Yesterday I shared the Magic Lamp journaling prompt – lots of kind, inspiring replies to that email, so thank you to everyone who replied with their own vision for what their answer to that question would be.
Today I want to share another thought exercise / journaling prompt to get your juices flowing while we’re in the midst of “New Year New Me” energy.
This one comes from the YouTube channel / podcast Graham Cochrane. I first came across Graham’s videos 8+ years ago when I was first getting into trying to become a music YouTuber. The first few videos I ever made were of me and my friends singing covers of popular songs, and Graham’s YouTube channel Recording Revolution was helpful in teaching me about microphone positioning, audio engineering, mixing and the like. Fast forward many years, and now Graham’s pivoted into being a (rather good) business coach instead of “the audio tutorial guy”. I binged a few episodes of his podcast over the holidays and loved this simple question he posed in one of them:
⁉️ What would you do differently if you didn’t feel you were running out of time?
When I heard that, I paused the video, and let it sit for a few moments. What would I do differently if didn’t feel like I was running out of time? That question made me realise that I often approach business (and sometimes even life) like I’m in a race against some invisible clock. YouTube channel’s not growing as fast as it used to. We could be launching products faster. Speed of execution is important. I should get started with the next book. I shouldn’t put more time into this video, I should just get it out there. Etc.
I was listening to this episode while I was walking in the local park, so I paused the video, opened up VoicePal, and recorded my thoughts in response to the prompt:
What would I do in my business if I didn’t feel like I was running out of time? I would definitely take my time with product launches. I wouldn’t worry so much about trying to film something every day. Some days, like this one, I’d wake up, have a leisurely morning, and explore until creative inspiration strikes—like I did this morning for the productivity system.
If I wasn’t concerned about running out of time, I would focus on making existing things better for our students rather than constantly launching new things. I’d concentrate on really understanding what our students want and need, then figure out how to deliver it in a scalable way, like we’re doing with Productivity Lab. I would be more hands-on with projects and take my time with approvals, making sure I’ve thoroughly worked on offers before launching them.
Right now, I aim to film about three things a week—sometimes even trying to film daily. But I wouldn’t be wedded to doing two videos per week if time wasn’t a concern. I would be comfortable spending more time learning rather than just outputting content.
I think I would focus more intensely on how I can help people. If I wasn’t concerned about running out of time, the true North Star would be: Does this help our students achieve their dreams? Does this actually help them build the life they want, achieve financial freedom, or whatever their goal might be?
If I wasn’t trying to grow the business as fast as possible, I would probably be more relaxed about hiring. I would focus on building a base of recurring revenue where people are genuinely delighted to pay each month or year.
I would prioritize life stuff more and go with my energy. On days when I don’t feel like working, I wouldn’t force myself. If I feel inspired on weekends, I might work then. It would be a more fluid balance rather than trying to confine everything into rigid structures.
I wouldn’t think of weekends as weekends or weekdays as workdays. While still keeping some meetings on the calendar, I’d treat all time as fluid exploration. Sometimes I might feel like doing nothing or reading a book. Other times, I might want to watch videos or play video games. And sometimes, when the energy is right, I’d make YouTube videos, work on products, or build frameworks. I would follow these natural rhythms if I wasn’t concerned about running out of time.
Graham mentioned in the podcast that pretty much every business owner he works with has this constant feeling that “time’s running out”, “we’ve gotta move faster” etc. I certainly have that – even though I’m the Feel-Good Productivity guy, and I’ve researched and written 3 chapters on the importance of rest, energy conservation and burnout prevention, I still often need to remember to take my own advice. It’s okay to slow down sometimes. Time isn’t running out. We got this.
That’s not to say you should 100% always operate like this – speed clearly has benefits. But as with most things, a virtue taken to excess becomes a vice 😊
So I’ll put the question to you:
What would you do differently, in your work and/or life, if you didn’t feel like you were running out of time?
Have a great week!
Ali xx
