Make sure to read right through to the end for the accountability and twist in the tail, ok?
From the very earliest days of my business I have heard one phrase more than just about any other. It’s something you’ve said yourself, probably almost daily, for years now. Want to know what it is?
‘I just don’t have time!’
I received this in an email when I launched my very first course more than four years ago; a ten minute daily solution to getting on top of your to do list and clearing the space that you need in order to focus on the bigger picture (it’s a course that’s still available now and it’s called Your Best Week, click the link to find out more!).
It’s the single biggest roadblock potential clients throw up when it comes to working with me 1:1 (but really, if you can’t find a single hour in a fortnight to spend on doing something that improves your energy, focus, career prospects and sharply reduces your risk of stabbing someone in the face with a spork, then you definitely need to sign up to work with me.)
It’s something that only seems to get worse when people look at the sheer number of modular courses, home-study options and memberships I offer - but I don’t have time for all this.
I’m going to call bullshit on this one. You do.
You know how I know that?
The first is the easy answer: I’ve been you. I’ve been the stressed out, strung out professional working 12+ hour days and waking at 5am in a cold sweat about my emails. If I can go from there, without selling my house and pissing off to a third world country to live on the beach and leverage the exchange rate, then you can too.
Let me be clearer.
If in 18 months I can move from stressed out, sitting on the floor crying at the mess my life was in and signed off sick due to a complete physical collapse, to working for a top-25 law firm, in an incredibly emotionally charged and intense department, whilst launching Searching for Serenity in my evenings, weekends and lunch breaks, working with clients all around the country who were sick and tired of feeling sick and tired…. then you can do it too.
More quickly, with less fuss and far more grace, because you’ve got me in your corner.
The second answer is a little more complex.
I haven’t got time is, most often, a euphemism for other things.
It means, I don’t have the energy, or I don’t have the capacity and focus, or my body is in such a state of fight or flight that I can barely sit still. It can mean I feel overstretched and overcommitted and don’t know how to say no. It can mean I just desperately want someone to tell me that it’s going to be ok.
And it will be ok.
You deserve support.
You deserve to put yourself back at the centre of everything you do.
And you absolutely deserve the long, illustrious career that supports you financially, physically, emotionally and in every other way you can imagine.
But we both know that that isn’t going to happen if you’re stressed out, strung out, exhausted, stabby or running away.
So here’s where you start. Here’s how to make it easier on yourself.
1) Break it down.
Most of us have running to do lists in our heads that read something like ‘do work, clear email inbox, respond to screaming clients, tidy house, catch up with friends and family, exercise, be a good person.
All admirable.
All big, nebulous, ill-defined and ultimately unachievable.
When you work with me, I break it down in to these small manageable chunks. For example this week, a client and I broke down what business development meant for her, so that she could literally tick items off, see her progress, feedback on what worked and didn’t and create a more solid, achievable plan. Instead of the feeling of ‘god I’ve not done enough, I’ll never be done!’ she could see her progress, what worked and where to focus her limited time and energy.
2) Let go of the perfectionist within you.
I know, you want to have it done perfectly. And if you’re anything like me, having studied for decades to get to where you are in your career, you are used to setting aside hours or days at a time to study, improve, break down difficult concepts.
That worked brilliantly when you were a student or when you get sent away on training days. Go on with your brilliant stationery and tagging system.
Doesn’t work when you’re also working full time, trying to help keep other people alive (professionally or as a hobby), keeping the house standing and your personal hygiene standards within reasonably acceptable limits.
I study very differently now to how I did when I was studying for the Bar. First up, I actually do study (I know, I’m one of those people, I hate me too).
Secondly, I break it down into small chunks. A chapter of a book here. 15 minutes listening to a video training there.
This is why every workshop and course I do is produced live, with lifetime replays and resources available. Because we don’t have time to sit and study for an hour at a time twice a week, particularly when you’ve got burnout brain (re-read this sentence three times already? You’ve got it).
Break it down.
Take your time.
Go back and listen/read again.
Commit to always learning and growing and it makes the first attempt easier, because it’s just the first attempt. It’ll get better over time.
3) Make it fit around you.
In the earliest days of my business, I listened to far more audiobooks than I do today. That’s because I was driving up and down the M5 2-4 times per week and would have 2 straight hours to listen to business building and stress management skills books whilst I travelled to our more remote offices.
I have listened to video trainings on the train, talked to mentors whilst I’m walking around the supermarket, even gotten up in the wee small hours when insomnia strikes and listened again to something whilst I drink a cup of chamomile tea.
Make it fit around you, instead of you fitting around the work all the time. It’ll go far easier that way.
Finally 4) Set a timer
My client had been putting off this piece of work for weeks because she didn’t have the headspace to do it. She knew it was short and to the point but you know, when you want to do it properly?
My response was, set a timer.
Not even a pomodoro, 25 minutes on, 5 minutes off timer.
15 minutes. Get it done. You can polish it later but once it’s out and on the page, god life gets so much easier.
Ok, truth time.
There was no client.
It was me.
I’ve been thinking about this blog for weeks, but with family dramas, my birthday, all the secret squirrel projects I’m focusing on and, oh you know, the end of the world? I hadn’t written it.
So I set a 15 minute timer. I’ve actually gone 7.5 minutes over in writing this, but I think you and I can both agree that a short timer and sitting here to bash it out, was far more effective than it just sitting in my brain unable to help you!
The moral of the story is this: burnout is tough on your brain and body. It isn’t easy to make changes when your body is telling you to get up and run around the room in fear and fall asleep all at once.
You didn’t get here through one big blow out of academia or overwork. It was the death by a thousand papercuts of working a little later and a little later, until one day you went to work on 2 hours’ sleep and barely knew your own name.
You deserve better.
You need better.
Make it easier on yourself.
You can employ all of these tools by using my Big Birthday Burnout Bundle - 8 of my best programmes and resources to help you understand what burnout is, how to identify the issues and tools to help you get on top of your to do list and actively reverse burnout in just a few minutes a day. Technically this bundle went away at the beginning of the week, but I’m bringing it back for this weekend only. Turns out 36 year old Leah is more benevolent and supportive then ever.
Or you can accelerate all options by committing one hour a fortnight to work with me 1:1, with unlimited support by messenger services in between calls. With extended payment plans starting from just £100/month, money isn’t the issue, and now you know time isn’t. So what it is that’s holding you back?
27 minutes all in.
Not bad for playing by my own rules, hey?