This Is Woman's Work with Nicole Kalil - 166 / The Truth About Productivity with Amber De La Garza

Episode Date: November 29, 2023

Is productivity just about getting as much done as possible, or is it about getting the right things done in the best way? HOW do you KNOW when you’re being productive? Maybe a better question is how do you differentiate from being productive vs. just being busy? I’m excited to have Amber De La Garza on the show to help us answer these questions! Amber has more than a decade of experience helping small business owners maximize profits, reduce stress, and make time for what matters most by elevating their productivity! Amber is a sought-after coach, trainer, speaker, writer, host of the Productivity Straight Talk Podcast and creator of Leverage Lab® and she’s here to help us choose productivity over everything else. Others will always have advice about what you should and shouldn’t be doing, what’s the most valuable use of your time, and where you should be spending it… But there’s a difference between an expense and an investment. Like money, you can’t get time back once you’ve spent it. But also like money, you CAN invest your time into things with the greatest ROI, with the hope that it will appreciate and generate something even greater. Being busy (but not productive) is an expensive way to live. Being PRODUCTIVE is an investment in YOU, your future, and what matters most. YOU ARE THE ASSET. (To take advantage of the FREE opportunity to give and get support on social media thru 12/31 click here: https://nicolekalil.com/apply and make sure to choose the “Likes Only” option) Like what you heard? Please rate and review Connect with Amber and Resources: Website: http://theproductivityspecialist.com  Podcast: http://amberdelagarza.com/podcast/  Blog: http://amberdelagarza.com/blog/  IG: https://www.instagram.com/amber_delagarza/ LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amberdelagarza FB: https://www.facebook.com/theproductivityspecialist 

AmpliShip is when women support women publicly. I am committed to AmpliShip and I'm creating a space where women can connect, support, collaborate, and build each other up. Where we get more women on podcasts, support women in their book launches, help market their products and their services, get more women on big stages, make it easier for us to find great coaches, connect like-minded women who are up to big things through masterminds and retreats, and so much more. We've already kicked off this public support of women on social media by creating a way to find

and like each other's content. And it has been uplifting, inspiring, and impactful. And you can join us for free from now until December 31st of 2023. All you need to do is head to my website, NicoleColeil.com, click on the AmpliShip tab and apply. Make sure to click the likes only option anytime between now and 1231, and you'll be added for free. It's a small and important way to start. You get support and you give support. It's all about reciprocity and AmpliShip. Visit my website or click the link in show notes to join the AmpliShip social media engagement party. I am Nicole Kalil, and on today's episode of This is Woman's Work, we're going to talk about productivity. Organizations obsess about how to increase the productivity of their business and employees. Business owners are constantly searching for ways to improve it,

and there are coaches who focus almost entirely on it. Frankly, anyone with a goal is probably thinking about it. I mean, even when I give myself a break or some time to rest, I catch myself wondering if there's a more productive way I could be resting. We're consumed with the idea of being as productive as possible. We're captivated by other people's productivity. It feels like we've gotten to a point where there isn't a problem we don't try to solve by saying, do more. What are we actually talking about here? Do we even know what it means to be productive?

And how is it different than just working our asses off or doing everything or being on all the time? Are we confusing productivity with other things like activity, busyness, responsiveness, time management, or even FaceTime or death by meeting in the office? Is productivity just about getting things done or is it about getting the right things done in the best way? And how do you know when you're being productive? Maybe a better question is how do you differentiate between being productive versus just being busy? I'm no productivity expert, but I can tell you that the biggest barrier I see in organizations and with the people that I work with is people doing activity for the sake of activity, wearing busyness like a badge of honor, redundant meetings

about redundant topics, and an inability to focus on the most important things because everyone is too distracted by the urgent stuff to even attempt to increase actual productivity. So I'm bringing in someone who actually is the productivity specialist to help us let go of what isn't working so we can focus on what will. Amber De La Garza has more than a decade of experience helping small business

owners maximize profits, reduce stress, and make time for what matters by elevating their productivity. Amber is a sought-after coach, trainer, speaker, writer, host of the Productivity Straight Talk podcast, and creator of Leverage Lab. And she's here to help us choose productivity over everything else. Amber, thank you for being here. And in that spirit of productivity, I'm going to start with the most important question. What are we actually talking about when we say productivity? Yes, and I love that you're starting off with that because I think that when we say the

word productivity, everyone has their own experience and perspective on that. Like you said, I've had a decade of working exclusively on productivity. And so I've come to define productivity as you're being your most productive self when you're investing your best time into your best activities. And it's really a framework because being productive isn't just at the office or in our businesses. We can show up and be our most productive selves as humans, as taking care of our health, as parents. When we think about that all activities,

as you mentioned, are not created equal. And so what we really need to figure out is how can we give our best time, which is our undivided focus. Like think about answering the question of how do I show up my best, right? That undivided focused zone where you're doing your best work into the activity that will move you, propel you towards achieving your goal. And I'll leave it with you on that. But I do want to jump to when we get a chance is that it's about making a decisive decision about what those best activities are. The busyness is literally not making a decision about what those activities are. Yeah, I kind of think of it as busyness is when your calendar controls you or when the stuff you're doing

controls your choices as opposed to the other way around where you control your calendar or you control the decisions you make with the time that you have. But I want to circle back before we dive into the decision-making part of it to this phrase, best time. You said where we have undivided focus. I think a lot of us, we've gotten so used to doing all the things all the time that we don't even know what our best time is anymore. Can you maybe give us some questions you might ask to help somebody uncover what their best time is or help us to think through some of the factors we might want to consider when determining what our best time is? Yeah, absolutely. So we are generally going to be busy doing something, most of us, from the time we

wake up to the time we go to bed. And so when I say lasering in on your best time, it's those pockets of time that you are able to dedicate purposely to an activity. And so sometimes we're morning people. I happen to be a morning person. If you ask me to show up and invest in my best activities at three o'clock in the afternoon, you're not getting the best parts of me. We also can lean into introvert, extrovert. So this isn't social. This is how you get energy. For me, I need to do my deepest work and it might be my high value work that moves my business forward behind the scenes. But I'm going to be doing that in the morning because my energy is highest and it will drain my energy. And then my afternoon by design is created by talking to people, whether it's you doing a podcast interview or it's going to be clients because I don't care what my energy level is going into it. I get energy from people. And so I just given you a couple examples of if you know

yourself, where do you get energy? Where does energy get drained from you? How can you create a schedule that allows you to show up your best in those moments? Another question I would ask or that I do ask is, you know, how long can you currently focus? So being able to focus on a single task or activity is a skill set to be learned. And there's no judgment. Some people have the capacity to do like major focused work for 20 minutes and that's it. Well, then don't fight that.

Don't schedule yourself to do this deep focused work for 90 minutes thinking that's what you should do. I believe in all the work I do is we have to honor who we are and work in that way, like work to honor that, right? Instead of fighting that and saying we should be a different way. For me, I'm like a car that needs warming up. But once I get warmed up, I can dive deep into something for 60 to 90 minutes and then jump out. 20 minute intervals for me, like the Pomodoro, does not work. And in fact, I have a whole episode like,

hope that works for you. Doesn't work for me. I'm a huge proponent of finding what works best for each of us. So knowing yourself, leaning into it, and then creating the environment that sets you up for that. So I'm going to give you a story. So I started my business 12 years ago and I left corporate and in corporate, I was in management and I had the door open policy and there's cubicles and this hustle and the bustle. And I was able to do some focused work. And I thought, oh my gosh, now I'm working from home. Like watch out. I'm going to nail this. I sit at my desk in my house, completely quiet. I have a window that faces the front street and this bird would come chirp on the tree. And I realized I

was like cursing at the bird for distracting me. Like one little bird is distracting my focus. Whereas six months I was in a hustle bustle office. So I was able to do much better with the white noise and the hustle and bustle to focus, even though that wasn't what you would think would give me my best time. And I was like, this is really weird. I can't get into my own office. So this was before there was actually downloaded apps. I went to a cafe and I started my business working from a cafe for the first two years because I needed the blender and the hustle and the chit chat. And now do you know that you can literally download the soundtracks of a cafe because we now know that some people find their

best focus with that background noise? Well, 12 years ago, I could have judged myself and forced myself to say, this is how I have to show up best. But I didn't. I wanted to experiment. And 12 years later, I want to tell every listener, experiment without judgment to find what is your best time, meaning how do you show up your best to create that focus? It may be music.

It may be white noise. You may find that you show up your best after going for a brisk walk around the office and then sit down into your deep work. Those are just some of the things, but there's a lot to play with there for sure. So all exceptional examples, and I think my three big takeaways are first, that what is or what defines our best time will likely be different for all of us. And so just because something works for somebody else or your coach tells you to do something or whatever doesn't necessarily mean it's not a one size fits all solution.

Correct. The second thing is there is a measure of self-awareness in this learning about yourself and appreciating what works for you and doesn't work for you so there's that part and then i love that you said this so i'm just going to repeat it experiment without judgment as we figure these things out yeah that last part i think is the key because I think that people think this ability to do this deep focus work as just outside their grasp, like somebody else can do it. Somebody else has it solved, figure it out. And what I have found is that actually, if you give yourself permission, you might already know what you need. And so just to cap this up, I'll give one more example.

I had a client that had a home office and a work office, and she had a whole team at her office. And she was like, I can get so much work done at home, but when I'm in the office, I just can't focus. And at first, you'd be like, of course, because there's like interruptions in people. And she's like, it's not that. And I was like, tell me about your routine at home. And she had this routine where she would put Judge Judy on the TV in the background.

She had her shoes off and she'd have this white furry rug under her feet and she would rub her feet. And that was like her trigger. It's time to get into the deep work. And she's telling me this. And I was like, hey, what's your routine to get into the deep work in your office? telling me this. And I was like, Hey, what's your routine to get into the deep work in your office? And she's like, yeah, I don't have one. I should just be able to, right? Like close the door and do it. And I was like, Oh, you're judging it. I go, I know you have a TV in your office. I go, what if you shut the door, turn judge Judy on? Cause

I know you're not listening to it. You just need the white noise and go to Roth and get yourself a rug. And she did that because she was judging the same person, right? Of what was acceptable and okay in her home office that we know worked well for her. She was judging it and shutting that off as an option in her professional office. And so again, it might be right in front of you if you're willing to lean into it. Okay. I love that. Phenomenal example. Now, if productivity is about investing our best time in the best activities, what are some behaviors, we've touched on a few, but what are some behaviors that are preventing us from doing that? I think that one thing that also comes up that kind of gets interchanged with productivity is that we have to be at some level of organized that we see somebody else. And I wanted to share that as a debunked myth that you can find your best time into your best

activities without being incredibly organized. And here's why. We all know somebody that is, you can barely see them behind their desk. They have stacks of paper, there's chaos everywhere, but they're slaying their goals. They're hitting their deadlines. They're nailing the presentations. They are doing very well, but they're disorganized. And we also know the person in the office that has a perfectly clean desk, color-coordinated calendar, and they're still not, quote unquote, being productive, meaning nailing their goals. And so if we know both to be true, I want to just invite you. They're not one in the same. Now, can organization help you be more productive often?

Meaning if you're looking for lost things and you can't find your files and you're doing repeat work and that's taking you away from time into your best activities, then yes, let's work on the organization. But if it's really not hindering you, I feel like people get stuck that it needs to look a certain way or be a certain way in the organization. And when we're ultimately saying, I just want to show up my best and reach my goals, let's not overcomplicate it and say that it has to look like a perfectly white clean desk. Okay. So this example perfectly leads me into a question that I had. Where does delegation and leverage play a part in our productivity and our ability to

spend our best time on the best activities? So let's say I'm not the most organized person and I am, you know, losing files or missing whatever, like is the opportunity from a spirit of productivity to think about how to delegate or leverage some of those things? Because if it's not a strength, will it ever become a strength? 100%. Okay. Yeah. So I do think there's a level of organization that no hiring of an assistant can do for us. We really need to be working with the system. So even if you have an assistant that's helping you create the systems, there's a level of personal responsibility to comply with the system. Anybody can break the organizational system. But to take a step back and say, okay,

where does delegation meet with productivity? 100,000%. Because if we are really going to be discerning with the few things that are our best activities, the things that only we can do that move the needle, to be able to make that decision, we also need to make the decision, what are we not good at? What is not the best investment of my time? And by doing that, we then answer the question of, well, what can we delegate off of our plate? What can we ask for help on so that I can double down on these things that have the biggest impact? When we are saying, I'm the best person to do this, I can do it faster, I can do all these things, we are actually robbing ourselves of the opportunity to show up in the activities that will make the

biggest impact. But in my opinion, we're actually robbing the world of our special skills and talents by doing the things and filling up our schedule with the busy stuff. And we're also robbing the people that maybe that's their best thing. Like that's their special skills, their gift that they have to give. And when we hold on to everything thinking we need to do everything, I often like to flip that and be like, I'm actually robbing other people. So if I stay in my lane, I'm actually best of service. I hope that makes sense. It makes perfect sense. And I love that perspective because I think sometimes we have a hard time making those choices for just ourselves.

But if we see the impact or lack thereof or having on other people by not making the best choices with our time, that can be the difference maker. So I wanted to talk a little bit about the potential. I don't know if conflict is the right word, but let's say you have an idea of how you're most productive, but you work in an environment or have a mentor or a leader or a coach or something who's very much trying to tell you to do it in a way that doesn't work, that isn't going to have you be uber productive. What's your advice in that situation? Yes. So I actually get this quite a bit. I have two areas of my business. One is that I coach small business owners, but when I speak, I'm speaking to corporations, companies, employees.

And so I hear this a lot, that frustration, they'll meet me afterwards and be like, oh my gosh, I loved everything you said, but that's not, that's not okay. Like they don't let me say, do not disturb on my cubicle or whatever that looks like. And my advice is always this. If you do take the time to experiment and, and get clear about how you show up best, a boss, a mentor, a manager, a peer, if you can go advocate for yourself and say, my goal is to show up and do the best job I can. And to do that, this is what I need. How can we make that possible? And enroll them into that.

I have never heard anybody come back and say, I mean, unless it's a totally dysfunctional and you may think about your work options outside of that, is that they're not going to say, no, don't show up your best. No, I don't want you to meet that deadline. No, I don't want you to do your best work, but it takes understanding and then advocating and putting it in a way in which it's helpful to them and the company, because we all want the same result. And we're just not in alignment about how to best get there right now. How can we do that? Yeah. You know, as you were talking, it reminded me of a woman that I used to coach who was kind of having that conflict with her mentor.

And to make a long story short, she did exactly what you said, and she positioned it as a test. Can I ask for the space to test this out, doing it this way for three months. My anticipation is that my productivity will go up in these ways, but let's test it out. And I thought that was a really smart way to approach it because it wasn't like forever commitments or we're changing policy or anything like that. It was just a, let's test this out. And the reason I want to test this out is for something that will literally benefit every one of us, which is my increased productivity. So I think that's excellent advice. I love that example. And I would just offer that I would bet I'm guessing

the end is that she was more productive and it worked out. Yeah. Phenomenally more productive. And like she's now sort of changing things within her organization. That's what I was just going to say is that if you can have the courage to have those conversations and then lead, then you're leading by example. And you may be the little spark that changes other people's experience, their stress level, their work experience. I mean, it's not just for yourself. You might end up being able to make some major cultural changes of what's acceptable and not acceptable in the company. Which, I mean, I have tingles just saying that.

Like, I think that's really exciting to think about. Completely. Okay. I want to talk a little bit about the evolution of productivity. You've given us a few examples, but if we're speaking specifically to new business owners or new entrepreneurs or new employees, where is the line between, you know, maybe you don't know a lot about what it takes to be productive just yet, and you're testing a lot of things. And there is an element of just having to work really, really, really hard versus if you're 10 years in your business, you know, you've learned a lot, you know, some things you've probably had some success. And so your focus might be almost entirely on productivity. Any advice for that transition if we're talking

to somebody totally new or maybe like growing versus established? Oh my goodness. What a wonderfully deep and awesome question. Okay. So I agree with you. It really is something that you don't, you know, with seasoned and time, it gets clearer and clearer. And then we throw out things like delegate. And when you're first starting out, you're like delegate to who my other personalities, me, myself, and I. And so you're like, great, great strategy, Amber. But that doesn't work for me. So is it true that you will be working later nights, weekends when you're first starting out? I think it's 100% true. And I think it needs to be spoken about more so that you're not thinking you're doing it

wrong. Okay. At 1000%. But that doesn't change that you're going to be working a lot, but you're only going to be productive, like truly by the definition productive, a portion of the time. Unfortunately, that doesn't always change even if you've been in business for a decade. I'm not productive every day, all day. That is not the goal. I would be a lunatic to think that by definition, I'm investing my best time into my best activities, that that is my full schedule, even as a seasoned business owner. And so can we focus and say,

if just for one hour, I'm working on my business and not in my business. For one hour, I'm working on something that moves the business forward into the future, instead of being here right now as a new business owner. That is the most productive, like that we can celebrate. And I'm talking one hour a week, not even one hour a day, because that those same challenges actually don't go away just because you're seasoned or bigger or have a team. You have to be just as diligent to say, I'm protecting an hour a day to do my highest value. Get really clear about the thing that will help you if you showed up consistently, reach your goals, do that. And then that doesn't change just the amount of time you're able to invest. The actual activity will change as you have a team. I'm going to give you one example.

So as a business owner, it is vital. I'm not in marketing, but it is vital. You have to let the world know what it is and what you do and how you can help them. But what it looked like over the years of how I showed up in marketing looks way different than now. And when you're first starting out, I think about it as going to the bar and you're ordering all the appetizers. You need to figure out what you like best at this bar. And then you start going back and you're like, oh, not those, not those. This is the thing. And that's normal in business.

You're going to say, I'm going to try this strategy and this strategy and this strategy. And then you're going to show up one day and you're going to be like, not this, not that. And that's very discerning. Like that's powerful. So now you're not showing up in all those areas. You're going to show up and double down in a couple areas for marketing. And guess what? That's your most productive activity. I just

wanted to give some examples of what that might look like. No, a great, I think great analogy, great example, and completely true to my experience. I've figured out so many things that are not that, not that, but I had to test them out. I had to attempt and I had to put in the effort and the energy and the work at the time. And I wouldn't have known unless I did it. And it's like a narrowing of a filter, just like you said with the restaurant, it's the narrowing down of the menu. So instead of the cheesecake factory, you're able to get to like some beautiful, you know, Michelin starred restaurant where you eat what they serve you and you're happy about it and you pay a lot of money for it. Okay. I want to hit one last thing. And that's any differentiators in your mind between time management and productivity.

We hear so much, I think, especially as women about time management. And I'm not anti-time management. I do think it's a little bit of a misnomer. I consider it choice management. We all have the same amount of time. And what is different is the choices we make with the time that we have. I'd love to hear your perspective on, I'm going to put time management in air quotes and productivity. I mean, I don't know if anyone would tune in if you called it choice management. I called it

energy management, but we're talking about the same things, but we have to say time management because that's what we all agree that we're talking about. 100%. Your whole schedule in your personal life, your business life, at business is a decision about what you are going to invest your time in, your most valuable asset. Jim Rohn has an amazing quote that pretty much nails how valuable our time is. He says, time is our most valuable asset, yet we tend to kill it, spend it, and waste it rather than invest it. I love that quote by him. And really, if we see time like we do our money, like deposit in, withdraw, how are we best going to invest it? That is true time management. It's not

what time you wake up. And I guess I want to debunk so much and we're out of time, but it's not like time management isn't about like what time you wake up. And I guess I want to debunk so much and we're out of time, but it's not like time management isn't about like what time you wake up. Like you can be just as productive two hours later if you invest your time in those right activities. There's no right or wrong way. I have a quote and it says, productivity is a choice. It's a choice you make every day and sometimes every hour.

And so we have to choose how we're investing our time. And is that the most productive use of our time? Not so much. Is this the thing I want to do the most, but is this the thing? Exactly. Exactly. Man, that's the hard part. Yes. I mean, we build these businesses because we want to do all the things we want to do. And yet we'd be our worst own employee if we just, you know, we're like, I don't want to do that. I mean, we build these businesses because we want to do all the things we want to do. And yet we'd be our worst own employee if we just, you know, we're like, I don't want to do that. I want to do this. No, sometimes you got to head down and do the hard things and things that you know your business needs. So that's just a flip there. I'll say, Nicole, is that when I am thinking I'm going to negotiate with something that I already had decided my better self to say, to do, I'll say, what does the business need? Cause I love my business. Yeah. Great question. Yes. What does the business need? The business needs for me to sit down and do this thing, no matter how I feel about it. Yeah. Oh, so, so good. Amber, thank you for your wisdom, for your tips and for your time today and for choosing to be productive in this

way. If you're listening and you want to take Amber's free, take back your time, mini training, go to AmberDeLaGarza.com. We'll put the link in show notes as well as all the other places you can find and follow Amber and absolutely listen to the Productivity Straight Talk podcast. Amber, thank you. Thank you so much for having me. This was fun. Let me close out by reminding you that you will always be surrounded by messaging that the answer to all the problems is to work harder, do more, and stay busy. And sometimes, especially when you're new at something, the truth is that outworking your problem is most often the most predictable way of building success. But at some point, if you put in the effort and do the hard parts, the focus

should shift from working harder to working smarter, right? I mean, if you need to continue to operate in your fifth or 10th year of business the exact same way you did in your first year, isn't that a huge problem? Shouldn't the transition from busyness to productivity be a sign that you're growing? Shouldn't it be less about doing all the things and more about doing only a few of the very best things? People will always have advice about what you should and shouldn't be doing, what's the most valuable use of time, and where you should be spending it. But there's a difference between an expense and an investment. Like money, you can't get time back once you've spent it. But also like money, you can invest your time into things with the greatest ROI with the hope that it will appreciate and generate something even greater.

Being busy is an expensive way to live. Being productive is an investment in you, your future, and what matters most. Because you are the asset. And that is woman's work.