Annie:
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Annie:
No matter the circumstances. Whether you're booking in town or across the globe, the service is always consistent, meaning peace of mind and less stress, which we all know I'm a fan of. Mention me to the sales rep or click the link in the show notes for 20% off your first three trips. Welcome to The Whole Assistant Podcast. I'm your host, Annie Croner. I'm a former assistant who's passionate about our profession and I'm also a certified coach who's invested in your success. You've come to the right place if you want to know what it looks like to stand in your power and achieve success as an assistant from overwhelm and burnout. Now on to today's episode.
Annie:
Hello. So you guys all know that I am all about helping you ask better questions. And today I'm going to share one question I asked myself that allowed me to level up my self concept and skyrocket my productivity. This question allowed me to run Whole Assistant and to be a full time, high value executive assistant for four and a half years. And that question is, how can I get more done in less time and with less effort? How can I get more done in less time and with less effort? So I'm going to break down this question today. I do love this question so much. And even as I run my business now, I'm constantly asking myself this question. This question is always top of mind.
Annie:
And I was talking with a friend recently. I was dealing with a bit of stress as my business grows, and I was telling her that I just need more systems in my business. And she's like, that's your baby blanket, isn't it? I'm like, absolutely. It's totally my baby blanket. Whenever I'm feeling stressed or overwhelmed, I'm like, there's something wrong? I need to. I need to create more systems, and I do. I need to templatize a few things and. And streamline a few things, for sure.
Annie:
And it's all part of the growing process. So I want you to look at your systems as iterative things, knowing that they will likely evolve and change over time as the need is more relevant and present to you. But I love the question of, how can I get more done in less time and with less effort? And there again, it is always top of mind. For me, this question prompts a lot of things. It prompts, what systems am I not thinking of? What tools can I utilize to work smarter and not harder? It kind of prompts a strategic piece of my brain anyway, and I hope it will for you, too. So I think I'm going to break down this question for you now to share how to really leverage the full strength of this question. So the first part of the question is, how can I get more done? And this is likely a question that you are already asking yourself. Unfortunately, without the rest of the question, there is really no strategy behind it.
Annie:
It's like, how can I get more done? And we are constantly playing the whack a mole game. We're constantly trying to get things done and off our plates and move on to the next. And we likely are not thinking strategically with how we're showing up for our time with just this part of the question. The second part of the question is, in less time. So how can I get more done in less time? Now the question becomes interesting. Imagination begins to spark here. It also provokes the question, is there a better way for me to work? How can I get more done in less time? There must be a better way for me to work. If it's true that I can get more done in less time, is it even possible for myself to get more done in less time? And if it were to be possible, what would that look like for me? Is there a better way for me to work? So I like this question, too, because it begins to play with your self concept a little bit.
Annie:
Whereas before, you may have been in the weeds all the time playing whack a mole, not showing up strategically, it begins to spark the imagination. It begins to help us answer a better question, which then in turn, can have an effect on your self concept. And the last part of this equation, or this question is, with less effort, how can I get more done in less time and with less effort? So this part of the question puts the brain into full problem solving mode. How can I stop recreating the wheel? What can I templatize? Less effort also implies less white noise, less distraction, more focus. This full question, how can I get more done in less time and with less effort? Opens us to the full idea of working in ways we never thought possible before. And if we actually lean into this question and we actually brainstorm this question, we actually think about this question consistently, which I encourage you all to do. This question should always be top of mind for every single one of us, is that this question has a possibility to revolutionize your self concept, as I just mentioned a minute ago. So instead of priding yourself and being an excellent multitasker, you will pride yourself on the ability to create focus and to create high productive output.
Annie:
Instead of seeing yourself as a firefighter, you will begin to see yourself as a strategist. Instead of wearing long hours as a badge of honor, you'll begin to wear your ability to efficiently manage your time and energy as a badge of honor. And this was true of me for sure. I think early on in my career, I saw myself as, like, a most excellent multitasker. But actually, multitasking is a myth, guys. It's a total myth. And if you're wearing multitasking as a badge of honor today, you may want to look at that. You may want to consider leveling up your self concept to help you wear other things as a badge of honor, wear efficiency as a badge of honor, or manage your time as a badge of honor.
Annie:
Right? So I'm going to give you guys an example of what I'm talking about here. How can I get more done in less time and with less effort? And the thing that comes to mind for me outside of myself and outside of our role as executive assistants and administrative professionals when it comes to answering this is the industrial revolution. So around the turn of the century, lots of automation was going on. Templatizing was going on. People were batching or grouping certain things together on the production lines. Instead of creating a basket and having one person weave the entire basket, people were putting things down the production line in a more efficient and effective way. Clothes were being made more efficiently and effectively, and then cars as they were being produced. When you think about an assembly line, it's a more productive way than one person building an entire car.
Annie:
Instead, you've got people skilled at managing different pieces of the puzzle as it went down the production line. And I think that we can take this concept of the industrial revolution and automation and templatizing and batching and all of it. And we can apply it to our own role to show up optimally and to manage our time effectively, or certainly more efficiently than we are right now. Now, I'm not going to say that occasionally something comes up that doesn't fit into your categories, but we can even plan for that. I remember back in the day, I would leave two to 3 hours of white space throughout my day because I knew that there was something that was going to pop up inevitably. And I had my plan for what I wanted to accomplish that day. And so if something popped up that was more urgent, I could shift that thing that I was going to work on down the list a little bit and then prioritize this other thing. And by and large, most things would get done in that time period, in that day.
Annie:
And I think that we can honor ourselves in the same way. But I will tell you, one of the killers of actually managing your time effectively is distraction. So if you can actually close out of all your tabs, close out of your inbox or silence notifications, just for a little while, to allow yourself the time and space to actually focus, to allow your brain to not be distracted, and you can show up strategically for yourself in that way. And then also in terms of, like, automating certain things, templatizing certain things backstage, certain things together, that it can really help you show up more strategically, and it can help you answer the question of how can I get more done in less time and with less effort or energy. I love that question. And if you will show up in service of that question, I kid you not, it can revolutionize how you work 110%. I totally believe that. So there's so many benefits to asking this question.
Annie:
It gives your brain a more strategic focus other than how can I get more done? It actually gives your brain a strategy and a focus, a problem to solve. It will give you the drive to challenge yourself and your current beliefs. So this was true of me for sure, because there was a time in my career where I thought I couldn't close out of my inbox, where I thought, you know, minimizing all the distractions was kind of silly and frivolous and probably wouldn't lead to much in terms of my productive output. But then, as I thought about it and as I started to answer the question, how can I get more done in less time and with less effort? I'm like, well, the only way to get more done in less time, with less effort is actually create focus for myself. So then I'm hopping on my phone and I'm silencing the notifications there with the exception of text, because at my kids school may need to contact me, my husband may need to contact me back in the day, my executive may need to contact me. So I needed to have some way in which people could contact me all the time. So that was my one way. I was closing out of everything else, though, to allow myself the time and space to focus.
Annie:
And, you know, I wouldn't suggest you close out of your inbox for hours on end. That's a terrible idea. Don't do that. But like, as much as you can close out of all of the white noise and give yourself that gift of focus. It will go a long way in answering the question, how can you get more done in less time and with less effort? Now, the challenges of asking this question is that it will require you to adopt a new self concepts, which is always going to stretch your brain. Your brain likes predictability, your brain does not like change. So stepping outside of our comfort zone and riding that edge of growth and asking yourself how you can get more done in less time and with less effort, it will challenge you because it's going to challenge your self concept and it's going to challenge your brain and it will be uncomfortable, and there's nothing wrong with that. I think that often, whenever we experience some kind of discomfort, we're like, oh, there's something wrong here.
Annie:
And sometimes there is, and you need to pay attention to that voice, and you need to touch base with that voice inside of yourself. That tell is telling you something is wrong. And sometimes it's just discomfort because our brain is not used to operating in the new way that it's operating. And also, I just want to name this because I do feel like this is going to be a hurdle for all of us to move past is the dopamine feedback loop. So by that I mean whenever we do a task, we get a dopamine hit. So then what ends up happening is we end up chasing tasks to do and we end up playing whack a mole in an attempt to get the next dopamine hit instead of showing up strategically for a time, instead of delaying that instant gratification of the dopamine hit for the long term payout of showing up more strategically. So asking the question, how can I get more done in less time and less and with less effort is a very challenging question to ask when you really break it down and when you really think about it. But it can be so rewarding if you actually take the time to implement what your brain comes up with.
Annie:
Okay guys, that is what I have for you guys today. I hope you found it helpful. Please try asking yourself the question, how can I get more done in less time and with less effort? I hope it changes your life as much as much as it changes mine. And I hope your productivity is positively impacted as much as mine was. Be intentional. Be whole. That is all for now. I help assistants apply the concepts I share on this podcast.
Annie:
If you're ready to take your growth deeper and you're curious whether working with me in a coaching capacity is right for you, please email me at [email protected] to schedule your complimentary discovery call.
