249 Why You Need a Self-Centered Planning System

In today's episode, we're diving into a game-changing approach to planning that integrates all aspects of your life, ensuring you don’t just focus on one area while neglecting the rest. I recently had an enlightening conversation with someone who was looking for a business-centered planning system, but what she really needed was a self-centered planning system – one that balances business, personal goals, family, and hobbies. We'll explore how this holistic approach can prevent overwhelm and ensure you’re not just productive in one area of life at the expense of others.

In this episode, I cover:

• The limitations of single-focused planning approaches (business-centered, goal-centered, etc.)
• Importance of considering all aspects of life to prevent overwhelm and achieve balance
• Real-life example of integrating business, family, hobbies, and personal goals in planning

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FULL TRANSCRIPT:

Megan: 1:09
In today's episode, I'm going to be sharing with you one of the massive differentiators with my approach to planning, and I really want you to listen up, because if you have a lot of things going on in your life, I want you to really take heart and listen here today to make sure that you have a planning system that is actually self-centered. Welcome to the Work-Life Harmony podcast. Guess what? You don't have to feel constantly overwhelmed, exhausted and stressed out. There is another way. When you have the right systems and tools to plan and manage your time, you can live a life of harmony. If you're ready to stop feeling overwhelmed, this is the show for you. Hey there, welcome back to Work-Life Harmony.

Megan: 1:56
I recently had a conversation with someone that I found very eye-opening and really brought a lot of awareness to me on just how important one of the key differentiators is in terms of how I teach planning and my approach to this, and it all started when someone reached out they were interested in joining the top program and their question was to me. They said hey, megan, I'm curious, what type of planning system is the top program? So I was like, hmm, not quite sure how to answer that. Let me get some more information. So I said well, what exactly are you asking? And so she said well, I'm curious, is this a business-centered planning system, like one that we use to plan everything for our business, or is it a goal-centered planning system, or is this a family-centered planning system? So she was asking where does you know? Where does the top program fit? So I responded I said you know, in a word, all it does all of it. And she's like well, I'm not quite sure I'm following you here. So she said you know, surely one of these takes center focus, like which one? Which planning comes first? And so I said well, if I had to pick a you know a thing to say it is centered around, I would call the top program a self-centered planning system. And so, you know, we kind of had a couple back and forth.

Megan: 3:31
So she's like oh, I'm, what I'm really looking for, looking for in my life, is a system to really help me plan my business. She said I'm looking for a business centered planning system. She's like I really need help, you know, mapping out how I'm going to achieve my goals with the business, what that's going to look like, etc. So I said, well, hang on, before you discredit the top program here. Let me ask you something I said Do you only spend time on your business, meaning you have a life where it is full time, it's just you and your business and you don't have any other roles or any other things that are really consuming your time? She's like, well, no, I've actually got a lot going on. I said then you 100% need the top program. So I kind of want to walk you through what I mean by all of this, because it is such an important differentiator.

Megan: 4:25
And the fact is, the vast majority of quote systems or planning approaches or even workshops or events where people are like, oh, we're gonna, you know, map out your next six months or your next 12 months, they tend to be centered on one part of your life, meaning you're going to go in somewhere and map out everything for your business or you're going to go to. You know, a lot of people hold events towards the end of the year where they do goal setting and goal planning, or it might be some programs or tools for people that are juggling a lot at home, with a lot of family members saying, okay, we got to get all of that organized, all the moving parts for our family. And if you're doing those kind of in a silo where you're just planning one part of your life out without integrating all the rest of it, that is a recipe for disaster. So this gal that I was chatting with about the top program, you know, when she's like, well, no, I have a lot going on, I said great, tell me a little bit, you know, tell me a little bit about this. I said what roles outside of you, outside of your business, do you have? And she's like oh well, I've got two young kids, so I spend my time between managing that I'm a mom of two and wife and the business. I said, ok, well, what about activities, hobbies, things like that? What else do you spend time on? And then she shared oh gee, I just happened to be a marathon runner, so, having dabbled in that a long time ago, I know how much of a time commitment that is and how you have to map out training schedules for those types of races, along with the fact that she loves photography. I said well, what else is important to you, where else do you spend your time? So she shared extended family and she does a lot of volunteer work in her kid's school, in church.

Megan: 6:13
So I asked her. I said, well, if you are looking for a way to just plan out what you want to build with your business and all the projects that need to go on there and events that you wanna hold and all of that, and you're not bringing in the realities of when you're running your marathons, knowing that there are weekends where you're doing really long training runs, not to mention your kid's school calendar and the holidays and everything else, I said, does that sound like a safe approach to thinking about your business if all you're doing is mapping out all your goals for your business without looking at the realities of your calendar with everything else? And that was kind of when it hit her, I said, yeah, you need a planning system that integrates all aspects of your life. That integrates all aspects of your life, right? So, thinking back to her business, perhaps if she were to just go in a vacuum, put out this amazing plan for this business and I know one of the things she wanted to do was to launch her own podcast. Along with she was building out some training programs. So I said, well, you need to know the realities of making sure that you're not planning to, you know, perhaps launch a podcast on a month where you're really race heavy or, you know, you kind of maybe want to avoid that in the doom and gloom that is sometimes May-Sember, when we have lots going on in that last month of school with our kids and she's like, okay, I see what you're saying. So this is why the top program needs it has a focus of being a self-centered planning, meaning it's looking at all parts of you and your life, all parts of yourself and your life, all parts of yourself.

Megan: 8:16
Because if you are creating plans with just one part of your life, you are going to be overbooked, overcommitted, overscheduled and therefore overwhelmed. And I saw this firsthand recently I was working. I held a VIP day for someone that was wanting to build out the whole planning system and her work was 100% consuming a vast majority of her life, and she had a great system in place for staying on top of everything going on with her job, which was a lot, and then all the rest of her life. It was just kind of assumed that would fit in around the edges right Evenings, weekends or whatever. Well, guess what was happening? All of those goals, dreams, desires, things that she wanted to spend time on weren't happening because they weren't being built into the comprehensive planning of all the places in her life that either required time or she desired to spend time on.

Megan: 9:17
So when we only do planning with one role of our life without looking at all of it again, as I mentioned, this leads to overwhelm, but it also means that you're going to end up multitasking all the time, trying to squeeze things in, and you're going to shortchange yourself, because when we are feeling behind on all the things that we need to or want to get done, what's the first thing we let go of? We let go of the things that we love, right, the hobbies, the interests and I asked this gal that I was talking to. I said you mentioned, you know that you really love photography. I said when? When was the last time you got to really spend time on that? She kind of chuckled. She's like yeah, I probably should stop even saying it because I never have time for it.

Megan: 10:04
I said this is what I'm talking about. So this is why I said this is what I'm talking about. So this is why I said you need the top program, because it's going to help you plan your business, but do it in a realistic way and you're going to be looking at the realities of all parts of your life, your entire self, so that you're not pouring 95% of your energy into one thing right, and then letting go of all the things that really are important to you, that maybe you just feel like you don't have time for. So here's just my word of caution to you the next time somebody or you know a program, a book or whatever is saying to you hey, I've got this great event, or I've got the system that's going to 100% help you plan out and manage either your business, or, oh, I've got this amazing goal setting system for you, where you're going to be able to set your goals, you're going to be able to set milestones, I'm going to teach you how to track them, et cetera. But they're not merging and integrating all the parts and the realities of your life together. Well, you might build a beautiful plan, but the chances of you being able to execute on it are very, very slim because it's not bringing in your full self.

Megan: 11:31
So this is why I am always very proud to say that the top program is a self-centered planning system, because it integrates all the parts of yourself. So, like for me, that includes me running my business, me being a mom, me being a wife. Like for me, that includes me running my business, me being a mom, me being a wife, the hobbies that I love to do, my extended family that I love to spend time with, vacation, travel, et cetera. Now, if you want to see some of this in action, if you want to see how we build the systems and the infrastructure that allow us to integrate our planning in all parts of our life, I have great news, because at the time that this podcast is airing here, I'm about to hold my kind of epic top bootcamp. I have not done this in two years I'm not sure when I'll do it again and this is your chance to get kind of a little bit of a sneak peek inside of exactly how this self-centered planning system works. So if you want to join this next bootcamp, head on over to thetopbootcamp.com, get signed up right away, because once we kick it off, I will not allow any signups starting once we do it Now. If you're not able to join live for the bootcamp, don't worry, we have all the replays. You'll get access to all of those. I've got the entire workbook for you and you're actually going to see this planning system in action.

Megan: 13:03
So self-centered doesn't have to be a negative word, right? I love kind of shocking people when I say, yeah, I have a totally self-centered planning system, because what I mean is we're looking at our complete self and all the places that we spend time, all the things that we both have to do and want to do. So I hope to see you inside the Top Bootcamp. Getting on top of all things time management, organization and productivity doesn't have to stop just because this episode is over.

Megan: 13:38
If you are feeling overwhelmed, your calendar's out of control or you're just running in a race that will never end in terms of your to-do list, I have great news for you. I have an app in both the App Store and Google Play called the Pink Bee, and it is chock full of small but incredibly powerful trainings to help you get out of overwhelm. It includes my signature Ditch the Overwhelm training and introduction to my time management framework, built specifically for women. In addition, you get access to my epic one notebook challenge and some tips and tricks on how to get your phone organized to minimize distractions. All of that is available for you right inside the Pink Bee app, so open up either your app store or Google Play, do a search on the word the Pink Bee all one word and download the app to get started today.