BONUS 029 – Do Less, Accomplish More… Here’s How

Do less, accomplish more. Here’s how.

Today, I want to expand on what I mean when I say, “Do less, accomplish more” because quite frankly, once I started to adopt this mindset in every part of my life, I started to notice things were significantly changing…and for the better.

If there was a poster child for “Busy” (with a capital B), that person would be me. A card-carrying, type A, control freak. Someone who’s Google Calendar looked like a rainbow mess of back-to-back appointments and zero breathing room.

Old me would simply say, “well, duh. Cram it all in. Squeeze the every living bit of juice out of every moment in life…go, go, GO!”

But a switch has recently flipped in my brain.

• Maybe it’s now that I’m in my 40s.
• Maybe it’s because I’m more prone to anxiety and stress than ever before.
• Maybe it’s just the pace of social media, life and running a business (and juggle a family, a marriage, my health, my sleep, my nutrition…so on and so forth) that’s made me realize that…

…DOING MORE IS NOT THE ANSWER.

Last time I looked, there are only 24 hours in a day.  And until someone invents a time machine, this is what we’ve got to work with, folks.

And my old faithful battle cry of “just one more email!” just doesn’t work for me (or for you) any longer.

Something has got to give.

So, what does “Do Less, Accomplish More” (actually) mean?

It’s a funny thing… time. I find that when I cram my schedule full to the gills, I may get some immediate highs from darting from one place to another, but the pace just isn’t sustainable. You burn out, you melt down. You forget to eat lunch until 3pm. Every. Single. Day.

And then your digestion goes into panic mode and you wonder why your metabolism comes to a sharp halt. Mouth ulcers, poor sleep. Just one more cup of coffee. Does any of this sound familiar to you? 

But what’s interesting is that when I simply step back from the insane pace on the hamster wheel we call life and ask myself, “okay, seriously Mary… what’s most important in your business and in your life to laser-focus on today?”

So, what I do is this… I set a 7-minute timer and journal it all down in bullet points.  And guess what, all the faff, all the noise in my head, all the stress…it (typically) boils down to 4-5 bullet points of things that I *actually* need to focus on today.  Not the eighty-billion things (like my brain tries to trick me in to believing I need to do.)

Do less means focus on the RIGHT things.

So, “Do Less, Accomplish More” is rooted in to the idea of just laser-focusing on the RIGHT things you need to do today… and dropping, delegating or letting go of the rest.

Simple as that.

And I know what you’re thinking…

“is this just a pipe dream that content marketers and best selling authors are trying to push on you that’s not real or attainable?” (umm, hello hashtags like #bestlife #blessed #4hourworkweek)

I hear ya. But for me, it’s slightly different.

It’s not about comparing yourself to someone else’s race. You do you. And I’ll do what’s working for me. And in year 15 of my business, having gone through the waves of having a mega-huge team and a fancy office to being a team of one in my pajamas at home and back again, what I know is true is that when I simplify, I thrive.

That’s it.

Like, literally, my brain cannot hold any more details in it and while I’ve got 80 billion ideas of things I could launch, create or expand in my business at any given time, the very best skill I’ve learned to hone and master is my ability to be bold, step out in faith and laser focus on the most important tasks at hand.

The ones that’ll drive my business forward. That’ll keep my existing clients not only happy and seeing results but building our gospel choir of SUPER Insiders who are telling their friends about our podcast, our masterminds and our online courses to their global girlfriends.

And I encourage you to also Do Less, Accomplish More this week. Here’s how.

Focus on the tasks that might be the scariest things to do but are the ones that come with the highest rewards once you’ve done it.

For example:

• asking for the sale: how many of your hot leads are simply out there, waiting for you to make one last touch with them to answer any final questions and concerns? What would happen if you called them today? (Big and scary, I know…but #DoTheThing!)
• Like me, could you create high value content and share your behind-the-scenes stories as a creative entrepreneur as a way of teaching, so others don’t have to make the same mistake twice?  And bonus, your prospective clients get to know you better as their trusted expert.
• Or maybe it’s simply realizing you need a better bookkeeping system in place to track your cash and your mountain of receipts crammed in a shoebox… and finally doing something about it. Finding a bookkeeper. Setting up Quickbooks or Xero as your online bookkeeping software. Asking for help and take the step forward to get organized, no matter how embarrassing or daunting it may seem.

Other things I do that are big and scary but also high yielding tasks are…

• asking for reviews on the podcast, so more people find us on Apple Podcasts and Stitcher
• delegating more of the smaller tasks to my team, so I can focus on the creative strategy, visioning and keeping everyone aligned on where we are headed next.
• And finally pitching myself and The Simplifiers for keynote talks on some of the biggest stages worldwide

Because if I’m not going to be bold and #DoTheThing for my business, who will?

The big kicker is this… I had to significantly cut back on how much time I was spending in the death scroll of social media every week.  It was causing me to fall down this rabbit hole of comparison and feeding the feelings of “not enough” and it was sucking my day dry of any free time.

Do you feel that too in your life?

I seriously believe there’s a major shift happening right now in social media. People are waking up to it, opting to spend less time here and more time focused on IRL (in real life) conversations, connections and collaborations.

That’s what #DoTheThing is all about, in my books. And that’s what I’m most excited about in the next year ahead. A shift towards simplicity, in every sort of way.

And just one final whisper, just from me to you, dear friend… come in closer.

If you feel wiped out, exhausted and wondering how you can squeeze another thing into your already super stretched life, I want you to hear me out.

Surrender is your focus word this week.

Write it on a post-it note and stick it on your bathroom mirror. This is not yours to carry. Remember, you are surrounded by an infinite amount of support, resources and community all around you. You simply need to reach out and ask for help. And believe that the world is FOR you, not against you.

Ask for help from your neighbor. Your best girlfriend. Your co-worker. Your local non-profit. And yes, even me.

The helpers of the world (like you and me) are sometimes the ones that forget to ask for help themselves. So, keep asking. Keep being brave. Keep putting yourself out there.

And don’t be afraid of people seeing the real you.

It’s okay if people see behind the curtain.

It’s more than okay that everything isn’t perfect. You were NOT meant to have total control.

The help you seek is (likely) staring right back at you.

You can do this, I believe in you.

It’s time to SIMPLIFY.

If this thought of the day inspired you…

Snap a photo of you doing the thing and send it to me via Instagram, privately or publicly… Just tag @thesimplifiers – I’ll be your virtual accountability buddy in your quest to simplify your life.

Mark your calendars!

The #DoTheThing Challenge returns, starting on Monday, October 1st, 2018!

Join us for our free 5-day sales challenge that’ll help you:

• Finish the year STRONG
• Smash your sales goals
• Recalibrate your compass (especially if you’re feeling a bit off-center!)
• …and help you shift your money mindset, removing any blocks that might have been in the way so far this year, ultimately, keeping you from achieving your 2018 goals.

It’s a fun, interactive and most importantly, SIMPLE 5-day challenge that’ll only take 45-minutes of laser-focus from you per day, in order to reap big, big results.

Lord knows, we don’t need to add any MORE to our to-do list. (haha!)

Built specifically for Business Owners in creative industries…so if you’re a:

• Wedding or Event Planner
• Photographer
• Graphic Designer
• Coach
• Creative Entrepreneur
• or Marketer

…and you want to join others just like you all around the world who want to laser focus on all the RIGHT things to do to grow your business and finish 2018 strong, then this is for you!

Just listen to the results others got the last time we did the challenge:

Michelle T. : “I’ve been making a better checklist with my daily routines, keeping it SIMPLE is key. Mary is very energetic and helps me get my day focused!”

Yeraldin Y. : “Loved seeing Mary’s roadmap to how she runs in-person sales meetings. Her enthusiasm and passion really motivates you!”

Nancy H. : “This challenge helped me win two new clients in five days! Mary simplifies everything and is so positive and real!”

You guys…Do the thing.

Sign up today to reserve your spot in this free 5-day sales challenge.

It all starts on Monday, October 1, 2018 and I can’t wait to see you there.

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As always friends, keep things simple.

Watch the video version of this episode