Did you know that if you slow down you can actually speed up business growth and get better results? You may think you don’t have the time to slow down, but let me tell you… you can’t afford NOT to slow down. Intentionally slowing down will actually allow you to move toward your goals faster and more effectively.
When you’re running a business as a team of one, you wear multiple hats . You also have a never ending list of tasks to complete. You’re constantly moving from a meeting to a phone call. Sometimes never even taking a break to grab something to eat. Not even drinking water.
This is a recipe for overwhelm and burnout.
So today I want to talk about what you need to do instead to avoid this course of self-sabotage that you’re on. It’s something very simple…just slow things down.
Alright, so let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room, why you need to slow down. You are never going to find yourself having extra time on your hands. So I have to be honest with you my friend, you will always have something that you need to do. That’s probably why you probably find yourself saying you don’t have time to do this or that and you can’t slow down. Are you shaking your head yes right now?
Well first of all you need to stop saying you can’t slow down in business. That is mind trash, as my friend Jasmin Haley would say. When you say this you are convincing yourself that you don’t have time to plan, to learn, or to take better care of yourself… all of the things you need to do to be productive and to grow your business. If you stop and think about it, you are self-sabotaging! Now let’s dig a little deeper into the impact this has on you and your business.
Slow Down and Plan
I know you’ve heard the saying if you fail to plan you plan to fail. When you don’t plan out your week you’re in reactive mode. It’s like jumping out of a plane without a parachute. So you will be busy but you will be doing a lot of stuff that won’t help you get closer to reaching your goals.
So before you say you don’t have time to plan, let me tell you that you can’t afford not to. When you make time to plan your week and then plan out your days, you actually get more done and have more time. Not to mention you know what you spent your time on! You are in control of how you use your time. Personally I time block my schedule and I leave white room for when life throws me a curve ball. Be sure to check out this blog post to learn more about how I plan out my week.
And if you would like some tips that will help you adjust your schedule when Murphy’s Law kicks in and throws your plan off, click here to check out this blog post or listen online. It’s my chat with Mridu Parik. She shares some amazing tips during our chat!
My point is when you don’t plan, you aren’t productive and you’re basically spending your time putting out fires. If your goal is to be productive, to show up and do your best work, then you need to plan. When you don’t plan, you can’t leverage time to get the necessary things done. The lesson here is you have to plan so that you control what you spend the time that you have on. Otherwise you miss out on a lot of opportunities to do things that will yield positive results not only for your business. But also for you personally because you make sure you invest in yourself physically, mentally and professionally. That leads to my next point.
Slow Down and Make Time for Professional Development
How many times have you said these words? “I wish I had more time for professional development.” At one point I found myself saying that. And it wasn’t until I made the time to make it happen that my business started to grow the way I wanted. When you say I wish I had the time, it shifts the responsibility off of you and onto something else. But you have to own it. It’s not happening because you aren’t making it a priority. Wishing for extra time isn’t going to make it a reality. The reality is you have to plan, as we’ve already talked about. And then you can find a way to make it happen.
The good thing is that you can learn in a number of ways. It doesn’t require you to always sit behind a laptop taking an online course or even going to a physical location. You can learn from listening as well whether it’s an audiobook or by listening to podcasts like you’re doing right now.
You chose to hit the play button today! That means you had a plan.
So be intentional with everything you have to do in your life and in your business. When you plan out your week, incorporate professional development in a way that makes sense for you. And when I say do what makes sense, I mean focus on building skill sets that you need. For example, as a podcaster I use a number of tools to plan and produce each episode. So I try to stay up to date on those tools that I use. I get updates via email and I follow a few people online that are experts at using those tools so I can learn how to use those tools more efficiently.
When I plan out my week, I block at least 15 minutes one to two times a week so that I can focus on building up my skills with my tech tools. It doesn’t sound like a lot but it has made a huge difference in my operations. Even if you have decided to outsource tasks, there are some basic skills that you need to have to make sure your systems are efficient. You can’t outsource that.
Now if you are a DIYer like me, that’s ok. There are some very talented and successful people who are self-taught. But even those people have to get help to shorten the learning curve sometimes so that they can be better. When we teach ourselves we can put blinders on. When you reach out to a business coach or a consultant for help, they have a different perspective which can be very helpful so that you keep moving forward. But if you never start the learning
process you will never identify what you need help with and you will end up spinning your wheels. The long term effect, this stunts your growth and we don’t want that to happen.
Slow Down and Take Better Care of Yourself
Whether you’re new to this podcast or not, let me tell you I am big on self-care. And I’m not talking about big ticket things like getting a massage or a day at the spa. When I say self-care I’m talking about little things you can do every day that fill your cup as a busy woman. These are things that can be done in 5 minutes or more like having a cup of coffee or tea, looking out the window, stepping outside for fresh air or taking a break to eat. I’ve talked about different things you can do to take better care of yourself in several episodes so I’m not going to deep dive into it this time. But I will put a few episodes below for you so that you can check them out.
Now let’s talk about why this is important. Think about it, what happens to your business or your family if you are down for the count? I admire you because you’re putting them first but you also need to carve out time to put you first. This reminds me of the scene from My Best Friend’s Wedding when Jules calls her friend George and she’s chasing Michael in the catering truck. Michael is chasing Kimmy who ran away because she saw Jules and Michael kissing after she confessed her love to him. So Jules is explaining everything to George and he asks her an eye opening question so that she could see the truth. George asked Jules who was chasing her? No one was!
My point…don’t be like Jules. Pull back some of the time you spend taking care of everyone else and everything else and take better care of yourself. This also goes for your business. You need to be your number one client. Invest in yourself to show up at your best.
So let’s recap how you can slow down to speed up your business growth.
- Start by planning out your week and your day so that you can maximize use of the time that you have
- Prioritize professional development and enhance your skills which benefits your business
- Make time to take care of yourself because there is no business without you
Before I wrap up, I just want to remind you that nothing will change for you or your business if you don’t make any changes which starts with your viewpoint. I hope this episode was the reminder you needed and has motivated you to make a mindset shift because you need to slow down.
And let me tell you, I practice what I preach. That’s why I am excited to let you know that starting with April 2022, I will only plan to release two episodes each month. I will only be publishing episodes on the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of every month. I’ve been consistent every week for two years now. And I have decided to slow down the podcast publishing schedule to open up time in my schedule so that I can focus on some other things that will help my business grow, podcast support services.
If you have any questions about those services, something I said in this episode or you just enjoyed this episode, feel free to DM on Instagram @the_shannonbaker. If you want to leave a rating for the podcast you can do so at ratethispodcast.com/morethanenough or you can leave one on the podcast’s Facebook page.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Episode 4: How to Time Block Your Schedule to Boost Productivity
Episode 5: 4 Simple Self-Care Hacks for the Tired and Burnt Out Mompreneur
Episode 49: Simple Self-Care Habits Busy Women Can Cultivate with Rachel Letham
Episode 87: How to Create Sustainable Healthy Habits as a Busy Mom with Lisa Klein
Episode 92: An Easy Way to Show Yourself More Love Every Day
Episode 99: A Forgotten Form of Self-care You Need to Be More Productive
