Author: EvieBurke

Next week starts the second half of 2020.

It’s a natural time to review the last six months and update your goals for the next six months.

A couple of weeks ago, I read an article about this (ironically, while on a break during my paid group’s all-day mid-year planning meeting).

The author shared that he was readjusting his expectations for the rest of 2020, but not planning because he didn’t know what the rest of 2020 will bring.

I was on board until the second part.

I understand the idea behind what he shared: 2020 has had many unexpected things that resulted in many of us making significant adjustments to our second quarter plans.

The temptation is not to plan for the third and fourth quarters to avoid this frustration and stress.

It reminds me of this quote:

If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.

Stephen R. Covey

Here just some of what I’ve seen happen when my clients don’t have a plan (this happens to me too):

• Programs or courses that they don’t need are purchased and only half completed.
• They feel frustrated because they don’t know their priorities, so they don’t know the most important things to complete. Instead, they have a bunch of stuff that feels like it needs to be done NOW.
• They’re disappointed when reviewing the year because they didn’t make as much money or work with as many people as expected.

Planning and having goals is an integral part of having a business.

It gives you a roadmap to follow.

Let’s say you got in your car in the Chicago suburbs and expected to go to New York City but didn’t plan your route. Instead, you figured you’d drive East and probably get close.

One of two things will happen:

1. You end up East, but hours away from New York City.
2. You’re near New York City, but it took you a lot longer than anticipated.

If you plan your route, then your trip will go much smoother and faster. 

You might need to make adjustments based on road construction, accidents, or other things, but you’ll still get there faster with your adjusted plan.

The goal might change slightly as you go. Maybe instead of getting there on Monday, you arrive on Tuesday. Or you decide that New York City isn’t where you want to be right now and you choose to visit Columbus, Ohio instead.

The same goes for your business.

Your expectations might give you a general direction to go in, but without a plan, your business might not end up where you wanted it.

Take the time to both set your expectations AND plan for the remaining six months of 2020. Adjust as needed each month and you’ll be a lot further at the end of the year.

After all, you can’t meet your expectations without a plan.

If you need help or direction for setting your expectations and planning, comment below and let me know. We can set up a time to talk about how I can help you with that.

Frustration

I’m so tired of the emails telling me how to spend my time or how to market my business during this “current crisis.”

I told my husband yesterday that I think I’m going to have to avoid the promotions tab of my email because it makes me anxious.

I’m frustrated by the “join me for this multiple-day training featuring these very knowledgeable people.” Or even the “I’ve decided to do a special training on x to help you navigate the current crisis.”

Some of them are very easy to say no to or ignore.

The ones that frustrate me are the ones that I’m interested in, but my week is not full of all this extra time to watch these videos/trainings (that will also expire in 24 hours SO WATCH THEM NOW). 

It’s just making me more anxious.

So, I’m permitting myself not to check that folder every day. And generally, I’m someone who likes to stay on top of ALL of my emails.

If you need permission to ignore the email that stresses you out, I give you that permission.

Lack of productivity

I talked about it a bit last week that I need downtime and space to process things.

This means that I’m not getting as much done as I usually would each week. 

Paradoxically, this is the most productive thing I can do for myself.

A couple of weeks ago shared a quote from John Green (author of The Fault in Our Stars): “Taking care of myself and others is the productivity that matters most right now.”

It’s very true. I also shared Partners In Health’s (PIH) 10 mental health tips. You can find their article here.

Take a look at their list and do what works for you.

An Announcement

The things I’ve shared today are a slightly different version of what I’ve shared in the last three weeks. And I’m feeling a bit like a broken record.

One thing that’s helped me handle my frustration, stress, and lack of productivity is having conversations with small groups of people. 

I can interact, or not, as I feel like it and it makes me feel less alone (and it’s PIH’s first tip: Use technology to connect) and that I’m still a community that’s beyond the boundaries of my home.

This might be helpful to you too.

So, I’m putting Productivity for Solopreneurs on hold for now.

Instead, I invite you to join me for an online meeting (via Zoom) at 1 pm on Wednesdays.

Here’s the tentative format:

• Share one good thing from your week (personal or business)
• What do you need/want right now?
  This is to support you and is not the time to share who your ideal client or referral partners are. Instead, share what support/help you need, personally or professionally.
• Q&A
  Have you ever wanted to pick my brain? Or wanted to know what others ask me when they want to pick my brain? This is the perfect opportunity to get your questions answered or learn something from someone else’s question.
• We’ll keep the first meeting at 30 minutes.

Head over to the Facebook group Productivity for Women Entrepreneurs to find the link to join us next week.

Productivity for Solopreneurs: Insights to Getting Things Done #134

https://youtu.be/nZl8f3VQ0y4

In my Next Level Business Mastermind group, we have a weekly call where we talk about goals and obstacles. This week one member asked what we were doing to handle/manage the recent changes to our lives.

This led to a discussion of how we’re spending our time. 

Some have found themselves with more time, but have realized they need to spend more time in self-care. Others have about the same amount of time, but the projects and tasks that they’re spending it on have changed.

Another member shared that she had to postpone the project she planned to be working on right now. This allowed her to start working on a project that had been on the back burner. She’s not doing new or different things, but her priorities have shifted.

I’ve seen a lot of coaches and businesses share free or discounted programs in the last couple of months–and that’s great. 

If it’s not something that fits with the goals of your business, it’s a distraction.

One coach I follow has made her paid course on creating a podcast free. I briefly thought about signing up for it. Thankfully, I dismissed that thought before I even went to the website. Creating a podcast is not one of my goals and remembering that allowed me to move on quickly.

Another thing I’ve reminded myself is that I get to choose who I allow in.

I’ve seen some people share that this is a time to buckle down and get things done! It’s time to focus and push yourself through this!

And you know what, that’s exactly what some people need. That’s how they cope and manage the unknown. So, that’s exactly what they should do.

That is not how I manage these times. And I’ve realized that I have an added layer of losing my Grandma two weeks ago. 

I need downtime and space to process.

You might need that too. So, that’s exactly what you should do.

So, don’t feel bad when you see others sharing that now is the time to get things done. Let them cope in their way and give yourself the space to cope in your way.

And if you need to snooze them for 30 days on Facebook, by all means, do! Again, you get to choose who you allow in.

There’s a couple of things that I want you to walk away thinking about.

1. What are your goals?
   I’m not talking about your income intention; I’m talking about the goals that support that intention both short term and long term. If you’re adding a new project, make sure it aligns with your goals. Don’t add something new just because someone offered their course for free.
   
2. How are you taking care of yourself right now?
   Give yourself the space you need to take care of yourself. It might mean that you spend less time in your business. That’s okay! For most of my audience, your business doesn’t exist without you. So don’t forget to take care of you!

I’m available if you want support. It might look like helping you get clearer around your intention and goals for your business (and self) right now or a call to chat with someone you don’t live with 😉

Productivity for Solopreneurs: Insights to Getting Things Done #133

https://youtu.be/fpm-azUrzp0

If you ask me how I’m doing during this time, I’ll tell you that I’m good and I’ll mean it.

But if I take a little time to think about what’s actually going on, I’d tell you: I’m spending a lot of time scrolling through Facebook (my social media of choice) or sitting on the couch cross-stitching while listening to podcasts or watching Youtube.

One of my coping mechanisms is avoidance (scrolling Facebook). 

It’s a way I procrastinate and avoid dealing with things.

While cross-stitching is probably more of a healthy coping mechanism.

What are your coping mechanisms?

If you do some honest reflection, you’ll probably notice some slight shifts in your behavior too.

This brings me to a video I watched Tuesday from John Green. You can find it here. In it, he references ten mental health tips shared by Partners In Health.

Partners In Health (PIH) is a social justice & global health organization striving to make health care a human right for all people, starting with those who need it most (from their description on Twitter).

In their article here they offer these ten mental health practices:

1. Social distancing does not mean emotional distancing; use technology to connect widely;
2. Clear routines and schedule, seven days a week, at home—don’t go overboard;
3. Exercise and physical activity, daily if possible;
4. Learning and intellectual engagement—books, reading, limited internet;
5. Positive family time—working to counter negativity;
6. Alone time, outside if possible, but inside too; but remember, don’t isolate;
7. Focused meditation and relaxation;
8. Remember the things that you really enjoy doing, that you can do in this situation, and find a way to do them;
9. Limit exposure to TV and internet news; choose small windows and then find ways to cleanse yourself of it;
10. Bathe daily, if possible, to reinforce the feeling of cleanliness.

John Green also shared this: “Doing things on this list IS BEING PRODUCTIVE. Taking care of myself and others is the productivity that matters most right now.”

It’s important to remember that right now.

I saw something scrolling Facebook that I can’t find now to give proper credit, but the statement was something along the lines of: “That feeling you’re feeling right now, it’s grief.”

There have been a lot of changes to our normal over the past week, and it looks like these changes will stay in place for at least another couple of weeks. 

This means the goals we set, the things we planned on doing, and the experiences we anticipated are not happening or look significantly different now.

It’s natural to grieve these expectations.

Give yourself the time and space to do that.

And if you’re feeling overwhelmed, scared, or like shutting down, ask yourself: Which thing on the PIH’s list can I do right now?

And if you want/need to connect with someone, please reach out to me. 

Productivity for Solopreneurs: Insights to Getting Things Done #132

I thought a lot about what to share this week.

Do I address the elephant in the room?

Do I ignore it because there’s already soo much out there about the changes to our routines this week as we learn about and practice social distancing?

If you’re emotionally tired of all things virus related, please take care of yourself and move on.

For everyone else, let’s take a few minutes to talk about what to do when your normal changes.

Right now, you might find yourself unexpectedly at home with your kids, trying to figure out how to make sure they’re doing their online learning while you’re figuring out how this changes things for your business.

This is a big change to your “normal.” It’s going to take a bit to figure out what works for you and your family right now. Give you and your kiddos some grace.

Know that you’re not going to be able to get as much done as you did a couple of weeks ago—plan for that.

If you need help, look for it or reach out for it. I’ve seen experts in homeschooling offer to help or share resources. Search or ask for the help you need. Someone will help you!

And regardless of if you have kids, take the time you need for yourself. You might need to do a little more self-care right now. I find myself wanting to curl up on the couch with my cross stitch and podcasts more and more.

Give yourself the space to do more of that if that’s what you need.

And, remember that goals are not written in stone!

This might be a good time to take a couple of hours and adjust your goals and intentions for your business. If your current plan involved networking and coffee meetings (or 1-1’s), then come up with how you will adjust your goals and your plans. Maybe you do more Zoom meetings or offer something new or different.

If you need help with this, reach out to others and do some brainstorming over Zoom or the phone.

Or reach out to me. I’m happy to help. The easiest way to do that is to leave a comment or fill out the Contact Me form here.

Give yourself time to adjust to this new, temporary normal. It’s okay not to have everything figured out. Notice what’s working for you and do more of that. And notice what’s not working and adjust until you find what works.

It’s really easy to say that. It seems so obvious, but at the same time, it’s really easy to overlook.

Again, if you want help with figuring out what your new normal is, reach out to me.

Productivity for Solopreneurs: Insights to Getting Things Done #131