Amy Porterfield (0:00)

Real quick, before we dive in. This episode includes some adult language. So if you're with the kids, maybe pop your earbuds in. Hey there. Welcome to the Amy Porterfield Show. Avoid fake productivity. Deep work is not checking emails. It is not responding to Slack messages. It is not scrolling social media. I think you knew that part though. What if I told you that dedicating just one day a month to deep work could completely change your business trajectory? Now you might be saying, what exactly is deep work? Well, it's focused, distraction, free time. For how? High impact business activities. The part that's most important here is high impact business activities. I believe that deep work is the key to making strategic decisions that will grow your business. But the secret here is actually making time for it and using your deep work time correctly. So why did I decide on this topic for for today's episode? Well, the way I see it, many entrepreneurs spend too much time reacting rather than intentionally designing their business growth. And I've done this many times. I remember there was about a year in my business where I felt like all I did was react. Something happened, I fixed it. Something happened, I would have to troubleshoot it. And I just kind of waited for each thing to happen because business is hard and challenges happen all the time. So I knew it was coming my way. So I was in reaction mode the whole year. And I can promise you this, it was not my best revenue year. And so we got to get out of the reaction mode and into being really intentional about how we use our time. Whether you are a solopreneur and you don't yet have a team or you do have a team, it doesn't matter. This time is for you as the founder to really up level the way you think and the way you plan so that you're making bigger, better decisions in the business that will move it forward. So my goal for this episode is to give you a clear framework to make deep work a habit. And I want to give you real world examples from my own business of how I've used it to make major decisions. And when I was preparing for this episode, I was thinking about all the ways I've used deep work. And let me tell you, I'm like, I have to make this episode because this has really changed my business. It's made me more money, it's allowed me to move out of certain parts of the business. So I'm not always in the weeds. I know many of you are at a place in your business that you are so deep in the weeds, but you are ready to get out. And I think deep work, the decisions you make from it will absolutely give give you that result if you're looking for it. So let me share some ways that I've used it. The first way is I've used it many, many years ago to do this one thing. So this was a few years ago. And then I have more current examples, but I used deep work to create a leadership team. And I've talked about this before publicly, but starting a leadership team, creating a leadership team on, in my business, best decision I've ever made. And so what I mean by a leadership team is I have multiple departments in my business and there's one person that sits on the leadership team in each of those departments. So I have a Director of Customer experience, a Director of Ops, a VP of Product Development. My CEO is on the team and then my CMO is on the team. And so I have this leadership team that helps me make decisions, drives the business forward. And here's the kicker. I no longer sit in weekly leadership team meetings. My leadership team gets together every single week. And for years I was in that meeting. However, over the last year, I stopped attending that meeting. Now, it was hard, let me tell you, giving up control like that is very tough for me. However, I promoted someone on my team a year ago to become my CEO. And so now my CEO manages everybody on the leadership team. So I only manage two people on my team, the CEO and my executive assistant. And so Jaws is her name, it's a nickname. But Jaws is my CEO and she manages all leadership team. And then the leadership team has their own small teams. And so once a month, or excuse me, once a week, they meet. And because they've gotten so dialed in, because they can make decisions without me, because they're running the show in such a well oiled way, I don't have to be on those meetings anymore, freeing me up to do what I do best, which is be the visionary, come up with new strategies, and really look at the business more holistically versus in the weeds. So the idea and the creation of the leadership team absolutely came from me being disciplined enough to spend time brainstorming, thinking, troubleshooting, and really understanding what the company needed. That was deep work. Okay, so here's some more current ways because I've had a leadership team for a few years now. So just recently we decided to redefine our core values as a company. So years ago I. Well, actually just last year, but for many years I've always had core values for the company. And usually I have six, seven, eight of them, because I always think more is better, and I never could remember them. And I can promise you, if I went to someone on my team, I'm guessing they would not be able to rattle off, let's say, all eight company values. And I knew I couldn't. And I wasn't using them to make decisions because I couldn't even remember them. So I saw Layla Hormozi talk about how she only had three core values for her team. And making just three core values, they become so much more manageable to weave into everything you do in your business. So I couldn't come up with three. I had to do four. But I'll share them with you really quickly. But what's so important about these is they came out of my time doing deep work, really taking a moment, saying, what do we need as a company to hit our goals this year? And so on January 1, we rolled out new values that were very, very specific to the year I want to have in the business. So I'm open to revisiting these core values at the end of the year and changing them if needed to hit my new goals of, let's say, 2026. So for 2025, my values are this. Number one, keep it simple. I feel as though we have gotten into the habit of layering on strategies, doing more than we probably need to do, and really just adding versus optimizing. And this is something that I'm really against. So when I realized, holy cow, I, I'm doing what I tell my students not to do, I had to fix it as quickly as possible. So creating a core value, keep it simple allowed me to remember, wait a second. Let's not layer on the strategies. Let's not do too much. What would this look like if we kept it simple, but still set it up to hit our goals? It makes everything easier. The second value is data into impact. And the reason why I chose this one is because I noticed that we were making a lot of assumptions that weren't necessarily rooted in data. And when I say data, I mean collecting information in focus groups, surveys, polls, getting on one on one calls with our students on zoom just to learn about their experiences in our programs and what they're struggling with and what they want more of. And so what I mean by assumptions is, and this is really easy to do, a lot of us do this where we think we know our students so well. So we might say, you know what, for the next program, we, we need to add more Q and A's. They Love Q&As. They didn't get enough of them, let's add a bunch more. And then when we survey our audience, they're like, we don't have time for any more calls. I felt very stressed out to make all those calls that you did live in the group, so I'd rather less calls. We're like, they don't want more Q and A. They're overwhelmed by what we've done. We would never know that if we didn't survey. So be careful. This is a little tip for you. Be careful with the assumptions. And really, every time someone on your team says, this is what our students want or this is what we should do, where's the data? So because my value is data into impact, we infuse these in all of our conversations almost on a daily basis now because they're easier to remember instead of a bunch of them. So I'll say, okay, if our value is data into impact, where is the data for this assumption? And then right away, we're like, oops, we. We cut corners here. We need to go back. So that is the second one. The third one is think differently. And the reason why I chose this core value is because I know that the world is changing. The online marketing industry is changing. How you create and sell courses and memberships and masterminds, it feels so different than just a few years ago. So with that, it means I have to think differently than I ever have before. So we constantly are saying, how can we think differently here? How can we think differently here? And then the fourth one is lfg. Now, this one is very specific to our team. My CEO, that's her rally cry. And so it just has become part of our culture. So we're ambitious. We're getting things done. We're making things happen. Lfg. So there you go. I'm purposely not saying what it really means, but you get it. So basically, those are our four values. And the reason why I kind of took a detour to share those with you is, is because they all came out of deep work and they have revolutionized how we do business and how we communicate with the team. So I kind of cheated and went a little bit longer on that one because I kind of want you to do the same. I want you to look at your values. If you have them, if you don't, let's create some. And if you can't even remember all of them, then I want you to go to 3 to 4. 4. There's a chance you won't remember all of them, but if you get em down to three, which I really tried and I failed, but if you can get em down to three, then they'll just rattle off so quickly and you can infuse them and all you do in your business. Okay, so I shared with you. That deep work resulted in the most kick ass leadership team I could ever ask for. It helped me to refine my values, which I feel like has changed the business already. The third one is one I haven't talked about yet and what I don't want to talk about and I don't want to tell you, but with this new podcast, I promise to take you more behind the scenes of my business and share the good, bad and ugly. And not just so that I could be vulnerable, but more so to share with you what it looks like to build a business and go through hard times and make hard decisions. Because sometimes you only see me celebrating big launches and I've made a bunch of money and I have a bunch of students, but there's a lot of things I struggle with in my business as well. So at the end of 2024, I decided around October, November, I decided to downsize my team and we decided to eliminate nine positions on my team. Hardest decision I ever made. It wasn't because we were having revenue issues. It really, really had nothing to do with making money. But it had everything to do with me thinking differently and wanting a leaner team that could be more flexible and making decisions and experimenting and trying new things. And I couldn't do that with such a big team. There's a lot of responsibility that comes with a big team. And I knew that I wanted a different kind of business moving forward and I wanted to stabilize and build a stronger foundation. And I just couldn't do it with the large team that I had. And so I had to make a really hard decision with eliminating positions. And the majority of those positions we just don't have on the team anymore. But a few of them we have used contractors, but part time versus full time. And then we've just. More importantly, what I wanted to see is we've changed the way we work. We are thinking differently, we are keeping it simple, coming back to those values. And so with my deep work, I decided, okay, this is what I need to do. And when I decided it, I felt like I was going to throw up. So you're not going to have all the best feelings during your deep work, but I can promise you what comes out of it will absolutely make You a better leader, a better visionary and really just optimize your business if you are willing to make the hard decisions. And so I'll talk a little bit later in episodes to come around this decision to downsize to be a more flexible, nimble team because it was rough. It was a rough day and I love everybody who has left my company and I've stayed in touch with many of them but it needed to happen and I was the one who needed to make it happen. And, and I got the courage and the strategic backing of it through my deep work. And then finally I have revolutionized how I look at my ideal customer avatar. This came from deep work and this is another episode I want to do with you. Now that I'm up leveling some of the conversations on this show, I think you're ready for what I'm going to share about my ideal customer avatar. Because if you're listening and you're brand new to business, you likely wouldn't do this. But if you're a few years in or even more. This is something that I wish I did years ago and I have to give my friend Julie Solomon a shout out because she gave me the idea. So instead of having multiple avatars for different programs and products that I have in my business, I have one avatar, one avatar. Listen, her name is Hank, which makes no sense to anyone else, but it makes a lot of sense to those in my business. We just have this joke around Hank. I won't even get into it because you got it, you have to be there. But anyway, her name is Hank and we have one avatar for the entire business, meaning all of my programs. Hank fits into one of my programs. She is my avatar. But there's phases of Hank. We have Hank 1, 2, 3 and 4. So Hank 1, she is a beginner. She, she hasn't quit her 9 to 5 job. She's thinking of starting a business. Not even sure what she'd start her business about. But she wants freedom. Hank too. She's been in business for at least a year, probably making a hundred k or more and she's starting to navigate this crazy world of building an online business. Hank3 is someone who is more established and she is trying to get to her first million dollar year. And Hank4 is making a million dollars or more and looking to expand her team, scale her business, find new partnerships and collaborations, become a better leader, step out of the business. So she's not doing everything all the time. So there's way more to each of these Hanks. We've built out stories for each of them. But Hank is the same woman. We start at the very beginning with her, and now we have programs, products and services and content through podcasting, social media, all that good stuff. To be on this journey with her from the very beginning, before she even quit her job, to making millions if she wants that. And so now I get to create programs for the same woman, but as she evolves. And that, to me, has been revolutionary to our business. So it's a really big deal that came out of Deep Work. I wouldn't have visualized it, I wouldn't have seen it if I wasn't willing to do the Deep work. And then the final one, because I told you I'd take you behind the scenes and share some current ways I've used. Deep Work is this podcast. You know, online marketing made easy with over 750 episodes, was my baby, and it did really well. And it put me on the map and I'm known for that podcast. So to transition into the Amy Porterfield show is very scary. This is new, this is different. And so much of this podcast is going to feel like online marketing made easy with some surprises and different conversations and some up leveling in places you might not expect. So you'll see glimpses of the old show and glimpses of something new. But just making that shift allowed me to elevate my conversations, allowed me to stretch myself even more, push myself in new areas. I haven't. And the commitment to transition the show came out of Deep Work. So those are all the decisions that I've made recently with Deep Work, just to show you what it could do for your business. Because all of that has changed. How I navigate, how I think, how I make decisions, how my team operates, and I'm ready to uplevel this business. So these big decisions had to happen. I had to shake things up to get to where I want to go. And so do you. So let's talk about you now. Enough about me and my decisions. I want to talk about you. I want to give you the framework of how to do deep Work. So get ready. I'm going to walk through this, and this is something you can implement the minute this episode is over. So are you ready? Okay. The first thing you're going to do is schedule Deep Work days. What I really want you to do, if you're willing to take the challenge, is commit to at least one day every single month, starting now. I don't care if you listen to this episode the minute it comes out or if you're listening to it six months from now, it doesn't matter. Wherever you are in your calendar, starting now, one full day a month, I know it's a big commitment and if it's too much, I will say do a half day. If you can't do a full day, do a half day. But do something. And so that means every single month you're going to see this in your calendar. So that's the first thing you do. Now when you're putting this in your schedule, you're blocking it on your calendar like a CEO level meeting, meaning no excuses, you show up, rain or shine. I don't care how you feel that day, you do your deep work because sometimes you're not going to want to do it. Did I really want to sit down and decide how I'm going to eliminate nine positions on my team? Heck no. But it had to be done. And so this is something that you don't compromise on. You just make it happen. Number two, you're going to prepare for success. The first thing you do when you prepare for success is, is you choose one to two high leverage tasks. I mentioned this in the beginning, right? High leverage tasks that you're going to focus on. So it might mean building out a new offer. So creating a new offer, it could mean optimizing an evergreen funnel. You have this evergreen funnel. It's not working like it used to. Time to get down to business. I want sticky. You know those big white sticky boards you can put on your wall? I. I want them all over your room. I want the Sharpies out. I want your door closed. High leverage tasks. So whether it's strategic planning or content development, offer creation, building out a whole launch, whatever it might be, figuring out how to make a really hard decision in the business, who can you talk to? What do you need to do to make that hard decision? Map it all out. That's your deep work. So, so usually I sit down and I'll do one to two high leverage tasks with deep work. No more than two. And the important part during your deep work is to set up a distraction free environment. So that means that again, you're closing doors, you're making sure that you don't have any meetings that day, you don't have to get on any calls. I mean, if you're a parent, you might need to stop at a certain time to go get the kids. I get that part. But as much as uninterrupted time you can get, I want you to take it. I want to take A beat real fast. If you're an og, you've heard me talk about Tiger Time, I won't get into it. You can Google my name with Tiger time. It will come up. But Tiger time is like a two hour slot on your calendar to work on a course module. This ain't Tiger time, my friends. This is deep work. It's like 10 layers deeper than Tiger time. So I just want to make that clear for my OGs. All right, step number three is to set clear boundaries. This means you're going to notify your team. Hey, no, I can't answer any Slack messages today. I'm not getting on any calls. It's my deep work day. They'll know what that means after a few months. They know. They never bother you. Family needs to know this. Anyone who might interrupt you as best as you can, inform them that this is your deep work time. You can't be interrupted, as much as that is possible. I get there's exceptions. I want you to turn off all notifications. I want you to put your phone in another room. Do not even look at your phone. You might say, but Amy, I need it for the Internet. If you can do deep work without the Internet, great. If you need it, just be really, really disciplined that you are not scrolling, opening a bunch of windows that you don't need. Looking at social media, off limits. So if you can go fully offline, that's what I like to do. But sometimes you're going to need chat, GPT or anything like that to get it done. And then finally, the fourth step is to use productivity tools and techniques. So you can consider maybe a Focus App, noise canceling headphones, maybe go to a CO working space. Maybe you need to get out of the house completely. And I've got to tell you, I'll talk about this another day. But my coach, Michael Hyatt, the two of us were talking. I'm fully addicted to my phone and I'm breaking the addiction. We'll talk about that in another episode. But he gave me the idea of the Freedom app where every day I said it in advance, like I've already said it a week ago. And every day at certain times, my social media, I can't access it. There's nothing I can do. I can't get on it. So I would totally use the Freedom app during this time that social media is off limits if you're tempted to get on it. But we'll talk about my addiction another day because I don't want to talk about it right now. I'm sensitive about it. And then finally, I said finally before, but this is really the last one. Avoid fake productivity. So deep work is not checking emails, it is not responding to Slack messages, it is not scrolling social media. I think you knew that part though. So just be careful that you're not doing little tasks that you do every single day. It has to feel different. The work you do when you know you're doing it right is. It's intense, it's deep because that's what it's called, deep work. And it's difficult at times. Sometimes it's super enjoyable and fun and you're creating and coming up with new ideas. As a founder, a lot of the times it's, it's not very comfortable, but absolutely necessary. It's all about doing the work where you're working on your business, not in your business. That's also a way to know if you're doing it right. If you're in the weeds, you're not doing deep work. If you're stepped out of the weeds and you're looking more like a 30 foot level, you're doing some good deep work. So very important. All right, so it's actually really simple to set up. It's more difficult to stay committed to it and actually do what you need to do. High leverage tasks. I want to tattoo that on your forehead so you do not forget. That's the name of the game here. So really quick, I want to just give you a wrap up so you really understand the concepts. Number one, deep work creates clarity. So when you remove distractions, you can make the most important decisions with confidence. Number two, one day a month is a game changer. Even if you can do half a day a month, start there and then make a goal to do one day a month. But imagine 12 strategic work days in a year. They add up. Especially considering most of us don't do any of this right? We never make the time for this. And that's the thing. You don't have time to do this. You have to make time to do this. I want, I want to say that one more time. You don't have time for deep work. You make the time for deep work if you truly believe it can revolutionize your business, which I promise it can. Number three, your environment matters. So if you feel more distracted at home, if you've got people there that are going to distract you, if you feel like you tend to want to take a nap or check the laundry or whatever it might be, let's not do it at Home. So because sometimes the nap part, I didn't mean that in a rude way to you might be like, I'm not taking naps. Well, I am. So when I notice that sometimes when I do deep work, it makes me really tired and I just want to take a nap. Now there's nothing wrong with a quick 20 minute nap during deep work. But like I feel like I want to be lazy sometimes because it's so exhausting. So I've got to be careful with that. Also, I forgot to mention, when you do deep work, if you do a full day, even if you do a half day, 90 minute increments. So work for 90 minutes, put a timer on, take a break, come back 90 minutes, take a break. And if 90 minutes is too long, do 60 minutes. But do take breaks throughout. If you can get out and go for a walk, that's golden. That's really nice to get out in fresh air. Okay, so your environment matters. Leave the house if you can, if you need to. Also, boundaries are key. So remember, if, if you don't have boundaries, deep work sessions will just be interrupted and ineffective and you're wasting your time and then finally doing less but better. So deep work allows you to focus on the high impact tasks rather than busy work. So there is no busy work. And I just want to remind you that leaders prioritize deep work. So if, if I can just encourage you to do it and if you need a really good reason to do it, most of you listening want to be better leaders in your business. I do. I do too. And I like to know what good leaders are. Excellent leaders do. Excellent leaders, I have no doubt in my mind are making time for deep work. So if that's not incentive enough, I don't know what is. Because being a great leader literally leads to a really happy team, really happy customers and more money in your pocket. So there you go. So here's my challenge for you. Schedule the first deep work session right now. Like this minute, I'm still talking. Get out your calendar, just do it now. And I really would love you to take a moment and just schedule them for the rest of the year. But even if you can't do that, let's just schedule the first one literally in the month we are in right now. Whenever you're listening to that. So I know it might be a stretch, like you have to change things around. Usually the first deep work session you're moving things around. But then when you schedule them all out, you're not planning anything on those days. So you don't need to change your schedule around. And then finally this one, if you're multitasking, come back to me. I really want you to do this one. Let me be your accountability partner. So what I want you to do is once you schedule that very first session, DM me. So I'm just at Emy Porterfield on Instagram. I want you to DM me and tell me that you scheduled this and I'm going to try to respond to everybody. I can't promise you, depending on how many of you send me a message, but I'm going to make an attempt. So even if I just give you a little high five, I want to be your accountability partner. Schedule your first deep work session and then come on over to Instagram and, and let me know the exact date you're going to do it. All right, my friends, I hope that you found this valuable and really my goal is to encourage you to up level. Let's start doing things that we normally don't do. But if you feel stuck, if you feel frustrated in your business, if you've hit a plateau or you just are looking to up level so that you can be your very best, keep coming back to the podcast because that is my absolute goal in every episode I deliver. So I can't wait to see you again next week.