78. Time Myths that Are Killing Your Business
Limitless Podcast —Episode 78– Time Myths
A key factor in creating a successful business as an entrepreneur is time management. We often see time and space as things we “never have enough”, but is that really the case? If you regularly say “I don’t have to create content” or “I don’t have time to run a business” or “I don’t have time to go for a walk” this episode is for you. Today, Jamie Ratermann debunks time myths that could be stopping your business growth.
Episode Highlights:
Is it really all important?
Understanding when you say “I can do anything but not everything”.
Taking full ownership of how you spend your time.
Listen to episode 47: 3 Essential Time Management Skills for Entrepreneurs
Resources:
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Jamie Ratermann 0:00
It's not that we don't have enough time, we simply choose user time for something else. Or that particular task that we keep putting off is simply not a priority right now. So instead of deciding, oh, it's because of all these other people we decided, no, I made the choice not to do it. That's that's the essential piece, we have full control over how our days go. Being limitless is knowing your success and your growth are built on a radical belief in yourself. Limitless is honoring your purpose, your health and impact above all else. Limitless is never playing small because the more alive you feel in your life, the more growth and success you attract. Hi, my name is Jaime Ratterman. And I am a Holistic business coach, meaning I am just as invested in growing your health as I am and growing your wealth. With 11 plus years and brand social media marketing, I help rebellious entrepreneurs master marketing and body leadership and say fuck it to the hustle. This show is here to encourage you to become more radically aware of your self imposed limits to break free of your shoulds and to expand your brand into a movement led by you. Hello lovelies, welcome to another episode of the limitless podcast. I am excited to chat today it is something that is a topic I love to talk about just because it makes such a big difference in the way in which you see this. But you know, we're entering into a new seasons. Sadly, maybe for anyone who loves summer, maybe you're feeling that pull like I don't want it to be over. But I officially in the last week and I've seen mentions of pumpkins mentions of the fall, I feel like people would like love to talk about Harry Potter as it is anything related to the fall is coming up. So the seasons are changing. So whenever I enter into a new season, especially the fall, we have that back to school energy, I always find myself adjusting the way I approach my time. So as a key factor in what it really means to create a successful business as an entrepreneur, time management is a topic that I we never stop talking about. Like it's something that we're always trying to harness a new way of doing it. Now, you can absolutely revisit episode 47 I give a lot of the ways in which I build time management systems for success. So knowing that, like the routines and rituals are a big part of it. But sometimes I have a bit of a miss kind of like a limit with or block for some of the clients whenever we're talking about counter blocking or, or different ways to really harness the way in which you you you decide what to do every day, there's usually a mindset block before we even get started. And that's what this episode is about today is talking about what gets in the way, from you getting to your best focus your best time and energy in general, as an entrepreneur. So truly, the way we see time affects what we can get done, and how quickly we grow as a business. So I'm going to reference two books during this episode, because they both are really fantastic. But the first one is the big leap by Gay Hendricks i, i I've read it, I really only read it once because I really understood the concept. But one thing that people really don't talk about, because this the big leap, everyone loves to talk about the zone of genius, which great, I love it. But the the something that I found to be kind of radical, and in that book was the concept of Einstein Time. So Einstein Time is something that absolutely flips the way we see time and allows it to see us to see it as more abundance and something that we have more control over. So I encourage you to go into read, I believe it starts on Chapter Six too, because I just I will go back to that I have it as an ebook for myself. But I will encourage you to go to the book and get a full solid understanding of, of what Einstein Time is and why it matters. But it's what essentially are the way in which I see it is this huge mindset shift. So instead of seeing time and space as things that we never have enough of which we all know that if even if we aren't seeing it now we've thought about it before that we don't have enough time to do that I don't have I don't like I can never get to that or I never, I'm never able to this is going against that. So this is for all of you who in general, maybe these are phrases come up. I don't have time to create content. I don't have the space to run a business right now. I don't have time to go for a walk or to make myself a nice meal. Those are all just untrue stories. I know for many of you I know but no Jim, I've got I've got things to tell you that that there's a reason why you're gonna tell me all of the reasons why but I'm going to tell you that in this episode, we're just gonna, we're gonna go straight at it. It's not true. It's not true that you don't have time. If you take the Einstein to approach, it's about fully owning how you spend your time. I'm gonna say it again, Einstein Time is about taking full ownership, about how you spend and use your time. So it's not that we don't have enough time, we simply choose your time for something else. Or that particular task that we keep putting off is simply not a priority right now. So instead of deciding, oh, it's because of all these other people, we decide, no, I made the choice not to do it. That's, that's the essential piece, we have full control over how our days go. That is a radical statement. But once you embody it is so like I, the world looks, the world looks a little brighter, it looks a little different. It's really, it allows you to feel more empowered. So we have full control over how our days go, we allow or fill them with the events, the tasks, the routines that are there, we decide. Well, I again, I want to please tell you to revisit Episode 47, of limitless to truly look at how you can design your week. Understand that what I'm getting across here is that if you don't design your week, somebody or somebody else, or somebody or something else Well, today, though, is the mindset piece that gets in the way of fully embracing that we have control over our time. Today, I'm going to share the three essential mindset shifts that helped me free myself of some time miss, and really embody this idea of Einstein time that we have full control over the way in which we use our time, and it is abundant all the time in the world to build the things that we love. So as I've built routines around these, the concept, oh, my time has become easier. So these mindset shifts are the ways in which I once I embodied each one of them, I was able to be like, Okay, I do have full control, I'm able to release some BS that we've decided is truth. That are that aren't, that isn't true at all. Let me just start at the top here. The first time this is I have to baked into this myth is a time punishment, or unnecessary pressure. So the idea I have to get this done today, I have to do this first, I have to work through lunch, saying this saying this phrase on a regular basis is punishment is pressure. So consider the last time you felt really heavy about your to do list, there was this invisible pressure being applied that you have to do all these tasks, to be productive, to be impressive, to be enough, or even further to feel worthy. At the end of the day, these are exterior limits that we've all learned through school society as a whole, and it's time to break them. So to combat the I have to or the shoulds. I instead want you to consider the invincible power of choice. I had to I had to emphasize it. It's invincible the invisible power of choice. By choosing how you'd like your week to look. Using time blocks, you are creating your business and life by design. You design it right you are the designer of your life, you are the source of everything you want. Because if you don't do something, somebody else will decide what goes in that time slot. So you get to create these rules. When when the half when the half two rules, when the half to mindset right rules your day, your hour by hour, is allowing your power to be a function of other people's choices, not yours. So starting making this change by simply using the phrase I choose to. It's the truth more than I have to ever was. I choose to skip my meal today, I choose to answer my emails before getting out of bed, I choose to get a run in the morning. Before I begin my day, I choose to get focused on my lunch for my product before anything else gets addressed that day, I choose you're pulling your power back. So by simply using the statement when you are taking your power back, you are leading your time with abundance, your understanding that our schedules can be filled with what we love, or potentially may start to see how others may be manipulating how you spend your time. So if you are like I choose to get this work done and then you have a coworker or a client or your mother calling you in the middle of the day.
Jamie Ratermann 9:49
You choose to answer them you choose to allow yourself to be disrupted you choose those things, instead of knowing that like I had to answer it like you didn't have to You are able to create this very sacred space for yourself and, and allow people to come into your day the way in which you decide. So understand that that's, that's part of this boundaries, I choose to decide when I answer people, I choose to decide how available I am. So let's put an example out there. So I choose to answer my clients as soon as they need me. Versus I have to, it puts into perspective that it's not actually on my clients fault that I'm not holding to my boundary. So I will get this often with with different kinds of mine, where they're like, Well, I have a really needy client, I have a, I have someone who's always peppering me with emails, and it's being able to set the standard of hey, like, I will answer you once to twice a day. If it's like a high ticket client, I will answer you once a week, I will answer like whatever level they're at, you have to one tell them, but you also have to choose to hold that boundary. So that's a part of this. The second myth is that it is all important. So going back to the true definition of priority, if it's all important, is any of it. If we decide that everything on our lists on our in our days is important, kind of defeats the purpose of that definition, priority is putting something first, by believing that all tasks have the same weight to our success, you are going to be pulled in numerous different directions. Now we are all allowed to be multi passionate, but trying to be a multitasker is the problem. So instead, we are going to learn a few truths about businesses who have succeeded before but that they use the 8020 rule. So this idea states that 20% of our efforts produce 80% of our results, meaning the more we focus on what moves the needle in our business, the more success we attract. So something like Southwest Airlines would be something that absolutely use us where they only focus on the top cities in the in the United States, that's where they're, that's where their flights go. They're not they're not trying to do any of the little satellite cities, they instead are going to focus on the top cities that they can that they can send people back and forth to and that was able to build a lot of wealth for them. They were knowing that even to the way they did their seating was something that was focusing specifically on people only want for the cost, I don't need to give them the see that there was so much built into that they focus 20% of their efforts on on what produced 80% of the results. Also, I feel like it's always fun when we're talking about business success to throw in Warren Buffett into this, he talks about focusing on 20% of his efforts on the stocks and the and the processes that build 80% of his results. Same thing. So this is where you want to embody this in some way for your business. So I help clients identify this for themselves. So this can be anything from their zone of genius. But ultimately, what I like to give specifically my marketing master clients, but also all my clients, what I call the MMT pyramid. So this is where you're looking at your task list and you're trying to decide where do I begin? What's the most important thing? And I give this pyramid to show? What are your actual money making tasks, so you can be more decisive of what gets attention first, so that you move the needle and you generate wealth by building that brand visibility, so we I should I give it to them. So there's no question of what gets to be done first. So when we are debunking that it's all important, we are instead embracing something else. The actual truth here is only a sleeve things really matter. It's not it's not all important, only a few things actually matter. So I love this shift. Most whenever I find myself feeling really anxious about all that I have to do in a day. So like I while I say that I'm like on top of this time, and like how it all works. I have a tendency sometimes to do a brain dump and be like, I want to do it all today. I want to get through all 10 of these tasks. But But knowing that like sometimes I will we get anxious and then I don't want to do any of it. I will sometimes like bring myself back by using this 8020 rule. So getting grounded, and knowing okay, what actually must be done. So if I if I overload my list with 10 things, I will instead use the 8020 rule, get my MMT on top and actually focus on two to three things. So I end up finishing a day or finishing a week whatever mode I'm using, actually feeling accomplished and knowing that I did enough in my day. So really applying that only a few things really matter. Really handles this idea that I don't do enough. No, I do enough, I do enough because I focus on what actually creates the results. The last one or the last myth I want to debunk with you is I can do both. This this particular saying this last time it is for those who are still holding on to this idea that they can do it all. All the time. You've heard the versity myth, it's double sided. Yeah, I know jam, I know that I should I like I should say I choose to instead, I know that only a few things really matter. But I'm actually pretty much amazing. I'm a genius. And I can do more than anyone else. I'm more productive than anybody else like you. You're like kind of fitting in there like no, you think you know me, but I'm better than most. And I want to tell you, You are brilliant. You every single one of you listening to this podcast, you are absolutely fucking brilliant. But let me be clear, when you decide that you can do both, you are making a trade off. Instead of truly using your time to the best of your ability. This myth actually comes up when you tend to be somebody who over promises. So by saying that you can hit let's say numerous deadlines or continuously add more to your list your to do list in the moment, you are setting yourself up for overwhelm and burnout. So consider this, if you promise a client a 24 hour turnaround and you believe that you're going to create all of your content for the week that was already on your schedule, let me tell you something isn't going to be done, Something's just not going to happen. So one or both, either gets like falls to the wayside. So the trade off here is that you either miss the deadline to yourself, about creating your content, or you miss one to your client. So the best way to combat this myth is to become highly aware, certain repeated tasks actually take in model your client response or weekly task planning after it. So I've mentioned this on the podcast before I love to use some sama to help me understand that what how I use my time. And I'll make sure to include that in the show notes. So that you can get a good grasp. But the essential shift here is to instead embody this idea of I can do anything because you can, but not everything. Like I love to say this even to like for, for the even the other sense of like for women, like I can have everything I want. But the idea that I can have everything, but not all at once is being able to I can do anything, but not everything. It's all possible. But trying to do it all at once will allow you to believe this lie that you may not be good with time. So if you're like, oh, I can do everything something's going to fall, doesn't matter. If you're a genius, something's going to fall, something's not going to get done well or not get done at all. Okay, so it's about thinking about what you expect of yourself, not about what time did or didn't do for you. This shift is simply really about creating more space than you think you actually need. Until you find your sweet spot about how it all works. Creating a schedule that truly serves you. It is not trying to prove something not trying to prove that you're the best of being productive. This is what this myth or removing this myth from your life is going to do for you. So once I embodied the core truth that I can do anything but not everything, it became a lot easier to hire a team. I tended to say no. Or I would say, You know what, let me get back to you. Before I answer, I answer that I want to immediately say yes, of course, I would like, oh, you need that by tomorrow. And let me double check before I say yes, that would be my approach, even to when it came to saying yes to giving time to task or to somebody else. It would come after really using my calendar and what my weekly objectives are before I made any promises. So this is something that honestly this last one took probably took me the most to really get a handle on. But it was something that made a huge difference where I go, I'm actually great with time. I just sometimes I fall short of what I expect of myself, what I'm trying to prove. Instead I go no i If I really understand how and when the time that I need. This gets easier. So many of these mindset shifts came to light for me through reading Essentialism by Greg McCowan. Honestly, I reread that book all the time, it helps me just to stay on track with a lot of these new approaches. But he calls them time fallacies.
Jamie Ratermann 19:43
I call them time myths. They're very like they're similar, but the way I see them are a little bit different than what he says but by all means. I encourage you to read the book. This episode is all about taking your time back because we know that we are the true controllers of how We use our time, of course, there are systems to support you. But these three essential mindset shifts are about living within that energy of how you can start to see time differently today. So start today by finding out which of these myths you are allowing to cloud your time. So do you tend to say I have to, or it's all important, or I can do both. Or maybe you're like, Jim, I'm, I have a problem, I have a little bit of all three, start by choosing one, start by going okay, you know what, instead of I have to, I want to say I choose it will start, start with one of them this week, and see how the more you make the shift, the more you start to just one feel different about time but also may make better scheduling decisions, better decisions for what's going to serve you. So see how you use your time definitely when you start framing with I choose to or only a few things are truly important. Or I can do anything but not everything. So let me know how it's going. I want you to know that this time management, energy shifts, all of these things are something that you it's best to do in community. So share with me take a screenshot of this episode for more ever you're listening, whether it's on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere in between, and tag me in your Instagram stories tell me which one of these time myths that you're going to debunk for yourself, and I can't wait to hear how you are embracing and owning the time that you have in front of you. Until next time, live a little more limitless.