The Smart Twenties Podcast

Note: This episode is the audio version of my new video series How To Plan Properly As A Perfectionist. Watch the video series HERE. When perfectionists follow the same planning advice as everyone else, we get in our way. That’s why the first step in the PGSD Process is making the Three Month Commitment to practice Power Planning. Power Planning covers everything perfectionists must do to plan properly. It’s a simple 3 step process that anyone can learn, and I walk you through it in detail in today’s episode. Listening in will help you follow through with your plans (even when the unexpected happens), get your most important tasks done consistently and effectively, and finish each day feeling accomplished and organized. All while being kind to yourself in a way that makes you more productive, not less. If you’re a chronic procrastinator, you never finish what you start and you NEVER follow through with your plans, this is for you. In This Episode You’ll Learn: The difference between procrasti-planning and pl

I hadn’t thought to do an episode on how I built my podcast until my friend Alexander James (who I interviewed in Episode 340) started asking for the details. So I thought that I’d record an episode on how I built my podcast to 2 million downloads without following industry best practices. This episode is about podcasting AND it’s about how you can be successful even when you’re not doing things the same way as everyone else in your industry - no matter what you’re working on. If you feel called to do things your way, this one’s for you. In This Episode You’ll Learn: The thoughts I have about my podcast that make it easy for me to be consistent Why I didn’t follow the advice given by experts on how to build a successful podcast How I figured out what I wanted my podcast to be like Why it’s easy for me not to compare my podcast with other people’s The practical things I do so that I felt safe publishing ‘imperfect’ episodes PGSD is opening to new students on 27 July 2022: The PGSD Process will have you plann

In this episode I’m interviewing my friend and fellow coach Alexander James. I met Alexander through Stacey Boehman’s 200K Mastermind and knew that I needed to share his energy and his wisdom on this podcast. Alexander is a life coach that works with the deep subconscious and I know you’re going to get a lot from what Alexander shares in this episode. We talk about how to create emotional safety and develop self-trust - as well as all of the practical ways to do that. Everything we talk about in this episode is going to help you get into a growth mindset and out of your own way, especially if you’ve been struggling to show up in your business as your most authentic self. If you enjoy this episode, I encourage you to follow Alexander on Instagram @thesubconsciousbrand (his stories are insanely valuable) and listen to his podcast The Subconscious Coaching Podcast. In This Episode You’ll Learn: Why creating emotional safety is so important for perfectionists How to feel safe showing up on social media as the ‘r

In this episode I want to talk to you about planned profit loss and how to feel safe when money ISN’T flowing in. When it comes to the entrepreneurial world, we see so many examples of people who are doubling, tripling and quadrupling their revenue year after year - and this creates the expectation that many should always be flowing in. And that certainly hasn’t been the reality for me! So in the episode I want to share a breakdown of my revenue growth over the years so that you can see what it looks like for the other 98% of entrepreneurs who aren’t quantum leaping. And why that’s normal and also completely safe. Tune in as I share a breakdown of my business figures from 2018 to now - as well as why I had a period of planned profit loss in 2021 - so that you can feel emotionally safe when money isn’t flowing in, rather than freaking the hell out. In This Episode You’ll Learn: A breakdown of my business revenue and expenses from 2018 to now How to tell when planned profit loss is self-sabotage versus when it

Every day during the most recent PGSD launch, I recorded a little snippet for the podcast. This episode is a compilation of those snippets, with me checking the launch sign up numbers ‘live’, sharing my raw reactions as well as what we did when the sign up numbers were NOT where we expected them to be.  I also share how I kept myself out of shame and panic AND a full launch debrief with my biggest lessons too. In case you missed the first episode in this three part series (Episode 336), throughout March, April and May I documented the work I had to do on my perfectionism handbrake to become someone who gets all of their launch content created way ahead of time, without overthinking or overworking. Despite the work I’ve done on this over the years I was still leaving some of my launch content until the last minute. I don’t want to be someone who hits their goals from a place of pressure anymore, even if this approach has worked incredibly well for me in the past. If you have a tendency to put off anything sell

This episode is the second part in a three part series on how to get your work done early and easily. In this episode I share how I navigated the weeks AFTER all the content for the most recent PGSD launch was complete (but before the launch began). Getting comfortable with this ‘limbo’ period was an important part of becoming someone who gets shit done early. And I share all the behind the scenes of that in today’s episode. In case you missed the first episode in the series (Episode 336), throughout March, April and May I documented the work I had to do on my perfectionism handbrake to become someone who gets all of their launch content created way ahead of time, without overthinking or overworking. Despite the work I’ve done on this over the years I was still leaving some of my launch content until the last minute. And I didn’t want to do that anymore!  Now that I’m a mother, clean rest is more important to me than ever before as is being an example of what it looks like to be in a growth mindset. I don’t w

If you hate that you’re always leaving important tasks until the last minute, I want to invite you to listen to today’s podcast episode.  It’s the first in a three part series where I share all of the behind the scenes perfectionism work I needed to do during the most recent PGSD launch to get all the content created early (and easily). Creating the most recent PGSD launch was a profound experience for me. I had to learn, and unlearn, a lot about myself. It was an exercise in releasing my perfectionism handbrake - in a BIG way.  And I know that the lessons I learned from this experience are going to make a big difference for you and your business, regardless of whether you’re a coach or not. Tune into the first episode today. The other two episodes will be released over the next two Mondays. PGSD is opening to new students on 27 July 2022: The PGSD Process will have you planning properly as a perfectionist and getting out of your own way in your business. The doors to Perfectionists Getting Shit Done will be

When it comes to finding our work rhythms, perfectionist business owners tend to look at the rules and how other people are doing things. We sometimes ignore our own intuition and wisdom - an important part of discovering what works best for us. To illustrate how this process could look like, I’m chatting about what my work rhythm is evolving into as I learn more about myself from using Power Planning, the tools inside PGSD, and Human Design. If you’ve been in a work rhythm that hasn’t been working as best as it could for you, this episode is for you! In This Episode You’ll Learn: How Power Planning works with other modalities like Human Design Why I felt like I needed to review and reflect on my work rhythm Why I’m creating seasons in my business and what this looks like practically PGSD is opening to new students on 27 July 2022: The PGSD Process will get you out of your own way in your business and have you making more money more easily. The doors to Perfectionists Getting Shit Done will be opening at 6a

Have you ever felt like your self-coaching sessions aren’t a productive use of your time? Or that you don’t know what to submit for coaching on inside PGSD - even though you know there’s plenty of work to do on your perfectionism handbrake? This episode will help!  In this episode, I’m sharing what a quarterly self-coaching curriculum is, why you need one and the 5 steps to creating one. In This Episode You’ll Learn: What self-coaching is and how it will help you release your perfectionism handbrake How I realised I needed to create a self-coaching curriculum The benefits of creating a self-coaching curriculum using your quarterly review How your Growth Goal and Power Planning relates to your self-coaching curriculum PGSD is opening to new students on 27 July 2022: The PGSD Process will get you out of your own way in your business and have you making more money more easily. The doors to Perfectionists Getting Shit Done will be opening at 6am New York time on 27 July and closing at 11:59pm New York time on 2

Erin, Naomi and Estelle signed up for PGSD in January 2022. They knew that they needed to get out of their own way in their businesses. And they knew that planning properly as a perfectionist was the first step… Erin is a copywriter who was spending an embarrassing amount (those are her words!) on courses, coaches and marketing advice only to self-sabotage when it came time to pitch herself.  Naomi is a website designer and developer who was creating vague goals and plans (and endless to-do lists) to take her business full-time. Estelle is a fashion designer whose perfectionism handbrake was stopping her from following her launch plan and telling people about her designs. They all made the Three Month Commitment to Power Planning, set their Growth Goals and started planning properly. And what happened next was a little different for each of them… So I invited them on the podcast to talk about what to expect in your first 6 weeks of Power Planning. This episode is going to normalise what often happens when you

Our most successful PGSDers *know* what they need to do to build their business to $100,000 - they just can’t get themselves to do it. This was the case for PGSDer Natalie Koons. In August 2021, she invested $6,000 in a business coach to teach her how to launch her course on sock knitting (Natalie is a knitter and crocheter). She figured that if could just find someone to tell her how to launch an online course - and she invested a large enough amount of money into learning how to do it - she’d be able to find the motivation to get it done. But even though Natalie knew WHAT she needed to do to launch her course, she didn’t know HOW to get herself to do it. She was busy creating consistent content for her YouTube channel, replying to comments and working on other creative projects. And her launch tasks kept getting moved from one to-do list to the next… The launch wasn’t happening so Natalie decided to put the business coaching on pause. She didn’t know what was wrong and why she couldn’t get herself to implem

Until you start thinking of yourself as a non-procrastinator, you’ll always be left wondering how long your latest burst of productivity will last. That’s why I’m sharing the 3 simple steps to becoming a non-procrastinator in the 5th and final part of my procrastination series. You don’t have to wait to stop procrastinating before you start thinking of yourself as a non-procrastinator. In fact, you won’t stop procrastinating UNTIL you start thinking of yourself that way. In the episode I share why this is the case and exactly what to do. In This Episode You’ll Learn: Why you need to plan properly as a perfectionist to become a non-procrastinator The reason you should aim for 80% follow through (for needle movers and clean rest) Why resting without guilt is part of becoming a non-procrastinator How PGSD will get you out of your own way and the sign up details PGSD is opening to new students on 27 April 2022: The PGSD Process will get you out of your own way in your business and have you making more money mor

The more clean rest you get, the less you will procrasti-work. And the less you procrasti-work, the more money you will make in your business. You’ll learn exactly why this is true - and what to do if you feel resistant to clean rest - in this episode. This episode is for you if you work longer hours or weekends to make up for what you didn’t complete during the week, you love the feeling of checking items off your to-do list but never feel ‘done’, a refund request or a negative review feels like a personal attack or you can’t remember the last time you took a full day off your business. In This Episode You’ll Learn: Where clean rest fits in with Power Planning and when to put it in your calendar Why less clean rest means more procrasti-working What you must remember about clean rest when you’re first getting started PGSD is opening to new students on 27 April 2022: The PGSD Process will get you out of your own way in your business and have you making more money more easily. The doors to Perfectionists Gett

When you’re planning properly as a perfectionist, it’s easy to spot procrasti-working. But what do you do once you catch yourself doing it? That’s what I’m sharing in this episode - the third part in my procrastination series here on the podcast. In this episode you’ll learn a simple tool our PGSDers use to pull themselves out of procrasti-working. It’s called the Procrastination Pick Me Up. By the end of the episode, you’ll know exactly how and when to use it. And you can start using it right away to make more money in your business more easily. I also share two incredibly recent examples of when I caught myself procrasti-working and what I did about it - as well as an example one of our PGSDers shared in the PGSD Forum. Just in case you were thinking that you’re the only one who procrasti-works! Tune in today. In This Episode You’ll Learn: The difference between working on needle movers and procrasti-working Why catching yourself procrasti-working is a win (even if you don’t stop doing it) How Power Planni

You don’t need to completely stop procrastinating in order to hit your money goals and enjoy the process of doing it. In the second episode in my procrastination series I share 7 reasons why zero procrastination is not the goal… Procrastination is not a problem. And it’s safe to let procrastination be ok (the less shame you have about procrastinating, the less desire you’ll have to procrastinate). Tune into this episode to learn why. In This Episode You’ll Learn: How aiming for zero procrastination puts perfectionists in the all-or-nothing mindset Why you don’t have to completely stop procrastinating in order to hit your goals How NOT aiming for zero procrastination is part of becoming a non-procrastinator PGSD is opening to new students on 27 April 2022: The PGSD Process will get you out of your own way in your business and have you making more money more easily. The doors to Perfectionists Getting Shit Done will be opening at 6am New York time on 27 April and closing at 11:59pm New York time on 3 May 2022

Procrasti-working is when we work on our business as a form of procrastination. And if you do it, you’re not alone. Perfectionist entrepreneurs don’t procrastinate in the same ways as everyone else. Instead of avoiding work, we procrasti-work. This can look like scrambling to get all of your content created each week, moving sales tasks from one to-do list to the next or eating lunch at your desk while procrasti-learning something about marketing. This episode will teach you about the 3 types of procrasti-working. By the end of the episode, you’ll know how to spot procrasti-working and my proven process for cutting it in half. Plus you’ll learn why procrasti-working is a normal part of building a successful business (I still do it) and why zero procrastination is not the goal.  In this episode I dissect procrastination advice from some of the top ranked articles on google and explain why this advice doesn’t work for perfectionists. The episode is worth listening to for this alone. All you need to do is hit pl

In this episode I’m talking to one of our PGSDers, Jenna, all about the power of your Persistence Log. As part of planning properly as perfectionists we do a Weekly Review at the end of each week of Power Planning. And your Persistence Log in the PGSD Forum is the perfect place to share that - and I’ll let Jenna tell you why! In This Episode You’ll Learn: What you miss out on if you keep your weekly review to yourself How your Persistence Log can become an anchor amidst the chaos of life What to do if you feel resistant to submitting your weekly Persistence Log update How Jenna gets back on track when she misses a week posting her Persistence Log The biggest lessons Jenna has learned from one year of Persistence Log updates PGSD is opening to new students on 27 April 2022: The PGSD Process will get you out of your own way in your business and have you making more money more easily. The doors to Perfectionists Getting Shit Done will be opening at 6am New York time on 27 April and closing at 11:59pm New York

In today’s episode, I share a chatty Growth Goal update for Quarter 1 of 2022. It’s the third year I’m working towards a monetary goal and it feels so different this year. That’s not because of the results I’ve already created, but because the way I’m thinking about it has created these results. Listen in as I chat about that shift and my personal growth in the first three months of 2022.  In This Episode You’ll Learn: What my goal is for 2022 and how I’ve broken my quarterly milestones down How I stopped putting pressure on myself to achieve my goals How to be committed to your goals even though you don’t feel rushed What my business model looks like and why I simplified it PGSD is opening to new students on 27 April 2022: The PGSD Process will get you out of your own way in your business and have you making more money more easily. The doors to Perfectionists Getting Shit Done will be opening at 6am New York time on 27 April and closing at 11:59pm New York time on 3 May 2022. To find out more about the pro

The process for getting out of your own way in your business is simple: plan properly as a perfectionist, follow through with your plans 80% of the time, rest without guilt and repeat. In this episode, I’m answering some of the most common questions that come up for perfectionist entrepreneurs when they start following this process. It’s all about how to stay focused and get your needle movers done without burning out. In This Episode You’ll Learn: How to stay focused on what matters most How to overcome resistance to following through with your plans When productivity is an act of self-care and when it isn’t Going with the flow vs structuring your day - how to find the balance that works for you How to feel fulfilled in your business on a daily basis PGSD is opening to new students on 27 April 2022: The PGSD Process will get you out of your own way in your business and have you making more money more easily. The doors to Perfectionists Getting Shit Done will be opening at 6am New York time on 27 April and

Is there a part of your business that you keep saying you’re going to work on, but you secretly know you won’t? It could be adding new client testimonials to your website, finalising and posting your updated pricing or creating your marketing funnel to reach your perfect client. You know how to do these tasks (maybe you’ve even done them for others in the past) - and yet a part of you is resistant to doing them for yourself. When you sit down to do them, you just don’t feel like it. They feel too hard to complete. It’s easier to avoid them altogether and tackle something else. Why is it so hard to take action on some business tasks, when you easily complete the same tasks for others? Why do you keep putting off content creation, even though you know what you need to do and you’ve done it before. In today’s episode, we share a snippet of a PGSD coaching call addressing this struggle and more. Heather (@thewriterremedy on Instagram) submitted to get coached because she wasn’t sure when it was a good time to cha