How To Prioritize Your Life

SUMMARY

  • “A lot of times in people’s productive lives, the reason they don’t have more momentum is they’re holding all of this guilt and shame about the things they know they should be doing.”
  • Are you looking to gain more momentum in your life but feeling stuck? In this episode, learn 3 different ways to better your productivity and practice intentionality with your daily tasks to be more successful. 
  • “Because when you understand you’re going to play the long game, you stop operating every day and stress, hurry, and anxiety.”
  • Overwhelmed with all that you have on your plate? Check out this episode where Brendon explains different techniques to help you gain back control of your schedule and life.
  • Watch the video to get the full training.
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INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES

FULL TRANSCRIPT

[The following is the full transcript of this episode of The Brendon Show. Please note that this episode, like all TBS episodes, features Brendon speaking extemporaneously–he is unscripted and unedited. Filmed in one take, The Brendon Show has become one of the most viewed unscripted, direct-to-camera self-help series in the history of YouTube. It has also been the #1 Podcast in all of iTunes and is regularly in the top podcasts in Self-Help and Health categories around the globe. Subscribe to the free motivational podcast on iTunes or Stitcher.)

I’m going to give you the biggest gift, and this is what I call the 30-day punt. The 30-day punt. And here’s what it means this time of year if you’ve never trained with me before. It means I would love for you to get honest with yourself about all the projects you said you were going to do this year. Just write them all down right now in your notes or in your journal or in the GrowthDay app. Write down all the projects that you want to do this year. We’ll give you a second. Go ahead, grab a piece of paper if you need to. 

Write down everything that you said you’re going to do this year and be okay with the fact to do the 30-day punt. Here’s what I mean by the 30-day punt. I look at all those projects I said I was going to do this year, and I’ll give you my specific example. I was going to start a book this year. I should say another book. This quarter, I was going to start a new book, and I am looking at that right now and I’m going to do a 30-day punt on it. Here’s what that means:

1. “Punt” Projects You Don’t Have Time For Right Now

 

If in the next 30 days, I’m not significantly going to start that project, I’m going to punt that project to January. Meaning I’m giving you full allowance to put off the projects you’re not going to start.

If you’re honest, you know, November, December, we all get really busy. We’re, you know, we’re all pushing hard. We’re all trying to make magic happen. And you’re probably going to spend November and December completing the projects that you already started that were significant. You’re going to wrap up the quarter, you’re going to finish those final sales calls, you’re going to push that final promotion through. You’re going to do those things with the family or those trips for the holidays. November and December, you’re probably already going to be pretty full completing those things.

So I say if there’s a major project you’re not yet going to, be honest with yourself. Start in the next 30 days. Just be honest and go, “I’m not going to do it this year. I’m going to put it over in January to revisit it, and I’m going to feel guilty about it.”

A lot of times in people’s productive lives, the reason they don’t have more momentum is they’re holding all of this guilt and shame about the things they know they should be doing.

What if they just had the care, the tenderness, the self-awareness to say, I’m really not going to do that, I want to put it over here and not be guilty about it. Emotional energy comes back. It’s the things we are a dog in it ourselves about making fun of ourselves, about getting down on ourselves, about that has a lot of emotional weight. And it’s unconscious. See, what people don’t know is how often their brain goes, I should be doing this, I should be doing this, I should be doing this, I should be doing this, I should be doing this. The brain is always thinking that” I should be doing this. I should be doing this.” And the more the brain is like, “I should be doing this, I should be doing this, I should be doing this”, the more you start discouraging yourself. The more that that statement disempowers you, the more that that statement robs you of confidence. 

2. Don’t Think You Have To Complete Everything Now

And so what I’d love for you to think about is, “Oh. Maybe there are things I’m beating myself up on that I just need to be honest, I’m not going to take it on this year. I’m going to put it into next year.” Revisit into next year and not have any guilt. That’s just straight-up genuine prioritization.

Don’t feel guilty about prioritizing your life.

Write it down. Don’t feel guilty about prioritizing your life in every area of your life. If that means you need to take this project and throw it into January, put it into February. Calm down. That’s OK. Why are you hating yourself that you can’t do everything? By the end of the year, why are you hating yourself that you’re not doing one million other things? Aren’t you already stressed and overwhelmed enough? Stop hating yourself. Be honest with yourself and just say, “Yeah, this little sucker. It’s my 30-day putt. Brendon taught me that in 30 days if I’m not going to significantly start it, I’m going to punt it into next year.”

Now doesn’t mean I’m telling you to quit, it doesn’t mean I’m not saying you can’t do lots in the next 90 days. We’ll give you tons of ideas here, but I hope that this helps you. I hope that this helps you. I think it’s so critical that we just get honest with ourselves. There are like four or five major marketing campaigns I’d love to start this year. They’re not going to happen. It’s going to overwhelm me, overwhelm the team, overwhelm our platform. Just not going to do it. We’ll do it next year.

Because when you understand you’re going to play the long game, you stop operating every day and stress, hurry and anxiety.

I’m going on with this point, but it’s one of the simplest practices. I do the 30-day punt if I’m not significantly going to start it in the next 30 days. I’m just honest with it.

Now, I’ve used the example because we’re at the end of the year and, you know, if you’re not going to start it the next 30 days, you could punt it to January, February, next year. Some of you, I know that’s not appropriate depending on what you’re doing or what your job is. Maybe you just go, I’m going to punt it till after Thanksgiving, or I’m going to punt it till December. I’m going to punt it to this specific date. But you know what? Just give yourself the gift.

3. Put It In Your Schedule

Open up your calendar or go to your growth day app and open up your plan. Write down the thing. Set a date, set that date and when you hit save. You feel the freedom of now, it’s scheduled, it’s scheduled in the future. You don’t have to think about it until then. I’ve got literally over 100 items in my plan. They’re scheduled for the future. I don’t even think about it. They have. No, I’m so present right here with you right now. I don’t even think about those things. Those things are going to come when I get to them. They’re scheduled. They’re in the plan right there and the growth they will remind me, there it is. OK, time to deal with this. Until then, I didn’t even think about it. And that’s how you create the freedom of mind to be present at the moment. The freedom of mind. Notice the things around you. Be grateful for them. The freedom of mind to do your work today. With excellence not weighed down by all those things you didn’t do or that are coming up. And so it’s this parking lot item, right? I’m going to park this thing or to put this into the future, I’m going to punt it and schedule it into the future. I promise you, it will lighten up your load over the next 90 days and you’ll feel so much better.