We all want to get everything on our weekly to do list done, but it often feels like it’s just not happening. There’s a reason why a weekly to do list lowers your income and Jarrod Haning is here to explain.
IE 260: Why a Weekly To Do List Lowers Your Income with Jarrod Haning
Jarrod Haning is a mindset performance coach. He differentiates himself from a life coach by this example:
“If you go to a life coach, they say things like, ‘What do you think you should do?’ The problem with that is that what you think you should do is what has you in the mess you’re in. If you went to the gym, the strength coach would not ask you what exercise you thought you should do that day. They tell you exactly what to do and all you have to do is do it. And if you continue to follow their advice, you will see results. That’s what I do; I bring people to the mindset gym where they do mindset push-ups.”
Personal Blind Spots
Before recording with Jarrod, I went to his website and took his MindScan to see my personal blind spots. But what is a personal blind spot?
Simply put, your personal blind spot is what you can’t see because of the way you process things. So, you have a way of seeing things, and because of that, it is impossible for you to see what that way of thinking is hiding.
In life, if something doesn’t deliver the results we want, we work harder. If we feel pressed for time, we work faster. Short on income? Be more productive.
Instead of finding out the real problems, we continue to try more of the same. And that is a blind spot in our thinking; rather than realize that our approach itself is flawed, we try the same approach over and over and expect different results.
Does Action Actually Get Results?
One of the major thought processes that entrepreneurs work with is that action equals results. If they just take massive action, they will achieve massive results.
The problem with this way of thinking is that it only serves to make you further behind. Your to-do list is never done, and the more you think you’re getting ahead, the more behind you actually get.
What you’re trying to do – take action – makes sense to your brain. Obviously, action begets results.
But that’s the blind spot; your brain thinks that action begets results and so it can’t think of a way to get massive results that doesn’t require massive action.
What’s Wrong with Working Smarter?
People are smart. And if they don’t get the results they want after trying a few things, they decide to “work smarter, not harder.”
The issue with working smarter is that the brain can still only come up with ideas that it can come up with. Wait, what? Read that again.
That’s right; your brain can only think of things it knows to think of. So, if you have a blind spot, your brain can’t overcome that by thinking all the same things. You need to get outside the norm – read the label from outside the bottle.
The MindScan accomplishes this by creating a graph of your thinking patterns so you can see exactly where your blind spots are.
Managing Blind Spots Without Overcompensating
When I took the MindScan on Jarrod’s website, it told me that I tend to have trouble expressing appreciation to others for what they do for me or the value they add to my life. And I know this is true of myself.
Managing this personal blind spot in a healthy way means the people I love or work with will feel more appreciated by me, I will be able to help others feel more valued, and I will be able to give advice that is readily received. I may receive more referrals from current clients, have higher-paying clients, and see my business grow.
But if I manage it in an unhealthy way, people will feel intimidated by me, and they will resist my efforts to help them as it feels like I am too controlling.
Jarrod says the only way to balance healthy and unhealthy ways of overcoming a blind spot is…well, think of a bicycle…
When you’re five years old and learning to ride a bicycle, you wobble. You can’t balance on the bike, but you don’t want to fall and get hurt. But the only way to ride without falling when you’re new at trying to balance is to go faster.
You’re afraid to go faster, afraid you will indeed fall, and it will hurt more. But one day, you accidentally go faster, and what happens?
Your brain and body now know what it feels like to be balanced. All of a sudden, you can feel it physically, and your brain can understand what it couldn’t before.
And this is true in life.
Before your body felt the shift, no amount of information made a difference. And after your body felt the shift, no amount of information is needed.
When it comes to balancing your blind spots, what should you do? The solution isn’t trying to think your way into it. You have to feel it in your body, and then your brain can adjust the way it thinks.
Why You Keep Hitting the Same Obstacle
If you’ve spent years working harder, working smarter, and you keep getting further behind and not seeing the results you want, you have to acknowledge the fact that there is a blind spot you need to overcome.
If your conversations with others keep ending the same way, that’s a great indication that you have a personal blind spot.
And if you are working off a weekly to-do list, you are getting less done and making less money than you could be.
Why a Weekly To-Do List Lowers Your Income
By focusing on “getting things done,” you are putting all your value in the present. “What can I get done today?”
But doing a task doesn’t address why it needs to be done. Replying to emails today doesn’t keep you from needing to respond to emails tomorrow.
Instead, what if you took a half-hour to go through your inbox and you write down the top 3 questions you get asked and the answers you give to those questions. And then, you broke the rest of the emails down into 3-4 categories.
Now, you go to your VA, and you give them these questions, answers, and categories/replies, and just like that, you spent thirty minutes ensuring that you don’t have to spend that time replying to emails ever again.
You trade the momentary dopamine hit of clearing your inbox for the long-term satisfaction of getting more done.
What’s on Your To-Do List?
I hear you asking, “Okay, that makes sense, Jenny. But I still don’t get how working off a to-do list lowers my income.”
Let’s take a look at your to-do list. If it’s anything like most entrepreneurs, it says things like schedule this, reschedule that, get this contract in the mail, renegotiate this contract, email this client, and on and on it goes.
Jarrod says there is likely nothing on that list that couldn’t be delegated to a VA, provided it is the right person for the task and you have trained them with your systems.
The more you are focused on checking off your to-do list, the more you are focused on the lowest paying tasks in your business. It’s like winning the booby prize; look at all you got checked off – and what did you get in return for it?
What Is the MindScan?
I’ll admit to feeling a bit puzzled when I took the MindScan, and Jarrod says the most common response after people take it is, “Did I do it right?”
This is nothing like the tests we’re all used to – the MBTI, DISC, etc. Because those tests are questionnaire-based, your subconscious is actually gaming the system. There’s no way around that. They are also based on crowd percentages, which isn’t helpful for knowing yourself.
The MindScan is not questionnaire-based. It is like a fingerprint of your thinking patterns. In the same way we each have a unique fingerprint, we each have unique thinking patterns. And the MindScan maps these patterns.
And while it reveals your blind spots, it also displays your strengths that are the key to never running into the same obstacles again.
Jarrod encourages you not to believe a word he says until you take the MindScan and see your results. Take advantage of his offer and let me know on Instagram what you think about your results.
Action Steps:
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