Focus on This

Latest Episodes:

#94: Doctor’s Orders: 7 Ways to Get the Rest You Need Jun 21, 2021

Show notes

Your life looks good on the outside, but you wake up every day tired and overwhelmed. You know it’s an issue, but you don’t know what to do about it. Is there more you can do, beyond just getting more sleep? How do you find a deeper sense of restoration, so you don’t walk around every day in functional burnout?

This episode welcomes Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a board-certified internal medicine physician, international wellness expert, and the author of Sacred Rest, to talk about the 7 types of rest you need and what to do when you have a deficit. She will unpack how to identify where your deficits are and what you can do to stop living burned out but instead live restored, energetic, and passionate.

In this episode, you’ll discover—

The distinction between sleep and rest
Why rest is more than cessation of activity
How you may unconsciously experience sensory overload
What factors play a role in your fatigue and recovery time Practical ways to integrate rest as a part of your lifestyle

Resources:

Sacred Rest by Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith
Personal Rest Assessment

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#93: Restore Your Energy with Self-Care Rhythms Jun 14, 2021

Show notes

You feel tired all the time and are not even sure when it started. You try to go on vacation once a year, but it doesn’t feel like enough. You’re concerned that this exhaustion is affecting your performance, both at work and at home. What can you do on a regular basis to stay energized throughout the week?

In this episode, Courtney, Blake, and Verbs brainstorm ideas for the 5 categories of self-care and offer tips on building it into your week. They show you how to leverage the Weekly Preview, so you can more consistently engage in self-care and be at your best from day to day—and not just when you finally have the chance to go on vacation.

In this episode, you’ll discover—

Strategies for winding down at night and getting enough sleep
Why the people you connect with impact your energy
The value of giving yourself the freedom to play
5 tips for filling out the self-care section of the Weekly Preview

Resources:

Guided Weekly Preview
chiliPAD Moment app Cook Once, Eat All Week by Cassy Joy Garcia BreakHIIT

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Introducing our Free Guided Weekly Preview! Jun 10, 2021

Show notes

We're excited to share this excerpt of our Guided Weekly Preview with you. Hosted by Blake Stratton, this audio is designed to be played while you're filling out your weekly preview. Blake shares best practices, definitions, helpful tips, and personal stories to help you make the most out of this crucial Full Focus Planner tool.

If you like what you hear and want to get the whole 22-minute guided preview for free, then visit www.focusonthispodcast.com/preview.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#92: 5 Steps to Planning Your Dream Vacation Jun 07, 2021

Show notes

Have you ever returned to work after some time off and felt like you needed a vacation from your vacation? Maybe you were checking your phone and emails so often that you brought the office with you. Or you spent too much time doing and not enough time resting. Is there a way to go on vacation and return rejuvenated rather than just as tired as when you started?

In this episode, Courtney, Verbs, and Blake talk about how to set up your time away from work to get the rest you need. They share 5 steps for planning the fully unplugged vacation of your dreams, so you can leave with confidence and return refreshed and ready to jump back in.

In this episode, you’ll discover—

How casting a vision for what you want turns hopes into actual plans
A step-by-step plan for equipping your team to cover your bases
Why it’s necessary to define “emergencies” before you leave
The value of blocking off 2–3 days to tie up loose ends and get to inbox 0

Resources:

Vacation Optimizer

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#91: The Best of Both Worlds: Using Technology with a Paper-based Productivity System May 31, 2021

Show notes

You set yourself up with all the latest productivity tools to get ahead of your busy days. But now you find yourself monitoring too many systems and never knowing where you put that one piece of information. You feel frustrated—and maybe even a little guilty—that you’re not using your planner the right way. You need a system that keeps you focused and tracks all the complicated, changing information that’s part of your job.

In this episode, Courtney, Blake, and Verbs share how they each use technology in conjunction with their Full Focus Planners. They offer 3 tips for figuring out a personalized hybrid system that works for you, so you can streamline and integrate a productivity system that empowers your most important work.

In this episode, you’ll discover—

4 questions to consider while customizing your own system
Why you should limit the role of multi-function digital tools
The case for deleting work apps from your phone
When to use digital tools versus your planner for maximum productivity

Resources:

Things task manager app

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#90: Finding Your Agency on Pre-assigned Tasks May 24, 2021

Show notes

Week after week, you find yourself working on projects you dread. You don’t understand why they’re important. You’re not good at them. But if your boss is dictating your to-do list, it’s not as if you have a choice, right?

You have more agency than you think. In this episode, we’ll dive into four strategies you can practice to start doing more work you enjoy and less work you dread. When you do, your company will benefit—and your career will, too.

In this episode, you’ll discover—

An insightful tool for identifying the work you love
How to leverage your thinking to change your experience
An often overlooked reason you might not be enjoying your work
When—and how—to approach your boss
Giveaways that it’s time to look for work elsewhere

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#89: Solving the Riddle of Rolling Quarters Pages May 17, 2021

Show notes

You missed your friend’s birthday—again. You completely forgot about your annual physical and double-booked yourself. Your anniversary snuck up on you, and now you’re trying to make last-minute reservations. You hate feeling the guilt and panic of losing track of dates that matter.

What you need is a better look at the big picture. That’s why we designed Rolling Quarters. Rolling Quarters give you an annual view within your quarterly planner, so you can track important dates and commitments and see your year at a glance. In this FAQ episode, we’ll dig into a question from our Facebook community, sharing tips and tricks for how to get the most out of this planner tool.

In this episode, you’ll discover—

How to set up your Rolling Quarters page
Ideas for events and happenings to track
Courtney’s favorite part of her past job
One strategy for leveraging Rolling Quarters to track your goals
Another round of the Review Corner

For a full tutorial on how to set up your Rolling Quarters page, visit fullfocusplanner.com/start.

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#88: Three One-of-a-Kind Ways to Use That Weekly Preview Page May 10, 2021

Show notes

You’re getting better and better at using the Full Focus Planner to help you organize your life and achieve more. But every week when you start your weekly preview, you feel unsure how to use “that” page, the one with a blank box for each day of the week. What exactly is it for? How can you maximize it to accomplish your goals?

In this episode, Courtney, Verbs, and Blake zoom in on the page people ask about most often: the weekly overview page. They discuss 3 lenses to consider as you decide how best to tailor it to your needs. Because there is no “one size fits all,” but there are all kinds of ways to leverage this page as you prepare for the week and set yourself up for success.

In this episode, you’ll discover—

How to set mini-milestones toward your Weekly Big 3
4 ways to track the execution of your routines
The value of setting healthy expectations for the week ahead
How to get in sync with your spouse on a weekly basis

Resources:

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#87: Ask the Hosts: Answers to Your Biggest Questions on Goal Achievement May 03, 2021

Show notes

You have the Full Focus Planner and are already starting to see some progress toward your goals. But you keep running into situations you’re not sure how to handle. What do you do when you miss a goal? How do you stay on track when you’re in a season where life is out of balance? Where can you get advice on how to tackle all this?

In this episode, Courtney, Verbs, and Blake answer ten questions from the Focus on This community on how to practically maximize the Full Focus system. They’ll share tips they personally employ and show you how to make the system work for you so you can move forward with confidence to achieve your goals.

In this episode, you’ll discover—

5 steps for keeping your goals relevant quarter to quarter
How to reset in the middle of an off day
Which pages of the Full Focus Planner to zero in on to “go big”
Best practices to build awareness of life’s open loops for list sweeps
How to use the Full Focus system away from work on the weekend

Resources:

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

#86: Sleepless and Successless—Why Better Rest Leads to Better Work Apr 26, 2021

Show notes

You’re at work early every day, because your to-do list is a mile long. You’re trying your best to hustle, using all the productivity strategies and apps, but you’re exhausted, your focus is scattered, and your patience is wearing thin. What’s missing? What else can you do? In this episode, Courtney, Verbs, and Blake discuss one of the most important productivity tools most people don’t talk about: sleep. They reframe the negative narrative around sleep and show you three reasons getting why quality sleep is essential for high performers. In this episode, you’ll discover— Why sleep is an asset—not a liability—to your productivity The impact sleep quality and quantity has on performance How sleep refreshes your emotions and disrupts the cycle of stress Pro tips for shutting down at night and sleeping better Resources: Focus on This Episode 83: “The Life-Restoring Magic of Daily Rituals” iPhone Bedtime feature DOHM sound machines Sleepcasts by Headspace Win at Work and Succeed at Life by Michael Hyatt & Megan Hyatt Miller See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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