Grow Your Biz – Week 5: Work & Live for an amazing today
Is burnout something like an old friend for you? Someone you don’t need to call regularly, but he still shows up from time to time? That’s most certainly how it felt to me the past couple years and I’m so over it. Because this friend does not care about me and make me feel awful for weeks at a time. So if you want to end this friendship as much as I do keep reading and learn 6 dead simple ways to avoid burnout.
Before we start…
What exactly is #GrowYourBiz?
Grow Your Biz is a new blog post series I created after running my online business for two years. Every week I will share my goals and learnings with you so that you can grow your business alongside me.
The internet is a wonderful place, which allows us to create and run a one-person-business from home. But it also can be very lonely and depending on where you live you could be cut off from fellow entrepreneurs. Not being able to chat about your business with someone who has similar goals, struggles and to-dos can be stressful. While family and friends love you and will always listen to you, there are just some things they can’t follow and fully understand – they try to believe me! – if they work a usual nine-to-five.
But you are not alone!
There are many of us even if we live all around the globe. So let’s use this wonderful place called ‘the internet’ once more to share our journey, learn from one another and grow our businesses together.
Review of last week’s goals
Write 1 promo e-mail a day, 4 on last day of launch week- [25%] Get ‘income’ section of your taxes for 2017 done
Publish 2 blog posts this weekReview your Journaltastisch Planner customer feedbackPlan out Journaltastisch Planner 2019 Launchprintables to draw,guides to write,videos to film,marketing strategyand so on- Create long pins for all the blog posts you published the past couple weeks and share them on Pinterest
- [25%] Start copying your Journaltastisch Planner guides into teachable – 1h/workday
- Draw all the new Journaltastisch Planner printables planned for launch
- Write out 47 new quotes for your Journaltastisch Planner weekly layouts
- Create evergreen funnel for Bullettastisch Bundle
As you can see I managed 4.5 of 10 tasks this week, which is my worst performance yet. When I planned out the remainder of the year, I totally forgot my taxes. I didn’t know when I would be able to do them since I needed to change my tax consultant first. My prior tax consultant was ok when you had like 10-20 invoices a year and that was it. If you run a product-based business though with hundreds of sales a year worldwide you need someone with a more specialized skill set.
Luckily I found the right women in September, who will help me with my taxes each and every year moving forward. We agreed to get the taxes for 2017 done by the end of October. And when I started to add these tasks to my existing schedule I realized I was double-booked. My Journaltastisch Planner 2019 launch is set for November, 6th and the deadline for my taxes October, 31st. Ouch!
Instead of accepting ‘defeat’ and adjusting my deadlines, I decided to go for it and do it both in the timeframe given. Which resulted in the insane amount of tasks for last week, which I, of course, didn’t manage.
A BEGINNERS GUIDE TO BURNING YOURSELF OUT
Next, to the workload, I defined for myself last week I did another very stupid thing. I worked through my weekend the week prior. So when Monday came around, I had no resources left. I was tired, I was easily irritated and just out of energy.
While I have learned many lessons over the years and I become better and better in recognizing the symptoms of burn out I still fall back into the trap from time to time.
Somehow, when I’m energized I always think I can go on like this forever. So in the past, I often managed to be absolutely tired and exhausted by Wednesday afternoon, because I had worked 14h straight both Monday and Tuesday and most certainly also worked the Saturday beforehand.
I don’t want to do that anymore.
I don’t want YOU to do that.
And if you are one of the lucky people, who have never done it I want you to never start.
There is no fortune in working yourself to the ground. You won’t reach your goals faster when you do so. On the contrary, the chances are high, you will be completely burned out and give up on them if you keep going as I tended to do in my past.
There is no fortune in working yourself to the ground. Click To TweetSo…
6 Dead Simple Ways to Avoid Burnout
Quick disclaimer, I’m not a doctor in any way or form. I’m just a girl who has worked as a freelancer for over five years now, half of it running my own product-based business. I started working insane hours back in university (ten years ago) and somehow got stuck in the trap of always needing to perform. Always needing to do something productive. And unlearning how to properly relax and recharge. When I worked till 9 am at night on New Year’s Eve last year, I realized I had to stop. I had to learn to take care of myself again. So for the past ten months, I have worked hard on getting rid of bad habits and I want to share my newfound knowledge with you.
#1 Staying healthy
This is something I actually started working on since September 2016, when I realized how unfit I had become. If you want your brain to function properly, you need to feed it right. Both in form of nutrition and physical exercise.
Energy for your brain
When I say ‘feed it right’ I don’t mean any of the crazy diets out there. I’m not talking about cutting out carbohydrates or fat. On the contrary. Carbohydrates are the biggest energy source for your body. So chances are my friend you might even eat too little. It is not only important to eat the right food, but also to eat the right amount of it.
I truly enjoy eating according to the Australian Dietary Guidelines, which I found thanks to Kayla Itsines #BBG program. The portion sizes they recommend seem very healthy to me and it’s easy to understand and follow the system. Instead of counting calories or only eating certain foods, you can pretty much eat any kind of healthy food*. And the portion sizes are easy to understand because they are given in cups. So instead of weighing and measuring food I just throw it in a 250ml cup and count it that way.
*healthy food for me means that I prepare my meals based on actual vegetables, fruits, grains, meats, etc, instead of taking a frozen burger out of the freezer. I still can eat a burger, I just make it myself and make sure to don’t add tons of sauces which are mostly processed sugar.
If you want your brain to function properly, you need to feed it right. Click To TweetPoint is, do your research, fill your body with the right nutrients and turn yourself into a productivity machine.
Because more energy
- means clearer thoughts,
- being less tired,
- and being more productive.
The easiest workout you will ever find
While healthy eating accounts for a huge chunk of your personal health. Exercise is also important. I personally am always amazed by my grandma. She never thought much about exercising (in her book it equals ‘Trying to do as much as possible in half an hour and sweating all over’). But still, she is a very healthy human being. Her secret? Walking every single day. Each day she walks for at least an hour, sometimes even three. Just going outside, no matter the weather, and enjoying nature (she lives near a lake surrounded by forest).
While this most certainly won’t give you abs. It will keep you healthy. Fresh air and regular movement are all you need to stay in shape. So if you don’t have the energy to pick up a sport or any other kind of fitness. See if you can incorporate at least 30 minutes of walking every single day. If you live in a big city like me, you could do so by walking one bus/train station and then hopping on it. It will wake you up in the morning and allow you to simmer down in the evening. So that you are way more relaxed when you get home to your loved ones.
#2 Taking enough breaks
Do you know these days where you are just highly productive? New ideas just seem to be flying to you. You feel like you can conquer the world. Then you go to bed and the next day is the total opposite.
The thing is, if you just keep pushing – no matter if it’s a deadline you want to hit or because you are in the zone – you exhaust yourself. So make sure you take breaks! This applies to a single workday as much as to a whole year.
Try to give your eyes, hands, … a rest for five minutes every hour or two. Look out the window, stretch your back, stroll to the coffee machine. Just do something different. Also, make sure to have a few bigger breaks throughout the day. Don’t cut your lunch hour short. Don’t skip breakfast. These are perfect opportunities to walk around the block, drink water, eat a bite. Just take care of yourself!
Additionally, don’t skip holidays and vacation days. Don’t go to work when you are sick. All these exist for a reason. They keep you sane, re-energize you and are absolutely necessary.
#3 Freetime is as important as work
Yes, your work is important.
Yes, I want you to succeed.
BUT don’t take your work home with you. And if you work from home as I do, find ways to keep it separate. At 6 pm I clock out. Everything afterward can wait till the morning. Don’t check your work e-mails when you are off the clock. Ignore social media if that is part of your work too.
Just try to do your very best in the working hours you have. And then again try your best as wife, daughter, mother, friend, … when you are done working for the day. Don’t work more now, because you think you can stop doing so later on. Don’t miss your child’s birthday because of it. You live in the now too. You deserve to be happy now. Relaxed now. Surrounded by the people you love now.
NOW.
Please hear me. And please take good care of yourself.
#4 Plan smartly
If you declined to do any of the above because you have this huge deadline coming up. You have not enough time in general. [Insert your excuse here.] Stop right there!
If you don’t take care of your health now, there is no future in which you can enjoy the laurels you worked so hard for today. If you get in the habit of working overtime and burning yourself out now, how will you know when to stop. When is the right time to take care of yourself?
So instead of working for a better tomorrow. I want you to work and live for an amazing today. And you can do so by planning better. By making sure you have the time you need to finish your projects, spend time with your loved ones and take care of yourself.
Instead of working for a better tomorrow, I want you to work and live for an amazing today. Click To TweetA few weeks ago I wrote a detailed blog post about the fact that we all have the same 24 hours in a day. And so there most certainly are ways to be successful and happy. People have done it. You can do it too!
#5 Migrate, delegate and delete
If you have planned like a pro and still have more on your plate than you can chew, you need to rethink your approach. There are things others tell you that need to happen today, which can be done a month from now without any consequences. There are tasks you can delegate to others. And there are most certainly tasks that will never be a priority and so you should just delete them. Why? Because then they finally stop taking up space on your calendar and your mind. They will stop stressing you out and allow you to live a more happy and fulfilled life.
#6 Accept that you are human
Ok, Sandra, but how come that you overworked yourself and overplanned your week if you know all of the above?
Simply put, because I’m human.
Knowing something doesn’t mean you will actually do it. Be honest, you already heard most of the above in some form or another. You are aware of these things. But still, you don’t do them all.
Unfortunately, I’m no better. But I do try. And no matter how often I slip up I always try again. And with every try, I do get better and it does become easier.
Make sure to come back next Thursday, if you want to know what strategies I’m experimenting with at the moment to get the above concepts to stick and make my life easier and more enjoyable.
Knowing something doesn’t mean you will actually do it. Click To TweetPS: I set the goals below before I realized I was working myself to the bone again so they might not be as smartly chosen as they could have been. But since I don’t hide anything from you, here they are.
GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK
- Create long pins for all the blog posts you published the past couple weeks and share them on Pinterest
- Copy your Journaltastisch Planner guides into teachable – do as much as you can in the evenings
- Draw all the new Journaltastisch Planner printables planned for launch
- Write out 47 new quotes for your Journaltastisch Planner weekly layouts
- Create evergreen funnel for Bullettastisch Bundle
- Ask for JT reviews of existing customers
- Publish 2 blog posts this week
- Write + publish this week’s Etsy Newsletter on Wednesday
- Daily Yoga Practice
- Create and add A4 + US Letter size to Bullettastisch Printable Bundle
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