Making Time for What Counts: Tips from Busy Pros

We can think of “time for what counts” in a couple of ways. Making sure we check the most pressing things off our to-do list, or getting our business taken care of so we can focus on the things in life that matter to us most: like family, friends, faith or causes we support. In this bonus mini episode, we talk about both as we get advice from to two very accomplished professionals who juggle all these things and are the kind of people who you might want to ask, “how in the world do they get everything done?”.

In the last episode, we talked with Gail Perry-Mason and Mark S. Lee about the benefits of diversity, especially in the workplace. In this bonus episode, they gave us some tips for how to beat the clock to master the 24 hours we are all given in a day. We loved the clever things they did to not only make sure they HAD time for their priorities, but that they MADE THE MOST OF IT. We hope the short time you spend listening to this podcast will be multiplied back manyfold by what you learn. 

 
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Transcript

Sandy Kovach  [00:00:02]:

You know, those people who you wonder how in the world do they get everything they do done maybe they're a good friend, maybe there's someone you meet, or a family member, or just somebody you see online. Well, we had a couple of people on our podcast who fit that description in our last episode. They are Mark S .Lee and Gail Perry Mason. They were both very successful professionals. They both are very active in their communities and with their families. And when we talk to them and found out even more about what they do. We had to get to the bottom of how they do it and what their priorities are. and how they make time for what counts. I'm Sandy, and on behalf of Lanee, and I welcome to Imagine Your Self Podcast. where we help you imagine the next chapter of life with grace, gratitude, courage, and faith. So let's hear from Mark and Gail, Mark is the president of his own marketing firm. He's an educator that teaches at 3 universities and a radio host. Gail is a top financial adviser. The founder of Money Matters for Youth. She's an in demand speaker she's involved with or leads a ton of other community organizations, their schedules are packed. So we had to find out how they handled it all. So, Gail, I get up this morning, and I see your post on Facebook about your crazy day and how you are getting on your knees to get your head straight and pray And is that your secret? Is that one of your secret weapons in how you get all of the things done that you do?

Gail Perry Mason [00:01:45]:

My secret weapons. I start every morning on my knees. and then everything goes up from there. So I I think that's the best place to get started, to get centered, and then keep moving forward. And I also you know, I love to exercise. So I exercise my faith, and then I exercise.

Sandy Kovach  [00:02:01]:

Do you think getting up and doing everything in the morning is the big key? getting it done first?

Gail Perry Mason [00:02:06]:

Just get it. And then writing down an accomplishment list. So every day I write down everything I need to accomplish I think writing it down, manifesting it, writing it down, and making it happen. I think it's so powerful also. but we can get distracted, especially these days with social media, with phone calls, with so much access to each other, we can get distracted easy. So I try my best to limit distractions. It doesn't always work. I think sometimes I think, oh, I got adult ADHD. I can't I'm like, oh, I get distracted and upset. And I think we all got a little bit of that, but trying to be balanced and balances sometimes, you know, hard to find, but I think starting with prayer is the best way for me and then exercising.

Lanée Blaise [00:02:53]:

Yeah. Well, now I have a question then for Mark. As we learned in the previous episode, as far as all of the different things business wise and community wise that you have your hands on, And the fact that you have learned so much about, you know, how to be a strong person in your community, in your in this world because of your father, I wanna bring in something that my father used to always say after a hard day of work, and he'd say, oh, that was a busy day. I'm not overwhelmed, but I'm definitely whelmed. And so I wonder, Mark, how do you Keep yourself organized how you prioritize to make sure that you avoid burnout and avoid overwhelm and avoid being whelmed.

Mark Lee [00:03:41]:

one goal every single week. That's to be done every Friday by 2 o'clock. And so everything that I do, I know it sounds weird. I have 5 different things I'm doing. I keep a check list. I go through my check list. I'm very organized. I'm very focused. I'm very driven. I don't get distracted too much. And a lot of times when I work, I will just focus on the task at hand. And people who know me, though, now, don't call Mark and just have a conversation with him. but every conversation with me from a business standpoint has to have a purpose. Don't just call me and shoot the breeze. That's that's not what I'm interested in. But if you wanna talk business, make sure that you have a purpose. Other things that I do to keep me organized is whoever I meet with, we start on time and we end on time. And if any meetings go over, that will cut the meetings work, quite frankly. My time is very valuable. So everyone who talks to me will understand if you don't have to be with Mark, I understand he's very busy. His time is very valuable. The last thing is I just find a balance in my life. when I log off at night, I log off. I I'm guilty as to have a tendency of working too much, but I try to wall them off. Now Sandy and I had this conversation. I'm a music fan. Everybody who knows me knows I love smooth jazz. I listen to jazz all the time. So music keeps me self centered. And the last thing is, quite frankly, is my family. I have 2 wonderful adult kids. have 280 bitty grandkids now. And so they keep me they keep me balanced, like, FaceTime, and that takes my mind off of everything else. Bottom line, is I focus on a task at hand, and I guarantee you today is Thursday, tomorrow by 3 o'clock I'll start the weekend, every single week.

Lanée Blaise [00:05:16]:

We need to follow that advice truly. Both of you, you start your day off right each morning with Gail, and you end your week off right with Mark.

Gail Perry Mason [00:05:25]:

We need your balance, Mark.

Sandy Kovach  [00:05:32]:

--

Mark Lee [00:05:32]:

Not that I don't work until sometimes or 9 o'clock at night either. But, yeah, I I got a routine now. I have a good routine.

Sandy Kovach  [00:05:39]:

And Gail just kinda to ping off that real quick before we wrap up. I know you have 3 wonderful adult sons, and I see a lot of their pictures on social media. So you get your mom time in. You get your family time in. What is your secret as far as I mean, we talked about you praying in the morning and getting your exercise in. Is there anything else that you do, like, Mark with this list or anything?

Gail Perry Mason [00:06:01]:

you know, family, I always say family means forget about me. I love you. I love my family so much. And so what I do is, like, every Sunday, who's ever in town, they have to come over for dinner. I still cook every Sunday no matter what. whether it's my god kids, my family. I am like, come on over, Mark. Come on over. Every Sunday. And now so my son, so I call it Sunday, s o n day. My son and I cook together every Sunday. So Dexter and I, my middle son, we cook together every Sunday, and then can't put our own seasoning, and we can't put our own so I love it, and now we start our own recipe book. So it's just like, recipes. So I I really look forward to Sunday, or I'm like the neighbors. I cook for the neighbors, but every Sunday, My therapy is watching a Walmart channel and cooking.

Sandy Kovach  [00:06:56]:

Oh, love it.

Lanée Blaise [00:06:57]:

That that seems to be the key too, Sandy. Both of them have mentioned that they wanna make sure that, especially that weekend time, is devoted to what they love and who they love and to turn off though before you do this so that you can be fully present with them because, Gail, I've seen you on social media, and I also like the aspect that you say Sonshine, s o n, That's my sonshine. I say that to my son too lately. And he just is like, okay, mom. But but I appreciate it.

Gail Perry Mason [00:07:25]:

I can't wait Yeah. I'll send him a text. Like, we have our group texts, and I'll just send him good morning sunshine, happy, blah blah blah. You know, I always do whatever day it is. I sit because we have our group texts every day, but I don't have any grandkids yet. My goddaughter has kidnapped, so her mom passed away. So I actually just run by there sometimes, knock on the door, I was like, just go away. Let me spend time with him. I mess up our house, and I leave. And I'm like, I need to kiss it whenever I want, do whatever you want, and then I'm out. So I have also had the opportunity, and I know Mark is a grandfather. And I think this one is the biggest joys in the world.

Lanée Blaise [00:08:03]:

Yeah. That you you focus on what you need to focus on during the week so that you can really be fully present and do. That seems like that might be the secret sauce right there. too as far as, you pray, you exercise, you focus, you get your things done with the least amount of distraction possible, and then you get your reward with the ones you love. because you all seem very happy and you're very successful and you're juggling all these things and you're just doing it marvelous. later. Real quick,

Mark Lee [00:08:32]:

the thing about the grandkids, they don't care how successful it is. They don't care what I do. They just see me. They say, grandpa, I didn't run, and they jumped all over me. And in that moment, nothing else matters. they get undivided attention. And that's it. So that's the the enacted. That brings everything full circle. It does bring it grounds you as a person. at the end of the day.

Lanée Blaise [00:08:55]:

It makes you prove why you're doing what you do and how you leave the legacy for

Mark Lee [00:08:59]:

yes

Lanée Blaise [00:08:59]:

all the things that you're doing.

Sandy Kovach  [00:09:01]:

I love it and making time for what counts.

Lanée Blaise [00:09:03]:

So imagine yourself taking hold of your time, taking hold of your schedule, making sure that you live a life that has as little burnout as possible and has as much joy as possible.

Sandy Kovach  [00:09:16]:

Thanks for listening. Hope you enjoyed this bonus episode. If you haven't listened to the other episode with Gail and Mark. It's about the beautiful benefits of diversity, and it's the one right before this one, or you can find a link to it in our show notes or imagine yourself podcast.com where you can also get more info on Gail and Mark. Thanks for being part of the imagine yourself family. you haven't subscribed to the podcast or followed it, we hope you can do that. Leave a review. If you've got a moment, we would love to hear what you think. And until next time when we have something new to imagine, take care, and take the time you need for what counts.