How To Get Through Midlife Tasks You DON'T Like To Do Faster And With Ease (Simple Saturdays)

Episode 47 | (00:08):
Hey there, friend — Welcome to Simple Saturdays. On Wednesday's show, episode 46, I talked about a surprising way to increase your midlife productivity. And it was about relaxing to go faster, to be more productive, to get stuff done.

(00:24):
Because when you're relaxed, you can get into "flow" or, as athletes call it, "in the zone." Now I've got to tell you, I've never gotten into flow when I was stressed or anxious or tense. Every single time it's happened, it was when I was in a relaxed state. I was looking forward to getting into this project. I was looking forward to diving in and getting things done.

(00:47):
Now I want to be clear, I'm not saying you can get into flow for every single thing you do. Because I know you're thinking, "But Michelle, what if it's something I don't like doing? What if I'm actually dreading this task or this activity?"

(01:01):
My advice: Go faster. You want to go even faster to get it done as quickly as possible so you can move on to something you do like. I mean, good heavens, why would you wanna prolong the pain and suffering of doing a task or activity that you don't like?

(01:19):
For example, I've been doing QuickBooks for nearly 25 years. It's a part of my business that I have to do in order to pay my taxes and keep track of my vendors and all that good stuff. You would think that after 25 years I would be really good at it, but am I? Nope, not so much.

(01:38):
I'm getting better at it. I'm more efficient with it than I was at the beginning, but this is certainly not a task that I look forward to. I will say that I do have an excellent bookkeeper who has the patience of Job and keeps me out of trouble every single year. (Thank you, Joan!)

(01:53):
But in general, I've got to admit I'm really not that good at it. It doesn't interest me, and I don't know that I'll ever get really, really great at it.

(02:02):
But let me tell you what I am good at. I am very good at getting into a relaxed state to do QuickBooks. That's the part that I'm really good at because I know that when I'm relaxed, my muscles are soft. They're pliable. I'm not tensing up and I'm not stressed as I'm doing this thing I don't like doing, that I'm not good at doing.

(02:20):
I don't even think about that anymore. What I think about is getting and staying focused for 25 to 30 minutes at a time because I know that's how I work best with this task. I use the three steps I told you about in Wednesday's episode, episode 46.

(02:36):
I get it done and afterward, I don't feel exhausted. I feel accomplished and refreshed and so thrilled that I got it done so fast so I don't have to mess with it anymore.

(02:46):
If you haven't listened to episode 46 yet, it's titled "Tired Of Not Having Enough Time? Learn A Surprising Yet Simple Way To Increase Midlife Productivity." Go back and listen to that. I think you're really going to like it, and it's going to help you with those tasks that you like and the tasks that you don't like, all right?

(03:05):
So that's it for today. Until the next episode, peace, love and blessings to you and yours. Take care. Bye-bye!