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First Week Back, Did You Plan?

by EvieBurke, posted in planning

Vacations – they’re wonderful things, right? They’re a time for you to disconnect from your business and reconnect with yourself and maybe your family (if you invited them 😉 ).

The other week I wrote about how great vacations are. And behind the scenes I planned for my vacation by putting together my newsletters in advance, catching up on those “to read” emails and setting up my out-of-office auto-responder.

I also planned to spend an hour or two on my last day of vacation, or on the plane, planning my first week back home. Wait… I planned to do a bit of work on vacation? I could go on to list the reasons why that was a bad idea or the reasons *cough*excuses*cough* why it didn’t actually happen, but I’ll spare us both that.

Instead, I’ll say, for all my planning for vacation, I didn’t plan my first week back very well.

In retrospect, I could have planned my first week back at work before I left – even if it was a brief written outline of rest, laundry and morning routine. Instead, my week was spent sleeping and thinking about what needed to be done and breaking one of my own rules about writing things down instead of leaving them to bounce around in my head.

The plus side of that week was being well rested and readjusted to my time zone. And I have a reminder of what happens when I don’t plan.

Saturday I started writing things down again and that kick started me into planning my second week home. I did two things that got me back in the swing of things:

  1. I recreated a morning routine. Some things were missing from the morning routine I had before I left, so I created a new one for myself. This was probably the best thing that I did for myself. Your morning routine can set your tone for the day.
  2. Created a list of the things I wanted to get done. It was a brief list of about 10 tasks (tasks, not projects). That gave me specific things to do each day, instead of spending 15 minutes trying to remember what the highest priority task was, and then getting overwhelmed and frustrated and doing something else entirely.

So, when you’re planning your next vacation away from your business, don’t forget to plan for your first week back. It will help your re-entry go much smoother!

PS. If you’re currently stuck try the two steps above.

What Our “If Only’s” Tell Us About Ourselves

by EvieBurke, posted in attitude, Complaining

Girl ThinkingEver had any of these thoughts?

If only I was:

  • Smarter
  • Faster
  • Skinner
  • Younger
  • Older
  • Prettier / more handsome
  • Taller
  • Shorter

Or maybe you’ve had one of these thoughts?

If only I had more:

  • Time
  • Money
  • Free time

You’ve probably had some of these thoughts before and there are probably a few “If only’s” that you have (or had) that aren’t listed, I know there are for me. The most popular ones (according to Google’s autofill search) are time and money.

Are “If only I had more time” or “if only I had more money” phrases that you find yourself saying or thinking on a regular basis?

I bet you don’t really want more time or money. No, really – think about it. When you say or think those things (time, money or otherwise), isn’t there usually a “then I could…” at the end of it or a mental picture of what life would be like if you did have it?

So, do you really want more time, money or whatever it is for you? Or do you want the things that having more of that would allow you to have or do?

For time you might say “If only I had more time, then I could get so much more accomplished in a day.” What you really want is to get more done. You want to have a few more completed items on your to-do list. Right?

When you find yourself saying “If only…”

  1. Ask yourself what it is you really want. What is the “then I could…” that follows?
  2. How can you have a bit more of what you really want right now? It might not look exactly like your ideal, but you can probably take some small steps toward making your ideal a reality.

What’s one of your “if only..” phrases? And what is it that you really want?

The Value of Vacation

by EvieBurke, posted in balance

Alaskan SunsetRemember that poll I wrote about a few weeks ago? One of the questions was about having a balance of personal and business time. At that time, I didn’t share the answer of one woman who felt that she doesn’t have balance right now, because she puts in long hours at work.

Despite her long hours, or perhaps because of it, she knew how important it was to take days off and vacation. She said that when she starts to feel burned out, she takes a day off.

When was the last time you did that? Has it been a while?

I’ve noticed that for myself and my clients, sometimes needing a day off shows up as procrastination. You’re tired and your brain might be a bit fried so [insert your task here] just doesn’t get done. Instead you might find yourself checking email and Facebook a lot (or whatever your distractions look like).

The other thing she said was that she and her husband take a vacation once every three months. I didn’t ask her how long the vacations were or where they go, but I’m guessing her vacation is at least 2-3 days away, if not more.

When was the last time you went on vacation? When did you last leave your business for more than a day, or weekend? Has it been a while?

Leaving your business for any period of time can be stressful for entrepreneurs. What will happen when we’re gone?!

You know what will happen while you’re away from your business if you allow it? You’ll relax and you might even enjoy yourself. And when you go back to work you’ll have more energy and ideas than before you left.

So, when is your next day off or vacation?

Two Reasons I Didn’t Set Big Goals

by EvieBurke, posted in Fear, Goals, planning

Big dreams. Do you have them? Big goals that might live in the back of your mind that you know you want to accomplish, but have no idea how?

Do they scare you? Excite you? Or even annoy you because they seem unattainable?

One of my mentors told me once “Enough with the baby steps Evie! Make big goals!” Now, that might be a slight paraphrase, but I clearly remember her tone and meaning.

And I remember thinking something to the effect of: “Goals have to be attainable in a set period of time. I can’t guarantee that I’ll successfully meet those big goals. Smaller goals are easier and more comfortable.”

Here’s the kicker, I wasn’t accomplishing those small goals either. I would dip my toes in the water and then decide that it was too cold and somehow expect my goals to magically materialize in front of me. Yeah, they didn’t.

One reason I didn’t set big goals was that I believed the myth that all goals must have a hard date that cannot be moved or adjusted for anything. And I didn’t want to dream about something that I’d be really disappointed that I didn’t accomplish in my specific time frame. It’s better to set reasonable expectations, right? And save yourself that pain of disappointment.

Well, that’s just bull.

Another reason I didn’t set big goals: I had to know every single detailed step I would take to meet that goal. So, any dream I had that I couldn’t do that with couldn’t be a goal – it had to stay a dream, an unattainable one. Again, why create goals you don’t logically know you can accomplish.  It’s better to see the path clearly laid out, right? And save yourself the potential pain of the unknown.

So, is it more painful to try for the dream, try for the big goal and have those failures along the way (but are they failures or course correctors)? Or is it more painful to stay safe and think about those dreams, those “if only’s…” and “what if’s…”?

Here’s what I know now. Big goals, big dreams are important. They drive you and give you something to look forward to. They propel you into action when you might want to sit on the couch and watch TV, surf the web or do something else that eats time, but doesn’t feed you.

And you know what happens when you set goals that feed you? You know that you can accomplish them. It may not be logical, but somehow, you just know it is possible for you.

So, set that big goal. Make it as big and exciting and even as scary as you want. Does your heart swell just thinking about it? Good!

Here are some closing thoughts:

  • Dates can be adjusted. Write it down somewhere each time you do and review it. Look for any patterns and address them as necessary.
  • You don’t have to know every single step that you’ll take on the way to the goal. Having a vague idea can be enough. Just know the next step (or two) that takes you closer to your goal.
  • Be open to the unexpected opportunities. Some opportunities that move you closer to your goal you can’t plan for. That unexpected phone call or meeting that results in an opportunity that you didn’t expect.

So, what’s your big goal? And what’s the next step you can take to move you closer to it?