I meet many women who have their own business and feel like it’s plateauing. Whatever they do is not enough. They seem to be running really hard, but they are time poor and they don’t have the mojo to sustain running a business. For instance, take a look at Shelley’s story. Shelley came to me and she said, “look Emma, I’m actually not getting any enjoyment out of my business, I feel overwhelmed, I feel burnt out, there’s not enough time in the day”.
Shelley and I started working together, and we spoke about how she uses her time, where was the most benefit, what things could she stop doing, what did she need to start doing, how did she create space to do the things that would enable her business to grow. We took her from feeling crappy about how she was spending her time to some really good time management techniques, which ultimately gave her the control back and she moved from feeling crappy to feeling happy about the time element.
Not only focusing on your time management, it’s important to also focus on your mojo, especially if you are planning to play the long game. Looking at where your energy comes from, how you manage it and how you maximise it means that you will have the energy required to get results. Your mojo allows you to focus on the things that will get you results in the short, medium and long term. If your energy ebbs and flows, so too will your results, so focusing on your mojo and getting consistent with this, will help with consistent results. Part of managing your mojo or motivation is taking a look at your own self-care. It’s not just a quick fix on looking at the time elements and the motivation. It’s a lot of different things…
Moving from Crappy to Happy has a few elements. Firstly we look at how we are using our time and energy, typically both of these are out of whack, so we need to start focussing on time and energy simultaneously. To get better at the time element, we look at how you structure your day/week/month to get the most out of it and we take a look at the things that are distracting us (Instagram scrolling anyone?). At the same time we look at how we are using our energy, what we are using it for, are we using it in the right way, because this will affect our motivation.
As you can see in this picture, there are nine boxes that you would move through on your journey. However, the final destination is when we are managing our time really well (and it feels like we are in control versus it controlling us) and we are managing our energy to ensure we have enough to get through the days, the weeks and the months. Let’s call this Eutopia because we need to actively manage this or we could slip down the slop to zero motivation again. Once we hit Eutopia, we work hard on being consistent with the things that we need from a time and energy perspective. From consistency comes discipline and from discipline comes habit.
So, if like Shelley you are finding you and your business have hit the dreaded plateau try these 3 things:
- Look at how you are managing your time
I have written a blog about managing your minutes, that offers practical tips on how to manage your time. - Look at how you are managing your mojo
Want to know more about motivating yourself? Check out this article on “How to motivate yourself when you’re exhausted”, it has some great tips in it. - Take time for self-care
Self-care is so important in managing your mojo. Take time for self-care. Check out my blog on self-care that offers 10 tips from Headspace on how to manage Self Care and also a template to create a self-care plan.
Six months down the track and it’s like dealing with a different person. Shelley is energised, and motivated and her business is doing amazing things. We are finally out of the dreaded plateau that she had been experiencing. When I first started working with Shelley, she had a couple of employees and now she has 10 or so, and she is starting another business.
If you’re experiencing this, the crappiness and lack of motivation, and you’d like to work out how to get out of the rut, give me a call 0419 521 946.
Be enthusiastic, optimistic and energetic every day
Em x