Do you feel like you're operating from a never-ending to-do list? Do you find yourself experiencing overwhelm and stress because you just can't seem to get enough done? On today's episode I'm chatting with productivity coach Alexis Haselberger all about how to integrate practical and realistic strategies into your life so you can do more of what you love and less of what you don't and still feel productive by your own definition.

Alexis Haselberger is a time management and productivity coach who helps people do more and stress less through coaching, workshops and online courses.  Her pragmatic, yet fun, approach helps people easily integrate practical, realistic strategies into their lives so that they can do more of what they want and less of what they don't.  Alexis has taught thousands of individuals to take control of their time and her clients include Google, Lyft, Workday, Capital One, Upwork and more.

Free download:  - Distraction Action Plan: https://www.alexishaselberger.com/subscribe - Website: https://www.alexishaselberger.com/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/domorestressless

Insta: @do.more.stress.less

FB: @domorestressless

FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/domorestressless/

Online courses: https://www.alexishaselberger.com/online-courses

Episode Transcript:

[00:00:00] Lindsay: Alexis. Thank you so much for being on the Book Your Dream Clients podcast. I'm really excited to have you on today.  

[00:00:55] Alexis: Thanks for having me on. I'm excited. 

[00:00:58] Lindsay: So me and Alexis had a chat. This is the week before Christmas that we're recording this.

[00:01:03] And I said, I really wish your episode would come out now, but chances are, I'm sure not everyone has alleviated their to-do lists at the beginning of the year. I think it probably has even more things on it. Cause that's kind of the personality that we tend to have. So I think this episode is gonna come in handy for when it's airing as well, because I think especially the.

[00:01:24] That I attract, we are overachievers. We like to have all the things in front of us. We are doers, but that can kind of develop into a sense of overwhelm anxiety and just feeling like, okay, what did I just get myself into? And I have plenty of experience with that. So we have Alexis here with us today and she's going to help us through all of that.

[00:01:45] She loves productivity, time management, all of those things. So Alexis, why don't you go ahead and introduce yourself and we'll get the ballroom. 

[00:01:52] Alexis: Perfect. Yeah. So I am Alexis Haselberger. I'm a time management and productivity coach. And what that means really is that I help people learn strategies and techniques to be able to use their time as aligned with their goals and their values so that it's not about like productivity, productivity, doing all the things all the time.

[00:02:10] It's about saying, okay, I've got this stuff I want to do. How do I make sure that my time is actually aligned with my goals and with my. 

[00:02:18] Lindsay: Definitely a hot word productivity. Right? We always, I think the problem and I don't know if it's a problem, but for me, when I think of productivity, I just really enjoy being productive.

[00:02:29] So sometimes I almost get a little defensive with, you know, you have too many things on your list and you don't take a break and you don't like relaxing. And I always think, okay, talk me through that. Why isn't that? Something that. Why can't that just be a part of my personality, Alexis? Why can't I just be a busy body?

[00:02:47] It 

[00:02:48] Alexis: can be. I mean, I think so. My definition of productivity is doing what you to do. Right. And so I it's, for me, that means, you know, it can go either way, right? If you're, if, if for you, you're intending to do all the things and it's going to take you a bunch of your time and you don't want to spend that time relaxing that's productivity.

[00:03:06] I also think that if you sit down on a Saturday and you're like, my goal is to like sit here and knit and binge watch some show on that. That's productivity as well, because you're intending to do that. And so I think that there's, there's just a lot of room for how we do things. We all have different brains, different personalities, different circumstances, et cetera.

[00:03:25] I mean, I think I'm kind of like you, I, I find it difficult to sit down. I, you know, I always, we talked a little bit before. I also always have a kitchen project going on and a knitting project and a crocheting project and I'm running my business and all of these things and that stuff lights me up. I do also really like relaxing.

[00:03:44] And so I build in time for that as well. But I think that I think what happens is. When we feel like we have to be productive all of the time. Like there's no time for us to let go. That's when it becomes problematic, when it's a choice, it's totally fine. 

[00:03:56] Lindsay: I like how you kind of busted a myth about that because to me and so many others, they think that productivity is just doing things, but you said, if it's intentional, if this is what you want to do, then you are being productive.

[00:04:09] We all have a such D we're all wired so differently. And it's funny, you brought up knitting because I have, I find it very difficult to sit down. The only times I sit down is when I'm eating dinner and that's at the end of the day. And then at the end of the day, once everything's cleaned up and put away.

[00:04:26] I like to sit at this little table, our homeschool table in our living room, and I don't want to sit down and write or Dern journal or read all the time. So I decided I'm going to start learning how to prostitute something that I can still stay busy, but I feel relaxed. And my husband was like, what are you getting yourself into?

[00:04:44] Why can't you just keep. I sit down and do nothing. I, and I just, I just can't, I don't like I don't enjoy that. So I like how we can always find different ways to be productive. If my idea of being productive at six 30 at night is to learn how to make a flower on a dish towel, then that's what I'm going to do.

[00:05:05] So when we talk about our businesses, there is, there is a problem there. There is a problem with trying to find something to do, do get me, like we get to our computers and we probably wouldn't have to work this afternoon, but we're just going to go and find something to do. Do you find that that is a big problem area with the people you work with?

[00:05:29] Alexis: Not so not really actually. And, and the reason for that is that I think that most people that I work with they, they have no shortage of things that they, that they actually really didn't. Okay. Right. And so while I, of course I do work with lots of entrepreneurs. I also work with a lot of people who like work in big tech companies and where they have lots of pressures and doctors and lawyers and all these sorts of things.

[00:05:51] And so there are external pressures as well. And so I don't find so much. People are working when they don't have to, as much as that, when they do show up to work, you know, sitting at their computer or whatever it is, they sometimes get paralyzed by just how many things there are to do. And then they do nothing.

[00:06:09] Right. So it's, I mean, not that they do nothing, but they're just like, okay, there's so much to do. I don't know where to start. And then we might sit there for 15 minutes, 15 minutes that we could have been making progress on something. Had we kind of planned in advance, how to spend. 

[00:06:22] Lindsay: Okay. So I could see how that can relate.

[00:06:23] So I work with a lot of coaches who are just starting and they're really, I mean, I'm still in love with my business and I've been doing it for years, but I would work on my business 24 hours a day if I could. And so when my coaches, cause they just love it. So they're always going to try and find like, oh, I should, I should change the colors on my website or I should do this.

[00:06:42] And it's really not like being productive. It's just being busy. I think there's a difference between being busy and productive. And so whether you're. You put being pulled in all kinds of directions or you don't even know which direction to go. What is the end goal for somebody who runs, runs a business who has probably a family to take care of who has probably a nine to five, how can we be productive with all these different hats we wear?

[00:07:09] How is that even possible? 

[00:07:11] Alexis: Yeah. So I think that it is really about this concept that I call separating the planning from the doing. I think that so often when we're just like in the thick of it, or we sit down and we just, we just start doing whatever comes to us and maybe we're making the right decisions.

[00:07:24] And maybe we're not, maybe we're calling a shiny object, maybe. We're responding to somebody because they're the loudest or the squeakiest wheel. And that might not be, you know, aligned with, with what our real goals are. And when we think about, you know, our business, our job, our families, like we have a lot of goals in there and they can seem somewhat competed.

[00:07:41] Right. And so I find that being able to say, okay, here's how I want to sit. Like. Here is tomorrow, right? Like just to take it really tactical. How am I going to spend the Workday that I have tomorrow? Like what time am I going to commit to working tomorrow? And then how am I going to actually spend that time?

[00:07:58] What am I agreeing to accomplish? Like agreeing to myself to accomplish during that time and come up with a realistic plan based on the time that you have with. 'cause that's kind of how you can know that it's stopping time. Right? Like I did the things I intended to do. Not that I did everything on my list of 600 things, but I did the.

[00:08:18] Five to 20 things that I intended to do today. And I think that's a really big difference because then you can say, you know, okay, well, my goal was to spend this amount of time on my business and accomplish these things. And I did that today and now I'm ready to move on to my other obligations or my, you know, my other enjoyments right.

[00:08:36] Of what I want to do. I also think it's harder to do when you work for yourself because, you know, I know that for me, when I worked for other people, it was really, really easy to have boundaries. And when I worked for myself, it's harder, but I also know that it's really important to be able to relax and disconnect, and that that's good.

[00:08:55] Not only for me and my family, but also for my business. And so being able to see. What, like, what is it, what are the kind of relative percentages of time that I want to spend on all the things that are important to me? And then how do I fit in the things that are going to move the needle in all of those realms?

[00:09:11] Lindsay: I'm reading your website right now on the header of one of your, on your work with me page. And it says. You managed to get things done, but with a mad dash last minute, scrambled behind the scenes, you feel guilty when you're working because you aren't with your family and guilty when you're with your family, because work is still on your mind.

[00:09:30] You haven't crossed anything off your bucket list in years. And somehow there's just never enough time. I think that's, that's a, that's a heavy hitter to hear when you're always thinking about the other thing and you're never being present. And I think the biggest thing is you should have. Be present with your family because their family's number one.

[00:09:49] So when you are, you know, bringing your laptop with you, your phone with you constantly around your family taking you're you're you, you're taking that 600 line to do list with you wherever you go, when it comes to your business. Right? Like we never really feel like fully accomplished when we leave the office.

[00:10:06] Cause there's always something, what are the ramifications of being we're wearing two. And putting half of you in this and half of you in this, what are the ramifications of that? 

[00:10:18] Alexis: Well, I think it's never like a half, half, half equal equal thing. I mean, I think that, you know, people talk about balance and that's a really loaded word, but I, what I, I th I think of it this way, like, A metaphor of like you know, a pie, right?

[00:10:31] It's like you can have different slice, different sized slices of the pie and they can change over time. So there may be times in your life where you're maybe they're beginning stages of your business, and you're actually focusing a lot on that more so maybe even than your family. And then there are other stages in your life.

[00:10:48] When, you know, maybe you've added a new member to your family, you just had a baby or something where you're going to be way more focused on family than you are on your business. And just kind of knowing where you are. In these things and, and just accepting that it's not always going to be equal because I think that would be really hard to really difficult to achieve.

[00:11:03] Just kind of maintain a static balance. Always. I think that just recognizing, yes, I am spending more time on this right now, because it's important to me for some reason. And then shifting that, the percentages in the balance, when you feel like things feel out of whack, I think that you also brought up a really good point here, which is that, like, we never feel like.

[00:11:24] When we leave the office or close our computers, and that is 100%. Of everybody in life, like totally, right. Like we are all going to die with a big, long list of things we didn't do. Like there's no way around it. None of us are going to achieve every single thing in our lives that we set out to. We're not going to answer all the emails.

[00:11:44] We're not going to. You know, do all the projects. We're not going to know, make every single upgrade to our website. We're not going to do all the things that is not what life is about. That is not what productivity is about for me, it's about really being, because we're not going to be able to do the things like the more ambitious you are, the less likely you'll be able to do all the things because you have more things.

[00:12:04] Right. And so I think that it's really important to learn how to prioritize in such a way that you can say at the end of every day with. The things I did today were more important than the things I didn't do. And I think if we can do that over and over, then we don't worry so much about, I didn't get to everything because everything's impossible.

[00:12:23] Lindsay: It absolutely is impossible. We're always going to come up with something. I don't think we're ever going to say, okay. All done with everything I go, it would, it would be so boring because I, I feel like when I'm really caught up at work or I'm ahead, I like to work ahead. It almost makes me feel kind of like, Aw, I want to, I want to keep going.

[00:12:45] And then that's when we search out another project to work on or whatever it is, another priority, but I want to go back to what Alexis said about accepting. I always say, except the season that you're in and we're, we sometimes think we need to be in this, go, go, go, go, go sees then. And like, like she said, you know, you might have had a baby or you are switching.

[00:13:07] Your business focus or you like when we decided to homeschool in 2020, that was, that was a big shift that we had to make. And so things had to adjust and time and energy, all of those things. So one of the things that I see a lot with my, my students and my clientele is the, the ability to accept that this might be a season where things are different and.

[00:13:32] Usually happy with us season. It might be a season of slowing down or a season of picking up the piece. How do you recognize that? Or how do you talk to somebody who doesn't understand the concept of seasons with priorities in their business? 

[00:13:48] Alexis: Yeah. So I, I think I, I always talk to people about like, what are, what are your goals, right?

[00:13:54] Like what are, what are, what are those goals or those values, or like how you want to be spending your time. And then let's take a look at your own reality right now. And so with my clients specifically, we started, I started out every engagement. By having my clients do some time tracking to actually track their time where it's going for an entire week with no judgment.

[00:14:13] From the time they wake up to the time they go to bed, like what is actually happening because I find that once we have some real data around, like what we want and what we are doing, then we're able to identify where there are. And when we can identify the gaps, then it's much easier to find find solutions there.

[00:14:31] Right. So in terms of, you know, what season we're in, we might be able to say, ah, it seems like we're in a really, really busy work season right now. Like you're spending, I don't know, 12, 15 hours a day at work. And you know, your family seems to be taking a little bit of a backseat right now. Is that okay with you?

[00:14:48] Right. Or do you need to change some things? Do we need to change some things here or, you know, when you might be feeling. Like you just haven't been productive because you had a baby. Right. And let's just say that, you know, at least in my opinion, having my kids, like that was some of the most, both boring and productive times ever having a new thing at the same time.

[00:15:05] Right. But it's, but you're not getting work done. And so we recognize that that's also going to end like the baby's going to go to daycare eventually and, and go to school. And so I think just talking through where we are versus what we want and where those gaps are. Kind of talking through not only how it can change, but also how they've seen these things changed in the past.

[00:15:26] Because I think that sometimes we need that like confirmation of real data. Like it's not enough for me to say this will change in some way. We need to say, like, how have things changed in the past? Like when you were in college, how did you spend your time? And then what happened when you got your first job?

[00:15:40] How did time change. And then what happened when you got your first kid? What, what changed? And so I think helping people see that whether they are acknowledging it or not, these seasons have been. 

[00:15:50] Lindsay: Time audits are such a helpful tool to take that really big bird's eye view of. Okay. This is maybe it's maybe it's disappointing to see how you're spending your time.

[00:16:01] Maybe it's a big reality check. Do you recommend people do these time audits every so often, or what do you, what's kind of your favorite go-to to see, to maybe just get a good analysis of the, maybe the seasons that you have slowly developed for yourself. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:16:18] Alexis: So I think it's a good thing to do.

[00:16:20] I mean, personally, I do a time audit of a couple of weeks, like twice a year, usually just kind of gauge where I am. I just want to say like, am I working more than I wanted to be? Am I sleeping enough? How many, you know, where is my time going right now so that I can do that exact same thing with myself.

[00:16:35] I also think it's a really good idea for people to do. When they're feeling like something is out of whack, like if you're feeling overwhelmed or if you're feeling like just something doesn't feel right about your time. And that's always a really good trigger for you to say, ah, maybe I should do a timeout at, for a week or so, just so I can actually see, is there data to support these feelings that I'm having?

[00:16:56] So what are 

[00:16:56] Lindsay: some signs that you might need? One, like some physical signs. I'm, I'm assuming like burnout, you're feeling overwhelmed. What are some other things we can be on the lookout for? 

[00:17:05] Alexis: Yeah. So I think burnout, fatigue, I think that's for sure. I also think, you know, you can use external signs from other people.

[00:17:12] So if your kids are complaining that they never see you, or if they are even, even more than that, a subtly just kind of clingy, right? Like overly gleaning in a way that is not like developmentally something that we're going to expect at that time. Then that might be an indication that maybe now's a good time to just check on on your time and see where it's going.

[00:17:31] If you're not accomplishing as much as you would like to be. So if you're saying, well, I'm setting out to do these things and then somehow just week after week, it never gets done. I think that that's really, you know, that's an effective time to do it because I think what we find in these time audits is that.

[00:17:47] Time is subjective. Right? So, yeah, there's a reason that we're not very good at saying, well, I know how I spend my time. I'm doing exactly this and this and this. It's just really subjective. And a lot of it gets lost in the mix. And so, you know, I remember I had a client once who was like an executive at a tech company and he realized in his, on it that he was spending four hours a day on YouTube and Reddit in like five minutes.

[00:18:10] And he had no idea. Like he, he thought he, he knew he was spending too much time, but he thought that it was like an hour a day. It turned out it was four hours a day. Like that's a, that's a big thing to find out. Right. And then you're able to say, well, that's like a significant portion of my day. If I cut this out, now I have a lot more time for those other things that we're feeling.

[00:18:31] Lindsay: That is a big reality check, right? So that ties into something that we hear a lot work smarter, not harder. And I think that that can be catchy, but what does it mean to you? 

[00:18:41] Alexis: So to me, it's all about having a systems and processes in place. And so I think that. There's a couple of, there's a few key places where people tend to waste a lot of time unintentionally.

[00:18:53] And this is around like looking for information, right? Like going into your email. Like, I know I sent that thing to somebody last week, like going to find it then like not having a clear place to put things or to find information. I think that, you know, not having a system for your tasks and projects so that you can easily have one place where things live.

[00:19:13] We waste a lot of time kind of going back and forth on these things. And then there's also just kind of a lot of. A lot of time lost to like checking and rechecking emails. And there are things like that. 

[00:19:25] Lindsay: I think that that's a good one. One of the biggest things that I did a couple of years ago was I deleted Facebook off of my phone and my email off of my phone, because I was like, I w I would never, I've never been a big Facebook person.

[00:19:39] I go into it to answer questions in my group. And I was finding that I. Trying to be like, oh, you asked a question, let me answer it right now. And it was always pulling me away. And I remember deleting it off my phone and feeling like. Wow. That's what it feels like to lose 50 pounds off your shoulders, because I felt like I was always on call.

[00:20:02] That's ridiculous. Why would I have to be on call? And I remember I set boundaries for myself to be an example for my students. So when I deleted Facebook off of my phone, I only check Facebook in the morning. And they slowly got used to that. They didn't get an instant response from Lindsey anymore. They knew that catch me early in the morning, or you're going to see me back the next day.

[00:20:25] And I think that don't even do it for yourself. If you, if it's for finding it really hard to do like simple things, like delete YouTube on your phone or Facebook or whatever it is, something that's really sucking your time away, do it for the people who are looking at you as an example, because it will, it will reap benefits for everybody else.

[00:20:42] That's a huge thing. So how do you monitor. What you're doing every day. Do you have to really be honest, like, oh, I'm going on Instagram? And that took me 10 minutes or is there some kind of cool time audit tools that you recommend? 

[00:20:54] Alexis: So I think so there are lots of cool tools. But I think the reality is that like most of the tools that really like Toggl is a great free time audit app, but the reality is.

[00:21:05] You know, you think it's great because you can just go in and press a button and then press a button when you do the next thing. And then it automatically tabulates everything for you. The reality is like, you're going to forget. And then all of a sudden you have like 16 hours of checking email or whatever, and you have to go in and change it.

[00:21:20] So I think this is one of those areas. I mean, there are also tools that will kind of watch your computer, you know, like track what you're doing on your computer screen, but. I like the old school approach of just literally like noting it down. I provide my students and and clients with a spreadsheet template that will just calculate everything for them so that they can put it in there.

[00:21:40] But I often just think it's much easier if we just have in our notes app or a pad of paper next to us, and we write down 7:00 AM. Got ready. 8:00 AM breakfast with kids. That's going to get us more accurate data than I think often using some kind of app. Well, and it also forces us to kind of be in the moment.

[00:21:59] Mm, 

[00:22:00] Lindsay: I like that too. I like old fashioned versus all the fancy bells and whistles sometimes. And I think it is a good thing to see what we're wasting our time on. I'm just going to say it's probably wasting your time. What's, what's the biggest a common thing that people are wasting their time with it.

[00:22:16] If it's on their phone, what kind of apps do you kind of see like over, across the board, everyone spends way too much time doing this or that. What is it? What do you see? I mean, 

[00:22:26] Alexis: everyone has their specific poison of what social media is there, infinite scroll. Right? So whether it's Reddit or whether it's Twitter or whether it's Instagram or Tik TOK, which I know is like my own Achilles heel, which is why I don't, I don't know, or, you know, Facebook or whatever it is.

[00:22:44] Usually, it's not that people are like all over all the time. It's just that there's usually one place where that's the place that they go to kind of in their boredom zone or that's kind of the automatic way. But I think that you, you know, it's interesting because I don't, you know, lots of people that I work with, they actually.

[00:22:59] Like wasting time in those formats, right. They're not actually spending time goofing around or relaxing, et cetera. They are not that there's anything wrong with relaxing, but I think that a lot of times it's just the sheer amount of interruptions, which brings it back to what you said about, you know, taking Facebook off your phone.

[00:23:16] So you don't feel that. Being compelled. And I think, you know, one thing I always recommend to my clients and, you know, everyone that I work with is just turn off all the notifications, the notifications for email, the notifications for slack, definitely the notifications for all the social media and any games you play, because all of that stuff, like all those notifications, there are other people's priorities.

[00:23:40] Just as you made a concerted effort to say, I had just checked Facebook during the morning. Like that's when I do it, that's my schedule. People are still getting you within 24 hours. That's totally reasonable. Right? The same thing can be said of email, slack, et cetera. And they might have different amounts of time.

[00:23:57] Right? Like I think the grand majority of people can get by processing email a couple of times a day, slack. It just depends on your work environment, but you know, Lots of Mo the grand majority of people could look at slack once an hour for five minutes. And that is so much better than like getting a ping every single time.

[00:24:17] And then it tears you away from what you're doing. And that's where I find the biggest kind of time loss or productivity loss is in this like constant interruption because studies show that it takes us on average 23 minutes to refocus after any kind of interrupt. 

[00:24:31] Lindsay: Yes. And I, yeah, let's talk about that.

[00:24:33] I know that if you're working on, let's say you're writing copy for your sales page and you decide, you get bored, you open up a Facebook tab and then pretty soon you're scrolling. And then you're looking at someone's holiday pictures from two years ago, and you don't even know who they are and you don't even know you can't even get back into the 

[00:24:51] Alexis: zone, right.

[00:24:52] Or even like more innocuously your coworker slacks. You, you go to answer that slack and then. Like, you've just kind of lost your Gusto and you've forgotten where you work and maybe you start doing something else or you respond to some other slack message and then you finally get back to what you're doing and you can't even quite remember where you were.

[00:25:10] Lindsay: Yes, that happens to me a lot. And I know I have my go to. Tabs that I like to open up. I like to maybe if I find myself opening up an Amazon tab because, and do random shopping, I know that Lindsay is avoiding something cause she doesn't want to do it. And I think that we're trying to avoid a task at hand.

[00:25:29] And so I know that I put too much on my plate and I need to readjust a recalibrate. What. What I decided I needed to do today because I obviously don't want to do it. And I think it's being really aware of why you're allowing yourself to be distracted. Do you see some, some some insight onto that?

[00:25:47] Like, that's, that's something for me of being really aware. Cause I work my nine to five as well. When I work from home, I've been working from home for 17 years. So I, I claim that I'm really good at multitasking, but when is multitasking not going to. The a trait that you can break about because that's not really helping you.

[00:26:05] So 

[00:26:06] Alexis: multitasking, I hate to burst your bubble, but multitasking is a total myth and nobody can do it. We like to, you know, like, I mean, I used to, I had a previous life when I worked in HR. I can't tell you the number of resumes I got that said like expert multitasker on them. Right. But what, what science really shows us.

[00:26:23] What multi-tasking is doing when we're doing it is we're just context switching really fast. And so that actually decreases our productivity. So there are, you know, the most kind of Seminole study out there. It says that multitasking reduces our productivity by 40%. It's a lot. It's a lot. Right. And so I think sometimes people say, well, but I can run and listen to a podcast at the same time.

[00:26:45] Like, yes, you can. Those are different modalities. And so yes, we are capable of driving a car and listening to an audio book and running and listening to something. But what we can't do is kind of exist in the same modality at the same time. Or if we do, we're just going really quickly back and forth between those two things, losing steam and losing productivity and willpower at every switch.

[00:27:07] I think to the extent possible trying to, to single task, right. To do one thing at a time, it actually gets us to where we want to go a lot faster than trying to do multiple things. 

[00:27:18] Lindsay: A hundred percent, the single task. Just get that one thing done. Then move on to the next thing I love that you said multitasking is not really a thing because you can't, I'm not working on two things at the same time.

[00:27:31] That would be really cool if we could do that, but it's not possible. So do you love to work on the, the hardest thing first or the easiest thing? First, when you look at your own to-do list for the. 

[00:27:42] Alexis: So I actually, so I use the time that so I do a lot of time-blocking right. And so I kind of time block out when I'm going to do things and I base it much more on kind of the time it's available in my calendar instead of on like, which thing is harder for.

[00:27:56] So for it's, for instance, if I have like this morning, I had a couple of hours where I didn't have wasn't in any meetings or calls or anything. And so I blocked off time to make some major headway on a script that I'm working on for one of my courses. Right. That's, I don't know if that's hard, but it's like the biggest thing I had to do today.

[00:28:13] And I fit it into this time where I had a long period of time. Then the rest of the day, I have kind of half hour blocks in between things. And so that's what I'm doing. Kind of all the little stuff, even if some of it was technically harder or like the technically, you know, I don't know something that I just am not that interested in.

[00:28:30] So I'm basing it much more on kind of what that, that flow looks like in my day versus what's harder at the beginning, because some, for some people, like there's a concept of eat the frog. Right. Which is like that hardest thing first, because if you have to do it later, you're just going to have fretted about it all day and then still have to do that if later, but other people really get into kind of a Mo momentum roll by starting with something easy for.

[00:28:56] It's more about knowing yourself. 

[00:28:57] Lindsay: Yes, it is about knowing yourself. That's how I am. I like to do the funnest and easiest things first. Cause it, it, that momentum I need that I need to get warmed up before I go and write seven days worth of Instagram posts. That's not my favorite thing to do right away 

[00:29:12] Alexis: in the morning.

[00:29:14] And so I think, I think that's the key to all of this stuff, right. You have to kind of experiment and find out what works best for you. And sure. There are principles, like I'm not going to tell I'm not going to be like, yeah, there are some people out there who like handle notifications really great. Like, I don't think that's true, but I think that for the most part, when we're thinking about our productivity and our time, we've got to kind of experiment with who we are, because it's a lot easier to build processes around who we actually are than it is to try to fit yourself into some box.

[00:29:43] Lindsay: And I think that is a, that is a problem because we are always trying to better ourselves or reading all of these time management and productivity books. And we're hearing all of this stuff on how to be more productive. And we have all the bells and whistles on our desktop and our phones. And. And pretty soon we don't even know what we're, what we enjoy at all.

[00:30:03] And we haven't even tapped into what, what do I like to do? How do I like to feel accomplished? What does accomplished and productive even mean to me? So how can, how can you help somebody do that? Like what are, what kind of coaching do you offer? 

[00:30:18] Alexis: So, I mean, when I, when I coach people, I have a four month program where we go through, we kind of approach each person individually, but we go through a common arc and I'll run through it super quickly.

[00:30:28] So we start with who they are knowing exactly who you are, so that we can build strategies around you. We met, we do task management, project management, we do prioritization planning all of our tools. So email calendar making sure that everything that we use technologically is serving us instead of the other way around habit, building efficiency and focus.

[00:30:48] And so I dive deep with people on each of those areas so that we can identify one where the problem areas are in each of those buckets. And then two specific strategies. That, that will work for them and trying to build those habits. Now I understand that, you know, not that many people are going to be working with me directly.

[00:31:06] Right. I have a limited amount of time. And so what I often say to people who are my students for my online courses, and they're getting the access there or other places is that you want to think about when you read books out there, like when you read getting things done or deep work, or, you know, any of those types of books or atomic habits, you want to say.

[00:31:25] Does this work for me? Right? Like each thing in there, do I think this could work for me and maybe give it a try, do a little experiment, but if it doesn't work for you don't feel like you failed because it just, maybe wasn't written for you. Like, you know, give you an example of this. I, you know, there's so much advice out there of like, just get up earlier, right?

[00:31:45] Just like wake up at 5:00 AM and like exercise and meditate and do your daily writing pages and all this stuff and just do it before your kids wake up and then everything will be great. And like, for me, I'm in a better at night person waking up has been the hardest part of my day since I was in kindergarten.

[00:32:04] That just doesn't work for me. Like my morning routine. Brush my teeth and get a cup of coffee and not have a big elaborate morning routine. It doesn't make me less of a productive person or, you know, devalued in some way that advice just doesn't work for me. And I'm sure that you have things like the eat, the frog doesn't work for you.

[00:32:23] Right. And there's lots of like advice out there that we think of as standard or cannon, but it doesn't mean everything's going to work for every person. 

[00:32:32] Lindsay: You guys have to know that because there's so many people that I talked to and they're frustrated because they can't get up early and be productive because they know that's how I start my day.

[00:32:43] And you don't have to be like me. You don't have to be like Alexis or the book that is collecting dust on your desk because you saw somebody share it on Instagram, how it's changed their life. It has to do it. Your time has to do with your life. No one has their life. No one has her mornings. No one has.

[00:32:59] The family, the job, the business that you have, and you have to find what works best for you. And sometimes that's kind of disappointing to hear, because we want to know, well, what is, how do I even find that out? And that's why there's people like Alexis out there to help you figure that out because it is important.

[00:33:16] And it is important that. She has said, you have to figure out what's what works best for you. If you just need to brush your teeth and get your coffee in the morning. That's awesome. I do things completely different. And so does the other person that you just probably listened to? So it's really important to know that Alexis, thank you for saying that.

[00:33:33] And can you please let everyone know how they can find out how to work with. 

[00:33:37] Alexis: Yeah. So you can find me at my website, which is Alexis hassle burger.com. And I hope you'll put it in the show notes because no one will be able to spell it. I'm also on Instagram at Duda, more dot stress, less and on Facebook at do more stressful.

[00:33:53] Lindsay: I love it. Do more stressful. Sounds good to me. You guys go follow Alexis and go check out her online courses and her coaching. If you're feeling overwhelmed at the beginning of the year and you just need, you just need some insight and some guidance on where to go next and how to figure this all out, because it is a very important Alexis.

[00:34:09] Thank you so much for being on the podcast. It was great to have this conversation, and I'm really grateful for you sharing all of these tips that everyone can take and hopefully take action. Thank you so much. 

[00:34:19] Alexis: It was a pleasure