Shownotes
If you're struggling to stay productive during your reflection phase, don't worry, this episode is for you!
Learn how to capture your ideas and stay productive, even during weird energy times! In this episode, Jonathan discusses the importance of having a system for capturing ideas and shares how he captures his ideas and how this helps him stay focused during his incubation period. Whether you're working on projects or big business ideas it's important to know what you need to do each day in order to stay on top of things. So listen in and learn how to create a system that works for you!
In this episode I cover:
- The importance of having a system for capturing ideas
- How to stay productive during your reflection phase
- Tips for capturing ideas
Episode Link: https://simplicity-specialist.com/podcast
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Transcripts
Welcome to the world of capturing
Speaker:ideas even during an incubation period.
Speaker:In this episode, I discuss how having
Speaker:a system for capturing ideas can
Speaker:help you stay productive, even when
Speaker:you're in reflection and processing
Speaker:I share how I capture my ideas and
Speaker:how it helps me stay focused even
Speaker:when I'm in a thinking period.
Speaker:Whether you're working on projects
Speaker:or big business ideas, it's important
Speaker:to know what you need to do each day
Speaker:in order to stay on top of things.
Speaker:So listen in and learn how I
Speaker:create a system that works for me.
Speaker:when I'm in that reflection
Speaker:and incubation period.
Speaker:Often when it comes to creating
Speaker:systems, we think about doing it in a
Speaker:way where we all are working with the
Speaker:best possible version of ourselves.
Speaker:When we are the most hyper-organized we
Speaker:have the most attention and excitement
Speaker:with our business and everything feels
Speaker:really good and so we have all of these
Speaker:lists and new project management systems.
Speaker:And the way that we work is being
Speaker:made better by having lots and lots
Speaker:of new systems that we implement
Speaker:to help us get better and get more
Speaker:organized and keep up this flow.
Speaker:However we all go through cycles in our
Speaker:business and in our life where we are
Speaker:just in that moment of introspection
Speaker:and reflection which is not a bad
Speaker:thing, but during those times you
Speaker:are less likely to produce content to
Speaker:keep up with all of the podcasts or
Speaker:the content that you're listening to.
Speaker:You just pause and that's a natural
Speaker:thing often in the productivity
Speaker:space, it's not really spoken about.
Speaker:That moment where you are just in
Speaker:reflection, where in Gestalt psychology,
Speaker:it's known as the fertile void.
Speaker:It's this place where things can grow.
Speaker:But for that to happen you have to plant
Speaker:the seed and wait for it to grow instead
Speaker:of cramming more seeds into your garden.
Speaker:It's about pausing just for a second.
Speaker:Pausing just for a minute to let it grow,
Speaker:to water it, to nurture it, which means
Speaker:some of your systems fall by the wayside.
Speaker:However this can be a problem when you
Speaker:come back and you're working into that
Speaker:creation phase, where you have ideas
Speaker:and you want to produce and you want
Speaker:to create, and you want to be in that
Speaker:highest state of working where you are
Speaker:moving fast when you're in flow so much.
Speaker:However if your systems don't support
Speaker:you in every single flow in every single
Speaker:place and position you get stuck in
Speaker:this spring cleaning, where you have to
Speaker:fix your systems recreate, redesign and
Speaker:re-imagine your systems because you've
Speaker:built it for the times when you're most
Speaker:productive, instead of building it for
Speaker:the times when you are in reflection.
Speaker:Creating your systems based on the
Speaker:way you work in those ebbs and flows
Speaker:is how you can abandon your system
Speaker:for two, three months, come back and
Speaker:it's still there and it still works.
Speaker:You don't have to worry about it and you
Speaker:can go back into creation and generation
Speaker:and bringing you forward instead of spring
Speaker:cleaning and trying to fix everything.
Speaker:How do you actually do that?
Speaker:How do you create a system that
Speaker:doesn't really need spring cleaning?
Speaker:It starts with knowing how you work and
Speaker:noticing where you are in these cycles.
Speaker:Where you are, where you have these
Speaker:highs when you feel the most productive
Speaker:when you are excited about producing
Speaker:content, releasing new offers, working
Speaker:with clients, et cetera, et cetera.
Speaker:What does that look like for you and
Speaker:then also on the opposite side what
Speaker:happens when things have to drop by
Speaker:the side, because when you get to that
Speaker:state, you will drop things that is part
Speaker:and parcel of the reflection exercise.
Speaker:You cannot grow new things without
Speaker:dropping something by the side.
Speaker:What you can drop and what you
Speaker:will drop and knowing what that is.
Speaker:It starts by knowing how you work and
Speaker:seeing what drops when you are in that
Speaker:reflective state, when you are in that
Speaker:fertile void of just integration and
Speaker:figuring things out and working out what
Speaker:to do next and where to move and how to
Speaker:process and all of that lovely stuff.
Speaker:In that time, what drops by the wayside?
Speaker:Start by just looking at what
Speaker:things stop is it podcasts?
Speaker:Do you just start listening to
Speaker:podcasts and you only focus on
Speaker:one form of content consumption?
Speaker:Do you spend less time marketing
Speaker:yourself and promoting yourself?
Speaker:Is that something that
Speaker:drops by the wayside?
Speaker:So is your content creation system gonna
Speaker:going to start to flag a little bit?
Speaker:What is it that slows down and also
Speaker:to ensure a healthy and sustainable
Speaker:business there are some things that
Speaker:just can't slow down, even when
Speaker:you're in the incubation period.
Speaker:Now, how do you combat that?
Speaker:Does your system support you to
Speaker:keep moving forward and whether you
Speaker:have a team or whether it's just
Speaker:you and your own, what are the real
Speaker:core things that need to exist?
Speaker:What are the core components that
Speaker:just need to work, even when you
Speaker:are not directly engaging with it.
Speaker:That's often your tasks and your
Speaker:projects and stuff like that
Speaker:stuff for your clients, and it's
Speaker:different for every single person.
Speaker:And it depends on you just
Speaker:looking and seeing what exists.
Speaker:And then building your system
Speaker:around the core components, the
Speaker:stuff that has to happen, no matter
Speaker:what you don't necessarily need
Speaker:to always be working on projects.
Speaker:You don't necessarily need to be
Speaker:always working on big business ideas.
Speaker:But what you do need to do is know what
Speaker:you're doing every day, because at the
Speaker:time when you're in an incubation and
Speaker:reflection period, you need to just be
Speaker:able to show up, do what you do and keep
Speaker:the business ticking over as you reflect.
Speaker:What are the things that
Speaker:you need to do each day?
Speaker:For me, it's as simple as every
Speaker:day, I need to make sure that I'm
Speaker:replying to my clients as they need
Speaker:me working on work that I've said
Speaker:I'm going to do for my clients.
Speaker:And apart from that's about it.
Speaker:That's about it.
Speaker:Where I get to when I am in that
Speaker:slow down on reflection phase.
Speaker:I also need a place to capture things
Speaker:that I'm thinking about now, whether
Speaker:that be inside of a very complex system.
Speaker:Probably not when I'm in my
Speaker:reflection phase, I don't want
Speaker:to have to go to a complex page.
Speaker:Where I'm organizing and
Speaker:self-selecting what thing I'm
Speaker:talking about and topics and stuff.
Speaker:So I need somebody that's
Speaker:really simple and just allows
Speaker:me to capture my idea and leaf.
Speaker:And in fact, this is
Speaker:exactly what I'm doing now.
Speaker:I've just got to got off a call
Speaker:with my team and I am capturing
Speaker:this idea immediately as I
Speaker:get off a call in descript.
Speaker:It's not a PKM app or personal knowledge
Speaker:management app, but it is for me, it's
Speaker:an extension of me and it's how I work.
Speaker:It's extending my brain into an app.
Speaker:Extended cognition.
Speaker:Which we're going to just put aside for
Speaker:now because I'd love to in complicated.
Speaker:And lots of sciencey, nerdy stuff
Speaker:but I come in here, I record this.
Speaker:And then afterwards, I'm going
Speaker:to go in and say good morning
Speaker:to my kids and see them.
Speaker:But I have captured this idea immediately.
Speaker:And it's going to be used
Speaker:when I'm ready for it.
Speaker:I've marked.
Speaker:It really simply.
Speaker:It's in my idea system.
Speaker:That is just me talking
Speaker:without having to plan.
Speaker:And it's simple, it's easy.
Speaker:And it gets out of my way.
Speaker:So even when I have ideas during that
Speaker:incubation period or that fertile
Speaker:void, I can capture it simply.
Speaker:And then when I want to organize
Speaker:structure and create something from it,
Speaker:I can move it into my bigger systems
Speaker:that have more complex organizations.
Speaker:Remember getting stuff out of your
Speaker:head as a business owner is incredibly
Speaker:valuable because goodness me we
Speaker:have so many ideas in our head..
Speaker:And the reason I know that this works for
Speaker:me is because I am an audio processor.
Speaker:I will talk on Voxer to my team and
Speaker:process ideas and get them out of my head.
Speaker:This is what I'm doing right now.
Speaker:I'm getting all my ideas out of my head.
Speaker:Who knows whether you will
Speaker:actually hear any of this.
Speaker:You may not.
Speaker:You may do.
Speaker:You may not but if you do you'll
