75 | Planning...and not planning
Annie
Well, hey there Leah.
Leah
Happy New Year, Annie.
Annie
Happy New Year. You know what's so funny to me about the New year is that there are people like that I saw last year who I'm seeing this year because they just had babies and the babies don't know when the new year comes. Right? Some of them were supposed to come before the new year and came after the new year or vice versa. So it's always so funny to think about like our work is so ongoing that it's hard to find time to hit the reset button.
Leah
Yeah, it really doesn't feel like you get like, I am stopping and having time where nothing is happening in the world of babies and then we're starting up again or something like that. It does just go on and on and on and I love the new year, but I also hate all the pressure around intentions and planning and goals and do you have some big lofty dream for 2023? It feels like if you don't, it's like won't want you know, I hate all that pressure. How about you?
Annie
It's hard, cause on the one hand I feel motivated by the idea of doing things like choosing a word for the year or taking stock and reevaluating and maybe just having that be sort of like a ritual around that. There's something in that that I really resonate with. But I also have a bit of like a rebellious streak where I'm like, if I'm going to have a New Year's resolution, I have to feel like I started it in November. So it's not a New Year's resolution. It's like, no. I was like, I'm already doing this. This is not because it's the New year. I have this resistance to be like, I'm not doing it because it's the New year, I'm doing it because I want to and I need to.
Leah
Well, I'm sure that resistance comes out of the fact that I don't know, I got on my Instagram, I don't know, a few days before the New year's and it was just like literally every single post was pressured to set your intention for the new year, make your goals for New Year, plan for the new year. And I'm just like, can we just be like, hey, guess what? We made it through another year. Good for you. That's it. That's the end of the story. Don't need more than that. So I really took a moment this year because I do like you like the feeling of a reset and a fresh start and it marks this change that everybody's recognizing. So it feels like this nice restart, but I also get resistant to like, I have to meet some XYZ goal by XYZ date blah blah, blah. So this year for my personal life, I did this More of Less Of. So I put like 2023 across the top, and I drew a line down the center of the paper, and I put More Of on one side and Less Of on the other side. And I just kind of wrote down all the things that I would like more of in 2023 and all the things I would like less of in 2023. But there's no, like, I will meditate five minutes every day. Would I like to meditate more? Yes, I would. And I put it on the more of list. And I was thinking about how that could be applied to business. Like, if you wanted more of something in your business or less of something in your business, it just felt like so much less pressure of some really specific goals, even though they say that's the way you're supposed to do goals. Like, you resistance, I just don't like it.
Annie
I think there isn't one way to plan or set a goal. And so making things too specific, it creates this standard that for me, I'm such, like enneagram Three, which is the achiever and the performer, where I'm like, okay, I said I was going to do it, and now I have to do it or else I have a total failure in the eyes, everyone who knows me. So I think that's part of that resistance is like, I don't want to set myself up to fail, but at the same time, I also know that I do find myself really motivated. I like the More of Less of idea because it's a way to guide how you're thinking about things and how you're making decisions when you are having to sit down and plan the minutiae of the days. Like, I've got projects that I'm working on right now. They need to have timelines. You and I just spent how much time did we spend trying to schedule our podcast recording session during our vacation? All that stuff does have to happen. You can't just be like, it will all work out. But at the same time, I, like, inviting this idea of like, why don't I take a step back and take a bigger picture of what I actually want, what I want it to look like and what I don't want it to look like.
Leah
Exactly. That's kind of what I felt like, this activity that I did, the More Of Less Of, and I thought about it from the perspective of like, okay, say I am going to sit down and do some planning. Which side note, we have an incredible deeper dive coming up all about planning, which I'm so excited about, and it'll tie right into this. Because what I thought about with that is if you had a more of less of what you wanted in your life right now and you're going to sit down in front of a calendar, hopefully, you have more activities. That are in the more of category, actually, on your calendar than the activities that are in the less of portion of your more of less of. Those aren't the things that are taking up your time and your space and your energy. It might be a way to guide your planning and set your priorities with more intention around your day-to-day activities because that's how we actually enjoy our lives. Yes, we can get all the projects done, but are we enjoying our lives while we're doing that?
Annie
That's so good. It's so true. And there are certain things we have to do that are necessary. I have to create and submit insurance claims if I want to get paid. Like, we have to do our charting. I would be like, yes, I would like zero. We have less of charting in general. None of it is that possible. But there's also ways that I know. I think I make it harder on myself than it needs to be. Like, sometimes I'm hasty. That's a big problem that I have where I just recently had a claim where Aetna wasn't the primary insurance and it had to go to another insurance person. I can totally set it up that way in intake queue but I didn't because I was hasty when I was going over the intake form, I overlooked and she had given me all of the information that I needed right there.
Leah
Boom, boom, boom, get it done quick.
Annie
Maybe I need to say less of cutting corners and more of doing things right.
Leah
Or maybe just like slowing down. I think that's slowing down to do more because again, in this moment, because you tried to do it hastily then. Is that a word? hastefully? Hastily. How do you say that? Hastily. Hastily. There you go. I am not an English major. So in that moment, you actually ended up taking more time out of your life because it was hastily. And I heard that somewhere recently, like, slow down to do more. And it took me so long to wrap my brain around, I'm like, how would slowing down help you do more? But there's a really good example right there and confirmation for me because I too am just like, if I could speed through something, I am all about that. I'm just like go into pre-program mode and click, click, click, boom, boom, boom, do it all. I have caught myself in fact, this week making an error, like double booking myself because I'm just like, oh yeah, that's fine. I don't need to check the calendar. I know everything that's going on in my life and I'm like, guess what? I don't. And I should always check the calendar because that's how you get me double booked. So it is so interesting how that slowing down portion of it could really help. And then the planning, like putting time in for us to do all these things that we don't have to do them hastily. That's why I cannot wait for this deeper dive because that's something that I really cannot wait to talk about because I am not good at putting in the plan for the time to do the things. I'm just like it'll get done at some moment in my life. I'll figure out a way to get that done, but I don't have an intention around like that's going to happen at 04:00 p.m. on Thursday, right? I can't wait to talk about that.
Annie
It's going to be really good. I'm really good at creating the plan. And then what happens is I forget that I have a plan and I do things the way I wasn't supposed to do it because I forgot that I already thought about how I was supposed to do it and I just jump in that's again, me being like hasty wise about how I do things in general. The thing I'm excited for about this deeper dive is that it's with Michelle Clark, who we've had on a deeper dive before, talking about private practice. And she's done courses for me because she specializes in exclusive pumping and she's a great teacher about all that stuff. But she also went and invented a planner and a whole planning system and called the primary planner. What I love about it is that it's for anybody who's the primary parent. So, like, the person that has to schedule all the doctors' appointments for the kids or make sure that the insurance premiums are paid or, like, all of those tasks of life that also have to be done, and typically, they do fall to one person more than another when you have a two-parent home and so her planner, or if you have a one-parent home, it's all you. So her planner takes that into consideration and it's to help you really organize and navigate all of that stuff. And I kind of keep those things really compartmentalized in my own brain. And so I'm excited to hear from her how she puts it all together and what her thinking is behind it and get tips from her about how she does things and stays on top of everything. So that's going to be at the end of the month on January 30. We'll put a link to that in the show notes.
Leah
Yes, I can't wait for it. And I'm so excited to hear that she has this whole other side of her and this whole other skill that she can share with us because, one, she's just great and I love her. And to know that she has something else and more to share with us is so fun. That's the one thing I have just come to love about our profession is that so many people, I would say most obviously, most people come into this profession with some other skill set that is unrelated to lactation and it just brings this richness to our profession. How we can have all these side hustle or not even a hustle, but like, side knowledge, side skills that you can just give more to our community through these? I think it's so fun. I just love getting to hear all these wonderful skills that people have beyond just their knowledge about Lactation, and it just makes this community amazing, rich place to be. So we are so grateful for all of you being here.
Annie
It's going to be really fun. I hope you can join us at the end of the month and you can register just for the Deeper Dive, or you can sign up for our subscription, which is very affordable, and it gets you the recording of last month's Deeper Dive into Watchful, waiting with Susan Howard, registered for our Deeper Dive with Michelle. And then next month we're doing a deeper dive into messaging with communications expert Dr. Michelle Mazer. You can look her up. We'll put her link in the show notes, too, so you can get excited about our February Deeper Dive. But we're really going to look a lot into how we approach things, really thinking about what we actually want, what we're trying to say, how we're trying to show up in the world, and hopefully get us all really in a better place with all that stuff.
Leah
Yeah, I think that's going to be an awesome Deeper Dive as well. And I can't wait to hone in that messaging component because I think that's what allows us to reach the people we want to reach. And when your message is really clear, you're going to reach the right people and have such a better work experience because you're connecting with the right people. We have so much fun stuff in 2023, right? I am so excited for this year and all the things that we haven't even told you guys yet. We have just so many big plans and exciting additional Deeper Dive people that are going to be with us. So stay tuned.
Annie
It's going to be great. Well, until next time, until the end of the month when we have a Deeper Dive. I'll see you soon.
Leah
All right, take care. See you soon.
Annie
Bye.
Leah
Bye.