In email etiquette it is said that ALL CAPS is screaming. Well that’s what the Universe has been yelling at me! How do I know? Ok so here’s what’s happened with me in the past few weeks – and you can tell me if you disagree.
- I bought Quickbooks 2014 to migrate my business books over – for three weeks I waited until I received the QB file from my CPA (I wanted to wait because I wanted to have as much time with the limited tech support as possible) – well I received the file from her, but then I could no longer fine the QB 2014 disc in my house. I have looked EVERYWHERE! And I know it never left my house – but I can’t find it.
- I was vacuuming cobwebs with my powerful vacuum cleaner’s telescopic wand and instead of powering it off before retracting the wand I started to slide it back into place – well the suction retracted it super fast, pinching my thumb skin at the joint very very painfully into it!
- I was dropping my daughter off to her school in my usual 5″ wedges – we got out of the car and stepped funny onto the curb – lost my balance (easy to do in 5″ wedges) and practically did a face plant – my hands went down to protect my fall – and they did – except my fingers were bent under, and I scraped a big chunk of flesh off two fingers on the second joint. (I now wear flats for drop off!)
- I cut my other thumb while cooking – again at the joint.
- Then two days ago, I sprained my ankle while sprinting – just 5 days before my first race in over two years.
- For most of last year, I would see my ankle brace lying around the house – now that I really need it – I have no idea where it is.
So – what do you think? Can you relate? Is life just SOOO busy that you would lose your head if it wasn’t attached?
I realized this week that as much as I have thought that I am doing self-care (some yoga, occasional meditation) I haven’t been loyal to my recipe for success. If anything I have been depriving myself of the things that help me be the best version of myself. I have found myself short with my husband and kids on a couple occasions and even been less patient with my 3yo.
When you work for yourself, your personal and professional lives tend to blend together. There’s no 9-5. You’re always ON, always thinking about your work and how you can serve your clients better. But if you’re not careful about it, the blend of personal and professional can skew heavily depending on what’s going on in your life at any given time. As an entrepreneur, time management is critical to the successful blend of personal/professional life.
So now that my body is forced to slow down due to the recent spate of minor injuries. I HAVE to slow down and this is giving me time to really think about what I want to focus on. It is going to give me a chance to helicopter above the runway and see things at the 50,000 foot view. I attended a productivity seminar today conducted by Sara Caputo of Radiant Organizing – and one of the many nuggets I walked away with was about Urgent Vs. Important. Urgent is the stuff that takes over our day – emails that we are bombarded with, that we are programmed to respond to asap, versus important – the things that typically do NOT have a deadline but will be make a huge difference in your life or business if you do spend time and attention on it. It is imperative to block out time to spend ON your business and your life – just as you spend time IN your business and your life.
So here are some of the things that I plan to do to implement this and to create time to work on the IMPORTANT and not just the URGENT.
- Something that I learned early on in my Arbonne career by my ENVP Donna Weiser – chunking my time. Block time for everything – rest, spiritual renewal, exercise, sleep, family time, work etc. and do this consistently. If you spend an hour on a Sunday night to put this into effect, on an on-going basis, every Sunday, it won’t take more than 20min.
- Friday 45 – this I learned from Sara today. Take 45 min on a Friday afternoon and close loops and put things in place that you need to for the week ahead.
- Triple D – Dig Down Deep – Sara didn’t call it Triple D – I did…but yes, go deep – this is really getting down to the root of what you need to spend your time, energy and focus on – the IMPORTANT stuff vs. the URGENT stuff. Do this for at least an hour a week. Sara said 90 minutes every week. If that seems too much – start with just 30 minutes – do this consistently and you will find yourself wanting to spend more time on this and undoubtedly your income producing activity will take care of itself.
- The final nugget I want to share from Sara is when she said – Stop Saying that You’re Busy! If that’s what you keep saying, then that is in fact what the Universe will continue to give you..MORE BUSY-NESS. Lets change that self talk – how about when someone asks you how you are…instead of saying I’m so busy – say I’M SO PRODUCTIVE!
I could write more on this – but I am going back to focusing on my Recipe for Success – and being good about my sleep time is one of those items on my check list. So I’m off to bed!
PS: I am working on some very exciting new programs which I will be unveiling soon. Stay tuned for details.
For details on chunking your time, or recipe for success please message me and I am happy to share.
Also, if anyone has a license for QB that they aren’t using and would want to donate to me – I would be eternally grateful!
The Breathing Space 