1593 – Productivity is A Skill with Productivity Straight Talk’s Amber De La Garza

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0:58with us right now amber de la garza amber you are the productivity specialist for small business owners your speaker coach trainer writer and podcast host at productivity straight talk amber thank you so much for joining us uh thank you so much for having me i'm looking forward to our chat today right at the top to our friend that's listening right now do this you pull up your open up your app, go to in your podcast player and search for productivity, straight talk, hit subscribe right now. Trust me, you'll thank me. Amber, tell us a bit about what you do in the world who you work with. And I can't wait to hear some great suggestions and tips around productivity.

1:43Yeah, absolutely. So I started my business over a decade ago to help small business owners not burn out and to be able to really achieve their goals. And it's with the premise and the belief and now proven that productivity and time management are skills that can be improved upon and learn. And those skills are vital for us to achieve more in less time, not to mention, you know, less stress and enjoy our personal lives, as well as the hat of being a business owner. So that's the work I do. So often when I hear about productivity, I think about, well, that means I need to be more productive and I need to work harder and I need to stop slacking so much.

2:26Right. And so I think about that and, and it stresses me out a little bit because I'm like, I don't want to work harder. Like I want to work smarter, but it sounds like the way that you describe productivity is again about working smarter, not harder. Right. Yeah, absolutely. So I define productivity as when we are being our most productive selves, when we're investing our best time into our best activities. And that is meant to be a framework. It could go over any goal. And essentially to sum it up is like, how do we get to show up our best? That's what our loved ones want. That's what our team members want.

3:01That's what our business needs from us is to show up our best. It is certainly not about working more and getting overwhelmed and burning out. I have found that the more you can be holistic in the view of productivity, the more you can truly accomplish in your business and enjoy your life, which I think is quite important as well. How, you know, obviously you're producing a lot of content in the world and sharing great ideas, but how do you actually work with folks? Yeah, so I work with people in three different ways. One is I have some on-demand trainings on my website and available. The second way is through a group coaching program.

3:41And the third way is through private one-on-one coaching. And what does that look like? Yeah. So private one-on-one coaching is generally for experienced business owners that have figured some stuff out. They're selling, they've got a team. Maybe it's even a little bit of a team, but they're in a place where they really want the support on being more strategic with where they're investing their time, how to lead their team. They want support around not just how to get more done, but to work smarter, to your point. And it's also a lot of mindset. So it's very much the intersection between mindset and strategy always to accomplish your goals in your business.

4:26Yeah. Amber, how did you become a productivity specialist? Well, like what formative experiences happened in your life that made you decide that this is, yep, this is what I'm going to be known for in the world? Yeah, what a great question. I always joke. I'm like, no, I wasn't a little girl that woke up one day and said I want to be the productivity specialist. I don't know that that is the thought that anyone has. So yeah, it was a series of experiences and events. Prior to specializing in productivity, I actually worked in the corporate side of real estate for a large company that was in multiple states.

5:06And I was a business coach for all the top sales executives for that real estate company. And we had amazing systems. We were teaching great business processes and systems. But there was a repeating pattern of overwhelm, a repeat of, oh my gosh, this is great. I can't wait to implement this system. And they come back and they're like, I have no time. I'm overwhelmed. There's no time to work on my business. I'm just working in my business. And that really made me dive deep into time management and productivity. And I thought, you know what, this is one of those foundational skill sets that allows you to actually learn other skill sets and apply them in your life and your business so much better.

5:48And I mean, obviously there's more to it, but that really was the point in my life where I was like, this is really important and it interests me. And I didn't see that it was being taught in the way that I thought it should be taught to business owners. Now, today, you've worked with some pretty decent brands as well. Like in your portfolio, I'm seeing some pretty big logos. Listen, I'm going to give you the stage and I'm giving you permission. Please brag about your impact you've had. And what types of folks you've been able to work with and what you've helped co-create with them? Yeah. So I think what you're speaking of is I do training specifically and speaking and for large corporations.

6:34So I just got done working with Pepsi, Frito-Lay, worked with Cartier, Marriott, MGM Grand. There are many companies where I'll come in and either do trainings, workshops, or speak about productivity in the workplace. And then on the other side of that, and to me, just as important are small business owners that are making their own impact in the world. And that is truly also where my heart is, is that helping small business owners show up and not get discouraged and love what they do because they feel like, you know, they're ready to conquer the day and the day is not knocking them out and conquering them.

7:11And I do that for various business owners, anywhere from interior designers, architects, therapists, doctors, financial advisors, and just about anything in between. The through thread and what I specialize in is the business owner. It doesn't, the work that I do isn't specific to industry. It's truly how do we show up in our businesses and be the CEO we want to be, the leader we want to be. And generally what I find is that we fall short of what we want for our business and ourselves because we have, you know, the belief there's not enough time. So I help business owners with that. Yeah. All right.

7:56So Amber, let's maybe deliver a couple of very actionable things that most of us could probably take a look at and may be able to free up a little bit of our time or, again, kind of work a little bit more intentionally. What are some of the biggest areas where you see folks just not living optimally professionally? Yeah, absolutely. You know, if I had to say that there was one foundational strategy that has the biggest impact and I see the most resistance to is being consistent with planning our days. um you know we've tried it didn't work the day didn't go as planned you know what's the point or you you tell yourself it's more important to do the thing you're doing instead of taking 15 minutes to plan your day and I am here to tell you that 15 minutes consistently can literally change your entire experience and your productivity and what you can accomplish um and I will say this um just to even understand that when you plan our day the goal isn't for it to go as planned It's not like, let's stop fighting reality.

9:04It's in fact, allowing you to be in the driver's seat instead of the passenger seat by planning your day by 15, take 15 minutes. It allows you to be proactive versus reactive. And a lot of the overwhelming, the burnout comes from sitting in the passenger seat and letting the day, the team, the fires, the, all the things run your day. instead of you choosing what it is you're going to focus on and handling the inevitable fires that come up. It's got to be a both because we don't live in a fairyland. We run real businesses. You know, we have real challenges. But don't stop planning your day because it doesn't go as planned.

9:44Yeah. Amber, is most of your work obviously around kind of the work day or do you get much into the personal side of life as well? You know, thinking about the dishes that need to get done and the garbage that needs to go out. And man, this carpet needs a good vacuuming, all these things. Like, do you get on that side of it? I do not get onto that side, but I do get personal. So in the sense of, I truly believe who we are in our personal life impacts how we show up in our businesses. so we do talk about like what is the schedule that would actually complement and not stress us out so that we can handle our personal uh responsibilities we all go through seasons of our lives and so I'm very much like okay the goals in our personal life have to support goals in our business and vice versa um and I'm actually a huge proponent of outsourcing and asking for help on the home front.

10:38So that is how I support my clients on looking at it, you know, in whole, personal and professional. And what was I going to ask you? There was something. Oh, are you, I would imagine this obviously very hot subject right now, recommending specific tools, particularly we think about some of the stuff on the, you know, quote unquote, AI side of things. are there any technologies or platforms or tools that you're excited about right now that have just been huge productivity boosters? Yeah. So first I just want to say, I get this question all the time, like what productivity app you have, what are all the tools, all that good stuff.

11:20People want tools. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody wants tools. So, I mean, I really have to stand my ground and say the same thing I've said over a decade is that it's not about the tool. It's about the behavior. It's about the habit. It's about the strategy under it. And then the tools can help it. Um, and we all love a good tool. So if you, if I had to share my favorite, um, task management and project management, um, app is ClickUp. Um, my team and I have been using it since almost it even started as a business. It's huge. Um, and it has the ability to grow with you. If you're a, you're a business owner of one all the way up to huge corporations, uh, which is fantastic.

11:59and it also allows you to do a lot of customization, which is what I find is important for a tool. Because again, I could say this works for me and Josh, you work completely different. You want to see your task list different, your project's different and ClickUp allows that. And that's why I think it's a really good recommendation because there's so much customization. Yeah. Talk about the power, Amber, of unplugging, you know, kind of, you know, creating delineations in our life where we say, you know what, right now, I am not going to worry or think about work. I know for me personally, I have to prioritize that.

12:41And I, you know, I was talking with a neighbor and she was lamenting that her husband on the cruise spent way too much of the time on the cruise, just on his phone, checking emails, doing work. And I'm like, there is no way I would be so mad if I got sucked into work. I, I, the way I guess I, I jealously guard my personal and private time. Yeah. And so do I, you know, I think that there's various reasons why people want to work all the time. But let's just address the one that's like, I, it's all going to fall apart if I'm not there. Right. Like I need to, I need to be involved. I need to be on my email.

13:22My clients need me. You know, I think that that is a, an amazing goal to have to work on. And those are the strategies that I work with my clients on is like, how do you build a business that doesn't need you every day? How do you build a business that you can prioritize vacation and totally check out? And it's not stressful to you. Um, that's the work that gets done in the business so that the result is you do not have to feel stressed or guilt when you're not working and vice versa. You're not working all the time and feeling guilt that you're not in your personal life. I will just say that I had COVID back in 2021 and I got incredibly sick.

13:59I was out of my business for over two months unexpectedly, just like that. And I have a whole episode that says like, look, nobody thinks they can be out of their business for two and a half months, but I was, and I shared all the lessons of things that I have created or built in my business systems, team members, processes that allowed my business to run and run successfully when that wasn't the ultimate goal. And I think that that actually is a wake-up call. That should be the goal for all of us. We can't, you know, suddenly be without a business. We can't suddenly be without income. And our teams can't fall apart without us there.

14:35So what do we do today to build that business so that we can find more balance and peace with our businesses. Yeah. Amber De La Garza, your website is amberdelagarza.com. And so to our friend that's listening just right now, in your podcast app, click around. There's a little button or something like that. Or maybe it's an eye with a circle around it, show notes. That's where you want to get to the notes that we have for this episode. Click there because we have a direct link, Amber, to your website. And I know you've got some really great resources there. what would you recommend for someone's like okay i like what they're i like this conversation i want more amber in my life how do they do that yeah um outside of getting more amber on my podcast because you get a lot of my personality and my methodologies there um i do have a free training um i'd love to be able to offer that so it's um take back your time so if you go to amber de la garza uh board slash take back your time uh in less than 30 minutes so it's a mini course i'll teach you how to reclaim 20 minutes back each and every day forever.

15:40That's the promise. And that's a big promise, but it's a promise that I know that if you apply the strategies I share in there, you'll reclaim time. Heck yeah. Multiply that out and times what's 20 times 30. Now we're talking, if I did my math right, that's 10 hours by the end of the month. That's significant. What would you do? Like we always, I know that kind of the meme or the joke is, right? If I could just get more hours in the day. Well, look, we were just given a gift of 10 hours additional in your month. And what would you do? That's one of great questions. Like, if you had an extra 10 hours, what would you do with that?

16:20Yeah. So I actually open up, I've opened up many trainings and speaking engagements that way. And the first time I asked that question, I thought I knew what the answer was going to be. I was wrong. The answer overwhelmingly time and time again is always sleep. We think it's like, go to the gym, work on a project to get something more done in our business. Like people are craving sleep. And, um, you know, I've come up with my own theory, but honestly, sleep is one of the only things we do solely for ourselves. And it's the thing we cut out first when our kids need us, our team members need us, everybody needs us.

16:58The sleep keeps getting condensed. And so if that's you, then take the training, get 10 hours, get some more sleep. And I guarantee that will help you be more productive in your waking hours. I know we only have like a second left, but I got to ask you because you brought it up. Do you, do you at all track or gamify your sleep? I, I do not. I know some do. I do. And that was, but I don't think that fits every personality. So I use the, I tried so many sleep trackers. I finally, like, I like aura. it's it's got a subscription model which I think a lot of them do um but um I you know for me it's like you know again I think it's a personality thing it's like I'm really try for like a score of 80 or higher and uh you know not but but you know at least like I'm thinking about it you know in the evening right it's like oh I could stay up oh I could watch that other show oh, I could start playing this game.

17:53I could start scrolling Reddit. But if I do that, I know it's going to negatively impact my score. Yeah. I think it's also helpful for experimenting, right? So you're experimenting, like, hey, like, if I do this, does it go up? If I do that, does it go up? I think that's a really helpful in behavior change to see that for sure. I just said it like I was from Minnesota there. But, you know, that's what, you know, so there's absolutely some things that I learned about, you know, exposure to bright lights, you know, when do I stop looking at my devices? Alcohol, holy cow, is that an easy one to discover.

18:29And now, you know, it's like, you know, alcohol might be awesome, but man, it is not going to be great if you want, you know, a good restful night's sleep. It is just, it's pretty bad. So anyway, hey, this is a great conversation. Amber De La Garza, and again, your website, at amberdelagarza.com forward slash take back your time. All one word, get the free training. Amber, it's been a wonderful conversation. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you so much for having me.

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