Entrepreneurship

 [Guest blog] Use Your Peak Time!

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When you own your own business, it’s discouraging to feel like you “aren’t doing it right.” A client recently told me:

“Today I didn’t have client calls but I struggled so much the first few hours of the day that really it was just time wasted. If I don’t have calls in the morning, I may as well not go to the office until after lunch…as soon as afternoon hits I am way focused. What do you think about client calls only until 1PM and then the afternoon is office time?”

There’s a simple three-step solution to making decisions like the one my client faced.

1. The first step towards adjusting your schedule to one that works for you is to become aware of your peak (when you are most alert and productive) and trough times (when you are least productive).

2. The next step is to create a menu of those tasks and projects that can go into those peak and trough times. [link to full blog]

For example, projects that require your strongest focus, motivation, and energy should be scheduled during your peak time. Tasks that require less brainpower, like filing, clearing your desk, or some email processing, could be checked off during your trough times.

3. Last, take advantage of as many peak times each week as possible by arranging your tasks into the appropriate time slots. When you plug tasks into your calendar with an awareness of “best times,” you’ll begin to create a new routine around scheduling. One tip I use for scheduling is to color code my tasks on my to-do list, purple to schedule in the morning and blue for afternoon.

I get it – it can be hard to leave a task undone and move it to the next day. What helps me push through that “undone” discomfort is a reminder that in the long run, when I match the task with the appropriate time of day, it typically takes me half the time.

Matching tasks to the right time of day is just one way you can gain more time each day. If you want to tweak how you schedule your peak and trough times, we can discuss in our next session!

Lisa Crilley Mallis MA, COC, ACC  

Helping service-based microbusiness owners eliminate day-to-day busyness. ImpactiveStrategies.com  

5 Speaker Prep Tips for In-Person Events

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After two years of virtual events, even very experienced speakers may have forgotten how to navigate speaking at a live event.

Including this girl.

Having knocked out my first 4 in-person gigs, here are my top 5 tips with details about how to get back in the saddle!

Tip #1: Micro-manage in-person events.

Tip #2: Deliver full presentation, no matter what.

Tip #3: Set your criteria for speaking for free (and stick to them!).

Tip #4: Practice, practice, practice your offer! 

Tip #5: Be mindful of your need for approval.

1 Step to Clarify Your Vision

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Picture this…

I was on the beach. I’d cleared my schedule so I could meditate and write and to clarify my vision of the next level of my business.

I came up with… nothing.

So I took deep breaths and let it go and…

Nothing.

Hours of nothing.

The relaxing day at the beach turned into a day of pure frustration.

I was so aggravated, I started saying crazy things to myself.

“Maybe I shouldn’t have this business at all.”

“Maybe I’m just selfish and don’t really care about people.”

“Maybe I should just buy a lottery ticket.”

I carried this crazy headspace into the next week. And the next.

Then in a seemingly unrelated event, I made a very difficult and emotional decision to let go of something that played a big role in my business.

The minute I made that decision, my vision snapped into sharp focus.

I was holding on so tightly to something that was no longer working that it eclipsed my entire vision.

With hindsight, it is so obvious.

But in the moment, with all that beach around me and the sound of the waves and space in my schedule with no pressure, and still coming up with no answers, all I could think was, “What’s wrong with me?”

In the future, I will do my best to remember that I’m smart and very motivated, and then ask a better question: “What do I need to let go of in order to welcome in something new?”

I Forgot My Words…

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That is, the words I chose as my theme for the year. It’s weird.

Because I pick my word or words for the year and they guide my focus and attention. This year, I chose them and promptly forgot them.

People even posted on social media with reminders to revisit your themes for the year, and I just drew a complete blank.

So finally, FINALLY I remembered to go to where I jotted them down. Plenty and Wonder. Ohhhhh, right.

I may not have remembered them, and for the life of me I can’t recall what inspired them ?… but looking at the first 3 months of the year, it’s clear that I am living them!

Plenty.

Not only are we on track to exceed our stretch goal by nearly six figures, but also my family gathered around me for my birthday. Never have I felt more loved or appreciated how precious it is to gather with those I love.

Wonder.

Making the big mindset shift from being the sole service provider in my business to CEO. Now some days this is more of a “I wonder what the hell I was thinking” than “WOW, how wonderful” – but hey, isn’t that just the universe’s sense of humor showing up 100%?

So take a moment. Revisit your word for the year.

And if you take that moment to reflect and notice you’re not where you want to be with your business, please let me and my team know what we can do to support you, ok?

Messaging and Consequences

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Feeling whiny the other day, I posted on social media that all of my healthy habits had gone out the window.

Within a day, responses had poured in and they essentially fell into three categories:

  1. That’s ok, we love you.
  2. Restart with a small habit to get back on track.
  3. Try my program or service to support you.

Then came the text from Heather Moreno of Weight Breakthrough, who I hire from time to time to be my health coach, asking if I was ok.

Then she called and asked why I hadn’t reached out to her.

The first thing that popped into my mind was that I wasn’t ready to hire anyone, I was just bitching on Facebook. But it occurred to me that something very interesting going on in my mind.

Why hadn’t I seriously considered retaining Heather again or buying some of the recommended products that were offered?

Then it occurred to me that until I’m dealing with serious health or weight consequences, I will not pay someone to help me.

Let me put that into a broader perspective for you:

Until your ideal client is dealing with serious consequences from the problem they have, they are unlikely to hire you.

Like:

… if they outgrow the stretchiest pants in their closet,

… or they can’t get out of bed in the morning because they hate their job so much,

… or they can’t take one more day staring at social media where it seems the whole world is getting new clients, but they can’t get traction.

People take action when they are dealing with negative consequences on the daily.

What’s the point?

Well, let me pull this all together and put a bow on it for you… don’t be reluctant to express the consequences (often called pain points) in your messaging. Calling out the consequences meets your clients exactly where they are in the moment, helping them see that you understand what they’re going through and that you can help them overcome it.

Up-leveling is MESSY (can I get an amen?)

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Finally, I got a standing desk. After years of trying to cobble together a solution of standing desk converters, I finally said THAT’S IT. I can’t sit it any longer! 

So, I got a standing desk. And I got lots of accessories like drawers, hooks, keyboard trays, and filing cabinets. I invested in everything I thought I needed to make my office work for me. 

Then I realized I was cutting out 2 filing drawers and two regular drawers. This is storage space I’ll probably need so I had to consolidate. Purge. Get creative with the lack of storage space. 

Then the boxes starting arriving. And kept arriving. Stacks of them. Every part in its own box. 12 in all, sitting in my tiny hallway jamming that up. 

In the midst of the excitement, I lost track of the fact that I still have my original desk and it’s a beast! I’m not even sure I can get it out the office door in one piece much less down the stairs. So what to do with my original desk until I can get it sold or taken away? 

I wanted to put together my new desk immediately!! NOW NOW NOW!! It’s new and promises to be fantastic!! 

So… while the goal was to up-level my desk experience, I ended up with my entire upstairs in complete disarray. Files in boxes. Spin bike crammed into the bedroom. Boxes on the bed. Boxes downstairs. Boxes on the landing. Boxes in my office… where there is now one huge desk shoved in front of the couch and one desk that needs assembly. 

And JUST as we’ve finally committed the time to assemble the desk something goes wrong with one of the parts so I have to reach to the standing desk company for help… on a Sunday. 

At this point all I can think is… I can’t sit at my old desk anymore but I need parts for the new one and they won’t be here for days and there is not one place to sit and work upstairs anywhere anymore due to the boxes and boxes and boxes.  

And by that point, I was tired. I considered boxing everything up and saying forget it (and I was getting tired of saying and seeing boxes)! 

In the beginning when I was ordering the desk I totally had in mind what I wanted and what the outcome would look like. But there was a crapload of work and mess and tiredness that I did not foresee. Yes I realize now that this mess had to happen in order to get to the next level but I didn’t plan for it. 

When people I coach want to up-level, THIS messy, exhausted space is where they often give up. Because all evidence points to your goal feeling further away than ever. 

My recommendation is: Keep going.

To up-level you have to: 

  • Decide and commit to your goal 
  • Create a new plan 
  • Take action 
  • Rearrange your habits and thinking 
  • Take action 
  • Endure the mess 
  • Take action 
  • Resist going back to where it’s tidy and safe. 
  • Take more action 
  • Take breaks and nurture yourself 

And ask for help. Enduring the mess is easier when you’ve got someone in your corner who knows that the mess is temporary and can point this out while cheering you on. 

Here’s the part I always forget: what I think up-leveling looks like and what it actually looks like are usually two very different things.  

By Sunday evening the new desk was assembled as we found a workaround for the parts we thought we needed. But I’m still crammed into my office with 2 desks, a small couch, a spin bike and an armoire, and boxes upon boxes.

Have a look as this is what up-leveling looks like in-process. 

Obviously I still have a few things to do… 

The moral of the story is if you are in the middle of an up-leveling process and it feels messy or half-completed or not quite what you expected, breathe… this is the process. Stick with your plan and ask for help so you don’t snap back to doing what you’ve always done. Remember that you’ve been down that road and you know that it doesn’t go where you want to be.