For those with routines, habits, and lifestyle practices — there will always be the next time you do an action.
This is liberating because it allows you to focus on repetition rather than perfection. You no longer need to have the “perfect date” or the “perfect family dinner” or the “best possible workout” … you simply need to focus on having consistent repetitions of those things.
Perfectionism is based on scarcity. Repetition is based on abundance.
If you’d like to get a little more organized and focused in your life, then check this out…
Next week I’m teaching a free, one-hour class that goes behind the scenes with my two personal productivity frameworks.
This is great even for folks who hate productivity and organization. (Seriously!)
When I taught this class about 6 weeks ago, it had the most registrations of any workshop we’ve hosted before.
You don’t want to miss this.
? RSVP here for your link to join us live (or to get replay access).
There are many areas of our life where being good enough is good enough. But for some special areas, why not strive for greatness?
It takes significant effort to move something from good to great. But, for those important few things in life, that effort is worth it.
What areas of your life do you want to be truly great?
Focus on those, and happily allow the other areas to be good enough.
“Don’t get distracted and your feet will stay on the sidewalk and not too full of snow.”
If you’re feeling like you’re not making meaningful progress toward a goal, or if your day is just filled with more distractions that it should be, then perhaps you need a “Stop Doing” list.
What is getting in your way from the results you want?
If it’s things within your control, can you stop doing them?
Some examples:
What would you put onto your stop doing list? Message me on Twitter at @shawnblanc
I am absolutely loving this new book by Jenny Blake. It’s a time management and systems book for small business owners.
I’m sure that one reason I love this book so much because a lot of what Jenny talks about (aligning your time with your values, building systems, delegating, etc.) is very similar to the stuff I teach inside the Focus Course and our membership community. And so the whole foundation of Free Time feels right in alignment.
But really, Jenny is a fantastic writer! She seamlessly weaves between interesting stories and brilliant practical advice. She has her own unique spin and approach on things that is articulate and brilliant. Reading about these ideas from Jenny’s perspective has been eye opening for me. Highly recommended!
Above are some photos from a recent camping trip to the back trails of Arapaho National Forest near Ute Pass. There are many things I love about Colorado. And one of them is that crisp, mountain-pine air. These photos remind me of that.
If you want to use these on your devices as a wallpaper, click on the image you want and you’ll get the full resolution version. Save it and use it as a wallpaper.
If you’re working toward a desired outcome, but aren’t seeing any progress or results yet, here’s why:
If 1: then it’s a matter of patience. Don’t quit.
If 2: then it’s a matter of strategy. Try something new and measure your results.
If 3: then it’s a matter of focus. Track your actions and don’t give in to distractions.
Some great advice from Sarah Read about how to get away for a day and do some writing. I especially loved her advice to underpack!
As you may know, here at Blanc Media we work in 8-week cycles.
But, for this current work cycle we did something new to us.
We staggered our sabbatical week.
Why? Well, I just opened the doors for the all-new Focus Accelerator membership (you can join here). And everyone who joins gets a free strategy call with us to help get personalized support right off the bat.
In order to accommodate the calls, Joanna and Chloe just took their sabbatical week while Isaac and I did all the calls. And next week, Isaac and I will take our sabbatical while Joanna and Chloe do the calls.
(Side note, tor my sabbatical, I’m taking my family to Colorado. If you want to see some pictures of the Rocky Mountains, follow me on Instagram.)
When it comes to reading a book and taking notes, my favorite method for taking notes is the alternate index. I’ve been doing this in my non-fiction books for 5 or 6 years now. Though, after years of doing this, I could definitely be more disciplined at turning the Index and takeaways into digitized notes inside Ulysses or Notion, but nobody’s workflow is perfect now is it?
The Alternate Index is one of 3 rules about book buying and reading. I made some short videos about each rule here if you want to watch on Instagram: Rule 1, Rule 2, and Rule 3.
Hooray! We just recently announced the all-new Focus Accelerator membership. It’s amazing and I think you would love being part.
In short, Focus Accelerator is your all-access pass to every single course and tool in our library, plus a community to help you get clear, take action, and keep going.
The rundown is that you get:
(Full details all listed here.)
This is something we’ve been working on for the past 18 months… It’s finally out there and the response has been beyond what we expected. I hope you’ll come join us.
Tomorrow I am hosting a live interview with Ugmonk’s, Jeff Sheldon to talk about running a small business + doing creative work.
Here are a rundown of what we’ll cover:
⚡️ Creating new products: How to stay inspired & relevant while also leading a team. (The challenges of RUNNING a small business.)
⚡️ Content strategy: doing email newsletters & social media (the challenges of GROWING a small-business and an audience).
⚡️ Analog Productivity: The why and how behind Analog and Jeff’s personal approach to productivity and systems.
⚡️ Live Q&A: Your chance to ask any questions live (or submit them ahead of time and catch the answers during the replay).
More details, and how to join us, all here.
Many times, when met with small windows of “awkward downtime”, we decide to just pull out our smart phone and scroll.
Here are a few ways alternative ways you can spend those 5 – 10 minutes…
Have some ideas of your own? Send them my way on Twitter (@shawnblanc)