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Hello and welcome to biz your work life Sorted. I'm m Burnham and yes, somehow we are halfway through twenty twenty five. I have no idea how that happened either, so now feels like the perfect moment for a little midyear glow up. We are doing the best of a roundup of the most helpful, actually usable hacks from the pod so far to help you reset, refocus, and get through the rest of the year without turning into dust.
This episode's full of stuff I wish someone had told me earlier, like how to stay motivated when you're completely over it, how to ask one more money without spiraling, what to say in a meeting when your voice wants to disappear, and why your to do list might be wrecking your productivity. But first, we're kicking off with the
absolute basics being productive without exhausting itself. So this hack is honestly a game changer for your to do list, transforming it from a source of overwhelmed to your secret weapon, saving you from spending a day on busy work rather than meaningful progress.
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 mom, 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 got 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 tougher
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 your self more than three to five things to get done in a day. It's just not gonna 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.
This is one of my favorite hacks because it's honestly so doable. In a world where everything is urgent and you're applying to twelve things at once, Narrowing your focus is a lifesaver. Three to five things a day, that's it. It's manageable, effective, and gives you that sweet dopamine hit when you actually finish them. I'm in love with this hack. Let's talk about work meetings aka the perfect seating to
forget how to speak. You've got a brilliant idea, your heart's racing and instead of saying it, you're staring at the coffee ring on the table like it's got the answers. We've all been there, which is exactly why this next one is about speaking up so people actually listen without needing to become a different person.
Let's take the premise that we're in meetings, right, because I think that's one of the most commonplaces that were are, whether it's a one or a group meeting. I think that's often where I hear from people I work with. Is the center of a lot of anxiety or just a lot of overthinking, over preparing beforehand. A couple of things you can do that I think are really straightforward and easy to do that will help make that feel a little bit better. One of them is just to
speak early. So research shows that if you speak early in a meeting, you're more likely to speak again. And it doesn't even matter if it's small talk or just chatting to someone on the way into the meeting. There's something psychological about hearing your voice in that space that you then will speak again. So it's a good way to break the ice, if you like. But once that voice has been heard, you're automatically a lot more comfortable
to speak again. I can't tell you exactly why. But I see it work time and again, a really easy win. Some people think that questions are deferential to your point about being told you're differential, so we think if I'm asking questions, it must mean that I'm sort of on this lower position. I actually think powerful questions are really good to realign or put some more energy into a meeting. So you could ask a question like can I just replay what we've discussed here to make sure everyone's on
the same page? Or am I right in thinking that if X, then why? And then you're actively showing that you're invested and following along, which is something that I know a lot of junior people struggle to find opportunities to do, because often you are a receiver of information rather than a giver, so you're naturally a bit quieter.
But asking for clarification or to interject like that is really appreciated by other people, because even very senior folks are like, oh my gosh, yes, I haven't given this integral piece of information you know that makes everything else make sense.
I absolutely love that.
I think as well, because a lot of us have this behavior where we think in a meeting you need to be putting forward opinions to contributing information, adding, adding, adding, But actually you do need people in the room that are testing, understanding, clarifying. So I think, especially for someone who's sort of like I don't feel like an expert on the topic, you don't have to be. You can just ask a really helpful question that's going to help the whole group come to a better Absolutely.
So building confidence in meetings doesn't need some dramatic personality makeover or executive coaching package. It's not about being the loudest or talking the most. It's about creating impact with what you say. What actually works are these tiny strategic tweaks that nobody tells you about. So you're stuck in a job that doesn't exactly light your fire, we have all been there, checking the clock every twenty minutes, living for lunch breaks, and wondering if this is really what
adulting is all about. But here's the thing. Even the most boring job can be strategic for your career if you approach it right. Here's how to get your glimmer back at work.
So what I would do is I would pick one person in the company or one skill. So for a person, try and find one person in the company who's like a high quality person that you might want to learn from or like get closer to start by just kind of learning more about them, knowing what they're up to, you kind of thing, try and take them for coffee if you can, and just figure out a way, like is there a way that you can work on something with this person? Like Google, we had things like twenty
percent projects and job shadowing and things like that. But you can just figure out, like, is there sort of something that you could work on with this person so you can learn from them and create a relationship.
So that's the person.
One or I would pick one skill, So what is one skill that you can totally master in the next twelve months or the next six months is going to be a skill that you're then going to take with you for the rest of your career and then talk to your manager and really say, like I really want to work on this skill, make it your focus, and see how they can support you in that. So, whether that's doing a course, whether that's getting yourself onto a different project where you're.
Able to develop that skill.
And what you're going to find is because you've set yourself this goal of like either developing a relationship with that person or that skill, You're going to take that with you when you leave that job, Like that goes with you for the rest of your career. Instead of this being, you know, twelve months wasted in a job you're not motivated about, you're actually flipping it and you're like, I'm gaining this and that's gonna come with me in my next role.
So I love this approach. Instead of seeing a boring job as wasted time, you're deliberately extracting value that follows you forever. Remember you're not stuck, You're strategically gathering what you need for your next move. That mindset shift changes everything. Now, another great motivation is a promotion or raise. So next up we are talking about how to ask for more money. Okay, let's talk about money, specifically, how to ask for more
of it without breaking into a cold sweat. I know these conversations feel awkward, but they're absolutely critical to your career progression, and it's about focusing on the right things when convincing decision makers to open the company wallet.
So how do you actually ask for a pay rise? Remember your mindset, get inside your boss's head. Frame it in terms of the value actually bringing for the company. Don't make it about you and your personal financial situation for example, don't mention the saving for a house deposit or you know mentioned cost of living. We're going to make it all about the company and the value you're delivering. Don't be scared. You have the right to ask, and it is showing good leadership.
This is a very simple framework. Or you can think about it just like three prompts, and this is what you're going to sit down at your desk and think about before you go into these conversations. And the prompts are experience, role, and output. So when you think about your experience, you're obviously thinking about how many years you've been doing the job. What unique insights do you also
bring based on that experience. But I think when it comes to advocating for a pay rise, when you've been at the company for a few years, for example, it's how has your experience grown? Have you done courses leadership, have you been on training camps, have you you know, gone to conferences around the world, whatever it is, you're really thinking about how you've grown your skill set and your knowledge.
I love that. So it's not just experience in terms of I've been here two years, it's actually how have you invested in improving your experience and the experience that you have in doing that role is like expertise.
And I know we'll get to this, but that's also something that you can also be asking for in these performance conversations, like I want to do a training course on X, I want to do this online course. Really simple things people can do that I just think make them sound and seem a bit smarter. Is got a bit bored over the break? Did these three online Harvard courses?
You know?
They're just really easy little wins that just make you seem like you care. The second thing is role, So how has your role evolved? Did someone go and leave and you took on their responsibilities? Are you managing more people? Are you actually doing three jobs? Is your job moving well beyond what the original job description was. Those are things that you can use to advocate for a pay rise. The biggest and most important one, though, is obviously your output.
And this really needs to be evidence and fact based, so numbers relating to your KPIs, but always bringing it back to the company's objectives as well. Really leading with what the business is trying to achieve and then how you, as an individual have helped them get there.
The best hack that I found to doing this is actually just too every time that you have an example of good work, and that might be results metrics, it might be something a client has said about you, it might be something a coworkers said about you, and slack. Anything that is like you doing good work, You're going to screenshot that and just throw it in a folder
on your desk. Stop I try and save like a couple of week, and what you're going to find is when you go through that, you're just going to jog your memory and going to have all these examples.
What I love about this approach is Howard flips the power dynamic. You're not begging, you're presenting evidence that makes your case undeniable. And remember, your boss isn't doing you a favor by paying you fairly. They're making smart business decisions to keep talent that delivers, so go get that money. We're circling back to time management because everyone keeps recommending time blocking, but when I tried it, I just felt more stressed and restricted. Here's the truth. I was doing
it completely wrong. The magic isn't about cramming more in it's about reducing that constant when will I do this anxiety that follows you everywhere? Done right time, blocking actually gives you freedom.
My main tip is too novel one, be very forgiving because there'll be a process, and I think it really is based on your energy levels, so you would naturally do things that are harder at the beginning of the day. Like for me, cleaning through my personal email is like very very easy, so I tend to do it at night when I'm watching TV because I can kind of like splice it with like low energy activities. But if something takes a little bit more effort, I would push
it earlier to the morning. I would also consider like your work day as well. Like some people can go to the gym at like eleven am, which is I think crazy because it's in the middle of work day and you have like meetings and stuff. But like some people really can do like an early lunch and do their gym routine then and then go straight into any kind of meeting afterwards. So I think it really depends on your own temperament and whether or not this is
something that you can handle. The thing is always just start really really easy and slot it in. Try it for like a couple of weeks and test it to see how viabod is in your life. Just keep adding things very slowly. I wouldn't rush into anything that sounds good.
I remember.
The big aha for me was when I realized that my brain is different in the morning to the evening, and I can't actually concentrate on deep work in the afternoon. So where I used to put all my meetings in the morning and then I'd be kind of left to work in the afternoon, I completely flipped it and I started blocking out my mornings for actual work and time blocking all my meetings in the afternoon. And that kind of kept my brain engaged anyway because I was talking
to someone. So that was a really big Labo move for me in terms of planning out those blocks. So deb someone who's just getting started, they have an open calendar, or maybe they've got a few things that they're already in that calendar in terms of assigned work meetings and things like that, can you actually break down the step by step process someone should go through to time block their week.
Generally I would either go digital or paper. I personally like writing things down, so I would just take a simple piece of paper, blank piece of paper, or you can use a diary or anything like that. What I would generally do is write major tasks that you want to get done during the day all the week as a list. So first start with a regular to do list, which I think a lot of people have, and then kind of consider what your priorities are for the week,
So generally I pick three maximum. Once you kind of consider that, either in your calendar or if you're doing the day, you write down time slots from top to bottom, so like when your day starts, which some people they want to start from nine am, so nine am ten am all the way down to whenever you want to stop your day, And if it's a week thing, then you would just do Monday to Friday across the top. At that point, you sort of have like almost like a grid of these time slots that you want to
put tasks into. You just consider how long things will take, so like washing the dishes would probably take half an hour, so you can give yourself a half an hour time slot at like five pm. Then you assign times like writing might take and make sure you put breaks in between.
So if you kind of step back and you look at your full day or your full week, should every slot of time actually be scheduled?
I would recommend not to. I would just guarantee like certain slots to be put in because you need time to be kind of flexy. And then as you move through the week or move through the day, you realize that things will change, like things will pop up, and if everything's like super rigid, you can't really move anything around, and I think that causes more stress than what the
purpose of it is to alleviate anxiety about tasks. You actually realize when you time block that there's so much time when you're not like stressing about when to do things, if you just say you'll do it, there's actually so much time to do things.
Time blocking isn't a bad perfection. It's about intention. That point about not forcing activities that don't align with your values. Game changer. I wasted years scheduling important meetings after three pm. When I know that that is a time that I completely shut down. Work with your natural tendencies, not against them, And suddenly productivity feels possible and we are done for today. Speaking of time, hopefully, these hacks have rescued some of yours.
Tune in next week, where we cover the workplace skills nobody taught you but everyone expects you to know. We'll be tackling how to stop over explaining yourself and instantly sound more confident. The exact phrase is to shut down
that patronizing colleague without getting fired. More productivity hacks that don't require superhuman discipline, How to nail networking when you'd rather literally be anywhere else, and why traditional work mentors are overrated, and what you need instead, Same time, same place. I'll see you next week. If you enjoy today's biz episode, 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 episodes drop this Thursday, where we solve all of your career dilemmas. Until then, go forth and do less the better. Bye. Mamma Maya acknowledges the traditional owners of land and waters at this podcast as is recorded on