In this episode, we discuss the importance of not worrying about being productive 100%. It is okay to take time off to recharge.
Full Transcript
Hi Everyone, welcome to the You’re Daily Cup of Joe Podcast, with your host Joe Bautista. In this podcast, my goal is to give you quick lessons on how to grow yourself physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually so you can have better careers, better relationships, and better personal finances.
I’m also the author of the book “More You Know, More You Grow: How to Get Better Every Day”. In this book, I wrote down over 30 tips to help you grow in those four cornerstones. I’m also the founder of Grow With Joe, where I combine self-development coaching and financial planning for Latino Professionals.
In today’s episode, we’re are going to talk about how planned time is not wasted time. I know I talk a lot about not wasting time and you might be caught up in seeing how productive you can be and you might think that watching television or being on social media might be a waste of time and it might, but if it was planned out then it’s not a waste of time.
We are not machines and we need to take time to rest and relax. In August, I went to Chicago for two weeks to see my sister and then I went to St. Louis for a conference for a week, and when I got back I was exhausted. I felt like I wasn’t very productive while I was in Chicago and St. Louis but I plan to go to Colombia in January for two years, so I thought it was important to see her and her family before I go on my two-year sabbatical. I also thought it was important to go to the Conference which was about financial planning and I met a lot of different people that I connected with.
But when I got back to Oregon after being away for three weeks, I was exhausted and I took three days to recover where I didn’t really work. I just slept and didn’t look at my laptop. I was still a little bit tired when I went back to work but I feel like I was just getting off the rust. I told myself that this was planned time off. I needed that time to recover so that I could do my best work later on in the week.
It’s okay to watch television, but make sure it’s planned time. If you want to give yourself an hour to watch television and it doesn’t impede on other important things in your life, then go ahead and watch television. Your schedule is going to be determined by how much you want to accomplish in the world. Plus there are ways to be more efficient with our time that can give you more leisure time.
If you planned a weekend with friends or family, just enjoy that time to the best of your ability. Don’t bring work into the equation. It’s just going to cause issues. Plus you only have so much time on this planet, make things count. You don’t want a vacation to turn crappy because you were too worried about work or other things. You only have so many vacations in your life and time with your friends and family, so make that time count. This was a hard lesson for me to learn but with enough self-awareness, I was able to maximize my time on the things I planned out.
Work will always be there. You can always find something else to work on so you have to know how to put barriers on stuff. I think one of the best things to do is never to say yes to something right away unless it’s an absolute emergency. If you get a request from a boss at work, just tell them that you’re working on A and B, and if they add in C, which is the one thing that they should absolutely focus on.
When it comes to my business, my client can send me a question but in my client service agreement, I tell them that I will respond within 24 hours. When it comes to my day, I already have my day planned out and unless it’s an absolute emergency, I’m not going to change it. There is a time on my calendar that states when I will get to e-mails. I find it’s just better to batch things instead of responding to things as they come. Just remember, your inbox for e-mails and text messages is just a convenient place for you to focus on other people’s agendas. Think about it, every text or e-mail is basically a request for your attention. If a friend sends you something funny or interesting, they want you to think that you care about them or think they are interested in finding that thing. This is fine, but just make sure it’s part of your planned time.
Don’t get into a spot where you have no planned time and are just responding to one thing after another. This will cause you to be the hamster on a wheel. Just moving really fast but not moving anywhere. You should have an agenda for your week on what you want to accomplish. There should be time to work, time to take care of yourself, and time to enjoy. I know when I read a book or watch a documentary, I get ideas that I write down for future podcast episodes. This podcast came from the podcast Big Questions with Cal Fussman with his guest Nir Eyal. I heard him talk about this concept of planned time is not wasted time and I told myself that I could write a podcast episode about that and that’s what I did.
So we can get moments of inspiration from our leisure time. I find that I when I’m stuck on writing something or doing something, I go take a walk and listen to a podcast or listen to music for 10 to 15 minutes. Then when I come back, I got a solution to my problem or I’m ready to get back to work. So make sure you have some planned wasted time but not too much, but not too little as well.
That’s it for today’s episode, to summarize it, planned time is not wasted time. So plan out some leisure time into your schedule. If you find yourself worn out. Take a look at the last you relaxed and took some time off. Also, add some breaks into your day so that you’re not constantly on the go. This will ensure that you’re sharpening the saw so that you can cut down trees faster. You also have to realize that time with friends and family might not ever happen again, so when you’re with them, make sure you’re with them and not on your phone being distracted because your last goodbye to them might be your last goodbye to them. It’s doesn’t have to be all day, it can be just a quality 30 minutes and that’s it. All you can do is all you can do, just make sure it’s all you can do.
To get a free copy of my book “More You Know, More You Grow: How to get better every day” just go to my website growwithjoe.me/book and just pay for shipping and handling.
I have a quiz on my website that grades your inner circle, so if you want to find out if your inner circle is an A, B, C, D, or F, you can take that quiz at growwithjoe.me/quiz
I’m also trying to do a feedback Friday episode, so if you have a question that you would like to have my answer on the air, just e-mail me at [email protected]
I’m also on Instagram at Grow With Joe and Facebook just look up Grow With Joe
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Thanks for joining me today and remember if you go with Joe, you can grow with Joe, cause Joe knows Dough.
*Music outro
