Take Back Your Time with These 3 Productivity Tips | 93

What if the real reason you feel behind every day isn’t lack of hours, but hidden leaks in your workflow?

In this episode, Lucy breaks down 3 time-wasters that are secretly eating your time, along with the productivity tips and business systems you need to plug them. 

What You’ll Learn:

• How to conquer decision fatigue with pre-planned workflows
• Why letting go of low-value tasks is a cornerstone business system
• The step-by-step task flow that eliminates rewinds
• Time management tips for entrepreneurs that actually stick
• Key productivity tips to transform your workday

If you’re a solopreneur juggling it all, these actionable strategies will help you reclaim hours each week.

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Connect with Lucy:

✨ Join My Free Community: https://cheerstoproductivity.com/community-invite

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Show Notes: https://cheerstoproductivity.com/podcast/ 

Transcript

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Hey, I'm Lucy Reyes, your host of the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast, where I'm on a mission to help online entrepreneurs that like you focus on all the right things and kiss overwhelmed goodbye. Here, you're going to learn strategies that will boost your productivity so that you can scale your online biz and impact lives sooner. It's your time to shine. So let's get started Hey, Hey, you welcome back to the cheerful. Predict the CHADS podcast. Listen. I know you've probably been feeling like you don't have enough time. But the truth is that you're likely wasting way more time than you realize. That's some hard truth that is on tough love. I know I get the feeling and I also. Understand the frustration of hearing the whole, everyone has the same 24 hours in a day because I know that not every 24 hours is the same. However we do only have 24 hours. So we have to figure out how we can manage our time in the best and easiest and most efficient. Way possible. Because we have a lot to do. We have a lot going on. If you've ever sat down to work and spent about 10 minutes, trying to figure out what to do first. Or you're still doing some of the tiny manual tasks. Then yeah, this episode is for you. Because at the real problem is not actually the lack of time. It's how you manage the time that you do have. So today I'm going to break down where your time is slipping away and how you can reclaim it with this one powerful shift. So there are truly some time wasters that you probably don't even notice. You might think that they're not a big deal or you might not realize how much they're actually playing into your time management into your productivity. And we're going to talk about them. Okay. So. The first one here is decision fatigue. So, I don't know where I read this, that before, but I read that a human being makes thousands like multiple thousands of tiny decisions every single day. Should I do this or should I do that? Should, what should I cook for dinner? Should I use, should I add veggies to my dinner? Should I use a pin or a pencil? Like so many tiny decisions? And all of that adds up. So every time that you stopped to the side, what's next in your business, what tasks to do next you're losing time and mental energy because instead of working. Your brain is trained to sort through these different options, or it's second guessing, maybe some priorities that you've already established or anything that is on your to-do list. And now you're re deciding you're trained to figure out the process all over again, because you know that what you may have elicited out before may actually not be right, because you just. Listed it out on a whim. Maybe you just identify your priorities without putting some thought into it. And now when it's time to do it, you already know. I don't actually know if that's a priority. So now you're having to do this decision all over again, and that's not what we want to do here. Okay. What you want to do is to make sure that you have a system that tells you what is. Is next. Not your brain. Your brain doesn't need to tell you what. To do next. Every single time for every single thing that you're going to do, you do a lot, you have a lot of hats. You're the CEO of your business. And you have so many hats, you are. A social media manager. You are an email marketer. You are a blogger or a podcast or a YouTuber All of these things, right. Coinsurance service provider. You have so many hats that you're wearing. So you really need to be able to rely on these systems to just tell you what's next and for you to be confident enough in your system to believe it. It's a go ahead and preplan your task flow and write down everything that you need to do. Everything that needs to be done. And spend some time, invest some time into getting this done. So that way, next time you sit down to do that task or project. You already know what to do next. And you know that it's right. You know that this is true because you've put in that time and effort. And energy into making sure that it's right. Okay. So that is one of the biggest time. Wasters is a hidden time-waster and it's decision fatigue. The second thing here is holding onto tasks that you don't need it to do. Listen, you don't need to be the one doing everything. You're very likely spending some time on tasks that don't actually move your business. Forward. And yes, I have been here before, sometimes I'm in it now, and this is something, an advisor myself as well, because we all need these reminders. We all like to think that. We are the only person that can do it, just like us. And this is not only true for our business. If you have. Kids or spouse or her partner at home. You might feel the same way with tours. You might think, you know what, I'm just going to do it myself because no one can clean the dishes as good as me or no one can sweep the way I do. No one can do this or that. And I'm just going to do what myself and. Yeah, this creeps up in this. So many different ways, not just in your business, but yeah, we're talking about business here. So inside of tassel magic, my new course, I teach the ADE method, which is where you will ask yourself these questions. Can this task be automated? Can this task be delegated or outsourced? And do I even need to do this? Or is it just on my task flow? Because it's a habit. It's something that I've always done or it's something that I've been told I need to do. If, so if this is something that you actually need to do, then can it be streamlined in some way? These questions are going to help you trim out the fat. So that way you can make time for doing the things that are actually going to matter the things that are actually going to move the needle in your business. So, no, when I say that you're holding onto a task that you don't need to do, I know your brain may have instantly gone to delegating, outsourcing, or even some pushback as to the fact that you might not be ready yet to hire out. And if that's the case, You as specially needs to have systems in place because that is going to help you be more efficient. By yourself as a solopreneur. Without needing to outsource or delegate. But if you are, maybe you already have a VA, maybe you already have a person that you outsource certain tasks to. That's a great, there's more that you can be. Taking off your plate because you truly do not need to be the one to do everything. And not everything on your plates actually needs to be done at all. So. And Tesla magic. We definitely cover this in a lot more detail. So. Head to the link in the show notes. If you want to learn more about how you can get your Teslas in a place. All right. So the third hidden time-waster here is something that I'm going to call task rewinds, because how often do you find yourself needing to go back and fix a task? That you thought was done? Whether it's correcting a mistake, filling in a gap that you missed. Or remembering a task that you forgot about. How many times. How many things have you done that? I'm raising my hand. I know I have still done it. And every time you hit that eight, like rewind a button. You are truly losing some valuable time and the momentum forward because now you're having to go back. Now you're having to go back and fix what you, what was broken. You have to go back and redo your system or redo a task. You have to go back and think, oh yeah. Like I forgot. I need in order to do this. I need to do this first and now you're trying to do that thing. And then maybe it's just a spiral from there because you haven't. Actually taking the time to figure out what needs to be done. Every single thing. What needs to be done in order for me to get the next task done. So whenever these task rewinds happen. That's when you start to rush through things. Okay. So you're rushing to get things done because now you, you know, you've lost the momentum, you know, you're not going forward, you're going backward. So now you're rushing and this is when your systems fail you. If they're not clear, if they're not simple, if they're not effective, because that is what's going to keep you on track. But when you're constantly having to go back to do something over again, It's almost like you're starting from scratch every single time. And it's training your time and energy. And not just that. The fact that you're going back in rushing to try to get it done faster because Hey, you were going forward and you don't want to go back and now you're going back. And so you want to get it done as fast as possible. So you can go back to where you were. Now guess what? You might've made another mistake. You might have made another mistake. When you went back and so you're eventually going to have to go back again to fix it or whatever the case is. Right. So. We don't want this to happen at all. We want to avoid it as much as possible. So you can do this by creating a task flow that really does include detailed steps. Every part of the way, every task needs to have very detailed steps. Even the tiny ones to ensure that nothing is falling through the cracks and to really help you avoid. Any important details. And this is a time when you have to slow down. Okay. I know it sounds counter productive whenever you have to slow down, but you've, you might have heard the phrase you need to slow down to speed up. Yeah. You can't just go at full speed all the time. Especially when you're creating your systems, especially when you're creating your task flows and workloads, you need to slow down and see. Is this truly everything that needs to be done. And if not, take some time, invest some time into making sure that your system is going to help you get from a to Z as efficiently as possible. This will ensure that you can finish the tasks the right way. The first time. And prevent the need for any time. Sucking, rewinds. Plus his solid task flow helps keep you on track. So that way you don't forget any steps, even if you have to do a different project. If you're jumping from project to project, which. A lot of us are because let's face it. We're multi-passionate. Your tassel is still going to help you keep track. No matter if you are in deep in other projects, or you're doing multiple projects at once. Listen, you didn't start your business to spend more hours. On things that don't matter. Right. You have limited time, you have limited time to work on your business because you have other things happening in your life. So the real shift is going from managing these tasks manually, or the getting rid of the tasks that you don't need to be doing, or always trying to figure out what to do next. To really build, to invest some time to build a tassel that works for you. One that is really going to remove all of those unnecessary time drains. Okay. Because. Your time is worth more than you think. Okay. You will probably already know that actually you probably know that your time is valuable. You want to spend your time in the best way possible? The very few actually. I do the work to make that possible. So yeah, this is a little bit of tough love here. Because we're not trying to make you work harder, but it doesn't mean that you have to put in a little bit of work upfront in order to help you work smarter and more efficiently, and to eliminate all of those slings that are stealing your time. So. Act on it. If you believe that your time is worth so much, if your time is so valuable. Then take the actions to prove it. And this is all what we're covering. And instead of Tesla magic. If you are ready to stop wasting time on decision fatigue. Task three Ryans and unnecessary tasks. Then task flow magic will help you streamline your process and build simple, actionable task flows that save you time and energy. So that way you can focus on what truly moves your business forward. Okay. So if you're ready to get started, then go ahead and click the link in the show notes to join a Tasso magic. It's. Cheers to productivity.com/task flow. And we can to make this time a saving a shift together. Okay. So just to quickly recap, The three hidden time-wasters that you might not even notice are actually sucking up. A lot of your time is decision fatigue. Holding on to tasks that you don't need and task rewinds and the simple fix. There's a very simple and powerful shift to help you avoid all of this as much as possible. And that's to create task flows, detailed, flexible, simple, and effective task flows. And I got you covered inside of Tesla magic. So if you have any questions about it, then feel free to send me a DM at cheers to productivity on Instagram. But otherwise, I hope to see you inside and I'll be back for another episode soon. Thank you so much for listening to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast with me, Lucy Reyes.To view the full transcript and all the links mentioned in today's episode, visit cheerstoproductivity.com/podcast. And before you go up, make sure you follow or subscribe wherever you're listening so that you know once the next productive chat is released. Talk soon and cheers to your productivity and success