Pursue You Pick

Episode 8: Pursue You Picks: Do Less

Pursue You Podcast Episode 8. Pursue You Picks: Do Less, by Kate Northrup

Welcome to the Pursue You Podcast, where we are empowering you to continually reflect, design and pursue who you were created to be so you can give the gift of your best self to your family, community, and business!

I am so excited to share one of my favorite books I read in 2019 for today’s Pursue You Pick. It’s called Do Less, by Kate Northrup. I first heard her on the Goal Digger Podcast with Jenna Kutcher, a podcast that I absolutely love - and so I of course fell in love with Kate’s message and wanted to dive into more of her work.

Kate is an entrepreneur who supports ambitious women to light up the world without burning themselves out in the process. CAN I GET AN AMEN!?

There’s a quote on the insert of her book that says, “In our culture, the way we’re working isn't working. Our addiction to busyness and obsession with always trying to do more leads us to feel like we're always failing our families, our careers, our spouses, and ourselves. We need to revolutionize the way we work.”

The overall premise of the book is the idea of doing less, so that we can have more, or rather, experience more. 

[3:45] I start off sharing a bit of Kate’s personal story that she outlines in the book, and what led her to the conclusions she shares in her book.

[7:20] I challenge you to think about things that are restricting your time today and try to start brainstorming how you can do those things in less time.

[11:50] I share with you Kate’s explanation of how our energy levels and productivity can be related to our 28-day menstrual cycle. I outline the four phases that Kate discusses and share with you how she relates them to our energy and productivity.

[15:20] For those that don’t currently have a cycle, I briefly discuss how you can look at your energy and productivity in relations to the four moon cycles.

[17:45] I share how recognizing these phases and cycles and what my body needs at the time allows me to give myself more grace and helps me to plan my business and life accordingly in order to maintain maximum productivity without busyness and burnout.

[22:00] I share my top three favorite experiments of the 14 that Kate shares in her book. I challenge you to grab a copy of the book so that you can see which experiments will help you boost your productivity while also finding more time to experience more of what you love.

I related to this book in so many ways, and I feel like it just gave me permission to look at productivity the way that my body was telling me to. Hopefully, this episode has peaked your interest, and encouraged you to pick up this book (hard-copy or Audible) for yourself and try one of these tweaks or experiments to see how it fits into your life. Then, I hope you’ll be able to pursue YOU as you do less and experience more!

Subscribe to the Podcast

I am grateful you were here for today’s episode! To make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes, I encourage you to subscribe to the podcast. Click here to subscribe on iTunes.

In order to help others find this podcast and help inspire them, I would love for you to leave a review of the podcast. Share something that motivated you, or something that helped you re-frame the way you approach your life and goals. I’d love to hear how you’re pursuing your best self. Click here to review the show on iTunes. You can go to “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review”. Your comments are greatly appreciated!

More Episodes You’d Be Interested In

Episode 7: Screen Time Hacks

Episode 5: Pursue You Picks: The ONE Thing

Episode 2: Why Self-Care is NOT the Answer…and What Is!

Episode 5: Pursue You Picks: The ONE Thing

Pursue You Podcast Episode 5: Pursue You Picks: The One Thing book by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

Welcome to the Pursue You Podcast, where we are empowering you to continually reflect, design and pursue who you were created to be so you can give the gift of your best self to your family, community, and business!

Up until a few years ago, I wasn’t what you’d call a big reader. I’d gotten through a few books here and there, but as a realtor, entrepreneur, wife, and mother, my day to day schedule was crazy! Books or professional and personal development took a back burner. It wasn’t until my life and business hit a wall that I realized I needed to step it up a bit. My original business passion is real estate and Gary Keller is the author of a book I was introduced to as a result of my career with Keller Williams, and though I had read it before, I decided I needed to read it again after I had this mindset change, and it ignited a fire in me! I saw how consuming this content actually converted into me being more productive and feeling more confident in myself. It allowed me to live proactively rather than re-actively!

Because of the impact this book made on me, The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan is my first Pursue You Pick! This pick is a book or podcast that I love and think you would benefit from. I’m going to share my big takeaways, and how it’s impacted me, and I hope it will encourage you to check it out for yourself to dig deeper.

[2:15] I introduce the book, The One Thing, and talk about the tagline, “the surprisingly simple truth behind extraordinary results”. The simple truth is that there is one thing you can do, that if you do it, will make everything else easier or unnecessary.

[4:00] I highlight the three sections of the book: the lies, the truth, and extraordinary results.

[4:25] I dig into the first section, the lies and share the three that impacted me the most. The biggest one is that we believe that everything matters equally. This pointed out to me that just because I think of things in a certain order, doesn’t mean that is how I should prioritize them.

[6:45] I talk about how I practically narrowed down my tasks to things I need to do, things I need to dump and things I need to delegate. The resulting list was my success list, the things I would do that would help me move the needle toward success.

[11:45] I talk about how I found a small habit that I could change that transformed how many hours I had in my day and gave me back my time and energy.

[13:35] I talk about the lie of having a balanced life, and how it really is about finding counter balance. We need to figure out what matters most and make sure that part is getting all the time it needs to have.

[17:30] I move from the section on lies to the section on the truth, and the details on what can actually push us towards success.  

[19:00] I share the book’s idea on how to find successful productivity: Ask yourself this question, “What is the one thing that you could do that if you do it, it would make everything else easier or unnecessary?”.

[21:40] I sum up the book by highlighting part three and the extraordinary results. The book details how we need to have purpose in our lives. It aligns so well with this podcast, and there is a quote I love that says, “Happiness happens on the way to fulfillment.” When we’re working towards our purpose, we find happiness in the productivity we have as we pursue the goals we’ve set.

The ideas of this book aren’t earth shattering, they are mostly simple, and it finishes with some tactical advice on time blocking and recognizing when you need systems to break through dead ends and avoid burnout. Despite its simplicity, however, this book helped me move from merely entrepreneurial to purposeful. After spending the last few years reflecting and working on my productivity, I realized it wasn’t the grind that brought me success, and it wasn’t necessary. The problem with the grind for me was that I lacked the awareness of the damage it was causing in the other areas of my life. The takeaways from this book had a big impact on helping me recognize this and reorient my business and life to allow me to pursue my priorities in the best way.

I hope you’ll grab the book, check out the podcast and dig deeper into materials that will present you with small tweaks that will allow you to pursue you and have a greater impact on those around you.

Links

The One Thing Book

The One Thing Podcast

Subscribe to the Podcast

I am grateful you were here for today’s episode! To make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes, I encourage you to subscribe to the podcast. Click here to subscribe on iTunes.

In order to help others find this podcast and help inspire them, I would love for you to leave a review of the podcast. Share something that motivated you, or something that helped you re-frame the way you approach your life and goals. I’d love to hear how you’re pursuing your best self. Click here to review the show on iTunes. You can go to “Ratings and Reviews” and “Write a Review”. Your comments are greatly appreciated!

More Episodes You’d Be Interested In

Episode 4: The Antidote to FOMO

Episode 3: 3 Reasons You’re Not Making Your First Hire

Episode 2: Why Self Care is NOT the Answer…and What Is!