I can’t believe this podcast has not hundreds but THOUSANDS of downloads so far. Dang. All I can say is thank you. I enjoy this work, and I am very fulfilled knowing that this stuff is helping someone out there. You are all brilliant beings.
If you know me, then you know that I really enjoy connecting folks, especially in an industry that for many years was very insular and, honestly, not super friendly. But we’re changing that!
Our growing group on Facebook (Photo Biz Help with Natalie Jennings) is evidence of that. My associates, who do incredible work for me, are now co-creating with one another, hiring each other, helping each other…as well as other students from my workshops, etc. It’s really brilliant to see a positive community flourishing, keep it up! Join us: jennings.photo/community
I’m writing you from Minneapolis where I’m dog watching/house sitting for some dear friends. I swear, in the past 3 years I have experienced more living arrangements than I imagine most do in a lifetime. I’m getting pretty good at packing up at a moment’s notice, and making my “office” super portable. It’s fascinating to me how changing a single perspective, like what you see when you wake up, where you set up to work, your running route, can drastically change the energy moving through your day.
I’ve always been incredibly sensitive to energy signatures, and more so since I’ve expanded my daily meditation/learning practices. But it’s incredible how some spaces energize and others depress a little.
It’s definitely an interesting exercise to tune into your space and see how it makes you feel. It’s important, too.
Okay, let’s dig into some show-stuff. First, let’s bring up the energy with a new review!
One way to support this show for free is to leave a review. I like to give every person who leaves a review a shout out on the show to show my appreciation for all of you. It’s also fun to hear which items are resonating with people.
Today’s review is from bmulvs
It says
Listen to this podcast!
Natalie does a great job hosting this show. It’s a must listen.
Thank for this! I appreciate the call to listen, and also appreciate all that you guys listening do to share this info.
So if you’ve been listening a while and want to support this show in a big way that takes just a minute, head to jennings.photo/review and leave a review for the show.
Today’s show is about one of my top productivity hacks. I mentioned it in my last FB LIVE–I go live every Friday in our private FB group–and I’d like to dive into it on the show since I find it so incredibly valuable.
What is it? Batching.
You’ve probably heard about batching before, but have you tried it?
Batching is simple. If you have a repeatable workflow with multiple steps, say editing and blogging, batching allows you to be more focused and efficient while you work.
Why does this work?
When you focus on ONE thing, and ONE THING ONLY, you remain focused longer, get into a faster & more efficient flow. Multitasking is an illusion, people. It isn’t a badge of honor.
A great article from Forbes backs this with:
“When you’re trying to accomplish two dissimilar tasks, each one requiring some level of consideration and attention, multitasking falls apart. Your brain just can’t take in and process two simultaneous, separate streams of information and encode them fully into short-term memory.
When information doesn’t make it into short-term memory, it can’t be transferred into long-term memory for recall later.
If you can’t recall it, you can’t use it. And, presumably, you are trying to learn something from whatever you are doing, right?”
So instead of bouncing back and forth, dig in.
For example, this is how I manage to single-handedly put out a bi-weekly podcast. First of all, podcasts aren’t a walk in the park. There are a lot of steps to produce one show, even one 10-minute show like this one.
So I batch.
I plan 4-ish episodes in advance by topic.
Then I write intros and gather any necessary notes, text, etc. for all 4 shows.
Then I record all 4 episodes in one sitting.
Then edit all 4.
Then upload.
Then blog…you get the idea.
But I promise you, it works like a charm. Right now, I’m recording one of 4 shows, and I’m in a flow. My mind is focused on speaking, not jumping from one thing to another then back to recording. It might seem simple, but it’s powerful brain-science stuff.
So the next time you have a bunch of photo shoots on your plate, cull them all at once. Then edit them all at once, and so forth. See how focused you feel. How much faster you can work when your brain is warmed up to the work at hand? I wager WAY faster.
If you dug this show, you might also really like episode 29 of this podcast. I dive into concentration and touch on some of this brain focus stuff there, too.
Thanks so much for listening. Until next time, in all you want to achieve, consistency is key.
