That was a phrase that ran frequently through my head for most of yesterday.
I don’t even know where it came from. It’s not a phrase I would normally use. I think I must have been imagining what one of my mentors would have said to me if I had said ‘I’ve woken up so tired today and I don’t feel like doing what I’ve got planned for the day!’.
Do you ever have days like that?
If you know me, I’m so gung-ho about everything and you know I rarely stop, though I did take a break last month, remember?
So yesterday I was just plain old tired and my usual energy had deserted me and I had a full day lined-up.
Sometimes I forget I’m my own boss! And hey, I can DO WHAT I LIKE!
Isn’t that just one of the benefits of working for yourself and creating a life on your terms?
I don’t have to ask for ANYONE‘s permission to change my plans for the day! I had to remind myself of that!
I asked myself what I really wanted to do instead, and I really felt like instead of working IN my business, I wanted to stop and look at it from the outside and get a bigger picture. In fact, here’s what I shared on a facebook group;
I’m taking a Ferris Beuller’s day off! I’m getting a few ‘must do today’ tasks done and moving the rest of what I had planned to do over to the next few days. I feel like I need to do some Big Visioning and to get even clearer on the Bigger Picture and my goals.
It feels ‘naughty’ having a change of plan and a day out of the routine.
I’m my own worse boss at times. I have to remind myself I CAN switch things about whenever I like! It’s not like I’m ditching the day and watching tv or sleeping or slacking off.
And that’s just what I did. I took care of the essential tasks that had to be done, but the rest got jiggled around and were slotted into other places in my schedule.
I had planned on taking my paper, pen and laptop out somewhere or other, but it was a dull rainy day (ok, that’s an excuse), and so I got comfy on my huge red settee and started to do some of that Big Visioning stuff.
- I wrote about WHAT I wanted to achieve and checked-in to make sure I was still on track.
- I wrote about WHY I do what I do and what drives me and is that enough to sustain me on the sometimes bumpy entrepreneurial journey. Check.
- I wrote about my clients; who they are and how I can help them and the results they get from working with me. Whilst I was doing this I got an email from my client who I saw the day before. We spent a whole day together in a breakthrough session and doing some BIG VISIONING for her business. If you’d like my help doing the same for you then get all the info here!
It made my day to get her email! 🙂
Just wanted to say a huge thank you for yesterday and for all the info and tools you have given me. I can now see a clear path forward and it is a really great feeling! Brill! Brill! Brill!! Thank You x
- I wrote about what I want my business to look like. How I work and the actually running of my business has changed so much! When I look back to 7 years ago, I hadn’t got a clue! But of course, I’m still always learning and I always want to learn more!
- I wrote about the elements that make up my business and my services.
- And I also wrote about how my business fits in with my life. Though to be honest, they are one of the same! I wrote in detail about how I want to structure my days and what activities I want to fill my days with.
There’s a lot of things I’ve STOPPED doing in my business; less of the nitty-gritty time-filling-but-not-big-impact tasks. There’s always room for improvement and I want to make sure I fill nearly every day with the tasks that give me the MOST pleasure and the BIGGEST results too, so I’ve got to keep defining them and refining them!
- I wrote about money and how much I want and I got out the calculator and adjusted my money goals and how I’m going to measure them to make sure I stay on track. Hint: Check out my kindle book about money and business here! I’ve packed it full of ways to get confident about your fees and a WHOLE lot more!
I wrote and wrote and wrote! I got it all OUT THERE. This is something I recommend you do in your business regularly too. Ask yourself those same questions. Here’s a re-cap
1. What do you want to acheive?
2. Why are you doing what you are doing? Is the passion there to sustain you?
3. Who are your clients and how do you help them?
4. What do you want your business to look like?
5. What are the elements you need in place to make it run?
6. Does your business fit in with your life? How do you want to fill your days?
7. What are your money goals?
I was still feeling pretty tired and the thought of having an afternoon nap was so tempting I’ve got to admit. And then I heard the words again: Suck it up, buttercup!
I kept going and forged ahead (I sound like a warrioress battling again the temptation of zzzzz’s, but it felt like that haha!).
I got the Big Picture that I wanted.
I could see how far I’ve come, and how far I’ve got to go.
I wrote this for anyone who is on their own entrepreneurial journey and who maybe has one of those days when they come to a bit of a halt. Or for anyone who’s had enough of their boss and who doesn’t know where to start when it comes to creating a life of freedom from their boss and the 9-5 constraints. It’s for anyone who wants to break free and doesn’t know what to do next. It’s also for me and it could have been as relevant 7 years ago as it is today.
If you don’t know where to start, start somewhere. Start now. Take a step forward. Be willing to take 10 billion steps forwards. This is your training period. This is when those who really want what they want prove they’ve got what it takes to get it. This is where the weak or unwilling or the lazy drop out. This is where you ramp things up and you leave your old life behind. This is where you stumble and fall and get back up again and again. This is the journey of a billion steps. Sometimes you will have food and shelter, sometimes your soul will cry out in the middle of the night and your heart will break because you feel so alone on this long lonely journey. Then the next day brings sun and showers and hope, and your heart swells again. You develop the courage that’s needed to complete your journey and get to your goal and when you do the rewards will be exactly what you have dreamed about, lost sleep about, written about, talked about, prayed about.
Taking that ‘Ferris Beuller’s’ day off (although a bit on the tame side compared to Ferris!) was such a good idea. I was able to give myself that time to think and build and plan and see the overview. It’s SO important to take a step back now and again and just check-in that you are still on track.
Get your diary out now and schedule in a day for your goals and your Big Picture. It’s SO worth the investment of time!
Another great thing that came out of the day is the outline for a new 6 week online course that I’m tentatively calling FAST FORWARD FULL THROTTLE! Though the name is subject to change! This is about taking a 6-12 month leap in your business in just 6 weeks. Stay tuned for more and if you don’t want to miss out on the news, then make sure you are registered for my awesome newsletter so you get to hear about it first! Whoohhooooo! 🙂