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Hello, and welcome to Bizz, the podcast that skips the inspirational quotes and get straight to the stuff that actually works. My name is m Vernon, and look, don't tell anyone, but I'm actually supposed to be in a meeting right now instead of here talking to you, which kind of makes this episode particularly relevant because we're talking about how
to be productive without trying too hard. So you know those people who make productivity look completely effortless, Well, we're going to actually be stealing their secrets while also making it achievable for those of us who don't want to wake up at four am every single morning. I'm so over those lists of ten productivity hacks because it's just too much to remember and I end up using absolutely
none of them. So what I've done is I've asked our two career coaches, Michelle Batisbye and Sohurst, to just keep it real and give us one game changing productivity strategy each that will actually work. Michelle is an entrepreneur who launched Bumble in Australia and now runs her own startup, and So took the leap from Google to launch a coaching program for people in their early career era just like me. So let's get into it with what you struggle with when it comes to those dreaded hacks.
I have a journal where I write every day, and I often make plans to get my life like more organized and be more productive. But every time I say, like, today's the day I want to do it, or like come up with a plan, I ended up not sticking to it or just like not following through. So I need advice how to make the plan and stick to it.
I hate it when someone tells me to just plan my day ahead and I'll be more productive because the plan always seems to change throughout the day.
So I need productivity tips that actually work for me.
I just feel like everyone's always talking about these amazing productivity hacks.
But honestly, I'm still trying to figure out how to balance answering slack messages well actually getting my real work done.
So today we're saying nope to productivity hacks. We're going simple. The vibe is going to be chill. I feel like we need some classical music or something here. By the end of this episode, you are going to get the one prioritization method that has completely changed Michelle's life and how to do it and the single smartest way to push back on your manager when they keep piling things on your plate.
Yeah, you know what, Having a baby just forced me to reassess how I approach my working day. I'm sure many people can relate to this, But pre baby, I felt like I could go with the flow. I could always pick things up where I left out, and I guess I just had more time in my day to jump from task to task. But post baby, I've realized that the mums, we've got to full time jobs, and so we need to ruthlessly prioritize. And that's what the hack I'm going to share is all about.
I follow so many productivity experts. It's kind of part of my job to help young people manage their time and their energy. I found this interesting thing happened where the more productivity hacks I saw, the more overwhelmed I felt, and actually the worst I was feeling, it didn't make me feel better, it made me feel worse and less productive. So the vibe of this episode is actually low effort but high impact. So low effort in fact, that we only have two points to share.
No productivity burnout.
Here, Michelle, I'm so looking forward to hearing your productivity method hit us with it.
Okay, So I'm sure we've all heard of Tim Farriss. He is an author, an investor, and he has a viral book called The Four Hour Workweek, and I kind of stumbled across this method. I actually was gifted a productivity planner that I opened one day and had no idea it was going to completely change my life. So I do recommend looking at this planner as well. If
this method sounds like it's for you. It's from Intelligent Change and it's literally called the Productivity Planner, but it gathered a whole bunch of research and kind of spits out this new way to approach your day. And the thing that really stood out to me was Tim Ferriss's method for nailing your to do list. So step one of nailing your to do list is actually figuring out what the most important thing is. And I think as humans we can struggle to achieve this sometimes because we
get decision paralysis. Apparently psychologically we're not even meant to be that good at knowing how to pick the number one thing. So ask yourself this question and it will figure it out for you. So the question is what is making me feel most uncomfortable? What have I procrastinated on for quite a while. I'm sure we've all got the answer to that question, and that's what you're going
to start with. That is the most important thing. And the follow up question to that is, and this is what changed my life as a mum, really is if this were the only thing I accomplished today, would I be satisfied with my day? And will moving this forward make all the other to dos seem unimportant?
Ah? So good? Yeah?
And I used to be the kind of person that just I love ticking it off, you know, it was so much more quantity over quality. And then I became a mum and realized I just wasn't really getting anything done, to be honest, I was stumbling. And this question of if this is the only thing I get done today, will I feel good? Is such a game changer because you just feel so accomplished and most uncomfortable ends up being most important and you're actually getting through the toughest
shit that you'd be procrastinating on. The kind of follow up step to this is make sure you're writing it down, you know, write your to do list and rank it based on those questions. But never give yourself more than three to five things to get done in a day. It's just not going to happen. But you know, even if you just get that one thing done, the next day, you're just on to number two and you're still feeling great.
Okay, Michelle, can you actually just tell me those steps again?
Yes, you're going to get a pen and paper and you're going to answer the question, what is making me feel most uncomfortable? What have I procrastinated on for quite some time? Then you're going to follow up with if this were the only thing I accomplished today, would I be satisfied with my day? That is your number one thing. That's what you're starting with, and then you might still have other things on your list, but you're not going to commit to any more than three to five for a day.
I feel like I want to stop recording and just go on actually start my day again and use this what Ben, Michelle, what do you think changed in terms of like the types of tasks that you found you used to do and fill your day with to what you actually work on now what's changed.
Once you've got that big thing that you're going to work on, it can be hard to focus on it. So something I do, like a take on this that I've added is I almost gamify it. I guess how many thirty minute blocks is this going to take me, And let's say I pick three, I think it's going
to take me an hour and a half. I'm now racing against my estimate, and it makes completing it a little bit funner because I'm like, oh, am, I on the money here with how long I think it's going to take me to achieve this task.
Oh my god, you're crazy. That part stresses me out. I'm definitely not doing that. But I think the thing that I love about this is this is a confession, Like I've been really struggling with this lately. So I'm in this season of my life where I've pivoted my career from a marketer to now a TikTok creator and
a coach, and it's completely different. And you know, anyone listening you might be able to relate because it's like your job is kind of changing often, and so I feel like I used to be way better at this and now I'm really struggling. So I've had days where I feel paralyzed by what I'm meant to be doing. I just get in and start. I'm not procrastinating, like
I'm working really hard. I'm putting in these big blocks of time, but at the end of the day, I feel frustrated and overwhelmed, and I think it comes from I'm not actually making progress on things. So I think the thing that I'm picking up here is don't just open your laptop and start working on things. Don't just open your laptop and start checking your emails. It's actually
really forcing yourself. And this is just my sign and me reminding myself, really forcing yourself to spend twenty thirty minutes properly prioritizing your day and asking yourself those questions. And the one that I think just really hit me, e Michelle, is if I do this one thing, will I feel satisfied, Because like, that's what's been missing from my days and I've been feeling everyone So maybe other people can relate to that. I really I want to try it. It's not that there's not a bunch of
other good stuff on your to do this. There's that really good quote by the habit expert James Clear, who a lot of people will have heard of, and the quote is, the most dangerous things on your to do list are the things that are a good use of your time, but not a great use of your time. There's lots of really good things to do, but it's actually just trying to pick the ones that are going to move the needle. So, yeah, this is your sign,
everyone listening, This is your sign. I love that, Michelle, Thank you on the way.
Next, we're going to change your brain chemistry by explaining why doing less is actually so hard, and we're going to share a killer script for saying no to your manager in a way that means they're not going to hate you. Okay, So we've shared my favorite productivity tip method not a hack now, so if I would love to hear yours, hit us with it.
So my one thing is very simple, do less, but it's actually very hard to do. And I've been obsessed with this question for a really long time. Why the hell is it actually so hard to do less? And why do we keep piling things onto our plate all the time. So let's get a little science y because I think it actually really helps to understand the why behind the behaviors, and that's what actually creates behavior change for you. So this is an amazing study I'm going
to share. It's from Professor Leedy Klott from the University of Virginia and Heed this pioneering research into why it is that we have a tendency to keep adding before taking things away. So it's this amazing study. What they did is they gave people a ridiculous travel itinery for Washington, DC. I think the words that they used was it was deliberately designed to be obnoxious. It had fourteen different things
you could do across a single day. There was only a one hour break even just getting around all the different things meant there was two hours of travel time. And it had this sort of drag and drop menu for people so they could rearrange things. And they asked participants just this one question, so what would make this itinery better? Seventy five percent of people added more shit and only twenty five percent of people actually removed things
from the itinery. So Professor Lady klots I mentioned he wrote a book Cloud Subtract, and in that book he calls it edition bias, as humans were actually hardwired to want to add and keep things, and it is so difficult for us to call things. So if you look at that, then Michelle in like apply that to a work context, right, it makes so much sense. So, you know, adding things, you've got something to show, but subtracting things
you sort of don't. So imagine you're coming in new to a role, you really want to show that you've made your mark. It's so easy to be like, look at all these new initiatives that I've added, But subtracting things actually takes tons of work. It takes like tough conversations and negotiating and saying no, but there's not a lot to show for it at the end of the day.
So in my decade plus working at Google, the only time that I ever saw teams that were properly smashing it and like they were just doing amazing work and the whole team was really happy. To the point where you're like, what is actually going on with that team, Like why are they so good? The only thing that was going on is that they were the team that was actually able to start properly saying no to things and they were just focusing on a few big things.
I love this so much. And I was gonna ask, You've been an exec at Google, and so I just feel like you would have had exposure to epic leadership courses. I feel like this comes down to your manager and the best leaders not making their teams feel like you know, more and more and more is what the business is after, you know. I feel like as an employee, you'd be more inclined to want to go to your manager and
look at all these things I've done. But I feel like this needs to be something that you're working out as of the relationship in the team. Like we actually pride ourselves on focusing on like the top one percent or whatever of things that are going to move the needle here.
Yes, but here's the interesting thing. I think a lot of people think it's up to my manager to prioritize my work for me, and it's actually not. It's everyone's responsibility to protect not just their focus, but to protect the focus of their whole team by pushing back and saying no. So this is sort of the whole point of the thing that I'm going to share with you. Let's bring it back to our gen z and millennial friends listening today. You're sitting there thinking so how do
I actually do less? How do I say no? And how do I push back? So internalize this. People are going to keep piling work on top of you until you can't take it anymore. It's not that they're trying to hurt you. It's just human nature. And I think it is harder when you're more junior because you've just got all this stuff coming down and you're not in that position to sort of be pushing back in and
making big decisions. So learning to protect your focus and push back is like top three core skills that you need to learn, and it is extremely hard. But come with me. I'm going to give you one really simple thing that you can start doing today that's going to help you. So that is saying no to your manager with respect. And here's the secret. You might actually be better placed to make decisions about certain things than your
manager because you are closer to the work. You're the person on the tools that you're the person in the details, and you actually know how long things take, how much time, and how much effort tasks actually take, and your manager doesn't always know that. So it's not like they're trying to overload you with tasks it's just that they don't have that information. So it's sort of your responsibility and it's in your power to push back. But it is
really difficult. So you know, has this ever happened to you? Your manager says this should take about twenty minutes. It should be easy, right, and in your head you're thinking like that actually takes two to three hours. But then out loud you're like, no, worries, I can do it. What you want to do instead is you want to position it as a trade off. And that's the thing, right, It's not like the ideas and tasking your manager is
giving you are bad. It's just that there's a lot of other things in your plate and everything, in a way is a trade off. So this script I'm going to share. It's from a global work expert and entrepreneur. Her name is wes Ko. I don't want to give her credit. She's brilliant and this is her favorite way to say no to a manager. And of course we're going to include this in the bus newsletter this week. Are you ready, michell?
I actually can't wait for this.
So imagine your manager has just like throwed another bloody idea or task at you, so thanks for the idea. I've added it to my list quick heads up. A task like this usually takes two to three hours. We had talked about prioritizing this other task because it was going to help us hit this big goal of block. I can refocus on the new task, but we'll probably need to make some trade offs, and you drop those in, for example, some other things that you're going to delay.
My recommendation is that I work on the new task after the other task is done. Let me know if that sounds good or if you're thinking about it differently. And that last point is really important because you are showing respect to your manager. You know more details about the time and effort, but they might be more exposed to some of those conversations within your leadership or other types of priorities. So if they say, well, actually, yes, I do see it differently, you do need to respect
them and it's a conversation. But this is a way to do it that's going to make you feel good and it's not going to feel like you're saying I'm not going to do that.
I love that so much. I feel like that's going to help so many people. I love this. You know, protecting your focus wording, and I feel like this will protect people who are in the firing line of a pile on manager and like actually almost reverse coach that manager and then the managers who get this beautiful easy conversations.
Yeah, exactly, So I love that point. I think if you're someone who is, you know, more junior in your career, have uput empathy for your manager. They're not trying to hurt you. It's just that they often don't know how long things take. And then if you're a manager, be considerate about what you're throwing your team and also start celebrating them for pushing back and saying no to you.
So in the spirit of this episode, we've got one action point each Mine is to nail your to do list. Start every day by asking yourself the question what is making me feel most uncomfortable? And will I feel satisfied if this is the only thing I get done today?
And number two, protect your focus and get comfortable having no style conversations. Grab the script in the bus newsletter this week. So I'm going to leave you with a quote from Google's productivity advisor Laura may and Martin saying no good things makes room for great things, Okay.
Lots to take out of that. Something that completely changed my perspective on task management was I thing that Michelle said. She said that the most dangerous items on your to do list are the ones that are a good use of your time but not a great use of your time. I immediately started rewriting my to do list while listening to this episode, which, yes, I know sounds ironic, but I promise you I'm going to tackle it the minute that this episode ends. I'm stealing inspo from that exact quote.
If you enjoy today's episode of BIZ, we popped everything you need in our free newsletter, including those step by step guides for both productivity game changes we talked about today. You can find a link to that in our show notes and heads up. Our Biz Inbox episode drops this Thursday, where we solve all your career dilemmas and until then, go forth and do less the better.
Bye.
Mamma Mia acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters that this podcast is recorded on