How to Stop Doing the Things You Hate (Ep. 2)

We all have things on our lists that we HATE to do - whether in our business or personal lives. But they are necessary evils. Taking out the garbage, scrubbing the toilets or maybe in your business it’s crunching the numbers if you’re a creative.

These are the things that we dread and procrastinate on because doing them sucks away our energy and motivation. And then after we procrastinate on them enough, we feel the extra guilt pile on because we know they SHOULD get done, but we don’t WANT to do them.

In this conversation, I’m going to share how you can stop doing the things you hate by understanding how they can get done without you. By the end, you’ll have a model to sort your work and a filter you can use to get rid of the things that are wasting your time and draining your energy, and keeping you from getting the REAL meaningful work done.

00:00 The Dread of Unwanted Tasks: Identifying Your Drudgery Zone
00:36 Unlocking Productivity: How to Stop Doing What You Hate
02:53 Introducing the Freedom Compass Model
03:27 Exploring the Zones: Desire, Disinterest, Distraction, and Drudgery
09:44 Strategies to Eliminate, Automate, and Delegate Drudgery
14:58 Leveraging AI for Delegation and Time Management
17:05 Final Thoughts

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Transcript

0:00

We all have things on our list that we absolutely hate to do whether in life or in our business. But there are the necessary evils. Taking out the garbage scrubbing the toilet, doing the dishes because they don't do themselves. Maybe you have a few of these in your business too. Maybe you don't like crunching the numbers or writing those social media posts. Right? These are the things that we dread. Can we procrastinate on because doing them sucks away our energy and our motivation. And then after we procrastinate enough, we pile on. Extra guilt because we know they should get done. But we just don't want to do. In today's conversation. I'm going to share with you how you can stop doing the things that you hate by understanding. And all they can get done without you. By the end. You're going to have a model to sort your work. When a filter you can use to get rid of the things that are wasting your time. Draining your energy and keeping you from the real meaningful work. As women, it's easy to feel over-scheduled over tired and some days just over it. It's time to ditch the guilt. Still get things done and have time left for ourselves and the most important people in our lives. How do we do that? You're about to find out. Hey there. My name's Jenna Piche. And here I'll share with you the latest biohacks mindset shifts and calendar control strategies. To help you find the other side of busy. I'll bring you insights on how to get more done during work hours so you can shut it off. And prioritize what truly matters. In today's conversation. I'm not only going to help you stop doing the things that you dread, like give you ways they can get done without you. Make sure you stick around until the end where I'm going to share with you, how you can leverage AI to help you delegate and free up more of your valuable time. But let's dive in. So those things you hate doing in life and in business. I'm sure, just by talking about this, you already have a mental list going. Right. These are the things that you'd read that suck your energy, that you procrastinate on the most. All right. If I'm being real vulnerable here for me, this is deep cleaning the house. And I, I don't mean that in like, my house is a so dirty way. It's just, I don't feel it's the most valuable use of my time. I'm not any good at it. And I really don't like doing it. And that is what I call the drudgery zone. Right. Just that word makes me feel like I am in the sludge. Of that thing that I don't like doing. And that's why I think it's the perfect word to describe the things that we don't like doing. And we're not any good app. Right. So the drudgery zone. I those things that you do that you have to, not because you want to, or because they light you up. This is based on a model put together by the full focus company called the freedom compass. Right? So before we can really understand the drudgery zone, I want to review this freedom compass model. So you can get a better idea of how all of your tasks are sorted. Not just the ones that you hate. But don't worry. We'll come back around how to get rid of those. So first, I'd love you to think about the work that you do in your business or in life. And put them into quadrants based on a matrix. Where one side is passion and one side is proficiency. All right. I'm taking that matrix and giving it a little spin. And the top of that matrix wants you to picture that area is the things you love doing, right? This is your desire zone. This is where your passion and your proficiency intersect. Right. So around your house, there are probably things that light you up. Uh, that you like to do in your free time. Those things fall in your desires on a, this is probably why. If you're a business owner, you started a business in the first place. If you're a florist, this might be. Uh, arranging flowers, handling customer requests, or working directly with clients. Um, If you're a coach, maybe it's helping people grow and educate them or be on a stage. Uh, if you're in the trades, maybe it's actually doing the trade work itself, right. Running wire in a house. Doing the remodel, doing the measures, whatever those things are. So what are you passionate about and extremely proficient in that's your desire zone, right? You might've heard this in other models called. Your zone of genius. But it's this idea that this is really what you want to do. This is really where you want to spend your time. And as a business owner, we'd love to spend 80 to 90% of our time there in the desire zone. But. We all know that there's a lot more to running a business than just doing the service or selling the product that we provide. Right. So let's move on to the other sections of the matrix. The second area to think about is your disinterest zone, right? So that is the section in which you have proficiency. But you're not any, you don't have passion to do these things. When I used to work in a corporate environment, timelines would be the thing that would get thrown my way. Very much because as I am a time management coach, I am very good at visualizing the time that it takes in assigning people to do the work. So while I was very proficient in making project plans and making sure that people got done, what they said, they were going to get to. Or they said they were going to do. I wasn't extremely passionate about this work. So that was my disinterest zone. What are the things in your business that you're proficient in? Maybe not really passionate about right. Um, At home in a home environment. As an example for me, this is the laundry. Right. Like I'm proficient in running the washing and drying machine and folding. I don't really much enjoy doing it, but it needs to get done. Right. So this is my disinterest zone. So those are the first two zones. I want you to think of the other side of the matrix. And think about the things that your. Uh, shit about what you're not really proficient in, right? This is the distraction zone. So what is pulling you away? Because you're really excited about it. Maybe it's a shiny object syndrome. But you're not any good at it. So in your business. These might be some of the marketing tactics, right. That people are saying, oh, you really need to do this to grow your business. And so you might be really interested in that you write might be really passionate about some new way to grow the business, but maybe you're not proficient in things like. The technical details of SEO or how to write emails in a way that gets them opened. Um, When, so as such, that is your distraction zone and why is it a distraction? Well, because someone else could likely do it faster than you can do it, but you're passionate about it. And so you want to do that work. Uh, as a more personal example. Uh, in my house, it's not very new anymore. It's nine years to us. It was built before we moved in. But I'm really passionate about having a space with good energy so I can host parties and have a good and energetic space for my kids to grow up in. When, so I'm really passionate about interior design. I want the spaces of my house to feel welcome and inviting and warm. I am not proficient in this area. I have no training other than what I learned from Pinterest. And so I have been distracted by this area, right. Because I'm passionate about it. Now. I could likely go out and just hire an interior designer to do this for me, but I'm enjoying the process. Right. So that is my distraction zone. That is where I have lost some hours because I like it, even though I'm not very good at it. All right. So now that you know those other zones, the desire zone at the top, the distraction zone and the disinterest zone, you'll get a better idea for how the drudgery zone sits down here in the bottom. Right? So it was a reminder that your drudgery zone are those. Things that you do in life or in business. That you're not any good at. And you don't like doing. So, like I mentioned in life. Uh, at home, I hate doing the dishes. It falls in my drudgery zone. I get that they gotta be done. I don't like doing them. I don't feel like I'm any good at it. Right. That's what would fall in my drudgery zone. Um, at home. In business. What falls in my drudgery zone might be things like if I'm a creative. I might not like looking at the numbers. Or checking out my finances. Right. I might enjoy more of the big ideas in the creative work and less of the analytical. Um, in your drudgery zone, for example. If you run a service-based business. Maybe you don't like doing the more administrative side of the business, like. Invoicing vendors and taking care of the legal paperwork and administrative stuff. Right. So I'm sure as we've gone through this matrix, you started to think about what are the things I do in my business and how do they fit in these different areas? I'd love for you to pause this, even for just a second. And try to make a list of five things that fall in your drudgery zone. Right? What do you not like doing that? You don't feel like you're any good at. Maybe you've already come up with a list of five and your head as you've been listening to this. But once you have that list, These are the prime tasks that can really free up a lot of your time. If you're just intentional. So now we're going to talk about three ways. You can reclaim that time by what is currently being taken up by your drudgery zone tasks. All right. So the first filter. You can put that drudgery zone tasks through is can it be eliminated? Does this thing need to be done at all? Or am I just doing it because someone said I should do it, or it's always been done this way. Right? Those are grime. Examples of things that are ripe to be eliminated. All right. If it absolutely positively has to get done and can't be eliminated. Can you automate it? There are a lot of really great tools out there, such that if it needs to get done, maybe it doesn't need to get done by you. Maybe there's a software that can do that for you. You know, there are folks who really hate following up on leads, but sales is a part of business. Right now. We have CRM systems. And marketing automation systems that do some of these tasks that maybe you dread. And so you can leverage. Technology to do those things. Another way to automate is using templates. So as an example, I used to work in a corporate environment where we get a lot of requests to do sponsorships for different conferences. I probably got three or four of these a week. And so rather than writing a new email, every time I got a sponsorship request, I just had a template. That then when I got a sponsorship request that came in was a polite decline. Most of the time. And then I would customize it to that particular situation and send it out. Right. But having that template. Saved me. Probably five minutes. Every time I needed that email because I just had to plug and play a few pieces and send it out. Right. So templates are another great way that you can automate if it absolutely needs to get done, to try to save you some time. All right. So if you can't eliminate it, And you can't automate. Thing. Can you delegate it? Now I know as business owners, sometimes we feel like, especially if you don't have a big team, How do I delegate? If you have a team rate, that is a ripe opportunity. If you feel like you're not any good at it. And you're just not passionate about it. Maybe someone else. Yes, this was a game changer for me when I was leading sales teams. When I found out that other people really enjoyed putting together expense reports, it's something that I hated. So even though it fell in my drudgery zone, it fell in someone else's desire zone, and it was a great growth opportunity for them. When I delegated that task. All right. So not delegating can really be holding folks back on your team and taking up time that you could be spending in your desire zone. So do you have someone on your team that delegating that task to could create a great growth opportunity and free up your time? Now, if you don't have a team, I get asked. How do I delegate when I don't have a team? Well, you can outsource. So if marketing is in your drudgery zone, there are great vendors out there that can help you with that. Maybe it's time for you to hire a virtual assistant, to help you with some of the more administrative or research related tasks, process oriented tasks in your. Business. All right. So what can you delegate? Such that it needs to get done. It doesn't need to get done by you. You know, one of the things that is so interesting about delegation. Uh, I had a client telling me the other day is that. She held on to this one particular task because she felt like she was the best in the world at it. But what she realized was she hated the thing. It took her away from it. So I guess it was a little bit more in her disinterest zone, but the end of the day, It was a great growth opportunity. For someone else I'm frankly, because she wasn't doing it because she was avoiding it because she was dreading it. She was a bottleneck. Slowing down the rest of her team. So when she actually let this task go and delegated it. She found that her business ran even more smoothly than it did before, when she felt like she had to do that work. So with that. Take a look at the items on your drudgery zone list and ask. Can I eliminate it. Can I automate it? And can I delegate it? And this is how you get rid of those things that you hate. And they don't have to be done. By you. All right. In a moment I'm going to help you. Learn how AI can help you delegate. But first. If you're ready to stop doing the things that you hate, right. Go make that drudgery zone list. Start eliminating, automating and delegating. Go get it. But I know some of us. Need a little bit more help. To get a handle on what's really controlling your time. So I've put together something really valuable for you. It's a resource called five strategies to calm the calendar chaos. And in it, I'll share with you four routines to help you minimize the fatigue that comes with all of the things that you do. And help you automate life. Freeing up some much needed mental space. You can sign up at theothersideofbusy.com/chaos. Or you can get the link down here in the show notes. All right. So I promised you. A way to leverage AI to help you delegate and free up some of your precious time. When I teach this framework in workshops. I'm often asked what are other business owners delegating? Right. Sometimes we think. Am I just hanging onto things that other people have figured out how to let go of. So open your favorite AI tool like Gemini or chat GPT. And I want you to start with this prompt. Act as if you're a highly profitable blank. Insert your business here. What does, if you're highly profitable florist act as if you're a highly profitable business coach. Does, if you are a highly profitable social media marketer. What business tasks and processes do you delegate? So you can free up your time for your most important work. What is Ms. Tasks and processes? Can you delegate so you can free up your time for your most important work. This is a great brainstorming tool for you. And you'll get a list of ideas back. But maybe some of them will be generic when I was trying this out, some were very, you know, high level and generic, maybe things you've thought of before, maybe not. But you can ask it to dive even deeper. So a follow up question I asked was, can you please provide a more specific set of 20 tasks to delegate? And the time that each might save. Now we're talking right. Is a business coach ideas that came up were preparing client progress reports. Managing customer support, inquiries and followups organizing filing documents, right. And it gives the number of hours per week, which is extremely insightful. When you see the amount of time that you could save. Let's say, for example, staying on the florist piece, technical troubleshooting for your website or online ordering system, maybe saves you two hours a week. Invoicing and tracking expenses and other three hours basic bookkeeping tasks. Right? So leveraging AI can really help you brainstorm what some of those tasks are that you can delegate an offload from your list. So you can free up time for the most important work. Okay, one more thing before we go. If you need a little help letting go of that busy work, that's taking up so much of your time and keeping you from making progress. Let's talk, you can sign up for a 30 minute free session with me in which we'll take a look at your to-do list. And together we'll come up with a plan for the things that don't need to get done. Or at least not by you. Because you shouldn't have to stay up after the kids or your partner goes to bed to finish everything on your list. Until next time. I'm rooting for you.