal position crying about how much work you have to do.

03:29
No, but having a routine, I think, is the easiest productivity hack. It doesn’t require, get some Post-it notes and write stuff down or cross stuff off your list. It doesn’t require any, it doesn’t require a timer on your phone. It’s literally just getting up and doing the same thing over and over again. I actually 100 % agree. Ironically, that was actually not on my list. What? I think that’s your best productivity hack.

03:58
It is but that’s not what that was was on my list, but yes Yeah, you’re correct because I know at this certain day at this certain time I’m gonna work on this and it’s and I just pump out for example now like at volleyball practice Which my son has I think three times a week, but when I go there I know I’m gonna pump out a YouTube script My only objective for that thing is to pump out YouTube script and that’s what I do Yeah

04:24
And I think why it works for a lot of reasons, but I think one of the reasons why it works is productivity is so much more than just a catchphrase because typically if you are non-productive, it’s because you’re procrastinating and you’re procrastinating because you have a…

04:43
probably an unrealized fear or apprehension or doubt in yourself or your own abilities. So it goes really deep, right? So if you’re not productive, it’s probably not because you’re a lazy person. It’s because there are things in yourself that are keeping you from taking the next step. And so having that routine sort of forces you to do the next thing, right? So like, if you know that like the YouTube script is every Wednesday night or something like that, right?

05:12
If you know that, then it doesn’t matter how you feel about yourself or your YouTube channel. Like if your YouTube channel is down for the week, right? The last thing you wanna do is work on a script, right? You wanna watch other creators and figure out what the product, you wanna do all these other things as opposed to just creating the content, which we all know at the end of the day is what will make you successful on YouTube is the consistent content creation. So you saying to yourself, volleyball night is my script writing night. It forces you to do it and be productive.

05:42
even though probably the tendency would be to not be productive given certain situations. And you’re doing this now too, right? You have certain days blocked off for certain tasks, right? Yeah. Well, here’s where I realized that like the routine was so like the doing the same thing was so important to me. And I guess I always did it and just didn’t know that it was because I’m a pretty rude, like I like routine. I’ve eaten the same thing for breakfast for like 10 years. You know, like I don’t like a lot of change when it comes to those things.

06:11
But last year was the first year that I didn’t have to drive any kids to school in a long, long time, probably like six or seven years. So last year I only had two kids in school and one of them could drive. So every morning, instead of me getting up and doing my morning routine and taking a kid to school, I was like waking up, texting to make sure they were awake. But then sometimes I’d go back to sleep, sometimes I would play on my phone, sometimes I would get up.

06:41
I just didn’t have any sort of schedule and I found myself, you know, by like 9.30, I was like, I’ve been up since six, what have I done? Like some days I was like, uber productive, right? And other days it was like, I’ve literally done nothing, you know, or it feels like, you know, I’ve done one thing and not even like super productive, you know, I took the dog out. So this year, you know, the one kid graduated, so now I’m back into the driving a kid to school.

07:08
And I have been so much more productive over the past, I think we’ve been in school like what, seven weeks now? Like it’s nuts. Like by 10 o’clock, I could like call it a day if I wanted to. You know what I mean? Like, cause it’s like, I’m up at this time, I do this, I get in the car, I take her to school, I drive through Starbucks, like whatever the routine is. And I realized that I like crave that routine to the point where like, I know that Jimmy walks his dogs at 7.20. I know that like,

07:37
just like every single thing is like scripted out. I can listen to one one half of a podcast on the way home. Like I’ve got this whole routine and it’s like completely changed my mindset about getting things done. And all it is, the only change that was made was now I have to do something every morning. Yeah. think routine is important for anything that’s difficult. Like working out, for example. Yeah. Like I actually dread lifting weights, but I’ve kept this routine for probably like 30 years now. Like on this day.

08:06
Yeah, do. I have to lift weights at least once a week and it’s on this day and I do it. I hate it. I hate every minute, but because it’s that time to do it, I always get it done. Yeah. So one of the hacks that I started doing was I won’t check my email unless I’m on my treadmill. So like, because there’s certain, I found that like I have a treadmill desk, but I found that there’s definitely things that I struggled to do while on the treadmill. Like I am not a like

08:35
patch your head, rub your stomach. Like I can’t do the double coordination thing. initially I was like, I’m doing everything on the treadmill. I was like, no, I am not. I will fall off this treadmill or I will make so many mistakes that it’s not worth it. So I was like, but there’s certain things that you can absolutely do on a treadmill. Check your email, schedule social media, chat with somebody, talk about things, take phone calls, things like that, easy. So I started, cause I have a tendency to like get in the email and then get distracted and like not.

09:04
be getting the things done that I need to get done. So I was like, listen, if I’m to go through my email, then I just have to be on the treadmill. then it forces me to, one, get steps in, but then two, have the double productivity because I’m getting through the emails as well as getting the steps in. So if you’re not answering my emails, that means you’re not on the treadmill? That’s right. OK.

09:31
All right. So my next one is, and this has really helped me out a lot. I plan ahead for the next day and set my priorities. And, uh, this is just something that like, could get a lot done, but not feel like you got a lot done if you haven’t finished the important things. So what I do is, and you’ve made fun of me for this in the past, I literally have a Google draft of all the things I need to do. And I just prioritize what’s going to get done in the next day.

10:00
Like that literally just moves to the top. And that way when I wake up, I’m not wasting a lot of time figuring out what I want to do. Yeah. And I just jumped straight to the priority one. It’s similar also to, know, I mentioned I write YouTube scripts when I’m at practice. Well, if I go to practice and I have no idea what the topic is about, then I usually end up wasting like 30, 40 minutes just figuring out what the topic of the YouTube video is about. So before practice, even I say, I look at the list of topics that I have.

10:30
I say, okay, this is the one I’m going to write about. That saves a lot of time. I think you hit on another productivity hack and that is to keep a list of the things that you need to do. There’s the recurring things, the things that you have to do on a daily basis, check email, maybe if you’re creating video content, you’re trying to publish a short a day or whatever it is, the things that you need to do on a regular basis. Then there’s the project-based things.

10:58
you wrote a plugin a couple of weeks ago, so that would have been like a project-based assignment that you had. And it’s not something that like every day for the rest of your life, you’re not working on this plugin, you know? And so I think having a running list of all the things that you need to do is really helpful. But then I think the important part about that and similar to what you’re doing is like pick one thing for the next day or that morning or whenever you do this. I think doing it a day ahead is actually really helpful.

11:29
But I see so many people who have a list of 500 things. And it’s like, this is my list for Wednesday. And it’s like, you’re not getting that done for the next 10 Wednesdays. It’s not even possible. And what happens, I think, for people is they get discouraged, right? Because they are like, well, I have this list and I got through two things, right? So I think, and I think Shalene talks about, I think she’s the one that talks about it, it might be somebody else that’s like,

11:57
have one priority for the day. And then once you complete that, you can go to other things. You can work through the list. But start with one. Don’t start with like 15 things, because you’re just going to constantly live in this state of disappointment. I think the problem with having a large list is what ends up happening is you end up crossing off the easy ones that have little or no impact on anything. It’s like a stalling mechanism. I disagree. Really? OK. I think if you’re stuck,

12:27
If you’re on the struggle bus and we know everybody goes through this at some point, where you’re just unmotivated or maybe like a lot of people, I know like for you when you got COVID and then when you were recovering, you still felt like garbage for like a long time. You were like tired and you just didn’t have the same level of energy that you normally had. So I think if you’re in that sort of rut and this isn’t like a lifetime of rut, this is a specific timeframe of rut.

12:57
Sometimes it makes sense to just get the easy things done to give yourself that little win and feel like, okay, I’ve accomplished something. If you are having one of those days where just everything feels like it’s not working, go knock out the little things on your list because then you will have some wins. Psychologically, I think it will help you for the next day or the next week. I think that’s a gateway drug to not getting anything of substance done. That’s not a gateway drug. It is. Oh, I’m just going to knock off the…

13:27
There’s something dumb here on my list. Actually, I don’t have it up, but I have a lot of dumb things on my list. I got to email this person and whatever. It doesn’t make me feel good. If you just keep crossing off those little things and not avoiding the big ones. I don’t think it’s an That’s why I say it’s a gateway drug. I don’t think it’s an avoidance tactic. I think it’s a quick win tactic.

13:54
But I think people know in themselves if it’s a gateway drug or if it’s just something that they need to move on. You know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, it’s the same thing. Like when someone starts an e-commerce store, they immediately start doing the stuff like opening a bank account, getting an LLC and all that stuff before they even think about what they want to sell. So those are easy things that they know how to do. Right. We get the LLC question every single webinar. Yeah. And it’s like.

14:21
Should I start an LLC? And I’m like, well, first of all, we cannot tell you when to start an LLC, but that’s like, you don’t even know what you want to do. exactly. It’s a procrastination tactic because you know how to do that. It’ll make you feel like getting business cards. Another stall tactic, right? Anyway, I get what you’re saying though. Yeah. Like if you’re down the dumps and you want to feel like you’re at least making some progress, you can iron those out, but those aren’t going to really move the needle a lot of times. It’s the, it’s the bigger things that will.

14:51
But the point is if you’re down in the dumps, you need to have a win to be able to get the next win. Yeah. Sure. not, this is not like I want to make this clear. This isn’t like a daily down in the dumps. This is like if you’re just like you’re getting over sickness, maybe you just had a baby and you’re trying to get back into things like you’ve, you you’ve had a big life transition. Like sometimes it just helps to get the little things done so that you can feel like you’re moving forward.

15:20
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15:49
just sign up right there on the front page via email and I’ll send you the course right away. Once again, that’s mywifequitterjob.com slash free. Now back to the show.

16:01
So what’s funny about this conversation is one of my productivity hacks is to focus on the activities that have the highest impact. Yes. Right. And ignore all those little, it ties into the prioritization one. Yeah. So I guess it just depends on what these tasks you’re trying to cross off. Uh, for me, I guess the mental block, I rarely feel down in the dumps. Like I’m not making any progress, but as long as I feel like I’m making progress on something that’s really going to move the needle.

16:29
For example, that app that we just talked about that I wrote, it took a while. It took a week, which is a longer project than something I can pump out in a day. And it was taking a long time, but I knew that that was going to have the highest impact. So I worked on it, even though I didn’t have any tangible results from it during that week. There’s some apps that I’ve written that take a month. And I know that once that month is done, that’s going to have a huge impact on the business. But during that whole month, I’m not seeing any results, right?

16:59
You’re not going to agree with this one. I think a big productivity hack, if you work online, is to get off your computer. I think that what happens to people is they get on their computer and they spend all day on their computer. They’re not really getting a ton done, but then they finish, they go eat dinner, they’re on their phone. They never have an experience outside of the screen.

17:27
And I think one of the best ways to be more productive is to have a life outside of what you’re doing. And I know there are periods of time when you’re like building a business where you have to cut back on certain things, right? Like maybe you’re not going out with your friends as much or doing the same things or taking a vacation. But I think even if it’s as simple as like getting up from your desk and walking around your block, like you were talking, I don’t know if we were recording or not where you’re like, I could just take a walk after lunch, right?

17:55
Like even if it’s like after lunch, you take a 10 minute walk, right? Or after this, I go play with the dog, right? Whatever it is, like just stepping away from things I think is actually really helpful in being productive. Now this doesn’t mean I’m gonna step away and be on my phone, right? This is literally like moving your body, interacting with somebody in person, know, like doing something completely different than what you do all day.

18:23
This one was on my list by the way. okay. Cause usually you like to lock yourself in the room and like, Oh that’s only when I’m in flow mode, right? But, uh, sometimes when I can’t get in that mode, like yesterday morning, actually, I felt like this. So what I did is I called my buddy and we just hit some tennis balls. Uh, for me, the way I recharge is by like striking something. It can be a volleyball, it can be a tennis ball, whatever, but that recharges me and I get tired.

18:52
For some strange reason, when I get really tired, I’m much more productive, physically That is not me. After a run, you’re not productive? No, no. Really? I I force myself to be, but I feel better in general. It’s because I’m calmer, I think. I’m much calmer after I’ve exercised, and then once I’m calm, I can easily get in that flow state. Yes, but I think people often think like, I can’t afford to take a minute away.

19:21
I can’t afford. I have friends who are like, I don’t even eat lunch. It’s like, what are you doing? I don’t even go to the bathroom all day. Just weird stuff where I’m like, you need to step away, especially when you’re in front of a screen. think especially being in front of a screen is so important. You need a break from it. You need to reset. Whatever it is, you can even go on, you can go to YouTube, but I’m not saying get on your phone, but go to YouTube, there’s breathing.

19:48
like 10 minute breathing sessions, right? Where you can just do like some breathing exercises to calm yourself down or like clear your head. there’s, you know, you can do 10 minutes of, most people should probably stretch. You can do 10 minutes of stretching. Like everybody I know is so inflexible. Like, you know, I think there’s all these things that you can do. And for some reason, I think, and same thing with you, like the hitting the tennis ball or like playing volleyball, like just getting yourself moving just changes your mindset. And I think,

20:15
Like even though I’m tired when I come, I mean, don’t do like, I’m not going to go run a half marathon after lunch because I live in Florida and it’s a hundred degrees, but even just like getting up, walking around, taking the dogs out, little things like that. You come back with just a better perspective. Yep. Yeah. I try to walk after lunch every day. Yeah. But actually you mentioned one of my other productivity hacks just now. You mentioned the locking yourself in a room with a single light on your keyboard. So that my productivity hack there is

20:45
just minimize all distractions. That’s my way of doing it. And you probably have a way of doing it also, right? So, you know, it’s funny. I used to do like one-on-one coaching years and years ago, and everybody that I coached was a mom. So everyone had kids with some, you know, they were the primary caregiver for the kids, whether their kids were in school or homeschool, but like,

21:07
they had, they were trying to build a business online and they also had like the full-time kid responsibility and all of them had the same, like, I don’t have enough time to get things done. And so, and I don’t even know if this app still exists, but there used to be this app that you could like install on your computer and it basically told you how much time you’re spending on social media. And so that like on our very first, every single person, the very first call, I was like, okay, I want you to install this app on your computer and next week I want you to report back like the numbers.

21:38
people were just absolutely astounded by the amount of time they spent off the primary tasks. Whether it’s checking email, going on social media, and this is back when there was only Facebook and Pinterest. Instagram was not as what it is today. It wasn’t even today where there’s so many distractions. TikTok. Yes. Within, know,

22:04
everybody that I talked to was spending at least two hours on just mindless, you and not for research purposes. Like we always joke, we’re on TikTok for research. And it’s like, okay, so what would happen if you got those two hours back? What would happen if you got one of those hours back? Right? Like the amount of work you can accomplish in an hour, if you are like,

22:30
lights off in a room, no distractions, is pretty phenomenal. I remember you, I think you and I were both at this event with Darren Rouse and he talked about when he wrote his first ebook and he spent 15 minutes every morning, it 15 or 30? It wasn’t a lot of time. He got up like 15 minutes or 30 minutes earlier every day and spent that little chunk of time, the 30 minutes, writing his book and he said it took him like, I don’t know, maybe like three months or something. It wasn’t very long.

22:57
And then he published the book. think he had like a $30,000 first day, which on like a $5.99 book is pretty phenomenal. That’s pretty crazy, yeah. Yeah. But his whole point in that story was like, did this in 30 minutes a day, where people are like, don’t have time to write an e-book, or I don’t have time to create a course, or I don’t have time to send out whatever. So I think if you cut off all distractions, then you can gain half of that time back.

23:23
That’s enough time to create a course, write a book, start a membership, go do something productive on social media. Like we have one of our course members is member of, is going all these Facebook groups and commenting and giving people help, right? In the Facebook groups. And he’s kind of become like an expert in his area. Like if you’re going to be on social media, do something that helps build your business. But just like removing the distractions is.

23:49
a huge, I mean that could be like the only thing you do, you would have much more productivity. So this is just an aside, but we track our kids activities on their phones and my son was spending three and a half hours every day on WhatsApp. And my daughter is on YouTube. Okay, so here’s the thing. We blocked like the browser and all that stuff, but with WhatsApp now there’s a, there’s, can use AI within WhatsApp and it’s like having chat GPT right there. Okay. Yeah. Anyway.

24:19
Yes, they’re wasting trouble with that one. Yeah. He’s too smart for you. Along what you said about setting aside 15, 30 minutes a day like Darren Rouse did, that actually doesn’t work for me. And I know a lot of people use the Pomodoro technique, is, think, what is it, like every 30 minutes or something, the I think it’s 25. But it’s also like, I think you could probably adjust it to your own schedule. Yeah.

24:47
can’t do that for some of the types of work that I do. Like if I’m writing a YouTube script and this alarm happens at 30 minutes, that totally ruins my flow state. Or if I’m coding something and some alarm goes off. So what I like to do is, and this is impossible for everyone, I just happen to be at home alone most mornings. But if I need to get something done, I set aside a block. And I know I can be productive usually for like, I don’t know, probably two hours straight.

25:15
If I wake up early enough before everyone even gets up, I can get a lot done in that block of time. I’ll set aside blocks of time to do some of the activities that require deep thinking. I think the time blocking in general is a great productivity hack. You have to block the time to fit your personality. I think for people who really struggle with getting things done, using those 30-minute increments is going to be life-changing.

25:45
Um, but if you’re already, if you already feel like, yeah, I’m pretty good with that, but I definitely think I could be more productive. Think about blocking bigger times. I know our friend, Erin Chase from $5 dinners was a huge time blocker. Um, and she would block like three hours and only work on, you know, this one thing for three hours and then only work on something else. And it’s amazing how much you can get done when you do that.

26:08
But you have to know your own personality. If three hours to you sounds like absolute torture, then start with the 25 minutes and go from there. Learn how to work in the blocks and then extend your time. Why does the Pomodoro technique work? You’re a fan of it, right? I like it. Why does it work? You’re supposed to do things in 30 minute increments or 25 minute increments?

26:34
I don’t know like this, I mean, I’m sure there’s like a scientific reason behind it why I think it works is that it gives you like a definitive end. It’s like, if you’re gonna run a 5k, right? If you said, hey, you’re gonna run a 5k today, you would like mentally set yourself up to run a 5k. when you get, and you’re not a runner, let’s just say, right? So this is gonna be struggle, you’re gonna struggle. So the first, you know, the first mile, because 5k is 3.2 miles, the first mile,

27:03
is gonna be awful, right? But once you hit that first mile, you’re like, oh, I only got two more miles left. Once you hit 1.5, 1.6, you’re like, oh, this isn’t that bad. I can do this, I can repeat this, right? And then as you’re nearing the finish line, it’s just like, I can do this, I can do this, I can do this. Whereas if I said, hey, I just want you to run till I tell you to stop, people would give up, right? They wouldn’t be able to do it. I guarantee they’re gonna run better with a finish line.

27:33
I think the Pomodoro effects works that same way. If you’re like, I know if I just churn for 25 minutes, 30 minutes, then I can be done. It’s like, oh, yeah, I can do that because it has an end. If you’re like, I’m going to churn until the task is completed and in your mind, the task is so overwhelming or in your mind, the task is 35 hours. In reality, maybe the task is five hours.

28:03
So if in your mind the task is 35 hours and you’re like, I can’t work for it. Like I can’t do this. I can’t give up my whole week. I can’t, you you start getting into that negative thinking and then you just don’t do it at all. For me, productivity is about getting to this state where time just flies. Like I’ve worked on something for like eight hours straight and forgotten to eat before. Cause that, cause I was so into it, but getting in that state is really hard for me sometimes. Right.

28:31
That’s why it doesn’t work for me, but it’s a very popular technique, so apparently it does work for a lot of people. I think it works for people who need help getting started. If you asked a marathoner to run a 5K, they’d be like, just keep running, they’d be like, okay. No big deal because they’re just used to churning. If you’re asking someone who’s never done something before to do it, it gets very overwhelming.

29:01
I agree. Okay. My next productivity hack is making sure everything works by just flipping a switch. Uh, so for example, like when I record a video, I just go over there and I just flip a switch and I just start recording for some reason, like if it takes me like five to 10 minutes to set up something, I’m just not going to do it. And it wastes a lot of time. So it’s, it’s also, it’s an efficiency thing as well as a, a way to get me to do stuff.

29:32
I was going to make fun of you because every time we- Nothing ever works for me, even though I try to get it all set up so that it works. I think that’s a great, that is probably the best video productivity hack out there because making videos is hard. If everything’s always ready to go, then you’ve just crossed off one of the things on your list that’s keeping you from doing it. I think that’s a great-

30:01
a great hack. That nothing ever works for me. Well, so my kids, like they have problems getting up. So we had them sleep in the clothes that they’re to wear the next day. I used to do that with my kids. And that’s one less thing they got to worry about. They just get up and go. Yeah. So yeah, I think that’s a good one. And I think that’s that can transcend like work like I I’m much more.

30:29
I’m much better at that in life than I am at work. And I think because my work all revolves around technology and technology and I don’t get along. Like nothing ever works technology wise for me. But like in my kitchen, like it is like everything is exactly where it should be. Like you don’t have to move to get, if you need a knife, it’s like right there. You’re not gonna have to like, you need a cutting board. It’s right below the knife. Like I have everything set so that it’s like the least resistance to anything. But technology wise.

30:58
I’m like the opposite of you. know. Side note, my new house is a smart house because we’re making it a smart house. So everything is run through apps, like literally the lights in the house, the the doors, like everything is all through apps. My daughter’s like, this is the making of a horror movie. What do mean the doors?

31:19
You mean unlocking and locking? Yeah, locking. I mean, you have to have a code to unlock the doors. You have to tell Alexa your secret code or whatever. like the lights, like Alexa, turn counter bar lights to light blue and they go to light blue. Right. And dim lights to 60 percent. know, Alexa, let me know when the washing machine’s done. Like everything is all. That’s cool. It’s really cool. But there’s this part of me that’s like in absolute fear that I will be home alone.

31:45
and I will not be able to lock the door, change the air conditioning temperature, get the laundry, because you know me and technology, it’s always so garbage. I’m like, I always need someone around so that they can operate it for me. You know what’s funny about this story is I’m the opposite. I don’t want any of that automation because I used to design that stuff and there’s tons of bugs, always tons of bugs. Like when we used to design processors, the errata sheet would be like a book.

32:12
and work around. I’m like, I want as little technology as possible in my everyday living life. I like it because it allows me full and total control of everything in my house, let’s be honest. The other thing is that there’s a fail-safe for everything. You can still flip the lights on at the switch, you can still lock the front door manually, you can still adjust your air conditioning. Everything can still be done. Sure.

32:39
without the sign, we don’t be light switches anywhere. And it’s just like, Alexa. How does it know when the dishwasher is done? The washing machine, because my washing machine and dryer are Wi-Fi. Yeah, they must be. I didn’t even know that. Like, no, it’s not. You know, I don’t buy Samsung. Yeah, know. Yeah. It’s it’s nice, though, because like, I don’t know. My kids are like so bad about like leaving every light on in the house. Like they’ll go make something in the kitchen at like.

33:05
because they’re all on weird schedules. Some of them work late at night and so they’re up late. They’re making brownies at 1 a.m. I get up at 6 and every light in the house is on. You can have them on timers so they shut off at a certain time. It’s just nice to have everything sort of, it’s efficient for sure. It’s much easier to do when you’ve completely ripped everything out of your house and are starting new than to try. I wouldn’t want to retroact that kind of stuff.

33:35
I only have a couple more left here, but this next one is one that I think I’m pretty good at, which is setting boundaries to avoid like over committing on stuff. So my default answer now is no for a lot of things. Just because I like to have a huge buffer on what my free time is. So I don’t overdo it and end up like working myself to death and not being able to finish everything I need to finish.

34:05
I mean, you’re in a little bit of a unique situation. Most people don’t have the ability to buffer as much as you do. I know, I agree with you. And I would say, because I’m sure there’s a lot of people out there listening is like, well, of course, Steve, because you’ve got a wife, right? But there are people out there without wives or without husbands that like don’t have someone else to help them in like the daily responsibilities, right? They’re on their own. And whether it’s them on their own or them and like kids or pets or whatever.

34:33
I think a good way to think about that is don’t commit to things in your business that are not going to directly impact your business. So in a positive way. I think about Charles in our course, right? Who is literally everywhere all the time. And I like kudos to him. He’s very young. He has the energy to do all these things. I do not. But like he gets invited to everything.

35:00
which is awesome, right? And I remember like in the early blogging days getting invited on trips and come speak here and come do this. And it’s like, you want to do it, right? Like you’re like, yeah, I want to go visit the Smucker’s factory, right? And I want to do these things. And what I learned and I went on a bunch of them and it was fun. you know, there were definitely some, definitely some positives came out of those things. But what I learned like as time went on was I needed to be

35:29
picky about what I said yes to. So like, if someone wants you to speak at their event, let’s just say, right, on whatever topic it is, you have to ask yourself, how much time is it gonna take me to speak at this event, right? Like, am I gonna have to fly across the country? Am I gonna, you know, is it down the street? Can I drive there? Am I speaking one day? Like, what’s the expectation? Am I gonna get paid for this? If I’m not getting paid, is there going to be enough?

35:56
benefit like maybe the entire audience is all my potential customers, then it’s probably worth it for you to go speak, right? But if you’re like, it’s completely irrelevant to my brand, I just happen to be an expert on, know, carbon dating and they want me to talk about something. It’s like, but I don’t talk about that in my, know, entrepreneurship life. It’s probably not a good idea for you to say yes to that. So.

36:17
It’s hard to say no when it feels like it’s a cool opportunity. I see this happen with TikTokers all the time, right? They’re like, oh, I’m here, I’m at this. And I’m like, well, how is this helping you make money on TikTok? It’s not, because I know they’re not paying you to be there. I think you need to be picky about the things you say yes to when it comes, especially to the business thing or even like partnerships, right? Like, does it make sense to partner, not like long-term partnerships, but like, does it make sense to partner with this?

36:42
other content creator to do X, Y, Z. Well, it might not, their audience might not work with your audience or vice versa. I’ve made that partner mistake before. It’s been bad. Eight long years. Just wasn’t thinking, just was not thinking at the time. Yeah, I agree with everything that you just said. There’s even little things that you commit to that.

37:08
Like speaking is like a large thing, right? You got to prepare the speech, you got to travel and whatever. But there’s even little things like, oh, sure, I’ll help you promote this. Or the amount of mental brainpower that it occupies, don’t underestimate anything that you say yes to. Well, even to the extent to like get really granular on this, like, I see this with our students is like they get some content created and they’re like, I want to be an affiliate. And they sign up for like a thousand affiliate programs, right?

37:38
And it’s like, I understand why you wanna do that because you’re like, gotta promote, I gotta make some money here at some point. But then you’ve gotta like, they’re emailing you all the time. It’s just like clogging up your inbox. Like I’ve just started like, I don’t wanna be an affiliate for this brand. Like I’m never gonna promote them. I know that. Like, buy, unsubscribe, opt out, whatever it is. So I even think like the tiny little things, right? Like keep your…

38:02
keep yourself so streamlined that you don’t have all these things pulling you in every direction. Yeah. Do have any more? think I might have one more, but. No, what’s your one more? I’ve been talking a lot. The other thing I like to do is to just batch everything together. You’ve we’ve already kind of talked about this. Yeah. Like if I’m already doing a podcast editing, for example, I’ll just pump out like three or four in a row. Or if I’m editing a

38:32
a YouTube script, I’ll just edit all of them. Or if I’m reviewing the final batch of YouTube videos before they’re gonna go out, I’ll just watch all of them at the same time. And I’m already in that mode and I’ll have to context switch so I can be a lot quicker at what I’m doing. Yeah. think that, mean, batching is so smart. Sometimes it’s hard to do. I would struggle watching eight of my own videos in a row. Would you? I would.

39:02
Like I don’t want to watch myself for eight videos, like in a row. That’s annoying. I would be annoyed with myself. But I would do it, right? Like I’m doing that right now because I’m making all these Amazon videos. So I’m batch, like I’m filming 10 at a time. Like I was making dinner the other night and I was like, everybody shut up. you I’m trying to Yeah, you always batch your videos, right? I always batch my videos. Yeah. I have struggled because I don’t have a video editor right now. I’ve struggled with the edit. I try to batch edit. That’s.

39:29
much harder for me to do, I think, because I’m not good at video editing and it’s like, it’s like I dread it. So I just force myself like I’m doing two a day or, you know, before I do anything else, before I plan my next vacation, I got to edit one video, whatever it is. But I think that the batching is is no matter what you’re doing, like batch it, batch like I mean, batch cooking, right? Like you can do it in all of your life. It doesn’t just have to be work. It’s because your main video editor is busy working on your house right now. I know. Dang it.

39:59
I do have one more. Okay. This is completely dependent on you, like you, plural. Know when your most productive time is. That is like time of day and also week because for me, I’m a morning person. Do not ask me to do anything at 5 p.m. It’s such a struggle for me.

40:23
There are days where I get very inspired and I work late, but those days are few and far between. I can get more done between seven and 10 than I can get done in the rest of the day, any day of the week. Even if I don’t get it, like last night I had to babysit the dog, so I was up half the night with the dog, but still at six o’clock I’m just wide awake, ready to go. And everyone has their own time. I know everyone’s like, gotta get up early.

40:49
I do think that’s a good strategy, but I also know there are people that are just not morning people. My old editor, she did her best work from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. and that was just her time. And I was like, I do think you have internal clock that like, you know, sort of regulates that for you. And also know when you are productive in the week. Like to me, Mondays are like go day.

41:12
Like I love Mondays, I love getting everything done. Like my goal is like on Monday to have like most of my week finished. And so then the rest of the week I can just do whatever I want, right? I mean, I don’t, but you know, but like our friend Andrea doesn’t want to work on Mondays at all. She’s like, I don’t want to work on a Monday. She’s like, that’s part of my weekend, right? Like, and so she, you know, she’s much more productive, like mid to the end of the week. So I think if you know that about yourself, then you also have to like plan your tasks accordingly. That’s a good one.

41:41
Yeah, totally. I try to get everything done on Monday also. Yeah. And you’re kind of an early bird too. It never ends up happening. And yes, I’m a vegetable after lunch. Yeah. I mean, I can do stuff like workshops and webinars, but anything that requires thought, like deep thought, I generally can’t do. Yeah. Yeah. So unless I’m in that flow state. Yeah. And so I think if you know that about yourself, and the other thing I think is if you work during your like productive time,

42:10
you will naturally get more done. And so then it feeds off itself, right? Then you feel more accomplished, you’re like motivated. And so I think that if you can like get in that habit, then you’ll see the effects will be far reaching, right? Because you’ll just continue to, I think once you get productive, like it, I mean, I know people that are like hyper productive, right? And it’s like,

42:34
you’re like, how do you do it all? But then you realize, once you get into that state, it’s easier to be productive than to not be productive. Yeah, once you get into that routine, then you’re always going to be productive.

42:48
Hope you enjoyed this episode. For more information and resources, go over to mywifequitterjob.com slash episode 558. And once again, tickets to Seller Summit 2025 are now on sale over at sellersummit.com. If you want to hang out in person in a small intimate setting, develop real relationships with like-minded entrepreneurs and learn a ton, then come to my event. Go to sellersummit.com. And if you’re interested in starting your own e-commerce store, head on over to mywifequitterjob.com and sign up for my free six-day mini course.

43:16
Just type in your email and I’ll send the course right away. Thanks for listening.