From Overwhelmed to Organized with Juli Shulem | MDIDS209

Welcome, welcome. Welcome. This is Paul Finck The Maverick Millionaire and you are listening to the Mavericks Do It Different Podcast with the Maverick Universe. And today, I'm honored to have a special guest on here. And we're going to be talking about how to create a great life. And I know that's one of those things that a lot of people say only this person actually helped you create it in your world and make it happen. This is Juli Shulem. She's a productivity coach, right speaks trains, clients, and ways to improve their productivity and reduce stress, overwhelm procrastination, all those things that we all experience. And we all want to make sure we eliminate them from our world. And yet, man, it's a daily struggle. It's a daily battle. And here's the person is going to help us do all of that and more. We're going to talk about that. Julie silom. Welcome to the podcast. What's going on?

Oh, my gosh, thank you so much, Paul, I'm so excited to be on this show with you. This is wonderful.

So you've been a productivity coach for a little while now. And how did you get started? Let's begin with some of your history. How do you get started? And why? Why this?

You know, this is such a great question. Believe it or not, I actually started managing tasks and projects and my time when I was in junior high. I was the nerdy kid who would have a day runner when those were real popular. And I kept track of everything. Yeah, right. We all remember that. So I was I was always writing things down and organizing things, probably because my dad was an engineer, and that's the way he lived. So I was always doing this. And I thought that was normal. Everybody did this, I found out not the case. I was a unique person and doing this. And it became something that I just did, and it kept me on track and I was able to monitor manage everything I was doing. And I like to do a lot. I was always taking extra classes and everything. So I had to juggle a lot of things. This just kind of carried on as I went to high school and college and unbeknownst to me, that turned into a career. It was a career. I found out that I was able to help other people manage their lives and organize their time and their spaces. And I started organizing, believe it or not dental offices, that was my introduction to those world that became my life. And although I was studying in school, I was studying pre-med and I was an art major. So really different here, on both my right and left brain go on at the same time. I was, I actually became a medical illustrator that was kind of where my path was. But I missed, I missed working with people, I had a great time photographing operations and going back into the studio and, you know, illustrating for various things. But I miss working with people. So I kept going with the organizing, and then I was speaking on how to manage your time better and get more things done. And I just, it kept growing and evolving. And I became a professional organizer, and efficiency expert. That was what I did all through my 20s and 30s. And then, about 19 years ago, or so, every single one of my organizing clients told me that they were struggling with ADHD, which explained a lot because I was creating systems. And I love creating systems. I don't know this because I was a math major, by the way, as well. And I love solving for x. So I was always finding solutions to problems. So what I did was create solutions and systems for how someone's brain worked. Turns out that that year, everybody I was working with, had ADHD, so they told me. I very quickly learned everything I could about this. And I had a little inkling of it prior due to the fact that everyone in my life had ADHD turned out, but I learned how to create systems for the way anyone thinks, regardless of how that is, right. And this then segwayed into being able to help more and more people, but then I was limited by just you know, in my area, or where someone wanted to fly me to. Right, and I wanted to be able to help more people and and make this something that everyone everyone would have access to. So I wrote some books.

And I want to I want to pose you at that stage, I want to go back and one of the things that that you've done really well as you took a talent, and so many people, yes, some of this is there that they analyze the world and go oh, well, here's something that it plays well or as needed or as a hot topic or a hot industry and they'll go into that without actually analyzing Well, what do I do? Well, let me bring that to market. And it's so much of a, it's such a great methodology for people to follow because you took your skill sets and applied it into creating a business around it rather than finding what a great business was and then attempting to create skill sets around it. And it becomes a better way of life more passion within you and obviously you're better at what you do because of it since such a great methodology I wanted to highlight that for our audience. We've got people listening all around the world and pieces like that make a difference in their life and can help them out. So you tapped into what you're good at by the way I started off in the dental field as well. So I my background and something I don't talk about a lot but yeah, my first, some of my first careers if you will was in selling in the dental industry and the same thing these people need help. Our audience may not know and I'm sure you do is that they are the the highest suicide rate of any profession is dentistry. And I've psychoanalyze this and I realized that most people go in there with pain, and when they're feeling good, they never get seen. And so all the dentists hears all day long is life sucks, life sucks, life sucks, life sucks and I'm in pain and then they leave them before they get resolved resolution of the pain because you leave still numb, right? So they never see the good side only the bad and it's so interesting and that's what feeds into their devastation and so helping them with stress and overwhelm them and all these things that play into that, really powerful to helping them get real with their life. So with all this now you realize your calling you got into this and now you're you're alright this is real, time to get clear. Realized ADHD and you mentioned and I don't want to, you know, put words in your mouth. But you mentioned something about, well, this was a personal thing, as well, or it was everywhere in your life. Can you talk about that?

Yes. So the, the ADHD component became really, it really hit home because at that time I was, we were noticing that my son was exhibiting symptoms of ADHD, at at a quite a young age, we didn't do anything, you're really serious about it for a while, because we wanted to make sure that that's what it was. And we did have that's actually that was kind of what helped me to learn more about it. Because he was was and still is incredibly verbal, and able to communicate what he was thinking what was going on for him. And my clients were doing the same. So I was learning a lot about, okay, what was going on here. And what started happening is people started coming to me from all over the world, they found me, because I was, I had that unique combination of being able to help people get organized, because I had the professional organizing background. And also to understand and work with someone with ADHD, when I realized that this was such an underserved population, I had no choice but to help people, because I could and, and this became my passion is really to, to help people who felt misunderstood, and, and were treated poorly in some regard. And especially in you know, in a work situation, where they were not understood, they were not giving, being given any kind of accommodations, to allow them to really harness their talent and their superpowers to be able to be an asset to that company. And this is what I what I love doing. So that's kind of how it kind of how it all transpired in a way.

Yeah, it's really amazing. And the same thing, when you take your assets, you can create business around it, when you take something that's personal, and you build your business around it, it becomes so much more profound for anybody out there that is, you know, suffering from ADHD is such a worldwide challenge. And, and people get dismissed or pigeonholed or challenged with being able to navigate our society, because of biasness because of shunts around that, and, and you help them navigate the world and are one of the experts on how to not just experience ADHD and understand it, but then how to be effective with it in multiple ways, in productivity, in organization in living, stress, free eliminating that overwhelm. And so anybody that has some of those challenges, here's something that not only understands it on a business level, but also experiences experiences it on a personal level. And it's it's where real magic happens. So thank you for being a stand for that whole community. It's amazing. You know, one of the things that that people struggle with, and and hearing about, oh, you know, so my son, and all the things that are going on my son, and then I've got my business and my business is growing. And how do you balance all that? How do you manage all the things and we all have -You know, I hear it all the time? Well, you don't understand, I've got this, well, everybody's got this whatever in their life, and that shouldn't stop you. So one of the what we started with how do you create a great life? Well, this is the this is the key. How do we do that? How do we balance it all?

For me, I can only speak to me and my clients. One of the things that really, really helps us first of all, let me say two things, know your priorities. What, what is the driving force? Why are you doing what you're doing? I know that every morning when I get up, it's so that I can help people have a wonderful life look forward to getting up in the morning and starting their day instead of dreading it. I love Mondays. Everyone who's like, oh my god, it's Monday. I'm like, yeah, it's it's Monday. It gives me time. That's awesome. Yeah, you know, if you're not happy, and out of the five, five out of the seven days a week, how sad. Yeah, this is this is this is a lot of time we're spending, doing what we're doing doing our job, whatever that may be. And I love the fact that, you know, I am excited about my day and I do look forward to the people I get to meet. You know I look at my calendar for the day, and say Oh, I get to talk to so and so and I'm very excited about, you know, helping them get to the next level, whatever that may be. So it's a drive for me and in order to create the balance, you have to have structure. There just no other way of talking around.

So what does structure look like?

Structure looks like making sure that you are putting the right amount of time to the right things for the right reasons.

Oh, love that. Glad you got that recorded, expand on that.

If you have time spent doing the things that are going that are making you happy, that are bringing people into your world that make you happy, that are driving, moving you forward in whatever direction that may be, then you're going to have good balance. Now you need to plan that and you need to schedule that stuff. It doesn't just happen by wishing for it. And I have a lot of people say, Oh, but it's in my head, I think about it. Good for you and how often has that manifested thing is that you have to really put put the energy, energy and effort into making sure it's going to happen by scheduling what you want to have happen. I'm gonna give you an example. I had my calendar, my schedule, I was I was allowing things to just kind of happen. Come at me, oh, life coming up. Kind of a thing where, okay, I'll see people whenever you know, whenever that is. Well, it turned out that that was really draining me and I wasn't able to be my best self for my clients. So what I did is I shifted my schedule. I said, you know what I can be fully present on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. That is my current schedule where I am client facing Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. That is pretty much all I do on those days. I don't I don't do much of anything else. It's just client facing. I am 100% immersed in that world. On the other days on Mondays and Fridays. That's my admin day. That's my those are the days I'll have your talk to other people make contacts have consultations, I do consultations with clients. Initial consults, but I have my days structured, so I'm not jumping from one kind of a task to another, because transitions are difficult for many people, and interruptions, Oh my gosh, don't even get me started. That's a whole other animal. And we do better if we stay doing the same kind of activity, that assembly line process. By the way, there's something to it, if we stay on that same track for a good length of time. Yes, I have...

So many people that and I have so the same conversations and I hear the same feedback. It's like, No, I've got it in my head. You know, there are people that are even highly productive, that are saying, Oh, I've got it all in my head and what I tell them is imagine your product productivity, when you actually use the tools that have been proven to work. Thank you. So you then you fall into that. Once you start writing it down and getting clear with your structure, your productivity will go through the roof when you're already at baseline. It goes crazy for all people that are lower than baseline. You know now you get structured it'll change your world does it's life changing and learn how to do that. Not just for business, but for personal as well your life. It changes everything be you're absolutely able to and exactly what you said able to focus on the things that are worthwhile to focus on that you prioritize they you want. That makes sense for you that you decide in advance. This is where I want to spend my time is so important.

It's so powerful. It is indeed life changing. And this is what, you know, I get to hear this from my clients on a consistent basis, you teach them a new skill, and they're just blown away.

Here's one of the things that I hear. And I would love to get your feedback on this one. So then they say, well, that's not spontaneous. Like, I'm not scheduling guy talking about, you know, schedule, I schedule a date with my wife, I schedule a date with my children. And like, they're like, well, that's not spontaneous and that just destroys all that all the fun out of life. What would you say to that?

I say exactly what I say to that. So, I when I work with people who, you know, they've got so much going on, go go go, and they love this spontaneous spontaneity. And, yeah, well about that. So what I help people do is, you block the time you block the time that you're going to go out and play, whatever that may be. You don't have to decide necessarily what you're going to do exactly. But having the time blocked out is what's so crucial. Couple things. First of all, we get excited and look forward to that, prize at the end, right? It's the reward.

Yes, it's like, going up, when you have a vacation coming up, or you have next week, you're like, Oh, you talk about like, every day, leading up to it.

You get excited about it. And so it builds, and you're looking forward to it and it often propels you to be even more productive prior, because you know, you've got this, wonderful reward at the end. Okay, so that's one thing. The other thing is, when you schedule the time to take time off, whatever it is, I just call it chill out time. So if you've got this time to just chill out, and you've scheduled it, and you've got everything else that you need to get done in that week, organized, scheduled, and you get it done. That free time becomes guilt free, free time. Now we have a lot more fun and enjoyment, when we are out playing, when we know that we've earned it, if you will, or that we have we have done what we needed to do so that we don't have that nagging voice saying, Oh, but you really should be taking care of that. I thought that that. Okay, that should not be happening. He wants spontaneity. Yeah, trying going out and hanging out and doing something fun with out that nagging voice telling you, you're supposed to have done that you should have been doing this. That's no fun.

So many people and when they talk about stress and overwhelm it has, the feedback that I hear is, when I'm at work, I'm thinking about the fact that I'm not with my family, when I'm with my family, or my loved ones or my friends, then guilty because I'm not working. And they'll have this balance this in congruency constantly. Yeah. And one of the ways what you're saying is one of the ways to live in the present moment, and enjoy the present so greatly is to make sure that you're organized and on task with all the pieces in your life and that's where structure comes in. That's where this organization,

That's the magic.

Yeah, really amazing. So let's talk about that. What are some of the ways in which people can manage their time if this structure and time management is so important? What are some of the things that we could be doing right away to manage our time?

Despite the amount of technology we all have in our lives, I am constantly surprised by the lack of use of these tools that we all have available to us, starting with a calendar. Yes, I am constantly. Yeah, we back up on this. I used to think what I would when I was teaching task management and prioritization and all these things that you know, eventually everyone would know how to do this and, you know, it was going to be easy. And you know, I'd have to find another career. Yeah, that has not happened. Turns out more people are realizing that this is an essential thing. We have to be using calendars. I refer to the calendar as the GPS of our life. It tells us where we're supposed to be and when we're supposed to be there. Yeah, that's pretty much. That's it in a nutshell. It is not supposed to be a place where you write a list of all the things you're going to do. It's not where you put your goes down, it is simply a place to list where you're going to be and when you're going to be there. Right? That's it. And the thing that I'm always encountering with people is that they are keeping so much in their head. You know, if you're trying to remember where you're supposed to be, you are cluttering your mind with minutia that you really don't need to be doing, you're taking, taking up real estate in your head with that kind of stuff, when you got a tool that will do it for you brilliantly, by the way, as long as you actually look at it and use it on a regular basis. So I, the main thing I tell people is, make sure that you have a calendar that you're using it. And that always reflects reality, your calendar should always reflect reality. It should be not just what you have what you are going to be doing but if your schedule changes, well, for goodness sakes, change it on your calendar, so that you know where you have been, you can always go back and say, Okay, did I was I there on Tuesday or Thursday? You can see in your calendar, because it is real.

Its the old adage of plan your work and work your plan. That's exactly what the calendar is all about. And let it I refer to it as the calendar rules me. And so when I schedule the calendar, and then but that's pre-work in the moment, where am I going to be? I look at the calendar, that's where I'm gonna be. And it and it, I let it rule me and I don't adjust it, shift it change it. Because in the moment, that's what I pre-planned and structured and set up. Yes. And and if you want to comment on that, is that good?

Yeah. Base? Well, I have a funny story about the fact that you say your calendar rules me. And I like to say guide you versus rule to read because I had a client one time, and I was working with her on task management. And she had we you know, that was at the time when everything was paper based. And so she had her system. And I came for the next session. And I said, so let me see how is your time management system working? Just Oh, it's under the bed? I said, what's it doing under the bed? Because I put it there? I go, why is your time management under your bed? Because I'm mad at it because it controls me. Okay, we need to shift our sense of how that's being used. I took it out and I explained to her, you are in control, this gives you the control. It's not taking it away from you. It's giving you that control? Yes, you're making the decision what you're going to do, and when.

Oh my gosh, that's so funny.

So it doesn't it it gives us that power. And it takes away the opportunity. The challenge, if you will, of reassigning when we're gonna do what. And you know, revaluating what we've got scheduled. We make that commitment and we keep it when we have it in our calendar.

So just because it's written doesn't mean it cannot be changed. You're still in control at all times.

Yes, yes, you have to be because life changes. People change on us. We have to be able to, to be flexible, but at the same time stay with our commitments,

Right and so fluid structure. Yeah, and be flexible, great components. It's truly amazing. And productivity touches on so many things with our life. In creating that life work balance. We've been talking about understanding how to keep passion and excitement in your life. Structure is the thing. So it's not about, you know, lack of spontaneity, it's actually increasing that excitement enjoying your life by being structured and systematize. And of course reducing stress and overwhelm and all those other components in just a productive person just feels better. Ongoing, purposeful intent.

Yes, and, and I was just just thinking about the whole spontaneity thing, how wonderful when you know what your schedule is, where you have a commitment and where you maybe don't or have some free time, and someone calls and say hey, you free for lunch today? Yes, actually, I am. I'll see you in 20 minutes. Yes. Spontaneity. You're right.

That's true freedom.

It's freedom. Yes. Yes. Thank you. It's right there. And you know, you have the availability. Yeah. There's your spontaneity.

Juli, what a pleasure. We've got people listening all over the world, last thoughts as to what you'd like to share with them. What would be a takeaway for them?

Find what you love to do and find a way to make a living doing it. That's the advice I got.

right there with you. right there with you. Awesome, awesome. Awesome. It was for all of you. You absolutely want to reach out to Juli Shulem. To find out more to understand how to be a part of her focus with ADHD and get can get real with that in your productivity. To reach out you have any any challenges with stress and overwhelm or productivity. And you want someone to lean into Juli's the person how could they find you, Juli?

Super easy. My name is the only one spelled the way it is on the internet. So you can find me just by just google me. You can find me at my website, which is coachjuli.com, Juli is spelled ju li there is no E at the end. So coachjulie.com, I'm on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, you know, all the usual places. Hangouts. Website would be the easiest.

Awesome, Coach julie.com. It'll be in the description. If you're seeing this anywhere on your computer on your phone. It'll be in the description as well. coachjuli.com. Juli, absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been a delight.

My pleasure. Thank you so much.