Joy is created or deleted by the decisions you make. You decide.
It sounds so simple, but it’s not always so easy.
A trendy café that I would love to go to in the evenings closes up at 4:30 p.m. Every day. I thought, why would they close so early? They’d be packed until late into the evening.
I’ve worked with a coach who never did sessions in person (pre-Covid), only over the phone no matter what you offered in compensation; she did not budge.
Do these businesses have something so vital in common? They run their businesses and, in turn, their lives. Not the other way around.
Business owner or not, you are the CEO of your life. You decide what you want things to look like.
Our time and energy are our most precious resources, and we can live at times as we will always have enough of them.
I used to coach in the evenings and on the weekends. I loved those clients, but when I looked at my calendar, I felt heavy. I thought I had to do those sessions because the clients requested them. I didn’t have many options since it was the only time the clients were available.
Was I telling myself that I was out of options? That’s just how it is? I guess so.
Slowly I realized that weekends and evenings weren’t working for me. Unfortunately, I could not work with some of those clients-but I also became clear on what I wanted to cultivate in my business and life.
I was more intentional, had more clarity, and set some strict boundaries.
What did I get in return?
More joy. YES!!
I also stopped checking email outside of business hours and designed my businesses and life the way I wanted.
If you audited your life, is there anything that you would change?
How do you decide what’s not working for you? Some things are self-evident. Maybe you feel like you never get a break from work, and you choose to not check email in the evenings. Period.
There are a few ways to start with the subtler ones. Trust your gut, forever and always, to guide you in what’s suitable for you.
Make a list of what you don’t want to do. Please don’t get caught up in not doing them. Please don’t get caught up in not doing them. You can work on that later or perhaps change things up around how they do get done.
More on Love at Lunch for a great audit and productivity tool.
If you look at your calendar and have a negative physical response and feel resistance to something listed there, that’s a sign. Maybe your chest feels heavy for a minute, or your stomach clenches-take notice of that. I’m not saying you’re not going to do it, but you may consider options of how to do it more on that in a minute.
It’s also worth doing an inventory of everything on your plate and dumping everything you are currently managing.
Add what’s floating in your brain and dumping it out too. Dump out all that’s floating around in your brain. That alone feels better.
The part of your brain where we try to manage all of these pieces was only mean to navigate 4-5 things at a time and we have hundreds of things being sorted out by a part of our brain that simply doesn’t have the capacity. This tool helps it makes sense of the demands and gets things on track!
You may need to write yourself a permission slip, or seven, to help deal with some of the feelings of guilt or shame as you work through this. You can contact me anytime if you need some support.
You don’t need to make radical changes; even a tiny baby step in the right direction can be beneficial.
Here’s the good news-you’re not stuck-you can change things up. You can make a few minor changes in your schedule, re-prioritize, ask for help (or hire someone). Remember, you’re your CEO. Decide what would make your life simpler and a whole bit sweeter.
