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Carlee
If someone asked you to list all of your most valuable assets, would time be at the top of your list? Hi, I'm Carlee Myers, your friendly stress management expert. And this month we're talking about how to manage your time for less stress. I brought on an amazing guest, LaTeisha Williams, MSW, who's a life coach and author, who works with women who are ready to make changes in their lives by showing up, showing them how to use positivity as a tool. LaTeisha is the founder of Queen Brand Enterprise, which is a community of women who encourage, educate and edify one another on their mission to live a healthy and positive life. By using her educational background in social work and personal life experiences LaTeisha is able to offer an eclectic approach that supports women specifically and addresses their unique needs along their journey. Oh my goodness, I am so excited to have you on the show.
LaTeisha
Whoo! Hello, everyone.
Carlee
Oh, my goodness. So first, some context. Everyone LaTeisha and I met a few weeks ago at an event a colleague of ours put together. We ended up talking and talking and talking. We had so much in common. And I feel like I was her cheerleader as she was sharing all of her valuable knowledge. So I was like, I have to have you on the show and this has to happen.
LaTeisha
I am greatly appreciated. I am. I was so excited when I got the invite. I was like, yes this is awesome,
Carlee
Oh my goodness, awesome. So tell us, for those of us who don't know you and don't aren't familiar with your work, how did you end up here? What's your story?
LaTeisha
Well, I started out actually working in telecommunications. I worked for a huge brand still around right now for over a decade. And I was there and I was just taking classes, you know, here and there. But I always wanted to help people. And in that position, I didn't feel like a lot of help because I was collecting money from individuals. So to me, if someone called in and said, hey, I only have ten dollars to pay, I'm like, OK, great, give it here. Versus what I'm supposed to be doing is asking for more. So that kind of started to weigh on me. It was no room for growth, just a lot of different things that go on in corporate America on the phone, in telecommunications. So when I got separated from that position, I was like, OK, let me go ahead and go for a full head of steam with my my education. So I did that, got my associates. And as I was getting my associates, I took a lot of electives in Human Services because I still. Growing up, I had a lot of people help me. Like they say, it takes a village. It really took a village to raise me. And that was because, you know, different things go on in life. You know, there's hardships, there's trauma, there's all kinds of stuff. So I wanted to single handedly save the world. So that's kind of how it started. I went to school, got that associates took those Human Services class. And when I took those human services classes, my electives, that's all they were, that it just resonated with me. And so I went on to get my bachelor's, went on to get my master's and worked in mental health for quite some time and now deciding to go ahead and help individuals in a different fashion. So that's how I became a light worker.
Carlee
Oh, my God. Oh, that's right. We talked about Lightworkers. That that term. It's such a great term. And I feel like people don't use it enough, so. Oh, my goodness. OK, that's amazing. And I feel like I, I now know somebody who got their associates degree first. A lot of the people I know, they just like jump in I don't know how they made that happen, but they jump in and I was like, no, I got my associate's degree and then my, my bachelors. And that was the whole process. But I digress. We're here to talk about time management.
LaTeisha
So let's manage our time,
Carlee
Let's manage our time properly. Yeah. So tell us I'm curious what you know, what do you recommend in terms of how to manage our time for less stress?
LaTeisha
Definitely the first thing is prioritize, I know we everything makes the top of the list, we sit and we say I have this to do, I have that to do. And I have this, to do. And then you think about what's important and everything goes to the top. So really sit down and think about things like what do I what is very pertinent right now? You know, is there a project that's due right now? Is there some type of, you know, event that I have to prepare for? Is there something in my personal life that I have to get done? And if it is, that is something that you can do first. What I've also noticed about prioritizing my time is even though I'm putting one thing first, I kid I could work on that thing and not necessarily get done in that time frame. And that is still OK, too, because that's still managing my time. You know, sometimes we sit and we want to get everything all out at one time and we're kind of like forcing it to go. That's really a waste of time because you're sitting there making yourself work on something when really you can use that time to work on something that's actually flowing through you. So that's one tip. Another one is time is the most valuable asset and we will never get it back. We can't. We can't either. We're going to spend our time or we're going to spend our money. But to me time is much more valuable than even the money is because so much happens during that time. I mean, you know, as we spend our time. So one of the things that I had to realize was I had some really, really in tune with what my intentions were and what my goals were. And when I say that, I say that because when someone or I'm spending my time doing something and it's not aligned with my goals or what my intentions are, I'm ultimately not utilizing my time properly. So
Carlee
And those are the days right where you end up at the end of the day and you're like, I didn't do anything. And the reality is, is you did a bunch of stuff, but it's just stuff that wasn't moving your goals and your priorities forward.
LaTeisha
Yes. And we want to say we want to take progressive steps forward. What I mean, whether it's, you know, business, personal, you know, spiritually, you know, working out, I mean, you want to take progressive steps forward. So just keeping in mind, when we when we think about time management, that that is our most valuable asset. So am I going to caught wasting my time doing this or do I want to go ahead and spend my time doing this and then some time management hacks that we all can utilize or try to figure out for ourselves. One of the works well for me is making a couple of meals at a time.
Carlee
Oh, my gosh. Meal prep, saved so many lives.
LaTeisha
Oh, my goodness. And I'm starting this new lifestyle change where I'm not eating any meat any longer, which has long been a struggle. Cheese is my issue. So they're like, you're a vegan now? No, I'm not a vegan because every now and then I want a cheese pizza. I'm just going to be honest, you know what I'm saying? So even with that being said, like that's a time management hack for me, because if I can go ahead and prepare a couple of smoothies, prepare my salad, get my my vegetables cooked already, that's a few meals right there for a couple of days. That helps me.
Carlee
I just learned about mason jars salads if you prepackage. Yeah. You put the salad and all the stuff except for the dressing in the mason jar. It keeps for a week.
LaTeisha
Yes,
Carlee
That's like game changing stuff
LaTeisha
Life changing. So little time hacks like that. Even though it seems small, even though one day you're going to spend maybe an hour to prepare all of these meals, guess what, that size you like two hours every day during the week, you add that up. That's like, what, ten hours a day you just got back. Hmm. I'm sorry ten hours a week.
Carlee
I'm not spending ten hours a day doing anything I'll tell you that.
LaTeisha
No, I'm sorry a week ten a week.
Carlee
So I have a question for you then. So how do we we talked about, you know, working on, like, miscellaneous stuff that makes you feel not accomplished versus working on your priorities. How do you find how do you prioritize?
LaTeisha
You have to be kind of. I know this kind of sound bad, but sometimes you have to be selfish.
Carlee
It don't sound bad to me, sounds great.
LaTeisha
And the word no has helped me a tremendous amount. I'm the type of person. Again, I want to help. I want to give back all that type of thing. So I had to one put my phone on Do Not Disturb. And then two it's no. You know, if again, if it's not aligned with what I have going on, what I have planned out, sometimes things happen. Don't get me wrong, sometimes things happen. But trying to be a stickler, that's one of those things you're got to kind of be mean about. Like, nope, no compromise, especially if it's something important that you can't put off.
Carlee
Yeah, yes. It boundaries even you can use the I like to call the shit sandwich. Right to properly communicate. Other people call it the positive sandwich, right, where you're able to say appreciate people for what they're doing in your life, say no, and then have it have a perspective of gratitude that they are supporting you in whatever it is that you want to do. And I just want to drop the name of a book here on how to prioritize. And it's called The One Thing by Gary Keller, probably the best business book I have ever read. So if you guys want even more on how to figure out what what we like, how to prioritize, that's going to be the book. Now we want to know what resonated with you today. Let us know in the comments below. Now, are you feeling if you're feeling overworked or exhausted? I've got some good news for you. The stress company works with high achieving CEOs, business owners and managers just like you to find that sense of peace and freedom they desire. And as a result of our work together, they learn how to properly manage their time, tasks and energy so that they can experience more free time, efficiency and prosperity. Sounds pretty good, right? Well, if that sounds great to you, you can apply for a complimentary stress less clarity session today to start the conversation about working together. Visit Stressless CO dot COM apply. This concludes this episode of this show, I want to give one big last shout out and thank you to LaTeisha for coming on the show.
LaTeisha
Whooo!
Carlee
If you've enjoyed this week's episode, let us know by giving us a big old thumbs up and hitting that follow or subscribe button. Thanks for listening, Share if it resonated. And we'll see you next week,
LaTeisha
Bye bye.