How Long Have Your Been Charging Hard

If I were to ask you how long you've been charging hard in your business, what would you say? If you're like most women, we not only push ourselves in our businesses, but also when it comes to our homes and family. So if this question makes you cringe a little, take a moment to sit back and ponder some advantages of slowing down a little this summer (even if it's just long enough to read this).

We have all been told that slowing down is good for us. It helps to recharge and refocus us for the rest of the year, if we just slow down a bit in the summer. We hear the typical reasons: improved mental health, recharge our energy levels, physical health benefits, and increased productivity. Not to discount ANY of these benefits. They are all super important and we really do need to give ourselves some grace and slow down for the betterment of our physical and mental health! For the sake of this blog, I want to take a look at something you may not have considered. Better decision making.

Slowing down gives you the time to reflect on your business decisions without the pressure of constant deadlines. This can lead to more thoughtful and strategic decision-making. Often times when we get caught on the "hamster wheel" of life, it's hard to really take a look at what we're doing and take the time to decide if it's really what we want to be doing. When we factor in our personal lives, things can get even more hectic and it gets harder and harder to take a step back.

The summer time is a great time to do just that. The sunshine, the flowers, the pool, the BBQ's, the lack of school and changing of other activities, it all can put you in a different frame of mind. Slowing down doesn't have to mean weeks of vacation time or half days of work. But I would challenge you to schedule some quiet time in the next 5 days to sit with just you and your calendar. Now is as good a time as any to draw a line in the sand and do some intentional scheduling (aka time blocking). This is great exercise to help you evaluate if there are things in your day that you can delegate to others, do on different days, or just stop doing. 

Just for fun, ask yourself the question "How do I want to build my day/week?". Not everything that is on your current to-do list or schedule needs to continue to make the cut of what you accomplish each day. Sometimes we like to play a game with ourselves called "how much can I get done today" and we judge our worth or our success of how much we accomplished. Even if they are things we don't need to be doing. 

Taking some time to build your day/week/month can really help improve the other areas of your life as well. It can help you make a better decision about how you to grow your business, what clients you want to take on, pricing, legacy projects, and so on. Better decision making begins at the hourly level. How do you want to build your day? Asking yourself this question while you have a little quiet/slow time, allows for creativity to come into play as well, strengthen your personal relationships, give you the opportunity to learn a new skill, and more. 

Better decision making begins with clarity and clarity comes from giving yourself some space to stop and take a breath while evaluating where you are and more important, where you want to go. We all have seasons that take us through times that are busier than others, but stopping to take a step back and breathe this summer is definitely something to pencil into your calendar.