What Does Work Look Like, Anyway?
Still discovering what working for myself looks like after 15 years
Last week marked my second week of my audacious plan to take 30-days away from my business to give space to pursuing my dreams.
I’m noticing 2 things:
The first is, that I didn’t realise what a weight it was on my shoulders constantly showing up and creating content.
I thought I’d hacked the code for creating content that felt good to me.
Not too much social media stuff.
A newsletter, a podcast and some video on topics I care about.
But after 2 weeks away from it I can see how draining it was to my brain.
The second thing is, that without the pressure of the 7-day content cycle wearing me down like some torturous hill climbing video game where every time you get to the top of the hill you instantly respawn at the bottom, I’ve been noticing a lot of guilt around working hard enough and ‘enough’ enough.
A new business needs new goal posts
I’m not sure when it happened, but over the last few years my metric for success with Bootcamp Ideas had switched from doing the minimum possible for the maximum results to simply: create as much stuff as possible.
So the last couple of weeks when I haven’t been flat out while working, it’s felt kind of odd. Uncomfortable even.
Why aren’t I doing more?
I don’t have a full roster of clients. I haven’t launched my men’s fitness group.
Shouldn’t I be doing more?
But when take a look back at the week. It’s not that I’ve done nothing, it’s that I’ve done small actions that haven’t taken a huge amount of time, but will have a big impact on my business.
Here’s a look at some of the things I did last week:
Took the whole day off on Monday because the weekend was huge and I knew that resting would set me up for better work the rest of the week.
Spoke with and signed a new coaching client.
Set up a new onboarding process for clients.
Reached out to connect with a few more people who I think would make good clients.
Created a list of men to reach out to for my new fitness group.
Stayed visible by connecting with other’s content (rather than creating my own).
Wrote an article for this newsletter (this by far took the longest out of anything I did this week).
Spent a morning with my youngest daughter. Did all of my workouts. Trained with the fire brigade. And played a new video game.
There was no grind here, just short, intentional tasks that felt very in alignment with me and my energy.
At the end of it all I asked myself…
‘Is this what work looks like now?’
And with that came a surge of excitement and a sense of peace.
It feels almost too good, that this could be ‘work’.
So what does work look like for me?
This:
Connecting with people and having space in-between.
I think these 2 things are really what it boils down to. It feels like a very human business to have.
It’s not about my output, it’s about showing up. For them and me.
As I write this, I get excited, but I also know that I’ll need to keep an eye on slipping back into habits of proving myself. Of doing more just for the sake of doing more.
I’d love to hear about your experience with this
What does ‘working’ mean to you?
Is it about how much you get done? Is it more about what you’re working on? I’ll be waiting for you in the comments below.
Through the Human Design Window
This whole thing makes a lot of sense if you look at my Human Design:
I’m a Projector. I’m all about efficiency because I don’t always have the energy for big, grindy work sessions.
My profile is 2/4. The 2 is the Hermit which is all about my need for alone time to process things. That mixes with the 4 which is all about how my opportunities often come through connecting with others.
I have a Splenic authority and undefined throat, so it makes sense that I should connect with others when I get the intuitive hit to reach out, rather than on a schedule. Also that I’d only reach out to a few people at a time rather than sending dozens of messages out into the world at once.
Work With Me:
If you’re getting a feeling that I’m here to help you, here are 2 ways you can work with me:
Human Design Session: In this 60 minute guided session, we’ll look at your Human Design and how you can show up feel more aligned with your natural gifts.
Ongoing Coaching: I have a limited number of spots for 1-on-1 coaching for high performing creators and founders.
If you’re interested in either of these, send me a message and I’ll send you through the details.