Video Length: 17 minutes & 49 seconds
Transcription below, edited slightly for clarity
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Welcome everyone for another Weekly Spark every Tuesday at 10:30am with Yes&, & I have a question for you today.
I want to ask if you are like so many of my clients & like my past self, where you want a schedule & structure -- & yet totally rebel against the whole idea of a schedule because you want creativity & flow & freedom at the same time. Or maybe you really like your task list & your to-do list & your calendar system & you feel like you have everything organized, yet at the end of each day & the end of each week, you don't feel productive, even though you have this system in place.
Well, today I am walking you through a four-step process to create the schedule of your dreams.
Sounds amazing, & it is amazing.
My favorite example is one of a one on one client who worked with me to create his toy box schedule. The toy box schedule is exactly as it sounds -- it was playful & yet it was a schedule. It was organized, it was structured, & it helped him implement what he wanted to implement into his daily & weekly routines so that he accomplished his goals & made the impact that he was wanting to create from the get-go when he started his own business.
My name is Marin as a little introduction, if some of you are new here, & at the end of today, I have a special bonus for today's Weekly Spark, I am announcing who won the three $100 winners at the end of today. Yesterday, I hosted my Confidence & Clarity workshop & you had the chance to win -- everyone had the chance to win after that, after announcing my Cyber Monday deal, you have the chance to win $100. So, I'm announcing that today at the end. Stay tuned! & stay tuned because there are more holiday deals coming. Even if you missed that one yesterday, throughout this week, there's another holiday bill coming as well for you to take advantage of.
So, let's get into the four steps to create your ideal structure. Why four steps? Yesterday's workshop on Confidence & Clarity was also four steps & that's because these are iterations. These are variations of the same experience as my group coaching program, which is four/five steps because it's a monthly program. So, each week you get one of the steps & that way you're incrementally working toward whatever our topic is, such as the ideal schedule, which is one we focused on in August.
Now you will not be getting the full extent that experienced members received when they went through a similar four step process in August because, of course, this is a 20 to 30-minute video, & that was a month-long program. So, these are just the introductory steps, the things to get your wheels turning & definitely some tools to utilize as you reflect with this & start to create your own schedule. However, if you want the greatest extent of what is possible here with the built-in accountability, then I highly recommend you check out the Yes& Experience, which is the group coaching program.
That said, here are four steps that will get you started & that will help you build a schedule that not only feels really good, but also helps you feel productive & efficient & accomplished, which is something that many of my clients & myself included, really value & strive for.
So, the first step of this ideal schedule four step process is to first get a feel of how you're spending your time currently. So, track your day. Choose one day, I've heard some other coaches, when they're talking about schedules, they invite you to track a whole week, or you know, three days at a time, totally up to you how many days you want to track -- the concept is to get a feel of how you're spending your time.
I suggest one day because it's bite sized. It's simple, & it's not overwhelming. What often came up in the Experience when I suggested one day, the questions in August were “Well, what if like my days are varied?” This doesn't necessarily represent all of the days & there were a lot of fears coming up around not having the perfect day to track. & what I say to that is just pick a day, any day. Again, the point is to gather data & have a starting point to have some awareness of what's going on. & if you want to choose that day intentionally, for instance, choosing a workday over a weekend day -- go for it. Or if you want to track more than one day, go for it. I just recommend one day & just letting it be good enough so that again, it doesn't feel overwhelming, so that it's simple & so that we have the data to get started so that we at least start the ball rolling.
So that's step one, just get a feel for how you're spending your days currently. Gather that data of what is involved in that day, maybe you can see what transfers to multiple days of your week, maybe as part of your routine, just to get some self-awareness going on.
How are you currently spending your time?
The second step is to create a skeleton. From this data of how you're spending your time currently, think about these solid elements. I had a consult with someone yesterday & she called them her anchor points, what are the anchor points in your day that really help to simplify what exists every day. With this, don't get too detail oriented, especially if you are like me -- type A & you love the details. The point of this second step is to get the skeleton, the bare bones of what your typical schedule looks like.
So, you already have some data from that first step. Now think a little broader & say, “Well, in the morning I usually do some sort of morning routine.” Maybe you don't even name it, but you're like, I know that it takes me 30 minutes, an hour, whatever it takes you, 10 minutes to do this morning routine. & that happens every single day. So, there's a part of the skeleton, & then you know that you work, you could even lump together, you know, nine to five is when I have my workday, or you could break it down into a little bit smaller chunks. So, I know that 9am-11am is when I do more creative work. & then 11am-3pm is when I do client work, & have these big chunks, again, skeleton chunks of what your day typically looks like.
Then maybe you know that you spend an hour or two a day moving your body -- going for a walk, working out. Maybe you have a class that you go to every day, maybe you know that you typically end the day reading or typically in the day, browsing YouTube or doing something that happens every single day. Time management is so important & by creating this skeleton that's in place to manage our time it helps to simplify what time management means rather than right away getting to the nitty gritty details of managing every single thing.
We're starting big picture so that we can lump together some of these categories, & also help us be more efficient because of something called time blocking, which again, we could go into more detail, but not in today's video because it is a shortened version. So…
Step one: We gather the data -- How are you currently spending your time?
Step two: Get a little broader scope & think “Okay, now that I have some data in mind & I have some awareness, what are the general anchors the general skeleton pieces that are a part of pretty much every day?” Or you can say pretty much every work day, if you want to clarify there. & then
Step three: Look at this data that you've gathered & look at your skeleton & think “Is there any part of this that feels off?”
Or maybe in creating the skeleton, or even just step one of gathering that data, you found something that you already want to change. To say “Oh my gosh, I spent three hours that day that I gathered data, just browsing online, or replying to emails, & I have an executive assistant. So why am I replying to emails for three hours?” Or whatever it is that's happening that you already just with that simple awareness, or with that skeleton just by saying “Oh, I wish I worked just nine to five. But really, when I get real with myself, it's nine to eight, or nine to seven.”
& so, with this third step, it's just changing one thing with this awareness, with your feeling as you've gone through step one & two, put yourself in an experiment & change something about the schedule to be more ideal, to be more of what feels best for you. & I invite you, as I do with my experience members, (& that's the whole layout of my group coaching program) is to stay simple & start small. So, don't suddenly, yes, you can do whatever you want.
My advice would be not to suddenly implement an entire two-hour morning routine, when you've never had any morning routine to begin with. If you're looking at your schedule, & you're saying ideally, I would love to have something that can be an anchor at the start of my day. Whereas when I'm looking at the skeleton, I don't have anything that's consistent at the start of my day, then say “Okay, I'm going to take three deep breaths at the beginning of each day for this entire week, or I'm going to journal for five minutes, or I'm going to sit with my coffee & look outside for 10 minutes every morning & just put yourself into that mini experiment.
Take this thing that you desire, break it down into the simplest form, & then take action, put yourself into the experiment & gather new data of how that felt. You can continue making these incremental shifts as you go.
Step four, the final step, is to reflect & repeat this process over & over & over again. This is why in group coaching, in one on one coaching & everything that I share here, I want to step as far away from the idea of quick fix solutions as possible, because this is a life long journey. Maybe that feels daunting or intimidating or disappointing because we don't have the quick fix answer & wouldn't that feel so nice?
Can we look at that as a blessing of “I don't have to do it all right now”? I don't have to create my two-hour morning routine right now, I don't have to have the perfect schedule right now. Right now, I'm changing one thing to inch myself one step closer to my ideal schedule & then with that final step --reflecting, looking at what worked, looking at what you still want to shift, & then repeating the process.
Maybe you gather that data, maybe it's a full day, or maybe again, it's just that reflection piece. & then the second step, create or adjust your skeleton in one small way. Now that you know what that skeleton is, put yourself into the experiment. & step three, again, you get to reflect & do the whole process over & over & over again. So, it's one little step at a time to create your ideal schedule. So today, we talked about the four steps, how to create your ideal schedule. I just kind of summarized it right there. But let's lay it out really clearly.
Step one, gather data. How are you currently spending your time, & track that.
Step two, is to create that skeleton, that anchor point, what are the consistent things in each day? What are the consistent things you desire in each day?
Step three, is to put yourself into an experiment. Change one thing to step toward your ideal schedule.
Step four, is to then reflect & ask what worked, what didn't, what do I still want to change? & then repeat the process all over again.
Those first two steps, especially, might start to get more condensed as you put yourself into the experiment more & more, because you won't necessarily need to start from ground zero & know how you're spending your day all day long. But you will have that sense of -- okay, time to gather data again & then time to look at the big picture again. How is my ideal? & then put yourself into the experiment, reflect? Continue on, I think you get the point. It's a great four step process. It's simple.
& again, this is a very condensed version of what we did in August in the Yes& Experience, we took four steps throughout August. & I think there were actually five weeks in August, where we got the chance to actually implement these things, because we had one week per step & so not only did you just have more time to digest this, & you were implementing & focused because it was just one thing at a time. But also, you had that accountability of our group coaching calls, which are every Friday, so that you got to digest the material, hear how other individuals approached the same practice & then feel really prepared to go on to the next step.
At the end of each month in The Experience, we do that reflection piece & we say yes, this is the end of this month, of this challenge, of this focus for The Experience. But how will I continue to implement these tools in this perspective that I learned here into my life moving forward? Because again, these are incremental steps lifelong & we get to build & we get to a more full & more sturdy & more confident foundation.
We're still in the work, we're still in the process -- & that's the good news because that means you don't have to do it all at once. So, with that, if you liked this four-step process, if you like yesterday's Confidence & Clarity workshop (if you attended), if you want more about these step by step ways of aligning your life, your relationships, your career, your lifestyle, your health, in again, bite-sized challenges, bite-sized practices with the built-in accountability, then I highly suggest you look into at least my Experience program.
Yes& Experience, my membership program, my group coaching program where we have one step each week & group coaching calls every Friday. You can also do it totally self-study style. You can also do it with a VIP package where you get one session per month of one-on-one time so we really dive into what's going on for you & deepen your practice.
That is available for you at yesandbymarin.com/experience for this week only in celebration of Cyber Monday & the holidays until Sunday, December 6 at Midnight if you pay for one year in full. So if you pay for your 2021 in full in the Starter or the Full experience, you receive a full year membership for free to gift to a friend, a colleague, your accountability partner.
Again, if you join the Yes& Experience as a starter or a full member & pay in full for your 2021 year you receive a free full year of the Yes& Experience at that same tier for a friend or colleague just through this Sunday, December 6.
The other deal that I ran yesterday was my Cyber Monday deal I picked up from the bank because I thought it was fun. True hundred dollar bills & I am excited to mail these out. Here's the little catch. Here's a little catch that I did not see coming but that is life. Only one person took action yesterday. & my promise was if you take action yesterday, then you're entered into the raffle to win $100 & receive this in the mail. One person, Elyse, took action yesterday & she is receiving $100 in the mail. I have two remaining 100 dollar bills! I was so excited to mail these to some members of the Yes& Community & some people are on the fence, I know who you are, you've talked to me, you've told me that you're interested in this. You said well, maybe next time or maybe upon the new year, & I totally get it, I totally get the holidays are busy season.
My offering to you is that if you're on the fence, & if you know that you want to start in 2021 anyway, by purchasing any level, whether it's a monthly payment package, whether it's the pay in full, whether it's the VIP or the $19 starter package, if you enroll today, I'm extending it just by 24 hours. If you enroll today, there are two remaining hundred dollar bills that are ready to be sent to you. So, the next two individuals who I see come into my inbox, you will get $100 you will receive $100 by enrolling today. Again, I don't want to pressure anyone to do this & make a silly kind of like gambling financial decision. But I do have $200 sitting here. & so, if you're on the fence, please enroll today & get yourself some money in the process & receive this hundred dollar bill in the mail because why not? How fun, at least one at least $100 you'll be getting that in the mail.
I'm very excited Elyse, to be a part a client coach relationship before but I'm so, so excited to restart that & enter 2021 with that support & I absolutely love working with you. In fact, many of you have have heard from her because last week we shared her testimonial -- so you have also heard from her. But I'm very excited to also send you $100 because that's super fun. & again, on the next two people to enroll today only & like really, truly today only I know I said yesterday only, but I still have $200 so today only I will send you $100 in the mail if you enroll if you're the next two people to enroll.
Alright, we're just getting started with holiday deals. There's a few things going on right now. there's the Buy One Get One deal through next Sunday December 6 if you enroll & pay in full for the starter or the full experience by Sunday December 6 at midnight you get a free year of the membership.
I hope you enjoyed today's Weekly Spark which was the four steps to your ideal schedule. Let me know if you have questions, send me a DM, send me a message. This will be available for replay on YouTube, on Instagram, on Facebook, & I look forward to seeing you next Tuesday at 10:30am every Tuesday for your Weekly Spark. Have a great rest of your week!
