QFF 12+ years of experience in managing strategic planning and productivity consulting company, now helping leaders, managers, and business owners make space and enjoy work-life balance. (Daniel Sih)

In today’s Quick Fire Friday episode, Michael interviews Daniel Sih, the Founder & CEO of Spacemakers. He’s based in Hobart, Tasmania in Australia. Daniel is a strategic planner and productivity consultant and has been writing and speaking about productivity for a long time. He’s also a physiotherapist, an accredited CliftonStrength coach, and an award-winning author of the book “Spacemaker: How to Unplug, Unwind and Think Clearly in the Digital Age and had won the Australian Business Book Award in  2021 for Best Personal Development Book, and has been shortlisted for Myriad Award. His productivity group focuses on helping busy leaders, managers, and business owners to make space for more important things, especially in the heavily technology-driven world. In the heavily technology-driven world of marketing, where digital distraction can easily distract and overwhelm many leaders, managers, and business owners, thus, taking away all their time and space from more important things like personal well-being, family, and relationships which can result in poor health, relationships, and unproductivity, Daniel’s productivity group can help provide a lot of research-backed reasons why we need space, how to make space, and to implement that as busy leaders, managers, and business owners. One thing Daniel recommends to small business owners is to start thinking about their relationship with the online world, self-reflecting if their relationship with the online world is maybe codependent or somewhat unhealthy and needs to be changed. So look at your habits. Where technology is adding to your life and your business. And where is it distracting from the life I want to live? From there, you can start to implement a series of simple habits to recapture the type of humanity you want to live.  This Cast Covers:  Daniel’s insight about making space in digital distraction. Observation in the last five years and accelerating to post-covid about how leaders are smashed for time and space in their life. Shares about space's importance and how the overuse of technology can take us away from more important things. Asserts that making space and having a work-life balance will result in success in many aspects. Recommends two skill sets that can help overcome problems concerning space and work-life balance. Relates effective email management to the whole space-making methodology. Encourages self-reflection regarding habits, particularly around technology. The risks of the patterns and behaviors of digital overuse in many areas. Helpful practical examples of practices to create space and work-life balance. Links: Daniel’s Linkedin Daniel’s Company Website Daniel’s eLearning Website  Additional Resources: Spacemaker: How to Unplug, Unwind and Think Clearly in the Digital Age by Daniel Sih, Kylie Sih     Quotes:  “Space is what people need, and people must recognize that the way to be productive is to do less, not more.” — Daniel Sih “If you can’t get off the runway of basic productivity, it’s very hard to start thinking about goals and vision and projects and culture.” — Daniel Sih “Making space is about having that bigger picture, particularly around technology and how much we're online.” — Daniel Sih “To become productive, we need to learn to be thoughtful about how much we’re practicing the internet, why we’re practicing, and when to get offline.” — Daniel Sih “At the end of the day, the business you create will be a representation of who you are and how healthy you are as a person.” — Daniel Sih