Welcome to the Design Your Dream Life podcast where it’s all about designing your life on your terms and now your host, Natalie Bacon.

Welcome to the podcast. I want to start by saying thank you so much. So many of you have shared this podcast, and I know that because people are coming to me and they are telling me that you referred them, or you sent them an episode and they’ve been listening ever since. So I just want to say thank you. I really appreciate that.

I think it’s so important that people learn the tools that I’m teaching. Because as a student of my own work, I know how powerful it can really, really be. And my goal here with this podcast is always to bring you new teachings that you can apply to your life, to really grow and enhance your, your way of life. You’re living your relationships, your health, your business, your money, your family, all of it. So today we are going to talk about, to do lists.

I hate to do lists. I don’t use them. I’ve never used them. I’m trying to think of a time when I really relied on to do lists and it had to be over 10 to 20 years ago. I have been using my calendar instead, ever since. And I talk about my calendar as if it is my parent and as if it is a verb.

So I will say things like calendar that, or I’m calendaring because I use my calendar. I use G Cal as the boss of my day. And I want to really persuade you that that is the best option for you as well. Here’s why, when you operate with a, to do list, it is something that never ends and it makes you feel like you’re in a rush. And of course the list doesn’t make you feel that way, but you perceive it that way because you have a thought, Oh my gosh, I have so much to do.

I’m never going to get all of this done. There’s so much on my list. I was coaching one of my clients and she said, I feel like I’m always putting out fires. Like I’m always behind. And this is what happens with the, to do lists because with the, to do list, you’re working on fitting in what you have on that list with what’s going on in your life.

So if you have five things that you want to get done on your, to do list for this week, and you don’t have them on your calendar in time slots, then you will go about your life and you will do other things that people are asking you to do. And you will try to squeeze in whatever is on your, to do list. So it leaves you thinking and feeling a little bit overwhelmed, a little bit rushed a little bit like you are putting out fires instead of being the leader of your life.

I want to give you some examples. So when someone emails me for an opportunity, it doesn’t really matter who it is. The first thing that I do is look at my calendar and I am never in a rush. So I have my calendar planned out weeks in advance, definitely for the immediate two weeks. So when I operate like this, if something comes to my attention and someone wants me to do something and it’s within a two week period, I rarely say yes, unless for some reason, something else got canceled and I can squeeze it in.

Or like I gave you the example of how I signed up for a reading course. I was able to start that right away because I worked it into my personal development time that I already had on my calendar. So when something comes up, that’s new and different that I want to incorporate into my life, or it could be an event or an appointment.

I look at my calendar and I add it to my calendar immediately. So I think it’s useful to look at your calendar every single week in a deeper way, meaning in a longer way, maybe it’s an hour where you’re really making sure for the upcoming week, everything is planned. Maybe on Sunday nights, you do this or Monday mornings and you make sure you have the week ahead looking really tight and neat and organized, and you know exactly what you’re going to do at exactly what time and exactly what result you’re going to produce.

And I say this, and I know some of you are cringing a little bit, and you’re thinking that it takes out the spontaneity in your life. And it’s so rigid. And what I find is that for those of you saying that typically, in fact, as far as I know, a hundred percent of the time, people who say that don’t have the results that they want. So really, really successful people are also really, really disciplined. This is why, when someone is late, if you’re a disciplined, successful person, it will bother you because you value your time so much.

So I plan down to the hour, down to the minute in time blocks on my calendar, but it doesn’t mean that I’m overworking. So I have my personal development time on there. I have my walks with Penny. I have, when Penny goes to the dog walker, I have my personal appointments. I have our weekend plans. So recently Steve’s family came into the city and we had a whole afternoon and evening with them. I had that on my calendar.

So it’s not that there’s no fun or downtime there is, but you have it on your calendar so that you’re doing it from your highest self. And what I mean by that is when you are in the moment, your brain doesn’t ever want to do the thing, because the thing is kind of hard. So if you put goals on your calendar or a project or something, nine times out of 10, when the time comes to do it, your brain will come up with all the reasons that you have to not do it in that moment.

This is because your brain would rather continue on the path that it’s on because it’s easier. It’s a lot harder to transition and do something different. But if you plan ahead of time with your prefrontal brain, you can plan your goals. This is why I was able to achieve my income goals for the year in six months. This is why I have my new program planned out on my calendar week by week down to each lesson.

And I know when it’s going to be finished, I know when it’s going to launch, I have it all planned out. So there’s no rushing around. There’s no overworking, there’s no urgency, but I produce at such a high rate really quickly because I don’t operate from a list of things to do. I was trying to think of any area of my life, where I keep lists. And there is one area and that is for the grocery store or any sort of shopping.

If that’s the case, I will keep a running list on my phone. And any time I think of something like maybe I’m getting ready in the morning. And I noticed that I’m out of a makeup swabs, I’ll grab my phone and add makeup swabs to that list. And typically we grocery shop or have grocery shopping delivered once a week.

So that’s the only time I keep a list. Otherwise, any type of event, any type of project, any type of appointment, like I’m looking at my calendar right now. I have an optometrist appointment later this week. So I have that blocked out on my calendar. I have a meeting with one of my team members. I have my Grow You coaching calls. I have I’m recording this podcast. I have a hair appointment. I have all of these things on my calendar in time blocks. And then I also have the projects that I’m going to complete this week.

So I have that. I’m going to complete three lessons for the new business program that I am coming out with. Now, if something comes up unexpectedly, which is what people always ask about,