Episode 395: How You Can Take Control Of Your Productivity

Do you ever feel like you’re always busy working, but at the end of the week, you’re left wondering where all the time went? It’s time to take control of your productivity and work smarter, not harder.

When you find yourself constantly working but not seeing much progress towards your goals, it’s likely that you’re not managing your time and productivity effectively. With strategic tweaks and adjustments along the way, you can steadily work towards achieving your goal of making $100k.

As a perfectionist entrepreneur, you need a different approach to productivity than everyone else. Perfectionism is a strategy to avoid shame. It makes us (1) overthink, (2) procrastinate, (3) burn out, (4) have an all-or-nothing mindset and (5) fear judgement.

In this episode I explore the five signs of perfectionism and how they can impact your productivity. Whether you tend to overthink, procrastinate, burnout, have an all-or-nothing mindset, or fear judgement, this episode will provide you with practical strategies to help you overcome these obstacles and make progress towards your goals.

What works for others may not work for you, and you need a productivity approach that takes your unique personality traits and work habits into account.

The truth is, nobody has taught you the productivity rules that apply to perfectionists. That’s why I’m excited to announce that enrollment for my group coaching program, Perfectionists Getting Shit Done (PGSD), will open on 12 June 2023.

By embracing a personalised productivity system that meets your specific needs and preferences, you can take control of your time, work more efficiently, and achieve your business goals without sacrificing your well-being.

Find the full episode transcript and show notes at samlaurabrown.com/episode395.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

  • Why perfectionist entrepreneurs need a different approach to productivity than everyone else
  • What are the 5 signs of perfectionism and how they affect your productivity
  • How group coaching can help perfectionist entrepreneurs reach their goal of $100,000
  • Tips for those who tend to be “lurkers” in coaching settings

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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT

Introduction

Hi and welcome to another episode of The Perfectionism Project. A podcast full of perfectionism advice for entrepreneurs. My name is Sam Laura Brown, I help entrepreneurs release their perfectionism handbrake, so they can get out of their own way and build a fulfilling and profitable business. I’m the founder of the Perfectionist Getting Shit Done group coaching program, which is otherwise known as PGSD. And for even more perfectionism advice to help you with your business. You can follow me on Instagram @perfectionismproject.

Sam Laura Brown

If you’re a perfectionist and you have a business, then today’s episode is going to be so helpful for you. I’m going to be sharing why perfectionist entrepreneurs need to take control of their productivity, especially if you’re around 30 to 50k per year in your revenue, and you want to get to 100k. And I’m going to be sharing exactly how to do that.

I’m going to be talking about the five signs of perfectionism, and how to spot if they are currently making it very hard or take a lot longer to get to the goals that you have for your business. And we’re really going to get into so much that is going to help you just see what you need to do differently to get to your goal. So I want to mention two things before I get into that. The first is that perfectionist getting shit done. PGSD, which is my group coaching program for perfectionist entrepreneurs, is going to help you work smarter and not harder.

And to help you get to your goal without burning out and doing that through setting your growth goal, doing your weekly power planning, and then strategically evaluating and tweaking your way to 100k. So the doors to that are opening on the 12th of June, for one week only. And you can find out more at samlaurabrown.com/pgsd and sign up for the waitlist there. I am going to be talking about it in this episode, because it’s going to be so helpful for you. And I’m so excited that we are opening the doors again to PGSD. It’s the first time this year, they will be open, I know that there are so many listeners who have been waiting for PGSD to open again, we’ve been getting so many emails about it.

So I’m going to be sharing that for sure. But I just want to give you a little headline about that. So you mark your calendar and get yourself organized to join us for the July cohort. So you’ll be joining in June. And you’ll be hitting the ground running in July with your growth goal. And all the things you need to really be more productive. And all that last time that’s currently filling your week. You know, if you get to the end of the week right now, and you feel exhausted, you’ve been busy the whole time, you didn’t take any time off, because that makes you feel too good. Oh my goodness, oh God speak to guilty.

But you feel like he didn’t really get anything done. Or at least you didn’t get the important stuff done. If you can relate to that, then it’s going to just be so incredible for you to be in there, to have the support to have all the things that have been missing that you really need to get to your goal in a way that doesn’t mean burning out. Doesn’t mean hating your business. So there’s that. And the second thing I want to mention is why this episode was a day late. So this is something that is really important to be aware of when especially because people when it comes to consistency, talk about the power of consistency.

And yes, it’s very powerful to especially for marketing, for example, to be marketing consistently. But we perfectionist when we can be an all or nothing mindset about things, especially if we’ve got a good streak going. And a lot of people talk about the power of creating a streak when it comes to habits and different things like that. But it’s really important to know to that to have the strongest self image and identity around yourself as a creator and a business owner. What’s really most important is yes, that you’re able to be consistent. But also you’re able to really take note of when being consistent actually doesn’t make sense for your business.

And you need to prioritize something else instead, and having the identity for yourself that you are someone who’s consistent, so that picking back up where you left off isn’t an issue. There’s no mental drama there. So for example, with this podcast, we have an episode going out, same day, every week, same time every week, very, very, very consistently, We’re nearly out 400 episodes. And so when it came to having this episode go out, I had other things that I was prioritizing last week, I’m just getting back into the swing of things with having just had the twins a few months ago. And hiring the operations manager role and other things going on that it meant I ended up de prioritizing the recording of the podcast episode because other things were more of a needle mover.

So I was in my power planning really looking at okay, where does my time need to go to get us to our growth goal and our goals beyond that. And so something that is very important to the business and this is why power planning and really having an eye on your needle movers is so important, because this is an important thing, recording this episode and releasing it and getting this episode to you. But other things were more important in this moment. And I was able to adjust the plans so that this episode could still go out. But I didn’t need to stress about it.

I could just feel that I was trying to figure out okay, I need to record this episode. But if I’m going to do that, it’s going to mean eating into my clean rest and really trying to figure out like how to get this recording done around looking after the kids and all of that and what I realized and remembered is that I can actually just release it the day after. And that would be what it would look like if it was easy. And actually, that’s not going to have an impact on getting to our goals. There is nuance here, of course. And it’s really important that if you are someone who is constantly pushing things off, that you have a look at that highly recommend PGSD, if that’s you currently.

Because you don’t want to be this person who has the self image of I always put off important things. And I can always do that tomorrow. But when you are someone who gets shit done, and someone who does things when you said they would, that if there is something else that’s going on, you need to deprioritize something, it is actually easy to zoom out, have a look at the big picture. See, okay, what things do I actually what important things do I actually need to deprioritize and aren’t going to have a big impact on the business and I can just really be focused on what matters, while still also keeping everything in consideration.

And then you can make those changes and execute on them. But if you are someone who is thinking like, okay, cool, Sam said, I can wait till tomorrow to do this episode, because that’s what she did. But what I’m saying is, I was able to do that, because I have the self image of being so consistent with this podcast. And when you have such a strong self image around that, and this is something we talk about a lot in PGSD, your identity, the way you talk about yourself to yourself really matters. But when you have that strong self image, the fact that this episode is going out a day leader doesn’t rattle me, it doesn’t shake me, it doesn’t make me think, Oh my goodness. Now, this means that I’ve fallen off the wagon, there’s none of that.

It’s just it was practical, it was strategic, to delay releasing this episode by one day. So I could have my clean rest and really get myself focused on what mattered and also have the mental energy coming from that clean rest to be more productive in this coming week. And I was able to do that and able to then yesterday, just completely switch off, enjoy time with friends and my family. And then today I’m back to work, and I’m recording this. So just know that yes, being consistent is important. But also sometimes it’s strategic, to delay.

And it’s best to do that when you have the self image of being someone who does things consistently. So there’s no mental drama there. So if you’re interested, also, in really getting into all of that, that is something that we go into inside PGSD. So those are the two little things I wanted to mention first. And now I want to talk to you about why perfectionist really need to take control of their productivity. And this is especially the case, as I said, if you have a goal of making 100k in your business for so many years, that was my goal I added on this pedestal like if I can just get there.

And what I really came to realize for myself, as someone who is relatively intelligent, who’s able to learn about marketing strategies and how to build a business and really understand how that works, that for me, the piece that had been missing was the productivity. And it was kind of hard to realize that at first because I’m someone always who has loved being productive and being busy. And so it never really felt like that productivity piece was what was missing. Even though I definitely had a lot of productivity struggles, it was easier for me to be like, Oh, I just need the right marketing strategy. Or I just need to, I don’t know, really figure out what this is about. And just go and find that magic bullet that would just make everything work.

And when I actually really identified for myself that it was productivity that was holding me back my lack of productivity. And my perfectionism, my perfectionist mindset was what was making me not be as productive as I needed to be it was making me work hard instead of work smart. Once I really got that piece together, that’s when I was able to make 100k and then hundreds of 1000s of dollars since then.

So I just want to go through with you. The five signs of perfectionism, the impact they have on your productivity, and why this is really something you need to be paying attention to, when it comes to building your business to hitting your revenue goals. And to doing it in a way that actually feels good at what you actually enjoy working in your business. I know that so many entrepreneurs, we want to have our own business part of the appeal of that is that we’re working for ourselves where the boss were able to have a better lifestyle than if you’re working for someone else. That’s what we imagine.

And yet if we’re missing this piece if our perfectionist mindset is making us unproductive, it’s making us not show up in the way that we really know we can we know we have that potential and yet we’re not actually living up to that. That is when it just feels like a job and it feels like the worst job you ever had, and I don’t want that for you. And I’ve really been able myself to get out of having the business feel like this job with this dictator, boss. And I’m never doing good enough for them, when I’m beating myself up and all that thing kind of thing to be.

Now in a place where I truly love working on my business, I’m able to enjoy the process. And I’m able to have really, really, really big goals. And that’s so important, because a lot of times when people talk about enjoying the process and the journey they talk about, well, you know, you shouldn’t have really big goals, because that’s just going to create disappointment and pressure and stress. And we perfectionist a great at putting pressure on ourselves, and really working in that stress state of mind.

And it seems to have really paid off a lot of times. So we continue to do that. But really identifying that you’re able to have really big goals for yourself for your business. And you’re able to enjoy the journey, that you don’t have to downgrade your dreams to be able to enjoy the day to day that you can actually have crazy big goals for yourself and enjoy the process of showing up and doing the work. Yes, there’s going to be challenges and setbacks and obstacles along the way, I would argue as much as I don’t want to believe it.

Sometimes I would argue that that is what makes it fulfilling when we are setting ourselves a challenge. And then we rise to that occasion and blow our own minds. That’s what fulfillment really is, especially if you’re able to build your business to a point where you’re able to build a team and do that alongside others. It really is so fulfilling to have that. And to really have a interesting and worthwhile journey, you need to have a destination that you’re navigating towards, rather than just trying to not have any goals.

So you don’t really put pressure on yourself because you want to enjoy the process. And I just love having learned now how to have really big goals and not put pressure on myself. It’s not to say there are times where I find myself feeling that pressure. But I’m able to get myself out of that really quickly now and really notice it’s going on. There are different things in my power planning that helped me notice that. It’s so important to just understand that you can have big goals, and you can actually enjoy working for yourself, you don’t have to be the worst boss that you’ve ever had.

And if you are experiencing that, that’s just your perfectionist mindset. And you can learn the productivity rules that apply to perfectionist so that you can actually show up in the way you want to show up and be the best boss that you have ever had. So when it comes to the process for really being productive as perfections, I will go into the five signs. But I just want to quickly mention this because I have touched on the goal setting piece. So first of all, to take control of your productivity.

So if you make 100k in your business, is you need to set your growth goal. So most likely right now you have a goal of making $100,000 in your business, you’re sitting at around 30k or so in revenue per year, you’re making a few $1,000 per month, maybe it’s a bit inconsistent, but you have a goal of making $100,000. But at the moment, it’s a bit of a wish. It’s a bit of a hope it’s a bit of a dream. And there’s nothing wrong with that being a dream.

But we really want to have you set your goal in a way where it actually becomes a commitment where it actually becomes something that you are able to strategically work towards. Rather than crossing your fingers. And setting that goal. Maybe it’s the second or third time you’ve set that goal. But setting that goal and like feeling like I hope I can get there. And we’ll see how it goes. We really want to have that goal. And this is why we review your growth goal inside PGSD. And really make sure it is ticking all the boxes and getting your perfectionist mindset on your side.

It’s so important that you have that goal actually have be set up in a particular way. And it’s not that it has to feel realistic. I have talked about many times. I’m not a believer in setting realistic goals, because that simply means it’s a goal you don’t need to grow in order to achieve. That’s why we call it a growth goal. Because present day you isn’t yet equipped to get there. And you’re going to need to learn skills and become more productive and get more into a growth mindset along the way.

So you have your growth goals that you can grow into. And it needs to as I said really be more than a wish. Then we have power planning every week. So as I mentioned, different productivity rules apply to perfectionist, we can’t plan in the same way as everyone else. Or it puts us in the all or nothing mindset if you have been finding if you love being productive like me, but yet you work in spurts of motivation. You find it really hard to be consistent with things. And you’re always busy though, like you’ve always got something you’re doing. You’ve always got a bit too much on your plate.

But you aren’t really being productive. Like you don’t get to the end of the week and feel like oh, that was such a great week and I did so many important things for the business and I can really feel that momentum behind me. If you’re not feeling like that, it’s not because you’re not capable of being insanely productive. It’s just because you haven’t learned how to be productive in a way that works for perfectionists, you need to plan properly as a perfectionist, you need to take that mindset into account, you can’t plan the same way as everyone else.

And that is such an important part of getting yourself to 100k. And because without that there, you are just going to be most likely working from a really long endless to do list that just keeps getting longer, or an over schedule calendar that doesn’t actually take into account the fact that you need to eat the fact that you need to exercise and sleep and all of those different things, you’ve just got back to back to back, most likely vague tasks, like work on launch in your calendar, or Instagram content, or whatever it is.

And you’re going to be finding that yes, you’re always busy. Yes, you’re burning out, but you’re not actually being productive. And you’re going to be having that gap there between who you are currently and who you want to be. And that gap isn’t going to be closing. And that’s something we do in PGSD, we really help you close that gap between where you are now and your potential by helping you be more productive, get shit done, and really rise into that potential.

Rather than eventually at some point, if you’re not able to learn how to get your perfectionist mindset on your side, which by the way, you shouldn’t feel bad about no one’s ever taught you that. But what tends to happen is then to close that gap because it feels uncomfortable to be feeling like we’re not living into our potential, we end up just downgrading our goals and being like, well, I should just be happy with what I have. And I don’t want that for you. You don’t want that for you.

So you need to be planning properly as a perfectionist. And then what you need to do is strategically tweak your way to 100k. So here’s the thing that Renae, my marketing manager and I often talk about, and I’ve talked about this before, we worked together before she joined the business. And so I love that she really has this philosophy too, which is when we’re brainstorming like what we’re going to do marketing wise, we look at all the options we do divergent thinking.

So instead of just looking at, okay, we have option one or option two, we look at okay, what are all the options that we have? Like, what are 30 options, and then when we are, when we are doing that what we’re really looking at is, okay, now, if all of these could work, which they can, which one do we want to make work. And so if you have been finding that you are trying to learn a lot of different marketing strategies, maybe you’re signing up for different programs, and kind of jumping around from trend to trend or from teacher to teacher, and you’re looking for that market is marketing strategy that’s going to click everything together.

What actually is the issue is that all of these strategies work, but they won’t work instantly. And the reason your marketing strategy isn’t working, is a productivity thing. It’s because you haven’t got a system structure support accountability in place to have you take that marketing strategy, and strategically evaluate and tweak it until it works for you. We are in that alone of the mindset.

And we want things to work right away, we want the first time we think the first time is going to set the tone, it has to be perfect, or it’s never going to work so often that can really result in delaying getting things done and pushing things off until you’ve got all your ducks in a row. But then maybe it gets to the point where we actually do launch the thing and put the thing out there in the world. And if it doesn’t get instant, amazing levels of feedback, and isn’t a huge success. And we think oh, well, that doesn’t work. And I need to try something different.

Or maybe you’re trying to say marketing strategy. But you keep changing the product, or the price or the offer or all the different things to try and figure it out when actually you just need to strategically tweak your way to 100k. So that what that means is really looking at what’s going on, we tend to just kind of go like, Oh, that didn’t work. Let’s try something new. We love starting over from scratch.

So what we need to do instead is actually slow down for a second, because that’s what’s going to speed us up, we slow down. And we look at okay, let’s really evaluate how we can just make a few edits to get ourselves to have this work. What do we need to do? What do we need to remove and to really just take that time, it’s such a big needle mover. And as perfectionist, we tend to really not want to look at that. But it’s so important because you can make any marketing strategy work.

And it’s so important to know it’s not going to work right away. You need to have that piece or you’re never going to get there because even if you did find a marketing strategy, and you applied it and it worked instantly the first time at some point it’s not going to work and you’re going to need to strategically evaluate and tweak. And if you don’t have that skill set you’re just going to plateau your revenue.

So that is really the process. And also with the strategic tweaking, it really helps you not overcomplicate your business, because we love doing that. And thinking about what are all the elements that need to be exactly perfect. And that takes up so much time, like that’s part of the reason that we’re so resistant to rest is because we unknowingly make really overcomplicated plans because of our perfectionist mindset. And then it takes a lot of time to execute on those overcomplicated plans.

And it’s also really important to have this strategic tweaking piece of things. So you don’t forget to continue doing what’s proven to work. As appealing as starting over from scratch is what it does is dismiss what’s working. And it’s really about honing in on what’s working and doubling down on that, rather than throwing the baby out with the bathwater, and having this fresh, clean slate. And I know that feels so good. But it doesn’t actually help you get to 100k.

So when it comes to the five signs of perfectionism, let’s talk about it. Because this is really what’s impacting your productivity. And what you can see going on, the more awareness you have around this, the more you’re going to be able to get out of your own way and get shit done. And I’m going to be talking as well about specifically how PGSD helps with each of these, so that you can see where PGSD is going to fit in for you.

So when it comes to perfectionism, just to quickly recap, in case this is the first episode you are listening to, that a lot of us think perfectionist are perfect people. And we’re not perfect enough to be a perfectionist. So we just end up feeling like maybe we have a motivation problem, maybe you do feel like you have a productivity problem. But we aren’t actually able to have any language around what the struggle really is, and therefore we’re not able to solve for it.

So I love the Brene Brown quote, and definition of perfectionism that she shares, which is that it comes from the belief, it’s a mindset that comes from the belief that if we just do everything perfectly and look perfect, then we can avoid shame, judgment and blame. So perfectionism, as much as we love perfecting things, and polishing things, and that can take up a lot of time. As much as we love that is really about avoiding shame, and avoiding imperfection.

Yes, we want things to be perfect. But more than that we don’t want things to be imperfect. And so the five signs of perfectionism that I’ve really figured out from my own experience, and also from coaching hundreds of perfectionist now is overthinking procrastination, specifically procrasti-working, we tend not to just sit around and watch Netflix all day, we tend to just procrastinate by keeping ourselves busy with other things, then we’ve got burnout, all or nothing thinking and fear of judgment.

So obviously, if you listen to all of those, if you are overthinking, procrastinating, burning out, if you’re doing things in a very all or nothing way, which might sound great, but if you’re, if you miss a day, if things aren’t going just quite, right, then you completely give up, if you’re scared of judgment is gonna have a big impact on your productivity levels. And it’s going to really slow you down and stop you from getting to your 100k goal that you have.

So when it comes to overthinking, I think most of us are familiar with overthinking. And what that experience is, but particularly a way that it comes up in business is when it comes to decision making. There are lots of decisions required to keep a business moving forward. And those decisions. It’s not like school where there’s a right answer. As I said before, there are so many things that can work. And if you have being someone who loved the structure of school, and just knowing that you needed to get the right answer and that it was possible to get a right answer.

You’re going to find it really challenging in business, because that’s not how it works. There isn’t one right answer. And if I just find the perfect thing, then everything will magically click into place, I’ll get the A or get the gold star. And then I’ll feel lovable. Like that’s not how business works. There are so many ways that things can work, which is amazing, which is part of the appeal of business, of being your own boss.

But we have to change the way we’re thinking about things and really be decisive. We need that to be decisive. Because if you are looking for the perfect answer, you’re not going to find it especially if you are someone who is constantly looking around at what everyone else is doing. What that’s going to mean is you have strategies coming out of your ears and you are not going to be able to just choose something and execute on it and strategically tweak and evaluate your way to 100k.

You’re just going to be jumping from thing to thing from trend to trend, and you’re probably going to be not making decisions because you need more information. You procrasti-learning, for example, procrasti-researching, you’re putting off decisions. Or maybe you do make decisions. And then you find yourself a week later, like, Oh, is that really my niche? Or should I call myself something different? Or should I change my pricing, you’re constantly going back and forth and being really wishy washy with your decisions.

So inside PGSD, this is somewhere where you can turn to for help with decisions. So not only can you get coaching on decisions you need to make, and really have help with that. So you can be decided and get moving and get going. But also, you’re going to be able to see others decisions so that you can make better one. So we have the PGSD coaching calls, and the private podcast. So if you’re not able to attend live, you’re able to get all the recordings, listen on the go super easily. And you’re going to be able as well in the PGSD forum, to see what decisions other people are making when it comes to their pricing.

And not just like what the decision is, though, that can be helpful if you have a similar kind of business. But how that decision was made, that’s the most important thing to be paying attention to, is the thinking behind the decision. Because if we’re just thinking of the decision that was made, for example, which payment processor to use, or what pricing someone else has, if we don’t see the thought process behind it, this is when we end up making a lot of bad business decisions, because they might have been making the decision for a completely different reason to the reason you want to make that decision.

And it doesn’t make any sense whatsoever for your business. But if you don’t have enough self trust, to be able to make decisions for yourself, then you are going to be adopting other decisions. And you are going to be struggling to build your business because they’re not going to work for your business. Because those decisions weren’t made with your business in mind, even if someone has a very similar business to you. So in PGSD, you’re going to be able to get lovingly called out on when you’re being indecisive or going back on a decision. So there’s going to be that accountability piece there. But also you are going to be able to ask others for help.

And as I said, see what decisions other people are making. And especially when we think decisions are either Option A or Option B when actually, there’s 30 50 100 different options like just to have someone else be like, Hey, did you ever consider this and present to you another option, and then help you think about what other options could even be. That alone can be the difference between where you are now and being at 100k.

Because when you’re just working by yourself right now you probably don’t have a team or if you do, might be a VA. So you’re really the only one who has that bigger picture in mind, who’s taking care of the strategy and everything else. So you don’t really have anyone to help you with that. And maybe you have a partner, but they don’t know the ins and outs of your business. And so you need someone who can actually like someone who you can trust to guide you with this, who can actually invite you to think in a different way and help you make that decision.

So that the quality of your decisions increases, and you can make it to your goal more quickly and easily. Decisions matter. And if you are indecisive, it is going to take you so long to get to your goal. And you’re not even going to be able to really repeat it. Because you’ve probably just taken on everyone else’s decisions, you haven’t built up your own ability for decision making. And so once you get beyond 100k, the way you build your business, it’s much less and less available on Google.

There’s still plenty of advice and information out there. But really in that like zero to 100k. There’s so much advice, content tips around how to do that. And as your business grows beyond that, you’re going to be doing things that you can’t just Google, you’re going to need to make decisions that you can’t tell what other people are making decisions about. And if they have a business that’s bigger than yours, you’re not going to be able to just look at someone else’s business and say, Oh, they made this decision. So I’m gonna make the same one.

There’s so much more nuanced once you get beyond that point. So you need to get to 100k with developing that self trust to make decisions, and be sure of your own thought process around it and know and have the ability to make decisions without second guessing. It’s just going to make it so much more fun, so much quicker, and help you if you have the goal of building your business beyond 100k help you actually do that otherwise your growth is really going to plateau at around 100k.

The next sign of perfectionism and that perfectionist thinking is procrastination. This tends not to be the classic way that people talk about procrastination. It really tends to be procrasti-working in particular, and this is where we are really doing that productive procrastination, whether it is procrastinati-learning, procrasti-cleaning, we’re doing something that is productive. And at the same time avoiding something that would be even more productive.

So obviously, this does have a big impact on productivity, if you are pushing off the most important things that you need to do the things that are going to actually get you to your next goal that you have, whether that’s 100k, or whether like me, that’s a million, that you need to really have the ability to get shit done, the important shit done. And this really comes down to the structure of your year that you really have a container and a structure there to support yourself, and also the quality of who you surround yourself with.

And this is particularly important when you are in that stage of business where it’s just you, and you don’t yet have team members, you don’t have colleagues, you don’t have a boss, you’re the boss, it’s just you. And so it can be really easy to just push things off and kick the can down the road, and wait until you have more time or more money or more confidence. And we want to be able to know what’s important to decide that that’s really a big piece of things.

And then to be able to do that and not keep delaying and delaying and delaying. So when it comes to putting off important tasks, as I mentioned, the structure of your year that matters. And this is why PGSD is a 12 month program. So what’s going to happen, say if you join our July cohort for this year, is that you will come in in June, and you will set your growth goal. Remember, that’s the first step to getting to your 100k goal. So you’re gonna set your growth goal, we’re gonna review that for you, you’re gonna have that already to go for the first of July, which is when the first quarter of your growth goal will begin, you’ll have that 12 month revenue goal, it’ll be broken down into quarterly milestones that incrementally increase every quarter so that you grow every quarter, you’re not expecting yourself to make this huge leap.

As much as we want to do that about, you’re really able to actually kind of climb the stairs to your goal. So you’re gonna have that goal. And we’re going to also be doing something really exciting, and we’re announcing and seeing what it is. But when you join PGSD, this will really help you to double if not triple your productivity, and make your investment back in. Really excited about it. We’ll share more when I can. But you’re going to kick off your 100k goal then.

And then you have this container of a quarter, and also the container of a week to really provide structure. If you are someone who did really well in school with having that structure they’re given to you of here’s what you need to do, here’s when you need to do about, if you’re someone who does things at the last minute, if you don’t have structure that you’re never going to have a last minute. And so it’s so easy to keep putting things off again and again and again.

But if you create that structure for yourself, so that that is a last minute. And even though ideally, yes, we want to get things done ahead of time, at least that is a last minute. So that if you do need to have that bursts of productivity right at the end, there’s actually a trigger for that to happen. So the structure of your year really has a big impact on that. So in PGSD, you’re going to have quarterly review calls and a real process for looking at each quarter.

But not just that you’re going to have your power planning every week, starting with your power hour, you’re going to have your persistence log that you are updating, you’re getting that accountability, you’re getting cheered on, you’re really actually noticing your accomplishments, which is probably something you’re not currently doing. Which is probably why when you get clients or customers, it feels like they’re just coming out of the blue. And you don’t really know how to repeat that. Part of that you’re just you don’t have a system there to really help you take ownership over the results you create.

And over the fact that you do know what you’re doing, you do know how to create success. So you need to have that there. And you need to really just again, be surrounded by high quality peers, especially if it’s just you in your business, working away at things. There’s that saying that you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. And right now those people might not have a business, they might not have a goal of making 100k. They might not be a perfectionist and relate to that mindset.

And so when you are surrounded by people who are getting shit done, who are being productive, like it’s why a lot of people love going to for example, like a cafe or that kind of thing, like being around other people makes such a big difference. And even though in PGSD it’s virtually it really with the private podcast and the coaching calls, and all the different elements of the program. It really helps you feel all day every day.

Like you have your crew like you have your people who are doing this alongside you and if you are someone when we talk about again In your perfectionist mindset on your side, if you’re someone who tends to people, please you hate disappointing others, that having that community that you really want to make proud and be able to come back to and say, Oh my God, that thing I was really scared to do, I did it and like, look at what I’ve done. And they actually cheer you on. And they’re not like cool like bit, because most people don’t talk about their successes, day to day life.

And maybe you don’t have someone that like when you have a 10k month or a big launch or things like that you don’t have someone you can turn to, and actually say like, I’m so proud of myself and look at what I did, I can’t believe I did this. So having that really matters, you really need to pay attention to the quality of your peers, and if they are elevating you and pulling you up, or if they are tearing you down. And especially because we love to kind of like fit ourselves into what everyone else around us is doing. Like it’s literally just human nature to do that to kind of fit in with the tribe you’re in.

If your current tribe that you were in, isn’t doing stuff that you admire, and you want to emulate and replicate, then you need to get yourself a new community. And that’s why PGSD, it’s something we’re so proud of, and we spend so much time nurturing is that community element. Business also just sucks if it’s just you alone, even if you are succeeding, if you don’t have anyone to share the wins or to turn to you when you’re like, oh my goodness, I don’t know what decision to make here. Or this thing happened, like I got this refund request.

And I don’t know what to say like to have someone you can turn to that is really going to support you. And instead of spending a month dwelling in a decision, you can have that done in 24 hours and be on your way that speeds things up and it makes it so much better as well. So also with procrastination to just a very quick note, there’s so many ways we do this productive procrastination. But overworking is such a thing when we’re over complicating and to have someone like if they’re looking at your persistence log, for example, even if you’re someone who’s a lurker. I’ll talk about lurkers in a little bit.

But if you are someone who is a lurker, you’re not going to be on the coaching calls, like that’s not your style to do that, that you’re going to be hearing specific situations from others. So coaching calls aren’t advice. They’re not like this podcast where I’m talking generally about different things, you’re going to be hearing people talk specifically about what’s going on in their business, and getting coaching on it. And that is going to allow you to see yourself and your business in an entirely new way.

And because that’s the case, even if you’re not on coaching calls, and you never want to be on coaching calls, which is completely fine. Even if that’s the case, you’re going to be able to notice when you might be overcomplicating something just by hearing someone else getting coached on the overcomplicating that they’re doing in their business, and even better if it’s not the same kind of business you have, because you’re going to be able to see it so much more clearly.

Now, let’s talk about burnout. Because this is something that most perfectionist are very, very familiar with. And so often this conversation around burnout just focuses on work life balance. And the good news is, if you’re someone who loves being productive, you can actually work so many hours per week without burning out. If you are able to work in a really clean way mentally, like you don’t have that mental drama, because it’s a mental drama, that burns us out.

So when you learn how to actually work in a way that works for a perfectionist, you’re not going to have that mental drama there. And you’re going to be able to work for as long as you want without burning out if you want to. So there’s no there’s more to it than just this time spent on work versus time spent not working. It’s really about the quality of the thoughts you’re having about your work, the quality of the thoughts you’re having about your time off, and also the quality of the thoughts you’re having about yourself.

So a lot of times when it comes to burnout, there is this feeling this very overwhelming feeling of being behind that we have this potential, we know that we are smart, we’re capable that we see others succeeding, like, I know I can do that too. And yet, we’re not there, we feel behind we feel like we should be further along. And one of the many reasons for this is that we’re not celebrating noticing our accomplishments. Like we’re not having that awareness around it. We’re not celebrating it. It just feels kind of weird to do that. And part of his things like okay, if I celebrate myself, then I’m going to be less motivated to be productive.

So I need to make sure that I’m really just focused on what I need to do, but I really love improving. So I’m just going to only focus on what isn’t working. I’m not going to have any focus to what is which is such a big productivity mistake. I’ve learned that the hard way like I my brain loves to just dismiss what works and really focus on what doesn’t. And that has had I’ve talked about on the podcast before like that has had big implications on some launches that I’ve done where I’ve just recreated everything from scratch and it didn’t need to be recreated from scratch and I just incidentally without even realizing it throughout what was working.

So anyway, with this feeling behind, if you don’t have, if you’re someone like me, you don’t naturally tend to celebrate your accomplishments or even notice what you did get done this week, you focus on what you didn’t get done. And that’s kind of what’s hovering over you all the time, then you need a structure a system there to help you do that. Because if you don’t do that you are going to feel behind, no matter what you achieve.

So inside PGSD, you’re going to have your persistence log. And also you are going to be celebrated. And this can be so uncomfortable, when, like, if we’re not believing in our own potential and everything that’s going on, then it’s going to be really hard for any compliments to land, you might have noticed that when people say really nice things about you to you, you have a hard time saying thank you, you might say thank you, and then you give some kind of qualifier like, Yeah, but this or actually pay attention to this, like didn’t do it fully or whatever. You don’t actually just say thank you.

And even if you do say that it doesn’t actually land is only the criticism that lands or the feedback or the critique and not the celebration. And you need to develop this skill set. If you want to make it to your goals in a way that feels good. But also, if you want to make it to bigger goals, like you can for sure, get to 100k without celebrating yourself with all of that, it’s gonna feel like shit, you can do it. But also then beyond that, and really having that fuel to drive you forward.

Yes, inadequacy can be a very strong fuel, but it is going to create burnout, you’re going to be running on fumes at some point, if you’re never able to actually take on celebration, praise. And it’s so ironic, isn’t it, because that’s what we wanting, we’re wanting things to be perfect so we can be praised and feel loved. But if you don’t have that ability to allow yourself to receive celebration, and if you don’t have that ability to just really have it land with you, it is going to be really hard to build your business in a sustainable way. And also, you’re always going to feel behind, no matter what awards you achieve, no matter what you accomplish.

This is so well studied and documented as well, when there are a Olympic athletes who win the gold medal and they go into like the biggest depression ever after that. Where there are very successful actors and performers who are really externally from the outside, it looks like they have everything, there’s no way they could possibly be unhappy. But because they don’t actually have that skill set of acknowledging their own accomplishments and receiving praise, and they’re very focused on what isn’t working. And this can be wrapped up in this really positive sounding way of like, I just love improving. And that’s why I you know, I don’t want to not be motivated. So I’m not going to focus on what’s working, but you need to have that day, it’s so important.

So in PGSD, you will be celebrated, it will be uncomfortable, but it will get better. And also in terms of the quality of your peers and mentioning that again, you need to be in a community where time off guilt free rest, clean rest, as we call it is normal, there’s kind of these, I would say, different two different mentalities at the moment where it’s either this like Hustle Hustle Hustle mentality when it comes to business, or there’s a very intuitive go with the flow. And I personally enjoy both of those.

And you really need to have a blend or not even like a blend, it’s a third category that incorporates getting shut down, but also incorporates, you know, working with yourself and with your brain. That’s what we do in PGSD. Like you’re actually working in a way that makes sense for you, which is a big part of working smarter, not harder. But you need to be around people who are also taking time off and who are achieving big things, who are like to be able to look at someone else in the community and say like they’ve gotten from 30k to 100k in that 12 month period.

And they did it maybe they’re a mom like me, they did it while also spending quality time with their children not always just like their time off is just completely consumed by life admin, all that but they’re actually able they have the ability and the self respect, to carve out time for themselves in their clean rest as well. Like you’re able to see these examples all around you that you’re not getting elsewhere. It makes such a difference what we see what’s normalized is what we will subconsciously do.

And if you’re in a community where everyone else is just hustling, hustling, and working so hard on working so hard, then you will it will make you only feel guilty or when you are taking time off and you already feel guilty when you’re doing that. And if you’re just in a community where everyone’s very go with the flow, and it’s like very, very feminine I love like the balance of the masculine and the feminine that we have in PGSD, where it’s really, as I said, like getting shit done, and that kind of masculine energy.

And it’s really balanced with like the intuition, the self trust in a person and the manifestation things and all of that, like it’s all combined together, and to have examples that you can look at, of people who are really doing what they want to do with their business. And they’re actually able to take time off. And it’s not this bragging right, kind of like, we all resist it, we don’t really want to take time off, when you actually get that it’s a productivity thing to take time off. Like, that’s how I really sold myself on it in the beginning is recognizing that if I was trying to run on a treadmill all day, every day, I’m not going to be able to run at full speed.

Like literally, I can’t. But if I’m doing sprints, and then I’m having rest, and even if that’s sprint like that doesn’t have to be exhausting, but I’m able to actually be focused, like sit down, put my phone away, do the work I need to do, and then I’m able to, instead of being half in and half out of my business, and like walking and doing a load of laundry, able to just be working, and then be resting and to see other people do that. And also to see what struggles they come up against.

Because all of our brains and PGSD like, we don’t want to rest it’s we resist it so much. But to see people have that same thought pattern, really understand it’s a productivity tool began getting that and really hot, and to see them become even more successful, makes it so much easier to get that clean rest. So it’s either all or nothing mindset. And so many ways this comes up I’ve talked about on the podcast we talked about a lot in PGSD, this all or nothing mindset is, particularly when it comes to goals. I mean, I and I have done many episodes about all or nothing mindset, but particularly when it comes to your goals, just talk about a specific example, if you tend to be all or nothing about your goal.

So when everything is going smoothly, or for example, if you’re someone who loves the first of January, who loves that clean slate that fresh start that like New Year feeling, then this is something that’s definitely going on for you. But if you are all or nothing with your goal. And this is a reason we love like the new year because we haven’t done anything yet. And it would just filled only purely with the hope and the optimism that we have for the year. And nothing bad has happened yet. like nothing’s ruined, like burst the bubble.

So then you start working towards your goal. And because you’re not yet the person who can achieve the goal, things are going to come up that you didn’t anticipate. This is a big reason why you need to learn through taking action because if you’re busy procrasti-learning, procrasti-researching, there are so many things you will need to overcome that you can’t yet like Google search, because you don’t even know it’s a thing. You don’t know what you don’t know, when you began.

So you have to get started to be able to even begin uncovering where you are lacking the knowledge and where you have a skill gap to fill and all of that kind of thing. So if you tend to be someone who you’re so inspired about a goal you like go on that new goal high. And then something happens, maybe you have a launch and you didn’t have the signups or sales that you wanted to. And then you just spin out. And then you really like you have this conditional commitment to your goal. So you kind of just start being like, Oh, well, you know, I’m just focused on like showing up. And I don’t want to set big goals that don’t put pressure on myself. So like, Yes, I still have that goal, but kind of not really.

And you kind of just start taking your eye off the goal. And like it’s still kind of there in the back of your mind. But if you look at your week, it’s not really been reflected in your actions or the structure that you have for your week, for example, like you’re not sitting down at the beginning of the week, doing something like a power hour, that’s really going to give you a bird’s eye view picture at your goal and to really see that you are going to get there so that you can really plan your way there.

Maybe you don’t have like your persistence or something at the end of the week, that’s really going to have you be able to strategically evaluate and tweak. So what happens is you get started, something goes wrong, as it inevitably will. And then you feel super disheartened. And I just want you to think about when you feel disheartened or dejected, how productive are you?

Probably not very coherent to this whole productivity thing, you’re probably not very productive. When you feel behind and when you feel behind. You are not going to make high quality decisions, you are probably not going to make really any decisions because you don’t trust yourself to be able to make the right one. So just really at the same time that you want to be busy.

So you’re just really looking at everyone else is doing and like oh you know I just need a bit more research on this kind of thing and like you’ll still taking action, you still might be like posting on social media consistently, for example, replying to comments, like you’re doing things, but you’re not doing the most important things. And when you are inside PGSD, you’re able to get support, like not just from the container itself, but also from the coach and everything else, you’re able to have that support and structure there so that when you inevitably want to go into an all or nothing mindset, you have something there to catch you.

Because if you’re the boss, and you don’t have any colleagues, like get, you don’t have anyone keeping you accountable, that if you set a goal, and say right now your 100k goal might be more of a wish or a hope than actually a commitment. And then something happens and is looking like it’s not going to happen perfectly. So then you start taking your eye off it like there’s no one there to call you out on that. And a lot of people in your life will be like, Well, yeah, you don’t want to put pressure on yourself. You know, that’s a big goal and like look after yourself. But looking after yourself is caring for your potential and honoring that and respecting that.

And so having a community having the coaching when you need it, if you’re like I just really feel disheartened right now, and I just need like a little pep talk. But also, as I mentioned, just because as well, I tend to be a lurker when I’m in a group coaching setting, having the PGSD private podcast and hearing other people get coached through that makes all the difference. Because if you think about your 12 month goal, and like month one’s amazing, you like getting shit done, you feel so motivated, productive by month two, things are starting to slip, what we tend to do when we’re in this all or nothing mindset that perfectionist have is that it just keeps slipping and slipping and slipping until it gets to the point where we decide, oh, just wait till January 1, and then the whole thing repeats again.

You need to get out of that cycle. And I know we love to think that like I should be smart enough to do that on my own. But it’s going to take you so much longer to figure that out on your own, and it’s just going to be lonely. And you’re going to miss out on just getting to feel like you are part of a group of people who are getting shit done and who are living into their potential and who actually love being productive. And I’m going to shame you for wanting to like work all the time and that kind of thing. It makes such a big difference.

And also when it comes to the fifth sign, which is fear of judgment, if we can just touch briefly on I’m going to wrap this up shortly, but briefly on beating yourself up, which is something that perfectionist really tend to be familiar with, we judge ourselves very harshly. And even though we’re very kind and caring with others, so secretly, we do have judgments about others as well, we are human. But we’re beating ourselves up. And this only makes us feel more behind because we’re so focused on what isn’t working.

And when you have that container and community that can celebrate you and really help you pay attention to the fact that you don’t need to beat yourself up and just be like, okay, you know, you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself, but be like, hey, like, look at this, look at this specific thing that you wrote in your persistence log from two weeks ago that like, didn’t you notice you’ve actually achieved this is something that happens often in PGSD is like, Hey, did you notice you actually achieved the goal that you had, but we’re so focused on what we haven’t got, right, that we miss that we’re actually achieving the goal that we have.

And because we miss that, then we go into that disappointment and feeling disheartened and dejected. And we stopped being productive. And we stopped doing the things that are working. And so we don’t get that even though we were on track. So having structure and support there to help you actually notice that you are on track because your brain thinking it’s going to be linear. You just do something and it’ll work and you’ll do something and it’ll work like, even though we know intellectually, that’s not going to happen, we still kind of hope it will.

So to have something that is support you when that’s going on and to help you see your blind spots make such a difference. And just to wrap things up, I want to talk about lurkers. As I mentioned, I tend to be a lurker when it comes to this kind of thing and hearing about there being a forum like a community and coaching calls like yeah, that’s nice, but I don’t want to be on that. Like, I just want to kind of, you know, be in the shadows and do my thing. And my favorite thing with PGSD is when we hear from people that they have, like made their 100k goal or all these different things, and we haven’t even heard from them.

We haven’t they haven’t posted in the forum. They haven’t been on a coaching call, but because of the PGSD private podcast and their a billiat, Oh my goodness. Can you tell? I haven’t been getting much sleep anyway. When you are you have people there who have the ability to get coaching on your behalf. It makes everything so much easier and quicker and it’s so easy to be productive when you don’t have to be the one getting coaching.

So if like I’m such a big believer in coaching, I believe in group coaching, I believe in one on one coaching, when it comes to one on one coaching, that you have to be there to get coached, you have to put it in your calendar and organize your life around it and make it work. And that’s powerful. And in PGSD, you can get on calls and get coached like that. But when it comes to if you’ve got a busy life, maybe like me, you have newborn twins and a toddler, but you’ve got things going on.

And you want to get coaching, like you love learning and growing, and you’re very ambitious, and you’ve got your goals, but it just feels hard to figure out how to get there or you just simply like being a lurker that you can have, I like to think of it like a surrogate in a way. So if you think about like surrogacy when it comes to having children, and that, for example, Kim Kardashian that she had her first two kids, like she carried them, and then it medically like she wanted to carry her third and fourth. But medically, it didn’t make sense. It wasn’t safe for her to do that.

So she wanted to do it, but she couldn’t. And so she had someone else carry the baby, so she could have a chat. So the same with coaching, like you want to be there you love getting coached. But for whatever reason, you’re not able to be there that because everyone in PGSD is a perfectionist. So they all everyone in PGSD relates to this podcast, imagine as being surrounded by other people who like Oh, my God, that’s me. Like, it just been surrounded by more people like yourself, who were able to elevate you, it makes all the difference.

But they have that same mindset, they also have a business, they have the same goal. And they’re getting coached on things that you need coaching on, but you don’t even have time to get coached on. And they’re able to, you’re able to get that coaching in a way that clicks even more than when it’s yourself because when it’s yourself, you’re so close to the situation and to what’s going on that it can be really hard to see. Even though you might have a breakthrough, and you probably will to see the full situation.

But when someone else is getting coached. And they’re having the same problem as you it might be looking slightly different in terms of circumstances, but it’s the same thing. And they have the same mindset. And the same way, they tend to approach it to see them getting coached on it. It is even better than getting coached on it yourself. And this is why I’m so in love with group coaching. Because when I was doing like, I initially started as a one on one client that I had one on one coaches, and then really thanks to Brooke Castillo, my eyes were open up to the power of seeing other people getting coached.

And it’s because of this, they’re like a surrogate for the coaching that like I want to get it myself. But I’m not able to be on all of those calls necessarily. And so I can tune in at a time that’s convenient to me, and also get coaching that’s even more applicable because I have enough objectivity to actually see where the overthinking is going on the overcomplicating, or the busy work that under working the overworking the all and I see mindset, like I can notice all of that going on in someone else.

And then I can be there and like, Hey, where’s that going on in my business, and apply it and then do the things and it saves often weeks, if not months of the journey to get into my goals because of one insight that someone else getting coach who might have a different kind of business to me or whatever the because they’re in such a similar situation mindset wise and goal wise that I’m able to extract that and get the benefit even more than if I was getting coached myself.

So if you’re a lurker, we have many in PGSD, and group coaching is is like even more powerful if you were lucky. So that’s how I’m gonna wrap up this episode. I hope it’s been helpful to hear a bit more about how to take control of your productivity. And also with PGSD, perfectionist getting shit done fits in with that I want to invite you to join us for the July cohort so you can go to Samlaurabrown.com/pgsd to find out more and join the waitlist. I hope you’re having a beautiful day and I’ll talk to you in the next episode.

Outro

If you enjoy this podcast, I invite you to sign up to receive a short daily perfectionist power up from me. These are little notes and reminders sent to you via email that’ll help you plan properly as a perfectionist and get you out of your own way. So you can go to Samlaurabrown.com/power to sign up today and you’ll start receiving motivating perfectionist power-ups this week.

Author: Sam Brown