Slowing down could just be the best thing right now
It took me some time, but I'm finally embracing a slower approach to my business
The need to just keep swimming has long been a mantra I’ve lived by, get up, plough on and get things done.
Take more things on, do more qualifications, and just keep busy.
But the last year has been a bit different, I’ve been napping when my energy is low. Taking time off when I’ve felt the need and slowly making work less of a priority.
And my business is still flourishing.
I’m prioritising life and putting the effort into the work that is needed. Doing the minimum required to do a great job for my clients and myself.
Now you might be reading this and thinking so she’s not working as hard for her clients or she’s got lazy, no judgement, I’d have definitely thought the same, but it isn’t that.
I’m not doing a worse job for my clients - I’m still getting great feedback. I’ve just stopped overthinking things and streamlined my processes. I’m working in shorter bursts and taking rest so that when I work I’m effective and don’t find myself getting distracted.
I’m concentrating on marketing my business in slower more effective ways too. And doing those things when the mood takes me or I’m feeling creative. Getting into a flow state so I am giving my best and doing it in blocks to save time.
I’ve gotten back into the podcast and writing newsletters, something I’d stopped doing and felt so guilty about. And I’ve stopped beating myself up if I don’t have the energy to create anything or have a bad month with my chronic illness.
I’m trying to see social media as something fun to do, my new approach is post something and see what happens. I’d got to the point where there was so much pressure to get it right, I was paralysed to post.
And writing here has become something I enjoy, a place to be myself, something I’ve never really had when blogging on my websites. I’ve always been too concerned with being seen as a professional that writing about illness or being ‘lazy’ just didn’t compute.
One of the things that really helped me is becoming a day artist. A term I learnt from reading I Didn’t Do The Thing Today by Madeleine Dore. I think about how I want my day to look and if it’s not going to plan I can start a new painting at any point. It’s removed the rigid feeling of I’m working now, and that’s that. Being a day artist has given me more freedom in my approach which in turn has removed some of the rules I held on to from my time in the traditional working world.
I’ve really slowed down, my ambitions have changed and I feel better. I still want a successful, thriving business but I also want to enjoy my life as a whole. I’m not the finished product, far from it, it’s a constant balancing act but I do feel like after years of working until I’m ill I’m finally getting it.
I’d love to hear in the comments how slowing down in your business might feel.