What if the next step in better business decision making isn’t doing more, but making space for what matters most?
You never get less busy.
As your business grows, so do your responsibilities – they just move from one obstacle to the next.
So that thing you've been putting off until you get to a certain point will probably never get done.
This summer I stopped waiting and cut something instead.
For five years I've put out a podcast episode every single week.
Never missed one, and it's sat in the top 3% of podcasts globally for most of that time.
From this week, it's roughly every two weeks.
One deeper episode a month on something I know inside out, and interviews in between when there's someone worth an hour of your time.
I didn't cut it because it wasn't working.
I cut it to make room.
And things moved into that room almost immediately.
My podcast manager has been with me six years, and she's capable of a lot more than the production side.
Now there's space for her to get into AI and automation, and to take on the assistant work that protects my week.
I get my head back for the systems work I'm best at and enjoy most.
There's a benefit I didn't see coming either.
Right now, something I record takes six to eight weeks to reach you. In a world where AI moves week to week, that's far too slow.
With gaps in the schedule, I can drop something in when it matters, instead of queuing it behind six weeks of finished episodes.
Cutting the commitment made me quicker, not slower.
The hard bit wasn't the decision.
It was admitting I'd been keeping it weekly because I'd always kept it weekly, and that I was about to pour another year into growing it for the sake of growing it.
A long run at something isn't evidence it's still the right thing.
I talk the whole lot through in this week's podcast, including how I'll judge in a few months whether I got this one right.
Listen in – and have a think about what you'd cut.
KEY TAKEAWAYS: What Business Decision Making Looks Like When Something Works
- Periodically Question Your “Successful” Habits: Just because something works doesn’t mean it still deserves weekly space in your calendar. Every regular task or habit needs to be periodically re-examined to see whether continuing it still works for you and your business.
- Treat Changes As Experiments: Make the change, watch the data and feedback, and be willing to pivot again instead of treating any change in how you operate as being permanent.
- Create Space For The Future You: Cutting commitments today is often the only way to free the headspace you need to do the work you’re truly called to do.
- Use Technology To Leverage Your Team: Pairing a small, capable team with systems, automation, and AI enables you to move fast without increasing bureaucracy.
BEST MOMENTS: From Gut Feeling to Better Business Decision Making
02:13 – 💬 “We can end up just being stuck doing the same things because we've always done them without really questioning if it's the right thing going forward.”
06:16 – 💬 “It may be a gut feeling that actually pushes you to make a decision in the first place. But then that decision needs to be grounded in evidence going forward.”
09:36 – 💬 “This is a big change within the business. I want to keep the team tiny, I want to keep it focused, I want to use AI, I want to use automation. I want to continue sharing what I'm passionate about through this podcast.”
TIMESTAMPED OVERVIEW
00:00 Intro: Refocusing and restructuring the podcast
04:54 The new direction for this podcast revealed
06:14 Is it time for you to review your habits?
09:50 How to review and rebalance your own business tasks
Episode Transcript
Please note: This transcript was generated using automated transcription tools and may contain typographical errors or inaccurately captured words or phrases.
Dr Steve Day: This summer, I spent five amazing weeks off with my family. We went camping in France for two weeks. Went to Marbella for a couple of weeks. And I spent some time in the UK as well. During that time, I did nothing to do with this podcast. I did no episode recording, no planning, and no meetings with my team.
And that gave me some time to reflect and thinking about what I talked about in episode 288, where I said we\'ve never missed an episode in five years. We\'ve already got the next month and a half scheduled. So there\'s no reason why I shouldn\'t continue doing it every single week. It\'s not a massive amount of stress. But it does create work.
And in that time I had off, I actually reflected to say, \"Well, why are we doing this every single week? Is there a better way to do this? To make this podcast even better and more valuable. And be more aligned with the person that I\'ve grown into over the past five years, and especially over the past couple years. So it\'s more aligned with my vision of living with more presence, purpose, and peace. And feeling great satisfaction for the work I do. Delivering as much value as I possibly can by doing the things that I love to do the most.\"
In this episode, I wanna talk about how I came to the decision to change the cadence of this podcast. What that means to you as a listener, and also what I believe is- how I believe that\'s gonna actually improve this podcast going forward. And give me more time to focus on the stuff where I know I can add the most value to the world.
And the meta learning behind this can be applied to any area of your business and life. Making big decisions about stuff that you\'ve committed to can be scary. About changing stuff you\'ve put out there and said, \"I\'m gonna do this.\" For example, \"I\'m gonna be a doctor,\" which I said many years ago. I\'m not a doctor anymore.
I had to make a conscious decision to move away from that. To move into something that I\'m truly passionate about. That\'s aligned with the person that I wanna become. And this move here is exactly that. It\'s how do I make space to be the person I wanna be in the future and I make that space today? Today, I wanna talk about all this and obviously let you know exactly what\'s happening in this podcast going forward.
There\'s something common to all businesses, I believe. And that is that when we get into the routine of doing stuff, sometimes it can be hard to break out of that. We can question that we shouldn\'t be changing things. We should be keep on doing what we\'re doing consistently to show that we\'re not just pivoting here, there, and everywhere.
However, there\'s a trap in that as well. We can end up just being stuck doing the same things because we\'ve always done them. Without really questioning is it the right thing going forward. That is exactly what happened to me and this podcast. I\'ve been doing it for five years now. I\'ve never missed a single week in that whole five-year period.
We\'ve been in the top 3% of podcasts globally on Listen Notes for most of that time. It\'s a really successful podcast. But I never intended it to be a podcast where I would be getting sponsorship and having thousands and thousands of downloads every month.
It was about delivering quality content. It was about creating authority in the marketplace for myself. So people could see, \"Yeah, this guy\'s been talking about this stuff for a long time, and it\'s publicly out there.\" That\'s social proof about what I do and what I believe in and what I\'m passionate about. And it served that purpose incredibly well.
But the question is, do I want to spend my time developing this podcast to spending time getting better guests on, to getting more episodes out there, to getting sponsorship? Is that where my passion lies, or actually is it somewhere else? And that was the reflecting I had to do. Because I was just about to jump on this to actually put more energy into growing this podcast for the sake of growing the podcast. More like a badge of honor or an ego thing, rather than thinking, \"Well, how can I make this podcast even better?\"
Aligning it more with my vision of presence, purpose, and peace. And actually be able to deliver higher value content that changes more lives. That makes the ability for me to share the absolute cutting edge of what I\'m doing in a more meaningful way. But without actually increasing any work on my side.
Without me growing a team for the sake of it. Getting a new podcast guest, booker, and all the rest of it that you would have to do if I was gonna actually grow this podcast bigger. And yeah, we can use AI and automation for all that. But there\'s still work involved in that. And is that where I should be spending my time and my energy right now? Or is it actually on somewhere else?
And it was in that reflection on thinking about this and discussing this with my podcast manager. That we decided that actually, if we just reduce the number of episodes that I produce on a monthly basis, focus on creating higher value, maybe slightly longer episodes. And therefore being able to talk more deeply into the subjects I\'m passionate about. Focusing on fewer subjects, but really aligned with the work that I do. The stuff that I\'m actually an expert at.
And actually being really clear on the purpose of this. On delivering incredible value in terms of the knowledge that I can share. And find a way to do that is aligned with my vision of presence, purpose, and peace. That is less stressful for my team, that doesn\'t mean I need to grow the team for the sake of it. That allows me to have time to then focus on maybe using other channels as well. To share my passion with systems and automation and AI.
So that\'s what I\'m gonna do. So I\'m gonna do one episode per month where I share knowledge around a specific area. And then we\'ll do interviews typically every couple of weeks as well. So we\'re still gonna have an episode coming out roughly every two weeks.
I will commit to doing one episode every four weeks based on my own knowledge. And then we\'ll fill that in with interviews if I find guests that are aligned with that month\'s topic. And also that I really want to speak to and actually want to have a proper in-depth conversation with so we can go deep into the subject as well.
So starting immediately, there\'ll be no episode next week. And they\'ll come out every two weeks roughly. With some times it\'ll be once a month, depending on if I can find a great guest or not. I want them to be aligned with the topic of the month, and so there\'s actually a meaningful reason for speaking to that specific person. And it\'s got to be someone who has a- who is a thought leader. Who can share expertise and knowledge. And really help to consolidate and clarify the stuff that we\'re talking about in that particular month.
But like with anything, this is a trial. I\'m gonna reflect back on it, look at the data, look at the feedback I get, and say, \"Yeah, was this the right move to do or not?\" And if not, then maybe we\'ll change things again. And that is one of the things I\'ve learnt about business. You\'ve got to act, look at the data, reflect, and then change your or pivot which way you\'re going based on evidence rather than just on your gut feeling.
It may be a gut feeling that actually pushes you to make a decision in the first place. But then that decision needs to be then grounded on evidence going forward. So that\'s what we\'ll be doing over the next few months. This is a habit which I think most business owners would really benefit from getting into more.
That is by making change, but also then looking at the data to see what effect did that change have on your business. And be bold enough to say, \"Look, it\'s okay that I\'m changing stuff. It\'s okay if I\'ve done this for the past five years and I\'ve decided I\'m gonna actually change the way I\'m doing it.\"
But as long as you\'re doing it from the right intentions. That you\'re doing it because, in this case, I actually want more time to focus more deeply on stuff. Which I think is gonna actually be more beneficial. And it aligns much more with my balanced look of life. That I don\'t want to spend all my time thinking about podcast episodes.
I want to spend more time thinking about the systems that I\'m creating. And I want to spend more time thinking about and doing the stuff that I\'m really passionate about. Both inside and outside of work. And so freeing up this head space gives me that ability to do that. And so cutting back on certain things. Allowing other things to come into that void that we create, gets a much more holistic, balanced view or use of my time and my energy and my head space going forward.
So that\'s why we\'re doing it. And I hope by me explaining my reasons behind it, A, sets you up so you understand what\'s gonna happen going forward if you\'re a regular listener. But I also want to share about how difficult decisions like this can be for us business owners and in any part of our lives.
When you\'ve committed to doing something for a long time, it can be really hard just to either turn your back on it entirely or to make a change like this. This to me is a big change from once a week to once a month. That\'s huge in my opinion. And same when I left medicine. It\'s like a huge, huge change.
Or when I left computing back in the day, when I got into property. And from property to medicine. Like these big changes, they took a lot of mental willpower to sort of break through what other people expected of me. What I was worrying about people might perceive of me by doing this. Like, just like quitting something or moving, it can be seen so negatively. Whereas I saw it really positively.
All these changes have always been because I felt that I needed to do this in order to become a better person. To give me space to be able to be the person I want to be. To follow a passion that I truly wanted to commit to over time. So that\'s why I decided to record this episode today.
To, A, tell you that there\'s no episode next week and there\'ll be every second or fourth week thereafter. But also to explain some of the heartfelt decisions that have gone into this. But also encourage you to take a look at your own life, your own business. And to say, \"Look, is there stuff that you\'ve been doing just because you\'ve always done it? Is there stuff that you know in the back of your mind if you just had a bit more time you would do more of that?\"
That is the kind of thing that shouldn\'t sit there niggling away at the back of you. You need to find time to do it. And the only way you can find time is to make that time today. It doesn\'t just appear in the future. You never get less busy going forward. You need to actually focus on planning into your life how you create the change needed to create the future that you want. One way to do that is to make change. To give yourself head space, to give your team head space and, more capacity.
So I want my podcast manager, who\'s been with me for over five years, six years now. But she\'s also very capable of other stuff. And we talked about things that she\'d like to get into, AI, automation, about being my executive assistant. About helping me more to give me more time to focus on the creative stuff that I absolutely love doing.
And so this is a big change within the business. I wanna keep the team tiny, I wanna keep it focused. I wanna use AI, I wanna use automation, I wanna continue sharing what I\'m passionate about through this podcast and through other channels. And this is where I can believe I can do it. In a way that\'s totally aligned with my vision of presence, purpose and peace.
Takes the pressure off me, takes the pressure off my team. But allows me to still have the channel to get stuff out there whenever I want. And you know what? If I wanna drop the odd extra episode in and fill in a week when there\'s no other episode done, then so be it. I\'ll do it. If I\'ve got something to talk about and I don\'t want it to wait for months and months, I can do that.
And that\'s another reason for this change that I\'ve just realized right now that\'s brilliant. Right now, if I record a podcast today, we\'re so far ahead of ourselves. It typically takes about six to eight weeks before it gets published. That\'s no good when you\'re talking about stuff that, in the AI world, that changes literally on a weekly basis. Or just something that I\'m really passionate about that I wanna share with my, clients and my closer audience.
I love doing it through the podcast. Because then everyone else gets to hear it as well. And now by creating this space, I\'ve just realized I can slot in episodes if I choose to. To actually get stuff out there more quickly. So that\'s another massive added benefit from doing this. But there you go, little bit of a side.
Anyways, so thank you very much for listening. I hope you\'re excited about this change. I am definitely am. And I\'m looking forward to trying out this new cadence and seeing how it works for me and my team, and also for you, the audience.
I\'d love to get your feedback. Hit me up on any of the social media channels. My handle is typically @drsteveday42, and there you just send me a message. And I\'d love to hear what your thoughts are about this change, both now, but also maybe after you\'ve listened to a couple episodes. Hopefully, we\'re gonna get some cool content and cool guests on in the next few months. That\'s the intention.
There\'s obviously a few episodes which we\'ve pre-recorded anyway. And then beyond that, so coming into the new year, there\'ll be a whole, hopefully, new format and feel to this podcast.
Well, thank you very much indeed. And please do hit subscribe more than ever. Because now the cadence is changing, this means that you will not miss any episodes when they come out. They\'ll automatically be dragged into to your phone and your device. So therefore you can pick them up and listen to them whenever you want.
And as always, I\'d love it if you would share this podcast with anyone you know who runs a small business. Who would like to live with more presence, purpose and peace.
Thank you very much.
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Link to previous episode mentioned:
LINKS TO CONNECT WITH THE HOST
- Podcast: https://www.systemizeyoursuccess.com
- Website: https://systemsandoutsourcing.com/
- Facebook Group: https://facebook.com/groups/systemsandoutsourcing/
- LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/systemsandoutsourcing/
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- YouTube: https://youtube.com/@drsteveday42
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@drsteveday42
ABOUT THE HOST
Steve moved to Sweden in 2015 and transformed the way he ran his businesses, switching to a fully remote model. A former NHS doctor with a background in computing and property investing, he now helps overwhelmed business owners systemise and outsource effectively. Through his courses and coaching, Steve teaches how to automate operations and work with affordable virtual assistants, freeing up time and increasing profits. He runs his UK-based businesses remotely with support from a team of UK and Filipino VAs, and is passionate about helping others build scalable, stress-free companies using smart systems and virtual support.
For more articles related to business decision making, you may also like:
Why Chasing Revenue Targets Left Me Empty – Until I Aligned My Values
Why I Don’t Make 5-Year Plans and How I Find Business Success Anyway
