584 Mridu Parikh:

OK, let’s just admit it. Yep. We all struggle with overwhelm, at least some of the time. As women many of us have internalized the belief that our work is never done, that everyone else’s needs come first, and that we have to do it all to have it all. So is it any wonder many of us fall into overwhelm?

MELINDA

I’m Melinda Wittstock and today on Wings of Inspired Business we meet an inspiring entrepreneur who has made it her mission to help you get control of your demands and distractions so you can live in ease and flow.

Mridu Parikh is the creator of Life Is Organized, helping women take control of their lives so they wake up with a plan and have 1-3 more hours more every day.

Today we talk productivity, self-care, mindset and more so I can’t wait to introduce you to Mridu! First…

Mridu Parikh says she’s helped women entrepreneurs save 10 hours a week on emails and texts, increase billable time from one to five hours a day, and create a routine to shed 15 pounds. She’s also been known to decrease overwhelm from a level 10 to a level 5 with just a few tweaks to your focus.

Mridu’s strategies on streamlining tasks and mastering habits have been featured in The Huffington Post, US News & World Report, and Real Simple. With half her career in corporate and half in entrepreneurship, she’s an expert in ditching stress in the boardroom or in the home office.

When she’s not wrangling a list or schedule, you can usually find this former professional organizer with her two teens and one husband in Nashville enjoying milk chocolate in one hand and red wine in the other. Because we all need life’s little pleasures, right?

Let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Mridu Parikh.

Melinda Wittstock:         Mridu, welcome to Wings.

Mridu Parikh:                   Oh, thank you so much for having me. It’s my honor to be here.

Melinda Wittstock:         I think what you’re doing is so important helping women getting out of overwhelm because one of the byproducts of coronavirus has been to put more stuff on us than we even had before.

What has been the impact on women generally and what are some of your clients telling you about how they’ve been managing for the past year?

Mridu Parikh:                   Well, I think for that first half of the pandemic, the word we heard over and over and over and over was pivot. I want us to pivot, right? We have to pivot. And then for the rest of the year, all I heard was overwhelmed. I think that was it. That was the word of the year was overwhelm. As if women weren’t doing enough as it was, were taking care of all the things for all the people and family and career, but then on top of it, with the pandemic, the emotional toll, often the physical toll of having everybody in the household, managing everybody’s emotions, taking care of generations often of people in your family, having to move everything from work to remote and often as women he natural innate nurturers and caretakers, we are putting ahead everyone else’s needs before ours.

If you have kids at home, it’s like, how do I find them a space to be really productive for their schoolwork? Or if I have a spouse, how do I make sure they’re not getting burnt out. I think it just added so much more stress and I’m hearing this over and over. I think that now moving into 2021, what I’m hearing is we thought it was over. We were all mentally prepared for 2020 to be the bad year and then, okay 2021 is here. Happy new year, we’re going to move past it and now it feels like it’s still going to be quite a while.

I just spoke with a client yesterday at a large corporation and they said their company policy, it was just announced yesterday, that they’re going to be remote until at least September. So she said, “This was just mentally really hard for me to deal with.” To be thinking we’re not even over it yet. It could potentially be the rest of this year.

Melinda Wittstock:         Exactly. So if you came into this thinking it was a short term thing and you had short-term habits, like you thought you could sprint through it, it’s going to be over. Now, it’s dawning on everybody that a lot of things have to change at the core of who we’re being and just completely radically rethink so many things. Coronavirus is putting a lot of pressure on everybody in a way to really look within and try and figure out what it is they actually do want and think outside the box a little bit about reorganizing their lives.

Mridu Parikh:                   No, absolutely. Sorry, I didn’t mean to cut you off. I was just going to say, I couldn’t agree more. I think looking within has been a really important piece of this pandemic and how, you mentioned it was kind of these short-term habits and how we’ve had that opportunity, if we want to do how to make it positive, to take these short-term habits and create them into part of who we are, how we show up every day, part of our lifestyle. Yeah, I couldn’t agree with you more. It really has been, it’s a journey. It’s definitely a journey right now.

Melinda Wittstock:         All too often, many of us are going through life, living the life that we think we should live. A lot of those things are just either buried deeply subconsciously within us or just all the things that we’re told by society around us, how we grew up. And then there’s this realization dawning that maybe those things weren’t actually the right things or they weren’t really the right things for you. So what are some of the things that you’ve seen people doing that really shake things up in their lives to really beat this overwhelm, this kind of lack of self care, this putting everybody ahead of you? What are some of the practical things that people are doing now as they look within and think, “Yeah, maybe that life of should wasn’t good, what do I actually really want?”

Mridu Parikh:                   I think the word intentional has taken on a whole other meaning during this time. I think often we feel, and women especially, feel like I’m living this intentional life. I’m building a certain career or maybe it’s a business or I am taking care of my family and it feels very intentional, but we get caught up in the day-to-day the hecticness, the phone calls, the emails, the needs of others, the demands, right? And it’s sort of like, I’m just treading water. I’m just kind of like trying to make it through, and we lose that sense of, okay what was that intention? Where did that all go? It gets kind of muddied. And I think we’ve really come back to during this point it’s like, I have to be deliberate because I have no choice anymore. If I’m not deliberate with my time or my energy, I can’t make it through this anymore because this is a whole other level of expectations and demands on me.

So I feel like that word or that feeling has taken on a completely different meaning and we’re getting back to, okay, what is truly most important? And I do think that being home has helped us a lot reconnect to that because there aren’t, as much as there’s more expectations at home and with other people vying for your attention and your time, we’ve also at the same time sort of shut down, if you will, a lot of the outside noise in terms of other responsibilities or just places we would put our time and energy. So it sort of cocooned us into this space now that we can connect really very much to what is most important and what does mean the most, and what does light me up.

I spoke with a client yesterday, she was quite emotional on the phone, kind of broke down a bit and she was saying, “My fear is that when this does go away and I get back to the office is that I won’t have that time.” She has a two year old at home right now, “That I will lose that time with him, that I spend, this extra hour during lunch every day with him that I will lose that.” And so what it has done is actually brought her closer to what’s most important.

So anyway, now to bring it back to tactically, I think, again, it’s really being mindful of really planning, truly planning your day. Not just planning it like I’ve got to get through my email and I got to get through lunch and I get to dinner, but where does that time go? What’s most important? How do I carve out that specific time for maybe it’s my son or someone I’m mentoring or my husband or my wife, right? Where do I actually create that time really deliberately, whether it’s on the weekends or in the evenings or in the morning or during breaks, that’s for my self-care, that’s for exercise, it’s for meditation. It’s really forced us to be thinking about that and blocking that time is where I’ll come back to and making that a priority.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yes, that is so, so important because the structure in a way was taken away. Even if you had your own business and you’re really, with your own business, you have the opportunity to create your own structures, as opposed to being in a corporate scenario where that structure is imposed on you. So all that kind of structure got broken up. We found space to fill in with other things like more meaningful connection, as you’re talking about, the ability to really connect with your friends, your partner, your children, all these sorts of things, it freed up time actually for more self care.

And here’s the thing that’s funny, entrepreneurs tended to fill those gaps with extra work, in many cases. Yeah? And so the structure, it really forces you to think about, okay, so what new structure, what do I actually want? Like what actually works for me? And so take me through how you’re helping your clients through this, to really set up these new structures in their lives.

Mridu Parikh:                   I’d say it all really truly begins with focus and getting reconnected, I guess, as we’re talking about with your goals. So typically from working with a client, we kind of go through this four pillar life management system, because I think if anything, 2020 has taught us there’s no such thing as compartmentalizing work and home, it’s life, right? It is all together, all integrated. So the first thing we do is get super clear on your goals and your vision, like where do I want to see myself in three months or six months? If I had that crystal ball and I could say, this is what my life looks like, why don’t we start there? Let’s start there and then work backwards, because that is how we become intentional and deliberate.

So that’s where we start. Where do you want to see yourself? What would let you up? What is the most meaningful to you? The question I asked my clients is if it was Sunday night and you’re on the couch or in your pajamas, maybe even it’s Friday night, what would make you think this was such an awesome week? This is a kick week because I did X, Y, Z. Right? And so that’s kind of how we think about it in a more tactical method of just saying what would make this an amazing week?

That’s where we start. The next thing we do then is we look at your time and I call it your time and freedom. And we get really nitty gritty into your schedule because now if we’re like, I’m really clear on this focused vision, well let me reverse engineer and work my way into that calendar so I actually create the time and the space for this, because the last thing I want to do is fall back into just doing everything and keeping afloat. Now I’m clear on what it is, how do I get there? That’s what we’re really talking about how do I avoid distractions? And how do we really stay focused on what matters most and where do we maybe need to delegate or just completely get rid of, or eliminate some of the things that were in our schedules that we have time for the things that matter. So we get to the nitty gritty there.

The third step we’ll move into it’s called systematization. And to me, this is so important because you could do the first two pillars or first two things totally right. You can be like, I’m so clear my vision, my goals, I have this great schedule now, I know where I’m putting my time and energy, my morning, my evening, my days, all this. But you and I both know that if there’s not a system or process behind it, all it falls apart, right? In like a day or two, there’s just nothing there. When am I doing that meal planning? When am I recording all those podcasts? And when am I reaching out to those clients? And when do I spend the time with the family and put in the self care? Those are all processes and systems. So then we jump into that.

And then the last kind of pillar, which I think is the most undervalued is your communication and leadership. So, again, if you do the first three right, we’re clear what I’m doing, I can fit into my schedule, I have the systems, but if you don’t have the boundaries behind it, you can’t communicate to your family, to your team members, to your clients, to your colleagues, again, you totally risk failure. So we kind of walk through that process. It’s not always quite as linear as I laid it out, but those are the key pillars to me that make this whole thing, this whole life of ours, just feel like a well-oiled machine.

Melinda Wittstock:         Absolutely. So I think starting with this first point, and I love your four pillars, they make total sense to me. So when we break it down a little bit, and we start with this first kind of intentional look at what would be a real win, what’s your ideal week? What are you doing? Who are you being? All of that. Getting very, very clear on that is so vital. One of the things that I think a lot of women fall into this trap is thinking they can do more than they can in that week. In the sense of setting such ambitious goals or such a long to do list, like so many things to tick off to make that an ideal week that it’s actually impossible to do without the kind of prioritization of those things. Do you find that when people are at that first pillar on they’re visualizing their ideal week, they’re just by nature loading too much into it, too many to do’s.

Mridu Parikh:                   Yes. Which is why we have got to put pen to paper. Like we can visualize all this stuff as much as we want, but until you actually get it down on paper and start figuring out, well where am I fitting this in? And what do I changes do I have to make there? And how will this fit into that day? That is like, when you come face to face with reality, right? I think there’s this huge gap between what we think we can get done and what we can actually-

Melinda Wittstock:         Absolutely. I’m busted so for that. I think one of the things that I notice, this is a big epiphany of mine over the last couple of years is that for a while in my businesses, I had all these different lanes. So there’s product, how am I going to advance product this week? How am I, innovation? How am I going to advance our marketing? Okay, and then the hiring bucket, and then there’s the finance. So there’s all these different buckets in the business, these different lanes, and then I have these other ones for my personal or for my kids, and here’s the thing is I’m not eight people, but I had these, way, way back. I had these like eight different lists and I had to figure out how to combine it into really one and really focus on, okay, what’s urgent? What’s non-urgent? What’s important? And what’s non important? And then really focus on the things that are urgent and important and really create one list.

Mridu Parikh:                   Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         I was doing this without really the consciousness that no, actually I’m not eight people. So if I, Melinda as she used to be, would have had these eight different things and it was impossible. My work was never done. I’ve really changed so much of that up now. And one of the things you said a moment ago that makes so much sense to me is, gosh, you start calendarizing these things and you start really thinking about, well, how much time is it actually going to take to do that? What do I have to do? What can I delegate? What can I delete? What can I just choose no, that’s not important, I’m not going to do it at all. Right? And when you start putting those things in your calendar, you realize there’s probably six productive working hours in any day, maybe eight, but really more like six, when you factor in, you got to eat, you got to do all these other things. And when you see it just drawn out in front of you, you start to realize that no, actually it’s just not even possible.

Mridu Parikh:                   Absolutely. I mean, you know when you have 10 things on your list for the day and you’re thinking when you just write out a list, it seems totally manageable. For whatever reason in our head, you’re like, I can definitely knock out these 10, right? And then at the end of the day, you’ve done six, let’s say, and they’re six good things. They’re valuable, they’re important. But what do we focus on at the end of the day when you’re looking at that list? Is the four we didn’t get done, right? It’s like focusing on what we didn’t achieve, and it’s this really self-sabotaging, spiraling, awful negativity that now we feel like I’m not good enough, I didn’t get enough done, I’m not productive. We’ve always got these things we tell ourselves, which of course is not motivating or inspiring for the next day.

However, if we’d simply take, if we’d done those 10 things on our list, and then plan them on our calendar, we would have seen right away actually I could only fit six between my other meetings and you’re right, taking a shower or feeding the dog.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right?

Mridu Parikh:                   There’s only six. So here’s the thing, we plan those six and maybe reach five of the six or six of the six. You reach most them. So at the end of the day, you’ll look at that list and you’re like, I am a rock star. I pretty much did everything I said I was going to do. And it is such a big difference in the way you end your day and the way you start your day, when you feel the feeling of success, a feeling of I won. It’s powerful. So that I think is something we don’t think about just like what it’s doing to us psychologically to just look at that list and think we’re going to attack that list, but the list alone.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yes. So, so true. And I think the other part of this though, as well, the underlying part of this is women really struggle to actually ask for help. We all think that we have to be the doers that we have to get it done, and not only do we have to get it done, but it has to be perfect. And so I think a lot of women struggle to delegate or actually ask for help. And that’s something that absolutely has to be overcome here to be able to achieve really what we’re talking about here, getting out of overwhelm and getting out of all that negative self-talk about not being able to do enough. There’s this strange idea that to have it all, you have to do it all, when the reverse is actually true and you watch men so easily delegate.

Mridu Parikh:                   Absolutely. They delegate, and like you said, or they’re not perfectionist. They’re just like, whatever, leave the dishes, like don’t do that thing, just send that thing out. They’re just like, just do it, just get it out. You know? I see it in my own household all the time. I have two boys and a husband and husband here, absolutely the difference, how they can just let it go. And I think with women, it is something most women are unaware of. Very rarely does a woman come to me as a potential client and say, “I’m having a really hard time delegating.” Or, “I just really can’t get enough off my plate.”

Like no one says that when they come to me, we discover that as we’re going through their challenges and what’s happening in their life, but it’s like this lack of awareness, it’s like, we don’t even think that that’s an issue or a problem. You’re right, it’s very interesting to see the way men, I don’t know, for whatever reason are brought up with that feeling versus the way women are.

Melinda Wittstock:         So there are all kinds of inner stuff that we have to work on. And you touched on it a bit in your fourth pillar about communication and leadership, and there was one word you used that I think is vital, is boundaries. When you can take your kids aside or your partner, or work colleagues or folks that you manage, or whatever and just clearly indicate to them what you need or to be able to explain or something. Talk to me a little bit about some of the ways that women can have better boundaries around safeguarding their time?

Mridu Parikh:                   Absolutely. So I know this is going to sound so obvious because boundaries are basically communication. So it sounds obvious, you’re like maybe if I wasn’t fuming inside and building up all this resentment and anger in my head and actually verbalized it as it was happening that would help. And again, for whatever reason we feel like we just need to fume until we explode. So sometimes it’s as simple as literally just communicating at that moment. Like, “Hey, could you possibly, it would really help me, I’m feeling a lot of pressure right now, I want to be able to be here tonight for all of us. Could it be possible if you could handle this XYZ thing with the kids or with the family or with whatever, with the finances, it would really help me.”

And nine out of ten times, your spouse is going to say, “Yeah, sure honey, no big deal.” Again, we build it up into this crazy story in our head that they don’t want to do anything and they’re not helpful. I don’t know what it is that we did to do this, and this is some places often with our children, with our parents, with our colleagues, with our clients, with our team members, and I think a lot of it just is it’s showing a bit of vulnerability, not that I can’t handle this, but this is really going to help our collective whole. If I can get some support from you on this, it’s not just about me, it’s going to help us as a team, or us as a family, or us as a revenue generator, if we could support me. And when people are part of that, they feel much more invested in the results, right?

So like then it goes from this, “Oh gosh, should I be asking?” To, “Oh yeah, let me help. I’m happy to be on board.” Kind of thing. And so I think simply communicating, which means verbalizing it, is one of the first steps.

The second is once you verbalize, depending how detailed that request is or something you’re going to be letting go or delegating is actually again, getting pen to paper, like really creating something that’s a simple, a simple checklist or a simple, bulleted list of how what step one, step two, step three. So that when that task is delegated, you have the confidence that they’re not going to miss any steps and they have the confidence that they’re going to give you the result that you’re expecting. So again, it’s simple, it’s quick, it’s not like a 18 page document I’m talking about, but sometimes 10 little checks and the check boxes is what can give someone that clarity and give you that peace of mind.

Melinda Wittstock:         So what made you get inspired to help women beat the overwhelm and figure out all of this, because this has got such a big topic it’s so important for everybody, was there something in your own life that led you to this inspiration to help others?

Mridu Parikh:                   Yes. I was at the rock bottom in terms of overwhelm. I’d say maybe even maybe a lack of motivation is really where I was. I think it was beyond the overwhelm to the point where I was like, I hate my business, I’m not good at anything. Again, it was like that negative self-talk and a lot of it was because of all the things we’ve been talking about, like not planning the time well and not taking control of those demands and distractions, I was in a very, I don’t know, just in a place where I was like, I just can’t do anything well, I’m not hitting my goals. And that was when I started my business, which is called Life Is Organized, I was a professional home organizer. And I went into homes for a little bit, for a year until I realized that’s not what I love to do.

What I love to do is teach this. I don’t want to actually be doing the physical labor, I love to teach women that tips and strategies. So I embarked on this entrepreneurial journey and it was teaching women, the DIY kind of how to learn, learn to organize their homes. But I hit a point that I had very young kids, was doing a lot in my family, was growing the business, and that’s where I say, I really hit that point. I was overwhelmed and I needed to learn everything that I’ve taught today. There’s like that saying, you teach what you’re meant to learn.

Melinda Wittstock:         Right.

Mridu Parikh:                   And that’s really what it was. I was in this deep place. I felt like crap. And so essentially I was basically going to leave my business and go get a job out in the world when I started just kind of reading and that it became obsessing and then it became learning and getting certified and learning all about it, about productivity, goal setting, motivation, and then I basically just moved my business that way, which was wonderful because I had that organization background, but now I could bring to it a whole other level of not just organize your home, but organize the priorities, because often I was finding that women couldn’t organize their homes because they were too busy.

It’s like they didn’t have the priority stuff figured out. So not only was it helping me just personally, but I could see how that could really impact my clients as well. And then about four or five years ago, I fully transitioned more to the productivity, time management, goal setting side of it which of course would bring in the organization, and it is completely transformed my life from like that deep place of just, I’m not good enough, I can’t hit these goals, to just creating a sense of control. It’s kind of going from the chaos to control. From that scatteredness to competence. So that trajectory is something I live and breathe and it’s not like I don’t get overwhelmed anymore, but I know I have the skillsets and the tools behind it now to get myself out of it.

Melinda Wittstock:         Yes. Yeah. So how long of a process was that for you from that moment where in your own business, you’re like, “Oh my God, I can’t do this anymore. I’m just so overwhelmed. I can’t do it.” To the spark that led you to this and now to create this new business, what kind of time horizon was that for you to really kind of figure it out in your own life, to be able to help other people with it?

Mridu Parikh:                   So Melinda, you’re making me be really embarrassed and tell how long it was. It was a long time. It was about, well from the time when I was like, I’m giving this entrepreneurial journey up, to when I really truly transitioned was over 18 months. I would say for me, that was one of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned was I knew in my heart what I should be doing. I knew where it should be going, but kind of letting go of that old business that I put my heart and soul into and transitioning was a good 18 months, or maybe even two years, it was way too long. That is the biggest takeaway that I would love to share with your audience. And for me, it’s like, when you know it, just go.

I would make every excuse that I was so scared of letting it go and like cutting the cord was really hard, and then just embarking on this new side of this business, it was too long. When I look back, I’m like why, it was just so scary. It was the fear and starting over and what will people think, and this is doesn’t seem focused. But then when I finally did, just the clarity that comes in, in every way, like the clarity and how do I my market myself, the clarity on what I’m doing every day, the clarity on where I put my focus and intention, and then of course there, then that clarity and the impact on my revenue and where I was showing up, and now I’m speaking nationally, all the things, it came from that.

But I think that if I could ever go back and say, what would I do over? It was like, just cut that cord sooner and go where you know your heart is saying and listen to that gut as a woman always say. Listen to those signs and the signals that you know where you should be going.

Melinda Wittstock:         So true. And it’s actually not that long a time, really, in the scheme of things. I know it probably felt long, right? But it takes time to change because there’s the initial intention. And then there’s the creating of the habits, and then it takes a little while to really let that kind of synthesize and integrate within you and whatnot. So it’s really a process. Something you said earlier in the podcast, it really is a journey. I’ve learned in my entrepreneurial career, there’s really no destination. There are these little milestones along the way, or breadcrumbs to let you know am I going in the right direction or maybe the wrong direction? Where do I need to pivot? What do I need to change? But it’s constantly a journey, and I’ve come to the acceptance now that, that my work is never really done.

And that was really revelatory and freeing for me because then I can just enjoy my work. Like just enjoy the day, enjoy the process. It’s just a process. There’s a little bit of surrender or a little bit of letting go in that, that really, at the end of the day, It’s so important to just be enjoying what you do and when you’re enjoying it and creating from this lovely place, all the pieces start to align sort of like what you were just describing. Once you made that decision, you got past your fear, you really kind of jumped into it, then all the opportunities just started to flow. You weren’t forcing them. They just started to come to you.

Mridu Parikh:                   I love the word that you said, surrender. That is perfect. Surrender. Yeah. Just surrender to it. And I think for me, also part of that was surrendering to just following my intuition. I think that is what really scared me.

Melinda Wittstock:         And trusting ourselves.

Mridu Parikh:                   Trusting it, yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:         Trusting ourselves and quietening our minds enough to actually be able to hear our soul, you know? Because at that point, it also makes all the what you’re going to put on your calendar a lot more clear as well, when you really know your mission and you’re in alignment and all that kind of stuff, it starts to get very clear about what’s a hell yeah and what’s a no.

So I find I work far less than I did and achieve a lot more. And it’s like doing all the things that you’ve, you’ve talked about, about being really intentional, being very, very clear and in touch all the systems really calendarizing, prioritizing things, getting better about boundaries, getting clearer about understanding myself when I’m most productive, like what time of the day to do what different things, how to create uninterrupted deep work time, what to delegate, what to delay, like all these sorts of things. All of that became instantly clearer for me, once I allowed myself to do things like meditate or create, create quiet spaces in the day where like I’m not working, but it is definitely, definitely a process.

Mridu Parikh:                   Yes it is. It’s definitely a process.

Melinda Wittstock:         It’s a process, but that’s the thing, and do you find yourself personally learning new things as you go? As you have new inputs and whatnot? Because I find myself sometimes having to relearn things that I thought I’d already learned-

Mridu Parikh:                   Yeah, absolutely.

Melinda Wittstock:         Like slip into old habits, or whatever.

Mridu Parikh:                   Yeah. And then I think it just depends. Sometimes you hear something and then you hear it at a different phase in your life and your journey, and it has a completely different meaning or a different impact. Even though I heard this before three years ago or two years, and then you’re like, oh, but now I get it. Now I see what they were saying. So, yeah, you’ve just got to keep listening to this and to hearing it and reinforcing it over and over because you just never know how something you hear or read or believe how it changes as you change. And another thing I just want to mention about delegating is one of the great benefits of delegating and getting more and more off our plate is that we have to make room to build the new skills, the new mindsets, and have the growth opportunities. And if we’re always stuck in what we’re doing, like if we’re never getting anything off of us, we never have that room to bring anything new in. It gets stale. So that’s just something else to be thinking about as to why do we want to, yeah, just get some of these things off of our mental plate of our physical plates so that we can bring new growth and opportunities and creativity and joy into our lives as well.

Melinda Wittstock:         Exactly.  So when you look at people’s calendars and dig deeper beneath their calendars to really figure out how are they actually spending their time, what are the biggest time-wasters you find most women doing that they’re they may or may not even be conscious of?

Mridu Parikh:                   One thing I say in a loving way to my clients is show me your calendar and I can tell you your priorities. Right? And it’s like, we can see right from looking at it is your self-care time on there is the exercise, is time with the family, is calling my grandma, is working on this strategy, is it on there? Because that’s where we’re going to be putting your time. So, one thing I’d say in terms of time wasting is that if that’s not, again, deliberate, if it’s not on there, you’re going to find ways to waste your time to do other things, because those priorities haven’t been scheduled on your calendar.

But given that, obviously one of the biggest as we all know is email, I mean, email, email, email, Oh my gosh. The amount of time we spend in email and then social media. We may go into social media to put a post and meanwhile, it’s like 40 minutes later, we’re still sitting on Instagram or Facebook. So those are two really big ones. But outside of those external distractions, which I consider those external, it’s email and social media, internally kind of things we could even be doing is creating that plan for them. Right? So I’m not saying don’t ever be on email, never be on social media, but if we don’t plan that time during the day and put parameters and boundaries around that, because boundaries aren’t always for other people, a lot of the boundaries are for ourselves, if we’re not putting that on there, you’re going to fall into that trap of wasting your time in there.

There’s, what’s it called, Parkinson’s law is like, whatever time you have to do a task is how long it’ll take you to do it. Right? So if you know I’m only giving myself 30 minutes twice or three times a day to be in email, I’m just going to get done whatever I need to in that 30 minutes, three times a day to get done in my email. So I think that’s where we’re really falling into these time-wasters is by not putting those parameters and then not planning ahead of time what those priorities are.

Melinda Wittstock:         Absolutely. So I want to make sure that everybody knows where to get your book. You have a book out called Accomplish It, which I imagine goes through all of these principles. You’ve got a great podcast as well, Productivity on Purpose. What’s the best way for people to find you and work with you?

Mridu Parikh:                   Come on over to lifeisorganized.com. You’ll find everything over there, all the things. They have, some awesome free resources like 21 killer hacks to stop feeling overwhelmed or how to finally stop procrastinating. There’s also, you can find the book there lifeisorganized.com/book or lifeisorganized.com/resources for those freebies. And then the podcast is lifeisorganized.com/podcast. You’ll find it all there. It’s really simple to navigate. And what I’ll do actually, I also have a page created for your listeners called lifeisorganized.com/wings. So I’ll get some of those resources on there. Also an opportunity if you just want to pick up this conversation, and this is resonating with you, sign up for a free strategy session with me and let’s just keep the conversation going. I’m also, you can find Life is Organized on Instagram and Facebook.

Melinda Wittstock:         Wonderful. Well thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying with us.

Mridu Parikh:                   Thank you so much for having me. This was fantastic.

Mridu Parikh
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