WEBVTT
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So I actually had it printed on a coffee mug and it's busy is not a badge of honor.
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Busy is not a badge of honor.
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Busy is not a badge of honor.
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Just gonna say it three times right there because I realized that in conversations that anytime you asked someone how they were doing, they would say, Oh, so busy, but it's good busy, over and over again.
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Oh my gosh, so busy.
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It was almost this humble brag.
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It was complaining, but it was also disguised as bragging.
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Like, oh, I'm so busy.
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I have all these things to do.
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And I just remember thinking, it does not make me impressed that you are so incredibly busy.
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It makes me question your ability to prioritize and hold your boundaries.
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And that's because I was that person who was.
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Oh, I'm so busy.
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I have all of these things to do.
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Welcome to Purpose-Driven Success with Mo Salami, where real journeys, mindset shifts, and strategic insights meet purpose-driven success.
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I'm your host, Mo Salami.
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Every week we dive into real conversations with high-achieving founders and leaders, uncovering the mindsets, strategies, and takeaways that help you define and achieve success on your own terms.
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Welcome to another episode of Purpose Driven Success.
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I'm your host, Mo Salami, and we have a firecracker of an episode today.
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The reason being, I don't know what it means to be a firecracker at heart, so we're gonna find that out.
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So we have a firecracker of an episode.
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We have an amazing guest who's really great at what she does, as you will find out, and is an amazing keynote speaker, as I found out and as I've seen as well.
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Anna Dierman Cornik is a top 1% globally ranked podcast host.
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She's a keynote speaker and a time management coach, helping high achievers move from overwhelm to intentional living.
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Anna is the founder of the It's About Time Academy and creator of the Heart Method, a personality-driven framework for aligning time with what matters the most.
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With over a decade in political and crisis communications, managing high pressure, always on environments.
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Anna brings real world experience in creating calm from chaos.
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Anna is a Louisiana USA firecracker at heart.
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She helps professionals reclaim their clarity, focus, and control over their time and priorities.
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Anna Dierman-Cornik, welcome to Purpose Driven Success.
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Hi, Mo.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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I'm absolutely delighted to be here.
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Awesome, awesome, awesome.
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Anna, so forgive me for not knowing this.
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What is a firecracker?
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And more importantly, what is a Louisiana firecracker?
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Let's get niche in here.
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Let's get specific.
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I love it.
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Okay.
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So when I hear firecracker, I think a firework, you know, like that shoots off at New Year's and it flies fast and it burns bright.
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And sometimes it's a little bit loud and it can be colorful.
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And a lot of times when people think about time management, they want to just take a nap because the the most of the time the thought of talking about time management is just such a bore.
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But I love to bring a lot of energy and excitement and maybe sometimes a little bit of volume to the topic because we want to keep everybody awake when we're talking about time management.
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This is not going to be boring.
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And I'm originally from Louisiana, which is one of the most unique states in the US.
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Our culture is unlike any other.
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We're known for our food, our music, and our people.
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And if you've never had a chance to come visit us, come down, come to New Orleans, let me know when you're coming, and I'll give you a list of all the restaurants to visit.
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So let's do one of each.
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You mention food, culture, and the people.
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What stands out for a Louisianan in terms of one for food, one for culture, one for people?
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Okay.
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So when it comes to food, I have to tell you about boiled crawfish.
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So boiled crawfish, essentially, if you're not familiar, they're they're like tiny lobsters.
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So imagine a tiny lobster that would just kind of fit maybe in the palm of your hand.
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And we boil up pounds of boiled crawfish uh in this like spice mix.
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And it's this huge, almost, almost like celebration, just this cultural event for someone to have a crawfish boil in their backyard or at an event.
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And the whole process of boiling, everyone has their own take on how to do the perfect boil.
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So first there's that, but then the second is that you don't just eat boiled crawfish with a knife and a fork.
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There's a whole peeling process involved.
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And so we're talking folding tables covered with newspapers.
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Here comes a fresh batch dumped out onto the table.
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And then you start to peel.
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So you're pulling off the tail and you're taking out the meat and you're dipping it in whatever magical dip that your grandmother taught you how to make.
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And it's just, it's just the full experience of spice and activity and fun and fellowship.
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So that's what I've got to tell you about for crawfish, uh, for food.
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Then when it comes to I guess, I guess, people, you know, New Orleans is not the entire state of Louisiana, but New Orleans itself has a reputation for being the city that care for God.
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It's it's just got this slower way of living where people just enjoy life, the good with the bad.
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There's music playing, and anytime you walk out of your house, you can hear music from somewhere.
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And it's just a a really magical people.
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And then, like I said, culture, music is everywhere.
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I mean, it's just it's it's really fun.
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Come on down.
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Wow, wow, wow.
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I've never been to New Orleans, but the reason I love New Orleans is because, and correct me if I'm wrong, you have the Catier Francais, the French Quarter.
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Yes, yes, the French Quarter, yes.
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There you go.
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Oh, awesome.
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And what's that like?
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We will dive in very shortly, of course.
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What's the French Quarter like?
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Yeah, oh goodness.
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So I I love spending time in the French Quarter because it is so rich with history.
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I can be such a history nerd, a Louisiana history nerd.
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My uh eighth-grade Louisiana history teacher actually was the officiant of my wedding.
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And we, my husband and I got married in a Louisiana landmark in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana's old state capital.
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Uh, but the French Quarter, I mean, every corner you turn is some type of historical marker.
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Not only that, that's where so many of the most amazing restaurants in the country are located.
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And then it again, there's the music.
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You cannot walk down the street without hearing a brass band walk by or hearing musicians on the street just playing music or hearing music floating out of a club or a restaurant.
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And it's just this totally immersive environment.
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And there is nothing better than April in New Orleans.
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That's actually when they host the French Quarter Fest every year.
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It's a free festival.
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Anyone can go, and there are stages set up all around the French Quarter, food vendors, and it's just it's an awesome experience.
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Wow, wow, wow.
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Anna, so you've just illustrated why time management is very interesting.
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You get time to go get some crawfish and just live life.
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You built a career kind of helping people reclaim their time, but before this, what did success mean to you personally?
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Yeah.
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So that's such an interesting question because I think that what success has looked like for me personally has it's almost like there was a before and an after.
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You know, when I think about Anna back in 2009 working on Capitol Hill, and Anna who moved back to Louisiana to work in state government and crisis communications, when I imagined success, I pictured someone who was busy.
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I pictured someone who was constantly needed because the models that I had of success who were around me, who were in higher-ranking government positions, who were executive account directors in crisis communication, they were constantly on their phone.
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They were constantly being needed, they were constantly being pulled out of one meeting and into another.
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Until I actually became that person and began to feel the guilt creep in after stepping out of a family dinner, after being like the stress associated with being pulled in so many directions.
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You know, one of my biggest breaking points, Mo, actually came the weekend of a really big festival in New Orleans.
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Okay.
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So I remember I was living in New Orleans at the time.
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I was working in crisis communications, and there was a really big crisis that one of our local universities was experiencing.
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And I remember waking up on a Saturday morning and going straight to my laptop.
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My husband, he left to head out to the festival that we had planned to go to.
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I could literally hear music from outside of my window, and I was stuck at home handling this crisis situation.
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And I was so upset because the entire reason why we moved from Baton Rouge to New Orleans in the first place was so we could enjoy those cultural moments to have fun, to enjoy the city.
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And now my version of success was keeping me from experiencing what became my new picture of success, which was time freedom.
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I mean, without a doubt, if the before is success equals being in demand, now the after is that success equals having time freedom.
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And there are there are different ways to achieve that, different levels of time freedom, different ways to feel that.
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And for me, now when I imagine the success, it's the ability to have control over how I spend my time during the day.
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It's the ability to take a long lunch without being worried that I'm letting someone down.
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It's the ability to be at the bus stop when my kids get on the bus and when they get off the bus, and to take them to dance lessons and to create experiences for them.
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That's what success looks like to me now.
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And those two things coexist.
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The long lunches, not worrying about the time as such, and being successful.
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Success can take so many different shapes and forms, but for me, if I am working with clients that I that I align with, because that was that was a really big challenge for me working in crisis communications, is that there were times that I felt such a conflict between the work that I was doing and my personal core values.
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Like, you know, those moments where something just feels off and you can't quite articulate what it is because maybe you haven't captured your personal core values yet.
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When you feel off, some people call it their intuition, some people call it a gut feeling.
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A lot of times those are your core values trying to come to the surface.
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And if I'm living in alignment with my core values, I'm successful.
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I'm just curious to know because I know this is in your background.
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What was your experience?
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What was your role working for the government?
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So I have spent time working both in the federal government and in Louisiana state government.
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One of my first jobs right out of college, I moved to Washington, D.C., where I became a scheduler to a brand new member of Congress on Capitol Hill.
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So for those of you who don't know, there is an entire position in every single congressional office or Senate office that is in charge of the boss's schedule.
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An entire job.
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It's called scheduler.
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It's it's literally you are in charge of every single minute of your boss's day.
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And in that role, I was responsible for managing every single minute of his time from the moment he woke up in the morning until he went to bed at night.
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Every single minute was accounted for.
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So my inbox was an avalanche of meeting invitations from constituents back in the district to dinner invitations and hotel reservations.
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And it was just this constant information that I was managing.
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And not only did I have to learn how to manage a congressman's time, but I had to learn how to manage my own time as a new professional.
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And I loved, I loved working on the hill.
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I loved the energy of being in DC.
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Like I said, I've always been a um a history nerd.
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A I've always loved political history.
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And so living in DC was a dream.
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But what I didn't expect was how much I would miss being close to my family.
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You know, I had this vision of, again, we, you know, we talk about vision of success.
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I had this vision that I would live in DC for seven years, just totally arbitrary number.
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Imagined that I would live in DC for seven years and work my way up through different roles on Capitol Hill.
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And then at some point I would probably move back to Louisiana.
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Um, I ended up moving back to Louisiana in less than a year because I hated that I could not hug my mom whenever I wanted to.
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And I couldn't run down the road and have biscuits and jelly with my grandmother whenever I wanted.
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And I knew that I didn't want to only see my family a few times a year.
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So I moved back to Louisiana, and that's when I started working in more state government roles.
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Um typically communications, legislative affairs, but always rapid response.
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I have drafted congressional testimony for the BP oil spill that took place off of Louisiana's coast.
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I've been a speech writer for a number of elected and appointed officials.
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And I would say that my favorite among all the positions is when I served as communications director to a lieutenant governor.
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Funny enough, Mo, when I was in eighth grade, I'm taking you all the way back to eighth grade.
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I we my class was assigned an essay on what we wanted to be when we grew up.
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And I had no idea.
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I knew I didn't want to be the typical, I didn't want to be a teacher, I didn't want to be an engineer.
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And I remember I told my mom, I was like, mom, I just want to tell everyone about how amazing Louisiana is and tell them to come here to come visit.
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And she said, Anna, you realize that's the lieutenant governor's job.
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The lieutenant governor is over culture, recreation, and tourism for the state.
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And so having the opportunity to be the communications director to the lieutenant governor so early in my career was absolutely unreal.
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This sounds really fulfilling, and you've been on an amazing journey with your career early on.
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You've worked in these high-pressure environments where chaos was just the norm.
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Was there a point where your ability to handle it all became the very thing that was holding you back?
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You know, I remember that there was this one September when I was working as an account executive for a boutique communications firm in New Orleans.
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And during that month, I was overseeing multiple crisis accounts.
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I traveled to lead a strategic planning session for AFLAX Corporate Communications Division.
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And I remember how devastatingly grueling that time period was to the point that I had almost a minute by minute, hour by hour itinerary that I had created for myself just to be able to get through this that month.
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Once the crisis situations had settled a bit, I just I crashed.
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Because I was capable of holding it all together and doing all of the things.
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But I wasn't taking care of myself.
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I wasn't eating well, I wasn't sleeping.
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I would typically work until around six or seven, go home, eat dinner, and then open my laptop again until around 11 to 1 a.m.
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It was constant.
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And all of those times that I pictured the, you know, the high-powered in-demand women stepping out to take a call, I didn't realize that that was also a part of the deal, a part of the unseen deal.
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And I also, I'll be honest, Mo, I look back to that time and I think, wow, if I had known then what I know now about taking care of my habits, my energy, my attention, making sure that I'm recharging, I might still work in crisis communications because I would be able to approach that type of work in a much more sustainable, realistic way.
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But at that point in my life, without the understanding of the strategies involved, without really having an understanding of myself, because self-awareness is everything, it was just brute force all the way.
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It was brute force.
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And I look back at that time and I think about all of the milestone moments that I had to miss that I do not have another chance.
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Another chance at.
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Just how much work had taken over.
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I'm sure a lot of people listening to this can understand the situation.
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Or have a situation that's similar for themselves.
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A lot of times high achievers think success in this column and the hundred and twenty-hour week in that column, and then the journey to success happens, right?
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And then you miss all these things along the way.
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How do we get someone who has that mindset out of that mindset to almost value those tiny events in real time, given that in the future you'll look back and realize they were huge events?
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Yeah.
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Yeah.
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You know, Mo, yeah, sometimes you have to feel the pain to make a change.
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Right.
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Sometimes you have to feel the pain to make a change.
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And it has to, it has to hurt for you to really get serious about it.
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You know, it it again, it takes a lot of self-awareness for someone to go from my idea of success is being in demand and going nonstop.
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And that lifestyle because it is not a switch flip to no, for me, success is actually time freedom.
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For me, success is actually control over how I spend my time.
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And often there has to be some type of turning point, some type of fork in the road, some type of decision, some type of moment where you realize, oh, this is not the life that I want.
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And that's what becomes that catalyst for change.
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You know, you compare it to health.
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A lot of times people will have a lifestyle where they don't take care of their bodies, they're not getting enough sleep, they are not eating nutritious foods.
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And then they have a negative health experience, or they go to a doctor's appointment where they're told if you don't change things, it will get worse.
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And so, as much as I would love for everyone to avoid the pain that comes with making mistakes, that comes with those hard learning moments, sometimes it's it's the pain, it's the feeling what you don't want anymore that pushes you to take action and know that you never want to go back to that place.
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I I even think about now, I guard my calendar and my yeses so vigilantly because I know what I'm like when I'm exhausted.
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I know how I feel when I am stretched too thin.
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And I will not, I will not go back there because now it impacts more than just me.
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I have two daughters.
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I have two young daughters who are five and seven.
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And not only am I here to take care of them, but I am here to model what life can look like for them.
00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:41.759
And if they see a mom who is pulled in so many different directions that she can't be present with them, what type of model can I be?
00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:50.799
And so I love, I love when clients come to me and they say, Anna, I'm early in my career.
00:25:51.279 --> 00:26:00.880
I want to make sure that I am burnout proof, that I put the right things in place before things get bad.
00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:04.400
Because I could see, I can see where the path is going.
00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:06.079
And I love that.
00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:32.319
Because you can start to implement strategies and create your own system, but a lot of times it takes that feeling of being completely overwhelmed to push you in that direction of I'm not living like this anymore.
00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:35.039
Wow, what a share.
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:42.160
And what'd you say to the person listening to this that says, that was all great, I'll just do that next year.
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:53.359
I'll start attending events next year, a couple of years' time, but this year I'm in my zone of this part of my balance zone where I'm going full steam ahead.
00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:58.720
I'll start doing the 20 hours a week next year and leveraging next year.
00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:00.319
What'd you say to that person?
00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:03.920
I would actually say go for it.
00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:14.720
You you do you, and if you're in a season right now of going hard, go hard.
00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:20.559
But notice that I said a season, seasons come to an end.
00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:25.440
Seasons change, seasons are cyclical.
00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:35.839
And as a human, we cannot go, we cannot give 110 100 of the time.
00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:39.839
And if you try to do that, you will burn out.
00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:46.000
But what I would tell someone who's like, no, I'm in a season right now of going hard.
00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:51.839
I would only ask them, okay, how will you know when that season is complete?
00:27:54.640 --> 00:28:00.880
Because once that season is complete, then you can take a breath, then you can downshift, then you can go on a vacation.
00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:05.599
Look, I've had seasons of hustle too, even since shifting my idea of success.
00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:16.960
I remember when I wrote my book, I was writing my book, I was running my coaching business, I was working full time for a company during that time frame.
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:21.759
Plus, I had a two-year-old and a four-year-old.
00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:26.960
That was a season of hustle, season of hustle.
00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:32.640
And once we got to the other side of the book launch, downshift, recover.
00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:39.759
And I I really love that drawing the line and saying this is the season, this is when the season ends.
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:43.200
And but long term, that's just not the way.
00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:52.319
Anna, was there ever a time, and I know we we're going back in time, was there ever a time when your self-worth was just tied to how productive you were?
00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:54.559
What a fun question.
00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:59.599
So, Mo, that is something I continue to wrestle with on a daily basis.
00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:06.400
And I think that that's something that for many of us high achievers, it's always going to be in the background.
00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:12.799
You know, you and I, we know each other through Brain Builders Group.
00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:21.119
And I was sitting in an accelerator in Nashville, like probably about a year ago, almost a year ago.
00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:26.480
And I remember AJ talking about how she was reading a book called The Seven Primal Questions.
00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:30.160
And if you haven't had a chance to read this book yet, I highly recommend it.
00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:55.599
Um, it reminded me a lot of the Enneagram, the Enneagram being a personality assessment that is based on what your childhood wound is, because all of us as children are wounded in some way that shapes our beliefs about who we are, our worth, and what makes us feel healthy, safe in the world.
00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:59.759
And I am an Enneagram three.
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:03.599
So anyone who's listening, you're like, okay, so that's the achiever.
00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:07.119
So the Enneagram three is someone who is known as the achiever.
00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:26.319
And we became the achiever because at some point in our childhood, we received a message, whether it was intentionally, unintentionally, we received a message that if we are successful, if we are good enough, then we will be loved.
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:29.440
If we achieve, then we will be loved.
00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:32.079
If we try hard enough, then we will be loved.
00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:38.160
And that is something that once you identify that that is within you, it's always a hole.
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:39.599
It's always there.
00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:52.559
And so a lot of high achievers are the way that we are because we are trying to fill a hole and prove to ourselves or whoever else that we are enough.
00:30:53.039 --> 00:31:05.039
And so knowing that, it's kind of like when you when you know you have an allergy, that you're just more aware of like the the things that can cause an allergy attack.
00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:19.440
When you are aware that you have this achievement hole in you, you are more aware of, okay, I I do not need to keep going for the sake of going.
00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:21.839
I can rest, I can take a break.
00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:38.799
And I mean, it it does, it requires you to really think hard, think very intentionally about am I doing this to push a goal forward or am I doing this because I want to feel productive?
00:31:39.119 --> 00:32:00.319
And so when I think, when I think back to what this looked like early in my career, I still remember the very first day that I stayed late at work to help my bosses with a project and how they were so impressed that I stayed late to help with this.
00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:09.599
And it made me feel so good to be there and be helpful and to, you know, be a part of the team.
00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:22.640
What I didn't realize is that I was also showing them that my boundaries around time and work were blurry.
00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:24.160
Right, exactly.
00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:32.160
And that, oh, well, Anna stayed late that one time, so now that's something that we begin to expect of her.
00:32:33.359 --> 00:32:35.440
And I wanted that approval.
00:32:36.400 --> 00:32:40.960
I wanted that, wow, what a team player.
00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:54.559
And so the amount, the hours worked somehow became this equation in my mind of how successful and how needed I was.
00:32:54.720 --> 00:33:02.000
Not to mention the fact that at that time, working in state government, all of my friends were also working in state government.
00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:07.599
We were all either working in communications for state agencies or in the governor's office.
00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:11.119
And everyone was working all the time.
00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:14.480
Everyone was working all the time.
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:16.000
It was just what you do.
00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:23.440
And if you weren't answering calls and emails on your BlackBerry, right?
00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:29.599
On your Blackberry at dinner, then why were you even there?
00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:37.039
Because clearly, if you're not working, why are why are you here?
00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:39.039
Because that's what we all do.
00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:49.759
And being in that type of environment just fuels the fire of tying your productivity to your worth.
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.559
So a lot of that for me had to be untangled whenever I left that world.
00:35:07.400 --> 00:35:09.719
What outstanding insight, Anna.
00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:19.000
Anna, you help people stop feeling overwhelmed today with your coaching and your podcasts and your various bits and blobs that you do.
00:35:19.639 --> 00:35:25.719
But what was the emotion that you were actually trying to escape from when you stayed busy?
00:35:26.119 --> 00:35:26.759
Huh.
00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:34.679
I mean, it's I mean, it all comes down to worthiness.
00:35:36.039 --> 00:35:49.639
If I am not producing, if I am not creating, if I am not doing something that is valuable to someone else, then I am not valuable.
00:35:50.279 --> 00:35:52.039
Then I am not worthy.
00:35:52.679 --> 00:35:57.319
And what a lie is that to believe, right?
00:35:57.559 --> 00:36:12.199
But isn't it so advantageous to so many companies and organizations and people for us to believe that about ourselves because it keeps us striving?
00:36:12.679 --> 00:36:17.000
It's like climbing a never-ending staircase.
00:36:17.719 --> 00:36:23.319
Because there is no such thing as enough unless you define it for yourself.
00:36:26.039 --> 00:36:33.960
And I've definitely been there, you know, 16-hour days and over-achiever in the Enneagrams and all those other bits and bobs.
00:36:34.039 --> 00:36:41.079
And and then when you get the result and that you're the overachiever or the winner, or another iteration of this, it's sort of celebrating.
00:36:41.319 --> 00:36:47.559
So it's definitely great learning more and putting in place these boundaries.
00:36:47.719 --> 00:36:55.639
What belief about productivity did you have to let go of before the next version of Anna could emerge?
00:36:55.879 --> 00:36:56.199
Yeah.
00:36:56.759 --> 00:37:01.879
So I actually had it printed on a coffee mug and it's busy is not a badge of honor.
00:37:02.199 --> 00:37:04.839
Busy is not a badge of honor.
00:37:05.159 --> 00:37:07.719
Busy is not a badge of honor.
00:37:07.960 --> 00:37:36.199
Just gonna say it three times right there, because I realized that in conversations with women, and not just women, but at the time I was really involved in a women's service organization, that anytime you asked someone how they were doing, they would say, Oh, so busy, but it's good busy.
00:37:37.399 --> 00:37:38.679
Over and over again.
00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:43.319
Oh my gosh, so busy, but it's good, it's good, it's a good busy.
00:37:43.559 --> 00:37:52.920
And it just I remember people talking about, oh, well, I only have 30 minutes open in my calendar this week.
00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:55.399
So if you can't do it then, then we can't do it at all.
00:37:55.719 --> 00:38:06.119
And people complaining about how busy they were, but it was this, it was almost this humble brag.
00:38:06.199 --> 00:38:16.119
It was like a it was complaining, but it was also disguised as bragging, like, oh, I'm so busy, I have all these things to do.
00:38:17.079 --> 00:38:24.440
And I just remember thinking, that does not make me impressed with you.
00:38:26.359 --> 00:38:31.319
It does not make me impressed that you are so incredibly busy.
00:38:31.480 --> 00:38:37.239
It makes me question your ability to prioritize and hold your boundaries.
00:38:39.879 --> 00:38:47.319
And that's because I was that person who was, oh, I'm so busy.
00:38:47.399 --> 00:38:49.559
I have all of these things to do.
00:38:51.239 --> 00:39:02.679
And I I remember when I left the world of crisis communications and government affairs, I was still doing contract work.
00:39:02.920 --> 00:39:06.039
So I was still working, but I felt very unemployed.
00:39:06.119 --> 00:39:16.279
You know, I feel like unemployed is kind of a it's a it's a it's a little bit of a mindset because I was working, but I didn't have a traditional job.
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:23.799
And that was very difficult for me not to tie my work to the title on my business card because I really had no business card.
00:39:23.960 --> 00:39:29.399
There was a lot of rebuilding internally that happened during that time frame.
00:39:30.199 --> 00:39:57.319
And I remember being so concerned of what other people thought of me during that time frame because I wasn't doing big things with the governor's office and I wasn't working on a campaign, and I wasn't nope, nope, my family didn't understand what coaching was or what I was working toward.
00:39:58.039 --> 00:40:03.000
And it made me start thinking about new badges of honor.
00:40:03.799 --> 00:40:06.119
What can we trade busy for?
00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:10.759
Can we trade busy for purpose?
00:40:11.960 --> 00:40:13.799
Can we trade busy for freedom?
00:40:14.039 --> 00:40:16.119
Can we trade busy for intention?
00:40:17.559 --> 00:40:28.199
And so uh now I avoid using the phrase busy as much as possible because I think busy is lazy.
00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:40.839
I think busy is it's just an expression of misplaced priorities and blurry boundaries.
00:40:44.279 --> 00:40:55.719
So it sounds like Hannah, you're saying shock horror, that success and achievement shouldn't take up a hundred percent of your world, your time, and your life.
00:40:56.119 --> 00:40:57.159
Of course not.
00:40:57.399 --> 00:42:19.319
If if it takes up 100% of your worth, your time, and your life, where do your relationships fit in?
00:42:20.039 --> 00:42:23.239
Where does fun fit in?
00:42:23.399 --> 00:42:26.839
Yeah, you can have fun while you're striving and succeeding.
00:42:26.999 --> 00:42:28.279
I love learning.
00:42:28.519 --> 00:42:40.839
I mean, I yesterday was walking around the house tidying up my girls' toys and watching a mini course about Instagram trial reels.
00:42:40.919 --> 00:42:45.159
You know, I love that that brings me joy to learn about things.
00:42:45.479 --> 00:43:13.319
So you can have fun while you're striving, but if you're so focused on success that you are missing out on opportunities to build relationships and to nurture relationships, I mean, study after study has shown that the key to longevity is relationships for men, for women, it's having people in our lives, it's not being lonely.
00:43:14.679 --> 00:43:24.519
And if you're not investing at least some of your time into other people, then what are you doing?
00:43:28.439 --> 00:43:33.799
What does uh what matters most actually mean in practice?
00:43:34.359 --> 00:43:39.639
Yeah, what matters most is so vague.
00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:41.559
It's so vague.
00:43:42.679 --> 00:43:50.599
And it's that way for a reason, but because you can put whatever matters most to you there.
00:43:50.839 --> 00:43:57.319
A lot of times, like when I think about what matters most, I think about my kids, I think about my family.
00:43:57.639 --> 00:44:15.319
Because if I don't do a good job raising my girls to be strong women with integrity and kindness, then I I consider that to be my most important job.
00:44:15.639 --> 00:44:17.559
They are my legacy.
00:44:20.439 --> 00:44:25.159
Which actually then brings me to what matters most.
00:44:26.199 --> 00:44:38.679
If you want to clearly define it, what matters most is a combination of your vision for the future, what you're working toward, and your personal core values.
00:44:39.479 --> 00:44:53.799
And what is so fabulous, what is so cool, Mo, is that for every single person in the entire world, their vision for the future and their personal core values is 100% unique.
00:44:55.159 --> 00:45:02.039
It is this one thing, this what matters most is unique to every single one of us.
00:45:02.279 --> 00:45:14.839
And so when you have a vision for your future, when you know what you're working toward, what you want your life to look like, that becomes the goalpost.
00:45:14.999 --> 00:45:17.959
That becomes the the finish line for your goals.
00:45:18.119 --> 00:45:20.599
And let's be honest, we never really hit a finish line.
00:45:20.679 --> 00:45:24.279
We keep moving it because we achieve this vision and then we think, what's next?
00:45:24.439 --> 00:45:25.079
And that's great.
00:45:25.319 --> 00:45:30.679
You know, it's one thing to be content in life, and then there is another to continually grow.
00:45:30.999 --> 00:45:31.319
Okay.
00:45:32.519 --> 00:45:41.719
So that vision, but then what makes the path to achieving that vision uniquely you is in your core values.
00:45:42.119 --> 00:45:51.319
Your core values are the the things, the concepts that really are you at your core.
00:45:51.639 --> 00:45:57.959
And they become the guiding light for how you achieve that vision.
00:45:58.119 --> 00:46:04.839
Because let's be real, there's, as my grandmother from North Louisiana would say, there's more than one way to skin a cat.
00:46:05.719 --> 00:46:10.599
No offense to all the cats, but there's more than one way to achieve a vision.
00:46:10.919 --> 00:46:18.359
And when you apply your core values to that path, that's where it becomes uniquely you and what matters most.
00:46:18.599 --> 00:46:22.919
My core values are authenticity, courage.
00:46:23.959 --> 00:46:27.639
Intention, curiosity, and legacy.
00:46:28.919 --> 00:46:38.919
And I can look at every single thing on my calendar and tell you which of my values is tied to what's on my calendar.
00:46:39.799 --> 00:46:48.919
I can tell you in my decisions, in the habits that I build, they are tied to my core values.
00:46:49.639 --> 00:46:54.999
And that makes everything so much more meaningful.
00:46:57.559 --> 00:46:58.999
So outstanding, Anna.
00:46:59.159 --> 00:47:06.999
Um if productivity isn't primarily about managing time, what is it really about?
00:47:07.559 --> 00:47:08.199
Yeah.
00:47:09.319 --> 00:47:22.199
So productivity is a really interesting word because productivity itself is about producing, it's about creating.
00:48:45.799 --> 00:48:48.759
And time management really comes last.
00:48:49.159 --> 00:48:52.359
I mean, don't get me wrong, it's it's infused through everything.
00:48:52.519 --> 00:48:54.999
When you're managing your energy, you're managing your time.
00:48:55.159 --> 00:48:58.599
When you're creating a new habit, you're impacting your time.
00:49:00.359 --> 00:49:14.279
But if I I always say that if someone comes to me and they just want to be more productive, they want to sacrifice sleep, they want to go hard, they're in this let's go hard season.
00:49:17.319 --> 00:49:30.759
Yes, I I can help you get there, but only if it is truly based in a vision for the future with clear core values.
00:49:31.159 --> 00:49:37.479
Because if you want time management hacks, you can go to TikTok for that.
00:49:37.879 --> 00:49:50.599
But if you want truly core, life-changing, embedded intention where you literally think about time in a new way, let's go.
00:49:50.759 --> 00:49:51.879
Let's do that.
00:49:54.119 --> 00:50:03.639
Here's why I was so excited to have you on the podcast, Anna, because I knew that what you do is beyond just time management, beyond just productivity.
00:50:03.719 --> 00:50:16.199
It's more about transformation, if I could say, and even iterating the way that that that we typically think of success, and uh so exceptional your your shares.
00:50:16.359 --> 00:50:19.799
And I'm going to use the word productivity, but you can you can iterate it.
00:50:20.119 --> 00:50:27.399
So when you look at the truly exceptional performers, maybe they've they're the ones that work have worked with you for a year or a couple of years.
00:50:27.559 --> 00:50:37.719
For example, you look at the truly exceptional performers, what do they understand about productivity that most high achievers completely miss?
00:50:38.359 --> 00:50:40.119
Yes, okay.
00:50:40.919 --> 00:51:25.719
I have I have so many clients that I instantly think of, and the biggest difference is that the truly sustainable high performers, because anybody can be a high performer for a short period of time, you can sprint and then fall over, you know, you can go hard and then get exhausted, but the true high performers who get it understand that the way that we manage our time is not a one-time operation.
00:51:26.999 --> 00:51:32.119
It is not something, you know, people like to think of a crock pot or a slow cooker.
00:51:32.279 --> 00:51:35.959
You set it and forget it, and then later you have this delicious meal.
00:51:36.119 --> 00:51:39.239
You cannot set and forget time management.
00:51:41.959 --> 00:51:51.959
Time management, designing your life, creating your habits is not a finish line to be reached.
00:51:52.279 --> 00:51:56.119
You never wake up one morning and say, I did it.
00:51:56.519 --> 00:51:58.759
I conquered time management.
00:51:58.999 --> 00:52:02.759
And the reason why is because our lives are always changing.
00:52:03.079 --> 00:52:08.679
We're constantly evolving as people, as humans.
00:52:08.839 --> 00:52:14.039
The world around us is changing in ways that we don't have control over individually.
00:52:14.279 --> 00:52:25.239
If you're a parent, your children are constantly changing and growing in what they are capable of doing themselves, what they need help with.
00:52:25.719 --> 00:52:40.519
And so if you think of time management as this checklist to be achieved or a finish line to be reached, you are going to be continuously disappointed because life is going to change and it's going to require a brand new strategy.
00:52:41.159 --> 00:52:48.039
So I like to think of time management and even productivity as a practice.
00:52:48.679 --> 00:52:50.199
You think about yoga.
00:52:50.599 --> 00:52:52.519
You can't win yoga.
00:52:53.239 --> 00:52:57.559
Like you can't, you can't win yoga.
00:52:58.199 --> 00:53:01.879
You can only show up and practice.
00:53:02.199 --> 00:53:09.559
And you can practice based on who you are coming into that yoga session.
00:53:09.799 --> 00:53:17.319
Some days we're sore, some days we're more flexible, some days we have more or less mental clutter.
00:53:17.559 --> 00:53:23.399
Some days it comes easy to us, and some days we really have to focus hard.
00:53:26.039 --> 00:53:34.279
Time management and productivity is a practice where you are constantly adjusting to the realities of life.
00:53:34.599 --> 00:53:37.719
You're you're always getting a little bit better at it.
00:53:37.959 --> 00:53:43.719
You're reacting a little bit better, you're getting more used to using things, you're developing habits.
00:53:44.359 --> 00:53:57.639
But when you can make peace with the fact that your ideal week in this season will need to be completely redone in three months, then you're ahead of the game.
00:53:58.039 --> 00:54:10.279
Because you are you are extending that flexibility, that understanding, that growth, that evolution to the way you manage your time.
00:54:10.839 --> 00:54:18.039
That's what unlocks everything, is thinking of it like a practice rather than a finish line to be reached.
00:54:19.479 --> 00:54:24.119
Which is why the work you do with your clients is absolutely essential.
00:54:24.599 --> 00:54:33.559
If the version of Anna from 10 years ago met the version of Anna today, what would surprise her the most?
00:54:35.559 --> 00:54:35.879
Okay.
00:54:36.759 --> 00:54:39.159
I mean, let's really look at this for a second.
00:54:39.559 --> 00:54:49.639
It's 2026, and in 2015, I was working in Crisis PR.
00:54:50.439 --> 00:54:52.599
In 2016, was when I quit.
00:54:53.719 --> 00:54:58.519
I quit in August 2016, walked away from the PR firm.
00:54:59.799 --> 00:55:06.519
This was when I tell my story and I talk about the messy middle where I had no idea what was next.
00:55:06.759 --> 00:55:08.519
That was 10 years ago.
00:55:10.279 --> 00:55:11.639
Time management.
00:55:13.639 --> 00:55:27.479
I think that Anna then, if 20 2016 Anna could could look at 2026 Anna now, she would be so incredibly proud.
00:55:27.799 --> 00:55:43.479
She would also laugh because Mo, when I tell you, I was written up by my supervisor for being late 17 times in one quarter while I was working at the PR firm.
00:55:44.359 --> 00:55:48.839
So that would have been 2015, spring 2016, when that happened.
00:55:49.079 --> 00:55:55.719
And so Anna, who was perpetually late, always frazzled.
00:55:55.959 --> 00:55:59.799
Wait, you're telling me we became a time management coach and we wrote a book?
00:55:59.959 --> 00:56:01.159
Are you insane?
00:56:03.319 --> 00:56:10.359
I think I think that she would be thrilled, but also think it's hilarious.
00:56:16.359 --> 00:56:21.719
Many listeners have mastered planning, but they struggle with follow-through.
00:56:21.879 --> 00:56:22.199
Yeah.
00:56:22.439 --> 00:56:28.999
What separates the people who know what matters from the people who consistently act on what matters?
00:56:29.559 --> 00:56:30.199
Yeah.
00:56:30.919 --> 00:56:33.079
Struggling with follow-through.
00:56:33.399 --> 00:56:37.559
You know, this is something that's unique to everyone.
00:56:37.639 --> 00:56:43.799
And it's one of my favorite parts of being a coach because I really get to lean into my value of curiosity.
00:56:44.759 --> 00:56:49.239
Because it's not enough to hear from someone, I really struggle with follow-through.
00:56:50.999 --> 00:56:54.119
The next step is understanding what's causing it.
00:56:54.679 --> 00:57:00.759
Because procrastination comes in a lot of different flavors.
00:57:01.399 --> 00:57:04.359
And one of the most common ones is fear.
00:57:05.479 --> 00:57:09.879
Fear of fear of it not being perfect.
00:57:09.959 --> 00:57:13.639
You know, perfectionism is a version, is just a version of fear.
00:57:13.799 --> 00:57:16.679
It's a really nicely dressed version of fear.
00:57:18.759 --> 00:57:28.119
Sometimes that follow-through, that lack of follow-through comes from not having a clear picture of what done looks like or what complete looks like.
00:57:28.199 --> 00:57:34.999
And so you feel like you're kind of moving through the abstract and you can never really get to the end because you don't know what the end looks like.
00:57:35.399 --> 00:57:44.679
And sometimes it's just that what they're not following through on is so big and so complex that they're struggling to wrap their head around it.
00:57:44.999 --> 00:57:57.879
And so the thing that really sets people apart, those who can really follow through, and those who get stuck is self-awareness.
00:57:58.599 --> 00:58:04.359
It's not discipline, it's not motivation, it's not drive, it's self-awareness.
00:58:04.999 --> 00:58:12.919
Because it's not enough to say I'm stuck, or I really struggle with follow-through.
00:58:13.239 --> 00:58:14.359
What's the next step?
00:58:14.519 --> 00:58:22.359
It's okay, how do I feel about this thing that I am not making progress on?
00:58:22.599 --> 00:58:25.239
And that's exactly where my questions go as a coach.
00:58:25.559 --> 00:58:30.999
So, what do you feel like whenever you think about this thing that you're not following through on?
00:58:33.319 --> 00:58:35.319
What have you shared with others?
00:58:35.479 --> 00:58:43.959
You know, let's really get to the bottom of what is impeding the follow-through and let's fix that.
00:58:44.919 --> 00:58:52.519
Because if it's perfectionism, how can we find a tiny first step to build momentum?
00:58:53.239 --> 00:59:00.759
If it's because it's so big and complex that you can't wrap your head around it, how can we break it up into smaller pieces?
00:59:01.639 --> 00:59:11.879
And if it's abstract, how can we get clear on a milestone so that you can just get to that milestone?
00:59:12.599 --> 00:59:22.759
Again, it all goes back to self-awareness and being curious to kind of unpack and untangle what's holding you back.
00:59:23.959 --> 00:59:24.599
Right.
00:59:24.999 --> 00:59:25.879
Right, right, right.
00:59:26.039 --> 00:59:27.079
Um, so fascinating.
00:59:27.399 --> 00:59:28.279
Yes, shares.
00:59:28.999 --> 00:59:42.839
If a high achiever listening to this feels trapped and they're trapped in this life that's optimized for achievement, but not optimized for fulfillment, what's the first question they should ask themselves?
00:59:46.919 --> 00:59:50.359
That's a tough spot to be in.
00:59:50.679 --> 00:59:54.519
Because on the outside, everything looks great.
00:59:54.839 --> 01:00:00.599
You've got the job, you've got the car, the house, you're you're you're killing it.
01:00:01.319 --> 01:00:09.559
But what nobody can see is that on the inside you don't feel that fulfillment.
01:00:11.319 --> 01:00:28.119
So that first question that I would encourage someone to ask themselves, and it's just the first, but it's what do I really want here?
01:00:29.159 --> 01:00:30.759
What do I really want?
01:00:31.079 --> 01:00:33.239
And that's a big question.
01:00:33.879 --> 01:00:51.639
And when you have been living so aligned and optimized for success for so long, it can be really difficult to even know where to start with what you really want.
01:00:52.279 --> 01:01:16.519
And so, one way to answer that question, one way to start answering that question is to challenge yourself to make a list of 100 dreams, 100 things that you would like to experience, do in your lifetime.
01:01:16.999 --> 01:01:22.199
I first learned about this exercise in the book 168 hours by Laura Vandercam.
01:01:22.839 --> 01:01:30.359
Because very often when we want to take control of our time, we don't even know what to do with it.
01:01:30.999 --> 01:01:34.679
Because we're so used to just living the way that we've been living.
01:01:34.999 --> 01:01:44.359
But when you allow yourself to make that list of 100 dreams, you have to be very specific, or else you're not going to get very far.
01:01:44.439 --> 01:01:46.199
You can't just say travel more.
01:01:46.599 --> 01:01:54.039
You have to say, I want to see the Eiffel Tower, I want to sip limoncello in Italy.
01:01:54.439 --> 01:01:55.879
You have to be specific.
01:01:56.439 --> 01:02:10.119
And what happens as you force yourself to be specific is that you start to reconnect with who you are and what you really want.
01:02:10.599 --> 01:02:14.119
And that becomes a catalyst for what's next.
01:02:16.839 --> 01:02:24.519
So someone's listening to this a year from now, and they've completely transformed their relationship with time.
01:02:24.919 --> 01:02:30.439
They're calmer, they're more focused, and they're living with more intention.
01:02:31.399 --> 01:02:33.479
Anna, what do you think changed first?
01:02:33.639 --> 01:02:37.239
Was it their calendar, their habits, or their identity?
01:02:38.039 --> 01:02:39.399
Identity, 100%.
01:02:40.039 --> 01:02:51.879
That has to be the first shift to go from I am someone who struggles with time to I am someone who uses my time with intention.
01:02:52.039 --> 01:02:53.559
It all starts with identity.
01:02:53.799 --> 01:02:57.719
Identity, vision, values, and then the rest follows.
01:02:59.399 --> 01:03:00.439
So outstanding.
01:03:00.759 --> 01:03:33.079
Anna, it's been such an honor to hear you explain to us what a firecracker is, specifically what a Louisiana firecracker is, and also making time management cool or even cooler, because you've shown us how it opens the door to having, as we say on this podcast, purpose-driven success, and success on your terms, minus the constant on-the-go hustle culture that people call a badge of honor.
01:03:33.319 --> 01:03:36.199
It's such an honor to have you on me on the podcast.
01:03:36.439 --> 01:03:49.959
If someone's listening to this and they said it's about time that I sort out my time and they want to work with you further, which to me sounds essential for our high achievers out there.
01:03:50.119 --> 01:03:53.399
How do they find out more about you and how can they work with you?
01:03:53.719 --> 01:03:55.959
Well, thank you so much for this conversation.
01:03:56.119 --> 01:04:06.359
It has been it's been a lot of fun to talk with you, to revisit some past moments in my life and be really grateful for what life looks like now.
01:04:06.599 --> 01:04:13.879
So if you're listening, you want to learn more, you want to dive in, I would definitely recommend that your first stop be my podcast.
01:04:14.039 --> 01:04:18.359
It's about time with brand new episodes that drop every single Monday.
01:04:18.519 --> 01:04:20.919
You can find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
01:04:20.999 --> 01:04:32.119
That's where I share all of my best free information, strategies, stories, interviews with other go-getters about how they're getting things done.
01:04:32.359 --> 01:04:34.999
Definitely let it's about time be your first stop.
01:04:36.359 --> 01:04:36.999
Awesome.
01:04:37.239 --> 01:04:40.999
Anna, so awesome to have you on Purpose Driven Success Podcast today.
01:04:41.159 --> 01:04:42.759
Have an amazing rest of today.
01:04:42.919 --> 01:04:43.399
Ciao.
01:04:43.559 --> 01:04:43.959
Thanks.
01:04:44.119 --> 01:04:44.759
Bye.
01:04:45.959 --> 01:04:49.399
Thank you for listening to Purpose Driven Success with Most Alarming.
01:04:49.639 --> 01:04:53.559
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a review.
01:04:53.639 --> 01:04:56.759
It's one of the best ways to help others discover the show.
01:04:56.919 --> 01:05:00.999
You can find links and resources and show notes at our website.
01:05:01.159 --> 01:05:07.879
And if today's episode inspired you, check out one of our other insight-filled value-packed episodes.
01:05:08.119 --> 01:05:10.679
Next week we'll have another amazing guest.
01:05:10.839 --> 01:05:15.479
So stay tuned for even more real stories and actionable insights.
01:05:15.719 --> 01:05:24.359
Work on your mindset, work on your skill set, and always move in the direction of the result you want before you see the result you want.
01:05:24.519 --> 01:05:28.039
And until next time, do the best you can consistently.
01:05:28.359 --> 01:05:29.159
Ciao.
00:00:00.640 --> 00:00:06.000
So I actually had it printed on a coffee mug and it's busy is not a badge of honor.
00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:08.960
Busy is not a badge of honor.
00:00:09.279 --> 00:00:11.839
Busy is not a badge of honor.
00:00:12.000 --> 00:00:33.280
Just gonna say it three times right there because I realized that in conversations that anytime you asked someone how they were doing, they would say, Oh, so busy, but it's good busy, over and over again.
00:00:33.520 --> 00:00:35.359
Oh my gosh, so busy.
00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:37.759
It was almost this humble brag.
00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:43.359
It was complaining, but it was also disguised as bragging.
00:00:43.600 --> 00:00:45.119
Like, oh, I'm so busy.
00:00:45.200 --> 00:00:47.119
I have all these things to do.
00:00:47.439 --> 00:00:56.799
And I just remember thinking, it does not make me impressed that you are so incredibly busy.
00:00:56.960 --> 00:01:02.560
It makes me question your ability to prioritize and hold your boundaries.
00:01:03.039 --> 00:01:08.959
And that's because I was that person who was.
00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:10.400
Oh, I'm so busy.
00:01:10.480 --> 00:01:12.560
I have all of these things to do.
00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:27.599
Welcome to Purpose-Driven Success with Mo Salami, where real journeys, mindset shifts, and strategic insights meet purpose-driven success.
00:01:27.840 --> 00:01:30.239
I'm your host, Mo Salami.
00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:44.480
Every week we dive into real conversations with high-achieving founders and leaders, uncovering the mindsets, strategies, and takeaways that help you define and achieve success on your own terms.
00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:51.120
Welcome to another episode of Purpose Driven Success.
00:01:51.280 --> 00:01:58.560
I'm your host, Mo Salami, and we have a firecracker of an episode today.
00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:03.840
The reason being, I don't know what it means to be a firecracker at heart, so we're gonna find that out.
00:02:04.079 --> 00:02:06.319
So we have a firecracker of an episode.
00:02:06.560 --> 00:02:16.639
We have an amazing guest who's really great at what she does, as you will find out, and is an amazing keynote speaker, as I found out and as I've seen as well.
00:02:16.960 --> 00:02:21.840
Anna Dierman Cornik is a top 1% globally ranked podcast host.
00:02:22.000 --> 00:02:29.680
She's a keynote speaker and a time management coach, helping high achievers move from overwhelm to intentional living.
00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:40.240
Anna is the founder of the It's About Time Academy and creator of the Heart Method, a personality-driven framework for aligning time with what matters the most.
00:02:40.479 --> 00:02:47.599
With over a decade in political and crisis communications, managing high pressure, always on environments.
00:02:47.759 --> 00:02:51.360
Anna brings real world experience in creating calm from chaos.
00:02:51.680 --> 00:02:55.280
Anna is a Louisiana USA firecracker at heart.
00:02:55.360 --> 00:03:02.800
She helps professionals reclaim their clarity, focus, and control over their time and priorities.
00:03:03.039 --> 00:03:06.479
Anna Dierman-Cornik, welcome to Purpose Driven Success.
00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:07.599
Hi, Mo.
00:03:07.919 --> 00:03:09.680
Thank you so much for having me.
00:03:09.840 --> 00:03:12.319
I'm absolutely delighted to be here.
00:03:13.360 --> 00:03:14.639
Awesome, awesome, awesome.
00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:16.400
Anna, so forgive me for not knowing this.
00:03:16.479 --> 00:03:17.439
What is a firecracker?
00:03:17.680 --> 00:03:21.039
And more importantly, what is a Louisiana firecracker?
00:03:21.199 --> 00:03:22.240
Let's get niche in here.
00:03:22.319 --> 00:03:23.199
Let's get specific.
00:03:23.439 --> 00:03:24.000
I love it.
00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:24.400
Okay.
00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:35.840
So when I hear firecracker, I think a firework, you know, like that shoots off at New Year's and it flies fast and it burns bright.
00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:39.919
And sometimes it's a little bit loud and it can be colorful.
00:03:40.080 --> 00:03:49.919
And a lot of times when people think about time management, they want to just take a nap because the the most of the time the thought of talking about time management is just such a bore.
00:03:50.240 --> 00:04:01.919
But I love to bring a lot of energy and excitement and maybe sometimes a little bit of volume to the topic because we want to keep everybody awake when we're talking about time management.
00:04:02.080 --> 00:04:03.120
This is not going to be boring.
00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:08.639
And I'm originally from Louisiana, which is one of the most unique states in the US.
00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:10.800
Our culture is unlike any other.
00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:13.840
We're known for our food, our music, and our people.
00:04:14.319 --> 00:04:22.560
And if you've never had a chance to come visit us, come down, come to New Orleans, let me know when you're coming, and I'll give you a list of all the restaurants to visit.
00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:24.560
So let's do one of each.
00:04:24.639 --> 00:04:26.800
You mention food, culture, and the people.
00:04:27.040 --> 00:04:32.480
What stands out for a Louisianan in terms of one for food, one for culture, one for people?
00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:33.120
Okay.
00:04:33.279 --> 00:04:37.680
So when it comes to food, I have to tell you about boiled crawfish.
00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:44.879
So boiled crawfish, essentially, if you're not familiar, they're they're like tiny lobsters.
00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:50.000
So imagine a tiny lobster that would just kind of fit maybe in the palm of your hand.
00:04:50.319 --> 00:04:58.879
And we boil up pounds of boiled crawfish uh in this like spice mix.
00:04:59.120 --> 00:05:10.160
And it's this huge, almost, almost like celebration, just this cultural event for someone to have a crawfish boil in their backyard or at an event.
00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:18.000
And the whole process of boiling, everyone has their own take on how to do the perfect boil.
00:05:18.160 --> 00:05:23.680
So first there's that, but then the second is that you don't just eat boiled crawfish with a knife and a fork.
00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:26.079
There's a whole peeling process involved.
00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:30.000
And so we're talking folding tables covered with newspapers.
00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:33.600
Here comes a fresh batch dumped out onto the table.
00:05:33.839 --> 00:05:35.839
And then you start to peel.
00:05:35.920 --> 00:05:44.560
So you're pulling off the tail and you're taking out the meat and you're dipping it in whatever magical dip that your grandmother taught you how to make.
00:05:44.720 --> 00:05:51.920
And it's just, it's just the full experience of spice and activity and fun and fellowship.
00:05:52.000 --> 00:05:55.199
So that's what I've got to tell you about for crawfish, uh, for food.
00:05:55.439 --> 00:06:08.399
Then when it comes to I guess, I guess, people, you know, New Orleans is not the entire state of Louisiana, but New Orleans itself has a reputation for being the city that care for God.
00:06:08.800 --> 00:06:20.399
It's it's just got this slower way of living where people just enjoy life, the good with the bad.
00:06:20.639 --> 00:06:26.480
There's music playing, and anytime you walk out of your house, you can hear music from somewhere.
00:06:26.720 --> 00:06:30.480
And it's just a a really magical people.
00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:33.680
And then, like I said, culture, music is everywhere.
00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:36.560
I mean, it's just it's it's really fun.
00:06:36.720 --> 00:06:37.680
Come on down.
00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:39.519
Wow, wow, wow.
00:06:39.680 --> 00:06:47.600
I've never been to New Orleans, but the reason I love New Orleans is because, and correct me if I'm wrong, you have the Catier Francais, the French Quarter.
00:06:47.759 --> 00:06:50.560
Yes, yes, the French Quarter, yes.
00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:51.600
There you go.
00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:52.399
Oh, awesome.
00:06:52.560 --> 00:06:53.360
And what's that like?
00:06:53.519 --> 00:06:55.600
We will dive in very shortly, of course.
00:06:55.759 --> 00:06:57.279
What's the French Quarter like?
00:06:57.519 --> 00:06:58.800
Yeah, oh goodness.
00:06:58.959 --> 00:07:05.519
So I I love spending time in the French Quarter because it is so rich with history.
00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:08.639
I can be such a history nerd, a Louisiana history nerd.
00:07:08.800 --> 00:07:15.600
My uh eighth-grade Louisiana history teacher actually was the officiant of my wedding.
00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:22.319
And we, my husband and I got married in a Louisiana landmark in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana's old state capital.
00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:27.600
Uh, but the French Quarter, I mean, every corner you turn is some type of historical marker.
00:07:27.839 --> 00:07:34.000
Not only that, that's where so many of the most amazing restaurants in the country are located.
00:07:34.160 --> 00:07:36.240
And then it again, there's the music.
00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:51.839
You cannot walk down the street without hearing a brass band walk by or hearing musicians on the street just playing music or hearing music floating out of a club or a restaurant.
00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:55.920
And it's just this totally immersive environment.
00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:59.600
And there is nothing better than April in New Orleans.
00:07:59.680 --> 00:08:02.720
That's actually when they host the French Quarter Fest every year.
00:08:02.879 --> 00:08:04.480
It's a free festival.
00:08:04.720 --> 00:08:13.360
Anyone can go, and there are stages set up all around the French Quarter, food vendors, and it's just it's an awesome experience.
00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:15.600
Wow, wow, wow.
00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:22.240
Anna, so you've just illustrated why time management is very interesting.
00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:26.480
You get time to go get some crawfish and just live life.
00:08:26.800 --> 00:08:35.360
You built a career kind of helping people reclaim their time, but before this, what did success mean to you personally?
00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:36.720
Yeah.
00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:50.399
So that's such an interesting question because I think that what success has looked like for me personally has it's almost like there was a before and an after.
00:08:50.879 --> 00:09:08.480
You know, when I think about Anna back in 2009 working on Capitol Hill, and Anna who moved back to Louisiana to work in state government and crisis communications, when I imagined success, I pictured someone who was busy.
00:09:09.039 --> 00:09:30.159
I pictured someone who was constantly needed because the models that I had of success who were around me, who were in higher-ranking government positions, who were executive account directors in crisis communication, they were constantly on their phone.
00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:35.039
They were constantly being needed, they were constantly being pulled out of one meeting and into another.
00:09:53.360 --> 00:10:13.039
Until I actually became that person and began to feel the guilt creep in after stepping out of a family dinner, after being like the stress associated with being pulled in so many directions.
00:10:13.279 --> 00:10:21.679
You know, one of my biggest breaking points, Mo, actually came the weekend of a really big festival in New Orleans.
00:10:21.840 --> 00:10:22.159
Okay.
00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.360
So I remember I was living in New Orleans at the time.
00:10:25.440 --> 00:10:32.879
I was working in crisis communications, and there was a really big crisis that one of our local universities was experiencing.
00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:41.039
And I remember waking up on a Saturday morning and going straight to my laptop.
00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:46.320
My husband, he left to head out to the festival that we had planned to go to.
00:10:46.480 --> 00:10:55.200
I could literally hear music from outside of my window, and I was stuck at home handling this crisis situation.
00:10:56.559 --> 00:11:13.440
And I was so upset because the entire reason why we moved from Baton Rouge to New Orleans in the first place was so we could enjoy those cultural moments to have fun, to enjoy the city.
00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:26.159
And now my version of success was keeping me from experiencing what became my new picture of success, which was time freedom.
00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:41.200
I mean, without a doubt, if the before is success equals being in demand, now the after is that success equals having time freedom.
00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:48.399
And there are there are different ways to achieve that, different levels of time freedom, different ways to feel that.
00:11:48.480 --> 00:11:57.200
And for me, now when I imagine the success, it's the ability to have control over how I spend my time during the day.
00:11:57.600 --> 00:12:04.879
It's the ability to take a long lunch without being worried that I'm letting someone down.
00:12:05.360 --> 00:12:18.159
It's the ability to be at the bus stop when my kids get on the bus and when they get off the bus, and to take them to dance lessons and to create experiences for them.
00:12:18.879 --> 00:12:21.600
That's what success looks like to me now.
00:12:23.120 --> 00:12:25.519
And those two things coexist.
00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:33.200
The long lunches, not worrying about the time as such, and being successful.
00:12:35.919 --> 00:13:04.240
Success can take so many different shapes and forms, but for me, if I am working with clients that I that I align with, because that was that was a really big challenge for me working in crisis communications, is that there were times that I felt such a conflict between the work that I was doing and my personal core values.
00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:17.440
Like, you know, those moments where something just feels off and you can't quite articulate what it is because maybe you haven't captured your personal core values yet.
00:13:18.240 --> 00:13:23.200
When you feel off, some people call it their intuition, some people call it a gut feeling.
00:13:23.360 --> 00:13:27.120
A lot of times those are your core values trying to come to the surface.
00:13:27.440 --> 00:13:32.720
And if I'm living in alignment with my core values, I'm successful.
00:13:34.480 --> 00:13:37.919
I'm just curious to know because I know this is in your background.
00:13:38.240 --> 00:13:39.279
What was your experience?
00:13:39.440 --> 00:13:42.399
What was your role working for the government?
00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:53.440
So I have spent time working both in the federal government and in Louisiana state government.
00:13:53.759 --> 00:14:03.279
One of my first jobs right out of college, I moved to Washington, D.C., where I became a scheduler to a brand new member of Congress on Capitol Hill.
00:14:03.519 --> 00:14:17.440
So for those of you who don't know, there is an entire position in every single congressional office or Senate office that is in charge of the boss's schedule.
00:14:17.679 --> 00:14:18.639
An entire job.
00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:19.759
It's called scheduler.
00:14:19.919 --> 00:14:25.279
It's it's literally you are in charge of every single minute of your boss's day.
00:14:25.600 --> 00:14:36.639
And in that role, I was responsible for managing every single minute of his time from the moment he woke up in the morning until he went to bed at night.
00:14:36.879 --> 00:14:39.519
Every single minute was accounted for.
00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:50.480
So my inbox was an avalanche of meeting invitations from constituents back in the district to dinner invitations and hotel reservations.
00:14:50.639 --> 00:14:56.240
And it was just this constant information that I was managing.
00:14:56.559 --> 00:15:08.720
And not only did I have to learn how to manage a congressman's time, but I had to learn how to manage my own time as a new professional.
00:15:09.039 --> 00:15:12.559
And I loved, I loved working on the hill.
00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:14.720
I loved the energy of being in DC.
00:15:14.960 --> 00:15:18.799
Like I said, I've always been a um a history nerd.
00:15:18.960 --> 00:15:21.679
A I've always loved political history.
00:15:21.919 --> 00:15:24.720
And so living in DC was a dream.
00:15:25.039 --> 00:15:32.159
But what I didn't expect was how much I would miss being close to my family.
00:15:32.879 --> 00:15:37.360
You know, I had this vision of, again, we, you know, we talk about vision of success.
00:15:37.519 --> 00:15:42.799
I had this vision that I would live in DC for seven years, just totally arbitrary number.
00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:48.639
Imagined that I would live in DC for seven years and work my way up through different roles on Capitol Hill.
00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:51.679
And then at some point I would probably move back to Louisiana.
00:15:51.840 --> 00:16:05.759
Um, I ended up moving back to Louisiana in less than a year because I hated that I could not hug my mom whenever I wanted to.
00:16:06.000 --> 00:16:12.960
And I couldn't run down the road and have biscuits and jelly with my grandmother whenever I wanted.
00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:16.480
And I knew that I didn't want to only see my family a few times a year.
00:16:16.559 --> 00:16:22.240
So I moved back to Louisiana, and that's when I started working in more state government roles.
00:16:22.480 --> 00:16:29.279
Um typically communications, legislative affairs, but always rapid response.
00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:36.720
I have drafted congressional testimony for the BP oil spill that took place off of Louisiana's coast.
00:16:36.960 --> 00:16:42.000
I've been a speech writer for a number of elected and appointed officials.
00:16:42.320 --> 00:16:51.039
And I would say that my favorite among all the positions is when I served as communications director to a lieutenant governor.
00:16:51.279 --> 00:16:57.200
Funny enough, Mo, when I was in eighth grade, I'm taking you all the way back to eighth grade.
00:16:57.519 --> 00:17:05.920
I we my class was assigned an essay on what we wanted to be when we grew up.
00:17:06.319 --> 00:17:08.079
And I had no idea.
00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:14.000
I knew I didn't want to be the typical, I didn't want to be a teacher, I didn't want to be an engineer.
00:17:14.400 --> 00:17:22.240
And I remember I told my mom, I was like, mom, I just want to tell everyone about how amazing Louisiana is and tell them to come here to come visit.
00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:26.480
And she said, Anna, you realize that's the lieutenant governor's job.
00:17:26.640 --> 00:17:33.039
The lieutenant governor is over culture, recreation, and tourism for the state.
00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:42.799
And so having the opportunity to be the communications director to the lieutenant governor so early in my career was absolutely unreal.
00:17:44.240 --> 00:17:49.759
This sounds really fulfilling, and you've been on an amazing journey with your career early on.
00:17:50.079 --> 00:17:55.440
You've worked in these high-pressure environments where chaos was just the norm.
00:17:56.000 --> 00:18:03.440
Was there a point where your ability to handle it all became the very thing that was holding you back?
00:18:04.880 --> 00:18:20.559
You know, I remember that there was this one September when I was working as an account executive for a boutique communications firm in New Orleans.
00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:28.960
And during that month, I was overseeing multiple crisis accounts.
00:18:29.440 --> 00:18:37.039
I traveled to lead a strategic planning session for AFLAX Corporate Communications Division.
00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:56.799
And I remember how devastatingly grueling that time period was to the point that I had almost a minute by minute, hour by hour itinerary that I had created for myself just to be able to get through this that month.
00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:11.759
Once the crisis situations had settled a bit, I just I crashed.
00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:25.519
Because I was capable of holding it all together and doing all of the things.
00:19:26.000 --> 00:19:30.000
But I wasn't taking care of myself.
00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:33.279
I wasn't eating well, I wasn't sleeping.
00:19:33.440 --> 00:19:44.640
I would typically work until around six or seven, go home, eat dinner, and then open my laptop again until around 11 to 1 a.m.
00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:47.759
It was constant.
00:19:48.880 --> 00:20:02.079
And all of those times that I pictured the, you know, the high-powered in-demand women stepping out to take a call, I didn't realize that that was also a part of the deal, a part of the unseen deal.
00:20:03.119 --> 00:20:30.720
And I also, I'll be honest, Mo, I look back to that time and I think, wow, if I had known then what I know now about taking care of my habits, my energy, my attention, making sure that I'm recharging, I might still work in crisis communications because I would be able to approach that type of work in a much more sustainable, realistic way.
00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:45.039
But at that point in my life, without the understanding of the strategies involved, without really having an understanding of myself, because self-awareness is everything, it was just brute force all the way.
00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:46.960
It was brute force.
00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:55.519
And I look back at that time and I think about all of the milestone moments that I had to miss that I do not have another chance.
00:20:57.200 --> 00:20:58.400
Another chance at.
00:21:48.319 --> 00:21:53.759
Just how much work had taken over.
00:21:55.599 --> 00:21:59.759
I'm sure a lot of people listening to this can understand the situation.
00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.119
Or have a situation that's similar for themselves.
00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:15.279
A lot of times high achievers think success in this column and the hundred and twenty-hour week in that column, and then the journey to success happens, right?
00:22:15.519 --> 00:22:17.759
And then you miss all these things along the way.
00:22:18.079 --> 00:22:31.759
How do we get someone who has that mindset out of that mindset to almost value those tiny events in real time, given that in the future you'll look back and realize they were huge events?
00:22:32.000 --> 00:22:32.160
Yeah.
00:22:32.400 --> 00:22:33.039
Yeah.
00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:39.759
You know, Mo, yeah, sometimes you have to feel the pain to make a change.
00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:40.720
Right.
00:22:40.960 --> 00:22:44.240
Sometimes you have to feel the pain to make a change.
00:22:44.480 --> 00:22:51.519
And it has to, it has to hurt for you to really get serious about it.
00:22:52.000 --> 00:23:03.599
You know, it it again, it takes a lot of self-awareness for someone to go from my idea of success is being in demand and going nonstop.
00:23:03.839 --> 00:23:15.920
And that lifestyle because it is not a switch flip to no, for me, success is actually time freedom.
00:23:16.160 --> 00:23:21.440
For me, success is actually control over how I spend my time.
00:23:22.720 --> 00:23:38.799
And often there has to be some type of turning point, some type of fork in the road, some type of decision, some type of moment where you realize, oh, this is not the life that I want.
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:46.720
And that's what becomes that catalyst for change.
00:23:46.960 --> 00:23:49.279
You know, you compare it to health.
00:23:49.599 --> 00:24:01.759
A lot of times people will have a lifestyle where they don't take care of their bodies, they're not getting enough sleep, they are not eating nutritious foods.
00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:14.319
And then they have a negative health experience, or they go to a doctor's appointment where they're told if you don't change things, it will get worse.
00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:46.160
And so, as much as I would love for everyone to avoid the pain that comes with making mistakes, that comes with those hard learning moments, sometimes it's it's the pain, it's the feeling what you don't want anymore that pushes you to take action and know that you never want to go back to that place.
00:24:46.480 --> 00:25:00.640
I I even think about now, I guard my calendar and my yeses so vigilantly because I know what I'm like when I'm exhausted.
00:25:00.880 --> 00:25:05.680
I know how I feel when I am stretched too thin.
00:25:05.920 --> 00:25:12.960
And I will not, I will not go back there because now it impacts more than just me.
00:25:13.119 --> 00:25:14.559
I have two daughters.
00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:17.920
I have two young daughters who are five and seven.
00:25:18.240 --> 00:25:27.519
And not only am I here to take care of them, but I am here to model what life can look like for them.
00:25:28.160 --> 00:25:41.759
And if they see a mom who is pulled in so many different directions that she can't be present with them, what type of model can I be?
00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:50.799
And so I love, I love when clients come to me and they say, Anna, I'm early in my career.
00:25:51.279 --> 00:26:00.880
I want to make sure that I am burnout proof, that I put the right things in place before things get bad.
00:26:01.200 --> 00:26:04.400
Because I could see, I can see where the path is going.
00:26:04.720 --> 00:26:06.079
And I love that.
00:26:08.480 --> 00:26:32.319
Because you can start to implement strategies and create your own system, but a lot of times it takes that feeling of being completely overwhelmed to push you in that direction of I'm not living like this anymore.
00:26:34.000 --> 00:26:35.039
Wow, what a share.
00:26:35.279 --> 00:26:42.160
And what'd you say to the person listening to this that says, that was all great, I'll just do that next year.
00:26:42.480 --> 00:26:53.359
I'll start attending events next year, a couple of years' time, but this year I'm in my zone of this part of my balance zone where I'm going full steam ahead.
00:26:53.599 --> 00:26:58.720
I'll start doing the 20 hours a week next year and leveraging next year.
00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:00.319
What'd you say to that person?
00:27:00.640 --> 00:27:03.920
I would actually say go for it.
00:27:05.119 --> 00:27:14.720
You you do you, and if you're in a season right now of going hard, go hard.
00:27:15.039 --> 00:27:20.559
But notice that I said a season, seasons come to an end.
00:27:21.759 --> 00:27:25.440
Seasons change, seasons are cyclical.
00:27:26.319 --> 00:27:35.839
And as a human, we cannot go, we cannot give 110 100 of the time.
00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:39.839
And if you try to do that, you will burn out.
00:27:40.720 --> 00:27:46.000
But what I would tell someone who's like, no, I'm in a season right now of going hard.
00:27:46.319 --> 00:27:51.839
I would only ask them, okay, how will you know when that season is complete?
00:27:54.640 --> 00:28:00.880
Because once that season is complete, then you can take a breath, then you can downshift, then you can go on a vacation.
00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:05.599
Look, I've had seasons of hustle too, even since shifting my idea of success.
00:28:05.759 --> 00:28:16.960
I remember when I wrote my book, I was writing my book, I was running my coaching business, I was working full time for a company during that time frame.
00:28:17.279 --> 00:28:21.759
Plus, I had a two-year-old and a four-year-old.
00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:26.960
That was a season of hustle, season of hustle.
00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:32.640
And once we got to the other side of the book launch, downshift, recover.
00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:39.759
And I I really love that drawing the line and saying this is the season, this is when the season ends.
00:28:40.000 --> 00:28:43.200
And but long term, that's just not the way.
00:28:43.440 --> 00:28:52.319
Anna, was there ever a time, and I know we we're going back in time, was there ever a time when your self-worth was just tied to how productive you were?
00:28:53.119 --> 00:28:54.559
What a fun question.
00:28:54.880 --> 00:28:59.599
So, Mo, that is something I continue to wrestle with on a daily basis.
00:28:59.839 --> 00:29:06.400
And I think that that's something that for many of us high achievers, it's always going to be in the background.
00:29:06.640 --> 00:29:12.799
You know, you and I, we know each other through Brain Builders Group.
00:29:13.119 --> 00:29:21.119
And I was sitting in an accelerator in Nashville, like probably about a year ago, almost a year ago.
00:29:21.279 --> 00:29:26.480
And I remember AJ talking about how she was reading a book called The Seven Primal Questions.
00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:30.160
And if you haven't had a chance to read this book yet, I highly recommend it.
00:29:30.240 --> 00:29:55.599
Um, it reminded me a lot of the Enneagram, the Enneagram being a personality assessment that is based on what your childhood wound is, because all of us as children are wounded in some way that shapes our beliefs about who we are, our worth, and what makes us feel healthy, safe in the world.
00:29:56.079 --> 00:29:59.759
And I am an Enneagram three.
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:03.599
So anyone who's listening, you're like, okay, so that's the achiever.
00:30:03.680 --> 00:30:07.119
So the Enneagram three is someone who is known as the achiever.
00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:26.319
And we became the achiever because at some point in our childhood, we received a message, whether it was intentionally, unintentionally, we received a message that if we are successful, if we are good enough, then we will be loved.
00:30:26.559 --> 00:30:29.440
If we achieve, then we will be loved.
00:30:29.599 --> 00:30:32.079
If we try hard enough, then we will be loved.
00:30:32.319 --> 00:30:38.160
And that is something that once you identify that that is within you, it's always a hole.
00:30:38.240 --> 00:30:39.599
It's always there.
00:30:39.920 --> 00:30:52.559
And so a lot of high achievers are the way that we are because we are trying to fill a hole and prove to ourselves or whoever else that we are enough.
00:30:53.039 --> 00:31:05.039
And so knowing that, it's kind of like when you when you know you have an allergy, that you're just more aware of like the the things that can cause an allergy attack.
00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:19.440
When you are aware that you have this achievement hole in you, you are more aware of, okay, I I do not need to keep going for the sake of going.
00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:21.839
I can rest, I can take a break.
00:31:22.079 --> 00:31:38.799
And I mean, it it does, it requires you to really think hard, think very intentionally about am I doing this to push a goal forward or am I doing this because I want to feel productive?
00:31:39.119 --> 00:32:00.319
And so when I think, when I think back to what this looked like early in my career, I still remember the very first day that I stayed late at work to help my bosses with a project and how they were so impressed that I stayed late to help with this.
00:32:00.720 --> 00:32:09.599
And it made me feel so good to be there and be helpful and to, you know, be a part of the team.
00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:22.640
What I didn't realize is that I was also showing them that my boundaries around time and work were blurry.
00:32:22.880 --> 00:32:24.160
Right, exactly.
00:32:24.400 --> 00:32:32.160
And that, oh, well, Anna stayed late that one time, so now that's something that we begin to expect of her.
00:32:33.359 --> 00:32:35.440
And I wanted that approval.
00:32:36.400 --> 00:32:40.960
I wanted that, wow, what a team player.
00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:54.559
And so the amount, the hours worked somehow became this equation in my mind of how successful and how needed I was.
00:32:54.720 --> 00:33:02.000
Not to mention the fact that at that time, working in state government, all of my friends were also working in state government.
00:33:02.160 --> 00:33:07.599
We were all either working in communications for state agencies or in the governor's office.
00:33:08.079 --> 00:33:11.119
And everyone was working all the time.
00:33:12.720 --> 00:33:14.480
Everyone was working all the time.
00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:16.000
It was just what you do.
00:33:16.400 --> 00:33:23.440
And if you weren't answering calls and emails on your BlackBerry, right?
00:33:23.599 --> 00:33:29.599
On your Blackberry at dinner, then why were you even there?
00:33:32.240 --> 00:33:37.039
Because clearly, if you're not working, why are why are you here?
00:33:37.279 --> 00:33:39.039
Because that's what we all do.
00:33:39.599 --> 00:33:49.759
And being in that type of environment just fuels the fire of tying your productivity to your worth.
00:33:50.000 --> 00:33:54.559
So a lot of that for me had to be untangled whenever I left that world.
00:35:07.400 --> 00:35:09.719
What outstanding insight, Anna.
00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:19.000
Anna, you help people stop feeling overwhelmed today with your coaching and your podcasts and your various bits and blobs that you do.
00:35:19.639 --> 00:35:25.719
But what was the emotion that you were actually trying to escape from when you stayed busy?
00:35:26.119 --> 00:35:26.759
Huh.
00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:34.679
I mean, it's I mean, it all comes down to worthiness.
00:35:36.039 --> 00:35:49.639
If I am not producing, if I am not creating, if I am not doing something that is valuable to someone else, then I am not valuable.
00:35:50.279 --> 00:35:52.039
Then I am not worthy.
00:35:52.679 --> 00:35:57.319
And what a lie is that to believe, right?
00:35:57.559 --> 00:36:12.199
But isn't it so advantageous to so many companies and organizations and people for us to believe that about ourselves because it keeps us striving?
00:36:12.679 --> 00:36:17.000
It's like climbing a never-ending staircase.
00:36:17.719 --> 00:36:23.319
Because there is no such thing as enough unless you define it for yourself.
00:36:26.039 --> 00:36:33.960
And I've definitely been there, you know, 16-hour days and over-achiever in the Enneagrams and all those other bits and bobs.
00:36:34.039 --> 00:36:41.079
And and then when you get the result and that you're the overachiever or the winner, or another iteration of this, it's sort of celebrating.
00:36:41.319 --> 00:36:47.559
So it's definitely great learning more and putting in place these boundaries.
00:36:47.719 --> 00:36:55.639
What belief about productivity did you have to let go of before the next version of Anna could emerge?
00:36:55.879 --> 00:36:56.199
Yeah.
00:36:56.759 --> 00:37:01.879
So I actually had it printed on a coffee mug and it's busy is not a badge of honor.
00:37:02.199 --> 00:37:04.839
Busy is not a badge of honor.
00:37:05.159 --> 00:37:07.719
Busy is not a badge of honor.
00:37:07.960 --> 00:37:36.199
Just gonna say it three times right there, because I realized that in conversations with women, and not just women, but at the time I was really involved in a women's service organization, that anytime you asked someone how they were doing, they would say, Oh, so busy, but it's good busy.
00:37:37.399 --> 00:37:38.679
Over and over again.
00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:43.319
Oh my gosh, so busy, but it's good, it's good, it's a good busy.
00:37:43.559 --> 00:37:52.920
And it just I remember people talking about, oh, well, I only have 30 minutes open in my calendar this week.
00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:55.399
So if you can't do it then, then we can't do it at all.
00:37:55.719 --> 00:38:06.119
And people complaining about how busy they were, but it was this, it was almost this humble brag.
00:38:06.199 --> 00:38:16.119
It was like a it was complaining, but it was also disguised as bragging, like, oh, I'm so busy, I have all these things to do.
00:38:17.079 --> 00:38:24.440
And I just remember thinking, that does not make me impressed with you.
00:38:26.359 --> 00:38:31.319
It does not make me impressed that you are so incredibly busy.
00:38:31.480 --> 00:38:37.239
It makes me question your ability to prioritize and hold your boundaries.
00:38:39.879 --> 00:38:47.319
And that's because I was that person who was, oh, I'm so busy.
00:38:47.399 --> 00:38:49.559
I have all of these things to do.
00:38:51.239 --> 00:39:02.679
And I I remember when I left the world of crisis communications and government affairs, I was still doing contract work.
00:39:02.920 --> 00:39:06.039
So I was still working, but I felt very unemployed.
00:39:06.119 --> 00:39:16.279
You know, I feel like unemployed is kind of a it's a it's a it's a little bit of a mindset because I was working, but I didn't have a traditional job.
00:39:16.519 --> 00:39:23.799
And that was very difficult for me not to tie my work to the title on my business card because I really had no business card.
00:39:23.960 --> 00:39:29.399
There was a lot of rebuilding internally that happened during that time frame.
00:39:30.199 --> 00:39:57.319
And I remember being so concerned of what other people thought of me during that time frame because I wasn't doing big things with the governor's office and I wasn't working on a campaign, and I wasn't nope, nope, my family didn't understand what coaching was or what I was working toward.
00:39:58.039 --> 00:40:03.000
And it made me start thinking about new badges of honor.
00:40:03.799 --> 00:40:06.119
What can we trade busy for?
00:40:07.000 --> 00:40:10.759
Can we trade busy for purpose?
00:40:11.960 --> 00:40:13.799
Can we trade busy for freedom?
00:40:14.039 --> 00:40:16.119
Can we trade busy for intention?
00:40:17.559 --> 00:40:28.199
And so uh now I avoid using the phrase busy as much as possible because I think busy is lazy.
00:40:29.000 --> 00:40:40.839
I think busy is it's just an expression of misplaced priorities and blurry boundaries.
00:40:44.279 --> 00:40:55.719
So it sounds like Hannah, you're saying shock horror, that success and achievement shouldn't take up a hundred percent of your world, your time, and your life.
00:40:56.119 --> 00:40:57.159
Of course not.
00:40:57.399 --> 00:42:19.319
If if it takes up 100% of your worth, your time, and your life, where do your relationships fit in?
00:42:20.039 --> 00:42:23.239
Where does fun fit in?
00:42:23.399 --> 00:42:26.839
Yeah, you can have fun while you're striving and succeeding.
00:42:26.999 --> 00:42:28.279
I love learning.
00:42:28.519 --> 00:42:40.839
I mean, I yesterday was walking around the house tidying up my girls' toys and watching a mini course about Instagram trial reels.
00:42:40.919 --> 00:42:45.159
You know, I love that that brings me joy to learn about things.
00:42:45.479 --> 00:43:13.319
So you can have fun while you're striving, but if you're so focused on success that you are missing out on opportunities to build relationships and to nurture relationships, I mean, study after study has shown that the key to longevity is relationships for men, for women, it's having people in our lives, it's not being lonely.
00:43:14.679 --> 00:43:24.519
And if you're not investing at least some of your time into other people, then what are you doing?
00:43:28.439 --> 00:43:33.799
What does uh what matters most actually mean in practice?
00:43:34.359 --> 00:43:39.639
Yeah, what matters most is so vague.
00:43:40.519 --> 00:43:41.559
It's so vague.
00:43:42.679 --> 00:43:50.599
And it's that way for a reason, but because you can put whatever matters most to you there.
00:43:50.839 --> 00:43:57.319
A lot of times, like when I think about what matters most, I think about my kids, I think about my family.
00:43:57.639 --> 00:44:15.319
Because if I don't do a good job raising my girls to be strong women with integrity and kindness, then I I consider that to be my most important job.
00:44:15.639 --> 00:44:17.559
They are my legacy.
00:44:20.439 --> 00:44:25.159
Which actually then brings me to what matters most.
00:44:26.199 --> 00:44:38.679
If you want to clearly define it, what matters most is a combination of your vision for the future, what you're working toward, and your personal core values.
00:44:39.479 --> 00:44:53.799
And what is so fabulous, what is so cool, Mo, is that for every single person in the entire world, their vision for the future and their personal core values is 100% unique.
00:44:55.159 --> 00:45:02.039
It is this one thing, this what matters most is unique to every single one of us.
00:45:02.279 --> 00:45:14.839
And so when you have a vision for your future, when you know what you're working toward, what you want your life to look like, that becomes the goalpost.
00:45:14.999 --> 00:45:17.959
That becomes the the finish line for your goals.
00:45:18.119 --> 00:45:20.599
And let's be honest, we never really hit a finish line.
00:45:20.679 --> 00:45:24.279
We keep moving it because we achieve this vision and then we think, what's next?
00:45:24.439 --> 00:45:25.079
And that's great.
00:45:25.319 --> 00:45:30.679
You know, it's one thing to be content in life, and then there is another to continually grow.
00:45:30.999 --> 00:45:31.319
Okay.
00:45:32.519 --> 00:45:41.719
So that vision, but then what makes the path to achieving that vision uniquely you is in your core values.
00:45:42.119 --> 00:45:51.319
Your core values are the the things, the concepts that really are you at your core.
00:45:51.639 --> 00:45:57.959
And they become the guiding light for how you achieve that vision.
00:45:58.119 --> 00:46:04.839
Because let's be real, there's, as my grandmother from North Louisiana would say, there's more than one way to skin a cat.
00:46:05.719 --> 00:46:10.599
No offense to all the cats, but there's more than one way to achieve a vision.
00:46:10.919 --> 00:46:18.359
And when you apply your core values to that path, that's where it becomes uniquely you and what matters most.
00:46:18.599 --> 00:46:22.919
My core values are authenticity, courage.
00:46:23.959 --> 00:46:27.639
Intention, curiosity, and legacy.
00:46:28.919 --> 00:46:38.919
And I can look at every single thing on my calendar and tell you which of my values is tied to what's on my calendar.
00:46:39.799 --> 00:46:48.919
I can tell you in my decisions, in the habits that I build, they are tied to my core values.
00:46:49.639 --> 00:46:54.999
And that makes everything so much more meaningful.
00:46:57.559 --> 00:46:58.999
So outstanding, Anna.
00:46:59.159 --> 00:47:06.999
Um if productivity isn't primarily about managing time, what is it really about?
00:47:07.559 --> 00:47:08.199
Yeah.
00:47:09.319 --> 00:47:22.199
So productivity is a really interesting word because productivity itself is about producing, it's about creating.
00:48:45.799 --> 00:48:48.759
And time management really comes last.
00:48:49.159 --> 00:48:52.359
I mean, don't get me wrong, it's it's infused through everything.
00:48:52.519 --> 00:48:54.999
When you're managing your energy, you're managing your time.
00:48:55.159 --> 00:48:58.599
When you're creating a new habit, you're impacting your time.
00:49:00.359 --> 00:49:14.279
But if I I always say that if someone comes to me and they just want to be more productive, they want to sacrifice sleep, they want to go hard, they're in this let's go hard season.
00:49:17.319 --> 00:49:30.759
Yes, I I can help you get there, but only if it is truly based in a vision for the future with clear core values.
00:49:31.159 --> 00:49:37.479
Because if you want time management hacks, you can go to TikTok for that.
00:49:37.879 --> 00:49:50.599
But if you want truly core, life-changing, embedded intention where you literally think about time in a new way, let's go.
00:49:50.759 --> 00:49:51.879
Let's do that.
00:49:54.119 --> 00:50:03.639
Here's why I was so excited to have you on the podcast, Anna, because I knew that what you do is beyond just time management, beyond just productivity.
00:50:03.719 --> 00:50:16.199
It's more about transformation, if I could say, and even iterating the way that that that we typically think of success, and uh so exceptional your your shares.
00:50:16.359 --> 00:50:19.799
And I'm going to use the word productivity, but you can you can iterate it.
00:50:20.119 --> 00:50:27.399
So when you look at the truly exceptional performers, maybe they've they're the ones that work have worked with you for a year or a couple of years.
00:50:27.559 --> 00:50:37.719
For example, you look at the truly exceptional performers, what do they understand about productivity that most high achievers completely miss?
00:50:38.359 --> 00:50:40.119
Yes, okay.
00:50:40.919 --> 00:51:25.719
I have I have so many clients that I instantly think of, and the biggest difference is that the truly sustainable high performers, because anybody can be a high performer for a short period of time, you can sprint and then fall over, you know, you can go hard and then get exhausted, but the true high performers who get it understand that the way that we manage our time is not a one-time operation.
00:51:26.999 --> 00:51:32.119
It is not something, you know, people like to think of a crock pot or a slow cooker.
00:51:32.279 --> 00:51:35.959
You set it and forget it, and then later you have this delicious meal.
00:51:36.119 --> 00:51:39.239
You cannot set and forget time management.
00:51:41.959 --> 00:51:51.959
Time management, designing your life, creating your habits is not a finish line to be reached.
00:51:52.279 --> 00:51:56.119
You never wake up one morning and say, I did it.
00:51:56.519 --> 00:51:58.759
I conquered time management.
00:51:58.999 --> 00:52:02.759
And the reason why is because our lives are always changing.
00:52:03.079 --> 00:52:08.679
We're constantly evolving as people, as humans.
00:52:08.839 --> 00:52:14.039
The world around us is changing in ways that we don't have control over individually.
00:52:14.279 --> 00:52:25.239
If you're a parent, your children are constantly changing and growing in what they are capable of doing themselves, what they need help with.
00:52:25.719 --> 00:52:40.519
And so if you think of time management as this checklist to be achieved or a finish line to be reached, you are going to be continuously disappointed because life is going to change and it's going to require a brand new strategy.
00:52:41.159 --> 00:52:48.039
So I like to think of time management and even productivity as a practice.
00:52:48.679 --> 00:52:50.199
You think about yoga.
00:52:50.599 --> 00:52:52.519
You can't win yoga.
00:52:53.239 --> 00:52:57.559
Like you can't, you can't win yoga.
00:52:58.199 --> 00:53:01.879
You can only show up and practice.
00:53:02.199 --> 00:53:09.559
And you can practice based on who you are coming into that yoga session.
00:53:09.799 --> 00:53:17.319
Some days we're sore, some days we're more flexible, some days we have more or less mental clutter.
00:53:17.559 --> 00:53:23.399
Some days it comes easy to us, and some days we really have to focus hard.
00:53:26.039 --> 00:53:34.279
Time management and productivity is a practice where you are constantly adjusting to the realities of life.
00:53:34.599 --> 00:53:37.719
You're you're always getting a little bit better at it.
00:53:37.959 --> 00:53:43.719
You're reacting a little bit better, you're getting more used to using things, you're developing habits.
00:53:44.359 --> 00:53:57.639
But when you can make peace with the fact that your ideal week in this season will need to be completely redone in three months, then you're ahead of the game.
00:53:58.039 --> 00:54:10.279
Because you are you are extending that flexibility, that understanding, that growth, that evolution to the way you manage your time.
00:54:10.839 --> 00:54:18.039
That's what unlocks everything, is thinking of it like a practice rather than a finish line to be reached.
00:54:19.479 --> 00:54:24.119
Which is why the work you do with your clients is absolutely essential.
00:54:24.599 --> 00:54:33.559
If the version of Anna from 10 years ago met the version of Anna today, what would surprise her the most?
00:54:35.559 --> 00:54:35.879
Okay.
00:54:36.759 --> 00:54:39.159
I mean, let's really look at this for a second.
00:54:39.559 --> 00:54:49.639
It's 2026, and in 2015, I was working in Crisis PR.
00:54:50.439 --> 00:54:52.599
In 2016, was when I quit.
00:54:53.719 --> 00:54:58.519
I quit in August 2016, walked away from the PR firm.
00:54:59.799 --> 00:55:06.519
This was when I tell my story and I talk about the messy middle where I had no idea what was next.
00:55:06.759 --> 00:55:08.519
That was 10 years ago.
00:55:10.279 --> 00:55:11.639
Time management.
00:55:13.639 --> 00:55:27.479
I think that Anna then, if 20 2016 Anna could could look at 2026 Anna now, she would be so incredibly proud.
00:55:27.799 --> 00:55:43.479
She would also laugh because Mo, when I tell you, I was written up by my supervisor for being late 17 times in one quarter while I was working at the PR firm.
00:55:44.359 --> 00:55:48.839
So that would have been 2015, spring 2016, when that happened.
00:55:49.079 --> 00:55:55.719
And so Anna, who was perpetually late, always frazzled.
00:55:55.959 --> 00:55:59.799
Wait, you're telling me we became a time management coach and we wrote a book?
00:55:59.959 --> 00:56:01.159
Are you insane?
00:56:03.319 --> 00:56:10.359
I think I think that she would be thrilled, but also think it's hilarious.
00:56:16.359 --> 00:56:21.719
Many listeners have mastered planning, but they struggle with follow-through.
00:56:21.879 --> 00:56:22.199
Yeah.
00:56:22.439 --> 00:56:28.999
What separates the people who know what matters from the people who consistently act on what matters?
00:56:29.559 --> 00:56:30.199
Yeah.
00:56:30.919 --> 00:56:33.079
Struggling with follow-through.
00:56:33.399 --> 00:56:37.559
You know, this is something that's unique to everyone.
00:56:37.639 --> 00:56:43.799
And it's one of my favorite parts of being a coach because I really get to lean into my value of curiosity.
00:56:44.759 --> 00:56:49.239
Because it's not enough to hear from someone, I really struggle with follow-through.
00:56:50.999 --> 00:56:54.119
The next step is understanding what's causing it.
00:56:54.679 --> 00:57:00.759
Because procrastination comes in a lot of different flavors.
00:57:01.399 --> 00:57:04.359
And one of the most common ones is fear.
00:57:05.479 --> 00:57:09.879
Fear of fear of it not being perfect.
00:57:09.959 --> 00:57:13.639
You know, perfectionism is a version, is just a version of fear.
00:57:13.799 --> 00:57:16.679
It's a really nicely dressed version of fear.
00:57:18.759 --> 00:57:28.119
Sometimes that follow-through, that lack of follow-through comes from not having a clear picture of what done looks like or what complete looks like.
00:57:28.199 --> 00:57:34.999
And so you feel like you're kind of moving through the abstract and you can never really get to the end because you don't know what the end looks like.
00:57:35.399 --> 00:57:44.679
And sometimes it's just that what they're not following through on is so big and so complex that they're struggling to wrap their head around it.
00:57:44.999 --> 00:57:57.879
And so the thing that really sets people apart, those who can really follow through, and those who get stuck is self-awareness.
00:57:58.599 --> 00:58:04.359
It's not discipline, it's not motivation, it's not drive, it's self-awareness.
00:58:04.999 --> 00:58:12.919
Because it's not enough to say I'm stuck, or I really struggle with follow-through.
00:58:13.239 --> 00:58:14.359
What's the next step?
00:58:14.519 --> 00:58:22.359
It's okay, how do I feel about this thing that I am not making progress on?
00:58:22.599 --> 00:58:25.239
And that's exactly where my questions go as a coach.
00:58:25.559 --> 00:58:30.999
So, what do you feel like whenever you think about this thing that you're not following through on?
00:58:33.319 --> 00:58:35.319
What have you shared with others?
00:58:35.479 --> 00:58:43.959
You know, let's really get to the bottom of what is impeding the follow-through and let's fix that.
00:58:44.919 --> 00:58:52.519
Because if it's perfectionism, how can we find a tiny first step to build momentum?
00:58:53.239 --> 00:59:00.759
If it's because it's so big and complex that you can't wrap your head around it, how can we break it up into smaller pieces?
00:59:01.639 --> 00:59:11.879
And if it's abstract, how can we get clear on a milestone so that you can just get to that milestone?
00:59:12.599 --> 00:59:22.759
Again, it all goes back to self-awareness and being curious to kind of unpack and untangle what's holding you back.
00:59:23.959 --> 00:59:24.599
Right.
00:59:24.999 --> 00:59:25.879
Right, right, right.
00:59:26.039 --> 00:59:27.079
Um, so fascinating.
00:59:27.399 --> 00:59:28.279
Yes, shares.
00:59:28.999 --> 00:59:42.839
If a high achiever listening to this feels trapped and they're trapped in this life that's optimized for achievement, but not optimized for fulfillment, what's the first question they should ask themselves?
00:59:46.919 --> 00:59:50.359
That's a tough spot to be in.
00:59:50.679 --> 00:59:54.519
Because on the outside, everything looks great.
00:59:54.839 --> 01:00:00.599
You've got the job, you've got the car, the house, you're you're you're killing it.
01:00:01.319 --> 01:00:09.559
But what nobody can see is that on the inside you don't feel that fulfillment.
01:00:11.319 --> 01:00:28.119
So that first question that I would encourage someone to ask themselves, and it's just the first, but it's what do I really want here?
01:00:29.159 --> 01:00:30.759
What do I really want?
01:00:31.079 --> 01:00:33.239
And that's a big question.
01:00:33.879 --> 01:00:51.639
And when you have been living so aligned and optimized for success for so long, it can be really difficult to even know where to start with what you really want.
01:00:52.279 --> 01:01:16.519
And so, one way to answer that question, one way to start answering that question is to challenge yourself to make a list of 100 dreams, 100 things that you would like to experience, do in your lifetime.
01:01:16.999 --> 01:01:22.199
I first learned about this exercise in the book 168 hours by Laura Vandercam.
01:01:22.839 --> 01:01:30.359
Because very often when we want to take control of our time, we don't even know what to do with it.
01:01:30.999 --> 01:01:34.679
Because we're so used to just living the way that we've been living.
01:01:34.999 --> 01:01:44.359
But when you allow yourself to make that list of 100 dreams, you have to be very specific, or else you're not going to get very far.
01:01:44.439 --> 01:01:46.199
You can't just say travel more.
01:01:46.599 --> 01:01:54.039
You have to say, I want to see the Eiffel Tower, I want to sip limoncello in Italy.
01:01:54.439 --> 01:01:55.879
You have to be specific.
01:01:56.439 --> 01:02:10.119
And what happens as you force yourself to be specific is that you start to reconnect with who you are and what you really want.
01:02:10.599 --> 01:02:14.119
And that becomes a catalyst for what's next.
01:02:16.839 --> 01:02:24.519
So someone's listening to this a year from now, and they've completely transformed their relationship with time.
01:02:24.919 --> 01:02:30.439
They're calmer, they're more focused, and they're living with more intention.
01:02:31.399 --> 01:02:33.479
Anna, what do you think changed first?
01:02:33.639 --> 01:02:37.239
Was it their calendar, their habits, or their identity?
01:02:38.039 --> 01:02:39.399
Identity, 100%.
01:02:40.039 --> 01:02:51.879
That has to be the first shift to go from I am someone who struggles with time to I am someone who uses my time with intention.
01:02:52.039 --> 01:02:53.559
It all starts with identity.
01:02:53.799 --> 01:02:57.719
Identity, vision, values, and then the rest follows.
01:02:59.399 --> 01:03:00.439
So outstanding.
01:03:00.759 --> 01:03:33.079
Anna, it's been such an honor to hear you explain to us what a firecracker is, specifically what a Louisiana firecracker is, and also making time management cool or even cooler, because you've shown us how it opens the door to having, as we say on this podcast, purpose-driven success, and success on your terms, minus the constant on-the-go hustle culture that people call a badge of honor.
01:03:33.319 --> 01:03:36.199
It's such an honor to have you on me on the podcast.
01:03:36.439 --> 01:03:49.959
If someone's listening to this and they said it's about time that I sort out my time and they want to work with you further, which to me sounds essential for our high achievers out there.
01:03:50.119 --> 01:03:53.399
How do they find out more about you and how can they work with you?
01:03:53.719 --> 01:03:55.959
Well, thank you so much for this conversation.
01:03:56.119 --> 01:04:06.359
It has been it's been a lot of fun to talk with you, to revisit some past moments in my life and be really grateful for what life looks like now.
01:04:06.599 --> 01:04:13.879
So if you're listening, you want to learn more, you want to dive in, I would definitely recommend that your first stop be my podcast.
01:04:14.039 --> 01:04:18.359
It's about time with brand new episodes that drop every single Monday.
01:04:18.519 --> 01:04:20.919
You can find it wherever you listen to podcasts.
01:04:20.999 --> 01:04:32.119
That's where I share all of my best free information, strategies, stories, interviews with other go-getters about how they're getting things done.
01:04:32.359 --> 01:04:34.999
Definitely let it's about time be your first stop.
01:04:36.359 --> 01:04:36.999
Awesome.
01:04:37.239 --> 01:04:40.999
Anna, so awesome to have you on Purpose Driven Success Podcast today.
01:04:41.159 --> 01:04:42.759
Have an amazing rest of today.
01:04:42.919 --> 01:04:43.399
Ciao.
01:04:43.559 --> 01:04:43.959
Thanks.
01:04:44.119 --> 01:04:44.759
Bye.
01:04:45.959 --> 01:04:49.399
Thank you for listening to Purpose Driven Success with Most Alarming.
01:04:49.639 --> 01:04:53.559
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01:04:53.639 --> 01:04:56.759
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01:04:56.919 --> 01:05:00.999
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01:05:01.159 --> 01:05:07.879
And if today's episode inspired you, check out one of our other insight-filled value-packed episodes.
01:05:08.119 --> 01:05:10.679
Next week we'll have another amazing guest.
01:05:10.839 --> 01:05:15.479
So stay tuned for even more real stories and actionable insights.
01:05:15.719 --> 01:05:24.359
Work on your mindset, work on your skill set, and always move in the direction of the result you want before you see the result you want.
01:05:24.519 --> 01:05:28.039
And until next time, do the best you can consistently.
01:05:28.359 --> 01:05:29.159
Ciao.
