72: Unleashing The Power of Efficiency With the 5 P’s of Productivity by Productivity for Creatives Coach Jade Boyd

Meet Jade Boyd

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Dolly Delong
Welcome to the Systems and Workflow Magic Podcast where I help entrepreneurs go from scattered to streamlined in their creative businesses. I’m your host, Dolly Delong, a wife, a mom, and a photographer turned systems educator. Join me every week as we have conversations centered around creating tactical workflows, and automations in your business. Now, let’s make some strategic workflow magic. Hello, and welcome back to another episode of the systems and workflow magic podcast. I am your systems and workflow BFF, Dolly Delong. And in today’s episode, we’re going to be talking about some ways to create systems for productivity in your life. And since we are heading into quarter two when this episode airs, I figured we can hit the refresh button on any of our business or personal goals to find a new system in productivity for ourselves, you know, just in case we may have gotten a little derailed this year. Of course, I had to have an expert on all things productivity in today’s episode, so I have invited Jade Boyd who is a productivity coach for creatives. And she’s here to lead us through her five P’s of Productivity, so you all will definitely want to take loads of notes as you listen, so you might want to listen to this episode twice. So before we begin Jade, do you mind introducing yourself to the systems and workflow magic audience?

Jade Boyd
Absolutely. Thank you so much again, for having me today. I’m really excited about this episode. But my name is Jade Boyd. I am a business and productivity coach for creatives. And I help creative business owners who find themselves in a really busy season of business to bring order to the chaos in their business through creating a more intentional strategy, but also setting up seamless systems that allow them to be productive and pursue their goals without burning out, which is a huge issue in the age that we live in. So I actually studied entrepreneurship as an undergrad, I studied entrepreneurial management, I worked in student affairs for a while and then I went back because I realized that career was not for me. I went back to school and got my MBA and focused and marketing and through that really realized my passion for entrepreneurship and my passion for business. So while all of my classmates were applying for corporate marketing jobs, I started my own business. And it felt like a crazy leap of faith at the time, I kind of had a laundry list of business ideas. I’m a very multi-passionate creative, which I’m sure we’ll talk more about. But I ultimately picked photography because it was the easiest one to start quickly. And I started out in photography, like many photographers, I tried all the things and ended up focusing on brand photography, which made sense because I love business. And through the course of my photography business, I realized that I was much more passionate about the business side and the productivity side of running a business and less passionate about photography. So about a year ago, I pivoted. Naturally, some of my clients started asking me to help them with things like systems and strategy and marketing and those types of business side things of their business. And so I started taking on extra projects like that, and a year ago, I completely quit brand photography, which was another scary leap, and have been a business and productivity coach ever since. So Caleb and I, my husband, and I live in Iowa City and we are dinks (double income, no kids). So we’re living that lifestyle right now. And most of our time, our free time is taken up by renovating our house. So that’s the personal side of things, living in our house while renovating it. We both work from home. So it’s been a lot of fun.

Dolly Delong
That’s a whole adventure in itself. Wow. And I also remember the dank life I forgot that term to ink until you said that it was like

Jade Boyd
And then now there’s dink-wad (double income, no kids with the dog). We’re not dog people, but I learned that recently. That’s a whole nother lifestyle.

Dolly Delong
That’s amazing. I love all these acronyms, like learning something new every day. That’s awesome. So Jade, thank you so much for that introduction. And thank you so much for being here and agreeing to be on the podcast. I’m really really excited for you to share more about your five P’s of productivity. What I was sharing with you before we hit record was I’d like to share with the audience, I was like are you going to share more than one of your five p points, I thought we were just going to get into one p and Jade was like no we can share all five and I thought just like made me smile from year to year because as a listener of this podcast, you guys are gonna get so much out of this conversation and hopefully, be able to take one and run with it and start implementing it this quarter. Just in case like, it’s a little bit overwhelming, or whatever you’re not a dink, me, I’m not a dink anymore. And so as a mom, then you can like take one and run with it. Okay, Jade. So let’s dig into the heart of this episode and talk about the five P’s of productivity and how we as creatives can begin implementing systems into our businesses this quarter. And again, even if you’re listening and all five, like you seem overwhelmed by that, just take one and run with it, I would say that.

Jade Boyd
Yeah, so the five P’s really came out of me wanting to put everything that I know about productivity for business owners into a framework that was easy to understand, and easy to implement, because we’re all busy. And there are so many things that you can implement when it comes to productivity. But the five P’s really are the foundation of building a productive life and a productive business and a couple of things that your listeners should know about me. One, I don’t believe in separating your business life from your personal life, I believe in blending them together. And that if you try to separate and segment those areas of your life, it can become really exhausting and really frustrating to manage. I believe in managing, you know, both your business and your life, obviously, but not necessarily need to separate them. So when it comes to the five P’s, they blend business and personal. The second thing is that I am a business minimalist, and my podcast is the business minimalist podcast. And I also believe in focusing on a few things and doing them well. And recognizing that you can do anything, but you can’t do everything. So becoming a business minimalist really is about deciding what’s important to you and deciding what you want to focus on and having a priority in place. And so with all of that in mind, the five P’s are purpose, place, people, personal health, and priority. So if you think of the five P’s as your productivity Foundation, think of it like building a house, I think about House metaphors a lot, because we have been doing construction projects in our house for three years. We’re DIY-ers, so we’re doing it all ourselves, and I’m learning a lot about what it takes to renovate an old house. But think of it as a house foundation, it doesn’t matter how good you are at framing drywalling, painting, or design, if you don’t have a solid foundation, you can work really, really hard and not get anywhere. And inevitably, the house is going to fall down, right? And so without the foundation and productivity, eventually you’re going to burn out if you’re not taking care of your foundation and building your business on something that’s solid. And so the five P’s really do set a solid foundation, like a thriving environment that allows you to be productive. And when some of these things are off balance or out of place, it has a ripple effect throughout your personal life, but also throughout your business. It makes it even harder for you to show up for the things that matter and get things done. So I’m gonna talk about each one and kind of give an example of why it’s important and what that looks like and my own productivity journey. Because I also will not claim like many productivity experts do that I have it all figured out and that I’m perfectly regimented and productive every day of my life, especially as a woman, like our energy levels, fluctuate throughout the month and throughout different seasons in our business and in our life. And so what bothers me about a lot of people who teach about productivity is that they teach it from the mindset that it’s the same for everybody, and that it looks the same season to season day to day, week to week, which is not the case. And so know that all of these things are important. But as I said, it’s a balance. And some things will be more important in certain seasons. And then other things will be more important in other seasons. But ultimately, if you find yourself in a riot, where you’re like working really hard and not getting anything done and things feel out of balance and out of control, coming back to the foundations and asking yourself, what’s working and what’s not. And making minor adjustments, incremental adjustments in the right direction. That’s what we’re all about. Progress, not perfection.

Dolly Delong
That’s awesome. Thank you so much for pointing that out. Because Jade, I have a lot of listeners, a lot of who are creative business owners, but a lot of them wear the hat of being a mom and having multiple kids and they’re balancing out being a mom, being a wife, being a caregiver, and owning a business. So thank you so much for pointing that out, that is speaking to a lot of different people right now.

Jade Boyd
Yeah, absolutely. And that is my goal. So that’s good to hear that reiterated. So starting with the first one then, the first one is purpose. So purpose powers productivity. This is this principle when we’re working in line with our purpose, in line with the things that we’re passionate about, that we’re good at, we unlock a new level of productivity. You will always get farther doing something that you love and that you’re good at than if you tried to force yourself into a career or a type of business that you’re not naturally skilled in and that you don’t care about, you’re not passionate about, you’re just showing up to make a paycheck, right? So in some ways, purpose can feel a little bit like a privilege to be able to be working in a job that you really love, that you are passionate about and that you’re good at. And of course, as you said, creative entrepreneurs wear a lot of hats, and you’re not going to be naturally gifted in every aspect of growing a business, there are probably some things that you’ll need to find a partner to help you with, or somebody with different strengths and different passions than you have. But ultimately, if your vision for your business is out of line with your purpose, it makes it even harder for you to show up and make progress and build something that’s going to be successful. So the first principle is that purpose, powers productivity. And there are a few different ways that you can find clarity on your purpose, lack of clarity kills productivity. So if you don’t know what you’re trying to build, it will make it very hard for you to get there. But also, if you find yourself in that place, where you don’t have 100% clarity on what you want your business to look like, that’s okay, too, especially for business owners who are just starting out. The most important thing when you’re starting is to try things because action produces clarity. So you might think that that certain type of client is your dream client. And then after working with them, you might discover that you do not like working with that type of client or on that type of project or in that certain industry, the only way to know for sure is to try it. So in the beginning, there’s this time when you’re expanding your horizons and trying a bunch of things. But then ultimately bringing it back to what you love and what you’re good at. As I said, there are a lot of tools and a lot of workbooks that you can find on clarifying your purpose. But my favorite one is this Japanese principle called Ikigai, spelled I-K-I-G-A-I. And I like it because it’s very simple. And it’s very applicable for business owners, it asks four simple questions. And it’s something that you could come back to every year if you want to revisit if you’re working in line with your purpose or if something needs to change. But the four questions are, what are you passionate about? So what is that thing that you love that you could talk about for hours that you find yourself reading about or learning about just for fun? What are you passionate about? That’s number one. And two, what are you good at? So what are those things that come naturally to you that other people may not be as good at? And you notice, oh, I actually do that better than other people? I feel like this is a hard question to answer. Because a lot of times the things that you’re good at come so naturally to you that you don’t think that they’re special. And for me, productivity was one of those things, like nobody’s this organized? Never knew that. And sometimes that comes out by working with more people and understanding what you’re good at and what you’re gifted in and ways that others need help with. The third question is what does the world need? So looking for different problems that you care about solving different problems that exist. People that you’re really passionate about helping. What does the world need? And then the fourth question is, what can you be paid for? So again, as a business owner, there may be things that fall into the first three categories that might not make sense to build a profitable business off of and so that fourth clarifying question is, what can you build a business out of what are people willing to pay for? And so if you look up Ikigai, if you Google it, you’ll see the picture of the four concentric circles. And then in the middle is your purpose. And what I love about this model is that they clarify that purpose is a direction, it’s not a destination, so you can be working in your purpose today, if you’re headed in the right direction, it doesn’t mean that you’ve completely changed the world and solved a problem. It’s over forever or changed somebody’s life, it’s that you’re moving in the right direction towards those four things that really matter to you.

Dolly Delong
Have you found that your students or your one-on-one clients, has their purpose evolved slowly over time, and their Ikigai has evolved over time?

Jade Boyd
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that that’s natural for that to happen. Because like I said, action produces clarity. And there might be a lot of things that you think you’re good at, and then realize you’re not or things that you think you’re passionate about. And then, of course, as we all know, when we tried to turn our passion hobbies into jobs, sometimes they become not as fun for us. So you’re constantly growing and evolving and getting that clarity as you’re trying things and learning and it’s natural for that to evolve over time. In my own business. As I said, I thought brand photography was the thing. And I invested a lot into growing a brand photography business. But I noticed that I was good at it, people wanted it they were willing to pay for it. It solved a problem. But I wasn’t passionate about it. I would not stand on a stage and like shout from the rooftops that brand photography was absolutely necessary. And do I believe that brand photography is good and needed and helpful for business owners? Yeah, but I just wasn’t that passionate about it, but productivity? I will talk about that all day long. And if you tell me that being busy is okay like I will have many things to say at you, it’s just something that I’m a lot more passionate about. So I think you learn by doing and it comes over time.

Dolly Delong
That’s such a good point. And as a reminder, iteration again, for the listeners, your purpose will continue to evolve and change with every season. And I just love Jade that you shared in the beginning that you pivoted from a big role, brand photography into this new role. And probably in a couple of years, you’ll probably evolve into something else for your future clients. So I’m glad that you shared that personal story.

Jade Boyd
Yeah, absolutely. And I feel like people, oftentimes, especially creative entrepreneurs, who are multi-passionate, it can definitely feel like you’re failing to pivot. And last year, I had to overcome a lot of the challenges that come with pivoting. Moving your business to be more in line with your purpose is difficult. It can sometimes feel really scary. And sometimes it’s a big pivot like it was for me, but most of the time it’s small shifts, but even small shifts can feel scary. But going back to the principle that purpose powers productivity. It’s a long-term game, and in the end, it’ll be worth it.

Dolly Delong
Yeah, you have something here in the notes about the Grand Canyon story, I want to hear about this.

Jade Boyd
Yes. So when I was in grad school, I was getting my MBA and in between your first and your second year, you do an internship. I was not very interested in the corporate marketing roles, as I mentioned, and I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of 18 MBA students to be an intern for the national park system. So I was a business consultant for Grand Canyon, and we spent 10 weeks at the South Rim. It was absolutely amazing. There was one morning when I was walking out of the canyon, I was partnered with another MBA from Georgetown, and we were hiking together, you have to hike super early in the summer, because it gets hot, so fast. So it was like 6 am when we were hiking out of the canyon, and the sun was just coming up over the edge of the canyon, and I had this moment of clarity where I realized this is my job, I’m getting paid to be here and to provide advice to the national park system that’s gonna like allow this national park to be more profitable and continue into the future, right? and preserve natural resources. I felt like what I was doing was really valuable. But also I enjoyed it. We had such a great work-life balance there. As you can imagine living at a national park, we had a lot of fun and a lot of access to different things in the park. It was an amazing summer. And that was the moment that I realized if this type of job is possible for me, then I’m not going to settle for anything less when I graduate. I think that up until that point, I was kind of resigned. I’m in this MBA program. And afterward, all of these career advisors are telling me these are my options. Even though I was looking at them and not super passionate about any of the roles that they were suggesting. I thought those are my options. And this is the path because it was laid out for me. But oftentimes, as I said, your purpose is going to be different. And only you can find clarity in it and only you can choose that direction, and it can be really scary. So graduating is when I decided I’m not going to go the corporate route, and I’m going to start my own business. And that was absolutely terrifying. But in the end, it was totally worth it. But that moment of clarity was really the inciting moment that pushed me in the right direction.

Dolly Delong
Wow. Jade, did you know that I am slightly obsessed with national parks?

Jade Boyd
No, that’s awesome.

Dolly Delong
Yeah, my husband and I go to a new national park together every year. And we are trying to be intentional with taking our boys now every year and for our baby moon with my firstborn with Blaise. This was like four years ago, or I guess five years ago when this airs when we went to the Grand Canyon. Again, if you are an OG listener, you know I’m pretty dramatic. I was 10,000 months pregnant, obviously not 10,000 months, but I was very pregnant. And it was very hot. It was gorgeous and beautiful. And so I love that connection. I love that little National Park connection.

Jade Boyd
Yes, if you ever go back, you’ll have to ask me, I will send you a list of recommendations. 10 weeks is a long time.

Dolly Delong
I will take all the recommendations. That’s so interesting. Okay, so awesome. Okay, so purpose powers productivity is point number one.

Jade Boyd
So moving on to point number two then, place. So your environment shapes your ability to be productive. And I think this is something that we underestimate. But in this world of remote working and online businesses, a lot of people work from home and wonder why they didn’t get anything done when their environment is totally not set up to allow them to be productive. On my podcast last year, I had one of my friends Cassie who’s an interior designer on my podcast to talk about creating a productive workspace and she taught me how to include your five senses into your workspace to allow you to be more productive and kind of set the mood to get things done to put yourself in the right mindset and to not have things that are distracting you around you. And so here’s what that looks like. Okay, so the five senses are see, hear, taste, touch, and smell. So I always recommend having some sort of space set aside for your workspace. And if you have the option to leave your house and work from a coffee shop or a co-working space, I think that’s even better to have a separate space, that’s distraction-free. But if like me, you’re working from home, and actually, you can see behind me my office is in my bedroom, we don’t have a separate room for my office, but we’re making it work. Having some sort of workday startup routine where you can clear the space and create an environment that is conducive to you being productive and focusing on your work can totally change the trajectory of your day. So for me, that starts with See, women are actually proven to be more stressed out by clutter than men, which is not surprising. I feel like women care a lot more about not having clutter in their homes than men do. And it causes them more stress. So I make sure that what I can see on my desk, and then our room is not cluttered, there are not to-do lists stacked up that are gonna pull me away, there’s not laundry that needs to be folded or anything like that. I clear the clutter in my environment, I have one sheet of paper that says my to-do list for the day and my laptop, and of course multiple drinks. Things that are conducive to being productive. So that’s see. Hear, I tend to work better in silence. Some people prefer to work with music on or with white noise on obviously, you don’t want to hear something that’s distracting, like screaming or people rummaging around, when my husband comes into the room, even if he’s not talking to me, I get distracted immediately just like hearing him do things. And so I’m very careful to set boundaries on times where I really do need to focus or times like this when I cannot be interrupted. So here making sure that what you’re hearing is conducive to being productive, and that you’re not hearing anything that prevents you from being productive. Taste again, back to the drinks, having some sort of ritual where James Clear calls that habit stacking. So you can stack habits on top of each other. And for me, when I sit down at my desk, I pour myself a cup of coffee, and drinking that cup of coffee is conducive to me getting into my most important task of the day first thing in the morning. And obviously, there are benefits to caffeine and things like that. But I think just having the ritual of making your workday a little bit special, something that you look forward to doing, instead of something that you’re dreading and tasting can be a part of that. Touch, this one, I won’t lie is the hardest one for me. So I see touch in terms of working and being productive as how you feel when you’re working. And for me, that comes down to what I’m wearing. And like I said, I work from home. So many days, I do not have the incentive to put on pants, the button and you know, a bra and a shirt. Somedays, I work from sweats. But when I do dress up and dress like the person that I want to show up as, I feel different, and I am more productive. And so some people can be totally productive wearing sweats, or they think they can at least, but for me, I noticed a big difference when I dress up for work. And I feel confident, I feel professional rather than when I feel like I’m a hobo working from a laptop, right? And then the last one is smell. Again, this kind of comes back to creating an enjoyable work routine and an ambiance that you enjoy and feel good about. And for me, I have an essential oil diffuser in my bedroom. And so that’s part of my workday startup routine, too. I pick a different scent, and I turn it on, it hydrates all my plants. I’m a plant mom. So I have lots of plants in my office slash bedroom too. So it works double purpose. But what you smell and smells are actually very psychologically powerful. They can also trigger habits and memories. And if I can remember specific instances where I’ve like caught a whiff of a smell that reminds me of my grandmother’s house and it like instantly brings me back to being a kid and what it felt like to play in her living room and a similar thing to working like if you’re smelling the same thing or have that trigger that oh, when I smell this, I feel a certain way, I feel calm, I feel peaceful. I feel productive and focused over time that habit builds too. So those are the five senses and what it looks like to create a productive environment.

Dolly Delong
I just want to speak about that. First of all, that was wonderful. Thank you so much for sharing that. I want to speak to any moms who are listening to this and your might be thinking well, I am a mom all day long and I cannot establish a consistent routine because I have a newborn well this is specifically a case in point for me, I have a newborn who may wake up at 5 am and wake up at 7 am. Who knows. And then I have a four-year-old who wakes up at 5 every day and is going until 8 pm every night. So when can I incorporate this? So this is how I view it as, I may not get all five systems of the see hear, taste, touch smell at the same time. But I personally try to incorporate these throughout the day. And I especially try to make my environment in the mornings at least conducive to where I’m scheduling a routine for myself, the first 30 minutes when I wake up, and my son knows that to come into my room. Like, I’m thankful that my husband has established that rule for him. But I now wake up and I have 30 minutes to myself where I can read, wake up, and stretch. So I’m getting in not all five senses, but I’m getting some of those fulfilled for myself, and I’m getting my bearings for the day. So long story short, for those of you who are mothers who are listening to this and want to incorporate this, just know, it’s okay that you can do this all in one setting, and you’re not a failure. You’re raising humans, you’re keeping humans alive. And that is the priority. But see if you can incorporate something either first thing the morning, mid-day, or at night when everybody is asleep so that you can have some sort of consistent routine, and what Jade was saying, get that sense of place in point.

Jade Boyd
Yeah, I’m really glad that you mentioned that because as I said, it’s different in every season. And there are certain seasons where you will need different things in order to support a productive business. And some seasons, you’re doing what you can to get enough done and some seasons, you’re really doubling down to focus on getting something really important done. And what you do in different seasons will be different.

Dolly Delong
Yes, yes. So that was awesome. Calling all creatives if you have an amazing opt-in offer. And you have been asked to be a part of a bundle with other creatives, which, by the way, is also awesome. But you feel stuck because you don’t know what steps to take to Automate, optimize and streamline the back end of said, opt-in offer or bundle offer, then listen up. You don’t have to hire an integrator because I have created a step-by-step mini-course to guide you through the process of putting together the puzzle pieces you need. In order to lay the groundwork for this back-end process. I have created the, how to automate the back end of your options and offers mini-course because as a systems and workflow educator for creatives, I want to help you succeed as a small business owner. And I really want you to feel confident in your systems. After listening to the podcast, don’t forget to head on over to the show notes. And click on the link for an in-depth look at what this mini-course entails. As always, stay magical with those systems, you amazing muggle you. Okay, so let’s talk about personal health.

Jade Boyd
So number three, the third P is personal health. And my big point here is that time spent on your personal health is invested, it’s not wasted. I think oftentimes, especially when you’re really really busy, it feels like taking time away from your laptop or away from your kids or away from those urgent things that are on your plate, in order to stretch for 20 minutes or to take a walk outside, it feels indulgent and like you’re wasting time and that time could be better spent getting things done. But in the long term, again, setting the foundation for your productivity means that you’re preventing yourself from burnout. And in the long term, if you’re not taking time to take care of your personal health, that’s where it leads. It’s not very sustainable, because you can’t run on fumes, you can’t run on anything. And you need something to fuel your productivity. It doesn’t come from anywhere. And so there are many different ways that you can prioritize your personal health and show up for yourself. And I’m going to talk about a few. But I think starting by asking yourself in this season, based on what’s going on in your life, what does it look like for me to show up for my personal health? And I was just having this conversation with one of my clients this week because she has a week in her business where it is very busy. She has a lot going on. She’s still working a part-time job. She has a lot of urgent deadlines going on and it’s just, this week is going to be busy. There’s no getting around it. And so we had the conversation knowing what you have to do this weekend, what your schedule looks like. What do you need to do to show up for your personal health? And for her that looked like getting eight hours of sleep, sleeping enough so that she could get through the day and then get enough rest again. Very, very simple. And so making progress in each areas of health, I wouldn’t want anybody to hear this list that I’m about to say and think I’m failing at all of that. And I need to change everything tomorrow. Because that’s not going to happen. James Clear, I always come back to him, he wrote Atomic Habits for anybody who is not familiar. Everybody needs to read it. But he says that you can only form one habit at a time. And there’s a lot of different research that says how long it takes to form a habit. And my opinion, based on the research that I’ve read, it depends on how much is needed for that habit. For example, building the habit of brushing your teeth every day, takes four minutes. If you’re, you know, two minutes in the morning, two minutes at night, and it’s very low energy when it comes to the headspace, and like physical energy, you need to do that. Building a habit of working out for 30 minutes every day, takes a lot more energy, a lot more time, and a lot more discipline. And so it might take you a different number of days to build each of those habits. And every habit looks a little bit different when it comes to your personal health. But if you are struggling a little bit or want kind of an easy way to assess your health, here are a few different areas that you might consider. So we talked about sleep, getting enough energy for sleep affects every area of your productivity, it helps you focus, it gives you more energy, it gives you more mental clarity, and it helps you make better decisions. Sleep is really underrated. And I think if you’re anybody, especially moms who have experienced a lack of sleep, you’ll see the impact of that immediately. So also, if you’re in a season where you’re not able to get sleep, also just be aware of how that’s affecting you and understand how to change your standards for yourself in that season. Because there are some seasons where you’re not gonna be able to excel in all of these, and that’s okay. But adjust your expectations of yourself along with that, too. So sleep, movement, and obviously, working not only provides you physical energy, but emotional energy provides more confidence. Stress Management is the third one, it’s a really big one that we don’t talk about nearly as often. But your ability to manage stress, especially as a business owner, with all of the responsibilities on your shoulders, will be so important when it comes to being productive because you really can’t afford to live in a constant state of stress, where you’re not able to make decisions you’re paralyzed. Like physically, it’ll affect your physical health too, if you’re living with that constant stress, but also it’s unsustainable, right? So increasing your ability to manage stress, whether that looks like meditating, or some of these other things on the list. Your ability to handle stressful situations or emotionally difficult situations and difficult conversations and quickly deal with them and move on will make you way more productive in the long term. And then, of course, things like your water intake, what you’re eating, how much alcohol you’re consuming, how much sugar you’re consuming. Another one is silence. So I said meditation, but this can also lead to screen time, like, Are you filling every empty crack in your day with social media and things that are again leading to stress? Or are you able to take that time in between tasks and sit in silence? And have those moments of peace? Or are you so busy and frantic that you don’t have any time to rest time in nature is another big one. And part of the reason why I’m justifying having so many plants in my house right now, studies have shown that even having a picture of a tree or nature in your office can decrease stress and increase productivity, which I think is fascinating. So getting outside or having natural elements in your office again, going back to the five senses. And the last one that I want to mention is hobbies. I don’t know if I want to say discipline, but I guess give yourself enough of a break to do something just for the sake of enjoying it. I think that oftentimes we are so focused on getting results. And productivity is all about getting results, right? You want to do things that are going to lead to some results in your business, but also give yourself the freedom to do something just because you enjoy it. There are so many benefits that come from having hobbies. And I’ve seen in my own business, how my hobbies can lead to increasing my productivity in my business, and connecting with other business owners on a personal level because we have shared hobbies in common. But just the fact that you can take a break from work and do something that you enjoy without scrolling social media or disengaging from your life by watching TV or whatever that might be truly engaging with your life outside of business will contribute to your productivity over the long run again, building sustainable productivity habits into your business and life.

Dolly Delong
And now I keep on interjecting in between every point but speaking not just to the moms but I’m a believer. I’m very very bold in my faith in this and one of the things that I have been trying to not just like, do on my own accord but ask God to like, get me through everything with point three, especially my personal health because you know, as a new mom, I am lacking a lot of sleep I am on very limited, I can only sleep for three to four-hour increments at a time at night. And I know my body needs like eight hours of sleep. So I am at this chapter in life where my sleep is limited. And my movement is also limited. I used to do orange theory fitness all the time, and I used to run all the time, but with two littles on different schedules, finding the time to work out has been really hard for me. And then of course, that affects my sugar intake. Because I know myself, when I get stressed out, I reach for a cookie or it’s like Girl Scout Cookie season and I have already eaten half of the cookies, which is really, it’s delicious before that. But these are all really good reminders. For those of you who are listening again, who may be in a similar situation as me or maybe in a very hybrid situation. I don’t know where you are. But I am very bold and saying that what has gotten me through the last almost two and a half, three months of this new chapter of handling two littles with a business and being a present wife, and being a present human is praying and walking with God and just asking for help, because I need help on a daily basis. So I’m not trying to make anybody uncomfortable by saying this. But if you are listening to this, and you need to hear this, just pray, just ask God and I firmly believe he will sustain you through this new chapter in life. And, all of these points that Jade are making, they’re all true, if you just make small incremental changes in movement in stress management, that can be very mighty as well.

Jade Boyd
And I think what makes it difficult for a lot of people is that we live in such an achievement-based culture, it feels like a waste of time to improve by a little bit on like, Oh, if I just get one more hour of sleep, or, Oh, if I just sit in silence for five minutes. But it does make such a big difference. Even immediately, like those changes that are very small, they’re not sexy, like you’re not going to show up on Instagram and boast about your five-minute meditation. But it does go a long way in helping yourself be productive and showing up to support your personal health. And I love what you said about how your faith influences productivity. I’m not sure if you’ve read any of John Mark Comer’s work. But he has a book called The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. And like I would put it right up there with atomic habits in terms of recommendations for productivity books, but I love his writing, because he talks a lot about his faith and how God designed us. And he also wrote a lot about the research in our modern society and the way that we’re working ourselves into the ground. And he connects the two so beautifully. And it’s something that everybody should read. But I completely agree with what you’re saying, at some level, we just have to recognize that we’re limited human beings, and we have limited things that we can accomplish. As I said, we can’t do everything, so amongst the many things that we can do and the many ideas that you’re going to have after this episode, choose what’s important to you and what you need to focus on.

Dolly Delong
Yeah, I love that. You reminded us that we are human. It’s okay. You can admit we are you? Yes. Yes. Absolutely. All right, let’s so let’s talk about your fourth point, which is people.

Jade Boyd
Yes. Okay. So under number four people, people are also productive. And this is another one that again, I’m teaching about. But I also struggle with it. My marriage vows, when Caleb and I got married, I actually promised in my vows that I would prioritize people over productivity, because it is so hard for me to take time out of my day, to just chat with people with no agenda, right? No meetings, but really make time for the people that matter most in my life. And again, we don’t have kids. So I don’t have people begging me to spend time with them. As an adult, I have a lot of control over how I spend my time and what I put on my calendar. And it’s a constant effort and a constant choice for me to prioritize people over productivity. But this kind of goes back to purpose. People are really the only thing that matters. And if you look at the Regrets of the Dying, there’s a book called The Five Regrets of the Dying. It’s one of the main regrets that people have at the end of their life. Why didn’t I make more time for people? Why didn’t I prioritize the people that mattered most to me because what is going to matter when you’re at it’s those relationships that you’ve formed and how you’ve impacted other people’s lives. And so how this shows up in business one, it’s making sure that you Even if you have big goals for your business, that you are making time for the people who are gonna matter when you’re 80, and naming those people, specifically, both your family, but also your friends, and then to it’s also making time for people in business, even if it doesn’t seem like it’s productive, bringing your business back to the way that you’re serving people, and how you want to have an impact can not only increase your understanding of your purpose and your passion for what you do, and your motivation for how you’re showing up every day. But it also increases the success of your business. It’s so interesting that as humans, we’re just designed to connect with other people. And the more you prioritize being a person in your business, the more authentically you’ll be able to connect with other business owners for collaborations with your clients and build relationships that are going to serve you over the long haul. If you’re treating your clients or your customers like transactions and numbers on a spreadsheet, they’ll feel that people know when you’re being fake, and when you’re not caring at all about what you say that you’re caring about. And so the ability to prioritize people and understand that they are more important and can even be more productive in the long term in terms of getting things done to the more success you’re gonna have in the end. And then the last thing I want to say about people is that the people that you surround yourself with matter a lot. And research shows that we are the average of the five people that we spend the most time with. So being very conscientious of who you’re surrounding yourself with. And of course, in your personal life, who you’re hanging out with who your friends are the ideas and the people in what they believe, and how that’s influencing yourself too but also, as a business owner, are you surrounding yourself with business owners who are inspiring you who are calling you out? Who are building you up? Who are encouraging you who are showing you that you need to play bigger, who is inspiring you to reach that next level? Or are you surrounding yourself with business owners who are not at the same level as you or not calling you up or promoting a way of running a business that is not in line with what you believe? So make sure to surround yourself with those people because we all need that community and we all crave it anyway, we might as well do ourselves a favor and surround ourselves with people who are going to help us take the next step. And for me, this is different in different seasons of business in the past, it looks like hiring a business coach who would legitimately check in with me and hold me accountable who I knew was gonna reach out who knew my business really well and was able to call me out on my perfectionism like Jade, why haven’t you made that decision, we’ve talked about this, that’s one of my blind spots that I need help with. And in other seasons, like right now it looks like informal masterminds and inviting business owners that I know and respects to meet with me on a regular basis and being mutually beneficial when it comes to having those conversations too but having the people around you who are going to support your productivity is very important and one of those foundational pieces.

Dolly Delong
Can I share a personal story about this? Yeah, love this. I want you all who are listening in to hear like, point for people, people really do matter. And this is a regretful story I have. So for those of you who are, again, have been listening to this podcast for a while, you know that my past in my past life, I used to work in higher education. And I worked with a lot of people, like a lot of students, a lot of colleagues lead peers like I was just always working with people. But sometimes the point of my job was one of the points of my job was in sales essentially and was to bring in a certain amount of students per year to this university. And so I would get so focused on the productivity side of meeting my goal side that I would forget to actually stop and invest in my peers around me, my coworker around me. And one time in particular, I had this one co-worker who made a calendar appointment to meet up with me and another person who worked on campus, we worked in different departments and she made an appointment and I didn’t realize it was just to connect just like from human to human perspective. And I thought it was like going to be a productive meeting and I was like okay, I’ll come to the meeting so I showed up and she so sweetly was like, Okay, we’re just going to meet and get to know each other more and just like connect, I was like, this is like, I just wish I can go back in time and smack myself and just to be like doubly like you were missing out on a good relationship building opportunity. But I was so annoyed I was in my head. I was like you don’t understand what numbers I need to meet today. Like how many calls today or if I need to finish X, Y, and Z and so I rushed through it. She could tell I was very annoyed and very upset and obviously, she never like reached out to me again to connect it but that’s one of my when you were sharing that I just wanted to share this very personal story with listeners and let you know like this is something that in the past I’ve struggled with, it’s one of my regrets like with past peers and colleagues because I could have been making a lot of great connections. And I was just focused on meeting that sales goal or meeting X, Y, and Z goals. And you know, there’s nothing wrong with meeting goals. But you do need to prioritize people over X, Y, and Z goals. And so I’m so glad you brought that up.

Jade Boyd
Yeah, and I can relate to a lot of what you said, not only I didn’t realize you’re in Student Affairs, which is awesome, so we can connect on that later. But also, when I was in grad school, that was kind of the height of a perfectionist ambitious, single woman, Jade, who placed her identity in her career and her goals. And that was the height of me feeling really good. If somebody asked me to schedule something, I could respond, actually, I can’t, I’m super busy. I felt so good saying that at that time of my life, because I put so much of my identity and my worth, and my ability to be busy and to be productive to get a lot of stuff done. But in the end, it didn’t really matter. And one of my biggest regrets from that season in my life, too, is that all of those friends that I had in those two years, they’re spread all across the country now. And I didn’t build great relationships with them, they were very surface-level. And again, like what’s gonna matter when you’re 80, it’s those relationships, and you only get certain windows of opportunity to build those relationships, whether that’s like, while your kids are at home, you have a special opportunity to build that relationship with them in the years that you have or wallet we take for granted that life is not guaranteed. And our years are short. And I don’t know how much time I have left with Caleb. So prioritizing my marriage and that way is really important too. And I think that we overestimate how much time we have and what actually matters in the end.

Dolly Delong
That’s right. Wow. That’s like a mic-drop moment right there. Jade. So before, I know you have one more point, but I just want to again, just like thank you for pointing that out. And like I think point four has been my favorite so far of this conversation, like reminding listeners and right reminding myself like yeah, we’re all in our own creative businesses, online businesses, whatever type of business you run, yes, our goal is to create an income and create a positive impact for ourselves, for our families, but also remember, at the end of the day to treat people, like people and to build that bridge of connection, first and foremost. So thank you for that reminder.

Jade Boyd
Yeah, you hit on the word, remember, or reminder, and I’m gonna butcher his last name. But there’s a business author called Patrick Lencioni, I think that is how you pronounce his last name. And there’s a quote that he has from one of his business books that has always stuck with me. And I think about it all the time, he said that we need to be reminded more than we need to be instructed. And so I think many of the things we’re talking about today, people know these things, right? But you do need the reminder. And coming into our last point, point five, you need a priority. So I’m sure that up until this point, people have like 101 things that they think they need to do better at which is okay, but point number five, the fifth key is a priority, choosing what to focus on. And I think it was Stephen Covey who said this, but if you don’t choose your priority, somebody else will. And so in order to prioritize what’s important, and to make progress on the things that are actually that actually matter to you in life, but also the things that are actually going to drive results in your business so that you’re not showing up every day, responding to emails and kind of doing the same thing. So you’re actually taking time to create that course, or to start mentoring those other creatives, like the things that you’ve been dreaming about, and are going to take your business to the next level. They’re never urgent, and so to prioritize them is to actively decide, I’m going to place this as a priority for this day, this week, this month, whatever that looks like, depending on the project, and to actually choose my priority and not let my clients choose what’s important to not let all of these other people who are demanding time and energy from me choose what and what is important to me on a day to day basis. And I think what people don’t talk about when it comes to choosing your priority is that it’s really easy to say no to the things that you don’t like doing. And it’s easy to say no to the things that you’re not good at. So it’s really easy not to take those meetings that are going to be really unenjoyable or to not edit your podcasts, for example, which I don’t do because I’m not good at it. And it’s not enjoyable. But What’s hard is to say no to the things that you do love doing and that you do want to do and in order to choose a priority and to focus your efforts in order to get focused results in your business is going to be a lot easier for you and you’re going to make quicker progress if you choose one project at a time to double down on and again the time horizon looks different depending on what the project is and how much time and energy it’s going to take to complete. But scattered efforts lead to scattered results. And a lot of creatives will live in their business for years, just doing a little bit of everything and not making a lot of progress on anything. And again, saying no is really hard. It’s hard for me to I had the gall for a long time to launch a planner. I actually announced it a year ago, and I’m making incremental progress and have recently recognized like, I’m not listening to my own advice and choosing one thing, like I’m working on it a little bit, but really, it’s just distracting me from what I know is my number one project, which is finishing my business minimalist course. So saying no, to continue working on the planner is really hard. And there are probably examples like this if a creative business owner is listening to this, they probably know what that thing is, that is really important and they want to do it, but ultimately is preventing them from getting anything done. And if you have too many projects on your plate, you’re gonna drive yourself crazy, and not make a lot of progress on any of them. So choosing a priority is a way to increase your productivity, both in the way that you’re choosing your priority overall and understanding what’s most important in your life, but also within your business, choosing what you’re going to focus on, and not letting yourself move an inch in a million different directions and not make any real progress towards what you’re really hoping to accomplish in the end.

Dolly Delong
Wow, Jade, you brought a lot of good, a lot of good wisdom to this conversation today. But I know we have to wrap up really soon. So I want to thank you again for coming on the podcast and sharing your Five P’s of Productivity with everyone. But before we wrap up, can you share with the listeners how they can work with you? Where to find you? And like I know you have a free resource to share as well. Do you mind sharing that with everyone?

Jade Boyd
Yeah, absolutely. So the best place to find all the things is on my website, www.jadeboyd.co. And from there you’ll find my podcast, the business minimalist podcast, I’m on Instagram and Pinterest at jadeboyd.co as well. So you can find everything on my website there. And then as far as freebies go, I have a few which you can find on my website. But the number one thing that I would recommend is the task batching workbook, if you want a very simple and easy place to get started having some sort of strategy for managing your tasks and batching things is a very helpful place to start. And you can get that at Jadeboyd.co/task-batching-workbook. And then like I said, my number one priority right now is finishing the business minimalist blueprint. And this really is going to be my system from top to bottom. How do you focus on what’s important in your business? And how do you get that clarity? And how does that filter down from the top to the bottom in every area of your business? So we can add that link to the waitlist in the show notes as well.

Dolly Delong
Yes, and for those of you who are listening, and you are wanting all these resources, I have made sure to put everything in the show notes so that way you can connect with Jade and access her free resource that she was just talking about and get on her waitlist for this program that she is creating. But again, Jade, I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time out to just walk us through these five P’s of productivity. And I know like I’ve learned a lot personally and I feel like I shared so much of my heart with you. You’re like wow, Dolly didn’t know we were gonna get so deep, deep. I know that it just like really makes you think about where to place your priorities. So again, thank you so much. And for those of you who are listening, please reach out to Jade and get to know her more. She is a gem and I hope that you all have a wonderful, streamlined, and magical week, you amazing muggle you and I will see you next week. Bye. Thanks. Thank you so much for listening to the systems and workflow magic podcast. You can find full show notes from today’s episode at systemsandworkflowmagic.com/podcast. If you’re loving the podcast, I’d be so honored if you’d subscribe and leave a review on your favorite podcast player. Be sure to screenshot this episode, share it with your stories, and tag me @DollyDeLongEducation on Instagram. Until next time, go make some strategic workflow magic.