Organized and Focused ENFP – Tips by Dan

Today I want to share with you some organizational and effectiveness advice, specific for ENFPs and INFPs.

A question I’m asked a lot is, what is the perfect routine for an INFP or an ENFP? That’s a tough question. Because as I’ve mentioned, in my other video, I don’t think there is a perfect routine.

So how do you stay organized and focused ENFP, Dan?

But something I do that served me really well is I think of my life as basically being in seasons, and sometimes I do this on a yearly basis, and sometimes I do it by month or by quarter.

Basically, I think about what I want to do, and what’s important to me right now, and then I create my plan around that and how I set up my days and how I do everything. So for instance, when COVID started, I took a look at what I was doing and actually the start of COVID. The plan was to be on a world trip, just me and Gabby so we left the Czech Republic in early January of 2020 and we were going to be travelling around the world, we were going to be in Argentina, in Japan, and all these places for a couple of years, and then COVID happened a few months later.

So I could have stayed in the mindset of wanting adventures and new places and all that, and guess what, I would have been really disappointed because not the year to be bouncing around the globe, right? Instead, I thought, okay, given the circumstances, how do I want to be spending my time and I thought, you know what, this is a great opportunity to build, to make things – I love that.

For me, the building was around my business, my team, hiring great people, building certain programs, and all these things I wanted to do. So I took this time, and I focused on that.

So I looked at what I wanted to accomplish and then thought, okay, let’s build my plan around that. So I look at the environment, what’s possible, then I look at what I want to accomplish, and then I work backwards and design some rules for myself or routine that will serve me based on that.

So rather than fighting against the grain or rather than just trying to follow the same productivity schedule all the time, I customize it based on the goals for that month or that quarter, or in this case, those couple of years.

In January, this year I readjusted what I was doing. Last year, I went through probably four or five different iterations of my schedule. I spent the summer in Hamburg, Germany, and everything was open, basically. So I had a very different schedule, I biked into an office, to a WeWork space every day and I was like a typical German office worker, and that was my schedule during the summer.

Work at WeWork all day, maybe meet a friend for a beer, go home. That works really well. Well, now we’re in Portugal, we’re on a big property, and everything is closed. So obviously going out to a co-working space or working from cafes makes no sense. Working from home makes a lot of sense and hunkering down, giving up alcohol and just really trying to be healthy and productive makes a lot of sense because there’s very little temptation when everything is closed, and you’re stuck at home anyhow.

ENFPs need to have a strong “WHY?”

So I found adjusting these works a lot better. It’s just logical and more effective. But it also was a lot more motivating. Because let’s face it as NFP types, we were the kid in school who was like, “Why?” We need a reason why we do certain things. So following some productivity advice that says “you should do this or that” when we don’t really understand why we should do it, and we don’t really have a purpose link to it – Not very good advice not going to happen.

So this approach allows me to attach a “Why?” – Why am I not drinking now? Well, I’m running the FreeFreelancer, a brand new program for the first time in four years and I want it to be the greatest thing ever. So if I’m drinking, there’s a risk that I’m not at my best.

That was my “why” in January for really focusing down and it was very clear and it allowed me to know designed the right rules and basically schedule a ritual for myself, but also to have the motivation to do it, and on that note of motivation, something that’s new and exciting tends to get done a lot more.

We need new and exciting things as ENFPs

So by changing up the focus, and then the routine or rules every month or every three months, and based on what you want to accomplish, you’ll have a lot more excitement with it as well. And when you’re excited about something and something’s new, what do we do, we actually do it for one to three months, which is normally a problem if you believe you’re supposed to have the same schedule your entire life.

But if you think hey, that’s stupid, and I want to do Dan’s way, then changing up your schedule every month or three months or six months, but I suggest 1-3 is probably a safer bet actually allows you to get a lot more done and be a lot more productive and happier, and live your life according to your type, which is a lot smarter way to do things.

Now I should mention if you find this kind of advice helpful, you might want to check out my ENFP Unleashed program. There’s a special two-part training there specifically on productivity and getting things done as an ENFP as well as 12 other pieces of training and the most awesome community of people on the internet. I kid you not, greatest people. It is an absolute pleasure each and every group coaching call we do which is about every week.