The Systems and Mindset That 10x Your Productivity with Barry Cryan, Founder of Do More Better | Ep 257

Please note: This transcript was generated using automated transcription tools and may contain typographical errors or inaccurately captured words or phrases.

Dr Steve Day: I loved recording today\'s interview with Barry Cryan. He\'s a fellow systems and productivity coach, and so we\'re helping people do similar things. But what I loved about this, and other times I\'ve interviewed fellow experts, is we get an opportunity to discuss our own strategies. And how we approach things, and see what\'s working and actually learn from each other. And think that you\'ll learn a lot by listening to this about the ways that we approach things and how actually what works.

When you hear two industry experts saying, we both independently come up with similar strategies. To help people that hopefully it\'ll show you that this stuff actually works in practice. He\'s also the Co-author of a book with Les Brown called \"Unlock the Secrets. And today we share some of his best secrets on how to make you more productive. And to get more done in the time you have available without productivity hacks and without stuff that isn\'t sustainable.

From actually changing mindset, changing your approach to how you deal with problems and some absolutely brilliant takeaways, especially at the end. His closing takeaway is one of the best I\'ve heard and something I strongly believe in and have even talked about on this podcast myself in the past. So hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I did recording it.

And do remember to hit subscribe so you don\'t miss out on future interviews like this and other episodes. Where I share the best tips, tricks, and hacks to live with more presence of purpose and freedom.

Barry, really nice to have you on the show. I\'ve been excited about having a chat with you since, you booked on, and I love the sound of what you do in helping people become more productive and get more done. It is sort of at the heart of a lot of what I\'d love to talk about and what I love to help people do.

So I\'m really excited about this conversation. So first off, thanks for getting on the show.

Barry Cryan: Likewise. Thank you, Dr. Steve.

Dr Steve Day: Cool. I\'d love to just kick off and find out bit about the why behind what you do. There\'s always, I think, an interesting story b above the, or below the surface level of why we go into business or why we become so passionate and dedicated for the thing we currently do.

So I\'d love to know a bit about, you know, Barry\'s world, if so to speak. Why is it you do what you do and exactly what, is it that you do to help people?

Barry Cryan: So, that\'s a great question. Yeah. And it\'s the starting point as well, because literally that\'s where I started was. Created all this for my own need or originally, like I, I like literally went back maybe 12 years ago, 13 years ago.

Like I was really, really in, in not a, great situation. Like I, to cut a long story short, I basically woke up, one morning, went, flew like symptoms, you know, thought was a flu, kind of evolved into worsening symptoms, brain fog and real bad chronic fatigue. And over a period of weeks and months.

I really kind of came to a standstill about how I could perform, how I could operate at work as safety engineer by, by, by my, that was my background working in pharmaceutical companies across the west and northwest of Ireland. And I was struggling to actually get my, do my job basically. And the problem was I could not find any answers to actually what was wrong with me.

I was going to doctors and consultants and going around the country and couldn\'t really find any answers. So like in my mind there was like. I had to find a way to keep going. While it was, I, was really struggling and what I needed to do was kind of find a better way of operating. So I remember I went to one consultant and she\'d done tests, and she said my energy levels were probably, there were maybe about 15% of what they should have been.

And I was like, I, was really, I used to have to go into the, bathroom cubicle, lock the door behind me, kinda rest my eyes for 15, 20 minutes to get me going for the next hour and a half. Not a sustainable way to live or work at all. So while I was searching for answers. Which went on with me for two and a half years.

I had to find a better way. So I, always, when it\'s something I always do now, but it\'s something I started doing then was I looked out and I was like, well, how are people like, you know, Richard Branson and these people like doing what they do, running multiple, you know, billion dollar companies.

I\'m here trying to struggle to do my job. There must be a better way to actually operate. And I started just. Going out there, YouTube and I got a Kindle at the time, one Christmas, and I was going to town on Kindle, buying books and then eventually into seminars and eventually getting into the same room as people are operating a completely different level to me.

And I started to see commonalities between how they operate and I was like, started testing some of their strategies, implementing some of this stuff, scared and what didn\'t work take and what did work. And even while I was still sick, I, like, I was getting probably about one day\'s work done on every five, not sustainable way to, to, work.

I was like, I\'m not going to even hold onto my job here. Right. When I really dialed this stuff in, I was actually completely reversed the tail as I was getting about five days work done in one, which sounds kind of, you know, like way over the top to most people, as in, you know, that couldn\'t be right.

And I thought my, my, all my clients now we measure baseline at the start, we measure again at the end. And I, so it\'s clear and obvious that they are getting that and more, but it\'s amazing what systems and structures will do for us. You can get significantly more outta ourselves. And I always ask them, look, do you feel you\'re getting more than five x?

And every one of them, they\'re always like, yeah, I am. Absolutely. And, more than that. And it\'s, like something you have to actually go through to, to believe it. But that\'s the level I was at while I was still sick and look cut along story short, through a freak series of coincidences, I ended up in the Czech Republic getting treatment and specialist center over there and ended up, I had this autoimmune condition that they don\'t really.

Unfortunately, know much about in Ireland, went over there anyways against, through a series of coincidences. Had to get treated over there. But I was basically in a month in a room on my own over there, so obviously get a lot of time to pause and think. And I start, I never thought about this stuff.

I was only thinking about myself selfishly. And I always thought, actually, I thought at that point like, well, I have a skill and a system that I had to develop for my own need. And I looked around the office at. You know, this person is operating off sticky notes. This person is like stressed beyond belief.

This person isn\'t look is working all hours. Like, I was like, none of them really have a proper process or system for how they do things. And there is a better way. I know that better way now because I learned the hard way. But I started to think, well, maybe I could help people find that better way.

So I started documenting things a little bit more formally over there. I started helping out a few friends and family when I come back and I started seeing them get results and then I was like, okay, this. A little bit more in this than I even thought about, and it eventually evolved. Then over time into doing free stuff online, I started getting brave around the start of COVID.

Like a lot of people I put out stuff online, hadn\'t even changed my Facebook profile for it in 10 years before that. So that will tell you my, that, the extent of my online involvement, that evolved then into helping people at a deeper level and evolved into the process. Now I work through with business owners.

That\'s it. Like you asked me there at the second question was like, what do I do? Well, it\'s literally putting systems and structures in place for business owners and get the most outta themselves their tying their business and ultimately their, life as well.

Dr Steve Day: Fantastic. Barry, so, so interesting to hear your story.

I mean, I come from slightly different places. I didn\'t have the same experience with you, for example, with having to go off the Czech Republic for treatment. But so many similarities with why we start businesses. I think so many people I speak to about this and, I think one of the things that really comes through and.

Which I spent a lot of time over recent years doing is understanding our superpowers that why we are so damn good at doing something. And just like you, my superpowers, I believe, have come from me overcoming all the challenges that I\'ve faced in life. And I think that,

Barry Cryan: Yeah.

Dr Steve Day: Anyone I\'ve ever spoke to will actually have that similar story, even if they.

Connect to the dots yet. And sometimes people think like they, they look at us, they\'ll think, oh, you\'ve always been like this productive person. You\'re this productivity coach. You know, of course you know, you can say all that and it, because it\'s easy for you. And I think what people don\'t often realize is actually we have been in a place where this was the hardest thing.

This was the, this is the one thing we couldn\'t actually get past. Yeah. And it\'s because we got past it, we are now in a position to be able to serve and help other people. And if, it wasn\'t a challenge, we would\'ve never put the work in to figure out how to do it better. So, absolutely. You know, I love that story.

You come from a place of, you know, authentic need to solve a real problem for you, and then when you start talking about it in the open world or the outside world, you suddenly realize actually there\'s other people that might actually benefit from this.

Barry Cryan: Absolutely. Yeah. Like, like, like now I\'m a great believer of condensing time, as in I could figure out myself or I could, you know, condense 10 or 20 years of my time into weeks or months by taking someone else\'s knowledge and applying that, you know, to.

And I\'m getting the actual results I want not spend 10 years, you know, going down the wrong road or figuring out in five years. It\'s, geez, I\'m, heading in the wrong direction here. You know? So it\'s condensed in time. Yeah. Condensing other people\'s knowledge into a shorter window.

Dr Steve Day: Okay, well, with that in mind, let\'s do just that. Because, you know, I\'m massively interested in productivity. I, you know, I\'m, I with eight, but not suffer with, I, am an ADHD character brain. And that\'s the way that I see the world, but that also means that quite often I am very unproductive because I\'m easily distracted and I go down rabbit holes and all the rest of all those common challenges that people with ADHD, have to deal with.

And so productivity is like a massive thing on my agenda of always trying to improve, way better than I used to be. But there is massive room for improvement. So if I\'m going to condense your knowledge, your 10 years of experience and expertise, like into a few like nuggets to actually like really make a big difference, like what can the listeners like take away today?

Some of your top tricks or tips that you help people to do actually just see the world differently, the mindset shift. People need to make those, principles that actually make the biggest difference. Like, go on, share, share some of your best stuff with us.

Barry Cryan: Yeah, so, so like one, one of the biggest things we can do is to be like clear and specific about, well, what, is it we want?

Where do we want to go? How, many hours do we want to work? How do we want things to run? How much do we want to earn? Most people in that, nearly all the business owners I talk to, they\'re not really clear. They want to earn more money and they want to work less, but they\'re not really clear and specific about exactly what it is they need to do.

Exactly what those end points are. If you\'re heading out in the road and you\'re like, look at, I just want to go somewhere nice, well, you\'ll end up anywhere, maybe somewhere that\'s not that nice and we\'re not that happy with. So you have to be so clear and specific about what those endpoints are, and most people get bogged down into here and now.

As in, yeah, but this is wrong and I probably need to hire someone and I\'m said, I said, park that for a moment. Let\'s just see what, how you want things to run, because it\'s very hard to join the dots going forward because what happens is we join the dots going forward. We in, we go this way for a while and then we go this way for a while and we\'re drifting.

Really what I do is to start at the end in mind and a reverse engineer back from that. Steve Jobs always talked about it\'d be much easier to connect the dots. When you start with the end and you come back from that point, so you can see, well, in order for me to achieve this, what would I need to do that?

Okay? And then in order for me to achieve that might, what do I need to do that? And so on and so forth. So you can see where you need to spend your time and energy and need in order for you to achieve these, what would need to change? What would need to happen? Who would you need to have on board? And that\'s the starting point.

Okay? Then what you need to do is if you\'re clear about where you\'re okay, and you\'re clear about the, you know, the end point you have your GPS properly set up. The middle bit then that most people miss, even if they do that, which not many people do, is in the vehicle to get you there. That\'s what the systems are and that\'s what a lot of people miss is, or that the goals and all that nice stuff sits in the shelf gathering dust and then in years\' time they look back and they\'re like, Jesus, we didn\'t really do much on that.

Look, next year\'s going to be different. It\'s rinsing, repeat every year. So what I do then at that point is I create systems to bridge the gap to get people to where they need to be at the end of the day. And one of the best ways that we can do that is. Take away a reliance of willpower and motivation, discipline and all these fleeting things that are there some days and not others.

And I put people\'s reliance on systems. What happens for most business owners I talk to is they just have way too many micro decisions to make. Because they don\'t have systems. Everything is a micro decision. Will I do that thing? Or the email? There\'s someone looking for something over here, there\'s a call, or Geez, I\'ve forgot to do this.

I better do. Spent a lot of the time being reactionary. But what systems do is they massively reduce amount of micro decisions and they create predictable outcomes. For example, one of the things I want to do is avoid sweets and sugar Monday to Friday. Now, say if I\'m five days good and I\'m two days bad, so be it.

I\'m happy with that. That will bring me, you know, that\'s you, that will bring me that 80% of the way there, which I\'m happy with because life isn\'t perfect. So. What I do is my system is this. It\'s not flat and fancy. It\'s just by massively reduce the amount of microdecisions I have to make so I don\'t have it in the house Monday to Friday.

And then my only decision is will I buy it when I go to the shop the weekend? So instead of me making decisions all the time, will I have now? Will I have it later? Will I have a lot? Will I have a little, will I just save it to tomorrow? Me making all those micro decisions every day, it means I\'m just kind of ca in at some point.

Instead, I have only one decision to make once a week. It\'s easier to get that one decision right. Then it just get hundreds of decision right during my week. So that\'s a very simple example of a system that creates an outcome for me. So I goals around that stuff. Health, exercise, all that sort of stuff.

So, so one of the things I need to do is have a little system around, make sure I don\'t go around there, add a hole of suites. Because if I do, I\'m a disaster because I don\'t do it. I have a system that helps me create the outcome. So it, so again, it\'s systems that are the bit that allow you to create those outcomes because they\'re massively reduced the amount of micro.

So you need to be clear and specific, kinda understand, and now why we need to be clear and specific about those endpoints, what that looks like. You need a roadmap. Okay? Then you also need a system that will help you get there, okay? Sometimes people think, oh, they just need to be more disciplined, or let\'s get more focused, or, what\'s wrong with me that I\'m not doing it, or they\'re not consistent with doing it.

You need a better system. That\'s, all. It\'s, and that, that\'s probably the biggest thing for me, you know, systems and being so clear and specific, it\'s, you could almost draw it.

Dr Steve Day: I love it. And I love, the, focus on the end in mind first because it is so easy to say and it\'s so rarely done well.

And I speak from my own experience as much as anybody else that I\'ve ever, tried out with this stuff. And until you\'ve actually got some. Clear guy, clear idea of where you\'re trying to get to exactly what you described, then you\'re going to end up anywhere because unless you\'ve ever got a direction.

And I remember doing this exercise with, one of my coaches, which was it, I actually approached him or was like working with him, thinking that it was going to be more about marketing and about strategy, about growth and scaling. And he actually got me to sit down and do an exercise, which on, which was.

Forget even the business, forget even like what your, like your goals are, like monetary, whatever. It\'s just like who do you want to be? Like, take it down to the absolute essence. Like imagine yourself 10 years from now. Imagine that person, like if you\'ve got the opportunity to speak to that person and they are everything you\'ve ever wished you were, you would turn out to be in life.

Like, who would that person be?

Barry Cryan: Yeah.

Dr Steve Day: What needs to change today to take you one step closer to that person, that personality or that, you know, that being that and that contentment and peace in life. And that for me was a huge just,

Barry Cryan: Yeah.

Dr Steve Day: Guiding star for everything. Or then it helps with all the business decisions and everything as well.

Barry Cryan: 100%, exactly. Like exact, I, it\'s a six to process I go through at the start with people. One of them is exactly that. Because if you\'re, I call it that 10.0 version, you, what does that optimal 10.0 version you that it\'s almost, because most people think I\'ll be happy after I achieve the goal. I\'ll feel confident when I achieve the goal.

I\'ll eat, you know, I\'ll all the right things will happen when I achieve. But actually we need to be that person now. So that we get there faster. Because when you\'re that person, now what happens is you collapse timelines. You start taking actions and making decisions in alignment with the person that already achieved that goal.

And if you do that, guess what you\'re going to get there far faster. That\'s so crucial. It\'s, that\'s a little bit that most people miss.

Dr Steve Day: Yeah. Yeah, I, missed it. I missed it for many, many years. Yeah. And then during, these conversations, I was like, because it perspired like one of my highest, the highest values has always been freedom.

So I, most of my big decisions in life has have led to a, an ability for me to choose what I do with my time and, also where I live as well. Yeah. But I was also at a cost to other areas of my life. So how much presence I had, like with my family, how much peace I felt internally. It was only after actually realizing that those are the things, like those are the piece of the puzzle that have to be there for it to actually be sustainable.

And, we talk about, you know. If you talk about people like, and they have a monetary value of what, where they want to achieve.

Barry Cryan: Yeah.

Dr Steve Day: That isn\'t linked directly to this work you\'re talking about now. Is it the 10.0 you just say version of yourself?

Barry Cryan: Yeah.

Dr Steve Day: Yeah, exactly. So if that\'s not linked then, whatever their monetary value like Yeah.

If, it\'s in conflict with their actual who they want to be, that they\'ll pull away from it and they\'ll never get there. And this is what I\'ve seen myself do so much times over the years. Yeah. So, yeah, no, absolutely essential work. So yeah.

Barry Cryan: It\'s so, so interesting because yeah, you want to err an X, but people sabotage themselves because they\'re like, oh, that means they\'re going to have to take on people and they might have a belief around that.

Or that means I have to work X hours, which is a conflict with their family values and end up sabotaging themselves then so what has to align? Yeah. Yeah. And that\'s, yeah, that\'s a massive thing that really can help smooth the path before us is when we\'re so clear about that stuff and we start to become it and we start to beat it, and then that happens we achieve it then.

Dr Steve Day: Yeah. I remember, one thing, I came up with in one conversation with, freedom and freedom out. You can\'t, live from a place of, you can\'t strive for freedom if you had actually live freedom. It\'s like whatever your word is there, peace in, peace out, whatever it is.

Yeah. You know, is actually live it today. So exactly what you just said. Yeah. Massive believer of this. Okay, cool. So thinking on from this, and I think like one of the, this is sort of like sometimes. Taking it to the next stage now, which is obviously the, for us, the first stage we know people need to do, but for some people it\'s like, yeah, but I just feel overwhelmed.

I just feel trapped. I just feel like the business that I set out to create is not what is reality for me. Like how do you help people break free from that initial place of just overwhelm or whatever word they actually use to describe the hell they\'ve created for themselves.

Barry Cryan: So, so to feel overwhelming because.

There will have so much going on, so many moving parts, and it feels like it\'s all on them. So what I do is, I \'T\' take the, mental baggage off them. I place it in the systems or processes. So one of the things I build out for a lot of my clients is what I call a second brain. So we take all the moving parts, we take all those individual things, and we get into a system.

Okay? Because it\'s hard to. Life is hard when, the cup is always full. It\'s like we can\'t, we feel overwhelmed. Like one extra thing. I was talking to a guy earlier and it was like, he was like, he, you know, he, it was one of those kids, he was coaching one of those kids, you know, teams and stuff like that.

And he kind of, he said, look, I, he got so frustrated at one point he had to actually step back and he was like, what is wrong with me? But actually his cup was already so full. One extra thing was just tipping it. So what I wanted to do is get people to park the mental baggage in the process, or a system, and house it there.

Because it\'s easier when you see everything in front of you. Okay? You, when you know what to do at any given day and time, and even if you have a hundred things you need to do. Knowing that this is the next thing I need to do, allows you to close down all the open tabs in your brain so you can just keep one tab open.

Okay. This is the next thing that we need to do here. Okay. This is the, so what I get people is, to be process driven, to park it all in a place, in a system, or in a second brain, so that then they can just focus, they can close down all those open tabs and just focus on that next thing, and that allows people to, to rest easier knowing that.

Like, if I just follow the process, I\'m going to create the outcome. You know, that\'s a huge thing. Because it\'s just people are carrying it around with us and that\'s why they feel overwhelmed. That\'s why they procrastinate, that\'s why they get distracted or don\'t follow through. Really. It\'s because just cup is so full right now, so it\'s parking it somewhere.

Having a system you can actually park it into so that you can follow that process Then to create the outcomes and you can close down those open tabs in your brain. That\'s a massive thing and it almost. Allows you to focus better, allows you to be better, allows you to, the more you do it, the more you start to trust the process and the more you actually start to switch off from all those other things that\'s going on.

And it\'s like a big momentum flywheel. The more that happens, the more downtime you get in your evening because you\'re not always thinking about everything all the time. You\'re then the bed, the better you recover and the better you sleep and the better you feel tomorrow. And then the, you do get more outta yourself and then the more you do that.

Again, you better feel better and then you want to do more, and it\'s just like a massive momentum flight wheel that just gets better and better over time as you do that. So say, that\'s really the key. It\'s ticking off, reliance off you, it\'s placing it somewhere, you know, in, in it. Access our system. That\'s, the big thing, really.

Dr Steve Day: Yeah. No, I love it. It\'s, So many similarities or what you\'re talking about now to, to the, journey that I went on in the early days of, having this total overwhelm brain fog from, like you say, just the decision fatigue of just there is just simply too much to do. And carrying everything around in your brain.

I remember reading a book, David Allen, getting Things Done.

Which I\'m sure you\'ve read. And he talks about the someday maybe list. And it\'s a great, concept of just having somewhere to park all of the, that stuff that we carry around with us, stick it, you know, and, actually the reality is most of that stuff.

Will never crop up again, but you know, it\'s there if you need it. Yeah. What I found over the years is actually the important stuff. You don\'t even need to go looking for it. Because the important stuff will find its way back into your agenda. Of course. And everything else could just sit there and just, you know, fester or whatever.

Exactly. So, yeah. Yeah. And I love this though. And, the decision, like you were saying before, having simple systems. The, story you gave, the analogy you gave about the, your. Decision about having sweets during the week, but I think it\'s a really powerful one. Because whatever it is for you, whether it\'s just food in general, whether it\'s alcohol, whether it\'s staying up late watching movies, like if you\'ve got a process that you\'ve actually said, look, this is the rules to my game.

Yeah. You know, and you make that head of schedule and then all you\'ve got to do is stick to one rule, not make 50 decisions. And, Exactly. Yeah. I love it. Really simple stuff, but not, you know, the way you describe it, I mean, it\'s simple, you know, I think it\'s really powerful stuff.

Barry Cryan: It\'s simple but powerful.

Yeah. And you know, sometimes you can, be over complicated, but you know, if you keep the simpler, the better. And even like, you know, a guy I was working with, like he was a devil for Instagram at night. If you go to bed 11 o\'clock, okay fine. But then he could be to two or three in the morning just on Instagram.

Scrolling and scrolling. And there\'s no point in telling him, look, just don\'t do it. Or just put your phone somewhere or. Or just be more disciplined about it. Like that\'s not going to happen. So we created a system for him. It\'s just, we just set up a little, trigger with in the phone that logged him out after, 15 minutes a week.

Actually, he could only get into Instagram for 15 minutes, so therefore he had his 15 minutes and then he couldn\'t do anymore. So therefore he went to sleep and he went to bed.

Dr Steve Day: Yeah.

Barry Cryan: And, so it\'s like simple things really affect, can be really effective, you know.

Dr Steve Day: I, have lots of these in my life.

One of them, my outfit, I have 18 black t-shirts. So, and I have a black t-shirt on. And now, and again, have a couple of shirts I wear, but literally I don\'t want to make any decisions about what I wear during the week. I just, get up and put on a bit like the, the guy of the, scientist off the fly.

I\'m not trying to, he, was a bit of a genius. Maybe I\'m not sure we relating himself to him, but he also turned into a fly, but he also wore the same things every day. So there you go. Anyways, yeah. Barry, what will be the one big takeaway?

Like if someone has listened to this now and you think, like you mentioned a couple of brilliant things already, is there any other one thing, a framework or a principle that you could give people to go and think about in order to, to move the, gauge forward, if you like, and then if they, obviously if they\'re, if it works for them, then maybe to come and find out, how much more you can help them.

Barry Cryan: But the big thing is at a certain point is just tell people, look, it doesn\'t have to, it doesn\'t have to be like this, you know? Honestly, we kind of think we\'re. We, I feel stuck and we feel lucky just because it\'s like this, it kind of feels like it\'s always going to be this, like, you know, here in Ireland, it, you know, when it\'s rain and it feels Jesus, we\'re never going to again, another a good day.

And then when it\'s sunny, it feels like Jesus, it\'s going to be like this forever. And it feels like it\'s like in life sometimes, but it\'s certain way. We just feel like we can\'t break free or it\'s going to be like this. I\'m telling you, doesn\'t matter what the business is, there is a better way and you can do it.

And sometimes little simple changes even can make the big, can make a big difference. Could be very simple things like. Like what I\'d always looked for where people is, where\'s the noise? Where\'s the noise in their life? And often cases it\'s cause and interruptions and questions and notifications and all these individual things in their day are putting massive friction in our way.

So I\'d say starting point start to filter the noise from your life. Okay. Like even very simple thing is, you know, the guy I was chatting to there the other day and like one of the big things for him is like questions. And he\'s like, but hold on now. People have to ask me questions. People have to come in.

I don\'t want hold people. But I was like. But there\'s a better way. There\'s a better way. I was saying to \'em, look, interruption windows, you have an interruption window and you\'re more an interruption window and you call them open door times and you just tell people, look at your framing is a positive thing for people.

And you say, look, it, I, want to help you. I want sometimes on a zoom call, sometimes in the middle of something and I can\'t really help you. But what I\'ve done now is I\'ve created interruption windows for you. I call them open door times. Here\'s my open door time in the morning. Here\'s, I want you coming to meet with your shoes.

I want you to come in for a chat. I want to let me know how you\'re getting on, but save your questions for, those windows so I can really help you. So guess what, instead of five que interruptions in the morning, okay. Or more probably for most people now it\'s one planned interruption with the five questions.

Plus when you put a bit of friction in people\'s way, now they don\'t need you for all five questions. Guess, what? They\'ve start to solve some of the stuff that sell. So now it\'s like four or three questions. So you, it\'s a double whammy. You\'re not getting all these friction points in your day and the interruptions.

Plus you\'re starting to empower team to step up to the mark now a little bit more and a little bit more. You\'re not giving them fish all the time. You\'re handing them the fish and all, and they have to do a little bit of fishing for it to come back to you with the results. So it\'s like filter the noise in your day.

That\'s a massive thing. It could be people, yeah, it could be notifications being turned off. It, could be, you know, calls for certain parts of the day or diverted to, one of your team or in the office. You have to start filter the noise like so like a guy I was chatting the other day, he was telling me like he could have counted up.

He said there was something like 75 or something calls in one day. There\'s no way you\'re getting any work done if you have 75 calls, even if you don\'t answer them all. So it\'s like we have to filter that noise. So what he done is just start divergence in the office for certain times of the day. And again, what happened is a little bit of friction between him and his clients and his team.

So it\'s only an important stuff that actually got back to him. And now people started to solve their own problems because they know, look, I\'m not going to get you at the drop of a hat all the time. I have to because people solve the role problems. Our team can do that. It\'s just the easy option is go to us and we have the answers.

But what we want to do is just hold back a little bit with the answers so they learn. Themselves and the empowered and they grow into who you want them to be. You know, so little tweaks like that can even make a big difference.

Dr Steve Day: Barry. I think that is a massive takeaway. This is actually the topic I\'ve discussed a number of times on the podcast because I think it\'s so powerful.

It\'s so, I say the word simple, but I know how hard it is to actually do the mindset shift to jump and actually start pushing people away. But it is such a relatively simple thing to do once you\'ve just committed to it.

Barry Cryan: Yeah.

Dr Steve Day: But like you said, the results. I, there\'s, a snowball result. It\'s not just a single, like, it\'s not that, oh, I\'m going to get back a little bit of time.

It\'s the, it\'s, all of the knock on effects of this. It\'s the ripples of impact. This one decision to say, look. I\'m going to put a little bit of separation between me and the world and that alone. Oh, me and my phone. So I have zero notifications on my phone. My wife drives my wife mad. But there you go.

Sorry, Sarah. Yeah, we, the weekend it sometimes goes on, but the rest of the time it\'s off.

Barry Cryan: Yeah.

Dr Steve Day: Because I refuse to be interrupted by a device, which, that, why should I care? And you know, why should I be interrupt by it? Like, I will look at it when I have time to look at it. And it\'s that same mindset shift because if we don\'t do it.

Then we, nothing changes nothing. And so nothing think nothing changes. That is a brilliant insight as a simple set people can take. So if you\'re listening to this, anybody, and that you don\'t already do this, like what Barry said, get rid of notifications and put something in between you and the questions that never become your way brilliantly.

Barry Cryan: Exactly. Filter that noise. Filter. Filter the noise. Always think, filter the noise. Filter the noise. It reminds me of story that, A client of mine shared on me before you know about their grandmother and the grandmother like ignored than some of my aunts, that the phone was off, never answered the phone.

Phone was always off, and they\'re, why are you not turning your, why are you turning your phone off? How can we not answer it? She, and then she was like, hold on, a second. That phone is for my convenience, not for anyone else\'s convenience or for your convenience. It\'s for my convenience. And I thought it was a great way to look at it.

Yeah. Sometimes we\'re like, oh, we have to answer. We have to be available to everyone all the time. But I\'d say put on your own action mask first. When you do that, you can better serve your clients.

Dr Steve Day: Yeah.

Barry Cryan: Or your team, because now nobody thanks us for dropping the ball on the big thing because they\'ve answered all the calls and the messages and the WhatsApps, and now we, your team doesn\'t have work in a month or a year because you\'ve, your days have been bogged down in the nitty gritty rather than something bigger, you know?

So by filtering the noise, you actually can servee everyone else better. And I thought that story was a great way of actually, looking at it, you know?

Dr Steve Day: Yeah. I love it. Love it. Barry, thank you for coming on today. I\'m sorry it\'s got, I\'m sorry that it\'s got to be short, but I know you\'ve got other meetings to get to.

I could have been, I could keep on chatting to you about this stuff for hours I think, and it would be hugely valuable. Yeah. But I do appreciate your time. If people want to find out more about how you can help and what you do, how is the best way for them to get in contact with you?

Barry Cryan: So it\'s probably my website, barrycryan.com.

And otherwise then it\'s probably, maybe Instagram, it\'s at Cryan Barry, C-R-Y-A-N Barry, on Instagram. And they\'re probably maybe the best ways to connect me right now.

Dr Steve Day: Perfect. Before you go, I have one quick question for you.

Barry Cryan: Yeah.

Dr Steve Day: The title of this podcast is Systemize Your Success, but what does success mean to you and why?

Barry Cryan: Success mean to me, and I always try to keep this back in mind, is just being the, best version of myself. If I can be that 10, you know, that 10.0 version of me, you know, none of us are perfect, but if I can be that person, a person as much as possible. I\'ve won. Because guess what, if I\'m that I\'m going to impact my clients, I\'m going to impact my family, the people around me, the world around me.

So I think for, me anyways, personally, it\'s being the best version of myself as much as possible. Okay. Not beat myself up if, not a hundred percent time, but being the best version of myself as much as possible. Because if I can, then I can impact everything around me. And I think to me, that\'s, what success is.

Dr Steve Day: I love that answer, Barry. I really, do. I\'ve, I relate to that hugely. So, yeah. Amazing. Thank you very much for coming on. Really appreciate it.

Barry Cryan: Thanks, Dr Steve.

The Systems and Mindset That 10x Your Productivity with Barry Cryan, Founder of Do More Better | Ep 257

This week’s conversation is about that cost…

KEY TAKEAWAYS: How Business Productivity Grows Through Clarity, Systems, and Leadership

BEST MOMENTS: Business Productivity in Practice—Simple Systems, Real Impact

TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW

Episode Transcript

VALUABLE RESOURCES: 10x Your Business Productivity with Systems and Mindset Shift

LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE GUEST

ABOUT THE GUEST

LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST

ABOUT THE HOST

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The Systems and Mindset That 10x Your Productivity with Barry Cryan, Founder of Do More Better | Ep 257

This week’s conversation is about that cost…

​KEY TAKEAWAYS: How Business Productivity Grows Through Clarity, Systems, and Leadership

BEST MOMENTS: Business Productivity in Practice—Simple Systems, Real Impact

TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW

Episode Transcript

VALUABLE RESOURCES: 10x Your Business Productivity with Systems and Mindset Shift

LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE GUEST

ABOUT THE GUEST

LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST

ABOUT THE HOST

For more articles related to mindset shifts and creating systems to boost business productivity, you may also like:

SYS 152: Turning Crisis into Success – Achieving Location and Time Freedom To Support My Family, The Expat Property Story Interview

SYS 198: The Crucial Role of Emotional Intelligence in Effective Business Management and Leadership – Interview with Dr. Robin Hills, Director of Ei4change

SYS 078: When is the Right Time to Hire a Virtual Assistant

How Small Business Owners Leverage The SixR System To Achieve Time Freedom In Under 90 Days

Free On-Demand Masterclass

KEY TAKEAWAYS: How Business Productivity Grows Through Clarity, Systems, and Leadership

How Small Business Owners
Leverage The SixR System
To Achieve Time Freedom
In Under 90 Days