1 The 5 AM Miracle with Jeff Sanders #165: Create Space to Breathe, Innovate, and Rejuvenate August 22, 2016 Introduction [Play Double Stoker ] This rockin episode of The 5 AM Miracle Podcast is being brought to you by the incredible team at Jabra. Jabra, J A B R A, makes phenomenal wireless headphones and they have recently launched the HALO SMART headphones. These new headphones have been designed to deliver incredible call quality for on the go professionals. You can learn more at Jabra.com/halosmart AND, as an avid listener of this podcast you have the chance to win a free pair of Jabra headphones by visiting Jabra.com/5am. This episode is also being brought to you by our friends at FreshBooks. FreshBooks offers amazingly simple accounting
2 software for small business owners who need to focus and get things done. They have an advanced invoicing system, great mobile technology, and streamlined features to make tax time a breeze. FreshBooks is offering my listeners a free 30 day trial at FreshBooks.com/5am. [Fade Out Music] In the last few weeks I have begun a new season of life, one that is slower, more intentional, and a lot less stressful. This week I m going to talk about that transition and how you can steal some of my best strategies to do the same for yourself. This is The 5 am Miracle Episode #165: Create Space to Breathe, Innovate, and Rejuvenate [Intro Song] Good morning and welcome to the 165th episode of The 5 AM Miracle. I am Jeff Sanders and this is THE podcast dedicated to dominating your day before breakfast.
3 Every Monday morning my goal is to help you bounce out of bed with enthusiasm, create powerful lifelong habits, and tackle your grandest goals with extraordinary energy. Here on The 5 AM Miracle Podcast we discuss early mornings, and we dive deep into topics like healthy habits, personal development, and rockin productivity! This week I discuss how to transition to a lifestyle that breaths life back into you, one slow and simple day at a time. But first, if you would like a simple solution to guarantee you always accomplish your daily habits, I think you will love my Daily Rituals Template. This is a very simple spreadsheet designed for you to monitor your most important daily habits and easily see how well you are doing each week. This is the same template I use each and every day to manage my own habits, and it totally works. To get your free copy of this awesome template, Join The 5 AM Club @ 5amMiracle.com. Now, let s begin with this week s feature segment! [Fade Music Up and Out]
4 We all need a break. In fact, I would argue we need A LOT more time than we ever give ourselves to slow down and build ourselves back up. This week, we are talking about creating space in your life for breathing, innovating, and rejuvenating. What breathes life back into you? What refills your soul? What energizes you, calms you down, brings a smile of genuine satisfaction to your face? What provides the balance you need to be your best self when it matters most? How do we get more of these things all the time? Create Space to Breathe, Innovate, and Rejuvenate There are 2 strategies to getting more space in your life: guaranteed time and opportunistic time. 1. Guaranteed Time
5 What is guaranteed time? It s proactive. It is time on your calendar that is exclusively reserved for activities that give you space to breathe, innovate, and rejuvenate. It is non negotiable time that guarantees you will get what you need to stay healthy, happy, and productive. It could be in small blocks or large chunks either way, it is non negotiable time. How to Get More Guaranteed Time. 1. Carve out space in advance and stick to it Pre plan your schedule (weekly review) Utilize your morning hours (5 AM Miracle) Set an evening boundary (8:00pm) 2. Eliminate or Cancel Your Commitments Cut Your Calendar in Half Say No ALL the time Create more space than you know what to do with Focus exclusively on your priorities and cancel everything else
6 3. Do 1 Thing at a Time No More Half Work (tip from James Clear) Free up time by improving your efficiency by doing only one thing 4. Execute on Your Priorities First Do what needs to be done BEFORE everything else If you need space, take it BEFORE you dive into the potentially stressful work Do what rejuvenates you BEFORE you do what depletes you 2. Opportunistic Time What is Opportunistic Time? It s being proactively reactive. You are ready when free time appears. Space magically shows up and you take advantage of it. How to Take Advantage of Time that Shows Up 1. Be prepared when free time appears Have a list already put together so that when time appears you simply refer to the
7 list. Free Time? Do This Now List Keep this list... Vision Board Evernote Desktop Wallpaper 15 minutes Meditate Yoga Text a friend 1 Hour Work on your current grandest goal Read a book Call a friend Half Day Hiking 1+ Days Camping 2. Change Your Default Behavior When free time appears on your calendar, or in the moment, change your default behavior to align with the activities that help you to breathe, innovate, and rejuvenate. This Not That
8 Quick Recap Meditation, not Facebook Reading, not TV Water, not junk food Yoga, not needlessly worrying This Before That (audio blog episode) Water before coffee Planning before diving in Salad before dessert Exercise before going out Meditation before email Gratitude before criticism 1.Guaranteed Time (create the space) 2.Opportunistic Time (take advantage of the space) 3.Do Both [Fade In Spring in My Step ] Now, I want to tell you a little more about Jabra s new HALO SMART headphones. Great call quality
9 Designed for On the go professionals Up to 17 hours of battery life Wind and water resistant Siri and Google Now with one touch These headphones work especially well if you wear a collar because the strap will hook around your collar and keep the headphones in place in a very convenient way. You can buy a pair of the Halo Smart Headphones right now at BestBuy.com, or you can learn more about these great headphones at Jabra.com/halosmart And, every month you will have the chance to win a free pair of Jabra Headphones. Enter at Jabra.com/5am. Once again, that s Jabra.com/5am. Just before we dive into this week s feature segment I want to tell you a little more about FreshBooks. For most entrepreneurs, time is the one thing that always seems to be in short supply. Tons to do, and never enough time to get it all done. The good news is our friends at FreshBooks feel your
10 pain. They have created an amazingly simple invoicing solution for small business owners who need to focus on their work, not their paperwork. And invoicing is only the beginning. Their mobile app lets you take pictures of your receipts and organize them for later, which makes claiming expenses at tax time a breeze. The best part is, FreshBooks will streamline how you manage your finances on a day to day basis, which will make you so much more prepared AND way less stressed. FreshBooks is offering my listeners a free 30 day trial with no credit card required. Go to FreshBooks.com/5am and enter 5 AM in the How Did You Hear About Us? section. That s FreshBooks.com/5am. [Fade Out Music] This week s Tip is to try a new strategy to generate a new brilliant idea.
11 This new strategy is called Brainwriting, and I think it has the potential to revolutionize the way you and your team generate your next big idea. I recently read a Fast Company article titled, Why Brainstorming Doesn t Work; Try This Technique Instead. In all reality, the article wasn t written that well, but the concept stuck with me. Traditional brainstorming involves a group of people talking out their best ideas. Sometimes those ideas are hashed out on a white board, and sometimes it s just an audible free for all. Either way, brainstorming is a groupthink technique that may not be the best way to actually get more ideas, or even better ideas than what you could generate on your own. Brainwriting is a new way of approaching this same problem. Instead, each person in the group writes down their own ideas without talking. Then the ideas are shared on paper with the other group members and each person continues to quietly write their own ideas, but this time based off of the ideas of others.
12 There is no talking, just writing. There is plenty of sharing, but it s all done on paper. This cycle continues until everyone has given up and turned their brains off. In the end the group discusses the results and picks the winner. According to a study cited in the article Brainwriting groups generated 20% more ideas and 42% more original ideas as compared to traditional brainstorming groups. Impressive! If you work alone, you can use a modified version of this technique by alternating between writing your ideas and audible recording yourself speaking out loud. The goal is to alternate back and forth between modalities while generating new ideas that build off of previous ideas. Whatever method you choose, isolating time specifically for generating new ideas is very effective. The name of this podcast was generated in a very specific and focused block of time, as were all of my products and most of the good content
13 I produce. Great ideas take time to develop and deserve the best strategies to bring them to life. Try out brain writing this week and let me know how it works for you and your team. You can read more about this technique in the Fast Company article, which I linked to in the show notes page at JeffSanders.com/165. [Opening Night Music] Action Steps: #1 Cut Your Calendar in Half. Whatever you re currently committed to, cut that in half. Let go of at least 50% of your appointments, meetings, projects, and events. The only direct path to slowing down is actually slowing down. You will have to cut things. This is a non negotiable. Look at your calendar every day and ask the question, what can I cut? Then, follow through and start slashing! #2 Schedule Rejuvenation Time.
14 When you have a free moment now open on your calendar, schedule time to refill your spirit. Do something that brings you back to life. That could be sleeping, hiking on a mountain, or spending time with people you love but haven t seen in a long time. Whatever your best method for rejuvenation is, make that your highest priority so you can refuel your soul and begin feeling your best again as soon as possible. #3 This week, schedule your first session of Brainwriting. Brainstorming may be effective, but brainwriting has the potential to change the game in a big way. Schedule a session with your team, coworkers, spouse, or friends and try this method. Who knows? Maybe this could be the strategy that gets you your next million dollar idea! [Fade In Music] As always, if you would like to see the complete list of the links I mentioned in this episode, please visit the show notes page at JeffSanders.com/165, as in
15 Episode 165. Also, if you ever have any questions you would like me to answer here on the podcast, email me: jeff@jeffsanders.com. I would love to answer your question and help out the entire community here on the show. Once again, that jeff@jeffsanders.com. Finally, on the podcast next week I will be interviewing Carson Tate, a productivity author and coach. Carson and I will be tackling the busyness epidemic and finding ways to keep us all from drowning in overwhelm. Well, that's it for this episode of The 5 AM Miracle Podcast. Until next time remember, you have the power to change your life, and the fun begins bright and early. [Fade Music Up and Out]