As vision-led entrepreneurs, it's easy to get caught up in the constant push and grind of our work, leaving us feeling depleted rather than energized. In this episode, Erin and Steve offer a different approach—tapping into your inner flame with the idea of "lanterns."
Lanterns are achievements that illuminate your deeper purpose and vision, in contrast to traditional goal-setting which often feels disconnected from anything larger. Erin and Steve share how to harness the power of lanterns for sustainable productivity, sharing practical strategies and mindset shifts. You'll learn:
The limitations of goals and how lanterns provide a more fulfilling alternative
A simple exercise to ensure your weekly activities are truly lantern-aligned
The concept of "lantern sprints" - challenging yourself to accomplish more in less time by tapping into creativity and synchronicity
A reflective practice called "Coffee with the Oracle" to connect with the wisdom of your future self
How to cultivate an attitude of expectant magic in your business
This episode offers a new perspective on productivity that goes deeper than tips or hacks. If you're a vision-led entrepreneur seeking a more inspired, purposeful way to grow your business, this is a must-listen.
Full transcript:
Erin Aquin 0:01
Welcome to the superbound podcast with master coaches, Erin Aquin and Steve Haase, where spiritually minded entrepreneurs learn to build a generous business without sacrificing what matters most. You are listening to episode 309 sustainable productivity with lanterns.
Steve Haase 0:20
How are you doing today?
Erin Aquin 0:22
Drinking my coffee, feeling very accomplished. Something
Steve Haase 0:27
about coffee just makes you feel accomplished.
Erin Aquin 0:31
I mean, I've also been doing things. We've been working on our new audiobook. We have been just getting things ready for 2025 meeting with our current clients, our upcoming clients, just like getting a lot of getting a lot of lanterns in our world, both in our business and in the lives of our our clients. So it's exciting. Yeah,
Steve Haase 1:00
it really is. And today we're going to dive deep on the idea of lanterns. It's a core principle in our book. I recently introduced it to my friends in the tech to Toronto technology community, and they gave me one minute. It's like, okay, what am I going to share in that one minute? And it was the idea of lanterns helping people ditch the idea of goals, which messes a lot of folks up, because, you know, goals aren't necessarily tied to a bigger purpose in your life, and really helping connect that purpose to the work you're doing every day, and the idea of The lantern is what we chose to do that.
Erin Aquin 1:41
Okay, now I kind of want to hear your one minute explanation of lanterns. Could you do it? Yeah.
Steve Haase 1:47
So I already said part of it, which is that for many of us, goals kind of leads us astray. In the book, we talk about the goal swamp and all the reasons why people end up having goals that don't really work for them, they end up working for the goals. It's because the goals aren't connected to their bigger purpose in life. And so the solution is to light lanterns on the mountain of your vision, where, if you consider that your purpose for your business, maybe even the purpose for your life, is like a mountain in the dark, and that you are hiking up it at night, Lighting lanterns. Those lanterns are achievements in your business, achievements in your life that illuminate the path forward. They inspire yourself and others, and they are kind of a microcosm of that bigger vision with each achievement. So they are inherently fulfilling. They are illuminating for what could be next, rather than already knowing in advance how it's all going to unfold. And they reflect that bigger purpose that you have. So they are deeply energizing. That was my talk. Yeah,
Erin Aquin 2:55
that's pretty good.
Steve Haase 2:56
Thank you for listening my TED Talk. And yeah, that's the reason we talk about sustainable productivity. Is so many people push, push, push, push, and then they need, you know, a month to recover from their big push. You know, we, we know people in the retail space, and, you know, January is the time when they need to just take the month off because the previous three or four were so crazy. Let's talk about how to do it more sustainably.
Erin Aquin 3:26
Yeah, and I think the first piece of how to do it sustainably is to actually identify what those lanterns are. That may sound a little bit silly, because probably a lot of you listening have been reading the book. You've been hearing us talk about this forever. You're like, I know my lantern. It's very clear my lantern is to achieve this specific milestone. I'm going to do it with this kind of an energy. It's definitely linked to my big vision for all of these reasons, but when it really comes down to it, we both coach plenty of entrepreneurs that understand lanterns very well. Some of our own coaches, who are certified through Superabound understand this stuff really well. And yet, when you look at how you are working when you look at what you are working on, so often, people miss the connection between what they are doing on a day to day basis with their actual lantern. And I am not saying that I've got this all figured out. There have been plenty of meetings where Steve and I will talk about, you know, what are the lanterns that we're working on this week? How are we going to do it? And then it's like, okay, so what are you up to today? And it has nothing to do with the lantern we said we wanted to light. It's not even like in the same realm of the. Yeah, it's not in the same stratosphere of the lantern. And I think that's because sometimes we confuse just the day to day operations, things that maybe need to happen. You know, you need to do payroll, you need to do your taxes, you need to put out the podcast or create the social media content, whatever those operations might look like in your business. But if you're not directly connecting that to the lantern you want to light, it is going to not only feel probably a little annoying and maybe exhausting, but it's going to feel like busy work, not actually directly connected. So
Steve Haase 5:46
that would be the first principle of sustainable productivity with lanterns is making sure that the productivity that you are focused on is connected to that lantern. It's using that energy of your vision to actually move you forward. And that doesn't mean you always need to be working on some grand project, but you know, if you kind of take a time audit of your week, and you're not spending a good chunk of it on that lantern, you aren't yet using the power of this system to fuel your growth, right? You're still kind of playing with it as an idea, rather than letting it guide the work that you do each week.
Erin Aquin 6:28
Yeah, and you know, I've shared this before, but I'm really into color coding my calendar. I have a different color for more restorative self investment. I have a different color for more active, growth oriented self investment. I have things that are for our family, for our kids. I have a different color for things that are for our business. But I would also suggest, if you don't already do this, if you're not using an electronic calendar, get a color code for lantern aligned activities. So if you don't see that at least, like, I would say, minimum 30% of your activity during the day should be aligned with the lantern that you're currently working on. If you can't make a connection with at least 30% of what you're up to, like it should be much higher, but minimum 30% if you can't make that connection, it's probably time to have a good hard look at what you are doing. And we shared this last week in the podcast about CEO Friday. If you're feeling like you are not able to get spacious time for your own growth or for your own restoration. It's probably because you're working on things that maybe don't really matter to that lantern,
Steve Haase 7:53
it can sound harsh, but sorry, as a leader, that's one of your main responsibilities, is making that decision, like what matters and what doesn't matter. The key distinction here is that you're not doing it from a place of putting yourself down. Let's say you do a time audit and you see that you're spending, you know, 80% of your time on things that are not lantern aligned. That doesn't mean you're a bad person. That doesn't mean you're doing your job poorly. It means there's an opportunity to put more energy towards what matters, and so as you're making progress, it is fueled by an energy of uplift, of you know when, when there's a fire in front of you and there's a wind kind of blows in, or it gets that boost of oxygen. It goes whoosh, like your work is fueled by that whoosh. It's a different energy that is not self scolding or kind of putting yourself down. It is with self warmth. It is from a place of deep worthiness about who you are, about what you're working on, about why your business exists in the world. That is the energy of lighting lanterns. And that's one of the things that makes it so different from business as usual.
Erin Aquin 9:13
And if you hear Steve say that, and you think, Well, that sounds great, and I have no idea how to do that in Superabound in our book, and with all the free resources, actually, we put a whole class into our companion book course. So if you want to spend a couple bucks and get a full walkthrough of the book with additional practices, one of the classes that we have in there for you is called Coffee with the Oracle, and this is where you actually get the download of tasks and to do's and decisions to be made from the perspective of your future self, who is already lit the very lantern that you are working on today. It's a little bit of a meditative kind of esoteric. Practice, but it is something that if you don't, if you feel like you're just working on random shit all day, and you're not really accomplishing anything, and you never have time for yourself, I would say the very first thing to do is to start sitting down, maybe every Monday, maybe every day, for a couple of minutes with your favorite morning beverage, a journal, and that practice that we have for you in the companion course or the book, we walk you through how to do it in the book as well. And actually get that information from your future about what specifically lantern aligned tasks you need to be taking on that day. It's a really counter cultural thing to do, because I know a lot of company. And you know what you said about not scolding yourself. The reason most of us are not very productive is because we learn to work in a world where people are just emailing us every three seconds and slack messages. And you know, people are putting their priorities on you, and we all just kind of work in this very willy nilly way that isn't actually directed towards a really specific next lantern. Not your fault, right?
Steve Haase 11:22
And so when you consider shifting your framework for work around Lighting lanterns, consider the energies at play with this metaphor, the climbing the mountain being on this tremendous place of Earth, this groundedness like to climb a mountain, you have to make progress. It may not be straight up. In fact, it probably won't be straight up for lots of it, but you need to be knowing that you are moving and that, over time, you're heading in the right direction. So that metaphor of climbing the mountain can be a powerful one. As you look back and reflect on your work this month, your work, this quarter, your work this year, that energy of fire where you know, maybe your image of the lantern is like a little one that you hold, or maybe it's a giant brazier filled with, you know, liquid that you, you know, light up, and it's almost like a bonfire on the side of the mountain. There's power in that. And so if you feel at the mercy of all the emails and all the meeting requests and all the slack messages coming in, whatever it is, the you know, the webinars you're invited to, all the distractions out there, tuning in to the heat and the power of that fire can give you some of the inspiration to just burn through it all and really Own Your Power in your business, for the vision that you have, for what you want To create, regardless of your role or title or level, that energy of fire is so much more powerful than what we usually equip ourselves with when we think about going to work or hitting that next target, you know, there's there's not much there, but when you think about lighting a lantern and bringing That fire into the world, that taps into some deep capacities within us as humans.
Erin Aquin 13:26
And it may also require you to at least consider this is something that was a business value of ours. But I would, I would offer this to you for something to play with. You might need to consider expecting a little more magic in your business and in your life. That means not thinking that every single outcome, every single every single lantern lit, is always and only through your own effort and time and resources. There have been so many. I mean, this is maybe it's easier for for us to say, because we've been at this for a while, but there are so many moments where a connection that I made, not even with the intention of creating a new client or a new business relationship. Six months later, that person reaches out and says, I've been thinking about working with you and your company. I'd like for you to put together a proposal for me and my team that wasn't through effort, that was through relationship, that was through magic, that was through us over here, doing what we do, trying to live in a way that is that respects our values and is in accordance with our vision, and is lantern focused and aligned. And that resonating with someone else in a way that didn't take me getting on the phone and sliding into people's DMS and sleazy sales stuff that I don't like. So I would also consider that maybe for you, it's how much time you give things, maybe you believe that creating that new pitch, that new product, that new proposal, is going to take three days. Why have you decided it's going to take three days? Why can't a social media post take what I do with my clients, seven minutes? We call it seven minute marketing, and I do this with clients on the phone all the time. Or they will say, I have no idea for this marketing campaign. I have no idea for this. And I say, we are going to take seven minutes and create the whole thing. And they think it's magic, but really, I mean it really, it is magic, but it's magic that is real, not magic that's a trick or that it's an illusion. It's aligning with this is what I know is possible in a much shorter time frame than most people believe is possible, but because I believe it could take seven minutes to create a marketing campaign. Here we are. It's done. So sometimes this requires questioning what you just believe is affixed to truth in the universe, and getting a little like getting a little curious. We're coaches, so we're very trained and well versed at being curious about a lot of things, but anyone can be curious, anyone can bring curiosity, anyone can make it fun. Can make it a game. Can be playful, can add magic.
Steve Haase 16:56
So I encourage you to think about that next lantern. I as being flexible almost with the laws of space and time. Right? We often hear stories of great leaders who, when they're told, Oh, this will take you, you know, 12 months, they're like, we're going to do it in two. And everyone's like, no way. They're like, we'll just find a way to do it in two. And they do right, whether it's through force of personality or will or just disregarding conventional wisdom, they make it happen. And so we invite you to play with that as well. The idea of a lantern sprint, there's going to be a time frame in your mind that comes up. It's going to take x number of months, X number of years, X number of days or hours to do this thing. What if it was only 1/10 of that, not as a way to be, you know, frivolous or or ridiculous, like in a very serious way, you say, if we had to do it in 1/10 the time? What are some wormholes? Right? What are some of those shortcuts that actually get us to the end point so quickly we can't even believe it right now, so much of effective leadership and business building is about seeing things in a different way, and giving yourself that lantern sprint, kind of intentionally compressing the time as a as a game or as a thought experiment is one way to spark that creativity and that that focus that is so often missing in our work lives. Yeah,
Erin Aquin 18:34
and really, what you're talking about is like you're flirting with the amount of time and energy that it might take rather than doing one thing that we consider actually a pitfall of setting and achieving goals, which is racing the clock. What a lot of people do is they will take something that they've never done before, and they'll hear someone say it takes 12 months, and they're like, I'm going to do it in two to prove what a good human I am and how worthy I am and how amazing I am, and I'm going to prove it to the world. And they actually amplify the difficulty of an already challenging task by putting an arbitrary deadline on that. That is not what Steve is talking about. He is talking about considering that it might not take as long as many resources, as much energy, as much focus, as much effort, as the world states or your own belief states that it will. It's about flexibility, instead of racing the clock. One is gymnastics, the other is a a marathon or some kind of hard, tough mudder, some hard race. I'm not a runner. Scares me a lot.
Steve Haase 19:59
Interesting. So I hope that inspires you to reconsider how you're going about your productivity. Last week, we did an episode on the CEO Fridays, and it very much is tied into this where you're maintaining that inner flame. You're making sure that when it comes time to light that lantern, your your inner fire is burning bright, and so that's kind of the the more Yin version of of lighting lanterns. It's taking care of yourself, making sure that you have the energy. But when it comes time to do the work and be present in the world, kind of that young, outward focused energy. There are ways to bring magic and creativity and intrinsic motivation to that work as well. And so that's what we're talking about here. We invite you to join us with this quest to light lanterns on the mountain of your vision at the Superabound collective that is our community for vision aligned entrepreneurs and leaders to get support be there with each other and really celebrate those lanterns lit along the way. And
Erin Aquin 21:11
if you know there is someone in your life who could really use this episode, we hope that you will consider sharing it with them. Yeah,
Steve Haase 21:22
there's no higher compliment than someone saying, I think you should check this out. So we appreciate you sharing it. The Collective is there for you to join at besuperabound.com/collective, and we will see you next time