Episode 11

Planning the Perfect Day

Published on: 7th December, 2023

Learn how to plan your perfect workday, including being effective vs. being efficient, working your recruiting desk like a retail store, "10 x 10s" and "process calls", following your energy, times when a plan itself isn't enough, and rewarding yourself with a little snack.

Discover what sets ThinkingAhead apart, hear stories from recruiters, and browse opportunities by clicking here.

Transcript
Stephanie Maas:

Hi, and welcome to The Talent Trade. This is

Stephanie Maas:

Stephanie Maas, partner with ThinkingAhead Search. Today we

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are going to talk about probably one of the absolute most boring

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topics that we could possibly ever talk about. However, it is

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probably one of the absolute most important topics. We hear

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it thinking ahead believes that there are four pillars to

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building a successful search desk, recruiting, marketing,

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managing the head game, and planning of all of those without

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a doubt, planning is the most boring of all. However, for me

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personally, it is probably come my secret to success. And some

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folks have mixed feelings about planning, especially recruiters.

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I know a lot of folks that love the idea of, hey, my day will

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tell me what I need to do. I don't need a plan. I hear that

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often. Or I hear Hey, when you're overly planned, it

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doesn't allow flexibility. And I'm in search because I need the

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flexibility. I get it. I probably have heard every single

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reason why you shouldn't plan or be playing to the nth degree,

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which I personally believe in. But let me share with you some

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other folks who would disagree and see if you can't buy in

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after these quotes. By the way, if you can't buy in after these

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quotes, please stop the broadcast and move on about your

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day because the rest of it isn't going to help very much. All

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right. First, quote, failing to plan is planning to fail Alan

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like it. It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.

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Eleanor Roosevelt. Planning without action is futile. action

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without planning is fatal. Cornelius Fichtner plans are

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nothing. Planning is everything. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Dreaming,

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after all, is a form of planning. Gloria Steinem. This

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is personally one of my favorites. Never begin the day

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until it is finished. On paper. Jim Rome. By failing to prepare,

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you are preparing to fail. Ben Franklin. Setting a goal is not

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the main thing. It is deciding how you will go about achieving

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it. And staying with that plan. Tom Landry. If you don't know

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where you are going, you will end up someplace else. Yogi

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Berra a goal without an action plan is a daydream, Nathaniel

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brand that someone is sitting in the shade today, because someone

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planted a tree a long time ago, Warren Buffett. It wasn't

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raining when Noah built the ark, Howard rough plan your work for

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today. And every day, then work your plan. Margaret Thatcher, a

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clear vision backed by definite plans, gives you have a

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tremendous feeling of confidence and personal power. Brian Tracy.

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Okay, hopefully those are enough to inspire you to think wow,

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maybe there is something to this idea of planning. If not, again,

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I would hit end here and move along about your day. If it is

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interesting, or if even before all those great quotes. This was

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something that you feel, hey, this truly does help me. But I'm

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either out of practice, I need help buttoning up on how to play

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on my day, or Gosh, I'm totally bought in. But I have no idea

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where to start. Let's spend the next 1015 minutes and talk about

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planning the perfect day. So a couple of things as it relates

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to planning the perfect day. And again, of course, this is for

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folks in the executive search business. I heard one time that

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there's a difference between being effective and being

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efficient. being effective is getting done what you intended

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to get done being efficient is doing it in a timely manner.

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That is our goal behind planning. We are trying to be

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both effective and efficient. So the backdrop to planning the

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perfect day really comes from two main theories. One is the

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Steven Covey time management. It's working your four

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quadrants, important and urgent and the quadrants that come

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along with that to get the most out of your active workday. And

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then also to getting the most out of your inactive workday, or

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the times when it's more administrative, or behind the

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scenes etc. I heard many, many years ago, an analogy that

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talked about working your desk as if you were working a retail

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store. Most of us don't make calls at two in the morning or

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six in the morning or 10 o'clock at night at least we probably

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shouldn't be. So instead we work our desk with regular normal

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business hours, whether that's eight to six or nine to four

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personally That's my preferred schedule, whatever the case may

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be, those are the hours where we are, quote unquote, open for

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business, we are actively seeking business, what you do

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before you quote unquote, open your store, that's all your

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inactive activity, those are all the things you do to set up to

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be open during the day, we're going to talk in great detail

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what those activities actually are. But that's where a lot of

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this is coming from is just doing the things that you should

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be doing them when you should be doing them. The second

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philosophy behind this planning is working in time box, there's

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been a ton of study that shows that when you batch like

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activities, you become more effective and more efficient. So

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instead of literally bouncing around, and I think about you

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might remember it from when you were a kid, you go to a looks

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like a gumball machine. But instead of being gum, it's

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those, you know, little rubber balls, and they are super

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inexpensive, 25 cents, maybe, but kids absolutely love them.

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Because they are super, super bouncy. And when you let them

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off, they literally will bounce all over the place for minutes

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on end, when you're not playing. And that is often what our day

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looks like. What I'm going to encourage you to do is imagine

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you're trying to hit every surface of this small room. And

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instead of just walking in and throwing the ball, you

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continuously aim in one section until every section is covered,

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then you move on to the next. Now with that being said, we

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don't work for endless hours without taking a break, we

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really do typically have about depending on the person, a 45

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minute to 120 minute span where we can actually stay focused. So

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your time blocks, I encourage you to play in your time blocks

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in one or two hour increments whatever brings you the most

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focus and efficiency. So let's dive in. With those two

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philosophies. What does the perfect day for a recruiter look

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like? I'm going to use ours. But again, feel free to adjust as

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what works best for you. So here are thinking ahead, one of the

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things we like to do is jump right into our day, get on the

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phone as fast as possible. To start our day between 8am and

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10am, we are committed to something called a 10 by 10,

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which is 10 calls by 10am. Doesn't matter what these calls

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are, if you'd like to jump in marketing calls are hard for

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you. So you do your 10 marketing calls first thing in the

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morning, great. For a lot of us we like to kind of ease into our

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day and cold calling isn't how we do that. So we set up what we

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call mini calls. Those would be things like delivering offers

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follow ups from offers that were delivered the day before, we can

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also schedule in there prep calls, follow up calls,

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reference check calls, warm calls, whatever the case may be.

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But the idea is those first two hours of the day, we immediately

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jump on the phone and start to create some momentum for the

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day. That's from eight to 10. Then from 10 to 12, you have a

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batch of either recruiting calls, or marketing calls, it

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doesn't matter which it is you follow your energy, whatever

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serves you best. What if you're doing recruiting calls, they

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need to be recruiting calls that are dedicated to one search. So

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you're not then making 10 or 15 calls or 20 calls on five

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different searches. But rather, Hey, these are all going to be

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recruiting calls for search ABC, then from noon to one. And I'm a

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huge believer in this huge. from noon to one, you walk away. This

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for me personally is a great time to go work out. By now I've

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been on the phone for almost four hours, I need to mentally

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disengage so I don't burn out. I need to use a different part of

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my brain. Again, for me, it's a great time to go work out

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whether it's to get outside and take a walk, go lift some

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weights, whatever the case may be whatever works best for you.

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But get up get away from your desk and go do something else.

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Now sometimes I'll have people say well, hey, how about I get

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up and just go watch a training video. Okay, maybe. But what I

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really like you to do is completely disengage from the

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day, your brain needs a little bit of arrest for you to have

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the strong afternoon that you want. If you're super crunched

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on time and you can only do this for 30 minutes. That is

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perfectly fine. But this is a practice that if you get into

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getting up halfway through your day, walking away using a

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different part of your brain. You will find the rewards for

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that in the afternoon are incredible. So walk away, new

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new one. Come back. One day Three, again, recruiting calls

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or marketing calls. And they're batched, just like the morning.

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So if you're doing recruiting calls again, or for the first

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time, again, they're just calls related to one specific search,

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you're not calling different people for different searches.

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If you're doing marketing calls, and you need to organize those

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by types of folks, you're calling on types of

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organizations, batch them according to geography, whatever

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the case may be, think about trying to be effective and

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efficient, then from three to five, this is where quite

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frankly, my energy starts to wane a little bit. Based on this

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schedule, even though I took a midday break, I have had the

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opportunity to put six hours worth of phone work into my day.

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So the idea of spending another couple hours in, quote unquote,

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cold call or slightly warm call, my energy is just low. So what I

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do instead from three to five, is we suggest that you set up

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what we call process calls. Now, if your energy really peaks in

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the afternoon, I suggest you move this to the morning. But

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know at the end of the day, you should have a number of calls

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and a phone call goal. That again, if you want to move this

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to the morning and make more calls in the afternoon, because

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that serves your energy better, I'm totally fine with it. It

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just sets up a different level of discipline, so that your day

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never gets away from you without having to put in somewhere

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between 35 and 60 calls a day. So what a process calls if I

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process calls or any calls that you can schedule that somehow

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involve the process of the actual recruiting. So if you are

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going to be pitching a potential client on working with you,

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that's when you schedule it in the afternoon. During this

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process time. If you're presenting NPC candidates, this

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is a great time to do it. If you are doing preps debriefs,

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candidate profiles, whatever the case may be, but it's a call

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that you can schedule for me, that is a process call. And

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again, I set that out from three to five. Now, if you're newer in

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the business, you may not have the luxury of two hours a day of

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process calls, no problem, you're going to have to keep

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making regular cold calls or quote unquote, warm calls during

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that time. And that's okay. In the beginning, we are really

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trying to do as much outreach as possible. So that six months, a

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year, two years, five years down the road, you have worked your

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business in such a way that you can and do set up two hours of

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process calls most days of every week that you work, then from

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five to six, it's planning. Now I often get folks say, Well,

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hey, I don't need to plan for an hour. And I'm going to challenge

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you on that planning is a couple of different things. It is

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absolutely setting up the next day, not just in terms of what

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you're going to do. But do you know who you're going to call?

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Do you have their contact information? If you need to call

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50 people the next day? Do you know who you're going to call

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when you're going to call them and what number you're going to

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call that sourcing? If you don't know who you're going to call

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then you need to do so sourcing? To me sourcing is a part of

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planning. Do you know who you're going to market to the next day?

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Do you need to do any research on those folks? To me planning

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involves all of those different things. I also like to take a

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couple minutes out of my planning to look back on my day.

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Hey, what did I accomplish today? Where are the winds? I

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also like to look for hated anything not go as I hoped it

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would? What can I learn from that? What can I do in the

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future to set that up? I do believe from an anxiety

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perspective, you will be a better person to whoever you see

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after work your loved ones, family friend support group,

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whatever the case may be, when you can book end your day. Now,

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sometimes the nature of the beast is we do have to make

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calls at night. Or you know, we might have to do some sourcing

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after hours, whatever the case may be, that is fine. But the

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goal is to be able to work your day in a way that that is

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severely limited. Again, based on this schedule working eight

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to six, you have an opportunity for eight hours of phone time.

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If you need more than eight hours of phone time to be

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successful, please call me, I'd really like to talk about ways

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that we can make you a little bit more efficient. So you don't

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have to work quite so much. I'm not saying you may don't need

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that time to do everything you need to do. But I'm saying if

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you can't get in 35 to 60 calls a day and eight hours of phone

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time. We're stalling out somewhere we need to address

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that. For the rest of us. Eight hours a day of being quote

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unquote, open for business is plenty. And in fact, for a lot

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of us We get really good at this. And we're so well planned,

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that we can accomplish in six or seven hours what most folks need

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eight or nine hours. And again, that's where efficiency and

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effectiveness comes in when you work a consistent plan. Now,

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with that being said, a couple things to be mindful of, you

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know, part of it is just simply doing the planning, it'll be

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amazing how much more disciplined you will be and how

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much more you will get done when your plan. But we can't be

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naive. Having a plan isn't going to be enough. We also need a

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system to help us accomplish and stay dedicated to the plan. So a

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couple pointers on that, number one, eliminate distractions, if

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you every time, your email things that you have a new

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email, if that pulls you off your plan, turn it off. I have

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really over the last several months gotten to this point

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where I felt like I was just so attached to my phone, it would

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freak me out to leave it in another room. Finally, I just

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had this realization, you know what, if someone needs to get a

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hold of me in an emergency situation, I'll just know it.

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People know how to get to me. Most of the time, though, I

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don't even know what the circumstances I mean, unless

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you're an on call doctor, they're gonna call you to save

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lives, or first responder or you know, something in that genre,

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most of us can step away from our phone for 15 3060 minutes at

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a time and be just fine. So if your phone is your distraction,

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then go do something else with it, put it on silent, turn it

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over whatever the case may be. If scrolling LinkedIn is your

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distraction, then shut it down, take it off of your desktop,

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whatever the case may be, but know what your distractions are,

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and do your best to eliminate them. Another way to accomplish

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this is being well organized so that when you launch into a time

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block, you're already set up. If you need water, you've got water

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by your desk, if you need a list of names and phone numbers,

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you've got that ready to go. The idea is when you're in these

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time blocks, you have a get off the phone, get on the phone, get

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off the phone, get on the phone type of mentality. And it just

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gives you a little bit of hustle. Another suggestion is

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some accountability. If you're new to planning, and you need a

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little bit of help to stay committed to your plan, if you

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work well with your leader or manager, get them involved, give

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them access to your calendar, show them what you plan on

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accomplishing the next day, ask them to hold you accountable,

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not in a micromanagement kind of way, but a supportive way. If

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your manager is not gonna be the person for you for that, but

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you've got a peer or outside the office as someone in your

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support group. Hey, I really need to follow my plan tomorrow.

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At the end of the day, would you please ask me, Hey, how did your

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plan go today? Whatever it might be that you need accountability,

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that helps tremendously. And then the last one. And I heard

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this in the last couple of weeks, and I thought it was a

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really cool thing. It said, when you're trying something new, you

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will not continue it unless you can see or feel positive

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reinforcement pretty much right away. So I like to be committed

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with rewards. Now in my time blocks, they're pretty much back

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to back. But I may need to take a five minute break in between

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each call block, that's perfectly fine. Each call block

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is two hours long. If it ends up being an hour and 55 minutes, I

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can easily accomplish what I need to accomplish during that

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time. So for me, I'm very food motivated. And for my health, it

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serves me well to eat small little things throughout the

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day. So quite frankly, a lot of my rewards are if I have a good

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time block, I get to eat a snack with that. I'm also a big water

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drinker. By the way, I'm not like the super health nut.

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There's just certain things I got to do here. But I drink a

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lot of water during the day. So guess what, a lot of my breaks,

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my rewards are crazy as it sounds, I get up and get go to

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the bathroom. I know that sounds ridiculous. But sometimes that's

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what it is. For me. Sometimes it's responding to a text, I

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really try not to let those rewards take more than five

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minutes, because then it becomes a distraction. But what ever

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does it for you. I know folks that will work really hard for

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you know, two hours and then they do a set of push ups to get

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ready for the next called Walk. Or you know, they go take the

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dog for a walk, which again, not a 20 minute walk, but a five or

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10 minute walk just to get outside, get some fresh air,

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whatever it is that works for you. Be committed and use

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rewards. So you get that instant feel good about what you're

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doing. If accountability is a I'm going to text somebody and

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tell them I just rocked those calls. And you know I've told

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them hey, I'm going to text you text me back a thumbs up or you

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know, celebration, whatever they whatever you need, but make sure

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you have those rewards setup as well. You don't immediately send

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to your brain positive reinforcement for your

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commitment to your goals.

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About the Podcast

The Talent Trade
Presented by ThinkingAhead Executive Search
The Talent Trade is all about finding the right person, for the right opportunity, at the right time. But how exactly do you do that the "right" way? Executive Search Partner and Top Biller Stephanie Maas shares more than 25 years of experience about what it takes to be a top recruiter in today's "talent trade" market, using ThinkingAhead’s four-prong system focused on recruiting, business development, planning, and managing your mindset. It’s real, honest information about how to build your desk, perfect your niche, and stand out among the crowd in your search career.



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