Episode 434: Your First Six Weeks Of Power Planning with Erin, Naomi and Estelle

Episode 333: Your First Six Weeks Of Power Planning with Erin, Naomi and Estelle

Erin, Naomi and Estelle signed up for PGSD in January 2022. They knew that they needed to get out of their own way in their businesses. And they knew that planning properly as a perfectionist was the first step…

Erin is a copywriter who was spending an embarrassing amount (those are her words!) on courses, coaches and marketing advice only to self-sabotage when it came time to pitch herself. 

Naomi is a website designer and developer who was creating vague goals and plans (and endless to-do lists) to take her business full-time.

Estelle is a fashion designer whose perfectionism handbrake was stopping her from following her launch plan and telling people about her designs.

They all made the Three Month Commitment to Power Planning, set their Growth Goals and started planning properly. And what happened next was a little different for each of them…

So I invited them on the podcast to talk about what to expect in your first 6 weeks of Power Planning.

This episode is going to normalise what often happens when you start Power Planning so that you never mistakenly think you’re off track.

Find the full episode transcript and show notes at samlaurabrown.com/episode434.

In This Episode You’ll Learn:

  • The hidden planning mistakes that Erin, Naomi and Estelle were making before PGSD
  • How they knew it was the right time to sign up for PGSD
  • How Power Planning helps you to be a more present parent
  • What to expect in your first six weeks of Power Planning (what’s normal and what isn’t)
  • The difference between time blocking and Power Planning
  • How to keep Power Planning when a big life event comes up (like surgery)
  • Exactly how Power Planning helps you figure out your needle movers
  • Why it’s ok if your Power Hour takes more than 60 minutes

Announcement: PGSD is open for enrollment until 12 December 2023 at 11:59pm New York Time

My 12-month group coaching program Perfectionists Getting Shit Done (aka PGSD) will teach you how to plan properly as a perfectionist and get out of your own way. The doors to Perfectionists Getting Shit Done are now open. Sign up today at samlaurabrown.com/pgsd (note: the doors close at 11:59pm New York time on 12 December 2023).

Listen To The Episode

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I invited 3 PGSDers on the podcast to talk about what to expect in your first 6 weeks of Power Planning. Tune in to hear what’s normal when you start Power Planning so you never mistakenly think you’re off track.

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
Today’s episode was originally shared on the podcast in 2022. But I wanted to share it with you today because it’s really going to give you a feel for what to expect when you start planning properly as a perfectionist with power planning. And this is something that you’re going to learn inside Perfectionist Getting Shit Done. So I just want to make sure you know that the doors are open. We are open for our enrollment for January 2024 And that cohort, so to find out more, you can go to samlaurabrown.com/pgsd. That’s where you can sign up as well. And the doors are only going to be open until 11:59pm New York time on the 12th of December. So if you are thinking about signing up for PGSD, now is the time to do it.

In this episode, I am interviewing three of our PGSDers on what happens when you first start power planning. We are lasering in on those first few weeks of power planning, so that you really start to understand and normalize what it’s like to be planning properly as a perfectionist, especially in the beginning, when you are first learning how to power plan, you are first learning how you work best, you are able to see where you have been getting in your own way. And you are therefore then able to start getting out of your own way.

We discuss all of that and so much more in this episode. And I know it’s really going to help you be present for your experience with power planning, no matter what that is. We perfectionist tend to think there is a right and a wrong way to do things, and constantly question whether we are doing it right. And I love that when I talked to Erin and Naomi and Estelle. They have all had different experiences with power planning, they have all focused on different aspects of power planning in the beginning. And they have all made so much progress. And that is such a beautiful thing.

And so just to introduce them quickly, though we talk about this in the episode, they introduce themselves as well. But Erin is a copy and content writer. Naomi is a web designer and developer and Estelle is a fashion designer. And each of these PGSDers joined PGSD in January 2022, made the three month commitment to power planning, set their growth goal, and then started using power planning and clean rest to pursue that goal. And we talk about what comes up. When that happens, the early wins, the struggles and challenges that might come up as well.

We talk about buffer time and clean rest. And we talk about what to do if you are power planning and you have children and how that might impact what your weekly plans look like. We talk about needle movers and self awareness around that and really having power planning as a tool to help you prioritize and figure out what actually matters because the reality for all of us, no matter how much time we have in the week, is that our brain is going to be telling us to do more than we actually have time to do.

So we also talk about the weekly review and the Power Hour themselves and what that process looks like. And really just so many of the lessons that have come up in the first six or so weeks of power planning for these three PGSDers. So I hope you enjoy listening to this, it was so much fun to record. And I want to make sure you know that the doors to PGSD are currently open. So we are open to new students, you are welcome to join Erin and Naomi and Estelle and a whole host of other PGSDers who are perfectionist entrepreneurs getting out of their own way in their business. So to sign up, you can go to samlaurabrown.com/pgsd. The doors to PGSD are closing at 11:59pm, New York time on the 3rd of May 2022.

And I really hope this episode gives you such a great introduction and jumpstart so that when you begin power planning, and you set your growth goal and you do all of those things, that you are able to go into it feeling excited, yes, but also committed and prepared and that you really understand that it’s a new skill that you’re learning and that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to be able to immediately increase your productivity because you are and it doesn’t mean that you are going to be… I don’t know just avoiding any kind of new challenge or like when you’re learning something new. You need to allow yourself to be a beginner. And so we want to normalize that you can have so many wins. And you can also be beginner at it, which is such an exciting thing to think about, that you can be a beginner at planning properly and make so much progress, because then when we think about mastering that, it just gets so much fun. So, welcome to this interview. I hope you really enjoy it. And yeah, let’s get into it.

Okay. So Erin, we are going to get started with you. Do you want to tell us a bit about your business? And also, what you were doing before power planning? What did your planning for your business look like? Was it to do lists? Was it working from a calendar? And why did you decide to start planning properly as a perfectionist?

Erin
So before power planning, I was doing exactly what you’re talking about all the time, I had a huge running to do list. I actually used the sticky note on the side of my desktop computer. So it was so overwhelming to look at that all the time. Because every time I would delete something, or cross something out, something else got added. And it was just constantly in front of me. So I had that. And then I am one of those people that would also buy like planner after planner after planner and tried to do it on paper.

And then I would do it for a few weeks and totally fall off the wagon. And I like to think of myself as an organized person. So I just didn’t know why it wasn’t working. So all of those things that you talked about before just really resonated with me. And then I actually realized, as I heard you talk about planning for my calendar. I was an English teacher, I am now a copy and content writer. That’s what my business is. And when I was teaching, I actually did plan for my calendar.

So when I heard you start talking about that, I was like, Oh my gosh, that makes so much sense. And I think that’s how my brain works. And then realized that I was also a perfectionist. And I was like, well, that’s also how my brain works. So it just really clicked with me that I think that I thought that this was just going to be such a powerful tool, and it really has become that. So I had also been thinking about time blocking for a while and I just like couldn’t hack it myself. Like I just didn’t know how to do it. And I think it’s because I didn’t know the why behind it.

And PGSD just does such a good job of talking to us about like the whys behind, like, why we can’t have those things by ourselves and why we can’t stick to the planning that we so badly want to do. And so when I started power planning, like it just really fell into place, like those extra steps that you take, and like, you know, the videos that are inside, and all of those types of things that just made it so much easier to stick with because I knew why I was doing what I was doing. And I also knew why, you know, obviously, there’s still challenges and things that come up and I but I knew like why those were happening and how to get myself out of them. And then to continue doing it, which I never did before, like the paper planners would just like go in the trash. So that is sort of where I was at with all of that before. And there’s just been like a huge, huge shift in a fairly short amount of time.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, what would you say in terms of time blocking and power planning? What would you say the differences in your own words or your own experience, because I think that, like for my own experience, I had tried working from a calendar before. I figured out how to really do it in a way that gets our perfectionist mindset on our side. And it was so just overbearing, I had so much pressure on myself, I was always feeling behind. And power planning is very different to that. And so I’ve had people ask me about, well is power planning just time blocking? What would you say to that? What do you think in your experience a difference has been?

Erin
I would say it’s so much more than time blocking because of the 10 steps that you take like because of putting the clean rest in first that’s very different from just trying. I feel like with time blocking, you’re just trying to shove everything from your to do list into blocks in your calendar. And that’s not what this is thinking about the rest first and you know, the real needle movers for your business and plugging them in before anything else.

Like the way that you think about your to do list is just so different from when you’re not doing it in a power planning style when you’re just trying to block out the time. Because again, you don’t have the reason behind why you’re doing the things that you’re doing. So it’s just totally different than traditional time blocking and I think those extra steps that you take afterwards with the contingency plans and making sure you’re journaling about committing to all of them.

Those are the things that as perfectionist like we need so badly like the steps afterwards like after it’s all pretty and everything like it’s so tempting to be like Yep, that looks great. I’m done. And it’s those extra steps that really make it like no like I have thought about this. I am committed to this for this week. I really want to get this done and having thought through that and thought through some of the obstacles that might come up for you. That’s where it just is very, very different from a traditional time blocking method.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, I think that that has been my experience with it and a lot of PGSDers that it’s not just like power planning isn’t just getting your to do list into your calendar, it’s first of all, refining the to do list so that we’re not overestimating what we need to do, so that it’s not full of busy work. And then putting that in our calendar, and then once it’s in our calendar, going through contingency plans, obstacles, committing to it and the 10 steps you mentioned are the 10 steps that we have in the Power Hour. Would you mind sharing, like for the first couple of weeks that you were doing power planning? What that looked like? How was your Power Hour? The little tweaks, the weekly review? What was that like for you, when you first started the power planning process?

Erin
It was really exciting. But it was also a little bit overwhelming. It definitely took me longer than an hour to do it the first time and you know, as perfectionist, we just like always want to be experts at something immediately, right. But I had to remind myself that like, I’m a beginner at this, this is a skill, like it’s going to take a long time. So yeah, it took me a little bit longer than I would have thought. And I was like, you know, overwhelmed by the things on my to do list. But then once they started falling into the calendar, like it just kind of all came together.

Sam Laura Brown
What was it like for you in terms of use of you talked about your Power Hour? But what about like the little tweaks and keeping your plans workable, and also doing your weekly review? Did you find that in those first couple of weeks that you were getting more done than you were previously? Or did it feel like when you first started power planning, you were getting less done than before. Like, what was that side of things like for you. Were there any wins you had?

Erin
Oh, my gosh, I was getting so much less done when I was power planning because I wasn’t thinking through in terms of like the contingency and those little tweaks. I wasn’t thinking through some of the obstacles being my own mindset, like I would think like, oh, like my daughter’s home with me or Oh, my husband might have have to work late or, you know, whatever it might be like those physical things that like might get in the way of you working on your business, but I never thought about, like my own, just inside of my head, like getting stuck in those things.

And now like with the PGSD process, like you think about like, if you are getting in your own way and doing that self sabotaging, and like, you know, if you’re just like, quote unquote, like not in the mood to do something, it’s like, okay, well, I’ve committed to doing it at this time. So, you know, I had I, as a writer, I hadn’t even sent a pitch to like a publication before ever. And now I have done that. And I’m getting an article published soon. So I mean, that’s huge like that is I just got out of my own way about it, because I had enough rest time for my brain to be like, okay, like, I can do this big scary thing. Now I had the pitching on my calendar, and I was really committed to it. So it was just a complete shift of how I was thinking about things before.

Sam Laura Brown
So Erin, with your needle movers and pitching, my guess is that you were aware already that pitching was something that would help you build your business, but you weren’t doing it. So what made you actually commit to doing that, because so many of us have these tasks in the back of our mind or on our to do list that keeps getting moved or even in our calendar from week to week. And we know we should do it. But it’s always getting moved. It’s always not getting done. We’re always doing something else instead. So what made the difference for you, because you’re already aware that you didn’t need to do that.

Erin
I think it was a combination of a few things. So I started my business in 2020. But I wasn’t really fully committed to the business itself yet because I still had my teaching contract. And I wasn’t sure whether I was going to go back or not. I was on an extended maternity leave. And it was still like sort of up in the air. And then in August of 2021, I resigned from teaching and like fully went all in in the business. And I took a few more copywriting courses and just really got my feet on the ground in terms of like my skill sets and really knowing what I was doing.

And I just sort of felt like, you know, now is the time where I feel like I can really help people in their businesses. Like it’s time for me to put myself out there. And then I sort of still wasn’t doing it even after I’d made that mindset shift. And then I found you and started listening to the podcast and I was like, Oh my gosh, like I think that I think I’m getting in my own way about all of this. And so I think it was just a really big mindset shift in terms of being more confident in my skill set, but then also getting out of my own way in terms of my perfectionism handbrake just being like, fully pulled up before and then just having that planning in place.

And the rest is really like, the biggest thing that I think I’ve taken out of this so far is just, I was doing so much busy work and so much procrasti-learning and just so much of so many things that I didn’t really need to be doing. And so I think when it came time to the pitching, I was like, exhausted, but I hadn’t done anything that was going to move my business forward. So then, after I realized all of that, it was like, okay, like, if I take a day, and I send five pitches, and that’s all I do that day, if I land something out of that, then that will have moved my business forward. So it was just a really big shift. And all of that kind of coming together at the right time. And power planning just played such a huge part in that.

Sam Laura Brown
What would you say was some of the busy work tasks that you were prioritizing over pitching? Was it social media content? What did that look like for you?

Erin
Yes, definitely. Social media content. I was spending way too much time on Instagram. And I was spending way too much time on Instagram, like, looking at other business owners and scrolling and doing things that weren’t also weren’t moving my business forward. Like I wasn’t actually posting and I wasn’t engaging with other people, like, people don’t know you’re there, if you’re just scrolling and you’re not commenting or doing something to engage with them.

So I wasn’t doing anything. It like I felt like working because I was like, oh, like Instagrams a business thing that I do, but I wasn’t actually working. And so that was a huge one. And then my other one, I am like, student for life. Like I think I will always take courses, but I was not differentiating between courses that would move my business forward and procrasti-learning, like I love learning. I think it’s fascinating. I just, I absolutely love being in that environment. Like even when I was teaching, I took like tons and tons of classes. But I was just signing up for like course, after course, after course, after course. And like, at some point, you have to actually take action with the knowledge that you have.

And you know, you’re always going to be growing and your career, you’re always going to be learning new things. But at some point, it gets to the point where like, okay, like I can help other people, I need to go and do this. And if I don’t know how to do something, I can go and then learn that too. So I just wasn’t doing anything with the knowledge that I had gained over the past year and a half, I just had this like massive pile of courses, like way more than I would care to admit that I have. So that was just a really big shift for me too, in terms of like, okay, like, let’s actually do something with this knowledge that I’ve gained.

Sam Laura Brown
Did you have a hesitation with PGSD that that would be more procrasti-learning? Or how did you know that PGSD and learning how to plan properly and everything else that we do inside that that would actually help you implement all of the courses that you had already signed up for and all of the knowledge that you already had?

Erin
It was actually a few of the things that you said during the launch, like some of the emails and some of your Instagram stories you specifically talked about. And I think somebody else who was thinking about signing up asked the question of if I’m in another program right now, like, is this more procrasti-learning? Or is this going to like, kind of get in the way of that other program? And, you know, you talked about the fact that like, when you’re planning properly, if you are in another program or another course, you’re going to be able to fit that into your planning, because you’re going to be actually scheduling your week out the way that you need to do it.

So hearing you answer that question, really kind of like flipped a switch for me too, that was like, okay, like, I have more courses again than ever to admit, but the ones that I actually do need to be doing like, you know, the pieces of those that I still have to finish up, like, I’m still going to have time to be doing the things that are going to move my business forward and going to really serve my clients when I you know, get in touch with those people and things like that, that I’m going to be, you know, bringing a different skill level to them because of that.

So no, I didn’t feel like it was going to be more procrasti-learning. And you also talked about the fact that like the videos are, they’re so impactful, but they’re short, like you’re not meant to spend a ton of time in this program. It’s like you learn the thing, you go do the thing, and you apply all of this to everything else that you’re doing in your business. It’s a tool within your business. So hearing all of that was just massively helpful.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, awesome. I love hearing that. And I know that a lot of our PGSDers have a similar experience, and they love learning. And then once you get onto yourself, and you’re aware that procrasti-learning is a way that we kind of procrasti-work and avoid doing what matters and we can be like, Wait, is this going to be procrasti-learning? So thank you so much for speaking to that.

Let’s talk about what’s working for you now at the moment with power planning, you mentioned clean rest, and I know you have a daughter and that that’s a big part of the reason that you’re wanting to be able to switch off from your business and be present with her and also your husband and your parents and that kind of thing. And then when it’s time to get to work, you can trust yourself to do what matters so that it’s okay to have completely clean rest. What has that been like for you?

Erin
It has been amazing. Because I used to find myself because I wasn’t doing the things that I need needed to do in the time that I needed to do them. So I have Mondays and Wednesdays to work on my business, that’s my daughter is a childcare during that time, those are the times that I have to work on it. And I wanted to set it up that way, part of the reason I walked away from teaching was to be here with her more often. So but because again, I wasn’t doing the things that I was supposed to be doing, I would find myself like opening my laptop when she was here and doing things that quote unquote, like needed to be done, because I didn’t do them before.

And, you know, I again, like you said, getting onto yourself, like I wasn’t on to myself about why that was happening. So there’s been just such a big change in my time with her as well, because there aren’t things like lingering in the back of my head, like, I’ve scheduled out my social media posts at the beginning of the week. So when she’s here with me on a Thursday, like my Instagram post is still gonna go out. And I don’t have to do anything about that, because I did what I was supposed to do on Monday.

So that has been a big change. And just, I feel myself just being more relaxed in the time that I am supposed to be relaxing, like, I don’t find myself, I still slip off course. But I don’t find myself like reaching for my laptop or getting on Instagram as often are like all of those things that I was doing before that felt quote unquote, productive, but not at times that I should have been doing them. Because I’m just utilizing my time so much better. And that I feel like I’m also a better mom because of it. So I’m, you know, fully present when I’m with her because I’m doing the business tasks in the business time. And then I’m doing the momming in the mountain time. So it’s just kind of all and again, like I said, I still slip up, there are still challenges, but it’s just it’s much more in place than it was before I started power planning.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, I think when it comes to children, I have a daughter as well. And so I know that it can feel like but how could I possibly work from a calendar when I have a child? And how could those two things go together, because we don’t know when the child our baby’s going to be asleep or awake or needing us or like all of these different things. And I’m so glad that you spoke to that specifically. Because when we can trust ourselves to do what matters in the time that we do put aside for our business, it’s so much easier to be fully present when we are with our children and parenting. And also to have time to do things other than just being with our child or working on the business, we can actually do other things and really develop like a rich life beyond that. So I’m so glad that you mentioned that is there anything else that you’re finding is really working well for you when it comes to power planning? Then we can chat about what you’re still working on.

Erin
I just feel like I might thinking about my own thinking has gotten to a completely new level as well. So I had never really journaled before or self coached in any sort of way or anything like that. And last week, I was able to kind of coach myself through I was having some really big money mindset issues. And I was kind of able to coach myself through some of that before I got on the coaching call. And I feel like because I had sort of talked myself through it before the coaching was on another level, because we didn’t have to do that like surface level first, like we could get to the next level of the conversation more quickly, because I had already done some thinking about my own thinking.

And I feel like because power planning is working well I have the time to sit down with my journal for a couple of minutes, you know, in the day and really think about those things or, you know, I just take the time to do it. And I realize how important it is to think about those things. Whereas before it would have been like, oh, like journaling is kind of like a fluffy thing to do. Or like maybe I shouldn’t be taking the time to do that. Because I need to do you know, another module of a class like it felt like quote, unquote, like more important.

So I feel like because I’m seeing the space in the calendar, it’s like, oh, I have 15 minutes there that I can jot something down about this thing that I’m thinking or like, you know, a new business idea, or whatever it might be. So I feel like my awareness has gone up significantly as well since starting to power plan. So that’s been working really well.

Sam Laura Brown
Amazing. And what about what you’re currently working on, because part of the reason I really wanted to do this episode with you all is so that we can normalize that we make the three month commitment to power planning and that definitely for sure, we’re going to have a lot of early wins and have things working and be getting more done. And also there are things that we’re going to be taking a little while to learn and releasing our perfectionism handbrake, and it’s not meant to be this like oh, you learn how to do power planning and then it just works seamlessly. And that’s all done that there is a process to it and that when we can really understand that and be growth minded about it. We get the benefits of Power planning even more quickly. So for you, what are you currently working on improving or working on learning when it comes to power planning?

Erin
I feel like I’m still definitely working on those last few steps. I know I talked about earlier how helpful they are. But there have been a couple of weeks where I haven’t fully done the last few steps because again, I totally fell into that trap of like, my calendar looks pretty everything’s where it’s supposed to be like, This is good. And then I didn’t think a through the obstacles that were going to come up in any sort of way, like whether that is something going on with my daughter or my own, I did have a health issue in the like, first couple of weeks that I was power planning. And like, I didn’t think through those things.

And because of that, I didn’t fully commit because I didn’t get to the last step of the power planning. And then I didn’t do the things on the calendar, I like continued to move them. So I’m definitely still working on those last couple of sections. Because I feel like as a perfectionist, when your calendar does look pretty, it’s just so tempting to say you’re done. Because your mind just doesn’t want to go to those other places of thinking like I might feel unmotivated at some point this week.

And it’s like, well, yeah, you might feel unmotivated at some point this week, that’s a real thing. So I feel like I’m definitely still, you know, figuring out how to how to, how to figure that out. How to be gentle with myself, when I am thinking through, like there might be a day when you know, something else comes up. So those last few steps I think are definitely my where I need to be in the growth mindset as possible with it.

Yeah, what do you mind speaking to… I know, you recently had a surgery, and that was within like the first few weeks of you starting power planning. How did you use power planning? Or like, what was your approach to it during that time? Because we can think like, Okay, well, I want to, you know, make the three month commitment and do power planning, or but I know I have this thing coming up or that thing that’s going to happen, or who knows what might happen. So you had something come up, and how did you approach that?

So luckily, for me, it was scheduled, so I knew what was going to happen. So the week before that I did put more into my power planning. So I had some articles due for a blogger that I write for. And because I had been planning properly, the couple of weeks before, I did have some space in my calendar that that week, you know, I knew I needed to put in a little bit of extra time in the business and get things done and still hit those deadlines. And I was actually able to get articles to her earlier because of the way I had been planning before.

So I just feel like I used it as a tool to set myself up well before that happened, because I didn’t know what the recovery time was going to look like. And it actually was a little bit more intense than I was expecting. I was down for like an extra day or two than I thought it was going to be. But I didn’t have to freak out about it, which was great. You know, I still just sat on my couch and watch Netflix. And that was okay, because I had planned properly and I had turned in the things that I needed to turn in, I wasn’t gonna let any clients down.

I also communicated well with my clients before it happened. So you know, I sent voice DMS on Instagram or emails or whatever saying like, “Hey, I might be down for the count for a couple of days”. And I feel like that shows growth in a couple of ways. Because before I might not have like, advocated for myself in that way. But it was better on both ends, because then the client knew what was going on. And I also felt like, okay, like everybody knows what’s going on. Like, I have my plans situated, I can jump fully back into this next week. And it’s all gonna be okay, so that was big for me too. So I just feel like, again, like it’s just such a good tool to be able to, you know, figure things out in a way that I had not been figuring them out before.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, thank you for sharing that is that anything that you would say to someone who is about to stop power planning that you wish you’d known when you first started or… Yeah, any encouragement that you’d give anyone is going to be starting soon?

Erin
I would say just go all in, just give it your all. Stay in a growth mindset about it, you’re going to have setbacks, just like with everything else that you do, but it is so so worth it. It will transform not only your business, but other aspects of your life too. You’ll just feel like you have so much of your time back because of planning in that way. I just feel like it has just helped me with my just overall thinking about my business. And honestly, the rest of my life too. I just feel like the pieces are starting to fall into place with everything which is really it’s like it’s incredible.

It’s really incredible. So you know, I had a lot of programs before that would say things like you know, have planning at the beginning of the week and have a review day and like have a CEO day with yourself and all of those like those are things that I had heard before but they never said how or why. And I feel like with this program, you get the how and the why of how to do those things. It’s like those are great ideas. But what am I doing when I do them? So, yeah, I go all in it’s 100% worth it. Yeah, it’s 100% worth it.

Sam Laura Brown
Awesome thank you so much, Erin, we are going to move on to Naomi, would you mind sharing a bit about your business, what you do, and also what you were doing before power planning?

Naomi
Yes. So I am a web designer and developer, which in itself comes with its own challenges. I didn’t want to go into one or the other. So that in itself can present present challenges. But um, before PGSD, I similar to Erin, I had a, like, Notes app on my laptop. And it was just a long to do list. And as well as that I had like, separate project notes. So I actually had like, two or three to do lists going on at the same time. Yeah, so and I would definitely also just wake up with like two or three main things to do in my head, and maybe I wouldn’t even look at the list. And that kind of would keep it just as like, safe and comfortable work. I never really like dove like too deep into it, if that makes sense.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, that makes total sense. And what made you decide to commit to trying power planning and using that for your business?

Naomi
So I started power planning around December last year, when I was just listening to your podcasts and the Planning series. And that’s kind of what made me think like, this is definitely the right time to join PGSD because I started to use the calendar and I was already like, wow, this is a game changer. Why on earth was I doing a to do lists? Like, I just looked back on myself, even like a week before. And I was like, What the hell. So yeah, just using the calendar was amazing. And I was like, I need to know more. Like, I was like, maybe I can like figure this out, because I hadn’t really checked out my financial situation. And I’ve made some previous investments. And I was like, I can do this for myself. And then I was like, I just kept listening to more and more of the Planning series. And I was like, No, I need this. So I started Yeah, it started in January. And ever since I started, I look forward to it every week. I joined so you can see my persistence log. I just journal the hell out of it on a Sunday. I really, really enjoy it. Yeah.

Sam Laura Brown
I love hearing that. So you tell me about the first couple of weeks if you can remember when it came to power planning like that first time, obviously, you said you listened to the podcast and started to kind of do things by yourself, and then you sign up for PGSD and went all in on it. So what did those like, what did that first Power Hour look like? How did you find it? You know, getting everything into your calendar and then doing all the following steps that Erin’s talked about, like the contingency plans and obstacles and like, what did that feel like for you? Was it challenging? Was it easy? What was that like?

Naomi
Yeah, so honestly, a typical kind of perfectionist, my first couple weeks, I thought I had it down. I did the power planning. And I was like, this is great. I’m so good at this like, and then it was kind of like the third week, things started to slip. And I was like why I was like, hey, like things aren’t really going so well like I’m not. I was slipping and I was like, okay, like Sam makes a really good point. Like you really have to look at like, the obstacles and the contingency. So I wasn’t even doing that for the first couple weeks honestly, and I was just focusing on like, to me, I had never because of my kind of post it note type planning.

I never really thought about needle movers. And that’s also why I joined the PGSD and so the first few weeks of power panning, I was so stoked to just be doing the needle movers that I kind of didn’t really consider like a lot of contingencies or obstacles. So it kind of came in the next in there like the following. Maybe like week four, week five, week six, I really got deeper and was like okay, what really is working and what’s not working because it’s definitely a process like you definitely need three months on it but 100%.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, I so glad that you mentioned that because we’ve perfectionist can definitely come to power planning and just be so motivated and excited to have a new planning method that we then can kind of get by without doing those extra steps in terms of contingencies, and obstacles, and committing and reviewing workability, because we’re kind of just writing that motivation. But then after a couple of weeks, as you said, like things slip that we don’t have that motivation. And then if we’re not actually planning properly, this is why we talk about planning properly as a perfectionist.

If we’re not actually doing that process, then what we tend to do is often like, Okay, I’ll go back to to do lists for a bit, and then maybe wait, you know, another month until I’m motivated to try it again. And we kind of end up in this cycle. But when we are power planning, and again, this is the reason we’re doing this episode, so that everyone knows that it’s normal for that to happen that the first couple of weeks, you might not go through every step in the Power Hour, and you’ll still get a lot done.

And then, you know, week three, week four, it might start to become obvious what things you need to do so that you can continue to do your needle movers week after week after week. So for you, what did you discover when it came to needle movers? Because you mentioned that you weren’t really aware of that or thinking about that before. So what’s come up for you?

Naomi
Honestly, like needle movers in general, like I didn’t really take… My business is very new, I didn’t really take it very seriously. I’ve come from fashion, tech is totally new to me. I was just kind of plodding along getting referrals. And I knew I had to make a change. And I’ve listened to the podcast for a few years. And I’ve done some traveling and things happen, changed careers. And I think I subconsciously like started listening to podcasts more because I was like something needs to change. I have genuinely I knew I needed to think about sales and marketing and putting myself out there and promotion.

And I think I leaned back kind of coming back to the podcasts as I know, I’ve like kind of knew that this program would kind of really, really helped me do that. It wouldn’t like have the answers or give me like a how to but I think for for needle movers, you just need something like a toolkit, just to like help you. And so, yeah, I hadn’t even addressed them at all. And so I was so ready in the new year to like, just even start to make a list of like what a needle mover even would be. And I didn’t try and find like the perfect tasks, I was just like what’s like a couple of small things that I can do.

And when you plan your growth goal, that’s where it really, really helped me because it didn’t like throw me into the deep end right away. It was just kind of like a map of a goal. And I definitely got that new goal high, I was so motivated. I was like, wow, like this suddenly feels doable. And so yeah, just being able to plan that out. And then I just picked two needle movers to do a week. So nothing crazy. But even just sending those first few messages, like I got such a buzz. And then it also made me like own my business more.

And like just practicing. I send random messages out to people. And I talk about what I do. And half the time I don’t get a reply. But like every time I’m like, hi, like nice to connect with you like this is what I do. Like I also live in this area, or like I work on these types of projects. It’s just like, I don’t know, it solidifies things a bit for me, and it makes it easier the next week. And yeah, so power planning like it broke that down. Even just one or two needle movers can make like all the difference.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, I love that you mentioned so many things about that. But the growth goal, because we haven’t really talked about that yet. And that is the first step in planning properly is that we set our 12 month growth goal. And then that becomes the North Star. And we say we have the 12 month growth goal, our quarterly milestones and then we’re power planning each week working towards our quarterly milestone. And so a lot of times when it comes to planning, we kind of just jump in without really having that higher level look at where we’re trying to get to and that’s when a lot of questions around like how do I know what to prioritize and all of those things come up and we haven’t got a goal that is guiding our weekly plans. What was your experience like with setting your growth goal and having that become your Northstar for what you’re working towards in your business?

Naomi
It was so useful to set a growth goal with you guys because I posted what I thought was great and Daisy came back to me your community support manager and she was like you need to put some like figures in here like there’s not enough detail. I was like what? I’ve never even considered it and just putting numbers on things like reaching X amount, you know of… It’s not just the money, but like, just setting like how much of what you want to do per week. I was like, I’m gonna think too small, like everyone will clear, like, just not I guess, yeah, I was being so vague. So the growth goal setting right at the start, it’s not only like super motivational, but it just, it can provide even more clarity for your business goals.

Sam Laura Brown
So something that you said in your persistence log, which I’ve been loving all of your persistence logs, but something that I wrote down, that really stood out to me that you had when you were sharing something that was working for you. You said, noticing what excuses arise when it comes to needle movers, but calming my mind making the task as simple broken down and drama free as possible, then reaping the rewards of feeling accomplished afterwards.

Would you mind speaking to that, in terms of like, we have the needle movers and you said, you know, just even identifying one or two and getting them done makes such a big difference. But another huge benefit of power planning that we’ve already spoken about is that we have that self awareness, and the ability to see like, clearly when we’re deviating from the plan when we’re putting off a needle mover or doing other things like that. So what have you noticed when it comes to, you know, you’ve got the needle mover in your calendar, and then these excuses come up, what have those excuses being for you?

Naomi
So the excuses, I noticed really clearly, because you have to sit with those uncomfortable feelings, and that fear. And PGSD really, lets you kind of tap into your higher self and your future self. And so like doing the work when you join PGSD, and doing a bit of journaling around that really, really helped me go into my needle movers, recognizing, okay, what’s my like, inner child? What’s my brain trying to keep me safe from and like, how can I calm that down? So PGSD really helped me separate those two. So I hear it so clearly, when my brain is trying to keep me safe.

It’s not a bad thing. Like I don’t think of it as a negative in at all, I can, like hear those things, trying to keep me safe. And like, that’s great. But I’m like, nothing’s gonna happen to me. And nothing’s going to, like, I’m sat here, I’m in my comfy office, like, I’m cool. And I got recommended by Daisy, again, like a fear setting exercise that went along with the power planning. And so that was another really good journey at sites. So just PGSD, in general, really helped me differentiate between the inner child trying to keep me safe and the higher self. So I think just playing both of those, practicing each week that that really helped and that entry I had, in the persistence luck was a very like, Aha moment that that really happened to ensuring.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, do you have any examples of a specific like needle mover that you found yourself making excuses about?

Naomi
Yeah, it’s so every week, I try to message at least two random people or like old contacts from my network, just to even chat or chat about what they’re doing now. And to also kind of put myself forward and kind of say what I’m doing now or introduce myself and my work. And it doesn’t really sound like much, but I worry so much about what people might think of me or like when they click on my Instagram, or they judge my work. But so it’s so it’d be so comfortable for me to just sit and like wait for referrals to come, and they still do come. And that’s still how I get majority of my work. But I managed to get like a couple of leads like from doing that. And it’s just so nice to grow my network. And I’ve had like more followers, and not that that really matters, but just it allows me to own the business.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah. And did you find that so for example, when that’s in your power planning, that you would then prioritize a different task instead of sending those messages? Or what did it look like for you? Or were you able to just catch yourself making the excuses and keep yourself on track?

Naomi
A couple of times, is taken me a bit longer. And I always kind of part like buffer time, or like a super easy task or clean rest, like just after a needle mover. So I know that like I’ll start it and I’ll get into it. But sometimes I’ll want to go over the message or I’ll kind of struggle to find the exact people that day that I want to message because I still want it to feel natural. I don’t just want to feel like I’m ticking off the list. Like I really want to make sure that who I’m contacting could potentially be like genuinely good lead and it’s people that would also care about my business or that in kind of in my niche as such. So sometimes it takes longer. But I’m definitely always at the moment still trying to like, calm those, those other thoughts. So I kind of stay on track, but I do add the buffer time after to allow for it to like go on a little bit if it needs to.

Sam Laura Brown
Is there anything else that’s been working really well for you when it comes to power planning, in addition to getting some of those needle movers done, identifying them, having the self awareness around excuses, like what else has been making a difference for you with power planning?

Naomi
Um, the weekly review is amazing. So I often go into my weekly review, raring to go at myself for like, what didn’t work like in hindsight, like, what should I have done differently? And then the way that you do it is you have to look at your accomplishments first. And so I’m like, Okay, I’ll follow it or do my accomplishments. And then I’m like, Wait, I’ve actually had a really good week, like, this has been completely fine.

And so it just kind of like pulls you back. And I have been so much kinder to myself. And it might be like, really simple to know this. But obviously, being your best support can help you release your perfectionism handbrake 100 times better than being your worst critic, and I can be my worst critic so bad sometimes. So like the weekly review and power planning has like, definitely taught me to be kind to myself. And I think that that’s been one of the biggest changes for me.

Sam Laura Brown
Incredible, and we definitely like even when I’m doing my weekly review, and the first thing is, you know, what did you accomplish last week, and I’m like, I just want to get to looking at what didn’t work. And often we can have this story of like, the week not being productive, and kind of just all or nothing about it, like it was either a productive week or an unproductive week. And when we actually are forced to first of all, look at what we accomplished in the prior week. And then what is working?

It’s just that subtle reprogramming, that our brain is like, Oh, actually, I am making progress. And I noticed a lot of times too, when I’m reading everyone’s persistence logs and looking at what didn’t work like what people put under that heading, that as well as a lot of what is actually working, which is added awareness, realizing patterns of behavior that have been there that have been going unnoticed when they’ve been working from a to do list or time blocking or things like that, and having awareness around getting in your own way is a win.

And with that awareness, we can then the next time we’re doing our power hour take that into account when considering our mindset obstacles that will come up like the thoughts that will stop us from following through and our contingency plans and all of that. And with your weekly review. Is there anything that you would advise someone who may be skipped that part? Because that can be something that comes up that there might be a PGSDer for example, who is doing the power hour? And then maybe, maybe not, they’re doing the little tweaks throughout the week and keeping their plans workable. But then they don’t actually commit to doing that weekly review? What would you say to someone who’s in that situation?

Naomi
So the the weekly review, as I said, just to pull you back to also looking at what you accomplished and like make the world of difference. And it’s just doing those small steps to look at how you can make like small adjustments to the week, it doesn’t need to be a massive change. You don’t need to go hard on yourself. It just be like a small it can even be bullet points. It doesn’t have to be a long journal of like every single thing that happened in the week, it can literally be like two or three bullet points at first, and just build it up to just help you take smaller steps each week.

And to also like focus on the positive and not, as we say be too critical of ourselves.I think it’s a really, really handy tool. I think that power planning or weak review, go hand in hand and even sometimes like, yeah, for me, the weekly review leads so well into the next power planning. So it can even improve the power planning. And that’s yeah, that’s what it’s supposed to do. So I would really say like even just to do two or three bullet points for each prompt, and I think there’s only four prompts. So yeah, just small steps.

Sam Laura Brown
Amazing. And when it comes to power planning, what are you currently working on at the moment?

Naomi
Clean rest. The clean rest is, I had like a think two weeks ago where I was working evenings and it was just it really highlighted for me how this cannot happen anymore. And, yeah, so it’s definitely like not eating into those chunks of clean reps that I put in and kind of following through with the team as activities because I really enjoy them. And I actually have no problem doing it. And it’s kind of why I wanted to start doing the power planning because I wanted to have a balance. And I didn’t want to like, I didn’t want to work to live. I wanted to like, No, I didn’t want to live work, I want to work to live. That balance. So yeah, that’s why I wanted to do the power planning. So the clean rest is definitely something that I’m trying to get used to and put as much in as possible.

Sam Laura Brown
Amazing. Well, we’re going to move on to Estelle to chat to you about power planning. So Estelle, do you mind just telling us a little bit about your business, and then what you were doing before power planning?

Estelle
Yes, I sell sewing patterns for precise women. And soon I will be also selling the clothes associated to the patterns. So before power planning, I used to have a lot of to do list just on random sheets of paper. Sometimes I would write in a notebook, I have a whiteboard at home. And I would have this very complicated system where I would put some list with bullet points, and then priority difficulty. And it was very complicated. And it was impossible for me to just follow through, I would just take a few thing and be happy about it, and then just skip it altogether.

Sam Laura Brown
And what made you decide to start planning properly?

Estelle
Because I was listening to your podcast for maybe two or three years, I think. And I felt recently I don’t know, I think this past year that you were talking to me every time. And every time you are saying something on the podcast. Or why clean rest is important? Why you’re not planning properly? Why do you have a problem, you have a planning problems, that’s why your business is not moving forward, etc, etc. And then I thought, Ah, maybe I need to do something about it. So, and also, I listened to one episode with Kristin. And I think after that I was already ready to sign up. But then I had a little chat with you on Instagram. And then I was like, Okay, I’m going to sign up now. That’s the time.

Sam Laura Brown
I love it. So what did power planning look like for you in those first couple of weeks? Did you find that you were getting a lot done and it was working well or like how Erin said about not getting as much done because you weren’t considering the other things that need to go into your calendar and committing and contingency plans? Like what was that like for you?

Estelle
So at the beginning, it’s a little bit like Erin said, I thought that my planning looked very nice. And I was very organized. But then I didn’t put in the time for eating, or do the groceries, commuting from work, you know, these kind of things. Like I dropped off work at 4pm. And then I started a new text at 4pm. So it’s impossible because I have one hour of transport, you know. So a lot of things like this. And at some point I realized also that I was not putting needle movers into my calendar, I was putting a lot of busy work, like work on website, posts on social media, or start to sew garment. But sewing I have many steps sometimes just have to get the fabric. And then I need to sew the first part of. It was very vague. And that’s why I had to move tasks to the next week to the next week, etc. So it was a mess at the beginning.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, and then what’s been working for you currently when it comes to power planning?

Estelle
So what works is putting in the clean rest for me, it’s I don’t I won’t say that I’m nailing it now. But I think I’m pretty good now at having clean rest. And also little tweaks. Like if one task is taking longer than expected. I don’t have an issue just to make it longer or to change one text to another day for instance. I have a little bit of difficulty of for the needle movers still. No, I don’t have difficulties. I know what my needle movers are, I’m just scared to do them that’s different. I’m just more aware now.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, it’s so important to really underline that, that there’s a difference between not knowing your needle movers and knowing your needle movers and being scared to do them. And it’s easy to kind of be in this confusion around well, I don’t really know what I need to do, or really placing extra importance on things that aren’t really important just so we can not have to face that fear. But when we’re doing Power planning in our Power Hour, and we’re going through and identifying needle movers, it becomes obvious that we do, oftentimes, especially when we have our growth goal.

We do know what we need to do to get closer to that goal, and we’re just scared to do it. And when we’re able to separate that out, then we can get coaching on the fears that come up, we can coach ourselves on the fears that come up, and be able to even if we don’t coach ourselves on it, to do the scary thing like to stay scared and do it anyway. Is there anything particular for you that you have been really scared to do because I noticed in your persistence log, something that I had a good chuckle at is that you I think it was your most recent entry, and had bolded and underlined at the top, I have officially entered the realm of pure procrastination. Tell me about that.

Estelle
Because at some point, you know, I was putting a lot of busy work into my calendar. And I just finished doing the busy work now. So the only thing I need to do now is just the needle movers. And the best week, I just realized that I was just facing my calendar with the needle mover task on the day. And I was… I just couldn’t do anything. Because I was like, ah, is it the right task? Maybe I should have done something else. And then I go to the forum, I read people persistence, log, and I start to procrastinate and procrastinate.

So yeah, now, I’ve reached the point where I need to do the job now. And what I love about power planning is that it just let you see. It’s not lying. You know, you cannot lie with power planning. Just you have everything in front of your eyes. And, you know, you can review the past week, you know, what you’ve been doing and what you have not been doing. And that’s what happened to me this week. You know, I had an epiphany about that.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah. And it’s so important to acknowledge that noticing yourself having that fear around doing your needle mover. And but I think for you is posting something particular on Instagram, that feels a bit more vulnerable to share that. Even just noticing that we’re procrastinating on that is a win. Like we’re not aiming for zero procrastination and to never have that experience. But to be able to have the awareness around it. And to be able to be compassionate with ourselves. Of course, you don’t want to post that post.

Like, why would you want to bare your soul and share that, like, it’s so normal to feel that way. But if we just work from these to do lists, or we’re time blocking, and we don’t have a tool to support us, and actually being able to connect with ourselves and see what’s really going on. And to really support us in like, it’s okay, that there are times where we put busy work into our calendar, into our power planning. And it’s okay that there are times that we have the needle mover, and then we notice that we keep pushing it off. Like that’s all part of it.

And if we really celebrate like having that self awareness as a win in and of itself, we’re so much more easily able to actually have ourselves do the thing that we need to do, because we’re not in denial about it. And we don’t also have this expectation that, well now I’m power planning, I should be perfect at following through with things like that just isn’t the goal. It’s not necessary for that to be the goal. And I love that you shared that and that you had the awareness around it. And I wanted to mention something else that you’d said. Which was that your it says something along the lines of like, can we just talk about how my Power Hour and weekly review are above an hour and a half every time and that’s your weekly journaling habit. Would you mind speaking to that a little bit?

Estelle
Actually, I realized that I don’t journal so much. Well I do journal, but it’s always random sheets of paper that I never find in my home, they are everywhere. And just the weekly review is just a dedicated time to do just that. It’s like my permission slip. And actually, that’s the only task where I have a lot of buffer time around. Because I know that it’s going to take longer than expected. And it’s like a game. For me, it’s very interesting to see what I’ve been doing, the progress I’ve made. At the beginning, I was a bit scared because I thought, oh, everyone is going to read what I post. I cannot be really vulnerable. And but now I just, I don’t care so much. I’m just happy to reflect on the progress that I’m making, and see how I can move forward.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, and it’s so clear that you are making so much progress. Because when you are going through and your weekly review entries are epic, and I love them, and it’s just this really detailed look at your mind and your business and what’s going on for you. And that it’s really obvious that you’re using that as such a great tool to connect with yourself and hold space with yourself. And I know that it can feel like that, like, is everyone else going to read this? And what are they gonna think but then the more you look at everyone else’s, you’re like, oh, wait, we’re just kind of like, we’re all feeling the same.

We’re all doing the same things like and it’s that safe place to share. But I love how you really approached the power hour and the weekly review and the whole power planning process and the whole PGSD process as a way to connect with yourself. And yeah, just really get curious. So I love that. And something else that you said, this isn’t that this is not me trying to like nitpick or like, get into the weeds of your persistence log, but there was so many gems in there that I really wanted to talk about that you said with your power planning, you have been focused on the thought download, clean rest, scheduling commitments, identifying needle movers and coloring in them. And you haven’t yet been focused on the clear outcome oriented tasks, identifying true needle movers committing to them and doing contingency plans. Would you mind talking to that a bit? Like, is there any of those particularly that you are focusing on at the moment?

Estelle
I’m focusing now on creating clear outcomes for the needle movers. And I want to implement also having contingency plan. When I first read the list for power planning, it was like 10 steps. And to be honest, it was too much for me. So I just decided to do just the easiest one. So yeah, for instance, last week, I wanted to write a post about body image issue because that’s one of the main topic. That should be the main topic actually on my business, even though I don’t talk about it yet.

And I was procrastinating a lot. And I felt okay. But there is the contingency plan, maybe I should have thought about something just in case, I feel some internal resistance to do one test that is very important. And for me, that’s a new way of thinking because I’ve never thought about it before. So this is what I’m trying to implement, just to find a plan B. If I don’t feel like doing something particularly courageous, maybe I can do something a little bit easier, but still a bit courageous. So that’s what I’m working on at the moment.

Sam Laura Brown
That’s a really great way to approach it. And I think it’s so important, like we’ve mentioned a few times about the Power Hour and in PGSD. In module two, there’s a 10 steps for the Power Hour and that when it comes to that, especially in the beginning, like this is why we made the three month commitment to it. And we know that it’s going to be a process because in the beginning, it might be that we have a go at all 10 steps, but then we kind of not really understanding what a needle mover is for our business or different things like that.

Or it might be that it just seems like these are too many things to consider. So I’m just going to focus on you know, the first five steps, ideally every time like the 10th step is committing to everything on the calendar and like the ninth one is reviewing walkability. So we want to make sure we’re doing that but sometimes especially as we’re learning like it’s in the beginning, we’re going to be beginners. Sorry, in the beginning, we’re going to be beginners. So we want to let ourselves be a beginner and know that it’s not about having every step in that done perfectly. Or if it takes longer than an hour, that’s totally okay. And that with the weekly review process, and also the little tweaks throughout the week, that’s when we’re really going to notice what we need to do differently in our next power hour.

And it’s not about getting it to being perfect. But oh, I noticed, for example, that I didn’t put enough buffer time during my work hours, so that I wasn’t actually, you know, a couple things took longer than I had expected, because it was a new task. And then now it meant that I had to, you know, work into my clean rest or I had to not get something done at all, but then the next week and go, Okay, I need to put buffer time in for the contingencies that might come up. And so it’s just little things like that, that week after week, if we are making sure that we do the Power Hour, the little tweaks each day, and then the weekly review, that we’re able to, then by about the three month mark, be able to have that power hour really be working like all elements of that, so that our plans we can really easily follow through on and of course, we’re gonna still have things that we’re learning and discovering.

And it’s a tool for really connecting with yourself and figuring yourself out. So there’s always going to be new layers to that and all of that. But I love that Estelle when you’ve been doing the power planning and all of you that it’s really like you’ve been so growth minded about it, and that you have really seen it as a tool, not just for planning, but to really be able to understand yourself more to release your perfectionism handbrake, to build your business, to make more money, all of those things. But it’s not just like, cool. This is just like a to do list like there’s so much more that comes from doing Power planning. So thank you so much to all of you for sharing today. Do any of you have any final words or anything that we haven’t spoken about that you think would be important for someone who is just starting power planning? Naomi, yeah.

Naomi
I don’t know if it sounds really obvious. But I take a screenshot, once I have done my power planning and the calendar is blank. And I don’t have any of my tics in and I haven’t really started the week. So I have that screenshot. And then I have the screenshot just before I do my weekly review. And I have like a little folder of each week. And I put my screenshots in there and my weekly review. And I think that once I have the quarter review, it will really be really helpful to like go back and see the progress of power planning, obviously, as well as being able to look at the start of the week compared to the end of the week. So I don’t know if that’s like, for anyone starting out to like review themselves a bit easier.

Sam Laura Brown
Yeah, that’s a really great point to bring up that. Because we have like the second set of power planning, those little tweaks throughout the week, that oftentimes when it comes to working from a calendar, and when doing something like time blocking, that you kind of have your calendar, and then it’s just whether you stay on track or fall behind and the calendar just stays the same. And then when we have our handbrake on, we fall behind. And then we start to make that mean something about ourselves. And it’s this whole shame spiral. And it’s just a horrible experience.

But when we are making those little tweaks, it means that we’re never behind because the content of the calendar is constantly being updated, so that it’s actually reflecting what has been done. And so that means then at the end of the week that our calendar will look different to at the beginning of the week. And that is really how we create that self awareness. Because we’re able to, as you said, the screenshots so powerful that you can put the screenshots next to each other and say, Okay, I had planned to, for example, write my Instagram posts at 9am. And I can see I actually wrote it at 2pm. I wonder what was going on there, or I didn’t write it at all, like I had it in my calendar, and then it’s just not there at all.

And that was a needle mover. And that’s when we can really start to investigate and get curious about Okay, is it that task is actually better suited to the afternoon and next week, I’ll just plan it for the afternoon? Or is it that there’s something else going on and we can really especially over those three months, and then beyond that, start to understand what time of day we work best and when it’s best to put certain tasks in certain places, and really be able to have a calendar that really supports us and some people can think and this is often because we’re doing it with our handbrake on and time blocking and that kind of thing, that our calendar is going to be really strict and rigid and it’s not going to be able to, you know, be something that we can use if we have children or if we have any kind of uncertainty in our life but when you can really be allowing yourself to make the those little tweaks, doing that weekly review and then giving the power hour each week your best shot, it really can support you no matter what you’ve got going on in your life.

And that’s why we don’t tell you like, you need to put this task in your calendar or start your day at this time and end your day at this time. It’s really about what works for you and figuring that out for yourself through the process of power planning. Then we have the coaching calls and the forum and all of that. And I actually just wanted to wrap up by asking, Erin, you have been coached a few times now on coaching calls. What was that experience? Like for you. Was it the power planning that helped you figure out what you could get coached on? And how was it helpful? I mean, obviously, I hope it was, you got coach every time with Michelle so I haven’t actually coached you, but tell me a bit about that.

Erin
Yes, Michelle has been absolutely amazing. I feel like it’s been so so helpful. So the first time it was actually regarding my procrasti-earning because I knew coming in that that was sort of my biggest issue. I knew that was the way that I was mostly getting in my own way, but I just didn’t know what to do about it. And the advice that she gave me was just like mind blowingly helpful. And I feel like I’ve definitely shifted my thinking in terms of when I do the learning and you know, doing it after the needle movers and just where it’s getting placed in my calendar, and all those types of things. And her advice was just so so helpful in figuring out how to do that.

And then the next time was all about money mindset. And again, I mean, super, super helpful, just, you know, I was doing a lot of all or nothing thinking. And actually something that Naomi had said earlier made me think about this, too, I feel like I did a lot of all or nothing thinking before I started power planning to and I’m coming up on my growth goal. And I don’t think that I’m going to hit it for q1 and before power planning, I would have been like, oh my gosh, like, I can’t believe I didn’t hit a goal that I set for myself, like, I might as well just like not keep trying to go for this. And I’m thinking about it in the complete opposite way now, like I know that I can still hit my year goal even though I didn’t hit a quarterly goal.

And I’ve still made so much progress and so much growth because of the way that I’m doing things differently now, and you know, I’m not falling into that all or nothing trap of like, you know, I’m still doing more than I was doing before. So and I feel like the coaching has gotten me to all of those places. And also, I think I’ve gotten coached three times actually. And I think the other one was about like tapping into all my future self and all those types of things. And that really helped me to start journaling more and being able to do some of that self coaching that I mentioned earlier. So yeah, just all of those things have been hugely hugely helpful in terms of you know, getting out of my own way and just not falling into that all or nothing thinking loop that was happening so much before this.

Sam Laura Brown
Amazing thank you so much for sharing that so we’re gonna wrap up. I could talk to you guys forever, but we will continue chatting inside PGSD, but would you guys mind sharing interview starting with you, Erin, where people can find you if they want to connect with you whether it’s an Instagram account on a website, where’s the best place for people to find you? We’ll put all the links in the show notes as well.

Erin
Perfect. So yeah, I am on Instagram @erincryder_copywriting and then my website is just erincrydercopywriting.com. And if you do erincrydercopywriting.com/websitecopy, I also have a freebie all about mistakes that you maybe making in your website copy as well.

Sam Laura Brown
Perfect. Naomi, where can people find you?

Naomi
So my website is in progress. Doing an update, which I haven’t got to yet but I have a work Instagram if you want to check out any of my design or development work. It’s naomimartinstudio, which is NAOMI MARTIN studio. And I also have my personal Instagram, which is naomilouise_1.

Sam Laura Brown
Awesome. And Estelle, where can people find you?

Estelle
So you can find me on my website. It’s audax-stella.com. Or you can go on my instagram @audax_stella.

Sam Laura Brown
Amazing. Thank you so much, guys. I really appreciate you being on this call and sharing all of your wisdom about power planning so far, and I will talk to you soon inside PGSD.

That is my interview with Erin and Naomi and Estelle about all things power planning. I hope you found it incredibly helpful. And I want to make sure that you go and sign up for PGSD at samlaurabrown.com/pgsd to join us and to become a perfectionist who is getting shit done.

Outro
The doors to Perfectionist Getting Shit Done aka PGSD are now officially open. And inside you’ll learn how to plan properly as a perfectionist with power planning so you can get out of your own way in your business. Enrollment for our January 2024 cohort of PGSD will be closing at 11:59pm New York time on the 12th of December 2023. So to find out more about PGSD and sign up, visit samlaurabrown.com/pgsd.

Author: Sam Brown