Technology and apps help you automate many parts of your life. They also help you delegate your discipline because, let’s face it, we could all use a little more discipline in our lives.

I have a need to be in control.

To know what’s going on, when it’s going on, and how it’s going. But as my life expands to fit more and more tasks and activities, it gets really tough to micromanage it myself. It also gets tough to stay disciplined in completing things I need to when I lack structure. 

That’s where delegation comes into play. 
And I’m not talking about telling others what to do for you. 
Or paying someone else to manage it for you. 

I’m talking about automating your life where you can. 

I’m talking about taking advantage of technology.
To make your life simpler, to meet your goals, to be more effective, and to strengthen your own self-discipline in the process. 

My mind was blown when my husband and I finally figured out how to use Google calendar correctly. Being able to share all of our daily, monthly, yearly plans and appointments has saved us a lot of arguments, headaches, and questions. Before that I had a couple of physical calendars I would carry around like it was the 1990s. And we’d always have to ask each other what was happening and when. It was really easy to miss things.
Not anymore!

Then I moved on to automated finances.

This took me quite a long time to get on board with. I’m talking years until I fully set up automation to make tracking, contributing, and payments more automated. I am not a budget girl. I’ve bought numerous spreadsheets and documents, and spent countless hours trying to figure out the complexity of some of them.

And then I realized that not every way is going to work for everyone. I created my own stuuuuupid simple excel sheet. A few formulas, a few colors, a couple of tabs and that’s it. And it helps tremendously. It’s kept me disciplined in planning a few months out. Instead of using my own mental predictions and doing it week by week, I have a plan. Payments aren’t missed, there is an accurate and current balance, and I’m way less alarmed now. I delegated the discipline and now all I have to do is stay on top of it.  

The biggest game-changer came when I started using Personal Capital for finances.

Everything is in one place: credit cards, investments, loans, net worth. And that’s just the surface of it. Because you can see all the details of what’s coming and going on each of those items. It’s insane and it’s been an incredible addition in assisting me in succeeding and staying on top of our finances. 

Before that, I just wouldn’t know what I needed to know about all the accounts we carried. Sure, I knew the regular checking and savings accounts and most of the credit cards. But for the rest… I could guess, I could check every now and then, I could throw myself into a panic when I finally looked. Or I could stay on top of everything and look at a glance because the hard part is already done for me.
It’s literally at a glance. 

Skipping to another area of my life that was severely lacking discipline. 

The confusing world of social media and having a blog. 
This shit is time-consuming, overwhelming, involved, and hard to keep up with. 

And where in the world is the time?
Where is the time for me to work my 9-5 and do all the prep work, posting, engaging, and researching that goes into this community I’m working to build? Not to mention enjoying life, writing my book, and doing the other hobbies I enjoy. And I guess spending time with my husband and maybe seeing some friends every 6 months like all adult relationships.
Ya know what I’m talking about I’m sure.

There simply isn’t enough time for it. 
And then it stresses me out because there is so much that I want to do, so much I think I need to do.
But what I forget to realize is that I am one person. 

So then what do I actually do?
What do I actually do to keep myself on track, keep myself accountable, keep myself focused on goals, and put things into action so I can succeed? Because clearly, I need to delegate some of the discipline that I lack. 

And that’s where automation comes in. 

I start by writing down everything that needs to get done in a week for each activity. For Shatter It, it would be mostly posting and building content. In the beginning, I was literally on the computer every night trying to create content to be able to post the next day. 
And the next day, and the next day, and the next day… 

Not only was I on the computer for my 9-5, but then I was taking time away from myself and Ryan by being on the computer from 5-9. It was getting to be too much. I finally invested time into looking into automating my posts. I now spend typically 1 day brainstorming, creating, and then automating to post all week. It’s like freaking magic. I was gifted time back into my day and no longer need to worry about working too much. It’s a great balance. 

I try to focus on one action item at a time. 

Multi-tasking doesn’t work. Despite what we think, no one is good at it. You just can’t split your time like that and expect great results. And delegating your discipline only goes so far. You still need to be an active participant in some way for each item. 
Sure, there’s automated technology to help you with so much, but at some point the responsibility to fully complete something falls on you. Even if someone else is getting your groceries for you, chances are you still have to pick them up. Your Google calendar may alert you that you have a task to do, but you still need to actually do it. And that’s why focusing on one thing at a time will help you stay productive and get you the results you want. 

Coincidentally, delegating and automating things have actually taught me discipline. 

Automation is pretty reliable. It will help you form habits and stick with the plan you laid out. It’s assisting you in building your own self-discipline. Automating aspects of my life keeps my stress and anxiety down. There is no question of if I’m missing something, there’s no question of whether something was paid or not, and there is no panic that I have too much to do and I can’t figure out where to start. It’s only aiding me in my success and achievement. In a way, it is giving me that control I need without upsetting me or placing pressure on me in the process. 

I would be remiss if I didn’t say that too much automation and technology is a bad thing. 

As much as it can help, it can hinder too. Have yall seen the number of apps that come out? Every day it feels like there’s something new. The problem is that it’s so easy to get caught up in something new and shiny and not realize that more is not always better. 

We don’t realize that not every app will work for us because not every app is designed to fit what we need. I’ve spent too much time trying to fit my needs into an app, spreadsheet, or what have you, instead of finding something that fits me. I suggest trialing a few apps that are similar in concept and promise. That way you can decide which is better for you, and not try to fit what you need into something that won’t work for you in the long term. 

Delegating discipline and setting up automation will help you structure your life, but you are still in charge. They are tools and applications that are designed to make your life easier, advance your success, keep you accountable and on track, and build on your own discipline in the process. Because in reality, you are going to be the responsible party for what makes or breaks your success. 

Make sure your goals, your ambitions, your drive, are stronger than your excuses. 
You are still the one who has to put one foot in front of the other and get shit done. 

Until next time,