Kickstart Your Progress: Part 1 - Essential Tips for Increasing Your Speed

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to the Make Time For Success podcast. This is episode number 199. I've been doing a whole bunch of coaching recently, and through that, I've come up with a list of ideas for how to ramp up your speed, whether you're feeling like you're well on your way, you have a lot of momentum, or even when you're feeling like you've got nowhere to go, no time, and you're feeling super slow. I am sending these tips to you with love. I hope you enjoy this 2 part series on picking up speed. Let's go listen to the episode together now.

Dr. Christine Li [00:00:41]:
Hi. I'm Dr. Christine Li, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped thousands of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they could begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn powerful strategies for getting your mind, body, and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to the Make Time For Success podcast.

Dr. Christine Li [00:01:24]:
Hi there, and welcome to part 1 of my 2 part series on how to speed yourself up, especially when you feel like you're going too slowly. And I thought I would share 6 tips today that I came up with live on a coaching call with the participants of my reenergize your home 5 day decluttering challenge. And the conversation was popping, and these ideas kept coming. So I thought I would share these ideas with you today. The first one that I have for you is a really important one, and that is to make sure you're not letting other people's energy or their thoughts about you or what they're saying about you or even their actions interfere with your own energy. So, basically, don't let other people bug you or pull you down, and that can feel like a tall order, especially if you lean towards being a people pleaser or a super nice person or if you're just sensitive and open to what other people are saying and what they're needing from you. I get it. I am not an unkind person, I'd like to think, and I am attuned to other people's needs.

Dr. Christine Li [00:02:44]:
But I've learned over time that until I focus on what I'm doing and what I'm needing and I'm able to tune out the demands of other people, at least for a time so I can focus on what I need, I'm gonna be really behind my own schedule. I'm gonna get distracted. I'm gonna get involved. I'm gonna volunteer for something new. Things like that. The list rolls on. And the thing that I have learned over the years is that we are all responsible for our own energy. Even if I decided it would be a really good use of my time to take care of person x, y, and z in my community, that's an idea, and it might actually be nice and generate some really positive effects and outcomes, but then what happens is there's a cost too.

Dr. Christine Li [00:03:39]:
There's a cost because I have become distracted, I've ignored my own stuff, I've gotten off track, and I'm even further off track because I'm now in the middle of everybody else's stuff. So know that step 1 is perfectly fine for you to focus on yourself and ignore or put aside what other people are saying they need of you so that you can move faster and then have some time to, of course, be involved in community and loving on the people that you love. Alright. The second tip that I have for you is to ignore another set of thoughts, and that is the set of dirty thoughts that you have in your mind. And I don't mean x rated. I apologize for using that kind of language. I mean the thoughts that you have swirling in your head, constantly nagging at you, and making you feel like you're less than who you are. So those are thoughts that are dirty only in the sense that they are not lifting you up.

Dr. Christine Li [00:04:39]:
They are essentially mental and emotional clutter. So things like, You're such a slowpoke. You are so lazy. You are so bad at this, that kind of language, that kind of tone. I want you to clean that stuff up so that you feel like you've got smooth sailing, you've got open space, you've got air to breathe, you can think clearly, you can create, you can find the fast solution through, and you can move faster. You're not embarrassed. You're not ashamed. You're not guilty.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:10]:
You're not x, y, and z negative thing. You're just not. So clear that stuff out. Sometimes it's in there. Sometimes it's in there a lot. We gotta breathe. We gotta think through this stuff, clear it out, and keep going. So ignore the outside stressors and ignore the inside stressors too.

Dr. Christine Li [00:05:28]:
That was step 2. Step 3 is make a list for yourself, and that is not a to do list. It is a high focus list, and that means set up a list of maybe, let's say, 4 or 5 things that really help you to get focused. Is it the light in your room? Is it exercising before you need to focus? Is it having a quick bite to eat? Is it writing down your goals right before? Is it putting on some high vibe music? Whatever it is, whatever works for you, and it's gonna be different for you than it is for me and for everybody else who's listening to this podcast, make your own list and keep it handy so that you know the next time you're feeling like a slow poke, you can just pull out this list, set up the environment, and then you can go that much faster. Alright. Now on to the 4th tip. The 4th tip I just mentioned in part, and that is to put on the music that helps you to be in your best self mode. I have coincidentally been seeing on social media that many people are putting on the soundtrack of Interstellar, the movie.

Dr. Christine Li [00:06:47]:
Again, it's Interstellar. I know the music. I'm not gonna sing it for you now to spare you, but I've never tried this as an experiment, but I'm gonna trust that a lot of people on social media know that this works, and so I'm gonna share it with you. If you don't like interstellar music, put on some rock, put on some Motown, put on some disco, put on the music that makes you feel like you're unstoppable, like you're focused, like you have got this, that you're positive. And Broadway music really always puts me in a good mood too. Of course, you don't want the music to be distracting, so you wanna set it up at the right volume. You want the right kind of music, oftentimes kind of music that's just instrumental or acoustic with no lyrics, that might help you. And if you're someone who knows you just can't have that music as a distraction, then keep yourself in glorious silence.

Dr. Christine Li [00:07:46]:
Make sure your environment is protected from noise. So that's the other side of step number 4, which is put on your best soundtrack. All right. Step number 5 is an important one. So I'm gonna have you tune in because you always wanna check to see where you are when it comes to 2 topics. The first topic is what are you afraid of? What is currently stuck in your mind, making you feel like this is impossible, making you feel like you're headed into some danger zone, what is the fear that you are currently preoccupied with? That's the one topic. The other topic is a much more uplifting one, and that is, what is the breakthrough you're hoping for? And breakthrough can be certainly with a lowercase b. Doesn't have to be this massive thing that you overcome.

Dr. Christine Li [00:08:42]:
It could just be the next thing that you want accomplished. It could be the next thing that you want not to have to worry about ever again. That could be a breakthrough or a change in your life, maybe a change in habits. And, of course, changes in habit could be either small b or big b. It could be super important. So you wanna take these concepts, fears and your breakthroughs, and you wanna decide where are you, where am I in this relationship between the fears that are looming inside my head, in my imagination, perhaps, and also the breakthrough that I actually wanna see in the world? Can I shift myself faster and more closely and more intentionally towards the breakthrough side? Because that's the thing about fears. They're always gonna kind of be nearby somehow. Right? Even if you're clearing yourself of fear, somebody else is gonna mention something that reminds you, oh, yeah.

Dr. Christine Li [00:09:39]:
I forgot to worry about the supplies that I have. I'm short on supplies for the camping trip. And that may be for the better, but oftentimes, it serves to slow us down. And I wanna help you speed up by saying, you know what? Even though the fears might exist, you have the right, the permission, and the authority within yourself to say, I'm gonna put those aside because my breakthrough is really important. I can't lose sight of the breakthrough that I want, the success that I want, the change that I wanna see, the growth that I wanna feel after I make this success happen. I want all of that, so I'm gonna speed up. I'm going to ignore what everything else is telling me to do that would slow me down. I'm gonna ignore those messages for now, and I'm gonna really hone in on what kind of breakthrough I wanna see.

Dr. Christine Li [00:10:36]:
I'm gonna be really clear about what that's gonna look like, feel like, sound like, and how I'm gonna celebrate when I get there too. Alright. The 6th tip that I have for you is to know where you're going. That will, of course, help you with knowing what your breakthrough is, but I really have found that sometimes we forget to really be specific about where we're headed. And that in itself can be a factor for slowing you down, that you just have no idea where you wanna end up. And so along the path, you find, oh, there are I'm thinking of Goldilocks and the 3 bears, but I don't I don't think that's gonna help us. So along your path, you're not Goldilocks. You're you, and you see, oh, wow.

Dr. Christine Li [00:11:24]:
There's an interesting Netflix show. Oh, wow. My neighbor's doing this and inviting me to this. Oh, wow. This is happening in the news, and that is so interesting. All these things are going to happen, but you get to decide, am I gonna let my time slip away by going to the Netflix show, or am I gonna continue on directly to where I am going? You get to decide, and either one is fine. But just know you're gonna be speedy, speedy, speedy when you know exactly what is in competition with the Netflix show. I enjoyed the Netflix show, chaos, over the past couple days.

Dr. Christine Li [00:12:03]:
I would say it's not for everyone, but if you're okay with some gore and some racy material and you love Greek mythology, chaos is for you. It's k a o s on Netflix. And, again, it's not for everyone, so caveat there. But for you, I'm not encouraging Netflix either necessarily. I am encouraging for you to stick with your guns, stick with your purpose, stick with the breakthroughs that you want to see because, in the end, you're gonna feel a lot less of the negativity that comes when you stick with your fear side. You when you stick with your fear side, you end up with a lot of, well, I could have, I should have. If I had another chance, I would have. And all of those ood words really end up just syncing our energy, syncing our vibration, making us feel heavy and more stuck and without possibility and potential.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:03]:
And those are just lies. They're just lies. You're not stuck. You're maybe slow for now, but I just gave you 6 really good ideas for immediately ramping up your speed. And as I told my clients earlier today, I don't see myself as a particularly fast person, and I don't think many people do. If you know me well, you know that I take my time. I'm overthinking a lot of things. I'm overcomplicating a lot of things, but I've learned to put in these little tricks that remind me, oh, yeah.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:35]:
You can go faster, Christine. There's no problem with that. Nobody's gonna yell at you if you decide to speed up your own life. It's your life, Christine. Go do it. So, dear listener, I'm supporting you. I'm supporting you. Whether you wanna go slowly or quickly, I hope that you use 1 or all of these tips to make today easier.

Dr. Christine Li [00:13:57]:
That is a big goal of mine, to help you just cruise through your life, enjoy your life, and use it for what it is, this gigantic possibility for more fun, more expansion, and more you doing you. Thank you so much for listening to this episode. Next week, I'm gonna share 6 more of these kinds of tips for how to speed yourself up to go and get a worksheet for the first episode of this series summary, I would love for you to go to maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/speed. Again, it's maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com/speed. And I'll see you next week because you don't wanna miss the next 6 tips. Take care.

Dr. Christine Li [00:14:47]:
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time For Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website, maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes, and all the resources we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name procrastination coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success.

Dr. Christine Li [00:15:27]:
Talk to you soon.