Here’s what we’ll cover
If you are an overthinker, a procrastinator, a perfectionist you’ll love hearing from today’s podcast guest Jo Bendle. Jo Bendle is telling us why all the productivity tools in the world won’t help if you haven’t got a few other things worked out first. So if you are the world’s best planner but not so great at taking action or you are great at scheduling, but not so great at sticking to it then you definitely need to hear what Jo Bendle has to say.
Jo has founded the Meant For More Movement, she is going places and she’s going to help you go places too.
If you are sick of turning up for a to-do list Jo has some great advice on how to flip it around so you are turning up with intention – not the to-do list.
Links and Resources
- Checkout the Simply Smarter Numbers website HERE
- Checkout the Podcast HERE
- Checkout the Instagram page HERE
- Checkout Jo’s Website HERE
- Checkout Jo’s Instagram HERE
Keep Listening!
Here’s the shownotes
Jen Waterson
If you are an overthinker, a procrastinator, a perfectionist you’ll love hearing from today’s podcast guest Jo Bendle. Jo Bendle is telling us why all the productivity tools in the world won’t help if you haven’t got a few other things worked out first. So if you are the world’s best planner but not so great at taking action or you are great at scheduling, but not so great at sticking to it then you definitely need to hear what Jo Bendle has to say.
Jo has founded the Meant For More Movement, she is going places and she’s going to help you go places too.
If you are sick of turning up for a to-do list Jo has some great advice on how to flip it around so you are turning up with intention – not the to-do list.
So welcome to the podcast, Jo Bendle.
Jo Bendle
Thank you, I’m very excited to see what we chat about today.
Jen Waterson
I know, It’s going to be a bit of fun, I’m looking forward to having this conversation. I’m going to admit I’ve been off the interview circuit for a little while and have been doing my own podcasting and you’re actually the first one in a long line of people, I’ve got some great guests lined up over the coming weeks, but it’s going to be so nice to just sit down and have a chat with another business woman.
So tell us about yourself, your business, your beautiful accent, where does it come from?
Jo Bendle
So I am from the UK but I have been in business for 9 years and I just have a lot of dreams for myself when I was in the UK around wanting more and looking around thinking is this it? Wondering why I wasn’t okay with the normal like everyone else and it just ended up being this whole journey of right I have a big dream, I want to work for myself, I want to travel the world, I want my business to be location independent and I set off on this big mission and now I live in Spain and spent 3 years travelling around the world with my laptop which is why now I have this beautiful international audience all around the world which is amazing.
What I do is I’m a coach and mentor for women in business, I am the founder of meant for more movement which is about what process did I put myself through to be able to achieve, because it’s a pretty massive dream and that’s what all the work is that I do with my clients, it’s all around the more we focus on productivity and mindset, because as women we’re really good at getting in our own way.
Jen Waterson
We are, it’s so true and that’s what we’re here to talk about today, the productivity side of things.
I actually think of myself as a queen of getting stuff done, it’s some sort of magical skill I seem to have but I still find myself getting caught up a little too often in the whole procrastination thing and I guess that’s where you can give us a hand today and a bit of an idea as to why we do that to ourselves.
I personally don’t leave things to the last minute but I know a lot of people do, but why do we do that?
Jo Bendle
Yeah I think you’re in the minority. This is the whole thing in my business, I was always a productivity coach for quite a few years and I was never really passionate about productivity tools but I am very passionate about productivity for a purpose. Why do I need to be able to get more done? Because I’ve got these big dreams and these big goals.
Productivity has always been the vehicle for me and every time I work with clients and full disclosure on my journey, is that productivity tools are just not the thing, I watched so many clients, we’ve all read all the productivity books and buy all the planners and there is still something that is not clicking and we are wondering why can’t I be more productivity.
Jen Waterson
Yeah it doesn’t seem to matter how much you know about it, you can know about the detail of it and read as many books as you want but it doesn’t always make the difference.
Jo Bendle
It’s not the tools and that’s what I learnt, so now when I talk to any of the work I do, we don’t sell productivity, that’s just one piece of it because it doesn’t matter how many tools you’ve got if you’re procrastinating or stuck in perfectionism or are someone whose not good at making decisions, or create a schedule for yourself and stick to it, all these things that are going on are happening for a reason and the tools won’t help you out with that.
So what I call it is playing small so what I say is I help women in business to stop playing small and claim that more that they know they’re meant for. Playing small will be different for all of us and you may not resonate with that but if you’re someone whose an overthinker or have loads of ideas, great at planning but not taking action, the surface problem is I don’t have enough time.
Actually, that is just our mind protecting us, what is actually going on is all the things that are going on, they’re happening for a reason basically if we just peel it all back, there’s fear involved or it’s a form of protection so that is important to put out there before we start talking about productivity tools because otherwise nothing changes and I think that’s the difference now. Whenever somebody says something about productivity I think my approach is very different because I have watched myself and friends be like I have tried to use the tools and I don’t do it.
Jen Waterson
You’re right, it’s the big fallback, that whole I don’t have enough time. How many times have we all said that ourselves, I’m guilty of it myself, we talk about it all the time. It comes up with myself and my husband even just about daily lives, I just don’t have time. Is it a case of I’m not making time or is it really that mindset?
Jo Bendle
The thing is it’s like you know when you walk around someone says how are you and you’re like I’m really busy, this isn’t a useful way of doing it. The main thing I want to talk about is when you get involved with things like productivity it’s really confronting so the first thing I say to my clients is this is confronting because what it’s asking you to do is get up close and personal with what’s really going on and what’s really going on is you don’t have time, and you have to say no to a lot of things to say yes to what really matters.
One example would be, we’re so busy and we’ve got all these things, but if you picked one thing and you went all in on it, what might happen? Then we freak out because it’s like what if I fail and people judge me or what if I succeed and I have less time and I’m a bad mum, and so we don’t pick one thing, we spread ourselves thin across all things and that’s just one example of how we are.
Jen Waterson
Yeah it’s almost like an excuse, it gives us the opportunity to have an excuse for why something didn’t work because we didn’t have time and didn’t make the time.
Jo Bendle
Yeah the thing is we have only got the same amount of time and it’s just this thing like we can’t do it all, we can do anything but we can’t do everything. The fear is around if we pick something, like how many of us have really just gone all in, I’d really like to invite everyone to just stop and take a couple of breaths and think am I really going all in on the business? And that would mean having to have different habits, say no to things that are uncomfortable, there’s so much more going on and all it is, is about self-awareness. If we can gain some awareness around oh this is a pattern I am doing to keep myself safe, then you start being able to go okay I’m resisting doing this thing that’s probably the thing that has the most fear around it because it means the most to you.
If we can start looking at all that, all that stuff doesn’t have quite so much power and we’re able to start using the tools to work for us.
Jen Waterson
So how do we identify that in ourselves? Is it the simple fact that we know or not whether we’re procrastinating, we know whether we’re suffering from perfectionism, we can hear ourselves saying I don’t have enough time, how do we really go about identifying the issue at hand? And then what would you suggest is the first step of getting some level of clarity around the problem and starting to step out of it?
Jo Bendle
Yeah I think one of the big things we can really do is get awareness, how do you need to do that? It’s going to look different for everyone but mainly if we think from a practical perspective, one of the main tools that has been life changing for me is having a weekly review with myself every Friday I sit down and step into CEO Jo and review what worked this week and what didn’t work. I set myself a goal did I show up for it? Why or why not? And really using that as this time to get the awareness and also celebrating, I showed up this week, and getting clear, getting more focus.
You want to start reviewing, like 5 minutes at the end of every day start celebrating what you did do instead of what you didn’t do, and also asking yourself, because if we stop we really do know but what happens if we don’t stop because we don’t want to know because it’s confronting because what’s happening is we’re not showing up for what we say we want. And that is really uncomfortable to look at so first thing is how can you find some time, address am I just showing up for a to do list or am I intentional about what I want to focus on and where I’m heading.
I’m just going to zoom out and tell you more about the meant for more framework because for me there are 3 really big things I just keep doing on repeat, it doesn’t matter how many my business up levels I keep going back to these three things, there will be one of them that will be quite weak. Not in any specific order, I’ll just say to start with, when we think about productivity it doesn’t work,, we can’t rely on motivation so I would say one of the biggest things that massively helped me achieve some big goals for myself is that I had a big vision. I had a vision to start with so when I first started the business I wanted to travel with it and so I showed up differently because I was very clear where I was heading, if you don’t know where you’re going there’s an Alice in Wonderland quote, if you don’t know where you’re going any road is going to get you nowhere.
It might just be, instead of being a big vision like I want to pay off my mortgage or travel more, it might just be this month my internal driver is… There’ll be something, so I really invite people to think about what hours do I actually want to work because most people who start a business want to work less but we end up working more, harder and earning less so be really honest, like actually I want to work three days a week, have this vision, your inner driver, every morning this is what I’m doing. Have a vision that lights a fire in you, it can be big or small, it depends what motivates you.
The next part of the framework is mindset so I say the other problem, we all know we’re the only thing stopping us from getting in our own way and the empowering part of that is we’re also the solution so I love this because I know, there’s nothing external that I need, I just have to manage thoughts and self-management. My thoughts will determine how I feel which will determine what action I take which will determine where I get too and so a big piece of the puzzle which I have to intentionally do every day is choose who I want to be today. What version of me shows up and makes me proud?
Jen Waterson
If you know that vision and have it clear in your mind, people around you also have bought into that vision, I call it the big picture plan and it’s such a big thing to be able to merry up what you do in your business on the day to day basis with your life and lifestyle and where you want to take it. If you can get the people that are around you or your team, if they also have a level of buy in on that vision or big picture plan, it makes it that much easier to stick at it.
Then that mindset I guess is all about, it’s one thing to have that plan but it’s another thing to keep it at the front of your mind but it’s not about the motivation is it?
Jo Bendle
No you can’t rely on that but you can rely on the feeling of that vision and this is what we don’t do and this is what I mean about it being confronting, is 5 minutes every day sitting with the version of you who has already achieved that vision and asking her and tapping into that energy and asking what would she do today, what would she do differently? It is game changing.
Jen Waterson
Are you literally having that conversation with yourself? When you say at the end of the week, you’re talking to yourself, is this a literal conversation where you’re sitting down with yourself and analysing the week that has been and saying what did work and what didn’t work and why didn’t it work, is it that type of thing?
Jo Bendle
Absolutely, it’s literally having this weekly date with yourself that you show up for, maybe light a candle, go to a coffee shop, make it a beautiful ritual. When I talk about that version of my future self, mine is called the real Jo and as soon as I say that real Jo I sit up taller, she has completely different energy, she thinks differently, she doesn’t get stuck in decision or stories about what’s happening and because she’s got this inner driver that she rely on, it’s her north star, and that might change. This is the thing as well, there’s something driving me at the moment and so yeah I absolutely will take the real Jo to that meeting every week, for me it would be journaling, I have 5 steps we go through and it might be the journal, also I manage my plans and to do list in Asana which is a great management tool. Then I would also log into Asana and think what do I want to be celebrating in 7 days’ time?
So whilst we do have an idea of where we’re trying to get the business too, on a weekly, monthly and daily basis, I will come back to what’s the next step, using the vision as the reason I show up and work, then being really practical for the week, so what is the goal for the next 7 days that will take me a step closer, make me proud and set future Jo up for success? I honestly spend so much of my time hi fiving past Jo because of what she did.
Jen Waterson
Yeah I guess that’s the thing, you can easily sit there and criticise yourself and think oh that didn’t work and I should’ve done this differently, but you’re right we also need to celebrate the things we did do well and the things you had a level of success with.
Jo Bendle
I think if you get to the end of the week, especially mums who have got businesses, in fact all women, we’ll get to the end of the week and all our minds will be focused on is what we didn’t do. Does that really set us up for success for the next week? No. Whereas if you stop and celebrate what you did achieve, I think that is what fuels momentum it’s such an underrated productivity tool, without this kind of context then it makes it a different game to show up for some structure or routine or a system.
Jen Waterson
Yeah I love how you say that we are a problem but also the solution. That’s really powerful I think if you can really start to appreciate the strength behind that particular sentence.
Jo Bendle
I think it’s so empowering, and this is why you need your inner drive and vision because if it’s the thing that lights you up, you’re going to be like okay who do I choose to be? And it isn’t about anything other than who do I need to be? One of my favourite quotes when I talk about productivity is people do not decide their futures, they decide their habits and these decide their future. It’s so true, our daily habits will determine what happens next or where we go and that’s the thing we need to look at , are you happy with the current habits you’ve got on a daily basis? Do your mornings start in a way that sets you up for success? Are you choosing to be that version of you who shows up for what’s important?
The other side around the productivity conversation is, I started by saying to you productivity for me, I’m not excited by the nerdy tools but I am excited by what getting productive brings up. So productivity helps us and most people I talk too is that, my biggest value when I started was freedom and of course I created a whole lot of time and freedom for myself but I didn’t have a lot of financial freedom because I wasn’t nailing this and that’s when I got really clear about my structure and routine. Freedom comes through discipline, the more structure I have, when I have time off its guilt free and I don’t need to think about how I should be working.
Jen Waterson
Yeah you get that weight off your shoulders, I should’ve done that and I need to get back a little earlier form my weekend away so I can reply to those couple of emails, all these insignificant things but when these start to weigh us down I guess it’s because we haven’t had that discipline in the week to get the important things done that can allow us to sit back and enjoy the freedom.
Jo Bendle
Yeah and the reason we’re doing this. What I’m most passionate about because it’s what I wanted to create, was a business that would support my lifestyle goals, not the other way around, so if I wanted to work 4 days a week my business needed to be able to support that, it didn’t need to be like one day that will be the goal, so again, all of these little mindset shifts that go are what will help you show up differently from the productive point of view.
And I do really want to acknowledge that where we are right now, I’m not the most productive person I know, that’s really important to share because it’s not just about that, there’s so many other things but even I have a system, so I have habits because they’re what really matters.
Monthly habits like monthly planning and reviewing, I have my daily habits and they are my productivity systems that support me and it literally holds me up maybe when we’re stepping up into a bigger game in the business and I start to get self-doubt, my productivity is literally what supports me. Even now, I am not as productive as what I was a year ago. We’re fatigued even if things are okay for us.
Jen Waterson
Yeah and it is interesting that you thought to bring that up now because we were saying before we are literally 12 months into when covid started to really hit major countries around the world and just this week the podcast that I released this week is something that was kind of on my mind as well, and I’ve kind of called it the business hangover and we’re kind of at that point where it feels like it’s a little bit of a hangover from the past 12 months, they’ve bought us down and changed what we were doing previously but not just in our businesses to make money but it’s changed our habits and our habits are perhaps never going to be the same.
Jo Bendle
Yeah because you think about people who had to do home schooling, everything changed, life as we knew it changed. There is a massive energetic thing going on. I live in Spain and I can walk to the city, I still can’t see my family and these things are having an impact on us so can we stop beating ourselves up for not being productive or as healthy or whatever it is for you and be kind, and think of one thing we can control and one thing we can do. I don’t know how practical you want to get with productivity tools but thinking about the habits and if it is about our habits because we don’t rely on motivation, we rely on habits, it’s things we just show up for because we attach them to why. When I think about my daily and weekly habits I have that date with myself which when I don’t do, the following week I don’t feel as calm or in control. It really is such a powerful thing, how would I not do it when I know the impact it has on my week.
Jen Waterson
That’s because you’ve created the habit around exactly that, having those meetings with yourself and you’ve created that habit and it’s almost like those people that go to the gym all the time and when they stop working out they get all ancy because they need to get out and do what they do it’s their habit.
Jo Bendle
You talking about the gym has reminded me of something like this philosophy of if you think about how you’re showing up at the moment and think about your biceps, if you work your left one that one is going to get stronger and if you work the right one, that one is going to get stronger. Think that and the left one is you building the armature version of you, the person who doesn’t have it, just has a long to do list and sits down at the desk for 8 hours and head down, we’re building the armature muscle. Or the pro muscle is the real version of you and that’s your future self, I want to build that muscle so she has consistency with showing up for her goals and the things that matter, she has muscle practice that she works on. You don’t need to be perfect and it doesn’t need to take a lot of time but if I’m constantly building that muscle, that’s showing up as the pro version of me which means I can move forward.
Jen Waterson
That’s a great way of thinking about it because building up that armature muscle you’re right, it’s like yes I need to respond to all my emails and take care of all of the to-do things, the to-do list could be endless, does it have a point? Because you don’t want to do a list that is completely because you’re building that armature you.
Jo Bendle
Yeah it’s so powerful. We have to focus on less, it’s very uncomfortable and confronting to say that this is the priority and the things that is most urgent because again we’re showing up for a version of ourselves that really means something and that’s incredible.
The other thing is we don’t need to have lots and lots of habits, if you have a few simple ones that really support you, for instance you have a weekly date with yourself, maybe in the morning you have a morning routine that lets you step into that next level version of you, that identity shift of who do I need to be, spend five minutes with her in the morning and see this is who I am today. It may be 5 minutes at the end of the day celebrating what you achieved today and then what are the things I’m going to do tomorrow so when I start work tomorrow I don’t think what do I do next. Start your day and end your day right and the bit in the middle will support itself if you’re having these little powerful habits.
Jen Waterson
They are short and sweet and I like the 3 most important things you want to get done for the day, it reminds me of years ago in the business we still own, we started years ago with our team, they would literally write down in a little notebook the three things they were intending to get done for the day. This was never a to do list, it was about choosing the top three things that they absolutely must do in their day and prioritise them and we would announce it to everybody in a short stand up meeting and if we got this going years ago and as far as I know today, the team still do it and it’s a habit now to write down those top three important actions they need to get done.
Jo Bendle
It’s so brilliant and powerful. I think part of the problem is our minds are so full, I would say the best thing that you could gift yourself right now if you’re struggling is to remove as many decisions as possible from your day and week which is again why the week in review is great because you’re clear what your goal is for the next 7 days. I’m also like this is my working block and this is the time when I’m going to be working on these things and then you’re removing decisions. Remove decisions because that is such a time saver.
Jen Waterson
Even just having those 3 important actions sitting there staring at you throughout the day, it’s no decision about checking emails or posting something, if you don’t need to be doing that stuff and they’re not your most important actions, there’s not thinking about it, you jump from priority one to two to three.
Jo Bendle
This is what’s brilliant about this is that some people won’t and then they look and think why am I avoiding this? And that is where you’re like hey you’re the problem and solution because you get to decide hey this should be a priority or I’m scared because this is going to make me more visible which will make me have less time for the kids, or it will be attached to a story so that is why my biggest thing is taking action because when we do we learn so much, we either just go out and do it or we learn it was the wrong thing or we have fear. We have to put ourselves into action because that will bring clarity or confidence or the next step.
So going back to the three MIAs, imagine if for one week you did your end of the day reviews and wrote your three MIAs and when you start work you do them, imagine if you did that for 7 days, the difference is simple but your job is to get the awareness of oh I’m still resisting doing them.
Jen Waterson
Is it a case Jo, of having that end of week review with yourself and having those 3 most important actions that you were going to do every day, looking back and saying okay I took action on some of those or took action on most of those, does it then give you an option to analyse the ones I didn’t take action on and then start looking at why?
Jo Bendle
Yeah and that’s exactly the most important thing, it doesn’t matter whether you achieve your goals or not because in the process of trying, you’re working towards them and you’re going to learn so much stuff about yourself and what matters to you and that is really how we create goals, it’s not about achieving. The most important thing is around the reviewing and it might be a big reality check, if you’re beating yourself up at the end of every week but actually when you stop and do your review you’re like I have got mini projects on my list, they’re not small actions, I don’t actually have enough time available for that so I’m not even setting myself up for success. That is going to be the reality for a lot of people.
Jen Waterson
I think it’s such great advice. So if you could sum it up.
Jo Bendle
I would say if something isn’t working, it’s usually a mindset issue, we’ve got to story attached to it so we have to stop and get the awareness. High performers self-monitor more than average performers. If you don’t know what’s going on and why you’re feeling stressed out or overwhelmed then you can’t change it. For me it’s having this gorgeous north star or vision that lights me up that is my inner motivator, knowing that mindset matters so who do I need to be what makes me proud when I’m showing up, then these habits, stopping and reviewing and making it bite sized. Make it easy for yourself, set your MIAs, do a morning routine that sets you up, end your day so it sets you up for tomorrow, do this weekly review and learn that is all because of self-awareness, action and getting awareness from it.
Jen Waterson
Love it. I am definitely going to start implementing this little self-review, I’m actually looking forward to planning what it’s going to look like, the conversation I’ll have with myself, where it’s going to happen, that’s really good advice and I think it’ll be a great place for a lot of people to start.
Jo Bendle
Just make it a really nice ritual, instead of this heavy thing of trying to find time to review, it will save you so much time the following week by taking this time out. But make it something that’s a joy to turn up for, I’m celebrating myself for the last 7 days and you’ll make it your own but there’s lots of different questions you can ask yourself but have three different things you’re going to go through to reflect on and make you celebrate.
Jen Waterson
Love it. Such great advice, so glad I’ve had you on the podcast, it’s been a great conversation, where can people find you?
Jo Bendle
I think the best place is on Instagram jo_bendle, or my website is jobendle.com and come and start a conversation with me because I love having these conversations, it’s brilliant for us to stop beating ourselves up and just be like this is normal and what can I do about it, you know.
Jen Waterson
Yeah it is. Such great conversations, I am looking forward to following where it is you go in the future with your business because I feel as though there’s a lot more coming your way.
Jo Bendle
Yes I really feel it too, this whole meant for more movement is starting to gain attraction and people are like yes I feel that.
Jen Waterson
Something you said right at the very start that resonated with me is, is this it? When you’re sitting in a position in your business or life and at some point it’s really worth while sitting back and saying is this it? It’s the question mark, not in a negative way, but maybe there’s something more perhaps. Maybe that’s a great place to start.
Jo Bendle
Yeah in a really positive way, how do I feel, and are you surrounding yourself with the people who are having conversations that pull you forwards.
Jen Waterson
Yeah beautiful. Well thanks so much for coming on the podcast Jo, I will have all your details in the show notes for anybody who wants to follow up and start one o those conversations with Jo. Where ever you are in the world, thanks so much for tuning in and thanks for coming on the podcast Jo.
