Welcome to the Elevated Edit Podcast.

I'm your host, Blakely Ramsey and the goal of this podcast is to discuss all things personal development, wellness and the art of editing your life in an elevated way.

From mastering morning routines to mastering your mindset, we're going to sift through the noise and empower you to take elevated action.

Make sure you catch the show notes for all the details.

Enjoy the show.

Hello and welcome to the Elevated Edit podcast.

I am so excited to talk about this topic today.

It is definitely something that I have struggled with my entire life.

I feel like I have been searching for the answer to this problem, the solution to this problem.

And in 2024 I really made it my main goal and I feel like I've made a lot of progress towards alleviating this issue in my life.

And that is the power of focus.

Narrowing down so I can level up.

I used to be the queen of getting sidetracked.

I would have a great idea, I'd get super organized and then boom, suddenly another idea would pop up or a problem would pop up, or I'd see a Instagram posts that would inspire me and I would be completely derailed from my goals, from my action list, and then whatever I was working on would turn into another one of those lost projects sitting on the shelf.

If that sounds familiar, today I am sharing how narrowing my focus changed everything for me and how it can for you as well.

For us high achieving, multi passionate women, focus is extremely hard.

We have a lot of things we get really excited about.

We have a lot of things we're really good at.

But focus is so important because it is the key to clarity, alignment and progress.

So today we're going to talk about how to lock in on what truly matters.

And you may be asking, why is focus such a big deal?

And focus is such a big deal because there is a problem with doing too much.

When you focus on too many things, you end up spreading yourself so thin and you give a half hearted effort to absolutely everything.

At one point in my life I feel like I had 12 like big commitments and I am multi passionate and so I wanted to give 100% to all 12 things and I wasn't able to because I simply just not only didn't have enough time, I didn't have enough mental capacity, physical capacity, and so I ended up giving about 40% to all of those things.

And unfortunately not on that list was my health and my own joy and my own habits.

A lot of that fell to the wayside and it was just kind of A recipe for disaster.

And what I started to learn was that true progress towards goals or true progress towards a mission comes from going all in on just a few things at a time that really deliver a big roi.

And this is not going to apply just to business.

This is going to apply to your personal life as well.

And you'll probably hear people say all the time, you need to get clear on your mission.

You need to get clear on your vision.

And if you're like me, you're like, okay, but tell me how.

And in the world that we live in today, everyone is trying to sell something, everyone is trying to market something to you.

And so it can be really loud.

And there are so many options when it comes to getting clear on your mission.

But I'm going to let you in on a little secret.

The key to actually making progress and having intense focus is keeping it simple.

Your mission does not have to be perfect.

Your mission does not have to be this beautifully curated mission that you can stand on a stage and talk about for days and days.

It's not set in stone.

You just need to start with something small, start with something somewhat clear so that you can start taking action on it and get that momentum going.

Because once you have momentum, clarity starts to come.

You will mess up, you'll fail, you'll learn new things, you'll meet new people.

All of these opportunities, opportunities and knowledge will just start to come to you when you start taking momentum on a couple of things and really like giving them 100%.

And the clarity and the focus will come through that kind of mud of like messing up and not doing it right and, oh, maybe I should shift and do this.

But if you just start and get super clear on a few things, all of that will start to change.

And it is absolutely life changing.

And you want to start on this because when you have a clear mission, it becomes easier to evaluate opportunities and distractions.

So when you are given an opportunity or when a distraction comes up, you can ask yourself, does this align with my focus right now?

And if it doesn't, then it's an easy no.

And I can relate to this more than, you know, if you know me in person, you know this to be true.

But for a long time, I was constantly distracted by new ideas, by other people's opinions, by problems popping up.

You know, I would sit down and brainstorm and I would have this beautiful plan and then I would get on TikTok or I would get on Instagram and one of two things would happen.

I would see 20 people doing what I wanted to do, and I would study their accounts, and then I'd be like, oh, I've got to do this and I've got to do this and I've got to do this and I've got to do this.

And before I knew it, I had a list of like 160 things that I needed to be doing every single day.

And I would set really, really well intended goals, but I could not actually achieve what I was asking myself to do in a day because my focus was scattered all over the place.

And I would get so overwhelmed that like, a week or two in, I was like, oh, I'm done.

Like, I'm not capable of doing this or whatever it was.

And it was really frustrating because I felt like I had something big inside of me.

I had something that I wanted to give to the world, but I could never focus on something long enough to actually make progress.

And I would also allow self sabotage to stop me.

So I would be making progress towards a goal, and then something would pop up that would pull my focus completely away from it.

And if I'm being completely honest, most of these things were not true emergencies or true things that needed my focus.

It was something that I would.

It was like in the new shiny object syndrome.

And I would just go chasing that thing, and then I would just leave my.

My plans and my goals, you know, like I said, on the shelf.

The other thing that I would do is I would listen to other people's opinions.

I would get really excited about a goal, and I would get super pumped, and I would just be so excited.

I would want to go tell my friends and my family, and they would, you know, inevitably, out of love, be like, oh, okay, you know, that's a good idea, or, oh, well, are you sure?

That's a really saturated market, or whatever it was.

And I would take it to heart because I didn't have focus, I didn't have a filter that I could run everything through.

And so I was just allowing all of these thoughts, all the noise to distract me from achieving my goals.

And when I finally got serious about narrowing my focus, everything changed.

I was able to commit to one overarching mission and stop chasing every single shiny object that threw itself in front of me.

And now I feel super clear, super aligned, and super productive.

Because when I wake up in the morning, I know exactly what I need to be doing.

I have a filter.

And when opportunities come in, even if they're really exciting and even if it's something that sounds super fun, if it is not helping me achieve my goal, it's a no.

And that can be really hard because that goes back to boundaries.

You know, when you are a multi passionate woman, there is a high likelihood that you're probably really good at a lot of things.

And so people come to you because they want you to be on the board or they want you to be part of the project.

And it's hard to say no, especially when it's friends or people that you love or it's something that maybe one day in the future you really do want to do.

But right now, it just can't be a part of your focus.

And that's something that I've really struggled with because people will come to me with ideas and opportunities, and I'm like, wow, I would be really good at that, or, wow, I would really enjoy that.

But this year I just keep asking myself, like, does this get me closer to my goal?

Is this part of the narrow focus that I am working towards right now?

And if that answer is no, unfortunately I can't do it in this season.

And it's been such a game changer for me.

And I feel like if you're like me, part of my hesitation in getting super clear and getting super aligned was that I was so multi passionate.

And I feel like sometimes when you're multi passionate, the thought of putting blinders on and focusing on just a couple of things at a time feels so boring.

Like, I was like, I don't want to stifle my creativity.

I don't want my days to be so structured that I don't have room for creativity and room to just explore new things as they come in.

But what I have realized is that narrowing my focus has not made me less creative.

It has actually freed up my energy so that I can execute at a higher level.

And so instead of constantly looking, I don't know if y'all seen, like on TikTok and Instagram, that lady that, like, she's like, panic looking around, she's like dancing and she's looking all over the the place.

I feel like that's been me up until this last year.

Like, I just get so excited about things and I dive in and I do all the research and I have all the plans, and then I get just as excited about the next thing, like 30 minutes later.

And I don't actually make any progress on any real goals.

And so narrowing my focus has allowed me to focus on a couple of things and really, like, execute at a super high level.

And that has Given me the confidence to implement even more boundaries, not just with others, but also with myself and give myself the self discipline to execute on these high level goals that I have right now.

And if all of this sounds kind of abstract and like, okay, that's great for you, I'm glad that you figured that out.

But how am I supposed to figure this out myself?

Y'all always know that I'm going to give you some action steps.

So these are four simple but not easy ways that you can narrow your focus.

So step number one, you are going to define your mission.

And when people used to tell me this, I was like, I don't even know where to start.

Like, define my mission.

What is that supposed to mean?

So I'm going to kind of help you simplify that.

You want to ask yourself, what is my overarching mission right now?

And look, it does not have to be perfect.

It does not have to be your forever mission.

I think for a long time that was something I struggled with because I was like, okay, if I write down this mission, that's going to be my mission until I'm 80 years old.

And it kind of paralyzed me in my tracks because it caused me to overthink.

I was like, this has to be perfect.

This has to be the mission.

This has to be the most impactful thing I can do.

This has to be, you know, the thing that I'm going to do for the rest of my life.

But once I gave myself permission to just get started on something, just spend an hour, spend 30 minutes thinking about what my mission really is, do some journaling, do some brainstorm, do a little like ChatGPT brain dump and kind of let it organize your thoughts.

Just get something down so that you can get started on it.

That will be your guide for this season.

And like I said, you can adapt and adjust as you go, but getting somewhat clear on your mission and giving yourself at least a direction that you need to be moving in.

Like I said, release the feeling that it needs to be perfect.

Just give yourself permission to go, okay, this isn't exactly what I want to do forever, but this is what feels right right now.

And get that down on paper, put it in a Google Doc, whatever you need to do, just get some kind of mission down so you have some kind of guiding light.

I'm going to give you an example.

This is my mission right now.

And look, this can fluctuate throughout the year, but this is my overarching goal for 2025.

So all of my actions and everything I do in 2025 is going to funnel through this mission.

And what I'm going to ask myself, when I'm invited to something or I'm asked to be a part of something, be it a project or a job or whatever it is, I'm going to say, does this align with my mission?

So my mission for 2025 is to empower high achieving women to find clarity, focus their energy, and confidently build their dreams.

And y'all are going to see this play out.

My content on social media is going to reflect this.

My podcast episodes are going to reflect this.

Obviously, not every episode is going to be centered around this because there are other things, I think, as you know, multi passionate women, there are things about our personal life, our business life, whatever it is, that we also need to work on.

But I'm really going to try to make every episode tie back to this mission somehow.

I am attending summits, I am working on another course that's set to come out in March.

And then I'm working on another really big project that almost feels unattainable, but the fact that it feels unattainable to me makes me want to go after it even more.

And I, when the opportunity came to me, I was like, I don't know about that.

But when I filtered it through this mission, I was like, I don't think that I have a choice but to go after this.

And so having that mission, just kind of having like a guiding star, allows you to answer those questions, like, does this align with what I need to be doing right now?

Run it through your mission and that'll kind of give you an idea of what you need to be doing.

So that's step number one, define your mission.

Step number two, keep it simple.

Focus on a few key priorities.

So you're going to ask yourself, what are the topics?

Two to three things I need to focus on to make real progress.

This one's hard for me because I have a lot of ideas all the time.

Every time I'm on social media, I get a new idea, I'll be walking, I'll get a new idea, listen to a podcast, new idea, read a book, new idea, and I will very quickly, like run to jump on that thing or run to execute whatever it is and what I'm learning right now.

And it's so hard being this self disciplined.

I am having to ask myself, okay, is this more important than the two to three things that I have already committed to focusing on?

Is this going to actually get me closer to my goals?

And I'M going to let you in on my biggest struggle right now.

Your top two to three things are probably not going to be like, super fun, super like sexy.

Like, oh, I'm, I'm doing this really exciting thing.

Your top two to three things are probably going to be like really deep work and really intentional work and you putting your head down and focusing.

And for me, sometimes I'm like, oh my gosh.

But I want to frolic.

I want to do all the fun things, but I keep reminding myself I funnel through that mission and I'm like, I have really big goals that I want to achieve and I have a mission and I've already evaluated all of my options and these two to three things are actually going to move the needle.

If I stay consistent with these two to three things, at the end of the year, I'm going to have made progress.

And I feel like if you just keep reminding yourself, I don't need to do everything right now, I just need to do a few things.

Because society will tell you, social media will tell you that you need to be doing a thousand things a day.

You know, you've got to have a 20 step morning routine and you've got to have all of these systems and you've got to read all the books and you have to listen to all the podcasts.

When instead you can simply say, okay, I'm going to read one book a month.

I am going to listen to two different podcasts a month.

I am going to focus on one social media channel a month.

I'm going to do, you know, whatever it is like for me right now.

I have deleted the Facebook app from my phone so I can still access it, you know, on my laptop.

But I've deleted TikTok, I deleted Snapchat, I deleted all of the things.

So right now I'm focusing on Instagram and threats.

And it's not easy.

I hear friends talking about how they've grown their businesses on TikTok and you know, YouTube is huge for business.

And I have friends that are going super viral with YouTube shorts and they are getting a lot of traction with their long form on YouTube.

And I want so badly to be doing all the things I want to be in all the places.

I want to be conquering all the social media channels.

But I have learned this the hard way.

I can't do it all at once.

And so for Q1 and maybe Q2, I'm focusing on Instagram and threads.

That's it.

I need to get really good at those two before I add another one in.

Because if I'm trying to be the best at all the social media channels, I'm probably going to be mid 25% at all of them.

Instead, I'm going to laser focus on Instagram, laser focus on threads for the next couple of months, get really good at it, and then Maybe I'll add YouTube in, then maybe I'll add LinkedIn, then maybe I'll add Pinterest, whatever it is that I feel like is going to give me the biggest ROI next.

But instead of scattering my focus all over the place and being like, okay, I've got to have this kind of messaging for Instagram and this kind of messaging for YouTube and this kind of messaging for TikTok, and you're, you're scattered and you just can't focus.

I simplified it.

I am doing Instagram and threads and this can apply to a lot of different things.

You don't have to have 20 different kinds of software.

Whatever it is, you don't have to have 20 different.

Just focus on one at a time.

That doesn't mean that one day you won't get to whatever that is.

But for now, until you've mastered it, just focus on one or two things.

So that's step two, step three, and I've already kind of covered this, but evaluate everything against your mission.

So when a new opportunity or a distraction pops up, ask yourself, does this align with my mission?

Will this move me closer to my goals?

And if the answer is not an immediate indefinite yes, then it's a no.

A maybe is a no.

A, well, sort of is a no.

Like, unless it's like a clear yes, it's a no for right now.

I have a full trello board right now.

That is future, maybe someday plans.

Like, that's literally what it's called.

And when I have a great idea and I funnel it through that, will this move me closer to my goals?

And the answer is not a definitive yes, I put it on that board.

That way when I am, you know, evaluating my Q1 and getting ready for Q2, maybe I add a few of those things in.

But for right now, like, my focus has to stay super sharp and I have to be super disciplined.

And that kind of leads into step number four, which is protect your energy.

You have to set boundaries to minimize distractions, both external and internal.

And this is going to include not just saying no to others, but also learning to refocus when your mind starts wondering.

For me, I had to take a lot of responsibility when it came to This.

I had to delete the apps.

I had to turn off the notifications.

At this point, the only notifications that come through on my phone are calls and text.

That's it.

I don't know immediately when I get an email.

I don't know immediately when someone messages me on Slack.

I don't need notifications on all that.

I just need to know when someone texts me and someone calls me.

And honestly, sometimes I want to turn those off too.

No, I'm kidding.

I, for the most part, I love texting.

Calls I could probably do without.

That's probably the millennial in me.

I feel like phone calls are very invasive I get, maybe because I don't ever call anybody, but the expectation that comes behind a phone call for me is a little unnerving.

Like someone out there expects me to stop what I'm doing and pick up the phone and give them my full attention for an undetermined amount of time.

It's different if you text me and say, hey, do you have time for a five minute call?

Or hey, do you have time for a 15 minute call?

But when someone just calls me and there's no backstory, I don't know what they're calling me for.

It's usually a little off putting to me.

And what I've learned too is typically when people call you, they are calling you because they're being reactive towards something.

And so here lately, I have been letting their calls go to voicemail.

And if you're one of the people that calls me and your call has been going to voicemail, this is why I do it.

I let the call go to voicemail.

I give them five minutes.

Usually by the time I call them back between five and 10 minutes, their problem has either resolved itself, they found what they were looking for, or, you know, the issue went away.

Typically, if I give it five to 10 minutes, I'll usually get a text and whoever it is is like, oh, never mind, I figured it out, or oh, never mind, I found it.

And that might sound really rude to some people and I'm somewhat sorry if you're one of the people that has called and I've called you back in 10 minutes.

But that is a boundary that I had to set for myself because I have to protect my energy.

I can't carry other people's emotions and I can't solve other people's problems all day long.

My focus has to be super narrowed.

And this applies not just to real estate, not just to the brand that I'm building, not just to personal things, but all across the board, I just, I feel like we've.

Because of our cell phones, people think they should have immediate access to us all of the time.

And it makes me really sad because I've got a lot of friends that are very nurturing and they're very in their, like, mother energy.

And they feel like every time their phone rings, they have to immediately answer it because somebody needs something.

And in their minds, they think that they're the only ones that can solve the problems.

And when you put that energy out, people are going to take advantage of it.

And sometimes it's not in a negative way.

Like, sometimes people just genuinely go, oh, Blakely is really good at this.

Let me put this on her plate.

Because she can figure it out really quick and take it off of mine.

But what I've had to constantly remind myself this year is just because they don't want it on their plate doesn't mean it needs to be on my plate.

That was a little side tangent about phone calls.

I don't know, I just think phone calls are very invasive.

But protect your energy, whatever that looks like, you might love talking on the phone.

So don't worry about not answering phone calls.

But maybe you need to delete Facebook.

Maybe you need to.

I have some friends that they complain because people just show up at their house all the time.

I'm like, I don't.

I guess I just don't give off that energy.

Nobody's ever.

Nobody ever comes to my house, period.

And I don't want them to.

But, you know, that might look like putting a sign on your door that says, I am focusing right now.

I don't have the space and energy for you to come in.

Like, whatever you have to do, you can't worry about being rude, hurting people's feelings, whatever it is.

Like, if it is something that truly you need to make progress, make progress towards your goals.

Give yourself that self love and that self discipline and protect your energy because it will pay off.

So those are the four steps.

Define your mission, keep it simple, Evaluate everything against your mission and protect your energy.

And all of this to sum up works.

And it works because it allows you to execute at a higher level.

When you're focusing on fewer things, you can give those few things your full energy and attention.

And that is how you can make real progress.

If you are trying to do all of the things and you're trying to be all of the things to all the people, you are going to exhaust yourself, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, spiritually, you're not going to live in the present moment.

You're not going to see opportunities and see beauty and see joy.

You are going to miss all of it because you are just running frantic trying to make everyone else happy.

And I can say that not from a judgmental space, but from a.

This was me literally, like six months ago.

Like, I.

If you relate to that, we're in the same boat.

This was me just a few months ago.

It's been a lot of work.

I've had to make a lot of people a little upset, but it's so worth it if it allows you to narrow your focus.

Because narrowing your focus simplifies your life, and it gives you that clarity that you're probably craving and you might not even realize it.

And by focusing on what matters most, you get to free up energy and space for new opportunities to come your way.

You know, a couple of years ago, when I was sitting on all these boards and doing all the things, if someone came to me with a new opportunity, even if it was something that aligned with my personal mission, I was probably going to say no to it because I was so burnt out, so stressed out.

But now I have a lot of space in my life, and I have a lot of room for if something really exciting comes up and it aligns with my mission, I can say yes to it.

And that thought is really exciting.

And it gets me pumped to wake up in the morning, and it gets me excited to start doing my work, and it gets me excited to read the few books that I've committed to and listen to the podcasts that I've committed to and stay really focused.

And I have seen massive results this year from just doing a few simple things really well.

So if you want to level up, you need to start by narrowing down.

Get clear on your mission, simplify your priorities, and protect your focus.

It's not necessarily about doing less.

It's about doing what matters most.

And remember, focus does not mean that you are limiting yourself.

It means you're honoring your energy and setting yourself up for success.

So today, I want you to take a few minutes to define your mission and your top priorities.

And then I want you to start saying no to anything that does not align with that.

If this episode was valuable to you, or if this episode made you think of someone in particular, I feel like I listen to podcasts all the time and a couple different things will be said, and I'm like, oh, that is definitely this friend of mine, or that's definitely this acquaintance of mine.

I'll send it to them and I'll just say, hey, this episode made me think of you.

I hope this provides a little value.

Or I'll send it to them and I'll say, hey, this episode really resonated for me.

I don't know if you're going through this same situation right now, but if you are, this podcast might really help.

So if someone came to mind when you were listening to this episode, go ahead and send it to them.

Just knowing that you were thinking about them will probably make their whole day.

And of course, if you love the episode enough, please leave me a review.

Reviews help me reach a bigger audience and they help me rank in the podcast system, which is something that I am really going to focus on in 2025 because that aligns with my mission.

So thank you for joining me today and I will see you in the next episode of the Elevated Edit.

Thank you for tuning in to the Elevated Edit podcast.

I hope you found today's episode inspiring and full of actionable tips.

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