Episode Transcript
TBU 26 How to become a better procrastinator
[00:00:00] Shelley: Hello, I'm Shelley Tonkin Smith and you are listening to Two Booked Up. This is episode 26, we're we are going to be talking about how you can become a better procrastinator. As always, I'm joined by the insightful and delightful Rowena Mabbott. Hello Rowena.
[00:00:25] Rowena: Hello, Shelly. It's great to be talking books again and taking a deeper dive into Oliver Burkeman's book, 4,000 Weeks Time Management for Mortals, and this is one of those conversations where our book really ignites a whole other conversation because I believe you've come up with your own, what shall we call it?
Standard operating procedure for when we find ourselves procrastinating.
[00:00:53] Shelley: Oh yes, Ro this chapter. Really got my creative juices flowing as I. Dove deeper into it, and I'm so excited to share the seven step process that I sort of came up with as I was reading through the chapter. Oh, yes. I like that idea of a standard operating procedure that you can follow to procrastinate better because Oliver Bergman drops this truth bomb that we all procrastinate, even the most organized among us.
And that the trick to manage in our 4,000 weeks is not to fight against that procrastination, but to procrastinate better. So if you want to know how to become a better procrastinator, then stay tuned.
[00:01:38] Rowena: Sounds fabulous. Now, before we procrastinate, let's get on with the.
show This is the Two Booked Up Podcast,
[00:01:51] Shelley: where we talk about books,
[00:01:53] Rowena: books that are challenging us to live more intentional lives
[00:01:57] Shelley: the books that are equipping us on our business and professional journeys.
[00:02:01] Rowena: and the books that delight and bring us joy.
[00:02:05] Shelley: So if you want to live life with more intention, and if you want to be doing work that brings you joy, then come and join the bookish conversation with me, Shelley Tonkin. Smith.
[00:02:15] Rowena: And me Rowena Mabbott here on to Booked up. Okay, so procrastination is bad, right? Well, not exactly. According to Oliver Birkman in 4,000 weeks time management for mortals, we all procrastinate. Because we have to, we simply can't redline it all the time because if we do, we are going to burn out. So instead of trying to stop procrastinating and trying to resist against procrastinating, what Oliver says is that we need to become better procrastinators. So I'm curious, was this a surprising idea for you, Ro, when you read the book?
Yeah. Now Shelly, like a lot of concepts in this book, this idea is actually really counterintuitive. But once I started reading the chapter, I realized that his argument was that we need to procrastinate with intention. So at that point, of course he had my attention because as you know Shelly, I am all about doing things with intention and I've seen many of my clients, and I have to say myself too, struggle with procrastination.
So this chapter, those reading along at home, it's chapter four, was actually really intriguing to. me But I still think we need to be careful about some of the negative effects of procrastination, like when we leave genuinely important tasks to the last minute or when we put up our own big dreams and goals because we get so busy doing, working through the to-do list, and we forget about the big picture stuff, and that kind of procrastination really does not serve us.
So therefore, I'm really interested Shelley, to learn about how you suggest we can become better procrastinators. And I'm thinking particularly here in the realm of business for those of us who have our own businesses, or for those of us trying to use procrastination more strategically in our businesses or in our careers.
[00:04:23] Shelley: Okay, so I went down a bit of a rabbit hole here, Ro. And I've distilled the research and findings that Oliver has presented in chapter four into this process that we can all run through if we find ourselves procrastinating. So here it is. Step one is to recognize, . Step two is to recenter. Then step three is remove the tasks that don't matter.
So some of them you're gonna remove, but some of them you're gonna want to go, I just can't do it now, so I need to record it. So there was step four record. Then in step five, you're going to be in a position to ram in the tasks that matter. Step six then is to repeat with relish.
And then the final step is to go and reflect on this whole process. And you can then go and repeat the whole cycle again, by going, oh, wait, I might be procrastinating about something else now.
So in that reflection part, you kind of then bring it back full circle.
Not just to say, if you want a summary of what we've discussed in today's episode, I've got a nice little PDF download of the seven steps together with a blog post on Shelley Tonkin Smith dot com. Go and have a look in the show notes and you'll be able to access that.
[00:05:47] Step 1: Recognise
[00:05:47] Rowena: Shelly, I love that. That is a super helpful framework. And of course, you know, I am rather partial to an literative list. I also really like that you've started the process with recognizing. When you're procrastinating cuz self-awareness is super important.
So can you tell us a bit more about this first step and how we can recognize when we are procrastinating?
[00:06:11] Shelley: All right. So procrastination can be sneaky, particularly because there are a lot of emotions tied up in this behavior. And in fact, just yesterday I happened to come across an article on a site called Ness Labs called Understanding the Emotions Behind Procrastination. I'm gonna link to that in the show notes.
Because the article actually explained that procrastination arises because of this fight between your more ancient limbic system in the brain and the far more advanced prefrontal cortex. So there's a kind of like old ancient survivalist strategies that are, that are coming into play here. And I highly recommend the article go and have a look at it.
But what's what stood out for me there is also that there can be a lot of shame. And feeling ashamed that we are procrastinating. We feel bad that we're procrastinating. So this is like negative cycle. So I think when you recognize that you can actually do something about it. But to recognize it. I think it's important to know what procrastination really is.
And I've become rather fond now when I'm doing homeschool with my boys, is to go and have a look at a definition of a word and also to look at the etymology or the origins of the word. I find it fascinating. So the definition of procrastination is to put off intentionally or habitually. And the dictionary definition also adds that it's put in off something that should be done. Okay? So this is gonna be interesting. Who says it should be done? And this is maybe where procrastinating better means, bringing some more intention into that "should" so that you're in charge of the should, and it's not the rest of the world that's in charge of the should.
Then the etymology or origin of the word comes from Latin. Pro means forward, and then crastinus means of tomorrow. So like of the future. So you kind of forward in your thing, your task into the future, and I think that is really key in understanding what procrastination is. And maybe also just remove some of the emotion around it.
You just put in it forward into the future. Sometimes that can be done strategically and with intention. And I think here too, it's also just useful to think of the opposite of procrastination. Procrastination involves pushing tasks into the future. So the opposite of that would be something like seizing the day, and taking action right now in the presence.
So procrastination, procrastination's the future, and then this kind of seize the day. Or since we've gone into Latin, I'm gonna say carpe diem seize the day is something happening in the present. But we need to be careful of that too, because sometimes we're going, boom, let's just make this happen, and all these urgent things get on the top of the to-do list because we're just taking this quick action, but we're not kind of prioritizing first.
[00:09:11] Rowena: I agree, and I think it's very interesting, this whole procrastination versus seize the day because one of the big takeaways that I got from 4,000 weeks was that we need to live more in the present. Whereas procrastination is taking us into the future. But then what I'm hearing you say is that this kind of quick action sees the day kind of approach is not always the way to go either.
[00:09:33] Shelley: Yeah, you can't really just go, okay, I'm not gonna procrastinate, so I'm gonna take quick action because that doesn't help you to do the important stuff. Sorry, we're using the word stuff here a lot, but you get me. It's uh, tasks, activities, demands on your time. You'll just end up taking action on whatever crosses your path.
Whoever shouts the loudest.
[00:09:55] Step 2: Recenter
[00:09:55] Shelley: So that's why if you go to procrastinate better, you're gonna have to then go to step two of the process, which is our second R, and that is to recenter.
And when we recenter, we name what matters. And now this is not something I specifically saw in 4,000 weeks, but it's definitely something that came up in The Lazy Genius Way of naming what matters.
And here we can look from big picture to like today. So, Name, what matters in your life, in the big picture of your life. Um, name what matters then in aspects of your life, so for your business. So like the big picture for my business. I'll give you an example. What matters to me is that I can run my business in limited hours while I homeschool and parent my kids.
Those are two separate jobs that I need to do, but my business needs to fit around that. And if I name what matters in my business in a more of a medium term, right now we're in April, 2023. I've got a single client that I work for on a retainer basis, which is wonderful, but I still wanna balance that off with other revenue streams in my business so that I've still got this holistic business. So for me it's, it's balancing that and working that into my business model. So like for the median term, the next kind of three months, that's what matters to me. And then if I look more short term, and this is like now sort of a monthly or weekly kind of priority thing. I've gotta keep up with that client that pays me a retainer.
We committed to the Two Booked, Up Podcast. That, that is important to me. I'm launching a new offer called the One Day Work Party, which kind of speaks to this idea of. Having other clients while still having my one main client. Um, so I'll tell you more about that in subsequent episodes as I roll that out.
But as you know, Ro, I have a few other actions and activities planned on my action sheets for April. There's a few things going on, but naming what matters helps me little bits to manage how much I can do in the future.
[00:12:19] Rowena: Yep. And I know that Shelly, because I said to you at the beginning of the month, uh, that I thought maybe you've got quite a lot of action items on your list for April. And as we've talked about The Lazy Genius Way, Shelly and I spoke about it in, four episodes last year.
So go back and listen to those. If you really wanna know what we are talking about here around why naming what matters is such a big deal. The book Essentialism also covered this concept a bit too.
So I'm gonna play devil's advocate here and ask you, do you maybe have too many priorities on your list for the short term? And you know, I ask this out of love, but I'm also asking it on behalf of myself and our audience because it is a common problem many of us face. That we overestimate.
What we can do in the future and how long it might take us. So what do you think? Do you think maybe you've
got a couple too many things on in your short term priorities right now?
[00:13:14] Shelley: Yeah, I do, I do. Putting my hand up here. Guilty as charged, I would say that, I've got quite a lot on my list, but I do feel like actually doing that actions process. Is very helpful for me to actually get a bit more intentional about things. And what I will also say is that this month is a very business focused month for me.
So if you're wondering what we're talking about here each month Rowena and I. Give a broad focus to our months ahead, and then we list out the actions that will get us there. So, uh, like last month, March had more of a personal and self-care and re-centering focus for me, so, I actually feel quite energized now for a business focused month.
And so there is some intention behind my ambitious plans, and I think I do also have some of those actions are,
or like stretch goals and nice to haves,
but in, in put it,
oh, yes, yes.
[00:14:18] Rowena: We frequently put in
stretch goals.
[00:14:20] Shelley: Yeah. At least it's recorded, which It will come to in step
[00:14:25] Rowena: It maybe it's a form of procrastination. Putting
our stretch goals down on paper.
[00:14:29] Shelley: is, but intentional, I think it's, it's procrastinating and better. Um, because y'all, after reading this book and, and studying this chapter particularly quite intensely, um, this is where I've been challenged to try and recognize where I'm living in this fantasy world of the future. Because in the future there's no limits.
There's n like every possibility, you know, we fantasize the future and we expect that we can do everything. And also, and this is a big factor with procrastination, we expect that we can do it perfectly. So today we couldn't do it perfectly, but like somehow tomorrow
it's going to be perfect.
[00:15:10] Rowena: I love that fantasy.
[00:15:12] Shelley: I know
[00:15:13] Rowena: I know it's a fantasy, but I still love
that fantasy.
[00:15:16] Shelley: Yes. But I think, you know, I think we need to, go and go and read some fantasy novels and that kind of thing. But yeah, I, you know, I think we can stretch ourselves but we need to be aware of going, you know, I found myself like writing a to-do list in a day on my Fridays. Often when I have the full day to myself, I write myself at a to-do list.
It's like 10. You know, 10 items and then I come, it'll, it'll often be on the Saturday and I've only crossed off like three items, but then I add more items on it. So I think that's when we need to just bring ourselves back into the presence. And we're gonna talk about a few strategies that can help there.
But before we actually apply those strategies, we need to remove some ideas, some projects, whatever it is on your to-do list that maybe doesn't even need to be filtered or assessed.
So, yeah, believe it or not, Ro, before I shared that action sheet with you, I did remove a few things where I just thought, no, it's not a priority, it's not even gonna make it onto the list.
I know one of those things is doing Instagram, which thankfully you helped me with. We do a collaborative post, so there's some things I just didn't even make it. And that's actually quite freeing because it's one less thing to procrastinate about. And when you have one less thing to procrastinate about, you have one less thing to feel bad that you didn't get done.
Like that's what I feel. And here, there was something in the book that I was like, Hmm, okay, Oliver warns us against. What he calls midddling priorities. And these are priorities that are not important enough to be our top priorities, but that have just enough importance to justify taking up our time and maybe taking up more time than we thought they would take.
But then what happens is we spend all the time on the middle priorities and we neglect the top priorities. So we do better to really identify those middle, middle priorities. Maybe get a little bit brutal and remove as many as you can so that you are freed up to focus on the top priorities.
And you are really like, when you find yourself procrastinating and you go through this removal process, ask yourself, does this really matter? Is this really important? Once I've done step two and recentered around what matters and what's important, Does it belong on my list? And it can be tough, I know. Um, I really do know. But sometimes I find I am procrastinating about a task because it's actually not important to me. And so it's just, it shouldn't be on my list, and I should rather just put it aside, at least for the present season But sometimes when you put it on the chopping block and you go, okay, we're gonna remove this task. You go, wait, this is really important. It is important, and I am willing to shift other priorities out of the way to make this this task happen or this project happen. And I've recently had this in my business with repackaging my product Sales Page Superhero.
I've put it on the chopping block and gone, does this really matter? And I've interrogated it and challenged it, and I've come to the conclusion, yes, this really matters. It aligns with my vision for my business of having a passive income stream and of making the impact that I want to with other mompreneurs , particularly those Mompreneur starting out in business.
This product aligns with that. It can help them. I know. So, okay. It's not gonna get, removed. But launching a new version of Sales Page Superhero is not gonna happen in April. I know that. And you know that
Ro. So what now?
[00:19:12] Rowena: Oh, well, I feel like that's the million dollar question, Shelly. What now? Indeed. But I also think that many a multi-passionate Mompreneur has been in your shoes, and it does remind me of what Oliver says in the book, and I think he quotes Elizabeth Gilbert, When he points out that you're not just going to have to say no to the things you'd rather not do anyway.
So you don't have to just say no to the stuff that you're like, yeah, I didn't really wanna do that. So I can easily say no. What you're actually gonna have to do when you do this kind of reprioritizing and removing is you're gonna have to say no to some of the things you actually do want to do. And I think here it's a little bit of a FOMO alert, you know, fear of missing out.
So there's often a sense, particularly as business owners, that. If we don't do the things we really wanna do, everybody else is gonna be doing them and we are gonna feel this really genuine upset that we missed out somehow,
and that's a really strong motivator for us to keep doing things that actually aren't necessarily the top priorities in our business right now. So how do we handle that? How do we handle those projects or dreams? That are genuinely good ideas and that we really want to do, but we simply cannot fit them into our lives in the very near future, or at least for this season of our life.
And is there a way or a possibility that removing tasks doesn't have to feel
so painful or so brutal?
[00:20:36] Shelley: Well, thankfully, yes, I'd say, there's gonna be a certain brutality to it. I think you could remove something from your life by delegating it to someone else. And I mentioned the example of, Instagram, like you're doing the Instagram for Two Booked Up anyway, so we just do a collaborative post. So I've delegated that out of my life, and you're helping me out there.
It's also like we are hiring a professional can sometimes make a lot of sense. I procrastinated for so many years about my logo for my business and. I was changing it monthly. But about four years ago I decided no enough is enough. And I hired. Designer to do it all for me. And now I never have to think about my logo or my colors or the square version of your logo. You know, she's done the whole suite of assets for me and I effectively in doing that, remove that procrastination trap for my life.
And it was one of those decide once moments, which then paid off in the long run and freed up time for the important stuff.
[00:21:41] Step 4: Record
[00:21:41] Shelley: You can also do. Form of removing, and this brings us nicely onto the next step in the process is by deferring something to the future. So this is step four, where what we are going to do is we are going to record these genuinely good ideas that we've come up with and keep them safe somewhere. So when I say defer into the future, what are we talking about here? It's procrastination. We are actually procrastinating a task or a project, but we are doing it with strategy and intention. So we are gonna become better procrastinators by recording our good ideas somewhere. So in a written journal, in a spreadsheet, Roe, I know you love a good voice note for blog post ideas and that sort of thing. Also people use a trio board. I like Trello, that's a card system, but it's on, on a desktop app or on a, browser app. Those ideas are then safe and they're ready for the future. Then this is where mention in the trio board, Trello works on a kanban system where you've got these cards and they kind of essentially shift from column to column.
So you have a big backlog in your first column on the left column, and then you pull in. Tasks that you're going to do, say in the week. You pull those in and then you have work in progress on tasks that you're doing in the day, and this is something that came up in 4,000 weeks, is that to procrastinate better, you need to limit your Work In Progress.
So you recall all those tasks done, but you don't do all of them. You then go, on this day, I'm going to limit what. My brain is capable of dealing with at one time. So they suggest choosing no more than three tasks in progress per day. And I know this is something that came up in your habits podcast episode Ro.
Um, a really good habit that you can get into is to choose your top three priorities for the day. Keep focused on those. All the other tasks still live. They'll still live in their backlog. I think this is also the overwhelm of procrastination is, this feeling of like I never get anything done is because you've got all of this stuff in your head, so the other tasks are written down, they're recorded, and then you just add for the day. Maximum, three tasks into your work in, in progress, and you only add another task into work in progress once you've completed one of those tasks. Or you can also feel free to abandon a task. So it's not like, oh, once you've committed to this task, you have to finish it. If you decide, Nope, this is not working, you can abandon the task, that's fine.
But that's the only way you get in a new one. Okay? So yeah, you're procrastinating there, but you're procrastinating better by keeping three tasks in the present, and then the rest you are forwarding to tomorrow or a later date in the future. But they're recorded
and they're safe.
[00:24:56] Rowena: I love this and I will just say I do use notes in my phone and also I have a Google folder where I have all my, like my good ideas that I wanna hang onto. Personally, I find Trello is another form of procrastination. I think I could personally spend way too long moving things around and making it look pretty with perhaps delusion that I'm working hard, but actually not doing anything except moving
things around on a page that doesn't actually progress my business whatsoever.
[00:25:25] Shelley: Can I quickly jump in there? Just about tech, cuz tech can be such a procrastination trap. So yeah, let's all be careful of getting too far into the tech.
[00:25:36] Rowena: I also love old school. Let's just get a piece of paper and a pen and write down the three things we're going to work on today and then cross them off. And I actually have found, Particularly with kids, which we'll talk about in a different episode, but in my business, that works really well because it means I've got a visual cue right there in front of me without needing to toggle off the work that I'm doing, which means I can stay very focused on the work I'm doing right now in that work in progress.
I remember that Oliver Birkman had a lot of good things to say about this kind of strategy. And he was saying that when he was trying to be hyper productive, he wouldn't actually get any of his tasks completed because he had just too many things he was trying to do.
But now that he limits his work in progress to only a limited, like a very small number, he says that those three tasks actually get done in the day, which boosts his productivity. And I think this, this is really the power of becoming a better procrast. You actually get the stuff done that really matters.
[00:26:33] Step 5: Ram in the Tasks that Matter
[00:26:33] Rowena: Which leads us nicely on to the next step in the process, Shelley, and I like how you've termed it ram in the tasks that matter.
[00:26:41] Shelley: Oh yes. So this is where we can afford to get a bit aggressive. You are literally forcing them into your schedule, even if other tasks get neglected, but you've kind of prepared yourself for this, right? And then these important tasks, Again, start small. Often these important tasks are big and I think the idea also of limiting your work in progress is to cut down tasks into smaller chunks so that you focus in on three small tasks in the day that you can logically complete.
So if there's something important you wanna do, you know, set a time for 30 minutes in your schedule, and it can be even, every second day. It can even be once a week. All of that can count as a, like a habit and, a rhythm that you're. Really prioritizing this important thing. And the other thing that they say in the book is, start today.
You can't go, oh yeah, yeah, that sounds great. I'm gonna, I'll start that tomorrow. That, that is procrastinating. And we've now established these are the important things that you're not going to push into the future.
And I think what's been quite effective for me, that you've helped me with is, so just start.
So like, get some words on a page or get an outline done or some bullet points or something like that. And then you can tell yourself, okay, I'm just gonna take a break from this. But at least you've started. And then so you take a little break. When you come back to that task, you're just continuing the task.
You're not having to start from total scratch. And then you wanna share what you're doing consistently. And this is where I've really been challenged to let go of perfectionism and tell people, this is what I'm thinking. This is my rough draft. This is not perfect.
Push yourself to share way before, certainly way before it's done and way before you're comfortable with sharing it. With the communication that this is my rough draft. Okay. But I've often found that people are like, this is amazing. This is so great. Like, let's move on. Let's do it. Whereas we could have sat and dithered and, um, yeah, I certainly could have, and, you know, changed tiny little words which need and edit anyway, in the end.
And yeah, so like bringing it back to that example of Sales Page Superhero, which I'm thinking of calling the Plug and Play Sales Page, because I'm all about Playful, Mompreneur and that kind of stuff, but that's T B D. But I've accepted, I'm not gonna launch that in April, but because it matters, I'm gonna start small.
I'm gonna ram it into my schedule once a week. That's all I'm aiming for. It's, it feels rather serendipitous, but I came across Amy Hoy's launch for the Win. She's recently launched a free resource that will help you to launch a product in 12 weeks. And that feels very spacious to me. I'm like, 12 weeks, yes, I can do that, but yet it also gives me enough of a boundary, a deadline.
So, this product is going to launch at the end of July. I'm committing to it in public right here.
[00:29:48] Rowena: Okay, people, you all noted that down, right? You heard it here first, and we have a lot of witnesses now, Shelley, so I think that's fabulous.
But I also think having a plug and play sales page, love the name, by the way, with your copywriting prompts, is going to help so many of us solopreneurs stop procrastinating about our tech and about our copywriting.
So I think we've covered a lot up till now, and I just wanna do a quick recap before we move on to the last two steps. So first of all, we've recognized that step one that we're procrastinating.
Then step two, we recentered on what's important or what matters to us. Step three is to remove any tasks or projects that aren't top priorities. Then step four, we record all our good ideas, our dreams, or any tasks that we can't get done in the short term, and that should leave us with a bit of wiggle room to then fit in the tasks and the projects that do matter.
That is we ram some of them into our schedule. That's our five steps. So far, what is next in our mission to become better procrastinators.
[00:30:57] Step 6: Repeat with Relish
[00:30:57] Shelley: Okay, so we've got two more steps left and step six is then to repeat with relish. I added in the relish because this is the part where you are gonna do the work. There's no getting around it. You have now set yourself up so that you're not going to procrastinate, and we've removed those procrastinating traps by trimming your priorities and limiting your work in progress.
So the repeat parts is all about consistency, commitment to these important tasks that matter. You're need to be aware of shiny objects. Yeah. Those techy things that come through. You're going to really challenge yourself, and this is, I am going to challenge myself to see it through and repeat until complete.
I, I liked how that ended up priming. But I think this is where we are going to just kind of have that consistency, that rhythm of doing the work and yeah, with relish. So enjoy it. You have chosen this particular path, this particular task, or this project. A whole lot of intention and thoughts if you followed the process.
So enjoy the moments, enjoy what you create, show it off to the world of pride, and then get the satisfaction of watching them enjoy it. And this is something that comes up in 4,000 weeks the fact that we're choosing one thing out of an infinite number of options. Simply that at like moment of choice and choosing makes that one thing really special no matter what it is
[00:32:34] Rowena: And I think that that choice element that you are actively choosing to do this, and by acknowledging that, that is really powerful. Because it reminds me of one of the key lessons that I took from the book, which was life is for living.
And part of that is choosing to do the stuff that lights us up and being excited by that. So talk about the last step for us here Shelley.
[00:32:58] Step 7: Reflect and Review
[00:32:58] Shelley: Yeah. So very importantly, don't forget, this one is to reflect and review. Again, this is something that Rowena and I do each month when we meet for our Design Your Season sessions. We reflect on the month that's passed and we look at what we have completed, what we have achieved, the lessons that we've learned, and then we look at the things that we haven't completed and maybe procrastinating on, and that's where we can work together to recenter and go, hm.
So I find there's a lovely juncture to pause and reflect, and it's one of the important things that I do ram into my calendar because it absolutely matters. If I didn't ram it in there, uh, I would just move swiftly onto the next task, in the next project and just running on the treadmill. But, but this is the point to go and have a look at those projects you've recorded in step four. So you go and see all your great ideas and then go, okay, have a good space now in the month ahead. I've reflected, I've seen what's important for me now, and these new ideas now can find their space and their time to shine.
[00:34:09] Rowena: Absolutely. This is a great opportunity to celebrate our wins. Celebration is really important because so many of us in small business or as solo entrepreneurs can we find that we just move on to the next thing.
We don't take the time to reflect and celebrate on what we've done and what we've achieved. And it can be a very powerful thing to pause and it actually helps us maintain momentum. And again, this is one of those counterintuitive ideas. By pausing and slowing down for a moment, we actually maintain more momentum than if we just power on through.
So to avoid the unhelpful version of procrastination, we may need to do a little bit of intentional procrastination. And whilst we are reflecting and we maybe notice ourselves procrastinating, then we start the whole process of the seven Rs all over again.
So there's this lovely cycle to it. So I love that Shelley, you've created this beautiful seven step process that has actually got a lovely cycle, and let's go with another R word and lovely rhythm to it as well.
[00:35:12] Shelley: yes.
[00:35:12] Rowena: So Shelly, thank you for sharing your reflections on, again, I'm going with all the R words now on chapter four, particularly of 4,000 Weeks Time Management for Mortals.
So friends, we would love to know which part of this episode stood out for you. It doesn't have to be a major aha moment. Maybe it's just something that you don't wanna forget.
So shoot us a reply on our Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or Twitter posts for this episode. You can find me at Rowena Mabbott on Instagram, and if you'd like to learn more about how I can support you as a career and life confidence coach. Or you'll wanna download my free book, the ADA Z of Career and Life Confidence, or read my many blog posts.
Then head on over to my online home at Rowena Mabbott dot com and Shelley. Where can our listeners find you?
[00:36:03] Shelley: You can find me on Twitter at shelly t Smith or sign up for my newsletter at Shelley Tonkin Smith dot com.
Also remember that that's where you can access my PDF with the seven steps together with a blog post that dives a little deeper into some of the topics that we've discussed in today's podcast episode. On Shelley Tonkin Smith dot com. Head on over there and you can download all of that.
[00:36:27] Shelley: And if you'd like to learn more about my copywriting services that's at Shelley Smith creative.com, you can find show notes and a transcript of this episode at two Booked up.com. And that is also where you can sign up for our newsletter and get our 23 for 2023 reading challenge PDF checklist, which is a lot of fun to bring some intention to your reading life.
So we'll be back in two weeks time when Rowena is gonna do a deeper dive into the five life-changing questions, Oliver Birkman shares in his final summary and how they can influence our personal choices.
So we look forward to connecting with you then. For now, I'm gonna say farewell in Zulu, go well.
[00:37:20] Rowena: You've been listening to two Booked Up with me, Rowena Mabbott.
[00:37:23] Shelley: And me Shelley Tonkin Smith, please subscribe or follow Two Booked Up in your podcast player, and if you've enjoyed this episode, we'd love it if you'd leave a positive review.
