In this week’s podcast, I have the amazing Megan Hyatt Miller who is the chief operating officer at Michael Hyatt and Company. She is also the co-host of the popular Lead to Win Podcast. In this episode, we talk all about Michael Hyatt Company and how Megan runs it, as well as how you can stay focused and get work done without feeling overwhelmed.
KEY TAKEAWAYS COVERED IN THE PODCAST
- Our life has different seasons – different things are possible in different seasons.
- Respect the constraints that you have in your life and don’t fight it.
- Your weekly big three are the three most important things you need to achieve each week.
- Instead of writing a huge to-list every day, try to focus on the top three things you need to do and then move onto any others IF you have time.
- The act of writing is really good to clarify things and have a sense of calm.
- Having a paper planner is like having a sense of control that you can hold in your hand.
- Success includes all parts of your life, not just work.
- To have a great day, you need to have a morning and night ritual.
- Self-care is important to support yourself.
- You can be successful without burning yourself out and make compromises.
THE ONE THING YOU NEED TO REMEMBER ABOVE ALL ELSE…
We have so much going on in our lives, so it is important to decide what you want to focus your energy on and what you want to achieve. When you plan and prioritise the important things, you will ultimately be more productive.
HIGHLIGHTS YOU SIMPLY CAN'T MISS
- An Introduction to Megan 05:54
- Working at Michael Hyatt Company 08:05
- Succession Planning and Diversifying 09:42
- Managing Your Time Efficiently 13:18
- The Season of Life 18:20
- The Full Focus Planner 22:20
- You Can Win at Work and Succeed at Life 34:00
- Journaling for Kids and Students 39:00
- What’s Next for Megan? 43:52
Transcript below
Hello and welcome to this week’s episode of the podcast. How are you doing? I am sat recording this on a beautiful sunny day in Rochford in England. And I have to say, because we haven’t been able to get in a plane this year yet. I was missing, going to amazing sunny places like California and Nashville. And I was in Greece and Cyprus and Dubai last year. So I am really, really very grateful for the sun shining here because, I don’t know about you, but it totally makes a difference to my mood and how I feel. And obviously I’ve had my garden done. So after I’ve recorded this, I’m probably going to go and work in the garden, which will be heavenly. Anyway, haven’t come on to tell you a weather report. Today I have an amazing interview for you. I am interviewing the very lovely Megan Hyatt Miller, who it was such a delight actually. So nice to have her on. I really think you’re going to love this conversation. It was so, so enjoyable to do from my point of view. Now you might recognize the Hyatt name as I have had two or two members already at the Hyatt family. So I’ve obviously already had Michael Hyatt on the podcast and Megan is Michael’s daughter. And as you know that. Well, his other daughter, Megan’s sister, Mary is my coach and very dear friend and she’s been on the podcast twice. So it was so nice to add Megan to the lineup.
I feel like I should be interviewing their entire family, but I think we’re going to stop it at Megan, but it was great to chat with her. So let me tell you a little bit about Megan first. So Megan Hyatt Miller is the chief operating officer. At Michael Hyatt and company, she’s also the cohost of the lead to win podcast, which is consistently featured in the top 10 of iTunes. As a leader of leaders, she is the grand architect of Michael Hyatt and company successful achievement focused culture. Today, she teaches other companies, how to practically craft a company culture that makes a double win effortless. Uh, they have a sort of phrase that they win at work and win at life. She enjoys her free time with her husband and check this, five children. Five. There’s a woman is basically chief operating officer at a hugely successful business that is in an industry that is incredibly fast moving.
And she does all this while being mum to five children, which completely blew my mind and these children. And I think she says it on the podcast. We’ve got a couple of teenagers. A couple of boys who were around sort of 10, 11, I think. And then a baby who is only just turned one like, WOW. So in this episode we talk all about Michael Hyatt and company and how Megan runs the company and what she does in there. But the reason I bought Megan on is because Megan is one of the people behind the full focus planner. And I use the full focus planner to help me stay organized. Now I’ve tried so many planners and I have to say, I failed dismally at loads of them. Couldn’t get on with them, thought I loved them. And then we did it for three days and then be done. I have been using the full focus plan and I for six months solidly and consistently, and I love it. And they’ve got some great thoughts and opinions on how you can actually stay focused and get work done without the overwhelm, without having hundreds of things on your, to do list. So that’s what we talk about in today’s episode.
And like I said, It was just such a lovely conversation, loved chatting to her, really enjoyed it. The other thing that you should know is while I was in Nashville last year, Mary, very kindly, this is before see way before lockdown. Took me to Michael’s and Michael Hyatt companies offices. Oh, my actual word.
You have never seen offices. Like it. They’re beautiful. This so, so amazing. And the culture that they’ve created in that business is, is phenomenal. So honestly, I think you’re gonna love today’s episode. Megan was just delight to interview and it was so nice to have a chat with us, so please enjoy. Okay. So it gives me such pleasure today to welcome to the podcast. The very lovely Megan Hyatt Miller, Megan, welcome to the podcast.
Megan: Hey, it’s so great to be with you. I’m so excited to be here.
Teresa: I honestly, and I’m really, really excited to have you on, and it feels like I’m slowly getting the entire Hyatt family on the podcast. It feels like, you know, should I get your mom on? Should we get one of the other sisters on?
Megan: Of course.
Teresa: Obviously your, your dad, Michael Hyatt, very kindly come on and we’ve had Mary on a couple of times. So it seems perfectly fitting and wonderful that you agreed to come on because one, it’s nice to have all three of you, but two you and your take is very different and your life is very different from, from what we get from them, which is really cool. So, so in case my audience don’t know, you, can you just give them a brief overview of what you do and how you got to be doing what you do?
Megan: Absolutely. So I’m the chief operating officer of Michael Hyatt and company, which is obviously a family business. You know, you just heard Teresa say that. Uh, my dad has been on the podcast, Michael Hyatt before.
And so we have a leadership development company and our mission is to help overwhelmed successful leaders, get the focus that they need so they can win at work. And succeed at life that when it work and succeed at life, part of our mission is really what gets us out of bed every morning. Definitely what gets me out of bed because I’m also a mom of five kids, including three kids that are adopted as of two kids who were my stepkids and three kids who were adopted. So we have an interesting family and I’m running a company. And so that’s what I’m trying to figure out. You know, how can I grow this company and build this life that I want at home and do both at the same time. So that’s a big part of who we are. And one of the things that we offer is called the full focus planner, which Teresa, I know you are a big fan of and love. Yup. And we’ll probably talk a little bit more about that in a minute. Um, but that is a quarterly planner that helps people just really, um, kind of cut through all the distraction that we’re experiencing right now. And, you know, kind of no matter what time it is, um, so that you can focus on what really matters and get those things done. So anyway, we do all kinds of things, including goal achievement and, uh, leadership development. As I said, coaching, um, related to that and productivity also. Um, and mostly right now we’re a virtual company. Like everybody else, we were already significantly virtual, but now we’re a hundred percent virtual and, uh, people are trying to figure out just like you guys are how to do it with your kids at home and all the rest. And it’s an interesting journey, right.
Teresa: For sure. That is a very good word for it. Interesting.
Megan: Yeah. And air quotes. That was my interesting, that’s what you can see us.
Teresa: So Megan how long have you worked at Michael Hyatt and Company
Megan: Since 2012. So it’s been a while.
Teresa: Yeah. What was that like to go and work with your dad? Like. Cause quite honestly, not that my dad has a company, but I couldn’t imagine working with my dad.
Megan: Well, you know, people ask me this a lot and I always say, if the relationship is good, it will be probably better when you’re in business with each other. If it’s not, run, like it’ll make it worse. So that’s always the advice I give. But, you know, it’s funny. I came to work for my dad at that point. In 2012, I had just brought my two younger boys home. They were, um, three and 14 months old when we adopted them from Uganda. And I thought I was going to be a stay at home mom. So I’d quit my previous job. I was in communications and I thought I’m going to just be a stay at home mom. And for nine months I was. About to rip my hair out by the roots. So I love my kids, but I was like, I got to talk to some adults, you know? And so I just went to work with him part time and over a pretty short period of time, it just became more and more. And I. Have more and more responsibility until eventually I was running the whole business and now we’re in business together. So, um, it’s a really special thing and we have a lot of fun. We, I think, think a lot of light, a lot of like, and we’re really complimentary with each other. So for us, you know, just the fact that we have a great relationship and we’re really committed to transparency and great communication has made it, um, honestly easy and loads of fun. So I’m enjoying that.
Teresa: Yeah. And I can see that. And I think from an outsider, looking in and watching the things that you guys put up and how you are when you are together, it obviously works so well for you. Doesn’t it. And the other thing that I wanted to ask, it’s really interesting. And I, I I’ve heard your dad say this before, is that he, he wants, he’s obviously getting to a point where he’s starting to step back a bit and step back a bit, hence why you are in charge and you are leading it, but how do you. How is the vision of running a company with his name on, you know, do you think that matters? Do you think that people will want him always or cause that transition must be, you’ve got to plan that out and think about it.
Megan: Absolutely. That’s a great question. Well, we kind of began the conversation about succession planning probably at least three years ago, and really came up with the plan that we have now that we’re executing. So I’ll become the CEO of the company in January of 2022. Um, And he will continue to write, uh, for our audience. He will speak on behalf of the company, you know, a number of times a year, but he has other things he wants to do as well. And so our intention is to during that period of time between now and then to continue to raise my profile, but actually, um, we’re not really looking to replicate or to fill the role that he’s going to vacate with my personality. Um, we want to spread that among a number of people and really have a kind of, uh, the voice of our brand rise up and fill that space rather than it being just totally a personality oriented brand, because there’s some limitations to that that, um, you know, obviously, uh, you know, you’re, you’re limited when only one person is kind of the face of the brand.
So we’re intentionally diversifying that. So it’s not just me. It’s not going to just be him. It’s going to be other people as well, because I think that gives not only freedom for the two of us, but it also provides a diversity of perspectives, which I think is very relevant right now. So that’s kind of how we’re approaching it.
Teresa: And I see that already. I see that you’ve got two younger people on the podcast. Is it leads when podcasts that no. That’s your podcast.
Megan: The focus on this podcast, which is the one for the planner.
Teresa: Yes. So obviously they’re younger. You’ve got a different demographic. Yeah. Also, I really liked the fact of when I look at, you know, your business, I love the fact that you or the other person, because your dad, you know, he’s been in corporate worlds. He’s very corporate looking guy. He’s a lovely, lovely guy, but he’s, you know, he’s been in business a long time. Yeah. You bring a different perspective. You bring that you’re managing now with young children. Just, you know, your, your daughter’s almost a year old, like, and I think what’s so smart about this is to the company. You’re bringing lots of people who might not resonate with, you know, I resonate probably better with you, you talk about because I’m a mom.
Megan: We’re in the same season of life. Yeah, exactly.
Teresa: You know, where is other people will definitely look at your dad and go, you know, get that other people will want someone younger, like the people on the podcast. So yeah, I think that it’s a great movement. Like you said, it’s really hard to have an entire company around one person because a…
Megan: Lot of pressure.
Teresa: Isn’t, isn’t up to it that day, or doesn’t want to go and speak on a stage or, you know, so I think, I think it’s a great move. So let’s talk about. Because when you, when you say your bio, when you say who you are and what you do, I think people, and I know lots of my listeners are women. I know lots of them are business owners, lots of them have their own children and manage families and homes. And they’re probably sat there going say, “What ? You did what? Did you have an extra, like six hours in your day that we don’t know about”. How on earth do you manage doing everything you do?
Megan: Well, it’s not magic that’s for sure. I think that it it’s come really from clarity around what I want for my life. And two of my kids have special needs. Uh, the boys that we adopted from Uganda had some special needs. Actually many of those have gotten better over the years, but when we first brought them home, I was quite overwhelmed with, um, what they were going to need.
From me as their mom to really kind of heal from the early experiences that they had had and be in a place where they were thriving. And so I knew that it was not going to be an option for me to kind of let the reigns out on my ambition to the point of working, you know, 50, 60, 70 hours a week, you know, as a, as an entrepreneur, I knew that was not possible without sacrificing my family. And so when my dad came to me and said, um, you know, Hey, I think it’s time for you to start running the company for you to become the COO. I said, well, I don’t know if I can do that because I’ve got these kids and they’ve got a lot of needs. And, and I just thought about it and I thought, okay, you know what? They are in school at this point. I think I could do this. If I could be done every day by 3:30 in the afternoon so that when they come home from school, I can be totally present because otherwise they’re with the babysitter after school. And then, um, you know, it’s bedtime by the time we have dinner, it’s bedtime shortly after, and there’s not a lot of time left for me to do what they need. So that was the parameter that I put in place. And I said, I can do this, but I’m going to work from nine to 3:30 every day. That’s it. End of story and whatever doesn’t fit in that timeframe is just, you know, just a no go. And so about 90 to 95% of the time I adhere to that and I’ve done that for years since they were little, you know, they’re now 10 and 12.
And like I said, they were three and 14 months when they came home. So that has the constraints of that have driven really. Pretty extraordinary innovation on my part in clarity, around my priorities, because you know, in, in only that amount of time, every day, I don’t have time to do anything. That’s not important. You know, I can’t waste time. I can’t get distracted with things that I could delegate to somebody else. Um, I can’t have pointless meetings. I have to do. You know, a solid day because it’s shortened day of high leverage work. And that has really worked well for me. I would say that that vision for my personal life has been what’s enabled me to professionally succeed.
Teresa: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. And I think that’s the thing, isn’t it? Because often I talk about the fact that people start their own business, they go into their own business thinking, Oh, I’ll have the freedom. Now what I had was more work than I ever more time that I had to work than I ever knew. And there’s that constant for mums, especially the, when I’m with my daughter, I don’t feel like I’m giving that enough attention when I’m here. And she’s sure like, and obviously at the moment it’s even worse.
Megan: Oh gosh.
Teresa: I’ll be on a call like this, where I’m on screen and I’m talking to someone and even, and it’s happened a couple times, even when my door’s shut, it’ll start to sneak open and she’ll come and just stand. And I’ll be like, with my arm, like, get your word, like, try to like, let it be seen on my face. It’s so hard. Cause you feel like just trying to juggle it all. You never feel. I think sometimes that you’re never quite doing the right thing at the right point. And I think the other thing that’s interesting and one thing I love about. What you portray in particular through your own social media, through when I’ve seen you? I was very lucky that I got to see you in Nashville at the end of last year.
Megan: That was so fun.
Teresa: It was really fun, really, really fun. And also it was, um, it was, I think my last trip since.
Megan: Oh, right.
Teresa: Which is just like I can’t believe it, but I really gotta play it again. Um, but yes, and it was a great, great trip, but some, one of the things that I loved is that you’re very honest about the struggle, but this is hard because
Megan: It is hard.
Teresa: I think if you like me, I, and I know you, you know, we read a lot, we look at a lot of entrepreneurs. We, we try and model things and see things and think like, Oh, this is great. We’re going to try this and do this. And you see some people and you’re like, “How on earth, do they do that?” And one thing that we talked about at the time was talking about morning routines and getting ready in the morning. Cause part of the planner, which we’ll get to is, as you said, a morning routine and I’ve read. Uh, you know, Miracle Morning and 5:00 AM Car Club, both brilliant books, but, and you think, Oh right. That’s what I should be doing. And one of the things that you said, which was brilliant was the fact that, you know, if your morning routine looks like getting up, splashing water on your face, grabbing a coffee and then starting work that’s if that’s where you are today, and you talked about seasons, which that I think, I think that’s maybe an American thing rather than UK things. We don’t hear that. I only hear it through American people.
Megan: Interesting!
Teresa: It is and it was the first time I heard it when you said it in December, and then I’ve heard it lots of times since, but you talked about your season of life. So yeah. Let me just touch on that in terms of her shortness to be perfect. See, not always at that point.
Megan: No. I mean, I would say we’re usually not at that point.
Teresa: Some of us, you know, we have that day off.
Megan: Yeah, right, please. For me, I’m rarely perfect. Well, you know, I think that sometimes these ideals about productivity or achievement or whatever are based on people who, whose lives look totally different than you. You know, for example, my dad, is it a very different season of his life as an empty nester and someone who’s 65 than I am as a 40 year old, you know? Mom of five kids with a, with a one-year-old baby. You know, my kids are ages 19 to one. And so when you think about that, you know, for me to get up in the morning, you know, I don’t have that much time. I probably have 15, maybe 30 minutes. And then actually actually more than I had a year ago when she was just tiny, you know, when she would, I would wake up with her. So in, in my morning, ritual, I mean, I wake up, I go straight to the coffee. Like, if nothing else happens, coffee is happening or nothing will happen after that. So it goes straight to the coffee. And then I, uh, have a little time with some kind of a spiritual practice of reading some devotional stuff, which is important to me. That’s like five minutes. And then I fill out my full focus planner for the day and identify what are my big three priorities. What’s on my schedule. That takes another, maybe 10 minutes. That’s really it. You know, um, my exercise right now in the afternoon, I go on a walk with my husband and usually our baby and, and that’s kind of, you know, I don’t even try to get the exercise in the morning because for me right now that doesn’t fit with kind of what else is on my plate. And so that idea of seasons is like, You know, you’re, you’re in a season. Like if you think of, uh, you know, just the seasons of the year, you know, different things happen in different seasons, different things are possible in different seasons. And so in this season of my life, my time is limited. However, I do want to start my day off on the right side.
But I want to feel like I’m in control. I want to feel like I know what’s important and where to focus. I want to feel like, um, you know, like, like I’m not just sort of like crashing into my day, which is what it can feel like sometimes, you know? And so, um, just respecting the constraints that I have right now and not sort of fighting it and trying to make it, you know, like an hour long or an hour and a half long, which, you know, like my dad is able to do that right now. And I think that’ll be so great when I’m in that season when that’s, when that’s possible for me, but it’s not right now. And so I’d rather set. The bar low enough that I can clear it every day, then set the bar so high that I fall over it most days. And I feel like a failure because that’s just not helpful at all, you know?
Teresa: Yeah. And that’s such a good point because like you said, what will happen is you won’t meet it. Well, you might meet it for a few days.
Megan: Yeah.
Teresa: And then you just feel like, well, I’m such a failure and I’m not, you know, I don’t have that self-integrity or whatever. And it just, and it just makes you feel horrible. Whereas what’s interesting is. Since the COVID-19 thing came in and the lockdown came in. Normally I get up early. I like to get up early before everybody else. I get very smug with myself. I’m really happy. I’m not looking at me. Sat here doing my journaling. You know, something happened when we went into Lockdown. I couldn’t get up.
Megan: Yeah.
Teresa: I was so tired and I just forgave myself and went okay, that’s cool. I just started a day later, you know, because it’s like, I could really beat myself up for not getting up at 5:00 AM, but right now everything seems much harder work in different ways.
Megan: So true.
Teresa: And, and if that means I sleep until seven and then I do my routine at seven, which means I start my day a bit later than then. That’s fine. That’s like, but
Megan: It’s your game
Teresa: tasks. Yeah, exactly. You know, and actually the ones that are the most important are the ones I always get done. So, you know, I meditate and I love meditating, you know, that, that, isn’t hard for me to do, you know, journaling, writing, what I’m grateful for. Those sorts of things are really important. But one thing I wants to bring you on about is talking about the full focus planner, because prior to using the full focus planner. I have tried so many planners. Okay. For one, I am a stationary theme. I love like who doesn’t come on. It’s amazing. Okay. So I am an absolute sucker for a planner or a book or a journal or whatever. So. I tried so many and I could barely probably get through a week and a half before I forget to use it or something wasn’t quite right. And you know, it just didn’t quite work. And when I was over in December, we were very lucky that part of this activity that was part of we were given a planner and obviously in a stationary was like, wow this is so amazing, so I got back and decided that beginning of year I’d start using it. I’ve never stopped. So they’re quarterly. So I’m now on my second planner. In fact of halfway through my second planner at the time of recording this, I’ve already ordered the annual subscription and I have four planners sat down on the floor next to me, which they will be open at their boxes. So I can see all the colors cause I have your planners and your dad does, doesn’t it? Yeah, but I love your planners. Um,
Megan: Thank you.
Teresa: Honestly, for me, in terms of productivity, focus and achieving stuff, you know, it’s made such a difference to my world. Am I honestly am. Hence why I’m a huge fan. So can you explain, not just the premise behind the planner, but the premise behind the, the three big things and the
Megan: Totally. Well here, let me tell you a little bit about where this planner kind of came from and how we decided to do it. We’ve been teaching goal setting for a long time, through our best year ever model of goal setting. We have a book about it. We have a course about it, all that kind of stuff. And one of the things that we found is we were teaching goal setting is that people had a really hard time connecting the annual goals that they would set usually in January with their daily actions. And so consequently, they would not make progress on their goals where they would give up. On their goals, you know, they just kind of couldn’t focus on them with all the other things that were going on in their life. And so it’s sort of like their, their goals were over here and then their, uh, you know, daily task list was a totally separate thing. There was no relationship between those two things. And so we said, okay, how can we bring these things together? Because if you’re going to accomplish goals, You have to make like weekly, daily progress toward those goals. And how do we bring that? The visibility of those things up? So the full focus planner is a quarterly planner.
The very beginning of it has a place for your annual goals. And if you’re not a goal setter, we walk you through how to set your annual goals. We have a very specific framework that has been proven in the research to be really effective for accomplishing goals, where they’re really specific and not just aspirational so that you can execute on them. But then. Uh, in the inside the planner, what you’re going to find is that there is something called a weekly preview. And in that weekly preview, you’re going to be reviewing your annual goals and you’re going to identify what are the three most important outcomes you need to achieve this week? So that’s called your weekly big three and they are very often related back to your annual goals.
Sometimes they’re related to other projects, but they have to be important. They may be urgent, but they have to be truly important. Cause sometimes our lists end up full of things that are urgent, but not necessarily important, not necessarily the things that are moving the needle in our personal lives or in our businesses. And so then you get to what we call the daily pages, which you were talking about, where you identify your daily big three. Okay. What are the three tasks? If I don’t get anything else done, what are the three most important tasks that I have to get done before my day is over, that are high leverage, important tasks.
Again, these are very often also urgent. Um, but the idea is, is that you’re looking at your annual goals and we recommend that you focus on only two to three per quarter. So you have up to 12 for the year that you can work with, but not more than that, get too many going. It gets overwhelming. Then you focus on two to three for the quarter. So you kind of see this theme of threes, right? Then you focus on three, your weekly, big three. What are your three big outcomes? They’re going to help move the needle on those quarterly goals. And then what are your daily big three that are going to help you get. Your weekly, big three accomplished. So it’s really simple.
It’s just all these threes, you know, but, but what it means is that you’re limiting your focus to have very few things that are truly high leverage. Meaning the effort you put in is going to produce a disproportionate outcome, you know, disproportionally big outcome. And for me, what that does is it really eliminates overwhelm because instead of having 25 things on my list, which is a lot of times what people report. I have really three, truly three things that I have to accomplish today. And then a couple other little things that if I get to them great. But if not, it’s okay.
Teresa: Yeah. If I can discriminate, give you my experience of using Asana. So when I first started, I think the problems I encountered were firstly, I would make those big three too big.
Megan: Yeah. So
Teresa: I would, I would write like review the such and such process, which in itself was massive. So I wasn’t necessarily thinking realistically about. Yeah. How long each of those big three were going to take me.
Megan: Yep.
Teresa: The other thing that I learned over time, cause one of the things actually I really love about the planner is on that same page is a 30 minutes break down of your day.
Megan: Yes right
Teresa: Which is great. And one of the things I do every morning is I write in all my meetings and my calls.
Megan: yep, me too.
Teresa: And at the moment. Like you, I’m sure we have a lot of calls. I am on screen a lot. I’m talking a lot. And what I was finding was I was putting down these big three and not paying attention to the fact that my day was full of calls.
Megan: Right.
Teresa: And not, you know, still thinking, Oh, well I can do all that. And that, and it wasn’t until I was. Sort of moving my way through the planner and using it that I was like, actually, there’s no harm in one of my big three being to achieve these calls.
Megan: Oh, absolutely. Right
Teresa: That should be one of the things like my list and actually writing and filling in those, those times of when I’ve got calls, you actually see the chunks of real time left in your day.
Megan: Right
Teresa: and sometimes, you know, it’s not until you see it written in that way. And I have an electronic calendar, obviously everybody does, and that’s what I use. And I put everything in there, but just the sheer fact of one looking at that at the beginning of day and then rewriting it into my, into my timetable. But secondly, going actually, I only have like an hour, so that hour of rather, I should have achieved something massively, 30 minutes of that might be checking my emails. Which again that’s okay. Like I think previously I thought, Oh no, you know, I needed to achieve something massive. So, so that for me was big. Like I said, and then the other thing that I used to do was I’d have my big three, I’d write down all my little bits and I’d have done all my little bits to handle the big three. Right?
Megan: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Teresa: And then that again, made me look at it and go well, if that, if those things are genuinely more important than they should have been one of your big three.
Megan: Right.
Teresa: But the truth is. So many of us I know will be, they might not want to admit it, but they, for sure do this. They will fill that day with stuff that you think, what have I done? Like what have I spent my day doing? And you haven’t achieved that thing, or that’s the things that like, I, every Wednesday email my list and we get to a Wednesday and it’s in fact, it’s normally in, on the Tuesday and I’ve not done it. So I get to the Wednesday. I’m like, right. I must do that today. And then of course, what happens is if you’re not staying focused, I’m messing around, well, just do this, I’ll do this, do this, do this, do this. And I get to the end of the day. And it’s like, it has to be done. So then I’m working later getting this thing done actually no, and it’s taking time and I’m not perfect by any stretch of imagination, but using it now, it’s like, no, do that first. And then if at the end of the day comes and you haven’t finished these other little bits, it doesn’t matter. You know, that’s exactly important, is it?
Megan: I think that’s so true. And you know, the, the idea is, is that you would just have your full focus planner open on your desk throughout the day. And so you see those daily big three. Okay. They’re just staring at you. These are the things that you’ve got to get done today, no matter what you know, and like today I have on my weekly big three today’s Friday when the day that we’re recording this and I have. Two things that I haven’t gotten done yet. This week, they’re on my weekly big three that are like mission critical. And I told my husband this morning, I said, come hell or high water. I am getting those things done today because they’ve got to be done. They’ve taken a little longer than I thought. And, and so if I didn’t have those identified. That could take me weeks or I could procrastinate or whatever. And I think what’s happened, especially during this crisis and kind of in its aftermath is our ability to focus has been really diminished. Right. Cause we’re just like emotionally exhausted. We’re kind of in our, you know, fight flight or freeze brain a little bit, um, all those things are happening. And I think that’s why it’s so helpful to have, uh, first of all, something that engages your physical body, the act of writing is really helpful and clarifying things. It also helps you kind of have a sense of calm and have the confidence of knowing, you know, what day it is what you need to do today. Um, but it really helps to keep you on track. And what we’ve found is that, um, and we have, by the way, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people that are using this full focus planner, and you know, what, what they have said is that having a paper planner is like having a sense of control that you can just hold in your hands. And I think that what we’ve heard from our users is that right now that’s never been more true for people.
Teresa: Yeah, and you’re right, because there is something and I am, obviously my world is digital. You know, we just, you know, we do everything digitally, but one, I do like writing, there is something about writing that I really enjoy still. And two you’ll be in a meeting and I want to take some notes. And what I was doing before is I have always have scratch of paper on my desk, but you know, you need to have scratch of paper. I’d be using like three notebooks at once. And then I’d try and find that thing of like, why the hell did I write this thing?
Megan: Just chaos.
Teresa: Yeah. Whereas now having the planner, you’ve got your notes page. So I know I write everything straight into that planner. I’m never writing that much, you know, I can get it all on that page and then I know I can find it’s come back to it. But I do think, and mine is that she sat next to me one day on my desk, but I do think it’s that kind of one, the physical writing. But the other thing that was interesting because initially I thought, well, this is ridiculous, but actually such rewriting my annual goals. Because every quarter, when you get a new planner, you have to rewrite your annual goals. And I, the first time I did it, I was like, Oh, that’s a lot of work. I don’t need to rewrite this whole a lot again. Do I? But actually the process of doing it. really good. Because I don’t know, I do goals every year, but I can promise you hands on heart. I. I was one of those people that did the goals forgotten about them until the end of the year.
Megan: Right, that’s most people.
Teresa: That was like, Oh, Oh yeah, it didn’t do that. Or, Oh, perhaps I didn’t fo I forgot that was a goal or so, doing every quarter actually rewakes me up to, you know okay, we need to, we need to focus on this or what am I doing to move that thing forward? So for me, it’s been an absolute game changer. So the other thing that I love about what. You do in the business and around the planner is the fact that it’s not just work. Because I’m very good at the work stuff because I like work zona genius. That’s where I like to be, but I’m rubbish at the personal care. So for me, that’s really important. And you talked about at the very beginning, your ethos for the company.
Megan: Yeah, well, you know, like I said, at the beginning, our mission is to help people win at work and succeed at life. You know, the, we, our, our kind of definition of success is whole person success that you can absolutely kill it in your business and trash the rest of your life. And at the end, that’s not very satisfying. You know, if you lose your family and your mental and physical health, And other relationships are close to you. I mean, that’s just not rewarding. You know, there’s not enough money that makes that worth it. And so we don’t want to compromise your business results, but we want you to have an expanded view of success and includes all parts of your life. And so in the full focus planner, there are aspects of that that, uh, help you to kind of flesh that out. For example, you mentioned that there are the daily rituals. Is this something that you, um, Figure out through kind of a special forum that’s inside the planner. What is going to be your morning ritual? What’s going to be your evening ritual because if you’re going to have a great day, it starts with the night before. Right? So getting the bed on time, like, what gets you ready for bed? Really? Just thinking about what you need to set yourself up for a great night’s sleep, which sets. Sets you up for a great productive next day. And then another thing that’s included in those rituals is your Workday startup ritual and your Workday shutdown ritual. And the idea is, is that you want to build in time to your day to start. So that the first thing you do when you walk into your office is, you know, whether that’s at home or in your, your real office later on, you know, we all get to go back to maybe something outside of our home that you start with time so that you can send emails.
So that you can respond to, you know, your Instagram feed, if that’s part of what you do, that you have time to do those things. And then when your day is supposed to be done, that it doesn’t end with a meeting that there’s time to do those same things again, and that you identified what needs to happen. So you can really disconnect when you go home. Cause you were talking about that. Creep that happens sometimes for business owners where we, we don’t ever really leave work. Especially if we work from our home, it can just be easy to kind of work all the time. We take little breaks, but we’ve pretty much worked from the time we get up to the time we go to bed.
And so these rituals help to kind of have a line of demarcation between certain parts of your life so that you can have a personal life it’s separate from your work. And then the other thing is, you know, I talked to a little while ago about the weekly preview. This is time when you’re really looking ahead to the next week or identifying what your weekly big three are. You’re kind of looking back. What were your wins from the previous week and what do you want to change to make the next week better? And things like that? The last part of that is a self care planner. And this is like really, really simple. It’s, it’s just like back to basics, but it’s intended to remind you to say, okay, what do I need to do to support myself this week and self care, particularly as I think about rest and eating.
And movement and, uh, connection and things like that. Just like really basic. And there’s no agenda in terms of, you know, this, this is supposed to be like your commitment to a diet or anything like that. It’s just really saying, like, let’s be intentional about how we’re caring for kind of our whole selves so that we’re not forgetting that good self care sets the stage for productivity and achievement and a fulfilling life. In the way that nothing else can. So I love that. That’s the last part of getting ready for your new week in the weekly preview, because it just reminds you, Hey, this is, this is really the foundation for everything else you want to get done this week.
Teresa: And you’re right, because I too find myself. Cause like I said, my self care is. Probably lower on the list of things, but I do find myself almost repeating myself sometimes in that section, like really should try and get better early at night. I really should not have too many glasses of wine in the evening. I really should. The thing that I like about it is, again, I have no judgment about it. I don’t beat myself up and go, well, I said this last week and I didn’t do it. It’s just the fact of we’re great. I’m reminding myself again because I wasn’t doing that. I can assure you months would go by before I gave it a second thought. Even if the process of relooking at that makes me remind myself of actually I really should make a concerted effort to get in bed and start to get to sleep by 10:00 PM or whatever it is then it just, that’s got to help. Surely, you know, it’s gotta be a benefit. So the other thing I’m super excited about, and honestly it must’ve been like, you guys read my mind and how you give us a secret. I don’t know is, you’ve just bulleted, a kid journal and a student journal. Is that right? Planner? Sorry. Yes, the two planner is for the children. So do you want to just tell us what they have already, by the way everybody pre-ordered the kids, I’m so excited about it.
Megan: Well, we’re so excited too. So this comes directly out of my experience as a mom of five kids. My 19 year old son has been using the full focus planner for about a year, a little bit more. And, uh, He has ADHD and is really brilliant, but struggles with focus, which has probably describes most of us as adults. And it’s been so helpful for him. And so about 90% of our team are parents. And we just started thinking about, you know, what, what’s kind of next for the full focus planner. And we were all like, We need a planner for our kids. And so we created a full focus planner for kids ages 10 to 14. And then we created a full focus planner called students that is for high school and college age kids. So, you know, just older kids are a little bit more independent. Um, it’s based on the same system, that’s in the full focus planner that you’re using and that I’m using any love. Um, but it’s adapted for kids, um. You know, whichever of these two age groups they’re in. So it looks really cool. The examples are really relevant.
The line spacing, for example, in the kids’ edition is perfect for the age. You know, that 10 to 14 age, um, the goal examples are really relevant and here’s what gets me so excited about this is that, you know, our kids are not gonna learn these, these things in school, right? They’re not going to learn how to plan for their time to achieve goals, to prioritize what really matters to set themselves up for productive days. Like we did not learn these things in school either. In fact, most of us just sort of like tumbled our way through life until we figured it out. And then finally kind of got going and realize how critical it is. But we can set a foundation for our kids for their future success and really give them an opportunity to build these skills. And what a difference would that make, you know, in terms of them realizing their potential. So that’s what gets me excited. Um, and I just, I can’t wait until we get to hear stories from parents and from kids about how this has made a difference. Cause you know, what we’re envisioning is this is kind of like a family activity where on Sunday nights, You know, you sit around as a family and you do your weekly preview as a family, and everybody’s got their planners and you’re talking about what’s important. I mean, what a great way to connect as a family. You know, you’re talking about how you’re going to make progress on your goals. You’re talking about your wins from the previous week. I mean, that’s a great conversation, you know, so, um, that’s what I’m imagining. And I can’t wait to do that in my own family and to see all the families that are going to be affected by this. So, um, and like you said, we’re pre-ordering right now. So it’s going to be shipping in early August, so right before school starts, but you can get one at, uh, or get your preorder in at full focus, planner.com/preorder.
Teresa: Amazing. Honestly, I am, like I said, I am super excited because one thing that as a parent, I take from being in business and doing all this personal development work that I do and learning all these things and reading all these things is the fact that, like I said, one, we were never taught this. Well, one.
Megan: No
Teresa: My parents would never teach. This had never come from my parents, but also at school, we’re not taught this.
Megan: No.
Teresa: So the fact that we’re learning the skills that we can pass on to our children, I just feel like, so imagine the likes of us. If we’d been given that as children like. Could you imagine where we would be today or quicker or Hey, more? You know, I just felt like I would’ve got to decisions quicker. I would have. I thought of things differently. I wouldn’t have let fear hold me back on things because, you know I would have done all the work that we I do and the gratitude side of it. And, you know, that’s something that we try and do an awful lot in my household because. Well, you know, our children live in a really privileged world.
You know, we are, they are very, very lucky. You know, the fact that my daughter comes to me and she’s like, you know, can I have this app for my phone or this app for my iPad, you know? And that’s the biggest challenge she has in her world, you know, so I think to bring them back to basics of gratitude and, and doing these kinds of things I think is so important. So I am very grateful. I am, I am very excited about the planner. Very excited. I’ve not told my daughter yet cause she saw it and she was like, she’s, she’s told me, cause she had it for a birthday, which isn’t until November, but I haven’t told her. I’ve ordered a one. So she’ll be so excited. So I’ve just got, cause I’m really conscious of your time and you’ve been very generous with me. So thank you so much, but I have one more question to ask. Actually, there’s just comes to me. It wasn’t on my list. So your dad obviously, well, he came from publishing for one.
Megan: He did.
Teresa: He has written numerous amazing books, you know, phenomenal. And I’ve read a number of his books and they’re really, really good. Is this something that’s on your list, like a weekend to see you writing books like your dad?
Megan: Yes, that is on my list. In fact, we are, co-authoring a book that’s coming out. Next year in the spring, uh, that’s kind of on this concept of what we call the double win and win at work and succeed at life. And so that we’re really excited about because we’re going to be able to kind of combine the stories of how we got there and what really matters to us in our personal lives and kind of drove us to. You know, together kind of come up with this as our mission. And so that’s going to be my writing debut and then I’m sure there will be, you know, many others to follow. So yes, it’s definitely in the, in the genes and in the blood.
Teresa: But it’s so awesome. Cause I, I, when I had to your dad on the podcast, we talked about this, I talked about the fact of. I, I, I tell myself the story that I am not a great writer and I much first talk than write, but the thought of having a book one day is kind of like, that would be amazing.
Megan: Oh you’d be fabulous at it. Oh my gosh.
Teresa: I just think if I could tell some of my stories, I think
Megan: You can! yes!
Teresa: It would. Yeah. And this is what he said. I mean, the budget I did look at, I have to say it was a little bit, but you know. The reason I asked you and the reason I think you’d be so good at it is because of the fact that I’ve read the Rachel Hollis books in this world. ’ve read other books of women entrepreneur. Not many of them were, although Rachel’s obviously a mum, there’s not many of them that were parents. Um, for one and two, the, I just think the way you bring things is much more relatable. You know, I can look at what you do and I can look at how you are with your family. And I can look at how you’re trying to manage everything and I can, and I can really relate to that. And I’m not saying I can’t relate to Rachel and some of the others may great, but you know, Sometimes like, uh, and not so much Rachel and Rachel, but somebody has to come from like the badass mum.
Megan: Yeah, yeah right.
Teresa: Direction. And so I can’t relate to that as closely as I can relate to, I think how you would write and how you, your honesty in there and, and you, it kind of reminds me of more like a Brene Brown type.
Megan: hmm. Thank you.
Teresa: So yeah. So, yeah, I’m really excited about the thought that, you know, you could write that sort of thing, and there’s a whole new, different take on how being a mom and a business owner. And, uh, and that we work hard and that we, we can achieve amazing things, but we can do it with balance and, and still being the mom and still taking the dog for a walk and still doing the other things we needed to do. So. Yeah, I think that’d be awesome.
Megan: Thank you. Well,
Teresa: sorry go on.
Megan: I was just going to say, you know, I, I think that, um, that, that kind of hustle movement that we’re seeing in our culture is just something that I’m really not excited about. You know, I think it’s really antithetical to winning at work and succeeding at life. And I think you can be very successful without having to burn yourself out, bring your family out and make massive compromises. I think you can do it. You can succeed and have integrity in your whole life. And that’s really what I want and authenticity, because it’s not always perfect. It’s often messy, you know, and that’s okay. Like that’s, that’s not a pre-req. Prerequisite for success to have perfection. Thank goodness, because otherwise I would not be here.
Teresa: None of us, would be here for sure. But you’re right. When I think of like the hustle factor, I do think of you’re working long hours. You’re doing these things. You’re making sacrifices. And I’m not saying that, you know, we can get through life without having to make any sacrifices. I’m just saying that it shouldn’t have to be at the sacrifice of our relationships or my husband or my children, or, you know, and, and you must see this as well, where. You’re having to say to your children, I have to say to my children, you know, this is what I have to do right now. I can’t come and do this thing because I do have to work. And I do have to and one I love it. But two how do you think we get them out of our head? I just think, you know, and, and, and doing this kind of work ethic thing as well, but, but the balance has be there. Hasn’t it cause otherwise,
Megan: so true.
Teresa: You’re just working all the time. That’s right. Which some days would be way easier than parenting.
Megan: Well, that’s true. That’s true. That’s, that’s important to know. Cause that’s true. That’s what I like to call the honest planet. We’re on the honest planet. Some days. It’s very true.
Teresa: Megan. Thank you so much. I’ve loved having you here. Obviously I linked to everything in the show notes and all the planners and your social media and everything else. So thank you so much for being a guest.
Megan: Thank you, Teresa. This has been a blast. Let’s do it again sometime.
Teresa: I love too. So, what did you think? I can’t wait to hear your feedback. I love hearing from you, you know that, so do come and let me know. I really enjoyed that episode. Like I said, it just felt like we were just chatting and it was ACE and so many good practical ideas on how to manage that time, whether you’re a parent or not a parent. We have so much going on in our lives that we really have to focus about where we want to put that energy and what we want to achieve. So being able to focus on just a couple of key things and get those things done, honestly makes so much of a difference to my world. Um, and it’s a constant learning curve. You know, this isn’t a, I’m absolutely brilliant now. You heard that on the podcast? This is definitely a, I learn every day, something works. I need to change it. I need to remind myself, you know, I might go a day when I haven’t planned out my time and then I have a terrible day. So that reminds me that I really need to do that to be productive. So really hope you liked it. Do check out the full focus planner. They’ve just bought one out for kids, which is really exciting. I’m excited to see that I will obviously link up to it in the show notes. So go to teresaheathwareing.com/124. Okay. I will leave it at that. Have an amazing week and I will see you next week.
