Welcome to episode 2.11 of Your Biz, Your Rules. In this show, I’m going to be answering a whole bunch of questions you lovely people have asked me recently on Instagram, or in Friends + Faves, my client-only collective.
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TLDR:
💛 In this episode, I’m answering your questions, including:
💛 How do you decide on your working hours?
💛 What is your favourite way to work with people?
💛 What is your fave snack?
💛 Do you use any kind of habit tracker?
💛 How do you make your morning routine a priority?
💛 How do you get through days when you feel “meh”?
💛 What were the best books you read last year?
💛 What do you do when the sneaky voice of doom creeps in to hijack and sabotage you, even though you feel like you’re doing the work?
Show notes:
Welcome to episode 2.11 of Your Biz, Your Rules. In this show, I’m going to be answering a whole bunch of questions you lovely people have asked me recently on Instagram, or in Friends + Faves, my client-only collective.
Let’s dive right into it:
How do you decide on your working hours?
I’ve been pretty vocal about working hours recently and how they’ve been a game changer in my business!
They are often determined by calls that I have. I never schedule a call earlier than 10:30AM. Sometimes that is when I will start my workday but if I feel particularly motivated or inspired to start my day earlier than that, I will do.
I try not to schedule calls too late on in the evening but if I’m part of a group programme that has a call in the evening, that may have a ripple effect on my day, the next day.
I’m very clear now that I want buffer time before and after work so that I can feel like I’m living a life, as well as building a business.
When we’re talking about work hours, I also want to talk about breaks. I always try to make sure that, at the very least, I take. decent lunch break so that I have an hour in the middle of the day where I leave my work room and do something else – sometimes that might be going out, or doing housework, or reading or watching TV.
So that’s my typical work structure – I start work around 10:30 AM and I don’t like to work more than 5 hours in a day – this is my maximum productive time and if I work any longer than that, then I notice myself procrastinating and moving slower.
I also allow myself to be somewhat flexible depending on what I’m doing during the day.
What is your favourite way to work with people?
I don’t know!!!! I love variety and I think variety is what excites me and keeps me engaged in my work. So I don’t think I could pick one thing and that be the only thing I did in my business!
I love working with my 1:1 clients and working with them on a long-term basis i.e. 12 months.
But then I also love working in a group setting – I ADORE the Unshakeable Business Academy. Seeing the community and seeing people connect and collaborate is just the best!
So if I had to pick two ways of working with people it would be 1:1 coaching over a 12-month period and inside the Unshakeable Business Academy.
But having said that, I do also enjoy doing working in smaller containers here and there because they just allow my creative brain to play!
What is your favourite snack?
If you’ve been following my health journey in recent months, you’ll know that I can no longer have gluten which has bought many challenges into my snacking life!
There are so many snacks that include gluten or that are produced in places that have gluten!
I’m typically more of a savoury person (like crisps), than a sweet person but there’s also a Ripple staring at me right now as I’m recording!
My snacks also vary depending on the time of the day – if it’s the middle of the day, it’s more likely to be fruit and nuts but if it’s the evening, it’s more likely to be the Ripple and the crisps!
Do you use any kind of habit tracker?
I do! I actually use a couple of different things for different purposes.
For anything work-related, I use my business planner (check out Episode 2.03 where I talked about my planning hacks and my amazing planner for this year).
Then for anything none work-related habits, e.g. self-care and energy management, I use Sarah Steckler’s Energy Driver Habit Tracker.
When it comes to business, I’m pretty good at keeping myself on track but when it comes to taking care of myself, less so!
I also use my weekly check-in form – this includes a bunch of different things that I check in with myself on and identify one habit each week to focus on.
How do you make your morning routine a priority?
Honestly, this is just a conscious choice I’ve had to make and it does take some discipline. But the reality is, if I don’t make that time for myself in the morning, I don’t feel good for the rest of the day. And when I don’t feel good for the rest of the day, I don’t do decent work. And when I don’t do decent work, I then feel grumpy and I feel “Less than” and get angry with myself and don’t see the results I want to see in my business.
So it’s just totally worth it for me!
I also don’t have a really strict routine that I follow – on different days, I need different things so it can be whatever I want it to be.
How do you get through days when you feel “meh”?
I feel “meh” a lot less now that I really prioritise my daily glow up. If you notice a trend of feeling “meh”, maybe you need to really think about how you spend those first few moments of your day.
Outside of this, I’m really learning to honour my Human Design. I’m a Manifestor and what that means is that I get really inspired and really excited when I have a creative urge and have a new creative idea. But sometimes, when I’m implementing things and doing the work, I lose a lot of steam and I lose interest.
My HD type also means that I need a lot of rest and time away from people and anything that needs me. And I fought against this for a really long time so now I’m allowing myself to stop when I do feel “Meh”.
I’m really trying to lean into what I need because I want my business to be sustainable and I want to be here 5, 10, 15 years from now. I don’t want to burn out and I don’t want to be hating the work that I do, so when I’m not energetically in the right place, I don’t force myself to push through.
What were the best books you read last year?
Last year I read an awful lot of fiction and not really that many personal development or business books.
I read a great short story collection called Loving Colour – I listened to the audiobook and I would definitely recommend this.
I also read a book called 7 Days in June – it was a romance but it was so much more than that!
Another book I absolutely loved last year was Daisy Jenkins and the Six – this was another one that I listened to as an audio book.
And then last but not least I read a book called Plain Bad Heroines – this was a long book it was very, very good!
What do you do when the sneaky voice of doom creeps in to hijack and sabotage you, even though you feel like you’re doing the work?
This is a great question and honestly, I could do a whole episode on this topic! But let’s have a think about a few things to get started…
The first thing that I do when this happens is, I reach out to somebody to chat about it. If you are working with a coach, that’s exactly what they are there for!
If you don’t really have anyone to reach out to, journal it out! Open up your journal and write out everything that you’re thinking and feeling, and keep writing until no more words come. Then you can look back through it in a much more objective way and ask yourself, “Is this actually true?” Maybe working through Byron Katie’s Four Questions Exercise might be helpful too.
Another option would be to do some tapping. Again, you can use your journalling here and everything that you’ve vented, tap on that. And then keep tapping and talk about what you want to be true instead.
A fourth option would be to find evidence that you’re pretty bloody amazing!!! You will have evidence that you are great at what you do e.g. testimonials, feedback, client results, etc.
If this is something that seems to come up regularly, I would recommend working with a coach!
Final thoughts:
If you’d like to submit a question for the next Q&A episode, feel free to shoot me a DM over on Instagram.
Your action step for this week is to choose one of the great questions I was asked in this episode, and answer it for yourself in your Instagram Stories. Don’t forget to tag me so I can come and leave you some love!
Spoiler alert – in next week’s show, I’m going to be swinging by with a little pep talk, perfect for those of you who always feel like they’re grinding away. Hit subscribe if you don’t want to miss it!
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