Lead Your Life in 2025 with Les Watson

Les Watson’s passion for and expertise in self-management and productivity comes from over 30 years of experience as a trainer, speaker, facilitator, and coach in self-management, motivation, and communication. He is the author of Get Back An Hour In Every Day and facilitates the acclaimed Creating Success Program. Les talks with me about identifying your tendency and how it can cause trouble as you manage your time; how parents can take care of themselves first even in a busy household to make sure they get to their creativity; why deadlines are magic, not a medieval torture device; the keys to getting an hour of your time back every day, and more. I hope this conversation gets your New Year’s creativity resolutions off to a great start. Join us for Make Bad Art starting on January 20 and get 2025 off to a fresh creative start! Details at MakeBadArtCourse.com.  Episode breakdown: 00:00 Les Watson discusses self-management, productivity, and creativity. 05:35 What do you want and commit to? 08:51 Keeping self-appointments is as important as others. 12:17 It's easier to prioritize others over yourself. 15:44 Prioritize self-care first, like oxygen masks. 18:13 Setting boundaries for personal time with kids. 22:55 Clarify priorities to focus efforts effectively. 25:57 Incompletions persist, haunting and overwhelming thoughts. 28:57 Organize goals efficiently with a single system. 31:16 Deadlines motivated MFA completion, ensured timely submissions. 34:03 Get accountability buddy for art exhibition preparation. 39:41 Maximize return on investment using minimal effort. 42:25 Start big picture, identify steps, take action. 46:31 What do you want? Sacrifice for creativity. 50:13 Planning creates personal time and builds self-trust. 51:22 Write goals down to stay focused and organized. 55:38 Capture fleeting ideas before they vanish forever. Check out the full show notes (now including transcripts!!) at fycuriosity.com, and connect with me and fellow creatives on Substack. Please leave a review for this episode—it’s really easy and will only take a minute, and it really helps me reach new listeners. Thanks! If you enjoyed our conversation, I hope you’ll share it with a friend.