🎉 Celebrating 100 Episodes: Lessons I Learned Along the Way

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Table of Contents

Podcast Description

Ahhhh, I’m celebrating 100 episodes, and I’m SO excited to share the valuable lessons learned from entrepreneurship and podcasting.

In this episode, I’m diving into how to overcome perfectionism in business, stay productive, and keep your motivation high even when things don’t go as planned.

You’ll leave with practical productivity tips for online entrepreneurs and the confidence to keep moving forward, no matter where you are in your journey, even if you’re not a podcaster.

Links Referenced in Episode:

▶ Systems Savvy Society

▶ Episode 58: Rest is Productive

▶ Episode 91: Staying Focused When the World Feels Like Chaos

▶ Email Newsletter About Falling Behind

Connect with me:

Website | Instagram

Episode Transcript

(Note: This is a formatted AI-generated transcript to make it easier for you to read through, but is not an optimized blog post. Please excuse any spelling or grammar errors and filler words – it’s just how I speak LOL)

Episode Intro

Hey, I’m Lucy Reyes, your host of the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast, where I’m on a mission to help online entrepreneurs that like you focus on all the right things and kiss overwhelmed goodbye. Here, you’re going to learn strategies that will boost your productivity so that you can scale your online biz and impact lives sooner. It’s your time to shine. So let’s get started!

Welcome back to the Cheerful Productive Chats podcast. Whoa! I am so, so excited about this episode. In case this is your first time tuning in, hey! I’m Lucy Reyes. I’m a productivity strategist. I’m obsessed with Trello and I help digital entrepreneurs simplify systems, get time back and a boost intentional productivity.

And this episode is super special because it is the hundredth episode. Whoa! Like, I cannot believe that I’m here. It’s been such a long journey, such a long grind to finally get to a hundred episodes. So I’m really, really excited too. Be here recording my hundredth episode and to reflect on this journey so far, what I have learned and just give you some insights that you can apply to your own journey as well, because it’s definitely… There’s a lot of relatable aspects to, you know, reaching to 100 episodes that I think you’re going to appreciate. So before we dive in, though, I would love for you to join my email as if you’re not on it to yet.

That is where you get exclusive behind the scenes, additional tips towards helping you get more productive, towards helping you create simple and effective systems. So if you’re not on my email list yet, then go ahead and go to the link in my show notes, to get access to my free private podcast, which is all about helping you run an efficient online business.

And once you sign up for that, then you’ll be on my email list. So go ahead and do that. Pause this episode, if you’re able to and go get on my email list if you’re not on it yet. All right now, let’s go ahead and dive in because I have a lot to share and I really want to try to keep this within the time limit that I usually keep my episodes with.

A Bit of Background

So, all right. This is my hundredth episode. So I’m going to go down memory lane a little bit to give you some context before we dive into what the lessons learned, because it’s definitely going to be super relevant to what we’re going to be talking about. So I initially started in the online space as a blogger, but really I might talker at heart. I am an ambivert.

So I’m definitely, I would say I’m like 60% extrovert, 40% introvert, which is very much like 50-50. I could say 50-50, but I would say 60-40 at a lot of time. Whoa! Mumbling over my words there, but can you tell me excited? I’m not going to edit this out because like, I just need to get going with this episode, I’m going to keep this in. I’m just really excited. It does take me a while to like warm up to someone, but once I’m warmed up, once we’re comfortable, once we’re friends, once we’re cool, then I am a talker.

Like I could go on and on and on, but then afterwards I just want to lay in bed. Like I just want to go and really lay in bed. And I’m like, I tell my husband, I’m like, I am done “peopleing” for the day. Like I am exhausted. But then I love it. And I like doing it again, you know, once my battery has recharged, so podcasting was like perfect for me, because I would rather talk into the microphone, share what I have to share and not have to like type it out.

Typing is also slower for me. So yeah. Productivity, like, hello. I’m trying to do things as fast and as efficient as possible. So podcasting was perfect for me. But of course there has been so much that has happened since I first launched this episode and, oh my goodness. In 2022, I think it was June, the end of June of 2022. So it’s been through almost three years. It has taken me almost three years to reach a hundred episodes. So yeah, we’re going to cover that in these lessons learned, but yeah, there has been… There’s been a lot that has been going on in this podcasting journey. So even if you’re not a podcaster, even if you’re not even wanting to start a podcast, a lot of what I’m going to share are not just lessons specifically for podcasting, but lessons for business in general, that I did learn through this podcasting journey.

So stick around, even if you’re not a podcaster, even if you don’t plan on being a podcaster, this is going to be relevant and helpful for you too.

Lessons Learned Along the Way

1. Perfection is the Enemy of Progress

So the first lesson that I have learned along the way is perfection is the enemy of progress. I am a recovering perfectionist. I have definitely gotten better throughout the years and not making everything perfect or not spending too much time trying to perfect something.

And I definitely did this in the beginning when I first launched the episode or the podcast. I was definitely going back and forth with the artwork. I re-recorded the trailer and the very first episodes multiple times, like multiple times. Like the first three to four episodes of this podcast, I think I re-recorded the entire episode, like three to four times before you hear what’s finally there.

And even now to this day, I don’t want to go back and listen to them. I don’t want to go back and listen to them, they’re there. But I’m sure all of this perfectionism delayed me hitting publish on the podcast because I was really trying to make everything perfect. And, guess what? Nothing is ever going to be perfect.

Okay. It might be perfect for you in that moment, but as you evolve, as you grow, as you learn new things, what you’ve done in the past, you’re going to look at it and be like, “Ugghhh!!” You’re going to cringe and you’re going to be like, “Ugh, it’s not perfect anymore.” And what are you going to do? Hopefully not go back and fix all of it because now you have new and more and better things to do, to be, to prioritize.

So, yeah. Like sometimes you just have to let go of that perfectionism and you just have to go for it and really remember progress over perfection. Nothing will ever be perfect, but it will get easier the more you do it, the more recorded. The more I have created graphics, the more I have done anything in this business, the easier it has become. Like I remember when I first, first started in the online space and I needed to record my very first YouTube video.

Like I was nervous and I still get nervous, but not as much to speak as you know, when I did, when I first started. Like, it gets easier over time and little by little, you have to let go of that perfectionism because yeah, that is not going to help you be productive at all if you stay there.

So that’s one of the first lessons.

2. Stop Stressing About Consistency, It’s Okay to Take Breaks

The second one is to stop stressing over consistency. It’s okay to take breaks. Listen. Like I said, It has taken me three years to reach a hundred episodes. There are 52 weeks in a year. Okay? That means technically I should have reached this a year ago. Like, I am a whole year behind on reaching a hundred episodes.

And I really did feel this pressure to publish every single week to stay “consistent” when I first started and it was exhausting. It was exhausting because there was weeks where I didn’t know what to share. Maybe I was so behind on other projects. I remember in 2022, I was also launching the Cheers To Planning Summit.

That was the first time I ever ran a summit. And it’s a lot of work. It’s so sometimes this content gets pushed to the back burner and I really felt a lot of pressure and that’s exhausting, that’s stressful. It’s overwhelming. And eventually I just got to a point where I was like, “I just can’t do it.” I burnt out from the podcast.

I don’t remember how long of a break I took. I don’t remember when I took it but I know I reached this breaking point where it’s like, I just can’t. I can’t, I can’t do it. And I just completely like ghoested the podcast for a few weeks or months. I don’t even remember. But then I came back and literally nothing happened, nothing happened.

And then I did it again. The second or third time, I actually did record an episode that said, “Hey, by the way…” You know, “I’m gonna take a break.” You know? There was another time when I came back and I was like, “You know what? Like, I’m tired. I’m going to change the consistency to every two weeks.” Every two weeks, I’m going to release a podcast episode.

And then I did that. And then I went back to every week and then I took a break again. Like it’s been an ongoing cycle. And, you know what? It’s okay. It’s okay to take breaks. Nothing is going to fall apart if you miss a week or two or even a few months, and this is not just for podcasting specifically, this is if you’re writing blog posts, if you’re posting on social media, even sending emails to your email list.

Like anything that you’re doing with your business, you really want to give yourself permission to rest without the guilt. And really focus on that long term sustainability. Because like I said, I got burnt out from the podcast. And if I kept pushing myself and pushing myself and pushing myself to do it even more, I would have burned out. Period. With my entire business and not just this one specific task. And that is not good for long-term sustainability and it’s definitely not good for your productivity.

So. It’s okay to take breaks. It’s okay to not be “consistent.” Consistent doesn’t even mean the same thing all the time. It doesn’t mean that I have to publish an episode every single week. It means I show up, however, I show up when I can show up. Okay? It’s about just showing up and doing the best that you can.

And now, yeah, I’m on a weekly consistent streak for, I think we’re, I’m recording this in April, so it’s been three months of weekly content and I’m so happy. Because that’s the phase that I’m in. That’s the season that I’m in. That’s what I want to prioritize. I’ve been, I am in a season where I can do this, not to say that I’m not going to take another break.

Summer is coming. I haven’t decided yet if I’m going to take a break or not, I may not decide until the week that I’m supposed to record. I don’t know. And you know what? Like nothing’s gonna fall apart. It’s going to be okay. It’s going to be okay. So give yourself permission to rest and to take breaks from certain tasks in your business and for yourself to literally just do nothing.

Rest is productive. There’s an entire episode on that so I will definitely link to that in the show notes. All right.

3. Let Go of Control and Embrace Evolution

The next lesson that I have learned is to let go of control and embrace evolution. Things will always change in your life and in your business. And there is a lot of things that you have no control over. As a much as we don’t want to, as much as we might have trauma and have control issues.

Hey, I’m raising my hand. That’s me. That’s something I’ve been working on. It’s okay. It’s okay that things change. It’s okay that you don’t have control over everything. Okay. So, like I said, there’s going to be times where something’s gonna happen in your business. And you might just not be able to get that blog post out or post that reel on Instagram or record the podcast episode. I need to slow down here.

Sometimes all of these things are going to happen and it’s going to cause a reaction, it’s going to cause a delay, it’s going to cause something to happen that you wish didn’t happen. And that’s fine. You have to let go of what you can control and really focus on adapting. This one really goes hand in hand with that last one, because you know, feeling the pressure of being consistent and having to show up. But at the same time, there’s all of these things happening in my life and business that are making it harder for me to show up, making it harder for me to be more “consistent” with something. And the more I fight it, the more stressed I get, the more overwhelmed I feel, the closer to burnout I get.

And we definitely don’t want to go down that path. So let go of control, know that things will constantly change. It’s okay. You’re a business owner. You’re a smart business owner and you can handle it. You can handle it. You can do this. Okay. So focus on adapting.

4. Share Relatable Stories that Connect

The next lesson I have learned. Is as sharing relatable stories connect. Like in the beginning, there’s things that I still toot as they keep very personal and I don’t share, there’s things that I share behind, like within my memberships to pay to members. Not necessarily free public content, but I have realized that my audience loves behind the scenes and relatable stories. And that is very reassuring. One of my love languages is words of affirmation.

And so it is very affirming, you know, when listeners like, reach out and say how much they enjoy the podcast or how much they resonated with this one imperfect piece of my life. Which is also like a wonderful thing to share, which is, you know, it’s… It can be confusing. Like it definitely takes some work to go through.

Right? Because I feel like when I first started in the online space, there’s this so much pressure to be perfect. You have to be Instagram perfect and do everything perfect. And now, things really seem to be shifting to imperfection, which I love, as long as it’s authentic. Right. Like, there’s definitely parts in your business that you’re better at.

And then there’s parts that are just not going as planned. And that’s fine. But share like really push yourself to share whatever you’re comfortable with with your audience, because it might actually help you get more, feel more connected to them and vice versa. They’ll feel more connected to you. And those are the types of connections that will help your business grow over time.

So be real, get vulnerable, be authentic. Even authentic has been, become like this buzzword, but you still want to be authentic because it really does build trust. So whatever you want to keep personal, keep it personal but besides those few things, share about your life, share about your day-to-day.

That’s something that I am definitely pushing myself to do more of, especially on my Instagram stories, so go follow me over there @cheerstoproductivity if you’re not yet. I’m definitely pushing myself to share a little bit more behind the scenes content, record more B-roll of just my life. In my email list, I’m sharing more stories of things that I have been going through or what I did over the weekend and how it relates to productivity systems, organization, all of the things, but it’s something that you can definitely take on and do yourself as well.

5. Focus on the People Who Are Listening

The next lesson learned is to focus on the people who are listening. Listen at the time of recording this. It’s been tough times. It has been tough times. I’m not going to get into the details. There’s another episode where recorded about chaos and personal things that political stuff has impacted my family with.

And it’s just tough times. But when you stop looking at the vanity numbers, the vanity metrics, when you stop seeing the number of email subscribers on your list as a number when you stop seeing the number of followers on your Instagram as a number, when he was up seeing the number of podcast downloads as a number, and you recognize that these numbers are actually the number of people that are listening, watching, reading, tuning in, et cetera. It really changes your perspective on things.

And for me personally, it just reminds me that there are people who appreciate my content and that in itself keeps me going. And whenever I get those little messages on Instagram or my heartbeat community, or an email, for someone responded to my email. All of those, like genuinely touch my heart. So if you are someone who has sent me something like that recently, in the past, ever, just know that it means so much to me when you do that. I always tell my husband I’ll screenshot or share it with my husband. “Oh, look what so-and-so said!”

And we, we talk about how much this really makes me so happy to know that I get to do this and then I get to make an impact in someone’s life in this way. So remember that every number is a person and your work matters to someone. And for me, that’s motivating, that’s inspiring and that’s definitely what keeps me going. So even if this is your first time listening, or if you’ve been listening to the podcast for a while, thank you.

Like seriously. I truly, truly appreciate you so, so much. Like you are the reason why I’m recording my hundredth episode. That is seriously mind blowing to me. So, thank you. I appreciate you. All right. I mean, I’m being super emotional. Let’s move on. Yeah, I’m definitely going to go over my time limit, but you know what?

It’s a hundredth episodes. It’s fine. It’s fine. Okay.

6. It’s Okay to Fall Behind

The next lesson that I’ve learned is it’s okay to fall behind. Like I said, it took me almost three years to reach a hundred episodes. And while that isn’t necessarily something that I’m proud of, I definitely know that. If I had really pushed myself to record weekly and, or even multiple times a week that I would definitely have reached more episodes sooner, which means that I would have more downloads and probably more listeners and all of the things. I also know that life happens and progress is still progress even when things didn’t go to plan. When I first launched this podcast. I was not thinking that it was gonna take me three years to reach a hundred episodes. I definitely came in with the intention that I was going to record a weekly episode for forever, no matter what. And yeah, no, it didn’t happen.

And that’s okay. Like it’s okay to fall behind. I think I sent an email about this to my email list a few, I think, about two weeks ago. So it was, if it’s relevant, I would probably post it in the show notes. I’m going to look for it and see if it’s relevant because it might be, it might be. But pretty much like things aren’t going to fall off.

Like you’re going to fall behind. You’re going to get off track with something, you’re going to prioritize other things, which means other things are going to get pushed back. And all of that is okay. Whether it’s for a little tiny task or a big project, like you are the business owner, you are the one who ultimately makes the decisions for your business.

And while things have to shift because of these decisions, just know that it is okay. It is absolutely normal. It doesn’t mean that anything is wrong with you. It’s okay to fall behind. It took me three years to reach a hundred episodes and I’m still happy. I’m still celebrating it.

I’m still super excited and yeah, of course, there’s things that I’m going to do to try to avoid this as much as possible. But I also know that when it happens, it’s not going to be a big deal. So, yeah, it’s not a big deal if you fall behind. All right. We’re almost done here.

7. Simplify and Delegate

The next lesson learned is to simplify and delegate. Whew.

This is like the premise of my entire podcast, of my entire business. Simplify it. Delegate to get more productive, to create the systems, to get organized. All of the things. So for me, I absolutely cannot do this podcast without my podcast management, Trello board and also leaning on my virtual assistant, my VA, for support.

These two have been game changers. I do not outsource the podcast editing. I have actually pushed myself to not even do as much edits. I would say for the first, at least 50 episodes, I definitely edited the podcast. I would, you know, go through everything. I would cut out the super long… Even the small, like breaks or pauses, which now I’m kind of really pushing myself to send it out like as imperfect as possible.

Like of course, if there’s like a one minute pause, I’m not going to make you sit there and listen to me breathing for one minute. But other things I’m like letting it go. I’m just trying to be more real, more raw. And also it helps me be more productive. So, yeah, like this is all in-house.

This is all in-house. I have my one VA and that’s it. So we use my podcast management board. I do most of the process. And our record, I edit, I prep the documents. I prep the transcript. I send it over to my VA and then she kind of turns it into marketing content that we can push out. And these, this process has drastically changed over time.

It has improved. It has refined. So this is a lesson too, to know that just because you create a system once doesn’t mean that you’re never going to touch it again. As you evolve, as you learn new things, your systems and your processes need to evolve with you, which means that you will have to make updates to those systems and processes.

This is something that we cover inside of the Systems Savvy Society my membership so definitely check that out. If it’s something that you’re not quite sure of how to do it, or if it’s not something that you’re actively doing, then come join us. I will help you out. But for me, this has definitely looked like simplifying as much as I can.

When I first started the podcast, I did a lot of, I think most of it myself, I think I was already working with my VA at the time. So she definitely helped with part of it. And then we had a little break for a while and then yeah, it’s been… It’s been an ongoing process. I’m not going to bore you with those details. But pretty much I have simplified the process as much as I can, as I grow, as I evolve, as you learn. And one of the processes that I’ve specifically simplified is that I stopped recording an outro for every single episode. I used to record the same outro and just be like, you know, the show notes is in the episode or link dash 92 or dash a hundred.

And I was recording it every time, which no. I’ve stopped doing that. I recorded a general one. It’s the one I added to all of them. I also started taking away my episode intro. So I used to record a dedicated intro to introduce the episode specifically and that is still time-consuming. It still takes time and so I’ve just said, I’ve decided to cut that out. That is fairly new.

I only started doing that this year and it has been truly… It feels like it’s not a big thing to do but I genuinely feel that is what has made it so much easier for me to record weekly. So, yeah. Definitely simplify your processes and delegate if you’re able to. Delegating and streamlining helps you avoid feeling overwhelmed.

And it’s actually one of the tips I shared in Episode 98, 5 Ways To Get More Done By Doing Less. So I will link to that in the show notes as well. All right.

8. It’s Okay to Change Your Mind and Adjust

And the last one here, the last lesson that I’m going to share with you in this episode is that it’s okay to change your mind and to adjust. I think that’s actually been the whole premise of this episode is that there’s so many changes.

There’s so many things that are not going to go as planned and it’s okay. It’s okay to pivot and to adjust. It’s part of the process as being an entrepreneur. Like I said, I have… Simplifying our processes. I have made some changes to the podcast. You know, I went ahead and took out the episode intro.

I started recording or putting in the same outro for every episode. Like things will change and it’s okay. Just keep showing up. That is the most important thing. Keep showing up whenever you can. Whenever you feel okay enough to show up. If you are like dreading to get to work, to your business work, then that means you need a break. You’ll need a resonate.

Take a step back. You need to slow down and then show up, but keep coming back, keep showing up and make progress in your own way, in your own timeline. Yeah, I know that there’s episodes or podcasts that have launched this year and have already reached a hundred episodes. And yeah, I was like, “What?! Why? How?” Yeah.

Initially, I was. Yeah, but also I know that I just can’t, I cannot record and publish two to three episodes a week. Like I just cannot, my energy will not let me, my voice will not let me and so I’m not going to do it. I’m going to show up when I have the mental capacity, when they have the physical energy to show up and I’m going to continue to make progress in my own way. Just as you should too.

Looking Ahead: What’s Next for the Podcast?

So those are the lessons learned from this journey to a hundred episodes. Now what’s next for the Cheerful Productive Chats podcast? Well, my goal right now is to keep providing value to you every single week. Of course, I might take a break during the summer to be determined. TBD. But my goal is definitely to continue to provide value to you and not have the pressure to be perfect.

So there’s definitely, you know, like this episode I would say is one of the, probably one of the first episodes where you are hearing a lot of the… Not the “ums” but the, my mumbling of my words, because that happens a lot, especially when I get excited and I try to talk fast. I am a Mexican-American.

So my first language is Spanish, but even that, my entire family speaks English so sometimes my words don’t come out exactly. Right. And so this is one of the first episodes where I’m kind of just letting you listen to it. And I think I’m really gonna encourage myself and push myself to do that moving forward.

And hopefully it’s taken well. I’m also going to be improving my call to actions because I have not asked for a review. I have not asked for feedback. I have not asked for comments or messages from the podcast. So I’m going to take this opportunity to say, if you’ve been enjoying the podcast, please go to Apple podcasts and leave me a review.

If you’re on Spotify, then go ahead and leave a rating. It really, really helps me or the podcast find new people when you do that. So if you can leave a review or a rating, I would absolutely appreciate it. There’s also a new feature where you can send me a message directly. So if you go on your podcast player, it should say something like, send me a message.

And if you click on that, it sends me a message. It sends me a message directly about the episode. So I would love to hear from you. Use those features. I will try to remind you in the future episodes. That’s something that I’m going to be improving on. Another thing that I’m going to be working on, it’s not priority.

It’s not right now, but in the future, I definitely want to redesign my podcast cover. I might change the name of the podcast. TBD. I definitely will be re-recording the trailer and improving podcasts CEO. No, not CEO. SEO! SEO. And yeah, I’m definitely going to be taking breaks as needed guilt-free, but I’m going to really try to continue building and buzz around the podcast on social media and my marketing channels.

So if you have a friend who could really use this episode, or this podcast as support, if you know any entrepreneurs in your life, then please send them this podcast. I would absolutely appreciate it. All right. 30 minutes! I’m going to wrap it up here because that is still my max, max, max. So if you’ve been enjoying the podcast, go ahead and leave a rating, a review and join my email list so that way you can get exclusive access to my free private podcast.

And I’m really excited that you have decided to be part of this journey with me, whether this is your first episode or your hundredth or somewhere in between. I truly, truly appreciate you listening. Cheers to a hundred episodes and to even more. Hopefully. Maybe? Definitely. Definitely!

Let’s put it out there. To 200 episodes and hopefully less than three years. All right. I will talk to you in the next episode.

Thank you so much for listening to the Cheerful Productive Chats Podcast with me, Lucy Reyes. To view the full transcript and all the links mentioned in today’s episode, visit cheerstoproductivity.com/podcast. And before you go, make sure you follow or subscribe wherever you’re listening so that you know once the next productive chat is released. Talk soon and cheers to your productivity and success!