Speaker 1: I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of
Speaker 1: country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community.
Speaker 1: We pay our respect to their elders past present, and
Speaker 1: extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
Speaker 1: peoples today. Welcome to Stepping Up the podcast where we
Speaker 1: explore all things organization, mental health routines, personal.
Speaker 2: Development, motherhood and health.
Speaker 1: I'm your host, Steph Pace, and I'm the woman behind
Speaker 1: Just Another Mummy blog and also the founder of Steph
Speaker 1: Pace Planners. But I can assure you this is not
Speaker 1: just another podcast online. I'm known for my organization tips
Speaker 1: and tricks and the occasional banter, but it definitely wasn't
Speaker 1: always this way. I used to be a hot mess
Speaker 1: and occasionally still am. And I'm here as your honest
Speaker 1: and real friend each week to show you how I
Speaker 1: turn my life of chaos into clarity.
Speaker 2: Between the house, health, kids.
Speaker 1: Work, and wanting to be the best version of yourself,
Speaker 1: it can be overwhelming, and I'm here to give you
Speaker 1: the tools and tips to stop you feeling like a
Speaker 1: slave to your daily time, asks, home life, and especially
Speaker 1: the expectations you have on yourself.
Speaker 2: Join me as I share my.
Speaker 1: Journey and insights into the art of balancing at all
Speaker 1: and speak to guests who can help us all live
Speaker 1: a better life. Whether you're looking to streamline your daily routines,
Speaker 1: bish your wellbeing, achieve your fitness goals, diamond to personal development,
Speaker 1: or find inspiration to steff up into the best version
Speaker 1: of yourself, We've got you.
Speaker 2: So are you ready to step up your game? Let's go.
Speaker 1: Hello guys, and welcome back to stepping Up. I hope
Speaker 1: you are having a fantastic day wherever you're listening from.
Speaker 1: Do you, guys ever just think back randomly to COVID lockdown.
Speaker 1: I can't believe that it's literally nearly the end of
Speaker 1: twenty twenty four and the whole lockdown thing happened. And
Speaker 1: since then, you know, working from home has become such
Speaker 1: a huge thing. People who always worked in offices are
Speaker 1: now able to be more flexible and work from home.
Speaker 1: People who even rented spaces or had their whole workplace
Speaker 1: in an office. I know a lot of business owners
Speaker 1: who decided to let everyone work from home, and that's
Speaker 1: like a normal thing. Now with technology, there's so much
Speaker 1: you can do online, you can have meetings, you.
Speaker 2: Can catch up with each other.
Speaker 1: While this is great in many different ways, it can
Speaker 1: make juggling the demands at home a bit easier.
Speaker 2: So if you need to be there with the kids,
Speaker 2: if you've got little.
Speaker 1: Ones, it's been so important and it's something that you know,
Speaker 1: we've kind of had to learn to do from day
Speaker 1: dot and for people who run their own business, they
Speaker 1: definitely know what this is like. But with all these
Speaker 1: positive come a lot of negatives. It's something that even
Speaker 1: when you try to focus on one aspect of your
Speaker 1: life such as home, or such as the kids, or
Speaker 1: just work, there's always going to be the demands of
Speaker 1: the other areas pulling you. And you feel that the
Speaker 1: most when you are trying to work from home.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: Granted, I work from home usually two to three days
Speaker 1: a week, and for when I'm in my deep planning
Speaker 1: and I need to really like focus on the podcast
Speaker 1: and coming up with episodes and also like marketing and
Speaker 1: all that stuff. It's a godsend. And I also obviously
Speaker 1: need a film, but I tend to get a little
Speaker 1: bit baddy by the time you know, Tuesday to noon comes,
Speaker 1: which is literally now, so I'm struggling to even speak
Speaker 1: English now, and I feel like, you know, I'm not
Speaker 1: like an overly social person. I enjoy being around people,
Speaker 1: I love my friends all that stuff, but I'm not
Speaker 1: someone who I guess I'm trying to say is withoutstanding
Speaker 1: like an asshole, because I do.
Speaker 2: I love being around my friends.
Speaker 1: But I think for me, my cup gets filled up
Speaker 1: more when I'm at home with my family or just
Speaker 1: out with my family, like outside or something, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean, or in solitudes. Being overly social just
Speaker 1: isn't like at the top of my list, is what
Speaker 1: I'm trying to say, I guess. But when I am
Speaker 1: working from home two days straight, so Monday tuesdays, I
Speaker 1: do find my mental health can take a dive if
Speaker 1: I'm not doing the right things and if I'm not
Speaker 1: sticking to the right routine. Working from home can be
Speaker 1: such a hard thing to navigate, and if you don't
Speaker 1: stick to your routines and rituals and rules that you
Speaker 1: need to set for yourself, the lines between work and
Speaker 1: home can really start to blur. Because I know for me,
Speaker 1: especially because I work for myself, there's less of a
Speaker 1: sense of urgency unless there's a deadline, which yes, there's
Speaker 1: a lot, but I tend to let my work creep
Speaker 1: into my personal life and the time I'm meant to
Speaker 1: be with my family because that sense of urgency isn't
Speaker 1: there from the time I start.
Speaker 2: This episode is definitely for you if you are.
Speaker 1: Someone that works from home and you can't switch off
Speaker 1: after work has finished. You're sitting there in your loungery
Speaker 1: with your family, or with your partner, or by yourself,
Speaker 1: and you're still thinking about work. You're finding that your
Speaker 1: work is slowly but surely creeping into your personal and
Speaker 1: home life.
Speaker 2: And this is especially for you if you have been working.
Speaker 1: Home, even for a long time, and maybe you're a
Speaker 1: pro at it, but you find yourself just not as productive.
Speaker 1: I am going to be giving you the hacks and
Speaker 1: routines that I do every day that saves my sanity
Speaker 1: and my work and my business, because these are the
Speaker 1: things that not only keep my mental health in check,
Speaker 1: but they also keep me productive and really helping to
Speaker 1: set the lines between work and home. Now, the whole
Speaker 1: reason I'm actually recording this podcast is because a few
Speaker 1: weeks ago on Steface Planners, I posted a reel that
Speaker 1: was my work from home non negotiables, and there were
Speaker 1: things both holistically and productivity wise that I have to
Speaker 1: do every day when I work from home to keep
Speaker 1: me at my best. I also wanted to record this
Speaker 1: podcast because you guys are going to be finding out
Speaker 1: for everybody else. But we tonight are launching our brand new,
Speaker 1: revamped home and work to do list. Now, if you
Speaker 1: don't know what this baby is, this is literally the
Speaker 1: best invention ever. And this took me so long to
Speaker 1: nail it because there's nothing like it on the market.
Speaker 1: It is this beautiful, beige little booklet and when you
Speaker 1: open it, one side says home to dos and then
Speaker 1: the right side says work to dos. Now, I've revamped
Speaker 1: this so she's looking good, she's looking fresh. And I
Speaker 1: made this at a time where you know, Stepfa's planners
Speaker 1: was really ramping up and I personally was struggling between
Speaker 1: work and home. So I loved this because it helped
Speaker 1: my brain distinguish my work to dos and my home
Speaker 1: to dos. But what I've changed about this is which
Speaker 1: to do list also has a space that says others,
Speaker 1: so you don't have to use it for home and work.
Speaker 1: It could be for home and kids. It could be
Speaker 1: for personal and I don't know, bloody health and fitness.
Speaker 2: I don't know.
Speaker 1: It could be anything you want For someone like me.
Speaker 1: I like to use it for not only home and work,
Speaker 1: but for SPP and also my personal brands and YouTube
Speaker 1: and like the content and have them on each side.
Speaker 1: So I'm so excited that you guys get to find
Speaker 1: out about this first, and I'll be posting a real tonight,
Speaker 1: so make sure you hop on over and cheer me
Speaker 1: on and let me know if you're going to be
Speaker 1: grabbing one. Now, let's get cracking into today's episode. Now,
Speaker 1: before I get into the routines and rituals, the first
Speaker 1: thing I want to cover that you need if you
Speaker 1: are someone that works from home is I want you
Speaker 1: to create a dedicated workspace that feels nice. Not everybody
Speaker 1: can have a home office or even a desk, and
Speaker 1: I'm very aware of that. I was definitely one of
Speaker 1: those people. But I want you to have something that
Speaker 1: tells your brain this is work time or this is
Speaker 1: my workspace. Now I'm pure going to talk about officers
Speaker 1: for a minute, or a desk, for example. On my desk,
Speaker 1: I have things that make me feel good. So obviously
Speaker 1: you want it to be functional, you want your planners
Speaker 1: on there. But I have things on my desk that,
Speaker 1: as Marie Condo would say, spark joy.
Speaker 2: So I've got I'm literally looking at it now.
Speaker 1: I've got this bloody cloud teacup that I bought that
Speaker 1: Ryan gave me so much. It about because no, I
Speaker 1: don't use it, but I just like it.
Speaker 2: It's cute.
Speaker 1: I've got a cloud what's we mean clouds? I've got
Speaker 1: a cloud mouse pad. I've got a cloud wrist pad.
Speaker 1: I just have things that make me feel good. You
Speaker 1: guys know how important our environment is, especially the case
Speaker 1: when you are spending a lot of your time in
Speaker 1: this space and doing these activities. So even thinking about functionality,
Speaker 1: if you work on a laptop, do you have a
Speaker 1: laptop stand?
Speaker 2: Do you have a mouse?
Speaker 1: Is using an actual mouse over the little mouse pad
Speaker 1: on the laptop that's going to make you work a
Speaker 1: lot quicker. Maybe thinking about investing in that. That's the
Speaker 1: type of stuff I'm talking about. So you obviously want functionality,
Speaker 1: but you also want it to make you feel nice. Now,
Speaker 1: if you can't have a desk or an office at home,
Speaker 1: then one thing I recommend you having is a work caddy.
Speaker 1: This can be a bag or just a normal caddy
Speaker 1: that you buy from Kmart or Ikea where you put
Speaker 1: things in there and you grab your laptop and you
Speaker 1: know you can just take it. You could take it
Speaker 1: out onto the patio, on the balcony, whatever you want
Speaker 1: to go and work. Now, in this caddy, you would
Speaker 1: have things like your planner, pens, highlighters, a timer, anything
Speaker 1: you need for work, and then also the things that
Speaker 1: make you feel good. This also extends into your actual
Speaker 1: computer like desktop. So I have a digital vision board
Speaker 1: on my desktop as my wallpaper, and I made this
Speaker 1: on Camber did a full YouTube video on this as well,
Speaker 1: so I link that in the show notes.
Speaker 2: Because it's super easy and it's really.
Speaker 1: Nice, it's inspirational, and it reminds you why you're doing
Speaker 1: the things you're doing. Once you've created a really nice
Speaker 1: dedicated workspace or a work caddy that makes you feel good,
Speaker 1: let's move on to having set routines and rituals and
Speaker 1: rules in place so you can stop work filtering into
Speaker 1: your life and also learn how to switch off. Now,
Speaker 1: the first thing is to stick to your set working hours. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm the biggest hypocrite when it comes to this, and
Speaker 1: I'm not going to pretend that I'm not. In the
Speaker 1: past have tried to stick to working hours. I got
Speaker 1: to a point where I have to say that whatever
Speaker 1: doesn't get done after this certain time, tough titties. Really
Speaker 1: it's too bad, too sad. And that really does help
Speaker 1: me create that sense of urgency that I need because
Speaker 1: I work well under pressure, so that helps having that
Speaker 1: kind of mindset. Now, of course I run my own business.
Speaker 1: Things come up when we have campaigns or launches, like
Speaker 1: it's our birthday month. Things happen, but generally it helps
Speaker 1: me to really be strict with set, start and stop time.
Speaker 1: One thing that really helped me as well. If you're
Speaker 1: someone that's really bad with time management, like say you
Speaker 1: sit down to do a stin of work and the
Speaker 1: next minute the day is done, and you feel like
Speaker 1: you've done nothing because you ended up scrolling on Instagram
Speaker 1: or you got distracted with something else.
Speaker 2: Like the The Bloody Week.
Speaker 1: I ended up spending eight hours learning about automations, like
Speaker 1: I got into ZAPI.
Speaker 2: I don't know if you guys have heard about it.
Speaker 2: I should do a whole other podcasts on it because
Speaker 2: it's so cool.
Speaker 1: But I ended up spending eight hours trying to create
Speaker 1: my own automation so our notion space would automatically send
Speaker 1: files to our Google Drive and I got there in
Speaker 1: the end and it's so so so amazing and smart.
Speaker 2: But did I have time to do that? No, and
Speaker 2: that was not my intention.
Speaker 1: So my hack for helping you, I guess, be better
Speaker 1: at time management so you can understand how long until
Speaker 1: work is done. I downloaded a count down timer to
Speaker 1: my computer. So every morning, I hop on the computer
Speaker 1: and I input my work hour ending time, So I'll
Speaker 1: hop on and say maybe four pm or two pm,
Speaker 1: depending on who's getting the kids that day, and then
Speaker 1: it starts to count down. So it really helps create
Speaker 1: that sense of urgency that I wasn't feeling before because
Speaker 1: I visually in my face. I need it to be
Speaker 1: in my face so I can remember shows me how
Speaker 1: much time I have left, so then it pushes me
Speaker 1: to work faster. You really need to have these clear
Speaker 1: bounds injuries with not only people you work with, but
Speaker 1: also yourself, because you need to have that time for
Speaker 1: yourself and your family. Now, the next thing I do
Speaker 1: is I integrate certain things into my routine that works
Speaker 1: with my brain, not against it.
Speaker 2: What I mean by that is we all are different.
Speaker 1: Some people work really well in the morning, some people
Speaker 1: work better late morning. Most people generally work best between
Speaker 1: nine am and twelve pm. That is, I think they
Speaker 1: say sixty percent of the population. But then there's some
Speaker 1: people who are more night ours, and then there's people
Speaker 1: like me who work better soon as I pretty much
Speaker 1: wake up and brush my teeth. I think it's because
Speaker 1: I have less time to get distracted, and I'm the
Speaker 1: freshest in the morning. Honestly, even when it hits like
Speaker 1: ten o'clock in the morning, I'm kind of done by then.
Speaker 1: So I want you to find out what time of
Speaker 1: day you are at your best, and that is the
Speaker 1: time you're going to be doing your deep work.
Speaker 2: Now. I want to be getting into this a bit
Speaker 2: more later about task.
Speaker 1: Batching and time blocking. But this is so important because
Speaker 1: so many of us will use the best hours of
Speaker 1: our day doing things like emails and being in meetings
Speaker 1: that might not need as much like brain power as
Speaker 1: something as your bigger projects or something that's creative that
Speaker 1: you need to do. So that leads me on to
Speaker 1: my next point. About working with your brain, not against
Speaker 1: it is. For me, I always try to push most
Speaker 1: meetings to be after twelve because I know between morning
Speaker 1: to lunch that is my go time. That is my
Speaker 1: time to smash through like either making content or doing
Speaker 1: my projects, my deep work, anything creative like filming, that's
Speaker 1: when I have the energy. But of course, if you
Speaker 1: have any meetings that need a lot of brain power,
Speaker 1: definitely do that during your peak time. So for me,
Speaker 1: on a Wednesday, we have a marketing meeting, which isn't
Speaker 1: technically on my meeting day, which I'll get into later,
Speaker 1: and I have it earlier in the day because for
Speaker 1: marketing I need to have my creativity.
Speaker 2: I need to have my brain power. I need to
Speaker 2: be on for that meeting.
Speaker 1: But all the other meetings are more operations and logistics,
Speaker 1: which isn't necessarily what's one of my roles my main
Speaker 1: role at SPP, So I kind of can be a
Speaker 1: bit of a potato, to be honest, and I usually
Speaker 1: eat lunch.
Speaker 2: During that time. My poor team then, when it comes.
Speaker 1: To the parts of the day that you are still
Speaker 1: working but you're at your worst, I guess you could
Speaker 1: say use that for really easy low brain power reoccurring tasks.
Speaker 1: These are the times we're going to be doing your emails,
Speaker 1: which I am going to touch on a bit later
Speaker 1: because I'm very strict about emails and light admin tasks,
Speaker 1: what I like to call catch all tasks, all of
Speaker 1: that kind of more mindless stuff that doesn't need a
Speaker 1: whole lot of attention. That is how you're going to
Speaker 1: work with your brain, not against it. Now, before I
Speaker 1: move on, just to do a quick recap. First thing
Speaker 1: is set up a dedicated workspace or work caddy that
Speaker 1: is functional and makes you feel good. The next thing
Speaker 1: is stick to set working hours, so set that boundary
Speaker 1: with yourself and other people of when you actually finish work,
Speaker 1: and using things like a countdown timer so you can
Speaker 1: actually feel that urgency and get things done quicker. We've
Speaker 1: got work with your brain, not against it. So scheduling
Speaker 1: your day so your really important tasks are done when
Speaker 1: your brain is at its best, and things that aren't
Speaker 1: so heavy for your mind you do when you start
Speaker 1: to turn into a sloth. Now this leads me on
Speaker 1: to my next point about how to hack your brain
Speaker 1: to work from home, and you could actually do this anywhere,
Speaker 1: even if you work in an office for anything.
Speaker 2: It's actually amazing.
Speaker 1: I actually got this idea from speaking to my friend
Speaker 1: Rachelle Fox, and we're talking about, you know, working on
Speaker 1: projects and things like that, and she is the one
Speaker 1: who suggested this tip for me, and it has worked
Speaker 1: incredibly for my brain. You know, when you walk past
Speaker 1: something and then you get a whiff of like a
Speaker 1: familiar smell, and it straightaway brings you back to a
Speaker 1: certain point in time or a certain memory, and it
Speaker 1: feels so real, the same as if you hear a
Speaker 1: certain song that you may have heard it like a concert.
Speaker 1: I still remember certain songs that were playing when I
Speaker 1: was bloody given birth, the Harper, not when it was
Speaker 1: like the end part where it's a real doozy, but
Speaker 1: near the start. Like there's certain things that just bring
Speaker 1: you back to those times. And that is because our
Speaker 1: brain has some really incredible ways of shifting gears and
Speaker 1: remembering certain things by our scent, our site and things
Speaker 1: like that. Whereas I'll read something or someone will tell
Speaker 1: me something and I'll forget five minutes later. But things
Speaker 1: like that are really powerful. Now we're going to be
Speaker 1: using that power that your brain has to hack your
Speaker 1: brain to get into a flow state quicker. You guys
Speaker 1: have probably heard of what a flow state is. It's
Speaker 1: basically when you are in such deep concentration of a
Speaker 1: particular task that time is just passing by and you
Speaker 1: don't notice, you don't notice what's going on around you.
Speaker 2: You're just solely focused.
Speaker 1: On your task and you're just so immersed in it.
Speaker 1: And that is the best state to be in for
Speaker 1: your work. The quickest way to get to this, and
Speaker 1: this is what Rachel told me is have a certain playlist.
Speaker 1: So for me, when I'm doing any type of scripting
Speaker 1: or more creative planning or writing or whatever it is
Speaker 1: to do with marketing, emails, writing captions, I will play
Speaker 1: this certain playlist that kind of taps into that creative
Speaker 1: part of my brain that says.
Speaker 2: Okay, it's time to do this.
Speaker 1: I also like to light a candle for this, and
Speaker 1: between the smell and the music, my brain shifts gears
Speaker 1: so quickly and I'm someone again. I've got ADHD. I
Speaker 1: struggle hardcore with this, but it is a freaking game changer. Now,
Speaker 1: things like deep work, I have another playlist and for
Speaker 1: both of these, whether it's anything to do deep work
Speaker 1: or creative I will always put my headphones on. They're
Speaker 1: the Apple headphones that can cancel out noises and it's
Speaker 1: bloody amazing. And if you're listening to this and you
Speaker 1: have ADHD, I highly recommend them. So my brain knows
Speaker 1: when the headphones are on, the playlist is on, it's
Speaker 1: go time. It's the same when I'm being creative, the
Speaker 1: headphones are on, the candles lit, the music's on, it's
Speaker 1: go time. It kind of like fast tracks your brain
Speaker 1: to know like, oh, yep, I know this, this is
Speaker 1: what we're doing. You kind of need to think of
Speaker 1: your brain like a child. You need to prompt it
Speaker 1: into doing the things. And these little things of using
Speaker 1: your scent, your smell, you're hearing and your site really
Speaker 1: does help you fast track into that flow state and
Speaker 1: get shit done quicker. I also want to add in
Speaker 1: terms of you know, doing these things like deep work
Speaker 1: or whenever you're trying to focus, the biggest and the
Speaker 1: best thing that you can do if you don't have
Speaker 1: to use your phone.
Speaker 2: Put it away.
Speaker 1: I actually physically put it in a draw. Putting it
Speaker 1: in a drawer and having that physical barrier of when
Speaker 1: you shut the draw again signals to your brain that
Speaker 1: it's go time, and the amount of times that we
Speaker 1: get distracted from our phones.
Speaker 2: We could be hopping on there just to quickly check.
Speaker 1: An email or whatever, or maybe you see it light
Speaker 1: up and you see a notification and you're trying to
Speaker 1: be working. Every time you get interrupted or switch tasks,
Speaker 1: that is thirty minutes for your brain to refocus. And
Speaker 1: that leads me into task batching. You guys know, I
Speaker 1: love productivity hacks and all of that stuff. Whatever makes
Speaker 1: my life easier, and multitasking is not for humans like
Speaker 1: that is not for us.
Speaker 2: It's for computers.
Speaker 1: And even then they struggle, like my computer hisses at
Speaker 1: me most of the time. So basically, the idea of
Speaker 1: task batching is there's grouping tasks that are similar together.
Speaker 1: So for example, one minute you're sitting there, you're being creative,
Speaker 1: you're maybe coming up.
Speaker 2: With ideas for socials.
Speaker 1: You're scrolling on there, and the next minute Bob walks in.
Speaker 1: It is like Steph, I need you to look at
Speaker 1: this financial statement and tell me how we're going to
Speaker 1: save money. Like holy shit balls, your brain will be like,
Speaker 1: excuse me, you speak English, And the amount of time
Speaker 1: it's going to take if your brain a social team,
Speaker 1: being creative to delving into numbers, and you know, using
Speaker 1: the other side of your brain is going to take
Speaker 1: you forever. So more examples of this is having meetings
Speaker 1: and then maybe planning or being creative or doing marketing. Like,
Speaker 1: they're all such different tasks, so you need to batch
Speaker 1: them together. So your brain is a going to perform
Speaker 1: a lot better and be it's going to be a
Speaker 1: lot quicker for you to do. If you are spending
Speaker 1: your day doing very high strategy work using numbers and
Speaker 1: logistics and all that shit, and then you're going.
Speaker 2: To, oh, what am I going to post on socials tonight?
Speaker 1: And then you're going back to maybe a meeting, and
Speaker 1: then you're going back to, okay, I need to write
Speaker 1: next week's newsletter, which is more creative writing, and then
Speaker 1: you're going back to customer service or talking to your suppliers.
Speaker 1: It's just a bloody shit show, like your poor brain.
Speaker 1: Every time you switch, that's another thirty minutes. So just
Speaker 1: the ones I said just then, that's three hours of
Speaker 1: you just wasting time because you're trying to switch between tasks.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to give you an example of how
Speaker 1: I task batch, but I actually turn this into having
Speaker 1: them days. I'm not saying you have to have theme days,
Speaker 1: but this really works for me. For example, on Mondays,
Speaker 1: I call them my death days, and on a death day,
Speaker 1: this is very much so about planning and scripting and
Speaker 1: you know, creating emails or copy or anything like that.
Speaker 1: So it's a very much head down, deep day, like
Speaker 1: I'm just falling. Tuesdays is my creation day, and I
Speaker 1: have all of this in my planner and I also
Speaker 1: have it on my Google calendar, so if my staff
Speaker 1: are ever trying to book in a meeting, they can see,
Speaker 1: oh no, it's not.
Speaker 2: Meeting day, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So creation day for me looks like recording pop casts,
Speaker 1: filming for YouTube, filming for socials, filming for SPP, all
Speaker 1: of those things. Now, Wednesdays is my marketing and content
Speaker 1: day for SPP, so it technically is another creation day.
Speaker 2: But it's very specific to SPP.
Speaker 1: So this is the only day besides my actual meeting day,
Speaker 1: which is on a Thursday, that I will have one meeting,
Speaker 1: and that meeting is marketing. So I will sit down
Speaker 1: with my marketing manager who I hired a couple months
Speaker 1: ago and it's been bloody amazing, and we will go
Speaker 1: through our campaigns, what content is needed and things like that,
Speaker 1: so that means I can then plan the content coming
Speaker 1: up or change things before I then jump in and
Speaker 1: start filming for SPP for that day. This day is
Speaker 1: also the day that I will focus on creating products,
Speaker 1: so if there's things I don't need a film, I
Speaker 1: will jump into creating products.
Speaker 2: So it's more of a creative day. Now.
Speaker 1: Thursdays, I am again at SPP, which is the warehouse,
Speaker 1: but this is my very much meeting heavy day, So
Speaker 1: all of my meetings I need for the week I
Speaker 1: will make sure I do on this day and if
Speaker 1: they finish, which they don't, the afternoon I will spend
Speaker 1: on doing like systems and anything that's like that real
Speaker 1: high level CEO tasks for the business really to make
Speaker 1: sure our processes work better. I'll look into our software
Speaker 1: that I've been building all that stuff. God, it makes
Speaker 1: me sound like I'm a tech person, but I've been
Speaker 1: building out notion for SBP for quite a long time now,
Speaker 1: probably like six months, and it's something that has really
Speaker 1: helped with us to keep everything in the one place
Speaker 1: and things like that and then Fridays is my catch
Speaker 1: all day, and that.
Speaker 2: Can also be a bit of an editing day as well.
Speaker 1: So catch all tasks is basically anything that I didn't
Speaker 1: get done during that week that just needs to get
Speaker 1: done before the next week.
Speaker 2: That is what I do.
Speaker 1: I try to make sure I get through all my
Speaker 1: emails and any of that ADMINI stuff. Now within these
Speaker 1: theme days, I also allocate time blocks, so between say
Speaker 1: nine and.
Speaker 2: Twelve is for that focus.
Speaker 1: So for example, if it's a creation day, nine to
Speaker 1: twelve is strictly filming or recording, and then after twelve
Speaker 1: is catch all tasks. So catsual tasks is something I
Speaker 1: need to do every day. So it's checking in with
Speaker 1: the team, checking slack, checking emails, and that is because
Speaker 1: again I'm using my brain. I'm working with my brain,
Speaker 1: not against it, to let it rest firstly, and also
Speaker 1: get on top of the light at work. Honestly, when
Speaker 1: you start taskbatching or having them days or both, you
Speaker 1: are going to just thrive. Like I can't explain to
Speaker 1: you how much relief it also brings. As someone like myself,
Speaker 1: I struggle to focus. So when I can finally just
Speaker 1: find something that works, I just want to like.
Speaker 2: Shake you guys and be like, you need to try this.
Speaker 1: You need to try this now, speaking of admin tasks,
Speaker 1: our emails run our lives. And I did not realize
Speaker 1: how bad I was with emails until I actively recorded
Speaker 1: what I did during the day. I had a notebook
Speaker 1: out because I just felt like I was not being
Speaker 1: productive and I didn't know what it was. And I
Speaker 1: realized it was because I was constantly checking in emails.
Speaker 1: So I was letting my emails run my day. I
Speaker 1: was letting well other people needed go above my deep
Speaker 1: work and my important projects. And this is so bloody common. Like,
Speaker 1: the first two hours of your workday is so important.
Speaker 1: I cannot stress that enough, especially if you're someone like
Speaker 1: me who really needs to get things done in the morning,
Speaker 1: and if you spend those two hours on emails, that's
Speaker 1: your productivity gone for the day, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Think about how often you will get into work from
Speaker 1: home or whatever, and the first half of your day
Speaker 1: is just catching up, you know. Like, that's why it's
Speaker 1: so important to have this next rule I'm about to
Speaker 1: tell you that's about to bloody change your life.
Speaker 2: And it's probably going to seem scary, but it's actually not.
Speaker 1: I want you to only be checking your emails twice
Speaker 1: a day max, once after your deep work session. Now
Speaker 1: side note, if you work for somebody else and this
Speaker 1: can't happen, then that's okay. But honestly, if you can
Speaker 1: do this, it's a life changeout. So for me, I'll
Speaker 1: check it about lunch, and then I check it again
Speaker 1: when I'm doing my catch all tasks. At the end
Speaker 1: of the day, when I check in with the team,
Speaker 1: and that is it, I'm done, and I still suck
Speaker 1: at emails, but that has honestly changed my life.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: The next thing you need to be doing is taking
Speaker 1: brain breaks. All of this talk of me saying you
Speaker 1: need to focus, you need to have all these blocks
Speaker 1: of deep work. It sounds pretty brutal, but once you're
Speaker 1: in that flow state and you have you know, you're
Speaker 1: task batching down part, everything's going to just go way
Speaker 1: more effortlessly. But within that you need to have brain breaks. So,
Speaker 1: for example, if you were someone that you feel like,
Speaker 1: you know, you put your phone away, you're focusing on
Speaker 1: a task, and you find that your mind starts to
Speaker 1: wander after maybe forty five minutes, maybe half an hour
Speaker 1: or even maybe two hours.
Speaker 2: Just take note of that.
Speaker 1: That is usually your signal to step away for five
Speaker 1: minutes or just do something else for five minutes. But
Speaker 1: make sure you use a timer because if you're anything
Speaker 1: like me, five minutes will turn into an hour. So
Speaker 1: having regular brain breaks, and this also includes having a
Speaker 1: mid day little mini reset, so at midday at least
Speaker 1: or some time around then, because how many of us
Speaker 1: when you work from home, you have your lunch at
Speaker 1: your desk and you're still working. So it's really impot
Speaker 1: for your brain and for your mental health that halfway
Speaker 1: through the workday you change scenery. The best thing you can,
Speaker 1: honestly do is actually go out and go for a walk,
Speaker 1: get outside and change your scenery because when you come back,
Speaker 1: you're going to be a lot more productive as well.
Speaker 1: So you hear the Pomodoro technique things like that, where
Speaker 1: it's like forty five minutes on, five minutes off or
Speaker 1: fifty minutes.
Speaker 2: Off, whatever it is.
Speaker 1: Try things like that, so your brain is getting regular
Speaker 1: breaks to keep you awake and also means that you're
Speaker 1: going to be getting tasked done better and more efficiently
Speaker 1: as well. Now, speaking of brain breaks, when it comes
Speaker 1: down to tasks, so task between work and home, just
Speaker 1: like the home and.
Speaker 2: Work to do list that I've created.
Speaker 1: Being able to really separate the tasks that have to
Speaker 1: be done for the different areas of your life is
Speaker 1: a lot easier on your mental load. That's why my
Speaker 1: plan is each month you'll see there's my signature brain
Speaker 1: dump page. So on your brain dump you could have personal, work, kids, health,
Speaker 1: and it's your reminders to do for the month ahead,
Speaker 1: but it's in the section because can you imagine when
Speaker 1: you have a huge list of tasks for all different
Speaker 1: areas of your life and it's all mixed together, which
Speaker 1: is what so many people do. Your brain is trying
Speaker 1: to switch between those things and that's so overwhelming. So
Speaker 1: using things like the homework to do list, which is
Speaker 1: really easy and you can have it open on your
Speaker 1: desk and you can also fold it over and just
Speaker 1: look at work, and then when that's done, you can
Speaker 1: flip it over and look at home. That's going to
Speaker 1: really help your brain break up the different areas. And lucky, last,
Speaker 1: this is probably the most requested one, so I've left
Speaker 1: it for last, is the closed down routine. This is
Speaker 1: telling your brain and giving it signals that work is over,
Speaker 1: just like how we used it to you know, listen
Speaker 1: to playlists or light candles, these things that I want
Speaker 1: to take you through. That I do is going to
Speaker 1: tell your brain that it's personal time slash family time.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 1: The first thing I do is I clean up my
Speaker 1: desktop because I take a lot of like random screenshots
Speaker 1: and things throughout the day, and files pop up on
Speaker 1: my desktop, So I just clean it up and chuck
Speaker 1: anything in the little trash on the screen.
Speaker 2: The next thing is clean up.
Speaker 1: Your desk or off of space, or pack away your caddy,
Speaker 1: so physically putting away your pens, your highlighters, checking off
Speaker 1: your planner for the next day, like ticking off your to.
Speaker 2: Do list, which bloody so therapeutic.
Speaker 1: Putting away any food or like the million cups that
Speaker 1: we have because we all have like twenty drinks that
Speaker 1: we drink a day, putting that all away and packing
Speaker 1: it up. The next thing, if you do have a
Speaker 1: home office, I want you to close the door.
Speaker 2: Again.
Speaker 1: That's giving you that physical barrier between work and home.
Speaker 1: And if you can change your scenery, and by that
Speaker 1: I don't necessarily mean just like going to another room
Speaker 1: in the house, where it can help. But for me
Speaker 1: to fully switch off, I actually need to get outside
Speaker 1: and go for a walk. I like to try and
Speaker 1: do two walks on a work day if I can
Speaker 1: at least go outside in the backyard and just kind
Speaker 1: of reset for a second. And one of my favorite
Speaker 1: things is, and I don't know if anyone else is
Speaker 1: like this, but as soon as I finished work, I
Speaker 1: have to have a shower. I have to like wash
Speaker 1: the day off, and then I get straight into my pajamas,
Speaker 1: and that also signals to my brain that it is
Speaker 1: chill time. And with this you can even take it
Speaker 1: up a notch and have a certain playlist for worksover
Speaker 1: or home time or whatever. Like you could literally call
Speaker 1: it home time even though you're already at home and
Speaker 1: you work from home.
Speaker 2: Like that would be really cute. Actually, I should make one.
Speaker 2: I should make a hometime playlist and we can all
Speaker 2: like listen to it.
Speaker 1: Okay, I'm going to do that. I want to make
Speaker 1: us a hometime playlist. I'm want to link it in
Speaker 1: the show notes and we can all listen to it
Speaker 1: together when we all finish work at the same time
Speaker 1: and switch off. You might be wondering I do that stuff,
Speaker 1: but you know, I'm still checking emails, I'm still getting
Speaker 1: like slack messages after hours, And this is where you
Speaker 1: really need to be setting boundaries with your team if
Speaker 1: it's something that isn't part of your role and if
Speaker 1: it's not like a really urgent time. I know if
Speaker 1: you work in marketing, you'd understand this, but it's about
Speaker 1: having that boundaries, but also setting up your phone. So
Speaker 1: on my phone at five pm, it automatically switches over
Speaker 1: to me time, and that means any of my Slack
Speaker 1: or emails or anything do not come through as notifications.
Speaker 1: And this is also something you should be setting up
Speaker 1: for your work time. I have a focus mode that's
Speaker 1: for recording, which means even Ryan can't ring me, and
Speaker 1: then I have a focus mode for work. Everyone can
Speaker 1: contact me, but it shuts down certain distracting apps, which unfortunately,
Speaker 1: because I work in social media, is not social media.
Speaker 1: These are the things that can really hack your brain
Speaker 1: and you can add into your routine to absolutely change
Speaker 1: how you work from home and stop feeling like you're
Speaker 1: always at work twenty.
Speaker 2: Four to seven.
Speaker 1: Now, to give you guys a bit of a recap
Speaker 1: on all of the things I just shared, because I
Speaker 1: know I just shared a lot.
Speaker 2: And one of the things I.
Speaker 1: Really actually love about our Stepping Up community is so
Speaker 1: many of you guys say that you constantly re listen
Speaker 1: to the same episodes because you always start taking away
Speaker 1: new things and you start taking notes, and it just
Speaker 1: makes me so happy that you know these are episodes that.
Speaker 2: You want to re listen to.
Speaker 1: And I really do when I script these art because,
Speaker 1: as you guys know, most of these are solo episodes,
Speaker 1: so I really try to provide as much value as
Speaker 1: I possibly can. Now, let's do a quick recap. We've
Speaker 1: got creating a dedicated workspace or caddy that makes you
Speaker 1: feel good and is functional. We've got sticking to set
Speaker 1: work hours. We've got working with your brain, not against it,
Speaker 1: so finding the times of day that you are at
Speaker 1: your best to do the most important things first. We've
Speaker 1: got hacking your brain, so using things like music and
Speaker 1: candles and headphones to get you into the flow state
Speaker 1: much quicker. We've got your rules around deep work, like
Speaker 1: when to do it. We've got task batching and theme days,
Speaker 1: so actually batching your life task together and having theme
Speaker 1: days for different areas in.
Speaker 2: Your work or your business.
Speaker 1: We've got scheduling, catch all tasks and things like checking
Speaker 1: your emails only once or twice a day max. And
Speaker 1: then of course we have your brain breaks, which is
Speaker 1: so important to keep you alert and productive and also
Speaker 1: just for your mental health. And lastly, we're having your
Speaker 1: closed down routine, which is so important to tell your
Speaker 1: brain and you that the workday is done. Anyways, as always,
Speaker 1: please let me know how you liked this episode. I
Speaker 1: would love if you guys would leave me a review.
Speaker 1: This podcast is independently run. I literally just do it
Speaker 1: because I want to help. That's literally it. And I'd
Speaker 1: love if you guys would tag me and stepping up
Speaker 1: Instagram page in your own work from home routines and
Speaker 1: your like closed down routines and just let us know
Speaker 1: what you're actually doing for it. And of course we
Speaker 1: have our Facebook community which is just called steph Pace Community.
Speaker 1: We have over twenty thousand members where you guys can
Speaker 1: all chat about things that we talked about in the podcast,
Speaker 1: so you can post your own work from home rules
Speaker 1: in there as well. Anyways, I love you and I
Speaker 1: will see you on Monday.
Speaker 2: Bye.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys so much for tuning in today's episode
Speaker 1: of Stepping Up. I don't want this to be just
Speaker 1: another podcast that you listen to, you get inspiration and
Speaker 1: then you don't take action. If there's been something in
Speaker 1: this episode that will help you step up into the
Speaker 1: best version of yourself, open up your trusted planner and
Speaker 1: make a plan. And if you've loved listening to today's episode,
Speaker 1: take a screenshot and show me where you've been listening from.
Speaker 2: I love seeing it.
Speaker 1: Make sure you tag us at Stepping Up and steph
Speaker 1: Pace Underscore on Instagram so we can see it. And
Speaker 1: make sure you subscribe because you won't want to miss
Speaker 1: what's coming up next week.