How to Build Productive Flourishing

Do we really all have the same 24 hours as Beyoncé? That’s our tongue-in-cheek title, pulled from Tara McMullin’s new book, What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting, for a recent Spotify Live conversation.

In this replay, Charlie Gilkey, Tara McMullin, and I explore the nuances of calculating time, money, and energy capacity so that we don’t tip into boredom or burnout. We share strategies for saying no, and discuss the costs of saying yes when we shouldn’t.

One caveat: pardon our less-than-perfect audio quality! Because we’re calling in via mobile, this one is a little rougher around the edges than typical episodes. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out my previous conversations with Tara and Charlie in episodes 091: Quarterly Planning and 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots.

Your Cohosts:

• Tara McMullin, host of the What Works podcast and author of What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting
• Charlie Gilkey, host of the Productive Flourishing podcast and author of Start Finishing: How to Go From Idea to Done
• Jenny Blake, host of the Free Time podcast and author of Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business and **Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One.

🌟 3 Key Takeaways:

• Consider capacity across T.E.A.M: Time, Energy, Attention, and Money.
• On saying no: try to communicate before you are overcommitted, so you can address any issues before they become problems.
• If you’re leaning towards saying yes when you really should say no, remember that it often feels worse to disappoint someone with subpar work and/or missed deadlines than it does to say no in the first place.

📝Permission: Shift your request evaluation default from, “Do I have time to squeeze this in?” to “Do I have time to do this well?”

✅Do (or Delegate) This Next: Look ahead to the next month on your calendar and cancel one (if not two!) items you no longer have the bandwidth for. Bonus: Create a game-plan with your team (and scheduling tools) to allow for even more margin moving forward. 

📘Books Mentioned:

• Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business
• Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One
• What Works: A Comprehensive Framework to Change the Way We Approach Goal Setting by Tara McMullin
• Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done by Charlie Gilkey

🔗Resources Mentioned: 

• Tara on the web, IG: @tara_mcmullin, Twitter, LinkedIn, podcast: What Works
• Charlie on the web, IG: @momentumplanner, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, podcast: Productive Flourishing
• Articles: Is the Scope of Your World Too Big?, Spoon Theory, “Ought implies can,” Beyonce and Jay Z Reportedly Give $6.4 Million in Bonuses to Employees

🎧Related Podcast Episodes: 

• 052: Perceived Capacity vs. Actual Capacity
• 091: Quarterly Planning with Charlie Gilkey 
• 141: Process, Permission Slips, and Business Pivots with Tara McMullin
• Pivot: 136: Start Finishing—Pricing, Projects, and Momentum Planning with Charlie Gilkey, 277: Expansive Impact and Spacious Scheduling with Sarah Young

💻 Access Free Time episode transcripts on Podscribe »

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