Do you ever wonder how some people seem to do it all and make it look like they are barely doing anything at all? You know the mom that packs her kids lunches, is dressed at drop off, isn’t blowing through the parking lot a minute before the tardy bell rings and has a clean house and a successful business. She likely has a secret that she’s doing most days of her life that gives her the leg up you need. Today’s podcast episode I am going to let you in on her secret and give you the exact plan to make it happen for you. Curious if this could work for you too? Then let’s press play on today’s episode!
Listen below for the entire episode on The Systemize Your Life Podcast
The power hour concept
We are about to get into something very interesting. When I started the Podcast and working from home, I switched from being an interpreter outside the home. I knew I needed to find more time to just at least show up to the Podcast every single week. For the first year and half, I had no idea where I was going to find that time. That is when I came up with this power hour concept. It is truly the thing that was going to be the beginning to all the things that I now have and it will be for you as well. It is something that I still do today.
We are going to talk about the why, when, what, and how when it comes to having a power hour of work in your life. Whether this be for your business or something else, that will be for you to decide. What we are really talking about is this power hour and being able to find those five extra hours in the week for your home, your business, or anything else that you are committed to or passionate about and need this extra time. Where do you find the time to do it? I’ve got five hours for you, I really have more like fifteen. I could give you fifteen hours to work on your business in the first one to four weeks of being in the Academy.
Why
I think why this is so important is because you have to understand, if you are ever going to reach this idea of whatever it is you have in your mind, you need to have the time to do it. Trying to do that with your children up your pant leg 24/7 is basically impossible. You have to begin to learn how to carve out time. Even more than that, what if you are sitting there working all day, then you have to be thrown straight into motherhood right after that. I see this so much inside of our facebook group.
When
People say they don’t know when they are supposed to do all the things, when they are working and taking care of this and that. Well, when you are going to do it is in a power hour. One day a week, for five days a week. There is seven days a week, so you only have to do this for five days. You can absolutely do this. When you are going to do this is in the outskirts of your day.
This is not something that I teach to do indefinitely, forever, but it is something that I did for quite a while. At least a year, if not a year and a half. I woke up and I used my morning routine to give me a power hour of work. Literally every day, Monday through Friday, and sometimes even Saturday. That is where that time came from, and some other time at nap time. I used the time when my kids were asleep and I got really serious about this. This power hour of work is when you have your time blocks all written out, already downloaded the free guide, you already know what your time blocks are, and you have asked questions and are getting help where you need to.
This power hour of work just slides right inside one of your already created time blocks. It doesn’t have to be its own time block and really I don’t suggest that it is. What I suggest is a power hour where you get laser focused and just show up. Show up and do massive amounts of focused work, and then you close it up and move on. It is so unbelievably productive, it produces so much for you in such a short amount of time. That is why it is called a power hour. You can really make a lot happen in five hours. If you aren’t a morning person, you can sandwich it in the nighttime block and that is totally ok.
What
When you show up to this, what exactly are you going to work on? We are going to spend a little time on this. It’s not a time for you to just get up and scroll Instagram and to work from your phone. That is actually the opposite of what I want you to do. I want you to have a quick hit list of everything that you need to get done in that hour. It’s a really good idea to get this systemized. Here is two really good examples of this and how it is currently being used in two totally different ways, but it is still just as effective. You can take this and get an idea of what this looks like.
“What I suggest is a power hour where you get laser focused and just show up. Show up and do massive amounts of focused work, and then you close it up and move on. “
Here is a personal example from me. In my power hour in the morning, sometimes I get up and immediately take care of anything that is lingering on my to-do list the day before. I love to show up to my work block with yesterday’s work completely done. Because I am trying to honor my nighttime routine block, I’m not working at nighttime. I am also using that time to get into my social and very quickly answer anything that has been plugged into my queue that I need to answer and move on for the day. That way I am not distracted by it and I know I have not left my groups hanging.
Find what works for you!
My friend Stephanie, the way she choses to use her power hour, is she shows up and has a very specific list of things she does almost every single morning. We did a podcast episode not long ago and she talked about her morning routine. A very specific part of it is her power hour of work. She checks her emails, she does some other to dos, similar to mine but hers is much more regimented and systemized. That is something she is still doing as a work from home mom that is running a half a million dollar business. This is still something that she uses to this day and she has full set work hours. It is just something that she finds to kick start her day in a way that nothing else does.
The power hour is just such a powerful tool and knowing what you are going to work on is one of the most important parts of this process. If you don’t know what you are going to work on you are going to end up wasting that time that you should have been doing something else with. It is invaluable time in your morning or your evening hands down.
The other place you can put a power hour of work is if you have little kids and they are napping, put it in there. If you have a husband that comes home and he is perfectly capable putting the kids to bed in the evening, even just 3 days a week, get a power hour of work in then. Where can you find an hour every day to sandwich this in? Don’t feel like you have to wake up at 4:00 in the morning to do this. I don’t. I’m not doing that. I never really did, I would get up at 5:00, sometimes 4:30 if I want to make Crossfit. Even now, I’m just in this season where sleep is really important to me. Rising and falling with the sun is very important to me so in this season, I’d rather find that power hour another time, or just not do my make up in the winter time. I’m willing to make sacrifices, something always has to give.
In 2021, I did a monthly recap throughout the year and I was always able to get in and do all these things because I gave up other things. You ask the woman that looks like she has everything together and she is showing up in all the places you wish you were showing up to. She is getting rid of a lot of things that you too could get rid of in order to have that. It is so important to remember that.
How
Let’s look at the how. How are you going to show up to this power hour and get this done? How are you going to stay focused? What is it going to take for you to actually make this happen? Here is how a power hour really and truly works. Being focused is the only criteria. That is why it is powerful, because it is short and it is straight to the point, it’s meaningful and it’s dedicated time for something very specific.
I suggest the hour because it is a really good spot. Sometimes it takes a solid 20 or 30 minutes to really get your brain into a creative space. I don’t necessarily do my big creative work at this time and I wouldn’t suggest that you do it either, unless you have something that you know you can likely finish in about 35 minutes since it takes time for your brain to get into a creative space. You can try and expedite that process of getting from first opening your laptop to getting in the creative space by listening to music, using essential oils or a candle, and using your senses like a sensory routine to get you there quicker, but most of the time this hour is for you to focus on a specific set of tasks.
Importance of Staying Focused
It might be the same set of tasks every single time. You open your workflow and you know exactly what you are going to get done. It becomes very predictable for your brain to know at this time to turn off your phone. You won’t be tapping your phone to see if there is any messages. One tool that can help with this is focus mode on your phone. If you don’t know what that is, Apple has multiple different focus modes that you can set up. You can set them up to start at a specific time every single day or turn them on manually. Android has something like that as well. You can have that set up for your specific scheduled power hour so you can be super focused. Not only is it important to put your phone away, you also need to close all your tabs on the computer to start with a clean slate.
Slay your day
Start with that clean slate so you can show up to blow through and leave feeling like a boss and slay the day. That is why I like to put this power hour in the morning. It is such a great start to the day. Putting it at the end of the day does not promote great sleep and it also does not make you feel like your day was incredible. Put it earlier in your day if you want to have that superwoman experience to start your day.
You have now officially learned the why, when, what, and the how incorporating a power hour into your week so that you can get at minimum five hours of uninterrupted work every single week. I would love to hang out with you inside of the Facebook community and hear all about your power hour! Make sure to pop in and drop your thoughts and questions. I’d love to hear them.
Everything that we went through is exactly what we do on a weekly basis inside The Systemize Your Life Academy. It is tailoring each life instead of circumstances and figuring out what systems need to be implemented first and how and when to do it. If this is what you want and need in your life then head on over and check it out!
Frequently Asked Questions
I never seem to finish my to-do list …got any tips?
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