As women we feel a huge amount of pressure to get it all right, do it well and a lot of the time, do it perfectly.
It’s important to take the time to SIT, REFLECT and REFOCUS our attention on the things that are really important to us.
What plates are we spinning?
Things to consider
- What areas of your life are occupying the majority of your attention right now?
- Is your current focus getting you closer to your goal(s)?
- If the answer to above is “No”, which areas of your life would you like to be focusing on?
- Where are the energy suckers?
- What isn’t working?
- What can you be doing differently so your time and energy is spent on the areas that matter?
Pyramid of currency
We talk about spending time, spending energy, spending money – these are the currency to keeping these plates spinning. Consider where these are going and if you need to re-evaluate your spending.
- Is it investing in support with administrative tasks to allow you more time to focus on the strategy of your business?
- Is it investing in childcare to allow you time to focus on your well-being or your business?
- Is it more time focusing on your processes which will allow you to monetise areas of your business you haven’t yet utilised?
- Could it be spending a little more energy on your family life at home which, in turn, will mean your well-being improves?
Psychological blockers
Here are some of the most common psychological blockers for us to consider:
- Confidence & self-esteem
- Perfectionism
- Fear of failure
- Lack of clarity/direction
- Knowing where to start/stop – when enough is enough?
- Can you think of any others that are preventing you from reaching your goals?
Try Rephrasing
- What have I got to lose?
- Done is better than perfect.
- Failure is part of the journey to success.
- My life, my rules, I can always change direction.
- Start before you’re ready, because you’ll never be ready.
- Try to rephrase the blockers in your mind, you’ve got this.
TASK
Write down your answers to the following questions
(Revisit this task regularly)
- Which plates do you want to prioritise? What areas of your life need your attention at this time?
- What are you focusing on that isn’t working?
- Which areas of your life are using up most of your time and energy? (Look at the discrepancies in task.)
- What are the main blockers preventing you from focusing on your main priority plates?
- How can you resolve this? OR What can you do to free up some energy/time/money to invest in the priority plates?
- Write down your biggest achievement in the last six months. What are you most proud of?
- Lastly, pretend you are writing No.6 in 6 months time – what will you say then is your biggest achievement or proudest moment?
Hacks
- Awareness – identification and then removing blockers
- Setting goals (short term and long term) – where are you now vs where do you want to be in 6 months vs 6 years?
- Establishing your values – what’s important to you? How do you want to run your business?
- Setting boundaries – what are you prepared to say “YES” to, and what are you prepared to say “NO” to?
- Just start – “Fail fast, fail cheap, fail often” – test the water, trial and error, manage mistakes, take bite size risks, try a soft launch
- Start before you’re ready – because you’ll never be ready
- Track your cycle and set tasks around your most productive times of the month
Podcasts
- Bossing It podcast – For women in business
- How I built this – How Sara Blakely found motivation to create Spanx
- Ted Talks – Inspiring business and life-related talks
- DIFTK – Doing it for the kids podcast for freelancer parents
- Tony Robbins – Proven strategies for success so you can accomplish your goals.
- How to unf*ck your brain – Liberate yourself from anxiety and self-doubt
- Goal Digger – Women in business and entrepreneurship
Books
- Little Black Book by Otegha Uwagba – A toolkit for working women
- Content Inc. by Joe Pulizzi – how to grow an engaged audience
- The Secret by Rhonda Byrne – learn how to manifest your dream life
- How to fail by Elizabeth Day – how to learn from things going wrong
- The Multi-Hyphen method by Emma Gannon – Work Less, Create More and Design a Career That Works for You
Apps
- Accountancy – Freeagent/Quickbooks
- Calendar sync – Calendly/Time Tree
- Productivity/tasks – Aasana/Trello/To-doist
- Wellbeing – Moody month
- Payment – Xero/Square
- Design – Over/Canva
- Wellbeing – Calm/Headspace
If you found any of this useful you can follow me on Eventbrite for our upcoming Found & Flourish events designed to empower women in business to launch, grow and scale the businesses of their dreams.
Also, follow me on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn for more tips on business, social media and events.