Episode 120: Is it time to embrace the disciplined pursuit of less?

00:00 Before we get going, I have an invitation for you. If you're ready to find out how much easier it becomes to get things done when you have Make It Happen Club in your life? The doors are open to new members right now and i would love for you to join us! So Make It Happen club is a calm quiet sanctuary where you get the clarity focus and motivation you need And now, onto today's episode.

00:52 Welcome to Unfrazzle, a podcast for solo business owners with a big vision who are ready for a kinder more sustainable approach to productivity. I'm Louise Miller and each week i share bite-sized insights to help you step away from the hustle stop faffing and stay focused so you can make your brilliant ideas happen and make a bigger impact in the world Before we dive into today's episode, if you enjoy what I'm sharing here on Unfrazzle and you'd like to support the podcast You can buy me a cuppa by going to BuyMeACoffee.com slash Louise Miller and making a one-off donation. I'll pop a link to that in the show notes Okay grab yourself a cuppa and let's get started

01:29 I don't know if you've noticed but it often seems like we're all trying to do everything, drowning in options not just around business but around how to human. Whether that's to do with parenting what food we should and shouldn't be eating relationships even what to watch on TV things happen and change so fast the FOMO and constant comparison are real there are so many inputs so much noise it is very easy to get swept up trying to do all of the things and never feeling it's enough And when you're buffeted around like that, you're not making the impact you could be making because it becomes all about appearances and shoulds and absorbing other people's version of success. Which means it stops being about YOU who YOU are what YOU want where YOU shine

02:15 And when that's how you're living your life, what does that look like? Well it could be that you spend loads of time churning out content to feed the algorithm which is preventing you from spending time diving deep on a subject which would actually suit you better. Or it could be that you are running loads of small offers that have been cobbled together over time when actually your biggest impact would come from going all in on something bigger That was what happened to a client of mine a few years ago she doubled her income when she let go off all of the small things and honed in on something bigger Or it could be that you're running a business, it's actually doing perfectly fine but because you're not having consistent 10k months you think there is something wrong and are unable to celebrate your success. or maybe you are buying all of the courses jumping on all the trends downloading the freebies reading all the books which doesn't move you forward but actually creates even more overwhelm So Greg McKeown book called Essentialism The Disciplined Pursuit Of Less Is the antidote to all of that

03:12 It's for people who find themselves stretched too thin, who feel busy but not productive and who are constantly in motion but never getting anywhere. And I really love it! The philosophy of essentialism is right up my street so today i want to share some of the key ideas from the book that I hope will help you set yourself up for a great year ahead So first of all what even is essentialism? Well it's summarized in the book as the relentless pursuit of less but better So instead of trying to do all of the things and not doing any of them particularly well, and therefore never really reaching the heights of your potential. It's about having a deeper dedication to fewer things so if you've been to any of my workshops or guest expert sessions You may have seen me share one of the graphics from the book And I'm going to attempt to describe it to you as it is very powerful image so wish me luck with that Here we go

04:02 So imagine a drawing of a circle representing the energy we have available to us and there are lots of little arrows coming out of that circle that illustrate putting all of that energy into lots of different things. So lots of short little arrows coming out our circle, and in the book Greg McKeown calls that the unfulfilling experience of making a millimetre of progress in a million directions Now next to that there's another circle again representing our energy, only this time there is one long arrow pointing straight up. And in that illustration the same amount of energy is being given to fewer activities which gives us what he calls a satisfying experience of making significant progress in things that matter most So it's very simple visual but always makes an impact and beautifully demonstrates why essentialism is so powerful

04:52 So if we can understand that essentialism is the relentless pursuit of less but better, in order to live that way we need to distinguish the vital few from the trivial many. That's something else he talks about in the book right? But how do we do that? How do we distinguish the vital few from the trivial many? Well to me that's where having a really strong connection to how you want your life to look and feel is important because when you've got clarity around that it becomes so much easier to see what is and isn't important So another thing you can think about here is where you can make the biggest impact. Not just where you can make the biggest impact for others, but also what will make the biggest impact for you giving you the success you want? What's the best use of your time and energy? Where do you shine? What are things only you can do if you know you're at your best for example and can make the biggest impacts when you're on stage how can you lean into that

05:48 If you know you get incredible results when you meet people face to face, how do you do more of that? if you know that people respond really well from experiencing what it's actually like to work with you and that feels easeful and fun for you. How can he do more of that? It's thinking about things like that, that will allow you to understand what the vital few activities are for you and that will look different for everyone. But when you know the highest impact activities that are in your zone of genius and feel easeful for you... That's when you can start to let go off the trivial many! One thing I love about this book is how many great soundbites there are and distinguishing the vital few from the trivial many is one of them Let me hit you with another one

06:31 The main thing is to keep the main thing, the main thing. I love that and in my mind that can be applied in so many ways it can feed into big picture planning where you decide what's most important and let go of anything that might get in the way if you're moving that thing forward But it can also be applied in smaller ways as you're working day to day. So if you need to write an email to your list for example, for the time you are at your computer the main thing is to keep the main thing so writing that email until it's done or if you're having a slow Sunday with your family the main thing is to keep the main thing which is meaningful time with people that you love Keep that main thing the main thing! So you aren't tempted to scroll on your phone Or just quickly do something else that would mean you aren't present with people around

07:21 It sounds simple but I know it isn't always, which is why i also love what Greg McKeown says in the book about trade-offs. So when I'm working with a client who has a long list of things they want to get done and I can see that it's never all going to happen in the time that they want it too... ...it's my job to help them figure out what's the main thing and what can wait? And sometimes that's easy but often it isn't because making those decisions you know choosing what that main thing is will often involve trade-offs And the tricky thing about trade-offs is that they often involve choosing between two things that you want. You want to say yes to both but you can't, so then what do you do? Now one suggestion from the book is that instead of asking what you want to give up, you ask what you want to go big on and I really like that because I think framing these choices in a more positive and expansive way can make them feel so much more exciting as you'll start to think about what becomes possible for you when you go all in on one and let go of the other

08:20 What do you want to go big on? Don't think about what you want to give up, think about what you want to go big on. And remember that you can't do everything right and that instead of trying to do everything and then making a millimetre of progress in a million different directions it's far better to intentionally choose what you're willing to dedicate yourself to so that you can make that significant tangible progress that we talked about when I was describing that illustration to you So this brings me on to the last thing that I want to share from the book today and it's another great soundbite which is that our highest priority is to protect our ability to prioritise. So our highest priority is to protect our ability to prioritize. For me, this is everything because if you don't protect your ability to prioritize – to distinguish the vital few from the trivial many – you can't keep the main thing the main thing and you'll carry on spreading yourself too thin feeling busy but not getting very far so how do you do that? How do you protect your ability to prioritize well let's start by thinking about those moments when prioritizing feels impossible

09:22 So in my experience that's when you're exhausted, when you're overwhelmed, when you're feeling frazzled. You know when you're in panic mode and your hot executive function is in charge because the stakes feel really high? When you're in fight or flight mode those are the times when it becomes impossible to choose so in order to protect your ability to prioritize you need to intentionally create spaces where that's not how you're moving through the world and that might look like prioritizing sleep and rest Giving yourself space in your diary so that there's time for your nervous system to settle between commitments and you're not dashing from thing to thing. It could be about drinking enough water and eating well, so that your brain and body are nourished And it's also about regularly giving yourself a sense of perspective taking that time in the treehouse to reflect on how far you've come celebrate your wins and notice the lessons

10:13 This is all about pausing, lifting yourself up out of the weeds getting your cool executive function on board so that you can make good calm decisions are aligned with how you want your life to look and feel. If your highest priority is to protect your ability to prioritize so that you can keep the main thing the main thing and make significantly more progress on the things that matter most Instead of seeing it as an afterthought that you don't have time for, you really do need to prioritise that pause. And I hold space for that whether that's with my one-to-one clients or in Make It Happen Club. I hold space and can guide you through a process that will allow you to take this kind of essentialist approach to your life – this relentless pursuit of less but better. But whether we're working together or not, I encourage you to think about whether the ideas i've shared today resonate for you

11:03 Would you like to introduce a little essentialism into your life? What might that look for you as we start the new year. And I highly recommend the book, it's great and easy read. I'll pop the details in the show notes so you can go and have a look at that. As always, I hope this helps and I look forward to seeing you again soon! Thank you for listening to Unfrazzle. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend who needs a dose of calm productivity in their life and I'd love it if you could leave me a rating and review as that will help more people discover this podcast! If you would like to hear more from me to help stop faffing and take back control of your time, you'll find the link to join my mailing list in the show notes and I would really love for you to join us so thanks so much for your support and look forward to seeing you next time