Welcome to the Mindset Coach Academy podcast. I'm Lindsey Wilson and I am a high-performance mindset coach, a mom, a former professional athlete and an entrepreneur. I help coaches and high performers optimize their mindset to improve their coaching, their performance and those of their athletes and their lives.
Here you'll learn all about mindset, how to live it, how to teach it and how to sell it. Hi guys and welcome back to the Mindset Coach Academy podcast. Alright, today we're going to talk about planning for a time when you are going to have less focus, maybe more chaos, less structure and at the time of recording this, that next thing is going to be summer for me. Now for some of you, it may not be summer, it may be back to school, it may be vacation, it may be starting up with your day job.
It doesn't really matter what that thing is, it's when or maybe it's maternity leave. We have some people in the Mindset Coach Academy, they're going to take some time off, they're not going to have a lot of structure, maybe you have a surgery coming up, maybe your loved one does. Now this can also be unexpected, knock on wood, hopefully that doesn't happen but this exercise could also be when you're already in the middle of it.
So this is super helpful, again if you can anticipate that that's going to happen or if you're in the middle of it and you need like sort of the lifeboat, right? And I see this a lot, the reason that having this structure and I just did this with our insider students and the Mindset Coaching Collective which is our monthly group coaching program, we went through these three steps and I talked about how helpful this has been for me having taken quite a bit of maternity leave over the years and also how I'm doing this for the upcoming summer where the kids are going to be home more and it's just we don't have as much structure but it could also be for you when you're having more time off and you have too much time, that could also be the case too. Okay so the reason that this is so powerful is because what I see a lot with our coaching students, our MCA grads and our insider students and our Mindset Coaching Collective students is when they get off, let's use that in quotation marks, whatever that means for you and they're just essentially not getting enough done because life has happened, right?
Their kid got strep throat and then their school was out and then you know they'd take care of another family member or whatever. This happens and then what happens is they don't get things done, they can't really get their footing and then here's what really happens is the shame cycle starts and they feel really bad about the fact that they haven't got anything done, they often start blaming external things or they blame themselves and just feel really shitty about themselves and it really erodes their confidence in not only themselves as an entrepreneur but in their ability to manage their time and if you've ever been in this situation you will probably identify with what I just said and it's really something that's so avoidable if we really take the time to plan ahead of time and so that's what I'm going to talk about today. So I've had a lot of practice with this in the last few years but again I see people in our mastermind either not planning for things or getting caught off guard with how hard it is to maintain their business if they haven't planned ahead of time during these chaotic periods and again it can go either way, it can be like the chaotic periods I have so much to do and therefore I'm deprioritizing my business and I feel bad about it or I have too much time and I don't have a lot of structure and I don't know what to do and I sit down and I want to do something but I don't know what to do and then that's frustrating and I feel bad about myself so all that is just mindset bullshit and we can avoid so much of it by following these three steps so I know I babbled on but I wanted to give you some context on how powerful this is and how really it can change your life and your experience of running a business in the life that you have and with all the things that happen. So step one and someone was asking me in our mastermind yesterday how often I do this and I would say some of these steps I kind of do like I don't want to say weekly because I don't necessarily sit down and do it but this is how I think also so the first thing is a mindset around time and it's this fight for your time fight for your time this is especially true if you have a day job this is especially true if you have kids this is especially true if you have any other people or things that are pulling your attention and priorities away from what you want fight for your time do it now time does not just exist for us we have to block it off we have to fight for it we have to decide ahead of time because if we don't things slither in like little children that want 19 snacks right they they and then of course and it's and it's we in those moments don't fight for that time because we haven't really decided ahead of time and so it's like well of course like for me of course if I haven't really set and decided on my time if my kid needs me my brain goes there and I'm not saying that that's a bad thing that's a wonderful thing that makes me a good mom but if I but I have to be able to do both right for my own sanity and I recognize that if I don't fight for my time other things other people are just going to swallow it up and then I'm going to be left standing there like what the hell happened to today or what the hell happened to this week and then I can blame other people but really the problem was I didn't prioritize it nobody's going to prioritize your work time or your dreams or your aspirations more than you let me say that again no one is going to prioritize your time your goals your aspirations more than you not going to happen okay so fight for your time and I would say beg borrow and steal to get it you know I pay for childcare but if I didn't have that you better believe that I would be trading with other moms I would make sure that even if I had five hours a week that it was my time you take ownership over your time because you have to make space in your life for you and for me the things that I want to do in my life are exercise and work on my business those are like besides I'm talking about besides family's time if I have time for me it's working out and working on my business those are like the things right and so and of course I like to see my friends but honestly I have to get those two things done work out and uh in my business okay but I take ownership over that if those things are not getting done it's not anybody else's fault it's my fault okay and this is hopefully empowering and you're not adding in any shame about it because it is what it is whatever's happened just happened it is time to not be a passive participant in your life and how you spend your time time is yours you can spend it however you want and I think that's actually a powerful thing to think about too like I actually don't have to do a lot with my kids if I didn't want to I want to so then when I want to I'm there that really helps me you get to choose how you spend it no one's making you um and I think we often forget that and we let um time or our life happen to us so here's the questions that I propose to the mindset coaching collective our monthly coaching call what do I need to do to create space in my life and I said this summer or this maternity leave or whatever okay so what do I need to do to create space in my life for this upcoming time what would that mean to me and how would it feel this is really important because when you think about how you want to feel especially after like if you think about this next week what do you want to feel like on Friday do you want to feel like you have been feeling maybe which is uh I didn't get enough done I don't know what I'm doing uh I wish I'd gotten more done I feel bad about that or do you want to feel like I really knock these things these tasks out God I can get so much done I'm feeling so excited about next week I even got extra things done I feel so proud of myself I feel so on top of things I feel so confident in my ability to prioritize things in entrepreneur how do you want to feel and then for me it would probably be like how do I want to feel this summer you know when I'm playing in the sprinkler with my kids do I want to feel like oh shit I didn't get anything done this morning or I didn't get anything done yesterday or do I want to feel like man I got so much done yesterday today is just a fun day I'm just gonna have fun and be a mom I'm not even gonna worry about my business because I got so much done like when I think about the summer that's how I want to do it I want to work really hard when I'm working and then I want to be like in the backyard eating popsicles that's my that's how I want to feel if eating popsicles was an emotion okay why is this important to me and how will it benefit me and everyone else man this is such a powerful one you guys really breaking it down and I think that benefiting everyone else is also powerful because I remember this when I was going to take a work trip a couple months ago and it was I was excited about it was so hard for me to get really excited about it because I was like I'm leaving my kids and my baby's still breastfeeding and like is she gonna sleep and like I had so much anxiety and worry about it and then I kind of switched it and I was like how is this really good for them how is it really good for them to see their mom get on an airplane and go prioritize herself and work on her business and how great is it that daddy's going to have the opportunity to to be the one and and how great is it that they're just gonna have so much fun for three days without me meddling in everything and micromanaging how great is that going to be for them and that really helped me relax I still had all the mom guilt but like that really helped me and then it really motivated me to be like when I am at this event every single second that I'm away from my kids I am going to so enjoy it enjoy it from a work standpoint and like get the most out of it and use my brain and like study and I'm gonna relax at the pool and be like oh my god I'm sitting here eating drinking a mock um pina colada which were delicious by the way and I'm enjoying this so this really question really helps so why is it important to me and how will it benefit me and everyone else this allows you to be present you guys basically okay so those questions again what do I need to do to create space in my life you know the summer for example what would that mean to me how would it feel and why is this important to me and how will it benefit me and everyone else powerful questions you guys such powerful questions and that is within the umbrella of fighting for your time all right step two this is something that I think feels a little counter-intuitive when you're a driven person but stay with me commit this this is like during the time when you know for me it's the summer commit to weigh less tasks than you think can get done but really commit to them let me say that again commit to weigh less tasks than you think you can get done but really commit to them here's what happens that I see a lot we're all driven people we have high goals we write down 20 billion tasks and then we don't get any of them done or we get part of them done and then we feel like shit what I want you to do is I want you to have really big goals but be very realistic about how long it's going to take and I want you to really commit to I would say like three tasks a week and like over commit to them like come hell or high water these three things are going to get done and then you want to have other things so that if you knock those out on day one or day two you know what else you're going to do and here's the the trap that I think some people get into they think if they don't over commit when they finish those three things or five things or whatever that they're just going to like lays out and at least for me what happens is I do write them all down but I really commit to um like three of them and then when I get those three done I don't like think oh god I don't have to get anything else done great I'm like let's keep going this is awesome let's go and I feel accomplished and that momentum actually goes forward I remember one of my um strength coaches back in the day used to say like if you don't feel like working out just start for five minutes and like for most people if they do five minutes and they commit fully to like I'm going to get to the gym and I'm going to work out for five minutes like come hell or high water I'm going to do that most people don't stop like would you stop no but you have fully committed to that five minutes And I kind of feel that way about tasks too. Like it really helps to almost undercommit, which again is counterintuitive.
And I think it took me a long time to be like, oh, that's okay. I'm still gonna get more done. It's just gonna be like bonus. And then it's like, there's those days or weeks when like a kid's sick or something. And it's like, maybe I'm not gonna get that extra stuff done.
But there's gonna be another week where I don't have those limitations. And I'm gonna get all of it done. And that's bonus. And especially for me as a mom, like I feel like when I fully commit to like a reasonable amount of things, I'm very committed to those things. And then everything else again is bonus.
It's gravy. It's like, and then I don't feel that like struggle of like, I gotta finish this, but also wanna spend time with my kids. It's like, and I'm not at night work. I don't work at night. Like I just, that's never worked for me.
I mean, every once in a while, I will because I want to. And I have a burst of energy or we're in launch mode. But generally I do not like in my brain think like, oh, I'm gonna lay down with the kids for 30 minutes and get them down. And then I'm gonna feel so energetic that I'm gonna get stuff done.
Like that's just not me. I get stuff done in the morning. And so for me, if I have that energy, I have all these bonus things that I get to do. And I really feel like I get to do them. And I want you to just pay attention to how that feels when you say it.
I have to do something versus I get to do it. And how really beautiful that can be from a productivity standpoint. We do this in our, in the mastermind, when we talk about the daily beast, kind of within this is breaking down bigger tasks in the smaller tasks.
This really helps from a commitment standpoint too. So you're not like, okay, I'm gonna write an entire book this week. You're like, okay, I'm gonna write the first draft of these chapters. And so again, the step two, which is committing to less tasks than you think, but really committing to them. Because you can't commit to a whole book, right?
You can commit to part of it and you can really commit to writing those first two chapters or what have you, but fiercely guarding that you are going to commit and do that. Okay? So that's what I would say about that. And it seems counterintuitive, I know, but it's really helpful. I would say with that also is fiercely guarding the results you want out of that time. So not just having passive things that you do, like I'm gonna work for an hour on my website. It's like, okay, but if you're only gonna have limited time, make sure it's actually result-based things.
And we talk about this more in the mastermind. I don't wanna go into all of it, but it's like if you have limited time and you want to feel good about the time that you're spending, like prioritize the shit out of it. This is what we do in our 5Ds, our morning routine. We prioritize things because you can't get anything done, especially if you're approaching a time in your life when again, it's gonna be chaotic, you're gonna have less time or you're gonna have too much time and not enough structure, whatever it is, you have to get set about how you're gonna spend that time and get really committed to what you say you're gonna do.
Okay, so questions for you to think about. What do you want to accomplish? And again, I'm just gonna say summer because that's what I'm working on. What do you wanna accomplish this summer? What do you need to do now to make sure this gets done?
Really important. How will you mark progress along the way? Is it clear what the path forward is? If not, what do you need to do to make it clear?
This is so important because if you don't know what the path forward is, your brain starts finding reasons and if we're in a chaotic situation in our life, the reasons are all around us to get distracted. What obstacles might come up? How will you deal with them?
Again, super powerful. So again, for me, the obstacles are gonna be people coming in and out of the office. And so I'm not exactly sure how I'm gonna solve this. I think what we're gonna do is we're gonna figure out certain times I may even start earlier. Certainly going to the coffee shop or working from the car is going to be part of this. And so getting a little bit of a structure and a schedule for every week and having limited time that I know that I have to bang it out.
And then everything else is bonus. Okay, that's step two, step three. Really important here, work on your mindset and schedule your mindset work along the way. So a lot of times I see this with our coaches, they get distracted, life happens. And then the first thing that they drop is any sort of like planning mindset work. So again, we have our daily weeks where we sit down, we do our mindset work, we do our plan, we do it for the week and then we do it daily.
And the first thing to go, I'm gonna do the braver with that as well, the first thing to go is that. And then they just like, and then there's like little pockets of time maybe that they have during the day. And like, they don't know what they're doing. So what do they do? They get on an Instagram or they empty the dishwasher, don't do anything with their business. And again, then they get in that cycle of like, they feel bad and then they don't feel like they know what they're doing. And then did, when like, if you did your mindset work, which you know works, you would know what to do with that 20 minutes while the kids are sleeping or while they went to the neighbors or whatever. So scheduling this and committing to the mindset work first is going to be the most important.
Now, this does not have to be like tons and tons of stuff. I was just talking about it with the mindset coaching collective yesterday. And they were like, well, you know, how's your daily beast? Do you do it every day? And I was like, actually I only do it on the days that I work.
And they were like, really? And I was like, yeah, I mean, I knew mindset work otherwise. Like I may put on a meditation, although I'm not really meditating much right now, but certainly exercise is a big mindset piece for me.
Some visualization stuff, right? Like I do mindset, but as far as my daily beast, which is like my work mindset stuff, I do that on the days that I work. I don't do those on the weekend because my weekends are crazy.
Kids are up at six and wanting everything. I don't get down to my desk and like put on my work hat. So it's like, why do it? There's no point for me.
It just isn't, it just is like one more thing that I feel bad about not doing. So, but I will do it on those days that I'm working. And I will literally write it down when I do my weekly beast and I plan, the first thing is daily beast. Check box, check box, check box, however many days I'm working.
That's the first thing that I write down. Like it is not, I'm not messing around with skipping mindset work, okay? Because we have to, if we're trying to get stuff done, we have to believe that it's possible to get where we wanna go. Otherwise we will not do it. Our brain is not designed to go waste time and energy on some shit we don't think is gonna work out. It's just not. So we have to stoke that fire all the time.
And PS, if things have been difficult for you, it may be because deep down, you don't think it's gonna work out. Public service announcements, guys, this is the core. This isn't what we were gonna talk about necessarily. You're gonna do a whole podcast on this, but we have to believe that what we're working on is going to work out or we will find ways to put bait, okay? We have to believe that it's okay for our own ambition to have our own thing, to keep that fire alive of our own ambition and take the time to stoke that fire. We have to believe that's okay. And sometimes we have to work on that. Like I said, it was not easy for me to leave my kids. And I was like, I had to mind work through that.
And that takes time, right? Otherwise we're just gonna be like, oh, stay home. It's easier.
It was way easier to say no to that opportunity, okay? We have to recognize, let's go back to step one, we have to recognize that we are in control and take that control. And we have to work through our limiting thoughts from a mindset perspective in order to allow ourselves to take that control, okay?
So questions for you. This is step three, work on your mindset and schedule mindset work along the way. How will you bake in mindset work to make sure your thoughts align with your summer plans? How will this plan allow you freedom? One thing we were talking about yesterday is structure is freedom.
Structure is freedom. How will you feel at the end of the summer or the end of your maternity leave or the end of whatever when you've executed this plan? We talked about this the feeling before. This is really important. Why is this plan important for you?
So powerful, you guys. So what this does is it clears all the muck out. It allows us to be. It allows us to be present. It allows us to have the freedom to work and play. It keeps us moving forward towards our goals even if just a little bit to keep that momentum going when life gets in the way.
Guys, this is a marathon, not a sprint. And the moment you get off track and you start spiraling down and feeling bad about it, it's really hard to pull yourself back up. So just stay steady. There's many weeks and months maybe where you don't get that much done, but you have to keep going and you have to prioritize even getting a few things done.
Even if you can get those few things, you're keeping the momentum going and you are teaching yourself, one that you prioritize yourself, two that you have control over your time, and three that you're an entrepreneur that can do this shit. That is important, you guys. Regardless of the tasks you actually get done, the belief that you are the kind of person that gets things done is so valuable. Belief that you are the person that gets things done and the confidence that comes from that is more valuable than any of the tasks that you get done for that particular week.
And it's the cumulative effect, right? That down the line, you look back and you're like, okay, I've made some progress and I've committed to this and I've shown up every single week, even when it was hard, even when things got in the way, I did it. So if you're a mindset coach and some of you are my former students that have gotten off track and then you blame yourself, and my point is, is that if you follow a plan and you stick to it, even if you're getting just little bits done every week, again, you're building that momentum and that belief in yourself that you are the type of person that gets things done.
This is so important, okay? And the final thing that I will say is that if you can plan this ahead of time, and sometimes you can't, but if you can plan this ahead of time, what you may notice and what I notice is that I feel so good about my plan that I get a burst of energy to get things done. And it's really fun because I'm like, ooh, I like being ahead.
And so for me, I batch love my content. And I even get this week to week, like if we're leaving for the weekend or something and we're leaving on a Thursday, I know that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, I'm getting some shit done and it feels so good. And then I feel like I'm winning and I feel like I'm ahead. And again, then I get that bonus time maybe. And then it's like, cool, I love this feeling.
I'm gonna keep going. And so I get a burst of energy before. Like right now I'm getting tons of content done for the summer because I love that feeling. And I think that you will find that too, but it really takes doing these three steps to get that benefit and get that intention. Because here's what happened if you don't plan, you don't get the burst of energy.
And even if you didn't get it, it's fine, but you get things done, but you still don't feel that great about them, right? Because you're like, you don't know where you're going. You don't know how much you should get done. You haven't really committed to anything. So it never feels like enough.
And so like that's a shitty feeling and it's so demotivating. So again, these are my three steps. Fight for your time, block it off, plan, beg, borrow and steal, prioritize your time and your ambition. Commit to actually less tasks, but over commit to them.
Like come hell or high water, you're gonna get these things done. And then everything else is a bonus and it's gonna feel amazing. You're gonna be addicted to that feeling. Instead of, I have so much to do and I'm not getting any of it down, this sucks. That's a shitty feeling and it doesn't work.
So don't do that. And the third thing is work on your mindset and schedule mindset work along the way. You guys, this plan, it's amazing. You will love doing this, okay?
We'll put this in the show notes, including the questions that I just asked so that you can go in, you can journal on these and like get a plan. And here's the thing. You may find that you can do this for a time when you're not even sure if it's gonna be chaotic or you're not sure if it's gonna be a lack of structure.
You just wanna try it for a little while. That can be helpful too. Like plan a month or two where you approach your work this way. And then like I said, you may get that burst of energy to get stuff done because it's kind of addictive.
So like get ahead. Oh my God, I love that feeling. I love that feeling and I want that for you. All right guys, if you like this podcast, please share it with a friend. And if you have not yet, you know what I'm gonna ask. Please click the little button, subscribe so that you get all of our podcasts, including our Mental Mondays.
Every Monday you will get a Mental Monday. And rate and review. I read every single one and I'm so appreciative of everybody that follows us. All right guys, have a great week and we will see you soon on the Mindset Coach Academy podcast.
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