1 Simple Thing Podcast | Build A Better Business By Building A Better You!

Alexi Panos and Preston Smiles say all the theory in the world doesn’t mean anything if you are not willing to put it into play. If you are not prepared to step out of your comfort zone and step into that space of the unknown, you will never have the life of your dreams. You may get knocked down, but you always have to get back up and just be in the game. We are all a product of our patterns and habits, and you get in life what you give to life.

Alexi Panos and Preston Smiles talks about our need to be radically responsible for our lives, which is a bridge to getting unstuck. A lot of people feel like they are stuck or feeling stagnant in their lives, or they don’t know that the next step is. But the truth of it is THEY are the only reason why things aren’t moving forward. And it’s because they are not willing to take radical responsibility for every single thing in their life. You are the space for everything that shows up, and if you are attracting circumstances, people and things that are not to your liking, the only thing that gets to shift is you. And once you change how you show up everything changes.

Alexi Panos and Preston Smiles remind us that, no matter where you are, no matter how low, no matter how much pain you are experiencing, you always have a choice. As long as there’s breath in our bodies we always have a choice and that choice can be towards our empowerment or a choice towards our tombstone.

We’re counting down the top 10 episodes of 2016 on the 1 Simple Thing podcast. Today is number 1 on the list. Episode 482: Entrepreneurial Suppression: Why You Feel Like You Don’t Belong. We hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year! Alex Charfen says the world is uncomfortable because EPT’s make them nervous. Most people want things to stay the same. Societal systems (like public education) are set up to standardize behavior and suppress what’s unique, different or new. Recognizing this, entrepreneurs can reverse the cycle of Entrepreneurial Suppression to maximize their unique attributes and live in their strengths.

We’re counting down the top 10 episodes of 2016 on the 1 Simple Thing podcast. Today is number 2 on the list. Episode 459: Keep Your Eyes on the Prize. We hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year! Brian Fisher says fear and procrastination are two of the biggest enemies that will rob us of success. He says the one thing that cures fear is action. You have to be persistent and keep taking consistent action to achieve your success. Always remember that doors may open and doors may close, but there’s always something good that will come out of it when we are persistent and take action.

We’re counting down the top 10 episodes of 2016 on the 1 Simple Thing podcast. Today is number 3 on the list. Episode 371: Develop Jedi Focus. We hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year! Studies show that meditation makes you healthier, makes your relationships better, and makes you calmer and more focused. Sir John Hargrave teaches a concentration hack to strengthen that “top-down” attention to make ourselves better able to stay focused on the things we want, like our tasks at work. It also helps us resist those “bottom-up” interruptions like random thoughts and text messages that jump out at us constantly.

We’re counting down the top 10 episodes of 2016 on the 1 Simple Thing podcast. Today is number 4 on the list. Episode 547: Silencing Your Inner Saboteur. We hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year! Glenn Livingston says it's not that complicated, there’s you, and there's your inner saboteur. The moment you hear any voice in your head that justifies your unhealthy eating or excuses behavior that you don’t want in your life, you know that’s coming from your inner saboteur. The key is to draw solid lines in the sand and recognize the inner saboteur when it speaks. There all types of creative rules you can set up for yourself to maximize freedom and control and silence your inner saboteur.

We’re counting down the top 10 episodes of 2016 on the 1 Simple Thing podcast. Today is number 5 on the list. Episode 569: Love Now. We hope you enjoy it and Happy New Year! Kute Blackson reveals the real purpose and power behind everything we do…love. But how do we bring love and peace in the world if there’s no love and peace in ourselves? How do we bring love and community in the world if there’s no love in our hearts for ourselves? At the end of our lives, everything boils down to this: did you love fully or did you spend your life holding back?

We’re counting down the top 10 episodes of 2016 on the 1 Simple Thing podcast. Today is number 6 on the list. Episode 522: The Peace of Spirituality. We hope you enjoy it and Merry Christmas! Michael Weinberger talks about the second of what he calls “the big three” of our emotional health: spirituality. Spirituality is anything that occurs in the universe that you can’t possibly explain or under-stand. Some things happen around us, and we don’t know why or how they happen, but they happen for a reason. And spirituality is to let go of those things and trust God to take over the things over which I have no control.

We’re counting down the top 10 episodes of 2016 on the 1 Simple Thing podcast. Today is number 7 on the list. Episode 578: Being A Copycat Instead Of A Unicorn. We hope you enjoy it and Merry Christmas! Stephanie Melish talks about the difference between being a copycat and a unicorn when it comes to our business. The copycat will always be one step behind the original, and you are probably not going to win that way. But when you strive to be the unique version of yourself - the unicorn within you - you can begin to create something the world has never seen. You have a unique perspective, voice, and vision, and the world needs people who can share that vision instead of just copying someone else’s.

We’re counting down the top 10 episodes of 2016 on the 1 Simple Thing podcast. Today is number 8 on the list. Episode 418: The Secrets of a 10% Entrepreneur. We hope you enjoy it and Merry Christmas! On this episode, author Patrick McGinnis talks about how to become a 10% entrepreneur. You have a limited amount of time, and as a result, you have to find a way to do things in a very efficient way that makes the best use of your time and other resources. That’s why Patrick says you should play to your strengths. A valuable way to draw out what you should be doing is by spending time writing your professional biography, then match that bio to activities that excite you.

We’re counting down the top 10 episodes of 2016 on the 1 Simple Thing podcast. Today is number 9 on the list. Episode 356: Your Daily Checklist. We hope you enjoy it and Merry Christmas! Clay Clark says you need to have more rocks in your schedule (you’ll understand what a “rock” is as you listen to the show.) His point is to fill up our schedule with the things that mean the most, rather than to allow our time to be filled with small distractions that keep us from accomplishing our big goals.

We’re counting down the top 10 episodes of 2016 on the 1 Simple Thing podcast. Today’s is number 10 on the list. Episode 383: How to Connect Emotionally With Others. We hope you enjoy it and Merry Christmas! Author Jason Treu says you can build relationships much faster than you think if you connect with people emotionally. People have had tons of bad interactions, and typically those interactions have consisted of the same old boring questions. If you meet someone in a professional setting people always ask you, “What do you do?” and it’s boring. Instead, ask people about what they love and what they are emotionally connected to, because everyone is emotional. Lead with emotional questions because when you get down to what someone cares about, you get to know them a lot better than you normally would.

Amber De La Garza shares a framework she recommends in planning your day. It helps you capture everything and make sure you are fully prepared for your next day. When you have a plan, you are more capable of getting the results than if you just haphazardly start your day. Put the five Daily Planning Pavers into practice to help you start your day with a plan to get the most out of your time and focus.

Amber De La Garza talks about how a rapid fire power hour can get you back on track. While we are working on our highest value activities, we can become distracted by small tasks that tend to pop up randomly. She says the solution is the Rapid Fire Power Hour. It’s a time you schedule in your week to batch together all those little tasks that come up, so you don’t need to stop what you are doing and change your focus.

Amber De La Garza shares some smart strategies to reclaim your time. Life is full of distractions and other tasks that can take away our focus and attention from what matters most. So we want to make sure that we reclaim our time in three ways: Eliminate activates. Manage interruption. Minimize distractions. Amber says it’s not enough to be organized and productive if we’re not productive on the right things.

Amber De La Garza talks about the secret multiplier of the TIME = MONEY formula…which is your personal productivity. Time equals money when you spend it investing your time in your highest value activity which moves you closer to your goals, or vision of success. When you think about your time as money, you will invest it a little differently than you normally do. Invest your best time into your best activities.

Jeff Spadafora says most people fail to follow through because they try to do it (whatever it is) alone. We come up with plans and dreams, then find out implementing them is harder than we think, especially over the long haul. People have more fun talking about life purpose and joy than they actually want to do it. It’s hard. It takes intentionality, and many times you have to live outside of your comfort zone. The key is to get another person, a coach, in your life to help you stay accountable to push through the tough times.

Jeff Spadafora talks about giving ourselves permission to dream. Often, people get stuck once they start to dream because they may have a mindset that says, “If a revenue stream doesn’t materialize immediately the dream get’s shut down.” That’s a huge mistake and based in fear. Jeff says you can explore these dreams without quitting your day job. Instead, create the margin to explore your ideas and play them out, a little bit at a time. When you discover your calling, there is usually a way to attach a revenue stream to it. Don’t think you have to go from “quit your job” today to some fantasyland that has no income tomorrow. But, at the same time, don’t shut down dreaming if you can’t see how it will pay the bills by next week.

Jeff Spadafora says we’re just too busy with our work and life responsibilities, and many people do not really stop to think about the trajectory of their life. Socrates said, “The unexamined life is not a life worth living.” Just creating space to think clearly and strategically about your life like you would about your business is really important. Some people just need to make some tweaks in their life to get back into the flow of “joy.” But there are others who find out they need to make some more significant or radical adjustments. The reason why margin is so critical is not just so that you can think, dream, and strategize, but so you can then turn those ideas into action. And if we don’t intentionally make the time to proactively explore things, talk to different people, and get into different environments, we’ll never move on from where we are.