We all love tools, and when used correctly they can support you in creating a system that fits you but when you build a system around the features of a tool you'll find that issues occur.

In this episode I talk about:

• How an alarm clock can HINDER the way you work.
• Why focusing on the app first, is just causing more problems then it's worth.
• How to flip the script, and get past all the weird stuff going on right now!

A Note On Transcriptions - In the interest of simplicity, I'm using Descript* to make podcast publishing as easy as possible. This means that sometimes the transcript won't match what I'm saying and sometimes it'll be hilariously different (tag me on Twitter telling me the funniest transcription you've found).

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I start from my sleep as my alarm clock rings.

6:00 AM.

I groan desperate to just stay in bed for one more hour.

But there isn't a snooze button.

So I forced myself up and start another day.

Exhausted and wishing that was another way.

I've always struggled with waking up in the morning.

So I bought this alarm clock so that my phone could be in another room

because that's supposedly best practice.

I start to wake up properly around 10:00 AM.

Which just so happens to be my first zoom call of the day, the first of many.

Sometimes they're earlier, but for me, I can't do a thing after 6:00

PM as that's when I have to sleep.

I am not great with time.

So I bought this alarm clock to help you with getting up and

going to sleep at the right time.

Studies have shown blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

But the problem is my alarm clock doesn't have a snooze button.

It also can only have two alarms one at 6:00 AM and one at 6:00 PM.

If all the stars align, nothing goes wrong and no one needs me.

It works fine.

But today is not one of those days.

It's now 5:45 PM.

I've not eaten since early this morning spent no time with my

family and I'm still waiting on the final call of the day to finish.

I didn't even realize how much of the time has gone.

So now I'm behind.

And as the time ticks on my 6:00 PM, alarm clock goes off.

And it won't stop.

No snooze button.

Nothing else.

It just keeps going.

My client hears the alarm clock going off and they realize how late it is.

They apologize.

And hang up.

I am now stuck, trying to decide.

What to do next.

The system was meant to help, but for some reason it's just not working.

I guess I'm just not meant to sleep at a normal time or, have a business.

What the heck is wrong with me?

I dragged myself up, back into bed.

It's still bright outside.

I'm not ready to sleep and I'm super hungry.

But if I don't go to sleep now, Then I will just struggle tomorrow

when 6:00 AM comes around again.

Now, this sounds a tiny bit crazy.

Why would you listen to an alarm clock that only went

off at one time in the other.

That's the thing.

When I work with clients that's exactly what they're doing they're

using a tool as a solution to help them do a certain thing instead of

starting from what they already had.

The alarm clock was at the center of the system.

It revolved around the tool and this is what happens with so many

business owners that I talk to.

They go and find a tool that they think is going to be amazing and

it's going to help them do so much.

And they build their solutions around the features of that app.

Notion templates are a fantastic example of this notion templates

are systems that are pre-made.

They have been made by someone else for you to use just like

a, clockmaker made this 6:00 AM.

6:00 PM.

Alarm clock.

But they have limitations.

The limitations that have been put in by the person making it.

It makes sure you stop and start at a certain time, but what happens if you

don't work in the same way as that person?

Well no matter how hard you tried to fit yourself within 6:00 AM and 6:00 PM.

Uh, things get in the way.

The solution flip the script.

Start the opposite way around.

Start with.

What.

Are the realities of your life and the environment that you're in.

And what do you actually want to achieve?

Now they may be in a little bit of.

Friction with each other, but that will help guide your system to work with you

instead of against you it we'll help make taking action far simpler when you start

from what you want to achieve and what you do want and what you need to have

based on what's going on in your world.

Once you understand what you're looking for, then it becomes far easier to find

a solution that fits you because you know what you want and what you need.

Every part of your business needs to fit around the reality of your life.

From greeting new clients to.

Saying goodbye to clients and all client interaction and how you interact and

speak to people with your marketing.

It has to revolve and start from the realities of your life.

There is so much going on in the world around you and businesses are changing

by the second things that used to work.

The hacks, the tips and tricks that have worked for years, no longer are working.

And you're left with you.

If you build your systems and the way you work, starting from you at the

center instead of the other way around.

It becomes easier to work when things are a little bit tough.

When revenue is down or problems occur, and it takes you out

of what you're used to doing.

Starting from you is the only answer remaining it is not a hack.

It is not a tip.

It is not a trick.

It is a solution to a really, really weird and crazy world right now.