SAMIA: Hello, Salaam, Shalom, Namaste, Sat Sri Akal, Aloha, Holah, Ciao, Bonjour, Buna, and Privet!It's really really good to be with you again... And I'm so excited that we have with us, Agnese, who's a Productivity Specialist. I'm so excited for what we're going to be talking about today, Agnese... welcome!

AGNESE: Hi... and thank you very much for having me. I'm so glad to see more and more platforms that want to bring our attention to important aspects in our lives so you know we can evolve and grow stronger and wiser. So thank you for creating this... and for your continuous work.

SAMIA: Ah! Thank you… thank you for sure. And also the same to you... because you're doing such important work. You know we are all about making change fun and easy, making life more fun and easy on this show… And definitely when we think about how to make our lives more fun and easy, productivity is a huge aspect of that formula. So I am like really looking forward to our conversation.

AGNESE: Great. Me too. I can't wait... Let's dig right in.

SAMIA: So please will you tell us a little bit more about who you are and what you do...

AGNESE: Of course. So I'm a certified Productivity Specialist and Time Management Expert with a professional background in quality management and empowerment coaching as well... So what I have done is combined my passion for organizing and turn it into my mission... helping working women get more productive in life and business... so they could really gain the time freedom they deserve. And so this is exactly what we do in my “Less Is More” coaching environment. So through structure and systems and processes that bring results... we scale in productivity and therefore in time freedom.

SAMIA: Nice. I love... I love the idea of having more time freedom! Ultimately, time is one of our most precious resources… It’s like something that we can never get back right...

AGNESE: Yes.

SAMIA: So...

AGNESE: Exactly.

SAMIA: Amazing.

AGNESE: Yes... yes. And that's you know that's the common problem for so many that we just want more than 24 hours in a day... we want to be able to fit in all our ambitions in that timeframe. But unfortunately we all have as much as there is, you know... we can’t just create more. But in my mentorship I talk a lot about expanding time. And you can truly expand the time if you follow the steps. If you do the work... if you're willing to do it. You will never create more minutes in the day or more hours… but for you personally to achieve more you can actually expand time. And that means you just do important work without getting overworked and overwhelmed and constantly stressed… which happens when we try to fit in everything in a day or two, you know. 

SAMIA: Yeah... That's such an excellent point. And I love the idea of expanding time for yourself. Can you tell me a little bit more... about like the problem that you see people struggling with in general… because of which they are not able to experience this sense of expanded time and so forth?

AGNESE: Yeah. It's that reason that we can't... we're not very good at prioritizing. And so we think that everything is important and everything is urgent. And I would say that this is really... like this day and age, the big problem that we all have… because with all of the notifications that come our way, with all of those distractions... we see our phone blinking constantly, right… we see the email notifications on the screen somewhere... And we think... oh yeah I have this email it just gonna take a second… And what that second does... it takes your focus away from the work you're doing, and it goes completely off. And then you need to take time to get back into that focus... and this is where we waste the time the most.

SAMIA: Interesting!

AGNESE: Right?

SAMIA: Interesting... So you really think this is where we waste… Because I know I have seen some studies that talk about how even if you are just taking, you think, just a few seconds or a minute, to you know sort of shift your focus to something else… like if a phone call comes or you pay attention to a notification that just pops up on your phone... I have definitely seen research that shows that it takes more than just that minute or just those few seconds that you take to do that to actually get back in the flow of whatever other tasks you were doing. So for sure you're losing time... and you're saying this is actually the big reason we lose time…

AD HERE 

AGNESE: Yeah. I believe that maybe the research that you're talking about... I think it was that we get distracted every 11 minutes or something. And that's huge... Like imagine there's that many hours in the day… And if we can't focus enough to get important things done, how we can scale? How can we grow... how we can like evolve in business or whatever it is that you're doing, right… So we really need to be able to maintain that focus. And of course it might sound, yes, it's easy to say you know, but it's hard to do. But there are things that you can practice... routines that you can implement to actually be more focused and be more attentive on things that are important... But how do we get there... It all really starts with clarity. Because we will never be able to plan everything by seconds, and follow that plan as well, you know... because life gets in the way and it's normal. It happens. We will not be able to prioritize well if we don't know what we want... So the clarity is really the starting point... what is it that you want... And I sometimes ask women when they reach out... like I would tell them... Well if I give you now... if I have a magic wand you know… and I give you now 4 extra hours every day... And now just imagine you know in an ideal world you reach the same success... you have... you're satisfied, everything works well. But you have extra hours... four hours. And usually you know what happens is that they don't know. They don't know what they would do with that time. So then why do you need it... What are the reasons... there is no clarity. And then this is the first that we need to work through to really get there. Because after that focusing is that much easier. Prioritizing is that much easier... because you know exactly what you want.

SAMIA: That is so interesting. Like if you had asked me what I would do for four extra hours... I think for me until you sort of clarified what you were meaning... immediately I had like several different ideas popping into my mind... "oh I could do this. I could do that. I could do that"... But I realized that what you were saying is, no... like just the fact that I have so many ideas about what I could do, that's actually part of the lack of clarity. Like... "No! This is what I must do...  or need to do… or would love most to do".

AGNESE: Yeah. And it's not that we have to choose one thing and follow it. No... absolutely not. You can be multi-passionate and you can have several directions that you're really really passionate about, you know... there's nothing wrong with it. But to have a million things going on… that's a bit distracting, you know...

SAMIA: Yes! Yeah... that is so true. And I was just realizing that what you're saying applies to us …even like multitasking in context of all the different work-related things that we need to do... Like I remember when I was interning within my very first job I suppose… that I was doing... this was like one of the things that my coach at that time, that I was interning with, was teaching me... she was like you saw me you need to let me know when you're working on something… and you know… and then I won't disturb you until you're done with the task. Because… like I was thinking that you know whenever my coach tries to contact me or connect with me, I should just get back to them right away. And she was like... "no! If you're actually working on something and I try to connect with you and distract you from what you're doing and then you know it'll take you more time to do that". So I'd much rather that... you just let me know this is what I'm working on... this so much time I think I need for it… and so then I will not disturb you in that period of time.

AGNESE: Yes. But you know unfortunately multi-tasking is being praised as something fabulous that you're doing, you know... you're multitasking! Yes! That's great. And I've been in that position as well. So I would work myself... overwork, you know, and just get exhausted because of that… but I wouldn't be praised for it. And it's happening in our culture. We don't see multitasking as anything bad... We see it as something great. You can talk on the phone and write an email... Awesome! We need you... sign me up. Exactly... Unfortunately it's like this... Yeah but this is why we talk. This is why I personally am so passionate about productivity... because really it puts things into a much better balance, you know. And if we talk about like, where do we start? Like there are four productivity fundamentals that we all need to take into consideration. Because we just can't work work work… reach for some imagined success… without taking care of things like our sleep... our diet... exercise… so the body movement... and also our environment. Because if we don't sleep enough... we wake up exhausted… there isn't... we can't talk about focus then. 

SAMIA: Yeah.

AGNESE: Right. We can't really talk about productive work. So it all goes kind of hand in hand. You know... it's not just about downloading an app… try to manage your life from one app. And yes my time management isn't spot on. It's not that... because it starts from you. How well are you eating? Are you actually moving your body? Because we need all of those happy hormones. And you know our body needs to be healthy enough to let us focus and to let us manage and plan that much better… And it's just... it's it is what it is. Do we want accepted or no... it's still... it's the truth.

SAMIA: That's right. That's right. Oh my gosh... and I so appreciate you taking this sort of holistic perspective on what it really takes for us to be able to be productive. And I know what you're talking about… especially in the context of sleep... I had this experience just a few weeks ago where there was a shift in my work schedule. And then of course we also… in the US… we have you know this change in time with daylight savings time that we have, and so forth... And so that also sort of threw me off a little bit... And I actually found myself only getting like five-six hours of sleep a night. And optimally, like for me personally, I find that I need more like eight to nine hours of sleep. And so after like a few weeks of only getting five to six-hours of sleep... I was like seriously sleep-deprived. And it was for sure impacting everything that I was doing... impacting my focus... impacting my mood. I think… like for me, that impact on my mood was something that I felt the most… because you know as a happiness expert I'm like genuinely a pretty happy person. And I put in a lot of you know... to maintain and create a happy mood… it's a choice that we have to make… and we have to, you know, manage our thoughts and our emotions... and just what we're doing, you know, and all of that… And I couldn't... I couldn't make those choices that I knew would help me to create and maintain a positive mood. I was just way too sleepy...

AGNESE: Yes exactly. And I so appreciate you saying that because so many of us experience it... but we don't link it together with how we actually feel you know… because we're like four hours is enough for me you know... and maybe for some people it truly is. It is possible. For me I need like eight to 10 hours. And then I'm my best you know… then I am at my optimal level… and I can truly do things from the best place you know. And the fourth fundamental that I was saying about the environment...

SAMIA: Yeah...

AGNESE: How much that affects our work as well… And that's what I said at the beginning, that people usually think when I talk about time management and productivity... it's very technical, you know… you schedule... you plan... you make tables and you do this and that. But it's actually… that's the other part of it... First it's those fundamentals and clarity and what we need to do to create that optimal environment, you know…

SAMIA: Yeah...

AGNESE: ...because while we can... How we can truly thrive... what is... what are the things that are in our office, right. Maybe we don't like the photo... the photo frame is kind of old on our desk, and it keeps bugging us. And we don't even notice it... but it constantly takes our attention away. Maybe we eat while we work, you know... Or any… it could be anything… maybe dogs barking outside our window... So many things affect us.

SAMIA: Yes. Oh my gosh you give some really brilliant examples… like the idea of that photograph that's bothering you... That made me think about one of the sayings that one of my coaches… it's his favorite saying. And basically… I might not get it exactly right... But it's basically something like… every mess is a lock on the gate of abundance in your life... Meaning... and what he means by it... just in case I didn't get it exactly right… he is like literally, you know, you're preventing abundance from coming into your life with every mess that is present in your life and that you don't take the time to clean up, you know, as quickly as you can...

AGNESE: Right... right.

SAMIA: And the example is like, oh here's this photo frame… there's something about it that bothers me. And I don't deal with it. And so it just keeps intruding into my consciousness… like you were saying... every time something distracts me it's not just that moment in which I noticed the frame... it's like this whole… it unleashes this whole cycle, making me less productive.

AGNESE: Absolutely! And I'm very big on decluttering. And doing it consistently... so if something is bothering you... because for me I know… when I clean my closet, I just... I breathe more lightly. It just, it kind of like takes the weight off. And so imagine if your working desk has piles of paper, peanuts there, water here… and it's kind of like a big mess… then it reflects on the mood… on your focus. Because I always say that, like… the mess on your desk creates a mess in your head... and also vice versa. So we really need to start somewhere. And to clear the mess in our heads... it's much harder than clearing the mess on our desks, and our… in our environment. So this is a very easy place, where to start, you know... start by your actual environment to create some positive change you know. Clean that drawer… do you really need all of those things that are in sight... probably not. Take the time to do it. And notice how much different you feel after it.

SAMIA: Yes.

AGNESE: Right?

SAMIA: Yes. And maybe to just create some time in your life to do this kind of clean up, as it were...

AGNESE: Yeah.

SAMIA: ..on a regular basis... because I... oh my gosh you just made me think about like another huge lesson that I've learned in my life about, you know... it's actually a law in the universe that everything will tend to move towards chaos... unless we've put in specific energy to create organization. And so even if you clean your desk let's say… it will …unless you put an effort on a regular basis to maintain its neatness and cleanliness… it will keep getting messy over time.

AGNESE: Yeah yeah yeah… absolutely. And it's so true. Yes... And I'm glad that you said it. Because you know… the mess on our desk is one thing... but so many of us are working from our laptops, our phones, right, especially nowadays... You only need a Wi-Fi and a device, right, to create change... And what we do is, we create a mess there as well.

SAMIA: Right.

AGNESE: How many photos do we have, right? How many folders do we have... Are they organized? Because you know what happens... If we need to find something... it takes so much more time to find the things that we need… if... unless we know where it is, right. So if our things are organized... then we waste less of a time trying to find them because we know where they are. It takes a second.

SAMIA: Yeah.

AGNESE: But if we can't, then we're like... oh I have this pile of paper here… we're going through it... we have a folder, which is like a junk folder that everything goes in there, and then we go through that. It's difficult... and we make it difficult for ourselves. It's our responsibility... because no one else created that folder. And no one else created that mess. It was us.

SAMIA: That’s right... Oh my gosh. You just made me think about something else that happened.

AGNESE: I like that I make you think...

SAMIA: Oh yes... oh yes. Okay so this was I think maybe three years ago... I was having major problems with… I had a MacBook Pro at that time. And it was just having all kinds of bugs. And I thought it was just because it was so old… because I'd had it at that point in time for good… maybe seven-eight years. So I actually got a new MacBook Pro, double the memory and you know supposed to have like a 10-hour battery life… and you know it was just the specs on it were like way way way better than my previous MacBook Pro, and so forth. But… and then I was so excited to use it. And then when I got it… I… you know it had this like feature of… you could just, over WiFi, connect your old MacBook Pro with the new one and it would just transfer all the data. And it was so easy to do that. And at first I was like super happy that it happened… the transition happened so smoothly... but then it was like really strange and annoying because my new... brand new MacBook Pro… started to have a lot of problems as well. And I was like what in the world is going on? And turns out that when I transferred all that data, it was like so easy to do... But it actually transferred with it like all of these like buggy files that were in the old computer, and that I didn't realize were causing the problem. And so like literally what I had to do was like just wipe the entire disk clean, you know, of the new MacBook Pro. And then you know I manually one by one transferred the files that I actually needed into the new...

AGNESE: Yeah.... Yeah! Well, we live and we learn… and that's great that we have these experiences that we can truly learn from. And it's also great that we have some support or some outside force that can say… you know, maybe this is not how you do it… or maybe you want to try something else you know... without pushing or anything… but just giving like a wise advice to just look at things differently, you know... Because we're not experts at everything, and we shouldn't be. Why? You know… But if... and that's why the coaching and the support that you're doing is so useful. Because it's just... it helps so much, right.

SAMIA: Indeed.

AGNESE: Yeah.

SAMIA: Indeed... yeah. And you know just sort of thinking again about it from the perspective of like the tech example... like I wouldn't never... I'm not a tech expert. I'm not a computer expert. So like when I run into trouble with my computer, I go get help. And I don't think that's strange...

AGNESE: Here you go...

SAMIA: …right. And so why not do that in other areas of our life... when we are in trouble.

AGNESE: Absolutely, yeah... Because you know we just… we get so stuck in our ways, in our routines, that it's not easy to change it by ourselves... even if we wanted to.

SAMIA: Yes.

AGNESE: Because we're so used to how we do things, right... we're so used to our habits and routines... that if somebody would come in and say… maybe you should eliminate this or that… you're like, but I've been doing this for years, you know. So it's kind of like, it gives you a little bit different perspective on things. And that's what's great about it. That's what's great.

SAMIA: That's so true. That's so true. And oh my gosh... okay, you made me think about another saying, that is actually also one of my favorite sayings… and it's basically this idea of… “what you focus on, expands…”. And I find that that's actually one of the biggest, biggest benefits of having a coach help you, or whoever you decide to bring in to help you. But especially in a coaching context, you know… because when you start working with a coach, there's a purpose to why you're doing it... You're bringing focus to a certain area of your life… or struggle that you're dealing with… And you want to create a solution, you know, and resolve that problem. So you're like actually in a very conscious way bringing focus onto it.

AGNESE: Yes.

SAMIA: And so when you begin to focus on the problem and on creating the solution, then that is when you can see that expansion happening in your life...

AGNESE: Absolutely.

SAMIA: ..expansion of your understanding of the problem... your understanding of the solution and the actual solution emerging.

AGNESE: Yes... totally. And you know sometimes it also happens that our experiences with coaching, or with like group support that we're in... is not the most pleasant ones. But what I can tell you is that we can always learn from them... either way… Either way it's a lesson… we can take something out of it. Because I personally also have had some experiences… not so pleasant ones… where I was maybe disappointed and not entirely happy. But that's again something that I need to work on and then need to analyze just a little bit to see why... why this thing triggered me… what happened and how I can improve that, right. But if that experience wouldn't happen... how would I know? I would never question anything.

SAMIA: Yes!

AGNESE: Right...

SAMIA: That's very true. That is very true. I mean...

AGNESE: Yeah.

SAMIA: ..we have... I mean… every person has their own experience and things that work for them, things that don't… I know in the context of coaching for example… coaches have had certain experiences and based on you know certain training that they have and so forth... they have a certain perspective on how to make things work, you know, and what they teach their students… And the approach of a particular coach may not exactly work for you… that doesn't mean that the approach in itself is wrong. It's just you know… it’s not the right fit for you... and like you said, Agnese... you can still learn from that. You can still learn from that... that is a really excellent point.

AGNESE: Yes absolutely! Absolutely. And that's the beauty of it, you know… And it actually goes hand in hand with time management as well… Because I… some time ago already… I discovered this author and researcher... And he's just amazing. He wrote books… and specifically on time management… and he said... "Time management is pain management". And it struck me… it felt like... "oh my god, he just confirmed what I've been saying and what I've been thinking"... Because we seek distraction to avoid discomfort. And this is why we are not able to focus on things and manage our time as best as we normally would. Because we have a task in front of us and it's kind of like maybe… filing the tax bill, you know… we're like, "Ah maybe I'm gonna do it tomorrow"... procrastination creeps in, right. And your time management goes out the window, right. You're planning, you’re scheduling... nothing works. Because actually we need to look inside ourselves. We need to do that research deeper, to understand why this triggers me. Why I want to avoid this. Why is this creating discomfort for me... what's happening?

SAMIA: Yeah... yeah... that is so wise... that is so wise.

AGNESE: Yeah...

SAMIA: Actually...

AGNESE: I'm working on that pain yeah...

SAMIA: Yeah... because it also goes back to the point you were making earlier about how important it is for us to have clarity. And the fact is that so many of us, because we are trying to avoid certain kinds of pain, or certain discomfort… it actually prevents us from, number one, having the clarity about what we really need to do to solve the big problems in our life or achieve the goals that we want… because we're so focused on just avoiding the pain or the discomfort, rather than being focused on taking the action that will actually move us forward, you know.

AGNESE: Yes! You're absolutely right… you know, so many of us want that clarity.

SAMIA: Yeah.

AGNESE: But how many of us have actually sat down with a piece of paper and wrote down our ideas... of what is it that we want. You know we don't wanna... we think we're wasting our time.

SAMIA: Yeah.

AGNESE: But it's actually how we're gonna gain time in a long run… when we truly know what we want. And it's just... it's so fascinating. And this is why the coaching is so useful in this case, you know… because we have somebody that can keep us accountable... we have support that is knowledgeable and resourceful, you know, in the areas that we might be lacking in.

SAMIA: Yeah.

AGNESE: And that's the beauty of it. It's great. It helps to change our habits… that is just such a fundamental of how we can change our life, right.

SAMIA: Yes. Oh my gosh... okay I... oh my… Okay, you just brought up so many great points and I think we'll just have to bring you back for a second episode because we are running out time for now... Any last words to share for right now...

AGNESE: Yes! So what I would like to say to everyone... and everyone who is working and maybe wearing many hats in the household at work… and just feeling like they need more time, you know... just remember that you are in charge. Time is not in charge of you... you are in charge of it. And the help and support is all around us if only we're willing to open our eyes and see it… and of course open our hearts to receive it. Because we also need to be willing to receive, right. So I wish everyone to be more open-minded and seek support whenever you feel like you need it.

SAMIA: See you just dropped another amazing pearl of wisdom that I’m like... "oh, need more time to dig into this". So we will, at another time, do so. And in the meantime I just wanted to remind all of you who are listening right now, to make sure to check the show notes… because we'll be adding Agnese's links in there so you can connect with her and reach out to her for the support that you need. And yeah... until we connect next time. I just wish you lots and lots of peace and joy. :)