Free Time with Jenny Blake

Welcome Deep Questions with Cal Newport listeners! I had so much fun recording the "Help me do less!" episode — check it out here if you haven't already :)[ 01:49 ] 🚀 I'd love to invite you to the Free Time book launch team! Learn more and join us for a pop-up private community and 5 bonus AMA behind-the-book calls at http://itsfreetime.com/launch-team[ 04:12 ]🎙I'm starting a new featurette for the podcast called "My Favorite Time-Saving System." Do you have a cool little tip, trick, or sequence that helps you save time at home or work? If so, please record a short voice memo on your phone and send it to hi@itsfreetime.com.[ 07:13 ] Shifting from specific goals toward surrender, surprise, and serendipity[ 13:53 ] The problem with the Druckerism that "You can't manage what you don't measure"[ 16:25 ] Why I find systems much more motivating; Scott Adams on goal-setting people vs. systems people[ 18:39 ] James Clear: "You don't rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems."[ 21:53 ] Book sales as an example of balancing intention, vision, and systems[ 23:38 ] Setting a compass for the year ahead — Healthy, Wealthy, Wise, and Grateful — did I add something to every bucket every day?[ 26:01 ] Also experimenting with Traction's EOS with my team by creating a weekly metrics scorecard so we can run split tests and improve our systems[ 27:11 ] Closing reflection questions and Thoreau quote📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One How to Be, Do, or Have Anything Outrageous Openness How to Fail at Almost Anything and Still Win Big Atomic Habits Traction 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Author Toolkit Scott Adams on The Tim Ferriss Show James Clear on Brené Brown's Dare to Lead podcast: Part 1, Part 2 Featured on CNBC: Kick-start your new year with a mind map like this Adele on Oprah: "It was never about losing weight. I'm an athlete." 🎙 Related Episodes: 012: Generating Personal MBA Momentum with Josh Kaufman Check out the full Free Time podcast archives here » 🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus!❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners..💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to podcasts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/056 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today I'm sharing an easy technique (and some of my favorite tools) for claiming your free time now for the year ahead, before everyone else haphazardly (even if unintentionally) fills in the cracks with scattershot scheduling.In taking my own advice, this will also be the last episode of 2021! My email autoresponder is live and my bags are packed—I'm heading to California to spend some quality time with family. See you in early January!🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus!❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners..📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business and Pivot🔗 Resources Mentioned: Blue Yeti travel mic and case Calendly Clara (use this link for $100 off your first month) Magnetic Fridge Pads and Magnetic Pen Holder The brand new Free Time Toolkit including my scheduling parameters and Delegation Task Tracker template — preorder the book and submit proof of purchase here for early access! 🎙 Related Episodes: First (Free) Time Facilitator #201, Free Time #034: Organizing Research and Ideas — Notion Walkthrough #1check out the full Free Time podcast archives here »💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/055 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Early reviews are in! Kirkus calls Free Time, "An entertaining, instructive reading experience . . . an invigorating and informative time-management manual." In perfect timing, I read this just before recording today's episode: "All three parts of the book are well written, applicable, and actionable. Stylistically, Blake is a master of alliteration and rhyming; she’s also adept at employing numbered and bulleted lists."Hah! Well, I won't pick today to disappoint; in perfect coincidence, I'm delivering both: an alliterative Ten T's of successful delegation techniques :)🎁 Give yourself (and a friend) the gift of Free Time as we head into 2022: Preorder and submit proof of purchase to get early access to the audiobook as part of the Buy One, Get One, Give One holiday bonus!❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners..📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business and Pivot🔗 Resources Mentioned: the brand new Free Time Toolkit and Delegation Task Tracker template — preorder the book and submit proof of purchase here for early access!🎙 Related Episodes: 006: Going Pro on Podcasting with Jordan Harbinger💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/054 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

🎉 Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business launches on 3/22/22! Give the gift of free time to yourself and others in the new year by participating in our Buy One, Get One, Give One bonus. Here's how it works: Buy One: Preorder the hardcover edition and submit proof of purchase at http://itsfreetime.com/bogogo Get One: Within one business day, you'll get early access to the audiobook and brand new Free Time Toolkit with over 15 new templates to free your mind, time, and team! Give One: You will get details on how to gift early audiobook access to a friend :) Thank you in advance for your support! I can't wait to hear how you start freeing up time, and what you do with it! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What gets in the way of deep, intentional focus? Hint: the phone sitting right at your desk. Even though we know the apps blinking on screen are designed for distraction and shallow work—we don't always know how to best facilitate our own focus. Jake and cofounders at Caveday are taking a stand for social connection while carving out and facilitating group sessions dedicated to deep work.More About Jake: Jake Kahana is a designer and entrepreneur who teaches creative leaders the tools and skills to build thriving creative teams. He is a cofounder of Caveday, a company that facilitates deep focus sessions and deep work training. As a founding U.S. faculty member with The School of Life, Jake also teaches workshops in emotional intelligence for corporate teams.❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener supported—consider becoming a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny, along with a private feed and community forum for Heart-Based Business Owners..📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business and Pivot Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing Better Than Before: What I Learned About Making and Breaking Habits 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Jake on the web, Caveday, Instagram: @jakekahana, LinkedIn, The Email Refrigerator (Jake's monthly philosophical email), Caveday's holiday gift guide🎙 Related Episodes: Free Time: 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport, Pivot Podcast: 131: Indistractable with Nir Eyal💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/053 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jon Kabat Zinn says, "Overwhelm means life is unfolding at a rate that neither my psyche or my nervous system can handle.” Sometimes life (and work) is like a yummy buffet: it all looks delicious, but our eyes are bigger than our stomach. Today I'm sharing a few reasons our perceived capacity can be misaligned with our actual capacity: invisible roles, poor role fit, taking on new exciting projects without first cutting back elsewhere, and broader contextual seasons and collective influences.📘 Books Mentioned:Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business — If you want to join the book launch team to get insider access and community leading up to the launch, sign-up at itsfreetime.com/join and you’ll be the first to know when that kicks off! Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Life Admin: How I Learned to Do Less, Do Better, and Live More Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less Do Less: A Revolutionary Approach to Time and Energy Management for Ambitious Women Fair Play: A Game-Changing Solution for When You Have Too Much to Do (and More Life to Live) Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience 10-10-10: 10 Minutes, 10 Months, 10 Years: A Life-Transforming Idea 🎧 Podcast Episodes Mentioned: Free Time: 035: The Long Game with Dorie Clark, 046: Time Margin—Are You Drowning, Treading Water, or Gliding? Super Soul Conversations: Brené Brown Part 1: Daring Greatly 🔗 Resources Mentioned: Free Time Quiz, Buy One → Get One → Give One❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes.💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/052 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After building Box of Crayons for nearly twenty years, Michael Bungay Stanier hit a fork-in-the-road: he knew that for his business to continue growing, it would be wisest for him (and more energizing) to step aside.For two years he trained his successor, Shannon Minifie, then navigated the identity void of "standing in the valley of Box of Crayons" before launching into his new direction, including a new book and podcast.I hope you enjoy this week's conversation on navigating replacing what often feels irreplaceable—you!—the owner, but the possibilities it opens up for all involved on the other side.More About MBS: Michael Bungay Stanier is the author of six books which between them have sold over a million copies. He’s best known for The Coaching Habit, the best-selling coaching book of the century and already recognized as a classic. His new book, How to Begin, helps people be more ambitious for themselves and for the world.📘 Books Mentioned: How to Begin: Start Doing Something That Matters, The Coaching Habit, Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot, Fierce Conversations (Susan Scott), Small Giants and Finish Big by Bo Burlingham, Virgil Wander (Leif Enger), Flawless Consulting and The Answer to How is Yes (Peter Block)🔗 Resources Mentioned: HowToBegin.com, MBS.works, Box of Crayons, Instagram: @mbs_works, Erin Weed ("The Dig" sessions), Andrew Wilkinson's articles on Medium🎙Related Podcast Episodes: Self-Publishing School—#129: How I Self Published My Way To 1M+ Copies Sold And $10M+ In Business From My Book, Two Pages—Brave Choices with Shannon Minifie, Pivot—156: MBS on Tipping Points and Pivoting Out of CEO (From His Own Company), Free Time—019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed.💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/051 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Metaphors are powerful drivers for our mind—they allow us to quickly convey complex information to better understand abstract ideas. How do you think about business-building? Are you building a machine, managing a house, running a restaurant, or something else altogether? In this episode, we are discussing helpful aspects of all three analogies, and countering the role of entropy in any organic system.📘 Books Mentioned:Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business — If you want to join the book launch team to get insider access and community leading up to the launch, sign-up at itsfreetime.com/join and you’ll be the first to know when that kicks off! Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One Shortcut: How Analogies Reveal Connections, Spark Innovation, and Sell Our Greatest Ideas Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement Organizational Physics | The Science of Growing a Business Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business Work Clean Life Changing Power Everything In Its Place: The Power of Mise-En-Place to Organize Your Life, Work, and Mind The Boutique: How To Start, Scale, And Sell A Professional Services Firm 🎧 Podcast Episodes Mentioned: Free Time: 044: Are You High Net Freedom?, 046: Time Margin—Are You Drowning, Treading Water, or Gliding?, 048: Ten Timeless Content Principles, high net freedom, 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport Pivot Podcast: 29: Deep Work: Ditch Cognitive Junk Food with Cal Newport, 122: Digital Minimalism with Cal Newport Akimbo with Seth Godin The Boutique with Greg Alexander 🔗 Resources Mentioned: The free Author Toolkit (with Your Book and Big Idea workshop), The “10 Things” Rule Keeps My House Uncluttered, Even with a Family of Six, Develop the Art of Mise-en-Place❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes.💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/050 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"We don't write books, we craft spreads." Dr. Alex Osterwalder and his book co-authors pioneered the landscape, full-color, creative visuals format for simplifying complex business ideas. They consider every page of their books as a user interface, optimizing for simplicity, clarity, and fun. "Visuals don't become lipstick on a pig, they become an essential part of the reader's experience."There's good news and bad news today: the good news, I know you will love what Alex shares about simplifying complexity. The bad news? My track didn't record! So consider this a masterclass of sorts :)More About Alex: Dr. Alexander (Alex) Osterwalder is one of the world’s most influential innovation experts whose work has changed the way established companies do business and how new ventures get started. His company Strategyzer provides online courses, applications, and technology-enabled services to help organizations effectively and systematically manage strategy, growth, and transformation.Alex is the co-author of a suite of beautifully designed bestselling books in the Strategyzer Series including Business Model Generation, Value Proposition Design, Testing Business Ideas, The Invincible Company, and his latest, High-Impact Tools for Teams.❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private feed.📘 Books Mentioned: Free Time: Lose The Busywork, Love Your Business, Pivot, The Invincible Company, High-Impact Tools for Teams.Related Books: The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures, Design the Life You Love: A Step-by-Step Guide to Building a Meaningful Future🔗 Resources Mentioned: Alex on the web, Twitter: @AlexOsterwalder and @strategyzer, Hemingway Editor App,🎙 Related Episodes: Pivot—244: Design The Life You Love with Ayse Birsel💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask🎧 Make sure you’re subscribed wherever you listen to ‘casts: http://pod.link/freetime📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! https://itsfreetime.com/episodes/049 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After reflecting on last week’s episode, here’s how I’m reducing friction and designing smarter systems for ongoing content creation. 📘 Books Mentioned:Free Time: Lose the Busywork, Love Your Business — If you want to join the book launch team to get insider access and community leading up to the launch, sign-up at itsfreetime.com/join and you’ll be the first to know when that kicks off! Pivot: The Only Move That Matters Is Your Next One The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster to a Money-Making Machine The One-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Power of Storytelling Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity 🎧 Podcast Episodes Mentioned: Free Time: 017: Serendipity as Business Strategy with Leanne Hughes, 019: Most Valuable Activities with Dave Crenshaw, 002: Eliminate Email with Cal Newport, 045: Behind the Free Time Brand with Adam Chaloeicheep Cal Newport's Deep Questions podcast 🔗 Resources Mentioned: One Page Marketing Plan (website), ZingCollaboartive.com (Friday Favorites newsletter), Tim Ferriss's Five-Bullet Friday, What Works, Mighty Networks, Circle, SpeakPipe, Squared Away❤️ Enjoying the show? The best way to thank us is by leaving a rating or review. Free Time is listener-supported—consider donating to become a podcast BFF Insider and you’ll get access to a monthly Q&A call with Jenny and private podcast feed with bonus episodes.💬 I’d love to hear what’s on your mind! Take the Free Time listener survey💌 Subscribe to the Time Well Spent newsletter: http://itsfreetime.com/join🗣 Submit a voice question or comment for future episodes: http://itsfreetime.com/ask📝 Check out full show notes and links from this episode and share it with a friend! http://itsfreetime.com/episodes/048 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices